Bird Landing

I have missed y'all so much! There have been a great deal of events taking place in my life which took me away from my computer. Now that the bird has landed, I feel I can take a deep breath to stop and share what's taken me away.

The first being my new job! I am not able to blog, read blogs, or really even think about blogs during the work day. I am so busy, challenged, and excited each and everyday it's almost too good to be true. To give you a little more information I left sales and publishing to go into a full-time marketing role at a "very large" financial institution. I know the numbers side of banking/lending/trusts is not my forte, but it does not really matter as I pick out brochures, redesign presentations, and work as a support system for everyone else in sales. That's my kind of sales job if you ask me! If you have a smart phone that you recommend let me know, this may help me blog on my lunch break and never leave you that long again. :)

In a brief and bulleted fashion I am going to give you a glimpse of the other happenings the last few weeks.

• I have lost 9 lbs and the hubs14. We are on a good streak of trying to be healthy and be the best us. So far it's been amazing to look and feel better in my clothes.
• We have also joined and gym to help in this process.
• I signed up for another 1/2 marathon. Losing weight has made it easier for me to get back into running. I have signed up with my sweet friend Emily Ann and can't wait to run with her in April and catch up. Miss her so much since we moved!
• We are in the process of planning a MAJOR trip for the summer. I am not sure where, maybe Hawaii, Costa Rica, Belize, or somewhere else beachy, but we are planning and I am elated about this opportunity. Any suggestions would be great!
• We went to New Orleans with about 15 of our friends last weekend. Our good friend Collin celebrated his 30th birthday and instead of a party or presents we all had a weekend of fun. A few of the good pictures are here:
  
  
  

I can't wait to catch up on your blogs this afternoon and tomorrow. I hope you are well and I am sure there is a lot I have missed with you too!



On to the Next One

I would like to say thank you to everyone for your sweet comments about my new job and the change I am making. Change is never easy and I agree with a lot of you about the best decisions are the hardest to make. Maybe I am insecure, but for some reason hearing words of affirmation always seems to help me feel better about myself or my choices. Is this just me?

On a happy note I actually have some fun photos to share with you. We have been in our home a year now. A whole year! I cannot believe the time has flown by so quickly and I feel like I just posted the house pictures. The hubs and I have this long laundry list of all the things we want to do to make our house feel like our home. It is defintely home and we still have a list of things we have put off, except our dining room. (First image is our before picture, everything below is our after.)

Thankfully we had some extra funds over the last couple of months and we were able to get a new light fixture & slip cover from Overstock, drapery rods on-sale from Lowe's, clearance benches from World Market, and I bought the fabric months ago from Fabric.com. Everything new was on-sale or clearance. The best part is if you are getting a floor model or opened item you can ask a manager for an additional discount. What's the worst they can do, tell you no? In this case, the benches were 50% off and the floor models had an additional 15% off (just because I asked).

Walking into this room makes me happy. I don't spend a lot of money on clothes, purses, shoes, but I will save up to spend money on my home. For me, it's an investment. Something about getting a room just the way you like it makes my heart smile.