December Goals Review..

As for my December Goals.. Here they are in no particular order:

#1 - Have all Christmas gifts bought and wrapped by December 22nd. We don't get out of school until the 21st, so this could be pretty tricky.

FAILED. I did, however, get all gifts bought and wrapped within 24 hours though! Right after I had a Chili's date with my girls after school on the 21st, I went straight to shopping. So from about 5:30 p.m. on the 21st until 2:00 the next day - I was finished! I don't know that I'll get that lucky every year, but I'm super-impressed with myself this year. (Holiday cards are on the To Do List for next year...)

#2 - Organize my closet. My "closet" is really one of our extra bedrooms (the smallest one, but it's still full), and I feel like I am completely overwhelmed when I try to get started in there and get anything done. My goal this month is to clean out any clothes I haven't worn in a year and have all of them hung up or put away.

ACCOMPLISHED! How excited am I?!! I posted my vanity pics from Thursday's project, but the final touches (meaning - putting away all of the clothes from the laundry baskets and organizing misc. things into small baskets) were all done today!! Sadly, I got distracted from painting the bathroom, again, but soon!

#3 - Put up Christmas decorations! How sad is it that I have yet to decorate for the holiday season!? I know I'm behind, and I also know that it will only get worse/busier. At least, we have our lights up outside!

ACCOMPLISHED! I didn't go over-the-top this year, but I did manage to set out a few things - including a very small tree. It was a little late in the season to get up our big one, so I compromised. :)

#4 - Read 2 or 3 new books over the break. Yes, I'm a nerd, but if anyone has any great suggestions, I'd love to hear about them!

FAILED. I did re-read a book that was a gift a few years ago called Santa, Baby, but I didn't get much farther than that. I figure, since I finished many other projects, I could let this one go a little.

#5 - Print out my huge assortment of pictures. I am a huge scrapbook girl, and I need to get going on that again!

FAILED. I did get a few printed, but not near my assortment. (Not even half.. When I wrote this goal, I didn't realize how crazy it was to try to get them all printed!) I also TOOK more pictures this holiday season! I don't know why I ever really stopped - surely, not because I gained weight after college or became uber-obsessed with my career... Nah. I'm working on it.

Hope everyone is having a great start to their weekend! Can't believe our break is coming to a close, but I made the best of it! :)

PS - Newest December Goal: Make a resolution! I like having goals each month, for sure, but I need to try and see if I can decide on one that's long-term. Any ideas? Let me know!

Project Winter Break!

I have seriously been out of control when it comes to projects this break! I started the "break" with my Christmas shopping - yes, all of it within 24 hours.. I was lucky. However, after all FIVE Christmases in all of 2 1/2 days, we were exhausted! T and I spent all of Monday relaxing in our sweats (once we got back home, of course). And my sweet pups were so worn out, they didn't get back to their sweet, energetic selves until today! But I couldn't really complain, I do love to cuddle with them. :)

Onto my projects. I made my list, and set out to conquer them all over these past few days:

Monday - re-energize and prepare

Tuesday - Project Closet

Wednesday - Project Errands

Thursday - Project Vanity

Friday (to come) - Project Bathroom

TUESDAY - PROJECT CLOSET

On Tuesday, I seriously cleaned out SIX LARGE TRASHBAGS worth of clothes and shoes. I'm talking anything from shirts, skirts, dresses to coats, scarves and hats! It was amazing. T helped me load them up and take them down to the closest shelter. They may not be able to use everything, but I figured it could help someone. There are only 5 showing, but I didn't think about the coat closet until after I took the pic.

I can honestly say, I haven't seen this many extra hangers in my life. It feels great!

WEDNESDAY - PROJECT ERRANDS

I didn't necessarily need the "project" in my title, but it went with the rest of the days this week. We were really out and about from 10:30 until 3:30.. With a short stop for lunch at El Chico, we spent many hours at our small mall, Wal-Mart, Lowe's, AT&T, and Suddenlink. Whew! :)

We bought new curtains for most of our downstairs rooms (and T was honestly shocked at how much they cost - even with our coupon). I was trying something new to get more light in the dining room, and despite the sad image outside our giant window, I do like how it turned out.

We also bought some tubs to organize various things to slide under our spare bed, and extra laundry baskets to go in the basement for sorting clothes. I didn't take a picture, but they were promptly labeled as Whites, Darks, Colors, and Other. Oh, yes.. I did.

THURSDAY - PROJECT VANITY

So, I have had this adorable vanity and Mom and I found at a local garage sale two years ago, and I haven't done anything with it! It came to me a light, yellow color along with the chair's outline. When I was really feeling inventive, T and I painted it a matte black and sprayed the chair black as well. (There's just something special about my black and white relationship.) Anyway, I replaced the knobs, and it actually turned out pretty well.

Today was all about finishing it! I lined the inside of each drawer with cute, decorative paper, threw away the broken mirror (that came with it, but I was never able to use), and changed the material on the chair. I was so stunned by the finished product, I texted Mom and said that couldn't belong in my house! (I do love the mood lighting in the "after" picture though. hehe)

Before...

After!!

Isn't it so wonderful??! I'm in love.

FRIDAY - PROJECT BATHROOM

Pictures may come soon, but tomorrow I have one goal and only one goal. OK, that's not true. There's always something that comes up. Besides getting a teeth-cleaning at the dentist today, there were a few random things that came up around the house to finish or get distracted by. (Yes, I mean YOU, Pinterest!)

However, I plan to get a well-deserved (and well-needed) pedicure tomorrow, as well as painting my upstairs bathroom. I have a wonderful green that I adore - and painted the spare bedroom walls with - so I can only imagine that I'll love it in my bathroom with all of my brown/cream zebra accents, of course. There may be a couple of other Christmas gifts to put away, but we took care of the big ones on Monday and Tuesday (since T was off work both days). Big ones meaning my super awesome new mixer, my personal laminator (which may accompany me to school for a few small projects), my new label-maker, and his Keurig. He got some shoes that he's worn everyday since from my brother and sister, but there's still a small ice chest in the middle of my living room... Oh, how I love the holidays!

Hope everyone has had a blessed holiday season! Warm wishes to you!

xoxo

Happy Holidays!

Our last day of school was yesterday! Can you guess when my holiday shopping began? ...Yes, yesterday at 5:30 p.m. - directly after I met our Grizzly Girls at Chili's. :) However, I'm so proud to say that I officially finished in less than 24 hours! (Let's face it, I was pretty lucky.)

Our Christmas parties were on Tuesday afternoon - WITH BEAUTIFUL SNOWFLAKES, BTW - so our kiddos were pretty exhausted and restless to say the least. We have our class parties all at the same time, so I didn't have music classes from 2-3:00 that day. A nice, very well-deserved, break. Which I took full advantage of. I went to see one of my favorite friend's program! She teaches 1st-2nd special ed. and puts on a winter program for their parents in her classroom each year. I wasn't in the building for it last year, but since I don't have to travel this year, I was able to watch in the audience!

It. was. precious. Her students did such a great job, and she had provided them with matching holiday clothes that were adorable. They sang about 4-5 songs, had motions, and used props! I was so proud of them! (And she's our Teacher of the Year for our building - nothing short of spectacular. Seriously.)

I hope everyone enjoys their much-needed break and spending time with their families this holiday season!

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

We wish you a Merry Christmas,

and a Happy New Year!

December Goals

This isn't just a post for my goals, as much as I want to say... GO COWBOYS!

The Oklahoma State Cowboys defeated our own in-state rivals last night in Stillwater. The "Bedlam Forecast" sure had us all worried and prepared us for the worst, but most of the afternoon stayed warmer and dryer than planned. The game ended up making OSU look pretty darn good and gave us a win over the Sooners 44-10. (Awesome!)

As for my December Goals.. Here they are in no particular order:

#1 - Have all Christmas gifts bought and wrapped by December 22nd. We don't get out of school until the 21st, so this could be pretty tricky.

#2 - Organize my closet. My "closet" is really one of our extra bedrooms (the smallest one, but it's still full), and I feel like I am completely overwhelmed when I try to get started in there and get anything done. My goal this month is to clean out any clothes I haven't worn in a year and have all of them hung up or put away.

#3 - Put up Christmas decorations! How sad is it that I have yet to decorate for the holiday season!? I know I'm behind, and I also know that it will only get worse/busier. At least, we have our lights up outside!

#4 - Read 2 or 3 new books over the break. Yes, I'm a nerd, but if anyone has any great suggestions, I'd love to hear about them!

#5 - Print out my huge assortment of pictures. I am a huge scrapbook girl, and I need to get going on that again!

November Goals Round-Up

I was looking back at my goals for this month, and I'm so excited! 4 out of 5 is pretty darn good! :) Here's where the cards lay:

1. Run a full mile by the end of the month. Without stopping. Without walking. FAILED. It's just so cold already!

2. If needed, spend only ONE day at school after 5:00. ACCOMPLISHED! Most days I was able to leave between 4:00-4:30, so I'm getting better at getting everything I need done. (Also, it saved me some extra time since our school copier was broken from the 21st until now..)

3. Plan dinner 4 nights a week. ACCOMPLISHED!! We had all kinds of great foods! I guess I'll have to keep up my grocery shopping for the week on Mondays after school - seemed to work out just fine! (Felt like I was such a better wife!) haha

4. Send 5 cards to special people in my life just for fun. I love this one! ACCOMPLISHED!

5. Start planning holiday lists. ACCOMPLISHED! We even got the lights put up outside the house! Now the inside looks nothing like my usual Christmas does, but we were also gone for the weekend after Thanksgiving, so I couldn't quite fit in my normal routine. It will get done!