30 before 30

It's not so far off...my 30th birthday is approaching like a runaway train. I only have a little over a year to accomplish everything on my list and there are some biggies! Then again, I might just stay 29 forever. It would be nice to stay under 30 forever right?! No wrinkles, no body aches or joints popping when I get out of bed, no early bedtime....wait. No. That's me at 28. Nevermind. I haven't really decided yet. But that's not the point. Where was I? Oh yeah...the point is that 30 is quickly approaching and I have a few goals I'd like to see happen. Some are silly, some are serious, some are close to impossible. The due date? January 3, 2012.

1. Cook at least one recipe from each cookbook I own
   (I counted...that's 11 cookbooks, 25 if you include the magazines I've saved and marked recipes in. I just said "books" right?)
2. Donate to Beautiful Lengths (I'm getting there...I'm officially tired of long hair, tangles and getting hair pinned under my bag straps or in the car window- yeah, that hurt. I think a few more months and I'll have 8 inches without having to go too incredibly short.)
3. Buy a DSLR Camera (Nikon S3100)
4. Bake croissants from scratch
5. Graduate with an MBA 
6. Consolidate and organize student loan payments
7. Visit Washington DC with Noel
   (He's never been! Can you believe it?!)
8. Move out of Birmingham, AL
   (yes please!)
9. Keep a plant alive longer than 6 months
   (I may have to invest in a cactus. Seriously. It's bad.)
10. Switch to Truvia or Splenda in my coffee
11. Run 20 minutes straight without dying
    (Yes- literally, dying. I see it as a very real possibility.)
12. Create travel map display
    (Done! I started writing this list a few weeks ago and couldn't wait to finish this one.)
13. Sleep in until 9am I slept until 9:03am over Christmas break- then got up and did a happy dance! :)
    (It's harder than it used to be. I'm usually up no later then 7:30 when I try to sleep in.)
14. Sell something(s) I own for at least $200 (to be used for #3!)
15. Take my nephew on an outing
16. See a ring on my sister’s finger
    (No pressure here! Just want you to know that I wholeheartedly approve. So Andrew- make it a big one!)
17. Buy a party dress Received one for Christmas and wore it out for New Years!
    (I don't think I've ever really owned a fun party dress. Sad, I know.)
18. Get Noel to take me to Ikea
    (This is the one that seems impossible-but I'll make it happen! Just wait and see!)
19. Read a book of Noel’s choosing
20. Visit 3 places in our travel book
    (We have a travel book we leave on the table in our living room. Anytime we see a place we want to visit on TV we write it down. It's mostly restaurants from the travel channel! What can I say? Food inspires us.)
21. Visit Janine & Josh and meet Keagan
    (He's the cutest rollie pollie kid ever! I mean Keagan, not Josh. :) Check out their blog here.)
22. Have a couponing trip where I save at least $25 and spend less than $5
23. Create my own home management notebook
24. Get a massage…make that 2 massages
25. Sell something on Etsy
26. Organize the office closet (It's scary in there.)
27. Host a party in our little apartment
28. Update address book and send Christmas cards
29. Complete a Rubik’s cube without removing the stickers
30. Buy multi-colored Christmas lights
    (I like white lights, Noel likes colored lights. I told Noel we can buy colored Christmas lights when we have kiddos.)

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Remember when...

Hey hubby...Remember when we left for our honeymoon and before we arrived in FL our tire blew out and we spun around 4 times across 4 lanes of heavy traffic on the interstate and landed facing the right way on the shoulder? Or the time we packed all we had and moved to Wake Forest, NC with no jobs and only about $1,500 to our names? Or the time we went to Asheville and ate at the Early Girl Eatery downtown? Or the time we went on that cruise and won $140 in the casino? I do...and I hope that I never forget the travels that we have had together.

My travel maps are a total knockoff inspiration thanks to Young House Love. (I love those crazy kids!) All it takes are a few frames, printed maps, map pins, and a good memory to recall where you have been. I got my frames at Hobby Lobby- 50% of course. (If you buy anything at Hobby Lobby that's not 50% off you paid too much.) They are actually display frames so they already had a linen backing that I pinned my printed maps to. Easy peezy lemon sqweezy!

The top map is for our world travels (we stick pins in each country or region we visit) and the bottom one is of the US (we stick pins in destination places- not places we have traveled through, sorry- rest stops don't count!). I want us to visit every state and my goal is to try to visit a new state each year. Noel and I both love to travel and have both been all over the US and several places around the world but we decided to only indicate where we have been together. So hopefully in 50 years our maps will be full of pins!

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Craigslist Find!

I've been bugging Noel for awhile to get a chair for our bedroom, and a few weeks ago I fell in love with an old vintage rocker I found on Craigslist. So I emailed...and was disappointed to find out that someone else had already promised to buy. A week later (thanks to a persistent Craigslist seller!) she emailed me back because "that someone" never showed to pick it up! Yay for me!! I think I did an Elaine from Seinfeld dance when I found out.



Noel was sweet enough to drive me there and help me load it up. So for only $60 we got a great rocking chair that now lives in our bedroom. I rock in it every morning because I love it so. And Jasper loves to rock with me so we have our quiet morning snuggles there. Awww...sweet spoiled rotten kitty.

See...he loves it!

And did you see those maps in the top photo...that post is coming soon!

And just in case you didn't notice my awesome roses...

My sweet husband got them for me "just because".

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Organizing/Procrastinating: It happens often in my house.

I recently had a week where I had a Management presentation of a paper (Tuesday), Marketing group paper and presentation (Wednesday), and a Finance mid-term (Thursday) all in one week. PLUS a lectureship at work which lasted three days. Guess which days? Yep- Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

So what do I decide to do on the Saturday before this awful week?

Yep, you guessed it. I reorganized my buffet! Procrastinate much?

What can I say, I work better under pressure.

Our buffet holds all my cookbooks, our junk drawers, fine china and my morning drawer which includes my hair dryer, makeup bag, mirror and flat iron. (I get ready in the dining room so I don't wake up Noel with my hair dryer.) Hey- when you live in a little apartment you do what works and combine things like junk and fine china. Don't judge.

Here are the cabinets on each side:

And here are the three drawers:

Junk, junk and more junk. I even found a disposable camera from 2007. Who knows what's on it?!

Jasper decided he would help too. I hope his little tail knocked some dust out of that cabinet.

Here are the beautiful after pics- side by side with the before pics for comparison:

The left cabinet holds my cookbook collection and a Longaberger basket that holds all of my coupons (thanks to my bro and sis-in law for that Christmas gift!) and extra recipe cards, etc are neatly stacked next to it. 

The right cabinet didn't change a bit but did get a good dusting so I won't bore you with that. 

Here are a few pics of the drawers:

Also, on top of the buffet, a little plate holds out keys and don'tforgetthisasyougooutthedoor stuff. I make Noel's lunch most days and leave it in the fridge for him. He forgets it sometimes so I try to put a sticky note above the doorknob to remind him as he goes out the door. I hide my sticky note under our plate so I can just re-use it. I love post-its. Seriously- love.  :)

I don't know about you but I can breath better when I'm organized. You? 

No?! Just me? 

Ummm...k. 

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The 90th Birthday Surprise!

Noel's grandmother, Henrietta Bagwell (aka MamaGran), turned 90 on October 2, 2010. We threw her a huge surprise party at the Rose Garden Inn which was well attended by her wonderful friends and family, not only from Tennessee, but also from Illinois, Florida and several other states. She is a well loved, classy, beautiful woman who deserves all the happiness in the world and I'm so glad we could throw her a birthday bash to remember!

Here are a few highlight from the party...she had no idea until she walked through the door and saw her family from out of state. Her first response was, "What are you doing here?!" :)

One of the projects we did for the party was to display a few of the LIFE magazine covers from the past 90 years. It was amazing to go through the photos and see all that she has seen and experienced since 1920!

I promise...I'll upload better photos later this week. :)

Another project that we did was a map of all her travels. MamaGran has been all over the world so that was exciting to see where she has been in the last 90 years. 

This project actually inspired me to create a smaller version for the travels Noel and I have had and will have in the future. I'll share that with you later this week too. 

And finally....a shameless plug for the Rose Garden Inn. If you are looking for an event center in Clarksville, TN, the Rose Garden Inn is a wonderful venue with good food and nice facilities. Check them out on Facebook.

Hope your 90th year is the best one yet MamaGran!!

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Happy Halloween!

Our tribute to The Office. Does it get any scarier than Dwight Shrute?                                   

Dwight Schrute: "I don't have a lot experience with vampires, but I have hunted warewolves. I shot one once. But by the time I got to it, it had turned back into my neighbor's dog."

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