Monday, January 17, 2011

Check This Out!

I almost fell off my chair at work today when I was stalking  checking out one of my favorite decorating websites, Apartment Therapy.  You see, a few weeks ago, I was cleaning and organizing the house and decided to pull out my camera to take some pics.  On a total whim, I submitted 5 photos and filled out the submission form to be featured on the website.  Never in my wildest dreams did I expect anything to come of it.  But then today, I was clicking around on my lunch hour and there it was!  My house!  Yeah baby!

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/house-tours/melanies-farmhouse-house-call-135639

Here are the pics I submitted:

















How much fun is that?!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

I Can't Believe I am Posting This

. . . .but I was cleaning up the pictures on my computer and came across this picture taken of me when I went skydiving a couple of years ago. . . .


Isn't that kinda gross how my skin is all weird like that?  I guess that's what happens when you jump from a perfectly good airplane. . .

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Happy New Year




I've been thinking about this post for a few days now.  I thought about posting about the highlights of the past year, listing my resolutions; you know--a new year, fresh start and all of that.  But I really just want to recap the past couple of weeks, ummmkay?  So here are a few tidbits.

1. In my dark cloud of pregnancy woes (or rather, lack of pregnancy woes), I failed to announce the arrival of a new little bambino in the family.  Yes, Brother # 2, Neil and my sister-in-love Gina have a new little bundle of awesomeness.  His name is Leo and he is perfect.  Throughout the pregnancy, they thought they were going to name him Kyle, but once they saw him, the did not think he looked like a Kyle.  Where the name Leo came from is anyone's guess, but I like it.  On a side note--I am pretty sure that if or when I become pregnant and Country and I pick out names, I will probably want to keep them to myself.  It seems everyone has an opinion and expecting women do not want to hear that you knew a kid in 4th grade with that name that beat you up on the playground.  Moving on, I am super happy for them.




2.)  I just finished reading this book: 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think


In a nutshell, we all have 168 hours per week and it poses the question:  Are we using those 168 hours the best ways we can?  Obviously we need to work, eat, sleep, perhaps take care of children.  But after that, this book makes us think about how we really want to fill those remaining hours.  Do we really want to be scrubbing the toilet every Saturday, or is there a better way?  In this new year I intend to apply what I learned from this book; that I want to spend more time exercising, reading, meeting up with friends and family, and crafting.  Some ways that I can put this into motion is by bringing my reading to work.  I get an hour for lunch and usually am done eating after about 15-20 minutes.  Usually I wander around the Internet aimlessly for the remaining time but if I bring my books and magazines with me, I can squeeze in some extra reading.  I also recently bought an elliptical machine.  I know that I am not a morning exercise person, mainly because my long hair is a pain to dry so I usually like to shower at night.  I am now making a date with myself to exercise when I get home from work at least 3 times a week. 

3.)  Weeds is our new obsession.  Country and I recently downgraded our cable and signed up for Netflix.  At the suggestion of my co-worker, I started watching Weeds from Season 1.  I think this has to be one of the best shows I have ever seen.  Country agrees.  We have been having Weeds marathons, watching hours at a time.  Good think the elliptical is parked in front of the TV!  Oh, and for New Years?  You betcha, we watched while bringing in the new year.

4.)  And finally . . . .we're going to Ireland!  This has been a dream of mine since before I can remember (and especially since I watched the movie P.S. I Love You).  Well, a couple of weeks ago a package deal came up on my favorite website, Travelzoo.  It was such a good deal.  Across town, my dad had mentioned to my mom how much he wanted to go to Ireland.  After my mom fell off her chair and got back up, she told him that there was a deal posted that very day.  So, Country and I are going with my mom and dad!  We leave at the end of March, so it will still be cool there, but hey, we're not going there to hang out at the beach. 

So now, off to read a book about Ireland while I work out on the elliptical.  Happy New Year everyone.