Friday Five!

{gorgeous winter sunrise - from inside my office!}

I really love vacations. I love the sun. I love getting away. Oddly, I love plane rides (I get stupid excited over packing my carry-on). I love traveling. I love exploring. But, honestly, above all, I love being home. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely agree with the occasional getaway to recharge batteries and unwind, but the second I walked through our front door after our drive home from the Chicago airport, which at times was terrifyingly blizzard-y, I was SO happy. Maybe it’s because the drive was so scary that I just wanted to be on solid ground. Maybe it’s because I love my bed. Maybe it’s because we’ve been going non-stop since we moved into our house and haven’t had the chance to really enjoy it. Who knows?  The vacation was the best of my life, but I was relieved to not have a bad case of the post-vacation blues, and in fact feel joy when I returned home and to real life.

This week went by fast, just in time for another weekend. It’s bittersweet to have all of those festivities behind us, but exciting for everything else. Life is exciting. I can’t wait to see what happens next.  

Happy Chinese New Year!

Friday Forte: 

(pretty much listened to this song on repeat during the honeymoon)

{yay! These little guys have been on the wishlist for years! Thanks Mom!!}

{chop chop! Finally took the plunge and cut my hair shorter than it’s been since middle school! I’m hell bent on learning how to style it}

{my favorite corner in the whole house}

{all gray outfit with a pop of pink… oh hey look the bathroom floor got the memo}

Circuit Training – Monthly Fit Test

Let’s start the year off with a bang, shall we?! When my group at work was doing the Insanity challenge, we had an every-three-week “fit test” to track our progress. This reminded me of “conditioning tests” we would have when I was a gymnast. I HATED those. They were the most dreaded thing about my entire quarter. But for some reason, I liked the Insanity fit test. I think it’s because as a gymnast, we were required to do as many of each move as we could in sitting, without stopping. So literally until you drop (we’d do pushups until we dropped then we would have to move over to the bars and do pullups until we dropped, etc etc etc.). It was pure torture. BUT, the Insanity fit test is different. It’s still tough, but at least there is an end in sight. The object of the game is to do as many of each individual move as you can in 1 minute (there are 8 total moves).

This is way more doable in my book.

So with that being said, let’s do this people! Start off in January! End each month with this workout and track your progress throughout the year. You can do this test as much as you like (I’m planning on once a month). In general, this “test” is just a good overall workout and tracking your progress is a bonus fun way of challenging yourself J But don’t be discouraged if you have good months and bad months…. That’s just how the game goes.

You can download your very own sheet right here. 

Your task, if you choose to accept it (come on Court, you know you're intrigued)... you can view the video here! P.S I totally recommend using the video because I think it keeps me in line and makes me work harder!

Good Luck!!

Marriage Diaries – Honeymoon Edition!

Mexico was Paradise (Paradise Village to be exact... the same place as last year). We arrived in Puerto Vallarta pale, thirsty, married and in love… we left tan and in much need of a detox, but still married and in love. It was a perfect vacation filled to the brim with sunning and relaxing, as well as adventure, tourist'ing and smooching.

We made a lot of friends. We drank a lot of margaritas (me) & bulls (him). We walked the beach (almost) daily. We soaked up a lot of rays. We jumped on beds. We played with parrots. We honeymooned :)

“Toes in my Sand” (inside joke) was our quote of the week, but quickly changed to “Toes in my Snow” roughly 19 seconds after we arrived back in Michigan. But we don’t care. Nothing can take away from that trip. It is forever imbedded in my mind as the most romantic vacation of my life. As it should be…

What should our next vacation be?

(i recommend listening to this song while you look through the pictures :))

{first cocktails at our favorite tiki bar, Mayapan}

{RIGHT after we checked in, pale smoochies before kicking off a great vacay}

{I was so close to winning!}

{this is what you do...}

{morning walks... spiked coffee & bloody's in hand}

{we made friends}

{Mexican night... oh my...}

{dancin...}

{gorgeous view... words can't describe how beautiful this resort is}

{there was a balloon guy! the balloon he made for Max was slightly inappropriate}

{honeymooners}

{got some suggestions for local sushi when a serious craving struck!}

{not a care in the world!}

{Fajia Republic! a little blurry but such a delicious place (where I didn't realize I actually ordered wings and quesadillas... whoops}

{we had a ball making up drinking ping pong games}

{the oh-so-entertaining Activity Crew... we actually made friends with them too... blame it on the boogie ;)}

Until next time Paradise Village!

Friday Five!

{sneak peek of the gallery wall… this statement is pretty much the mantra of our weekends}

Happy Friday indeed! This week went by fast (yay for busy work days to keep me occupied}.

I finished up a big project at work (HUGE) during the day, and spend my evenings preparing for MEXICO. Everything from packing, to last minute shopping, to cleaning was on the to-do list. I love nothing more than coming home to a clean house after a trip (I get this from my Mom) so each evening a different cleaning task took place. It feels really good to leave knowing all the trash is in the dumpster, the bathrooms are clean, the floors are vacuumed and the kitchen is sparkly.

Now we can taxi down the runway tomorrow (EARLY!) morning, breakfast bloody in hand, truly ready to enjoy every second of the vacation! If only we were flying first class… one day!?

Sorry people (to whom it may concern…J), I might be taking a slight hiatus from blog posting until we get back. Maybe I’ll find time for a blog post or two between cocktail sipping, relaxing by the pool, sliding down alligator mouths, getting serenaded by mariachi bands, boogie boarding in the ocean and watching sunsets… but no promises! 

                                                                Friday Forte:

(i envision our honeymoon video montage to this song)

{meet Founder… he’s our “founding” gnome in the house and named after Founders Brewing where they have countless gnome statues hidden everywhere}

{picking up fish food turned into playing with the kitties at the pet store!}

{this is my Sunday sweatshirt… and what I wore with fleece lined leggings and beanies all last weekend!}

{“Garbage Soup” aka refrigerator clean-out! it’s a gift that I can eat soup for lunch and dinner an entire week and be completely satisfied!}

Bedroom Inspiration – Part II

You can see the first installment here.

So I've been putting the pressure on Max for us to start thinking about changing our bedroom. I’m really not a fan of the color it is now, even though it seems to be liked among our friends and family (god knows why!), but after giving this some careful thought, I decided that I’m willing to work with the current color (light-sky’ish-blue), ONLY IF we change a few things. The color really is quite bright, and takes a lot of focus, so what I would prefer is everything else in the room to be more neutral (white bedding, reclaimed wood backboard, contemporary bedside tables, etc etc). Not to mention I want to do some reorganization… 

Here are some images that are currently inspiring. All images can be found on my Pinterest board “c h a t e a u” and “o u r  n e w h o m e”.

P.S. Happy Birthday MLK (tomorrow)!

{i guess i can make the light blue thing work...}

Monday Motivators!

My husband has been out of town for a few days and is arriving home today. This was my first time staying in the big house by myself and I really thought I'd be more scared and lonely.

Well, I was missing my husband, but I had these two beautiful furry creatures to keep me warm, safe, comfortable and happy.

It's no secret that having a pet does amazing things for a person's mental stability and well-being. I am lucky to have a husband to fill my life with companionship and love, so having TWO pets is an overwhelming gift.

Jackson & Apple are motivating me this Monday morning...

Boy, do I love to snuggle with my doggies.

 Their love is some of the best medicine! 

So, give that dog or cat of yours an extra squeeze this morning and tell them how glad you are to have them in your life!