Stay at Home Date Night

Mondays are a rough day for me. I have to head off to work while Tony has every Monday off. By about 2PM I'm usually jealous that he's had the whole day off to run errands, hang out with the pups, and just get things done. Today we were chatting about evening plans and we decided to have an earlyish dinner, watch the first movie off our Top 100 and get him to sleep in time for me to watch Bachelorette.

It was the best night. I could come straight home after work since I had worked out at lunch. Dinner was about 5 minutes to being ready, just enough time for me to pour a bottle of red into the decanter we got as a wedding gift.

Dinner was Mediterranean salad, chicken, and potatoes, nothing fancy, just the way we like it. We cleaned up the kitchen when we were done eating and made our way to the couch. We settled in to watch Citizen Kane (it was very good) and got Tony all tucked in before 8:30. We definitely decided that this is a good way to watch all of those classic movies to get through on The List. Yummy dinner, good wine out of the fancy decanter and glasses and all before 8. This will have to become a regular occurrence. Yay Mondays!!!!

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How I Came to Blog

I didn't really get "blogging" and why people blogged and what it was all about. Then I got engaged. One day searching for some wedding inspiration I came across Weddingbee.com. That was it. I was hooked, it was my crack. I faithfully logged in everyday (often 5 or 6 times a day) and read every word that was written. I started clicking on links that the Bees would post of other blogs or their own blogs. A year later my google reader has 21 blogs listed. Whenever I finish a task at work or just need a mental break, I click into my reader and submerse myself into someone else's world. One of these days I might actually leave a comment on some of my favorites and get someone to read about MY world!!!

Now that I'm married I thought I would be done with The Bee. Unfortunately an addict can't quit cold turkey. I love reading the recaps of the weddings I read about in their planning stages and sending ideas to my engaged friends. I have subscribed to several of the married Bees' personal blogs and love reading about their newlywed lives.

As I'm trying to move away from wedding blogs and into the next phase of my life, I'm looking for decorating blogs. I currently subscribe to decor8 and Unclutterer. Both fun homemaking blogs, but I'm looking for more, MORE!!! Any good ones I'm missing out there? I'm on a budget, so I need ideas more about using what I already have or using cheapy finds to spruce up the home.

101 in 1001

So on one of my favorite blogs I saw a post about setting 101 goals to accomplish in 1001 days. So I took a couple of weeks and began to make my list. It was hard to come up with 101 things but as soon as I set the official list and began the challenge, I kept thinking of more! So here it is:

The Mission:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).

Why 1001 Days?
Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple goals such as New Year's resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.

Start Date: July 2, 2009
End Date: March 28, 2012 (Our 3rd wedding anniversary)

Be Techy:

1. Start a blog
2. Track progress of this list on the blog with at least 25 entries about the list (0/25)
   
3. Have a following of 50 people on blog (0/50)
4. Meet one online friend in person
5. Get an iPhone
6. Upload all photos on computer to online albums
7. Put pictures from camera into online albums as events happen

Be Healthy:

1. Get to 20% body fat
2. Run ½ marathon
3. Lose 15 lbs (0/15)
   
4. Shred It for 30 days (0/30)
5. Run 1001 miles (0/1001)
6. Use Weight Watchers for 3 weeks straight, no cheating
   
7. Work out three times a week for a month
8. Drink 8 glasses of water everyday for 3 weeks
9. Floss everyday for a month
10. Eat recommended fruits and vegetables for a week
11. Take a multi vitamin everyday for a month (0/30)
12. Go one week without soda
13. No drinking for 30 consecutive days
14. No TV Mon-Fri for one week
15. Take the dogs for 25 extended lunch time walks days on nice days (0/25)
16. Go to dentist every six months for check up and cleaning (0/6)
17. Get pups to healthy weight and maintain with them. Sid <>

Be Artsy:

1. Watch 10 movies pre-1970 (0/10)
2. Read 5 non fiction books (0/5)
3. Read 10 books of my choosing (0/10)
4. Watch Top 100 Movies (0/100)
5. Attend a comedy show
6. Attend a play in the city
7. Enjoy a show at Wolf Trap on the lawn

Be Philanthropic:

1. Purge and donate clothes 3 times (0/3)
2. Donate blood
3. Donate hair
4. But a Christmas gift for a child in need
5. Donate to THON twice (0/2)
6. Visit THON
   
7. Volunteer for a Presidential Campaign

Be Frugal:

1. Eat in for 2 straight weeks, 3 meals a day
2. No credit card debt
3. Sell something on E-Bay
4. Put money each month into Down payment fund prior to house purchase (0/33)
   
5. Buy a house
6. Find a renter for our condo
   
7. Create and follow a budget for one month
8. Follow cash only plan for 2 months
   
9. Put $5 into Savings for each completed task and $10 for each uncompleted (0/101)
10. Buy a bike
11. Win money at a Craps table and walk away
12. Increase 401k contributions by 1% each year on birthday, up to 10%
    

Be a Wife:

1. Go to Virginia restaurants on Top 100, http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/restaurants/11525.html
2. Dress up and go out with husband once a month (0/33)
3. Go to a fancy Sunday brunch
4. Create wedding books for parents
5. Get a new passport
6. Visit 5 states (0/5)
7. Travel to Canada
8. Go to King's Dominion
9. Read 5 Love Languages
10. Approve Wedding Album
11. Be wedding sized or smaller on each anniversary
12. Write review for Chris Wells, wedding coordinator
13. Spend a long weekend at a B&B

Be Domestic:

1. Finish painting condo (entry, kitchen, living room) (0/3)
   
2. New carpets for condo
3. Research and if feasible, new blinds for condo
4. Prepare fancy five course meal for Tony and I one weekend
5. Try 3 recipes from Mom's cookbook (0/3)
6. Try 5 new recipes from gifted cook books (0/5)
7. Have one signature dish besides Mac & Cheese
   
8. Bake cake or cupcakes for 5 birthdays (0/5)
9. Have fresh flowers in house for 4 weeks (0/4)
10. Hang up framed invite and wedding pictures in bedroom
11. Rotate pictures in frames throughout the house
12. Completely clean and purge bathroom and kitchen cabinets three times (0/3)
13. Keep the kitchen counters clean for 5 straight days
14. Buy a new couch
15. Do my part to keep the bedroom clean for a week
16. Buy a king sized bed
17. Drink red wine from fancy carafe
18. Wash, dry, fold and put away clothes in one day fifteen times (0/15)
    

Be A Fan:

1. See a Pens game outside of Washington
2. Go to a home Cardinals game
3. Go to a Braves game
4. Go to three Penn State football games
5. Take Tony to a Nascar race
   

Just Be Better:

1. Send Christmas cards to friends and family
2. Send out 25 snail mail correspondence (0/25)
   
3. Do makeup for work for two weeks (0/10)
4. Take mom out to lunch once a month (0/33)
5. Pick fruit from an orchard
6. Go on a vacation with friends
7. Buy one thing from RueLaLa
8. Earn 2,000 diner points on OpenTable (400/2,000)
   
9. Submit a secret to Post Secret
10. Wear a dress to work each day for a week (0/5)
11. Visit Happy Valley for the Annual Beer Festival
12. Complete a Power Hour
    
13. Eat at restaurant of two ethnicities I have never tried before (0/2)
14. Less cursing, especially watch my language at work
15. Ask more about others than they ask about me in conversations

So I'm 12 days in and I have a blog up and running!!! I hope to buy my iPhone by the end of the month, checking things off! As you can see from the different categories, I'm trying to get to be pretty well rounded (and I'm not talking about my figure). My dream is that by the time this is over I'll be settled and a little bit more grown up and a little bit more mature. A lot of these things, especially in the Be Healthy category, are only for a month, but I'm hoping that they month will lead to a new healthy habit. Wish me luck and I'll post updates as to what has gotten accomplished!!!

Here's A Story...

Of a lovely lady and her new husband.

Tony and I got married in March and have been enjoying 3 1/2 months of absolute wedded bliss. We lived together before our wedding so not much as far as our daily lives and routines have changed, but being married just makes everything so much BETTER. I love waking up in the morning to him and knowing that we have chosen each other forever. It's the bees knees.

So a little about us. We live about 35 minutes out of our Nation's Capital. We both grew up in the area, went to neighboring high schools about five years apart and had to leave and come back before we ever met each other. We love our little town and love discovering all it has to offer. While we have friends that live closer to the city or the more metropolitan areas, we wouldn't leave our little corner of the world for anything.

We have a one bedroom condo and two little mini dachshunds. We are saving for a townhouse to purchase in about a year to give us all a bit more breathing room. We are just trying to figure out how to plan out the rest of our lives and get as comfortable as we can as quickly as we can. I for one would like to quit working for "the man" in 10 years (or less) and figure out a way to make some cash doing something I actually could be passionate about.

For now I'd like to just share a little of our journey and figure out this blogging thing, so stick around, it should be a good time...