weddings and weekly goals

Recovering from a very fun and busy weekend. I think I need to be in bed by 9pm today to really start to feel 100% again. I am getting too old!!

Saturday morning Jackson had soccer (he scored 3 goals!) and then I was off to get my hair did.  A few quick errands and I was on my way home to clean up a bit and start to get things ready for the kids sleepover and for the wedding we were going to. The kids were SOOOOOOOO excited to have Kelly coming over for a sleepover. For two days straight we talked about all the fun things they wanted to do with her, and she did not disappoint. I am beyond lucky to have Kelly in my life and to be such a great friend to help us out on this weekend. (I owe you dinner!!)

We needed Kelly to sleep over because we were attending another wonderful friends wedding.  It was open bar, and there was a shuttle bus and a decently priced hotel room, so needless to say we wanted to stay over.

The weather was beautiful  the bride stunning, and a fun mix of friends and people I know from Medford, and college friends I haven't seen since graduation.  See, my friend decided to marry a Medford boy, so I was lucky to know people on both sides of the wedding.  It was a wonderful night, everyone had a great time, and I am so happy for Cara & Jon.  They are a beautiful couple and I wish them all the happiness in the world!!

the happy couple

So, a good time was had by all, but man, I was TIRED!! I can not hang like I used to. Sunday was spent hanging with the kids and a few friends that came over for my RedBook/L'Oreal house party (more on that later) and the day ended with cuddling on the couch and "Wreck it Ralph".

Oh! And I should probably mention that for Cara's wedding I had my first ever experience with Rent the Runway. I was very happy with the way it all worked out. My dress was great, and I loved the bracelet I got with it as well (it just happened to be called "Cara" so I had to get it for the wedding!).  If you haven't tried out Rent the Runway I highly recommend it!


And now Monday is here. And that means a new list of goals to achieve (hopefully!!)

I know...it's a lot. But there isn't anything on here that I probably couldn't bust out in one night..well...aside from running 3x. I mean, I could run 3x in one day, but that wouldn't be good for anyone.

So, I'm totally stealing the "in bed by 10:30" from Roo over at Neon Fresh, and I'm going to try to start to follow Natalie's training plan over at DRB. We'll see how both of those go. Oh. And i SERIOUSLY need to do our family year book, and I want to get the kids new bikes, but those can easily be pushed to next week.

So, did you all do anything fun this weekend? Any good goals for this week?? What are you going to work on for your Spring Pinterest challenge?!?

spend fast

So it's January, and this month's "To Do" is a money diet.  Well, it's going to be way more hard core than that my friends, it's going to be a Spending Fast.

First step is to take the "Get Out of Debt Pledge"...done!

Second step it so make a list of wants & needs, or things I won't spend money on and things I will. So, without further ado...

aw crab! totally forgot to put preschool/childcare on there, but I feel like that's a no brainer..

**updated...double aw crab..forgot to add races to my can spend list. I think Liss and I are going to do 4 this year, so those are on my okay to spend list

So, just to be clear, this doesn't in any way effect Mike's spending "allowance".  This is me, trying to reign in the spending, and since I do most of the household spending (not just on myself, but house things, groceries, kid things, etc.) this is more about me than him. (though I am CONVINCED we could turn off cable for a month..he's not on board..but I'm working on him.)  Also, I'm giving myself a $40 a month (yup..that's $10 a week baby!) allowance..mainly to use to buy personal things (aka, hygiene products, you're welcome) and just so I don't totally go off the grid.  I can spend it or save it up for next month, or whatever, but that's it. $40 a month.  Luckily, I have a gift certificate to get my hair cut/colored, so that will last me a bit, and I also have a gift card left for AMC, so I MAY be able to squeeze in a movie.  The only other "crazy" spending will be on me and Mike's birthday, which is when we go out for a nice meal. We NEVER go out, like ever, so this is our one ( well two) times a year to live it up (aka, no kids and home by 11).

As for how long this lasts, I want to commit to at least 3 months. If I can survive that I'll do another 3 and so on.  Ideally I'd like to keep this up throughout 2013 so fingers crossed!!  To keep myself accountable, each month I'll do a breakdown of what I was able to save and put towards debt, and post it up here so that you can all revel in my greatness...okay..maybe a high five or a "good job!" would work too.

Hope you all had a super wonderful New Year's. Let's do this 2013!!!!

Also, I spent like 2 hours on Monday learning about shooting in A or S with my camera, only to go home and not be able to get it to work. I need a tutor for this thing....

I survived Christmas!!!!

huzzah!! Christmas is over!!! It is summer yet? All I want to do is to go to Rhode Island and play in the sand...

But, before I do that there is LOTS and LOTS to catch up on. Christmas was awesome and there will be lots of fun photos to come. The kids were pumped and loved all of their gifts, but I got the best gift of all. For reals. A REAL GROWN UP DSLR CAMERA!! I can not even tell you. I have wanted one since I had Jackson.  My parents, sister & brother in law and aunt and uncle all pitched in and got me a Nikon DS3100.  I have taken 257 photos with it so far and two of them are great. HA! Needless to say, I'll be reading The Pioneer Woman's photography tutorials for the next century so I can figure this baby out.

So, here we are, the final day of 2012. I am so BRING IT ON for 2013. Really, I'm pumped. Lots I want to do this coming year and accomplish.  So, in the spirit of getting things done, here is my "to do" list for 2013.

Yeah...so I don't have anything for October yet. Perhaps that will be my month of rest.

So, as you can see January is the money diet.  I stumbled across that over here at Happy Simple Living.  Then in some other internet adventures I found this site and was like.. YESSSS!!!!  So, I have a bunch more to share about how I'll be doing the diet using all the fun tips/tricks from And Then We Saved, but you'll have to wait for that until next year. Okay, I have to go shopping now before I'm cut off for a while ;)

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!! See you in 2013!!!!