Farewell to 2013!

Don't ask me how... but it's already New Year's Eve! Every year on this day, I think back to the past 12 months and wonder where on earth the time has gone. This year brought so many good things! To name a few...

• Thomas and I bought our first car
• I got my first full-time job (and another one 5 months later)
• I have my own classroom
• Thomas graduated from college
• We moved into our first home

... and those are just the highlights! 

One thing I try to do at the end of each December, while reflecting on the past year, is to make goals for the upcoming one. I'm not a huge fan of "New Year's Resolutions," because I think that those are mostly forgotten in the first few weeks of January. Most resolutions seem to be empty promises that we make to ourselves. They are vague, not backed by much determination, and not given a time frame during which we want to accomplish them.

My goals, on the other hand, are determined by month. I'll go into details in another post, but I have certain things that I want to accomplish during each month (or few months) of the upcoming year. While these goals might be a bit lofty, they are things that I am excited to go after and succeed in! 

What are your feelings on New Year's Resolutions? Do you love them? Hate them? Are you somewhere in between? 

Thoughts on Frozen Pizza

About a month ago, Thomas and I were grocery shopping at Walmart. It was the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and we were planning a trip home, so we didn't need much food for the few days we would be home. We grabbed a frozen pizza, with the intent of saving it for Wednesday night. We planned for Thomas to throw it in the oven before I got home from work, and we would eat it as a quick dinner before hitting the road.

When we were done grocery shopping, we had several other errands to run. By the time we got home, brought the groceries inside, put them away, and cleaned up the kitchen, it was evening (around 7:30PM). We were both totally exhausted, and we were hungry. I asked Thomas what he wanted for dinner, and he asked me,

"Can't we just heat up the frozen pizza?"

Immediately, I was furious. Doesn't he think I can cook? Does he hate the food I prepare? Why does he want a frozen pizza? It is better than the pizza I make? I'll bet he hates my cooking. What is wrong with him? What is wrong with me?

I allowed these thoughts to crowd my head until I finally had to go sit in a quiet room, alone, for a few minutes.** Why in the world was I so upset?! It was just a frozen pizza, after all! We were both hungry and tired, and it was a simple solution. 

Eventually, I came to a realization: 

I had a serious case of Internet Envy, and it was causing me to think horrible things about myself.

You see, I have a tendency to immerse myself in social media. Being so busy at work and so tired when I get home doesn't allow me to go out often, so I love seeing other peoples' pictures on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I don't obsess, but I do check them frequently during my down time. I am also an avid fan of Pinterest. I could spend hours and hours browsing Pinterest and hardly notice the time passing!

On these social media sites, I see people sharing their best pictures. Their best moments. Their best experiences. I see annoying selfies, home-cooked meals, DIY projects, cute outfits, and lots of other wonderful things. But... you don't see people posting pictures of the frozen pizzas that they bought and threw into the oven. You just don't. When I compared myself to these people, I came up short... really short. 

(Insert short joke here.)

At that moment, sitting in a dark room alone, I had to remind myself to not compare myself (and my current situation) to those people online who I may or may not even know! 

I had to tell myself that nobody is perfect, regardless of how their Instagram pictures look. Everyone's life looks better in heavily-filtered pictures.

I had to realize that, even though my Pinterest home page is overflowing with healthy recipes, people are still serving and eating quick meals like frozen pizzas. 

I had to understand that I was not a bad wife for popping a frozen meal into the oven for one night.

So, Thomas and I ate frozen pizza that night. (Well, okay. We cooked it first!) And, do you know what? It was delicious. I was glad that I didn't have to cook, and I was even more glad that I didn't have to clean up the kitchen after cooking! And, while I don't plan on making frozen dinners a habit, I was just fine with it.

**Please note that I have a tendency to be very over dramatic when I am tired and/or hungry.**

Surprise Disney World Trip!

As some of you may have seen in my previous post, I surprised my husband on Christmas Eve with a trip to Disney World! We are leaving on March 28 and will return April 2. I am especially excited for this trip because A) Thomas has never been to Disney World before and B) my dad is coming with us!

(Image courtesy of Google)

I asked my dad to come along on our trip because I have great memories in Disney World with him and the rest of my family! We used to vacation there before my parents split, and it was a blast. After I told my dad about my plans to take Thomas, we would tease Thomas constantly with all of our stories about our visits there, and Thomas finally said, "Bill, when we go to Disney World, I want you to come with us!" He just didn't know it would be so soon! :)

So, how does one plan an entire surprise vacation for someone who is living with them? It ain't easy; I'll tell you that! Here are some of the things I did to organize and plan our secret trip!

Saving money: This was the hardest part! Obviously, a trip to Disney World isn't cheap. I started saving in late July (when I decided on Thomas' Christmas present). I had a little coffee tin that I hid in my bedside drawer, where I would put dollar bills and spare change. That worked until early September, when Thomas found the coffee tin! By that time, it had several hundred dollars, so I told him that it was for his Christmas gift and that he was more than welcome to add to it. He did! :)

Another thing I did was a little more sneaky... since I write our budget and pay the bills each month, I was able to subtract money without him really noticing. Sometimes, I'd take out $100 and he was blissfully unaware. 

I also began selling things on eBay and put all of that money directly into the Disney World fund. I plan to continue selling until the day that we leave for our trip! Hey, every little bit counts!

Making reservations: This part was much easier for me, since my dad is also coming with us. I sent him all of the money I had saved, and he made the reservations for us! Since my dad is retired from the US Air Force, we are staying in a special military resort on Disney property, and he was actually the only one who was able to make the reservation.

We chose the dates easily, because those are the days of my spring break from preschool. My dad requested for vacation, and I emailed Thomas' boss to request the days off for him. His boss was very understanding and helpful about the whole thing, which was very helpful! Thanks, Patrick!

The big surprise: I had been building up Thomas' Christmas gift for months and months! He knew that it was big and expensive, but I had convinced him that it was an iPad. (Note: I only did this because I knew [FOR SURE] that he would be much happier with a Disney trip! I would have never tried to tell him that if the gift was less exciting than an iPad. That would be mean!)

I decided to tell Thomas about the trip by way of his Christmas stocking stuffers. I purchased things like a water bottle, a Mickey Mouse calendar, travel candy, etc. (My sister helped out and bought him an Oregon Ducks drawstring bag, too!) I put all of those things into his stocking, and, at the bottom, put an envelope containing our hotel reservation. We opened gifts on Christmas Eve with my dad, and I wish I could have recorded his reaction! Thomas is so genuinely excited for this trip, and was even more excited when I told him that my dad was coming along with us!

To end this post, here is a picture of my sister, my cousin, and me in 2001 during our Disney World trip. I'm the awkward-looking one in the orange belly shirt! 

Happy weekend!

Christmas Week!

My.

Oh.

My.

 This week has been absolutely crazy! Here's a quick rundown:

 Monday: I worked at the daycare from 8AM-4:30PM. The kids were absolutely NUTS (as I had expected), and I was thoroughly exhausted by the time I got home. Thomas and I decided to leave for our home home that night), so we packed everything quickly, collected the cat, and were off! Poor Leia had a horrible time in the car and puked several times. Thomas started off holding her while I drove, but we soon had to switch places because she is much more calm when I hold her. We made it home safe and sound, and then slept for about 10 hours.

Tuesday: Christmas Eve! We started the day doing some last-minute shopping with my dad, and then we went to lunch. After that, we went to see Thomas' family for a few hours... and then, we went to my family's Christmas party. This was super special to me, because I hadn't been to this party since I was in high school! It was a great time. Santa even showed up! Here he is with my sweet Grammy:

After the party, we went back to Thomas' parents house and spent a few hours there, playing on the Wii and having a great time! Then, we went to visit my dad at work, where I gave Thomas his Christmas gift... 

a trip to DISNEY WORLD! 

We are going at the end of March. I can't wait!! We also presented my dad with his Christmas gift, which was a DVD player! We bought him a series of DVD's last year and then his player broke... but now he can finally watch them! :)

Wednesday: Christmas morning! We got up super early to watch Thomas' niece open gifts at his parents' house. We got lots of gift cards (including Disney money for our trip!) and spent the morning laying around and talking. We left around 1PM and went to see my dad, my grandparents, and my other grandparents! That night, we watched the movie Warm Bodies and ate gas station snacks, because no other place was open!

Thursday: or, should I say, "Shop until you drop" day! We left home at 9AM and went to Pittsburgh to shop... and didn't get home until 10PM! I bought all kinds of things with my gift cards (plus the ones from my mom! Thanks mommy!) The haul included... a leather jacket (on sale for $22 from $90!), 7 bottles of Bath and Body Works body wash, a new pair of jeans (which, by the way, were the first ones I tried on... HOLLA!), a cardigan, a scarf, 3 curtain panels (because the cat destroyed our other curtains), and a stocking for Leia with the letter L on it! Thomas and I also ate at Longhorn Steakhouse, which was delicious!

Friday: Plans for today include seeing more family, a little more shopping, and packing up because we leave tomorrow. It's a bittersweet feeling! I love being home and seeing family, but I also love being in my own home with my husband and Leia.

This is also the first Christmas season I have spent entirely without seeing my mom, who recently moved to Arizona with her husband and my sister. We are planning for her to come and visit in early March, and I absolutely can't wait!!!

I hope that everyone had the merriest of Christmases!

A little housekeeping!

I am so excited that I finally updated the look of this old blog! I'm hoping that the new look will inspire me to keep coming back and writing! I think I'm going to make it a goal of mine to write 4 posts every week for 2014. I've gotta start somewhere- right? :)