un/inspired

i'm feeling so uninspired.

--i started a bootcamp thing and it is kicking my butt. all i want to do is sleeeeeep.
--drew has been working lots and lots.
--the rain has come back to visit us.
--i am in a cooking dinner rut. what in the world do you have for dinner? i feel like i can only have fajitas a few more times before I flip out.
--and laundry? does it seriously ever end? don't answer that.

anyways...

so in my BLAH Lindsay mood, I have decided to share with you three links that I have favorite-ed lately and just keep going back to.

1.) THIS PURSE

Better Life Bags. Just read their mission statement. They rent sewing machines and supplies to underpriviledges woman who make these bags. and the bags are freaking cute! On my birthday wish list for this year (drewwwww :)

We hire women, who otherwise cannot get jobs, to work for BLB.  We rent them a sewing machine and tools while teaching them a skill set that allows them to become a primary or secondary provider in their families.  Most of these women are first generation immigrants from countries such as Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, and Yemen, so we are also able to provide them with much needed fellowship and friendship as we visit their homes to deliver fabric and pick up orders.

2.) THESE BOOKS

these May books are all the rage in the bloggy world right now. You pick the cover, monograms,  the colors inside, the style, planner, mealplanner, notebook whatever!

3.) THIS STORY

our wedding photographer and her husband have been trying to adopt  another addition to their family. Her blog post from this weekend made my heart hurt, but left me inspired at the same time.


:)

eagle watching

drew had to go into work today so all week he was talking about how on Saturday he was going to do absolutley nothing and just watch college basketball on the couch. 

so saturday morning rolls around, Drew is still snoring away while I have already cleaned the house, eaten breakfast and was reading the newspaper. 

the front page just happened to talk about how today was one of the best eagle watching days of the year. They feed on salmon from the river around 11 AM...

hmmm....

so I decided to wake Drew up and tell him that this is a once a year opportunity to go see the eagles. 

i wish you could have seen the look he gave me when I proposed the idea. like i had just suggested the most horrible idea in the entire world.

He probably wouldn't want to do this ever, but it was 10 AM on saturday morning, raining outside and it was his ONE day off the whole week. and I wanted to go bird watching. hahahaha.

i won. 

off we went. 

it doesn't look like we were very close but it was amazing!

even drew had fun, even thought he won't admit it. :) 

cleaning house

the little house we live in has been passed down. even my parents lived in it right after they got married. My great aunts, uncles, cousins... same. 

most recently as I have mentioned, my auntie and her FOUR daughters called it home. 

a year ago our room was painted purple and covered with justin beiber posters and was home to two teenagers :)

i want to always remember what our first little home looked like as newlyweds. 

and since I spent the entire day yesterday cleaning, I figured it would be a good day to take some pictures. 

I HAVE HAD MY CAMERA FOR OVER TWO YEARS AND STILL CANNOT FIGURE OUT HOW TO USE IT. the lighting just throws me all off. so excuse the weird darkness. 

coming in to the master bedroom from the hallway. why hello cheap shelf that is connected in the middle. notice how the top half is a liiiitle crooked? ugh. 

 i am such a wuss and too scared to hang anything on the way above our bed. any ideas on something that wouldn't kill us if it fell?!

$15 dollar lamps and fun nightstands my mom found at a thrift store. amazing what a little paint can do. :) 

drew picked out our bedspread. :) i like the orange accent color. 

 fun bright carpet to cheer things up a bit. 

as you may have noticed I LOVE words. sayings, quotes anything. 

so this made its way into our room. I love it. :) 

so thankful for a "sturdy" :) home perfect for us right now :) 

10 years later

#10yearslater

photo cred: holly aprecio on our wedding day

okay. do yourself a favor. READ THIS ARTICLE from this month's Self Magazine.

read it.
read it.

it looks kinda long but it takes less than 5 minutes. i promise, promise, promise that you will be glad you did.

and to all my teacher friends:

make your students write letters and send them to them 10 years later? for me? okay :)

I think the biggest lesson I took from that letter was that I do have one obligation to myself, one that my 17-year-old naïve self somehow knew to articulate and my 27-year-old self suddenly understood: I need to love and respect my process of self-discovery. Because it's exactly that: aprocess. I should feel comfortable that my experiences are learning moments teaching me step-by-step how to love and embrace me, cellulite and all. That even if the progress is subtle, it's there, and I'm doing the best I can. And I think—no, I know—that's something to be proud of.

fidalgo bay

happenings

drew has mastered cinnamon rolls from the can. proud wife right here. 

i have been working VERY hard on growing out my hair. ha. it is finnnalllyyy longer than shoulder-length. wahooo. 

i have been busy trying to brighten up the house a little. spring? yes please. 

and drew has a new hobby. i find him peering out the blinds at deer in our yard. he is having "staring contests" with them. and these go on for at least 5 minutes at a time. Drew usually wins though. :) once again, proud wife. 

as you can see, the mcdonalds are nice and busy :)

funny boy

i love reading about funny things that kid's say.

ya know, stuff like this.

hung out with my friend's babies this last weekend and little miss evy was jumping on the chair saying, "im the queeeen, you are the PINcess." 

love it. 

buuut since I don't have any children, I don't have funny kid quotes to post so I can look back and laugh. 

but I do have something else. 

Drew-isms. 

Drew has been working out a lot lately ( i call him my trophy husband) and I think all the endorphins and extra energy has made him a little crazy and hyper. 

Like three times this week I laughed so hard I could not breath. 

Drew:" I could definitely wax your eyebrows. You don't need to go to a salon to do it. All I need is a stencil."

and he was serious. a stencil? :)

"Once we get our savings account up to where we want it, then I will relax."

me: "but what if we save, save, save and then get in a car accident and can never use it?"

drew: "you are living like YOLO and it is annoying."

he really said YOLO. that stands for you only live once. 

and this one isn't exactly something he said, but it still cracked me up. 

I started a little valentine decorating around the house and made this fun little valentine-y board.

today and yesterday i walked by it and started giggling when I saw what was written:

this one says:

i love you because:

you snore like a brown bear

and then:

i love you because:

you are bomb.com with emoticons :)

:)

very little is needed to make a happy life.

i'm kind of on one of my sunday night, "LINDSAY'S NEW AND IMPROVED LIFE STARTS TOMORROW" kick.

I want to organize every container/drawer/shelf I can get my hands on. 

every single piece of clothing we own is clean and either folded or hung up. 

breakfasts are ready to go, lunches are packed. 

running shoes are by the door ready for a EARLY morning jog. 

i have seriously probably done this 100 times in my life. (NOT JOKING.) 

there is nothing wrong with being prepared and organized, but I just have to remember I can't take it to far. I can't let organizing and planning our lives run our lives. 

i love this quote. I always seem to come across it when I am making grandiose plans for the upcoming months. 

so true. 

random things that are making me happy lately?

this cute calendar from target that was $1.50. love it sitting on my little desk.

going out to get the mail makes for very pretty photo opps on these cold winter days. 

the creative goddesses jessica and jen introduced me to this AWESOME washi tape. it is like scotch tape, but comes in fun colors and patterns. makes sticking things up SO much more fun. I think Drew is afraid of everything that is getting taped on the walls. I've been wrapping gifts with it etc. I saw that etsy had CUTE colors and such, but once again, Target :) 

wedding planning with my sister :) i am officially her maid of honor (technically matron but is that not the grossest word ever? even she couldn't bear to use it.)

so nope. no losing pounds or running lots of miles gets on this accomplishment list tonight. just stuff that is making me happy :)

what little things are making you happy?!

happy weekend!

hearts

on a clothespin obsession right now.

such handy little buggers. 

buy some. i guarantee you will find some way to use them :)

love dare continued

today the love dare got a little interesting.

we were supposed to make a list of things we don't like about our spouse and a list of things we do like.

then hide them somewhere to use for a rainy day (aka i think another love dare is going to use them) and sometime throughout the day tell your spouse one thing you like about them and how you appreciate them for being that way.

easy peasey.

case in point:

my folding drew's socks instead of balling them up inside each other (I HATE THAT SO MUCH!) and he looks at me while eating hershey kisses and says, "oh yeah. another thing to add to my negative list about you."

cute :)

he then proceeded to tell me while we were driving to the gym that "i had beautiful eyes" and he thanked me for that. :)

I complained that the list wasn't supposed to be physical characteristics but he argued it could be anything he liked about me and that is what he chose to share with me.

hahahaha.

i checked the book and he was right. So much for that, "oh lindsay I love your kind and gentle heart..." :)

so after dinner I sat down to make my list.

it was so weird. I would get on a roll with great things about my hubby and then I would think of a random "negative" thing. That would get me on a bad path and a few minutes would go with frantic writing on the negative list.

the point of this love dare? the book talked about how whatever you focus on is what you will cultivate and grow in your relationship. 

try and stay away from that negative list. or if you have to visit it occasionally, write LOVE in huge capital letters with a sharpie over it. (theoretically :)

i think drew was getting nervous because although I had written my list, I hadn't "thanked" him for any of the characteristics. Look what happens to mosey into my lap after dinner, served by Drew.

peanut butter track icecream and some wine. without me even ASKING. :)

he was sucking up ;)

i waited awhile and then thanked him for what I was going to thank him for even BEFORE the butler service. :) 

thank you Drew, for being thoughtful :) 

"your spouse is a living, breathing, endless book to be read. Dreams and hopes have yet to be realized. Talents and abilities may be discovered like hidden treasure. But the choice to explore them starts with a decision by you.

you MUST develop the habit of reigning in your negative thoughts and focusing on the positive attributes of your mate. This is a crucial step as you learn to lead your heart to truly love your spouse.

It is a decision that YOU make, whether they deserve it or not."

so yes. cheesy. cheesy. cheesy. almost as bad as Drew thanking my for having beautiful eyes or him delivering me icecream and wine. it's more fun to focus on that though, instead of his horrid laundry folding abilities. (nah, who needs their pants unwrinkled? not me. ;)

christmas tree ornament

i am in a bit of a funk. 

christmas is over. (I loooooooove the holidays).

we took off our christmas lights. :( our whole street is so dark now. I really don't understand why we can't have lights on our houses ALL year round. :) 

the rainy/dark/pacific northwest days are definitely upon us. 

EVERYONE is sick. hand sanitizer is my bff. 

i am in the midst of submitting my application to graduate school. 

i took a little unexpected break from working out during the last week or so and it is soooo hard to get back into it. motivation= zero :(

so yes. silly stupid things but you know how sometimes you wake up and are already trying to figure out if you can take a nap later in the day.

i was putting away the last of the christmas decorations when I remembered that I had left a little slice of our christmas tree trunk at my parents house, so my dad could drill a little hole in the top. ya know, one of those cute pinterest-y crafts.

i had to drop some stuff of at my parents and meant to grab our little ornament. My dad hasn't gotten around to drilling it buuuuuuut i was amazed at what I saw...

LOOK HOW CUTE THAT IS!!!!!!!

i was like, "MOOOOOOOMMMM. LOOK AT THE LITTLE TREE!"

i think she thought I was crazy but it just brightened my day.

Life is good. :) 

“When you are in the final days of your life, what will you want?  Will you hug that college degree in the walnut frame? Will you ask to be carried to the garage so you can sit in your car? Will you find comfort in rereading your financial statement? Of course not. 

What will matter then will be people. If relationships will matter most then, shouldn’t they matter most now?”

- max lucado

i dare you

since i didn't make any New Year's Resolutions this year, I felt like I had to do SOMETHING to celebrate new beginnings. That may or may not have included buying new mouthwash, a small shopping spree on new plastic organizing bins and a trip to the bookstore. 

where i got The Love Dare. 

stay with me here. I decided Drew and I were going to start it on January 1st. Yep, I decided. He had no idea what he was getting into. 

this is literally taken word for word from the first page of the book. It is actually typed in the book in all CAPITALS. hahaha. 

RECEIVE THIS AS A WARNING.

THIS 40 DAY JOURNEY CANNOT BE TAKEN LIGHTLY. 

IT IS A CHALLENGE AND OFTEN DIFFICULT PROCESS, BUT AN INCREDIBLY FULFILLING ONE. TO TAKE THIS DARE REQUIRES A RESOLUTE MIND AND A STEADFAST DETERMINATION.

IT IS NOT MEANT TO BE SAMPLED OR BRIEFLY TESTED AND THOSE WHO QUIT EARLY WILL FORFEIT THE GREATEST BENEFITS. IF YOU WILL COMMIT TO A DAY AT A TIME FOR FORTY DAYS, THE RESULTS COULD CHANGE YOUR LIFE AND YOUR MARRIAGE. 

CONSIDER IT A DARE FROM OTHERS WHO HAVE DONE IT BEFORE YOU. 

I actually was frightened to keep reading. 

I briefly explained it to Drew (not going into the potential creepiness of it) and he agreed. 

day 1:

go the entire day without saying anything negative to your spouse. 

not just ABOUT your spouse. (that's hard enough) anything NEGATIVE at all?!

our morning conversation?

"how did you sleep?"

"Oh, your snoring didn't keep me up at all."

day 2:

go the entire day without saying anything negative to your spouse AND commit a random act of kindness. 

i overslept. and ran out of milk for my honey nut cheerios. and it was COLD. and I was hungover. Ran out the door and MY CAR WINDOWS ALREADY HAD THE ICE SCRAPED OFF of them. It was seriously the greatest random act of kindness EVER :) 

I wasn't expecting Drew to do such a good job. hmm.. now I had to comeback with something really good. (not that I was comparing... ;) so I decide to travel to 4 different Redboxes and get the movie he has been dying to see. (He found out about it, because the silly Redbox sent him an email saying it had been rented.)

I ALSO decided to be the best wife ever and go pick up his car tabs that he had ordered online but needed to go pick up. He literally ordered them a month ago and kept forgetting. When I handed them to him he said, "DID YOU GET MY TABS?"

I was so proud of myself. Turns out he had ALSO gone THAT day and they couldn't find the tabs (BECAUSE I ALREADY HAD GOTTEN THEM.) The license place thought maybe they got misplaced so they gave him another set.

What are the freaking chances we both go to the license place on THE SAME DAY when they have been sitting there for a month?

aka I sucked at the random act of kindness dare and now we have two 2013 license tabs in case you need one ;)

day 3:

go the entire day without saying anything negative to your spouse AND buy them a small gift that says "I'm thinking you of"

we got in a fight about me wanting to go to mexican food and him not and Drew just kept saying "LOVE DARE, LOVE DARE". annoying. :) 

I came home to beautiful flowers. (he is good at this love dare thing so far)

we played tennis this evening. pssshhh. wanna see if you can not say anything negative to your husband? play a freaking game with them. I almost bit my tounge off because I literally had to clamp down on it to prevent from swearing and screaming at him :)

after tennis we saw a movie and on the way home we had to make a quick little stop at the grocery store because I forgot to get him a gift. 

I said he had to wait in the car while I ran in and got something.

his favorite bag of chips it was. not what they had in mind i don't think :( 

hmm... for thinking I was going to ace this love dare thing, I think I got a C for the week. 

i wonder what next week's dares will be. (Drew is wondering if one day will include not turning on the TV. He is scared for that one. :)

I will keep you posted. :) 

baby ford turns 1!

i know i have talked about my creative/sweet/pretty friend Jen before, but this weekend we celebrated her son's FIRST birthday. I knew it would be super cute but I was completely blown away by how precious it was! I just have to share. :) 

 it was Brown Bear, Brown Bear (the children's book) themed. there was a photobooth...

where you picked out a mask of an animal from the story! (ps. yes, jen sewed all those masks :)

then when we left the party, we got these PRECIOUS keepsake photos! like seriously? Baby Ford says "Thanks for Partying with Me"

 and then the desserts. 

we had a musical parade. all the kiddos had a different musical instrument!

then auntie jes read the Brown Bear, Brown Bear book to us all :) 

of course the snacks all coordinated. yep. green frogs. genius. 

we all had a great time, but the real question is did Baby Ford enjoy his first birthday?

i think so ;)

i got some baby cuddles as well. 

before it was present time

thanks for inviting us to your party Baby Ford, you are one LOVED little boy. 

and Jen, I am starting to advertise your party planning services. so get ready ;) love u :)