2010 in Review

As I typed in the title, I thought "What did happen in 2010? What did we do?" I really can't recall too many exciting events, which is ok in my opinion.

In the spring we embarked on a large landscaping adventure. We went from this:

To this:

This was just phase 1 of our landscaping with completing about 75% of our yard; hopefully we will be doing phase 2 this spring (2011) and finishing the rest. Phase 2 is just as large of a project as phase 2 even though it will cover less ground. We have to landscape a hill by our deck, probably add in a swing set area for Julia (and a swing set of course) and put in a stone patio with a fire pit. Just typing that makes me cringe at the cost...$$$$ flashing in my head!

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This spring I started a habit that I thought I would NEVER start. Running!

This year I ran 3-5k races as well as a 5K relay race with my cousins and sister on Thanksgiving weekend. I am hoping to run many more 5k races and even some 10k's in 2011. I haven't reached the point of marathon running yet; I think 8-10 miles is my limit. I have continued to run during these winter months, though once the temperature starts to drop below zero, I may have to subject myself to the boring treadmill (which I hate).

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This wouldn't be a very good 2010 review without honoring, remembering, and blessing our dear grandma and great-grandma Maggie. Grandma passed away on August 7, 2010 from a massive stroke. It was unexpected in some respects; we will miss her dearly. She is in a great place now enjoying the company of the Lord as well as being reunited with her hubby, grandpa Gibby, her daughter Susie and her great-grandson Tristan. I am sure she is loving every minute of the heavenly kingdom and her strong faith certainly prepared her for her departure from her earthly home and it helped all of the family cope better also. She was the foundation of our entire family and she was a fabulous grandma. I am happy that she got to know Julia and that we all had a chance to say good-bye to her in her final days. She will be missed forever.

This Christmas was definitely an adjustment for the entire family. In past years, we always celebrated Christmas at Grandma's house. This year, my aunt and uncle stepped up and hosted the event. It wasn't really that much different besides the fact that we couldn't understand how we all crammed into Grandma's house at Christmas with the large family we have!
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Since I don't have a lot of exciting things to share about 2010, I thought I would share the things I discovered in 2010 and just love and recommend to anyone:

Number 1:

If you don't know what this is, it is a make-it, freeze-it and bake-it meal place. You go to the store, create meals in bags and containers, freeze it and then bake it when you need a meal for your family. This is an absolute blessing for any busy mom, which is probably every mother in the world. I am partial to the slow cooker meals because I can throw everything in the slow cooker, have it cook while we are at work and come home to a pretty much complete meals. The non-slow cooker meals are great too and pretty quick to throw together.

Number 2:

Photography by Nealy

Nealy is a wonderful mom I met at church 2 years ago. She is the brilliant photographer who took the fabulous pictures you see to the left and right of this blog. We will certainly be using her services again for future photos. Have to give a big shout out to her and her business as well as her new addition to her family, her second daughter, Clara! Congrats!

Number 3:

The beautiful bling above was made possible by:

My friend Suzanne, another mom from church, started this business in the last year. I actually knew Suzanne in her former career as a pharmaceutical sales rep from about 6 years ago. One day I was at a MOPs kick-off session and she was there. When I saw her, I knew I knew her from somewhere, but couldn't remember. We started chatting and realized we knew each other from past professions! What a small world and who knew we would cross paths again. I am so glad to have Suzanne as a friend again and I LOVE the jewelry she sells. I am hoping to get one of her fabulous bracelets personalized and made in 2011. What kind of bracelet you ask? Well, you have to check her website. Another shout out to a fabulous mom with a knack for her business!

Number 4:

Lia Sophia jewelry

I guess 2010 was the year of the jewelry for me. My friend Traci started selling Lia Sophia jewelry and after attending her kick-off party, I was hooked. I hosted a party of my own and received all kinds of host benefits and free jewelry. I had a great time entertaining friends and neighbors at our house and cooking some new recipes I found here. I have lots of jewelry now and am always blinged out in Lia Sophia jewelry and my bling earrings above. I am hoping to host another Lia Sophia party in 2011.

Number 5:

Keurig Coffee Maker

I won't elaborate again on this fabulous device since I just talked about it in my last post.


Number 6:

I have finally found the right beauty products that work for me! I have fallen in love with Arbonne. Arbonne was developed in Switzerland in 1975. The products are all natural with botanical principles in mind (yes, I took that from their website). They don't have fragrance to them because they are all natural and don't have any fillers or preservatives (like parabens which are found in a lot of cosmetics, beauty products and shampoos and conditioners). I use their acne skin care line and my face has never been clearer (yes, I do still have the breakouts, but much more controlled). I also use their foundation, mineral-powder and concealer. I do want to try more of their products in 2011 like their eye make-up and mascara.

Well, that is all for my 2010 wrap-up (probably enough since this was a long post).

Happy New Year! Here's to a great and prosperous 2011!

Many blessings and of course...

Cheers!

Barista in Training

We recently got one of these:

A Keurig coffee maker

It makes delicious coffee by making one cup at a time using small brewing cups, called K-cups. Since we got the machine, I don't know who has enjoyed it more: Julia or myself.

Julia loves to help mommy make coffee. Every morning she come downstairs and says "mommy want coffee" as if she knows mommy REALLY needs her morning cup of joe. Julia puts the K-cup in the machine, closes the lid and presses the button. She is so proud of herself and her coffee making skills.

There are so many coffees to try. So far my favorite is:

I love Caribou coffee in general

The machine can make tea and hot chocolate too. Mike especially likes the milk chocolate version of this:

I (or I should say, Julia) sometimes make a K-cup of hot chocolate and mix it with a K-cup of coffee for an easy, delicious cafe mocha!

If you are a coffee drinker, I highly recommend this machine.

Snow Day...Super sized

Today we got hit; hit hard by a major blizzard...or as my friend Suzanne said...a "snow-nami". Lots of wind, lots of snow. Mall of America closed; local gyms closed, everything closed.

It is 8pm now and the local meteorologist, Sven (someone who looks like he is 16, but knows his weather), said we so far have gotten 15.7 inches of snow (MSP international reported). So far=more snow to come. Sven poignantly says we will certainly get over 18 inches. Thanks Sven. Good to know we will get 2.3 more inches...jeez, might as well just be another 10.

The weather channel is referencing "snow-nados"-swirling wind and snow in the Twin Cities. Glad the meteorologists are having fun during all of this.

This is the view out our kitchen window

There is a street and pond out there somewhere-

Our backyard-there is a garden somewhere on the right of the picture. The stakes and fencing are a little over 2 feet high


So we were stuck inside ALL day today. Yes, we went stir crazy and got bored, but we tried our best to stay entertained. Of course we watched some Dora and the dog movie (101 Dalmatians), but we tried to stay sane with other activities.

We painted:



Painted empty wrapping paper rolls (Julia likes to march around the room with them):


Read LOTS of books:

Finished addressing Christmas cards:

Baked muffins (blueberry and pumpkin-two of Julia's favorites):

Of course we did other things like play blocks, playdoh, put together puzzles, played in Julia's play kitchen, played with her Lite Brite, played Mr and Mrs Potato head....and the list goes on. A full day inside with a toddler is A LOT of time to kill.

Hard to believe that this time last year we were here:


Sitting pool side, in 80 degree weather, enjoying fruity cocktails in beautiful St. Lucia. Ho, hum.

Inspired by an unusal source.

The other day, I was doing my usual Sunday coupon cutting and came across a coupon for this:

The picture on the coupon was much smaller and there were a variety of designs and colors, so I went to the Kleenex brand website to get a closer look. You are probably thinking "why is she going to a website for products you blow your nose into to look at a box of tissues on a coupon?" Well, I have been contemplating on what color to paint our guest bathroom. Right now Mike uses the bathroom as his own and shares it with Julia's bath toys and other baby/toddler bath related items. I wasn't sure what color to paint the bathroom or how to decorate it because eventually it will be Julia's bathroom when she gets older and I don't want to have to repaint it again.

When I saw this Kleenex Expressions Tissue Box (or oval), I immediately loved the colors. I like the grays with the greens and thought that a light gray color would be perfect to paint the bathroom walls with and then decorate with light green/lime and white accents and towels. This way it is still 'manly' for Mike right now and if Julia wants another color someday, like pink or purple towels those colors will go well with the light gray paint color. If she doesn't like the gray-well tough! We will make it work. It is odd to think about having to plan for her having her own bathroom, but I certainly don't want her stuff in my soon-to-be tranquil bathroom!

Master Bathroom Inspiration from a Friend

One of the moms in my MOPS group has inspired me...Nealy was one of the first moms I met at MOPS when I started. She is an awesome, caring mom with great style, superb culinary creations, great photography skills, and a nack for colors and decorating. Nealy and her hubby Kyle are similar to us in that they have a toddler who reins in the house, but they are also doing some home redecorating. They recently redecorated their small powder room and I just LOVE the colors! I love the colors so much that I am "stealing" some of the color schemes and incorporating them into our master bathroom decorating plan. Read here about Nealy's bathroom re-do. Here are some pictures I 'borrowed' from her blog to inspire me:

Before (oddly, our bathroom is a similar color right now):

After:

I LOVE the bluish-gray wall color and the oval mirror. We have a double vanity in our bathroom, so I was thinking of doing two oval mirrors painted with white trim (to match the doors and keep the maple cabinet color). Oddly, we have the same lighting fixtures as Nealy's above already in our bathroom.

It was just all meant to be!

Yes, this will probably happen in our bathroom too (those innocent little toddler gals)

This is actually from Nealy's parent's bathroom. I just love this natural, rock decor for the corner of our standing shower or on the ledge of our soaking tub.

More inspirations...coming soon!

I want color!

We have lived in our current house for over 2 years now. It was a new construction home when we bought it and we are the first people to live in it. The only two rooms we have really painted and decorated are Julia's room and our room (master bedroom); every other room in the house including stairways, foyers and hallways is the same light-yellow-beige color(see "before" master bedroom picture color) that the builder applied. It is certainly difficult to get any house projects done when you have a toddler running around; even more difficult when you have an open floor plan between your kitchen, living room and dining room with high, high ceilings in the stairways and foyers and little to no time to do anything.

(this isn't our living area-just an idea of color flow I found)

I told Mike I am sick of looking at all the same colors and want to get all the bathrooms (total of 3), the rest of the bedrooms (2) and all the other parts of the house painted and done once and for all. I really, really want a prettier kitchen with some kind of bold color with a cafe style theme (yup, that is my coffee addiction coming out in my decorating). I want a tranquil, calming master bathroom where I can soak in our big tub after the little gal goes to bed; right now the master bath just reminds me of boring hotel bathroom.

I am kind of clueless as to where to start with the paint selection since it is a very open floor plan and each room flows into one another. I am doing a lot of researching on-line about color choices, utilizing the color wheel and making sure to maintain the flow of an open floor plan without sacrificing style and having to paint everything all one color (something I want to stay away from).

Doesn't this look tranquil and relaxing, yet simple?

Are we going to do all this painting ourselves? Nope. I told Mike I am going to research lots of painters and get recommendations from friends and have someone do it for us. I personally don't mind the actual painting part, it is the prep work that I dread. I hate the taping, the plastic covering, and the intricacies of painting nooks and crannies (lots in a bathroom and kitchen...ugh!) before you can go crazy with a good old paint roller to cover a wall. Come on, you know exactly what I mean. :) There are professionals out there who are, well, professionals at this stuff and they have the time, experience and most of all, patience to do this kind of job.

Stay tuned for before and after pictures. Painting may not start until after the holidays because it will take me that long to research reputable painters and pick colors for each room.

Any good decorators out there? Ahem...Nealy? Suzanne? who want to give me advice and ideas? :)

Children's Museum-11 months later

Since the weather was very chilly today, we decided to go to the Minnesota Children's Museum in St. Paul. We got a great deal through our local library. Two free admissions, then $2 per person up to 5 people after that...so we only paid $2 for what is usually $8.95/person! If you live in the area, check out Dakota County libraries...it is such a great deal! We took Julia there for the first time in January, 2010 (see details here). What a difference 11 months makes! Julia again had a blast this time around and we again spent a majority of the trip in the water works area. Here are some pictures of January's visit and then our visit for today.

Little Julia

Julia today

Little Julia

Julia Today

We did convince Julia to go to a few other exhibits of the museum, but of course mommy had to coax her in the trying things out instead of saying "back to water".

Blowing bubbles with daddy (in the water area of course)

Running up the ramp, playing peek-a-boo with mommy in the life sized ant hill

Of course we had to do some painting in the Creations area (they had lots of yellow paint-Julia's favorite)

Apple Orchard Visit!

Recently we visited the Minnesota Harvest Apple Orchard with our friends Jenny, Eric and their son Noah (who is only 2 months younger than Julia). We had a great time in the beautiful fall weather picking tons of apples. The kiddos were never without an apple in their hand the whole time we were there. It was so much fun!

Honeygold apples

I think these are Haroldson apples

Strolling with daddy down an orchard lane

Eating apples with her bud, Noah

Noah and his mommy picking apples

Julia and mommy picking apples

Julia loved eating the fresh, sweet apples. She probaly ate about 5 total the whole time we were there!

What did we make with all the apples? Apple pie, apple crisp, apple donuts and apple sauce! All very yummy and we still have a lot of apples left for eating.

Someone's 2!

I am very far behind in my blogging. So much going on! We celebrated Julia's 2nd birthday on October 2nd with a party at our house. Everyone had a great time! The theme was Dora, of course and Julia was just speechless when she saw all the Dora decor and party favors.

Fun on the swings with Cousin Ainsley

A family photo before the party began

Julia in her birthday dress

The Dora and Diego cake. Yes, I splurged on the cake. I could not find one I liked and Kowalski's had this cake that I thought we so neat.

Yes, Julia is a spoiled little girl when it come to celebrating her birthday (actually, she is spoiled all the time!)

We sang "Happy Birthday" to her three times! She just loved it and kept saying "more, more". Since then, we sing "Happy Birthday" at least once a day. Sometimes it is "Happy Birthday" to a school bus, mommy, daddy, or the neighbor dogs. Since she loves the song and we are beginning to potty train, we have used it to celebrate her going potty on the toliet. We sing "Happy Potty To You" when she goes and do a little dance! :)

Julia got another cake on her actual birthday (October 6th). This time mommy made the cake and frosted it in her favorite color, yellow, and used the previous cake decor to jazz it up more.