Sunday, March 10, 2013

Happy Anniversary

I imagine when most people think about how they will celebrate their wedding anniversary they think about romantic trips, fancy dinner, or flowers. Well I am forever inclined to think about IndyCon and Boardgames from here on out for our anniversary :)

When I first met Krista Daulton I had no idea what I was getting myself into... but I'm so glad she reached out and we have become such good friends. The first time I went over to Krista and Adam's house for "game day" I was a little (okay, A LOT) overwhelmed... but don't tell them that (oops... too late). There were so many games I had never heard of and I felt like everyone had played every single game, except me.

As Krista will attest to this... I've come a long way. We attended our first IndyCon 2 years ago and only went for 1 day. We had a blast, but the day went by so quickly because the games are typically 1-2 hour games. I stuck with the people I knew (Krista, Adam, and of course Jeremy) and didn't try too many new games. Last year we went for all three days and had a great time. This year again, we did all three days.

So the difference this year? Even though I go in to almost every single game knowing I'm going to lose, I still go in to have fun. I understand rules of most games better now than I did last year. And it's much easier for me to pick up on new games. My brother, sister-in-law, and 2 other friends came for all three days this year too which made it more fun!

What all did I play this year you ask? Let me recap for you:

Day 1:
1. Trajan - really enjoyed this. Jeremy and I got to IndyCon a little early because Adam wanted to play this first thing and asked us to join. It was a very fun game and now that Krista and Adam have a copy I look forward to playing again.
2. Lifeboats - Interesting negotiation game. You need to have the mindset going in that no matter what happens you will still all be friends at the end of the game
3. Tzolk'in - This is a very deep game with a lot going on. I think too much for me.
4. Wits and Wagers - Every year they have an annual Wits and Wagers tournament. They ask questions about boardgames, teams write down answers and you bet on which team has the most correct answer and you get payouts of 2-1, 4-1, 6-1, etc. We had a team of 4 girls and were getting our behinds kicked, so what did we do, bet it all on the last round of course... oh and guess who won... that's right, we did :) Scored a free copy of Wits and Wagers: Party Edition!!
5. Fistful of Penguins - This game is so fun! It's a quick 'filler game' with penguins and dice!
6. Crokinole (x2) - Learned this for the first time to play in the annual tournament... got creamed in the first round of the tournament by the guy who won!
7. Pillars of the Earth - I love this game. I don't think I've won yet, but I still love it!

Day 2:
1. Guildhall (x2) - 2 thumbs up from me on this one! I really enjoyed it.
2. Pillars of the Earth - Again... love this...
3. Le Havre - Krista has been talking about this game for a while. So we finally had time to sit down and play it this weekend! It was almost too long for me. However, I did enjoy it and almost beat Krista on my first time playing :)
4. Agricola - I WON! Whoo-hoo! Maybe I should put in a disclaimer that I played with all new people. But I think this was only my fourth time playing. This is a fun game, but takes a lot of advance planning which is hard for me to do!
5. Tichu (x2) - Annual tourney. Krista and I made it to the second round before getting beat! But we both got a Grand Tichu! (If you really want to know what that is just e-mail me... too complicated to explain!)

Day 3:
1. Stone Age - I played this game for the first time last year at IndyCon and have been wanting to play it ever since! Finally got to play it again this weekend and I am still just as excited about it this year as I was last year! This game is so fun! Jeremy just bought the iPhone app!
2. Ticket to Ride Africa - Ticket to Ride is one of my favorite games. The Africa expansion added a new element with Terrain cards, but they were hard to use in a 5-player game. I think Jeremy and I will play again and see what we think with just two people.

So Happy Anniversary to an amazing husband! I love you so much and had a great weekend playing games all weekend with you!! I look forward to it again next year!!

Saturday, March 2, 2013

March Pledges

Oops... so I'm a couple days late on starting my March Pledges... but nevertheless I have been thinking about them. Surprisingly it's getting harder to do this! I felt like January was great, like most 'resolutions' January is the easy month. It's continuing that motivation that is hard.

As far as my February Pledges, well they didn't go quite as planned, in fact it was pretty bad. But I'm not giving up. I feel like when I do these pledges it gives me something to strive for daily. For me, it's Living Purposefully... does that make sense?

Anyway here are some pledges for March, you'll notice quite a few are carried-over from February.

Daily:
1. Read my Bible daily - I'm sad to say I got a few days behind in February, I think I have 3 days to catch up on.
2. Pray Daily
3. Continue to get up when my alarm goes off - I actually didn't hit the snooze button once in February... there were, however, a few times when I turned my alarm off and reset it :)
4. Going back to brushing daily. Someone once told me it takes 21 days to start a habit and only 3 to break it... that is so true!
5. Drink at least 32 oz of water daily... although ideally I'd like to see that at 64 oz.

Weekly:
1. TURN OFF THE TV!! I definitely have my shows that I watch. I know that Thursday nights the TV will always be on. Lately we have added Family Night Movie night to Friday night, which means, I'd like to keep the TV off Mon-Wed.
2. Workout 5 times a week. The 30-day shred was great... it would've been even better if I hadn't gotten sick for a week last month. I will officially finish day 30 on Friday March 8th, although it won't be consecutive, I'm still proud of myself for doing it within a month and a half!
3. Count calories 5 days a week. I have got to start doing this! This will help my goal of fitting into my "conference" outfit in two months!

Monthly:
1. Learn to knit - I started to do this in February, but unfortunately Maggie and I had very opposite schedules this month and we weren't able to get together to work on this! But I'm not giving up! I have yarn and needles and by golly I will knit something before the end of the year :)
2. Total Money Makeover - I'm so proud of Jeremy and I last month. While we did go over on a few budget items, that's totally expected the first couple of months as we are learning how much we need month to month.
3. Read 3 books - these, of course, being the three I pledged last month: Harry Potter, I have Loved You: Getting to Know the Father's Heart, and I Want it Now

This month will present a few challenges especially in the calorie counting and exercising as it is a very busy month! But writing these out really helps me keep them in the front of my mind!

Happy March!!

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Look at mama and listen

"Paige, look at mama and listen..."

This usually results in Paige running in the opposite direction... maybe she thinks she is always in trouble when I say that? Which isn't the case... usually I just want her to pick something up or ask her to do something.

Last night the issue of running in the opposite direction and usually whining before she even heard what I had to say kept wearing on my patience with her... I was getting so frustrated, and the more she didn't stop and look and listen the more upset I got, which continued to get her more upset because she could hear it in my voice.

Today I am reflecting back on this continued cycle of me saying look and listen and her running and whining/crying and it gets me thinking...

Annie, how many times has God said to you "Stop, look at me, and listen... I have something to tell you/ask you" and how many times do I run in the opposite direction afraid of what I'm going to hear.

I am not perfect, and neither is my daughter (shocker, right?) but are my reactions to her disobedience showing the same love that God shows me when I continually disobey Him??

Reflecting today on God's Love and how I can show my daughter His love through my actions

Lord, please give me patience when trying to teach my daughter how to listen...

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Mid-Month Re-Pledge

So here we are on February 14th and I find myself needing to re-evaluate my pledges for the month as I have not been doing as well as I wanted.

Daily Pledges:
1. I'm still up to date on my Bible reading, but I have not been focusing on the reading... lately I've just been reading to get it done... not the purpose of reading it!
2. Praying: I started out well this month by writing out my prayer requests in my journal and spending some time praying after reading my Bible, but that has gone by the wayside.
3. There have only been 2 days where I have re-set my alarm after it went off.. I didn't hit the snooze, I just re-set it :)
4. I thought flossing would get easier... nope I still hate it... I've done decently with this, but haven't done it every day.
5. Sadly I have not been taking a picture of Paige every day :(

Weekly Pledges:
1. TV... ummmm... yea it's been on way too much this month
2. I believe I did have a pop 2 times in one week, but I've been trying to refrain as much as possible.

Monthly Pledges:
1. Learning to knit - Maggie and I have set up a couple of times to knit but things have come up. I've watched a few youtube videos and kind of re-taught myself (I learned a few years ago but never practiced or made anything). I just need to get some better yarn to get started
2. Total Money Makeover - going good! Sticking to our budget pretty well!
3. Reading... yea... I don't see this one happening... I'll be lucky if I get one finished!
4. 30-Day Shred... YES!! I am currently on Day 15!!! I started Level 2 on Sunday... it's been kicking my butt!

Okay... after writing all these out I don't feel like I'm as off track as I thought I was... Things I want to continue to focus on:
- 30 Day Shred... I'm half-way there!
- Cutting out the TV! Ugh... this is so hard! After working out all I want to do is sit on the couch and watch TV!

Thanks for keeping up and for your support!

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

The Smell...

So here I am going to bed at around 10pm tonight and as usual I go in to check on Paige before I go to sleep.. Aren't sleep babies just so precious! Anyway, so I open the door and am immediately struck by a foul smell... I thought whoa Paige, that's some serious poop! But as I got closer I realized, it was poop... It was the other p-word... PUKE! Oh no!! My poor baby! She had massively puked and was sound asleep in it!

Of course, first thing I do is get Jeremy, first thing he does is pick her up and take her to the bathroom... I said shouldn't we get the water running and warm before we just throw her in there? So he hands her to me and I'm doing what I never thought I would be doing... Holding a baby whose head is soaked in puke! (It's only by God's grace that I didn't throw up myself this evening)!

The bath tub is finally ready and Paige is doing great for having thrown up and been woken up abruptly. I set her in the bathtub but she won't sit down, you can see the fear and confusion in her eyes. I ask her if she wants me to sit in the tub with her and she simply looks at me and shakes her head yes... So I climb in. (During this time Jeremy is being super-dad and cleaning everything up in her crib!)

We finish getting her cleaned off (not very well because her hair still smells like puke unfortunately) and Jeremy gets her dried off and new pj's on while I change clothes. I go back into her room because I want to snuggle with her and hold her for a few minutes, we take her temp but it seems to be normal. After about 5 minutes of me rocking her she sits up, looks at me, coughs, and throws up again. I yell for Jeremy and he runs in and grabs her and gets her over the trash can where she finishes throwing up. This time it all landed on me so we avoided having to change her again.

Now it's Jeremy's turn to cuddle with her in the rocker. We eventually all go snuggle on the spare bed but Paige moves around soooooo much that we decide to put her back in her crib. She lays right down and I think she's now gone back to sleep. But I think Jeremy and I are scared to go back to sleep plus we are wide awake now!

The weirdest thing about this is that we have no idea when she threw up... We didn't hear her cry or anything. And she never cried once after we woke her up to clean everything!

Thursday, January 31, 2013

The Pledge - February

Seriously... is tomorrow really February 1st? Okay... time to update you on my January Pledges and let you know what's in store for next month!

I have really enjoyed *trying* to keep my pledges this month. They have been a daily reminder of how I can make some minor changes in my life... for the better!

Daily pledges: These went well, there are 2 that I missed one day on, and others that I missed multiple days on. But the ones I am most proud of:
- I am currently on Day 31 of reading through the Bible in a year! I did miss one day, but caught up the next day!
- Brushing my teeth everyday! I have gotten in such a good habit that my mouth feels so gross if I don't do it at least once a day!
- I have not watched a single tv show or movie while at work this month!

Weekly pledges: Well... I hit 50% of them :). I must say that I totally failed the guitar playing as I haven't busted out my guitar once yet this year! I will not give up on that one though... Just not ready for it yet!
Most proud of:
- Working out... I think there was one week I only worked out 3 times, but I forced myself to go on days I didn't want to and that's a big step!
- Turning off the TV! It's amazing what you can accomplish when you are sucked into the TV

Monthly pledges: One that majorly failed and completely regret failing: calling my friends... I don't know why it is so hard for me to pick up the phone and call them, I love them, they are my best friends, but for some reason I can't just pick up the phone to say hello...
Most proud of:
- Currently on Day 31 of no pop!! Oh man... there have been so many cravings though! And I'm pretty sure I'm getting a cherry coke on my way to work tomorrow :)
- Reading 3  4 Books!!! Okay, so I have one more to finished today. But I read The Kill Order, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and The Total Money Makeover this month... I have to finish Identity tonight!

Now... on to February!

Daily Pledges:
1. Continue to read my Bible daily
2. Pray - this one did not turn out so well last month, I didn't specifically devote time to praying like I wanted to
3. Get up when my alarm goes off!! No more hitting the snooze button!!
4. Adding flossing to my daily brushing routine! (I incorporated this on and off through January, but it's time to do it everyday!)
5. Take a daily picture of Paige to see how she grows this month!

Weekly Pledges:
1. Continuing to limit TV to 2 weekdays and limiting time on the weekends
2. No more than 1 pop a week, if that. (I'm not sure about this one yet... this could change)

Monthly Pledges:
1. Learn to knit - this will be measured by hopefully knitting a potholder by the end of the month! Maggie Johnson will be helping me with this!
2. Total Money Makeover - Jeremy and I have decided to begin our Total Money Makeover this month, which means a very strict budget!!
3. Read 3 more books - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, I Have Loved You: Getting to Know the Father's Heart, and I Want it Now: A Memior of Life on the Set of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
4. Finish the 30-Day Shred... wait, there's only 28 Days in February you say? Haha... I got a two-day head start :) Thanks Krista for joining me in this pledge!


Looking forward to what this month brings!!

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Broken Promises

I first want to start off by saying what a fantastic, relaxing, and fun weekend I just had! This weekend I got to celebrate a very dear friend's 30th birthday with a girls weekend to Wisconsin! Krista has become an amazing friend to me here in Indianapolis and I am so thankful to have her in my life! She is full of wisdom and love and teaches me something new almost every time I talk with her. Yesterday I got to experience my first spa day! We did the "girlfriends getaway" package complete with a facial, massage, and foot scrub. This was my first facial and massage and it was glorious!! I definitely enjoyed the facial and would like to try another massage sometime! I also finally got to spend some time getting to know Krista's best friend Meggan which was a treat! Meggan is so sweet and kind and everything Krista has talked her up to be :) I also got to spend more time with a couple other girls Janna and Kelly, it's always great to spend time with them, they are amazing ladies, mothers, and wives and it is a joy talking to them.

Now... onto the title of this blog... Broken Promises... Typically this is the point of the "resolution" where I would just give up. I've broken a few of my pledges so I tend to think "why should I keep any of my pledges since I've already broken some and people probably won't take me seriously now..." But I am going to press on.
Here's the update on The Pledge:
Bible reading = awesome. Tomorrow I will be on day 14 of reading my Bible daily

Praying = I know I haven't been focusing on praying daily. I've said at least one small prayer everyday, but would like this to be a bigger focus.

Brushing my teeth = haven't missed a day!

Fruits and Veggies = this weekend was bad

TV = I think I've been good on this one... I know I've cut way back.. I am currently behind on 4 shows I usually watch!

Work = haven't watched anything since the first of the year!

Pop = this one is getting so hard... I was tempted with pop all weekend but never tasted a drop! 13 days and still going...

Guitar = unfortunately this one has been a major fail so far... haven't touched it yet :(

Keeping in touch = well I need to call my friends this week...

Exercise = Yes! I have worked out at least 4 days each week so far!

Meatless = okay, so I did great on this one the first week... here's what happened last week... On Monday I went out to lunch with some co-workers, we went to Noodles and Co and without even thinking I ordered the Spicy Chicken Ceasar Wrap... I didn't realize until a day later that I ate meat... On Wednesday my work provided lunch, I picked up a roast beef sandwich and again, without thinking, took a bite and realized I was eating meat... I figured this past weekend there was no way i was going to get around not eating meat... but looking back at it, I very well could have and I failed when tempted with bacon, BBQ, and pepperoni pizza.

Overall I am pleased with the progress I have made in the first two weeks of the new year and want to finish out this month strong!


Friday, January 4, 2013

Pledge - Step 1

Today was a breakthrough for me... some of you may not see it as that, but to me it's a big deal...

After a noon meeting two of my co-workers stopped by to get something to eat... and I did not! I said no! I came back to my desk and ate my tuna sandwich!

And then... I met up with a friend for coffee at Starbucks... and instead of getting a loaded 300 calorie coffee... I went with a Skinny Peppermint Mocha...

baby steps people... baby steps...