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!!