#Weverb11 - Day 12: Thrive & Day 14: Breathe

Day 12: Thrive

What was your healthiest habit in 2011? What would you like to change or do differently in 2012?

Contributed by Tonya [life-accomplished.com]

 &

 

Day 14: Breathe

How did you make space + peace for yourself in 2011?

Contributed by Megan [everlastingpresent.com]

 I decided to combine these two prompts because they both have the same answer.

YOGA.

I've done Yoga off an on for a few years by taking classes at my local 24 Hour Fitness. I have to say that even though I really enjoyed doing it, I was never very regular about it. I'd do it every once and awhile, when I thought about it.

This year (well the second half of this year), I was able to find a class in a time slot that works that I can make on a regular basis. When I first started going to this class, the teacher was just ok, so I wasn't that committed to it. Starting in the late summer/fall though, a new teacher started and she is AMAZING. Knowing she is going to be the teacher makes me want to go. It is awesome.

I also stepped out of my comfort zone and attended a Yoga for Fertility class (twice). The teacher here is wonderful as well. She's planning on having a weekly practice next year for fertility that I'm willing to spend the extra money on. And when I do get pregnant, I'm definitely signing up for her prenatal classes.

Now I not a yogi, but with the extra practice I've been doing I can feel my body changing. Not in a losing weight kind of way, but in how I hold myself and straighten my body during everyday activities. I am more aware. I adjust when needed. I focus on breathing...

Practicing yoga allows me the time and space to just be and breathe, which is something I definitely need to continue working on.

I've started making the decision to incorporate yoga into my daily life so that I continue to have this time for myself in 2012.  I'm hoping that I can start a home practice so I don't have to always head out to a class to actually practice. I think this will help me to do yoga  more regularly in 2012.
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Are you participating in #WEverb11? If not, go here for more info! It's an awesome way to reflect on last year and you'll meet tons of new people in the process! :-)

#WEverb11 - Day 11: Try

Day 11: Try

What 12 new things do you want to do/accomplish in 2012?
Contributed by Kimba [ultratrailgoddess.com]

I love lists like this. Simple, but so great for deciding what I want to focus on for the coming year. Last year, it was eleven things. I kept up with some of the eleven throughout the year, but failed with others. I may keep both that list and this list and use them as guides for what I want to do in 2012.

1.) Read more books and possibly join a book club. - For this one I was inspired by both Bella and Caitlin. I love to read books, but this year with the internet and my blog addiction, reading has kinda fallen by the way side. It might have been that I just haven't found the right books, but I don't think I have been making it a priority. I think find a book club would be a great way to meet new people and read awesome books.

2.) Practice yoga more regularly either in formal classes or at home.

3.) Take more pictures. - I know a lot of people are trying to take less pictures since they feel like it cuts into their actual living of life, but I would like to have one or two pictures from each event we go to. Just for memories sake.

4.) Bake more often. - This isn't necessarily good for the waist line, but there is something meditative about putting together just the right amount of ingredients and make something delicious. I can also share goodies with coworkers to share in the yummy goodness so that it isn't just The Hubs and I packing on the pounds.

5.) Make parent wedding albums. Two years late, but better late than never.

6.) Take a cooking class.

7.) Participate in more STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Outreach events.

8.) To be more loving. - I get grumpy very easily and usually my poor husband takes the brunt of it.

9.) Take The Pup on more walks.

10.) Finish hallway picture project with Wedding Pictures - ala Bower Power

11.) Clean out garage (for reals this time.) - I will need some support from The Hubs on this.

12.) To stay calm. - This is an ongoing thing I'd like to accomplish that thus far I have not been to successful at. I typically go from happy to crying in 10 seconds flat if something around me goes not as I expected. I talk to myself and work myself up into a frenzy.

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Are you participating in #WEverb11? If not, go here for more info! It's an awesome way to reflect on last year and you'll meet tons of new people in the process! :-)

#WEverb11 - Day 9: Appreciate & Day 10: Create

I've been thinking about both of these prompts for days... You wouldn't think they would be that hard, but alas they are....

 

Day 9: Appreciate

 

In which moment did you find yourself flooded with gratitude? How will you rally around gratitude in 2012?

Contributed by Megan [everlastingpresent.com]

 

I am most appreciative of The Hubs, my family and friends. Although I can't think of a specific moment where because of them I was flooded with gratitude, it is more of an underlying feeling that I have every day. I notice it most when I'm acting crazy or emotional and I can't see how anyone can even love me with the way I'm acting and yet they still do.

 

The latter part of this year, I started making a point of weekly coming up with five things that I was grateful for and posting it on "Thankful Thursday". This really helped me to focus on what I had and not on what I don't have. I hope to continue this in 2012 as my way of rallying around gratitude. I hope that  this practice will become so natural that I will become more appreciative in my daily life...even for the little things.

 

Day 10: Create

 

	Share a creative project you undertook this year (art, writing, DIY, cooking, home decoration, crafts, photography … whatever comes to mind). How do you use your creativity to express yourself?

Contributed by Tara [twowishe.com]

 

So I feel like I haven't really been that creative this year. I stopped scrapbooking because I could never find the space or time to focus on it. I didn't even take many photos to scrapbook if I did find the time (something I wish I would do more of...). I did try a few new recipes that actually worked out for once, although I didn't really create them from scratch so I don't feel like they count. I did continue with this blog and although some creativeness comes into it, mostly it is just me putting down my thoughts. I've tried to be creative in the layout of the blog and such, but not knowing much about html, I can never figure out how to get things to look they way I want!

 

The one thing that I think I did create this year is moments. I'm the designated family planner, so typically it's up to me to decide on places to go and invite all of my family to come with us. Although it can sometimes be stressful (the people-pleaser in me wants EVERYONE to be happy), I know that everyone appreciates it. This year, the family (both mine and The Hubs's) went to see Keith Urban again for the 3rd time. Tonight we are all heading on our 2nd annual trip to ride the Train of Lights in Sunol/Niles. And in January, we are all going to see Cal take on Stanford in the basketball.

I hope that next year I can find the time to participate in more creative outlets.

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Are you participating in #WEverb11? If not, go here for more info! It's an awesome way to reflect on last year and you'll meet tons of new people in the process! :-)

#WEverb11 - Day 8: Choose

So I know I need to finish up my Gratitude Photo Challenge from November, along with a Thankful Thursday post, and I do plan on doing that, but I don't want to get too far behind on #WEverb11 or I'll have trouble catching up! :-) (Says girl who is already way behind with the photo challenge!)

 

Day 8: Choose

What was the biggest choice you made in 2011? What caused you to choose what you chose?

Contributed by Melissa [53blonde.com]

 

 

So there are some really obvious big choices we made this year, including our week-long trip to Seattle and officially getting help to TTC, but since I've sorta used those for basically every #WEverb11 post thus far, I'm going to go a different route. Instead, I'm going to do something similar to Hemborgwife and write about of few smaller decisions I made throughout the year that came to the forefront of my mind when I saw this prompt, and thus MUST have made an impression on my this year.

 

This year I chose to...

 

1.) Continue Blogging. I made the decision end of last year to start blogging and this year I made the decision to CONTINUE blogging. I must say that even though I LOVE doing it, it is NOT easy (as evidence of the lack of posting during the summer months). But it is so rewarding to be able to record what I'm feeling with even the remote possibility of me connecting with others regarding what I'm writing.

2.) Set specific goals. - Funny that I've never actually explicitly done this in the past before, but participating in #Reverb10 last year and watching others blog about their goals for the year made me want to do the same. And to be honest, it was INCREDIBLY successful! Most of my major goals I was able to accomplish in one form or another. The ones I fell off the wagon with were the ones that I didn't regularly blog my progress on. So next year, I'll be making the decision to try to do monthly updates on where I am with my goals. I tried to do that this year, but again didn't make it a priority. Seeing how well it worked this year though, encourages me to do it next year!

3.) Make our house a home (after two years!). - Even though I'm not much of a decorator, I made a point of buying some pieces for the various rooms of our house in order to make them feel more complete, warm and cozy  It's made such a difference.

Here are some shots from living room and the porch...

Before

After

 

 

Before

After

I'm sure I've made a million more decisions this year, but this is all for now!

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Are you participating in #WEverb11? If not, go here for more info! It's an awesome way to reflect on last year and you'll meet tons of new people in the process! :-)

#WEverb11 - Day 7: Travel

Day 7: Travel

Where did you travel this year? What was your favorite part? If you didn’t get to travel, where do you want to go next year?
Contributed by Allison [hisbirdiesnest.blogspot.com]

This year we went on a couple of weekend getaways to Monterey to see Jerry Seinfeld for The Hubs's 30th birthday and San Luis Obispo just because it is the Happiest City in the America (and our former college town and where my sister goes to school). These were great trips because they weren't too far away and in the case of the latter, totally spontaneous.

Our main trip was to Seattle, which was by far the best of the year and which I have recapped to death on the blog, so I won't bore you with those details again. We LOVED it! Enough said!

As for 2012, we don't yet have a major vacation planned, but we are in the midst of planning a quick weekend jaunt to Vegas for The Hubs to something off his bucket list.

So we are heading here...

Image Source: Vegas Bottle

To see him...

Image Source: Graphics Hunt

And because it works out, this guy too!

Image Source: Paisley On the Web

I'm pretty excited about it, although I'm not looking forward to the flight in and out of Vegas which I'm sure you all know is QUITE bumpy. Not good for this shaky flier!

I'm still looking forward to it though!

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Are you participating in #WEverb11? If not, go here for more info! It's an awesome way to reflect on last year and you'll meet tons of new people in the process! :-)

#WEverb11 - Day 6: Favorite

Day 6: Favorite

What was your favorite month of 2011? Why did it beat out all 11 other months?

My favorite month was not an actual named month, but still a 30/31 day period from Mid-August to Mid-September.

At the beginning of this time period is when I decided to finally bite the bullet and plan a week long vacation to Seattle. The Hubs and I had been talking about it FOREVER, but between saving vacation (to extend a maternity leave for a pregnancy that was not reality yet), saving money (which we had plenty of to take the trip), and being afraid to fly, I'd really been lagging on it. Work had been stressful for both of us though, so I figured a week long vacation was in finally order.

We had an absolutely wonderful time (recaps can be found here)! It was so great to REALLY get away...to relax and reconnect. It was so much more relaxing than our typical weekend away trips! We got to do all of the things we had been wanting to do in Seattle for the past two years.

The day after we arrived home from Seattle, I found out that my two best friends were pregnant! And due within a  month of each other! I was really excited, but also a little down on myself. The Hubs and I were about to start our first round of "easy" fertility treatments (i.e. oral drugs) and although I was looking forward to this big step forward, I was sad that it couldn't just come easy. It would have been so fun to be pregnant with my besties, but after listening to music all that evening, all of my sadness turned to great joy, excitement and anticipation for the journey The Hubs and I were about to embark on.

So between an AWESOME trip to Seattle, great news from two best friends, and the hard core beginning of our TTC journey, this time period was pretty pivotal in our lives. It was the one "month" that really stood out to me when I first saw this prompt!

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Are you participating in #WEverb11? If not, go here for more info! It's an awesome way to reflect on last year and you'll meet tons of new people in the process! :-)

Improvisational Mexican Cornbread

I'm always looking for quick and tasty recipes (although I'm not sure that I can actually call this a recipe...) to prepare for weekday meals with things we have on hand.

Lucky for me, my friend Bret, came up with this Mexican Cornbread that you can basically make however you want! It's AWESOME!

First, you start with your base... some Trader Joe's Cornbread. In a large bowl mix together the ingredients on the box.

 

Then the improvisation comes into play. You basically just throw whatever you want into the cornbread mix. We threw some Rosis's Organic Precooked Chicken (an awesome buy from Costco that makes meals go SO much faster), diced green chiles, and drained/rinsed black beans. You can also add canned corn (although there already is some corn  kernals in the cornbread), cheese, and really anything else you can think of that goes good with the ingredients you have already added.

Then you grease a Pyrex dish, pour the mixture in and bake per the instruction on the cornbread box. 

And voila!!

A sweet and savory improvisational meal in 35 minutes!

Do you have any quick and easy meals that you make on a weeknight? If so, please share!