Goals...

I admit that I'm only writing today b/c it's been a week since I last posted, and one of my 27 before 27 goals was to blog at least once a week. Bad reason to blog, yes. But I'm doing it anyway!

Speaking of my goals, I think I'm doing pretty well with most of them. I need to break out the fall decor now that all the Halloweeny stuff is safely boxed away until next year. Losing weight has not been easy. I know I said only three measly little pounds to help buffer the holidays, but it turns out the holidays are a mightier opponent than I accounted for. Even with working out several times a week, it's not enough to battle the Halloween candy, the pumpkin spice desserts, and all the other unhealthy goodies and meals that come with the holidays. And it's not even Thanksgiving yet! Fortunately my gain has been minimal. Some weeks I have lost weight, but I usually gain it back the following week. I guess as long as I don't gain 10 pounds this year I'll be okay. I want to keep wearing these size 6 jeans!! And even though most of my dress pants, even after having them altered a few months ago, look like clown pants...I'm not looking to growing back into them!

Other than that, I think I'm well on my way to meeting most of my goals. I don't think we'll be painting the fireplace after all...but I think that's because we're going to paint the walls instead. I'm loving gray walls these days and want to paint my whole house in shades of gray (50 is probably too many!) (no, I haven't read those books!) (okay, enough side notes!). But a whole house of gray walls sounds depressing. I know if I decorate appropriately it won't be, but I'm not always the best at decorating. Especially now when time and money is tight. Anyway. That all is to say...I'm not painting the fireplace! Now look at some pretty, pretty gray walls... :)

Source: bhg.com via Christy on Pinterest

Source: houzz.com via Christy on Pinterest

Source: westelm.com via Christy on Pinterest

I applied for my first full-time job yesterday! I have no idea if I'll even get an interview, but I'm excited that I'm officially trying. Speaking of trying...I'm out of pills! Still not actually "trying" yet. But soon. Probably soon. Probably. (I may need more convincing now that the time is finally upon me!)
Scott's family is coming to visit this weekend. I'm super excited! We always have a great time. And his dad is playing bass in our band at church. This will be the first time that he'll be playing when I'll also be singing. We'll be like the von Trapps! haha!

I guess that's it for these Friday ramblings! I have met my quota! ha!

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend! :)

~Christy~

Books in 2012

This post by Wendi inspired me to figure out how many books I've read so far this year. She challenges herself to read 100 every year! I don't think I'll ever be able to do that. I just don't get enough uninterrupted time for reading. Unless I'm on a beach vacation or something. Otherwise it's usually in bed right before I fall asleep. And some nights I'm just too tired to even bother. If the book isn't one of those addicting page turners, it could take me weeks to finish it. But I love reading! I have my Bachelor's in English for crying out loud! It just seems like I should be able to make more time for it.

I tried to remember and I came up with 14 books. And three of those are the Hunger Games series which I had already read! Oh, well. Here is my list so far...(I tried to remember everything, but it's quite possible I've forgotten and left some out.) This is in no particular order.

1.       Hunger Games

2.       Catching Fire

3.       Mocking Jay

4.       Jane Eyre

5.       The Bluest Eye

6.       A Discovery of Witches

7.       Shadow of Night

8.       The Poisonwood Bible

9.       Night Road

10.   The Bible (read it every day)

11.   Crazy Love

12.   The Girl who Played with Fire

13. A Wrinkle in Time (re-read...I think I read it in 6th grade)

14.   The Color Purple (currently reading)

As I mentioned in my 27 before 27 post, I want to read at least three more books before my birthday (Dec. 6th). No real reason why I picked the number three. Just seemed reasonable. Any recommendations? :)

And I highly recommend any of the books on my list here. Especially The Poisonwood Bible and A Discovery of Witches (they are completely different types of books, though). And The Bible. Duh.

Happy reading!

~Christy

27 Before 27...turbo speed!

I'm a little late jumping on this band wagon...especially since I will be 27 in less than 3 months! But there is something about the start of a new season (especially fall, which is my favorite season!) that fill me with motivation and positivity and makes me want to set new goals. Since I'm working with a short time frame, these will have to be short, specific goals. And we just bought a house so forgive me but most of these will be house related.

1. Do a thorough and awesome job decorating for fall, Halloween, and Christmas
2. Come up with Halloween costumes that might help us place in the contest at The University Store again. We came in 2nd place and won a $50 gift card two years ago with our Rogue and Wolverine costumes. And I think our Harry Potter costumes the year before were pretty sweet too, even though we didn't win anything.
3. Read three books outside of required reading for school. I know that doesn't sound like much, but I've been pretty darn busy lately! I just started The Color Purple by Alice Walker. Just need two more after I finish that one!
4. Finish weeding our multiple garden areas in our yard and making our lawn pretty. It's a tough time to do that because things are starting to die and I can't get a good vision of what is actually going to be pretty in the spring. But some things are very clearly weeds or very clearly ugly, so I can start there! We spent 8 hours working outside this past Saturday (and I'm still SO sore!), but there is a lot more to be done.
5. Organize our personal files. Our old system is not going to cut it as our files continue to grow. We bought a file cabinet at a yard sale a couple weeks ago. Now I just need to buy the hanging folders and start organizing!
6. Take the time to bake and be more creative with our snacks for small group. Chips and salsa are not that inspired...
7. Lose three pounds. That's it. If I can do that I'll be a little into the 130's and that will give me some buffer room for holiday food. I need to get serious about that soon because the seasonal goodies are already starting (hello, pumpkin spice latte!)
8. Complete my portfolio for my Master's program and finish out my last semester! You can then call me Master Curley. I believe that's how that works.
9. Polish my resume and start applying for jobs! Yikes! I cannot even imagine not being a student. What will I do with my time?? Guess I better start having babies! ;)
10. Accessorize more. I'm terrible at this. I'm not a big jewelry person. If I do wear it, I prefer small and simple styles. I have never felt comfortable in bulky jewelry. But I think I can at least try to branch out more and be more mindful of the pieces beyond the outfit itself.
11. Buy some tights and/or leggings and wear them with a dress and some boots, darnit! I love the look but have yet to buy the goods!
12. Budget for more periodic shopping (maybe 1-2 inexpensive pieces per paycheck so that it's not so financially devastating when I finally have to break down and do a major shopping spree). This will hopefully help me continue to build up my professional wardrobe for when I get that full-time job after graduation! Whoop! :)
13. Speaking of budget...make a real budget, and stick to it! We sort of have one...in our heads...but I want to actually get it all down in a spreadsheet or something that we can use. After our first round of utility bills come in on our new house we will have a better idea of how to do that.
14. Pay off our credit cards. Oh, boy! Well, we went on a cruise at the beginning of the summer and put a lot of it on cards thinking we would pay it off by mid-summer....Then we decided to buy a house. And that sort of got put on hold. And added to. So now we're working on paying that off. Hopefully before my birthday so we can use them for Christmas presents if we need to.
15. Throw more dinner parties and hang out with people more often. We own a house in town now, so there is no excuse not to spend more time with our friends. I would say we are off to a great start. We've started hosting small group at our house every-other week, we've had 1 set of friends over for dinner, we've had Scott's aunt and uncle over, this weekend my mom and her husband are coming, and next weekend Scott's parents and sister are coming! Are we over doing it? ha!
16. Meet some neighbors!
17. Go to First Friday in downtown Statesboro and walk around, get cupcakes, and be social! 
18. Blog at least once a week....can I really do it? :/
19. Call my great-grandma just to chat
20. Visit my nieces
21. Sit outside more. We have such beautiful landscaping and the weather is cooling down...why shouldn't we sit outside and enjoy it?
22. Serve my husband more faithfully and cheerfully. I admit I have gotten a little lazy at home since I've been so busy with work and school. He has been my source of motivation to do anything productive at home. I want to be better about coming home and doing nice things for him and being willing and determined to do things around the house without his prompting. 
23. Find a good devotional or study book to supplement my Bible study time. Sometimes I allow myself to get into a rut with my routines and then my time with the Lord doesn't feel as genuine or personal as it could. Mixing it up with new material is one way to get me connected on a deeper level. I also want to make sure I'm praying more often throughout the day, even when I'm very busy!
24.  Earnestly pray about how I'm serving in the church and listen and obey what God is calling me to do.
25. Paint the fireplace mantel in our living room (and maybe the beam across our vaulted ceiling...)  
26. Take more baths (not to be confused with showers...yes, I bathe regularly!) and give myself more pedicures. Turns out even though I'm not a huge fan of water or feet...those things truly are relaxing. :)
27. Pack more nutritious lunches than frozen meals. Sure they are convenient and low in calories, but I think my body would appreciate some variety...preferably including food that is easier to digest and not loaded with preservatives and sodium, please!

Whew! That was actually really hard to come up with 27 things! Sorry most of these are so simple and things that, let's face it, I was probably going to do anyway. But it's fun to write things down, and there are very few things in this life that I find more satisfying than checking things off a list!!

Happy Monday!

~Christy

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