Here's my newest updates:

House
1. Get new windows
2. Grow a garden during spring, summer, and fall
3. Decorate guest bedroom (6/09)
4. Decorate long wall in master bedroom
5. Paint/stain the deck
6. Paint the exterior shutters, door, and garage doors
7. Paint the front porch gray
8. Decorate the outside of the house for Xmas
9. Change faucet in kitchen

Organization
10. Go through recipe books and get rid of unused ones
11. Make a neat file/book of recipes I use regularly
12. Clean out hall and bathroom closets (6/09)
13. Organize extra photos
14. Make a list of everything in my wallet
15. Update my address book
16. Make a hurricane prepared-ness plan
17. Organize this list (6-7-09)

Personal
18. Donate blood 3x
19. Weigh xxx lbs.
20. Begin Ed.S degree (7/09)
21. Finish Ed.S degree
22. Decide whether I want to have children or not
23. Try a new hairstyle (8/09)
24. Finish my list of 101 things to do
25. Write down everything I eat for one full week
26. Drink a glass of water before each meal for a week
27. Research life insurance
28. Increase retirement contribution
29. Go to the eye doctor


Travel/Places to go
30. Go to Las Vegas with Chip
31. Go on a girl’s weekend somewhere
32. Go camping for a weekend
33. Update passport
34. Use passport
35. Visit friends in MD 2x
36. Go to Norfolk Zoo
37. Go to Norfolk Botanical Gardens
38. Go on Spirit of Norfolk dinner cruise (6/09)
39. Go berry/fruit picking

Family
40. Visit parents in NJ 2x (1 complete 6/3/09-6/5/09, Sept. '09)
41. Go on a mini-vacation with mom, and maybe sister
42. Watch the sunset at the beach, toes in the sand, with Chip

Other
43. Document my 101 things on my blog
44. Try 10 new recipes (6 as of 12/09)
45. Host a dinner party
46. Participate in Relay For Life again
47. Make red velvet cupcakes for Chip
48. Go to the Norfolk bar(s)
49. Ride bike to the pool often
50. Play a full 18 holes of golf
51. Donate $ to dog rescue via craft projects
52. Read a James Patterson novel
53. Volunteer at a soup kitchen
54. Do Habitat for Humanity
55. Get an SLR camera
56. Use Arbonne face stuff for a month
57. Take a bath in our tub 5x (2x as of 12/09)
58. Go rock climbing at a gym (attempted 9/09)
59. Go a week without eating meat
60. Play paintball
61. Host a girl’s night
62. Use reusable shopping bags consistently (6/09)
63. Write a thank you note to one of my elem. Teachers
64. Play racquetball
65. Start a monthly potluck group (6/09)
66. Play Bunco (7/09)
67. Convince someone else to make a 101 in 1001 list

Crafts
68. Knit a (dog or baby) sweater on the loom
69. Sew a new harness/dress for Zoe
70. Sew baby burp cloths
71. Sew baby pull tab cubes
72. Sew a purse

Added on late:
73. Write 3 "just because" cards per year.
74. Lose 20 lbs.
75. Follow the Smart for Life diet for at least 3 weeks (long enough to use my first cookie purchase).
76. Paint kitchen cabinets.
77. Try 10 new-to-me restaurants
78. Go on a fancy, no-reason dinner date
79. Organize household paperwork
80. Send in reimbursement paperwork for HRA spending
81. Get no lower than a B in my grad classes (A's in Fall '09)
82. Complete my internship hours and a middle school and high school in summer 2010
83. Buy a new car
84. Keep new car clean
85. Make my own dryer balls
86. Make my own detergent
87. Use homemade detergent
88. Knit blanket for Navy volunteer program
89. Get new curtains for the kitchen.
90. Get art for the wall in the kitchen.
91. Get new curtains for the front door.

It's been a while

It's been a while since I have logged on... partly because I never use the email account needed to login to update this blog. I barely remember the email address and password.

Anyway, I have been progressing on my goals.

I did the Smart for Life cookie diet the 2nd half of the summer and lost between 15 and 20 lbs. I have gained back just a couple of pounds but plan to start up again in January. I also quit the gym because I wasn't going much anymore for various reasons including lack of motivation (since I hadn't lost weight when going) and lack of time due to my grad classes.

I just finished my first semester of classes with Virginia Tech towards my Educational Specialist degree in Administration and Ed. Leadership. I got an A in both classes! Woohoo!

I have also been crafty. I made some earth friendly holiday gifts for people. I also have made a number of mini scrapbooks for wedding and baby gifts. I also have been sewing some burp cloths that seem to be well liked. I am going to make some closet organizers and other gifts for some of my preggo coworkers.

As far as my 101 in 1001 list, I have been working on it! Here's the new things I am adding to the list.


-Try 10 new-to-me restaurants
-Go on a fancy, no reason dinner date
-Organize household paperwork
-Send in reimbursement paperwork for HRA spending
-Get no lower than a B in my grad classes
-Complete my internship hours and a middle school and high school in summer 2010
-Buy a new car
-Keep new car clean

That means my list is now at 84!

Things I Have Accomplished

I have accomplished some of my 101 in 1001 list items. I will list them here and update the colors from my previous post.

Accomplished:

Decorated guest bedroom
Clean out hall and guest bathroom closet
Begin Ed. S. degree (got accepted... starts in Aug. officially)
Girl's weekend is being planned
Went on Spirit of Norfolk
Tried 2 new recipes (of 10)
Use reusable shopping bags consistently
Start a monthly potluck group
Play bunco


Added to the list:
Lose 20 lbs.
Follow the Smart for Life diet for at least 3 weeks (long enough to use my first cookie purchase).
Paint kitchen cabinets.

Updated List

I organized my 101 things to do in 1001 days list (which means I also accomplished one of my things!!!). I broke it into categories so I can more easily see what my things to accomplish are.

Items in blue have been completed. Items in green have been started or are partially completed.

House
1. Get new windows
2. Grow a garden during spring, summer, and fall
3. Decorate guest bedroom (6/09)
4. Decorate long wall in master bedroom
5. Paint/stain the deck
6. Paint the exterior shutters, door, and garage doors
7. Paint the front porch white
8. Decorate the outside of the house for Xmas
9. Change faucet in kitchen

Organization
10. Go through recipe books and get rid of unused ones
11. Make a neat file/book of recipes I use regularly
12. Clean out hall and bathroom closets (6/09)
13. Organize extra photos
14. Make a list of everything in my wallet
15. Update my address book
16. Make a hurricane prepared-ness plan
17. Organize this list (6-7-09)

Personal
18. Donate blood 3x
19. Weigh xxx lbs.
20. Begin Ed.S degree (7/09)
21. Finish Ed.S degree
22. Decide whether I want to have children or not
23. Try a new hairstyle
24. Finish my list of 101 things to do
25. Write down everything I eat for one full week
26. Drink a glass of water before each meal for a week
27. Research life insurance
28. Increase retirement contribution
29. Go to the eye doctor


Travel/Places to go
30. Go to Las Vegas with Chip
31. Go on a girl’s weekend somewhere (planned for Aug. '09)
32. Go camping for a weekend
33. Update passport
34. Use passport
35. Visit friends in MD 2x
36. Go to Norfolk Zoo
37. Go to Norfolk Botanical Gardens
38. Go on Spirit of Norfolk dinner cruise (6/09)
39. Go berry/fruit picking

Family
40. Visit parents in NJ 2x (1 complete 6/3/09-6/5/09)
41. Go on a mini-vacation with mom, and maybe sister
42. Watch the sunset at the beach, toes in the sand, with Chip

Other
43. Document my 101 things on my blog
44. Try 10 new recipes (2 as of 6/09)
45. Host a dinner party
46. Participate in Relay For Life again
47. Make red velvet cupcakes for Chip
48. Go to the Norfolk bar(s)
49. Ride bike to the gym
50. Play a full 18 holes of golf
51. Donate $ to dog rescue via craft projects
52. Read a James Patterson novel
53. Volunteer at a soup kitchen
54. Do Habitat for Humanity
55. Get an SLR camera
56. Use Arbonne face stuff for a month
57. Take a bath in our tub 5x
58. Go rock climbing at the gym
59. Go a week without eating meat
60. Play paintball
61. Host a girl’s night
62. Use reusable shopping bags consistently (6/09)
63. Write a thank you note to one of my elem. Teachers
64. Play racquetball
65. Start a monthly potluck group (6/09)
66. Play Bunco (7/09)
67. Convince someone else to make a 101 in 1001 list

Crafts
68. Knit a (dog or baby) sweater on the loom
69. Sew a new harness/dress for Zoe
70. Sew baby burp cloths
71. Sew baby pull tab cubes
72. Sew a purse

Added on late:
73. Write 3 "just because" cards per year.
74. Lose 20 lbs.
75. Follow the Smart for Life diet for at least 3 weeks (long enough to use my first cookie purchase).
76. Paint kitchen cabinets.

101 things in 1001 days

I recently read about this web site http://www.dayzeroproject.com/ where people come up with lists of 101 things they plan to accomplish in 1001 days. The things don't have to be huge, but it kinda holds me accountable and helps remind me of things I want to do. So, I got started on my list a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, I am still not done! I have decided to start it now though. I figure my 1001 days starts today, June 1, 2009, and ends February 26, 2012 (if I did my math correctly). So, here's my list so far (72 things... the numbers didn't copy and paste well). I plan to update it on this blog fairly often.

101 things in 1001 days

1. Donate blood 3 x
2. Get new windows on the house
3. Weigh xxx lbs.
4. Grow a garden during spring, summer, and fall.
5. Begin Ed. Specialist degree.
6. Finish Ed. Specialist degree.
7. Donate money to dog rescue via craft projects.
8. Decide whether I want children or not.
9. Go to Las Vegas with Chip.
10. Go camping for a weekend
11. Ride my bike to the gym
12. Go through recipe books and get rid of ones I don’t use
13. Make a neat file/book of recipes I use regularly
14. Document my 101 things on my blog
15. Try 10 new recipes
16. Host a dinner party
17. Decorate the guest bedroom
18. Update passport
19. Use passport
20. Participate in Relay for Life again
21. Make red velvet cupcakes for Chip
Check out the Norfolk bar(s)
Visit parents in NJ 2x
Visit friends in MD 2x
Read a James Patterson book over the summer
Knit a sweater on the loom
Sew a new harness/dress for Zoe
Sew baby burp cloths
Sew baby pull tab toys
Volunteer at a soup kitchen
Get an SLR camera
Use my Arbonne face stuff for a month
Take a bath in our tub 5x
Go to the VA Zoo
Go on the Spirit of Norfolk boat
Go to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens
Go rock climbing at the gym
Go on a mini-vacation with just mom (and maybe sis)
Go a week without eating meat
Decorate long wall in bedroom
Paint/stain the deck
Paint the exterior shutters/garage door
Paint front porch white
Visit someplace I have never been
Go golfing 18 holes
Go berry or fruit picking
Play paintball
Decorate the outside of the house for Xmas
Clean out the hall and bathroom closets
Try a new hairstyle
Finish my list of 101 things to do
Write down everything I eat for one full week
Drink a glass of water before each meal for a week
Organize extra photos
Have a girl’s night at our house
Make a list of everything in wallet
Use reusable shopping bags more often
Write a thank you note to elem. teacher
Update my address book
Change faucet in ½ bath
Change faucet in kitchen
Research life insurance
Increase 403b contribution
Go to the eye doctor
Play racquetball
Watch the sunset on a beach, toes in sand, with Chip
Attempt to start a monthly potluck group
Play Bunco
Convince someone else to make a 101 in 1001 list
Sew a purse

Make a hurricane preparedness plan

Organize this list

Update

Once again, keeping this blog updated has not worked out. Here's some of the crafts I completed in the past few weeks.


This is not quite done yet. I still need to get some photos of Chip and me printed and added to this chipboard album (covered in scrapbook paper).

This is a set of cards I made. It will be a gift for someone, for something :).

One of these will be a gift (for my soon to be 2 yr. old nephew who loves trucks) and the other one is currently displayed in my living room :).



I also did a bunch of pages in my doggie scrapbook but I don't have any really good pics.


As far as weight loss, I have been losing about a pound a week! Yeah! Easter set me back a bit, but I am back on track now :). I also started including spin classes in my workouts.


On the homefront, my garden is going sorta strong. Some stuff is growing and some stuff I am restarting indoors again. Here's a picture of my squarefoot garden when I first made it.

Chip and I also spent some time 2 weekends ago redoing the landscaping in the front of the house. We took out some dead plants and put in easy to maintain plants. Once they grow a bit, they'll be even better.

This was the before picture. (We had already removed the really dead bush when I took this picture). Chip and I hosted Easter dinner this past Sunday. Our friends DJ and Sara from Baltimore came down to visit. So, of course, they were there, as well as Katie and Eric and Alicia and Mike. It was the first time I used the China I got when my grandparents died. Here's the table all set up.

And.... I am thisclose to being done with painting all the trim in the house white! I just need one more coat on half of the kitchen (by the windows). I will finish that this week. Once Chip finishes his small part (the crown molding in 3 rooms), I will post pics! Yay!

Paper Bag Albums

Here's some pics of the albums I made as gifts for Mike and Meghan McG. and Shawn and Rachel H.. I went up to Maryland over Valentine's Day weekend and delivered the gifts. The girl album is for M&M since they are about to have a baby girl named Emma later this month. The boy album was for S&R for their son Luke's 1st bday.

Catching up

Wow. I have been bad about posting. I will try to improve that, but no promises. I have however, really been keeping up on my goals for 2009! Every one of them!

Weight Loss
In mid-February, I helped start the group, Dieting Divas, at school. It is our own weight watching/healthy lifestyle group. Each Friday, we all weigh in and then meet after school and discuss what helps us with weight loss and different healthy living topics. In February, 25 people participated and all 25 lost weight.

Although I am not thrilled with my progress, many people are telling me I am doing exactly what I should be. I have been going to the gym 6-7 days a week (starting this week I am taking more breaks to make sure I don't overdo it) and following WW points. I am now journaling more and cutting some of my carbs to help.

Here's my gym schedule and approx. how many calories I burn at each activity according to my HR monitor.

• Sunday: Body Pump (250-300 calories) plus 20-30 min. cardio (200ish calories)
• Monday: break day
• Tuesday: PAC class (500-550 calories)
• Wednesday: Heavy weights and Body Attack (500-550 calories)
• Thursday: PAC class (500-550 calories)
• Friday: off most weeks
• Saturday: Basketball and/or 30 min. PAC (350ish calories) and Body Combat (500-550 calories).

The House

I am DONE painting the moldings for the entire upstairs and the downstairs hallway. In the next few weeks I will start on the other downstairs rooms. I also bought the paint for the hallways and the gues bedroom. I came up with a color scheme and decorating ideas for the guest bedroom too!

This weekend, we also did some work on the yard. Chip helped me with my gardening goals by building my box for my square foot garden (http://www.squarefootgardening.com/) and I cleaned up some of the mess from the previous owners. I also started some seeds in my mini greenhouse.

Crafts

I went to a 12 hour scrapbook crop last weekend and a crop at Melissa's house a few weeks ago. I have finished 3 paper bag albums (two baby ones as gifts for Mike and Meghan and Shawn and Rachel and 1 summer themed album fr me). I have also created some crafts for around the house and as other gifts. Oh, and I finished my wedding album and started working on my doggie album. I will do a thread soon for some of my albums I made.

Bathroom update

Well, it's been a while since I wrote last. I have been working on some house projects. Little by little the past few months, I have been trying to update our master bathroom. Now, I am pretty much done, aside from a few small things, that are not going to be a priority for a while. See some before and after pictures of the bathroom below.

My next big undertaking will be painting all the interior moldings of our house white. They are currently wood colored, and they bother me. I have wanted white since we bought the house. A couple weeks ago, we got an estimate from someone for $2500 to paint them. So, I gave up on the idea once again. Then, late Friday night, I was cleaning up our guest room and noticed all the paint on the moldings (done by previous owners). I decided I really wanted to paint the moldings and would do it myself... little by little. I started with the bathroom. I am doing our bedroom next and working across the upstairs and then downstairs. It will be a long process.

Anyway, here's our bathroom pics (sorry some of them are sideways... I need to figure out how to fix that). I am still planning to work on the windows (new blinds and/or new fabric curtains of some sort), a new faucet (already have it... waiting for Chip to install it), painting the doors, and doing something to make the big mirror look better.



Before (when we were looking to buy the house)

Before (walls painted dark brown on the tub wall and vanity painted brown... see above pic for original color)

After:

Christmas Wreath

I have been obsessed with making this project since I read about it. As soon as ornaments were 75% off at Walmart, I bought a bunch of them for my 2009 decorations. However, I couldn't wait to make this. You can find the directions here.

Here's my finished product. I am pretty excited about it.



While I am still motivated, and before I pack the Xmas stuff away completely, I plan to make our new Xmas stockings too! I hope to get that done next weekend.

Resolutions

I have a few big resolutions for 2009. It is a big year for me since I turn 30 and will celebrate my 1 year wedding anniversary.

1) Fit by 30. I want to lose 30-40 lbs. by the time I turn 30 in October. However, I'd like to lose 20 by the time school lets out and it is beach season. In order to reach this goal, I will continue going to the gym 4-5 times a week, but will work harder while I am there. I will also walk the 2 mile loop around our neighborhood more often (with the dogs of course). In addition, I am trying to eat healthier, which leads to my next resolution.

2) Cook healthy and more often. I'd like either Chip or me to cook dinner 4-5 times a week and then have leftovers for some of the other meals. I plan to accomplish this by cooking in the crockpot a lot. One of my favorite blogs to read is http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/. I have tried a number of her recipes and hope to try many more. She's inspired me :).

3) Be more crafty. I just finished my craftroom and my desk (made by Chip) should be done this week. I can't wait to get to work finishing my wedding scrapbook (another goal of the year) and working on other paper and fiber crafts. To inspire me, I am in a few crafty meetup groups and constantly look for fun ideas on blogs and scrapbooks, etc.

4) Be better to myself. I plan to spend more time relaxing (taking baths) and I hope to spend less time scouring the Internet out of boredom. This resolution kinf of links to my other 3 because being fit and healthy is being better to myself. Also, crafting is something I enjoy doing, so that's being better to myself.

So, I hope next year at this time, I am still blogging and I will remember to come back and be able to say I accomplished my resolutions for 2009.

About Me

I figured if you're going to read my blog, you might as well know a bit about me. My name is Stacy and I was born and raised in central, NJ. I went to college at Towson University, just outside Baltimore, Maryland. My major was mass communications and advertising but after a little while in the field, I went back and got my Masters degree in Education. After college I stayed in the Baltimore area and eventually met my husband, Chip. We finally got married after almost 4 years of dating, in March 2008. At the same time, Chip's company offered us a relocation package we couldn't pass up. So, during the summer of 2008, we officially moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia. We bought a house and have been doing little things to fix and update it. Now, I teach fifth grade in Virginia Beach. Overall, we're very happy in our new home and state :).

Two of the most important things in my life are my dogs. I got Zoe in May 2005 (she was 1.5 years old) from the SPCA. She is a miniature dachshund. Then, in April 2007, we adopted Jake (now 2 years old) from another shelter. He's a golden retriever/collie mix. I never had dogs growing up, so once I decided to get one, I spent a lot of time and energy researching breeds, training, etc. If you know me, you know how important my dogs are to me :).

Zoe on her fifth birthday. She loves committing stufficide to her squirrel.



This is Jake on the 2nd day we had him. He keeps that one ear up 95% of the time :).

Entry #1

Lately, I have been reading more and more blogs by people and I really enjoy them. I especially like reading about crafts and home updates/decorating people have done. Since one of my New Year's resolutions this year is to make more crafts and continue decorating our new (to us) house, I figured I'd try writing a blog.

So, I mentioned my NY resolutions. Well, in order to follow through with the crafts, I have taken a few steps. Firstly, I am part of a fiber crafts meetup group and a scrapbooking meetup group. Both have monthly meetups, ideas, and challenges to inspire me to create. I also love a lot of the ideas I see in other people's blogs and some bios on The Nest. Lastly, I just finished painting my craft room. So, I am super inspired right now to get going on my crafts. Actually, I just returned from Walmart where I bought a bunch of Xmas decorations at 75% off. Now, I am ready to create!

On the homefront, I am continuously looking for things to decorate our home. Soon, I will post some before and after pics of stuff I have done. Soon, we need to pick a color and paint all the hallways. Monday, we have someone coming to give us an estimate on what it would cost to paint all our moldings (currently wood) white. I have my fingers crossed that it won't be too much that Chip says no to the idea. I just really think it will brighten the house and make it look more modern. This spring, we'll be updating all the landscaping too. Eventually, we'd like new kitchen countertops and perhaps to paint the kitchen cabinets.

Well, that's enough for my first post.