Goals

I haven't set any real goals in quite some time... so here are a few I've been thinking about for 2011.

These goals are things that I feel like are things to constantly work toward and keep in mind... however, I have learned... life happens.  I won't be too stressed if I do not meet every one of them.

1. Read a devotional (Thanks Nicki for the recommendation - hopefully you will keep me accountable)

2. Run more.  I'd love to run at least 10 miles a week and run about 4 5K's and a half this year.

3.  Pay off 65% of my college loans.  Why 65%? I don't know... it just seems like a good number that's more than half but not getting too ambitious.

4.  Read 12 books. More on that later.

5.  Organize the closets of junk in my life.

6.  Plan more for therapy and try to be a better therapist for my kids at school.

7. Buy a house.  This is definitely a goal for 2011... but is completely dependent on job/military situations.

8. Eat healthy.  Step one... I will be cleaning out my pantry this afternoon.

9.  Be a better, more supportive wife. I love William so much.  I will die trying to be the best decision he ever made.

10.  Have fun. Afterall... life should be more than work.

Another Year in Review

Hard to believe I've been blogging for a year and a half now... Last year was characterized by getting married... this year was characterized by ending the "school" chapter of our lives and entering the big kid world of employment.  Here's a look back!

January

In January William and I were settling into our first "home". On January 25th William was offered a job with Halliburton! This lifted a huge weight off of our shoulders.  I also started my practicum at Big Spring Elementary.  I loved it, but at the time had no intentions of working in the public schools (go figure).

February

In February I started my job search.  On February 11 we (Jonna, Bryan, William and I) experienced our first "big" snow when 9 inches fell on Dallas in a day. It was during our snowed in vacation that I started growing the dream of owning a D-SLR camera!

March

In March our brother and sister in law got married. I bought my first SLR.  William also started his job. We moved into our first apartment (that we both played a part in picking).  I also took my COMPS/Praxis exams for my SLP certification.

We also celebrated my grandparents 50th anniversary, my grandfather's retirement, and my family company's 35th birthday.

April

In April I found out I passed COMPS and Praxis and finished up my last semester of graduate school.  I continued my job search and missed William while he was at work for most of the month.

May

In May I graduated from graduate school with my Master's in Speech Pathology.  My dad bought me a new D-SLR and I have since become a better photographer (than him). :)

June

In June I started my first jobs.  William also got his wisdom teeth out.

July

In July I got rid of one job and got another one. William got his first promotion. I started a running program.  Our bay house was also finished in July!

August

In August the most notable event was starting work in Richardson.  William continued to work for Halliburton away from home.

September

In September we had friends down to our bay house for the first time! It was a blast. We planned on making it a yearly thing, but Troy and Chelsea decided to ruin it by getting married Labor Day 2011.

October

In October we had a pumpkin carving contest and celebrated Colin's birthday. My dad also turned 50!

November

In November William got orders to report to Fort Huachuca. So the day after Thanksgiving we started our trek to Tucson. We celebrated our 1st Anniversary at a Tucson mall for dinner and a movie.

I also ran my second 5K in November.

December

In December I ran a leg of the White Rock Marathon.  I still haven't done a post about that... but I ran the last 5.2 miles of the marathon for my team.  It was a lot of fun and I feel like it was a big accomplishment.  Especially since I hadn't run that far before.  I finished up the last few weeks of school and rushed home to wait for William to head home.

I'm going to do a different post on our Holidays... but they were fun but like always a whirlwind.

All in all it was a good year.  I feel like beginning my love for photography and running are things that will carry on for many years to come.

I can't wait to see what this next year has in store.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas to Me: Kelly Moore Bag

I loved all my gifts this year... but I've been pining over a Kelly Moore Bag!

So I've decided to get one for myself.

Adorable purse + made for camera = Kelly Moore Bag

It's exactly what I need!

Hopefully I'll have mine before February!

The $30 coupon for writing this post will definitely come in handy! :) Got to love 21st century advertising!

I stopped my birth control at the end of June.  It was at the end of one of my packages of birth control.  We had been talking about starting to try.  Or I'd been talking about it and William had been listening.  I was so afraid that it would take us a long time for us to have a baby. We decided it would be a good time just to stop preventing it.

First Post

I need to write down how I'm feeling about this whole baby or should I say "no baby" thing.  I know it's all going to work out in God's timing... but this is turning into a pretty painful process.

I need a place to hang my worries on the door. One day I want to be able to look back and be so grateful for this process and everything I learned.

Only 3 people currently have access to this blog.  William, Dana, and Jonna.  William asked me not to blog about it... but I hope that privately blogging about it is okay.  I figure Dana and Jonna know everything anyways... so it can't hurt for them to access to it.  One day down the road it might become public but for now it's just my personal outlet.