What I'm Into- April 2015

Where did April go?! This Month FLEW!

Meeker Life

We have put all yard projects aside because 1. we can't agree on what to do and 2. anything we can agree on to do is too expensive.. and we have this great idea to pay off our student loans by Dec 2017 so that kind of derails all extras.. it will be worth it.. Meeker and I instead focused our energies on cleaning out the garage, guest bedroom, and deep cleaning the downstairs.. (and by deep cleaning i mean we vacuumed more than 1x per month).

Final Four- we had an impromptu grill out party which was super fun! 

Easter- We had an impromptu brunch with our friends the Kroncrites which was super fun - we did a mini Easter egg hunt for their little 4 year old so that was super cute as well.. and I ate a pound of M&Ms.. we accidentally didn't go to church whoops! We overslept..better planning next year!

CEUs- I went to a super interesting training on "Embracing Mental Health in your Faith Community" and it was super inspiring. I will probably go every year..  loved it!

Friends!- we had Sharon and Logan and their 2 baby girls Miriam and Eve stay with us for the weekend! They made parenting look easy! So fun to meet your friend's children!

Wedding Showers! - a few friends and I put together a co-ed wedding shower for our friend Allison who is getting married in June! My first time organizing a shower.. wow- lots of work but super fun. We had planned an outdoor themed thing (yard games) etc but it rained the whole day... but it turns out if you have music, good food, and alcohol people still have fun w out corn-hole.

Meeker Went to Phoenix for a few days for work while I stayed home and took care of our sick Maggie-Dog... she's on the mend !

My Gig at NC State is up for the summer! it will be nice to have my evenings back but I will miss the students I worked with!

Um wow.. what a busy month!!


What I’m Reading:
Nothing.. lol. same old bloggies.. I have a list of books I would like to read at some point.. summer goals!

What I’m Watching: 

So we miraculously had a free weekend of HBO (we didn't even know, I turned on an HBO movie channel to be funny and it WORKED! so glad I happened to try an HBO channel the same weekend we had a free trial otherwise I would have missed out!)

Girls- I am all caught up.. um.. I don't know why, but I just have to watch this.. its pretty terrible.. but somehow it seems less vulgar to me than Game of Thrones (I just can't get into GofT... i had to wiki every episode to keep up with everything after i watched it.. too much work!)

I also finally watched The Fault in Our Stars and Divergent who coincidentally both star the lovely Shailene Woodley and both movies were AWESOME! I think I want to read the Divergent series, but I am going to watch the movies first.. i feel like if you read it first the movies just disappoint you.


I started Bloodline and I got to episode 8 before I just googled the ending.. the episodes are SOOOO SLOW and LONG!!!!! like.. too much ppl.. and I just could not be asked to give 5 more hours to this show.. I feel like I really tried though.. and I did LOVE the story.. but meh..

Just started SCANDAL! finally.. um.. love..

Also - in TV news.. I think we are going Sling TV in a few months... cutting the cord! (we have been talking about this since Feb.. so who knows).

What I’m Listening to: 

I  listened to a lot of old Tim Keller Sermons and Dave Ramsey of course.. I really liked 99% Invisible's episode about Calendars.. so interesting.  and I am of course loving Undisclosed (serial spin-off made by Rabia..) however, there has been a lot of mumurings on Serial's Reddit that its not very legit.. who knows! Still love it.


and that was my APRIL! looking forward to MAY!

What I'm Into March 2015

Hello March Madness! This has been a great Month and hear are some highlights!

-Meeker and I started a massive yard project- we worked hard for 1 day and haven't touched it since... but we've been busy! We are trying to make a fire-pit pad (nothing fancy, just a temporary hangout zone).

-Kimi Came to Visit!
Having a BFF visit is great because you can plan things like "watch tv", "take naps", and "order pizza".. which is basically all we did. We did walk around downtown durham in the rain for a few hours and then go on a massive 2 hour walk around a fancy pants neighborhood that never ended!  It was nice having some girl time and being with a friend that requires no effort! Love that Kimi!

-March Madness ! It's madness! I love watching the NCAA tournament because you never know what is going to happen! (see previous post). Last Saturday we went to visit our dear friends Ryan and Jeff to meet their new baby and watch some games- this turned into a 8 hour lounge-fest on their deck watching the glorious march madness! It goes on my top 5 march madness watching moments (yes there is a list).

-Meeker got to go to Vegas (for work) and DC (for fun)!


What I’m Reading:
Not a lot of reading of actual books but I did find a new blog I like-
Mr. Money Mustache!  I found out about this blog from a podcast (shout out to CYG!); It's a little extreme- this dude retired at 30 and is very frugal.
But it was incredibly inspiring- I definitely binged it for 3 days. 

With all my time off I finally went through my pile of Real Simple magazines that have been stacking up.. I stopped paying for that magazine like 2 years ago, but somehow I am still getting it!? I'll take it.
I used to devour this magazine, but for some reason its not as interesting..

 What I’m Watching: 

I am still going strong w the regulars: The Walking Dead- Better Call Saul-  
and Hart of Dixie, which just got cancelled.. I get it, but sad.! booo!
also LOVING
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt!  A netflix original masterpiece. I will say- the first half of season 1 was sooo much better- felt like the characters became a little stupid towards the end (her lawyers and her dad).. but Titus Andromeda!







After Unbreakable, I was finally inspired to finish the last two seasons of The Office on Netflix.. not bad!

Interested in Blood Line! and will probably start that after the above shows are over for the summer.
Coach Taylor forever!



What I’m Listening to: 
I went on a big Death Sex Money Binge during my lunch break walks.. So good! If I were to recommend an episode it would be the Valentines Day Special.. so sweet! The cheating episode was a little disturbing.. Loved the Senator saved my love life!!!!

Other Things I’m Into:

Every Dollar- The new Dave Ramsey Budget tool that was launched last week! I really like it so far-- i wonder how it compares to YNAB.. but we follow (loosely) to Dave Ramsey's baby steps anyway, so puts all of it in one place! I am getting the "free trial" of the plus and I really like it.

And that's March!

March Madness Week 1 Recap!

Every year I try to take off to watch the first 2 rounds of March Madness and I thought I would share my favorite moments thus far.

Despite my bracket being busted (thanks a lot Iowa State!) its been a great first week! 

Even if you are not a basketball fan I think you will enjoy my fave moments so far!

Best Comeback Moment

NC State Buzzer Beater Against- NC State was getting demolished by LSU and slowly came back to beat them by one point on a shot that went in with 1 second left in the game!

http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2015/3/19/8261457/nc-state-caps-huge-comeback-with-last-second-buzzer-beater-to-beat-lsu

Best In It To Win It Moment

Auguste turns the ball over giving Butler a chance to win the game and then Notre Dame’s Pat Connaughton  pumps his team up with majorly DENYING Butlers shot while yelling “NOT TONIGHT!!!!!” Notre Dame goes on to win in Over Time!

Notre Dame Vs Butler:

http://www.sbnation.com/2015/3/22/8271643/the-end-of-butler-notre-dame-regulation-was-bonkers

Best Hold Your Breath Moment

Cincinnati making a buzzer making shot (that almost doesn’t go in) to take Purdue into Overtime! (and then winning).

http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2015/3/19/8261023/this-cincinnati-buzzer-beater-hung-on-the-rim-forever

Biggest Goofballs (3 way tie)

1. NC State’s Trevor Lacey wiping sweat off the reporter (that face! Haha)
1.  http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2015/3/19/8261487/nc-states-trevor-lacey-tenderly-wipes-his-sweat-off-reporters-arm
2. Wisconsin players having fun with the stenographer
1. http://deadspin.com/wisconsin-players-are-obsessed-with-the-stenographer-1692945163#
3. UCLA’s Tony Parker complimenting a reporter
1. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2404615-uclas-tony-parker-compliments-sideline-reporter-allie-laforce-during-interview

Saddest Moment that turns out to be Awesome

NC State upsets #1 seed Villanova and the camera catches this crying band member

http://www.sbnation.com/2015/3/21/8271289/crying-villanova-band-member-is-the-saddest-ncaa-tournament-thing

the video gets so popular that she gets invited to the Jimmy Fallon Show!

http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2015/3/24/8281877/sad-villanova-piccolo-girl-played-with-the-roots-got-taylor-swift-tickets-tonight-show-jimmy-fallon

Best of ALL the THINGS!

-Buzzer beating 3 point shot to win the game made by the son of the Coach then falls out of chair … MARCH MADNESS!

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/03/19/georgia-state-players-buzzer-beater-in-ncaa-tournament-was-so-incredible-it-literally-knocked-his-coach-out-of-his-chair/

What I'm into: February 2015

We had a FULL month!  Usually when I say "full month" I am using that as code for "stressful and busy", but this time I really mean Full.. like it was full of great things and I am not exhausted or stressed!

Some notable things that happened:
We are CAR DEBT FREE!  Meeker and I set a goal to pay off the Car by June, but thanks to a surprise double bonus (thanks world cup/soccer.com) and a huge tax return (thanks government), we were able to pay it off on Feb 8! It was a great feeling and a huge relief!

We had not 1, not 2, but 3 snow days (and 3 delayed entries) in the last 2 weeks! Snow day 1 and 2 were magical- but snow day 3 was not... we didn't anticipate losing power for 13 hours, and we soon learned that our dependence on electricity is SEVERE. Some lessons we learned: buy firewood for moments like this, always have food in the house that doesn't need to be cooked, have a way to make coffee, charge your phone before any anticipated storm...



What I’m Reading:
I actually finished 2 books this month:

I really enjoyed this book- I love memoirs, so this was right up my ally. And being in the therapy field, I appreciated his pro-therapy revelations. It was also interesting to read about his life post- Blue Like Jazz fame. Good stuff.















Interrupted was a fun read, but not life changing.. I think her audience is upper middle class white women who say "bless your heart" and have china sets that match their wall decor... but it is worth checking out.


I have a lot of Blogs I am reading, but none of them are particularly interesting to me right now.. kind of same old same old.. looking for some new material.



 What I’m Watching: 
So I just found out that  From A to Z HAS BEEN CANCELLED! This is disappointing for 2 reasons.. 1, i really liked the show. 2. They only got to letter M! They could have atleast gone through all the letters.. geez...


  The Walking Dead is back! and fabulous.. but also giving me major anxiety. Total house envy of their new gig.


Better Call Saul
  IS DELIVERING as PROMISED! This show is Excellent! I had my doubts the first episode, but 3 episodes in and I am a faithful follower.







I am also all caught up on HART OF DIXIE!  and they recently added a new character played by ANDIE MCPHEE! #dawsonscreekforever (thanks Nori for the link!) (also switched to #teamwade, i get it now).




What I’m Listening to: 
Invisibilia- Very good! I would recommend! Does NPR ever disappoint?

Call Your Girlfriend- This podcast is not for everyone.. but I love it. It's two best friends who call each other and discuss a bunch of topics, and you get to listen to them.. I don't love all of their political views or thoughts on things, and they are kind of obsessed w talking about "periods" which I also don't love...  but besides that, I love listening to this. It's nice to hear people who think differently than I do about things, and I also feel like I'm hanging out with a bunch of friends. I have found out about a lot of good podcasts/blogs/books and Uniqlo from this podcast.

Other Things I’m Into:

 


 -Passion Planner- despite it taking 3 months for this to be delivered after it was ordered, (#startupprobs) (#kickstarterprobs) I LOVE THIS PLANNER! check it out!






-My Fitness Pal and Fit Bit: I have to lose 10 lbs by may and these two apps are great tools to help me achieve that.. it showed me I was actually eating a LOT of cookies every day.. working at the office is a struggle! Free Food everywhere!

-FRIENDS! We got to hang out with soooo many friends this month and it was so refreshing! YAY!

And that was my Feb! We shall see what March Brings!

What I'm into: January 2015

I've been meaning to do this "what I'm into" post since November.. So I am finally making myself do this!


 Main Theme of January: PURGE!

We recently gave our bedroom a makeover (new bed frame and we painted) which caused us to SERIOUSLY purge.. We got rid of a TON of junk and clothes that we were saving for no reason.. which led us to reorganize our closet..which led us to reorganizing the "pink room" and our downstairs closets, which has produced a full functioning dinning room!  its been great.. and  hopefully the theme of Feb will be "DEEP CLEANING." but we shall see.



What I’m Reading:
Not a ton of time for reading these days but I am slowly working my way through these three books. I don't have much more to say because I have been reading all 3 of these books for the last 2-3 months.. they are all good, but I am obviously prioritizing other media venues (see below):

 I






















What I’m Watching: 
It is almost unbelievable how much TV I am watching despite my ridiculously busy schedule. I have decided to embrace my relationship with TV, my dear toxic friend, who is probably making my life worse, but I just can't let go! But here are my top go-tos right now.

From A to Z
Parenthood (we will miss you!)

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Downton Abby


I sadly just deleted 10 episodes of Project Runway All-Stars because.. I just can't right now.. (literally, not figuratively). And I am SUPER excited for The Walking Dead and Better Call Saul (shout out to Breaking Bad) to start up in Feb!

and my new fave indulgence is watching Friends on Netflix and possibly my new fave show
HART OF DIXIE! 

This show was suprisingly good.. its a perfect mix of all my previous beloved CW shows (WB!) Gilmore Girls, Dawson Creek, Everwood.. and the fashion of Carrie Diaries (RIP). I can't get enough.. and I know everyone else is #teamWade but I am totally #teamGeorge ...I  know Wade is the Pacey of this show, and I am team Pacey.. but geez what about Season 2 guys! But don't debate this w me until I'm current.. bc SPOILERS are the worst!!


What I’m Listening to: 
I have mainly been listening to  A LOT of podcasts........I mean A LOT.. I miss Serial so much.. :-)
Here are my go-tos:

-The Dave Ramsey Show ! (nerd alert, but i'm kind of addicted..and i need motivation to keep snowballing our car payment instead of buying shoes).

-Planet Money- short and sweet and makes me feel smart

-Good Job Brain- I only like listening to this on road trips because its interactive and fun to play w Meeker.. (its 1 hour of pub trivia goodness!)

-Here's the Thing with Alec Baldwin- Turns out Alec makes a pretty great podcast!

-Criminal (made from Triangle residents!)

-Death Sex Money

I'm excited about NPR's "invisibilia".. i have like 5 on there i need to check out!



Other Things I’m Into:
-my new Position at Value Options!!!
-my "girl group" im thread that i participate in with my co-workers who all work remote.
-my side gig at NC State
-finding a new church that is closer than 30 min away
-roommates. We have some friends living with us while they save money to pay for the husband's medschool.. they get cheap rent and we get extra cash for the month! win win! and we are all on completely different schedules which i think is working well for us! :-)
-Doggie Day Care!


That is ALL !

Holy Crap we Bought a House!

So, it's been a little busy/crazy the last few weeks and my poor little blog has been neglected... I did get 18 views the other day, but I saw that they were mostly from Russia, and Meeker told me that they are probably trying to hack into my account and steal my identity.. but hey, I will take it.

A few things before I get to the whole House thing...

1. Slow Cooker Meals= AWESOME.. do it people..
Important things to remember that are crucial to slow cooker success.

•     turn it on before you leave the house for the day.. 
•     after you turn it on is to make sure it is plugged in... 

2. Haven't watched a Doc in a while but don't worry Kimi, Undefeated is the top of the list. We did watch Happy Gilmore yesterday after watching the Masters (when an Argentine is in the semi-finals, we will watch any sport). Meeker had never seen it, and it was funny to re-live 1998 humor. It was also funny having Meeker explain to me why Bob Barker would never have been able to beat up Adam Sandler in real life.. Oh Meeker.


GET TO THE HOUSE ALREADY OH MY GOSH!!!!

Short Version
God basically put this house right in our laps, and we still can't believe that it happened and how everything worked out the way it did..

Longer Version 
Okay.. so Meeker has wanted to buy a house since I met him, and I have never wanted to buy a house ever (third culture kid issues- what if we move out of the country?!) But he has slowly been convincing me by sending me links to houses every day and proving to me mathematically that we can afford it (even if we can't do it the Dave Ramsey way...)

(....I also think it helped to live in 900 sq ft apt,(with a history of smoker residents- aka we smell like smoke all the time). We live beneath a crazy cat lady (seriouslsy she has like 5 cats who play ALLLLL night long); Our neighbor has a LARGE dog that barks pretty consistently (I could write a full post about ppl who have huge dogs that live in tiny apartments..) and we live right behind the only dumpster for the whole complex- which is convenient for us, but we get a lot of foot traffic  and get to listen to "sick bass" that makes our furniture shake while ppl unload their trash or vacuum their cars..  and we have a dishwasher that makes the dishes dirtier.. and a garbage disposal that shakes our whole kitchen when we use it..... )

Annnnyyywwayyyyysss- I was ready for the upgrade.

We thought we found the house of our dreams, but as I mentioned before totally lost out in a bidding war.. but it was okay.. it got our foot in the door. So we found about 10 more houses online that we loved and could afford. Our Realtor suggested we drive around to see if we actually liked the neighborhood, which was the best advice ever..

Sunday we drove the the first 9 houses on the list.. we realized that all of the houses we can afford are in neighborhoods we don't like... So we decided to drive to house #10...
The second we drove into the neighborhood we knew we were "home". The houses were nicely spaced apart, the yards were flat, not a lot of traffic, we were sold.

Monday night, we went to check out house #10 in our beloved neighborhood.  Unfortunately, house #10 was a bust (really bad floor plan). We were super discouraged because the rest of the houses that were on the market in the neighborhood were way out of our price range.. So we were ready to throw in the towel and just save more money up to try again next year..

Tuesday night, our Realtor emailed us that his Realtor friend told him a house in the neighborhood we loved was going on the market on Wednesday  and it was in our price range, and had everything on our wish list- so we went to see it Thursday evening, Thursday night we put in an offer, and Friday we went under contract!

Talk about a Roller Coaster WEEK!

Now I left out a lot of details there but so many intricate things happened to make this work. We really feel like it was a miracle we got this house. 5 other people put in an offer on Friday but our Realtor had a connection w the seller's Realtor  which in the end was what got us the house... I still can't believe it.. So again, there are too many little details that worked together that resulted in us getting this house  which if you know me, I will probably tell you the second I see you and it will take me an hour. (sorry in advance)

We are so excited although I still have this nagging feeling that something is going to happen and we aren't going to get it.. so hopefully that isn't true! We feel really blessed/shocked that we got this house, and have a vision of how we want to use it to bless others. We are excited to see what happens next!!!!

now.. to figure out furniture??? 

Random Things

Here are some more random blog worthy thoughts that I thought I would share with  you


1. Learning How To Cook
I wish there was video documentation of me trying to figure out how to cook. I am a "learn by doing" kind of person, so it is best done alone so I don't freak out my husband when I slice open my finger or drop major ingredients on the floor and rinse them off in the sink. Also, due to my youngest child nature, if someone tries to help or instruct, I will manipulate them in to taking over and go sit on the couch and watch TV while they finish up- it can't be helped- it happens subconsciously-  I have been playing that card my whole life and it's hard to turn off.. So anyway... I am super ADHD when cooking so I will be cooking something, and then I will start washing the dishes, and then I will remember to add a spice I was supposed to put in at the beginning of the recipe.. it's great.. good thing I have a small kitchen. I also use EVERY SINGLE kitchen utensil we own to cook one meal.. It takes me like 2 spatulas, 3 wooden spoons and maybe 3 bowls because I misjudge the size of what kind of bowl I will need. It would make great TV. Also, how did people learn how to cook with out Google Imaging/Youtubing/Searching for questions like "what is fish sauce" and "what is a roaster"  or "how do you cut a mango?" Seriously though? how?!

2. We Almost Bought a House
We have been playing around on Zillow looking at houses and we found one we REALLY liked, so we decided to go see it, you know, just for fun.... the next thing I know we are in a cut-throat bidding war with a lesbian couple.. they ended up winning (they had a 20% down-payment and we had 10%.. (8%) okay (5%)).. 
But we are the contingency plan in case the deal with them falls through... We are looking at other houses though. We want to "get while the gettin's good" and take advantage of the low interest rates (3.5%!!!) and low house prices anyway.. we shall see what happens.

3. I am obsessed with this Blog
 Jamie the Very Worst Missionary.
I have been reading this blog like it's a book..
Its great- and i want to be her best friend.
Check it out... she's hilarious.
(note: it took me a few weeks to warm up to this blog, bc i didn't get it, but once i did, i loved it and then I went all the way back to 2008 and I am now up to 2011. )

4. Final Four! 
Um March Madness anyone!?! Such a fun tournament this year!!!! Remember when that guy busted his leg!? holy crap- I wonder how they will fit that into One Shining Moment!! Also, last year, during Final Four weekend we were celebrating my BFF Kimi's Bachlorette weekend (remember when we saw that guy get hit by a CAR?!). This year's Final Four Weekend we are celebrating my other BFF Mandy's Wedding Shower! I wonder what will happen next year?! (Also, I love the quote from The Mindy Project, "Best Friend is not a person, its a Tier" so true (10 bridesmaids people, 10!)

Other things that were too boring to write about
-Paleo Dinner Meal Plan
-TRX training at 5:45am
-Call Center Tricks
-Work Bingo