Like, Love, Obsess!!

With some summer time off, I am fortunate to be getting some things in order around my house in my life. I have taken these first few weeks to clean out the house, have a garage sale, and really concentrate on getting things in order. Please do not get me wrong, if you were to stop over unexpectadly, you would not always find my home to clean and spotless (a dream of mine that will probably never come true). However, we are getting better and giving everything a place.

Yes, I am one of those people who LOVES organization and order. I do organize my closet by color and by long sleeves, short sleeves, pants, etc. Nothing makes me happier than a room with everything in it's place and no clutter. That is what I am working toward.

In doing this, I am finding that I really am happy to get rid of "stuff". I have written before about how I really would love to live with as little "stuff" and clutter as possible. Recently, I read a GREAT article that dealt this this topic. The author of the article said that when you are going through your things and trying to decide what to keep and what to ditch, think of everything that you have as something that takes up some of your time. That time may be putting it away or taking care of it. Therefore, the less you have, the more free time you will have. It also made me think that I should only hang on to those things that I really love and want to take care of. I have gotten to a point in my life that a little free time is worth more to me than "things". This new philosophy has helped me to really think about something before I purchase it and to let go of some of those "things" that I was hanging on to for no apparent reason.

While I was cleaning and organizing today, I decided that I would add a new element to my blogs. Since I am trying to live with only things that I LOVE and that bring joy to my life, I will share these things and experiences through my blogs by catergorizing things as either things I like, I love, or I am obsessed with! Again, I am not sure if anyone will even care about what I have to say, but it is worth a shot. I am also going to incorporate this into the blogs that I write for our website www.WNYKids.com. So stay tuned for some reviews of great things. I do not get paid to do this or get anything free for what I write. It will simply be my honest to goodness review of things that I find to bring joy and inspiration in my life.

Today, I am grateful time to reflect and grow! Summertime is great for so many reasons and I am thankful to have this time to organize (or at least attempt to) my life!

Playing in The Rain

One of my goals this summer is to really spend quality time with my kids and make sure that we make lots of memories together. I have really been hit with the realization that they are growing up WAY too fast. I also have realized that with everything else that I need to do in a day, I sometimes forget to really stop and live in the moment of what we are doing together.

Today, my friend and I decided to start a summer tradition of "field trip fridays". We are doing this for two reasons...1. we both want to do fun things with our kids this summer and 2.We are trying to encourage others to do it as well as part of our website WNYKids.com. So, we headed downtown to a great event on the waterfront. The kids were able to make things with clay and play in water tables and sand boxes. They also got to see the waterfront that they love to visit. Of course, up until today, it has been sunny and hotter than hot here in WNY. However, today the rains came down...in buckets! The timing could not have been better...it started pouring as we were making the trek back to our cars. Yes, there we were...2 adults and a total of 6 kids (and only 3 umbrellas!!). Needless to say, we got soaked.

The greatest part of this was that we did not care at all! We actually walked a little bit slower to our cars laughing the entire way. By the time we got to the cars, we could have rung out our clothes and yet all we did was laugh and continue to stay in the rain. On the way home, the kids told me that this was "the best day ever!!" I asked them why and they said, "because playing in the rain is AWESOME!"

Now, I am not that uptight that I have never played in the rain before. However, I can say that I have not taken the time to do that lately and truthfully, probably was worried (for some crazy reason) that I did not have time to get wet nor did I have the patience to deal with wet kids in my car. But today, we did it..we survived...and we loved every second of it!!!

So, today I am thankful for rainy days and the time to enjoy them! I am so glad that I "let my hair down" and played and danced in the rain. I know, it sounds terrible that this is such a big deal for me, but it really was. I am also thankful for fun with great friends and a GREAT new camera! I am finally able to really get back to photography and making memories of these great days!!!

Back at It!

Ok, so how many times can I say, "I am back!"? Well, it is true. After a very long hiatus, I am back and ready to blog, blog, blog!

One of the greatest things happened to me just a few days ago that was a sign that maybe I really needed to get back to it...a few people told me that they actually DO read my blog! That made my day! For anyone who has ever blogged, you know how you may write and hit "publish" only to wonder if anyone actually takes the time to read what you write. So, I was thrilled to hear that there are readers out there!

There has been so much going on and so much to be thankful for. Long story very short...my wonderful husband is on the mend and summer is here! These two things have allowed me to concentrate on some new and exciting things, all of which I will be sharing over the next few months. In the meantime, I encourage you to stick with me on my quest for gratitude each and every day. I am learning that no matter how bad a day is, there is always something to make us smile and always something to be thankful for!

Have a great day!

I Am One Of The Lucky Ones

I am one of the lucky ones. I guess that I have always known this, but I have been reminded this more so lately than any other time in my life. I say this because I am married to one of the

"good guys".

Sure, I may complain from time to time about how he does not throw his dirty clothes in the hamper or how he snores like a bear at night, but at the end of the day, he is an amazing dad and husband. He is so giving to everyone and really is a person that would give his shirt off his back. He cares so much about everything that he does and always gives 100% to whatever he is doing and whomever he is with. I know that I lucked out BIG TIME!!

Recently, he was diagnosed with an enlarged heart. This is a result of a bacteria that infected his heart a few years ago. I thought that the diagnosis of "enlarged heart", while serious and scary, was in a way very appropriate for him as he has the biggest and most generous heart of anyone that I know.

This diagnosis has been hard for all of us to swallow and comes with a lot of doctors visits and tests. It has slowed him down and in some ways has changed the course of his life. Every day I wish that I could take this all away from him and make him and his heart better.

Of course, like anyone who has a loved one who is sick, we want to take it away, but know that we cannot. I have spent some time wallowing in this and finally, on a walk that I took by myself to gather my thoughts, came up with some inspiration to hopefully help get us all through this!

While it is so easy to worry and be sad about him being sick, I have decided that it will make us all "better" if I concentrate on letting him know every day just how much I love him and how wonderful I think that he is. This is my new life's goal. I will work at doing something each day for him so that he knows just how much he means to me. It may just be something small, but I don't want a day to go by without him knowing how great he is.

So, this blog will be part of the journey. I may not get a darn person to read it, but I who knows, it may inspire someone else too! In a world that seems to be so negative right now, I want this to be my little glowing light! Jeremy, you are amazing and I love you!!

Murphy's Law

Ok, so this photo of the day is a doozie...with a funny story (well, I laugh now, but not so much a few hours ago!)

You know that you are bound to have days like this when you are married to someone with the last name "Murphy".  Murphy's Law seems to creep into my life way more than I would like!  I had one of those "days from you know where" and was looking forward to a night where I could have some fun with the kids, get everyone to bed early, and cash in early myself.  My hubby was not going to be home because he was going to the hockey game.  

Just as we were heading upstairs to bed, I hear a ruckus outside and begin to see a bunch of lights flashing. Sure enough, all of the noise and lights are coming from the parade of trucks pulling up in front of my house.  Yes, there was a pipe that burst in our front yard!  Long story short, it was pretty major and by the end of the whole situation, there were 5 trucks, a crane, a hole at least 8 feet deep and 8 feet wide, spotlights, no water to the entire street, and 2 kids who would not go to bed because of all of the chaos.  

Well, just when I finish texting my husband to please bring coffee for the poor guys working in the freezing cold, don't I start to hear this strange buzz of trucks pulling away.  Sure enough, faster than I could blink, they had filled the gigantic hole, packed their trucks and pulled away.  The funniest part....my husband did not get to experience any of the craziness!  He is actually going to think that I made the whole thing up!  Literally, the entire time he has been gone it has looked like a war zone in front of our house.  Our phone has been ringing off of the hook and neighbors have been stopping by all night wondering what is going on....and he missed it ALL!!

Mii - Wii!

As if it is not bad enough to step on the scale and see the real numbers, when I jump onto the Wii Fit (a lovely gift from my dear husband for Christmas) it blows me up like a balloon to rub in the fact that I have gained some weight.  Not a great way to boost the old self esteem, but I guess it is great motivation.  I mean if even the cartoon version of me is overweight, I guess I need to do something about it!

So, for gratitude.....today I am grateful for the fact that I got my butt out of bed a little early and stuck to my New Year's Resolution of getting back into shape.  I am even more thankful for the fact that I now have this great little video game to work out with instead of having to go out in the terrible cold every morning at 5am to go to the gym. 

Let It Snow, Let It Snow

Well, today was a day to lay low and boy did I take advantage of it.  With six inches of snow falling over night and another 6 inches falling throughout the day, I too advantage of doing a whole lot of nothing!  It didn't help that I was in a bit of "depression" knowing that I have to go back to work tomorrow.  No one likes to see a great vacation come to an end, but I am having a particularly hard time with this one.  Knowing that another holiday season has come and gone has been hard because my kids are at such a great age.  They are 7 and 4 and LOVED every bit of Christmas this year.  They woke up at 3:15 on Christmas morning, we watched every possible Christmas movie every night leading up to Christmas, we drank more hot chocolate and ate more cookies than anyone could imagine, we wrote letters to Santa, visited Santa, and did all of those things that you dream of doing with your kids.  My biggest fear is that I will not have many more years of "believing" left.

So, today I did a lot of sitting back and relishing all of the great things.  I also did a lot of being lazy and watching some of my favorite movies.  To prove how lazy I really was, my picture of the day is actually taken from my bed out of my bedroom window.  I was snuggling with my daughter watching my favorite movie of all time, You've Got Mail, and decided to take a picture of the winter wonderland outside since I would much rather look at it from the warmth of my blankets than venture out into it (I am not much of a fan of the cold...go figure! I live in Buffalo!)  

Today, I am thankful for great times and great memories.  As hard as it is to say goodbye to the holidays, at least I can say that it was a GREAT time that I will cherish forever!!

:)Kelly

P.S.  For those of you who are interested in this idea of Project 365, here is a way to preserve all of your photos that you are taking over this year.  Here is a link to a book that I am creating! My Project 365 book.  To make your own, learn more at my website - www.WhyStoryBook.com

Time and Garbage

Photo of the Day - My kids playing outside with their friends.  Yes, they were served hot chocolate outside!  It was 9 degrees here today!  Yikes!

Ok, so you are probably wondering what time and garbage have to do with one another.  These are the two things that I am most grateful for today!  Let me explain....

First, I am thankful for time because we had today and still have tomorrow left in our vacation.  As some of you know, I am a teacher and I relish the fact that I do get so much time off.  I love that I get to spend the time with my kids.  It was great to have today off because it gave me time to do the very necessary cleaning and organizing that needed to be done after the whirlwind of the holidays.  Just knowing that I had today to organize instead of having to race right back to work was a HUGE gift!  This is also where garbage comes into play.  

It is amazing to me how we work so hard to be able to afford "things".  We are always wanting new "things".  Yet, I can honestly tell you that getting rid of "things" makes me just as happy, if not more so, than getting things.  I was so happy to take two HUGE garbage bags full of clutter out to the garbage today.  Just seeing how neat and organized my bedroom and closet were made me happy.  I HATE clutter and wish that I would remember that every time I go to a store. Tomorrow I will be taking time to drop off some of my things to the Salvation Army.  That too makes me happy.  It makes me happy knowing that some of the great things that I have gotten to enjoy will bring someone else joy, at least until they are ready to get rid of it too!

The Gratitude Project - 2010

Happy New Year!  I cannot believe that we are upon 2010.  Sitting her on New Year's Eve, it hit me how much has happened in my life over the past 10 year.  10 years ago, I was celebrating my first New Year's Eve as a married woman.  Who knew that in the 10 years to follow I would buy a great first house, give birth to 2 great children, continue to work at the job that I had just started, travel to Europe, get involved in 3 different businesses, open my very own business, close my business, start another new business with a friend, survive 10 years of marriage, met new friends, said goodbye to some people who I thought were friends, adopted my first pet, lost my mind, celebrated some of the greatest times in my life, found myself, lost myself, gained more weight than I wanted, laughed a lot and cried a lot.  In the midst of it all, I learned a lot about me (some things that I like and some things that I do not like).  

They say that as you get older, time goes by much faster.  Well, it is true. The past 10 years have flown by faster than I could have ever imagined.  I realize now that it is so important to be present in your own life.  No matter how crazy things get, we only have so much time, so we need to laugh and enjoy it.  I can say that I have really become a worry wart and many times forget to stop and smell the roses.

So, this year, I am starting the year feeling a little bit wiser and ready to face this crazy world.  I realize that I am very blessed and very fortunate and need to take more time to appreciate that.

I am going to be participating in something called "Project 365".  I will be taking at least one photo each day of something that inspires me.  I have LOVED photography since I took my first photography class in high school.  It has been something that has been a major part of my life for a long time.  By doing this, I hope to be able to stop and appreciate things more as well as document the year with some really great photos.  Attached is the first photo of the new year.  It is of my Christmas tree.  I LOVE Christmas and totally enjoyed sitting on my couch watching a movie after everyone was asleep.  There is nothing better than the glow of Christmas lights!  I live for this time of year!

I also plan to change this blog of mine into a bit of a "gratitude" project.  I plan to look around a bit more and learn to pick at least one positive in each of my days.  Over the past years, I have found it very easy to wallow in the days of being a working mom, wife, and friend.  I many times have found it easier to be a "glass half empty" kind of person (as I have mentioned in some of my other blogs).  This year, I am going to try to change this!  

I don't know if anyone out there will ever read any of this, but I am inspired to keep writing and to write every day about the good things in life.  I hope to see a gradual change and improvement in myself over time.  Happy New Year and cheers to 2010!