August Progress Toward Goals

Yep, here we are, in the LAST week of September!  How does it happen that time goes faster every single month??  These last few weeks have been a blur.  In August, I spent a week in Nashville for an HR meeting, two weeks in Las Vegas for an Engineering Training program I was working with, a weekend in Atlanta with my gal pals to cheer on the Mountaineers at the WVU/Alabama game, a recruiting trip to WVU, a quick overnight trip to a town outside Chicago for a wedding and now I find myself in Tuscaloosa, AL recruiting some more!  I'm tired just typing it!  I also added a pretty cute lil' baby nephew last week - Colton Gage made his debut while I was in Morgantown.  I've got TONS of pics of scrapbook pages I tried to upload but after I spent a ton of time editing them, they loaded sideways and I'm yet to figure out how to edit or rotate pics on blogger?  So annoying.  I'll get there eventually.  But, for now, I leave you with my monthly goal recap for August!

 1.  Only buy the absolute necessary toiletries/cosmetics/etc

I haven't had time to shop which is good!  I have been using up my travel stash like crazy though and I used up some other beauty products as well.  Would def. repurchase all of these items - the hair products have lasted me for YEARS so really good investments for me but I'm ready to try some other items out there!

 2.  No more magazine subscriptions (unless they are free).  My goal is to finish reading the backlog  of magazines in the living room and then start on my actual book collection!  My goal is 1-2 books per month.  

I did some catch-up magazine reading and read 2 books from my stash.  I also finished some Audible books - My Story by Elizabeth Smart and Sold by Patricia McCormick.

 3.  At least one blog entry a week. 

Yep.  I got nothing.

 

4.  Use the elliptical that's literally just  accumulating spider webs in the basement -- get in 20-30 minutes a day on the elliptical and walk Henderson 1-2 times  a week.

January - 56.53 miles 

February - 64.57 miles 

March - 62.27 miles

April - 46.23 miles

May - 68.84 miles 

June - 61.61 miles

July - 65.74 miles

August - 92.91 miles - CRUSHED IT in August!  I did soooo much walking while in Las Vegas!  

   

 5.  Less eating out at work.  My goal is to only eat out 2-3 times a week.  

So with all the traveling, my goal is just to eat as healthy as possible.  It's working.  Somewhat.

6.  Since I beat my scrapbook page goal for 2013, I think I am going to go with ... 300 pages for 2014.

I was able to squeeze in 46 pages during August (somehow) which brings my progress to mid-April... 2011. Oh well.  Progress is progress, right???

July Progress Toward Goals

Today is the kitty babies 6th birthday!  We've had some good times together!  Hard to believe they've moved states 3 times in their 6 years, at least they adapt well.  Hubby and I had a random trip to Bowling Green, KY yesterday and spent the day exploring the cute city - we did an underground river boat tour and grabbed lunch before flying back.  That's the stuff memories are made of :)  I'm working on a "state" project that I'll share soon but KY was part of that project! 

Umm how cool is this?!  You put your camera on the post and then can use your self-timer to capture your picture without having to ask someone to take the picture for you!! Genius!!!!!

Here's a quick update on my goals for the year:

 1.  Only buy the absolute necessary toiletries/cosmetics/etc

On track!  I don't think I bought anything in this category this month and was able to use up a few more items!

1. Jergens Natural Glow - I got a really good deal on these last summer and bought a few of the smaller tubes to try out.  I think the product does give a nice hint of tan and it starts out with an ok smell for a self-tanner product but I don't love the way it smells several hours later.  I typically sleep in the lotion and then wear a different one over it in the AM or re-shower. Probably not something I will repurchase once I use them all up.
2. Vaseline aloe fresh hydrating lotion - LOVE this.  This lotion smells sooo fresh and clean.  This is my usual go-to lotion for after shower/before bed.  It also feels awesome if you've gotten too much sun.  Plus, this large bottle lasts FOREVER.  You def. get your money's worth.
3. Brown Eyeliner by Stila - really like their eyeliner.  Twists up vs sharpening and doesn't smudge.  I do think it could "wear" longer though.

 2.  No more magazine subscriptions (unless they are free).  My goal is to finish reading the backlog  of magazines in the living room and then start on my actual book collection!  My goal is 1-2 books per month.  
I read the Kardashian Konfidential (not recommended) and Rob Lowe's Stories I Only Tell My Friends (would recommend).  I also read 3 of my People magazines - the magazine stack is not dwindling!!

On Audible, I finished Divergent, #1.  It was funny, on the way to Turks & Caicos, Adam and I started watching the movie and we landed before the movie ended so we downloaded the book and listened together on the beach, etc and then watched the rest of the movie on the way back to Atlanta.  I thought the movie was better than the book - the book made her out to be too wimpy.  

 3.  At least one blog entry a week.
I'm showing some improvement here!! I actually did 5 entries for the month of July!  I've been finding more time to participate in the scrapbook challenges at a blog I really like and time to blog in general.

 

4.  Use the elliptical that's literally just  accumulating spider webs in the basement -- get in 20-30 minutes a day on the elliptical and walk Henderson 1-2 times  a week.

January - 56.53 miles 

February - 64.57 miles 

March - 62.27 miles

April - 46.23 miles

May - 68.84 miles 

June - 61.61 miles

July - 65.74 miles

 

July was a good walking month!  Adam and I walked most mornings and it's really not been that hard to adjust to the 5:30 morning routine.

 

 5.  Less eating out at work.  My goal is to only eat out 2-3 times a week.  

I could have done a little better with this goal in July - with being out of town a few times and then having company for a week, it messed up grocery schedules and routines. 

6.  Since I beat my scrapbook page goal for 2013, I think I am going to go with ... 300 pages for 2014.

For July, I completed 27 pages.  Pretty happy with my progress YTD but still 3+ years behind.  Just can't seem to break the 3 year mark!  I'm currently working on the pages of when we moved into our current house (March 11, 2011) if that tells you anything!    

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #221 - Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Hello there!  When I saw the challenge for this week, I thought of ALL of my beloved WVU football pictures.  Since I'm in the middle of February in my 2011 scrapbook, I don't have any football pics waiting to be scrapbooked.  I looked around in my scrapbook room and thought about an old scrapbook I made for my college years (pre-Cricut) and flipped through it.  I found the PERFECT page that needed a little Cricut inspiration/pizzazz!  I should have taken a before pic of this page because it really was pretty boring... but alas, here's the after:

I used Everyday Paper Dolls to create the little cheerleader.  I decorated her outfit with gold stickles and added a WV sticker to the front of the shell.  Before, the page just had the picture at the bottom centered and it was a very simple page - I think the cheerleader adds some "cheer" to the page.  

 Thanks for stopping by!

 

2010 Favorite Scrapbook Layouts

Just a few of my favorite scrapbook layouts from my 2010 albums - I think I ended up with 2 books for the year!  Nice to have this year finished up and on the shelf! I really utilized a lot of the Project Life products for these layouts and am glad I was able to get so many pics on each page because I always have a hard time picking which ones I want to use!!  Also, I did an INSANE amount of traveling in 2010!!!!  Wasn't even aware of it until I started putting all of this together lol!

Love the fun colors in the title page!  My "full" year of living in Baton Rouge.

Mardi Gras in New Orleans!

Prime example of not being able to pick just a few pics!  Love all of these pics of Abbie and her 1st Egg Hunt.

Love this little insert that was the perfect size to capture the 8 left over pics I wanted to use without having to make another 12x12 layout

WVU Family!

Another fun page with bright/happy colors -- we got FRIED this day - talk about bright colors!

As mentioned in a few posts ago, LOVE the Project Life storage envelopes - this one has all my birthday cards in it.

This is the first card I ever made Adam!  It was for his birthday - I slid it down in a 5x7 size page protector. 

I like that I was able to incorporate some fun travel tags into this Project Life layout with Miss Abbie. 

I cut apart some zoo 12x12 paper to use in the pockets that I didn't want to put pics in

I made the alligator with one of my Cricut cartridges

My first trip home to Michigan with Adam!

Michael Buble concert in New Orleans - a Valentine's present to me from my future hubby

Quick work trip with a side trip off to see the falls! I cut the New York state shape out with the 50 State Cartridge

Hot Air Balloon Festival with my love in Baton Rouge

Visiting the state capital in Baton Rouge with my mom during her visit

Celebrating our baby boy's 1st birthday - complete with his own doggie birthday cake!

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge #219 - Day at the Beach

One of my biggest regrets (at the moment) is not finishing my European scrapbooks from the summer of 2008, when I spent 6 weeks in Italy, France and Ireland.  When I saw the weekly challenge on the Fantabulous Cricut Challenge blog this week, I immediately thought of these beach pics from my trip to Italy and got inspired to make a layout.  They aren't the fanciest pics but they bring back such fun memories of getting in the ROUGH waves at the beach at Cinque Terra.  The waves knocked us down like bowling pins!  

I used the "Life's a Beach" cartridge for the "Crave the Wave" cutout and also for the wave border.  I also like that I was able to get SO many pictures onto one 12x12 page.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wedding Card Preservation

It's been a year since our wedding and I'm still trying to figure out how I want to preserve some of our keepsakes, cards and mementos.  It's mind-blowing that we've already been married 13 months!  This past weekend I spent some time and finally tackled the stacks of wedding cards that have just been collecting dust in my scrapbook room and here's what I did... 

These are mostly the cards from the actual wedding - all of the shower cards, etc were already sorted out.

I utilized the 12x12 envelope pages from the Project Life collection - LOVE these - and sorted the cards into cards from the actual wedding day guests and cards from gifts that were mailed to us before/after the wedding. 

Voila!  The envelope seals nicely and the cards lay so flat in the envelope and are protected from dust, getting folded, etc.  Plus, there's a pocket on the front if you want to slide a 4x6 card in it to journal/label what's in the envelope.

Here's a side shot of my 3 envelopes.  I plan to add some more envelopes to this binder and make it more of the thicker items I want to keep from the wedding so I don't make the actual picture scrapbooks of the wedding/pre-wedding to thick. 

You can see in this view here there's a smaller size envelope in the front of the larger 12x12 ones - I put the cards Adam and I exchanged before the wedding in here just to keep them separate.

Love the end result!  This has been a great way for me to store cards, larger items and I can totally see using this for baby cards, etc in the coming years.  

What did you do with all your wedding cards?  Any fun ideas out there to share?

June Progress Toward Goals

Well, hello there!  Hubby and I are fresh off a beautiful vacation to the islands of Turks and Caicos and getting back into the swing of life.  I highly recommend it if you're looking for a quick, easy get-a-way!  We had a direct flight from Atlanta, perfection.  I'll share more in another blog post about our trip.  

Another month down!  Here's how I did:


1.  Only buy the absolute necessary toiletries/cosmetics/etc

This goal should really have been more about using up what I have but I haven't been purchasing items sooo I guess it's working?? I don't think I bought any cosmetic type products in June that I can recall?!  Maybe just some Neutrogena make-up remover cloths for the trip which I'm loving. 

This month I used up:

• Sephora's brand lipstick in the shade "Star" S06.  I find a lot of the colors to be very similar but I like the way they wear - would repurchase the brand and probably this shade in the future.  
• Stila eyeliner in Bluefin.  When I first started using this brand, I really liked it.  Mainly because they are roll-up eye liners.  I'm not so sure I'll continue to wear this liner though - doesn't seem to go on as easy as Urban Decay pencils, for example, and the color isn't as bold as I like.
• Smashbox Hyperlash Mascara in Black - I thought this mascara was fine - no preference for it either way.  I got it for free in a Sephora gift set.  

 

 2.  No more magazine subscriptions (unless they are free).  My goal is to finish reading the backlog of magazines in the living room and then start on my actual book collection!  My goal is 1-2 books per month.  

I have a confession.  Or should I say... my name is Ashley and I have a confession.   I discovered Audible and I am in LOVE.  I didn't think I would be one to EVER like audio books but I had an offer for a free download and used it for the Fault in Our Stars.  I listened to the whole book basically in one day while scrapbooking, cleaning, getting ready, etc.  Obsessed with how easy it was to follow along, back up, etc.  Then, I went on to download Bossy Pants by Tiny Fey - hysterical!!!  And THEN, I discovered, I could download books for free with my local library card WHAT!!  So, I listened to Blue Skies by Robyn Carr.  I'm unstoppable now!  I will say, there are some downsides - to Audible, it's kinda pricey.  To the library downloads, very limited books that I actually want to spend the time listening too.  Still, a very awesome alternative to watching tv while scrapbooking, etc.  Plus, great option to have while flying so I don't get motion sickness from flying. 

So, that brings my total to 3 audiobooks, 3 traditional books and 7 magazines for the month.  Yes, still loving me some Mary Higgins Clark!  Where Are you Now? was one of the best ones yet. 

         

 3.  At least one blog entry a week.  
Hmmm I did 2 in May.. that's like half the goal??  I have so many great ideas for posts.. just need time!

4.  Use the elliptical that's literally just  accumulating spider webs in the basement -- get in 20-30 minutes a day on the elliptical and walk Henderson 1-2 times  a week.

January - 56.53 miles 

February - 64.57 miles 

March - 62.27 miles

April - 46.23 miles

May - 68.84 miles 

June - 61.61. miles

 

5.  Less eating out at work.  My goal is to only eat out 2-3 times a week.  

Feel like I'm doing okay with this one - wasn't too great the last 2 weeks with being out of town and not having groceries but I'm back on the bandwagon now!

 

 6.  Since I beat my scrapbook page goal for 2013, I think I am going to go with ... 300 pages for 2014.   

I completed 49 pages in June!  Even though it's July, I'm going to throw out there that I finally finished 2010!!! I'm up to February 2011 now -- 2011 is going to be a beast - moved, 2 significant deaths in the family, San Diego and NYC trips, lots of family trips to TN with pics, Michigan, two big family weddings, holidays and more!  Overwhelmed just thinking about it.  The next several weekends are booked so scrapbooking time will be limited too.

 

How's everyone's goals going?  On track?  Keeping yourselves motivated??