Hello???

Anybody out there? If so, please don't fall out of your chair when you see that I actually have a post. Seriously. My last post was in JUNE of last year. How is it even possible that I haven't posted in 7 months AND that 2011 is LAST YEAR?!?! Time's flying over here, people!

In case you haven't guessed, we've had some stuff going on around here that has kept us crazy busy...it's called "life". In the last few months of 2011, "life" was comprised of that same ol', same ol' stuff that's always kept us busy...work, blueprint, college ministry, praise team, church, traveling with the Andrew Brown Band, visiting family and friends and just the normal stuff, so I won't bore you with countless details of how we ended 2011.

We're only 11 days into 2012 and it's already proved that it's a force to be reckoned with. Sheesh. We had a busy Christmas season last year and I was hoping that after the new year, things would go back to normal and be calm-ish again...Uh, no. In December, I quit one of my cleaning jobs in Asheville and took a job as an accounts manager (of sorts) for our friend's construction company. I'll be working from home now (which means I get to wear my pajamas and do my laundry AND get paid for it!!) Right now, I'm still training which, for the most part, includes learning how to use QuickBooks. I know hands on application is going to be key for really learning to use this software. But for now, I feel that the more instructional DVDs I watch, the more I realize how little I know!! However, once I really start doing the work, this is (hopefully!) going to be a great opportunity for me and for us.

Between starting the new job, recovering from the holidays, getting my house back to normal and trying to keep up with little things like laundry and groceries and cleaning...well, let's just say that 2012 is winning so far. Kickin' my tail, as a matter of fact. But, I'm ready to throw down. Bring on the next 353 days!!

Cleaning up the cobwebs...

Pardon me as I clean up the cobwebs and swipe away the dust over here. I can't believe it's been so long since I've blogged. I could bore you with boring details of all that's been going on around here, but save us both some time, here's a brief list:
*I turned 30 and didn't die because of it.
*I still haven't lost the full 30 pounds, but I'm about a pound or so away from reaching the halfway point. I bought a treadmill recently and some new athletic shoes that don't make my feet go to sleep when I walk. I was finally able to pack up my "fat pants" and am starting to see a big difference in the way my clothes fit.
*We had an amazing trip to the beach for Memorial Day. The weather was gorgeous, the food was ridiculously wonderful and spending time with some of our favorite people was just what we needed!
*I spent a few days a few months ago redoing our guest bath. I'll try to post some pictures of the finished product soon.
*My niece finally said "Auntie" for the first time. I love that kid so much I can hardly stand it.
*Back in January, I started playing and singing with The Andrew Brown Band. I've had such a great time traveling around and leading worship with Andrew and the crew.

We've got quite a few things/projects lined up for the summer, but one thing on my to-do list is to get back in the swing of blogging. (Bet you've never heard that one before, huh?!?!) So, hopefully I'll be back soon!

Thirty-something

Well, the day has arrived. The big 3-0 is here. I'm not exactly sure what I thought 30 would feel like...so I guess I feel, well, 30. I get a whole new number at the beginning of my age. I get to start a whole new decade of my life. I think this is the first decade that people are anxious about. When you go from 9 to 10, you're excited because you get to have TWO digits in your age. When you go from 19 to 20, you're excited because you're starting to feel like an adult. When you go from 29 to 30, you're expected to have arrived at adulthood. 30 seems to come with all these pressures and expectations from the world. 30 year olds are grown ups. Definitely not feeling that one :) Surprisingly, I'm not dreading being 30 nor am I upset that I am a new member of this magical 30 club. It's just odd to think of myself as "thirty-something".

Funny that while that number is going up, I'm still trying to get another number down. Oh yes, the 30x30 that is my nemesis!! I didn't make my goal, but I'm getting there! I've lost 10ish pounds so far and I'm working to knock out the remaining 20 pounds. Let me try that again...next week, after all the birthday cake, I'll be working to knock out the remaining 20 pounds :) I'm trying really hard to remain focused and not get discouraged. I feel that as long as I keep my mind on my goal weight, and am working to achieve it, it doesn't matter whether I reach it now or in 6 months...but getting to my goal weight before bathing suit season wouldn't hurt either :)

Here's to my 30s. Everyone says they're better than the 20s. My 20s were pretty good. Bring on the awesome!

Sooo.....

It's been 3 months since I've blogged. Mostly because I didn't really have anything to say...or maybe because the things I had to say were things I didn't really want to say or talk about. At any rate, I've got a few free minutes this afternoon, and so here I am.

Sooooo....what's been going on over here? Here's a rundown...

*30x30-yeah, that'd be the main issue keeping me from blogging. I knew I'd have to address it sooner or later and was hoping that "later" mean when I had actually lost the 30 pounds or was at least well on my way. About that...it's not happened...yet. My initial goal was to lose 30 pounds by my 30th birthday at the end of March. For the first 2 months, I didn't really even try. Sure I was working out 10-20 minutes a few times a week and trying to cut back on the junk food and portions. But it wasn't until a month ago when my hubby found myfitnesspal.com that I REALLY began trying to cut back and watch what I was eating. At my last report, I had lost 6 pounds. Now, I've lost 7 pounds. Not 7 MORE pounds. 7 pounds. Total. I could go on and on about how frustrated I am by the up this week and down next week weight loss roller coaster I'm on, but it's not gonna burn any calories or help me lose more weight, so I'll just accept it as it is and move on.
So, in case you're wondering, no, I will not be trying to lose 23 more pounds in the next month. If I could lose 5 more pounds, that'd be great. Instead of trying to lose 30 pounds BY the time I turn 30, I'll just be trying to all of the 30 pounds off during the year that I'm 30... and if that happens by our Memorial Day trip to the beach, I'd be ok with that :)

*And speaking of trying to lose weight, the Easter candy is out again. Reese's Eggs you are my nemesis.

*I'm taking some time off in March. Cutting back on all the different kinds of work I'm doing (both in and out of the home) so that I can really tackle some pending projects. There are a few projects on my to-do list that I've been trying to get done for YEARS. But they seem to all be just big enough that I can't knock it out in an afternoon and when I do have a few days that I could work on it, something better comes along. I'm finally going to get all of our pictures organized and in albums. I'm about 75% of the way there, but it just takes so much time so sort and put them in albums and it's not a successful work session unless there are piles of pictures spread all across the living room floor. I see several days of chick flicks and picture piles in my near future. I'm also going to work on (and hopefully finish) our wedding album. Very few of our pictures are in digital form, so I'll be scanning and cropping and editing them all before creating a photobook online. So much easier and faster than the scrapbook I'd always planned on creating. Several other things on the list as well...maybe that'll give me motivation to start posting again on a regular basis.

*Last week, I got ticked off at the clothes in my closet. I decided I was going to try things on, try to make outfits from the things I have and everything else was going in the yard sale box. There are 3 things to note about this process:
1-I had just gone through and purged my closet less than a month ago and gotten rid of a HUGE box.
2-I got rid of THIRTY additional items of clothing.
3-My closet is still full of clothes...I still haven't decided if it's great to have a closet full of clothes or sad that I had so many clothes to begin with.
One thing is for sure, come Spring, my mom's yard is going to look more like a consignment store than a yard sale!

*Random...I currently have 2 car seats in my car. Do I have 2 kids? No. Do I have any kids? No.

*Shane & Shane IN ASHEVILLE on Sunday. My week is made!

Maybe this will be the jump start I needed to get back to blogging. And if not, well, I'll see you again in the summer :)

A 30x30 Update

In the case of my 30x30 plan and my lack of updates regarding that, it's safe to say that the old saying "No news is good news" doesn't really apply. Let's just say that my plan isn't working out so well. Call it lack of willpower, call it lack of motivation, call it "I just had the busiest month of the year". Call it whatever you want. I just call it ridiculous. In nearly 2 months, I've only lost about 6 pounds. SIX pounds. And before you think that I sound like those contestants on "The Biggest Loser" who just aren't satisfied when they "only" lost 12 pounds last week, hear me when I say that I'm grateful for those 6 pounds...I just wanted more.

My biggest frustration comes with the fact that I'm working out at least 3 times as much as I was before (yes, that means I'm working out 3 times a week...before, I was doing nothing) I started this venture and eating better portions and healthier foods and the yielded results are not to my liking. If I'm going to gain on any given week, I want it to be because I've been lazy or because I've had a big fat piece of cake...not because I was sweatin' it out to some insane dance video in my living room 3 days in a row and depriving myself of foods that I really love. And then, I throw in the fact that I cut out sodas for 10 days while increasing my water intake and still didn't lose any weight. I mean, seriously?

At the end of the day, however, I'm not giving up. I'm gonna keep on dancing it out in the living room with my Kristen Jacobs workout video. I'm gonna keep on hoppin' on the treadmill when I get the chance. I'm gonna keep on buying foods that are good for me. I'm gonna keep on limiting my portions. I'm gonna keep on keepin' on.

I guess I'd rather be frustrated for trying rather than being frustrated because I gave up. Here's to a few more pounds by the end of 2010!

30 by 30

Please, don't fall out of your seat...yes, I'm actually posting again. I've actually been posting a lot over at Three Simple Girls recently while giving the scoop on my recent office update...and this blog has been severely neglected. Sorry, to the 2 of you that read this on a regular basis :)

Before I get to the real purpose of this post, I'll give you a little snapshot of what's been going on around here for the past couple of months.

I was keeping my niece, Reagan.
Life started piling up.
I was exhausted.
I missed being home all the time.
I loved spending so much time with Reagan.
I stopped keeping Reagan when she started day care.
I now get to be Auntie Sarai instead of Babysitter Sarai.
Even though I'm home more, I don't have "free" time.
I'm getting caught up on lots of things like...
Whatta Cute Baby orders
Finishing my home office update
Friends & Family
Traveling
Paperwork
Life

And now, in my quest to get caught up with life, I have a new goal. Well, not really a new one, but more like a reoccurring one.

You might remember this post from a few months ago. Well, then and there, I vowed to drop some a few pounds. And that might have been the biggest joke of the year. Each week, I would bravely confront the scales only to have the tiny little numbers increase. After about a month of increase upon increase, I finally started seeing a speck of light at the end of the tunnel. Half a pound here. Half a pound there. And I was encouraged.

I was back up to my highest weight ever (actually a pound heavier..ugh) and I was determined to do something about it...again. I was reading some magazine for skinny people, I mean health magazine and a short article caught my attention. One of the readers had a goal of losing 31 pounds before her 31st birthday over the course of several months. Well, I've lost 30 pounds before. I even lost 30 pounds over Thanksgiving AND Christmas. I can do it again.

My 30th birthday is a few days less than 6 months away. My goal is to lose 30 pounds by the time I turn 30.

30 by 30.

I went back and forth about whether or not I should post this. It's not easy to tell the world that you're 30 pounds overweight. And even then, it's not easy going through every day life knowing that anyone who knows you're trying to lose weight is watching your every bite..your every step, your every clothing choice...your every fat roll. But, in the end, I knew that if I said it "out loud", I'd have a little accountability. I'd have a little more motivation. And I might even have some friends join in on the "party".

I can't promise that I'll only eat fruits and vegetables for the next 6 months. But you should know that if you're eating cake and ice cream with me, you're walking with me too :)

My Home Office Reveal

***This blog is also posted over at Three Simple Girls.***

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I've been promising a big office reveal for MONTHS now, but I promise this is the real deal! It's finally done!

I probably spend more time in my home office than any other room in the house. It's the space where I create for my business, take care of home business, blog and keep track of my daily schedule. I figured that a room that acted as the command center for our home and family needed to reflect our personalities and foster a sense of calmness and order. Until this redo started, the office had NONE of those traits.

Before I welcome you to my new home office, let's take a look at the chaotic mess it used to be...

Yep, there she is in all her glory. We painted those stripes on the wall when we moved in 5 years ago in an effort to cover up the hideous Carolina Blue that covered the walls. Sure it was fun and neat, but ENOUGH ALREADY. Like I said, I'm in this room all the time. The stripes were about to cause me to go crazy.

And now, without further ado, welcome to my new home office!!
When I walk in this room now, I can seriously breathe a sigh of relief. Everything has a home. There is a reasonable amount of furniture occupying the space. Each wall and surface is filled with things that are inspiring and encouraging and things I love. This room is no longer a dumping ground for junk or extra crap. And I LOVE IT!!

Here are some other before and after shots to help you get the full picture of my office awesomeness.

Before...

After...

Before...

After...

Sometimes I still can't believe the transformation! Our budget was pretty small, so nearly everything used had to be something we already had. Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be posting a breakdown of projects, organizational tips and how we spent our measly little budget. So check back often for tips on how to transform a space with little to no money!

-Sarai