Day in the Life - Winter 2014

Time for another 'Day in the Life' as hosted by Navigating the Mothership.

Saturday, January 18, 2014
Riley is a few weeks short of 4 years old.

1:53 - I wake up and head to the bathroom. I look out the window and it seems really bright for the middle of the night (besides being lit up from my neighbor's garage light). I can't see well since I don't have my glasses on, but it sort of looks like there is fresh snow on the ground. I go back to sleep.

4:33 - Up again. Go to the bathroom again, have same thoughts about snow outside, and go right back to sleep.

6:26 - I hear Jesse get up and go downstairs. I went to bed at about 10:30 the night before so this should be enough sleep, but since Riley isn't up I decide to try and get more. Unfortunately, the cats have a different plan for me and do annoying things so I can't fall back to sleep. What's worse is they stop doing annoying things from time to time so I think I can actually go back to sleep, but then they start doing annoying things again.

6:45 - Even though Jesse is downstairs and is capable of feeding hungry cats, the cats do not identify him as the food supplier. We have an auto feeder, but only set it a night because of there special diets which is supposed to involved different food for each of them. I decide I will run downstairs, feed them and head back up.

Cats fed, but Riley has also woken up. Jesse heads upstairs and I follow shortly after. 

Jesse cuddling with Riley

Jesse brings Riley downstairs and I decide to jump back into bed. I am going to get this extra rest no matter what! Except that I can't because I feel guilty staying in bed when Riley is up and I don't really need to sleep. I decide to read my iPad for 10 minutes and then start the day. Jesse eases into the day and really gets going after a couple hours of being up, but I can't do that. I like to hit the ground running so I can sit down later and chill. If I don't do this I am at risk of not getting anything done. This sometimes causes conflict and a misunderstanding on our plans for the day, but for the most part we make it work. 

7:01 - I make the bed, fold and put away laundry while listening to music.

I head downstairs where I do dishes, and start more laundry while Jesse and Riley watch some cartoons in the basement.

Still need to put all those canning jars on Craigslist...one day.

I look outside again and realize it did snow last night... and a lot. I thought I was just seeing things in the middle of the night. Apparently, I should pay more attention to the weather forecast.

7:30 - Assess plans with Jesse for the morning. Do we try to squeeze in a gym run before Riley's music class? No, we need to shovel. Jesse plays video games and Riley pulls out her Princess cupcake game. 

Cupcakes and silly (non-matching)  pajamas.

I realize that I didn't upload pictures from one of my cameras so I do that now so I can have a clean card for all my day in the life pictures. It's just easier to upload when I do that so off to the computer I go. 

Once that's done I play the cupcake game with Riley, then make and eat breakfast while still playing cupcakes, then put dirty dishes in the kitchen and resume playing cupcakes, play with Monsters for a moment, but then go back to playing cupcakes. Oh, and somewhere in there we play with the cat. I will take cupcakes any day over having to use my imagination to play with cars or monsters.

Oh hey, it snowed.

And I thought I had static issues. I think I need to start oiling her hair down.

9:00 - Still no movement from Jesse and I've played my share of cupcakes. I'm going out to shovel. Riley doesn't want to come so I figure she can stay inside with Jesse. I go to get changed and he comes out as I'm putting my snow pants on. He asks what I'm doing and I inform him that I am about to shovel. Now everyone wants to go outside. We head back upstairs where Jesse gets dressed and leaves me with assisting Riley. No big deal, but she's goofing around and it takes forever to get her dressed and I'm in snow pants which means I'm getting hot. I finally get her bundled up and send her outside with her dad so I can get my boots and coat on. Slightly irritated that I was just about outside earlier and now I am the last one out the door.

Jesse and Riley focus on the back yard while I shovel the front. I'm not a winter fan, but I love the look of a fresh snow. So clean, and white, and sparkly.

Shoveling selfie

Princess snow woman Lelani looks a little more like a monster than a princess after the snowfall

 I finish the front, and assist a bit in the back before Riley announces she is cold. 

9:38 - We head inside and I squeeze in a shower before we have to leave for Riley's music class. We don't have a lot of time and I'm determined to get us all out the door on time. 

Looking a little frazzled, but I'm clean and even washed my hair for you guys. 

10:22 - We head out the door 7 minutes later than I wanted to. It doesn't help that the roads suck and we have to wait for a plow to clear out the end of the alley. 

I hate being late, but I know that's going to happen here. I'm a lot more laid back about it than I used to be, but still feel anxious about it. I know it's all me so I try not to be snippy with Jesse and Riley even when Jesse drives right past our exit. Whatever. Yes, we were late, but we weren't the only ones and still got in almost 30 minutes of the 40 minute class. 

Music class is a little crazy this week. This is the third time we've done a music class with this company and the feel is different every time - mostly because of the kids... and parents in the group. Lots of energetic kids in this one. Mostly boys. Kind of funny to think back to the first year where Riley wouldn't sit still and all the other kids sat complacently on their parent's laps. Now all the other kids are running around and Riley is the one totally engaged in the teacher. Even Jesse makes a comment on the craziness of the music class and he's not one to judge.

11:30 - Music class is done and we are hungry. For the second week in a row we decide to go to Big Bowl. Riley loves rice so we know there is at least one thing on the menu that she will eat.

Riley insists that I sit in the back seat with her on the way to the restaurant - along with one of the imaginary Disney princesses. I make a note to myself to clean off the back of the passenger seat. I'm actually surprised Jesse hasn't already cleaned it. Decide to wait until spring since it will just keep getting dirty.

Arrive at restaurant and find parking is a mess. We get a little snow on the ground and apparently no one can figure out where the lines are, even when the lot has been plowed. Jesse parks in an actual spot as he is determined to set the rest of the lot straight and is sure that other's will follow his lead.

Our car is on the far left. You could park another car between us and the red car.

Summer rolls look and taste more appealing than the bad lighting in this picture suggests. 

After lunch we head home and Riley and Jesse tell knock knock jokes the entire 20 minute ride home. I'm just grateful that I don't have to come up with any jokes... and really they aren't telling jokes either. Here's a taste of the knock knock jokes I heard:

knock, knock
who's there?
toilet
toilet who
daddy's got to go the the toilet when we get home

knock, knock
who's there?
Arial
Ariel who
Ariel princesses

Yeah, you can tell who told what joke. I had to take over when Jesse dropped of a Redbox movie we rented for Friday movie night (Despicable Me 2 - highly recommend) for about a minute and a half and it was the longest minute and a half of my life. Ok, so maybe that's a little dramatic, but I must learn some actual knock knock jokes.

So after we dropped the movie off Jesse took over again on telling jokes (Riley and he would go every other). His responses were starting to sound a little poetic with dramatic pauses and punctuations.

knock, knock
who's there?
snow plow
snow plow who
Orange (pause) snow plow
bright (pause) bright (pause)
lights (long pause)
plowing snow

Or something like that. After that one Jesse and I started cracking up and were crying from laughing so hard. You had to be there. I don't know why it was so funny, but he was trying so hard and his answers were starting to get so ridiculous. He should seriously get an award for playing the knock knock game for so long.

Ok, enough with the knock knock joke story. Moving on.

12:55 - Home! Gave Riley a little more food and let her play with cupcakes. Again. Jesse goes out to shovel the snow that the snow plows threw into our yard and then he cleans off the roof. I fold clothes, clean the cat litter, and create a few cupcakes. I pull out a few of my old cameras I collect and show Riley how they work. She says that they are 'cool' and genuinely seems interested in them for a while and then goes back to her cupcakes. Oh, and then dances for a bit with imaginary Cinderella.

Darn snow plows (but also grateful for snow plows!)

Makes me want to get film for this camera.

That would be Cinderella on the right that she's dancing with.

1:45 - Riley goes upstairs for a nap. We read one story and then cuddle in bed. Or more accurately, I cuddle with Riley who cuddles with imaginary Cinderella. Riley even wraps her arms as if there was a person next to her. As I leave, Riley turns over and informs me that Cinderella is now cuddling with her. Ok.

2:00 - My time! So much I need to do: get tax stuff together, put canning jars and A & W glasses on Craigslist, watch Dr, Who (it was highly recommended and I've finally started it - just finished season 1 - of the newer version, that is. I think it's kind of a goofy show, but I am totally sucked into it)... I decide to sit down and start typing out this post while it's still fresh in my mind.

3:15 - Riley stirs. She doesn't always take a nap, but she seemed tired today and hadn't made a peep after I left her. Usually when she does nap she still gets in a couple hours of sleep and we sometimes need to wake her. I wait to see if she's actually up, but things go silent again.

3:45 - I upload some pictures and start editing, but don't get far. Debate about whether to start a Dr. Who episode, but think it might not be a good idea since Riley should be getting up soon. Realize I haven't done my photo a day yet. I need to take a picture that captures 'my happy place'. Since I am not sitting on a beach, nor do I have access to one, I will have to think of something else. 

4:00 - Jesse bundles up and heads outside to clean off our second story deck and the flat part of our roof. That's my cue to go wake up Riley.

Watching dad shovel the deck while still in a sleep daze.

After watching Jesse shovel the deck for a moment or two, Riley and I head downstairs. She plays cupcakes again (I think this is a record for her in one day). I assist in making and dismantling and making and dismantling... and making cupcakes while also folding more laundry and doing other random things around the house. I decide to take a picture of us for my 'happy place' photo a day. I am pretty happy at home with my family. It's no beach side with a book/cocktail in my hand, but it will do.

4:40 - Jesse's done with risking his life on our roof. So glad he is willing to get up there. He's really diligent about getting it cleaned off after we had a middle of the night leak in our bedroom a couple years ago. He takes a shower and suggests we go mattress shopping. We both have bad backs (for different reasons) and it's been recommended that we think about a new mattress. It doesn't seem like I bought mine all that long ago, but once I count backwards I realize it's probably been 17 years. Yeah, I guess I could justify buying something new.

5:00 - Off we go to check out mattresses. We show up at the first store (where I bought my bed 17 years ago) and they are closed. Wha? Apparently, mattress stores have limited hours on the weekend. There is a new mattress store that opened up a few doors down so we head over there to see if there are still open. We start to pass the Little Gym and decide to go in and check it out.They were hosting a birthday party, but we were able to see where the kids do gymnastics. We've been thinking about getting Riley into this and she agrees after seeing all the kids run around inside. We gather information about class times and cost.

5:10 -  The other mattress store is open until 6 pm. We head in and talk with the owner, Dale. He knows his stuff, but he is a sales guys for sure. We test out a lot of the beds and the one we like is way over our price range. Dale says he is willing to give us a deal, but doesn't tell us what that is. We don't plan on buying right this moment and we are all hungry so we tell him we'll come back another time. Update: we bought a new mattress the next day at another store. Yay!

6:00 - I had plans to make dinner tonight, but the meat is still frozen and we are all hungry now. We talk about our options nearby and realize we are surrounded by fast food or Applebees. We go to Applebees which isn't something we normally do and neither is eating out twice in one day. We are clearly seated in the 'kids' section. I look around and see crying babies and one elderly couple. I look into the next area and there are younger, childless people. I look a little further and it's all older people. 

We each really enjoy our food (more than expected) and I like the kid's meal's options they provide (variety in what to pick and choose with the main entree item). I wouldn't run out to eat at Applebee's anytime soon, but I'm sure we will be back.

7:00 - We head home and get Riley ready for bed. Since we are upstairs we lay down on our bed to see how it compares to all the new beds we tested out. Huh, our bed is a little firmer than the ones I liked at the store and it's clear that our springs are well, really springy. Certainly not as supportive as the beds we tested out. This helps me feel better about spending money on a new bed (update: we went to another mattress place the next day and bought a new bed!)

We get Riley into her jammies, brush her teeth, update her calendar and I read her a couple books. I made the calendar chart awhile ago, but it wasn't until shortly after she started preschool that she embraced doing ours every day. They do something like it at school so I think she feels more confident about ours.

After books we snuggle a bit and talk about our day. A couple months ago I was trying to get Riley to accurately talk about the day we had by saying things like "we went to the pet store" or "we went to the farm" when we didn't - I hoped that she would correct me and tell me what we actually did. She thought it was funny and now, instead of talking about what we really did, she wants to talk about what we did in "silly words". After that she tells me how many hugs she wants - I think it was 6 tonight - and then I follow up with 6 kisses. But once again, instead of just giving her kisses one day I pretended to give her nose kisses, eyelash kisses, wet willy, nibble her fingers... Now, I have to do that every night with her. I don't mind because I get some of the best, deep down hearty laughs from her. Love it.

7:50 - Bedtime takes a little longer than usual, but that's probably because we started a bit late. Once all the hugs, and snuggles, and kisses are completed I go downstairs to the basement to watch a movie with Jesse. We watch 2 Guns with Markie and Denzel. Not bad - I'd recommend it.

9:10 - The monitor was silent for some time, but now we hear Riley singing. Why is she still up? Shortly after she calls out for us. Jesse goes up and talks to her about needing to go to sleep. He comes back down, but I still hear her from time to time.

9:45 - Movie is done, but I still hear my kid. Sigh. Jesse decides to play some video games in the basement while I check out the internet and then edit some photos after I brush my teeth and wash my face. 

10:15 - I realize it's been quiet upstairs for a bit, but I decide to not go upstairs quite yet. I don't want our creaky stairs and floors to wake Riley up. I imagine she's beat and nothing will wake her up, but I don't want to take that risk.

10:45 - Way past my bedtime. I go downstairs to say goodnight to Jesse and then hobble upstairs to bed. I go into Riley's room and turn off a light she still insists on falling asleep with. I don't entirely mind because I get to see her sleeping peacefully.

10:53 - I slide into bed and turn off my light. Good night.

Sledding - finally!

We've tried to get Riley to go sledding in the past, but her few times being pulled on the sidewalk convinced her she didn't want anything to do with this unstable activity. However, today she totally agreed to it. I'm sure it helped that we actually sat on the sled with her, but she was still pretty excited about it.

Riley wanted to go down that hill again and again (Jesse and I took turns going down the hill with her). I can't tell you the last time I went sledding so I have to say this was super fun for me too - except for trudging up that hill over and over. Talk about a workout, but so worth it. And Riley has already asked when we can do it again. Thank you winter for giving us this nicer day to do something fun outside.

Snow days

Like many in Minnesota we actually left the house to hang outside yesterday and today. Willingly. Yes, it's been ridiculously cold lately, but the last couple days have been in the 30's so it's felt like a heat wave.

Yesterday, we thought about making a snowman, but the snow was a bit too icy so we walked down the street to watch some kids play hockey. We ran into our neighbors, who have a daughter a year younger than Riley, on the warm up rink. We've avoided getting skates for Riley because we didn't think our timid girl would go for skating, but when she saw our almost 3 year old neighbor wearing them (and staying upright) she seemed really interested in them. She seemed to gain some confidence seeing another little person on the ice and she started running all around the ice on her boots which is not something she would do before. So we are now considering skates.

Sunday, we were going to go sledding, but discovered that the snow melted enough to make it good snow man making material.

But first, time to eat some snow.

Prepared with a carrot nose

We improvised with the material we had on hand and made a princess snowman, er, snowwoman. Specifically, Princess Lelani - according to Riley.

That's the makings of a crown on her head.

It was getting dark hence the graininess. 

I didn't get the final picture with her 'crown on, but this was essentially the end result. And honestly, Jesse did most of the work while I scavenged for items and took pictures and Riley ate snow... that we hope was white.

Feeling Good

Before I took down all the Christmas decorations I took a few more pictures. I always wanted to get the pictures of the baby with the Christmas lights, but it didn't happen and even if I tried when Riley was a baby I didn't have the skills. I am still working on it, but it takes practice, right? I think it actually might be harder now because my almost 4 year old wants to move all the time. Anyway here are a couple attempts.

Riley really wanted to have her Sophia snow globe in the picture and I actually think it adds to it. I then let her have some fun and add whatever she wanted which resulted in her New Years crown and her cup of snacks from earlier in the day. Hey, whatever she thinks works for this picture works for me as long as she lets me practice. Still need to work on this, but was fun to do. Lucky for me, Riley usually loves to have her picture taken.

It was getting close to bath time, but I wanted to try one trick I had read about where you could create bokeh in chosen shapes so I quickly put together what I needed, knowing that I didn't have it quite right... but knowing that I could still get the general effect and this is what I came up with.

Yeah, it's not outstanding, but it was the first step and I was able to create the shapes I was going for with just some paper strategically cut and taped. Cool.

But this post isn't really about my never ending mediocre attempts at getting decent Christmas light pictures. What I really want to talk about is our Feel Good Jar.

Last year, I was in a funk. Bad. There were a number of things I could probably point my finger too: weather, work, parenting is just freaking hard sometimes... and I knew I needed to do something about it. At work I started a Grateful Friday email chain. I thought it might be silly, but it was well received by my team and is still happening today. I knew I needed something like this at home as well. Essentially I knew I needed to WILL good thoughts into my life.

So I set up a jar in my kitchen and told my husband to write down any 'feel good' moments in the jar... and then in a year we would sit down and review. As the year went on I realized two things:

1. Wouldn't this have more impact if I told my husband right now how wonderful I think he is instead of just writing it on some paper to be reviewed later.

2. I wish my husband would embrace this more.

So lesson one is to still put good things in the jar, but also make sure to tell any person involved in it so they know how awesome they are right then. Also,  lesson two is to explain to husband what you mean by feel good - you'll see what I mean in a minute.

So the moment finally came on January 1st where Riley, Jesse and I sat down to read through all those scraps of paper. I had been asking Riley (mostly throughout the last half of the year) what made her feel good and then I would write it out and put it in the jar so it was important for her to be there when we read them.

Riley pulled each slip out of the jar and I read them and my husband quickly realized that mine were dated, and detailed, and heartfelt. And his? Not so much. Not because he's a jerk, but I don't think he got what this was about. But at the end he did and he made sure I had the jar set up for this year. I can't wait to see what the next year brings, but here's a taste of what we read about this past year.

See? Most of those are mine and are detailed.

And Jesse's? Yeah, this is what they looked like. Another mentioned his new favorite wine.

Riley's answers were some of my favorites. I'd randomly ask her what makes her feel good or what makes her happy. Her answers ranged from "you guys" to "scrubbing my nails". Lol. Hey, I like clean nails too.

I wasn't sure if Riley would get what this was about when we sat down to read through them, but she seemed really excited about it so I hope she (ha, and my husband) walked away with an inkling of what this meant. 

And even though I don't know what I did to make my husband write "my hot awesome wife" or when it was, it's just good to be appreciated. I can't wait to see what the next year brings.

2013 year in Review

Happy New Year!

It's time to reflect back on 2013 to see what we did and how we've grown...

January

Nothing exciting this month except my birthday, of course. It was a bit of a funky winter for me - so while most things were ok, I just wasn't loving life (or work) at the time. Even so, I had a wonderful birthday (even if I was sick). I also got to see some of my birth family at my birth sister-in-law's baby shower this month.

My birth sister, Lindsey, Riley, and me

February

Riley turned three. This seems soooo long ago, and I guess it was. But what it really feels like is that my now almost 4 year old often acts like she is 6 or even 13, so 3 really seems so far away. She's acting so grown up it's crazy. Anyhoo, we had a super small gathering with just the grandparents and then Riley and I stayed overnight at a hotel/waterpark with my friend and her girls.

My dad also turned 84 and we spent his birthday in the hospital. Boo. I went to pick him up for lunch and instead we went to the emergency room as he was concerned about some pain he was having. They thought it might be his pacemaker, but sent him home the next day determining that he was ok.

March

Whoo hooo! Girls weekend! One of my most looked forward times of the year. Joanna, Susannah and I spent the weekend in Duluth, ate all sorts of nummy food, talked and talked and talked, and I did yoga nidra for the first time (but certainly not the last). I can't wait for the next time we get together.

Oh, and this was the month that we learned we were horrible parents. Well, not really, but it felt that way when we discovered that our kid has a bunch of cavities. Guess kiddo takes after my side of the family.

April

In April, I had one of the most horrific moments of my life. As the result of a communication snafu, and my husband's eagerness to update my computer, he pretty much lost ALL my pictures. I have to admit I totally thought I was going to puke and was ready to shell out $750 to get them back. Luckily, my husband found 'do it yourself 'a program for $25. It was time consuming and a huge lesson, but I got most of my pictures back and am more diligent about backing up my pictures.

This was also a very special month since we celebrated four years of marriage (7.5 years together). We were able to spend a night, sans kid, in Red Wing and it was absolutely wonderful. In fact, I think this little weekend played a huge part in both Jesse and I getting over our winter funk, remembering we are more than just Riley's parents, and that we really enjoy each other's company. Plus, this seemed like the never ending winter and the weather was a little nicer than we'd been experiencing.

And then the weather also sucked: this is the month I got stuck on a double long, jack knifed bus in a snow storm. This is the kind of stuff I'll be telling my grand kids and they'll be appalled that we didn't have hover buses back in the day or something like that.

May

Ha, maybe I shouldn't be doing this as a month by month wrap up because we didn't do anything of note this month, but if I had to come up with something it would be that we went back to Red Wing for part of a day to pick up the dresser we purchased when we were there for our anniversary. This was quite momentous because we finally agreed on a dresser for our bedroom. This was no small feat.

I also discovered I wrote a post on how we were updating our bedroom and that I was going to post pictures once done... and never did. Guess I should work on that once we actually finish all those remaining little details. Here's a current picture for now.

June

We started this month out with a plan to go camping, but the weather did not cooperate so we rented a hotel  room in Grand Marais. These long weekend getaways work well for us now that Riley is old enough to tolerate the car, but we aren't quite ready to brave a longer, more complicated vacation (that will be changing soon). We might have been cold during this trip, but still had a great time and ate some darn good food.

I also hosted Father's Day at my house this year and crossed my fingers that it wouldn't rain again, but it did. Nothing like cramming a big family into my house. What are the chances that it will happen again in 2014?

And sadly, one of my besties moved to Colorado this month. On the upside, I totally plan to go visit her one of these days.

July

I tortured my kid by bringing her to a parade that had at least 6 very loud firetrucks, after avoiding the 4th of July fireworks because I know she hates loud noises. Yup, proud mom moment. She cried pretty hard about it, but then told me she loved the parade. Oh, three year olds.

We went raspberry picking, I started a photo a day project that I had previously abandoned the year before (still going strong this year), finally ate at one of those frozen yogurt places (Yogurt Lab, etc), and chopped Riley's hair off.

Oh! And Jesse's brother and his family were in town the end of July through early August. They live in Luxembourg so this was a big trip for their whole family (and we hope to visit them in the spring).

August

We had family photos professionally taken for Jesse's mom (it was her birthday gift) since the whole family was in town. Love that the day ended up to be nice (it was supposed to rain) so that we could get these wonderful pictures of us all together.

We got Riley on a boat which she refused to do previously. It's amazing what she'll do when her cousins are around.

Riley and I also went to a big family picnic for Jesse's side of the family. Jesse was out of town, but I still wanted to go as I love seeing his family. I could have done without the epic meltdown when we left though. Seriously, the worst.

Picture credit Ryan Doheny

September

We were going to go to Luxembourg this month, but since Jesse's brother and his family came to the states over the summer we decided to postpone our trip. Plus, Riley started preschool. It was a really hard decision to move her from her daycare because it was a place we loved, but she was definitely ready to be in a structured learning environment.

We also went camping and to an apple orchard, but it was rainy and cold so it wasn't the experience we were hoping for. It's starting to seem that anytime we go out of town or try to camp it rains... and is cold. Bah.

One of the most exciting things for me this year happened this month and that is I started working from home (I swear I have a post on this coming). It took a long time to get in place and wasn't even something I requested in the first place. I am loving this - it turns out that this is a really good fit for me.

I ended the month by completing my first official senior photo shoot for my niece. It really kicked me into gear to learn more about my camera and photography... and made it clear that I have so much yet to learn, but it was a great experience and my niece was happy with her pictures.

October

In October, we started a new tradition by going to a pumpkin patch. Unfortunately, it was raining (story of our lives) so we couldn't pick our own, but we still had fun. Maybe next year!

I actually did two Day in the Life posts this month to document working from home and a weekend (which included checking out a corn maze). Yeah, that was exhausting so I probably won't do that again, but am grateful to be able to read back on it.

This month we also went to Madeline Island. And guess what? It was rainy and cold. I know, you are totally surprised. Me too <insert sarcasm>. Actually, it was October so we should have just expected this would happen. It's like we set ourselves up for this. Anyhoo, it was nice to experience someplace I'd never been before. It was still a pleasant get away and I look forward to going back in the future.

And of course, we wrapped up the month with Halloween.

November

We celebrated Jesse's birthday, went to the zoo, made snow globes out of canning jars we got from my dad, and celebrated Thanksgiving at my in laws house. Overall, it was a low key month as the cold weather settled in.

December

This month was filled with all sorts of holiday stuff from cutting down our Christmas tree to making all sorts of crafts and treats, to family celebrations.

If I had to rate this year I would say it was a rather good one. But if I really think back to earlier in the year I know I wasn't as happy as I am now. I know I actively made some changes to get back into that 'good' spot in life and while it wasn't always an easy path I would say it was certainly well worth it. I can only hope that 2014 continues to be a good, if not great, year.