twenty thirteen

With a new year comes new ideas, new hopes and new goals. 2012 was a pretty good year to me and I'm excited to see what 2013 brings. The year even started off sunny not a hint of the normal Seattle gloom and I'm going to take that as a sign.

Here are my goals for this upcoming year, and I'm excited about every single one.

Hot yoga. These past few months a friend and I have gotten a few Groupons for hot yoga and now I'm addicted. Completely addicted. I can see results plus I really feel better. Its a bit pricey (more like really pricey) but I think I can budget and make it happen.
Cut out certain foods for a month. This one will probably be the toughest goal out of the bunch. I want to cut out one food each month and then determine at the end of the month if I feel any better. Depending on how I feel, I will either cut it out completely, add it back in as normal or limit it to special occasions. The list so far is: wheat, sugar, alcohol, soy, corn, and dairy.
Cook my way through a cook book. I got some pretty awesome cookbooks this past month and I want to cook my way through one of them. This might be challenging with my last goal but we will see. I'm not even sure what cookbook I will use.
Get almost all produce from the farmers market. Topher and I are at the farmer's market every weekend but we hardly buy anything from there. Its unreal how much we don't pay attention to our meals or take advantage of the local produce around us. No more.
Get married! Yep, that's right. Topher and I are getting hitched. We already have a date in mind, our bridal parties are all set and we have so many ideas. I cannot wait.

A photo a day. I want to make sure I document this year. If you follow me on instagram you'll be able to see my photos everyday.

More snail mail. Stamps, letters, postcards and more. Its so exciting to see a little something in my mailbox and I want to spread the love and send out little things here and there.
Get crafty. Maybe this will be mixed in to some of my other goals. Between the wedding, photos and wanting to send more snail mail I'm sure I can accomplish this.

Have a clean house all the time. Do you ever feel like there is a cycle of clean and dirty in your house? This is my biggest bad habit thoughout the week, I will clean on the weekends and then do nothing the rest of the week. I need to get in the habit of picking up before going to bed, rinsing off dishes before I put them in the sink and not ignoring the dust.

Switch to a credit union. The biggest step is done, creating the account. I went with BECU, they are local and all my research showed they have the best interest rates and the lease amount of complaints. Now all I need to do is transfer over everything else. Goodbye silly bank fees.
Budget and budget more. Now that I have a better bank, maybea budget will do me some good. With the wedding and the impending combining of accounts I want Topher and I to live off of a budget to allow for us to save for the big things such as the wedding, a house, vacations and more. Plus who doesn't like seeing all that money in your account?
Have a sleep routine. This sounds odd but I'm hoping I can allow time in my schedule to get to bed on time, make sure I pick up the house, and get a full night's sleep.


Are there any goals you have for this next year? Anything you've been trying accomplish or maybe trying to kick a bad habit? I think 12 might be pushing it for me but I guess we will see! Happy New Years!

And for old time's sake, every single item of my outfit can be found at Urban Outfitters (oh dear this is so embarrassing).

To Market

Sundays are really the best day of the week for me. Topher and I both have Sundays off and we always start the day going to our favorite place in town, Voula's and then usually end with dinner with friends. Last Sunday we headed down to the Ballard farmer's market after breakfast to get goods for dinner that night. I'm now convinced this is something we should do every week.

Can we talk about this sweater? I have worn it almost every day since I bought it from Urban Outfitters. I'm even wearing it today. I've been lusting over a really expensive sweater from another store but couldn't justify spending all that money so this one was a good middle ground.

Topher and I are on vacation starting today and visiting Oregon! See you readers when we get back!

Goodbye old friend

This last weekend I said goodbye to my bike. It was a good farewell as I know it will actually be used and loved (thanks Raleigh!). Part of the deal was that I get some last shots with this beauty. Bike plus cute outfit means photos for the win! I had this bike completely rebuilt and it will be exciting to see if Raleigh will make any changes.

Outfit Details:

Polka Dot Chambray: Urban Outfitters

Black Jeans: the GAP

Flats: Steve Madden from Nordstrom Rack

Whoa Wednesday

I woke up this morning completely excited the week was almost over. Wrong! Its only Wednesday. Argh. Anyone else feel like this week has crept by at a snail's pace? And on top of that I think I have lost my phone 4-5 times. Not a "oh look I found my phone on the couch" kind of lost, but a "I need to run back to the bar and hope my phone is still there" lost. And you remember my September goals? I still haven't made it to the gym, nope not even once. Well, at least I paid that credit card balance. It all evens out, right? 

After wearing this outfit, I'm pretty sure this will be worn all the time this fall. Its so comfy and yet looks like I tried to look acceptable at work. And these boots were on my I need this for Fall list. Next time I will need to get a detailed picture, the best part about these boots you can't even see in the picture. 

Outfit details:

Chambray: Target (last season)

Black Maxi Skirt: American Apparel

Boots: Urban Outfitters

September Goals

Hello September! I'm starting something new this month- goals! We all have them and most of the time we don't keep them. I figure if I make them as public as possible I'm more likely going to follow through with them. Win for me. And say hello to Missy and River, my little puglets that I take care once in awhile. And by take care of, I mean I feed them and in turn they think I'm pretty exciting.

So here we go, 5 goals for September:
1- Take a vacation! All summer I has been waiting for the chance to get out of town and forget my phone. Topher and I are trying to figure out our little getaway at the end of the month. Any suggestions?
2- Hit the gym 4-5 times a week. 'Nuff said.
3- Pay off that last little bit on my credit card. Why I still have that balance is beyond me... Can I easily pay it? Yes. Is it pure laziness? Also yes.
4- Look at and finalize my list of schools to apply to for nursing (you all remember that decision awhile back, yah?).
5- Drink as much pumpkin spiced this as possible. I may have had a minor explosion of excitement ordering coffee this morning. Pumpkin spice lattes y'all!!!