12/29 tidbits

 ugh. i'm in the accounting field and it's month end and year end. today started getting sticky-busy and it's clearly the prequel to the weeks to come. i hope this 3 day weekend goes by slow and then january 12th can't come soon enough...

i continue to eat and eat and eat and it's actually helping in my drive to get back on track. i dislike feeling full, icky and lathargic all the time! i had lunch with a few of my co-workers on wednesday: thai food!! yum!! i had pad pak; essentially just a bunch of veggies, some chicken and their incredibly delicious sauce!! i want to learn to make this; gotta be like stir fry right? then today the ap team went out to lunch together... tomorrow we're likely to order pizza or chipotle... yikes

this is my favorite warm-up drink at work!! i mix half a cup of hot water, half a cup of coffee and then pour in trader joe's chai powder mix. it's fantastic!!! so yummy. although this morning, after not having had this in a while and not having any bread for breakfast, the coffee was a bit much for me. i was shaking like a leaf. :)

i loved the pattern on my co-worker's shirt today! wintery without being obnoxious. i don't know why, but it makes me want a dress made out of this. i'll have to find some material made out of this at some point and create a dress!!

the hubby had been taking me along on his lifting workouts this week since we don't have crossfit. yikes, i'm sore, in a good way. but i forgot how boring it can be while waiting inbetween sets... i think crossfit has programmed me to be moving all the time. i'm gonna have to convince the hubby to start super setting his lifting! :] it'll be good for both of us!

12/27/11

ramblings mixed with some motivational pictures for myself.

-i have yet to even start my 2011 goals list. i am re-thinking my process and hopeful outcome of this list and if the overall goal :) of it changes so might the things on it. but i'm super excited to get it down. and i'm thinking of posting some of them in our house from time to time so i remember them.

-i have been these weird dizzy-type instances for a week now. last week i had to leave work because starring at the computer with them was making me nauseous and i even went to the doctor for it (dumb idea!). pretty sure it's due to the muscles in the back of my neck. with working on my back & core muscles, i have been sore for a long time. but there are other things i need to work on to improve the quality of life of my neck. another step i took today was putting my computers at work up on blocks pretty high. darn long torso makes being ergonomically correct difficult and funny looking.

-i have made the decision to stay away from the doctor unless i'm sure i need some sort of prescription. every time i go i get no help, no suggestions. all i get is money out of my pocket and a prescrition that may or may not help or that i can't use unless absolutely necessary. my body and i will fix and take care of ourselves.

-i am greatly enjoying my holiday treats and sweets. 5 lbs worth to be exact. i'm so ready for this season to be over with and to get back on a routine and conquer my poor snacking habits that have resurfaced. in june, i'll be glad i started in january!

-she makes me hurt. he makes me hurt. these apply to too many people that i have measured myself and my life by. no longer. i measure my life by my happiness, by time spent doing what i want, by the smiles i create & that are around me. it's time to have a year free of wanting people to be people they clearly aren't and expecting them to do things they clearly don't want to do. onward & upward!

-i cannot get a handle on my hair situation. i don't have a style for it. it is always frizzy. there are too many broken hairs. i am determined to continue to try different products/theories and win this battle! i need to go to a real hair stylist asap!

-sometimes i just want to shake people. i want to shake them and say wake up. or stop for a second. take a look around you. look at what you have. look at what you are doing. look what you have done for yourself. you're amazing and doing great and i'm so proud of you. and you should be so proud of yourself too. :: but how do you say that to someone?  how do you make them realize or see it? i am determined to find a non-creepy way to get that across!

one eventful christmas

well, christmas 2011 is definitely one that will go down in the record books. here's our storyline:

it started out by both of us having to work friday (christmas eve eve) until 2.  

we then went home and played games with my mom and brother.

and drank some of mom's homemade baileys. yum!

 then, early christmas eve morning, we set off on our full day adventure. our plan: head to wausau (2.5 hour drive) to see a bunch of al's family, leave there by 3 or 4 and head back to the cities to my dad's side christmas all night, then spend christmas day with my mom and brother and our pj's, then monday was a free, relaxing day. that was the plan...

christmas eve morning: it was a beautiful day for driving. not a cloud in the sky, sun shining and as we got further and further into wisconsin, we got to see a white christmas!! our trip even included my christmas turban :) or as al called me, a christmas pirate.

 the landscape was beautiful! i love when the trees have a covering of white on them! hubby drove the whole way!

 we got to al's dad's house. had christmas with him and al's sister, althea. then headed out to al's grandpa's house to see him. it was great to see him even if he does speak at a very high decibal. :) he was excited to see both al and i and it made me realize we need to get out to see him more often.

one of my goals for this holiday season was to take more pictures of people. i sort of failed at that, but i did get a picture of al with his dad and his grandpa! even if the sun light is overbearing, it's still a great picture!!

 from there we headed out to al's aunt wendy's house where the big oleson/wilcox christmas was to be held. it was supposed to start at 3 (the time we were going to have to leave) but when we showed up a lot of people we thought we weren't going to get to see were there. we stayed until just before four and then hit the road back up to the cities. here is where the story gets interesting.

about a half hour out of wausau is a town called abbotsford. we had planned to stop there to get gas and get some caffiene for the drive. just before we hit abbotsford, the jeep started beeping and the check gauges light started blinking. shortly after we had concluded that it was most likely the alternator had died.

we called al's dad, a mechanic, and he confirmed our hunch that it was probably the alternator and suggested we head back to wausau if the battery was still going. we drove slightly past the gas station and saw a plethora of auto parts stores and service stations. all closed... so we turned around to head back and as we got closer to the highway things started turning off: the radio, the headlights (it was just about dark out), etc. we weren't going to make it far. we quickly turned around again and headed back to the gas station. we made it there barely. we called around to find an alternator but no where was open. al's dad and cousin had to come get us and i had to face the fact that i wasn't going to make it home for christmas; not for dad's side and maybe not for mom's christmas either. the likelihood that something was going to be open the next day, a sunday and christmas day was not good.

once we got picked up and got back to wendy's house, al's cousin jeremy said we could use his car to drive home. but it was late and we were both exhausted so we stayed the night in wausau and would head back in the morning.

we were still hanging out at wendy's, when al got his tell-tale sign of a migraine. so we booked it to his dad's house, got the beds ready and went to sleep. he was up at least 3 times puking that night, so neither of us got a lot of sleep....

despite all that and missing the family on my dad's side that we don't see often, we had a beautiful, easy, made-great-time drive home on christmas morning. we got to open presents, play lots of games and have mimosas! santa even got us all matching pajama pants. :]

despite all the set-backs it was a pretty good christmas. and i got to spend all our first married-couple christmas with my hubby! our relaxing monday turned into al driving to pick up an alternator, driving to wausau to get his dad and tools, driving to abbotsford, fixing the jeep, then driving home, and me cleaning, running errands and doing laundry. but i did make it over to see my papa, dad and aunt cindy so that's good. and here's a picture of my papa! :)

after wondering if i was going to make it home at all, spending christmas day with my mom, al and tyler was more than enough of a gift for me! but i did get some really good gifts as did al, the jeep is almost all the way fixed (the battery just needs re-charging), and we are home healthy and happy and... ready for work this week. :( yes, we both have to work all 4 days this week. i'm completely jealous of people who have the whole week off... ah, to be in the accounting field at year end...

despite all the unplanned events, we are so lucky to have so many loving, caring family and friends! 

christmas cheer

i feel like i'm one of just 12 people who have to work today. and 4 days next week, for that matter...

but i wore my christmas colors and am trying to spread christmas cheer and joy today! it is dead at work but we got pizza and chicken wings for lunch :) and we get out at 2 so really it's not that bad. (i think i'm only saying this because i don't have the vacation hours to take days off since we just got married last month...)

and it's snowing!!!!! it's not hard or much but i'm hoping it stays around for christmas!!!

we're off to wausau in the morning (maybe tonight if the roads aren't too bad) then back up here for my dad's side christmas tomorrow night. but then christmas day is at my mom's and we get to relax, play games and stay in our pj's all day!!! and monday is a free day!! yay!!

i'll be listening to all the christmas music my husband can handle these next couple of days and be hitting the gym as crossfit is closed after tonight until next year....

merry christmas!!!!

words

warning: download drop of phone pictures and random thoughts

-i am incredibly disappointed that there is no snow and we will not be having a white christmas. i am also convinced that mother nature has her months mixed up (and have been convinced of this for over a year); i'm pretty sure this is supposed to be november not december...

-ever since wedding planning i have found myself being more patient with large things than i previously had been. i don't know where this came from or why but not stressing out about things i can't really control is awesome!!

-i have been eating horribly for a good 5 days or so now. the christmas cookies and candy are NOT helping. i opened my drawer at work today and discovered that i'm a candy hoarder (see picture). this needs to be remedied asap! my body is paying the price and it's making me unhappy.

-i am officially done christmas shopping and all the presents are wrapped! i am pleased with our presents selection this year and hope that everyone recieving them realizes that we/i tried to really think about the presents for each person rather than trying to impress with our gifts. i hate that christmas has become so much about money and extravegent gifts. i'm getting to a point of dreading christmas and it's stressfulness. and i don't want to be there. i want it to be a joyous time and a time to get together with family and friends and have fun and celebrate! picture: brown christmas with the cousins (minus 2) on my dad's side.

-i love my husband! but i feel like i hardly get to see him. he has been working a good 3-4 closing shifts the past couple of weeks and we don't get to see each other awake during those days. and the days when he opens, our time together is very limited. between crossfit/gym, his new call of duty mw3 obsesssion, and my new bedtime of 830 (what? how old am i?) we don't get much together time. this must change. soon!

-i looked at pictures of our wedding reception 2 nights ago and it makes me want to do it again! to have the party, to get to wear my dress again, to do it all.... does this ever go away?

-i started going to a sports rehab guy a couple of weeks ago for pain in my shoulders and elbow. come to find out, i have been over exerting my shoulder, bicep, tricep and lower back muscles because due to the sports i've played those are the muscles my body is used to using. however, that is causing aches and pains and since i'm not using my stabilizing muscles (my core, abs, upper back) i have no muscle there. the solution: work on these muscles. while working on these muscles, i have realized how incredibly hard it is to build up strength in muscles. they are constantly sore and when my sports rehab guy trains me, my entire body shakes like a leaf. i feel like an idoit. i feel like someone who has never worked out in my life. it's frustrating to me and i feel so defeated. i know it's helping and it's going in the right direction, but i just want to be able to do it. and do it well. and not hurt all the time.        i'm far to stubborn...

-pictures: my new favorite thing: lightening mcqueen-ing people's cars. it makes me smile so much! i did it to my brothers big yellow truck :)

-my boss's boss always makes the cutest cards; here's a pint sized gingerbread man stamp card. so cute!!

winter wonderland + santa

 on saturday, i went with my crew on our 2nd annual trip to see santa at the winter wonderland in oakdale. it was me, meg, the twins, summer, manda, johnny, eva, shari and jacklyn this year. they have a petting zoo, hay ride, bonfire and candy cane hunt outside, and santa + mrs claus and treats inside. it was lots of fun again this year and very busy with all those kidlets :)

i got the twins and summer critter hats for christmas and they wore them :]

skye's is a pink kitty

ty's is a lion 

waiting in line for santa (i have a couple of pictures of eva in line too, but they are blurry because that adorable girl is not very often still :])

 eva and manda with santa.

manda was so cute; she practiced with eva a bunch with questions about sitting on santa's lap, taking a picture with him and how she was going to smile for the picture. and every time, eva would say her little "russian" dah (for yes) and would smile wonderfully. but when time came, she didn't want to sit on santa's lap by herself. manda's response? but we practiced. :]

the greeder kiddos with santa

then we tried to get all 5 kids with santa; you can see how well that worked 

candy cane hunt. i loved that this year eva and the twins were old enough to do these fun things on their own. they loved it! summer wanted to pose by the dinosaur.

skye's candy cane she found.

ty ty's candy cane

what a fun trip! we even got on the hay ride pulled by big horses this year! last year the line was too long and with 3 little ones, it was too cold to wait in line.

2011 goals recap - passing grade!

so here is my goal list i made in december 2010 for this year. i'll cross off whatever i have done or partially done. and any thing not crossed off will go into this year's list. :)

1. Skydive still wanna!!

2. Tattoo/sleeve? still considering

3. Healthy eating habits still working on, but much better.

4. Keep inspiration notebook going wedding notebook counts, right? plus i found pinterest which is so much better than a notebook! :)

5. Make more money

6. Develop organizing skills more

7. Work at improving crossfit skills

8. Crochet hat/scarf/shawl 1/2 a hat and an ear warmer band

9. Make steps/progress towards ideal body crossfit and eating helps this :)

10. Dye hair a funky color or part of hair not with my current job, plus i haven't died my hair in over a year now, and i'd like to keep it that way!

11. Create/sew a shirt with a cool back have my material and idea ready for this just need to do/sew it

12. Make video of grama’s stories i really want to start shooting/creating videos; will do this in 2012

13. Take all kinds of pictures  again a wedding helps

14. Travel with Al

15. Create savings accounts/fund -> retire, house, Colorado, wedding, kids

16. Wakeboard & snowboard as much as possible

17. Remember to tell people when they make you happy/how you feel

18. Wear your fancy shoes!

19. Cook with veggies -> try new veggies brussel sprouts & sweet potatos!

20. Send people stuff snail mail -> cards, letters, gifts

21. White board posters on wall for lists chalkboard frames work!

22. Lead by example: driving, common courtesy, strangers

23. Less computer time! Esp. facebook

24. Make conscious/better decisions when shopping: food & clothes

25. Train for warrior dash -> learn to run ugh... still on the list...

26. Batting cages: have Johnny & Lon teach me to hit

27. Ride my bike

28. Consider lip ring

29. Read the Lord of the Rings series

30. Watch all my movies

31. Read my Nancy Drew books

32. Be anti fast food october marked a year since i've had fast food (well i've had chicken there, but nothing else, not even french fries!)

33. Volunteer will do more of this in 2012 tho!

34. Play basketball!! <3

what happened to 35-36???

37. visit dad and papa regularly much better!

38. Hand out with old friends: Megan, Brooke, Laura

39. Learn to play hockey: play in a game i'm a scardy cat

40. Horseback riding

41. Paint nails as teenage mutant ninja turtles

42. Sew! Make all projects from class i sewed a little...

43. Go sledding/tubing -> build snowman, snowball fight if we ever get snow this year...

44. Use PD Pappys gift card

45. Visit Wanda’s ice cream stand & Nelsons in Stillwater

46. Color. Paint. Draw

47. Doodle more, like I used to

48. Learn new, fabulous appetizers to make

49. Try out tummy tamers pills consistently i don't need to now that i'm eating better, no tummy aches!

50. Take vitamin & fish oils daily

51. Learn to plant & grow veggies and flowers first garden was pretty successful

52. Rake leaves and jump in them

53. Master rock band :) didn't master but def played!

54. Play more board games & cards

55. Drink less alcohol, keep up with water. Learn to like wine

56. Get a dog. That has great ears

57. Gain self-confidence and self-esteem; better self image working on it..

58. Try real boxing/kickboxing/martial arts

59. Rollerblade; preferably with Meg & Manda

60. Don’t let tv shows run you life/schedule

61. Be outside a lot!!

62. Listen to my full cd’s -> find new music

63. Play my flute more often

64. Speak & learn Spanish more

65. Learn to use photo shop & really use a nice camera

66. Play Sudoku often

67. Wear what I want, when I want no matter what: clothes & hair

68. SMILE!!! All the time and at people (it won’t kill you)

69. Wear your dresses! You really do love wearing them

70. Remember how it feels to receive things & know that people were thinking of you: so do that for others: give.

71. Stop and help people, especially in the winter. You know you want to so why not do it?

72. Don’t stop sleeping! You are an 8-10 hour/day person

73. Get over your wanting to be someone/everyone’s favorite; it’s never gonna happen and only hurts you. getting there...

74. Continue to attempt to change the human nature of assuming the worst work in progress...

75. Blog more, especially about your life status quo. It will be interesting to go back and read later on in life.

76. Soak up the sun; winter will be here before you know it.

77. Have picnics outside.

78. Get a grill basket so you can grill the veggies that you love. (ps. Learn to grill)

79. Spend more quality time with the little ones around you; they really can astonish you & brighten your day.

80. Push yourself. Conquer fears, be uncomfortable.

81. Take advantage of summer!! -> cabins, boats, lakes, fishing, etc etc etc

82. Get a hammock

83. Get a subscription to a magazine

84. Get a facial

85. Forgive

86. Never stop learning, esp from those around you!! never stop!

87. Do the happy dance when you feel like it :]

88. Learn new corny jokes

89. Laugh every day!

90. Visit family in other states

91. Reduce my plastic footprint on the earth

92. Get with the times & get a new phone

93. Use the stairmill for a full cardio workout

94. Burn my candles

95. Take more bubble baths

96. Put my dishes in the dishwasher (mom!)



66 outta 96, 69%, not bad at all!!

wedding reception details

 here are all our handmade details + decorations from our reception:

photos by leah maria photography

our candy bar!! my auntie diane lent us 10 of her large, antique jars from her collection to use for our candy bar and i LOVE them!! they were perfect!

i designed and cut out, and my good friend amanda put together the banner/bunting. it says "how sweet it is;" you could see it a lot better once it was dark out.

one of our themes for the whole place was painted frames with chalkboard paint on the inside. my cousins molly and sara did all the writing on these!!

i ordered printed candy bags from LostBridgeDesigns via etsy with our names, date and a little thank you message on them. i loved these bags!!

 each candy jar had a mini chalkboard tag on it indicating what was in the jar and they were tied on with ribbon. my brother cut these out of wood, al drilled the mini holes in them, and i painted them with the chalkboard paint. they were super easy and so cute!

 candy bar info: we had 10 kinds of candy: plain m&ms, peanut butter m&ms, pretzel m&ms, a laffy taffy mix, a chocolate mix, skittles, gummy bears, dum dum suckers, dry roasted peanuts, and mike & ikes. the majority of the candy was gone when we went to clean up in the morning. we bought 2 big bags from sam's club of each kind except for the huge bag of dum dums and we ended up taking back one bag of the laffy taffy mix. there was half a bag of mike & ikes, half a bag of gummy bears, half a can of peanuts and a bunch of dum dums left over. so we did pretty good and i'd say it was a success!!!

right as you walked in the front door, we had our favor table. our favors were wearable fabric flowers all homemade by me, my momma and a bunch of our family and friends. mom and i hosted a flower making day and lots of people came over to help make flowers for this so we  had a wonderful variety of shapes, sizes, styles, etc.

we used some fabric mostly from joann purchased with coupons, but mainly they were made from bed sheets i had purchased (and then washed) from thrift stores for many prior months. the sheets were perfect for this! we then glued alligator clips on the backs so that people could put them in their hair or on their clothing and wear them all night long. my mom also made a bunch of

extra flowers without the clips for decoration. i love love loved seeing the fabric flowers everywhere

and seeing how/where people wore them!

next was our guest book table; this was next to a little cubby in which we hung a fabric background in (pictures to come of this in a later post) to take pictures in front of. my wonderful cousin maren took pictures using my instax wide camera of everyone who attended. maren did a fabulous job of this and very few people got by her into the actual reception part without getting their picture taken!

then, to go along with their instax picture we had index cards for everyone to write their names on

and write whatever else met their fancy on as well. we now have their pictures with their index cards in an album and we love it! it's still so much fun to go through and look at them all!!

my cousin, duawn, cut out a bunch of v's and a's for us on her mat cutter. we then spray painted them our colors and used them for decoration. we placed the larger ones throughout the reception  and the smaller ones we used in the center pieces. 

next to the candy bar we had a miscellaneous table. 

on this table were things like this canvas i made, drawing inspiration from a similar project i saw on pinterest. i added a pair of fabric flowers :) it says "and they lived happily ever after"

we also had a game area with little buckets from the dollar section at target which held dice and a deck of cards. i then painted squares of chalkboard paint on them. portable buckets of fun! :)

we also had glow sticks in jars for when it got dark out.

these were a ton of fun to have!!

we had just a small, intimate ceremony, so since most people wouldn't get to see our programs

we had large frames showing who the bridesmaids and groomsmen were. there was a picture of each (most taken by gina), their names and their relationship to us just as was listed in the programs.  these 2 frames were my favorite and are still displayed in our home! :]

our center pieces were made up of the following:

-larger sprayed painted ball jars in our colors

-smaller ball jars filled with lemonheads for the yellow & for a difference in texture

-in the white jars we had the small "v," "+" & "a" on small sticks spray painted silver/gray and a small wooden star on a stick spray painted navy.

-the blue jars had just the screw on portion of the silver top on them and held yellow flowers that i picked out from joanns

-they were then placed on a spray painted frame with chalkboard paint on the inside and had a piece of white chalk laying on each.

-i also rented navy table runners for each large table to put under the frames.

on the small, high top tables we had a small ball jar painted dark blue with the full top on

which was placed on a small light blue painted frame with lemon heads all around it. 

 our reception was held at oak marsh golf course in oakdale mn.

it was a large room that was sectioned off into 3 areas:

a dancing area, a food/bar area and a table area.

it was perfect for our reception!!

they put up lights for us too!!

this is the food/bar area with the candy bar, misc table and high tops.

we served some appetizers at 9 pm (our reception didn't start until after dinner)

but neither al or i tried any of them... :)