Thumbs Up: H54F

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1. The top highlight of my week was when I acknowledged my fears and challenged myself to overcome them. Not just one fear but a few. I can say I'm not completely over all of my anxiety but baby steps is what I needed to start with. I joined Planet Fitness as you may have read here and enjoyed myself more than I had expected. The tanning beds are amazing, the staff was very friendly and everything was clean and maintained. I'll be posting more about this later.

2. Little moments like finding the time to give yourself a mani make all of the difference in the world. I hardly make it to bed before eleven which means in order for this to happen I would be up after midnight. I'm thankful for a much more organized week to allow this personal time.

3. I've started planning Madison's birthday! Even though it is at the the end of April it seems like it sneaks up out of nowhere and I'm rushing around putting it all together. She picked out the theme and her cake and is super pumped about all of the surprises in store! I can't wait to share more details!

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4. As I shared last week I decided to try a new foundation. Let me tell you I am in LOVE! The product blends evenly, covers my imperfections and matches my skin color exactly. I highly encourage those of you who don't like liquid foundation to try it!

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5. A co-worker surprised me yesterday by giving me a Starbucks gift card! It's the little things in life that happen that make you smile. I'm so grateful for these kinds of gestures. It just proves there is still kindness among others.

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This weekend we are very excited to be attending the Disney on Ice show! Madison has been counting down the days and to be honest so have I! There is nothing better then seeing your child's face light up!

Cheers to another week down and a fabulous weekend ahead!

High Five For Friday

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A few months ago, I ventured off and decided to not partake in all of the weekly link ups I had been participating in.


I decided I would challenge myself to write content based on my daily life but I found out one important thing. Can you guess what it is?

I didn't "meet" as many new friends.

I maintained friendships but I found that I haven't gained many new readers based on having my blog just exist.

I have learned that making bloggy friends takes a little work. Link ups, commenting and quality content are among the important things.

So, since it has been awhile and I am very interested in finding new friends I decided to jump back on the H54F train with Lauren!

1. My two day weekend became a three day weekend due to the weather conditions. I could really get use to that! I spent most of the day reading, drinking coffee and staying warm under a blanket.

2. We accumulated approximately 12 inches of snow so we had a lot of fun building a snowman, creating frozen marbles and throwing snow at each other. Gotta love the self timer feature on the camera!

3. I am grateful that Madison hasn't had school at all this week. She was supposed to go back on Monday but due to the blizzard and frigid temps she has had the week off. Luckily, her babysitter kept the kids this week saving me the stress of making it to school in record time for pick up. She is an angel!

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4. I finally had the time to sit down and catch up on my Bloglovin posts! I absolutely love reading all of your blog posts. Some make me laugh and some make me cry but I can truly appreciate the work and effort put into each one!

5. Although my drive in to work looked like this (a skating rink) I am counting my blessings that I haven't had an accident or flat tire! The snow and ice is starting to break apart leaving the roads in pothole/crater conditions! My normal 35 minute drive took me two hours one day and an hour and a half the next day. Despite the negative, it could be SO much worse!

I love this link up because it gives me a time of reflection and shows me what I should truly be grateful for.
I hope you had an awesome week! If you are a new visitor, drop me a comment so I know you stopped by for a visit and if you are a daily reader thank you for following along as always! Love to hear from you all!

Would You Like Mail?

I love beginning a Monday morning feeling organized, refreshed and ready to accomplish another week!

This feeling is rare and only happens once in a blue moon.

My five to try that I posted on Friday turned out to be a great success! 

I stuck to my goals and succeeded at four, one is still in the works but 95% ain't too shabby!

I had an overnight babysitter Saturday night so I managed to lie in bed for ten hours. Did I sleep? Some. I keep having dreams that leave me tossing and turning and feeling restless. It was still nice to have that time to breathe, lie still and enjoy the silence.

My first batch of Christmas cards will be going out in the mail today to you lovely readers! I still have Christmas cards to send out so if you would like one please send me an email with your mailing address and I will get one to you! If I run out of these I have more! So please feel free to send me your info!

Although we did not start Madison's letter to Santa, we did spend most of our Sunday afternoon decorating this yummy goodness! I love gingerbread houses and Madison did a great job adding all of the details to the house. Eating it is the best part besides the great memories we make while doing it.

I am happy to announce that besides a handful of gifts and stocking stuffers my Christmas shopping is complete! I stashed the secret Santa items and put the others under the tree to be wrapped. I love knowing all of my planning and time spent scouring ads for deals paid off!

Back to the sleeping and resting part, I can say I gladly accomplished both. Kicking my feet up Saturday night I rented a movie and kept warm under a blanket. By the way if you haven't watched We Are The Millers rent it now! I love Jennifer Anniston so of course I loved the movie!

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Besides accomplishing my to do list, here are a few things that kept me smiling this weekend!

I started teaching Madison how to make snowflakes. We didn't have much time before she left to go to grandma's house but she got the picture. She loves making crafts and being creative!

I went onto Starbucks website and they were sold out of these adorable mugs. Wah wah. While shopping at Target for the tenth time this week I found a shelf of them!! I snagged one as I did a little happy dance inside.

Madison had her winter recital Friday night which turned out to be a success! She danced her little heart out and smiled almost the whole time. More details to come later this week!

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I found my hair stylist! As many of you know my hair stylist quit and so I have been on the lookout for someone new. I decided to try and get in touch with my stylist and found out she moved to a different salon right down the street! I have an appointment tonight and couldn't be more thrilled! Pics to come!

What fun things did you get into this weekend? Don't forget to join the link up if you haven't already!

How Hard Can It Be?

The last couple of weeks I have been linking up with Vickie for Friday’s Five To Try.

Basically the goal is to make a to-do list or five things to try over the weekend.

We all know how life gets in the way and how chores and “to-do’s” start to pile up. As I have said before, I feel more accountable when I have all of you lovelies following up reading about the outcome come Monday morning.

Also, I feel like I accomplished more when I have a smaller list completed rather than a large list with only a couple of things checked off.

So here is my list for this weekend…

1) Sleep! I have been going to bed after midnight and most mornings getting up around 5 or 6 am! I am drained! Hence the lack of blog posting yesterday. I have yet to find the time to crank out multiple blog posts ahead of time therefore you can find me most nights blogging for the next day. Sometimes things just don’t work out.

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2) Mail out Christmas cards to all my frannndddsss. Keep an eye on your inbox I might be emailing you for an address

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3) In downtown Indy the city has set up a mailbox for Santa! You place your list/letter in the box for Santa and Santa (a volunteer) sends a return letter. I plan on sitting down with Madison and having her write one out so we can deliver it. I can’t wait to see the look on her face when she receives that package!

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4) Organize the presents I have bought for Christmas. Both of our trunks are jam packed with boxes and bags. I have yet to find a place to stash all of the goodies so Madison will not find them. We need a bigger house!

5) Rest and relax. Besides sleep, I really want to stay at home and just enjoy being indoors. The past week has been very hectic and exhausting. Sometimes it is nice to become a couch potato, spend the day eating good food and remember to enjoy the small things.

What are your weekend plans? Are you linking up?

Slow Down

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Somehow two days flew by and the weekend was over before I knew it.

I'm sure everyone felt the same way. Hours, minutes, seconds...in my world it seems like I can't get one minute to catch my breath. The older I get the faster time speeds by. The quicker time ticks by the less things in my life are completed.

Two weeks ago I joined a little link up that allowed me to invest my time in five things to try over a weekend period. The idea was to shorten my to do list, become less stressed and actually complete what I planned on starting. This idea has been amazing. Because I am blogging about I become more accountable and I tend to not make excuses. Now, the reality is that sometimes even five things I put down on paper will simply not be completed but that's how the cookie crumbles. Life gets in the way.

So far, most of my five to try has been accomplished and I couldn't feel any better about it.

1. I organized my Christmas list and actually tackled my first Christmas adventure! I bought Madison some of her favorite things, got a few stocking stuffers and even got my mom a present which I think she will get a kick out of. I feel so good that I have a head start on my shopping. Although Toys R Us felt like a day on Black Friday I managed to score a couple of deals. I can't wait until all of my shopping is complete and everything is wrapped under a sparkling lit tree!

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2. Madison's room as been an ongoing work in progress and I can say it is finally 100% complete. I added some wall decorations and hung her stuffed animal storage basket. She loved helping me stick the wall decals on and felt like a big girl using the drill. She really is mommy's little helper.

3. Target had these great outfits for Madison's Elf On The Shelf, Lucy. I snagged these for Lucy's return and also picked up a few things to put into Madison's gift box for our upcoming Polar Express ride. 19 more days!

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4. Sadly my Wall Of Fame is still at a stand still. I spent more time shopping, cleaning and doing things with my family that this little task is still on the back burner.

5. My thank you note is complete. Funny thing is I don't own a single envelope so after one of these is snagged from my work I will be able to deliver the note. A note seems so small in comparison to what my family does for my family and I. I always wish I could do more but I do the best I can.

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If you have a do list that seems incomplete day after day then join this link up! Put the top five on top and work your way down! I am queen of never ending lists and this system works!

Check, Check, Double Check

On any given Monday you can usually catch myself or any other blogger writing a post to recap our weekend.

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As I said Friday today's post would be a little different. 

Why not recap all of the productive things accomplished over the weekend? 

Yes, we all love to brag about all of the great partying we did or cool places we visited but what about all the hard work and time we took to complete tasks looming in our minds?

How many of us make a to do list and life gets in the way? Why make a list to just sit it to the side or trash it at a later date.

So, Friday I made that list, checked it twice like Mr. Jolly Santa Claus himself and went to town.

1. I finally got to watch Madison rehearse for her up and coming dance recital at the end of November on Thursday. I recorded the dance and we have practiced for the last two days! I have a lot of confidence that she is going to do very well!

2. As far as my Autumn decor, as much as I want to unload the bins from my basement and decorate the house I feel like Halloween is pretty much the end to that, which occurs in four days. I added it to the list but I am too excited about Christmas to even care about a few fall leaves and pumpkins sitting around.  I made the executive decision to cross this one off.

3. My two bffs are always there for me and I felt the need to let them know. I never see the point in spending $5 on a card that will be thrown in the trash so I decided on an e-card instead. I loved their responses and knowing that I brightened their day!

4. As you can see the "Wall of Fame" (our cork board of loves) is in the process of being updated! I am currently choosing current pictures to add to the board! I finally removed the past ones and cannot wait to share with you the completed project!

(Before)

(In Progress)

5. I have a hard time picking dates that coordinate with my sisters busy schedule. As a newlywed, she loves her hubby to be so much that we hardly get any girls time! I sent the text and I am awaiting a set date for our girl time! Crossing my fingers it is soon! 

Have you made your "five to try" list? Join the link up here and share your experiences today!