Category: list

The one where I salvage what’s left of January…

Published on by Mae @ Rainydayinmay2 Comments
Me–
– since my writer’s retreat plans were changed, I carved out an intense week where during my “business” hours and evenings my focus is solely on work stuff. (I’m both terrified and excited!)
– a facial. this winter is working overtime on my skin! I’m sure being sick hasn’t helped…
– begin a weekly afternoon simply carved out for correspondence and reading, EVERY week. I’m thrilled! BEST goal/resolution of the year!
Us–
– one new year’s resolution I was to have a monthly cocktail evening complete with cards/games, and when it works out, having friends over. 
– Gen & I decided to take a bit of a girl’s weekend, mid month, complete with hotel sheets, sleeping in, no responsibilities, trips to the movies, swimming pools. I’m super excited! 
– In addition, Gen and I are going to start reading together, monthly. We share several of the same books now, which is an odd and special place to get to with your child.
 Heart–
– I’m starting a women’s group through our church. I’m pretty excited. I intended to start in the fall, and was excited to do the book they were focussing on, but I just couldn’t make that particular group work with my schedule. This new groups’ timing is a lot more conducive!
– listening to the calling to do/be more, with my life.
 Create–
– one of my goals this year is to take on 12 photo challenges.
– Since January of 2012, I haven’t been the best at taking photos and I miss that passion.
Reading–
– with the theme of my year being NEW, one thing I’m planning on doing is reading more children’s literature. I never read a lot of it. I kind of, as a reader, jumped right into adult books.
– Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
– MWF Seeking BFF
– Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist
Home–
– a few reorganization projects.
– warm pots of soup.
– fresh-baked loaves of bread.
– one paper project (at least)
Health–
– yoga
– making more, and creative time for fitness/working out.
Love–
– a date night
– finding little ways to reach out to Chw when life and work keeps us apart.
“It is a tough road that leads to the heights of greatness.”
Seneca 

Brown paper packages… {Our Holiday gift guide}

Published on by Mae @ Rainydayinmay5 Comments

I’m sure many of you are a little sick of Christmas… I usually try to do this post before the end of the year, but with me being so sick and all, I figured better late than never…

I wanted to share with you my ABSOLUTE favorite things from this Christmas… I love to share these, (after the fact) in case any of my readers are in need of a gift idea throughout the year, or simply want ideas for next Christmas…

First off, this is absolutely the MOST brilliant book on the planet:

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From Whitney English, the Day Designer is absolutely the best “planner” I’ve ever had. Not only is it stylish and beautiful, but it’s filled with brilliant motivation to make every day of the year, (minus the ones when you’re incredibly sick and ignore it, of course) a top-notch success. It’s one-hundred percent paper perfection and I couldn’t ever imagine using a different method! This year it was a beautiful gift, but I will need to start saving my pennies for next year now! (trust me, very, VERY worth it!)

Next I’ll share my very favorite gift that my husband received.

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The Spibelt. Running gear pretty much comprised my husband’s modest wish list this year, and this wasn’t even on his radar but it is by far the coolest thing ever.

Next, this is I think one of my favorite gifts that we’ve ever given. I LOVE it…

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Orange Fuzz is a completely awesome Etsy Shop that has amazing gifts for the men in your life. And seriously, the smells are AMAZING!

We bought this for my daughter Amanda’s soon-t0-be step son and Gen and I fell in love with this silly toy…

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Scout Read with Me… Adorable and so smart. There was nothing quite this cool when Gen was little, but we wished there had been. If you have a little one, Scout is a GREAT buy!

My mom bought me the sweetest thing. I love it, and while I can’t link to it because they sold out on the website, I can show you a picture.

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If Kate Spade brings these key chains back, I recommend them! just lovely!

Tea is something we really love in this house…

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Teavana is both given and received by us most years. We really love it. It’s a little pricey, but it’s so delicious…

We thought this was hilarious. Genny received this, as a gift (I won’t lie, it was from us) and we all had a good laugh. And now, now she has no excuse!

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Tiffany’s Table Manners for Teenagers. Gen likes silly books like this, but it’s a pretty great teen gift regardless. If you have a teen in your life and you are looking for a little more than just a gift card, maybe do this WITH a gift card… Gen still enjoys making fun of some of the ridiculous things in here all under “good manners.”

We didn’t give many gifts this year, but the few that we did give, we tried really hard to be incredibly intentional and thoughtful with. We want to set the example of not making Christmas an occasion of waste and consumerism. Overall, though it was an odd holiday for us personally, I’d say we succeeded more than we missed the mark.

Now we move on to birthdays… Oye…

And NEWness, take two… Action!

Published on by Mae @ Rainydayinmay4 Comments

january-blues

One week into this new year and I figured I might as well crawl over to my laptop and write a blog post. I’ve considered doing so for a few days now, but the very thought of the strength the typing along would take was enough to send me resolutely in another direction, let alone the thinking…

Oh the thinking.

Instead of beginning the year with some wonderful blog post about how my word for the year is NEW, (that’s working out swell, let me tell ya.) or some array of witticisms about our delightful New Years festivities allow me bullet-point, if for no other reason than the ease of my crippled brain, the journey of 2014 THUS far…

– parties or social engagements kept? 0

– parties or social engagements cancelled? 5

– visits to the hospital, by members of our household? 3 (twice were me. once on the 1st and once on the 2nd.)

– consecutive days with fever? 6

– number of prescriptions filled since start of ’14? 7

– number of books read? 0. Who can concentrate?

– number of movies watched? 0. See above.

– number of hours spend staring off into distances, brainless? oh, trillions…

– temperature outside? -13, feels like -500, though they claim it feels like -35. I disagree. {It takes all of the strength I have to put a coat on, to slip boots on and walk down three flights of stairs and get leashes on my dogs and talk them out to go to the bathroom. By the time I’m back in, you would have thought I’d run a half marathon and fought off a team of ninjas, I’m so exhausted.}

– resolutions kept thus far? ZERO. Who am I kidding, I don’t really remember what I wrote on that well-intentioned list that week and a half ago, which feels like a year ago.

– Weakness? Cake.

– Days been sick? 8. Feels like? 800. 800,000. 800,000,000. You get the point…

Hoping this isn’t any indication to how the rest of this year will go, or I’m going back to bed for the rest of the year…

{Image courtesy of Splillerina.com}

one through ten…

Published on by Mae @ Rainydayinmay4 Comments

Sometimes I like to bring my weeks to a close with a top ten list of things that inspired, moved or touched my heart, from around the web throughout the course of the week… This is probably the last list, like this, I’ll do for the year… I hope it brings you some sunshine.

– Have you ever heard of the Invisible Artist? Here is a compilation of a few works. AMAZING! i love unique art that really stands out as memorable… Incredible!

– I’ve been known to throw a birthday party for my dog, or make a memorable celebration in a unique way, so this really made me smile. Happy birthday to this little guy!

– This Holiday Decoration Trends post makes me feel incredibly traditional. While I admire a lot of these bold ideas, I’m not sure I could pull them off. What about you?

– This cartoon made me laugh out loud… What’s the opposite of Silent Night? This!

As we approach the end of the year, a lot of people start thinking about new year goals and stuff. On a couple of other blogs I saw these next two points linked and I’m resourcing them into my list for the week because I love them… HOWEVER, though I find it brilliant, if you’re easily offended by language, just skip the second one.

– How to change your life in 14 days.

– Why Wait ebook to jump starting your biggest goals.

Moving on…

– having two beautiful daughters, having sisters and nieces and lovely girlfriends, as well as being a girl myself, when I read 25 Things every woman needs to know, I cheered and am now sharing it with you! {I have since fallen in love with Hannah’s blog, linking to various other posts on social media just this week, BUT I should point out that I first stumbled upon this link from this post on one of my favorite blogs Spunkyrella}

– Are you familiar at all with the photography of Sophie Ebrard? I ran across this post, and this selection of her images are breathtaking. Absolutely life capturing. What a gift.

– It’s no secret, we LOVE Aaron Paul. We loved him back before he was super famous because we knew he was UBER talented, and because he hails from Boise (and was born in the same hospital my husband was born in!) and Northwesterners support their people! His kind heart never ceases to touch us, and this sweet gesture was no exception.

– the whole internet seems to be ablaze in arguing sides over the most recent scandal involving a Christian reality tv star vs. the LGBT community. I’ve stayed clear of it, and I’m not getting into it now, but I do want to point out that if people got this passionate about REAL issues that our voices could actually change, (you know, instead of just arguing and taking “sides”) can you imagine how that could affect the world? This video deeply touched me, and in light of all of this drama, can you imagine them adding a few seconds to it by having someone say “I hate it when the network puts my favorite reality star on hiatus”, or “I hate it when someone famous states an unpopular viewpoint that is different than mine.” Christian, LGBT, Fill-in-the-blank, have we all lost sight of the reality that we should all be on the same side and that’s the side of humanity. And it isn’t just tragic, third-world situations like in the video, it’s cities (families and children) in our own back yards that need voices and people passionate about advocating for them and their rights…

26 gifts… with only a slight hiccup…

Published on by Mae @ Rainydayinmay6 Comments

We woke up Saturday to frigid temps and snow. Chw & Gen had made plans to spend the day ice skating and braving the stores at our local mall, but since the plan had been to neither ice skate on or brave the roads on the way to the mall- that plan was tucked away for next weekend. We stayed local (but did tragically have to leave the warmth of our home) to mail a few packages and wrap up our Random Acts of Kindness project that we did in honor/memory of the 20 children and 6 heroes who lost their lives one year ago in the Sandy Hook tragedy.

I thought I’d share what we did. (* indicating where we stopped because of weather, and had to come home. We’ll finish these up, this week.) It was really fun, mostly. Gen seemed to hate the whole thing and was pretty all about her, which was really sad. {I’m sure it’s the age though. This isn’t something we’re going to give up.}

– donated to a local food drive.

– baked cookies for the Police department.

– baked cookies for the Fire department.

– baked cookies for our Librarians.

– gave a Starbucks card to a postal worker.

– gave a Starbucks card to a cashier.

– gave a large tip. 

– gave a Starbucks card to a guy bringing in the carts in the storm, at a dept. store.

– took hot chocolate to a bell-ringer. 

– prepared dinner for friends, on a night that was busy for them.

– put together a package for someone who needed their Christmas blessed.

– wrote a “thank you” note to someone who touched our lives and showed us kindness by example. (times 3.)

– gave a food box to a family in need for their holiday meal.

– donated unused coats and clothing to a local charity.

– baked treats for Gen to take to school and share with friends. (she didn’t know until she opened her lunch box.)

– helped out a local family in need.

– offered free babysitting to parents who need a date night.

– made and sent cards to a few people who needed their spirits lifted.

– flowers to the local nursing home.*

– Cupcakes to the teachers at Gen’s school.*

– tape change to hospital vending machine*

– tape change to dr’s office machine*–

– leave change at laundry matt.*