2011. Accomplished.

It's about that time of year to look at the past 12 months to see what has been accomplished in my life.  Actually, now that I think of it, it'd be great to outline what has happened in the past 24 months...beCausE, things have definitely changed!

In 2010, I accomplished many things on my life bucket list (just to set the scene):

• Became 100% Financially Independent (meaning I pay for everything I need by myself, a longstanding goal of mine)
• Got Married, to an old friend (Surprise*!)
• Moved into a "loft" in a big city.
• Road Trip across the entire United States
• Weekend get-away to NYC (& saw the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in person)
• Epic-ly quit a horrible job (Told em' whats up, and then just simply walked out.  Followed by my similarly fed-up coworker days later.  Something I am genuinely proud of myself for, to this day.)

On New Year's Eve 2010, it was out with the old and in with the new.  My feminine intuition never fails to disappoint, and for as many years (about 5 to be exact) as I just knew that things were not going to get better anytime soon, that night, I just KNEW that my patience would finally meet its promised hopes - on one condition...that I must let go of everyone and everything in the past never ever look back!  It worked.

Central Park, NYC

In 2011, onward pressing onward, this is how things went down...Not exactly bucket list worthy, but nevertheless, of note:

• Upgraded to a fabulous job as an executive assistant to nationally recognized health care executives.  Can you tell I love my job?  I do.  I'm in career-heaven.
• Started babysitting a little boy (he's 7) from India on a regular basis.  It's fun to learn about their culture, and fun to have spending money :)
• Wrote out our first family budget, thanks to Dave Ramsey.
• Went on our first couple diet (we both lost 5 pounds!)
• Learned how to use Coupons, thanks to my Labor Day weekend in San Diego & TLC's Extreme Couponing marathon.
• Moved into a newer apartment, with a non-psycho police officer landlord (aka a very respectful and nice grandma of 2 named Mary Ellen), in house laundry (free), and a built in dishwasher!  Heaven.
• Brigham played and performed at his debut Fireside!
• Brigham and Mike produced their 2nd CD (Spirit of Christmas), and are currently promoting it...if you want a copy let me know...it's on itunes too.
• Escaped to New Hampshire for a birthday getaway...ahhh, I relax just remembering that incredible weekend!
• Enjoyed a wonderful weekend in NYC again this year with Megan, Job and Rachel, and Aunt Kay!
• Quietly quit some toxic people and decided to never talk to them or think about them or talk about them again.  And I the more time that goes by, ironically, the more happy I am.  Strange, huh, but this is a big breakthrough for me.  JFK said, "Forgive your enemies, but never forget their last names."  Sometimes the only way to forgive is to forget, and the only way to forget is to say goodbye - for good.  

Like I said, my upgrade to a new job has been a real game changer.  Less hours, more income, and more time with my hubs with less stress.  More time to be domestic = happy Emily.  I am glad that I worked at Enterprise, though, as grinding as it was at times, because I was constantly sharing the gospel and answering questions about being Mormon, and I made really great friends (who I never get to see because they are always working), and lets be honest, I was loved and cherished for who I am, and the example I set by just being me.  I'll admit it, I shed a few tears when I decided to change jobs, and I wasn't the only one.  But as much as I love being with people who LOVE me, I had to get my priorities in order, and in the end, family will always come first.

Looking down the pipeline to 2012, here are some of our hopes:

• Road trip to Georgia (to see Brigham's friend Kat Graham tape Vampire Diaries), North Carolina (to revisit Brig's mission), and Washington DC (to see Jessica and McKay)...uhm to be continued
• Go on a Church History Tour with Welch family visitors
• Celebrate Brigham's Graduation!!!  (whaaa?  already!  I know right?)
• Go camping.  Anywhere!  I miss it so much :(
• Go on a Cruise!
• Fly to Hawaii to visit my mission :)
• Do some kind of scripture/bom challenge
• maybe welcome a little one into the family? We'll see ;)
• Start paying back those torturous student loans...early.
• Enjoy family, friends, the accomplishment of our goals, and then just Chillax!

Extreme Couponing 2.0: 70% Off Grocery Adventure!

My extreme couponing adventures continue!

This week, if you buy select items at Shaw's, they will give you back $10 toward your next purchase, AND, it just so happened that I had multiple coupons for each item on my list!  You have to spend a minimum of $25 post-coupons to get the $10 gift coupon, so that was tricky and took some planning...but it worked out!  Although my goal was to only spend $25 and call it a day, I did pick up a few extra items, and there were some things I planned on buying but weren't there so that threw me off, but FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, I saved more than I spent!

This is the retail price, pre-sale, pre-coupon, pre double-coupon cost: $92.10

2 Boxes of Kix

2 Boxes of Cheerios

2 Boxes of Total

1 Box of MultiGrain Cheerios

4 Boxes of Gogurt (Yoplait)

10 Yoplait cups

2 Pillsbury Grands rolls

2 FiberOne granola bar boxes

3 Green Giant Veggie Boxes

2 Totinos Pizza Rolls

2 Bags of Bugles

2 Bags of Chex Mix

1 Gallon of Milk

2 Colgate Toothpastes

2 Dr. Pepper's

This is what I paid for everything: $38.07 - ($10.00 gift card) = $28.07

+

Thats a total savings of 70% Off

So lets do the math here:

I bought 39 items

I paid $28

That means each item was an average of $.71 each

Thats better than the dollar store!!

Things to do this fall

101 Things to Do This Fall
1. Go apple picking
2. Visit the country
3. Bake apple pie
4. Carve or decorate pumpkins
5. Bake pumpkin pie
6. Decorate turkey pinecones for Thanksgiving placesettings
7. Go for a hike
8. Make turkey handprint placemats
9. Knit or crochet something
10. Make something handmade for a Christmas present
11. See Disneyland’s Halloween decorations (the Haunted Mansion is a must!)
12. Go trick-or-treating at a theme park (Sea World has a great trick-or-treat party)
13. Play in fall leaves
14. Make a quilt (must fix sewing machine first!)
15. Visit someone in a nursing home
16. Write a letter to someone
17. Donate a turkey to a homeless shelter
18. Make a collection of your family’s Thanksgiving recipes to pass down to your children
19. Scrapbook
20. Go to the Drive-In Movie Theater
21. Visit the beach during a storm to see giant waves
22. Read a book
23. Make or hang a fall wreath on your door
24. Visit a pumpkin patch
25. Go on a hayride
26. Go horseback riding
27. Go to a football game
28. Make hot apple cider
29. Start Christmas shopping
30. Attend a parade
31. Visit a fire station’s open house
32. Attend a church’s Fall Festival
33. Host spaghetti night at your house
34. “BOO!” a friend (leave candy on their doorstep and doorbell ditch them … make sure they know that they’ve been “Boo’d” and that the candy is from you so they know it’s safe)
35. Host a football party at your house
36. Host a chili cook-off
37. Learn a new card game, like Canasta
38. Visit a farm
39. Shop at your local farmer’s market
40. Complete a large puzzle
41. Decorate for Halloween
42. Bake bread43. Attend your Alma Mater’s Homecoming
44. Attend an Oktoberfest
45. Take a train ride somewhere new
46. Watch a sunrise after a stormy day
47. Color
48. Make leaf rubbings
49. Go ice skating
50. Take a history tour of your city, preferably a haunted one!
51. Donate books to your local library
52. Read a Classic
53. Watch a foreign film
54. Visit a haunted house
55. Attend a carnival
56. Volunteer at your child’s school carnival or festival
57. Bake a cake or cookies for nurses to say thank you
58. Go ziplining among the fall foliage
59. Tell a ghost story
60. Send a care package to a friend that’s far away
61. Make cake pops
62. Put on or attend a puppet show
63. Write a story64. Take your dogs for a walk someplace new
65. Write down 10 things you’re thankful for and share them at Thanksgiving
66. Do something extra special for your child’s teacher
67. Read something inspirational or motivational
68. Play hopscotch in the garage on a rainy or cold day
69. Play Chinese Jumprope in the garage on a rainy or cold day
70. Do a crossword puzzle
71. Learn Sudoku
72. Make candles
73. Drink hot cocoa
74. Have brunch at a restaurant you’ve never tried before
75. Plant bulbs that will bloom in the Spring
76. Make something messy with clay or papier-mache
77. Make caramel apples
78. Play soccer
79. Go to a petting zoo
80. Make friendship bracelets
81. Paint or draw a picture you can frame
82. Build a fort
83. Have a campfire and roast marshmallows
84. Visit a museum
85. Take a carousel ride
86. Watch It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!
87. Attend a local theater performance
88. Make Apple Brown Betty and serve it with homemade ice cream
89. Take your kids out to “coffee:” Pumpkin Spice Latte for you, hot cocoa for them!
90. Take an art class
91. Paint something ceramic, like at a Ceramic Cafe
92. Frame school portraits
93. Play touch football in the front yard
94. Invite a relative you haven’t seen in awhile over for dinner
95. Create a new, healthy habit
96. Attend a craft faire
97. Decorate a spooky tree for Halloween
98. Make Christmas ornaments
99. Try pumpkin ice cream
100. Take lessons to learn something new, like how to play an instrument
101. Make a “Day in the Life” photo album with snapshots
(courtesy of http://myfabulousescape.com)

Braised Balsamic Chicken (recipe)

Brigham and I love having company over for dinner.  On two separate occasions, with different sets of guests, this recipe has won them over to the point that they have gone home to make it themselves (or requested the recipe so that they could!)

So, I present to you the link to the best chicken recipe ever!

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/braised-balsamic-chicken/detail.aspx

Enjoy. (I like to serve this with white rice, btw)

Honey Pot Hill Orchard

This year (taking full advantage of the holiday weekend) I wasn't going to miss the apple orchard.  Partly because it's the festive thing to do in October in Boston, but especially because it is out in the open woods far away from the city.  Lastly, our good friends Jessica and McKay are moving next weekend, and we wanted to get in one last fun outing with our buddies before they're gone :( 

Brigham was reluctant to go, trying to use the "but babe, I HAVE to practice today" card, but really, who practices on a beautiful Saturday afternoon after complaining about cabin fever the night before?  And, although he griped all the way there about the traffic, he did admit once we got some hotdogs and apple cider donuts that he was having a really good time.  The rest of the day, he was all smiles...even on the drive home!

wide open spaces

This is our neighborhood.

It might be an understatement that urban New England is the opposite of wide-open spaces.  Our place is small tiny miniature.  Our neighborhood is a literal compilation of row houses piled on top of one another.  To save a little money, my husband and I recently moved into a tiny one bedroom apartment, and by apartment, I mean attic.  Our 1' deep closet is in the living room.  There is 2' of space between our bed and our dressers in our bedroom, when the drawers are closed.  An additional armoire was added out by the front door, welcoming guests (classy).  We downsized our kitchen table from a rectangle seating 6-8 to a circle seating 4 at most, so it would fit in our new tiny kitchen.  And, the bookshelves that used to house books now reside in the kitchen for additional food storage along the inwardly slanting attic wall.  

Even though we just moved here from a larger apartment (that had major landlord issues and no laundry) and we both love the homey, cottage-like, cozy feel of the place, (with free laundry in the basement and a dishwasher, and minutes from public transportation!) it still is hard to think about how much it costs to live here, and how much space you don't have.  Particularly after Elder Anderson's talk about having children.  Considering that, there is literally not even a spare corner to put a crib in, much less a closet or a bedroom, which means, that if we do get pregnant in the next two years, we will have to move again!  

There is, undoubtedly, a certain charm to city living.  I can't lie about that, but it comes with a pricetag.  It's exciting to be right in the middle where all the business, education, music, theatre, dance, and restaurant action is buzzing.  It gives you the impression that, by association, you are also a big deal.  But this girl grew up on 2.5 acres in the country, and as of late, I cannot stop thinking fantasizing about getting back to wide open spaces, home improvement projects, cooking/decorating for the holidays, raising my future children, and being closer to family.  I religiously (daily, multiple times) visit this blog written by fellow young-married people who write about their low-budget adventures of home ownership and child-rearing.  I might even be a little jealous of them.  Not to mention my propensity to kill endless hours pinning images I will probably never afford or make from pinterest.  A girl can dream, right?

During my optimistic moments, I browse Craigslist housing prices in North Carolina (where Brigham served his mission) and have discovered that in some areas, we could live in a 3 bedroom home for about $500/month.  Space on the cheap! (cue James Taylor singing "In my mind I'm going to Carolina") It feels like a good idea, until I remember that I grew up in SAN DIEGO, and really, how do you justify moving to NC after knowing the greatness of life in San Diego?  The beaches, the perfect weather, the relaxed laid-back culture, need I say more?  However, on the other hand, moving back to CA would merely put us in the same bind that we are in now; namely, we would be overpaying for a small apartment or crashing with family with the added bonus of finding work in a bad economy, to say nothing of student loans.  

Hmmm...decisions...decisions...

I'd take even a little yard, or a deck for at least a bbq.  Some form of property that I own and can make projects out of.  But for now, the beautiful public parks will have to ensue my desire for outdoor activity, and regarding home ownership, I'll just focus on the fact that we don't have to deal with property taxes and maintenance...that's one perk, right?  I'm reaching here.

Being hitched to a musician/teacher leaves a lot of room for interpretation in predicting the future.  I read recently that once you are past the point of survival, the only difference between poverty and prosperity is in your level of gratitude.  I guess in those terms, we are incredibly prosperous!  My Grandma Jones told me that her happiest times as a married couple were when they were the poorest.  I think that one day I might agree with her. I am so blessed with the great husband who makes me laugh everyday, a great apartment that I have decorated just right, and with the amazing opportunity to live here in Boston (who knew that I'd ever be living HERE!)  Living here has changed our lives indefinably- in fact, we don't know married life outside of Boston.  We are surrounded by wonderful friends and associates of all walks of life, who help us, inspire us, and make life enjoyable.  And, we do love our apartment, as tiny as it is, it does feel like home.

That is, after all, what matters most.

The wide open spaces will come, and when it does, we'll appreciate it all the more.

General Conference

In all the training meetings that people dread being a part of in the world, and all of the boring lectures that we have avoided by ditching classes in our lives, one might find it a little odd that an entire demographic of Mormon church-goers and friends excitedly look forward to and wholeheartedly embrace 8+ solid hours of listening to elderly men and women speakers.  Based on all of the people who nod off during regular church meetings, it comes as even more of a shocker that so many people post facebook status's about it and can't wait to hear the new messages, or are sad that conference ended too soon.

It's true that it is a little strange that anyone would be excited about 8 solid hours of listening.  In an effort to explain the (literally) global phenomenon of people who feel this way (including myself), I'll just say that watching or attending conference is much like that feeling of growing to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a holiday/family reunion, and getting fed the best meals ever, while enjoying the company of people you love and admire!  The grandparent generation proffers wisdom and also expresses their savvy and humor in staying current, they advise on necessary course corrections in your life, and want to lead you to happiness and success.

Hearing from leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is always exciting to faithful members of the church.  It is impossible for us to doubt their callings as the Lords messengers when (a) you feel the Holy Ghost when you listen and (b) your life gets incalculably better when you obey or act on their counsel.  For me personally, I enjoy these meetings particularly because of their candid honesty in openly and boldly declaring love for one another and loyalty to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  There is absolutely no shame in what makes us different.  When so many other business, social and political "leaders" carefully calculate their every move to be in-step with what drives profits, popularity, or votes, our leaders walk unabashedly with intergity and purpose.  They are motivated by the gravity of the mission of The Church of Jesus Christ, and how it changes lives.

One story recently published in a church magazine is that of a man who proudly told a friend about a living prophet speaking during General Conference.  When the friend, in return, asked "Wow, what did the prophet have to say?" the man realized that he had forgotten the message, and could not recount it to his friend. He became embarrassed and vowed to pay closer attention.

So, if anyone wants to know, the things that I took away from this conference weekend are:

1) Don't justify delaying children because your husband is going to grad school.  Yikes!
2) The church is growing as prophesied by all scriptures.
3) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is actually a brief title after all (since it accurately explains exactly what we are about).
4) Father's who love their children's mother are the best ones.
5) Temples are very important- that's why we keep building them.