My 3 Words the 2017 Edition

I was excited for 2016. I was excited for my words. I felt very sure it was going to be a kick butt kind of year and my words reflected that. However, as life would have it, that is not how the year played out. While it didn't turn out like I thought it would, I can say it will be one I won't soon forget. But it is time to move on. I am ready for a fresh start with 2017 and that includes new words. So without further ado here they are.

This year I want to focus on finding ways to be kind. Kind to myself, kind to others, kind to my community and kind to the environment. I am not an unkind person, yet I know I can do more. I want it to be something intentional that I focus on each and every day rather than something I do when I remember.

There is so much I don't know that I want to know. And there are so many things I don't know that I don't know. This year I want to be more curious. I want to ask more questions. I want to listen more and learn from it. I want to know instead of guess. I want to be confident and not worry. I want to seek it out instead of turn away from it. I want to embrace things I do not know or understand rather than ignore it because that is the easier thing to do.

Finally, I am on the hunt for balance. Not your standard work life v. personal life balance. Thankfully, I am grateful to be in a position that allows that. I am searching for the balance in my heart, mind and soul. I want to find a comfortable quiet to balance the noise. I think deep down this one will be the one I have to remind myself to work on daily. I have many ideas of how I want to search for this balance and yet I don't know exactly how it looks or feels. I trust that deep down I will know when I am getting close and I will keep working at it until I find it.

So that is my focus for this next year. What about you? Do you pick words, make resolutions or maybe to do lists that will guide you this year? I would love to hear about them!

Happy New Year!

I Do Not Know Where To Start

2016... what a freaking year you have been! With 2017 just around the corner I thought it was the perfect time to say everything I need to say about this year and then celebrate leaving it behind.

I am leaving this year with a whole new appreciation for the saying "rolling with the punches."

In just 12 short months, the year really showed the best and some of the really shitty of life.

We were so lucky to spend so much time with family this year. Living so far away from all of our family makes this hard to do some years and we are excited this year turned out to be one full of fun with man of them.

Early on, my aunt and uncle from Wisconsin spent a few days exploring Huntsville with us. It was the first time since our wedding they have been here and hopefully it won't be their last visit.

Ed's (and now mine) wonderful aunt, uncle and cousin from Miami came up to celebrate the New Year with us. Along with my B-I-L, S-I-L and adorable nephew, we made the most of every minute including a trip to the circus!

While the hubby was away in March I snuck home to Wisconsin to see my family. It was a short but much needed visit.

They returned the favor and came to visit us!

My mom and 2nd dad swung by in the heat of the spring and my lil sis and her soon to be better half fit us in to their fall tour of the south (when she asked me to be her matron of honor in their 2017 wedding!!).

Slightly unexpectedly the Hubby & I decided to tag along with the Miami peeps on a vacation to Spain in July and loved every minute of this adventure! It deserves its' own post on another day.

The Hubby's parents moved back from Iowa this fall and we are excited to have them just 2 hours away now.

Getting to see so much family in one year is not the norm so we are very grateful to have all these memories!

Speaking of memories. 2016 can be split in to 2 types of memories. 1. WONDERFUL 2. AWFUL.

Wonderful memories for me this year include:

Visiting St. Louis in October to meet the new handsome lil man, Alton, and trick or treating with our beautiful and so darn adorable goddaughter, Laurel.

All of the days I got to spend just being an aunt to lil Mason because being an aunt is seriously the best!

Christmas weekend in MN with my hilarious godson and his little brother. There is nothing more magical than the seeing Christmas through the eyes of a little one.

Girls nights out (or in) with some of the strongest, most caring women a girl could ask for as friends. Concerts, poolside resorts, laughter, ferris wheels, wine and so much more! I treasure every moment with each of you.

The ladies I work with. Trust me when I say, they are pretty spectacular. #JustSaying

Spain - all of it. A once in a lifetime experience.

My Hubby, my goodness, what a kind, wonderful, amazing man he is. Seriously, 2016 would have been a total bust without him.

Speaking of the Hubby, that brings me to the awful part of the year. Many of you followed the #StewartH2O saga on Facebook. No need to relive it here (thought if you haven't experienced it just put the hashtag into your FB search bar), but let me leave you with this one pro-tip:
1. Turn your water off at the main when you will be gone overnight or longer

It would be easy to let that situation ruin the year but thankfully the hubby has kept me in check (well mostly) and we have made it through not much worse for wear.

So here is to a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. *Cheers* Hug your loved ones, treasure every moment with them, take life one day at a time, celebrate the little things and make every day count!

2016 Guiding Words

Over the last few years I gave up making resolutions for the New Year and instead adopted an idea from #GetGutsy's Jessica Lawlor to select 3 word to focus on and guide me through the year. I have found that I hold myself accountable to those words more than I ever did to resolutions. I use them as a gut check to be sure I am still on the right track. I ask myself regularly if I am being honest to those words. As it turns out some years are better than others.

My words for 2015 were strength, simplify, and focus. Admittedly, I have done some of these well and others not so well. When I looked back on the reasons I chose those words I feel confident saying I hit 1 out of 3. I was successful in simplifying my life this year. The new house, the new job and an effort to really honestly consider what I gave my energy to absolutely simplified the chaos. The good news is that the other words don't judge me for not living up to their importance, they still support and encourage me every day. I am grateful for all the help in 2015, even if it wasn't one of those years where I feel I gave them my all.

The time is here though to leave them behind and head into my 2016 words.

Without further ado, here they are: Mindfulness, Follow Through (2 words but you can't have one without the other right) and Aloha.

Mindfulness
The world is such a busy place. I feel distracted and a little scatter brained many days. I want to listen more and talk less (oh hush, I know you are all thinking this will be a challenge for me but hey I need to try right). Lately I find when it is quiet I need to make noise. I no longer take comfort in moments of silence. This year I will search out moments of silence daily.

Follow Through 
I am fairly good at doing this for work and on commitments I make to others however I am not so good for myself. I want to make this year the year I follow through on things I have been talking about for years. I want to follow through my commitment to my health, steps I have started but let go to the wayside. Follow through to learning Spanish, something I have said I wanted to do since the Hubby and I got married. Follow through on becoming a better writer, it is a professional skill I have identified as a weakness years ago and I need to stop making excuses and just do it. Finally, investing time and energy into planning for the future. The Hubby and I talk a lot about how we want that to look, but talk only gets you so far and I am Type A, I need a plan. I find that it is easy for me to make excuses to not follow through on these things because I am only accountable to me and previously I have been alright with that, 2016 will be different.

Aloha
While it is no surprise to many that something Hawaiian influenced has shown up on my list, this one has more to do with simply my love of the place or desire to go back there. This one has to do with how to live life on a daily basis. The aloha spirit is one of living life with love, kindness, respect and compassion. There is so much in this world I can't control, but what I can control is how I treat the people around me. A little bit of love and kindness, respect and understanding, from each of us makes such a difference in the world today and I want to do my part with a conscious effort this year.

There you have it, my 3 words for 2016.

So, what are your New Year's traditions? Do you make a to-do list, set goals, or make resolutions? If you had to pick three words to define your year, what would they be?

A Departure From the Norm

Normally my blog posts, infrequent as they are, are inspired by funny things that I have experienced during my time in the south.  Just a heads up, tonight I am taking a slight departure from that trend so bare with me.

My job requires me to be online, A LOT, and unfortunately this means I unwillingly see my fair share of trash, sadness and just plain shitty ass stories about people who do terrible things. How the people who deal with these situations on a daily basis stay positive I will never know. You all have my utmost respect! For me, days filled with seeing all of it can really have a negative effect on my generally sunshine filled outlook on life. It weighs on my mind, it fills up precious brain space I would like open for more positive happy messages and frankly it saps my energy.

Often I take refuge in fluffy books, British baking shows and the Pentatonix Christmas album on repeat. The last few weeks though, I have been reminded once again even those can't compare to spending time with loved ones.

When I look around and try to define the term "loved ones" it means a lot of people. Yes I know "a lot" isn't a very descriptive word, but tonight that is all I have. So let's look briefly at these peeps.

I have an amazing family who I don't see near often enough just due to the shear distance and countries that separate us. It never ceases to amaze me though how a smile crosses my face when I hear from one of them in a day just to say hi.

Then there those who aren't actually family but have become family. They are near and far away but they all have welcomed the Hubby and I as family. We celebrate everything and I love that. We hug and cry and laugh and love life every time we can.

The last few years something special has happened in life. Ed and I have been surrounded by amazing and beautiful children. We have made the choice not to have our own, but my heart overflows every moment we spend with the ones in our life. From short visits to the NICU, to Skype calls to Oregon, cooking baking dates with my favorite elf, movie dates with a not so little guy anymore, texts from mini me and her brother, or the one who loves her Sophia, there is seriously no better way to find a smile than to see the world through the eyes of a little one.

So why do I say all of this? I say it because sometimes we all just need a reminder to shut out all the shit around us and take a minute to enjoy those who we call our loved ones.

Johnsville Comes to Alabama

Photo from Johnsonville Website

Major news update, the Johnsonville Brat 65-foot grill is coming to Huntsville this weekend! As a Midwesterner making it here in the south, it makes me feel like a piece of home is coming just to visit me. Now I just need to pick up a Leinenkugel's (limited selection in stores but beggars can't be choosers) and cheese curds (not squeaky but see previous statement) from my local Publix because they are awesome and head downtown. #IHeartHSV but I am a #Cheesehead at my core!