My favorite thing about Saturday!

Most people would agree the best thing about Saturday is the option to sleep in as late as you want. However, that is NOT my favorite thing! I can remember alway getting woken up by 9am when I was little...that WAS sleeping in back then, and seeing our chore list. Saturdays were always major cleaning days in my house. In fact, even if you were a guest, you had a chore to complete..ask my friends! Granted, we did chores daily, so Saturdays were for the EXTRA HARD dirt..its when we would have to scrub the floors on our hands and knees and all the good stuff. My house was NEVER dirty, so it never mattered to any of us about shoving our hands in a tiolet to get it clean. I blame my obsessive cleaning habits on my mom...everything had to be clean, and re cleaned in my house, and now I find myself doing the same thing. So Friday nights I go to bed with an extra big smile on my face knowing the next day, I will wake up nice and early and start my day cleaning. In fact, today I have been up for just about 3 hours, and have ONLY cleaned my bathroom. Does that give you an idea of how much I clean?!? I LOVE the smell of cleaners...I love the shinnines (if that is even a word) of everything when it is clean, I LOVE the feeling of knowing I spent the day making my house a little more clean. I don't think it will EVER be as clean as my moms house, but I am content with how clean it is!

Monterey

I find it TOTALLY INSANE that I have lived in Central California my ENTIRE life (minus the 4 years of college in horrible Idaho) and have NEVER gone to Monterey! How have I never taken the 2 1/2 hour drive down to the GORGEOUS coast is BEYOND me! Luckily, I am in LOVE with an amazing guy named Shaun who LOVES to travel and who LOVES the ocean! It was his brilliant idea to take an overnight trip this weekend since we both had Monday off and stay the night and just enjoy everything Monterey has to offer. What an amazing idea it was! I LOVED it! I cannot wait to go back! I cannot wait to take family trips there and show our kids the beauty that surrounds them in this amazing state. I love California. I am guilty of not taking full advantage of everything I am so lucky to be surrounded by but I am going to work on it! I love Shaun and his ideas and willingness to take me places and make me experience new things!

life...

One thing I have learned this week is life changes in the blink of an eye. Ready or not, it is constantly changing, keeping you on your toes. I dunno if I am ready for all the changes it throws my way, but I guess you never know till you face it. One day, I will explain more. But for now, just remember, life changes in the link of an eye!

New Years

For the first time in all my life, I am starting my new year off with someone very important missing. It sucks a lot...I am used to a phone call at 9pm on New Years Eve from pops wishing me a HAPPY NEW YEAR and singing the New Years Song...he always said he was able to celebrate east coast time because he was born there so he holds it close to him! HA...pretty much meant he was old and couldnt stay up till midnight. Anyway, this year I am actually setting goals for myself...usually I am very anti goals and new years....totally cheesy but I am trying new things this year. Which brings me to my first goal.

1. Be more open to change--anyone who knows me, knows that I have OCD. Everything has to be done in a certain order, a certain way, at a certain time. I know that it gets frustrating for others so this year, I am going to be open to change. Why does it have to be done my way?!? I havent even seen the way others do it so I can't judge. Hopefully this will allow me to relax more and not stress.

2. RELAX...I have a MAJOR problem with not relaxing. I stress about EVERYTHING and NOTHING at the same time. I am constantly running numbers in my head to make sure we have enough to get by, when I KNOW we have plenty. I can't just leave the house without double checking and sometimes triple checking to make sure things are turned off and in the right place. I worry too much and it is starting to get really tiring...

3. Meditate...I have always been very interesting in meditation, and Shaun bought me this really cool book that has a cd you do it to and everything so I am really excited to come home from work and be able to just calm myself down. I am thinking this will help me A LOT in many different aspects of my life.

4. Jog 5 times a week...this is one that I was REALLY good at when I was living at my moms. 1, it was sunny outside so it was easy for me to go jogging outside along the river trail, and 2, because if it wasnt sunny or if it was too hot, she has a treadmill at home. I have gotten outta the habit of jogging and I wanna start it again. M-F I am going to set aside the hour after work, and go jogging at our gym...most people will still be at work so it will be a great time!

5. Be a better listener...Shaun mentioned to me the other day how he feels like I don't listen to him all the way. I will catch bits and pieces, but that is it. It REALLY struck me, and I realized he is right. I don't fully give him my attention. Therefore, I am going to try to work on my listening ears! :)

6. Be a better fiance....I often find myself getting caught up in the day to day things like work, family, etc and sometimes I forget about the most important thing...my relationship with Shaun. I am going to work on setting aside time to spend with just him, no phones, no tv, no nothing, just me and him, talking, walking, writing, singing, whatever it is, something that will bring us closer together.

7. Be happy...I spent a lot of last year unhappy, and I am realizing it didn't do me any good. My life still went on, people didn't care, I was the one who was affected by my own attitude. I missed out on a lot of things because I was too buys feeling bad for myself or being unhappy and it wasn't fun. I am sure there are days that are going to suck, and yes, I am still going to be VERY sad about things, but I am going to work on my attitude and try to change the way I view things!

So there you go, there is my lovely list for this new year! Thank goodness I have an ENTIRE year to try to work on these things! It is not going to be easy, it is not going to be fun, but it is going to be worth it! I am so excited for everything this year is going to bring me!!! 2011, please don't let me down! :)