29 BEFORE 29: IN THE END

It happened.  Last Saturday I turned 29 years old.  My twenties are nearly complete.  That is a fact I can hardly believe.

While I had a free moment I thought I would take some time to review the 29 before 29 list that I posted about this time last year.  You know, before writing this out I thought I had failed myself pretty badly.  Now that I think about it I'm feeling like I did pretty well.  Its nice to reflect on the past year and see what's actually changed for the better.  It's easy to believe that life (and our own behaviours) are static.  It's nice to see that's not true.

Let's see how I did, shall we?

Learn to use my DSLR outside of auto
Nope. Didn't happen. In fact, I sold my fancy pants new DSLR and downgraded to a cute little Fuji bridge camera type of thing. I get super confuzzled when it comes to camera stuff and I'm tired of untying brain knots. I'm still an auto girl.

Knit or crochet a drawer full of dishcloths
Yessiree! Instead of filling my drawer first I'm working on some kitchen helper sets for Christmas gifts but I'll get to making my own soon enough. I love crochet!

Make a new quilt for our bed
Started but not completed. But I'm still hoping to have a new blanket on the bed before the new baby comes along. I also have a twin size quilt on my to-do list for a little girl named George. She has told me that she would like to find a pretty pink quilt under the Christmas tree.

Buy a house
DONE!

Put Georgia in daycare 1 or 2 days a week
Yup.

Go to the gym regularly
Ha! I mean, no.

Publish at least 1 zine
Sadly, no. I had an idea for a zine that I was really into. I'm still into it. I'm just worried that it will cause a little discord in my life. Maybe someday.

Sew a dress for myself
Another sadly no. I'm hoping to sign up for some sewing classes in the fall. I'm not going to attempt a dress before then because I'd rather have a better understanding of patterns and other such things.

Pay off my credit cards
I didn't get all the way there but I'm doing pretty dang good! I've upped my credit score over 100 points. I made myself proud.

Attempt a furniture makeover
I did do this but it wasn't as complex of a job as I had hoped for. Early in the summer I had dreamed of signing up for an upholstery course and eventually finding an apprenticeship somewhere. Then I got pregnant.

Start a collection
Indeedy do! I've started a charm bracelet and I think it's the perfect collection for me. Doesn't take up too much space and it's not super pricey. I love it.

Take off at least 1 day a week
I did! It feels great!

Read one book a month
I don't think I can claim that I've read 12 books this year. I really didn't adhere to this goal in the beginning. However, in the early summer I stepped away from the computer and started to pick up books. I love reading. It's like reconnecting with a long lost best friend.

See Tori Amos live (again)
No. Tori came to town right around the time that we moved into our new home. What I'm trying to say is that we were broke ass broke and there was no room in the budget for fun stuff.

Have a Christmas tree in our home
Hellz yes we did!! Better yet - I found our Charlie Brown-esque white tree at an auction for 2 whole dollars. Woot woot!

Show liquid liner who's boss
I actually did pretty good at this. Then I gave up make for quite a while. That's a whole other post. It's more interesting than it sounds.

Get Georgia using the potty
On the eve on Mothers Day, Georgia announced in the middle of the night that she would no longer be using diapers. She's all undies all the time.

Give serging an honest try
No. Get sergers away from me.

Get a ring on it
Surprisingly yes. Although it happened on my birthday. Not sure if that technically qualifies.

Ride an elephant
Twice!

Be outspoken in my appreciation
I'm going to say yes but that I have room for improvement. Thank you cards are going to make a come back in my life starting immediately.

Start a garden
I made FOOD!! I grew it from seeds. I ate it and it was delicious.

Do a serious purge of my craft closet
Yup. The move was the perfect opportunity.

Throw a smashing 30th party for my guy
Yes I did! It wasn't necessarily the rager that he had hoped for but it was a very happy evening indeed.

Learn as much as I can about Photoshop
I'm not going to say I learned as much as I possibly could have but I did improve my skills. We'll give this one a half mark.

Eat 3 meals a day regularly
I don't know if I'll ever actually do this. I'm a grazer.

Develop new creative skills
Crochet counts even if I only know a handful of stitches. Crochet is creative.

Watch less television
This happened for a while. Damn you AppleTV.

New tattoo!
This was going to be my 29th birthday present but then that whole conception this happened. Dream deferred.

Things I'm most excited about...
I'm definitely enjoying reading more.  It makes me feel more like myself somehow.  I guess I've always identified myself as a bookworm and I was definitely missing that part of myself.  I'm also pretty proud of my new-found fiscal responsibility.  I'm not perfect yet but compared to the me of a few years ago I'm a changed lady.

What I'm looking forward to...
I definitely need to get in some sewing lessons this fall.  It's not that I don't know how to sew.  I'm definitely comfortable with my machine.  It's just that I don't understand a damn thing about a pattern.  I'd prefer that they were less of a mystery to me.  I'm also hoping to expand my garden next spring.  We put in a couple small beds this year so we could test the waters.  Next year it's going to be a bigger bed with lots and lots of vegetables.  Oh yes, there's the ring as well.  That's pretty exciting too. ;)

The things I don't regret...
I'm not beating myself up over not going to the gym.  It's effing expensive and I'm not sure we'd actually use it to its fullest extent.  We may sign Georgie up for some swimming lessons and recreational dance classes but I don't think we need to go all out on a family membership.

At the moment I'm undecided on whether or not I'll do a 30 before 30.  Jesse and I have a couple big projects on the horizon (I'm lumping the baby in there) so I'm not sure that adding 30 more goals into this year is totally feasible.  But I do love a good goal so I'm sure I'll come up with a list of some kind.  I'm just the kind of girl.

Hope you are all doing fantastic.  I'll talk to you soon(ish).

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A PREGNANT PAUSE

I really don't like that many bloggers feel that they need to apologize when they haven't posted for a while. I'm not sorry. I know you've lived your life perfectly perfectly without a post from me. But this here blog is not dead to me and I thought it may be worth mentioning why I haven't been around. Okay, so you see honey, it's kind of like when a bird meets a bee. Okay, no.

Ummmm.....

Or okay, well, when two people really love each other.....uhhhh.

Here's the thing.

Yup.

I'm still sort of speechless. A second baby wasn't really in our plans but Jesse and I are trying to be as positive as possible as we venture down this new path. We know Georgia will be a really great big sister and she has been asking in earnest for baby. When I look back at photos like this I can't help but get a little excited about the whole thing too.

The first part of the pregnancy is the worst for me (and lots of other ladies too, I'm sure). I feel really sick a lot of the time and I have a total lack of energy almost constantly. I went from a 2am to a 7pm bed time. What I feel the absolute worst about is my ability to parent during this stage. I'm basically a heap of bones that can turn on the next episode of something before flopping on to my other side and going back to half-sleep. I'm not happy about it but it's where we are right now. Jesse is doing a good job of picking up my slack and I know in a matter of weeks things will return to a semi-normal state.

So, if you've sent an email, tweet or left a comment here in the last few weeks I would like to say that I'm sorry that I haven't been able to get back to you. Unfortunately the computer screen is making me mega sick these days and I've been living a very un-Internetly life.

I hope that each and every one of you reading this post are having a beautiful day. I'm about to squeeze myself into a bathing suit and take my sweaty toddler for a leisurely swim at the pool.  Wish me luck!

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GETTING BOOZEY (A VLOG WITH ♥ELCYIA)

You know when people say it's five o'clock somewhere? Well, for today at least, they're talking about this here blog. In this final edition of our second round of vlogs, Elycia and I are getting boozey...with mixed results.

Do you have a favourite cocktail (or mocktail) recipe? Feel free to share below or link to a blog post that highlights your favourite drink.

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MS. CLEAN

I've had an idea for a while now but I'm having the hardest time acting on it. I want to break up with chemicals. Or no, that's not really realistic. I want to see other cleaners. I want some options when it comes to my cleaning routine.

I've said it in the past - I love chemicals cleaners. I love the way they smell. I love the way they look. I love buying a fresh bottle at the store. But I know it's not good. Good for me, for my family, for our pets or our environment. I get that. But it's hard because there's love involved here. I spent a great deal of my early years in a nursing home. The scent of Pine Sol immediately sends me down a spiral of happy childhood memories.

So for the month of July I am instituting a personal challenge. During the next few weeks I am going to phase out the chemical cleaners in my life. When I cleared out the cupboard under the sink this is what I collected.

Some of these were left in the house by the previous owner, some donated by my family and the rest is just a product of my mad love affair with the cleaner aisle. I won't pretend that this will be easy.

Along the way I'll be sharing recipes for some of my new favourite cleaning potions. I plan on using natural ingredients to make simple solutions. Most of the time it will be vinegar, baking soda, water - those sorts of things. I'll be adding in essential oils here and there to try and feed my need for scent but I have a feeling that once I get over that hump that I'll be cleaning away like my old self (meaning sporadically).

I'm looking forward to telling you more about this green (and very cost effective) challenge. Please feel free to join in too or even share recipes for your favourite cleaners. I'd love to hear all about it!

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BOOK WORMING IT

Okay, so things have been a bit crickets and rolling tumbleweeds around here lately. I won't go on a long diatribe about how freeing it has been to be away from the blog world because ain't nobody give a shit - most of all me. But I will say that it's proved to be brilliant for my non-virtual (some say 'real') life. I've been thinking some about my 29 before 29 list and trying to check off the bits that are really important to me. I've been doing a lot of dreaming, organizing and cleaning (the least glamorous of the three but still an important one). I'm in total nesting mode (totally not pregnant so let's just forget about that) and I've been pulling the house apart and putting back together in a different way.

During my down time I've been turning to books. It's easier on the eyes and brain and it's taking my vocabulary out of the 2nd grade realm in which it has become so comfortable. For a while I've been mourning the loss of reading in my life. Since I was in grade school I have been known as a bookworm. When I was in college I had a dedicated room for my personal library. But since having a baby - nothing. Since I started blogging - nada. My brain has been on a rapid decline.

So, for now, rather than Internet-ing I've been reading. Margaret Atwood, my favourite author of all time, brought me back when I found a copy of The Penelopiad at Value Village.

I read it in two days. It was okay. Not my favourite Atwood. Now I'm reading The Help. Next will be Lullabies for Little Criminals. After that will be another Atwood. Probably an old favourite like Alias Grace or Blind Assassin. For the most part I like to read CanLit.

Have you read a book lately that you can suggest for my to-be-read list? I'm a fan of fiction, but not really down for vampires or tacky BDSM relationships. I'd really like to hear what kept you until the last page.

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