Ellie: The Christmas Tree Climber

 

Ellie is a tree climber, light breaker and ornament swatter. You can see in the picture how happy she looks to be in the tree. This was the first time I didn't drag her out of it and she eventually hopped down on her own. My tree is crooked, the star at the top is barely hanging on and that's okay. I always say she is practice for when we are someday (hopefully) blessed with children. Although I hope future kiddos won't break lights with their teeth like this little fur ball did! Before I could stop her I heard a crunch and a Christmas light was broken. So after a quick inspection that she didn't have any glass in her mouth (which she absolutely hated) followed by collecting the glass from the floor the bulb was replaced and I could plug the lights back in. 

Maybe someday she will be one of those picture perfect cats that is curled up under the tree looking as snug as a bug in a rug. But for now I have to keep both else on my little Christmas tree climber.

2013 Goals Revisited

Hello everyone!

I thought it would be fun to check in on my goals for 2013 that I made in January (now that 2013 is almost outta here!

Here are a few of my personal goals:
-Play the piano every single day of 2013. Well I didn't quite follow through with this one. I kept up with in until March and then, well life happened. The good news I have definitely been playing the piano more than I was last year. I'm even taking a few steps back to re-learn a few things that I need to work on. Hopefully this will allow me to improve leaps and bounds in 2014.
-At the end of 2013 love every single item in my wardrobe. Just this morning I was looking at the clothes in my closet and told my husband there is nothing in there I wanted to wear. I need to hire a fashion consultant because even the clothes that I do have don't fit properly. My goal is to have a small wardrobe full of pieces that fit properly and work well together so that I can mix and match for multiple outfit choices. And I will get there... someday. 
-Look presentable always. When I started this year I had a bob which I think was more upkeep for me that the longer-ish hair that I have now. I like that I can put my hair in a low ponytail and instantly look polished. I have also got a makeup routine down that takes less that three minutes and gets me out the door on time.
-Learn to sew. I made curtains! I definitely want to bust out the sewing machine more (I want to learn how to tailor my own clothes: see goal number two) but I am glad that learned how to work the sewing machine and actually made something useful this year.

My hubby and I also set some goals as a couple:
-Save money. We are working on this and I think we've developed some good habits to keep this going into next year. I will write more on how to make saving money a habit in another post.
-Go somewhere new. I WENT TO DISNEY WORLD! Although my husband had been there before we did try some new restaurants/rides/shops so he said this counted for him as well. This was by far the best goal :)
-Paint at least one room in our house. Well I have some paint samples squares painted in the kitchen and I know what color I want in there, I just haven't actually painted it yet. I'm hoping to knock this out when I have some time off around Christmas but it might have to wait till next year. We will just have to see.