2017 Personal & Family Goals

Can you believe 2017 is here?! I'm not sure how that happened. It seems like Dan and I were counting down to 2014 for so long, and that year took FOREVER to get here, but ever since then, time has seriously flown. We'll celebrate three years of marriage this year. Already. It doesn't even seem possible!

Like every other year, I love to start with fresh goals. Without them, I have nothing to strive for, and this year, I set some personal goals and worked with Dan to set some family goals... so here we go!

PERSONAL GOALS

1. Blog at least four times a month. This only works out to be once a week, and I think I'm comfortable with that goal. There were six weeks that slipped by during the fall that I didn't blog once, and I think it was in part due to me being unable to commit to blogging regularly and catching up on everything I missed. I don't want that to happen again. I want to document our life, so I'm going to focus on quality over quantity here. And if I'm able to post more than once a week, then I'm happy with that too!

2. Read 20 books. Last year, I successfully completed my goal of 16 books and even surpassed it with one more. I figure if I can read 17 books in a year, I can definitely read 20 as long as I make a conscious effort. I definitely sleep better when I read before bed, so that habit will continue.

3. Grow my current Etsy shop. AnnaKate Paperie was pretty successful at making passive income last year. December was definitely my busiest month with people shopping for Christmas gifts, and since all of my items are digital downloads, the orders kept rolling in through Christmas since customers could print them at home to give as last minute gifts. I am more inspired now than even before and hope to continue and piggyback on that success... which brings me to...

4. Start a new shop with a clear focus. This has been in the works behind the scenes for a few weeks now. It was actually my husband's idea, and my target customers are going to be military families. I am in the process of creating designs and setting up shop, so I'll be announcing it soon. Stay tuned.

5. Finish my personal cookbook. Yes, this has been a goal of mine for quite some time. I like my recipes to be tidy, so I am re-typing all of them to be in the same format with the same fonts, spacing, etc. I want them to be easy to read when I'm cooking and organized by category. It's been a huge undertaking, and I need to catch up so that all I need to do is add new ones as we try them.

6. Make healthier choices with food and activities. This one is the cliché "get in shape" goal, but I seriously do need to take better care of myself, and that begins with the choices I make. Dan and I are in this together, so I'm hoping that helps us stick to it.

7. Learn how to actually use my camera. We have a nice Canon DSLR camera, and I love it. It's the best purchase we made right before Annabelle was born. The problem is that I'm stuck in auto mode because I don't know how to work manual mode, even though I know I'll get better photos once I learn. There's no better time to learn than when you're trying to capture a wild toddler, am I right?!

8. Publish a piece of writing somewhere. This one is vague, but it's also my big, scary goal for myself. This is the one that will push me out of my comfort zone. It's something I've ALWAYS dreamed of. It doesn't matter if it's a bigger blog or a website or even a printed piece. I just want need to make this happen this year.


FAMILY GOALS

1. Socialize Annabelle. She is such a social butterfly, but she doesn't have any real friends. No one else in Dan's class here has a child, and of the people I've met here who do have children either have tiny babies or older kids. We want to make more of an effort for her to play with other toddlers. This will start with library story time.

2. Go on at least one date night per month. All parents know how hard it is to stay romantic when dealing with a baby/toddler/child 24/7. We want to prioritize our marriage, so we'll be taking advantage of the Parent's Night Out put on through the CDC on base once a month to go out just the two of us and have a great time.

3. Do at least one ACTIVE family activity each week. Remember my personal goal up there about making healthier choices? This will help. Dan is SUPER busy with pilot training, but we can go on a family walk or do any number of other activities at least once a week. We have to make time for it.

4. Hike in the Wichita Mountains. These "mountains" aren't big compared to the ones we were used to in Colorado, but they're only an hour away in Lawton, Oklahoma, so we definitely want to get up there this spring to check it out. It'll be the perfect first "hike" for Annabelle!

5. Go on an Oklahoma City trip. Dan and I explored Oklahoma City once when we first started dating nearly eight years ago, but we haven't really been back together since then. I've been on a couple solo trips there, and we've driven through several times, but we want to take Annabelle to the zoo and the kids science museum there, among other things.

6. Visit San Antonio. Luckily, the Air Force will make this one easy for us. Dan has a training there later this month for a few days, and Annabelle and I will be tagging along. We want to check out the Riverwalk for sure, but there's so much to do there compared to our little town in North Texas.


Do you have any goals for the year?

Why I've Been Absent

Well, I have certainly not been around as much as I'd like to be lately. There are a couple reasons for that... one is awesome, and one is awful. I'll start with the bad, though, to get it out of the way.

1. I had another kidney stone. This time, it took two ER trips (again) AND getting admitted to the base hospital for three days. No fun. It was absolutely awful... both the stone and the care I received. My arms are STILL bruised from my hands up to my elbows from techs and students trying to draw blood and start IVs every 30 minutes. It's been 11 days, and the bruises are still clear as day. It hurt. And they did NOT manage my pain very well... partially because I'm pregnant so there's only so much they can give me, but also because they didn't respond to my requests for more for 90 minutes... yep, an hour and a half. Oh, and the kicker? They "accidentally" flushed the stone I passed... and it NEEDED to be tested to see what the heck is going on. I'm not pleased, and neither is my husband, who definitely let them know how we felt. This whole situation makes me want to switch to Tricare Standard, but I LOVE one of my doctors, and I don't want to lose her. Decisions...

2. The better news! Yay! I have been swamped to Etsy sales. Part of that stems from getting behind while in the hospital, but I also have received an influx of orders. It's not quite like Christmas time again, but the orders have been for several canvas photo collages and a couple large orders for wedding favor magnets. It's intense around here... so I've been cutting, gluing, and spraying to my little heart's content. It's nice to be busy. I hit 600 sales last week, and it feels wonderful!

And now... my photo dump for the time I've been gone from around Blogland.

I had to try the Birthday Cake frap from Starbucks. It was amazing.

Smudge and I went for a nice long walk/run on a trail one day, and exactly one mile in, it started POURING. Not sprinkling... but pouring down rain. We hightailed it back to the car to wait for Dan (who was doing an interval run), and I'm not sure which one of us smelled more like a wet dog.

One of my cats (this time Stormy) ALWAYS has to play in the scratching post when I'm taking my weekly bump photos. Yes, I set my camera on top of the cat scratching post... which I put on top of our dining room table. Don't judge. It gets the job done.

When your husband says he has a surprise for you, and it ends with this... mmmmm.

I had to document being in the hospital... of course.

My new concoction for hydrating to get rid of these nasty kidney stones. GO AWAY.

One of my amazing friends sent me this fruit infuser bottle in the mail to help me stay hydrated to prevent more stones... so I filled it with lemons, and it's awesome. 

My husband turned 26 the day I was released from the hospital (and also the day we found out our baby is a girl!)... so despite being exhausted, I took him out for BBQ and beer. Don't worry - I've rescheduled his birthday for this coming Sunday so he can have a whole day of me spoiling him. 

This is Smudge's look of appreciation after going for a long (and dry) walk. 

The weirdest pregnancy craving so far... I never eat cheese popcorn, but I HAD to have it... with peaches... and the urge would NOT go away until I ate them both.

The cats love snuggling, as per usual. 

And somehow they manage to stand on the ledge of the window... not sure how, but they make it work.

And sweet Mister Gilligan turned eight years old! I can't believe I've had him since he was a tiny kitten.

Have you been up to anything interesting lately?

    

And the Winner Is...

The winner of the kitchen pun magnet giveaway I held last week is...

JG from Me and My SoldierMan! I have emailed her details.

I'm so excited to make her magnets in the color of her choice and have them shipped out.



Thanks again, everyone, for entering the contest and making it a successful first one for me! I loved doing it and will host another one in a few months.

Don't forget to check out my Etsy shop, Two Cats Decorations, if you would like your own set of kitchen pun magnets... or custom photo magnets!

Do you like giveaways?


    

Hectic Holiday Season

Whoa, has it been a busy holiday season or what?!

My husband has been busy with his grad school classes. He is taking his finals this week, so he's been holed up in his office procrastinating studying for his finals.

I've been working so hard in my Etsy shop. Just a month ago, I was bragging about reaching 300 sales... and now I'm at over 460 sales. Yes, it's been a CRAZY month of custom orders, buying a new printer so I can make my prints at home, and lots and lots of magnets. It's well worth it, though - I've made a substantial chunk of change, and we're planning on using it when we hopefully make it back to Europe this spring.

We've also hosted our family for Thanksgiving, babysat the cutest little boy from good friends, taken way too many pictures of cats, enjoyed donuts at the cutest little shop, made six dozen cookies for the Wright-Patterson Cookie Drive, served in the youth group at our church each week, almost completed (this week!) our 12 week course at church to become members, saw the Nutcracker, attended the AFIT Holiday Ball, and drank copious amounts of coffee.

It's been hectic but fun.

It's been a busy month and a half, but it's been fun as well! 

• What have you been up to this holiday season?
• Do you prefer to be busy all the time or to have free time?

A Whole Lot of Thanks

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I sure did. It was the first one my husband and I spent as husband and wife - but it was our 6th Thanksgiving together!

My family drove across the country to spend the holiday with us, and we had a lot of fun. We cooked just about everything you can imagine, and we will have leftovers for days.

This year, I have a lot to be thankful for:

1. MY MARRIAGE - we've been hitched for super close to half of a year now, and it's been the best almost six months ever!

2. MY PETS - I have three happy pets... and they are somewhat healthy and so quirky, lovable, and fun. They make my life complete.

3. MY FAMILY - guys, they drove a 9.5 hour drive that ended up taking them 12 hours because of snow on the interstate and two semi trucks that couldn't get up a hill and closed the entire interstate for TWO HOURS. But they continued on anyway!

4. MY BUSINESS - It is thriving... I have 340 sales in my shop, and it is growing each and every day. I'm lucky and thankful to be able to work on it full time and not have to have an 'out-of-the-house job'.

5. MY WRITING - Throughout November, I've been participating in NaNoWriMo, which has really spurred my writing for the first time in forever. I also have this little blog of mine, and I love sharing my thoughts on it and making new friends. So grateful for that.

ALSO! I don't want to forget to pass along the savings in my shop to my readers. I'm running a Black Friday deal today - you can go to my shop by clicking on the image below that tells you about the coupon code! If you want to see the codes I have running for Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, be sure to follow me on Instagram and/or on Facebook for those updates!

• How was your Thanksgiving?
• What was your favorite food? 

5 Essentials for Productivity

November has been so hectic for me. I'm participating in NaNoWriMo, trying to keep up with orders in my ever-growing Etsy shop, and also keeping on top of blogging. Oh, and did I mention that I'm hosting my first Thanksgiving dinner next week when my family comes in town? Yeah... November has been crazy. 

Because of that, I am here today to share my five essentials of productivity. I love hearing what other people to to stay focused on the task at hand, so I thought I'd share a little of my wisdom... or at least what works for me! 

5 ESSENTIALS FOR PRODUCTIVITY

1. CAFFEINE. This one is self explanatory. If I don't have my coffee, I'm not productive. It's as simple as that. I like coffee in all ways, as long as it's not decaf. I usually drink it black, but I am a sucker for espresso and fancy drinks from coffee shops as well. I usually have two cups a day. I know coffee (or even caffeine in general) is not for everyone, but I would be totally unproductive without it. 

2. GET ORGANIZED. This one sounds simple, but there are several things I do to achieve this. First, I make sure my work space is clear. If I have stuff all over the place, I'm more likely to get distracted. Then, I make a to-do list (every morning) with everything I need to get done that day - in no particular order. Finally, I make a schedule. To do this, I write out the specific times I want to be done with certain tasks. I give myself adequate time to finish each thing, making sure that I accomplish all of the items that need to be done. 

3. CREATE GOALS. This one I stole from four years of teaching and setting goals. We always had to make SMART goals, and that's what I try to apply to everything I do, whether it's writing, my work in my Etsy shop, or anything else that needs to be done. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-bound. So instead of saying "I want to sell 30 items in my shop", I would say, "By the end of November 2014, I will sell 30 sets of magnets as measured by my online shop."

4. ACTIVE BREAKS. Yes, I said breaks. In order to STAY productive, I have to stop what I'm doing every once in a while and take breaks. Instead of just sitting at my computer, though, I like to do something active. I'm not talking about exercising - that would be TOO long of a break. I mean walking around the house picking up a few things along the way or loading / unloading the dishwasher. Whatever you can do to get away from the task and do something without thinking too much should work. 

5. SET TIMERS. Some people say they need to leave their phones in another room so they don't check Instagram or Facebook while working, but I use my iPhone to my advantage. I set timers whenever I start working, and I don't allow myself to stop for any reason (barring emergency) until that timer goes off. Sometimes, I set it for only 15 minutes. Sometimes, it's an hour. I decide based on how much I need to accomplish at the time.

I recently got my caffeine fix at Starbucks when they were running a buy one get one free holiday drink promotion! Don't worry - I did share a little bit with my husband! 

• What do you do to stay focused?
• Has your November been as busy as mine?

Most People Don't Know This {Blogtember Challenge}

September 16th Prompt: Most people don't know this, but...

I hate shipping things in the mail. Yes, I have an Etsy shop. Yes, I send things out all the time. But shipping is NOT my favorite part. Thankfully, my sweet husband bought me a postal scale last year, so shipping is a LOT easier. I just weigh the box, purchase a label, and slap that bad boy on there. 

It's easy-peasy lemon squeezy. 

But out of all the aspects of owning my own shop, shipping has to be the only part I dislike. I'm lucky to have an awesome husband, though - he helps me with shipping more than I'd like to admit! 

When I Grow Up, I Want To... {Blogtember Challenge}

I am so excited that it's day three, and I'm still completing the Blogtember Challenge! What a great way to get me refocused on blogging consistently again.

September 3rd Prompt: "When I grow up, I want to be ..." Feel free to answer as your 5-year-old self or as of now.

If I answered as my 5-year-old self, I would want to be a furniture mover, garbage woman (jumping off the back of the truck just looked SO fun), or a bat (yes, the animal)... so I better answer with my choice for now.

I am a teacher by trade, but I'm not currently employed. I know that I do belong teaching kids... or teenagers, specifically. I love it, and they energize me. They're just so much fun, and I learn as much from them as they do from me.

That said, I also LOVe my current gig, which is crafting full time and selling my products in my Etsy shop.

But I also just cannot wait to be a stay at home mom one day. As of now, my husband is calling me a "stay-at-home cat mom" when describing me. Hmm.

And last but not lease, my DREAM is to be the next great American author. I have been writing since I could hold a pencil, and it is my true passion. Blogging is an outlet for me, but I also write fiction... on my own computer... that no one ever reads. I think I need a little more confidence in my writing before I share it with others, but I'm working on it.

What do YOU want to be when you "grow up"?
Is it the same or different from when you were 5?