I'm a little late, but better late than never, right?

March marks quite a lot of anniversaries for me (and D) this year.  It's really surreal looking back on this past year.  D and I were talking about friends we know who are on the "baby track" and making predictions as to when certain couples would have a baby.  He made a prediction for a year for a particular couple we know.  It got me thinking, and I mentioned to him, about how different a year is when you get older.  Thinking back to middle school (and seeing my middle school students) and high school, a year was an eternity!  It was impossible that we could quickly get to that next summer break.  Even as a college student, I had a little concept of a year as I preoccupied my mind with drinking, drama, and boyfriends (shudder a bit here).  Now, at almost 26 (which in itself feels surreal), a year can quickly and easily fly by.  I know having children make the process feel like it flies even quicker.  I know I just did a reflection on my past year for New Years, but I want to take another step back and look specifically at March one year ago.

March 6, 2008
We arrived in Aruba for our elopement/honeymoon.  And to think, we weren't even engaged a year before.

March 8, 2010
Our wedding day.  Perfect.  I would never change it for anything.

March 14, 2010
Return from Aruba.  We immediately pack up my car and I head from Athens, GA to Raleigh, NC, cats in tow but husband not.

March 15, 2010
My first day in North Carolina AND as a teacher.

March 15-March 30, 2010
The cats and I spend a lonely and hectic time in Raleigh.  We have no furniture, expect an ottoman and air mattress.  We have cable and internet.  We have no D or doggies.  I'm trying to continue to plan our wedding party and drive 5+ hours back to Athens every weekend.

March 27, 2010
Our wedding party back in Athens.

March 2011 marks my one year wedding anniversary, my one year anniversary in Raleigh, and my one year anniversary teaching.  A year really can fly by...

Pretty perfect day.

Look at me! I had a day away from students, posted now THREE blogs in one day (record I believe, came home and shredded it, went to the lake for a run (we'll ignore how TERRIBLE it was), and now watching the new Skins DVD I finally received from Netflix (waiting since January!!).




And now if only I didn't have to go back to school tomorrow. But positivity in check...three more days until the weekend, D comes home, and a teacher work day Monday. Bring it on Wednesday!

Ps. I'm thinking about getting a twitter...but I'm scared to take the plunge.

-BlogPress post

Call me crazy but...

My goal for 2011 was to run more.  I haven't run another 5k this year, and I've started slacking off running at all.  Boo.  Remember back in February, I talked about starting Jillian's 30 day Shred.  Well I started it alright, and then fell right off that wagon after about three days.  Coincidence or not, I re-started it last Monday and accomplished another 3 days last week before Carrie mentioned the shred today!  I'm not on twitter, but I'm psyched that Carrie has linked facebook with her twitter.  If you're dead to the world like me and don't have twitter, go on her to Carrie's post here, check out her awesome blanket and like her on facebook!  Anyway, I'll be using hers and others motivation to keep up with the shred!

Now this is where I get crazy...I'm thinking about pulling the full monty and begin training for a half marathon.  Um...am I ready?  The half I'm looking at is the Outer Banks Half Marathon in November.

November is a really long time away.  Most of the training schedules I found online (um, the free ones...I'm not ready to dish out money for a training program unless it's with a real person) are for 9-12 weeks.  I found a pretty simple one from here which is 12 weeks long.  It's pretty do-able.  After those 12 weeks, I want to upgrade to this plan from Runners World which is 9 weeks long.  I think I need to do the double duty training since I'm a pretty low/slow beginner.    I'm not nervous about not being able to do it (ok, maybe a little) as much as not following through.  Obviously my biggest exercise issue becomes follow through/motivation.  I still haven't met too many friends here in Raleigh, especially ones who are new/slow runners, and I'm not sure how to find a running buddy.  I don't want to dish out money for a trainer.  How do you maintain your motivation?!

I have been using Lose It on my iPhone and online to track my calories and weight again.  I fell off the wagon just a tad bit last night with some left over Thin Mints, so I didn't weigh myself this morning (and I never do it Monday after I indulge over the weekends).  It's nice keeping track of what I put in again.  I'll weigh in tomorrow and hope to see something good.  D is off touring the east coast without me this week, so it's a lot easier to focus on eating better and drinking less.  I'm worried about getting off track when he comes back (it's so hard to track calories when you eat out).  I'm looking forward to no school in the summer and focusing on my fit-nessss, but I have to look good in this swimsuit before summer officially hits!

[Simple and classic.  Digging all of Antropologie's swimsuits this season!  Check out the fab one pieces too!

Bringing it all together.

Yesterday I told you about my seemingly awesome vintage map project for D for our one year anniversary.  I was only able to find 3 decent frames from my local thrift stores.  I went on the search for cork to use as the back.  It turns out I have a Michael's store right down the road from me (yay!), and they had a couple cork options.  The first was a set of 4 cork tiles.  These seemed like the best option as they were thick (and I needed something to account for the missing glass in the frames) and pre-cut squares (less work for me).  The cost of a set of 4 tiles was $10.99!  What?!  I had seen some other cork projects on Young House Love, and they scored $5 cork tiles from Target!  I checked both Targets near me with no luck.  My other option at Michael's was a roll of cork for $3.99.  The cork definitely was not as think or nice.  I got a pack of both and figured I'd work with it. 

This is the large frame I decided to use for the 1914 US map.  The blue mat came with framing that beautiful duck photo.  I had to trim the mat a little and decided to use the roll of cork for ease.  I would have had to use almost an entire pack of cork squares, so the roll was perfect here.

[Sorry!  I just can not get Blogger to rotate this]

And ta da!  First and centerpiece of project done!  It didn't take that long.  I ended up buying the rest of the frames (and had to get another set of tiles and another roll of cork) from Michael's on sale.   

[Final US map in theformer "duck" thrifted frame]

If I would have had more time and energy, I would have trimmed the mat more on the top and bottom.  I added the mat because the dark frame with the brown cork was just too brown.  I may still go back and trim that down. 

[I used colored pins because that's what I already had.  I only marked where we have been together.  We realized we have so much more to explore!]

[US map again, South America, and Australia]

[Europe and North America]

I chose to include North America since the US map would not include places like Canada or Aruba (where we "eloped"). 

[Europe framed in the former thrifted hideous 3-D flower frame]

[North America in the former thrifted creepy girl frame]

[Vintage maps don't always have every location, so I hot-glued some locales that weren't there or visible on pin tops]

 [Africa map in a Michael's frame (which D especially liked).  Not backed with cork since it wasn't visible.  I saved money and used cardboard from the original frame]

 [Asia map in a Michael's frame]

This is definitely my least favorite.  It just didn't turn out well.  The frame is crap.  It's a perfect size, but it was cheap and a bad make for this project.  I also got a bit off on my cork cutting.  I want to re-frame this one.

 [South America in a Michael's frame.  Probably one of my favorites due to the perfect fit]

 [Australia, etc. in a Michael's frame.  Hope to mark New Zealand off this one in a few years!]

And there you are!  We're still not 100% sure where we want to hang them yet.  But I'll be sure to post pictures.  In all, the project cost around $150 max.  It was probably closer to $120.  I probably could have researched other ideas for finding vintage maps, but I like that most of these are different sizes and have different looks.  

Some interesting framed ducks.

Remember how I kept talking about this anniversary project I was working on for D?  Well I unveiled it for him the weekend we went on our anniversary trip. Traveling is my favorite thing ever to do.  And I especially love traveling with D.  We have the best memories from places we've been together.  His wedding vows even mentioned the Mediterranean Sea (which...I still have both of our hand-written wedding vows and plan to eventually do something with those).  Also, have I ever told you how his vows blew mine out of the water...he's the best.  But I digress.  Europe will hold the specialist of places in my heart.  Simple camping trips make us happy.  In the scheme of things, we haven't been that many places.  I decided to do something using vintage maps.

My initial idea came from my friend Brittney's blog where she wrote about gifted art and a cool map she made for her husband.  Brittney linked to this post at Young House Love that mentioned this project:

Above, Sherry actually used corkboard as a back and pinned the map in place.  I went with this idea and ran.  I loved the idea of a vintage map.  I love the idea of using that as art.  I love the ability to track where we go and the places we see.  It seemed perfect.  I wanted more though.  Our international travel has been where some of our best memories have happened.  What do I frame?  Which type of map?  And so the challenge began...I would find a vintage map of each continent.

I still wanted a super old US map.  After scouring ebay and etsy for weeks (and waiting until payday), I scored a 9x14 (I think) 1914 US map, which I had to fight a bit for on ebay.  On etsy, I found a North America vintage map, South America, Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, and Africa.  Count 'em...8 maps.  I couldn't afford to go out and buy new frames and cork (which by the way is EXPENSIVE).  And so the thrift search began...

[Scored this LARGE guy at my fav thrift store.  I figured it would fit the US map perfectly with the cork and a possible mat.]

[Oh and I scored this beauty inside the monster frame :)  That frame was around $5]

[Don't you wonder how someone ended up with this in the first place?  Good size for my smaller maps.  Also scored from my fav thrift store]

[Another "what were they thinking?"]

Unlike the Young House Love map, I was going for a bit more "rustic," vintage looking frames.  I could always reframe in the future if we wanted to go more modern.  Unfortunately all I could find when checking all my local thrift stores was  those three decent frames.  Others just didn't mesh well (think brushed gold) or just weren't big enough.  

Since I am getting all text happy on you, I'll be back tomorrow to give you a continuation of the project.

Well my camera cord is missing

And I'm really exhausted after 2+ hours of tilling to prepare for our garden!





But unfortunately that means I can't post updates on the anniversary project or our anniversary itself :(. D is out of town until wednesday, and I believe he misplaced the cord. So I'll probably end up with anniversary posts one month after our 1 year.

D left this morning and I wanted to spend the weekend preparing the garden, catching up on school stuff, and relaxing. After not seeing D much for the past few days, I kind of wish he didn't have to go. His travel usually doesn't bother me, but I'm feeling especially lonely without him today. I miss him making me weekend breakfast and doing weekend things. It's such a beautiful weekend here; I wish I had him here to grill out with me.

Tomorrow I plan to finish my tilling, fertilize, and water the garden. Then I hope to get my college school work completed. I'm debating buying some more yarn and starting a new crocheting project while drinking some wine and watching a movie :). I need to take a break from grading and lesson planning...might be winging it on Monday!





Oh and I'm also icing a blister from the extreme tilling!

Hope you're all enjoying beautiful, relaxing weekends!


-BlogPress post

Gotta keep on keeping on.

I am alive and well.  On the heels of a tremendously shitty week last week (February didn't really fail me as the shit when down as a welcome to March), I've refueled my positivity and am basically trying to survive the remainder of this (school) year.  Bear with me!  I've got lots of wonderful things to update on...D's anniversary project, our anniversary getaway, a little bit of bad news (although I don't want to dwell on that), an year in review of one year of marriage, gardening, exercise (or lack thereof)  I've got all those posts to fit in while I spend 3-4 hours nightly grading student work, working on my own college coursework, planning for classes, planning and fixing IEPs, etc. etc.  I promise, I have a new found positivity that is helping me get through it all.  Unfortunately, positivity doesn't actually get work done for me. 

Here's to March and the count down to spring break...5 and a half weeks!!!!!