13 Years Later

 I knew I had a blog from a long time ago. I've even tied searching for it on Google several times over the years but finally gave up, thinking that it's gone. Then today I was emptying out my old Yahoo email inbox and came across the link. Much to my surprise the blog is still available to read and apparently even update! I thought it'd be fun to give an update, 13 years later. There's also a list of stuff I wanted to accomplish on the left panel that I'd like to update if I can figure it out. 

So, what have I done the last 13 years? So much! The kids are 14 and 11 now. Carter starts highschool next week and Olivia starts 6th grade. Grant and I moved to another town near by and bought an  amazing house that we don't have to update. I worked at Blue Shield for 7 years then moved onto another insurance company that's I've been with now for almost 7 years. I started at the bottom and am now Associate Director of my department. Grant and I went back to school, Grant got his Bachelor's in Cybersecurity and I got my Bachelor's in Business Management then my MBA - Healthcare Managment. 

That's the last 13 years in a very small nutshell. I may decide to update more in the future. For now I'm going to try to update that list.

Long long long overdue update

I've been thinking, I really should update this blog. And my 101 in 1001 list. I've actually completed several of the things on the list but not nearly as many as I should have by now. So to update my list;

1. Complete my 101 in 1001 list
2. Blog about every time one of my 101 things are done (9/101)
3. Pay off all of our credit cards and loans
4. Organize all the closets in the house (0/6)
5. Buy a new car
6. Clean out the garage
7. Lose 30 pounds after Carter is born (0/30)- HA
8. Fence the backyard
9. Have a romantic dinner with Grant at the Melting Pot
10. Have a baby
11. Go 14 consecutive days (two weeks) without eating chocolate (0/10)
12. Paint our home office
13. Have a spa day
14. Clean and organize the shed in the back yard
15. Donate all of our old clothes to charity
16. Take Coco to the snow
17. Get rid of all of my shoes that I haven’t worn in the last 6 months
18. Completely clean my office at work
19. Donate my hair to Locks of Love
20. Have a yard sale
21. Finish the trim on all the windows in the house (8/8)
22. Go wine tasting
23. Teach Coco a new trick
24. Workout 16 times in one month (0/16)
25. Plant a tree
26. Play the Wii Rock Band on hard with at least 80% accuracy (haha)
27. Finish and order my wedding album
28. Attend my 10-year high school reunion
29. Get new carpet in all the bedrooms
30. Paint the exterior of the house
31. Mail 3 birthday cards (0/3)
32. Go on a cruise
33. Read a non-fiction book
34. Get new family photos taken
35. Go on a romantic weekend getaway
36. Go out with the girls for a night of dancing
37. Cook a Thanksgiving dinner
38. Buy all new underwear
39. Order a canvas print
40. Blog everyday for a month
41. Find and purchase a ­ string of pearls plant
42. Finish my thank you cards from the wedding
43. Go 72 hours with no computer - Easy to do with an iphone, lol (yes I'm a cheater)

44. Try to drink a glass of milk (yuck)
45. Take a yoga/pilates class
46. Remodel the kitchen
47. Drop 3 pant sizes (0/3)
48. Read the Twilight series
49. Get a new pair of glasses
50. Go fishing with Grant
51. Update passport and credit cards to married name
52. Buy new couch set
53. Ride a roller coaster
54. Remodel the entire guest bathroom
55. Have $5,000 in the savings account
56. Go to the dentist every 6 months
57. Plant a garden
58. Have a family holiday at our house
59. Frame the artwork in the dining room
60. Fix up our bicycles and go on a bike ride
61. Landscape the backyard
62. Landscape the front yard
63. Run 2 miles without stopping
64. Go camping
65. Buy a new washer/dryer - Just got this one done and I LOVE them OMG!
66. Write a letter to Grant’s grandma and snail mail it
67. Redo all the hanging pictures in the hallway

68. Completely fill out my pregnancy journal
69. Go on a hike with Grant
70. Buy blinds for the entire house (8/8)
71. Purchase a new dining room set
72. Purchase an area rug for the living room
73. Convert garage into Grant’s “man-cave”
74. Try to cook 5 new recipes (1/5)
75. Replace all the closet doors in the house
76. Sell 3 unused items in the house on Ebay (0/3)
77. Donate 250,000 grains of rice on ­ Freerice (1,000/250,000)
78. Finish the master bath remodel (everything down to the baseboards)
79. Be able to do a proper cartwheel
80. Eat at 5 new restaurants (5/5)
81. Take a spin class
82. Take a day off work to do nothing
83. Fill out Carter’s baby book
84. Put $2.50 in a savings account every time I complete a goal (0/101)
85. Go one month without purchasing Starbucks
86. Go to the Zoo
87. Do 75 crunches 3 times a week (0/3)
88. Repot one of my work plants and give to Haley
89. Set up and start contributing to a retirement account
90. Make Grant a present instead of buying him one

91. Be able to check off 50 things to ­ Cleansweep my life
92. Be able to check off 75 things to ­ Cleansweep my life
93. Be able to check off 100 things to ­ Cleansweep my life
94. Bake a layer cake for a family member’s birthday
95. Start scrapbooking
96. Donate blood 3 times (0/3)
97. Try 5 new foods (0/5)
98. Order wedding prints
99. Whiten my teeth
100. Make my bed every day for 14 days/2 weeks (0/14)
101. Get 3 other people to make a 101 in 1001 (0/3)

Well 29 out of 30, that's not great but better than nothing I guess huh?

5. Buy a new car

CHECK!!

Didn't think this one was going to happen so quickly. And note that when I say "new" I mean new to me, not brand new.

Anyway, Grant and I were offered a fabulous deal on a car that I've been in love with for years. We have some friends who were in the market for a new car and looking to sell their old one and because they love us so much they made us an offer that we can't refuse. They called us up on Sunday evening and asked us if we were interested. We talked about it and pretty much decided that we can't pass up their offer. So yesterday after work we went to their house and took it for a drive, then we talked numbers then we drove it home.

Check out this beauty!


This isn't MY car but mine looks exactly the same. It's a 2000 Lexus RX300 with only 77,000 miles on it and in perfect condition. Black exterior, tan leather interior and the works. I'm talking every upgrade that was available for this model; sunroof, heated seats, memory driver seat, 6 disc CD changer, all wheel drive. It's awesome!

Like I said I've been dreaming about owning a Lexus RX SUV one day but I honestly didn't think it would happen. I've been so stressed about what we're going to do when Carter comes (which is in less than 2 weeks) because this is what I've been driving for the last 7½ years


Again, this isn't the exact car but mine is identical except it's dark grey. It's soooo not baby friendly. I was dreading having to deal with a two door car with a small back seat.

I feel so much better now that I have one less thing to worry about. So I'll be selling my 2002 Mitsubishi Eclipse GT (with a sunroof, lol) if you or anyone you know is interested. It's a good car, just not a good family car.

9. Have a romantic dinner with Grant at the Melting Pot

This has been my favorite thing to check off the list so far. OMG it was sooooo good. If you've never eaten at The Melting Pot you need to go. I've been wanting to try it for a long time now and I've also been wanting to go on one last date night with Grant before I have Carter. I was thinking that it would be prefect to go for our one year anniversary but that's not until June 21st and I'll be 38 weeks pregnant then and it's probably not the best idea to drive 2 hours out of town at that time. So we decided to have an early anniversary dinner celebration.

It was probably the best meal I've ever had. It's a four course meal and 3 of the courses are fondue. There's a heated glass top burner in the middle of the table for us to share.

First they start you with a cheese fondue (we had the artichoke garlic cheese *yum*) and they give you fresh vegetables, 3 different kinds of bread and granny smith apples to dip into the cheese. It was so delicious!


Then we had our salads. They were good, but nothing compares to the fondue.


Then we had our entree which included Lobster Tail, Fillet Mignon Medallion, Jerk Seasoned Sirloin, Vanilla Rum Chicken, Marinated Pork Tenderloin, Zesty Peppered Shrimp, Butternut Squash Ravioli and Fresh Vegetables. Then they give you 7 different sauces to dip the cooked food into.


The best part though, was dessert; milk chocolate with a swirl of crunchy peanut butter. For dipping we got pound cake, brownies, cheesecake, Oreo crumble covered marshmallows, gram cracker covered marshmallows, fresh strawberries and bananas.

Guess what I'm doing tomorrow!

I'm going to the Melting Pot with Grant!

91. Be able to check off 50 things to ­ Cleansweep my life

I've been working on this one for a couple of weeks. The first time I completed the ­Clean Sweep checklist I had 48 checks, so I was close. There were a few things that I wanted/needed to work on though (one of them being tying up loose ends at work). I went through the checklist again and I now have 51 things I can check off.

I can't wait until I can get over 75 checked off. I really love this list, I think it's something that everyone should try to live by.

Check it out and see how many you can check off (I'm sure it will be more than me, my life isn't every organized right now, lol).

66. Write a letter to Grant’s grandma and snail mail it

I am on a roll. This is a goal that I've been meaning to do for a long time. We always get the sweetest letters from Grant's grandma and usually enclosed there will be a stack of coupons.

So today I sent out a letter to them. It's just a card with a note that says we're thinking of them and in the card I wrote about how we can't wait to see them in July for a wedding that we'll all be going to. I mentioned that the pregnancy is going good and Grant is taking great care of me. I also wrote down the web address for my pregnancy blog so she can log in and read about it.

I think she's going to love getting the letter in the mail. Grant's mom said that she always sends letters but rarely receive any because not many people send letters anymore.

So although I don't plan on this being the last letter that I send to her I will be crossing this goal off my list. I'm glad to have gotten it done!