27 THINGS: ROUND UP!

6. buy a pool pass and take my little fishy 3x a week this summer. the independence city pool is amazing, the summer heat in our non-air conditioned apartment is unbearable, and my boy loves the water, so this is a no-brainer. we went swimming ALL THE TIME and it was one of the best summers of my life, hands down. i love my little fish!

 11. learn to make a killer cheesecake. it's the hubby's favorite and i want to make it better than anyone he knows. i'm always looking for new ways to seduce him ;)  it took me all the way until thanksgiving to get to perfect, but it was worth it. THIS cheesecake rocks. especially with homemade strawberry sauce on top!

13. find the perfect shade of red lipstick and rock it. tell me, what do you love?  i discovered that i don't look great in any red lipstick. seriously, they were all wrong for me. but i found this one in rose elixir and i LOVE it! i'm addicted. pink is more my color apparently.

15. learn spanish. i've half-spoken it long enough, it's high time i buckled down and learned it for real. like conjugating verbs for real.  i studied, and watched spanish sesame street with luc, and worked on my conversation skills a lot. i think it definitely helped, i'm more confident and i understand more. but i still have a long ways to go- this will be something i'm always going to have to work on, i think.

19. throw a super hero birthday bash for luc's first birthday. maybe a super hero pool party? i'm already excited! BEST FIRST BIRTHDAY EVER! i might be biased :)

23. explore amish country, pick fresh strawberries at ridgeview farm. my mouth is watering already!
we missed the strawberry season, but we did do a lot of amish country exploring around walnut creek, berlin, and hershberger farms. so fun and such great food!

25. index 500 names. i love history, i love individual histories. i want to spend some time unearthing the histories of others while i record my own. this was really fun, and so easy! i'm going to keep this up in 2014, for sure. it's really amazing to find these names from so long ago and give them a chance to be found by their posterity.

27 THINGS: THE FAILURES

i've been looking back at my '27 things to do when i'm 27' list this month, taking tally of the things i did and didn't do. i got 19 out of 27, which is not bad! better than i expected haha. it was a great year and i loved having this list to motivate me to try new things and cross off goals. thanks 27, you ROCKED!

here are the 8 i didn't do, along with my excuses ;)

1. go to the hill cumorah pageant. only 5 hours away from us and i've never been. this will make an awesome road trip this summer. the pageant happened right in the middle of orlando's summer sport's academy so we missed it. 

2. read the book of mormon all the way through by myself. its been a few years since i've read through it alone and i find myself missing a daily dose of spiritual. so this is going to be really good for me. ummm, yeah. i had every intention of doing this but i just never got started. EVER. shame on me. this is on my 2014 list for sure!
3. crochet a blanket. my mom taught me how to crochet when i went home in december and i've been itching to tackle something big and awesome with my newfound skill. {yes this will probably take me all year} not even close. i crocheted 12 rows and was sick to death of it. it's just not my thing, i guess.

9. get pregnant with baby #2. this ones exciting! ok, we tried really hard to do this one. we tried to get pregnant for 6 months, and then this happened. it just wasn't meant to be this year. i have a good feeling about 2014 though!

10. go to washington, d.c. and see the smithsonian portrait gallery and lincoln memorial. i've never been and it so close. another road trip! i wish we had been able to do this one! orlando participated in a summer sports academy and then he got a great job in the fall so we never made it happen. bummer!

16. eat at momochos. a mexican restaurant in cleveland that was featured on the food network? yes please! we tried to go three times. every time, they were booked for weeks and weeks. so then i gave up. i don't like eating good food to be that much work. maybe we will squeeze it in before we leave?

18. buy a new bed {KING SIZE!} we've been sleeping on a full for 4.5 years... i think we've earned this one! too poor. maybe in 2015.

20. enjoy a white utah christmas. there's nothing better than going home for christmas. this was the plan but then my baby brother got his mission call and he leaves in january and so we are going then instead, to party and send him off right. i'm so excited!

27 THINGS: 5

5. read 27 books. 
i read so many great books this year! i'm so glad i decided to get back into reading, i remember now how much i love love love it. 

looking for a good book? this year i read:
{very favorites are bolded}

1. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
2. Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
3. Palace of Stone (Princess Academy sequel) by Shannon Hale
4. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
5. Divergent by Veronica Roth
6. The God Who Weeps by Terryl Givens
7. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
8. Christlike Parenting by Glenn Latham 
9. Teatime for the Firefly by Shona Patel 
10. The Host by Stephanie Meyer
11. Inferno by Dan Brown
12. The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith/J.K. Rowling
13. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
14. Bossypants by Tina Fey
15. Matched by Ally Condie
16. Crossed by Ally Condie
17. Reached by Ally Condie
18. The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani
19. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
20. Parenting with Love & Logic by Foster Cline
21. Austenland by Shannon Hale
22. The Warlock by Michael Scott (Nicholas Flamel series #5)
23. The Enchantress by Michael Scott (Nicholas Flamel series #6)
24. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
25. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
26. Daughters in My Kingdom by the LDS Church
27. Parenting the Ephriam's Child by Deborah Talmadge 

27 THINGS: 24 (WICKED!)

{i think this was one of my favorite goals of the entire year!}
24. see WICKED when it comes on broadway in december. 

months ago, a few friends and i bought tickets to see wicked when it came on cleveland's broadway. BEST IDEA EVER. and completely worth the wait. this was my first time seeing it and I LOVED EVERY SECOND! it seriously gave me chills over and over again. glinda's acting was incredible and elphaba's voice was gorgeous. if you haven't see it, you need to!

it was the perfect girl's night out to get me in a festive mood!

27 THINGS: 8, 17, 21 & 22

17. learn how to make empanadas. just another way to my man's heart.

21. do a session in the san diego temple with my sweetheart. sit on our bench in the celestial room and remember how young and silly and wonderful we felt sitting there five years ago.

22. celebrate 5 years of marriage in august with a special date night. to be planned forthwith. five years is big, peeps!

8. get back to my beach-worthy body before we go to san diego for a wedding in august. then go to the beach everyday while we are there.

checking off a few more! i got down to my goal weight right before our cali trip, woot! and we celebrated five happy years last friday and then, for the first time ever, i attempted empanadas this past weekend. they were not pretty, but OH MY they were delicious. with a little more practice, i am going to have them made to perfection!

27 THINGS: 4, 12 & 26

4. learn how to use my camera in manual mode. i've had my camera for two years now so maybe it's time i figured this out... FINALLY! i took a class online and ordered this book, which has been an AMAZING resource. i've been practicing my manual photo skills on luc and his friends, and while i'm not great yet, i'm learning! at least i finally know what aperture means...

12. fill out a mormon.org profile. i've been meaning to do this FOREVER. this took me an entire nap time to accomplish, but i'm so glad i finally did it. writing down what you believe in is amazingly good therapy. you can see my profile HERE

26. get my spice back! i'm in a bit of a postpartum funk {still!} and i want to get back to the sassy, spicy, not-quite-so-exhausted me. hopefully the sleep training we are currently doing helps? haha well the sleep training was a BUST, but the arrival of spring has done wonders for my soul. i feel energized and cheery, adventurous with a little extra sass in my step. suddenly my clothes fit better, i'm feeling sexy and fun- all i need is a little tan and i'll be good to go. YAY FOR SUNSHINE is all i have to say! welcome back, sassy lady, welcome back.

happy are we!

27 things: numbers 14 & 27

14. instigate a monthly date night with orlando. get back in our lovin' groove. we are going out {no baby} TONIGHT! we've set up a monthly babysitting swap with our friends, so we {and they} will get a monthly date night. i am seriously LOVING this. 

27. wear contacts again. now this one is just plain annoying. i hate wearing glasses but i've had this stubborn eye sore since thanksgiving and it just won't heal. i am seriously hoping it heals up soon so i can wear my contacts again and not feel like thirteen year old me anymore. well, i went to the eye doctor last week and my eyes are finally healed. no more glasses for me!

no glasses. and luc's killer smile.

27 things: number 7

7. give my blog a professional makeover. to reflect my more serious writing pursuits. it's in the works as we speak!
done and done! i'm still working on a few links and i'm building a list of sponsors {want your link on my blog? comment and we'll talk!} but so far i love it. my readership has been growing steadily and i have been wanting to get more serious with my writing, so here goes. what do you think? 
be a follower and i'll love you forever!

today we are bunkering down in our warm casa with the humidifier on full blast until my little sicky gets better.  he's a happy sicky and the snuggles are plentiful, so i'm actually really loving it. who could resist this face?!

27 THINGS TO DO WHEN I'M 27

i've been a bit wary of 2013 because it's such an unlucky number and one can't help but be nervous about these things, especially when half of ones marriage runs on premium mexican superstition.
however, despite 2013 and its attempts to scare me, my 27th year of life is going to be good, i can feel it. deep in my pancreas there's a tingling rumor floating around that life only gets better from here on out, and i'm inclined to believe it's true. {my pancreas knows these things}
to help 27 be all it can be, i've jotted down 27 things that I want to accomplish this year {in no particular order} that, if I am successful, will guarantee 2013 to win top prize.

1. go to the hill cumorah pageant. only 5 hours away from us and i've never been. this will make an awesome road trip this summer.

2. read the book of mormon all the way through by myself. its been a few years since i've read through it alone and i find myself missing a daily dose of spiritual. so this is going to be really good for me.

3. crochet a blanket. my mom taught me how to crochet when i went home in december and i've been itching to tackle something big and awesome with my newfound skill. {yes this will probably take me all year}

4. learn how to use my camera in manual mode. i've had my camera for two years now so maybe it's time i figured this out...

5. read 27 books. any suggestions?

6. buy a pool pass and take my little fishy 3x a week this summer. the independence city pool is amazing, the summer heat in our non-air conditioned apartment is unbearable, and my boy loves the water, so this is a no-brainer.

7. give my blog a professional makeover. to reflect my more serious writing pursuits. it's in the works as we speak!

8. get back to my beach-worthy body before we go to san diego for a wedding in august. then go to the beach everyday while we are there.

9. get pregnant with baby #2. this ones exciting!

10. go to washington, d.c. and see the smithsonian portrait gallery and lincoln memorial. i've never been and it so close. another road trip!

11. learn to make a killer cheesecake. it's the hubby's favorite and i want to make it better than anyone he knows. i'm always looking for new ways to seduce him ;)

12. fill out a mormon.org profile. i've been meaning to do this FOREVER.

13. find the perfect shade of red lipstick and rock it. tell me, what do you love?

14. instigate a monthly date night with orlando. get back in our lovin' groove.

15. learn spanish. i've half-spoken it long enough, it's high time i buckled down and learned it for real. like conjugating verbs for real.

16. eat at momochos. a mexican restaurant in cleveland that was featured on the food network? yes please!

17. learn how to make empanadas. just another way to my man's heart.

18. buy a new bed {KING SIZE!} we've been sleeping on a full for 4.5 years... i think we've earned this one!

19. throw a super hero birthday bash for luc's first birthday. maybe a super hero pool party? i'm already excited!

20. enjoy a white utah christmas. there's nothing better than going home for christmas.

21. do a session in the san diego temple with my sweetheart. sit on our bench in the celestial room and remember how young and silly and wonderful we felt sitting there five years ago.

22. celebrate 5 years of marriage in august with a special date night. to be planned forthwith. five years is big, peeps!

23. explore amish country, pick fresh strawberries at ridgeview farm. my mouth is watering already!

24. see WICKED when it comes on broadway in december. 

25. index 500 names. i love history, i love individual histories. i want to spend some time unearthing the histories of others while i record my own.

26. get my spice back! i'm in a bit of a postpartum funk {still!} and i want to get back to the sassy, spicy, not-quite-so-exhausted me. hopefully the sleep training we are currently doing helps?

27. wear contacts again. now this one is just plain annoying. i hate wearing glasses but i've had this stubborn eye sore since thanksgiving and it just won't heal. i am seriously hoping it heals up soon so i can wear my contacts again and not feel like thirteen year old me anymore.