Hi Friends! I hope everyone does something super adventurous this weekend, like myself.

I will be venturing all around the house on my knees. Yep, super adventurous! The husband finished caulking the top of the baseboards and nail holes weeks ago, and I’ve been procrastinating on painting that second coat ever since. It’s my turn to travel to every nook-and-cranny to finish off all those baseboards and to touch up any edging! Yes, it’s not fun, and not too picturesque, but it’s something that needs to be done!

Hoping everyone has a wonderful weekend! Happy Friday!

Courtesy of City Eau Claire website

It’s been 6 months since I first posted my New Year’s resolutions, so I figured this fourth of July would be a great time to check my progress.

New Year’s Resolutions

Personal Growth

• Read a book a month – I’ve been doing this, and I couldn’t be happier. It’s been a fun way to make myself sit down and read. I love to read, but sometimes I forget to set aside time to do so. Here’s what I have read so far:
  • January – How to Win Friends and Influence People
  • February – Girl Who Played with Fire
  • March – The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest & Hunger Games & Happy Accidents
  • April – The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
  • May – The Happiness Project & Catching Fire
  • June – Mockingjay & Fearless: Imagine Your Life without Fear
  • July – An Invisible Thread & Wool (on the agenda)

• Continue with design & photography (take more photos of people!) – I’ve been taking my camera along a lot more and have been loving it. I also decided to take a full day class in photography in August! I’m really excited!
• Be honest with myself and others. – Yes. We don’t have living room furniture because I want to save up and not put it on a credit card. I’ve been trying! It’s hard sometimes, but it feels good!

Health

• Floss! – I did this for about a month and then stopped. I started up again June 23! I’ve been doing it every-other-day… for what? A couple weeks now and it’s awesome!
• Get more toned… June 25, I had a free personal training session at our local YMCA. It really felt good to be back into the gym.  The husband and I have been contemplating getting up early before work to workout… I think we’ll start that soon, too! I’m thinking about adding a post each week on this subject? We’ll see.

Religion

• Go to church, every week I’m in town– This I have been doing as well. We became members of our church back in January and have really tried to make an effort to go to church. Paul and I missed a couple, (April we only went once in the five sunday’s) but overall we have been adamant about getting to church!
  • Sunday’s
    • January 5 for 5
    • February 4 for 4
    • March 2 of 4
    • April 1 of 5
    • May 4 of 4
    • June 3 of 4
  • We also joined a Bible study, which was great for both of us on our spiritual journey.
• Volunteer – I only volunteered once, but it was a blast. Paul and I taught Sunday School at our church. 3rd graders are hilarious!

Work

• Be early to work (15 minutes not 2 minutes). Yep, I still get in 2 minutes early. Oops. Since January there was only three times I came into work before 8:15 am, I average 8:25 – 8:28, I have the flexibility to come in between 8 – 8:30 and I need/want to set an example for my staff.
• Meet new PA’s in the area – I met a new PA! Dawn! She is actually part of our new practice, and she is wonderful. I feel like we can become great colleagues.

Relationship

• Be 100% in it… = I’m in. End of story. Actually, more like beginning of story.
• Travel home to my family every other month. – This had to change. I went home in June and will be there in August, November, and December. With flights being around 1,000.00+ for both of us, I just can’t afford it. So, I’ll change this to quarterly.
• Communicate more with friends! – I’m trying. I still need to work on this! I’m a text-er but to pick up the phone, it’s a challenge.

All-in-all, I’m pretty happy with my progress! I really want to focus on two things moving forward: getting to work earlier and communicating with friends and family!

Happy 4th of July, friends! I got to go an enjoy one of America’s favarite past times… grilling out! (the husband calls it BBQ-ing) Yum!

I’ll be back on Friday with one of my favorite architects!

I read an article the other day that tugged on my heart strings, and I knew I needed to express myself. What better way than my blog. In July’s Issue of Real Simple it tells about a mothers struggle for her own independence after 14 years of marriage and two children.

Though I’m only at three-and-a-half years of my own marriage, I’m certain that my struggles in my marriage and for my own independence are different than the writers, but I felt her words resonate in my own life. I grew up independently. I had caring and loving parents that let me take my own journey. I lived with friends and on my own, traveled to Africa, and West Virginia on my own (trust me, they’re more similar than you would think), and even went to the movies and snowboarded alone. I learned carpentry from my father who never believed that women were less capable than a man; he made me feel like I could accomplish anything, even wire my own playhouse. Which I did. Successfully. I took basic car care in high school and had to coach a boyfriend how to change a tire in college because he didn’t want to sit by while I changed the tire. With all this, I would watch my own mother ride contently in the passenger seat as we traveled; she would wait to have my dad fix things around the house and help her navigate through airports. I secretly hoped I wasn’t that dependent. I wanted the control. I wanted to be self sufficient. And honestly, I thought women in that role would be considered weak. I was not weak.

Now with my own marriage, I find myself letting my husband take the wheel, navigate new cities, even ask him questions when I know the answer. He installs the light fixtures or hangs picture, even though I’ve done all of those things by myself in the past. I think this struggle of independence is a struggle a lot of women face and it made me happy to read this article. I make some of it up in having my own career, traveling to see friends on my own and knowing where our money goes, but I think the author makes a great point. At the end of the day, you now decided to be part of a team. Now, you get to choose if you want to ride along or take the wheel. Sometimes, it’s nice to have your suitcase carried up the stairs or have a picture hung while you run errands. My mom made a choice. I’ll make that choice, too. As long as my husband realizes I can still do these things, that I still have those skills, it’s nice to just sit back while he’s cooking and pour us some wine.

Happy weekend friends.