Holiday Update

Wow, I really stink at this whole updating-the-blog-more-thing! Sorry for the unreliable person I am on this! Life got crazy, and boring! But since, ummm..September (eek!), this is what has happened, I started going to Bible study every Monday, celebrated my 1-year anniversary with the Hub's, celebrated Thanksgiving with both sides of the fam, the Hill's and the Carroll's (my family), and have been gearing up for a rockin' Christmas season!

I love Christmas for the lights, the music, the movies, the traditions and the real meaning of Christmas = Jesus' birth! Oh and that everything has been blasted/dipped in glitter! I love glitter!

My Christmas gift list only has a few things on it, and I won't be heartbroken if I don't get them. The Hub's and I opted to not exchange gifts this year (we might go shopping after Christmas for one thing each that will count as the gift). We are both content and happy with our life and really don't see the need for gifts at this point and time, maybe later on when we have kids it will be easier!

My Wish List:

• Sewing machine
• Desktop computer (If I had a better computer, I might update the blog more, since the laptop never seems to upload or let me edit)
• A career/full-time job!

What is on your wish list this year?

Keep On Keeping On

A small changes will hopefully lead to big results!

So, last Saturday was my last day at the only speciality run store in the Peoria Area, Running Central! Working there was a great experience where I learned a lot more about running then I knew when I used to run (I haven't ran in over 4 years, haha!) This switch-up now gives me a few extra days a week to hopefully create something rewarding and worthwhile a.k.a. I am able to indulge my more creative side.  My graciously husband has given me a year to possibly find a career out of this experiment!

Hopefully this gamble payoffs!

Sorry, it's been so long, there are many life changes on the horizon for the Hill's and no it does not even a little Hill.  It does involve my husband being wonderful and the amazing Ginger that he is has agreed to me quitting my retail job in order to try work on building my portfolio to get a grown-up job! He loves me.

Hopefully, this little excursion will lead to big things for us.  This will tighten up the budget even more but there is nothing like seeing how far we can stretch a dollar!

Fingers crossed I will be blogging more with more photos to go along with it! And I might build up the confidence to finally link up to other blogs!

I Never....

I never thought that I would feel like I enjoy school more then being in the real world! I graduated with my Bacholer's in May 2010 and the past year has been an interesting but crazy one! When I graduated I did not have dreams about starting my career, my goal was to get my wedding over and my marriage started! Which we have as of November 6, 2010! And since I graduated I have worked at 4 different jobs! Kohl's last summer, then one of the jobs I am currently at which I love, David's Bridal for a month (too emotional for even me), and the 2nd job I currently am holding down.

You may be asking so what do you do? Well, I am an Administrative Assistant at my church, and I work retail at the only speciality running store in the Peoria Area, Running Central! (Psst I haven't ran in 4 1/2 years!) And between these two, part-time jobs I feel like I'm a chicken running around with its head cut off sometimes!

However, working the two jobs, does allow me to have a day off during the week to have a day off with the hubby, which I am very grateful for, but my day off are Sunday and Tuesday (I work Mondays).  I think I'd almost rather have a full class load and have Friday evening through Monday morning off again and deal with the homework! The perk though is NO HOMEWORK!

Does anyone else miss school too?

The Lady Cave

It is official, the office is now my "Lady Cave"!  All it took was me asking and demanding that this is what I wanted and this was what was going to happen!  The office is now clean and pink! Below are a few before and after shots.  Also, I tried using my fancy camera and for the before shots I could not remember how to zoom out. Oops!

From the doorway before.



This has been my desk since I was little, it was my Great-Aunt Mildred's. Its now in the Man-Cave.



The new entrance!



The blogging corner.




My reading chair and my sewing table (very out of practice with sewing).




The closet! Double doors! More like craft and seasonal storage.




More of the closet and a few of my obsessions! Shoes and Vera Bradley!



When did playing make believe become not okay?

When did playing make believe become not okay?

Seriously!? What is wrong with grown-ups playing dress up and indugling in their daydreams by dressing up and acting them out?

I loved playing dress-up and make-believe! And I feel that college took away my ability to think creativitly. The sad thing is, is that I majored in ag communications with the dream of becoming an advertising creative! My mom has said that when I would play by myself (which rarely happened) she couldn't tell how many kids were in the basement though she knew I was the only one, because my older brothers and sisters were at school.  I used to be able to carry on several different storylines in my head and play them out, granted with no one watching, either with my fingers, my own body or with Barbies! I loved playing with Barbies (I had Barbie before she tried to go all Bratz Doll and got all creepy looking! That is a whole other ranting that will most likely come out), I remember in High School, my girlfriends loved spending the night at my house because I still had all my Barbie stuff out for my nieces and nephews to play with.  We would be up until late at night playing with Barbie's at 17-years old!

I think that as we age we lose our ability to daydream and make-believe that all things are possible in our minds.  And they don't need to be the same daydreams or make-believe stories we had as children but we need to allow ourselves to indulge and act like the children we wish we still are! 

Hopefully, I will be able to regain my creativity! Life and reality can be stressful and sometimes we need to escape to a place where no one find us...like our own Neverlands!

Discovery #1

I found my first step into finding who I am along with my husband.  FINALLY attempting to get the office up and running.  The Office is actually the smallest bedroom in our house and is currently only used for my husband's work stuff and one of many catch-all rooms.  It has the only walk in closet in the house.  If I had my way completely and didn't need to work with him this would totally be my closet/getting ready room/office/craft corner....the Lady Cave!  However as of right now I will be kind and work with in the realm that this will be a shared space (hopefully I can get my way later).  And so the journey of trying to define this space begins...

Ps. I do have a very nice professional digital camera that I will learn how to use to start posting photos.  I love photography but really know how to use a film camera and can develop the film and prints when I have access to a darkroom...

Pss. Photography will most def be a part of discovering myself...

What should I write about?

When starting any project or idea, I always have had the fear that it will come across as stupid, selfish, and that the end result will not look at all like I had invisioned in my head.  I have always had the problem with making the result and reality match up with the vision and then was discouraged.  Also, being the youngest of 8 children, and having all of my seven older siblings been successful or had a great talent or smart, does not help! In fact it makes it harder to blaze your own path because you can already see where certain paths have lead.  As a child my goal was to fly under the radar, to not rock the boat, to be left alone, however that does not always happen...

As of right now this blog is going to start with me trying to find who I am and create my own path of in life beside my husband.  As self-helpie as that may sound it is what I need to do.  I know that who I am now is not who I will be in 5 years and that the self is ever changing. 

All I need now to get started is to find activities and ideas that will help me to expand myself...any suggestions?

Just Getting Started

I'm just getting started with this whole blogging thing so it might take me a little bit to get the hang of it.  Hopefully, I will see this through and will not let it go by the wayside!