Thoughts about this blog

I've been struggling lately with what to post on this blog. I feel like lately all I've done is post "highlights" which I want to remember, but that also bothers me because I don't want to become one of those blogs that only does that. I don't want to gloss over the bad and paint this picture that my life is rainbows and roses because let's be honest: it isn't. Surprise!

I'm realizing that everyday I have to sort out my priorities. Does anyone else feel like that? Yes, I work eight hours a day, so what am I doing with the remaining 5 hours until I go to bed? Sometimes I can tell you I was really productive, that I worked out, made a delicious dinner, went grocery shopping, cleaned the bathroom, read some of my book, painted some of my pictures, etc. Other nights (aka most nights) I'll probably look ashamed and "gloss" over the evening that consisted of having the desire to do absolutely nothing so we order pizza, sit on the couch and watch something, and then I end up having a super long conversation with Paul about how I feel like a lazy piece of crap that has done nothing with her life and everyone else is sooo good at being productive and I stink at it and I'm lazy and I don't know how to change it and sometimes I don't want to change it, etc, etc. (Paul has his answers down pat to this conversation, because let me tell you, this conversation happens a lot.)

I know that every day I have a choice, but really, I think sometimes ordering pizza and watching something is not only ok, it is needed. I try to be productive every day, but when it comes down to it, who really cares? I mean, really, who am I trying to impress? Yes, I work out to take care of my body, yes, I try and make dinner every night because it's healthier and cheaper in the long run, and yes, I try and keep our house "clean" because it's unsanitary otherwise. But so what if some days that stuff doesn't get done?  Sometimes I get really irritated at all this "glorification of busyness" that seems to go on all around us. I feel like I'm being judged by these invisible "busy" people who do everything all the time. That's why I have to take breaks from reading other people's blogs and facebooking. All we post about are things that are keeping us "so busy".

Which brings me back to my point of thinking about what I actually post on here. I don't want to give off the impression that I am this always-busy-happy-energetic-life-is-perfect person. Because I'm not, as most of you very well know.

So here's my challenge to myself: to stop acting like the busier I am, the higher status I have. To remember who is really judging me, and to remember His loving words of wisdom: "Be still, and know that I am God."

WIW: Week 4

A good Saturday to me would go something like this: sleep in, go to Salt Lake, meet up with little sister, go shopping, get talked into buying some skinny jeans AND nice brown boots by little sister (Seriously. This girl has fashion sense! I think I've found my new shopping pal), get some Chick-Fil-A, do more shopping (with giftcards. Makes spending soo much more appealing because it's free!), then meet up with Dad at the best little french bakery in downtown Salt Lake (Gourmandise. DIVINE. I have introduced a countless number of people to this place because I've been obsessed ever since I was introduced about 6 years ago) and have a lovely little time. Yep, sounds like a perfect Saturday to me. I'll have to make those happen more often. . . when I get more giftcards.

WIW: Week 3

That's right. It has dumped snow here. In case you can't tell from the picture above, it is as high as our porch.  Still. And this happened about a week ago. (No thanks to the negative degree weather we've been having!) I heard we got 13 inches? Luckily we have a jeep and don't work too far from home, so we were able to escape any accidents. Oh Utah, I love thee, but sometimes I curse you when I walk outside and my boogers freeze. . .

Sweet Cinnamon

Since we have basically been buried in snow (13 inches! More on that later. . .), we decided to be hermits this past weekend and just stay in. . oh wait. We do that most of the time anyways. Whatever.

Paul was in charge of date night this past Friday and we made cinnamon rolls! It was a perfect activity to do while being snowed in.

The rest of the weekend was spent cleaning, and going to see this movie:

It was about the tsunami that hit Indonesia in 2004. . and it was a true story about a family that was there. SO GOOD. But really emotionally draining. I would highly recommend it though.

The cinnamon rolls were pretty much gone by Monday, the snow started to melt a little because temperatures got up to a balmy 23 degrees today. .and next week it's supposed to be above freezing! I'll be ready to wear shorts and a light jacket because that actually sounds warm right now. How sad.

WIW: Week 2

That.s right. I finally saw my bestie this past week and met her dog child Ryker (who is now my best bud, by the way). Never mind that our visit was for roughly a half hour hanging out in her car in a Subway parking lot while they were on their way down to catch a flight back to North Carolina. Didn't really matter because that half hour was glorious anyways. Harry and Ryker became good friends, we laughed, AND Katie even bought me a cookie. This is why we're friends, folks. Until our next random meeting, Ka-Tee!

Where I Was: Week 1

That's right. We actually went to a New Year's Eve party this year, and brought Harry along. So what if it the party was the regional youth New Year's Eve bash and we were chaperons? It was actually pretty fun. Our ward needed to provide some people to come, and since we don't have kids and probably would have just gone to bed at 10 anyways, we decided to help out. You really can't pass up an opportunity for free pizza and candy and wandering around giving the stink eye to kids who were acting unruly. (Unfortunately the stink eye opportunity didn't really present itself. But I did try to give off the impression that I was NOT a youth. I think I was taken as one of the kids to a lot of people there.) I will have to say this, I am SO thankful that my awkward years of adolescence are behind me. . . well, I think they are, at least. 

Some resolutions, if you will

It just so happens that January first is rolling around right when I'm deciding to do some changes for my life. Perfect timing, if you ask me.

It is really nice to have a new year as a reason to really get going on some of these goals of mine. I think sharing them helps me feel more accountable to actually stick to them. So, the following are a couple things I really plan on working on this year:

1. Read more. I used to be such a lover of reading, but throughout the past few years I've fallen out of the habit. I've really become lame. I think last year I read a total of maybe 3 books. That is NOT the Tara I used to be. I really miss it and so I decided to sit down and make a list of 15 books I plan to read this year. At first it was 20, but when I did the math that only gave me about 18 days to read a book, which for some people wouldn't be hard, but since I work full time and most of the books I want to read are 300+ pages, I needed to give myself some room. Besides, I don't want to stress over reading, I want to get back into the habit of loving it. And having it be a priority over other pointless things like facebook or pinterest. So I have my list. And as soon as the library opens back up tomorrow, I plan on going and getting me a book! Time to get back to it Tara!

2. Start a Project 52 on my blog. Last year I really enjoyed reading every week about my amazing friend/photographer Kristin Brown. I really wanted to do something like this for a long time, but never really knew what inspiration I could use to get going. I'm not a professional photographer by any means, but I wanted some sort of weekly motivation that was a little bit different than your average update post. So after some looking around, I found this site that gave ideas for personal photography projects, and I tweaked some of the ideas for my own personal "blog project".

The idea I came up with is to take a small object and take a picture of it somewhere I am every week. Whether it's at home, in the car, at a restaurant, whatever. Some place I find myself that week. I hope it will be cool to look back and see all the various little places I found myself at the end of the year. I brought this all up to Paul and he really likes the idea too. We just now had to figure out what object to use. Something that was small enough to carry with us and to take a picture of without looking too weird. So, here's the little guy we came up with:

  

Ha! I know, right? I bought as a joke for Paul for his birthday a couple years ago a little set of Harry Potter quidditch players. We figured those would be perfect. It's weird, which is us, and it's Harry Potter, which is me. And they are tiny so it won't be hard to bring them around to places. So, I'm really hoping that I can stick to this challenge and keep a weekly update on where I was. Stay tuned in the next couple of days for the first post. . . .

And there you have it. My two "resolutions" that I really want to stick with. Everyone who knows me well knows I have a hard time sticking to goals. I just get bored and lose interest most of the time. But putting these up and only giving myself 2 goals to really focus on I think is very doable for me. Anyone out there want to share some goals they have?

Happy New Year!