stuck in a rut.

I know we've all been here... I don't know if rut is the right word or if it's just the best one right now. I'm not feeling negative, just like I'm standing still. The holidays are over, and the resolutions and goals have been made. Progress is taking place but since it's so slow it's hard to get overly excited. I have started to knock a few of my goals off my list in the week since I made it so that is progress. I have to remember to update that on my Project 52 page.

That being said, I still feel a bit rut like. Every day it's the same thing. Schedule after schedule. Day after day. Monday - Friday it all stays the same. Wake-up, take a shower, put in my contacts, moisturize my face, brush my teeth, brush my hair, do my hair, do my make-up, wake up Mike if he is still sleeping, take turns feeding the pets, letting the dog outside, let the dog inside, try to find something to wear, get dressed, fixing my usual morning protein shake, say good-bye to the pets, drop Mike off at work, drive to my office and put in a full day at my desk. Not much changes, most things stay the same. Everyday at 5:00 pm I clock out, drive to get Mike, we drive home, unless it's Wednesday, that's payday and we are forced to run to the grocery store [aka Wally World Hell] to get supplies for meals and anything else we need. Once home it's the same song and dance there are always dirty dishes that need to be cleaned, a full dishwasher that needs to be emptied - how the hell do two people make so many dirty freaking dishes? It's mind boggling! If the dishes aren't dirty and the kitchen is actually clean, there's usually a huge pile of clothing that needs to be washed, again I ask how do two people always make at least three loads of laundry per week? We don't have children - I don't know how the hell you full time working moms and dads do it. I applaud you. Some nights I take time to sit down, relax, it's rare, and will be even more rare starting next week - I plan on doing my second trial of P90X and I always workout right after returning home. This may help my rut feeling, since it's something different in the routine of our lives.

After "chores" We make dinner, we eat dinner, we watch a few of our favorite shows, and by 10:30 pm I'm hopefully in bed and sleeping after watching Chelsea Lately... every.... single... night. The only time we deter from this seamless routine is if we have something to do with his family, or when the weekend comes.  I look forward to Saturday mornings, to sleep in, to not have to leap out of bed and shower, get ready or be forced into a time table but lately, Saturday mornings don't seem like enough.

My entire life feels routine. Even walking into the office each morning I do the same things, in the same order, to open the shop. Turn on all the computers, the lights, the darkroom, make the coffee, answer the phone if it rings and check my email. It rarely changes - if I'm late for work, people here worry that the worst has happened. An accident, or something of that nature. I'm rarely ever late, I'm usually early. I'm dependable, but at the same time that might make me a bit predictable and at risk of saying it, boring.

Like I said I am not negative about my life, but something in me is feeling like I need to break the cycle even just a little bit. Do many of you stop and feel like you've been living on auto pilot? Lately I feel like someone else is at the wheel and I'm just floating through my responsibilities like a  mindless zombie. I'm not sure if this is just what adulthood is all about or if I really do need to shake it up a bit.

Do any of you feel this way? Have similar feelings? And if so what are you doing to switch it up in your life? Maybe we can all help each other.

All this being said - I tend to like to get to bed early, I hate being run down the next day for work, but I also realize I'm only 34, not 84 and it's time to probably stop treating my life like an Early Bird Special and just do something different for a change.

Do you feel stuck in the rat race of life?

[note: this is probably just PMS talking for me, but even if it is I figured I'd get it all out and see what you all have to say... floor is all yours]

seasons greetings

home for christmas.

It's no secret that Mike and I love the quaint small town we live in here in Alabama. We are avid local business supports and as the holidays drew closer this year we decided to show them all how much we appreciated them. As a team we set out on a quest to purchase all of our Christmas gifts at neighborhood mom and pop stores. I'm happy to report that over 80% of our gifts were purchased locally. I enjoy knowing that we are stimulating our local economy and helping build upon our community.

I will be the first to admit that I failed when it came to purchasing Mike's gifts from local merchants - but to be fair the only things on his Christmas list were items that aren't made here in town. Literally if you looked at his list and held it up to a 13 year old boy's Christmas list, they would be identical. Lots of PS3 and XBox style items.  Everyone else on our list has received something purchased here from local stores, minus a gift card and one other gift which I can't mention due to the fact that the person may read this.

We avoided just about every bit of holiday stress by doing this. You want to know how many times we've made a trip to the mall since Thanksgiving, ZERO. That's right. We haven't stepped foot in the mall once this season for Christmas shopping. The only reason we went to the mall at all was when Mike needed a haircut before Thanksgiving, that's it. I can't begin to tell you how awesome that is. Trips to Target this season for holiday shopping? ONE! Mike may have ventured there on his own, so we could say TWO if need. Number of times I cussed people up and down in my head while shopping in our downtown area... ZERO. This to me is an amazing feeling in itself and almost like a gift we gave each other of a better over all feeling and well being for Christmas. Talk about having the Christmas Spirit, it's so much easier when you aren't feeling like you may need to strangle someone... when you don't have to wait in a long ass line to get two items... when you don't have to bash someone's cart out of your way... and when you actually have the owner of the store cater to you, and help you with all your questions, thoughts and concerns because they want to, not because corporate has told them they need to.

With all the local shopping we've had an overwhelming feeling of pride for our town and the owners of these stores are floored and excited when we told them about our game plan to buy all local. One merchant even gave me a discount on 2 items I purchased when she heard that come from our lips. She thanked me over and over and hoped we'd get our word out so more people would do the same. We have every possible big name store you could hope for around here, and even though our mall is a little sad it is a decent place to shop for a lot of people all at once - I by no means think everyone should do this, you may not have a selection of great local stores around your town like we do, but the next time you go out shopping for holidays, birthdays, or anything maybe take a few minutes to think about what treasures you may find in a non-chain store. And at the same time how you may be helping out a business owner in your community, one that doesn't have a huge backing financially but is full of heart and pride for their stores and their community.

Taking this hometown Christmas a step further, in order to help out our fellow man, and our planet we went with the whole, reduce, reuse and recycle theory to our gift wrap this year. We usually purchase all new wrapping paper every year, instead this year we are reusing a rustic snowflake paper we've had for at least two years. It's almost gone, and that's upsetting and exciting at the same time. To know that with the money I saved on wrapping paper I can put it toward stocking stuffers, is totally exciting. The roll being almost gone is what's upsetting, I really love the pattern. Since most of our gifts were purchased locally, we also received free gift wrapping! We let the gift wrap from the first store we shopped at dictate how our wrapping style would be for all our gifts [yes, I like to have a theme/style]. Basic craft wrap and beautiful ribbons were used on my gifts from Mike and some of the gifts we got his family. Most of the items were wrapped up and then placed in large craft bags with tons of tissue paper. I have taken it upon myself to deconstruct the bags, saving them to use for wrapping paper if needed, or bags for larger gifts and saved the tissue which has come in very handy for items that need to be boxed with tissue, and other re-used bags that we have received that fit this same color scheme. We haven't had to purchase one single bit of ribbon, we've only used left over, not a single bit of tissue, or gift bags yet. The only item I purchased new were some name tags. We had contemplated just writing the names on the bags, but then people couldn't reuse them and keep the cycle going so we opted for cheap, stick on tags from Rite Aid. It's only a few days until the big holiday and I don't think we will need anymore gift wrap, and we may even have some left over to reuse again next year. Thankfully at my job we use kraft wrap to fill boxes for transport. I've been able to snag a few scrap bits to wrap Mike's gifts before bringing them home - he not only has a list like a 13 year old, he snoops like one too.  I know that wrapping paper seems like such a little amount of money but when you add up the paper, the tissue, the tags the ribbons all that go together, at the end of the day it's a nice lump of money... money we saved, and by reusing items it's less in the landfill - at least on our end. [Don't think I won't be walking around trying to take back some of the bags we have used this year, they are REALLY cute and I would reuse them again and again].

I can honestly say I've never felt so happy about the holidays as I do this year. I am excited to know that most of the gifts we've chosen for our friends and family, aren't ones that will be found under everyone else's tree this year. We took time and choose each gift with that specific person in mind and it actually felt like it took less time this year than in years past. I think when you're in the mall or department chain you get so overwhelmed and over stimulated by the noise, the people, and the displays that you sometimes over spend or forget why you are there in the first place. I haven't had that overwhelmed feeling this year - safe for maybe my last trip to Target, and it's nice to feel so calm about the holidays coming up. My main panic thing right now is the cookies I need to bake! Regardless of where your gifts come from - I hope you were able to find all you needed for that special someone on your list!!! And most importantly that you have a very happy holiday!

How has your holiday shopping gone this year?


Don't forget to tell me your favorite Christmas memories! Read THIS post!