Last night before bed, she asked me to listen to her heart, and I didn’t think twice about it. But as I put my ear to her chest, and heard a gentle whooshing that I’ve never heard before, it hit me stronger than ever that barring a miracle, heart surgery is imminent. It won’t be tomorrow, but it is coming…and the fact that her doctors can’t give us a timeframe (months, a year, or years) makes it all the more…
Back at the beginning of the year, I put together a list of goals I’d like to accomplish in 2013. Not resolutions per say, because I still feel as though that term has negative connotations, but rather a list of activities that I thought it’d be fun to tackle throughout the year. I’ve made a headway on that list, but one of the items featured (the first one, in fact) was the goal of running a half marathon – something…
With the hard decision (choosing a landscaper) behind us, Chris and I moved quickly into the next stage – finalizing our design. After a couple of text and email conversations, we set a date to meet the guys from Horizon Landscaping of Jacksonville at a local nursery to make some final decisions on plant selections. Question to answer during our trip to the nursery: Podocarpus (yew) or osmanthus (tea olives) to add height to our front beds? Tea Olives Color…
Our front yard has been on our home project to-do list for quite some time. One of the challenges inherent in purchasing a house that’s gone up as a short sale is the fact that you get it in as-is condition. We were fortunate that the inside of our home was in good condition when we bought it; however, the yard had been under-maintained (mostly forsaken) for more than a year. The front beds were a wreck with an odd and…
Self-reflection is a huge part of self-improvement and so moving forward, I’m going to be sharing a quote or statement that’s really inspired me to be the best I can be. While my mantra this month may be centuries old, it still proves relevant today. I’ve always been attracted to idea of “kaizen” or perpetual improvement, because I believe strongly that everyone is given a talent or acuity for a certain activity or subject for a reason, and as such,…
Okay, so the hardest part about our floor project was finished – Chris and I came to a consensus on what we wanted (no small feat, let me tell you), and found a person with the talent, tools and know-how to make it happen. He gave us solid instructions on how to prep the house (pointers on how to rip out carpet, break up tile, etc.). Nothing a little elbow grease and time couldn’t take care of, right? WRONG! But,…
When Chris and I first began our house hunt in the summer of 2010, we put together a list of things we’d like to have, things we had to have, and areas we’d be willing to live. That list of requirements plus an added filter to include only potential foreclosures and short sales, pulled back a short list of houses, which we immediately went out to scout. Four houses in, we came across one that had all of our must-haves,…
Putting together my home office/craft room has been on my to-do list for almost a year, and I promised myself before Chris and I celebrated our second anniversary in our “new” house, that it was one item that would be scratched off the list. After scouring the paint samples at both Home Depot and Lowe’s, I settled on the color “Celery.” Surprisingly, it was one of the first colors I was drawn to nearly two years ago when we were…
Over the course of the last nine months or so, I’ve come to the startling realization that I’m a workaholic. Probably not a revelation to my friends and family who put up with me, but somewhat of a surprise to me. You see, I’m a social media strategist, which is to say, I get paid to spend 10-12 hours a day managing and driving conversations on a variety of online communities using Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc. I’ve always been…