Changes

The beginning of a new year always brings new changes to peoples lives. I just didn't expect to have all these changes to happen at one time.

Before Christmas Brandon and I decided to really start looking into buying a house. Luckily we didn't have to search for a real estate agent. Since my dad builds houses for a living, we are just using is real estate agent. So bright and early on Sunday December 26th, Sherrie sent us a long lists of homes to start searching through. Little did she know that I had already been searching every day for weeks. So when she sent the list of houses in our range, I was being a complete house snob. You see, I grew up in construction. I've always been looking at houses, floor plans, and interior decor. Most little girls dream of their weddings when they are little, but I dreamt of my house. And to put it nicely, I am very particular. So when Brandon liked a house that I had already decided wasn't worth my time, I was a little in shock.
We set up a time to go and visit this bank owned home. We brought both of my parents along, for sanities sake, since we had the boys with us too. The house was almost 4,000 square feet, and super cheap. I instantly fell in love with the house and started thinking about all the possibilities that we could do. We had my dad call and get estimates on repairs. The grand total on interior and exterior repairs totaled at close to $25k. We thought we would go ahead and put in an offer just to see what the bank had to say about it. This house had sat on the market for almost 6 months with no offers. But in Howard luck, someone put an offer in at the same time as us. Talk about a nail biter. The longer we sit and wait to hear from the bank, the more ideas I come up with and the harder Brandon and I fall in love with this house.
So we are currently just waiting to hear back.

Next change:
After having a disagreement with our rental company, Brandon and I have decided to move out of the house that we are renting. We have to be out by the end of the month, and aren't really sure what's going on with our living situation. We are currently going to rent a storage unit and stay with my parents until we hear back from the bank on the house we offered on. I am under a ton of stress from this move, because the rental company came and put a for sale sign in our front yard, so not only do I have to pack, but I have to pack and keep our house clean in case they want to show it before we leave. We have a lot of other stuff going on between now and the end of the month which also worries me!

Next change:
With Brandon's job, we have the privilege of attending dinners with the partners from his firm, and other attorneys in the area. In December Brandon signed us up for the Springfield Bar's yearly dinner where they swear in the new members to the board. From what Brandon had told me from the get go, this wasn't a super fancy dinner. So I was planning on wearing some black slacks and a pretty top. As the date got closer, I asked Brandon to ask his office manager what she would recommend to wear. She responded, not super formal, but cocktail attire. OH NO! I have no cocktail attire. I've gained weight and really anything that I had that was dressy, doesn't fit. GREAT! I was already in a panic with trying to pack with the boys in the house, and now I have to go shopping hours before the event and attempt to find a dress on my own.
Luckily, my dad was able to come over and watch the boys so I could run to the mall and start the dress hunt. Luckily I found two dresses on clearance at Dillards. SCORE!
I ran home got the boys packed for a night at my parents house, fixed my hair, shaved my legs, and finished my makeup. I drove like a speed racer to my parents where, I got dressed and headed out the door within about five minutes. I forgot my cell phone, and was supposed to meet Brandon in the parking lot of a strip mall, but couldn't find him. I was in my dads truck and he didn't know it, so we apparently kept driving around each other looking like complete idiots. We made it to the dinner on time, and had a good time chatting up with other attorney's from his office. We headed to Steak N Shake after the dinner was over, because fancy food just doesn't fill this girl up!
While I was completely stressed that day, we actually had a really good time that night. We woke up the next morning and started packing again!


It's just a day in the life of this crazy house!!

Snow Day!!!

Living in Missouri, we experience all four seasons. Sometimes all in one week. This week, we had our first real snow of the season, so the boys and I got all of our snow gear on and headed outside. It was a wind chill of -8, so we didn't stay outside very long, either time we went out but the boys had a blast sledding and exploring in the snow.

Success Camp

I've mentioned in previous posts about lia sophia. Before moving to St Louis I had never heard of lia sophia jewelry. Actually it wasn't until we had already lived there for over a year, did my dear friend Carrie invite me to a party she was having. I'm not big on house parties or direct sales, but decided why not. Brandon kinda pushed me out the door and encouraged me to take some time out of the house.

I didn't know anyone, but Carrie. I felt a little out of place and didn't really have a lot of money to spend. I sat through the party, played the game, and fell in love with the jewelry. I'm also a person that loves my diamonds and can't wear anything but real gold or I break out in hives. So while I loved this gorgeous jewelry I was looking at, I didn't know how or if I would be able to wear it. After looking at the hostess benefits, and some serious arm twisting by one of Carrie's friends, I decided to have a party.

All the way home, I thought about what the lady said. She even showed us her 1099. We were needing money, I was needing time out of the house, I wanted/needed to meet people, and I loved the jewelry. By the time my party rolled around, Brandon and I had agreed that I would sign up to sell lia sophia. I was a little freaked out by my starter party. I seriously knew a hand full of people in the entire St Louis metro area. So thankfully my mother in law also loves the jewelry and invited several of her friends to attend. Carol actually stayed after the party (which was held in our part of the house; the basement!) for two hours asking my advisor questions. Little did I know that Carol was planning on signing up to help me out!



Anyway.... every January our "region" holds a massive training event in Chicago. Last year I went and drove to Chicago from St Louis with black ice covering the roads the entire way. As valuable as the training was, and as awesome and encouraging as it was to be in the same room as ladies that were making $100,000 to 3 million dollars selling jewelry was..... it was not worth risking my life again to drive 5 hours in the middle of winter. So when August rolled around and it was time to register, I talked to Carol and she said we could fly as long as I could drive to St Louis. YEAH!! I looked forward to this trip until the night I left for St Louis.



Our flight left STL at 6:15 in the morning I so I was up and ready to walk out the door by 5. Impressive for me for two reasons 1. I am not a morning person AT ALL. 2. I was up until way past in a complete panic about the weight limit of my suit case and painting my nails.... you have to have priorities and I thought that was one! Anyway, we arrived at Lambert Airport on time, got checked in and headed to the Admiral's Club. Carol travels a lot for work, so this is one of the benefits that she gets and shared with me. I've always wondered what was behind those doors... and it's pretty cool. While we were waiting to board I saw Phyllis from the television show The Office too. (She along with several other castmates are from the St Louis area)

Carol and I had a great visit on the plane, landed safely in Chicago and headed to the hotel where the training takes place. We immediately got checked into our room, dropped off our stuff and headed into some training events. We learned a lot of vital information that day, had a nice birthday meal for Carol that evening and had a great time visiting with each other.

Saturday morning we woke up and heard from the keynote speaker and continued with vendor shopping, a couple of training classes, and a chance to look at the new line jewelry. We ended the day with a cocktail attire yummy dinner and awards ceremony.

Sunday we packed up and headed to our last bit of training. The leaders that were there did a couple of funny skits, we had some good entertainment and finished everything up by lunch time.

We hightailed it back to the airport shuttle and we were on our way back to St Louis. I was happy to get home, but so happy to have attended this weekend for so many reasons. I am really hoping to re-kick start my business. It's something that I love, so wish me luck!

NYE 2011

Brandon and I aren't big New Years People. We've never really been. Last year we spent the evening with my friend Carrie, her husband, and all of our kids! We were exhausted the next day. THis year we were invited to go to my friend Sara's house. Sara and her husband Justin have a very close group of friends that get together often. We were happy to be invited to hang out with 'the group'. Honestly, I think we (sara and I) were both a little worried how it would go. Brandon and Sara don't always get along the best and Brandon didn't know anyone in the group besides me, Sara, and could point out Sara's husband Justin.

Leading up to NYE, Brandon had been sick for a few days with a horrible sinus infection. Brandon refuses to go to the dr, so he was self medicating for days! He even missed a couple of days of work. I was really hoping to not have to call and cancel, but luckily we found the medicine that worked. After a brief nap, and a second dose of medicine, we dropped the kids off at my parents house. From my parents house to Sara's is a good 40 minute drive. So I started to get a little nervous. After we walked in, we had a yummy buffet style Mexican themed dinner. Sara had made enchiladas, and people had brought anything from chicken wings to seven layer dip, and tons of desserts. I was stuffed. We all set around and ate and chatted for a while. Some people moved outside to play games in the garage, and some stayed around the dinner table and played the Things Game.

Sara and I

Brandon got along really well with the guys, and for the first time in a long time looked like he was having a great time. I was able to relax since I knew he was relaxed and enjoying himself. Sara's younger brother Sam and his girlfriend stopped by for a while and then headed home after midnight. Around 1, Brandon and I decided to stay at Justin and Sara's. With the long drive, us both being worn out, and we were just lazy, we called dibs and crashed in their guest bedroom.

We had a great time, and can't wait to hang out with "the group" again!

BC: Day 30

Car you drive and past cars too!...

When I turned 16, I was supposed to drive my parents 1990 Ford Areostar Minivan.....

I was mortified, to think about driving into my high school parking lot driving a minivan. Luckily days before my 16th birthday my parents bought a 1999 Hyundai Sonata for my mom. My mom had always been a stay at home mom, but my dad owns is own construction business was needing her help, and she didn't want to drive her new car to work.

So I went from this:

to this:

I drove the snot out of the "snotter".

I drove this car until after Brandon and I had been married for a year, and started packing to move to St Louis. The "snotter" wasn't the safest car in the world with over 100k miles on it, Brandon and I were about to have to start putting some major money into it for repairs. I guess my dad couldn't handle the thought of his little girl driving an unreliable car in the big city. To tell you the truth I wasn't too excited about it either, which then resulted in Brandon not being too excited about it. So about a month before we moved Brandon and I headed out to pick out a new car. We had a budget and I knew exactly what I wanted. A Pontiac G6. So pretty. Brandon and I drove by the dealership after hours one night, and the one I wanted was WAY out of our price range. We drove by the next day with the intention of going in and test driving. As I drooled over the exact car we saw the night before, I noticed that the price tag had been lowered about $10,000. WOOOO HOOOO! Test driving we did, and buying we did!

So I went from driving the "Snotter" to driving this:

I LOVED this car. Mine was a charcoal gray. It was just about fully loaded. Everything but the heated seats. It was just sporty enough but still roomy. Roomy enough for two car seats but not three. I drove this car until I was eight months pregnant with Greyson. I had to take the Pontiac into get serviced and walked out of the dealership with a Nissan Armada. I went from 29 miles a gallon to 14. I went from a cute little sports car to a Tank on wheels. It was a huge change.

So I currently drive this exact model of the Nissan Pathfinder Armada:

I like my Armada. It's roomy for the five of us and all of our stuff. It's not a minivan( nothing against minivans... I was 23 when I got this car and refused to get a minivan). It had a built in dvd and awesome stereo system. It handles great in Missouri's crazy weather.
I'm not crazy about the horrible gas mileage, the expensive tires, or the fact that it's no longer under warranty! I guess it will have to do until I can get something different!

BC: Day 29

Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days...

This is a hard one. I'm actually writing this in January... and we've already had a lot go on. ( I wanted to actually complete something that took an extended amount of time, and predating them or filling some of these out late made me accountable!)
Anyway, back to January. We are currently in the beginning stages of buying a house, many more details to come. I want to make a list of updates and actually complete them on a timely basis.
I also want to restart and grow my lia sophia business. It's something I love, and need to get focused on. It's something for me, and helps to bring in a little extra money!

I want to follow through on something I've been feeling led to do. After many months of prayer and putting it off, I need to follow through. Again, more to come later!

Anyway, that's a begining to a list of my 2011.

BC: Day 28

What's in my handbag/purse...

I'll add a picture soon...
But this is my all time favorite purse. Brandon completely suprised me and brought it home one day. It's a Coach bag from the Poppy collection. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this purse!

Inside it: My wallet, my poppy wristlet, usually my blackberry, my pink poka dotted lipstick/gloss wallet, Extra gum, sometimes my sunglasses, and almost always a couple of matchbox cars or other toys that I carry around for easy entertainment!