Tag Archives: the nectar collective

Weekly Wishes – Animals

Posted on December 2 by Jillian416 • 2 Comments

This week’s Weekly Wishes theme is animals.

Weekly Wishes is a link-up started by Melyssa from The Nectar Collective. It is a place where you can post and share you wishes and goals for the week ahead on your blog, Facebook page, Twitter account, etc and then link it up on Melyssa’s blog. I LOVE doing this because it holds me accountable for the week ahead. I’ve shared my goals with the world (through my blog) and I know people will read and wonder whether I stuck to my goals. It definitely keeps me honest!

Is it really the start of a brand new week, again? I swear we were just here yesterday. Ah well, the days are just flying by, which reminds me to make sure I try and slow down some, and take in as much as I can about this time of year. It just zooms by and I really want to enjoy every moment with Seamus and Emmett.

Despite the last few days flying by, it has been an amazing weekend full of so much love, fun and a lot of great food. We had an amazing time with our in-laws on Thanksgiving and the day after, and then a lot of fun with my family on Saturday and Sunday morning. I’ll be sharing more about it, and all of the details in a future post, but it is no surprise that time flew by so quickly.

As I mentioned above, this week’s theme is animals. We currently do not have any animals in our house, so instead I used a picture of my animal from this weekend. Emmett was so hyper and all over the place at both my in-laws and mom’s house and this was just one of the many pictures we got of him being a cute little crazy person. Goodness I love him!

So how did I do with last week’s wishes?

My first goal was to get an oil change. Bam! I did it! Wednesday on lunch, I ran to Valvoline and got a quick oil change, I was in and out. I’m sure my car was happy.

Then, I made a goal to not eat like a glutton on Thanksgiving. Once again, a total win! I had one serving at both of my Thanksgiving celebrations and I am super proud. I only ate what I liked and took just enough until I was full, it felt good to not be disgustingly stuffed.

And now for this week’s, Weekly Wishes…

Do a couple loads of laundry throughout the week. Since we’re back into the swing of a normal week, I want to get back into the routine of doing a couple loads of laundry here and there, rather than all at once on Sunday.
Move 3 times. It’s no secret that I have gotten so terribly out of shape, I want to change that. Right now my back is in really bad shape, every time I stand up, it feels like someone is stabbing me on the right hip/pelvis area and I can feel it pressing on my sciatic nerve. This likely means I have a disc that is starting to bulge, because this is what I went through 3 or 4 years ago. I need to be very careful with my back, until I can strengthen it, because of that I would like to perform yoga 3 times throughout this week.
Check at least 2 more people off of my Christmas list. I’m done shopping for about a handful of people, but still have a bunch to go. I really don’t want to wait until the last minute to find gifts for people, so I’d like to check off at least 2 more this week.

And that’s it, those are my wishes for the week ahead.

Be sure to stop on over and visit Melyssa, from The Nectar Collective and link-up.

Your turn!

What are some of your big goals for the week ahead?

Filed Under: All About Me

Weekly Wishes – New Beginnings

Posted on November 25 by Jillian416 • 2 Comments

Hooray! We’re talkin’ New Beginnings today, with Weekly Wishes!

Weekly Wishes is a link-up started by Melyssa from The Nectar Collective. It is a place where you can post and share you wishes and goals for the week ahead on your blog, Facebook page, Twitter account, etc and then link it up on Melyssa’s blog. I LOVE doing this because it holds me accountable for the week ahead. I’ve shared my goals with the world (through my blog) and I know people will read and wonder whether I stuck to my goals. It definitely keeps me honest!

Happy Monday, friends! I hope you all had a magnificent weekend and that you’re holiday week is shaping up to be a good one. Our weekend was really great, mainly because it was so low-key. I had shared what our plans were for the weekend on Friday, and we pretty much stuck to those plans.

Saturday, Emmett slept in until almost 8 (I was up before him), we had breakfast, watched Bob the Builder and played. When Seamus went to the gym, Emmett and I went outside to play, it was chilly and windy but it was good to get outside and get some fresh air. I got some fantastic pictures of Emmett, that I’ll eventually share, but sadly our fun time ended with some big tears. We were chasing each other around the back yard and Emmett went out onto the driveway, I was going after him to get him back on the grass and he tripped and bonked his head pretty hard. He cried for a good long while, but after some hugs and kisses he was back to himself, with just an added lump 🙁

Once Seamus was home, I went had my hair cut and styled. You might recall that I was struggling to decide whether to cut my hair short again, or allow it to continue growing out. Well, I decided to cut it. I’ve really enjoyed having it short and it is SO much easier to maintain, so I went with it and I’m really happy I did. We ended our night at Frank’s Sunny Italy, it is my FAVORITE Italian food place in the area. In my opinion, there isn’t a single other Italian restaurant in (over) 50 miles that compares. Yummy!!

Sunday, was definitely an easy day. Emmett slept later again, and I was up before him again and then we just lounged around the house and eventually took showers. We did get to Trader Joe’s for some grocery shopping, and other odds and ends. So, I love Wegmans, but TJs is proving to be cheaper as far as weekly grocery shopping goes, it’s worth the 20 minute drive just to get there. The rest of the day was spent finishing up laundry, making lunches and prepping for the week and relaxing as a family. Though, Emmett isn’t much of a relaxer, he prefers to be on the go CONSTANTLY! 😉

This week’s theme for Weekly Wishes is New Beginnings. I took the picture above on Saturday, when Emmett and I were playing. I chose it because it was snowing, and it was the first time it was snowing AND sticking this year. Our chair is still out from the Summer, so it is showing the end of Summer/Fall and the beginnings of Winter.

And now… Weekly Wishes!

I had three goals last week, the first was to cut all gluten out of my breakfast. How did I do? Awesome! I did so so great! I took eggs and some chopped up avocado all week and only had an English muffin on Saturday morning with my eggs. I’m really pleased with myself.

Next was to do one load of laundry a night. I wasn’t perfect with this one, but I did do laundry a couple of times throughout the week, so I’ll take it as a win!

Third, was to take two walks. I did it! I did it!

This Week’s Goals:

Get an oil change. I need to do this before we head out to the in-laws on Thursday. It will likely happen Wednesday on lunch, but it NEEDS to get done!
Not eat like a glutton on Thanksgiving. I want to enjoy the variety of foods that are only around this time of year, but I do not want to pig out to the point that I feel disgusting, then I just don’t enjoy my time.

That’s it, those are my two goals for the week, hopefully they’ll set me up for another successful next week.

Be sure to stop on over to The Nectar Collective and link-up with Weekly Wishes.

Your turn!

What are some New Beginnings that you’ve experienced throughout your life?

Filed Under: All About Me

Weekly Wishes – Memories

Posted on November 18 by Jillian416 • 8 Comments

Happy Monday and Weekly Wishes – Memories

Weekly Wishes is a link-up started by Melyssa from The Nectar Collective. It is a place where you can post and share you wishes and goals for the week ahead on your blog, Facebook page, Twitter account, etc and then link it up on Melyssa’s blog. I LOVE doing this because it holds me accountable for the week ahead. I’ve shared my goals with the world (through my blog) and I know people will read and wonder whether I stuck to my goals. It definitely keeps me honest!

We had such a great weekend! I had decided at the end of last week that I wanted to go shopping to look for Christmas decorations for the house, but convincing Seamus that we needed to go to Christmas Tree Shops on a Saturday is quite the feat. Somehow I managed it, and thanks to Emmett’s early wake up call, we headed out early Saturday morning. Even as early as we got there, the place was packed and it was hard to maneuver through the holiday decoration displays with a cart and a toddler who wants to grab everything. Thankfully, all of the people held Emmett’s attention and we were able to avoid him pulling delicate ornaments off the shelves.

I ended up with a ton of loot and can’t wait to decorate! I’ll probably wait another week or two, I just wanted to make sure we got out to buy stuff before it was all picked over and there wasn’t anything nice left. I’ll share pictures of how everything looks, once I’ve decorated.

Sunday, Emmett was once again up early (5:30 to be exact), but because of that I was able to get a ton of stuff done and still have plenty of time for play with Emmett. We went grocery shopping early, I did a ton of laundry and then did some food prep for the week. We also read the same 3 books about a hundred times, repetition is where it’s at, right? It was a really amazing day and weekend, now I just need to get through the week so I can get to my next one.

This week’s Weekly Wishes theme is memories. I chose the above picture because this was the very first moment I got to hold my son, one of the best memories of my entire life. I had a c-section so I wasn’t able to hold him until after I had been sewn shut. They did bring him over to me while I was still on the table and I was able to whisper sweet things in his ear, but I wasn’t able to hold him until about 45 minutes later. It was the sweetest moment, just feeling his oh so soft skin against mine, absolute perfection.

This week was a big fail, and I even contemplated skipping this post, but if I ever want to get better at reaching my goals I can’t allow myself to skip. So without further ado…

My Weekly Wishes

My first goal last week was to do a load of laundry a night. I didn’t do a single load, until Sunday, I was super lazy and have no good excuse.

Next up was finishing my Everyday Happy class. I also didn’t work on this, but I did work on a lot of blog posts so I wasn’t just avoiding doing any extra work. There’s a slight positive here, I suppose.

Finally, I said I’d move my body and again I failed. I didn’t do a single thing other than a lone walk on Friday afternoon that was super short. Ugh! I’m so frustrated with myself.

This Week’s Goals:

Cut out all gluten from my breakfast. More to come on this in a future post, but I’d like to stick with good healthy proteins and fats.
Do one load of laundry a night. Yep, this is on the goal list again, when I stick to it, Sundays are easier.
Go on two walks. That’s it, two walks and I’ll be happy. I’m thinking of creating a list of rewards for every milestone I hit. I’ve done these before but never stick to them, I’ll either buy the reward before I’ve earned it or I’ll reach the milestone and never buy the reward. I’m going to give this some thought over the next week.

Alright those are my wishes for the week!

Be sure to stop on over and visit Melyssa and The Nectar Collective, and link-up!

Your turn!

What are your goals for the week?

What are your thoughts on rewards for every milestone? Have you ever done it and has it worked for you?

Filed Under: Weekly Wishes

Weekly Wishes – Hobbies

Posted on November 11 by Jillian416 • 4 Comments

Happy Weekly Wishes – Hobbies!

Weekly Wishes is a link-up started by Melyssa from The Nectar Collective. It is a place where you can post and share you wishes and goals for the week ahead on your blog, Facebook page, Twitter account, etc and then link it up on Melyssa’s blog. I LOVE doing this because it holds me accountable for the week ahead. I’ve shared my goals with the world (through my blog) and I know people will read and wonder whether I stuck to my goals. It definitely keeps me honest!

Happy Monday, all! We had a pretty good weekend in the Doodah household, you can read all about it here. I’m feeling really good this Monday morning, not dreading anything that this week might bring. I’m feeling positive and ready to take on the week’s ups and (of course) downs. Truly, I just hope there are more ups! 😉

This week’s Weekly Wishes theme is “hobbies.” Many of you may not know this, but I have an Etsy jewelry shop. Sadly I’ve had my shop closed since I went into the hospital to have Emmett, I just didn’t have the time to make anything new or to keep up with any orders that might have come in. And then around August, when I found that I had a little more time to work on items for my shop, I decided that I wanted to re-brand myself, which is where I am right now. I’m having a new Etsy banner designed for my shop and will then reopen! I’m super excited! Anyhoo – since this week’s theme is hobbies, I thought I’d share a picture of one of my favorite pairs of earrings that I created. I look forward to sharing the reopening of my store, once it happens.

And now, Weekly Wishes!

Last week I decided that I would keep it simple and only give myself two wishes. I think I was feeling overwhelmed with everything and giving myself so many goals to worry about completing was getting to me. In the end, giving myself two goals had a much better success rate!

My first goal from last week was to move my body. Admittedly, I did not do any super sweat sessions, but after reading Erika’s post last week talking about how it’s not so much how you move your body, but that you do it, I realized that even light walks with Emmett are good things. I realize with walks I likely won’t lose any weight but at least I’m doing something and not just being stagnant.

My second goal was to continue to do one load of laundry a night. Another success! Even with Emmett being sick I made sure to take a load of laundry down almost every night. This, once again, left me with only a few loads to do on Sunday, which leaves me more time with my two favorite guys!

This Week’s Goals:

Do one load of laundry a night. I’m sticking with it! It makes my life SO much better and I don’t want that to change.
Finish up Everyday Happy. Everyday Happy has ended but I’m still a bit behind, I want to finish off with a BANG!
Move my body! Another repeat from last week (and the week before and the week before), it’s a good one and a good one for me.

There you have it, my wishes for the week ahead.

Be sure to stop on over to The Nectar Collective and link-up!

Your turn!

What have you accomplished over the last week?

Do you have any new goals for the week ahead?

Filed Under: Weekly Wishes

Weekly Wishes – Warmth

Posted on November 4 by Jillian416 • 8 Comments

Happy Weekly Wishes – Warmth!

Weekly Wishes is a link-up started by Melyssa from The Nectar Collective. It is a place where you can post and share you wishes and goals for the week ahead on your blog, Facebook page, Twitter account, etc and then link it up on Melyssa’s blog. I LOVE doing this because it holds me accountable for the week ahead. I’ve shared my goals with the world (through my blog) and I know people will read and wonder whether I stuck to my goals. It definitely keeps me honest!

It’s Monday again, can you believe that? It’s so cliche, but I really can’t. It literally seems like I had just woken up on Friday and now it’s Monday again. Oh well, such is life!

We had a really awesome weekend!

Saturday, we had big BIG plans to get Emmett’s haircut. A few weeks back when I had been anticipating his haircut I had done some research on local places that cut children’s hair. I wanted someone that was familiar with how a toddler is and the fact that they don’t sit still. When you’re working with scissors, going to a salon that has only worked on adults or older children, just wouldn’t work. We ended up at Kiddie Cuts & More and the stylist was fantastic! She did a really fantastic job, with Emmett and his hair.

Sunday was filled with chores and family time! Emmett decided he wanted to get up early (because of daylight savings time) and was up at 4:30. Thankfully he dozed off for another 30 minutes or so and then woke up for good around 5. Our bodies thought it was 6, but it was till painful on a Sunday. The only positive of getting up that early, was that I got a ton of stuff done, all of my weekly chores were complete by the time 5 o’clock rolled around and that’s a beautiful thing! Since chores were done early, Emmett and I got to go out on a nice chilly walk to Starbucks for my first red cup! My husband thinks I’m silly because I get so excited for a cardboard cup, but I really truly love red cup season. 🙂

The theme this week for Weekly Wishes is warmth. There a million pictures I could have chosen that showed or signified warmth to me, but I went with my coffee from yesterday. I am a lover of Starbucks, through and through, their coffee just makes me happy. It has the ability to warm me from within as I take those first few sips of hot coffee. Mmmm… You’ll almost always find me drinking a Venti Americano with 2 pumps of vanilla and a splash of milk. There a few other sweeter drinks that I like from Starbucks, but I’ll usually avoid those except for on special occasions, because of the calorie count on all of them.

Now onto this week’s Weekly Wishes – Warmth

Fair warning – I did not do well with my wishes for the week. I just fell flat…

The first goal from last week was to finish my home ‘to-do’ list. I still haven’t completed it and I have absolutely zero excuses as for why, I just didn’t do it. Ugh.

Next up, was getting back into my class Everyday Happy. Once again, I just fell flat here. I am ready, willing and able to work on it, but it always seems to come secondary to one of the other many things that I “need” to complete. I need to stop that and make it a priority. I really liked where the class was going and was learning a lot about myself through it.

Of course, I had workout as one of my goals. And sadly, I once again did not complete this goal. I walked a couple of times but nothing more. I don’t even have an excuse.

I had planned to do a load of wash every night. I didn’t fail completely on this one. I did laundry twice during the week which still knocked down the amount of loads I needed to do on Sunday. I’m pleased with that!

Finally, I planned to work on some of the draft blog posts I have. I didn’t get to this one, I just didn’t have time. Any time I was at my computer to blog, I was working on a post for the current day and unfortunately wasn’t able to get further ahead.

This week’s goals:

This week I’m keeping it simple, only two goals. I am honestly wondering if the reason that I am struggling so much with meeting the goals I make, is because I’m putting too much pressure on myself with too many goals. So we’ll try a lesser amount and see how that goes.

Move my body! I need to. My mood has been pretty great the last week, positive and not so much on the dark side, but I would absolutely still feel better if I broke a sweat. I’d like to move and sweat 4 times this week.
Do a load of laundry every night. This goal truly makes my life SO much easier and allows for much more family time on Sundays, when I only have to do 2 or 3 loads versus 7 or 8. Plus it’s not a difficult one. I come home, throw a load in right after work and then throw it in the drier after Emmett’s bath. I typically will fold it the next day when I go put the next load in. I have a pretty easy cycle, just need to stick with it.

Alrighty folks, that’s it for this week. Here’s hoping a smaller list will help make me feel more successful with my wishes and less like a failure.

Be sure to link-up with Melyssa and The Nectar Collective!

Your turn!

Have you set any goals for yourself for the week ahead?

How do you stick to those goals?

Filed Under: Weekly Wishes

Weekly Wishes – Creativity

Posted on October 21 by Jillian416 • 5 Comments

Happy Weekly Wishes! This week’s theme is Creativity.

Weekly Wishes is a link-up started by Melyssa from The Nectar Collective. It is a place where you can post and share you wishes and goals for the week ahead on your blog, Facebook page, Twitter account, etc and then link it up on Melyssa’s blog. I LOVE doing this because it holds me accountable for the week ahead. I’ve shared my goals with the world (through my blog) and I know people will read and wonder whether I stuck to my goals. It definitely keeps me honest!

Happy Monday everyone!

This is a great Monday for me because I am on vacation. Woohoo! Seamus and I took the week off because our anniversary (our 2nd one) is tomorrow and we just wanted to have a relaxing and enjoyable stay-cation. We have a few things planned as a couple and then as a family and I’m excited about all of them. Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to share! 😉

This weekend was relatively unexciting, but we still had a nice time as a family. We had thought about going to the pumpkin patch, but the weather was just too iffy to get stuck in the middle of open fields and then have it downpour. We ended up just spending a lot of time at home, reading and playing with Emmett, which is definitely a wonderful thing since I never feel like I have enough time with him during the week.

I love just watching him play and then having him switch gears and bring a book over to read. He is so good at curling up in your lap and helping you turn the pages. This weekend, his favorite books were a set of flap books that my mom got him for his birthday. He’d bring the whole box of them over, choose which one he wanted to read, and then have us read through them while he opened the flaps. So much fun!

The theme for Weekly Wishes this week was creativity. I like pretending that I’m a good photographer and can take unique photos, even though I’m average, at best. Anyway, when we went to the apple farm to pick apples, I tried my hand at some creative apple shots, the one above is an example of one of my pictures.

And now, Weekly Wishes!

My first wish for the week was to do 1 load of laundry a night. I did it! I did laundry multiple times all week long leaving me only a few loads to do on Sunday afternoon. It felt so good to stay on top of things, I think I’ll keep this as one of my goals for the next week.

Ugh! I had a goal to make a home “to do” list and sadly, I didn’t do it again. I have no idea why I keep skipping this, it will make things so much easier if I have a list.

Finally I made a goal to workout, I did it! Wooohoo! I didn’t follow the schedule I shared last week, but I worked out 4 times and I was feeling fantastic. I am so pleased with the success of this goal.

This week’s Weekly Wishes

Continue to wash 1 load of laundry a night. This made my life so much easier through the week, to do just one load a night instead of 7 loads on Sunday. I’m going to stick with this goal
Make the home “to do” list. I keep saying I’m going to make it and then I don’t. I need to stop making excuses and just get it done. It will make my life easier, which will in turn keep me happy.
Workout. I need to keep the high intensity momentum of last week and keep working out. I felt so great all week, at peace and low stress, I’d like to keep that going.
Participate more in Everyday Happy. Last week got busy, so my class kind of fell off my plate. I need to get back into it and focus, so that I can actually become Everyday Happy.

Alrighty, those are my wishes for this week.

Be sure to visit our host, Melyssa from The Nectar Collective and link-up.

Your turn!

What are some of your wishes for the week ahead?

Filed Under: Weekly Wishes

Weekly Wishes – Celebrate

Posted on October 14 by Jillian416 • 4 Comments

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It’s time to celebrate with Weekly Wishes!

Weekly Wishes is a link-up started by Melyssa from The Nectar Collective. It is a place where you can post and share you wishes and goals for the week ahead on your blog, Facebook page, Twitter account, etc and then link it up on Melyssa’s blog. I LOVE doing this because it holds me accountable for the week ahead. I’ve shared my goals with the world (through my blog) and I know people will read and wonder whether I stuck to my goals. It definitely keeps me honest!

It has been another perfect Fall weekend in Buffalo, the weather was just beautiful, sunny and warm. Who could ask for more!? We had a pretty laid back, but awesome weekend. Saturday, Emmett and I made our weekly trip to the Elmwood-Bidwell Farmers Market for fruits, veggies and cheese. I got a brand new cheese flavor from First Light Farm & Creamery, it is amazing and I’ll be sharing what it is, later in the week.

We did almost have a small catastrophe, Emmett carries around this small stuffed monkey that Seamus and I bought him when he was brand new, he loves that thing and it goes with us everywhere. Well, it was in the buggy with him and at some point, without me realizing it, he threw it out. When I finally noticed it was gone, I had no idea where he’d dropped it or how long ago it had been. I had only gotten through a couple vendors before I had to turn around retrace our steps. In my head I’m running through how we’d find something similar for Emmett to hold (I mean, he sleeps with this thing and demands it before bed), when I thankfully saw it lying on the ground right on our street, completely unharmed. Phew!! Crisis averted!

Sunday was a day at home, spent tidying up around the house. I did about 7 loads of laundry because I always do everything on Sunday afternoons, we also went grocery shopping and then watched some football. The perfect Fall family day!

This week’s Weekly Wishes theme is celebrate. I chose the picture above because one of the most fun days recently, was the day we celebrated Emmett’s first birthday. We did have a party for Emmett and that was a lot of fun, but we held that a few weeks after his actual birth date, the picture above is from the actual day of birth. We had a really wonderful time that day. Seamus and I both took off from work and spent the day celebrating with Emmett. We did things that interested a 1 year old, not things that interested us. It was such a special day, and when the time of his birth rolled around, I made sure to spend a moment sharing what we had experienced at that very moment. The moment, Emmett took his first breath and made his first cry. Music to my ears! I plan on doing this yearly with him, for as long as he’ll allow it. 🙂

Back to my Weekly Wishes!

My first wish from last week was to continue to be an active participant in the Everyday Happy e-course. If you read my post yesterday, you can see that I am doing my very best to remain vested in this program. I want to be happy and I want to make an effort in that happening. So this goal is a COMPLETE success! Woohoo!

Next up was to create a “to-do” list of everything that needs to be done around the house. I failed this one, big time. 🙁 I seriously forgot that I had made this one of my goals. Grr! I’m irritated with myself for that. Guess that means I need to check-in with my Weekly Wishes post more frequently this week.

Finally, I gave myself a goal of working out 4 times and even made a schedule of what I should do on each day. This one is a partial fail, I did walk a few times with Emmett, but it was no where near the level of exertion I need to lose weight. And, now that I’m done nursing, I need to be more mindful or the weight that I lost before my wedding, will all come creeping back. Yikes!

And now for this week’s goals –

Do 1 load of laundry a night. I’m so sick of having 6 or 7 loads of laundry to do on Sundays because I was lazy and didn’t do any during the week. There’s no reason why I can’t come home from work and throw a load in the washer. This one will make my weekends less stressful, worrying about how I’m going to get everything done and still find time to relax.
Create that “to-do” list I mentioned last week. This will help with getting things done. If I have a list in front of me of tasks that need completion, when I find that I have 15 spare minutes, I can jump on one and get it checked off. Is there a better feeling than checking off an item on your to-do list?
WORKOUT! Yep, that deserves caps and it needs to happen this week. I’m sick of reporting any failures on this goal to you, so I need to hold myself accountable. I’m going to give the schedule I came up with last week a try. “Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, change clothes at work and come home and either do a wog or ride my bike, with Emmett. Wednesday, change clothes at work and ride my bike. Friday, off. Saturday and Sunday can be any form of cardio, walking, wogging, biking, just as long as I stay active.”

Okay, those my goals for the week. Help hold me accountable, folks!

Please join me in linking-up with The Nectar Collective.

Your turn!

What do you have to celebrate this week? Share in the comments below!

Check out all of my other Weekly Wishes and see what I’ve been working on.

Filed Under: Weekly Wishes