So it's the last day of February and that means my birthday month is about to start! So last year I was all excited about turning 30, but this year 31 just sounds like well, eh! Last year I celebrated the big 3-0 with a bang and the year after it's just like, "OK, I have another birthday...whatever!" Don't get me wrong, I like small gatherings and don't want anything big each year; having cake at home with the hubs and kids is all I really need on my actual birthday, and then maybe going out to eat with the extended family the weekend after. Also, I love going to the Philadelphia Flower Show every year with my mom, it's been our little tradition for a few years now. 

I don't want to top last year, it's just a feeling of, "Wow my twenties are really behind me, I'm now in my thirties!" In my thirties, doesn't that just sound crazy!! I'm sure everyone goes through this when they reach the next stage in their life; their 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, etc. that they just can't believe they are at this age and how quickly it seemed to come. 

However, it also inspires and motivates me as I look back at how much I've grown as a person, how much I've learned, how much I've challenged myself, and makes me want to keep striving for more. You never stop learning and you never want to stop challenging yourself. But right now I am proud of who I am, I'm proud of where I am in life, and I'm very blessed in life as well.

So now it's time to link up with Steph and Amber for Happies & Crappies!! 

Happies...

1. Life is about being brave and putting yourself out there; take chances and get dirty! So this passed week I took my girls to our favorite local restaurant and my youngest step-daughter was really hitting it off with our waiter. Every time he walked by he would smile and look right in her direction. He even went the long way back to the kitchen just so he could pass our table! So her sister said that she HAS to talk to him and find out how old he is and if he goes to the same school. Well, this was a lot to ask because she doesn't really like to talk to guys she thinks are cute and so she was freaking out! That's when her sister said, "20 Seconds of Bravery!" Do you know this quote? It's from "We Bought a Zoo" and it's one of my youngest step-daughter's favorite quotes and well now she just had to talk to him since her sister put her on the spot like that! Well, she found out that the waiter was a little bit older than she thought, and that wasn't going to fly with my husband (maybe in a year or so!). But, we were very proud of her for being brave and putting herself out there, it took a lot of guts to talk to him. YOU GO GIRL!

2. Though I haven't been eating the healthiest types of food (cheesesteak on Tuesday, cookies today, and probably other crap I shouldn't have eaten!), I have been exercising with my girl Jillian Michaels all week long. I love her Ripped in 30 work out that consists of 4 weeks of different exercise routines. Oh and a few weeks ago I tweeted her and she TWEETED BACK!

LOVE HER!!! 

3. As I mentioned before (well when I was interning) that I'm the new blog assistant over at East Coast Creative...and if that isn't cool enough they also have a DIY TV SHOW called Knock it Off! But this isn't my happies, but I mean really that is pretty fantastic! So, in just a few days one of the biggest and most kick ass blog design contests is about to go down on their blog and there are big prizes involved, plus big blog stars! If you love DIY then you will want to stayed tuned on March 3rd and get your submission in for your chance to compete and be able to have a big blog star mentor you. But wait, that's not all! Even if you don't enter to be apart of the design competition, you can enter to win an awesome vacation to Punta Cana...sweet! It's called Creating with the Stars and you can check out a post on their blog with all the details...what are you waiting for?! 

Crappies...

1. My only crappies for this week is my bad habit of procrastination! I need to write a schedule and keep up on using my desk calendar...right now there is a pile of junk on it! I just get down in the dumps in the winter time, it can get tough sometimes when you work from home and don't interact with people every day. Working from home isn't always all that it's cracked up to be. Plus, there are so many distractions and everyone just thinks you have time to do everything because well you work from home! I need to change this and waking up earlier and not staying up till 2 am the night before would probably help! 

So, what are some happies and crappies from your week? 

Happies and Crappies: Let's Get Focused!

Happy Friday! I really want 2014 to be all about getting organized and more focused. I'm trying to procrastinate less, yeah right...spend less time on Social Media, which I did okay with at the start of this week but then crashed mid-week, and really focus more on what I want to and should be doing. So more personal blog posts, more exercise and eating healthy, more crafting and scrapbooking, focus more on my work instead of staying on Social Media for 2 more hours than I need to be, and pay more attention to the positive things in life and focus less on the negative things. What do you want 2014 to be about for you? 

Alright, now it's time for Happies and Crappies, who is joining me?! 

Happies

1. I have to give a shout out to our Happies and Crappies host Steph over at The Vintage Modern Wife and say CONGRATS on your little bundle of joy you are expecting!! So happy for you and your husband! 

2. It's getting warmer here in the Northeast and the snow is melting, yay! I'm looking forward to Spring and to the Philadelphia Flower Show. This year's theme is "Articulture", pretty cute play on words there huh?! 

3. I am finally putting together our wedding album four years later and I'm so glad I waited because I just loved these pocket page style scrapbooks! I knew I didn't want to go the traditional route of just getting our photos printed in an album. Though I wasn't sure how I wanted to put together our scrapbook either. So, if you are thinking the same thing, well you are going to love Project Life and similar products like these. I have Project Life pages, but cards and similar style pages from Me and My Big Ideas  as well, which I used here...

How cute are the cards?! 

4. I saw this really neat idea on Facebook of using a jar and writing down happy thoughts and memories each time they happen and storing them inside the jar. Then on New Year's Eve you open the jar and read all of the memories from that year. I don't always remember to write them down, but I really love doing it. It makes me smile now when I write them and I can't wait to read them aloud to everyone on New Year's Eve to share all of my wonderful memories of 2014 with them! It's not too late to start yourself! After everything that happened at the end of 2013, I just felt like this was really needed to help bring my spirits back to a better place. 

Happy Memories of 2014 Jar!

Crappies 

1. I don't really have too many this week, one really funny one I guess?! So, I wasn't feeling that great earlier this week and I had this same feeling last week too. My stomach was upset, my head was aching bad, and all I really wanted to eat was soup and crackers. Well, it turns out that this little illness or whatever it was may have been caused by a spider bite or what we think is a spider bite that is on my hip! Yes, I'm really telling you about this, haha! I looked up bites and found that you can feel nauseous and sick from spider bites and they looked similar to the photos that were with the article. I love how in the dead of winter all these creepy bugs like spiders and stink bugs like to hibernate in our house! Well, Spring is almost here and hopefully they will go outside!

I hope your week had more happies and less crappies, here's to a great weekend! 

Happies & Crappies: Valentine's Day Edition

Happy Valentine's Day!! 

I'm linking up again with Steph at The Vintage Modern Wife and Amber at Brunch with Amber for Happies & Crappies this week...

Happies: 

1. Last week the wonderful and sweet Jacin from Lovely Little Details  shared her idea of the Valentine fairies on her social media pages. The idea was to send Valentines to kids who needed to know someone out there loved them. Such a sweet and thoughtful idea, it makes my heart happy to know there are people out there like her! So she sent me the address of Paige from The Birthday Party Project, which is an amazing organization who helps homeless and underprivileged children celebrate birthdays who might not otherwise because their parents have no money. So, why not send them love all year round with beautiful, handmade Valentine's Day cards?! The crafty side of me was so thrilled to finally turn on my Cricut machine after it had been sitting idle for a year or so! 

2. My oldest step-daughter had realized that going to college for music therapy really wasn't where she wanted to be for the rest of her life. She still has a passion for singing and she loves helping people, but she just didn't love the program at school. You have to do what you love, so we fully supported her decision to finish the semester and take a year off to figure things out. Well, my husband just so happened to be reading about a Red Cross CNA program at a local nursing home that she had been a volunteer at since the age 12! So, here we are a month later, she has graduated the CNA program with honors receiving the highest grade in class and already has a job lined up at the nursing home! How amazing is she, such an inspiration. We're so proud that she never gave up on herself and believed that there was something else out there for her! 

Crappies

1. This crappy didn't happen this week, but it makes me sad that this is my mom's first Valentine's Day without her Valentine. I still have a post in draft that has been sitting there for a month because I just couldn't get through talking about what happened. Well here goes, right before Christmas, on December 10th my step-dad passed away after quickly deteriorating from stage four lung cancer that spread all over his body and to his brain. We didn't even know anything this serious was going on. On Thanksgiving Day he didn't look well and he looked like he had lost weight since I last saw him during a Halloween party, only a month before that. My mom kept telling him to go to the doctor's but he said he was fine, clearly he wasn't. He went into the hospital only about a week or so before he passed, it had gotten so bad that he couldn't get up, so my mom called an ambulance. He knew he was sick and dying, but I believe he didn't want us to have to deal with it, plus I think the tumor in his brain was making he act the way he was. There were masses all over his lungs and a big tumor in his brain. He was a smoker for 40 some years, and was only 60 years old when he passed.  

I think about him all the time and think about my mom and how she is now in an empty house, though we visit as often as we can and she has her dog. It just breaks my heart. He was a good man, a good step-dad who put up with my mom's three daughters (my two sisters and I), drove me to college, stood with my mom at our wedding, and loved my mom with all his heart. Mike, you will always be loved and will always be missed. 

I love this picture of the two of them at our wedding! 

WE LOVE YOU MIKE, REST IN PEACE.