September 2013 -- 101 in 1001 Update

September 2013--101 in 1001 Update

Our Goals

1. Add a member to our family.   DUE 11/12/13

2. Pay off all student loans. 

3. Visit NYC.

4. Take a long road trip. 

5. Sell something on Etsy  

6. Have Dad's Crawfish in Louisiana.  

7. Take a trip to Louisiana at least once a year. (2/3) (2014 Trip is planned for January)

8. Host a holiday in our home. 

9. Go camping.

10. Build a real fire.   

11. Rent or buy a house. 

12. Decorate the outside of a house for Christmas.   

13. Stay at or Visit the Biltmore.  

14. Serve in a soup kitchen. 

15. Grow our own tomatoes.

16. ******* 

17. Give an item away each time we buy something new (clothing, housewares, etc).  

18. Go on dates at least every other week.  

19. Complete a blog series together.

20. For one month, don't buy anything extra. 

21. Contact our family members/parents at least once a week.

22. Go to a shooting range. 

23. Go sailing.

24. Get involved in a community service group.

25. Go on a mission trip.

26. Read at least one book a month for a year. (12/12)

27. Start a small business. 

29. Buy a new Christmas ornament each year. (2/3) 

30. Get a massage.  

31. Send a card to a friend or family member just for fun. 

32. Begin a photography business (big or small).  

33. Eat at a local/non-chain restaurant every time we travel. 

34. Visit a new place together once a year. (2/3)  (So far this year...Charleston, Raleigh, Pennsylvania)

35. Ride in a hot air balloon.  

36. Attend at least one festival a year in the state where we live. (2/3) (2012: Spring Fest, 2013: BBQ Fest)

37. Stay at a B&B. 

38. Floss more- at least once a week. 

39. Give a 100% tip. 

40. Go see a musical. 

41. Eat a new type of food. (Korean, African, etc)

42. Repurpose a piece of furniture. 

43. Watch a sunrise and photograph it. 

44. Explore secret paths.

45. Do something nice for someone anonymously. 

46. Pick fruit at an orchard.  

47. Get a library card. 

48. Go to a garage sale together. 

49. Celebrate our Golden Birthdays in style!  

50. Make homemade ice cream. 

51. Learn a new hobby together.

Leslie's Goals

52. Lose my desired amount of weight.  

53. Continue to utilize this blog to document our lives especially once we start having children.

54. Get a Skype account and use it. 

55. Paint something worth looking at (not just a wall)  

56. Add at least one cross to my cross collection. 

57. Learn to make the best sweet tea my husband has ever tasted. 

58. Make homemade marshmallows.  

59. Sell/Give away at least one cake or cupcakes that I've decorated for a party/gathering/birthday/etc.

60. Plan a scavenger hunt for Matt. 

61. Bake and decorate each of Matt's birthday cakes. (2/3)

62. Rake someone's leaves.

63. Meet up with at least one other blogger whose blog I read. 

64. Complete a blog series or post about our wedding, including the planning. Just for my own sake :) 

65. Continue mailing out birthday and anniversary cards to our friends and family. 

66. Invite someone to stay with us for a weekend or longer at least once a year. (2/3)

67. Complete a vlog.

68. Go fishing.

69. Make a point to call my closest friends as often as possible, not just texting. 

70. Take a continuing education class related to Autism or other childhood disorders.  DONE 9/19/13

71. Find a yummy Low Country Boil recipe and cook it. 

72. Take at least one picture of Matt and I every time we travel.

73. When we take a long trip (5+ hours one way), drive so that Matt doesn't have to. 

74. Take a trip to visit a few special friends (we know who they are).   

75. Take a cake decorating class. (hope to do this in the first of 2014; considered doing it this year but we are running out of time at this point :))

76. Read a book, write a blog post about it, and link up with a book club blog. 

Matt's Goals

77. Run a 5k. (Matt did this on September 21st!! He didn't run in an official race but he did complete a full 5k+ run. I am so proud of him and hope to write one day soon about him running in an official race!)

78. Take a photography class. 

79. Take Leslie to an air show. 

80. Make a picture frame out of an old or hand-made window frame.  

81. Go to a college football game.  (Planned for October)

82. Get a dog.  
83. Get a new camera lens.  

84. Make my wife cry in a good/romantic/sweet/you get the idea way. 

85. Give Leslie a love letter at least once a month for a year.  

86. Visit Chimney Rock, N.C. 

87. Wear a suit, and look good doing it. ;) 

88. Visit a new, to me, zoo. 

89. Watch the Flyers destroy the Hurricanes in Raleigh (hopefully with Leslie).  

90. Fix something for someone.  

91. Cook something new and exciting. 

92. Swim in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

93. Make something from scratch. 

94. Do something with Granddad. 

95. Journal more often.

96. Learn all the words to OR learn how to play one of Leslie's "high school days" favorite rap songs.

97. Teach something to someone.

98. Ride a horse.

99. Surprise Leslie with surprises.  

100. Spend an entire day, literally the entire day, in bed. Hopefully not while sick. 

101. Figure out how we will finish all 101 things on this list. 

Ours: 30/51

Leslie: 16/25

Matt: 19/25

Total: 65/101

Last Day of Full Time Work {September 30th}

As of today, I have worked my last full time day as a Speech Language Pathologist before baby comes and hopefully for a long time! I will continue to work PRN during October and then I will take off completely November and December. At the first of the year, I will work PRN as well. Grateful for God giving me and our family this opportunity! :)

Alphabet Wall {Nursery Decor}

Long before we ever talked about having a baby, I knew that I wanted to have an alphabet wall for the nursery. I think it is such a fun way to decorate a baby's room. Matt and I also love to read so it's kind of an homage to that love. 

Here is the way it turned out. 

Here are a few up close pictures of the letters. The "A", "R" and "T" were plain wooden letters that we painted. We then took 4x4 tiles and attached scrapbook paper to them, glued the letters over the top and hung them with ribbon.

The "M" was a wedding gift from a friend and we decided to use it as the center letter since the babies initials will be MMM. Such a special way to start the alphabet wall.

If you have any questions about where any particular letter came from, ask away! :)

Picture Wall {A DIY Project}

We have this somewhat awkward wall that separates our living room from our dining room. For the last several months, I have been talking about putting pictures there using twine and clothespins to hang them. I had collected pictures, had twine and clothespins ready but we had yet to complete the project.

Last weekend, we finally completed it! The funniest part is that is only took approximately 15 minutes total. Matt was a rockstar and I LOVE how it turned out! We've got a little room left for one more row and we will hang baby pictures there soon!

Here are a few pictures of the result:

CardStore {A Review}

A couple of weeks ago, Lauren from Cardstore.com contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in reviewing one of their cards. I LOVE to send cards, especially custom ones, so I was all in. After looking at all of their many, many, many options, I decided to do something a little different.

Each week, I have been writing letters to the Baby and Matt has been journaling to the Baby. So I decided it would be fun to send Matt a card from Baby Morgan.

I chose the card template for Large Grey Bubble Card and I personalized it. Here is how it turned out!

I know it's cheesy but when Matt went to the mailbox the other day and had a card addressed to him from our Baby, he was so excited! 

Thanks,  Lauren and Cardstore for this opportunity. I cannot wait to look more at your website when it's time for Christmas cards and baby announcements.