birthday weekend! 28 goals before 29

i'm so happy it's friday!

this sunday marks my 28th birthday and i'm feeling great about growing older.

i feel like i'm in a really good place right now with my goals, my health, my relationships, and my career.

i'm embracing my grey hair and quiet evenings in with my boys, but i still love to dance and go on as many adventures as possible!

over a year ago, i started to make a "26 before 27" list, but fell a little short. so here's my new list of 28 things i'd like to do before i'm 29:
1. more date nights with my j (weekly would be ideal)
2. build 2 raised garden boxes in our yard
3. get certified to teach zumba
4. go kayaking with my best friends
5. spend more weekends in the hammock with a good book
6. girls weekend with my lovely ladies
7. lose 15 pounds
8. run a 5K
9. finish our backyard landscaping - more flowers!
10. make blurb books for each year that j + i have been together (aka organize our photos)
11. take a yoga class
12. travel to europe
13. cut bangs
14. build a pergola onto our deck
15. go to more shows (music + art)
16. buy some quality classic jeans that fit well and don't stretch out
17. cabin weekend in north georgia
18. pick back up the ukelele and learn at least 2 new songs
19. spend more weekends with my nieces - they are growing up so fast
20. research more about adoption processes
21. scan in all my parents' pictures and help them organize them all
22. have a set zumba class at a fitness center/ gym
23. more thrift store trips
24. more dates with my mom and mother-in-law (same for my sister and sister-in-law)
25. make more healthy meals at home (get out of my comfort zone with meals)
26. start a strength training regimen
27. hang up photos to make a photo wall
28. smile more and do as much as i can to help make others smile (volunteer)

this should make for an interesting year and hopefully by my 29th birthday, i will have completed all of these goals + wishes!
xo

[card via etsy]

girl talk

a few weeks ago i had to fly to LA for work to attend the E3 gaming conference. 

my coworker/ friend was able to get a few of us on the list to see girl talk perform at the GREE party.

it was by far the best party of the week - filled with tons of confetti, toilet paper, and dancing!

if you've never listened to girl talk, make sure to listen to the "feed the animals" album. be warned, you'll want to have an impromptu dance party immediately. thankfully for us, we have some dance machines as our closest friends!

p.s. good luck to my dear friends, chanel and jan, who are hopefully welcoming baby henry into the world today with a speedy and healthy delivery! xo

"let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair..."

we've been working a lot this summer on improving our yard. truth be told, j's been working hard.

we had some weed trees cut down and some stumps ground up so we could have a blank slate. 

we've also recently had the house caulked and painted so everything looks very fresh!

with planning the garden, i really want to have a bunch of flowers. i would love to have flowers (and the shed) pictured above! my mom recently planted some wild flowers in her yard and we're planning on doing the same. i found these wildflower kits from american meadows; i love their site because they have wildflower mixes by region so you know you're getting the best assortment for your climate and area.

i'll make sure to share our garden progress photos with you. it's amazing how far we've already come!
next steps: building on a pergola for the deck and building some raised garden beds.

we'll get to our dream backyard eventually...slowly but surely!
xo

[quote via susan polis shutz]

bob the bear

how amazing is this fake taxidermy bear head?

i'm not sure how many rooms could pull off this look, but i'm into it.

despite the plaster material, the eyes and the fur appear so lifelike!

would you put this up in your home? what color would you want?

so fun!

via etsy

great magazine deal!

i got this deal emailed to me last week and figured i'd share the love! 

being vegetarian and a huge dwell fan, this is a great deal for both magazines.

if you're interested, go here to subscribe. 

you're welcome!

♥

smooth seas

happy monday y'all!
this was such a great weekend that it's hard to be back to the grind (especially because i have to travel to boston for a few days this week). at least next weekend is my birthday weekend!

i got to have an early saturday morning date with my best friend in the world. we walked to get coffee and thankfully managed to avoid getting run over (barely). it's so nice to have someone in your life that enjoys the same things you do. we just walked and talked for almost 2 hours and i always feel so restored afterwards.

j + i had our first sailing lesson on saturday. it was amazing! i feel like we learned a good bit and i can't wait to keep on learning. the only downside to learning to sail in georgia is that lake lanier is really the only local place to learn and it is so crowded with speed boats. the drivers of these power boats come so close to you and one can only assume alcohol is involved. no bueno. we came home, washed j's car (long overdue), went to the dog park, and then picked up some yummy quinoa burgers from farmburger. we ended the night watching "wanderlust" which was cute.

despite the peaceful and productive weekend, our weekend ended on a scary note because we noticed our sweet hound was licked his paws a lot and then we saw that his carpal pads (the pad between the paws and elbow) were ripped open on both front legs! poor little guy. thankfully we're taking him to the vet today and hopefully he won't need surgery. bless his little heart.

hope you had a fun filled weekend!
xo

sail away

happy friday!

i'm feeling so great because i just had a personal fitness assessment at our company's new gym 

and i was in the top "excellent" range on all of the tests (and this was even after 20 minutes on the elliptical)!

j + i are going sailing tomorrow and i know it will be the beginning of something beautiful. it's his first lesson and i was granted the free jump seat by the captain (he said he'd let me learn a bit in the cockpit too)!

this is the first step to accomplishing our dream of sailing.

hope you have a wonderful weekend and stay cool during this heat wave!

xo

picture