33. Become more involved with my church by finding something to volunteer in.

I am so excited to say I will be volunteering at my church. We have a lot of out of town guests that come to our church, especially to visit our printing press that we have on site that prints and sends (for free) hundreds of thousands of books all over the world. What is so wonderful is that we have a house next to our church that can sleep up to 15 people so that our guests have a place to stay for free. A couple of weeks ago, an e-mail was sent out asking for volunteers for 2010 to help in preparing our guest house for guests and then to clean the house once guests have left. I signed up for the Spring months. I hope by volunteering for this small part, it will open new opportunities for me to volunteer elsewhere in our church.

15. Plan weekly craft projects with Avie for 6 months. Make it a habit to continue on after the 6 months by putting it on the calendar. (8/24)

Craft Project #8: Make a Gingerbread House

I picked up a kit at Target and was excited to start a new family Christmas tradition.
A friend told me ahead of time to assemble the gingerbread house 24 hours before decorating it so the icing had time to set. We all had such a great time working on this together.

15. Plan weekly craft projects with Avie for 6 months. Make it a habit to continue on after the 6 months by putting it on the calendar. (7/24)

Craft Project #7: Decorate Christmas ornaments.

While visiting family in Chattanooga, TN the week before Christmas, my mother-in-law had a wonderful idea for the kids to decorate Christmas ornaments. Us adults couldn't let the kids have all the fun so we all made ornaments too. What a great chance to make memories!

15. Plan weekly craft projects with Avie for 6 months. Make it a habit to continue on after the 6 months by putting it on the calendar. (6/24)

Craft Project #6 - Make a snowman out of construction paper.

I cut out all the shapes for the snowman and Avie glued all the pieces together and sticking them where she thought they should go. This was fun. We talked about each shape that she was gluing on and it was cool to see her know exactly were all the parts of the snowman's face went to when she had a blank canvas to work with. He is proudly hanging on our refrigerator.

15. Plan weekly craft projects with Avie for 6 months. Make it a habit to continue on after the 6 months by putting it on the calendar. (5/24)

Craft Project #5 - Decorate Avie's 1st Christmas tree for her bedroom.

I got this craft idea from my wonderful sister-in-law, Jennifer.

Before I ever dreamed of having a child, I tried to remember cool ideas when I saw people who had kids when they did something fun. My SIL does an amazing job decking out her house in the most spectacular Christmas decorations and each of her kids have their own Christmas tree in their bedroom that they decorate. I've always loved that idea and wanted to do that with Avie this year now that she's at an age where she can appreciate having a tree in her bedroom. As she gets older, we'll buy a bigger tree for her room but for now she has this cute little one sitting on top of her dresser. She had a blast doing this!

15. Plan weekly craft projects with Avie for 6 months. Make it a habit to continue on after the 6 months by putting it on the calendar. (4/24)

Craft Project #4 - Make turkey decorative settings for Thanksgiving dinner.

I found this craft at JoAnn's Fabric Store.

Avie glued and put together these cute turkey's to put at everyone's Thanksgiving dinner setting. She had a blast and everyone at dinner gave her tons of compliments which totally made her day.

13. Watch the sun set at the beach with Matt.

November 20, 2009 - While horseback riding on Florida's Forgotten Coast, we were able to watch a beautiful sun set on Cape San Blas.

93. Go horseback riding.

November 20, 2009 - I always thought I had to go some place exotic or over seas to ride a horse along the beach but when researching a trip to Florida's Forgotten Coast, I was pleasantly surprised. My husband had never been horseback riding so I thought this would be a nice surprise to give him as part of our anniversary. He knew I had something secretly planned but he had no idea what. I will never forget the look of shock and excitement on his face when we pulled up to the beach and he saw all the horses. We rode horseback along the beach of Cape San Blas for an hour, it was lovely and my bum hurt for the next 2 days! HA!

If you ever get the chance to go, please visit Two-bit Stable. Cheryl was wonderful!

Cape San Blas was recently voted in Coastal Living Magazine as one of the top 10 "Best Hidden Beaches" in the country.

My ride was a 30 year old lead horse named Buddy. Matt's horse was named Sassy and I think they had the names reversed.

40. Go to the Forgotten Coast with Matt for a weekend.

November 20 - 22, 2009

As soon as we moved to Florida two years ago, the first thing I did was get my hands on Southern Living and Coastal Living Magazines. Moving to a new area means a lot of fun exploring and adventure! Southern Living Magazine ran a spread back in January 2008 about Florida's Forgotten Coast (FC) and I knew it was a place we had to visit. So for my 6th wedding anniversary, I planned a surprise trip there for my hubby. For our 5th wedding anniversary we traveled 3 hours West to New Orleans so I thought it was perfect that this year we traveled 3 hours East.

I picked Port Saint Joe as the city we would stay in because of it's rich history and for it being the site of the first Constitutional Convention in Florida in 1838 where it almost became Florida's state capital. The FC is also known as the oyster capital of the world and its GORGEOUS beaches. Most of the beaches there show up constantly in Coastal Living in all sorts of "Top 10" lists. There were so many wonderful things to do and see so I will just post some pictures from our trip. With it's close proximity, we will be going back again.

The FC starts at Mexico Beach and this was our view driving.

It's not called the FC for nothing. We saw, maybe, 4 people on the beach - it was so quiet and it was sea shell heaven! We've never seen so many HUGE, untouched shells just washing on the shore. This specific beach is on Cape San Blas - recently featured in Coastal Living as one of the top 10 hidden beaches in the country.


Seafood Jambalaya, Oyster Po Boy's and Key Lime ANYTHING down there! So dang good. I think I gained 5 lbs just over that weekend. HA! This meal was at Dockside Cafe & Raw Bar.


In Apalachicola at my newly found favorite antique store: The Tin Shed with a view of the bay and some oyster boats.

In Mexico Beach, we visited Killer Seafood an amazing joint known for their famous fish tacos and key lime pie. They were featured in the May 2009 Coastal Living as one of Florida's best seafood dives. The food was all prepared fresh and right in front of us. These were the BEST fish tacos (they used fresh, local Grouper) and I have certainly eaten my fair share of them from all over the U.S.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! Here is to the next 6 years! I love you!

65. Take the money from the yard sale and use it on a family event that we pick together.

We inherited a very gorgeous 150 year old dining room table from my sister-in-law a couple of years ago. It was the table that her and my husband grew up using and she got it when she began her family. She gave it to us when she inherited her mother-in-law's entire dining room collection. Obviously with such an old piece of furniture, the chairs originally matching the table are long gone. We had some make shift chairs to temperarily use until we found something to match. Finally, on a trip with a friend to the Foley Outlets, I found the Parson Chairs I've been wanting. They were originally $100 each and I got them on sale for $69.99 with a $20 off coupon!! I was super excited!! The left over money from the yard sale, we have decided to save and use for our trip to Disney's Animal Kingdom.

15. Plan weekly craft projects with Avie for 6 months. Make it a habit to continue on after the 6 months by putting it on the calendar. (3/24)

Craft Project #3 - Make a Printed-Palm Tree

This week's craft comes from my September 2009 Family Fun Magazine.

Avie had a really fun time gluing "leaves" and "grass" to the paper and she especially loved mommy tracing her hand for the "tree".

15. Plan weekly craft projects with Avie for 6 months. Make it a habit to continue on after the 6 months by putting it on the calendar. (2/24)

Craft Project #2 - make a decorative door hanger.

This week's craft comes from "Toddler Toddler" which is a great website for, you guessed it, TODDLERS!

Avie made this for her bedroom door handle. She just loves stickers so when I found this, I knew this would be perfect for her.

Here is the link for craft instructions:
Toddler Toddler - For the Modern Toddler

15. Plan weekly craft projects with Avie for 6 months. Make it a habit to continue on after the 6 months by putting it on the calendar. (1/24)

I've done plenty of research and have surprisingly found plenty of craft projects for my 2 year old daughter. She LOVES doing hands on stuff and is constantly wanting to help mommy and daddy in almost everything we do. I have planned 24 craft projects over the next 6 months and am thoroughly excited for each one!

Craft Project #1 - make homemade caramel apples. I thought it would be fun to start this 101 with a food craft. ;)

Recipe taken fromBrach's homepage

Ingredients
• 1 (14 oz.) pkg. Brach’s® Milk Maid® Caramels
• Wooden Sticks (FREE inside 14 oz. Milk Maid® Caramel bags!)
• 5 – 6 Medium Apples
• 2 Tbsp. water

Directions
Microwave: Wash apples and dry thoroughly. Unwrap and place Brach’s® Milk Maid® Caramels and water in small, deep microwaveable glass bowl. Microwave at full power about 3 minutes*, stirring once or twice, until mixture is smooth. Place each apple into bowl, spooning mixture over apple until it is completely coated insert wooden stick into stem end and remove from bowl, scraping excess coating from bottom of apple. Place apples on greased waxed paper and chill until set.

Stove Top: Wash and dry apples. In a small, heavy saucepan over low heat, melt Brach’s® Milk Maid® Caramels with water, stirring frequently, until mixture is smooth. Continue as directed above.

*Recipe tested in a 500-watt microwave oven. Because oven vary, you may need to adjust heating time.

Helping daddy unwrap all the caramels.

Smashing peanuts for toppings.

The finished project. Aren't they beautiful?!

43. Host a chili party on Halloween.

I stole this idea from a good friend of mine. A chili feast on Halloween night is a family tradition that she has done since she was a little girl. Her mom would cook up a big pot of chili with all the side fixings and the kids in the neighborhood would fill up on a warm and hearty meal before going out in the cold for trick or treating. Living in Florida, it does not get that cold but I just loved the idea of all the kids and their families getting together before trick or treating.

I invited 8 families in our neighborhood for our 1st Halloween Chili and Cornbread Feast. The party was an hour before the kids went out trick or treating which was great because it made the party short and sweet and the menu was small and easy. I made a big pot of chili, a double batch of corn bread, brownie bites and hot apple cider. Everyone had a great time - especially the kids! After the kids were done trick or treating, some families came back to eat more chili. At the end of the night, there was only enough left for maybe two bowls of chili!

One of the beautiful parts of living in our subdivision is that there is a handful of kids the same age as Avie. They were all born within days of each other! It's great knowing that Avie has kids to play with on any given day and hopefully will grow up being great friends. Can't wait till next year's bash!!Above: Avie with Oriana (dressed as a witch & her mom had on a matching costume - they were too cute!) snatching a few of the party favors.

Below: Avie with Autumn (dressed as Cinderella) chowing down on chili and corn bread.

64. Participate in our annual subdivision yard sale.

FINALLY I have my garage completly cleared out and my car can fit!!! I had my yard sale on Friday, October 30, 2009 and Saturday, October 31, 2009 from 7 am to noon. I made 90% of my money on Friday. It was insane!! I had people showing up at 6:30 am and couldn't close down at noon because people kept coming and I ended up closing at 2:00 pm! On my second day, in order to get rid of the rest of my "junk" I told shoppers that everything was half off. The way everyone acted, one would think I was selling diamonds! LOL! In the end, I only had 2 very small boxes and 1 bag of shoes to take to The Waterfront Mission. My first yard sale was a huge success!

19. Read one parent/self-help book a month for a year. (7/12)

#7 - OCTOBER 2009 - Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler

After telling a friend at church that Matt and I wanted to start trying for baby #2, she recommended this book that she has been using for all 11 of her pregnancies - yes you read that correctly . . . 11 pregnancies! This book has been amazing and I have learned so much about my cycle. Hopefully I will be able to cross off #1 on my list soon!!! ;)

66. Make a scrapbook for my brother and his wife for their 1 year wedding anniversary.

My brother and his wife celebrate their one year wedding anniversary October 18, 2009. I wanted to do something special for them and I decided to make a homemade scrapbook of their wedding day for them to use as a coffee table book. I was able to deliver it to them in person when I took a trip to Virginia early in the month of October. It was great to see how much they liked it in person and to know my hard work was appreciated! YEAH!

19. Read one parent/self-help book a month for a year. (6/12)

#6 SEPTEMBER 2009 - Sookie Stackhouse Series by Charlaine Harris - read all but the last 2 books in the series.

This momma decided to let my brain rest with all the self help and parenting books this month. I really needed something fun and got another FANTASTIC book series recommendation from my sister-in-law. LOVE this book series and am looking forward to book #10 to come out October 2009.

37. Go para sailing with Matt in Destin at the annual family trip.

Thankfully the weather was awesome during our annual family vacation so I was able to knock out this 101. It was even more fun because I got to go up with Matt and my youngest sis-in-law at the same time while my other sis-in-law and her hubby waited to go after us. It was pretty cool being up 500 feet in the sky. Really quite up there and breathtaking. I would TOTALLY go again!Our captain checking our safety gear before take off.

Going

Going

GONE!

38. Collect shells along the beach with Avie.

FINALLY my daughter actually likes the beach this year!! I was so excited that the past few times I took her to the beach she played in the sand and went in the water so I knew it was time to do this 101. I am in the process of re-decorating our house with chic beach decor and have this antique Mason pickle jar that is almost as tall as Avie that we've been wanting to fill with shells. So now we have a place to display the shells that we found on her first time collecting. We had a great time walking around and picking up all sorts of shells off our favorite beach: Perdido Key.

58. Do something special for Matt for all his hard work.

I truly have the best husband in the world!! (I hope every woman thinks that of her husband) He is the hardest working person I know. He manages being a full-time father/husband, works full-time and goes to school full-time yet he ALWAYS makes time for all the fun family stuff and ALWAYS makes us feel loved. Words cannot express how thankful I am that I am able to stay home and raise our daughter and god willing, future children. I am so proud of him for being the upstanding man that he is and I know he is going to lead our family to greatness.

Since I know he lives and breathes Miami Hurricane football, I thought it would be appropriate to do something nice for him that involved his favorite team. I bought a Miami flag and was going to have the flag pole attached to the house and have the flag flying when he arrived home from work on September 7, 2009. It was perfect timing because that was the first Miami game of the season. At the last minute he decided to take Labor Day off and take the family to the beach - what a nice guy! So instead of surprising him with the flag already hanging, he helped me put it up. It was the thought that counted and he was very excited so all in all it turned out nicely. Especially since Miami won that night against one of their biggest rivals: FSU!!