Chronically Distracted Link Up: Love & Marriage

Posted by Nat on Apr 26, 2012 | 3 comments

I’m quickly going to link-up to Chronically Distracted, the Happiness Project gals.  This month is about love & marriage.  I could choose from three prompts, and I am choosing the first, “What makes a happily married couple?”

I’m going to try to not make anyone puke- really.  Because if there’s anything I’m certain of in my life, it’s that I have found the man for me.  We are {happily married} x {a billion}.  I love my man and he loves me.  TLF.

{Did you puke yet?  Sorry.}

When I look back on all of the dating I did before I met Michael (and oh, my, how much dating there was), it’s interesting.  Especially now that we’ve been married 6.5 years, have three kids, and are still going strong.  Each of the men I dated exclusively, regardless of how long, had qualities that somehow led to the end of our relationships.  Ending a relationship is hard and very-not-fun.  But when I look back on each of those guys and think about the things I DID like about them…. Michael is each of those things and more.  He is the complete package for me.

I digress.  What makes a happily married couple.  Focus.

I think that there are so many things, but what it comes down to is… you have to not just love the person, you have to really, really like them and respect them.  Be their hero.  Even when you’d rather do more for yourself or focus on yourself, you put them first.

In our marriage I think Michael is better at that than I am in most cases.  He is the ultimate family man.  He knows that when he comes home from a demanding, challenging job, I need him to jump in and help with our three kids because I’m a little frazzled and need some down time- or at least some time to do one thing uninterrupted, which is impossible with three kids at home.  Our routine when he comes home from work during the week is pretty set.  He walks in the door and the kids jump up to hug and kiss him.  He walks into the kitchen where I am usually cooking dinner and says, “What do you need me to do?”  Every time.  Without fail.  The only exception is when he has a migraine or is sick.

Michael and I do not fight.  We discuss.  He has his MBA, and a big focus in that program, which he finished just before we got married, was negotiation.  It may sound funny, but I think all of his negotiation knowledge has helped more than just his career- it’s helped our marriage.  We rarely disagree on much, but if we do, we find ourselves trying to help each other understand rather than just blowing up and getting angry.  We are also both people pleasers, so we don’t like to argue.

Lastly, and we are getting better at this:  you have to go on dates.  Often.  Our budget is tight these days, but we still spend money on dates, babysitters and the whole 9 yards.  We hold onto the couple we were before our kids, our amazing, beautiful, time-consuming, energy-eating kids came along.  We love all three of them so much, but we also try to focus on the fact that they are here….because we love each other.  If we lose that, we lose a lot.  Plus there’s the fact that unless we go on dates, it’s difficult to have an uninterrupted conversation before 8 p.m.

So that’s my story.  That’s my marriage, or at least a glimpse of it.  This photo below is so special to me.  I love the light, and I love the feeling of it- we’ve just been joined in marriage and are walking out the door into the rest of our lives.  And now that we’re in it- it’s pretty damn good.

Today’s the day! #CUYPB2012!

Posted by Nat on Apr 26, 2012 | Comments Off on Today’s the day! #CUYPB2012!

Just got back from dropping my two oldest at school!  I can’t wait to get started after I have some coffee and let the caffeine do some work.   If you have no idea what I’m talking about, click here to go to my original post!

Here’s my plan:

I’m going to start with my biggest boards and weed through them, pin by pin.  I’m going to check sources, and then (this will be painful) I’m going to divide them into smaller boards.  My Food & Drink board especially needs work- it’s too hard to find what I want when looking for recipes.

I’m going to look for misplaced pins.  Sometimes I end up with a funny pin in my Things I’d Like to Make board.

I’m going to move to smaller boards as I can.  The big boards may take quite a while.

I’m going to update all of my covers.

I’m going to assess my board titles- do they make sense?  Is it easy to tell what each board is about from the title?

Are you joining in?  Let me know!  Tweet me- I’m @nataliechiles on Twitter, and our hashtag is #CUYPB2012!

Are You Ready for CUYPB2012?

Posted by Nat on Apr 25, 2012 | Comments Off on Are You Ready for CUYPB2012?

“What’s CUYPB2012?” you ask?  It’s Clean Up Your Pinterest Boards Day:  TOMORROW!  I am very ready to do a virtual house cleaning of my Pinterest boards.  I’d love for you to join us!

We’ll be tweeting throughout the day using the hashtag #CUYPB2012.

We will also be:

Cleaning up descriptions.

Correcting incorrect sources.

Deleting “bad” pins or ones we have changed our minds about.

In essence:  we’ll be getting our collective Pinterest sh** together.

Who is the “we” I speak of?  I’m hoping lots of people.  For shizzle, it will be Wendy of Wendy Will Blog (did you know she’s got a great fitness challenge going on, too?), and Ashley of It’s Fitting (Ashley is hosting a giveaway for business cards so get on over there!).  These two ladies signed up right away and I will forever love them for it.

It’s going to be the best organizational moment of my life.  Or not.  But I’m sure I will walk away inspired to do more with my Pinterest stuff because it will all ROCK.

Join us!  You can grab the button in my sidebar over there —————————->.

Hope to “see” you tomorrow cleaning up your boards!

Mother’s Day Project & San Diego MNO!

Posted by Nat on Apr 24, 2012 | 15 comments

Are you ready to clean up your Pinterest Boards?  Thursday is Clean Up Your Pinterest Boards Day!  Join us and make sure your pins are legit!  Can’t wait!

Are you ready for Mother’s Day?  I am!  I love having a day to celebrate the fact that I’m a MOM!  I can’t believe I’m 36 and have three beautiful kids.  Before I get into the details of my post, I want to share an event I’ll be attending and am SO EXCITED about!    I’m also on the committee promoting it because I am so thrilled that this group exists for the sole purpose of giving MOMS a NIGHT OFF!  Woot!

If you are a San Diego mom, you should come to San Diego Mom’s Night Out Mother’s Day Event!  Don’t worry, it’s not on the “real” Mother’s Day- it’s Thursday, May 10th.   National Mom’s Nite Out is the first nationally organized celebration of motherhood intended to bring together today’s moms, physically and virtually.  National Mom’s Nite Out unites hundreds of social media groups, companies, local playgroups, mommy bloggers and mother social networks in giving moms a well deserved night off. National Mom’s Night Out consists of local events held across the country including ours!

San Diego Mom’s Night Out Mother’s Day Event is going to be at Bliss 101 in Encinitas.  I live in El Cajon, and let me tell you- the drive will be worth it!  Just a few of the fun things planned: wine, food, skinny shots, massages, and swag bags!  Need I say more?  Go get your ticket, gals!   For reals- it’s going to be so nice!

Now, onto my tutorial- I am so pleased with how these turned out!

First things first:  CREDIT.  I first saw this project on Pinterest, which sent me to Mandy Douglass’ blog, It Will Change Your Life. At the bottom of this post I saw the cutest thing I’ve ever seen for Mother’s Day, and thought to myself, “I HAVE to make this!”  I emailed Mandy, and she so graciously agreed to let me post this tutorial.  Thank you, Mandy!

Update! New Giveaway Winner!

Posted by Nat on Apr 23, 2012 | 1 comment

Hi everyone!  I have some great news!  Our first winner of the Hullabaloo Family Music Festival family-pack of tickets, Mary, realized she will not be able to attend.  Mary graciously emailed me to let me know that she will not be able to use the tickets, so…

I get to pick a new winner, and the winner is….. (drum roll please…)

Kari!

Kari happens to have a beautiful blog, Handmade Mommy. She has three beautiful boys and I hope they all enjoy the festival!

Congrats, Kari!

Printable: House Cleaning

Posted by Nat on Apr 23, 2012 | 3 comments

Before I get into this here printable, don’t forget:  Clean Up Your Pinterest Boards Day is THIS THURSDAY!  Yahoo!  I can feel the organization and inspiration coming back to me now….

I hate cleaning.  You can’t make me like it.  I know I’m not alone in this.  My friend Ashley at It’s Fitting just posted about her cleaning woes at The Trend Tribe last week.

However, I have recently come up with a system that works for me.  It’s more of a maintenance thing.  I still have to do a deep cleaning every once in a while, but sticking to this keeps things presentable and manageable.  And…. If I keep up with it then I don’t have to do much on the weekends, which is so nice!

Each day I have one task, Monday through Friday.  If I get that one thing done, I’m golden.  This does not include laundry- I do laundry when it has to be done, and no sooner.  The kids have to be on their last set of PJs before I will toss in a load.  It also doesn’t include things like dishes.  Dishes are never ending around here.

I respond very well to checklists.  So for this printable, I gave myself space to check off each day’s task so I can at least have one satisfying “Check!” during the week.  I also like that the frame blocks all the crap behind it.  Doesn’t it look so neat and tidy on this shelf?

As you can see below, I did okay this past week.  Vacuuming is so hard around here because all three of my kids- ALL THREE- are TERRIFIED of the vacuum.  It’s ridiculous.  And sad.  It makes me sad to make them cry just because we need clean carpet.

Below is the printable.  I hope you can use it!

And the winner is….

Posted by Nat on Apr 21, 2012 | Comments Off on And the winner is….

Mary!  Mary said, “What a great event this is going to be!:)”  Congrats Mary!  I’m emailing you now to give you the details to attend the Hullabaloo Family Music Festival on May 6th!

I used random.org to select our winner.  Here’s a screenshot of the number chosen:

If you didn’t win, you can head over here to get tickets early!  We’re selling more tickets every day and may have to cap them, so get them while you can!

Happy Weekend everybody!