First book finished...

The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

I mean, I read this book in high school, and remembered liking it, so when I saw it on sale for a few bucks, I picked up a copy (the book cover doesn't look like this one, but this is what I remembered from high school). It's definitely an interesting book and reading it again shed some new light on it, I think, because honestly I don't really remember what I learned the first time. The biggest takeaway this time was that at the beginning I assumed he was in some sort of mental institution, based on how he was describing things, and that was pretty much confirmed at the end. But this was essentially the story of how he pretty much had a mental breakdown. Poor Holden Caulfield! Anyway, I'm glad I read it again, it's strange feeling like you're in someone's head!

You know you're in the south wheeeeenn...

School is cancelled because:
1. It is too cold outside (I will admit 10 degrees is pretty cold... but I never got school cancelled)
2. It is GOING to snow (note it doesn't actually HAVE to snow)
3. It snowed an inch
4. It snowed three days ago and they can't manage to clean all the roads off

I will say they aren't great at cleaning roads quickly, and there is a lot more ICE than snow, but goodness, metro Richmond schools were canceled for the entire week this week because it snowed on Tuesday evening.

So beautiful!

I was so pleasantly surprised this morning to wake up to the beautiful snow covered ground. In my room, I have the blinds closed and the curtains shut so that I don't have to wake up earlier than I want to from the light. Sooo... I can't really see outside. Then I heard on the radio that it was snowing, and I laughed and thought, probably not in Richmond city.

Then I got up and looked out the window and I just find snow so magical to watch. It reminds me of times when I was young and living in MA waiting for school to be cancelled because of the snow. I mean, it had to snow at least 5 or 6 inches in order for school to be cancelled, but the anticipation was always there! It's still snowing now and I am enjoying the little bit of watching it until I actually have to go out and drive to work. <3

2014 - Goals for the year

2013 I had some lofty goals and I completed a lot of them, but not all of them. In 2014 I would like to have fewer goals than 2013. So, without further ado, here are my goals for 2014.

1. (Incomplete 2013 Goal) Lose at least 15 pounds (I would love to lose 30, but I want to make a realistic goal)
2. (Incomplete 2013 Goal) Get back in shape or at least become more active by doing some form of exercise frequently
3. Visit at least two new places
4. Read 6 books (one every two months is probably doable)
5. Enjoy the year of 2014

Sorry, guys, I know this isn't super exciting, but I think I needed to tone it down a bit this year! Last year my goals were lofty. This year, even without goals, I hope to accomplish a lot and enjoy the year. 

Interesting Piece of Mail

Today I got a strange piece of mail. The outside of the envelope looked like this:

I'm sorry, what?!?! 14 years of Loyal Membership... It's funny that I don't ever remember getting a 10 year, or 8 year, or 5 year gift, so I was curious what it was that AAA had in store for my 14 years of membership.

See below for the answer to that question:

Just in case I didn't have enough wall space, here's a "Member Appreciation Certificate"

Just what every 30-year-old wants in life... Membership only
pricing for Life Insurance

And last but not least, a bunch of "James Family" stickers and a
lot of return address labels

Uhhhhh... I was surprised, but it was enough to make me laugh and write a blog about it!

2013 Goals - How did I do?

I gave myself a list of 30 goals to complete before the year. You can read that blog here if you want. But see below to see how I finished out the year. I completed 26 of the 30 original goals, but then switched two out (Re-finance my mortgage and go to more than one squirrels game). So I really completed 28 out of the new 30 goals, which is about 93% completion - still an A. The two goals I did NOT complete were losing 15 pounds and getting back in shape. These will now be new goals for 2014.

So see below for the final year in review. Thanks for following! My 2014 goal list will come out sometime next week and will have way FEWER goals than 2013. Like just bringing forward the two I didn't complete, one of the ones I traded out, and adding some BOOKS to read! I'm hoping to be pretty low key in 2014.

1. Start a blog (check) AND write a post at least once per month (January, February, March, April,May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December)

2. Visit three or more new places - Ha! I visited 7 new STATES nevermind places!

3. Lose at least 15 pounds (I would love to lose 30, but I want to make a realistic goal) - Not complete

4. Get back in shape or at least become more active by doing some form of exercise frequently - Not complete

5. Be specific about doing something kind for someone at least once per month 

• January  - I brought my older neighbor's recycling bin out to the curb for her 
• February - I sent a card/gift card to a family who is going through a rough time and needed some encouragement
• March - Went with my friend to go hang out with her mom, and brought dessert!
• April - Helped one of my friends out by emptying her dishwasher for her when she wasn't feeling well :(
• May - Drove to NC to watch my cousin graduate from college
• June - Made dinner for friends who had their baby! (Chicken Parmesan)
• July - Prayed for my friend every day while she was on her three week trip to China
• August - Helped my friend with last minute things before she left to go to AFRICA for two weeks
• September - When my nephew was here for Labor Day weekend he was so helpful, so when I sent him his sweatshirt back (that he left at my house) I also sent him $10 so he could do something fun!
• October - Brought dinner to my friend who had a baby AND to my aunt who had surgery
• November - Baked cookies for the police officers who had to work on Thanksgiving
• December - My friend Kathryn and I bought Christmas gifts for a teen mom and her kids

6. Try six new recipes (Who saw the blog posts about Chicken Delicious, Turkey Breast & Turkey Tetrazzini?, Creamy Italian Chicken - Thing 5, Chicken Parmesan, Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies)

7. Make a new friend - I would say I have a couple new friends, but mostly people I work with that are new to me

8. Watch the sun rise - Saw the sun rise on our way back from Lake Gaston!

9. Enjoy a sunset - Totally saw the sunset on our road trip!

10. Swim in the ocean - Totally did this in Sandbridge!!! :)

11. Do a charity run or walk - April 6 the SCAN 5k See my Blog Post!

12. Raise money for a charity (Can be combined with number 11) - Well I posted a couple things about #GivingTuesday, so we'll see how that goes, but I think that was a good try anyway.

13. Donate to a new charity - I did actually donate to the organization for Sharon to go help orphans in China

14. Get a facial - Yup, totally did this last Sunday... it was kinda weird

15. Take a dancing lesson of some sort (salsa, country line, etc.) - Anna and I took dance lessons at Rigsby's Jig a dance studio here in Richmond

16. Go to more than two Flying Squirrels games - so this goal will not be completed because I went to ONLY ONE game and then the season was OVER! - I am replacing this goal with "shoot a gun" totally did that a few weekends ago!

17. Go to at LEAST one Hokie football game - Totally hit up the VT vs. UNC HOMECOMING game last weekend!

18. Participate in a murder mystery dinner - Murder at the Juice Joint was AWESOME!

19.  Attend a horse race at Colonial Downs Look!

20. Pay off my car?!?! Or at least come close -Paid off last week!

21. Ride my bicycle more than once - Went on a couple spins on my bike this year

22. Read a non-fiction book (I know this might not be a big deal, but I 100% stick to fiction books)I read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand I would SERIOUSLY suggest it!

23. Build something - Built some shelves... I'm counting it!

24. Go through my house and get rid of things/clothes/etc that I haven't used in the last year . Laura and I totally went through my closets and got rid of a LOT of stuff!

25. Organize my basement (especially the workroom) - So this isn't ACTUALLY complete yet, buuut it will be sometime this weekend, I am counting this as complete though. Stay tuned for a new blog on this sometime soon!

26. Hang the rest of the pictures, art, and shelves that I haven't hung - I haven't done all of it, but I have hung the items where I know they can go. There are some things (like my diploma) that I just don't have a place for, so they will just stay hidden for a while

27. FINISH UNPACKING from when I moved (yup, that's right folks, there are still boxes in my attic) - I totally finished this last weekend! My attic looks pretty awesome!

28. Volunteer for something I helped with Laura's Church (Third Pres) at their annual Stop Hunger Now event and we packaged 80,000 meals for kids in Haiti

29. Spend some serious time in my backyard weeding, killing weeds, and planting pretty things that don't take much effort to keep up - Totally paid for "16 Man Hours" of labor to do it for me, but it was an amazing change! you can check it out.

30. Have the BEST 30th Birthday party EVER!!! :) (Especially since Laura is planning it!) - Holla! This was REALLY fun! Laura's party planning was A-MAZING! Check out my Birthday Blog!