New Year Reading for an uplifting start

I love the new year as I've already stated a million times.  Its a fresh start, like getting out of the bed in morning on the right foot.  So if you're looking for some books to give yourself a quick step at the start of this new year; here's a few of my favs...depending on the uplift you're looking for hopefully some of these will help give you that certain 'je ne sais quoi' to get you on the right path for 2011.

Uplift:  Clean up & clear out
How many times do I have to say it?  Throw out 50 things - Clear the Clutter find your life by Gail Blanke.  Easy to read, easy to follow, and really quick bursts of inspiration throughout.  I read this book several times in the year when I start feeling really cramped and stagnant. 

This book is also really helpful to read when preparing for a garage/yard sale, or moving, or preparing for a new family member, or when your closet is bursting with too much, or your parents are trying to get you to take all your junk from their house into your own...and any other time you need to skim down. 

I love that this book also address mental and cyber clutter.  Two things usually forgotten when getting rid of clutter - but both places generally are the most packed with unneccessary things.  This book is like a personal therapist. 

Uplift:  Change the world.

Three Cups of Tea - One Man's Mission to Promote Peace..One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.  ahhhhh, that was a sigh of fresh air.  It was difficult for me to get started in this book, but after pushing through the first few pages I became mesmerized.  This book is listed in my inspiring book pages (see above) and that's because it really is inspiring.  Not just at what he does and how hard he works...but because the work that Greg Mortenson (supported by his amazing wife) will literally change the path of people's lives.  There are individuals on the other side of the earth that can proclaim - this man has changed the course of my life.  Amazing.

I am also continually inspired to read stories about people that go with all they have in one direction.  This is not a talent that I have - although I have a lot of interest in helping, I find it impossible to just pick one thing.  I am too interested in too many things.  So to read about Mr. Greg and how he dedicated his life towards this one goal is massively impressive.

Uplift:  Be better to Mother Earth

The Green Year by Jodi Helmer.  I love the Earth and I want to be good to her because she is so giving and good to us.  This is a day by day book; think calendar style, but with a quick helpful green tip each day of the year. It's quick, easy, and helpful.  Even if you don't use it daily, its really easy to flip through and get ideas on how to make your daily living a little less negatively impactful.  Like ordering tap beer over bottled beer in restaurants OR changing your margins in Word before printing to save on paper!

Besides helpful green tips, it also gives lots of really awesome (maybe unbeknown to you, cause they were to me) websites that offer eco-friendly opportunities.  Like http://www.freecycle.com/ which is like Craig's list but with free items to re-gift/re-use and http://www.greenerchoices.org/ which helps you make decisions about appliances that are better eco choices.

Uplift:  Eat Better.
Eating for Life by Bill Phillips is a great cookbook for making delish food but with the right types of ingredients so you don't hate yourself in the morning.  He also has a whole change your life diet+exercise thing happening in there too (who doesn't love before&after shots, hello!) but just using it as a cookbook is really helpful.  We love eating good food in our house, but we'd like to eat better too - not just tasty.  These recipes provide the best of both worlds and we tap into for dinner ideas at least once a week.








Uplift:  Have more fun!
This Book Will Change Your Life by Benrick is highlarious.  I purchased it as kind of a joke for my sisters waay back in my college days but still flip through it occasionally for a some quick chuckles (yea, I just used that word...how else do you describe breathing out and laughing simultaneously?  I can't think of the word for it, so deal with chuckle).  Let it be known I have not finished the whole book.  I have made some weak attempts and I think I have legitimately made it to day36, but I strive to be the kind of a girl that can finish the whole thing.  It gives a task for each day - some of them are ridiculous, some absolutely shameful, and others are downright genius...but no matter how you cut it, its an awesome book.




Whatever your start of the new year book choice may be - open your brain up and re-energize your mind!  Happy new year:)

dancin' man

our little booboo loves dancing.  it may have something to do with the fact that ever since he was a teeny baby I would dance with him all over the house.  Or that when he was still in my belly I would tap along with music so he could hear the beat in there...whatever the case may be, when he hears music now he starts to do his groove thang. 

Grey's groove thang consists of some serious arm flapping and knee bouncing.  that's about as far as his dancing has progressed at the mere age of 8 1/2 months, but he looks pretty smooth.



Booboo dances most of the day along with one of his favorite Christmas toys his activity table.  It has four different settings including the alphabet/numbers, Spanish words, and just a "play" setting.  However, it stays mostly on the Music setting because Grey loves to dance along with the tunes so much.  There are a few songs on the table that B and I know by heart and find ourselves singing them later in the day after the babe is fast asleep.  Pretty sure some of our guests from New Years can sing along with them now too, hah!

But Grey does not dance exclusively to the activity table.  He dances to his mumma's singing (hah), to the ipod, and even to commercial jingles. 

ps. his shirt in the video definitely says "Mommy needs a date night."  Just trying to give daddy a subtle message.

vino in the house!!..and on the floor, and on the counters, and on the...

Let's just be blunt for the sake of wrapping this post up - our family likes to drink.  Not like we're throwing alcohol back in the middle of the afternoon everyday, but we don't shy away from a glass of wine..or two.. at dinner, ...and we don't throw dry parties.  So it only makes logical (and financial) sense that we start a'brewin our own label of wine...right?  After taking a few lessons from my dad (who started making his own wine when I was still in high school), we started our first batch last year. 

After all that sittin' and fermentin' (please don't question why I am writing in a hillbilly accent - just go with it), we fixed to get it bottled in November.  If you've ever siphoned anything (I have no idea why you would have), you know that its like taking tiny shots of whatever you're siphoning to get it a'flowin' through the tube...so please imagine us standing in our kitchen with barrels of wine on the counter and towels on the floor, half blitzed trying to get this wine bottled.  yea, ridiculous.  Where was your son at the time, you ask?  In bed...so was the dog just for safety's sake...not the baby's bed...his crate...ah, whatever.

So after making a very obnoxious mess, that was relatively funny at the time, (thank you Mr. Clean Scrubbers!) we got all of our first batch of wine bottled up and ready for holiday distribution!  We are calling our label:  The Grape Chameleon.  The back label reads:

Just as you are a social chameleon; the parent, the friend, the lover, the sibling, the pawn, or the boss - our grape chameleon can also be what you need it to be, when you need it; an escape in a bubble bath at the end of a hard day, a touch of romance to a dinner date, a hostess gift, or a splash of flavor to your favorite dishes.

You are adaptable all day long; so should your wine be flexible too.

Unfortunately, all pictures of the mess are currently trapped on our desktop downstairs which for some hateful reason has had a motherboard issue.  So you'll need to imagine the scenario in your mind.  Think blood red wine everywhere, B down on one knee with siphon tube in his mouth, and me laughing hysterically.


In case you are wondering, there is a magical machine that then squeezes the cork down into the wine bottle to seal 'er up.  Its kind of scary and I'm a little afraid every single time that its just going to shatter the bottle and we'll end up with glass shards sticking out of our shins...luckily that didn't happen.

We order in our grape juice.  Its really a quite easy and fun project if you're interested in trying it out.  I'm happy to share hilarious first-timer stories!  Next up on our brewing fun is following in Brandon's dad's footsteps...Don't want to spill the beans, but it starts with a moon and ends with a shine. 

Just another upside to marriage - when the siphoning gets to be too much - pass the tube.