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  • Mapping My Life

    I’m someone who thrives when I have goals and a plan in place to get there. Not just for the big stuff like my family, education, and career, but for little things like hobbies too. I know that this is the only life I have, so I am constantly trying to improve it – not in an I’m-not-satisfied kind of way, but in a make-the-best-of-things way.

    When I found out about the book My Life Map by Kate and David Marshall I was intrigued. It said it was especially geared toward people on the brink of big decisions or life changes, and although I feel somewhat settled right now I wanted to see if it would have any benefit for me.

    Like the subtitle says, it’s more of a journal. It starts by explaining the concept of mapping out your whole life in one place, then guides you through your past, present, and hopes/dreams for the future through reflective prompts. Some of the questions were tough, and some were really fun and inspiring.

    The questions aren’t an end in themselves but are mainly to help you discover what you really want out of life – to see if you miss something from your past, to find themes, to see if you have a good balance in all the areas of your life, to help you figure out how to get where you want to be, etc. In addition to the whole-life map there are also subject maps such as family, work, play, and service, and 10-year maps. Depending on what kind of thinker you are you can fill out the broad picture first or start with the details.

    My whole-life map looks like this:

    I thought it was a really fun and enlightening exercise, and for me right now it solidified that I’m in a good place. For example, when I first became a nurse I seriously considered going back to grad school to become a nurse practitioner, but seeing my life laid out like this I realize that it doesn’t really fit into my plan where raising a family is the most important part of my life.

    I would definitely recommend this book for someone who is just starting out on her own, is facing a big decision, or is just feeling generally stuck or unhappy in life. I will probably revisit my life map as time goes by and if a decision comes up for us I will definitely pull this book out to go more in depth.

    ***

    I read this book as a part of BlogHer Book Club and while I was compensated for my review as well as provided a fee copy of the book, all opinions expressed are my own.

  • more thoughts on second babies

    Meredith as a wee newborn omg.

    I probably started thinking about my second baby while I was still pregnant with Meredith. It’s just the nature of infertility if you want to have more than one, which we do. After the birth my doctor told me to wait 18 months before getting pregnant again if I wanted to give myself the best chance possible to avoid another C-section. At the time I thought it would be a long time to wait and I secretly hoped I’d just turn up pregnant within the year (oops!), but now here we are at almost 16 months out, it’s gone by super fast, and I’m nowhere near pregnant.

    I saw my OB again recently for my annual exam and we talked about trying to conceive. The last time I wrote about getting pregnant again I was conflicted, and to an extent I still am, but I am sensing a change within myself. I think I will be ready soon, but I know that doesn’t mean my body will cooperate. First of all there’s my underlying PCOS, and on top of that there’s the fact that I am still breastfeeding Meredith. It’s only two, maybe three (on the weekends), times a day, but according to my doctor that is enough to make it pretty much impossible to track my cycles. She said if I really want to give myself the best chance at pregnancy (and this is what a fertility specialist would tell me as well), I need to wean.

    I’m just not ready to do that though. Throughout this whole conception/ pregnancy/ birth/ baby thing, breastfeeding is the one aspect of my body that has worked perfectly. I know that I can bond with Meredith in other ways, but it won’t be the same. So I discussed with my doctor what she would recommend once I wean, but in the meantime we are just going to do what we can:

    >Clean up my diet. When I got pregnant before I was pretty much eating gluten free, and I believe that it helped. There is a link between PCOS and insulin resistance that a low glycemic index diet can help overcome. I really need to gear up mentally to eat this way though, because it is hard. Meredith will be 18 months in January and I hope by that time I’ll be ready to make the change.

    >Visit my nutritionist and take her supplements. I’ve been seeing her since before I got pregnant with Meredith and she has helped me get fertile and have a healthy pregnancy. I think she can help me again.

    >Try to track anyway. It might not work, but I figure I can give the daily temperatures a shot, and get some cheap ovulation predictor kits.

    I definitely feel less stressed this time around, and less of an urgency. I still really worry that it won’t happen for us again though, especially when I hear pregnancy announcements of second babies. I always dreamed of a full house, but I never imagined how much work it would take to get there.

  • project life 2012 : week 37

    Still catching up on Project Life! For awhile now I’ve been combining two weeks into one spread, but since I knew I’d want an entire spread for our week’s trip to Kansas I went ahead and did a whole spread for the week before that too. And thus we have October 7 – 13.

    I love that I’m keeping it simple now because I finished this and another spread in a single naptime one Sunday. (Funny how I measure my life in Meredith’s naps now.)

    There wasn’t too much to journal in this week because it was just a normal one with some everyday photos.

    I had one pocket to fill so I turned to my list of good things (I keep a record of at least one good thing a day on Evernote). The “fabulous” journal card is from the SMASH collection.

    Seriously, so simple.

    I aim to get caught up on sharing with you by the end of the year so I can be on track for my new album in 2013!

  • what i read : june to september 2012

    It hasn’t been the best of weeks around here, mainly because my beloved uncle is in the neuro ICU with a brain bleed caused by a fall and worsened by his underlying liver failure. We’d love your prayers. 

    So today let’s talk about books, because books make me happy.

    ***

    I read 21 books from June to September, which is about right as far as my pace goes, and half of those were audiobooks. Here, in a sentence or two, is what I thought of them. (I’m not going to summarize, but the links go to Goodreads.)

    The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway: Short and touching, I appreciated it even more once I found out the main character is a Christ figure. (audiobook, 4 stars)

    The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams: Funny, silly, and kind of hard to keep track of what’s going on. (audiobook, 4 stars)

    Nicholas & Alexandra by Robert K. Massie: I superfan loved this history of the last Romanov family. (5 stars)

    The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne Valente: Read by the author, who sounded bored with her own book, and thus I was sort of bored. (audiobook, 3 stars)

    Sabriel by Garth Nix: A seriously amazing and unique YA fantasy that was a little overly descriptive but still one of the best I’ve read. (audiobook, 4 stars)

    The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: Depressing without being depressing, sad but also hopeful. You gotta get used to the narrative style but I loved all the characters so much. (5 stars)

    The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger’s Apprentice #1) by John Flanagan: A decent children’s fantasy, nothing too deep going on but fun. (audiobook, 3 stars)

    William Shakespeare: The World As Stage by Bill Bryson: I read Bill Bryson for his personality and wit, which was completely absent from this straightforward biography. (audiobook, 2 stars)

    In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larsen: I learned a lot, but the focus was so narrow that it was overly detailed and dragged. (3 stars)

    Lirael by Garth Nix: The sequel to Sabriel and perhaps even better. (audiobook, 4 stars)

    The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton: A classic that was surprisingly witty. Engaging secondary characters, tons of symbolism. (4 stars)

    The Burning Bridge (Ranger’s Apprentice #2) by John Flanagan: Started out slow, good toward the end. Not really feeling this series anymore though. (audiobook, 3 stars)

    The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz: Surprised to learn after the fact that this won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The whole thing revolved around getting it on, was super coarse and sexual. I did like the sweeping epic family history aspect. (3 stars)

    The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky: Really enjoyed this sweet, nostalgic, coming-of-age story, even though it dealt with about a million different heavy issues. (4 stars)

    Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn: Not my normal fare, and the characters were terrible people, but it was a page turner for reals. (5 stars)

    A World Without Heroes (Beyonders #1) by Brandon Mull: We’ve got a good old-fashioned quest going on here. (audiobook, 3 stars)

    Dinner: A Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach: I was extremely inspired by this memoir/cookbook/self-help book about sitting down to family dinner. (4 stars)

    The Looking Glass Wars #1 by Frank Beddor: This was a random library pick that I was pleased with. A fun spin on the classic Alice In Wonderland story. (audiobook, 4 stars)

    The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie: My first Christie, and turns out they’re perfect to listen to. Kept me guessing till the end. I want more. (audiobook, 4 stars)

  • what i wore // leggings & tights

    This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of No nonsense. All opinions are 100% mine. No nonsense tights and leggings can be found at food and drug stores as well as mass retail stores.

    ***

    Even though I live in southeast Texas, for some strange reason I have more sweaters in my closet than anything else. I get way more excited about fall fashion than any other season, so I didn’t hesitate to sign up for this opportunity to try out a pair of No nonsense leggings and tights. I may have sweaters in abundance, but I don’t have much in the way of dresses, skirts, or pants (other than jeans) that are cool-weather appropriate, and leggings and tights can extend the life of warm weather clothes.

    I didn’t get to choose the color of items, and I guess I was expecting black, but what I got was denim leggings. Jeggings? No, I can’t use that word. But anyway, these aren’t the kind that you can wear just like jeans, they’re the kind that need to be covered around the bum area, if you know what I mean.

    shirt: H&M // sweater: Target // leggings: No nonsense // shoes: Blowfish // necklace: A Cup of Green Ginger (Etsy – similar here) // belt: Target // bag: Fossil

    I wore this outfit to a family reunion and it was perfect. For most of the time I had the sweater off, but a storm blew through with a cool breeze so I did get to wear it some.

    For fun I decided to put Meredith in her denim leggings too. She didn’t get that we were supposed to be posing though.

    On Meredith:

    shirt: babyGap // leggings: Target // shoes: StrideRite

    A perfect fall outfit that I will be wearing again.

    Like I said earlier, I didn’t get to choose the colors I received which is how I ended up with red tights. I am racking my brain right now to see if I can think of a single other red clothing item I own, and I can’t do it. Red is just not my color. However! Christmas is near, and red is a Christmas color. Red also goes well with gray and black, two colors I have plenty of. And thus I put together a winter outfit that I never would have worn without the tights because of the dreariness factor.

    dress: Banana Republic // sweater: Banana Republic // tights: No nonsense // belt: Target // boots: Nine West

    I only got one good picture of this outfit because it was way too hot to actually wear it anywhere right now. I just hope it gets cold enough around Christmas time to wear this.

    I really recommend the No nonsense leggings & tights. They felt really soft and well made, the sizing chart was right on (for me), and the leggings held up well all day. Even better is that you can get them at drugstores and grocery stores and they’re super affordable. I’m pretty sure I’ll be buying some more colors.

    ***

    Find your pair of affordable No nonsense tights and leggings here. I was sponsored by No nonsense for this opportunity. All opinions are my own.