Getting all my Ducks in a row...

After reading and rereading all of the books in my house, including a book Brian has to read for one of his classes, and books that have been recommended to me, I decided to check out the New York Best Sellers list on Amazon.com for my next read. I have to admit, I have a terrible habit of judging the books by their covers so my next book was mainly picked because I liked how cute it was. It's called ONE YEAR TO AN ORGANIZED LIFE by Regina Leeds:Surprisingly it is really good! The book is supposed to take a year to read as it's sections are labeled by month and the chapters are labeled as weeks. In the beginning of each section there is a section for journal writing, ok so I was not thrilled about this discovery but decided to go with the flow and try it out, at least once. After about 15 minutes of journal writing and reading the next section, I was hooked. It is an amazing book! In week three she writes about decluttering your kitchen. A lot of her advice was common sense like but some was stuff I never thought about. She said that you should go through your cupboards and take out all the things you have not used in the last year and decide whether to throw them out, pack them up or sell them. Then she tells you to look at the things you use at least once a week or more and make them easily accessible. Brian and I make rice at least twice a week and it is the biggest pain because the rice cooker is above our refrigerator so we put it up and take it down and put it up just to take it back down.

So yesterday while Brian was doing his homework I went to work on my "HOME work." I took out everything in my kitchen, top to bottom. I scrubbed everything down and since I have only been married for about 2 years most of my stuff is still pretty new and I wouldn't even think about throwing any of it away, I have packed a few things and put them in our garage until we get a bigger kitchen. I love how my kitchen turned out, it looks bigger, cleaner and more user friendly. I love cooking in it.

I have this huge fear of becoming a clutter bug and am trying my best to make sure that doesn't happen. I want our home to be organized, clean and inviting.

Since I started reading this book I have rearranged our bedroom, kitchen, office (Particially) and bathroom. I love how open everything feels and I cannot wait to have a completely organized home!

Just call me MRS. BOOKWORM

So up until about six months ago, I wasn't really a big reader. I would read a book every now and then and by that I mean once a year. Last August I went to see the latest Harry Potter movie, I have never read any of the books but have been a faithful watcher of the movies. Brian downloaded the CD version of the book and listened to it at work. When the movie ended and we were walking out to the car he was telling me that there was a LOT missing from the book in the movie. Well I felt left out of the loop and decided that I wanted to see what all was really being left out. I read the whole series in about 2 weeks and absolutely LOVED it!

Ever since then I have been picking up books here and there and reading like crazy. Last month I read about 7 books, most were recommended to me by my coworkers. I must say that I am becoming quite the little bookworm. :-)

Last month my friend Paola came over and I was telling her that I was thinking about starting my own book club. She expressed to me that she was not a big reader but wanted to start reading more than just the gossip columns. One week later we did it, we stared our own book club and now have roughly 4 members with 2 other promising joinees. We are reading THE FIVE LOVE LANGUAGES, by Gary Chapman. I have read it a couple times already but I LOVE it. I highly recommend it!!!

My little brother is all grown up and on a mission...

So last Tuesday, January 29, my brother Skylar boarded a plane at the John Wayne airport and headed off to serve his mission in Brazil. Normally when young men leave for a mission they go to the MTC in Provo, but Brazil has it's own MTC so he went straight there.

I met my parents and Skylar at In-N-Out around 11:00 AM for his last meal in the states. My mother was teary eyed even before we ordered and it made it harder for me to keep my composure. My Aunt Jamie and Uncle Alan showed up with two of their kids, Anna and Katie. :-)

After lunch Brian showed up and we had the privilege of driving Skylar to the airport. My parents got plane tickets so they could go in and wait with him and then watch his plane take off so they met us there.

I of course was a mess and when I gave Skylar my last huge for two years I lost my composure, but was surprised to see that I wasn't the only one, Skylar was crying too. I am so proud of him and his desire to serve a mission. He will be a great missionary and I cannot wait for his letters.

The next day I got a call from my dad seeing how I was, and came to find out that both him and my mom were taking it pretty hard. My dad said it was hard to drive home from the airport and that night they couldn't sleep. :-(