Vosburgh Vagabond

I spent a good portion of the evening changing the lyrics of Christmas songs to make them about thanksgiving. I could probably get a whole cd of them if I thought about it hard enough. Here's one I came up with: Deck the table with lots of carbs,  Fa la la la la, la la thanksgiving.  Dress up in your festive garb,  Fa la la la la, la la thanksgiving.  Spend the day with lots of friends,  Fa la la la la, la la thanksgiving.  Good times that will never end,  Fa la la la la, la la thanksgiving.  Stuff your with face with pumpkin pie,  Fa la la la la, la la thanksgiving.  Eat until your pants are tight,  Fa la la la la, la la lahhhh thanksgiving . Silly! We had a great day! We got up this morning and took Oliver on his very first ferry boat ride. We took the ferry from Edmonds to Kingston and ate some delicious crepes. It was raining, and there really isn't much to do in Kingston, so we didn't stay long, but it was a lot of fun! 

Most of the time, I don't miss the days when my 14 month old toddler was a newborn. We sleep now. We didn't used to sleep. Our time is primarily filled with cuddles and giggles and bubble baths. I love having a toddler.  But man, sometimes that little monster drives me nuts.  I have a newish friend. She works in my building. We have stuff in common. I've shared the Happy Planner love.  We made a Michaels date for after work today. I swung by and picked up the kid, who fell asleep in the car on the way to Michaels. He was still sleeping as I made my way through the dark (thanks, daylight savings time) to a parking spot right next to the store.  Strike one.  I woke him up from his nap with gentle tickles, making a game out of putting his shoes on. I made my way into the store, and found my friend. She was near the Happy Planners, which is near the washi tape.  Strike two.  This kid loves washi tape (like mother, like son). ESPECIALLY tubes of washi tape....

I go to bed early. We're talking like 8:30-9:00. For somebody who used to bounce off the walls at 3 am in college, it's a nice change. I might not fall asleep until quite a bit later, but the baby and I end up in bed, snuggly and cozy after Jeopardy, dinner, and bath time. We read a story or two, he snuggles in for the night and falls asleep, and then I watch Netflix and play on Pinterest while Marc catches up on his TV shows before he joins the baby and I in bed. I wish I could magically create an extra two hours a day. I would use them to make all of my Pinterest dreams come true. My house would be organized and cleaned with homemade, natural cleaners. Our walls would be adorned with craft projects, and I would learn to sew Oliver's clothes. My planner would be adorned and decorated... maybe I'd need three extra hours.  Here are some of my latest pins. You can follow me at www.Pinterest.com/KelsieVosburgh   Planner Organization  A Bowl Full of Lemons ...

I've been obsessed with planners for a while. In high school and college, I loved to write down all my homework, classes, and extracurricular dates, mostly so I could cross them off when I finished. I would color code, jot down notes, or scribble an inspiring quote in the margins to make my planner more than just functional. In my post-school life, I hadn't found the PERFECT planner, until a friend at work introduced me to the Happy Planner! I drooled over YouTube videos and Pinterest posts for the rest of the afternoon, before deciding to order one on Amazon (hurray for two day shipping!). I heard a rumor that you could find Happy Planner accessories (stickers, changeable covers, inserts, you name it) at Michael's, but my planner friend hadn't seen any actual planners in the stores. I dragged the husband and baby to Michael's after work and THERE IT WAS, a selection of Happy Planners in my local store. I quickly cancelled my Amazon order, found a 40% off co...

It's officially November! I've packed up the Halloween stuff and I'm ready to enjoy a month of fall before we break out the Christmas stuff after thanksgiving dinner! That means football and chili and pumpkin everything! No Christmas in our house until we've fully appreciated and embraced fall and all its unique beauty. November means that it's also time for NaNoWriMo! For the uninitiated, that stands for National Novel Writing Month! I plan to write, and finish, an ENTIRE NOVEL this month! I started my first NaNoWriMo attempt in November of 2011, but was thrown off a horse the day before my first wedding anniversary (November 5th) and there was no more novel writing for me that month. I am going to pick up where I left off and work on the same novel... something I've been mulling over for years. I'm also going to participate in NaBloPoMo, which means that I'll be posting on my blog every day this month, as well, to try to get back into the habit of wr...

I love Thanksgiving. We shouldn't forget about Thanksgiving in our rush to Santa and presents. I could type a lot more about this subject, but instead, I'll leave you with this, which sums up my feelings perfectly. I plan to be an old lady like this someday.

So, technically, it's the 16th of November. But since I haven't gone to bed yet, I'm still counting this as my blog for Friday. It's fine, trust me. I went into work two hours early today and got a ton of work done before I even "officially" was at work for the day. I hate getting out of my bed that early, but it's so good to get things done while it's still quiet and I don't have the phone ringing in my ear nonstop. After work, Marc and I went to Starbucks so that I could do some NaNoWriMo writing. I picked up where I left off last time and realized that I really need to be keeping better track of my characters, locations and all of the little details that I've already written. I don't want to forget to mention something later on in the story that is relevant to what's going on, and (more importantly), I don't want to have any sort of inconsistencies if I can avoid it. That will help with editing after I finish (if I decide to ...

New discoveries and what I'm listening to now.  I was thinking of ideas for recurring features on my blog, a sense of organization about the whole thing. One thing that I would like to feature HAS to be music based. I can't go through a day without music. Tonight I helped round out my day with some lovely nocturnes by Chopin and it was the perfect way to help me relax after my first day back after my vacation (the first day back is always the worst!).  Writing for Confront Magazine  has helped me to discover new music and has given me a ton of opportunities to review music rom bands that I might not have heard of otherwise.  Recently I've written two playlists, based on Canadian singer Katie Bulley and a band called The Medicine Hat .  This week, I reviewed a new Christmas album by the Robertson family, of Duck Dynasty fame. The album is hilarious! You can read my full review by clicking here .  I should be listening to a ton of De...

We are winding down to the very last hours of our anniversary vacation. As all vacations, it seems like it went way too fast. I'm dreading my alarm going off tomorrow morning and heading back to the real world (and work).  Like most vacations, we spent more money being out of town than we would have if we just stayed home, so we are planning to do some major saving between now and Christmas spending. That means making grocery lists instead of just throwing things in the cart, no more Starbucks or running out of the office to get breakfast in the mornings, and no shopping (the horror!).  When we really look at our finances, we spend a lot of money on little things. We don't go to the store and make big, outrageous purchases. Most of the extra spending comes from going out to breakfast or having coffee out. But those little things add up to a lot. I'm excited to see how much we can save and put towards our holiday spending. One of my favorite holiday indulgences is see...

Nano, NOT super stoked to be leaving Whistler.  As sad as it was leaving Whistler today, it is so, so good to be home. We got up this morning and cleaned up the massive amount of stuff that we had taken to our hotel (no judging... it was a relaxing vacation, and I took a lot of stuff). After walking around in the leftover snow and checking out, we stopped by the little Trading Post to get some souvenirs and then went back to Dups Burritos for lunch. I had a taco salad this time and it was SO good. I will definitely miss that place. Then, it was time to leave Whistler behind and get on the road home. We stopped at a liquor store on the way back towards Vancouver and found a bottle of wine that we had during dinner at the tapas restaurant, Simply Noir by a winery called Stag's Hollow. We picked up a bottle for our friend/coworker, too, to thank her for watching after our cats while we were away. They're pretty low maintenance, but I really appreciate having somebody to ...

The worst thing about vacation is when it comes to an end. We still have one more night left of our time here at Whistler. I think it's been the perfect amount of time for a relaxing village that doesn't really have that much going on this time of the year. We have spent a lot of time in our hotel (which I like doing when we pay more than we would for a "just a place to sleep after we go out and do things" room). I've finished two and a half books (Today I started on Mindy Kaling's "Is Everybody Hanging Out Without Me?" and it's hilarious. I love it). We've lazed around watching movies and HGTV. I lounged in an amazing, deep bathtub and had my own spa day in the room. I finished crocheting a little Christmas-y towel thing for the kitchen and made a ton of progress on the blanket I'm working on. I've blogged every day for NaBloPoMo and have gotten a REALLY good start on my novel for NaNoWriMo. It's been a little creative retrea...

It's Marc and my third anniversary today. I can't believe how quickly the first three years of our marriage have gone by. I realized sadly the other day that I don't think we can really consider ourselves newlyweds anymore. Sad face. We continued our relaxing Whistler vacation today. I woke up way earlier than I would have liked again this morning, and then wasn't able to go back to sleep. I took advantage of the quiet time to finish another book (The Spectacular Now... which I found a little less than spectacular, but pretty good) and to work on the blanket I've been crocheting. Marc got up and we spent some extra time in bed, watching The Vow, which I got excited about, but then remembered that I had already seen when Channing Tatum farted in the car. But it was cute, so we snuggled and watched it instead of taking a nap, which is what I should have done. We walked around the village again, exploring further this time than the last time we went out, and fo...

I love vacation. Marc and I picked Whistler for a few reasons. It's within driving distance, we hadn't been here before, and we knew that we would be able to have a nice, relaxing vacation. Most of our trips are go go go. We hardly ever have trips where the main purpose is to rest and recharge, which is exactly what I wanted from this trip. After a great night's sleep in my cozy hotel bed, I woke up to this view: Not bad, eh? I spent the morning lounging in bed, finishing The Fault in Our Stars. From the moment I started reading, I had an idea of how it was going to end and I wasn't wrong. If you would like to spend some quality time with tears running down your face, I highly suggest this book. It was depressing and beautiful all at the same time. It was so good. We spent the afternoon walking around the village after having a delicious lunch at Dups Burritos, just a minute walk from the lobby of our hotel. It had a cheese quesadilla with peppers and it was...

Marc and my first anniversary didn't go so well. We had lived in Washington for less than a year at the time, and hadn't done too much exploring outside of our area. After a little research, we decided to go down to Long Beach, Washington. We found an adorable little hotel and left early from work on Friday to go down and enjoy a weekend on the coast to celebrate our first year as a married couple. The hotel was incredible. It's called Adrift Hotel and you should DEFINITELY check it out if you want to spend a weekend in Long Beach. It's chic and wonderfully decorated and so cozy. We had Chinese food in our suite that night and got up the next morning to explore. I immediately found a place to ride horses on the beach. We signed up for a session and spent the time waiting for it to start wandering along the cold, blustery beach. My horse was named Earnhardt. He was sweet. It really wasn't his fault. Long story short, Earnhardt wasn't happy about going on o...

I woke up this morning, thinking that I had to get up and take a shower and go to work. Then, I remembered that it was Saturday, and not only did I not have to go to work today, I'm off work for nine days straight! YAY anniversary week! After the crazy week I've had, all I wanted to do was relax. So, we laid out in the living room for most of the day, listening to the torrential rain and ridiculous wind. The power kept flickering, but it was so gorgeous out. We didn't leave the house until I had to go meet a friend to pick up some lotion that I had ordered from her through Pink Papaya. It is called Pumpkin Latte and it smells SO GOOD! While we were out at Target, the power went out! It was kinda fun, with everybody giggling excitedly, walking around the dark store. I was in the middle of buying a new pair of jeans when it happened. They feel like they fit, and I used my phone flashlight to check them out in the mirror, so I think they look okay. I hope. After that, ...

I worked 55 and a half hours this week.  I'm so tired.  Regardless of THAT, though, I knew that I wanted to come home and start NaNoWriMo (for those of you unfamiliar, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month... you write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November... about 1,667 words a day!).  I'm crazy. I'm also doing NaBloPoMo... I think that's what it's called. National Blog Posting Month? Anyways, so that's a little more simple. All I have to do is at least post a blog post a day. I REALLY miss writing my blog, and I think NaBloPoMo would be a good way to get back into the habit. What's that thing I keep seeing on Pinterest? It only takes 21 days to make a habit? We'll see.  RIGHT, back to the cheating.  My story idea for the novel I'm writing came to me back in November 2011. Marc and I were getting ready to celebrate our first anniversary. I was listening to a lot of Death Cab for Cutie at that time (and all...