Vosburgh Vagabond

I feel like the luckiest girl ever. I get to hang out with my kid all day. I'm studying for my dream job. Probably about 99% of the stress in my life disappeared almost overnight. Then I remember that it's not just luck. I started thinking about the luck aspect when a (former) coworker told me "how lucky(!)" I was that I got to stay home with Oliver. It bugged me and, at first, I couldn't figure out why. It was because luck didn't have a lot to do with it. I am able to stay at home with Oliver and live the life I have been dreaming of because of smart choices and sacrifices. We only have one car. It's getting old now, but it's functional and we take good care of it. I love my car and hope that it lasts forever. I don't WANT a car payment, even if it means I could have a shiny new car. We bought a condo instead of a house. I don't think it's small, but compared to the average house size, it's well below. We don't have a yar...

We are just over a week into NaNoWriMo! I'm behind in my word count goal, but feeling really good about the progression of my story. My friends Scott and Hannah came over this morning and we closed ourselves into the bungalow at my condo complex and wrote for a few hours. Marc was kind enough to watch the baby while I wrote (and also while I threw a Jamberry party later this afternoon). It was so good to get some solid writing time in. I've really been struggling with finding time to sit down the write, between work and hanging out with the baby, especially during the week. I am going to try to get at least a little more writing in on weekdays, but I really enjoyed being able to get caught up on the weekend.  My total word count is 5497 so far! 

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! 

Marc and I have been married for five years! It's been a wonderful five years, and I'm so in love with my life. We worked today and had a really low key evening. We had Taco Bell for dinner (which we also had the night we got engaged, exactly seven years ago), did some shopping at Michaels (more Happy Planner supplies) and now we are watching Stargate (which was something that we used to watch together on SciFi Fridays when we first started dating. We have some fun plans for tomorrow to celebrate a bit more. We are really focusing on sticking to our budget, and we wanted to include the baby, so a low key celebration is perfect.  Here's to many more wonderful years! 

I've caught the bug. I don't know if the kiddo brought something home from daycare or if I've got what's going around at the office, but it's gross.  After work, I decided to take it easy, grabbing a hot shower with the baby while Marc made dinner. We managed to hang out until Jeopardy was over and then baby and I went off to bed for cuddles and Friends on Netflix. I'm glad I fell asleep early, because now it's almost 2 am and I am miserable and can't sleep.  Thank goodness for Netflix! 

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 making "to do" lists. There is nothing more satisfying than, one by one, crossing off the things that you've accomplished. Often, I'll even write down something that I've already done, just so that I can cross it off. Whatever, don't pretend you don't do it.  Recently, I've had some pretty extreme changes in my personal life that have reminded me of the importance of surrounding myself with kindness and positivity. That has reminded me how important that it is to try to be a positive force in the lives around me, too. I have subconsciously added some different items to my daily "to do" list.  Here are some things I try to do in my daily life:  Compliment a friend  Compliment a stranger  Show gratitude  Hold my tongue when what I might say is neither helpful or kind  Do something for somebody else without being asked  Smile at everyone I come into contact with  Ask somebody else about their day  Another big item on my "life" t...

It's been just under 27 days since I birthed a baby. Oliver is snuggled up on my chest in the Moby right now, allowing me to use both of my hands while he sleeps. We're getting the hang of this. Finally. After about a week and a half of creepy postpartum symptoms, and then the guilt over feeling them at all, Ollie and I are settling into a routine. Marc's mom is here right now, which has been comforting, especially because, for a little while, I was wondering if I would be able to do this on my own… a sort of new mommy panic. Having her here has been like knowing that there is a safety net, but I have been feeling lately like I CAN do this on my own. Sleeping is going okay some nights and not so okay other nights, but either way, I feel like I am getting enough sleep. Enough to function, enough not to break down into tears. Man, I miss my eight or nine hours in a row… now I would even be over the moon to get four or five solid hours in a row. Every morning, wh...

It was long. I had definitely planned for an unmedicated, totally natural childbirth. That's what I wanted and I did a lot of research and reading. Birthing from Within was a great book. I also researched all the other options because I know that things can change and I wanted to be knowledgable about other options should they happen. From the Hips was a great book, too, fun to read and a lot of info from moms, too.  I ended up getting induced because baby was so big and just not coming out on his own. They put in a foley ball catheter the night before my induction to try to dilate me. I went in at noon the next day 5 centimeters dilated and no contractions. They broke my water right away. The baby had had his first bowl movement already, so that was in the water.  I still didn't start having contractions, so they hooked me up to a breast pump, because t hat can trigger contractions to start on their own. They kind of started, but not really, so we started pitocin...

Oops. I fell asleep before I blogged yesterday... and I almost did the same thing today! Part one: (Pretend this was posted yesterday). Last night we didn't get home until pretty late for a weeknight because I found out from my friend/coworker Shelaine that Dolvett Quince from The Biggest Loser was going to be doing a book signing not too far from where we live. We went down there after work, hung out with Shelaine, saw Dolvett speak and then waiting in line to get his new diet/lifestyle book signed. Hearing him talk and give advice to those in the crowd was super inspiring. Plus he is H-O-T. See? ADORABLE. And he was super sweet, too. Part 2: So, I was inspired and motivated and whatnot today. It was good. I've been eating healthier, but not as clean as I could/should be, and it's been a long while since I got a workout in. Today I ate really well (except the Starbucks I had as a special treat because it was the WORST DAY EVER at work) and I came home a...

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.

It doesn't roll off the tongue very easily, sure, but it's accurate. You see, a few weeks ago, I was looking for something in my keepsake trunk (which didn't end up being in there, btw) and I left the trunk cracked. Yesterday, I was in my closet and decided to start looking through the trunk. I got all weepy and nostalgic finding letters that my dad wrote to me and my siblings while he was away from the family in the military, reading my old diaries, finding my (very Harry Potter-esque) first pair of glasses. It was so fun. I ended up pulling a bunch of stuff out and leaving it all over the bed (as I do). While in the middle of this, I decided that it was time to reorganize our bedroom closet. It's kind huge (compared to any of my other closets) and has a tendency to be a little bit of a black hole. It can get pretty messy in there. We went to Ikea tonight to get some boxes and bins and baskets and other goodies to help keep things in check, and I came across this...

We've established my adoration for the weekend. Today was no different. I had a chiropractor appointment this morning, where I got a referral for physical therapy. Ever since I got thrown off of a horse two years ago, I've had some residual neck and back pain, and (worse) some scar tissue over the hematoma that lived on my lower back for a while. Hopefully I (and my doctors) and help get it to go away! 

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 ...

I have a confession to make. I am WAY behind on NaNoWriMo! We are talking like a WEEK behind. I made a really good start on my novel while we were on vacation last week, but enjoying the last couple of days of relaxation followed by the stress of going back to work after a week out of office, not to mention the ridiculous migraine I had yesterday meant that I haven't been putting in any time at my laptop, working on my story. Never fear, though. I have not given up hope. I still think about my main character and her story. In the two years since I had the idea for my novel, my main character and I have become well acquainted. I think of her like an old friend that I maybe haven't talked to in a while (which actually works really well with where her story is going). I want to enjoy writing my novel, not feel obligated to stare at a computer when I get home after I've already done that for 9-10 hours at my job. I'm not going to reprimand myself or feel bad about the...

That's all I can really manage tonight, but I had to make a blog post for NaBloPoMo! Excuse me while I crawl into bed to die. Hopefully I'll be more entertaining tomorrow!  :(

It's only Tuesday, but I feel like this week has been SO long already! The good news is, after work Marc and I went to Extreme Pita and got a delicious dinner, since we are almost out of groceries. We barely got anything on payday before going on vacation and we really need to restock the kitchen tomorrow night after work.  We decided to go on a pretty strict budget after vacation, but managed to justify going to grab take out because we used my winnings from the eliminator challenge fantasy football pool at work. Last year, I played and was eliminated the first week! I made it all the way to week 10, and there were only four of us left. We all picked the Titans, so we all lost/won. The four of us split the $110 pot, so I had a little bit of free money. It was totally worth using part of it for a falafel pita. Other than that, it was a pretty normal work day. I'm struggling a little to keep up with the ridiculous workload that I scheduled myself for this week, but t...