Friday, January 6, 2012

Running thru life.... Airfrance Rocks

Joe and I travel a decent amount. 
Half of our travels are in the states while the other half is international. 
While we hate the long internatal trips- we love flying international. 
On our trip to Greece we had a very pleasent experience with British Airways and I swore "from now on we are flying British Airways."

When I went to book the tickets for London, the price to fly AIRFRANCE was tremendously cheaper, so I took a chance. 

Boy was I happy. 
Now I will not fly internationally unless it is AirFrance.
=0)

We boarded the plane which was the biggest plane I have ever seen- double decker. 
In our seats were a blacket, and pillow. 

You sit down and then you see it....


Unlimited movies, games, music.
So much fun. 

Right before take off the flight attendants came around and handed out this nice little packet which has a eye pillow, a napkin to wash your face and ear phones. 
It is like they know me!!!
I kept them and plan on using them when we travel. 



After take off you are served a apertif which I had champagne and Joe had Pastis which is a french liquoir.  Followed by a wonderful meal, followed by a digestive of Cognac.
I of course had more champagne! 
Seriouslly, the booze just kept coming. 
I can only imagine what 1st class is like!

Furthermore, all the flight attendants were nice and very accommodating.
And they say Cheers to everything. 
Totally love it- I am say Cheer more often now. 

Our baggage arrived with us.
Our flights were on time for the most part. 
I have nothing but good things to say for AIRFRANCE!!!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Running thru life.... Traveling Smart!

We are back from London and what a trip!
Since we left the day after Christmas, I knew that I was going to have to pack smart.  
Christmas Eve was at my parents followed by Christmas Day at the Heckers.
We got home and unloaded all our goodies and went to bed by 11pm.  
CRAZY DAY.

The next morning we woke to play with Clemson and finish items up before heading off to the airport!

This trip I packed the lightest I have ever back to a point that I had less stuff than my husband.  My husband will argue this is due to the fact that I am smaller- but still.  We went for 7 days and I used almost everything I packed!

I packed 1 medium suitcase and my Vera Bradley bag.

In my suitcase was the following:
7 pairs of underwear (used all)
6 pairs of socks (used 4)
2 bras (used all)
1 set of PJs (used all)
1 undershirt  (used)
5 sweaters (used all)
1 additional pairs of jeans (did not use)
1 set of leggings (used)
1 sweater dress (used)
2 dressy dresses  (used 1)
1 set of flats (used)
1 set of heels (used)
1 shell to my Northface that has a hood (used ALOT!)

I wore on the plane a pair of jeans, boots, sweater, with Northface Fleece.

In my Vera Bradley I pack everything else that I would need while we were traveling.
I truely love my Vera Bradley bag because it is light, and has so many pockets for me to place stuff.
This is what was placed in the bag

1 very small umbrella (used)
1 small bag of electronics like power cords.  I placed them in a clique small bag that I had recieved for free.  (Used)
1 container that contained sleeping pills,  Tylenol, Excedrin, and vitamins. (used)
1 small pack of tissues (used completely)
1 collapsable water bottle (used)

1 pack of Nuun tablets (used)
1 leather case with all travel information and passports (used)
This case was given to us by our travel agent for our Greece Trip.  I totally love it that I can keep everything in one place. 
3 magazines (used)
1 ipad (used)
1 set of hat/gloves

The only thing I did not use from the trip was an extra dress and the other pair of jeans I packed.  
Joe packed our toiletry bag in his bag which again I packed with everything disposable so it made it super easy.  
All and All it was very good packing.  
I had one medium size suitcase and my Vera Bradley bag while Joe had 1 big suitcase and his camera bag.  

Up next... AIRFRANCE ROCKS!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Running thru life... 2012 GOALS!

2012 has come!
Which means it is time for me to sit down and make some goals for myself for the upcoming year. 
So here they are...


New Year 2012 Goals

1)     Embrace a healthier lifestyle
a.      Eliminate sweets
b.     Limit to 1 alcohol drink a week
c.      Increase vegetables and fruits
d.     Decrease carbs and increase protein
e.      Continue to take multivitamin and calcium supplements
f.      Lose 5 pounds. 
2)     Exercise more
a.      Participate either in a Marathon or a Tri
b.     Make time for exercise at least 4 times a week
c.      Try to incorporate stretching and yoga into running routine.
3)     Broaden my cooking
a.      Attempt 1 new recipe ever 2 weeks. 
b.     Update recipe book
4)     Broaden my knowledge
a.      Read at least 3 books a month- trying to pick 1 fiction, 1 non-fiction, and 1 medical.
b.     Keep a spread sheet of books you have read
5)     Spend more time with others
a.      Keep date night regularly with hubby
b.     See friends and family as much as possible
6)     Be financially smart
a.      You the want vs need system to help eliminate unnecessary purchases
b.     Decreasing eating out
c.      Use gift cards
d.     Put X amount to savings each month
e.   Put X amount away each quarter into investment account  
7)     Travel
a.      ENJOY LIFE!!!!!
While some of these may seem silly or maybe not necessary to write down.  I am a firm believer in writing them down because they will be sitting on my fridge every day looking at me in the face and on my ipad.

What are your goal for 2012? 

Friday, December 23, 2011

Running thru life... A good habit

I follow a couple blogs, one of which is 20 Something Finance. 
They had a very interesting blog a couple weeks ago about helping control your wants. 
He breaks down what are needs vs wants. 
Most of the things beside food and basic clothing are wants. 

That being said sometimes our wants are crazy.
I am the type of people who wants something but saves up for it. 
However, Joe and I have been cutting back a lot and saving more for the future.
That being said the idea of  controlling our wants is perfect! 

I like how in his blog he showed how he kept a record of his wants. 

He enters his wants into a chart with the date and then reviews the want about 1 month later. 


He goes over the benefit,  best value discussion, and then decides if he approves it.
I totally am in love with this idea and have already started a spreadsheet on my ipad! 












Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Running thru life.... 2012 house goals

 Each December, I try to force myself to sit down and plan the next year out in my head. 
The things I am planning are trips, and house items that need to be done. 

So this post I am dedicating to our things that we have to do to our house in the upcoming year:

1) Storm Door
This is something we wanted to do for a while. 
However, when I looked into having it done, it was too pricey since our doorway is not a standard size and would need an additional door frame built. 
However, we will be doing this in March/April time period this year!
Money involved- from previous estimates $300-700 dollars
I will have to get new estimates since it has been over 1 year
Time involved- none since we will be paying for someone to do this

2) Paint the house
This is a project I have been putting off until we moved everything in to the house.
This will be a gradual project.
Money involved- varies depending on number of rooms
Time- OMG - I hate painting

3) Move the bushes out front to the side of our house and use that area for flowerbeds.
The bushes have gotten to big to the point that you can not open up your car door so we decided to move these plants to the side of the house.  After doing some research the best time to do this would be March/April time period.
Money involved:  Less than $50 to add flowers
Time:  1 afternoon with the help of hubby

4) Moving furniture into the house
Joe's parents are moving and planning on giving us a couple pieces of furniture. 
One is a piano and a hope chest.  The hope chest will be going in my closet since I have a huge closet and it will fit.  I am planning on storing all our winter belongings in there which will help get rid of some other storage items we have.  This will just force me to re-organize.
So this is a weekend project. 
 The piano we are still trying to figure out- it will either go in the sun room or down in the basement.  
Money: None!
Time:  This depends on needing help to move things in. 

5) The carpet down in the basement level.
It is starting to come up and is probably the orginial carpet that was placed in the house.
This is going to be a FALL project.
Money:  I have absolutely no idea and am just starting to think about getting carpet estimates.
Time: Being done by someone else which hopefully will be a day task

6) Guest room
Now I have ALOT of work to do here that I have been putting off for some time. 
Step 1: Get rid of all the furniture. 
This furniture was given to us by Joe's parents but it is falling apart, it is too big, and it is not our taste. 
It has been great up to this point.
Step 2: Paint
This room is huge so this will probably be a long weekend project
This is a project that I am saving for the winter/holiday time period 2012.

7)  Extra room in basement
Up to this point the extra room in the basement has been empty but I have decided to make it into an extra bedroom.  The furniture we will be using we already have except for an extra night stand which should be easy to pick up. So we just need to paint it and then move the furniture in. 
I will paint hopefully in the fall and have the room done by the next holiday eason.

8)Place floorboards in our stoage area in my closet
In doing this we will gain more storage which we are finding we are needing especially with the fact that Joe's parents are giving us alot of Joe's childhood stuff since they are moving. 
This is Joe's Chrismmas break project for this year.
We got up there last weekend to look at it. 
It would allow us to have so much storage!
Joe completed this task before I could even blog about my list! 
Money:  Less than $100 for floorboards
Time:  5 hours total
All the projects this year are considered minor considering in
2010 we redid the kitchen and in 2011 we did the patio and all the bathrooms.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Running thru life.... Decorating the Outside

I said I would share pictures of the outside of our house.
Sorry for just getting around to this but is has been a busy couple of weeks celebrating with friends and family.  
So here one is...

 To do the lights on the driveway/sidewalk I used path stakes that I found at Home Depot. 
I got 25 of them for 8$- I had 1/2 left just in case I need anymore next year.  
They are re-usable which is awesome.

For the lights around the door and the garage I used Mini Light Adhesive Clips, also found at Home Depot.  I got 25 for less than $2. 



Next year I have every intention of putting more light around the tree but this year I was going for minimal so I decided not to.  
Also next year I am thinking lighted wreaths on the windows- what do you think?  

Monday, December 19, 2011

Running thru life... A Man's Project

Each December Joe and I sit down to plan out our house project for the year 
(future post on this).  
I do this for a number or reasons, the most important is to let Joe know what I planning.  
With him in school now I have found it it really important to let him know what I need help with.  

So while making our list, I decided I wanted to place some floorboards in the attic so we could add more storage to our house.  Joe's parents lately have been giving us more of Joe childhood stuff, some of which we actually want to keep, and also with Christmas around the corner I was looking for a place to store Christmas stuff since we only use it once a year.  

So Joe and I climbed up in to our attic last weekend to have a look.  



It was basically insulation everywhere!
Joe and I set off to the hardware stores yesterday.
Just for the record- I HATE GOING TO HOMEDEPOT WITH MY HUSBAND.
HE REFUSES TO ASK QUESTIONS THAT NEED TO BE ASKED!!!
Why is it that men can not ask questions?  

Anyways after about 30 minutes at HomeDepot we headed home with out items.

He basically had to raise the floor 8 inches in order to cover the recess lighting and insulation.  
Then apply plywood to the new foundation.  





It took him all day to complete (from 11am till 4pm), but now we have tons of storage area which I will be filling up quickly with items.  He added 6 foot by 6 foot storage area.  We can add more if need be but for right now this is plenty!
I stayed out of his way by organizing what I wanted to go up in the attic versus the crawl space. 
Crawl space I decided is for things we may use more often like out suitcases, and attic for for these we rarely use or use once a year like Christmas stuff. 


So far we placed the following up in the attic
1) Joe's Baby Highchair
2) Joe's Wagon
3) Tupperware of  my Baby Blankets
4) Joe's Golf Clubs
5) My childhood table and chairs
6) An extra rug

After Christmas , we will be adding our 2 Christmas Trees,  Christmas Wreath, ornaments, lights, and wrapping paper bin.  

Yeah for more storage!!!
Mad Brownie points for hubby!