66 days and photo uploading woes

Last Sunday, we heard a great homily about the power and benefits of restraint and habit.

Apparently, new research shows that it takes 66 days to fully form a habit, so our priest challenged the congregation to pick something either to give up or begin and set a goal for 66 days away from today. The theory is that in 66 days, you won't need to give into a former temptation or you'll continue doing your good deed. Rather, you'll look at the calendar and again seek 66 days out to reassess.

I've been thinking about this, but I haven't decided what exactly I will do. I need to contemplate longer and harder about it, and then I plan to challenge myself.

In other news, I've got some great updates and photos to share, but I'm having trouble uploading them. So boring, text-only entries will have to do for now. If any of you reading this have photos from the holidays, can you please send them my way? Thanks!

L + B reunion ... & celebrating the peanut's big 1st

Their first trip...on Taylor's 30th birthday weekend...was canceled due to Snowmageddon 2k14. But no stuffy nose or minor fever (for le bebe) could hold them back this time. 

Greg, Em, and Lily made the trip down to see our new house a couple weekends ago, and boy did we have a good time. 

Lily and I had a little joint birthday celebration. I made her a giant doughnut cake, which if you knew her mom and me in college, you'd find very fitting for the little lady. 

I felt like Taylor and I were on vacation all weekend. It was so nice to eat, drink, be merry, sleep, relax, catch up on magazines, watch a movie, and of course belt out some duets on the gee-tar with Greg. 

Oh, Lagreids. Why don't you just move on down here. We have plenty of room in the shed. 

Didn't get a lot of snaps...

Emily wore her Patagonia inside at all times...and let Mr. Bronx love on her. Ew. 

So many shoes, so little time to wear them before  you outgrow...

Wasting no time in the new kicks.

Dirt built us our first fire in the new house. 

Awesome housewarming gift from Team Lagreid...a Texas-shaped waffle iron. Don't mind if we do! 

Nothing says bestie reunion like a bottle of Rom...or two.

Happy Birthday, Lily Marie. You bring so much joy to your parents...and your godparents! 

We interrupt this weekend to bring you...

Paint. All day. Every day. Here we are halfway through room two of two, before I raised the white flag and vowed never to paint solo again...on the one and only weekend with a special guest appearance by the one and only Mr. Sunshine. Thankfully, I can retire the roller and drop cloths for a long time now. More progress shots in store.

The holidays in a hurry

I don't even know where to find photos from the holidays. Did I take any? From Thanksgiving through New Years, our days passed in the blink of an eye.

We decided to start looking for a house casually, and we planned to put our condo on the market at the start of the new year. Then, the cutest little bungalow went on the market, and we knew we had to act fast. By the end of the week, we had a home, and we were getting everything in order to list our condo before Christmas.

I actually can't remember if we had the house before or after Thanksgiving, but we spent turkey day with Taylor's family, which has turned into a nice tradition. We shared Christmas with both families, highlighted by watching sweet little Hazel carefully open gifts at Nana and Poppi's house.

I will never forget the look on Taylor's face when the realtor selling our condo called on New Year's Eve evening to tell us we received a full-priced offer. It was the best news, and we knew our 2014 was off to a wonderful start.

Now...I'm going to start working to find some photos. These recaps are a little lame without the proper footage.

It's like this was speaking directly to me...

It may have gone to print the early '90s, but let me tell you, this is ad is timeless!

First there was fall...

It all seemed to have started about the time Taylor and I took off for the McFarling wedding in Austin.

I had been networking up a storm at work, looking for a role that might better suit me, might use more of my skills, and might call for a bit more collaboration. I found a job posting in October that seemed like the perfect combination of all those things. I met with the hiring manager, and as I left work that day, I knew it was the start of a new chapter of my professional life.

I interviewed the next week, found out I got the job a week later, but I didn't end up starting until after Thanksgiving. You know what's funny about that? I am pretty sure I stopped slinging groceries at TJ's and started my first post-grad school job a few years ago right around Thanksgiving, too.

It's been a wild ride since then, trying to learn the ropes and keep my head above water, all the while trying to manage deadlines and a massive workload. I feel alive, though. I feel like I'm needed, like I have a purpose, and like I'm part of a super energized team.

My last role was not what I hoped it would be. But I'm going to say it. I'm just going to say it. The cliche is just too true. Everything happens for a reason. I learned a lot about business, myself, and other people. That job showed me that God works in mysterious ways. It led me to one of the most amazing friends I couldn't even imagine. It helped me gain my start with a great company, and I'm thrilled I have the opportunity to continue the journey.

40 days

Nothing like Lent to encourage a bit more contemplation, reflection, prayer, and peacefulness.

My vow at Day 1 is to catch up on the last four months in the next 40 days here in the blogosphere. More happened in the last one-fourth of my 28th year than I can process, really, so it's only fitting that I start busting out the recaps.

It's a fresh start today, the day after the fattest Fat Tuesday on record, which just so happened to coincide with my first official day as a 29-year-old (for the first time, right?). Check out the video below for the best present ever...

I have other promises and intentions for this year's walk through Lent, and I hope I can keep at least a few of them. Here's to a new year, in more ways than one. God bless the journey!