lately

Have you ever found yourself just existing? That sounds really depressing and I don't mean it to--existing in a way that is neither good nor bad, it just is? I feel like that's where I've been since November. Things aren't bad, not exceptional either. They just are. Anyway, I discovered that when I am just going through the motions I don't necessarily feel the need to write or be creative. I've mentioned missing blogging to a few people but it was never enough to really make me want to do it. Life is crazy in this season and I don't want to pressure myself to carve out time for something if passion doesn't strike. It struck in this moment (passion is a strong word to use though, ha!) so here we are.

 1. I am in full-blown Disney planning mode. It is looking like we may be going as early as February 2020 (originally I just figured we'd do the second half of the year, though that may still end up being the case depending on crowd levels when the new Star Wars portion of Hollywood Studios opens this fall!) By using my plethora of money-making apps + Swagbucks, I have our vacation 72% saved for! That includes 2 character meals (Cinderella's Royal Table + Ohana, probably), 3 park days / 6 vacation days, a car rental, an Airbnb, parking at Disney, and about $500 worth of spending money for the week! Not too shabby for just a year's worth of very minimal effort!

 2. I am loving every second of start-up life. If you are new around here, I left a very stable job in August for the very unpredictable world of tech start-ups. It was definitely a leap of faith and thus far I have no regrets. We get pet visitors usually weekly (thanks to coworkers and their love of animals!), I can take as much time off work as I need when I need it, and they even surprised us all with a totally unexpected cost of living raise this year. 2019 is going to very much be a make-or-break year for us and we hope to launch our first product this fall or early next year.

 3. I am still impulsive when it comes to house projects, much to Jon's dismay. I ironed (yes, ironed, using a wet washcloth as a buffer between the iron and the wall) the super bold wallpaper off our half bathroom walls last weekend. Our bathroom still looks like this and I don't really have a game plan yet because the walls don't look like they were ever skim-coated when the house was built. I may try to spackle the worst parts and then just hope for the best... but even if I did that we don't know what color we want to paint it (Jon mentioned something about dark blue and some sort of damask pattern, I believe). Taking suggestions!

 4. Winter is finally here. I hate all of it except for the adorable 90% off Target Christmas pajamas we got for this big girl. 49 days until spring!

 5. I am trying very hard to lose 22 pounds. I've been using my ProTracker app daily and also trying to exercise at least 5 days per week. Thus far it is (slowly) working because I am down 6.8 pounds since December 26. I can't be sure, but I think this is the least I've weighed since I last gave birth way back in 2016.