slow down and enjoy life.

I'm really not an ungrateful person at all.  

In fact, I appreciate all aspects of what I have and feel blessed to have been so lucky in life, but at times I think I take it for granted.  Sometimes I feel as though I am never satisfied, always wanting more and feeling that there are parts of me that are lacking and it gets me down

I don't know what my deal has been lately, but I've been kind of feeling depressed.  I'm sure I'll come out of it and I know life will go on, but it's such a bad feeling.  I can't pinpoint one certain thing, but it's just a mixture of things.

My allergies are the worst they have been in my whole life.  I am miserable every day.  The other day I had to remind myself that things could be worse; I could be waking up every morning with cancer and not allergies.  Get over it.  Be glad you are healthy!

Over the last month, I have learned of three ladies my age that have been diagnosed with cancer.  Three??  I just cannot believe it.  That is something that just rocks me and terrifies me.  How awful.  These ladies' lives have been completely turned upside down and changed forever.  Actually, one of them is pregnant with twins.  How sad.

I am lucky.  

I really have nothing to complain about at all.  It is the ugly, selfish, jealous person inside of me that begs for more.  One of these days God is going to give me something to complain about if I don't relax and enjoy the life I have. 

Life's not fair or easy, I do know that. 

I know I am not the only one that feels like this.  How do you all overcome this? 

{DIY} picture frame revamp.

Before we moved, I had found this large picture at Goodwill for $7 that I couldn't leave without.  I loved the picture itself, but I thought the frame was very drab and boring.  I knew I had some blue/green paint at the house for another project and decided to give it a go with a color change. 

I knew the color wouldn't be an exact match or probably look the best, but I'm not really one that likes things to match perfectly, and this actually turned out better than I had hoped.  I think the new color really makes the picture pop and it fits perfectly on the big, bare spot I had on my wall.

It was so easy to do.  All I did was buy a few cans of white primer, sprayed them on to dry, and then painted on a few coats of paint.  It definitely doesn't look professionally done because I had to do this in my garage on a box, in dim light, but it looks good to me.

I wish I had time to do projects everyday, but sadly, I don't.  This was so much fun and totally easy.

a birthday post. my 31 in 31.

Well, today is my birthday.   A whole other year has come and gone so very quickly.

It seems like just last week I was trying to get used to being 30 and here I am a year older.  It's ok; my life keeps getting better and better, but I just wish it wasn't going so fast.

In this next year, I plan to try and knock out the following 31 things.

My 31 in 31.

1. Go to Hawaii for our 5th wedding anniversary.
2. Understand my camera even better.
3. Become a better blogger and grow.
4. Find a church I love and get involved. 
5. Run a mile without stopping.  I still have not mastered this goal from the beginning of the year.
6. Get in better shape and tone up.
7. Manage my anxiety better.
8. Have a baby.
9. Save money.
10. Pay back a chunk of our $100,000 student loans.
11. Start a vacation fund.
12. Be a better nurse.
13. Begin relearning Spanish.
14. Go to at least 5 concerts.
15. Keep a journal. 
16. Complete a photo a day challenge for a whole month. 
17. Use Twitter more and more.
18.  Meet one of my bloggy friends in real life!
19. Travel as much as possible.
20. Pay off one big piece of debt.
21. Increase my optimism and not dwell on the negatives of life.
22. Take better pictures.
23. Read the Bible.
24. Learn to crochet.
25. Join a gym and get back into swimming.
26. Do more makeup/hair tutorials.
27. Repot all my plants.
28. Complete my list of DIY projects.
29. Pay it forward in a drive-thru.
30. Become more patient.
31. Slow down and enjoy this beautiful life!