DIY – Every Day Moments Jar & How to Capture Your Year

A yearly tradition that B and I do is writing little notes down and placing them into our Memory Jar — but as I like to call it our “Every Day Moments Jar” because it’s more than just memories… we actually write down every day moments. Those moments that are easily forgotten or overlooked and don’t stack up to all of the other big memories throughout the year.

I first made the jar in 2012 as a Christmas gift for B — it was a year we were trying to be frugal with gifts and saving our pennies, so I created a decoupage jar with words, letters and phrases that make up B and I.  This made our jar special and unique to us — a lot of memory jars on Pinterest are plain mason jars with a simple label stating ‘Memory Jar’ or ‘2020 Memories.’ Your memory jar is really whatever you want to make it, it could even be a wooden box, but I love making it a bit more special!

To create your own memory jar you could decoupage a mason jar or a jar similar to the one we have like this Libbey® cylinder jar from Michael’s – snag some old magazines, photos or notes and glue to cover the jar using modge podge.

So you have your memory jar, now what?  It can be hard to keep up with this throughout the year — so B and I keep this on our dining room table where we eat each night and make it a habit of adding in a note or two every night or every other night.  Next to the jar I keep a couple pens and a notepad that we tear pieces of paper from. Adding memories regularly, help capture those funny, thankful, or sweet moments.  We even add in tickets, wrist bands or other fun keepsakes throughout the year in the jar as we go.
On New Year’s Day, B and I make time to dump out all our little notes and take turns reading them back and forth to each other.  We laugh, try and guess who wrote the other’s note and reminisce on those ones that we forgot about. To keep these notes accessible, I tape them into a journal – filling the pages, so it’s easier to look back and we’ve added to the same journal year after year, with more memories captured in more years than others.

This would also be a great Valentine’s Day gift and won’t be too late to start writing down those memories with your family and loved ones.

Fitness Friday 01.20

It’s the first Friday of 2020 and what better way to kickoff the New Year than planning out your 2020 fitness goals. If you read my last Fitness Friday of 2019, you saw I graded my 2019 fitness goals, and how well I did them — or not! I feel like I really bounced back at the end of this past year coming off a big middle hurdle and without a big wedding coming up, or other major motivations, my primary fitness goal is to not only maintain, but just feel good and happy with myself.

I’m going to be a little boring, but a lot of my fitness goals are going to be the same as last year. Why? Because they’re what works for my routine, what my body needs, and also what I enjoy doing. Although I’m going to tweak a few, include a few more specifics and guidelines to help make these more attainable this year!

Build and Maintain My Core Strength. My back injury was definitely a wake up call to how I not only need to build my core strength but I also need to maintain it.  I learned so much about how different parts of my body help or overwork themselves to makeup up incompetencies in other areas. So I’m going to start focusing on integrating my PT exercises in 3X a week.

Bootcamp 3X a Week.  This works for me. Waking up and getting my workouts in before I head into the office, ensure I get my workouts done and checked off for the week.  Even getting all three done within the work week opens Saturday’s up for volunteering, a run, or just social time with friends!

Finish 6 Runs in 2020. Usually B and I are able to get a few runs in each year, this past year we only did one! So I’m putting a number to it, to plan better and have a goal. I’ve already signed up for two races, one is tomorrow, and looking forward to getting a few more in the books throughout the year.

Healthy Food Balance.  I generally try to eat less carbs, so that is something that isn’t going to really change. But I want to continue to maintain a healthy balance of less snacking, mixed in intermittent fasting, and those delicious cheat days. Maintaining food balance, while not depriving yourself is key to loving yourself and not sacrificing with fad diets.

What’re your 2020 fitness goals?

Travel: Jackson Hole – Part 1

Happy Tuesday and start to a short week after a longggg weekend.  I was lucky enough to have a super long weekend and was vacationing all last week in one of my favorite spots ever – Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  The last time I was out in JH was two-years ago, which was the first time B got to experience the magic and beauty of the Grant Tetons, he feel in love too.  To share the love of my trip, and in case any of you are planning a trip or looking for your next vacation spot, here is Part 1 of our trip, focusing on the hikes we took throughout the week!

Taggart Lake Trailhead
Level: Easy – Moderate | Distance: About 3-miles
You can access Taggart Lake once you enter Grand Teton National Park (GTNP) from the Moose Entrance Station it’s one of the first stops that is clearly marked as you head north.  It’s definitely a popular spot and you’ll run into fellow hikers and tourists, throughout this hike you’ll be stunned and amazed at the Grand Teton as you keep getting closer and closer.  Once you get to Taggart Lake you can definitely relax in serenity and soak in the views of the Grand. If you’re looking for more views and a little longer of a hike from Taggart Lake you can go a little further and reach Bradley Lake, if you’re looking for something more challenging you can also head to Ampitheater Lake from the Taggart Lake Trailhead.

Geraldine Lucas Cabin
Level: Easy | Distance: 2-miles
Geraldine Lucas was a pioneer for her time and the second woman to ever climb the Grand Teton (at 58-years-young).  She was mostly notable, unfortunately, for being a divorced single mother,  not only was she divorced and a single mother but she also attended college, in Ohio of all places. She retired out in Jackson Hole in 1913 – she acquired nearly 160 acres for her homestead.   The property was later owned by Harold Fabian, and the property is now commonly referred to as the Lucas-Fabian Homestead.  This trail is a bit tougher to find – well currently, but the park service is finally getting this on the map with marked trails and signs (as it’s currently a bit of an adventure to find).  Again off Teton Park Rd., you’ll want to look for The Climbers Ranch road and drive down the road past the first driveway, over a bridge and park to your right in a little pull off. The Cottonwood Creek Trail to the homestead starts there. You’ll again reach stunning views of the Tetons once you reach the 11-house homestead, Geraldine picked a killer spot.

Two Oceans & Emma Matilda Lakes 
Level: Moderate – Hard |  Distance: 4-11 miles
This hike was a random pick by me, mainly because of the name, Emma Matilda, a nickname my mom calls me.  You’ll get here by taking 191 and continuing onto 191 at Moran Junction, from there follow the signs to Two Oceans and Emma Matilda, after entering the park. The hike around Emma Matilda Lake is about 11-miles. The hike from Two Oceans to Emma Matilda is about 4-miles depending on how much you explore, Two Oceans is about a 6-mile hike, so you’ve got a lot of options with this spot. Although this is prime bear country so be sure to make noise while hiking (wearing a bell or clapping) and be sure to have bear spray! We did not see any grizzlies, unfortunately, but this is definitely one of the less traveled trails. The views however once you reach Emma Matilda from Two Oceans is unbelievable and definitely worth it. Our hike was cut short from some thunder and rain, but still totally worth it.

Although we only went on three hikes throughout the week, they were all different from when we were last out in JH. It was fun getting out and exploring and seeing as much of the beauty as we could up close and personal.  There are so many hidden spots and treasures in GTNP, and these are definitely a few of them!

Wednesday Reminders – Life

My daily quote box in my office inspired me once again:

Sometimes our goals are life related but often times they’re work, or school related; which can lead to hard and negative situations that can so easily get us down or set us back, it’s only human nature.  It’s true at times that negatives/set backs can push us forward and make us work harder. But I think more importantly than the negative; we as humans often forget about the positive (guilty) which I think at times so much harder to be cognizant of.  As the quote above reminds us that life needs to be enjoyed before our goals can truly be rewarded.  To put the icing on the cake, I read another perfectly fitting and great reminder scrolling through my instagram feed last night, @alexajeanfitness posted;

“It’s easy to fall into the trap of replaying negative situations from the day that you wish you’d handled differently. Regardless of how badly the day went, the best thing to do is avoid that pessimistic spiral of negative self-talk because it will only create more stress. Remember to take some time to reflect on the positive moments of the day and celebrate the successes, even if they were few and far between.”

Yes! I did this all day yesterday, replayed a conversation that I wish hadn’t happened, and I wish I’d responded differently towards – and I read this and realized that the entire day I was grumpy and miserable and stressed because all I focused on was the negative. We need to remember to reflect and talk about the positives; and not in a coincidental way (my mom did that yesterday.)

So this morning I finally got a good laugh to snap me out of my grumpy funk, all at B’s expense but it was so needed, so thank you B ❤

I am owning situations, I am owning my actions and I am going to start talking about the positives and start enjoying life beyond my goals. Happy Wednesday!

Weekend Update

Happy Last Monday of February!!

I know not all of you are lucky enough to live in the Midwest, but this past month has been freezing cold with snow-filled weekends! Living in a 100-year old house, and negative degree temperatures for consistent days in a row means frozen pipes.  Luckily(?) our frozen pipes are isolated and only in our kitchen, each time they freeze we learn something new… so long story short one of the fixes was putting in a new faucet.  B and I are now trained plumbers, thank you very much! Teasing, but we did it all by ourselves and it’s such a change physically along with hopefully helping the pipe freezing problem (we can now run cold and hot water at the same time) … and that was only Friday night!

Saturday morning I helped my aunts out while they went out of town and went over to feed their girls, Opa! the puggle and Maya, the black lab, also meaning Moz got to play with her cousins!  Of course Saturday morning was a mini blizzard, nonstop fluffy snowflakes falling and terrible, not plowed roads, so shoveling was a necessity. With bad roads and the beautiful snow fall, a relaxing day at home doing some little projects was the plan! Followed by a night-in, our own little happy hour with a cheese board paired with some Manhattans. And we topped the night off with DiGiorno pizza and a movie. We watched Sex Tape with Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel, it was actually pretty very funny!

Sunday was productive and relaxing as well (well sort of).  Breakfast and coffee and some Millionaire Matchmaker in the morning, followed by Church, the gym and some shopping/errands (which of course went longer than expected).  Home to relax for a bit and do a few more little projects (can’t wait to share these soon!) before dinner with the aunts and of course, more snow!

It was a very nice weekend, it wasn’t over complicated with endless trips or errands, it was productive and relaxing all at the same time.  Hoping to have a few more of these in the future! Hope you are all staying warm, wherever you may be.