Even-Keeled

I literally have the word "balance" tattooed on my wrist. It's funny how that's the one word that perfectly describes what I've been seeking since starting my new career. It's practically impossible to achieve it, but I am trying. Hard.

Today, like a lot of days, I got great business advice from my dad. He's the greatest businessman I know. I strive to be like him in a lot of ways. He said "Molly.. you will need to find a way to not get too high or too low in this job." He's so right. I have a tendency to flip out if I get an exciting piece of news (or if it's bad news) and I'm not very good at being super mellow. Maybe once I have kids, I'll mellow out a little - at least I hope so. Dear God, help me with that. I definitely don't want to be one of those moms having a meltdown in Target cuz my kids are crying. I witnessed that firsthand last week in the fitting room. This younger mom was trying on clothes (um, maybe her first mistake!?) with her little kids in tow and one started crying and she just started freaking out... "That's it. THAT'S IT. THIS IS THE LAST TIME I EVER GO TO A STORE WITH YOU TWO. MAMA CAN'T TAKE THIS!" :/ Yikes. And I thought my trip to Target was bad since I was swimsuit shopping!

Anyway, back to the point of trying to achieve balance which I think is directly related to my faith life. I'm trying to do a lot more praying these days. For one, I want to build a stronger relationship with Jesus and two, I want my praying to be less about asking for things and more conversational. I want to worry less and give thanks more. I want to better focus my praying on others and for the struggles going on in the lives of my family and friends. You have a prayer request? Let me know, and I'll include you in my chat with Jesus. There's no cap on my list, and I truly believe that the power of prayer is powerful.

If you're an active pray-er, please include me. :) Specifically, please ask our gracious God to grant me with more serenity so that I can focus on living a more even-keeled life. Thank you kindly!

Mexico!

The countdown is here! 1 month and 3 days from now, my husband and I will have our toes in the sand, sipping a strawberry colada and listening to the waves crash on the Pacific Ocean shoreline. :) Doesn't that just sound like heaven?

We're staying at an all-inclusive resort in Ixtapa, 10 minutes from Zihuatanejo. If you've seen The Shawshank Redemption, you've heard of this city. We'll be spoiled with 8 restaurants and 4 bars for 5 nights. CAN. NOT. WAIT. Check it out: http://www.sunscaperesorts.com/doradopacifico/

We weren't going to vacation at all this year, so a special thanks to our tax return for making this trip possible! After booking the trip this week, we celebrated with margaritas and guacamole. WOO!

It's March 11th and tonight we are supposed to get 8 inches of snow. To say we're ready to get outta here is an understatement!

The Season of Becoming

Wow, it's almost been a month since my last post. Lots has gone on in the past month! I'm finally beginning to feel like I have the swing of my job. I've spent time at Open Houses, knocked on doors (and stuck flyers in storm doors) and done just about everything else I can think of to keep reminding people I'm in Real Estate. The goal is when someone I know is talking to someone they know and somehow "I'm thinking about selling my house" or "I'm thinking it may be time to buy a house"comes up, I'm thought of and recommended.

One thing is for sure - This is a TOUGH business. I totally understand the statistic that 8 of every 10 new agents will drop out in the first year. It's especially tough getting started as the referral base isn't in place yet and there are skeptics who'd rather NOT work with someone they know in one of the most important financial transactions of their lives. I get that. However, I also have 100% confidence in myself and my abilities and encourage anyone who may be cautious to work with a newer agent to trust me. I've picked the #1 office in our area to affiliate with and that comes with a roster of experienced, talented agents who have consistently offered to help in any way they can. We have this flyer at my company - "when you hire one of us, you hire all of us" - I have found that couldn't be more true.

Life has truly changed for me, too. It's taken a 180, actually. I find myself so much happier because I'm able to control my day-to-day. This statement is actually quite an oxy-moron because in a sense, I control what's going on that day... will I run errands? work from home? work in the office? meet a friend for coffee? Of course, the second the phone rings, I switch gears to accommodate a client and his/her schedule. You never know what the day might hold but I DO know I have control over it. Instead of only seeing my house when it's dark outside, I can work in my comfies in the morning or write a blog post from my living room with a cup of coffee at my side. :)

More than anything, I feel so content with the hard decision to leave a stable job at a fantastic company with incredible coworkers to take a HUGE chance, live off of some savings and one salary to ultimately follow my dream. I am blessed with a supportive husband who encourages me every day.

Shauna Niequist writes about being 25 in her book Bittersweet and offers these poignant words:
"Don't get stuck. Move, travel, take a class, take a risk. Walk away, try something new. There is a season for wildness and a season for settledness, and this is neither. This season is about becoming. Don't lose yourself at happy hour, but don't lose yourself on the corporate ladder either."

Snowy Winter = House Updates!

Someday, I hope to build a house. There are so many reasons for this. One of those reasons is something I figured out after moving into this one. The previous owners built this home and I honestly don't think they could have picked cheaper finishings in certain places. Really. I can't even believe how long it took us to change out the cabinet hardware in the kitchen. Once we did, though, it made SUCH a difference. I look forward to the dream of building, where we can choose all of the finishings and details.

Some of the other cheap items include gold towel rods, builder mirrors (you know, the kind that goes right from the sink up to the light fixture with absolutely no character or frame?) and our bedroom shades.

This winter being excruciatingly inhibiting, we decided to make the most of being trapped inside and made a list of things to change indoors and got to work. So far, we've done the following:

- Repaint various walls

- Replaced the washing machine

- Swapped out the bathroom cabinet hardware

- Replaced ugly shades in our bedroom with elegant faux wood blinds

- Revamped our downstairs bathroom including fresh paint, installing a beautiful new mirror, putting up shelves and replacing the gold towel rods with sleek silver ones

Here's the bathroom before:

And after!

Here's a side-by-side :

If we had all kinds of money, we'd have replaced the vanity/sink too. But, it works just fine and is money we don't need to spend so it stays. Plus, our upstairs bathroom will be getting a new vanity & sink at some point so can't do everything! As any other homeowner would know, the to-do list is never really blank. Always lots to be done! 

Thanks for reading :)

Our V-Day

In my opinion, Valentine's Day is just like any other day. Although, like NYE, the two days share an enormous amount of pressure.... Are there flowers? Chocolates? A love letter? Who's significant other spent the most on an over-the-top display of affection?

Even though I think this day is obnoxious, a wave of romance came over me yesterday afternoon and I was left with wanting to do something special for my man. Turned into a really fun evening where my fabulous friend Stacy and I cooked a surprise meal for our husbands.

The Menu:
- Bread & Butter (duh)
- Caesar Salad (homemade- not from a bag!)
- Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Pork Tenderloin (stuffed with STUFFING)
- Lemon & Rosemary Potatoes
- And a Heart Shaped Brownie/Cool-Whip/Strawberry cake that was just to die for (divided brownie batter between a square pan and a circular cake pan then turned the square cake on a diagonal and cut the circular cake down the middle to attach each piece to the side of the square and create the heart shape!)

Here are some pics:

We had such a fun time cooking, getting the table ready and candles lit and ultimately surprising the guys. We were very thankful that after 8 or 9 times going off, the smoke detector kept quiet when they finally arrived. I'm guessing that was due to the cooking bacon grease...

Lots of laughs and stories ensued at dinner and then we finished the night off by watching our favorite scenes in Titanic. We're all strangely obsessed with that movie and between the four of us, know various quotes throughout the film.

Hope everyone else had a nice day and that you showed someone your love.

More Healthy Eats!

In my last blog post, I shared some of our favorite recipes. I started Weight Watchers 3.5 weeks ago and have since done some further experimenting in the kitchen. Trying to find some new healthy staple meals to add to the dinner rotation.

Today, I wanted to share a couple recipes that those of us counting points (or just trying to eat better) can appreciate.

1) Turkey Enchilada Skillet. 6 pts/serving
I've never been a huge ground turkey fan, but OMG. This dish is fantastic. It was so good, I'm making it again tonight, not even a week later. It's basically this recipe but with browned ground turkey instead of shredded chicken. Make sure to grab a can of enchilada sauce next time you're at the grocery and then you'll probably have everything else to make this dish.

2) Iced Brownies!!! (I know what you're thinking. Weight Watcher approved? YES!) 3pts/brownie**
** If you cut them like I cut them, they're probably more like 4-5 points a serving. I'm not in to the teeny tiny little square piece, thanks.

Recipe here. If you ask me, no diet is sustainable if it doesn't allow sweet or salty foods. That's just ridiculous. People need their chocolate from time to time and these brownies ABSOLUTELY hit the spot. It made so many I froze some for a later date when I want something but don't have time to bake.

3) Egg, Ham & Cheese Muffins
These have been a lifesaver over the past week. You could put whatever veggies in here you want but with a quick 30 seconds in the microwave, these babies are ready to eat. And each muffin is 3 pts.

Recipe here.

4) I found it. A WW friendly recipe for MACARONI & CHEESE!!! At 6 points/serving, it's totally worth it to have this comfort food when you're craving it most.  Recipe here.

For the ladies I met at the WW meeting, hope you find these helpful. For anyone else reading, let me know if you try any of these. Hope you like them as much as we do!

Some favorites in our Kitchen!

Yesterday, I shared a photo on my Insta/FB accounts of one of my husband's and my favorite recipes - No Bake Energy Bites. Lots of friends asked for the recipe, so I thought it would be fun to blog about some of our favs.

Find the recipe for these Energy Bites here. They are so tasty, super easy to make and are packed with protein.

We have a few dinner staples on rotation all of which I have found on Pinterest.

1) Grown Up Mac & Cheese *our absolute favorite*

Recipe here. All in one pan (hopefully you have a cast iron pot!) and easy to make in 30 minutes.

2) Ground Beef & Cheddar Casserole



Recipe here. My personal opinion - use half as much sour cream with the noodles. I've done the research in case you care, each serving (1 1/4 cup or 1/8 of the 9x13 pan) is 7 WW+ points if you use half cheddar half WW cheese - I used WW mexican shredded cheese. Not bad for a delish dinner.

3) Baked Chicken Fajitas

Recipe can be found here. Easy and healthy. 6 WW+ points excluding tortillas or toppings.


4) Easy One-Pan Chicken Parm Bake



*Please note, this is NOT my picture. This is the picture from the recipe's website which can be found here. Make sure to watch the video for the step-by-step directions. Very interesting use of croutons and SO delish.



And a few of our favorite side dishes:

5) Homemade Mac & Cheese

*Please note, this is NOT my picture. This is the picture from the recipe's website which can be found  here.

One of my favorite foods. Should be its own food group, really. Not healthy, but creamy, comforting and yummy.

6) Cheesy Bacon Potato Bites

*Please note, this is NOT my picture. This is the picture from the recipe's website which can be found  here.

I love making these. They're incredible and make the house smell amazingggg. 100% unhealthy, especially when you dip them in sour cream. Oops! 

And there you have it! Some of our favorites. Leave a comment and let me know if you try one and what you think! Or if you have any great recipes to share, please do. Hope you enjoy!