1 year + 5 months + 2 Weeks =...

....yes, that equals my 30th birthday.
just kind of hit me today that 30 is quickly approaching.
and we know what that means.

it's time to review my progress on my 30 before 30 list.
let me brace you...it's not pretty.
not at all.

and so here we are.
the 'X's are from the last time I updated this.
since then, i can also mark off the following:

• i have indeed taken more pics of me and chris
• we have date night every week
• we've gone a week without tv
• and i hosted a tea party baby shower, so does that count as having a tea party?
• I've lost 30 pounds, so just another 50 to go. that's doable.

so that leaves 22 1/2 items to complete in 1 year, 5 months and 2 weeks.
the tattoo has been decided and will happen in the next month.
i'm pretty sure europe isn't going to happen by 30. but maybe for our 10 year anniversary.
also pretty sure college isn't going to be finished by 30 either.
i'm desperately working on the baby making, but that one's really out of my control.
everything else - really no excuse for it not to happen.
so i've got to kick into overdrive!

here's to life before 30!

SUYL: Infertility

It's funny how God works.
I was actually having a bad day on the emotional roller coaster that is infertility when I decided to catch up on my blogs.
And who was first in my reading list?
Kelly with the Show Us Your Life topic of the week.....struggling with infertility.
So of course I was like "OK God. OK."
And so now I write. ;)

This is by far one of the hardest struggles I've been through.
7 years of using no type of protection praying for God's timing.
A good 3 years of deliberate trying. We're currently using Clomid and Progesterone.
And still nothing.
I can look back over time and see the hand of God working in our lives and I'm thankful that for some of those years, we weren't blessed with a child. I don't think we would have made it.
But things are so different now.

For me, I feel like that sometimes the hardest part is trying to discuss this topic with those who have never experienced it.
Sure, they offer advice like "It's just not time", but what they don't understand is how condescending those words come across to someone struggling with this.

It's seriously a daily struggle.
A pep talk to yourself not to fall apart for the daily facebook update of yet, someone else announcing their pregnancy.

It affects me differently every day.
And then during the time of trying...the roller coaster is brutal.

Your boobs hurt and you think, Oh God this is it, this is really it, and then you realize it's just a PMS symptom!

OR you have a procedure that's supposed to be the magic answer, but instead it sets you back about 5 months.

I have PCOS. A definite BIG block in the mix. But even through the struggle of this, I know my God is able. And I will continue to hold on to that as long as I live.

But I'm definitely excited to connect with others who are in the same boat I am. That I can encourage, and that can encourage me. Because, after all, I do believe that every trial we go through should be used to help someone else who is going through the same thing.

Have you seen this?

Joseph Kony.
Have you heard that name over the last few days?
This video has gone viral.
And they've received some criticism for making known a real issue in this broken world.
I encourage you to watch this.
It's 30 minutes.
But it's worth it.
And even if you don't agree with their tactics, you can't denounce the awareness that they've brought for the war against humanity.
And it's one slight way that we can all take part to change the world.

And here's the Invisible Children official response to the criticism.
Click HERE.

What A Week!

Hi friends!
This week is almost over and thank goodness!
It's been quite interesting, to say the least.

For years now I've been needing my wisdom teeth removed. They're impacted and required surgery and I had a pretty penny to pay out of pocket. I've had it scheduled 3 times in the last 6 years and every time I've had to cancel because someone in my family died.
Needless to say I got a little spooked and refused to reschedule it.
Well for the last several months the wisdom teeth have been giving me some trouble.
Most recently 2 weeks of a constant state of terrible pain.
So...on Tuesday, I had emergency surgery to remove them.
Now, no one died because there was no time to have it scheduled, so that's a good thing!
They put me completely to sleep and here's the after picture:

And that is what I like to call a hot mess!
Today I'm in lots of pain.....but hopefully I'll be all better real soon!


In other news, Chris and I went antiquing again this weekend. I've had my eye on this projector for him since December, so we finally broke down and bought it. It was so exciting because when we got home and plugged it in, it worked! We got such a great deal on it too!
Chris is on cloud 9!

It fits right in with all of our other vintage camera finds.

And then today....
I've been seeing all these stupid broom photos on facebook and twitter.
So I stood mine up to see what the fuss was all about and well.....it stood up on its own!
Apparently there's something special with the planets and gravitational pull right now.
Very cool.
And creepy!

So how's your March Photo A Day challenge coming? You can still catch up if you want to join in! Click on the link to see the shot list for this month.

Life in photos

It's no secret that I have a love affair with photos. I mean i just seriously LOVE them! So of course when all of these photo-a-day challenges came out, I jumped right on board. And what's even more exciting is the Friday link up party by Nest of Posies to showcase your month in photos! Now, for some reason, only to make life difficult I'm sure, I deleted some of my photos and can't get them off of Instagram at the moment. So what I have below is a lovely snapshot of part of February! I'll do much better in March - promise!

It's not too late if you want to join in for March! In fact, I encourage you to! I'm following the shot list by Fat Mum Slim. Funny side note - at first I thought Fat Mum Slim was actually "Fat Muslim" bahahahahaha!

So if you want to jump on board for March, here's the shot list: