Spring is here!

Good morning, and happy first day of Spring! Although the sun isn’t out and the temperatures aren’t feeling quite so Spring like, I love all the feelings of change a new season brings. A change in season is a great time to reset, recharge and bring about some changes in your own life. I like to think of it as a kind of a new beginning and a great time to set a new intention. Maybe there’s a project you been meaning to start on or finish up, a new diet you want to try, a new workout class, maybe a new book? Or maybe there’s something about yourself you want to work on: being more patient, living more in the present, focusing on the positives, getting more sleep, being more grateful for what you have, setting a goal for yourself. Now is the perfect time to reflect on what you could do to bring about change in your life this new Spring season.

In this post I want to talk about a few things: my Spring intention, a few new changes we have made in our home to start off the new season, and a few med changes for me.

The intention I have set for myself this season is “Let Go and Let God”. I have heard this phrase many times throughout my life, and I get the idea behind it, I thought I had been applying this phrase to my life, but I really haven’t been consistent. Let me start by saying that I am not a super religious person, in the sense that I do not attend church every Sunday, read the Bible, or completely let myself let go of all “control”. I don’t know what the future holds or what my wants/needs may be one day, I may feel the need or want to start going to church more one day, but for now, it’s not my preference. However, I don’t believe that you have to do all of those things or fall into a certain idea/perception to be a religious or spiritual person. Everyone has some kind of belief system. I do believe in God, I pray everyday, I write in my 5 minute journal everyday (which I’ll talk about in a later post), I read a daily devotional, I practice yoga and meditation, and I am learning more and more that I have very little control over certain aspects of my life, and although at times I think I do, I know there is a plan already in place for me and my life.

For my 30th birthday back in September, my friend Cindy and I (and my friend Jessica came along for moral support, haha!) decided to get tattoos, not matching tattoos or anything but I had been wanting one for a while and contemplating on a certain design for a few months and decided it was the perfect time and way to commemorate turning 30 and welcoming a new decade. Cindy also had an idea for a tattoo that she wanted and we thought it would be all the better to do it together. I decided on a simple, small lotus flower design on my wrist. I love the lotus flower for the pretty aesthetics but also the meaning behind it. The lotus flower roots are established in the mud and its flowers bloom on top of the murky water. I love what that symbolizes. My interpretation is that even though your situation may be dark, difficult and scary- in the end, you will blossom into whatever beautiful person and life you are supposed to.

We have been working on some projects in our home the last few weeks, in the spirit of change and also trying to keep ourselves busy and our minds occupied. We also really like doing home/construction projects, even though there are many times throughout the project where one or both of us says “Well this isn’t as easy we we thought” or “Next time we are hiring out”. Grant’s favorite lines of mine are “I changed my mind, I thought of something else”, “Actually I think another color would be better”, or “While we are at it lets…” Luckily he is usually super patient with me, and at the end of the day, it’s super rewarding to stand back and admire your hard work. Although it isn’t always easy and there are usually a few bumps in the road and trips to and from the store, we always make light of it and end up laughing with or at each other. We always have fun, learn something new, or at least make some good memories together doing whatever project big or small we decide to tackle! Below is one of our most recent “big” projects. We renovated our kitchen. We painted the cabinets white, changed out the counter-tops from laminate to quartz, and painted our back-splash. I LOVE how it turned out, it made such a big difference and is so much more airy and bright, it was definitely worth it!

We saved lots of money by painting the cabinets and back-splash our self. It was definitely time consuming and took lots of coats of paint, but Grant invested in a paint sprayer from Amazon that was really affordable and cut down on time tremendously! We also learned after a few cabinets that primer is definitely worth it! Once the cabinets were completely covered how we wanted we applied two coats of polyurethane to help protect against stains and scratching.

We primed the back-splash and used a semi-gloss paint to give it a “subway tile” glossy look.

We kept our island the original wood, and I added wooden accents on the counter-tops with cutting boards, knife set, bread box, fruit/cake stand, and new wooden and white barstools from Wayfair (which are on the way).

Our friend who flips houses recommended a counter-top guy that was extremely affordable. He was able to install high quality quartz counter-tops for a really great price in a short amount of time (I’m talking he came over to give me an estimate and show me samples on a Wednesday and installed the counter-tops 3 days later). If you’re interested in quartz counter-tops, feel free to message me or comment on this post and I will be happy to pass along his info.

The pictures aren’t the greatest quality, and I’m bad at remembering to take “before” pictures so I just went through all the pictures on my phone until I found one that somewhat showed the old kitchen, but it was a pleasant surprise that is also had Izzy in it!

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This is the link to the sprayer we used-https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DLR5FK2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Bread box- Hobby Lobby Cake/fruit stand- Target: Hearth and Hand collection Cutting boards and knife set: Target Magnolia Cookbook by Joanna Gaines Cookbook stand- Target Dollar Spot Teapot- HomeGoods

Lastly, some med changes for me, which started yesterday, include: increasing my PIO (progesterone in oil) injections from 1.5 cc’s to 2.0 cc’s, and the frequency from once a day to twice a day. I was obviously freaking out thinking it’s a bad sign, but my nurse assured me that my levels were in the normal range (anything above 10 ng/mL is normal and I was at 13.8), but she said, and I quote, “Dr. Ahmad really wants you to be pregnant so she wants you to be an over-achiever and be above 15 ng/mL).” That is fine with me! I love how much my doctor and nurse care and how honest and real they are with me. I also had to call the pharmacy and order new needles, syringes, and a new sharps container because after all of these injections mine was completely full. The pharmacy is great and delivers next day, only bad news, they didn’t have any 1 in. needles in stock so they shipped me 2 in. needles, and let me tell you, that inch makes a big difference, ouch!!

A few more days until we find out if our baby is in there and growing! In the meantime, I will be keeping busy and staying off of Google! Later this week I will be posting some tips/suggestions on how to help support and comfort anyone in your life that may be going through IVF or struggling with infertility and also a sneak peak at another project we have been working on…stay tuned!

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