Mary Katherine Blogs: On February, March, & Being Meticulous

* Oops, I did it again. I forgot I had a blog, and have been meaning to write, oh baby baby. * (Did ya sing that??)

So yeah. February, March, and April have come and gone. Shoot y'all! Time is just flying out from from under my size 9 feet, and I love it and hate it. I vowed that I would not let today go by without writing because I did not want to see one post in January and then another in May. So I'm milking this last day of April for all it's worth. Then it only looks like I skipped two months, not three!

I'm not going to make any excuses for my laziness (yes I am). I have said it in the past and I'll say it again, I really would like to write on my blog more often, but unfortunately I'm of the personality persuasion where I have to have all my ducks in a row before I feel organized and mentally prepared enough to write something coherent. (Right now I'm not doing a very good job.) <--- Exhibit A that even though my circumstances aren't perfect (obviously they aren't) I am still trying to keep up with my goals and wishes.

Anyyyyway. So the excuses/update on where my life currently sits.

On January 31st the husband and I closed the deal on our very first house. So February consisted of settling in and then I don't even know what happened in March. More settling, I guess. (Remember what I said two paragraphs ago about my need for having ducks in a row...) I'm very meticulous and I have a love/hate relationship with myself about it.

I am very affected by my surrounding environment. Order and organization help me to get things done because it helps me focus on the task at hand when I don't have to worry about putting clothes away or sweeping the floor. Yet, at the same time my personality trait for cleanliness and order is my own worst enemy. It often keeps me from getting the things done that I really want to do because I get too obsessed with organizing and creating order so I can do said things, which never get done because I'm too OCD about step 1. So, it's a vicious cycle, and I'm trying everyday to ease up.

I have found that when I'm away from home I actually get more done. I told my husband recently that I just need an office at the library where I can go to write and brainstorm all of my creative ideas because when I'm home I either get distracted by the huge list of home improvement projects I want to accomplish or my very comfortable bed that is all too often calling my name.

But let me just say, I have improved, and everyday gets a little better. I have a lot of exciting things in the works that are on the brink of being brought to life. I am just going to have to live with the idea that my circumstances will never be perfect, and that I need to be okay with "rolling with the punches" of everyday life - dish piles and all.

The past two months weren't a total waste - I mean, we bought a house for goodness sake! I've been too busy "adulting" I haven't been able to Mary Katherine.

Quick re-cap of the last three months:

We bought a house, oh and an old truck, too:

Home, sweet home.

Nope, not your average cookie cutter. I find myself laughing when I watch shows like house hunters. "I want an open concept, updated kitchen, fancy house with 20 walk in closets OH, and we love to entertain...blah blah blah." I guess I can somewhat see the appeal of those kinds of houses, but I always grew up in older homes and I like a house with a little character. So we got a good mix. It's older (built in the 1970s) and a ranch style but it has an updated kitchen, which I really wanted. Of all the snobby house hunter episodes I've watched I can relate to wanting a nice kitchen. It's a perfect first home for us and we're excited to make it our own. So far we've repainted the kitchen and living room...now we have every single other room to do. Haha. It will be a long process, but we'll probably live here for several years, so it's all good. Plenty of time for improvements. It's funny, and kind of sad too, but now that we have a house, we talk about "the next house" we'll have. Someday, we'll live in the country, have some land, and maybe build....but that is in the very very distant future. For now we are very content and so grateful for what we have, which is a lot.

**Stay tuned for the inevitable home renovation and DIY posts. :)

I spontaneously chopped my long hair off!!! But hey, it looks pretty good.

Michael ran his first half marathon and I cheered him on:

My brother ran, too! These guys are awesome! I love them both.

We UTAH'd.

Michael and I made it out to Salt Lake City for our church's annul general conference meeting which was held Easter weekend. My sister, Leah, her husband, and their sweet baby boy came down from Idaho and we spent the weekend together. It was so nice. My husband was also able to attend a reunion from the two year service mission he did for our church. We were able to meet up with many of his old friends and it was a great time. It takes a lot to get me out to Utah-land - but BFF sisters, sweet nephew smiles, and inspiring messages will always do the trick.

YOU GUYS. Seriously. This was his smile when he saw me. **Heart eternally melting** ♥♥♥

We pretty much got off our airplane and hit the ground running. Friday night we had dinner at Aristo's, a Greek restaurant Leah and Tyler liked last time they visited. I give it an A-/B+ for authenticity in taste, portions, no. They were puny. But it was good!