Happy Birthday to...Me!

I love birthdays :) I love making people feel special on their own day, and I love getting a little spoiled on mine! My 22nd, my golden birthday, was nothing less than wonderful. And it went a little something like this:

• Went to dinner Saturday night with my family. Hibachi and cookies and cream ice cream cake...yes, please!
• Toms & Victorias's Secret <3
• Stayed up until 4 am on Tuesday with a sick baby. Not an ideal birthday night's sleep, but it happens.
• Slept in! Thankfully, I'd already talked to Taylor's mom about coming into work later on my birthday, so after our late night, Nora and I slept until 10. Even though I didn't get anymore sleep than usual, I still love the idea of getting up after 8 because it is a very rare occurrence!
• Woke up to a phone full of "Happy Birthday" texts and Facebook posts. I seriously consider deleting my FB about once a week because its such a time waster, but I'm glad I had it this week--so much love from people I don't get to see or talk to nearly enough.
• Took it easy, hanging out in our pajamas, watching cartoons and eating granola.
• Green GHD hair straightener ordered and on the way!
• Went to work (after staying home Monday with Sick Nora) and had plenty of work to keep me busy.
• Got my new license at the DMV. I didn't get my license until I was 17 so it didn't expire on my 21st birthday like most people's do. I hated surrendering my old card, my first "Burcell" ID with a great picture, but now I'm officially an adult with my horizontally-facing license. Weird...
• Got home from the DMV with just enough time to fix my hair and kiss my baby before Taylor took me out to dinner and a movie. Date nights seem so few and far between, I love them so much. We got to Lavelle's at 5, and were something like the 4th and 5th people there. With the place practically to ourselves, we ordered LOTS of food (crab & artichoke dip, French onion soup, and filet mignon with salad...yum!) and got it all at lightning speed. With our phones off for the most part and a pole blocking our view if the TV, we just got to sit with each other and talk. This is something I think so many people take for granted. We could talk as much as we wanted whenever before we had Nora. But now, when we're home, we have 8000 things distracting us, leaving real conversations on the back burner. And I love talking to my husband, why do you think I married him?? :)
• Went to see Silver Linings Playbook and I loved every minute of it! GREAT movie. Would go see it again in a heartbeat. Bradley Cooper and Katniss--how could it not have been good?!
• And then my sweet little girl greeted us at the door when we got home, promptly fell asleep and slept ALL night. After a week with a sick baby, that was the best present I could have gotten.

Phew, busy day! Thanks to everyone who made my day so special. Here's to another year! 22, please bring me good grades, a few lost pounds, and lots and lots of love.

Sick Baby

Well, I hope everyone's weekend was more fun-filled than ours was. This sick baby thing is no fun at all. Friday night Nora started puking, and I was up with her til 3:30 until she was just too exhausted to stay awake. We took it very easy on Saturday, taking naps whenever possible. With no sleep and not knowing when little bug would feel better, I had to cancel the hair appointment I'd been looking forward to for a month. My roots will have to wait another two weeks. :(

The highlight of the weekend was dinner Saturday night with my family for mine and my brother's birthdays (Happy Birthday Fred!). We went to Shogun, and even though the wait was long, the food was great and there was no puking at the restaurant! Haha, I was so so worried about that. We left feeling stuffed full of hibachi steak, but still had room for ice cream cake while skyping with my sister and brother-in-law. I got a new pair of Toms from my parents, my very favorite thing, I didn't take them off all night!

Once we got home, we were hoping we'd have a baby too tired to stay awake, but she had an entirely different plan in mind... The last time I remember looking at the clock, it was 11:45, and she still wasn't ready to sleep, urrrgghhhhh. After a spotty night's sleep, we all woke up in the morning and were a chorus of stuffy noses and sore throats, so we stayed in from church. TK even let me go back to bed until 10, something I haven't done since... 18 months ago, maybe?! Even though we all felt sick, I loved being home all day, just the three of us. We cuddled and watched football, and Nora only got sick once (yay!). Nora sat and watched all of How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days with me, I don't know what it was about the movie but it put her in a better mood than she'd been in all day. :)

And now, it's bedtime. She's asleep on my chest right now, and hopefully the Advil and Vicks will help her sleep well tonight. I'm letting her sleep in our bed, but I think it's more for my peace of mind than hers. Even though this sick baby thing isn't very fun, I couldn't love anything more than this sweet sleeping girl in my arms. <3

Week 2: This Week's Bests

Maybe this wasn't the best New Year's Resolution--I have a feeling like this may cause lot's of procrastination when I should be doing homework (like right now...).  School started again today :(  And since I feel like doing nothing but complaining about a semester that seems like it'll be pretty rough, I think I'll make my "This Week's Best" post a weekly thing, to remind myself that just because school can really suck sometimes and feels like it will never end, I've still got it pretty good.

This Week's Bests:

• My Erin Condren Planner: Seriously, my best friend at school.  Thank goodness Olivia showed me these this summer, I have no idea how I've made it through so many school years without one of these!  A monthly calendar, weekly calendars, blank pages in the back for notes, and stickers :)

Animal Print? Check!

Inspirational Bookmark? Check!

• Autostart--Found: My autostart fell off of my keychain last year, and I have the hardest time keeping track of it.  Of course I lost it in December right before it got to -40 and I thought I'd lost it for good. Then the other day, I had to dig around in the car to try to find Nora's pacifier and I came up out of the mess that is my backseat with my autostart! Hopefully I can hang on to it for a little while this time around!
• Coffee Toffee Torte: Stephanie left to go back to school this week, so Tuesday night all the girls went to Wolf Run for dessert.  I think choosing what I was going to have was the toughest decision I've had to make in a LONG time.  I went with the coffee toffee torte, "4 layers of chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and toffee bits between each layer and a chocolate mousse on top," so yummy.  I tried to justify the splurge by eating it over two days: that makes it less points, right??
• Birthday Shopping: My birthday is coming up next Tuesday so I get to pick out my birthday present this week! I've had the same hair straightener for four years and I think it's finally called it quits on me.  So, GHD or Chi? I can't decide!

Pink Chi?

Or Green GHD?

• And This Little Girl:

Count Your Blessings

Today started out fairly well. I overslept by half an hour, but I still made it to work on time. I was getting things checked off my to-do list, Nora was with me in the office playing and keeping herself busy. I fed her some applesauce around noon, and then when I tried to give her some veggies...she puked. ALL over me.

There I am, with vomit all over my pants, and I get so annoyed and frustrated. All while being snappy and impatient, I clean up the floor, clean up Nora and get her in a new change of clothes, and then leave Nora there with Uncle Robby while I practically storm out of the restaurant to go home and get a change of clothes. After feeling awful for myself for 5 minutes on the way home, I realize, "How ridiculous it is for me to be upset at my toddler for getting sick?!" Yeah, I got puked on, but at least I wasn't the one puking! She was so sweet and innocent, trying to help me clean up the mess and giggling like nothing had happened, not to mention the fact that she obviously didn't feel well.

So I immediately decided to end my own private pity party. I have no reason to feel bad for myself, and I have no time to waste on such a crappy way of thinking. I am FORTUNATE enough to have not one, but two great jobs, I GET to go back to school this week, I am LUCKY to have a house to clean and dishes to wash. My wonderful husband always knows exactly when I need a kiss on the cheek to cheer me up. And I know that the times I'll get puked on are few and far between, but I get hugs and kisses and "oooooh yaaaaa's" from my little bug every single day.

Always count your blessings :)

Baking Frenzy!

If I could make one wish, it would be that I could eat everything I bake and not gain a pound.  But... since we all know that that's not the case, I had to exercise some serious self-control tonight. I love baking, especially with the pretty new KitchenAid my parents got me for Christmas.  Taylor wanted cookies, I wanted cupcakes, so I just HAD to make both.

First time I got an "Absolutely perfect!" from Taylor. :)

Cupcakes from scratch.

My biggest cookie fan.

I tried a new Pinterest trick this week.  Last time I tried to make my own frosting it was a complete disaster--my cake was nicknamed "The Big Sloppy." :\  So this time a bought some pre-made cream cheese frosting and whipped it in my mixer on medium for two minutes.  It was SO much better than frosting straight out of the can.  It was light and fluffy, and I was able to use a lot more frosting per cupcake.

All whipped up.

Then I filled a zip-loc bag with the frosting, cup the tip of the bag off, piped the frosting on, and then smoothed it out with a knife.

And they tasted good, too!

Did all of my dishes right after I was done, my mom would be so proud! (And that's only half of them!)

I was very good, and only had one cupcake. I did have a whole lot of cookie dough though, so I jumped on the treadmill after everything was cooked and the kitchen was clean.  Now that I've worked off that sugar coma feeling, I think it's time for some SportsCenter and HGTV with TK. :)

This Week's Bests

Ahhh....I love making it to Friday.  We had a great week, no big hiccups, just about everything went to plan. :)  And my little teething non-sleeper slept great the last couple of nights, so I'm even going into the weekend with a little energy, yay!

This week's bests:

• Nora's favorite phrase: "Ooooohhh yaaaaa!" She sounds just like she's from Minnes-oh-ta and it's her answer to everything ("Are you sure you should be drawing on your hand?" "Oooooohh yaaaaa!")
• Nights at home: Last semester, I had an evening class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and we go to church on Wednesday nights, so it felt like I was never home in the evening.  I've loved being home and making dinner and just spending time here with Taylor and Nora.
• Consignment stores: I've tried to be more frugal this year, and my favorite money saving/making trick is taking old clothes in for consignment.  Every couple of months I take all the clothes that Nora has grown out of and that I don't want to keep to Once Upon a Child.  This week, I took just a small bag of outfits and got $13 (not too much, but enough to make the trip worth it).  I also took a few things to Fireweed Boutique, which is probably the only place I get clothes in town anymore.  When I got there, I found out I had $18 in credit on my account--hello, two new sweaters!
• Homemade granola:  I've been trying to find more quick breakfast items, so this week I made granola for the first time.  SO GOOD.  (I got the recipe here.) I've been eating half a cup of granola with a quarter cup of milk along with my usual breakfast (Southwestern Egg Beaters and hash browns).  Way more points than I'm used to taking for breakfast, 10 instead of 3, but I've had much more energy in the mornings and I'm not starving by lunch time like I used to be.

•  Dinner with the girls: Tonight I had dinner at Lavelle's with Chloe, Angelica, and Stephanie and had so much fun. I love getting together with girls I've known for so long and just catching up and talking about everything. And I even bypassed my usual crab and artichoke dip and made healthy choices: French onion soup and a green salad!
  
  
   Oh, and a successful first week of blogging, I would say :)
  
  Usually, on Saturday, Nora and I have breakfast with my mom and a few of her friends, but everybody else is busy tomorrow so we are going to have a great lazy morning, filled with waffles and Olivia cartoons.  Happy weekend!

Starting to Feel the Holidays

I absolutely love the holidays! I love the decorations and all the time with family and especially the time off of school and work :) And don't forget the food! What I can't stand is that 5-pounds-heavier feeling that comes once all the Christmas leftovers are gone...

So, I'm determined to start the year off right and get this holiday weight off quickly. Santa (who looks an awful lot like Taylor!) bought me a treadmill for Christmas, and it's great. I've had such a hard time getting to the gym since I had Nora, so it's so nice to be able to exercise at home. I've run everyday this week so far (just ignore that it's only Tuesday ;) ) and did an ab workout on Sunday. I'm back to counting points and drinking more water.

Isn't it pretty??

I'm trying to stay motivated, which has never been the easiest thing. But we're going to Anchorage in March and what better way to celebrate losing weight than shopping at Nordstrom? So here's to losing 5, maybe 10 pounds over the next couple of months!

New Year's Resolutions

2013 is here, and I've narrowed down my originally daunting list of new year's resolutions to two:

1. Floss every day.
2. Start a blog.

...And since I was woken up at 4 am by an unhappy toddler and haven't been able to fall back asleep, (and the new year has already been here for five days!), I figure I better get this thing started.

Here I am, welcoming myself to the blogosphere. :)

I've spent the last few days browsing other people's blogs, trying to get a feel for what I want to write.  I am not a fashionista, or a chef, or a relationship guru.  I won't be posting anything about how to paint your nails, or how to salvage old shutters. But I do have a wonderful husband and an adorable daughter, and we do some pretty cool things sometimes.  So I'll write about us--our lives filled with work and school and basketball and church and family.

(I'm sure that most people who read this already know us, but just in case...)

This is us!

New Year's Eve

Thanksgiving--Great picture, I know :)

Taylor--My husband, my hunk, my tall "please get that off the top shelf for me" person, my very best friend.  We've been together since June 2008, and married since June 12, 2010. Four-and-a-half years and just as in love as ever.  He works his tail off six days a week so that I can finish school and spend some time at home with Nora, and I'll be forever grateful for that.  He's a basketball guy through and through, but loves his 49ers, too.  He's the most wonderfully caring dad to our baby girl.  My mom always told me to find the man who "would swim through shark infested waters to bring you lemonade." I'm so lucky to have found him so early on in life.  What an awesome gift to find the love of your life at seventeen.  He's my lobster. :)

Nora--My daughter, my source of joy and laughter and comfort, my daredevil, my little bug.  She's the goofiest, smartest, and most entertaining little girl.  I found out I was pregnant with her only four months after we got married.  Needless to say, I felt every emotion possible during those nine long months, from nervousness and trepidation, to excitement and anxiety.  She was born June 28, 2011, and I've loved every inch of her for every minute since then.  I feel like I was meant to be a mom, and I'm so blessed that I get to be a mom to my perfectly silly little girl.

And Me--I'm Becca, and my life is, in a word, busy.  I'm a full-time student at UAF.  Only three more semesters until I graduate with my bachelor's in accounting in Spring 2014.  For some reason I'm incredibly nerdy and I love accounting, don't ask me why. :)  I have two part time jobs.  The first: I'm a bookkeeper for my in-laws at The Cookie Jar Restaurant, or at least I started out as a bookkeeper.  My job has sort of transformed into bookkeeping, buying giftware, taking catering orders, busing tables, etc., but I love it.  Nora gets to come hang out with me while I work, and see Dad (he works out front) and Grandma and Grandpa  all day.  It's so great that she gets to be with family, and not at a daycare, all day.  Second job: I clean a small private school in town for about 45 minutes at night.  It's great to have the extra spending money, and it's my time at the end of the day to rock out--I turn up my music and get my vacuuming on.  When I'm not schooling or working, I'm most likely: at church, watching Monroe basketball with Taylor, coloring with Nora, crocheting, and/or watching The Vampire Diaires (my guilty pleasure!).

So there you go: a short synopsis on The Young Burcell's.  Here's to the happiest of new years! I'm so excited for what 2013 has in store for us, and I'm really hoping this blogging resolution sticks better than last year's "Ice Cream Only Once a Week" resolution. ;)