10 A Really Good Week

You guys, this week has been AWESOME. Here, let me show you:

Monday

On Monday, Josh and I had lunch at the Farmers' Market and got a ton of fresh produce for cheap. Love that place! In the evening, I met up with two of my closest friends to catch up over tea/coffee. It was a refreshing time for me.. My heart needed "girl time" with these two.

Tuesday

I tried no-heat curls for the first time, with awesome results. The most exciting part of Tuesday was when Josh was on the radio! (You can listen to the interview here.) After the radio interview, we spent the whole day with my in-laws and Pop Pop, who'd flown in the night before. It was nice to have a chill day with Josh's family.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, Josh and I went on our April Date: "The Classic." We saw Titanic in 3D and ate an early dinner at Fulin's! (Click the link for more pictures and to read about our date!)

Thursday

I spent the day organizing while Josh worked on Blimey Cow stuff, then we met up with some friends at the Opry Mills Mall - first time we've been since the flood in '10! It was super nice. I didn't get any pictures, though. In fact, these are literally the only three pictures I took on Thursday. And they're not even remotely interesting. Boo for me.

Friday

Josh and I met with a local T-shirt distributer after lunch, and we were encouraged by the quality of the shirts and the deal he was able to give us. Then we had dinner with Pop Pop and Josh's family (we were going to celebrate Sarah's birthday, but her family's plans changed at the last minute). All three of these pictures were from hanging out at the Taylor's.

Saturday

Saturday was pretty full and definitely awesome. I had a good time at Anna's Wedding shower - really enjoyed getting to hear more of her and Jared's story. Then we went to the park with a great group of people, and Josh played kickball and volleyball while I made the world's longest daisy chain with Kirby (it went all the way from home to first base on a baseball field!). When everybody got hungry, we headed to Emily and Barry's house for an amazing cook-out with tons of yummy food, a bonfire, and Live Mafia = one of the best nights of the year. So much fun.

Sunday

So now we've come to yesterday. Josh and I had lunch with my parents and helped them plant their vegetable garden (so excited).  Then we celebrated Bethany and Shadrick's soon-to-come baby, Conner, by showering them with gifts and hugs! It's always great to see the Willis clan. After the shower, we went to the Taylor's again to celebrate Pop Pop's birthday and shoot this week's Messy Mondays video ("Stupid Drivers").

P.S. I would usually share my monthly report card on the last day of the month, but due to *ahem* motivational difficulties, it'll be up tomorrow afternoon!

Did anybody else have a rockin' awesome week? Tell me about it! Even if it wasn't the best week you've ever had, what was your favorite part?

17 Make It a Date 04/12: April

"The Classic"

 "You knew our classic date would show up this year, right? FULIN'S + A FREE MOVIE (courtesy of my father) and don't forget the photo booth!

You're my best friend! 

I love you♥  

Always,             .

Your Keener"

Contents: $25 gift card to Fulin's Asian Cuisine, $3 cash for the photo booth at the theater, and a fortune cookie. (My dad works at the theater and is allowed a certain amount of free tickets each day, so we only have to call him up if we ever want to see a movie - pretty sweet deal if you ask me!)

We decided to see Titanic in 3D, since neither of us had ever seen it all the way through. Now I understand why it's considered such a classic! I really liked it. The morning of our date, I realized that Titanic fit this month's "theme" kind of perfectly.. A classic movie on our classic date. Teehee. 

We were running a little late and didn't arrive until ten minutes into the previews, but who cares about them anyway, am I right? We were DELIGHTED to discover that we were the only ones in the theater. We took full advantage by joking around and laughing in our "normal" voices, standing up when we got tired of sitting, not turning off our phones, and of course we snuck in a few kisses here and there. ;) We felt like rebels. It was so much fun!

After the movie, we hit up the photo booth in the lobby of our theater. I love photo booths. The photo strips are such fun little tokens of good memories. I know that I could make my own photo strips for way cheaper, but I enjoy the experience so it's worth the occasional $3 for me :)

Josh with Joy Roll / me with Yellowtail&Scallion Maki

Shortly after Josh and I started dating, we "discovered" this Asian place called Fulin's right across the street from the theater, and we absolutely loved it. We ate there at least once a month for the better part of our first year together. It's not really anything special.. just a generic Asian Cuisine franchise, but it holds a special place in our hearts. It reminds us of our beginning. Josh always gets the same thing: the delicious Wonton Soup and a Joy Roll, while I like to try something new each time we go. This time I tried the Yellowtail & Scallion Maki and a big ol' plate of Broccoli Shrimp (I was pleased with both!). Josh surprised me by ordering my absolute favorite (albeit completely unhealthy) appetizer: Crab Rangoon - I was thrilled. Fulin's delivers again!

Our fortune cookies were somewhat relevant, seeing as I'm behind on my monthly goals, and Josh will indeed be involved in many gatherings and parties in the next month+ since one of his best friend is getting married! So these two fortunes produced a chuckle when we read them:

We had a great time reliving our classic early-relationship date. Josh keeps saying how much he's loving this gift - the phrase "best Christmas present ever," has been thrown around at every date so far.. which makes me feel awesome! :)

This post is part of a series chronicling my 2011 Christmas present to Josh: A Year of Dates. See this page for more info and other date recaps!

Linking up with Let's Go On a Date

11 Currently Digging

The "Pic Stitch" App for iPhone

Pic Stitch is a free app for creating photo collages on your iPhone or iPod. It is super easy and helpful for telling photo stories (like the above: an overnight no-heat curling adventure! Tutorial found here). There are a variety of layouts to choose from, an you can also add special effects and text to your collages. But my favorite feature is the simple export options -  export straight to Instagram or email, and it gives you the option to save the collage to your photo library at the same time. No going back and saving multiple times. 

Chocolate/Cacao RAW Protein Powder 

I like to mix this protein powder with almond milk and ice to make a simple "chocolate malt." It is SO GOOD. Add chia seeds and spinach, and you've got yourself a delicious power smoothie that'll keep you going for hours.

Downton Abbey

This show is so good. Josh and I went through the first series on Netflix in a week. We couldn't wait to watch series 2, so Josh ordered it online as a surprise for me. BEST HUSBAND EVER! We blew through series 2 as well, and it was amazing.. We had planned to sell it when we were done (after letting a few very special friends borrow it, of course) but we both loved it so much that we'll probably just hang on to this one.

SparkSavings.com

a. I love that I can plug in our budget and it keeps everything saved. It's also easy to change things around if necessary. 

b. The Spending Tracker is super easy to use; it only takes a few seconds to enter the information, and I don't have to hoard receipts or create a bunch of paper clutter to keep track of our spending.

c. There is an option for recurring payments, which is awesome for the automatic bill payment withdrawals we use.

d. The month-to-date Spending Totals is really helpful to a visual person like me. I can see where our money is going at a glance (each category expands to show exactly where all the money is going).

Selling Our Record Collection 

Josh started collecting vinyl records shortly after we started dating. Since then, he'd amassed an impressive amount of records! The photo on the top is the majority of his record collection at the peak of his collection. A few weeks ago, he decided he didn't need that many records, and that keeping them around was just a temptation to buy more. So he's been selling them on eBay! Slowly but surely, the record collection has dwindled from the above photo to the bottom right photo. The bottom left photo is a group of records ready to be shipped off to a very generous buyer with a very similar taste in music. Seriously, this guy bought like a quarter of our collection. It was a huge blessing. The cool thing has been that we started this out thinking we would put whatever money we made toward our 2nd anniversary trip. And we've already made enough to cover lodging, food, gas, and almost all the activities we want to do. We're pretty sure that by the time they're all gone, we'll have enough money from the sales to cover our trip and then some!

What are you digging these days?

6 "A guest you have not heard of, but you're going to kick yourself for that"

I know I am posting this SUPER last minute, but Josh is going to be interviewed on the Peter Schiff Show in two minutes! (Tom Woods is guest hosting today) This is a nationally syndicated radio show - we are so excited!


Dr. Woods just finished the last segment by saying, "Next up: a guest you have not heard of, but you're going to kick yourself for that." He's talking about my husband!! I am so so so excited and proud of Josh. 


The interview starts around 10 CST/11 EST. Click HERE to listen online! If you miss the live airing, there will be repeats throughout the day, I think. At the very least, it should be on YouTube in a few days. I'll be sure to post the link here when it's up. Updated: Click HERE for the interview. Josh did so well!

7 Mid-April Progress Report

This may be the first month in which I fail one (or more) of my monthly resolutions.

Earlier this week, I talked a little about struggling with procrastination, but I shouldn't give the impression that that was an isolated incident. I've been struggling with it all month!

Source: Chibird via Janice Chang on Pinterest

I only JUST started organizing the filing cabinet today (to be honest, the only reason I did that was because I knew I'd be writing this post! I guess that means this blog is working as an accountability/motivational tool).. But I haven't even started organizing the laundry room. That's the monster this month! I'm also behind on the Super Secret Project, but It's nothing that can't be made up in a few days (I hope).

As for getting sun every day, it's been more like only two or three times a week.. but I think that one's okay. As reader Asta gently pointed out to me, time in the sun shouldn't be treated flippantly. Not that I'm in much danger of damaging my skin.. Seriously, I'm such a homebody that I'm lucky to get twenty minutes of sun in a week if I'm not being intentional about it. However, her reminder to be careful is good to keep in mind, so I've located my tubes of sunscreen and will keep them nearby for those days we're out and about for longer than usual. 

The only resolution I've made any real headway on is organizing my online "storage" (aka Pinterest and email folders). That was probably the least important goal this month, haha. Oh well! I still have ten days! We'll see how it goes.

As for healthy eating, we've done fairly well with that until the last few days. We've been foolishly eager in our snacking, now that we're allowed more freedom. That's the problem with fasts and cleanses that I can never quite figure out - the coming off of it is never as healthy as I'd wish. But I'm going grocery shopping today, so I hope that by taking control there we can get back into a healthy mindset about snacking and food.

Well, there it is. A kick in the pants. If I don't post as often for the rest of this month, know that it's because I'm playing catch-up in the real world! ;)

15 Right Now...

...I just made a killer bowl of egg salad. I know that egg salad isn't everybody's "thing," but I've been craving it for weeks, so today I stifled that craving. I wish I had some greek yogurt to use instead of mayo.. It's definitely time for a grocery trip in the Taylor household, so mayo must suffice. We're also out of nut butters, carrot juice, spinach, eggs, and bread. (Thanks to Mrs. Snyder, we won't need veggies anytime soon!) Honestly, I'm conflicted about the bread part - we usually don't have it in the house at all, but since I just made egg salad, I'm wishing I could eat it with a piece of toast. Maybe I'll grab a loaf of Ezekiel Bread in the next couple of days. In the meantime, I'm shoveling forkfuls of the eggy goodness into my face. No shame. 

...Josh is at his family's house to work out some business details with his dad. The house is not only empty (and quiet!), it's a complete mess. Booo. Usually I do my best cleaning and organizing when I'm on my own, and I'd planned to get things done while he was out, but I just can't seem to find the motivation today. 

...I'm still recovering from the weekend. We've been staying up wayyy too late recently, and as someone who needs more sleep than the average person, the lack of sleep is messing with my days and my energy level. That's probably why I can't seem to get anything done! 

...It's raining. Another sign to curl up with a book and ignore my responsibilities! Haha - can you guys tell that I'm trying reeeeeally hard to justify my procrastination? 

...Speaking of procrastination, I'm behind on replying to emails and comments. If you've tried to get in touch with me and I haven't responded yet, I'm sorry. I promise I'll get to each of you as soon as I can :)   

...OKAY I'm gonna get moving now. Wish me luck! I'd like to have the house at least semi-tidy by the time Josh gets home. I know he would appreciate that. 

What do you do when you can't find the motivation to fulfill your responsibilities? Any tips for an amateur like myself? 

11 Favorite Places: McKay Used Books

McKay Used Books is one of Josh's favorite places in Nashville. I like it, too, but Josh grew up going there with his family, so I'd say his love for Mckay eclipses my own. ;) They recently moved their store from West Nashville (complete with an awfully small parking lot). The new store is only about ten minutes from the original location, but it feels like it's in the middle of nowhere! It's awesome, though. Not only is the parking situation greatly improved at the new location, but the new store is overwhelmingly huge - definitely awe-inspiring. Icing on the cake: we have still have about $60 in store credit from trading in a bunch of CDs last fall! Ka-ching!

What's your favorite book store? 

13 DIY Tri-Colored Chevron Canvas Art

Can anyone guess my new favorite pattern?

At the beginning of March, I resolved to paint one of the pieces of canvas that I was given for Christmas. Since I've never painted before, I figured I would start with something simple. This tri-colored chevron pattern was just the trick - using tape allowed me to play with my design without committing to anything too early.. tape is much less permanent than paint! 

Supplies Needed: 

Canvas or some sort of surface

Masking Tape

Scissors

Pencil

Exacto Knife

Not pictured: Paint (three colors of your choice), a paintbrush or foam roller (unless you use spray paint), and a drop cloth.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. First, you need to draw your guide lines. I don't have a picture of this step but it's pretty self-explanatory: Just pencil in some lines to represent where the "points" of the chevron pattern will meet.

2. I wanted my lines to be thinner than the roll of painter's tape I had, so I used an exacto knife to cut the tape in half on the roll. You can skip this step if you want chunkier lines. 

3. Place the tape. Cut it to size.

a. Place the strip of tape where you want it, being sure to line it up with the corners of the strips around it
b. Use a pencil to mark where the line is
c. Use scissors to cut on the penciled line
d. Make sure the cut piece of tape lines up with the pre-drawn line (I wasn't super strict about this step, but in hindsight, I wish I had been)

4. Tuck the tape around the back when you get to the edges, like so:

5. Paint in blocks, using about a third of your canvas for each color.

6. After your paint is dry, remove the tape. The exacto knife comes in handy to lift up the corners of the tape so you can peel it off. 

Ta-da!

Lessons Learned:

I was a little bummed that so much bleeding occurred around the edges of the tape (especially with the red paint). I'd envisioned a much crisper final product. I found that the brushing motion brought up the tape in some areas, and in others I think the paint pooled up around the tape and seeped under. I think next time I would use spray paint or a foam roller to ensure thinner, more even coats of paint. I also would have done a second coat on the lighter colors. The tan in the middle is especially splotchy.

So even though it didn't turn out as crisp as I would have liked, I'm pleased with the final product. It's very obviously home made, but in a charming way. At any rate, it looks good in our living room! 

What about you guys - any recent painting/crafting projects? Have you ever made anything that didn't quite turn out how you'd envisioned, but in the end you still liked? Tell me about it!

17 Seven Tips for Successful Dating

Some of you know that I'm part of a clean comedy team called Blimey Cow. For those of you who don't know, my husband, brother-in-law, and I produce a weekly Youtube comedy series called "Messy Mondays." Usually I do more of the behind-the-scenes stuff like helping with the script and dealing with the administrative side of things, but the past couple of weeks I've had the privilege of being more involved in the acting side of things. It's been really fun! This week, I played three different characters.. it was so much fun that I wanted to share it with you guys. Let me know what you think in the comments!

Messy Mondays: Seven Tips for Successful Dating

We didn't finish shooting until almost 1am last night, and Josh stayed up all night to edit it. So we're taking it easy today.. you could say we're recovering from a Messy Mondangover (harhar). I'm looking forward to an evening of stir-fried veggies, Downton Abbey, and a whole lot of nothing else. :) Happy Monday, everyone!

11 Make It A Date 03/12: March

Sorry it's taken me so long to upload this past month's Surprise Date recap. It wasn't completely due to procrastination..  I've also been working on some cool new things to share with you guys:

First, I created an A Year of Dates page to keep track of the monthly date recaps on the blog. I'll be sure to keep it updated as we go! 

Second, I made a button for my sidebar that will direct you to the new page --> 

Third, She Learns as She Goes is now on Facebook! I'd be thrilled if you would "like" my page!

Ok, that's enough with the blog talk. On to the recap!

"Game Day" 

"Let's make this a date day! First, we'll hit up the bowling alley for some cheap all-you-can-bowl, then we'll be goofy together in the arcade - maybe we'll get enough tickets to win something! Subway for a classic healthy meal; and we'll hit up the Game Keep to find a new, fun 2-player game! I love playing games with you. You're the funnest person I know! 

Love,                .

Your Keener"

Contents: $12 cash for bowling, $15 gift card to Subway, $20 gift certificate to Josh's favorite game shop, and $10 in quarters for the arcade.

You guys already know about Josh's legendary love of games. So as I planned all the date packets back in December, I was especially excited about this one. With good reason! Josh rewarded me with a huge smile when he opened this envelope - I felt like I'd won the "Best Wife of the Year" award. I think in his mind, I had ;)

The day we chose for this date fell on the second day of our juice fast (which is typically the worst for me) so I didn't have much energy. At least that's what I'm telling myself as an excuse for my terrible bowling! But seriously, I felt like a wimp trying to get that ball down the aisle.. Josh fared better than I, though it took him a few frames to warm up. We had so much fun. Josh helped me out with my form, and I provided cheers and high-fives when he threw his multiple strikes! Unfortunately, we ran out of time after only two games.

Star Wars: The Arcade Game

Jurassic Park

Next, we hit up the huge arcade inside the bowling alley, and we were the only ones there. That was such a blast! We played a lot of first-person shooters together, but Star Wars: The Arcade Game was definitely our favorite.

Bust-A-Move

All together, we won 150 tickets. We talked about turning them in for a prize, but decided against it because most of the prizes we could afford were candy (definitely not juice-fast-friendly). So now we've got a pile of tickets to go into the eventual scrap book!

The packet included a $15 gift card to Subway, but again, since we were fasting that wasn't an option. Instead, we drove across the street to the smoothie bar and enjoyed banana / peanut butter / spinach smoothies. A bit of a cheat, considering we didn't have control over what went into the blender.. but it was still a liquid, so we allowed it for the sake of the date ;) 

Finally, our journey took us up the road to Josh's favorite game shop. This picture is horrible (it was raining), but you can kinda see that my inspiration for this month's illustration came from the sign. Josh was extra thrilled about this part because we've been on a strict budget this year; he hasn't been able to buy any new games. We left the store with "The Revolution" and plans to learn it when we got home. (Sidenote: when Josh told his brother about the game, Jordan asked, "Is that a Ron Paul board game?" Without any hint of surprise or irony. We got a good laugh out of that one!) I wasn't too sure about this game at first (it looked super complicated) but after a few minutes, I was actually really into it. 

I'm so glad I married a man who can play just about any game and have a blast without turning it into a cutthroat competition. We have so much fun together! 

Linking up with Let's Go On a Date

9 Keep Calm.

Just thought I'd share this excellent reminder:

Source: piccsy.com via Emma on Pinterest

Happy Tuesday, friends!

5 April Resolutions

It's April 1st! You know what that means... Don't believe anything you read on the internet today if it seems even the slightest bit "off!"

I toyed with the idea of making a fake April Resolutions post, but it seemed like too much work for very little payoff. Where's the satisfaction in tricking you guys about my personal goals for this month? No, there's no fun in that. Besides, last year's prank would be difficult to top.. and insensitive to recreate!

With all that said, here are my real resolutions for April:

Get Our Important Documents in Order
The fact that I've had the following picture pinned on my "Organization and Cleaning Tools" board for seven months is a sure sign that official papers and documents aren't necessarily my thing. While I'm pretty sure we have most of the documents we may need, the fact that I don't know exactly where they all are makes me a little uneasy. Our filing cabinet could definitely use the organizational overhaul, too.

Source: The Wall Street Journal via Kelli on Pinterest

There is one document I know for sure that I need to acquire... I'm embarrassed to admit that I still haven't changed my last name with Social Security after a year and seven months of marriage. It hasn't caused any problems thus far, but I really need to do that!

Keep Up the Momentum Gained From the Cleanse

Josh and I both feel really good after our cleanse last month, and we'd like to keep up the momentum we've gained. So while we're not going to be as strict as we were during the 24 days, there are a few routines we'd like to keep in place. For example, I really liked the breakfast routine:a mugful of hot lemon water, 15 minutes before a breakfast of boiled egg and a carrot-juice&fruit smoothie. We also plan to continue eating a generous amount of high-quality raw vegetables each day, making our own salad dressings, and just trying to avoid processed foods in general. We're not going to be super strict about it (we already have two "meal dates" planned this month) but we DO want to keep the processed food in the house to a minimum.

Organize the Laundry Room
Our Laundry Room not only contains our washer, dryer and other laundry-related items, but it also serves as a general storage space and our pantry. It's pretty cluttered in there, and there are bags and bins full of who-knows-what that I need to go through. MAYBE I'll even make it look super cute if I get particularly inspired (but I'm not promising anything).

Get at Least 15-30 Minutes of Sun Every Day
Bring on the Vitamin D! I knew I was fair-skinned, but seeing this video made me realize just how pale I am. I'd fit right in with the Cullens!

To be clear, the goal is not to be tan. The goal is to have healthy, glowing skin and to take advantage of the health benefits provided by the sun.

A Super-Secret Project 
I'm sorry to be so secretive, but this would affect some of the people who read my blog, and I want it to be a surprise! All will be revealed in April's Report Card at the end of the month, I promise. For now, this is only here to serve as a personal accountability tool.

Organize my Computer/Online Storage
Lately I've been struck by how disorganized my computer life is: unorganized photos on my desktop, unknown blogs in my Google Reader, unfindable recipes that I just know I'd pinned on Pinterest. Email files, blog planning strategies, online photo storage.. I'd like to get everything organized this month in order to make my digital life a little easier.

There you have it! No April Fools' pranks here :) What are your goals or resolutions for April?