JACK'S VISIT . . .

I know I uploaded a lot of pictures while we were in China, but there were A LOT I took that didn't get uploaded. That's because we had to use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to connect to Facebook or the blog. Gotta love the Great Firewall of China! :) Because we were connecting through the VPN, it took FOR EV ER to load them. So I didn't load as many as I could have. So I thought I'd load some of them now and tell you what was going on during that time.

As many of you know Ryan's Grandpa came and stayed with us for 2 weeks in February and my parents came and stayed with us for 3 weeks in April/May. We had a GREAT time with both visits. It was so nice to be able to share our life with them. They were able to see what we do every day, and to see that where we were was safe and we were experiencing new things. And they got to experience them too.

 

 

I'm going to start with Jack's visit.

 

This is the monorail that is in the Detroit airport.

I believe he said this was taken over Siberia. Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?!?

Only Ryan and Sarah Beth went to the airport to pick him up.

Grandpa and Sarah Beth at the Pudong airport.

This is looking outside the FRONT of our apartment.

This is out the BACK of our apartment.

It was Chinese New Year when Jack was there. The kids were out of school for the week. This is taken at a place called Yu Yuan. There is a lot of cheap shopping there. There is also a famous Tea House. I'll show you pictures of that later. Last year was the The Year of the Tiger. So there was Tiger stuff everywhere we went. It was VERY cold, and yet there were people every where around us.  It's crazy the amount of people in Shanghai!

Jason, Ryan and Sarah Beth in their winter coats wondering what the heck we're doing there!  And believe me they conveyed their displeasure more than once!

The Year of the Tiger

That's the Tea House in the background.  Look at all the people!

NEW YEARS GOALS . . .

I make the same resolution EVERY YEAR, and EVERY YEAR I fail. But I might as well be consistent, right?! These are my New Years GOALS:

The one I make every year and fail on:

TO LOSE WEIGHT. I won't even tell you how much I need to lose. Right now, I've started Weight Watchers and the initial goal they gave me is 14 lbs. So we'll start with that. So far I've lost 5 of those 14 lbs. 9 more to go. Actually, about 9 MILLION more to go, but 9 more for my short term goal. Besides, 9 lbs sounds MUCH better than 9 million! :)

TO BE MORE ORGANIZED. Now, for those of you that know me, I have NEVER been organized. And I'm 40 years old. My guess is I'm not just going to wake up at 41 and TA DA, I'm organized! But, at least I can work at it. To help me get started, my bestie bought me a REALLY nice calendar as part of my Christmas present. I guess she has more faith in me than I do! Thanks Laura!

TO WRITE MORE. I LOVE writing. I've loved writing since I was very young. But I don't seem to make the time for it like I did when I was younger. Of course, that could be because I have 2 jobs, a husband and 3 VERY ACTIVE children. But hey, enough with making excuses. My new goal is going to be to write at least 4 days a week. Whether I write for 5 minutes or 50 minutes, I'm going to try to do it at least 4 times a week. I'm the most excited about this goal for 2 reasons. Number 1, it's definitely the most attainable of my goals. And Number 2, I always feel better after I've spent a little bit of time writing. So I think it's a good goal to have.

TO DO BETTER IN MY BUSINESS. I have 2 jobs. (Besides being a Mom of course)! I have been a Realtor for almost 17 years. Wow! Hard to believe it's been that long. And I LOVE that job. My problem is that I'm not as good as I could be. My mom has been a Realtor since I was about 8. And she's much better at it than me. My problem is, I'm not her. And I never will be. She's an AWESOME Realtor. Always has been, always will be. Now don't get me wrong, I'm very good at my job. ONCE I get a client. I know how to take care of them and make sure they get what they need, when they need it. But I have a hard time GETTING the clients. I have a hard time just walking up to someone and saying, "Hi, my name is Michelle and I want to be your Realtor. And let me tell you why I'm the best person for the job." I can't do that. I've NEVER been able to do that. And I doubt I'll EVER be able to do that. But I CAN do Service Desk and other things to hopefully help me get more clients. If you are thinking of moving, I can also help you find a Realtor where you live. You can find out more information HERE.

I just started my other job a few months ago to help bring in more money. I work for a company called Thirty One Gifts. And I LOVE the items they sell. But so far I've only had 2 parties, and I'm not going to make much money at it if I only have 1 party every other month! So my goal is to have at least 1 party a month. That's more than what I've done so far. But again, it's kind of the same problem I have with Real Estate. I have a hard time just going up to people and talking about what I do. I think that's more of a self esteem issue than anything. Actually I KNOW it's a self esteem issue. But, like I said before, I'm 40. I'm not just going to wake up at 41 and have loads of self esteem. It's not going to happen. So I need to figure out how to work around it. And that's why it's a goal I've set for myself for this year. On THAT note, you can find out more about Thirty One HERE. We have lots of items that will be "retiring" to make room for new items which will be available February 1. We are also having our Thermal Tote sale this month. Large Totes are on sale for $10 ($4 savings) and Small Totes are on sale for $8 ($4.50 savings). Plus, personalization on the Totes is only $1.50 which is a $4.50 savings.

So that's it. The big ones anyway. I think I'll keep updating how I'm doing with my goals throughout the year. Maybe if I make myself more accountable, it will be easier to stick to them.

THE HAPPINESS PROJECT . . .

One of the most amazing sights we saw while we were living in China. We lived in Shanghai, but we visited Xi'an one weekend and went to see the Terracotta Warriors. The picture just doesn't do it justice. It LITERALLY took my breath away. It's one of those things you HAVE to see to appreciate. I'm glad we have the pictures, but it's just not the same. But it definitely brings back happy and joyful moments.

MY BEAUTIFUL "BABY" COUSINS. . .

I don't think I've told you much about my cousins. I actually have A LOT of cousins. But 2 of them, Stephanie and Erica, I've been very close to since birth. I was 13 when Stephanie was born and 15 when Erica was born. And they lived right down the street from us. So I spent A LOT of time with them. As they got older I used to take them to dance class and music lessons, and wherever else they needed to go to. And I've always been VERY proud of them. They were in our wedding. They sang "Wind Beneath My Wings" and they were also Junior Bridesmaids.

Stephanie is now living in New York. Erica lives in Kentucky. And they've been through things that most of us can't even imagine. And they've made mistakes and done things that I know they wish they hadn't. But everyone makes mistakes. But NOT everyone comes out the other side as a better and stronger person. But these two have. I'm SO proud of the beautiful young women they've become.

Erica was in the paper last weekend. And of course I have to share it with you. Check out this link and you can see WHY I'm so proud of her.

I love you girls. I will ALWAYS love you. And I will ALWAYS be proud of you.

Erica

HAPPY NEW YEAR . . .

I hope everyone had a wonderful new year. Ours was very nice. We had a New Years Eve Party with a bunch of our friends. I think everyone really had a good time. I'm glad we decided to do it. It was nice being surrounded by our friends as we rang in the New Year. The kids all had a good time too. I tried counting, and I think we had about 30 people in our house that night. We played poker, ate and drank, listened to music and just "hung out." It was very relaxing, but also fun. I'm thinking we've just started a new tradition. With most of us having kids, it's hard to find a babysitter on New Years Eve. This way, we don't have to!

Happy New Year to you all!