less than 2 months until the crisis begins

It just wouldn't be right if I neglected to start the countdown at 2 months. 

Less than 2 months, people.  Actually 2 months yesterday.

If you have no idea what I am talking about, then you don't know me as well you might have thought.  Yep, it's a new year...and another birthday.  Since my 22nd birthday (Slutty Disney party was my ultimate birthday party.  check out fb for the pics), it has been harder and harder to get excited about the year's upcoming number.  This year's number I am dreading more than any other number so far:  26.  YIKES!  26 is the tail-end of mid-20s and the very beginning of late-20s.  not fun.

Am I going to have a mid to late-20s life crisis?  Probably.  You can bet on it.  I mean, geeze.  I have been gray since 19, and this past year I have started coloring my hair every 6 to 8 weeks.  Thanks to my Dad for carrying the Brindley premature gray hair gene.  You might say, "Leslie, you are just over-reacting.   You are not really gray-headed.  It might be blonde hair."  To those people, I say "You are sweet, but come a little closer.  You will find at least 30 gray hairs on my head at this very moment in time.  I can even point you in the right direction of where/how to find them." 

Lemme tell you a gray hair story:  This past Thanksgiving while at the beach, Sis and I had a very special sister bonding moment.  Not just any sister bonding moment, but a Brindley sister bonding moment.  It was well after midnight and we plucked each other's gray hairs.  Is that gross?  disturbing?  odd?  Well, yes.  We gasped at each other's head filled with lots of gray hair.  I think Sis did WAY more gasping than I did.  So guess who has more gray hair?

Enough about growing more gray everyday.  This was supposed to be about my birthday, but I know how to ruin a fun post.  So back to the fun...

Around this time every year, I begin to think about what presents I would like to be showered with given.  I think it's only appropriate that this year I continue my Vera Bradley obsession.  For gifts, I would like lots of money and or VB gift cards and or Vera Bradley products.  The safest gift is always money, but you knew that already.

Vera has come out with some cute spring patterns and even cuter purse styles.  I am not 100% set on one style or pattern yet (since I LOVE going to the VB store and looking at all of my options LIVE and in person), but I have been thinking a lot about this purse in Totally Turq:

And since I now have non-Target sunglasses (Prada to be exact), I need a new fancy case.  The plain black Prada case is nice, but I need something more stylish:

Let's say a hard sunglasses case in Cupcakes Pink.  Yep, that should do it.

Plus I was just thinking about how I need a "good" wedding picture album.  This would be PERFECT for our wedding pictures!  This pattern is called "Sittin in a Tree".  Super cute with little blue birds.  It's one of the new spring patterns.

And I am completely totally 100% definitely getting ahead of myself, but how DARLING is this babybook?  Vera, are you going to decorate my baby's nursery with your awesome-ness?

What a PRECIOUS babybook!  I am very tempted to buy it and just wait until the stork comes.

But this is about my birthday and not about my un-conceived child's birthday.  I am getting WAY ahead of myself.  First my 26th birthday.  Then my mid to late-20s crisis.  And then...well, thoughts of becoming responsible for someone with just 2 legs instead of 4.

I think that about covers it for this year's edition of "What to get Leslie without asking her and having her be surprised all at the same time".  I am glad you joined me. 

*pictures courtesy of verabradley.com.  go there and be amazed.

why can't I have free time to be creative?

Since searching and buying a house, I have become highly interested in interior decorating.  The thing that has grabbed my attention the most is turning yard sale/thrift store finds into beautifully decorative items.  How do these people do it?  And where do they find the time to do it?

My conclusion:  they are stay-at-home wives/moms.  ::jealous::  How great would it be if I could go around town all day searching for trash to turn into my own personal treasure?  I am pretty sure we would need a bigger house within the first year of my new job. 

And speaking of a bigger/newer house...ummm, yeah.  I want one.  But more than anything, I want to be able to design my new and bigger house.  I have seen LOTS of HGTV shows and magazines and websites of the perfect kitchen, laundry room, bedroom, bathroom, mudroom, front porch, etc.  Yeah, I think for our next house I will have be extremely picky about the design, layout, and square footage.

Now do NOT get me wrong.  I LOVE our house.  I mean I LOVE it with a captial L-O-V-E.  It is so precious and a great first time home.  I love everything about it, but are there some things that I have learned that I would change or update for next time?  sure. 

I love going home to our grayish-blue living room.  It is so trendy right now that is almost scares me.  When I envisioned our living room I wasn't basing it off what the "in" colors were.  Not at all.  I was basing it on how different and yet classy it would look.  I am hoping that my original plan of different and classy doesn't fade with the trend. 

And then my green kitchen with navy blue countertops.  uh, yes, navy blue.  It definitely was one of the downfalls to buying the house.  But now...oh but now...it really does add character to the kitchen.  I have used an Auburn platter (given to me by Sis) as the inspiration for the kitchen.  There are 2 dominate colors (green apple and navy blue), 2 primary colors (bright yellow and orange), and 2 highlight colors (brown and black).  I mean I can even live with gold cabinet knobs since everything ties in together so well. 

So I guess no new house is on the horizon and thank goodness! I have just found a spot for almost everything since we moved in at the end of last May.  I might like to stay put for a while.

If you are the "non-jealous of other people's houses and creativity" type, then check out some of the newly posted blogs to the right.  My guess is that you will not stay non-jealous for long.

making the dream a reality

I guess you could call me a dreamer rather than a dream chaser.  I haven't been as proactive as I should be when it comes to chasing after my dreams.  Well, that's not completely true:
-In high school I had two dreams:  graduate with a 4.5 GPA and become apart of the CCHS Chamber Choir.  Results:  I graduated high school with a 4.375 GPA.  That's not exactly a 4.5, but it's still very good.  My senior year I became apart of the Chamber Choir after 3 rounds of auditions.
-When I was 4, I pictured myself being an Auburn Tiger Paw.  (That was my reason for wanting to go to Auburn as a little girl.)  Result:  I am not a very good dancer or athleticly inclined so no to the Tiger Paws.  I was (obviously) accepted to Auburn.


I guess it' hard to chase after dreams if I don't have very many.  I have always been realistic when it came to making dreams/goals for myself.  What is the point in dreaming big if it will more than likely never happen? 

On January 9, 2010 I began my journey to become a professional organizer.  My aunt, Jane, has so grciously opened her home to be my "model" home.  I wasn't expecting this job to be such hard work, but after spending 5 hours organizing, I was sore the next day.  5 hours...wow...that is a lot.  And yes, it is.  5 hours of removing every last thing from all the cabinets.  Then sorting the junk, er, stuff into various piles (keep, trash, donation).  After that, comes the organization meaning putting everything back which makes the most sense in usefulness.  It's a lot harder than it sounds.  I have this science in my head, and it might only make sense to me. 

The below pictures are "Before" and "After" shots of Jane's kitchen.  Please remember this is my first job so I am working with a $0 budget.  Plus this room took me total 6 to 7 hours to transform (2 days).

first day on the job as a pro organizer with my assistant, Tyson.  :)

Enjoy...

The "Before" is first followed by the "After"

pantry #1

                                                                                        
pantry #2

medicine cabinet

cup cabinet

underneath storage

"under the sink" cleaning cabinet

countertop

one month down in oh-ten

One month down and eleven left to go in 2010.  So far I am keeping my resolution of eating better and exercising.  It hasn't been easy, but when there's no more junk food in the house, it seems to be easier.  That doesn't mean that I haven't found ways to junk up my eating.  Just last night I had the urge.  Y'know what urge I am talking about:  the one where all you want is something sweet.  So I ate a packet of 100 calorie cookies.  That doesn't sound bad at all, does it?  Well, I can't forget to add that I dipped each tiny cookie in a tub of vanilla whipped icing.  Yep, that did the trick. 

I don't cheat like that often, but I try to keep it to where I have some healthy mixed in.  Even if it totally negates the healthy vs the junk, I always feel less guilty about splurging. 

In my attempts to stay on track, I find that staying cyber-accountable will truly help.  If I start slacking, be sure to stay on top of me (that's what she said) about my resolution updates.  As of yesterday (1/31/10), I have lost 3 pounds.  go, me!  Losing 3/4 lbs over 4ish weeks really isn't that bad.  I am well underway for losing 10 pounds in 5 months.  My reward for meeting my goal is a new swimsuit. 

Let's not forget Daniel...
Daniel's resolution is progressing quite well.  He received his P90X in the mail last Thurday.  We watched the intro and part of the first workout session dvds.  Holy smokes!  This is SERIOUS business!  Daniel is SERIOUS business!  Friday night he did The Fit Test (which consisted of various exercise routines such as pull-ups, push-ups, jumping jacks, vertical leap, and sit 'n reach) and I took a few pictures of him.  Gotta have the "before" shots.  I am sorry to say that I am not allowed to show you those pics at this time.  Maybe once he finished, he will want to show the world.

I thought about doing The Fit Test, but decided against it very quickly.  I have never been one to feel the urge to measure my heart rate about jumping jacks for 2 minutes straight.  I am doing The Biggest Loser and he is doing P90X.  Now that's not to say that I haven't joined him in his dvd workout. 

Saturday morning I woke up to find Daniel face down on the living room floor breathing heavily.  This is how intense it is, people!  Then, Sunday morning we decided to try out the next dvd.  Ummm, we made it about halfway through the dvd before we had to call it quits.  And today I am slow to walk.  Daniel seems to be making it just fine.

more to come...

other than me

Sometimes I tend to get a little wrapped up in only blogging about myself that I leave off information about Daniel and the dogs.  If I wasn't blogging at all, then who would even blog about our life anyway?  More than likely no one since no one in my family is a persistant blogger.  So you are stuck with "the Todd's" blog which is mostly about Leslie. 

However, today I will update the world on Daniel, my precious husband.  Daniel hasn't had an emotionally easy month or so.  With MeMe's death being around the holidays, it has taken a lot out of him physically, mentally, and emotionally.  He became almost zombie like for a few days, which is acceptable, but also scary since I had never seen him like that before.  He is extremely strong emotionally and was able to find a happy place and is learning to move on.  It hasn't been the easiest thing to do, but he is a fighter.  I am thankful to report that he is back to his ol' self now. 

Last week Daniel started up another semester of school.  He is taking 3 classes (which includes one internet class), and I know he will do wonderful!  He has become super focused on accomplishing his goal to attain a degree.  And for me, it makes me so proud to have a husband who has educational goals.  (Leslie's PSA:  Education is very important.  Please don't let life pass you by without learning something new everyday.)  He is a machine:  he works 40 hours a week and will sit in a classroom for 3 hours at night.  This is his job right now and it will pay off in the long run.

Meanwhile, the dogs are still loving and crazy as ever.  Their favorite days are the ones where we stay at home, and they can run free inside and out.  Tyson loves being outside as much as he does inside so he is known to go outside and lay in the grass about 8 times a day.  He will try to get Jackson to chase him by making circles int he yard.  Jackson usually just sits by the backdoor and watches him.  Jackson will take advantage of going outside with Tyson multiple times a day, but only to get a treat when he comes back in.  And on days that there is bread for treats, you can count on opening and closing the door at least 50 times.  They love some bread!

keeping my promise

2010 is already 1/24th complete and it really doesn't feel any different from 2009.  Lots of my facebook friends have commented about how great 2010 is and will be.  I am just not there yet.  Am I missing something?

My resolution is well under way and it feels nice to eat "healthier" again.  One vegetable and a salad are required for every dinner.  I have drastically reduced my sweet intake.  I don't feel like I need to eat a huge bowl of ice cream after dinner every night.  The key is learning to control myself once my stomach is full.  It hasn't been easy especially since Daniel continues that habit to some extent. 

My hardest hurdle to overcome is realizing that I am a girl and I can't afford to continue eating like a growing teenage boy.  Those days are the past and I miss them tremendously.  I remember when I was about 15 Mom said that when it came to food consumption that she felt like she had a teenage son by the way that I used to eat.  She actually thought she would dodge the bullet by not having to feed growing teenage boys mouths, but then I became a teenager.  She was gravely mistaken.  I could out eat most of my boyfriends during high school.  And I am fairly certain that I can outeat Daniel.  Oh heck...I have done that plenty of times already.  He is no match for my stomach.

With the eating healthier has come exercising.  A little over a week ago, we bought The Biggest Loser for wii and it is not joke!  It is serious exercising compared Wii Fit.  I actually broke a sweat!  And I hate sweating...blah.  I can't complain too much about it since it is working.  I have lost 2-ish pounds since breaking a sweat.  Go, me!  2 down and 8 more to go!  The bad thing is that this past Saturday I over did it.  I have had the WORST Charlie horse, ever!  My right calf muscle is so tight that it feels like a brick.  And you know that I can barely walk too.  This injury is not good since it is restraining me from exercising.

Leslie Todd, the next big thing (in the organizing world)

When I was a little girl, I always remember keeping a clean/neat room.  Every Saturday was "chore day" and Sis and I would have to clean up our rooms along with other duties.  As I grew older, I would always rearrange my room and frequently reorganize my drawers.  My room was my pride and joy, because it was my responsiblity.  If I ever had a friend or visitor come to my house, I would ALWAYS have them come see my room.  It didn't matter who you were, you were coming to see my room.  I am even like that today only with the whole house.  If you are a guest in my home, be expected to take a tour of the house as soon as you come in the front door.  I have cleaned the house especially for you so humor me.

In the 5th and 6th grades, I would rearrange/clean out/organize my classmates' tubs.  (All of our books and notebooks wouldn't fit under our desk seats so we had plastic tubs to go under the book rack that attached under our seat.)  Yes, I was extremely nerdy, but I loved being able to help my peers simplify their lives with a clean tub.  In some ways, I always knew they would get better grades because of their clean and organized tub, and they would have me to thank.

While visiting home during the college years, somehow it was my duty to organize the kitchen cabinets and drawers.  I was the only one (oh, lucky me) who was able to clean out the Lazy Susan cabinet in the kitchen.  For some strange reason Sissy nor Mom couldn't seem to do as good of a job as I with cleaning that particular cabinet out (or maybe they were pushing the work off on me).

My love for organizing grew exponentially when I started watching "Clean Sweep" on TLC in college.  I was a sophomore in college and I would clean out and organize my "under the bed" tubs at least twice per show.

I can't really remember exactly when it started (maybe high school), but I have organized Sissy's closet at least 10 or more times.  The deal always was whatever clothes Sis didn't want/or couldn't wear, I would have dibs.  I have received a lot of hand-me-downs over the past few years from Sis.  Just take a look at one time's fun cleaning out process:

Before

After

Frankly the pictures don't do it justice:  the mess and the post-mess.

After years of cleaning and organizing my stuff along with others', my dream of becoming a professional organizer seemed out of reach.  How many professional organizers do you know who live in Alabama?  I mean this is like a big city and TV show type of a job.  I had come to grips that this was a dream that I would die still wanting to achieve it until I actually met one...

Daniel is currently involved in a 9 month guys bible study.  Back in October, his group had a spouse get-togerther at one of his group leaders' houses.  After a wonderful meal, we had to go around and introduce ourselves.  Y'know...the usual stuff:  how long you have been married, jobs, kids, etc.  I never expected one of the wives to say that her job is being a certified professional organizer.  Immediately Daniel and I looked at each other and my dream of being a professional organizer suddenly jumped into the reality category.  Of course, I talked with her about her profession and her schooling afterwards.  She really helped direct show me the direction that I need to go.

Starting this Saturday, I begin my first official, unofficial job of working as a "professional" organizer.  My first house is my Aunt Jane's.  I call it my "dummy" house, but it might be more appropriately named my first "model" home.  And when I say I am doing the house, I mean I am doing the whole house (minus the bedrooms)!  I am starting in the kitchen and working my way to the other end of the house, not to mention the basement.  I might need an entire year just to clean out the basement.

I am super excited about this door that God has opened for me.  I have no idea where this path will take me or how "professional" I will become.  I can only trust Him and be faithful in using my gifts to serve and honor Him.