{a change will do you good}

I was thinking this morning about some very recent changes that are going on around both our house and with me, and this Sheryl Crow song immediately popped into my head.

I've never been a fan of change.

Keep things the same! 

It makes life SO much easier!

True. But is easy always what is desirable when we think about our future, our goals? We never get anywhere by doing things the same over and over again, do we? Unless we started out doing things perfectly from day 1, but how many times does that happen? Probably never.

So with that in mind here is a list of the changes going on around the Ford house. All of them are positive and are helping my husband, the boys and myself get out of some ruts we've been in...


1. We bought a Roku and canceled our Direct TV.

I know I've shared this before, but we are on a very tight household budget. When we first purchased Direct TV we got a package deal through our phone/internet provider that made it very affordable. That ended a few months back and the price more than tripled. After thinking about it...and thinking about it some more...we finally broke down and bought a Roku player, which is a cute little box that lets you stream Netflix, Hulu, etc. onto your TV...

We are on day three without our DTV and honestly I'm not missing it at all like I thought I would. I'm embarrassed to admit that I did shed a tear when I canceled it - I love my comforts and once again, hate change. But I love the extra $100 in our checking account every month even more!

I have also already noticed that it is keeping me from mindlessly watching TV. I have to be more intentional about finding something to watch, and I've already found myself choosing a different activity, like reading before I go to sleep, over surfing the channels.

2. We bit the bullet and purchased new furniture. 

I know - this one probably sounds a little counter-productive to #1. Yes, we are on a tight budget. But we are also bargain shoppers and we got a great deal on both the sofa {which arrived yesterday! Woot!}and this lovely chair from Urban Outfitters... {which is on sale WITH free shipping right now people!}

And once we sell some of the furniture we are replacing to family/friends/random Craigslist hunters, we'll have recouped most of the cost.

Here are the boys breaking in the sofa...

Better pics to come - promise!

I'm pinching myself over the fact that we will actually have furniture that fits the mid-century modern vibe that we are going for in the house. SO excited. The chair is supposed to arrive today so this weekend will be filled with furniture rearranging {and lots of staring by me - I love to sit and admire pretty new things.}

The next two on the list are totally me related and super recent...like as of yesterday...

3. Washing my face at night.

This one is a no-brainer, right? Well, since I had the boys I've gotten bad about my nightly routine. As in...I don't have one... other than brushing and flossing my teeth. But I've noticed lately that my skin isn't looking as good as it used to, and I'm sure I owe some of that to the fact that I've been sleeping with my makeup on. Sooo, last night on our trip to Target, I bought some of these...

...and I love them! I scrubbed my face and went to bed feeling so much better about myself. And the fact that when I got up in the morning I would have one less thing to do made me very happy...and gave me more time for this...

4. Morning journaling.

I came across this post yesterday about "morning pages", which is basically journaling every morning before you begin your daily routine. It spoke to me right away like this is something you should be doing. Here is an excerpt that I found especially powerful:

"...morning pages give you permission to be who you are. They are a radical form of self-acceptance. By being true to yourself and fully expressing all of yourself without judgment, you honor the truth of who you are."

I'm not a morning person. I'm like the antithesis of a morning person. And when I wake up on work mornings I'm usually feeling groggy, grumpy and anxious about starting the day. So last night I bought a cute notebook {complete with owl on the cover} at Target, and this morning I got up 10 minutes early {GASP}, sat on our new couch {ahhhhh} and journaled for 10 minutes. And you know what? It really did help me get out of that early morning funk.

So there you have it. Some big and some very simple changes that have been taking place in and around my life these days. The more changes I go through the more I am realizing they are doing me a lot of good.

What changes have you been going through lately friends? I would love to hear about them.