follow your bliss

New blog

2010-08-02T10:21:00.001-05:00

I've decided that it's time to move to a new blog. I'm really excited about it and I'm hoping that the few of you that read my blog will follow me to www.notenoughdevotion.blogspot.com

How to meet and make friends with the neighbors

2010-06-19T16:31:00.000-05:00

Lose a branch from one of the two trees in your yard during a storm.
Clean up the branch and put it out for trash day before any of your neighbors even realize that the branch fell. (If trash day conveniently happens to be the next day, this will be extremely easy!)
Lose another branch from the same tree during another storm so that about half of your tree is gone. Poor sad tree:(
Attempt to clean up the branch, but realize you don't own the right tools for the job at the same time your neighbor crosses the street to help you carrying his chainsaw and an extension cord.
Do not repeat too often or your neighbors may get annoyed that you won't buy your own tools.

But for now, I'm really enjoying meeting the neighbors. The neighbors on either side of us and across the street are awesome people who all have a dog (or dogs) and a kid (or kids). We'll know where to go when we need advice for either!

Dinner on Carrabba's

2010-06-17T07:25:00.000-05:00

Last night, Andrew and I were invited to Carrabba's for a wine tasting and dinner that on the owner! It was amazing. We sat at a table with about five other couples and the owner of the local Carrabba's and ate and drank so much!

We tried two appetizers, three entrees (including clams, which we'd never eaten before), and cannolis for dessert. We also tried three wines, a prosecco, a pinot grigio, and a merlot (which of course was my favorite because I like red wine much better than white). The food was delicious. My favorite thing we tried was a new appetizer that was simply grape tomatoes and mozzarella on skewers with balsamic vinaigrette and pesto on the side. I would eat that and only that for my entire meal. Well, that and maybe some dessert, but I don't want to think about that right now because I'm STILL stuffed!

Look at what we'll be seeing on our honeymoon!

2010-06-16T11:52:00.000-05:00

That's right! One of the first things we're going to do in Maine is go on a moose safari. Ever since I learned there was such a thing I've been dying to go, and now I'll finally get to! We're going through a company called Mainely Photos in Millinocket, Maine. The company is run by two professional photographers who give you a money-back guarantee that you see at least one moose. I can't wait!

Image from this site

At the start of summer

2010-06-10T11:13:00.000-05:00

Well, summer is officially here! And even though I'm teaching summer school, it's so nice to have a bit of a break. The students in summer school always work really hard because they know that when they finish the class they're working on they don't have to come to summer school anymore. We're not even a week in and I already have three students finished!

Other than teaching summer school, I've been working around the house. We still have some stuff to move over from the apartment, but we should get that taken care of in the next week or two. Right now, we're just having fun figuring out where everything should go. We're also working our way through redoing the flowerbeds that the previous owners covered with a layer of plastic and then three to four layers of river rocks. In order to be able to plant anything, we have to get rid of the plastic and rocks first, which is about as much fun as it sounds like it is to move...

I'm also working on planning our honeymoon. At this point, we're thinking of flying into Boston and spending a day or two there. Then we'll either rent a car and drive or take the train up to Portland, Maine. We'll hang out there for a few days, traveling a little south to see some of the smaller towns (including Kennebunkport which I'm really excited to see!) and then head north towards Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. On the list of things to do while in Maine: see as many lighthouses as possible, see lobster, try lobster (neither Andy or I has ever had it), go whale/seal/puffin watching, go on a boat, and I'm sure there are some other things that I'm missing. Anyway, if anyone's been to Boston/Maine I would love some suggestions of things to do/places to go.

On a completely different note, has anyone ever been to When Eddie Met Salad? I went today for the first time and it was AMAZING! I had the Sante Fe chicken wrap, which is not something I would normally get but it was so good. I can't wait to go back and try some of the other food there. Just thought I'd mention it in case any of you have been passing it by like I had until today.

Memorial Day weekend projects

2010-05-31T22:26:00.054-05:00

So we've moved into our house and completed a bunch of projects already. I know that I haven't shared pictures of the house (which I should be doing later this week!) but I do have pictures of our projects!

Project 1 - Moving a HUGE entertainment center we bought off of Craigslist.

I enlisted the help of my mother, sister, and husband to make this happen because there was no way that I could do it on my own. It was a great buy because it's made by Bombay Company and the whole thing is solid wood. It's a beautiful cherry color that will look great when we get all of the shelves filled and when Andrew gets to eventually buy his bigger and better TV.

Project 2 - Priming the walls and ceiling of the garage.

Our garage has drywall on the walls and ceiling, but didn't have any kind of primer or paint on it, so we decided that we wanted to put a coat of primer on it to help seal it and keep out any moisture. Besides, what doesn't look better with a good coat of white paint or primer?

Before After

Project 3 - Brightening up the front porch with our kissing Dutch people and a hanging flowerpot.
Back when we were still looking at houses, I found cement kissing Dutch people on Craigslist, bought them, and repainted them so that we could put them somewhere in front of our new house, whenever we managed to get one. So this weekend, we were finally able to put them out on the front porch and they look great! We added a cute purple hanging flowerpot that we bought at Meijer and some flowers that we planted this afternoon and the porch looks much brighter and happier than it did this morning!

Before

After

Project 4 - Redoing the flower bed by the light post.
Our last project this weekend was redoing one of the flower beds. First we removed the ugly edging the former owners had. They we changed the shape from a square to a circle to make it easier to mow around. We used some of the small river rock that is in most of the other flower beds as a new edging and added some flowers! I think it looks so much better!

Before After

Garage sale finds

2010-05-08T20:11:00.001-05:00

Now that we know that we're moving in a week, I was really excited to go to some garage sales! We have so much more room in our house than we do in our apartment and, while I didn't expect to find tons of stuff, I thought we might find a few things for the house.

After hitting about 8 garage sales (and not being able to find one that we were trying to go to because they didn't have any signs!?!) we ended up with a copy of the dvd Signs. I honestly don't like the movie that much (mostly because the idea of aliens really freaks me out), but I'm talking about crop circles in one of my classes and this movie is an obvious choice to show.

The other things we got were some really cute postcards that look like they're made out of cardboard that say "We've moved! We're living out of boxes!" They'll be perfect for letting some of our older friends and relatives who aren't into email or Facebook that we've moved and tell them our new address.

Can you tell I'm really excited about moving?

Packing it in

2010-05-07T17:33:00.000-05:00

We have a closing date for the house! In less than a week we will be closing and taking possession of our first house, which means we get to start packing this weekend. Have I mentioned I LOVE packing??? I think it's something to do with my want to be organized, even though I'm totally not. The thought of taking our possessions and packing them up neatly into boxes really appeals to me, especially because it'll give us a chance to reassess what we actually need and to think about where everything will go in the new house.

Now if only I could get my hands on some free boxes...

What is marriage?

2010-05-01T18:15:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage by Elizabeth Gilbert. I will not attempt to summarize everything she write about in the book, but the basic idea is that she researches and writes about marriage in order to come to terms with having to get married so that the man she is in love with can live in the United States with her. Both she and this man have been married and divorced and they did not plan on getting married until he was arrested for overstaying his visa in the United States.

She brings up many interesting points about marriage, but one of my favorite parts of the book is when she writes about the shared intimacy of marriage.

The poet Jack Gilbert...writes that marriage is what happens "between the memorable." He said that we often look back on our marriages years later...and all we can recall are "the vacations, and emergencies" - the high points and low points. The rest of it blends into a blurry sort of daily sameness. But it is that blurred sameness, the poet argues, that comprises marriage. Marriage is those two thousand indistinguishable breakfasts, where intimacy turns like a slow wheel. How do you measure the worth of becoming that familiar to somebody - so utterly well known and so thoroughly ever-present that you become an almost invisible necessity, like air?

After reading that, I looked up the poem that she mentioned.

HIGHLIGHTS AND INTERSTICES

We think of lifetimes as mostly
the exceptional and sorrows.
Marriage we remember as the children,
vacations, and emergencies.
The uncommon parts.
But the best is often
when nothing is happening.
The way a mother picks up the child
almost without noticing
and carries her across Waller Street
while talking with the other woman.
What if she could keep all of that?
Our lives happen between the memorable.
I have lost two thousand habitual
breakfasts with Michiko.
What I miss most about her
is that commonplace
I can no longer remember.

I think the few lines are a beautifully put definition of marriage.

Another update on house #4

2010-05-01T13:37:00.000-05:00

We heard back about the appraisal on the house and it was perfect! That means we only have one more hoop to jump through until we own our house - getting approved for the loan. Hopefully this won't be a problem because we're already pre-approved for much more than the loan amount we need. If all goes well, we'll be closing on our house on May 13th! Yay!

There is no should.

2010-04-24T21:07:00.000-05:00

Do you ever have one of those days where you're just not feeling social? Today was one of those days. I went to a friend's wedding that was absolutely beautiful, but it was a smaller wedding where I didn't know anyone other than my husband (obviously!), the bride and groom, and a few members of the wedding party. And as much as I felt like I should socialize with the other guests because that's the polite thing to do, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I figured 1) I'm here to support my friend who is getting married and that's the most important thing. 2) I'm probably not going to see any of the guests that I don't already know again. 3) I'd rather talk to my husband than anyone else because I'm more comfortable with him than anyone else.

So you know what? I didn't talk to anyone else. Obviously I congratulated the bride and groom and chatted with the girls in the wedding party, but, other than that, I gave myself permission to not be social. Normally, I would put a lot of pressure on myself to socialize, but the simple act of giving myself permission to do what I felt like instead of what I felt like I should be doing was wonderful!

It reminds me of something a friend said to me once: That there is no should. Think about it for a second. It's so simple, but so freeing. Whenever I remember that saying, it reminds me that it's okay for me to ignore the shoulds that I place on myself and to take that pressure off of myself.

As if I didn't already have enough to read

2010-04-23T17:30:00.002-05:00

It's time for the library book sale!!! It happens twice a year and every time I find a bunch of books. This year I got a paper bag full of books for only eighteen dollars!

Here are the books I got this year:

The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve - I have seen this book all over the place, but haven't actually looked at it until today. I read the back cover and the first few lines and now I can't wait to read it.
Sea Glass by Anita Shreve
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink - I actually owned this book about five years ago, but gave it away because I couldn't make it through it. I didn't really think anything of it until I saw the movie at the library and rented it. The movie was beautifully sad and made me want to give reading the book another try.
Sarah by Mark Halter - People have compared it to The Red Tent, which makes it good enough for me to read it!
Letter to my Daughter by Maya Angelou
Gather Together in my Name by Maya Angelou
and a bunch of books that I'll use for school next semester

I have a busy weekend, but I'm sure that I'll be able to work in some time to start on my new books!

A news story everyone should be aware of

2010-04-22T21:25:00.001-05:00

I know I just posted about how I've been getting a lot of inspiration from other bloggers, but I couldn't help but post about the news article that this blogger brought to my attention in her post!

The article is about an elderly gay couple who lived together for twenty years, but because of legal issues were not permitted to be together during the last few months of one of their lives. It breaks my heart to think of not being able to see the people I love in my (or their) last months of life. No matter where you stand on the issue of gay marriage or gay rights, I have to hope that you would agree with me that it is ridiculous to forbid anyone to see their loved ones in their last months of life.

An update on house #4

2010-04-21T22:27:00.000-05:00

We got a text from our realtor tonight telling us:

The house has been appraised by the bank.
The appraisal hasn't been filed yet.
We should hear about the appraisal (hopefully) by Friday!
The person who appraised this house was not the same person who appraised house #3. If you remember, the appraisal for house #3 was $20,000 below what we had agreed to pay, which was what screwed up everything with house #3. We're praying that the same thing doesn't happen with house #4. We'd love it if you'd pray about it too!

Rambling thoughts on blogging

2010-04-18T13:01:00.004-05:00

Picture taken from this post.

I have been feeling rather uninspired lately when it comes to blogging. Most of my posts lately have been inspired by other people's blogs and wanting to repost things that they've written that I don't want to forget and want to share with others.

That brings me to my thoughts on blogging lately. I want to share my thoughts with others, but I don't feel like anyone actually reads my blog. And I don't want to be one of those whiney bloggers who posts about no one reading their blog in order to get comments saying things like "Of course we do!" and "I love what you have to say!" But I am not sure if I want to blog simply for the sake of blogging if no one is going to read what I'm writing. I LOVE reading people's posts and am daily inspired by something that I read, but I also want to feel that I'm contributing to that inspiration as well as connecting with people.

So is there a point to all this rambling? Not really. I just needed to express what I'm feeling about my blog lately and to take some time to consider why I'm blogging and who I'm blogging for.

A quote about hope

2010-04-15T18:17:00.002-05:00

I found this quote on this beautiful blog and liked it so much I had to repost it here.

"To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something.

If we remember those times and places (and there are so many) where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future.

The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."

-Howard Zinn

Springpad

2010-04-10T19:42:00.003-05:00

Have you heard of springpad? I just started using it today and I'm completely in love! It basically lets you "clip" something on the web and save it on your springpad. I'm using it mostly for recipes, but you can also use it to save restaurants, wines, or pretty much anything on the web.

Since I just started using it, I haven't discovered all of the possibilities, but I'm so excited to figure out everything I can use it for. If you're someone who uses springpad, I'd love to hear any tips you have for how to use it.

Review of my goals: March

2010-04-02T07:34:00.004-05:00

1. Read (and record and reflect on the books i read)

I haven't been making much progress because I'm reading three books at once, but I'm still reading. One of the three books is The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and it's really, really good!

2. Read the Bible. That's right. The WHOLE thing.

I have made major progress in the Bible during March. I finished Exodus and Leviticus and have moved onto Numbers. And I'm actually enjoying most of what I'm listening to (remember I'm listening to the Bible) because it makes m understand how much God cares about the Israelites to give them all of the laws they are supposed to live by.

3. Write letters.

I have been doing a great job of writing to my pen pal through Barnabas Ministries, but not so good on the birthday cards. That is one of the projects I'm going to work on over spring break and I'm really excited about it.

4. Spend ten minutes a day moving my body.

I have been really inconsistent about working out, but I went on a walk yesterday and loved being outside in the sun, so my plan is to start walking every day for at least a half hour. I know that I'm better at walking with someone else so that I have them to convince me to go even when I don't want to, but sadly my friend Katie who I walked with almost every day in college is all the way in Michigan so I'll have to see if I can convince Andrew to walk with me. Or I'll keep my eyes open for someone else who's willing to walk with me?

5. Commit to following my bliss, meaning that i'm going to stop doing things because i feel like i should but because i want to.

I need to stop focusing so much on finding a house. We've managed to put offers on three houses that all didn't work out, and we're to the point where we're running out of houses that are already on the market and are waiting for more houses to go on the market. I might be just a little obsessed... I'm hoping to take a break from that and have some fun over spring break. Wish me luck!

Delighting in the Sabbath

2010-03-29T21:48:00.005-05:00

"If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD's holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

-Isaiah 58:13-14

I have never been good at making myself do things, especially things that are good for me. I don't drink as much water as I should. I'm not nearly as good as I should be at working out. So it's no surprise that the thing that would be good for me spiritually - setting aside a day for God - is not what I do. Instead, I do exactly what the above verse says I should NOT do. I go do "as I please."

I could try to list the reasons that I don't set aside a day for God, but none of them are any good because I shouldn't be trying to come up with reasons at all. It should not be a debate. I need to spend at least one day a week with God.

And while I do feel like I'm getting closer to God by listening to the Bible while I drive in my car, I think that that's still a way of fitting God into my life instead of fitting myself into the life that God has for me. I need to make more of an effort to go God's way instead of going "my own way." So this is my commitment to myself (and the handful of people who actually read my blog) to be better about setting aside at least one day a week for God.

An Update on Our House

2010-03-28T19:02:00.002-05:00

We have a signed contract. We had the inspection. The sellers fixed the few issues we found during the inspection. And then we hit a roadblock...

The bank sent out someone to appraise the property's value to figure out how much they were willing to loan to someone buying that house. They appraised the house for twenty thousand dollars less than the price we have on the contract with the sellers.

If the sellers were willing to accept that price, it would be great for us because we would get to pay twenty thousand dollars less, but the sellers won't agree to that price. And we can't magically come up with that much money. So the only step we were able to take was to appeal the appraisal.

We appealed the appraisal over a week ago and we're still waiting to hear back from the bank. But we've heard from our relator that he has never heard of an appraisal being overturned. We're still hopeful because we LOVE that house, but we're also looking at other houses. At this point, we haven't found a house that we like as much as our house (or I suppose I should say our "almost" house?) so we're more than a little frustrated.

I even had a dream about looking at houses and accidentally standing our relator up for an appointment that he'd scheduled, which (for the record) didn't actually happen. We're going to look at four more houses tomorrow night, two of which we've already seen and are possible back-up options if we aren't able to get our house. We'll have to see what happens.

Look what we just bought for our new house

2010-03-15T19:58:00.003-05:00

That's right. Kissing Dutch people! Those of you that were at our wedding know that we had kissing Dutch people as our cake topper since we met in Holland, Michigan. So it only seems appropriate that we would have some kissing Dutch people for our yard as well.

They will definitely be getting a fresh coat of paint as well as some personalized touches (the boy will be blond and the girl will be brunette), so they should be much cuter when they actually reside in our yard. I will definitely take a picture once I have them repainted to show you!

Have you seen this movie?

2010-03-07T22:24:00.004-06:00

Because if not, you need to. We finally watched it this weekend and absolutely loved it.

My favorite part is when Maya Rudolph's character, Verona, talks about how she had a orange tree in her yard when she was growing up. Her dad always went out and looked to see if there were any oranges on the tree, so one day Verona's mom takes her and her sister out to the orange tree early in the morning and they hang all kinds of fruits on the tree. Then they hide and wait for her dad to come out and look at the tree. When he sees the fruit, he believes it for a full minute before he figures out that it can't possibly be real. From that point on, Verona says that sometimes a member of their family would go out and hang fruit from the orange tree.

The thing I love about that part of the movie is that it seems exactly like something my family would do. We have had a number of continuing jokes over the years. One of the longest running ones was a rubber spider that made appearances in various places around the house to scare me and my sister - but mostly me... For some reason, to me, these continuing jokes are one of the things that remind me of the importance of family.

Frustration

2010-03-06T08:01:00.005-06:00

I thought it was about time that i gave you a glimpse of our house, but I can't get the pictures to work. They're too big so when I put them in a post you can only see about half of them. Does anyone know how to fix that?

Review of my goals: February

2010-03-04T17:58:00.002-06:00

Even though it's a little late, here's my review of my goals for February.

1. Read (and record and reflect on the books i read)

I have been doing really well with this. I think I got through at least two or three books in February.

2. Read the Bible. That's right. The WHOLE thing.

I have had a breakthrough. Did you know that you can get the Bible on CD? That's right. The version i have from the library is split up into several volumes and i'm listening to volume two. So even though i'm only partway through Genesis in my reading, in my listening i've made it through the last half of Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and i only have a few chapters of Isaiah left. The thing i really like about listening is that it forces me to listen to every single word instead of skimming over the parts that i know really well, which i know that i have a tendency to do.

3. Write letters.

I wrote birthday cards for February, but haven't done my birthday cards for March yet. I will definitely get on that!

4. Spend ten minutes a day moving my body.

I've been doing awful at this. I've just started to work out again in the last few days, but i think now that the weather is getting nicer, it will definitely be easier to get myself moving.

5. Commit to following my bliss, meaning that i'm going to stop doing things because i feel like i should but because i want to.

Andrew and i bought a house! That's a huge part of following my bliss because i can't wait to start living in a place that we can paint!!!

Our house!!!

2010-02-20T10:15:00.010-06:00

We have had quite the adventure in buying our first home.

House #1

We started with a fixer upper that Andrew and I both really liked that was a short sale. We put in an offer that would have been the seller's back-up offer if they had actually accepted it. Instead, they chose not to accept our offer, deciding that if the first offer didn't work out they would just go into foreclosure...

House #2

When the offer on house #1 wasn't accepted, we looked at several other houses and eventually found a house that we really liked in a neighborhood we really liked as well. The house was more cookie cutter than we wanted and the yard was a little smaller than we wanted, but we were willing to compromise on those things for the location, the square footage, and the fact that we wouldn't have to do much to the house other than painting. We thought the seller was asking too much for the house given the market, so we made a low offer, expecting them to give us a counteroffer so we could meet somewhere in the middle. The seller refused to counteroffer because he thinks that the house is worth the list price. (We actually found out that the seller had turned down an offer that was $2,000 below their list price last year. So we knew there was no working with this guy.)

House #3 (aka the house we actually bought!!!)

When our offer on house #2 wasn't accepted, we looked at even more houses and ended up looking at a house that is literally across the street from house #2. We knew we loved the location and the neighborhood, but thought that this house was more expensive than we wanted. We thought we'd just look at it to see what we could get if we were to go to the top end of our budget. However, once we walked into this house, we saw how much more we would be getting for our money. The house is gorgeous!!! It is literally our dream house and big enough that we will never have to move unless we choose to.

It has great curb appeal, a fenced backyard with a swing set and deck that look out on a field, a family room with a gas fireplace, a beautiful kitchen, a huge loft at the top of the stairs, a big master bedroom, a gorgeous master bathroom with two sinks and a garden tub (which is a requirement since i've gotten used to the one in my apartment), the most amazing closet i've ever seen in my life, and the excitement continues from there!

There is SO much more to tell you about our house, but you'll have to wait until i have the keys in my hand to see the pictures because i don't want anything to go wrong with this one!

Review of my goals: January

2010-01-30T09:03:00.006-06:00

1. Read (and record and reflect on the books i read)

I've actually done pretty well with this one thanks to the Book Lust Journal that i got for Christmas. I've always kept track of the books i've read, but i like that this encourages me to include the date i finished them and my thoughts on the book.

2. Read the Bible. That's right. The WHOLE thing.

So far i've made it to Genesis 22, which i've been stuck at for about a week because i haven't taken the time to read any further. I am going to make myself keep going, but i was thinking i could at least make it to Exodus or Leviticus before getting stuck...

3. Write letters.

I've been writing to my pen pal once a week, which has been great. I think my next step is going to be writing birthday cards to people. We'll see how that goes.

4. Spend ten minutes a day moving my body.

I managed to psych myself out with this one by buying the 30 Day Shred. Nothing against the 30 Day Shred because it works. When i did it, i was working really hard and it only took twenty minutes. But somewhere between buying it to try it and trying to fulfill this goal, i managed to substitute this goal with doing the twenty minutes of 30 Day Shred. And that did not work out well. So for now, i'm going back to my original goal of ten minutes a day in whatever way i feel like. And then i'll work my way up to doing the 30 Day Shred on a more regular basis.

5. Commit to following my bliss, meaning that i'm going to stop doing things because i feel like i should but because i want to.

Honestly, this one isn't, as we say in education, a measurable goal, but i have been doing the things i want to do. I feel like i've stopped worrying so much about things. Andrew and i have done some things that have been

My values

2010-01-13T21:48:00.003-06:00

I was reading blogs today and i read a post from Carmen discussing blogging about her values. Even though I know what my values are, I love the opportunity to learn more about myself so of course I was excited when her blog directed me to this to help determine your values more concretely. (If you're wondering what to do when you follow the link, pick 15 values and then push the "play on" button. You'll have directions to follow from there.)

Here are my values according to that site:

My most important value is:
Religion/Spirituality (strong religious/spiritual beliefs)
For me this means the belief that God has a plan for my life that is bigger than anything I can imagine.
Another value is Family Happiness
For me this means maintaining a close relationship with my family and loving and supporting them no matter what.
Another value is Friendship (Close relationship with others)
For me this means having people in my life who really know, understand, and appreciate me for who I am.
Another value is Integrity (honest, sincerity, standing up for oneself)
For me this means having the ability to know that I am making decisions and acting in a way that I am proud of.

Another value is Creativity (being imaginitive, innovative)
And this means allowing myself time to express my thoughts however I want and taking time to explore the creativity of others.

Giveaway time

2010-01-12T17:04:00.001-06:00

I would give anything to win this giveaway on one of my favorite blogs!

I've grown up, i guess my furniture should too

2010-01-02T16:16:00.011-06:00

So since it's now the new year, Andrew and I made the decision to start buying furniture. When

we moved in together we combined our various furniture that came from:

the rummage sale (the couch, coffee table, and end table)
Craigslist (the table and chairs, the overstuffed chair and ottoman, and the bed and vanity in the guest room)
Goodwill (the side table)
Target (the bookshelf that holds the gaming systems and DVDs)
various other stores (Andrew's desk and the other two bookshelves)
and of course our parent's houses (my dresser, the other side table, the chair, and the really big bookshelf)

We have been looking for a king size bed frame (that we both like) ever since Andrew moved to Indiana. The entire time we've been searching, his (now our) mattress and boxsprings have been on the floor. We haven't found anything that we could both agree on until yesterday. That was when we saw this beautiful bed!

We both loved it, which for us is amazing because that's never happened before. I love the color and the fact that it doesn't look completely massive, which is hard to find in a king size let me tell you!

Before we found the bed, we were looking at another store and found a couch we loved. It's a soft chocolate brown with tons of pillows and it's huge! There's enough room for four people to sit comfortably or for two people to stretch out side by side. And while we didn't buy it yesterday, we ended up going back to the store to buy it today to replace the couch we already have, which has quite a bit of history. As my family likes to point out, my couch has done quite a bit of traveling. Let's track it's many moves:

I bought the couch at the church rummage sale (for $40 dollars!!!) and moved it into my parent's garage in Carmel.
The couch moved from there to Hope College for my sophomore year where it went up a flight of stairs and into our dorm room. When Barb and i were moving out, we managed to get my couch wedged in the doorway of our room and had to enlist help in order to get it out. After assuring him that we were fine to get the couch down the stairs, we then managed to run my finger into the door at the bottom of the stairs. My finger started bleeding and the injury later developed into a scar that still exists on my knuckle.
After that fiasco, the couch went on a detour to Ohio, and then back to Carmel.
The couch moved to Hope College for my junior year where it went in the elevator up three flights and into our dorm room. Sometime during that year, the fabric on the arm of the couch started ripping, so Barb and i repaired it with duct tape.
After that year, the couch went back to Carmel.
The couch moved to Hope College for my senior year where it went into our apartment that Barb and i were sharing with three other girls. The fabric on the arm of the couch continued to rip throughout the year, which Barb and i again repaired with more duct tape.
After that year, the couch went back to Carmel.
The couch moved to my first apartment in Lafayette, but it couldn't fit through the narrow hallway so we carried it around the building, by the lake, over the fence, and through the sliding glass door at the back of my apartment. It was during it's stay in Lafayette that i recovered the couch (in fabric bought at the rummage sale) because the rip in the arm had gotten too big to fix with duct tape.
After that year, the couch went back to Carmel.
The couch moved to my second apartment in Westfield.
The couch moved across the parking lot to my third apartment in Westfield where it now resides in our living room.

All in all, that's eleven moves and eight years with the couch. I'm going to give Barb a call later tonight to let her know that our beloved couch is being replaced. She always said that i had to call her and let her know because she would come out to Indy and drive the couch back to Portland, Oregon. We'll see if that actually ends up happening...

TBR Challenge

2009-12-31T17:32:00.009-06:00

In the spirit of my resolution to read more this year, I will be taking part in the TBR challenge.

Here's how it works:

Pick 12 books – one for each month of the year - that you’ve been wanting to read (that have been on your -“To Be Read” list) for 6 months or longer, but haven’t gotten around to. OPTIONAL: Create a list of 12 “Alternates” (books you could substitute for your challenge books, given that a particular one doesn’t grab you at the time) Then, starting January 1, read one of these books from your list each month, ending December 31. )

1. The ENTIRE Bible (specifically the New International Version)

2. Bride Island by Alexandra Enders

3. A Version of the Truth by Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack

4. The Kindness of Strangers by Katrina Kittle

5. Invincible Louisa by Cornelia Meigs

6. The Awakening by Kate Chopin

7. Jane Austen: Her Life and Letters by William Austen-Leight and Richard Arthur Austen-Leigh

8. Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors

9. Water by Bapsi Sidhwa

10. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

11. Three Junes by Julia Glass

12. Veil of Roses by Laura Fitzgerald

And my alternatives are:

1. The Preservationist by David Maine

2. Pieces of my Sister's Life by Elizabeth Joy Arnold

3. Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli

4. Little House on Rocky Ridge by Roger Lea MacBride

5. Little Farn in the Ozarks by Roger Lea MacBride

6. At Weddings and Wakes by Alice McDermott

7. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

8. Man Walks Into a Room by Nicole Krauss

9. Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan

10. The Lost Stories of Louisa May Alcott

11. Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker

12. In Search of our Mothers' Gardens by Alice Walker

2009-12-22T18:44:00.008-06:00

We spend January 1st walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives...not looking for flaws, but for potential. -Ellen Goodman

In the spirit of the above quote, my opportunities to explore my potential this year include:

1. Read (and record and reflect on the books i read)

2. Read the Bible. That's right. The WHOLE thing. (Inspired by this guy who read the Bible a number of times through for a book he was writing, even though he's agnostic. If he can make it through multiple times, i should be able to make it through once this year.)

3. Write letters. I became a pen pa l when i was in college and have continued to do it over the years though the people i'm writing to changes. It's amazing how much it changes your perspective to sit down and actually write out what you're thinking to someone you care about. While it's hard for me to take the time to do it each week, writing a letter always puts things in perspective for me.

4. Spend ten minutes a day moving my body. I'll be the first to admit that i'm absolutely horrible at sticking to a workout routine. I know that i feel so much better when i do work out, but i have a hard time actually doing it consistently. So instead of giving myself lots of specifics, this year i've decided to commit to ten minutes a day. If that happens to turn into more than ten minutes, that's wonderful, but i know that that's a time commitment i can keep.

5. Commit to following my bliss, meaning that i'm going to stop doing things because i feel like i should but because i want to.

2009-12-20T19:40:00.002-06:00

The decision to pledge your life to someone is a leap of faith. You grab each other's hand and jump, hoping you'll manage to navigate together whatever life hurls at you. It's crucial to be good to each other, to feel supported and endorsed. -from Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress

2009-12-16T21:46:00.003-06:00

...and having him at that table in that kitchen was really the first time I understood that we were about to give this thing our best effort, despite not having a plan and despite the fact that neither of us had wanted a relationship when we met, much less a long-distance one. We would give it our best shot, because the way we were together demanded it. And so we did. - Taken from this blog

It's been a while since i've thought about the beginning of our relationship, but this reminded me so much of us because that's exactly how we were. We went through huge debates about whether or not we would start a relationship because we were apart and it would have to be long distance. We supposedly made up our minds several times and then changed our minds again. And again. And again.

We finally came to a decision, yet again, that we were not going to start a relationship. And then i got a call in the next day or two that his mom had passed away and that decision didn't matter anymore. I called him and told him i'd do whatever he needed me to do because that was the only thing i could think to do. And during that time, we both realized how much we meant to each other and from that point on we realized that we'd been in a relationship the whole time we'd been debating about it and that we were going to do what we could to make it work. And so we did.

Harrison

2009-12-15T21:08:00.007-06:00

One of my students committed suicide last night. And though i wasn't particularly close to him, it's still a disturbing situation.

He was an alcoholic. He was drunk when he killed himself.
He tried to guilt the friends he was with into staying with him last night. He told them that if they left he would kill himself. So now those friends are dealing with the guilt he put on them.
He hung himself. His dad was the one that found him.
He has an eight month old daughter with another one of my students.
He had one class to finish before earning his high school diploma.

During second period this morning, the principal called the staff down to her office one by one and told us that he had killed himself last night. We were going to meet as a school to tell the students, but they received texts about it before we could have the meeting. So these students, who obviously thought that it wasn't true, were talking about it and turned to me and said "It's not true is it?" And i had to be the one to tell them that, yes, it was true.

I really don't know what else to say about this other than i've been thinking about him, his daughter, his parents, and the rest of the students all day. I've been praying about it because i don't know what else to do. I ask that if you are one of the few people who still read this, that you pray for everyone that is involved.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!

2009-12-07T19:15:00.004-06:00

We had snow of the ground when i woke up this morning.
I've been listening to Christmas music since before Thanksgiving. Yes, i'm one of those people. But i haven't made it all the way through the Messiah yet this year so i have that to look forward to.
We bought a Kitchenaid mixer!!! It's purple, well technically bosenberry, but i've never been more excited to bake.
I bought sparkly supplies at Michael's today to remake our wreath since i've had that one for two years now.
We decorated our apartment for Christmas today. We put out our nativities, put up Christmas lights, and got out our tiny tree. We have plans to buy a tree sometime this week!
And there are only eight days left of school, not that i'm counting or anything;)

Movies I want to watch before Christmas

2009-12-04T21:06:00.002-06:00

A Muppet Christmas Carol
Christmas Eve on Sesame Street
The Holiday
Love Actually
Meet Me in St. Louis (where "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is originally from)
White Christmas
It's a Wonderful Life

The only problem is not all of these have made the transition from VHS to DVD. I guess now is the time to work on that!

December goals

2009-12-03T14:11:00.002-06:00

I didn't do too well with my November goals, so instead of reviewing them and looking at all of the things i didn't accomplish i'm going to look ahead to my goals for this month!

December goals

Work out at least three times a week.
Put away the rest of the wedding gifts.
Reorganize scrapbooking stuff.
Print out wedding pictures for our families!
Celebrate Christmas and the new year by mailing Christmas cards, decorating, baking cookies, spending time with family, and whatever else we feel like doing to celebrate!

A beautiful description of advent

2009-12-02T22:19:00.001-06:00

Advent is the preparation for the coming of Christ. It is a return to simplicity so that we can focus, be penitent, and prepare ourselves for His coming. If you knew He were coming here again on December 25th, how would you spend your time? This is the mindset we are to have during Advent. We are supposed to be actually removing distractions instead of adding to them.

It is in stark contrast to how we normally behave during the month of December. Hearing him say it out loud was a reality check. I know I tend to whip myself into a frenzy this month. All the rushing around, stretching yourself in all different directions, attending too many parties, buying and shopping all the time. It's ok, and even appropriate to step back, take a breath and always remember who and what event you are anticipating. I think it's easy to forget that we are not celebrating ourselves, or the deep discounts at the mall, but something far more meaningful and important.

I hope this helps someone else, like it did for me.

-Taken from this blog

Woohoo!

2009-12-01T19:41:00.001-06:00

Finally, we must draw on the strength of our values – for the challenges that we face may have changed, but the things that we believe in must not. That is why we must promote our values by living them at home – which is why I have prohibited torture and will close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. And we must make it clear to every man, woman and child around the world who lives under the dark cloud of tyranny that America will speak out on behalf of their human rights, and tend to the light of freedom, and justice, and opportunity, and respect for the dignity of all peoples. That is who we are. That is the moral source of America’s authority. -President Obama December 1, 2009

A bit of writing to clear my mind

2009-11-22T20:11:00.007-06:00

Tonight is one of those nights where i'm totally stressed out for no apparent reason. There are a lot of little things i could blame it on, but i know that there really is no reason. I'm a person that's prone to depression and anxiety so when things get hectic or hard, i tend to either get really depressed or really anxious. And for some reason tonight it has gone to the anxious side.

Whatever the reason, i have finally reached the point in my life where i know how to deal with it. Instead of pushing myself to act as though nothing is wrong until i can't stand it anymore, i am able to admit that i'm feeling anxious. I admit that i can't handle anything more at the moment. I lit a candle; sat down with my computer, some dinner, and a glass of wine; and began to write without thinking about it first.

The past week or so has been stressful. School is busy with the students trying to bring their grades up before the end of the semester, not to mention the art club and student government that i'm trying to keep going. The apartment is messy with things that we're trying to accomplish - addressing Christmas cards, wrapping Christmas presents, keeping track of bills and receipts - and while we try to keep up with it, i'm not good at cleaning. I tend to let things go too long to the point where everything seems to be a mess. I haven't been feeling well, trying to fend off the sicknesses that have been going around. I feel unhealthy because i haven't taken the time to work out for over a week. And the worst part is that i end up taking all of these things out on Andrew because he's the one that's always around and i know that i can do that because he loves me and he'll still love me if i take things out on him. I've been trying to avoid doing that, but the more he tries to help, the more time and space i feel like i need to myself...

Which brings up another point. I've been pulling away from people because i feel that i don't have control of myself and i have to have that before i can deal with other people. So if i've let you down by not talking to you or responding to you, i'm sorry. It'll take me a few more days, probably until Thanksgiving when i can have a few days off to rest and relax, but i'll be back to normal soon.

Why I hate Comcast

2009-11-14T07:27:00.004-06:00

Here's the email we just sent Comcast:

We recieved a letter stating that the cost of our services (cable and internet) would not go up more than $10 a service. On our next bill, the internet went up $10, but the cable went up $30. The bill after that went up an additional $3.

My husband called 1-800-COMCAST and they couldn't explain what was going on with the billing. When he asked for further explination, he was immediately transferred to the cancellation department.

Then he chatted with a representative on your website who told him to take a copy of the letter to our local Comcast branch.

We have since visited our local Comcast branch twice. The first time we brought a copy of the letter and were told that a manager would call us the next day. We did not recieve a call at all. The second time we brought another copy of the letter and were told that a manager would call us within the week. When we explained that a manager did not call us the last time we visited the branch and asked for a direct phone number or email address we were told that they could not give those out.

We finally recieved a call from the manager, the Monday after our second visit to the local branch. She left a voicemail explaining that she was out of town often, but was at her desk at that moment and we could call her back then. When we returned her call, we reached her voicemail and left a message. We have since left two messages explaining our problem with our bill and asking her to call us. We have not recieved a call from the manager.

At this point, we have spent almost two months trying to get our questions about the bill answered. We have paid two bill with rates we feel are incorrect, so as not to be charged additional late fees.

The company credo states that "Comcast will deliver a superior experience to our customers every day" and that "we will offer the most customer-friendly and reliable service in the market." Your company and the representatives are not living up to your claim.

We have spent two months doing everything we can think of to do to have our questions about our billing answered. We have called 1-800-COMCAST, chatted on the website, visited the local branch in person, and called the local branch. We need you to tell us how to have our questions addressed.

An Etsy shop opening

2009-11-01T22:03:00.002-06:00

Oops! And i completely forgot to mention that my mom opened an Etsy shop! Right now she's focusing on pins and ornaments for Christmas, but if you know my mom at all, you know she'll be adding all kinds of other artsy things once Christmas is over. Please check it out!

Goal update

2009-11-01T21:42:00.003-06:00

Review of October goals

Finish writing thank you notes. Check!
Put away the rest of the wedding gifts. We still have a pile, but it's slowly diminishing. And we did put away our new Pyrex that's been sitting in the kitchen for weeks.
Get my clothes for colder weather out and put my clothes for warm weather away. Check!
Work out at least twice a week (I've gotta start somewhere right?) I only accomplished this for two out of the four weeks, but i'm going to work on it, especially now that the holidays are getting closer and closer.
Drink at least eight glasses of water a day. I bought a new water bottle and i've been drinking a bunch more water.

November goals

Drink at least eight glasses of water a day.
Work out at least three times a week.
Spend less time with technology. I'm going to attempt to limit myself to the shows i actually watch. If i am going to watch meaningless television, i have to be working out while watching.
Organize the apartment, specifically by putting away the rest of the wedding gifts and organizing the storage area and the guest room closet.
Go through all of the wedding pictures. Print out some and frame them for us and for others who we'll give them to as gifts. Also, keep working on my scrapbook of the engagement and wedding.

Living good stories

2009-10-31T00:15:00.004-05:00

This week we celebrated Halloween at school. As part of that celebration, we had a Halloween dance on Thursday night. We spent most of the afternoon decorating so that the room looked creepy. We had one of the teachers who DJs on the weekend bring his equipment and DJ the dance. We had parents donate food and drinks. The dance turned out great. All of the students seemed to be having a good time, but i kept noticing something: even though they were hanging out with their friends, dancing, eating, and drinking, the students kept checking their cell phones about every five minutes. The thought that kept running through my head was "Really? You can't get off your phone for the two hours that the dance lasts?"

I was thinking about this at the dance and even into today when i read a line in the book i'm reading that said:

Most Americans aren't living very good stories. It's not our fault, I don't think. We are suckered into it. We are brainwashed, I think.

And i think that's the problem. We're to the point where we're getting so caught up in the things we have that we forget to experience the life we're living.

We worry about who could have called or texted us because what if something more exciting is happening somewhere else that we could be a part of? Not that we'd actually leave wherever we are or whatever to do it to go to that more exciting thing. It's so much better to experience it through another person's texts, right?
We worry about our ipods being charged because we need to have songs constantly playing. I'm more and more amazed at the number of students who claim they "can't work without having their ipod on." They complain that it's too quiet. Really?
We worry about checking and responding to all of the emails we receive when half of the people who email us aren't people or companies we would bother talking to in person for more than a minute or two.

And, yes, i understand the irony of this post since i'm typing it on my laptop to post on my blog on the internet for people (some of whom i've never actually met) to read, but i do think that there are good things that can come from the technology around us. But we have to use it carefully. I love having a blog and being able to read what other people are thinking and writing about. I love connecting with people i wouldn't have a chance to connect with otherwise, but i do try to keep it in check, which i haven't been doing a good job of lately. It's just so easy to sit in front of the television or computer and space out. Before you know it, you've gone an hour or two without thinking about anything other than whatever's on the screen. It's easy to text people instead of calling them because then you don't have to make excuses to get off the phone if the conversation is going too long. It's easy to do a lot of things, but that doesn't always make it better.

So this week i'm going to work on actually living my life. I'm going to turn off the television and finish the book i'm reading. I'm going to spend time talking to people , or better yet actually seeing people, instead of texting them. I'm going to read and respond to the important emails and delete the ones that aren't worth my time. I'm going to read the blogs i'm interested in, but skip over the ones i'm reading just to get them off of my list. I'm going to think about the story i want to be telling with my life and work on making it a better one.

Success is...

2009-10-28T21:44:00.002-05:00

There are many days when I wake up and head out into the world, pursuing a destination that I have yet to define—and I am certain I’m not the only one.
Will our lives change if we define success for ourselves? Will new opportunities arise? Will we associate with different people? Will we be happier? Will the sun shine brighter?
I am almost certain the answer is yes to all of the above—and I am eager to map out my own definition.
Taken from this blog.

After reading this earlier today, i was inspired to write out my own definition of success, but i think i'll take a day or two to think about it before making an attempt.

2009-10-24T22:09:00.005-05:00

A good fall break. I spent time with my husband and my cats. I finished reading one book and started another. I baked, cleaned, did laundry, all of which made me feel very much like a housewife. In the process of changing my email address, i managed to reconnect with a friend from high school and my student-teaching teacher.

"You get the feeling that's all God really wants from us, to live inside a body he made and enjoy the story and bond with us through experiences." -from A Million Miles in a Thousand Year: What I Learned from Editing my Life by Donald Miller

Baking with pumpkin

2009-10-24T18:13:00.003-05:00

Yesterday i made pumpkin cookies, which are a family recipe that we make every year. The debate with the pumpkin cookies is always whether you like them with raisins or chocolate chips or both. I am like them with raisins because i don't think that pumpkin and chocolate go together. You'll have to make them using the recipe below and see which one you like.

Because i only made one batch of the cookies, i had a bunch of pumpkin left over so i was thrilled when i found a recipe for pumpkin bread on one of the blogs i read. The recipe is actually for chocolate chip pumpkin bread, but i left the chocolate chips out. The only thing i didn't love about the recipe was that it didn't tell you how much bread it made (two loaves) or how long to cook the loaves (mine took an hour and five minutes). The bread is really good though.

I'll probably make another batch of either the cookies or the bread or both so i can bring them into school for the halloween dance and party that we're having because they both turned out really well.

Pumpkin Cookies
Cream together 1 cup shortening and 2 cups flour.

Add 2 eggs and 2 teaspoons of vanilla and beat well.

Add 2 teaspoons baking soda, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, and 4 cups flour.

Then comes the pumpkin! Add 1 cup of Libby's canned pumpkin (make sure it's the pumpkin, not the pumpkin pie mix because we've made that mistake before and the cookies don't turn out to well...)

Last, but not least, add 1 cup raisins or 1 cup chocolate chips (or a mix of both if you want).

Drop the cookies by teaspoon onto a greased cookie and bake for 7 to 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

I think this is hilarious!

2009-10-14T16:01:00.000-05:00

Whoops!

2009-10-11T18:22:00.001-05:00

And we've been married for a month today!

October goal update

2009-10-11T18:13:00.004-05:00

Finish writing thank you notes. Check!
Put away the rest of the wedding gifts. Returned two things we didn't need today. So we're working on it.
Get my clothes for colder weather out and put my clothes for warm weather away. Check!
Work out at least twice a week (I've gotta start somewhere right?) I only worked out once last week, but i started the week of right by working out today.
Drink at least eight glasses of water a day. I haven't made it to eight glasses everyday, but i'm definitely drinking a lot more water than i usually do.

Other than that, i'm busy with school. I had two days of parent/teacher conferences, an observation of one of my classes by the principal, a visit from a state senator, and an early morning where the student government cooked breakfast last week. Whew! This week should be a bit more calm, though still busy. I'm having the first meeting of the art club that i'm starting and the student government is going to cook breakfast again since they want to do it once a week. But the week after that is fall break, which means two days of relaxing for me! Yay!

unfortunately

2009-10-08T14:19:00.002-05:00

The point of this post was to use google, type "unfortunately" and then your name, and see what comes up. Why not try this yourself and discover what is "unfortunate" about you?

Unfortunately, Gretchen is off-screen far too much in this book.

Unfortunately, Gretchen is still at large and the mayhem has not yet ended

Unfortunately, Gretchen herself eventually had a stroke, and had to go into hospital, in the same ward as Nancy had been.

Unfortunately, Gretchen loves Tony, a 20-something white-power hooligan who hangs out in arcades to pick up impressionable high school girls...

Unfortunately, Gretchen was caught just outside the church, while Sara continued to escape.

Unfortunately, Gretchen provides broad tips that she believe have led to happiness in her life.

This post idea taken from here.

Goals for October

2009-10-03T23:45:00.003-05:00

Finish writing thank you notes.
Put away the rest of the wedding gifts
Get my clothes for colder weather out and put my clothes for warm weather away
Work out at least twice a week (I've gotta start somewhere right?)
Drink at least eight glasses of water a day. (So maybe this one is a myth that's been disproved by scientific research. So what? It'll still get me to drink more water. And i can keep track of it with my handy, dandy water tracking app on my Ipod touch. I love having apps for things you totally don't need an app for...)

I figure five goals are enough to start with for my first attempt at setting monthly goals. Any more of them an i won't be able to keep track. I'll let you know how things go this month when we get closer to the end of the month.

I love...

2009-10-01T15:53:00.005-05:00

Being married. Reading blogs. Finding new projects. Finding new recipes. Cooking. Baking. Knitting. Scrapbooking. Pictures of people i love. Pedicures. Manicures. Massages. Red wine. Comfy blue jeans. Cozy sweaters. Flip flops. Teaching. My students. Reading aloud. Being read aloud to. Sunny days. Starry nights. Hors d'oeuvres. Yoga. The smell of fall. The smell of flowers. The Target one dollar section. Excuses to get dressed up. Pretty dresses. Feeling pretty. Cuddling with kittens. Candles. Road trips. Reading an engrossing book. Best friends. Sunrises. Sunsets. India. Michigan. Portland. Scarves. Mittens. Cupcakes. Experiencing new things. Going on adventures. Smiles. Shopping at Fresh Market. Dancing. Laughing. Bruschetta. Garlic bread. Italian food. Farmers' Markets. Bookstores. Thrift stores. Fluffy down comforters. Spending the day in bed. Naps. Learning new things. Musicals. Brunch. Words. Well-crafted sentences. The smell of toothpaste. The midwest. Chai lattes. Cinammon sugar toast. Good listeners. Illegally picking tulips. When you can just hang out with someone and not have to talk. Proper grammar and correct punctuation. Finding the word you want. The smell of lilacs. Yellow roses. Yellow curry. Taking long, hot baths. Old friends. Getting flowers. Giving flowers. Board games. Organizing. Yogokiss. Love.

What things comfort you, calm you, inspire you, delight you, and make your heart go pitter-patter?

The idea for this post (and a bunch of the loved items) borrowed from here.

Down With Wal-Mart

2009-09-30T20:31:00.004-05:00

I have been interested in learning more about Wal-Mart ever since i read the book Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting by in America. In one of the chapters, the author got a job at Wal-Mart and discusses the working conditions and the fact that workers at Wal-Mart are not allowed to unionize.

Then i watched the documentary Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices. It really got me thinking about what Wal-Mart does when they come into town. Not only do they drive out local businesses, but they also drive down the wages that workers earn. And because the wages are so low and the managers are told to keep as many people as possible to part time, many of the workers have to rely on government support to make ends meet. Then i got to the part of the movie that addresses the conditions of the workers that manufacture products for Wal-Mart in other countries. These workers work up to twelve hour days and have to pay for Wal-Mart housing, even if they choose not to live in it.

It was after watching that documentary that Andrew and i made the decision to stop shopping at Wal-Mart. We decided that there are enough negatives about the company that we could choose not to support them by shopping there, especially when we have other options like Target and Meijer that donate to the communities they are in instead of tearing them down.

Well tonight was the second time i've set foot in Wal-Mart since i stopped shopping there. Even though most of my family is aware of our anti-Wal-Mart feelings, Andrew's family is not, which means we received wedding gifts from Wal-Mart, which we wanted to return. We returned one batch and bought groceries that we would have bought anyway. Tonight we went to return the rest of the gifts we didn't need to Wal-Mart, but they were not willing to accept them because the barcodes had been cut off of the tags (since whichever of Andrew's relatives gave us that wanted to make sure we didn't know the price). Instead of simply looking up the item, the Wal-Mart worker told us we had to go find the same item so they could scan that barcode and then we could return them. Except they didn't have the same item in the store so we couldn't return them. Seriously!?! You have a website. You can look it up.

To make a long story short, it reaffirmed my decision to stop shopping at Wal-Mart and made me want to avoid setting foot in the store at all costs.

2009-09-17T23:36:00.002-05:00

All of these people keep asking me how it feels to be married. The truth is it doesn't feel all that different from before. Yes there are some major differences: i have another ring on my finger, he has a ring on his finger, and of course we can engage in an activity we didn't engage in before we were married (if you know what i mean...).

The truth is, being married feels really natural, and i think a large part of that has to do with our living together before we got married. While some people look down on that, i think that it was right for us because we got used to being around each other all the time. We got used to living in the same apartment and sharing our space and our time and ourselves. Instead of having to make a huge transition after our wedding, we simply were able to go back to our life together. The life that we'd already established and figured out. Except we're married now.

It's not that it doesn't feel different to be married. I feel much more secure in my relationship with Andrew because i know that we've made a lifetime commitment to each other. I know we are in this together and we're going to make it work. But i'm able to feel secure in those subtle differences because so many things are also the same.

And while i know most people take their honeymoons directly after the wedding, we've chosen to take ours later,

which has allowed us to come back to our normal life and connect with each other in that way. Instead of separating

ourselves from the rest of the world in order to relax, we're able to experience the rest of the world and come home to

each other in order to relax. And that's a wonderful feeling.

We're married!!!

2009-09-14T21:21:00.004-05:00

Reading Rainbow is cancelled!?!

2009-08-26T17:56:00.003-05:00

Go here to learn more about the sadness...

2009-08-25T14:31:00.001-05:00

The wedding programs are done! That's a full two weeks before the wedding people. That must be some kind of record...

I know, i'm proud of myself for weird things. Can you tell i'm feeling better? Yay!

I'm next!

2009-08-23T14:14:00.003-05:00

As i was told over and over again at Lisa's wedding last night, i'm the next one getting married. Our wedding is in 19 days, not that i'm counting or anything. I've been busy with the start of school and trying to get over the cold i got from my students so i haven't had much time to focus on how close i am to getting married, other than how much i have left to get done, which is not much. The list that has been seemingly endless since the time we started wedding planning has dwindled to an actually achievable amount.

The only thing i'm worried about now is getting over my cold since it seems to keep coming back. I think i've gotten

over it and then it comes back again in a new and exciting way. I also want to make sure that i am actually in the moment when we get to the week and day of the wedding. I've spent so much time planning for this day that's coming that i want to make sure that i realize that it's actually here when it is.

Andrew and i were apart this weekend because we had two weddings to attend, neither of which we could miss. So i stayed here and he went to Michigan. It's been a long time since we've spent more than a day apart, so of course i missed him, but i was surprised how much i missed him. That alone tells me that i'm ready to marry him. I am so completely comfortable with him. I can tell him anything. I can do anything with him. It's better than i could have imagined a relationship being.

On a completely different note, i've been listening to the book Angry Conversations With God all weekend. It is fabulous. Seriously, it's the best book on religion i've read ( i know i'm listening to it, but it's still the whole book so it totally counts) since reading Donald Miller and Rob Bell. It's approachable and sarcastic and true. Here's the basic idea of the book:

Angry Conversations With God began when Susan hit hit forty and found herself loveless, jobless, and living over a garage. When a churchy friend told Susan that she needed to look at her relationship with God was it like a marriage, Susan decided to take God to marriage counseling.

Angry Conversations chronicles Susan's spiritual history, from childhood faith to a midlife crisis, and all the bizarre church experiences in between.

I was raised Lutheran: Bible-believing, Jesus-loving Lutheran. But as an adult I tried everything: Pentecostals, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Rock ’n’ Roll Slackers 4 Jesus, Actors for Yahweh. Then I said, “Screw it,” and became a drunk and a slut. Well, a Lutheran slut—I only slept with two guys. Then I got sober and into AA, where I could pick whatever God I wanted. But I didn't pick God; God picked me. I've known him as long as I could remember. I’ve been washed in the blood, slain in the Spirit; I walked through the Bible, I’ve been baptized twice; I’ve done outward cleansing and inner healing. I even went through a therapy program for ex-gays, and I was never gay. Through it all, even if pastors hurt me or friends let me down or entire denominations went Shiite on my ass, I still believed God was good. Until that moment in Central Park...

Taking God to counseling, Susan quickly casts herself as the neglected wife and God as the jerky spouse who has no interest in changing. Susan readily skewers American Churchianity and the weird ideas put forth by her crazy in-laws. But before long, Susan must face the fact that the god in her head is not the real one; the real God won't be manipulated, demonized or controlled; and he loves his wacko family regardless, just like he loves her. Is she willing to love God, regardless of what she can get out of him? For better or worse? Not so much.

Angry Conversations is funny, vulnerable, and even at its most scandalous, a refreshing affirmation of faith.

2009-08-14T18:02:00.002-05:00

Check out this article about arranged marriage. It's seriously the best description and depiction of it i've ever read. And, of course, i love it because it's about India!

2009-08-11T05:18:00.001-05:00

ONE MONTH!

Ditto

2009-08-04T23:19:00.001-05:00

I don’t know why I didn’t start re-reading my books earlier. I’m falling in love with the characters all over again. It’s perfect and simple. Beautiful. This is such a simple pleasure and I don’t know why I didn’t do it earlier. I’ll be sad if they ever stop printing books on paper. There’s something about the feel of the paper and the look of the ink. It’s soothing. I feel like I’m home when I have a book in my hand and good music playing. sigh.

Taken from Amberlyn

2009-08-04T14:10:00.000-05:00

To me, the daily mail is akin to Christmas Morning. There are few words every spoken through time that have the same magic as – wait – Christmas Morning. It’s like fairy dust has just been thrown about. That’s how I feel about the mail.

Taken from Wide Open Spaces

And now a quick recap of our weekend in Michigan!

2009-08-04T11:17:00.008-05:00

We left bright and early Saturday morning and drove up to Michigan. Our first stop of the day was South Haven where we visited Papyrus and Renaissance. These shops are actually both in one building and they're the reason my mom and i visit South Haven. We also stopped by a few other shops, including Black River Books VERY disorganized. The shelves are way too close together so you couldn't really relax and look at books because you were so busy trying to stay out of people's way!

Then we moved onto Saugatuck. We were planning on stopping at a few stores,

but there was some sort of festival going on so we couldn't find any parking! We did stop at a really cool store on our way out of town. It's called Amsterdam (Get it? Cause it's close to Holland...) and it's basically an old barn full of all kinds of random stuff. There were piles of dishes, old signs, a coffin (eww...), a huge wooden bear, and even a huge crucified Christ who was missing his right arm. We didn't buy anything (I know, you definitely thought the crucified Christ would fit into our decorating scheme for our apartment!), but we had a great time looking at everything!

Then it was on to Holland! I haven't been back since the summer after Andrew graduated, so it was good to be back! Our first stop was the 8th Street Grille where we ate their fabulous chicken corn chowder. After lunch, we went to a few of the shops on 8th Street and then attempted to go take pictures at the anchor and in the chapel, but the grass around the anchor had just been replanted so we couldn't get to it and there was a wedding going on in the chapel. Oh well! After that, we thought we'd complete our Holland experience by grabbing some cider at The Brewery, but they didn't have any! Instead we headed over to Lemonjello's. Oh how i've missed their coffee!

On Sunday, we woke up and drove to McBain, where a ton of Andrew's family lives. We drove around for a few minutes and saw all of the farms. Then we went to the church where the bridal shower was being held. It was a fun time! I managed to remember the names of all of Andrew's aunts and didn't confuse any of them, which is a feat in itself considering there are six of them! After the shower, we went to Andrew's Uncle Jon and Aunt Mary's farm! They have about 100 cows and 50 cats so you know i loved every minute of it! There were two twin cows that were only a few weeks old that would let you pet them and would suck on your fingers. They were so cute! After our time on the farm, we went to Grandma Taylor's house and hung out for a few minutes before heading down to Flushing to spend the night at Andrew's dad's.

On Monday, we spent the day with Anna and explored exciting downtown Flushing. It was great to get to see her and spend some time with her. Hopefully she'll be able to come down a few days before the wedding so we can spend even more time together!

Overall, it was a fabulous weekend and a much needed break from the pre-wedding/pre-school stress i've been living in lately. Now it's back to the real world. I have one week left before i go back to school and i have a bunch of stuff to get done, though this lovely weather outside my window is not encouraging me to do anything other than sit on the couch, watch tv, and read blogs. Who wants to go outside when it's downpouring?

Warning: This post contains language that may not be suitable for those who are easily offended. It does express my feelings at the moment.

2009-07-30T23:05:00.004-05:00

Image originally posted on Around the Bend

Two things.

2009-07-27T22:55:00.005-05:00

Two things.

The first thing has to do with a discussion i overheard about the idea of blogging. One person asked another, "Do you have a blog?" And that person replied, "No. If i want to write something, i journal about it. Why would i want everyone else to read it?" So the basic point of the discussion was: what is the point of blogging??? It's a simple question, but it got me thinking. Why do i blog?

To me, blogging is completely different from journaling. When i journal, which i haven't done for quite a while, it's for my own benefit. It's to get ideas out, mostly when i'm frustrated or confused. But i haven't been doing that for a while because i am spending a lot less time by myself, so a lot of the emotions i would get out by journaling about them are gotten out by talking to Andrew about them, which i honestly don't think is a bad thing. It makes me closer to him because he knows more about me and because i have less time to overanalyze my thoughts. Instead of getting stuck on one thought or emotion, i am forced to work through them and move on, which is ultimately much better for me.

When i blog, it's to share things i'm thinking about, articles i found interesting, or to get feedback from the few people that actually read my blog. And while i think that i'm interesting enough and have some interesting things to say, i don't know if it's enough that i need to have a blog to say what i want to say. Basically, i don't have any answers to this question, but i did think it was an interesting thing to think about. Anyone else want to join the discussion?

The second thing is that i want to share something i read today about pre-wedding nerves. I honestly am not nervous about the wedding at this point. I know that i want to marry Andrew and i think the fact that we're already living together has made that much more clear since we've already established a life together. I admit things were not perfect when we first moved in together, but i'm really glad that we were able to work through those things before the wedding. I know that i'll probably be nervous as we get closer to the wedding and i like the things that this writer points out about those nerves.

However, the thing to remember is that clinging to a routine and habit is a grasp at the familiar and safe, and few people have discovered true happiness without putting themselves out there and taking a leap of faith. And remember, getting married isn’t a risk as long as you really know and love the person you’re marrying. I would bet that your sig other is probably the person you adore most on this planet, and they’re not a scary person (unless they’re a trained assassin or something, and then you have a whole other set of issues that we don’t have time to discuss here). In fact, they’re the opposite; they want to bring you happiness, comfort, joy and all those other great, mushy feelings. I guess what I’m saying here is, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Nuf said.

The second reason people get a bit shaky about the future is they start thinking about all the “what ifs,” many of which aren’t even based in reality. What if my husband gets terminally ill? What if my wife has stroke and I can’t cope with it? What if he cheats on me (even though he’s never, ever shown anything that would even remotely make you suspicious)? What if we hit upon a problem (often money-related) that drives us apart? To be honest, you can “what if” yourself into the ground for practically anything, but when it comes to a commitment for the rest of your life, the supply of “what ifs” is infinite. Which is why this line of inquiry can only lead down a dark road. You can never prepare for anything and everything that marriage will throw at you. But you can pick the partner who you know will be the perfect companion to help you face all those “what ifs.” So before you start asking all those questions, ask yourself if this is the best person to help you face all the “what ifs” that may come up. Chances are the answer is “yes.”

Originally posted by Jeff on Bridelines

Wedding countdown

2009-07-22T08:15:00.001-05:00

And in case the last post left you wondering, there are 51 days left til the wedding.

P-Y-O-C-A

2009-07-22T08:03:00.002-05:00

Yesterday afternoon, Andrew and I headed to one of my favorite places in the world: Camp Pyoca! My family has a long history with the camp because my parents have been running Orchard Park's week of camp there for fifteen years! My siblings and i have all been campers and then counselors. And my little sister is spending the whole summer working as a couselor there. So obviously, it was important to me that Andrew saw this part of my life. He walked into a lot of history, handled it well, and seemed to like it, even if he wasn't sure what to think about everything. The thing that made me the happiest? On our way home, he said that "He hoped when we were my parent's age that we have something like camp that we enjoy doing together everyday." I'm so glad that he could see how important camp is to me and my family!

And on a side note, i was talking to the director of the camp while i was there and he seemed appalled that i couldn't tell him the exact number of days until our wedding. Seriously? I'm supposed to be that focused on this? I know that a lot of people are into their wedding day countdowns, but i know that i'll get everything done and i'm not worried about it. I figure i'd rather enjoy my time now instead of counting down every day as "just one day closer to my wedding day." Don't get me wrong, i'm really excited to marry Andrew and i'm sure it'll be a fabulous day, but it's not the only thing i'm focused on.

Best beach reads

2009-07-21T07:28:00.002-05:00

NPR is asking you to help decide on the best beach reads. They give you a list of books and ask you to pick your top 10, which is not an easy task! It took me a while because there were a lot of excellent books on the list, but i finally ended up choosing:

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Red Tent by Anita Diament
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

I think these are all good reads for summer since you want something light and fun, but you also have more time to tackle some fo those big books that you might have on your reading list but never have time to get to like Gone with the Wind or Pride and Prejudice.

2009-07-07T22:13:00.002-05:00

One of my former students has cancer again. She was in remission for the year that i taught her and came to Options because she had missed too much school to attend a regular high school. But i just learned through facebook that her cancer is back and terminal.

Do i have any relationship with this student anymore? No. I only taught her for a year, but the fact that she's a year younger than my little sister and discussing if she'll have time to complete her bucket list and how her parent's and brother will deal with her passing tears me up inside. She has been brave and determined and fighting hard, but now she knows that it's almost done and is facing it with such grace. She is an amazing example to those around her and i pray that she gets to experience everything she wants to.

If you would like to help her accomplish the things on her bucket list, go to her etsy store and purchase some of her jewelry.

Emma and Nate are married!!!

2009-07-06T23:45:00.003-05:00

And the thing i loved the most about the wedding was seeing how happy they were. The whole day they were both so relaxed and happy and they couldn't take their eyes off of each other, which was so cute. Even though there were things that didn't go as planned - who would have thought that it would be pouring down rain and only about 65 degrees on the 4th of July!?! - they focused on their love for each other and nothing else mattered. I can only hope that things go that well for my own wedding.

It's such a funny thing, this summer completely chock-full of weddings. Who would have thought that so many of us would get married in the same summer? I actually love that we're all going through this together because we get to plan together and experience it all together. I loved being a part of Emma's wedding and am so thrilled for her to be a part of mine, which by the way is approaching pretty quickly...we only have 67 days left!

We have finished several wedding projects in the past few weeks and are working on a few more:

invitations - check!

card box - check!

guestbook - check!

pens for the guestbook - check!

vases for the flowers - check!

candleholder for the altar - check!

my necklace - check!

Andrew's tux - check!

alterations on my dress - in progress

centerpieces - in progress

rehearsal dinner guest list - check!

rehearsal dinner invites - haven't started

rehearsal dinner menu - in progress

groomsmen gifts - in progress

bridesmaid's gifts - in progress

vows - in progress

music - in progress

This SO made me laugh

2009-06-30T16:52:00.000-05:00

Image taken from http://harshrule.tumblr.com/

2009-06-24T23:27:00.002-05:00

The world lost a good man yesterday. Al and his wife "adopted" my family several years ago because they knew we didn't have any relatives nearby. They became our adopted grandparents and have been exactly that to us. I am grateful for the time i had with Al and for the wonderful example he set for me to be positive and encouraging to those around me. He will be missed.

A survey

2009-06-19T19:08:00.002-05:00

What is your current obsession?

Listening to the soundtrack of Across the Universe over and over and over in my car. I haven't even taken it out long enough to put it on my ipod.

What is your weirdest obsession?
Purple pyrex. I have a rather large collection...

What are you wearing today?
A purpley pink shirt and black capri sweats. Tres comfy.

What's for dinner?
Little Ceasar's pizza and the best crazy bread i've ever had.

What would you eat for your last meal?
Oh my goodness. Samosas made by the Indian guy in Portland, yellow curry from Jasmine Thai resaurant, chicken marsala, peas (I LOVE peas!!!), chocolate covered strawberries, and some of my mom's cookies;)

What's the last thing you bought?
Drinks at TGIFriday's last night

What are you listening to right now?
The Across the Universe soundtrack and Ray Bradbury's version of Moby Dick that's set in space titled Leviathan 99 (I'm more than halfway so i figure i'll go ahead and finish it..)

What is your favorite ice-cream flavour?
Mint chocolate chip

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?
Probably right here in the Indianapolis area. I'm not much for change.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?

Probably India since then i wouldn't have to take all of the time traveling there.

Which language do you want to learn?
American Sign Language. Definitely.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
A teacher or a Broadway actress;)

What is your dream job?

Editing novel manuscripts for all of my favorite authors.

What is your favorite curse word?
Fuck.

If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on?
Taking Andrw out to dinner.

Favorite designer?
Um, goodwill? That's as "designer" as i get.

Do you admire any one's style?
Pretty much anyone who dresses better than me, which is almost everyone.

Describe your personal style?
VERY casual, especially since i don't have to dress up for work anymore. I've gotten really lazy.

What are you going to do after this?
Talk to my fiance

What are your favourite movies?
Little Women is my absolute favorite. I also really like Life as a House and Stepmom. Can you tell i like sad movies?

What's your favourite fruit?
Strawberries

What inspires you?
Books, quotes, blogs, pictures, songs, all kinds of things.

What is on the walls in your bedroom?
A wall hanging i brought back from India, a shadowbox with the first roses that Andrew brought me, and two framed JCrew ads that are a bunch of different colored button down shirts.

Your favorite book ?

Traveling Light by Katrina Kittle. It's about a ballet dancer turned English teacher (yay!) who helps care for her brother as he's dying of AIDS. It makes me cry every time i read it.

Do you collect something?
Purple pyrex!!!

What is one of your pet peeves?
People who don't follow through on what they said they'd do.

Back to the gym: day one

2009-06-19T14:17:00.002-05:00

That's right. I managed to suck it up enough to set foot in the gym again. What was the push i needed to get back in there? Having Emma ask me if i was still going to the gym and having absolutely no good excuse for why i wasn't...

Now all i have to do is keep going.

SAT, PSAT, SAT, PSAT (anyone from CHS gets that, right?)

2009-06-16T15:43:00.008-05:00

I got an email a few months ago about being an SAT essay readers, because they want teachers, and decided to fill out the application and see what happened. I completely forgot about it until I got another email telling me they'd be doing phone interviews within the next month once they made it through the applications and narrowed it down the first time. Well, i made it through (yay!) and spent about 5 minutes on the phone doing an interview. Honestly, there was almost nothing to it other than answering a question about "a time when i had to adhere to standards i did not agree with" which took me a minute to come up with an answer to. Overall i think i did well. We'll see if i can stand up to the other teachers they're interviewing and here from them again towards the end of the summer. Honestly, i think it'd be fun to do since i have always enjoyed reading and editing students' work, which is what i got to do when i worked as an editor at the Academic Support Center in college. This would be a similar experience and be something i could do on top of teaching. We'll see what happens!

And last Friday Andy and i went to the IMA to watch Roman Holiday on their outdoor screen. It has Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in it. It couldn't be more perfect...

While we'd both seen parts of it, neither of us had seen it all the way through and it was SO GOOD! I will definitely be watching it again!

Yay for libraries!

2009-06-11T07:46:00.002-05:00

The Today show just stated that 68% of Americans have library cards. Woohoo!!!

The summer of weddings

2009-06-10T15:39:00.004-05:00

You know how people always say that there's that one year where everyone you know gets married? Well this seems to be the year for Andrew and I. We are invited to five weddings, not including our own. That's a lot of weddings. Hopefully we'll be able to make them it to all of them because all of the people are important to us.

It will be interesting because all of the weddings we're invited to are before our wedding, which means we can see how they did different parts of the wedding and borrow their ideas. Besides that, that means we get to eat a lot of wedding cake. Mmm!

How did i do with my goals for the past week?

2009-06-09T07:09:00.002-05:00

Well, i didn't manage to work out every day, but i did work out four times, which is more than i was doing last month. I'm definitely doing better at motivating myself, so hopefully this week will work out with

The new recipes i tried out were AWESOME!!! We cooked all three of them and will definitely be making them again. My favorite of the three was definitely the beef and portobello minestroganoff (can you tell it's a Rachel Ray recipe with the cutesy, wootsey name?), but Andy liked both the strawberry chicken club and the spinach and ricotta pasta. This week i'll be making more of the spinach and ricotta pasta because we have enough ingredients to make another batch and trying out at least two new recipes. My plan is to pick out recipes that will work for a picnic because on Friday we're going to the IMA to see Roman Holiday! I'm SO excited because seeing a movie at the IMA has been one of the things that i've been wanting to do forever. Yay!

I also finished two books and am almost done with the cowl i've been knitting forever. So i'm working my way through my list of things i wanted to accomplish this summer;) Sorry if all of this isn't as interesting to you as it is to me. I feel much more accomplished when i list the things i've done instead of just knowing i've done them.

A new month, a new summer, a new start

2009-05-31T23:32:00.002-05:00

I have to say that I love starting something new. I always feel like the start of a new day, week, month, year brings so many new possibilities. I have a long list of things i want to accomplish this summer and today seems like the perfect day to get started.

And yes, i realize that it's 12:30ish and i'm completely awake and motivated. This is always what happens when i don't have a set schedule that i have to stick to. I end up staying up later and later because i feel like i can accomplish more at night since i can focus on the things i want to since most of the rest of the world is asleep. (What can i say? I am my mother's daughter...)

This week i'm working on working out every day. I got a great start on that because i've worked out the past two days. What has been my motivator? Believe it or not, a Wii game. When Andy and i were at Best Buy the other day, i was waiting for him to finish browsing and i ran across the Wii game My Fitness Coach. I'd heard a lot about the new Wii game that focuses on fitness, EA Sports Active, but it's a little too expensive for me at the moment and it needs a balance board to be able to do everything. My Fitness Coach doesn't need a balance board and was only $20! It is less a game and more a workout video, but it's great because you do a fitness assessment, set up a profile, and then you get customized workouts based on the equipment you own, the goal you're working towards, and the type of workout you want to do that day. So far, i'm definitely working harder than i would on my own and i'm having fun because it feels like a game. We'll see how the rest of the week goes.

The other thing i'm working on this week is trying out some new recipes. I have a huge binder of recipes that i've pulled from magazines, newspapers, and the internet that i want to try, but i never seem to have time for. I figure summer is the perfect time to start working my way through them because i have so much more time. It also helps that i need to go grocery shopping tomorrow since i'll be able to get everything i need for the recipes. This week i'll be trying out a strawberry chicken club sandwich, a beef and portobello minestrone, and a spinach and ricotta pasta. Hopefully, we'll end up liking them and they'll be something i can make again. Honestly, i don't doubt my ability to make them since i've been cooking for a long time. It's more that i'm not sure that the recipes will be something that either of us will like, but i'll never know unless i try, right?

School's out for the summer!

2009-05-30T09:39:00.004-05:00

Yay! I made it through my third year of teaching at Options. And i found out yesterday that i didn't have enough students for summer school, which means no extra money for teaching it but plenty of time to work on my summer to do list.

As far as wedding stuff goes, all of the bridesmaids have their dresses and i have my dress!!!

There are a few alterations that need to be done - the hem needs to be let out, the sleeves need to be fixed in the back and we need to do something to the sleeves so that i can actually raise my arms above my shoulders because i know it'll drive me crazy not to be able to hug people. I also got an email from the etsy seller who's making my veil that it's ready so i should be getting that soon... I'm loving that things are coming together so well.

Summer to-do list

2009-05-25T09:11:00.004-05:00

I have FOUR days of school left! And i figured out last week that i'm not gonna have enough students for summer school, which means my summer is wide open!!! So here's my to-do list for the summer, which i'm sure i'll be adding to as i get further into the summer.

READ!!! I have a pile of books that i've swapped for on paperbackswap.com that i've been working my way through. I am working my way through the Anne of Green Gables series, waiting patiently for Anne and Gilbert to get together, and i have to find a book to teach for my 10/11 class. At this point, i'm thinking of basing it around A Raisin in the Sun, but I still have to find some other books to put with it... Suggestions?
Start going to the gym again. Last summer joined a gym and was really good about going until my trainer left for another gym. I haven't been back since then, but i need to get back because last year was the first time i really got in a routine of regularly working out at least three times a week. With the wedding coming up, i definitely have some motivation to get back into a routine.
Try out at least 1 new recipe a week. I have a binder full of recipes i want to try out, but never get around to so i figure i can at least do 1 a week.
Go to the Carmel Farmer's Market, which is one of my favorite things about summer.
Go to Symphony on the Prarie, another of my favorite things about summer. We bought a pack of 10 tickets and want to go to several of the concerts. Anyone interested in coming with?
Continue scrapbooking. I got into it last year after we got back from Portland, but it's hard for me to do unless i have a lot of time to work on it. I want to finish scrapbooking the pictures i printed out last year so that i can start working on our engagement/wedding!
Knit! I admit it. I am a lazy knitter. I'm not good at challenging myself with new projects or finishing projects once i've started them. I'm hoping to spend some time at Stitches and Scones, the knitting shop down the street from me in Westfield, so that i can work on some new projects. I'm thinking at least one stop into the shop and new project each month.
Work my way through my wedding to-do list. This weekend alone i finished our wedding website and almost have everything on our registry. And of course, my dress came in last week so i got to try that on on Friday night! With a few alterations, it should be perfect!!!

LOL! (And no, it's not my question...)

2009-05-20T19:58:00.002-05:00

Question If I hate everything about him why do I love him
Answer That is just the way life is sometimes. You hate him so much but for some unknown, even to you, reason you love him. Good luck with your
relationship. ChaCha!

You gotta love ChaCha!

A quick wedding quiz

2009-05-20T18:14:00.003-05:00

My proposal was: spontaneous, genuine, a complete surprise
My dress is: gorgeous, detailed, not what i thought i wanted
My honeymoon is going to be: relaxed, fun, planned at some point;)
My FH is: caring, supportive, incredibly patient
My cake is: yummy, not too much, frosted with white and purple!
On the day, my parents will be: supportive, happy, excited
On my wedding day I hope to be: relaxed, happy, in the moment
But I know for sure that on my wedding day I will be: excited, loved, grateful
Lying in the suite after my wedding day, I hope to feel: happy, loved, content
I hope my marriage is: happy, long, a partnership

My neighbors have their air conditioning on. Seriously!?!

2009-05-11T20:02:00.003-05:00

Other than that, the apartment is wonderful. Our apartment is cleaner than it's been in a while and we're even closer to having everything put away. Andy and i have been doing really well with this living together thing. I'm not gonna lie. It's definitely hard to get used to because we've both been living on our own for a while now. It makes me really, really glad that we didn't decide to do this earlier because i could see how this would not work out well if you didn't know and love each other. Thankfully, we seem to be over the fighting over really stupid stuff almost every day for a while. Fingers crossed;)

As far as wedding planning goes, we shot our engagement pictures last Thursday. We don't have them yet, but our photographer did post some on his blog. It makes me really excited to see the rest of them! And tomorrow I have a meeting at the Mavris to finalize a bunch of the details like the timeline for the wedding day and the number of tables. Can you say exciting?

We only have a few weeks of school left! But as always, the closer we get to the end of the school year, the crazier the kids get. But the student government and i planned a competition between the advising classes that started today, so at least the kids have an outlet for some of the craziness. Today was the exciting Saltine cracker whistling competition. Sadly, my team (and two others) were disqualified because our representatives were drinking water while they were eating their saltines... Whoops!

Bridesmaids' dresses!

2009-05-06T18:20:00.003-05:00

Sarah (my MOH) got her bridesmaid's dress in the mail today and it's gorgeous! I love them as much as when I picked them out. And the color is absolutely perfect. Yay for purple!!!

2009-05-04T21:00:00.003-05:00

I had the day off today and i spent most of it running around getting errands done. So i thought i'd list the things i got done so i can feel good about everything i accomplished.

I started the day by cleaning my closet. I switched my winter clothes out to my summer clothes and filled two plastic bags with clothes to take to Goodwill. Yay for Peter Walshing!!!
I spent an entire hour trying to figure out where in the world the Comcast in Noblesville is located to drop off our stupid cable boxes from before we moved. Apparently 1-800-COMCAST doesn't have a phone number or directions for the Noblesville location. And while i had an address, it didn't show up on Google or Mapquest. Awesome. Thank goodness for the friendly CVS worker that i asked for directions. She told me exactly where to go and how to get there, so i found it ten minutes after leaving the store. So i finally dropped the cable boxes off and went in to make sure that my cable at my old apartment had been turned off. Good thing i checked on that because it definitely wasn't, even though i spoke to someone at Comcast almost a month ago about turning it off. Rrr... They are quickly moving up my list of companies i don't like.
I got my oil and transmission fluid changed. Always exciting.
I stopped by my parent's house so that my mom and sister could help me decide on how to change my veil. They didn't care nearly as much as i did, but that seems to be the case with most wedding details lately. What can i say, i'm a bit detail oriented...
I took a trip to Penske Honda to get new dials to control the heat/air conditioning in my car. That's right, the dials had to be replaced because not one, but both of them managed to break so that i couldn't control my heat/air conditioning. It's definitely something you take for granted until you can't do it.
I stopped by Yogokiss to celebrate the fact that they have peach gummis as a topping again. Yay!
I went to Target to buy an air freshener for my car (since i accidentally left my sunroof open one night when it rained nonstop so it smelled) and a Mother's Day present for my mom.
I came home and relaxed with Andrew. We ate pizza. And then made up for it by taking a walk.

Random thoughts

2009-04-20T20:38:00.004-05:00

I just have to say that i'm LOVING the Pure Michigan commercials that have been on tv lately. They make me so happy when i see them!
It was the 10th anniversary of the Columbine shooting today and i managed to not get shot. Yay!
We're almost all moved. We have some furniture and smaller stuff to get out of Andy's old apartment, but that's it. Things are starting to come together. We put a new bookshelf together to hold all of the electronics, video games, and dvds. We put some pictures on the walls. It feels like home. And we haven't killed each other yet!
Before spring break, the principal told the math teacher that she won't be teaching at our school next year. Then i managed to completely piss off the principal on Friday of last week... So today i went in and told her that i appreciate her telling me when i have done something wrong so that i can fix it and that this school/students/job is very important to me. She's happy again and i'm assuming i still have a job for next year since she told me that i definitely get to teach summer school this summer, which means that i don't have to find a summer job!
And i'm getting a lot accomplished so far this week. I even started working out again since i've taken a week or so off.

2009-04-07T00:25:00.002-05:00

And all the walls in my apartment are back to white. Whew...

Tomorrow is all about packing, cleaning, taking stuff to Goodwill, and taking some time to relax because, after all, it is spring break!

Late night (or technically early morning) ramblings

2009-04-06T01:18:00.006-05:00

So i haven't been doing a good job of posting lately, mostly because i haven't been doing anything that interesting. Well, interesting to me, but probably not to anyone else...

Anyway, since i'm on spring break this week i have plans to get all kinds of things accomplished, the main thing being moving to our new apartment on Wednesday!!! I'm about halfway through painting my beautiful purple kitchen and blue bedroom back to boring white in my old apartment. I can't believe that people don't paint their apartments more often. Yes, you're only living there temporarily, but that's one of the few things you can change if you're willing to take the time to paint it and then repaint it before you move out. Now that my walls are back to all white, i can't tell you how glad i am that i painted so that my apartment had some personality while i've lived here the past two years.

I'm also working on Peter Walshing (as in the professional organizer who was on Clean Sweep and is now on Oprah from time to time) most of my stuff before i move so that i'm not moving things i don't use. I have a tendency to hold onto things for sentimental reasons or because i think that i might, possibly need it for some reason in the future. I'm getting better about getting rid of stuff, especially because both Andy's family and my own have a TON of stuff that they don't need or use sitting around and we've both decided we need to try to stay away from that. We'll see how long that works;)

Speaking of moving, i realized that i haven't given much thought to this whole moving in together thing. While some people have been surprised by our decision to move in together before the wedding, i don't see any problem with it. Andy and i spend half our time at each other's apartments (or debating who will be going to whose apartment) that it only makes sense. On top of that, we'll be saving almost all of the money he's been paying in rent because the rent on our new apartment is only $100 more than the rent on my current apartment. Seriously! $100 more a month for an extra bedroom AND bathroom. Sweet!!! It'll be an adjustment to get used to being around each other all the time, but i think it'll be fine.

The other thing i'm working on this week is stuff for the wedding. We started looking at tuxes this weekend at the shop where i ordered my dress, which i'll be getting in a few months!!! Who knew there are so many different styles of tuxes? Seriously! We're also working on hotels for out of town guests and ourselves for the wedding night (!) I'm also hoping to finish up the centerpieces for the reception this week, but we'll see since i've already thrown my sleep schedule out the window in favor of reading blogs, finishing a book, sorting through papers, and resisting the urge to eat food that i shouldn't since i really should be in bed. In fact, i think i'll head there now so i'm not too tired to enjoy my day tomorrow!

Spring Break Eve

2009-04-02T22:24:00.003-05:00

That's right. It's finally time for me to start spring break. Other than moving to a new apartment with Andy (!!!) my break doesn't involve anything too exciting. But i do like the idea of appreciating everything that i get to do so i'll start with tonight:

I shopped at Goodwill!
Ate wonderfully delicious yellow curry at Jasmine Thai with Andy (aka the Thai place next door to Yogokiss which is my new food obsession). I swear i could eat it at least once a day for a week or so without getting tired of it. As much as i'd like to try that, i don't think i can afford quite that much Thai food... Though it would be cheaper than if i had actually gone somewhere for spring break.
Watched the ER series finale, which was wonderful. I loved the fact that they had Rachel Green on as a student applying to med school and who doesn't love the fabulous Alexis Bledel aka Rory Gilmore!?!
Finished knitting a scarf while watching ER so i was able to feel productive while watching three continuous hours of TV. Yay!

Spring has sprung!

2009-03-21T08:26:00.003-05:00

I finally made it over my neverending cold, which means that i have things i want to get done.

start my spring cleaning by cleaning my apartment and sorting out stuff i don't need before i move in a few weeks
knit! Thanks to Emma i started knitting a cowl and picked up where i left off on a scarf that i'm halfway through...
read! I'm in the middle of three books. I'm reading more than i have in months because of paperbackswap.com, which you need to check out if you haven't heard of it!
enjoy the beautiful weather!

Rrrr...

2009-02-13T17:40:00.003-06:00

I have been working with a trainer at my gym for a while now. I already had to switch from one trainer to another once and now i found out a week ago that my current trainer was promoted to the head trainer at the gym...in Lafayette. So i tried going back to my original trainer, but i was frustrated because he doesn't know where i am or listen to me. I called my old trainer, who said that he would be in town ever other weekend and we could train together then and he'd email me and tell me what to do during the week. But that didn't happen. And he just canceled on me for tomorrow.

So i'm extremely frustrated and disappointed (because i LOVED training with him). I feel let down and discouraged and worried that i'm not going to be able to do it on my own and i'm going to backtrack... I feel like my trainer deserted me and then blew me off and, frankly, it makes me want to give up.

I know that i shouldn't depend on one person that much, but what can i say? I get attatched to people in all areas of my life, including at the gym...

Moving on up...

2009-02-08T14:53:00.004-06:00

...or over. That's right. Andy and i figured out where we'll be living when his lease is up in a few months. My apartment complex allows me to move to a two bedroom without breaking my lease so we toured and signed for a two bedroom, two bath apartment where we'll be living after i move over my spring break in April. Then we'll move Andy's stuff over sometime after that, since he techincally has his apartment until the end of the month.

The best part about the whole thing is that they have this program where they can give you the best rate on your apartment to the day based on the availability, which means that they were able to tell us when the best rate would be and lock us into that rate. And it's only a little over a hundred dollars more than what i'm paying for my one bedroom, one bath now! Yay!

Besides that, i've had a productive weekend. Sarah and i went bridesmaid dress shopping on Friday and found what we think is the dress. Then on Saturday i went to Pyoca with my fam and a group of church people where we spent the day getting high on fumes from all of the wood we were staining. If you can picture the basement of the lodge, we have the entire floor covered with wood that we'd stained by the end of the day! All in all, a good weekend!

I actually had a Pretty Woman moment

2009-02-06T20:36:00.002-06:00

And no, not the good kind. The being treated completely rudely in a store kind.

Here's what happened. This afternoon Sarah, my mom, and i went to shop for bridesmaid's dresses at Nancy's Bridal Boutique where i had not only taken the time to make an appointment, but actually called again to push the appointment back by a half hour because i knew we would be running late.

So we get there five minutes early, walk into the store, and stand around the front of the store waiting for someone to talk to us. When no one had time to talk to us after a few minutes, we started looking around at the dresses. Then i tried again to get a saleswoman's attention by standing patiently at the front desk and waiting for her to finish the order form she was filling out. She realized i was there, looked up at me, and...answered the phone that was ringing instead of talking to the person standing in front of her!?! Okay. I went back to look at the dresses and came up to the front desk again a few minutes later. The saleswoman who already ignored me was still on the phone so i approached a salesman (seriously, it's a bridal store...) who was working on an order form and said something along the lines of, "Sorry to bother you, but i had an appointment and wanted to know who i needed to talk to." He responded by telling me that he would "be with me in a minute." His version of a minute must have been quite different from mine because he NEVER talked to me, even when he was done.

By this time, we'd probably been in the store for at least fifteen minutes without being greeted or approached by a single person. We had also pulled at least twelve bridesmaid dresses we wanted to try on. So instead of waiting around for the incredibly rude salespeople to talk to us, we approached the youngest person on the staff who was probably in high school or college and asked to use a dressing room. She showed us to a dressing room where Sarah tried on the dresses while i continued to pull dresses we wanted to try off of the rack. She probably tried on at least twenty dresses and not a single salesperson even spoke to us other than the girl we spoke to about the dressing room. It was insane!

Long story short, we found the dress that i think is the bridesmaid dress i want but of course will not be buying it from Nancy's Bridal Boutique, which must make a point of hiring the rudest salespeople on the planet. As we were leaving, we made a point of thanking the girl who actually took the time to talk to us and making sure to mention that she was the only one that spoke to us in our entire time in the store!

Not only have they lost my business, they have lost the business of anyone i talk to about the store. They have, however, gained my complaints, which i will be sure to voice directly to them on their website as well as anywhere else i can find to review them. Rrrr...

Giving

2009-01-27T23:59:00.003-06:00

borrowed from Finding Tara

The first Seven (7) people to respond to this post will get something made by me. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.
- What I create will be just for you.
- It'll be done this year (2009).
- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a mix CD. It may be a poem. I may draw or paint something. I might bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you have to put this in your journal as well, if you expect me to do something for you!

An interesting challenge

2009-01-23T08:14:00.002-06:00

1. Go through one whole day of your life with your phone turned off.

2. Take a shower and go through the WHOLE process of getting ready (put on REAL clothes) without once stopping to check email, answer the phone, or otherwise multitask in any way.

3. Run/walk fast for 20 minutes a day for 5 days straight.

4. Spend 1/2 hour of uninterrupted time curled up with a good book and a cup of tea or coffee.

5. Sign up for "keep the change" savings or some other AUTOMATED savings account.

6. Get 8 hours of sleep, 3 nights in a row. (Preferably waking up and going to bed at the same time).

7. For just one night, go to bed in a peaceful environment: tv off, clean sheets, cool room, no clutter.

8. Do yoga/stretching one night before bed.

9. Start the day with 25 crunches.

10. Pay $50 extra to one credit card.

11. Call up a friend from the past you haven't talked to in more than a year.

12. Call up a parent or grandparent and talk until THEY say they have to get off the phone.

13. Write a handwritten letter to the most important person in your life and tell them that.

14. Grab lunch with a group of friends: agree that cell phones, to-do lists, or anything else that would distract any of you from being present are strictly forbidden.

15. Cook a read dinner and ENJOY is like you're on the Food Network: grab your favorite person, pour a glass of wine, cook with fresh, yummy ingredients like basil and garlic that make you feel all professional and like you ACTUALLY know what you're doing...

16. Start the day with a 1/2 hour of quiet. Just find time to be you again.

17. For 5 days straight, make the time to wash you face, brush AND floss your teeth, put on pajamas, and go to bed BEFORE you fall asleep on the couch. It's not that comfortable anyway.

18. Take a drive: forget about how much it's costing you in gas, don't have a destination, errands are absolutely forbidden. Just drive.

19. Cook one meal with a crock pot.

20. Even if you work from home, for one day get dressed up all office chic.

21. Clean your WHOLE house. You won't believe how much better you'll feel.

22. For one week, take a whole hour for lunch. No work allowed.

23. Sit in Barnes and Nobles with a coffee and a stack of magazines...they're free if you read them there! :)

24. For one week, recycle your junk mail the second you get it.

25. Sit and pet the family pet for a 1/2 hour...they need lovin' too.

I don't know which ones i'll be doing yet, but i definitely plan on doing them.

That dress that every girl dreams of? It's mine!

2009-01-17T22:26:00.003-06:00

That's right! I bought my wedding dress today! It was a tough decision for me because it is such a huge part of my wedding day. I would love to say that i "just knew" the first time i put it on because that's howeveryone in the magazines and blogs and tv shows and movies says it happens, but it didn't happen that way.

Instead the dress was completely different from what i thought i wanted at first. It has a lot goin going on - beading, pick-ups, and ball gown skirt - but the more i thought about it, the more sure i was because

I couldn't stop thinking about it and looking at it online
I didn't feel as comfortable or as "me" in any of the other dresses
I compared every dress i looked at and tried on to that dress
It will be custom made for me so that i don't have to make my body work for the dress, the dress will work for my body
I can customize the dress, which means i can have the off-the-shoulder sleeves i've always wanted and a shorter, more managable-for-me train
The woman who owns the store, The Chic Bride, is the nicest of the women i worked with and did not pressure me at all. Not even when i had the dress on for about an hour yesterday.
I couldn't stop looking at myself in the mirror when i had the dress on
Sarah started to cry when she saw me in it, which she doesn't do often.

So, without further ado, here's my wedding dress!!!

You're getting married on September 11th!?!

2009-01-14T20:25:00.005-06:00

Some of you may be wondering why in the world we would choose to get married on September 11th. We weren't in any way trying to get that date, but that turned out to be the date that worked the best with when and where we wanted to get married. And in an interesting way, it's somewhat appropriate because it will allow us to pay tribute to Andy's mother who passed away on that day (not in the attacks on the World Trade Centers). The more we thought about it, the more it seemed that that day would work well because we can take some unhappy things and replace them with happy things.

Of course paying tribute to her will not be the same as having her here. I actually started thinking about how hard this has to be for Andy tonight when i was reading An Atlanta Bride's thoughts on having to go through her wedding without her father.

It’s hard to come to terms with knowing that my dad won’t open my hotel room door on my wedding day to see his little girl all dressed up as a bride. I won’t get to see him looking dashing in a tux and have a proud look on his face as he walks towards me to give me a heartfelt hug and kiss. Missing from our guest book will be his name. He won’t be there to walk me down the aisle and ease my anxiety as I take him by the arm and prepare for the next moment when he gives me away. He won’t be there to give a toast to my husband and me and convey genuine sentiments of lifelong love and happiness. Also missing from our reception will be the father-daughter dance. And I feel sorry that my mom will also have to get through my wedding day without her husband at her side.

And, yes, i'm posting about my wedding planning again, but that's because i'm spending most of my free time working on the wedding and it really does seem to help me let go of some of the stress by blogging about it. It gives me a way to get some of my thoughts out of my head so i'm not thinking about things over and over and over...

2009-01-13T18:15:00.004-06:00

So i have been doing a TON of planning for our wedding. I guess i've surprised a lot of people, or so i've heard, with how much i have one already, but that's how i am with things i'm excited about. And i was really excited to start planning our wedding!!!

At this point we have the date (Friday September 11th, 2009), the minister (Jenni Crowley), and the reception (and possible ceremony) venue that is absolutely gorgeous!!! I've also gone to three stores to try on wedding dresses. So far there's nothing i'm ready to buy, but i'm definitely getting a feel for what i like and what looks good on me.

With all of that going on and starting second semester at school last week, things have been really stressful. So my new rule of thumb to keep in mind when i'm planning is:

DO have fun. It might be more work when you DIY or have to really search and barter, but the fact is it's not just one day! It can be a whole little journey where you connect with your family and friends and rediscover just how exciting it can be to say "I Love You!"
Do you know that in Judaism, your wedding starts the moment that you get engaged, and only ends a year after your wedding? I love this, because for me the process has been so enlightening, and the journey is perhaps as important as the destination.
-taken from A Practical Wedding who took it from Mama's Getting Married

And as much as i don't want to worry about what i look like for my wedding, i am not happy with myself at the moment. That's not to say that i'm unhappy, just that i could be happier with myself. I would love to be able to say that i was in "the best shape of my life" when i got married, but that's going to take some work... So i talked to my trainer today and we are going to try working out four times a week for a half-hour instead of the two times a week for an hour that i've been doing. We're also going to work on what i'm eating because i haven't been watching that very well. (Of course as i say this i'm eating chips and salsa for dinner...)

Anyway, i know how i am and i know that if i write about it i'll be more likely to stick to it and to let go of some of the stress i'm feeling. As it is, i'm feeling better about all of the stuff i need to get done because i got to write about all the stuff i have gotten done. And of course the wedding that i'm looking forward to!!!