The one about disappointment

Last Friday was kind of a bummer for me.  I got rejected for a job, found out some problems with the house we want to buy, and a dear friend didn't quite get the news we were hoping for about something rather important. To say the least, as I drove the two hours to my parents' house for a visit Friday night, I had some heavy thoughts.  I felt sorry for myself for about half of the drive, then decided that there are some things that are just beyond my control.

I can only give what I have.

Everything happens for a reason. I know that. Heck, I say it all the time. I just don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear that I was not meant to have the job that I applied for and hoped against hope that I would get. I don't want to hear that the house that Matt and I have picked out may not the best purchase. I don't want to hear that my 8-month pregnant friend wasn't meant to pass her dissertation boards free and clear.

But it is true. Everything does happen for a reason.

I have a job offer waiting for me. There are other houses for sale in the same neighborhood. J is off work for the next 18 weeks so she can focus on her dissertation for the next few days without having to worry about students or deadlines.

I'm working on remembering that when what I give isn't enough, it isn't because I didn't try hard enough (or sometimes it is) or because I am not good enough. It means that there are other plans for me. It means that what I need is not a super stressful job in an international law firm or a house with a roof that will need to be replaced or perfect friends (who needs those anyway?).

What I need is to trust that it will all work out for the best. I've got to go full force then let it go. I've got to have faith.

What a difference a professional can make

 Last April or so, Matt and I decided to fix the flower bed in the front of our house. We spent hours and hours and over a hundred bucks to make it look perfectly perfect. And it did. For about two months. Then, the weeds came and the motivation left. We didn't weed the beds, we didn't replace the flowers when they died after the season, we just didn't care. Then, in about August of 2012, our generous landlords (Matt's parents) mentioned that they were going to have the front yard landscaped. We were thrilled. From that point on, I didn't even look at the beds and consider weeding them or raking the leaves out or anything. I will admit that about the beginning of last month I started to feel ashamed of the awful state of our flower beds, but not quite up to doing anything about it. Then. About three weeks ago, the professionals were sent in. They fixed everything. Like, everything. I have pictures to prove it.

 First, well start with the brick steps. We live in a pier and beam house (like, up off the ground) so we have steps to get into the house. Ours were in awful condition. The bricks were crumbling and broken. The "wall" facing the street looked awful. Look, I'll show you:
See what I mean? Awful. See the area below the wall? Covered in leaves? That's the flower bed. I know, it's obvious. I didn't even need to tell you.

And now, it has been fixed. Behold!

Isn't that the prettiest wall you've ever seen? The dark grey parts at the top are just wet concrete. It is dry now and much lighter. You can tell that the bricks aren't all the same. The landscaper used some of the bricks that we had been using to line the flower bed. I have to say, the color variation really makes a difference.

Next up, the big picture. Okay, first, the front of the house BEFORE the landscaper came in: 

 I have to admit, the best part about this picture is the Tech flag. Ain't a whole lot of prettiness. With about three days of work. the landscaper crew (two incredibly hard workers and one supervisor), turned that unattractive mess up there into this:




























I know. You are wild with jealous. Wait until you see it after the rest of the repairs. We're going to repaint all the white trim on the exterior of the house AND deal with those leaves on the roof. By "we" I actually mean another professional. Well, Matt had better handle the leaves, but the painting will be done by a professional. And no, we're not paying for a thing! Again, thanks to the landlords...

Now I'm kind of sad to be leaving it...

2013 resolutions

It's taken me 17 days, but I've finally decided on my resolutions. Completely doable resolutions. Last year's were a bit too abstract and too numerous, but now I've got better goals.

1. Clean the kitchen every night before going to bed. Including the dishes. I want an empty sink by bedtime. I can do that, I swear.

2. Starting today, yoga everyday. I just bought some DVDs that have 10-minute routines. I can spare ten minutes.

3. Eat less, exercise more.

4. Compliment at least one person every day.

5. File mail and other documents as soon as I receive them. I currently have a "to-file" stack about a foot high. It's ridiculous. But no more!

There, five completely do-able things that will make my life (and hopefully the lives of the people around me) a little bit better. It's going to happen.

2011 Craft Recap

This year I set a crazy goal of reading 75 books. I did it, but kind of let a lot of my other hobbies fall by the wayside. My goal for 2013 is still to read, just not as much. I want to really focus on crafting. And getting our house ready to sell. And finding a new house. And being able to pay for a new house. Without ending up with no money. 

Because you really don't want to read the list of books I read, instead, I wanted to share the completed crafts I did this year that I haven't posted before. I think y'all have seen all the wreaths so here are the other things I've been up to.

Matt and I went to Mexico for our honeymoon and brought back a whole bunch of tangible memories. While trying to clean things out for the big move, I came across them and made a shadowbox display. I'm quite pleased with it.

Here's a quilt I made for Whitney for Christmas. She mentioned on Pinterest how she wanted a quilt like this, so I tried my best to make it for her. It's not big enough to cover a twin bed, but should be a good curl-up quilt. I had fun picking the patterns for this one, while still trying to use as much fabric as I could with what I already had. 

This behemoth of a quilt is now Drew's. He got it for his birthday. He has this weird obsession with polo-style shirts. You know, the knit variety. He wanted a quilt made out of the shirts that he couldn't wear anymore (like stained shirts, too small, wonky collars). I volunteered. And then went back on my crazy meds. It took months, but I did it. It fits a queen-sized bed, which it what he wanted. I think my sewing machine still hates me for it. 

And that little piece of cheer is my first completed cross-stitch. Well, my first real one. I made another small one last year for our gallery wall, but I don't really consider that one real. This one is a wedding record. The "Love Never Fails" is a little wonky because I free-handed it while listening to the last five chapters of "Life of Pi." If you've read that book (I don't know about the movie), you know why I might have been distracted. I plan to give it  as a gift, but we'll see. It may be too wonky.

There. The four projects that you might not have seen yet. I'm hoping to have a whole heck of a lot more in 2013. I know, you can hardly wait to see what I churn out.

Toys of Christmas Past

Let's talk for a minute (of course, I will be doing all the talking and you'll be doing all the listening, but to be polite...) about toys. Not these new namby, pamby toys like the Lalaloopsy Holiday Ice Crystal doll. I'm sorry J, but Alice will not be getting one of these from me:

 I'm so not a fan.

Instead, let's talk (again, I talk, you listen) about my favorite toys that we got for Christmas growing up. Matt, I'm just going to be talking about my favorite Christmas toys from my childhood. Of course every gift you've given me for Christmas has been my favorite, all of them are tied for first place.

Now, on to the fun!  Of the top three toys that I could recall without anyone's help (the singing Ariel doll would be on this list if I had thought of it on my own, but it wasn't technically given to me or us so I don't think I could really include it, Mar), the third favorite gift wasn't really from my childhood. It was from my teenagehood. Yep, that's a real stage of development. Dr. Piaget just did not get that far.  Nicholas and his then girlfriend whom I shall not name got me and Marla our very own DVD player for Christmas. I know what you are thinking, big deal. You are right, it was a big deal. It was ours. And is still in use. Marla got it in the separation. I got the DVDs, she got the player.

Next up,

Anyone know what that is? It's a Clueless phone. As  in Clueless, the movie. You know, that movie based on that book by that lonely English woman that I didn't know existed when we got this phone. I mean, we didn't call anyone but we were super cool with the phone. It had a voice modifier where were could call people (if we called people) and be all creepy. It also had buttons that said "As if" and "Whatever!" when pressed. Did I mention how cool we were? I mean, check out that headset. We treasured that phone until it died. It went on an involuntary swim in my fish tank compliments of a little boy with idle hands. That little boy then went on an involuntary swim.

Okay, now, it's time for my most memorable (and dare I say favorite?) toy from my childhood. My mom might correct me on this, but I think the Family Talking Dollhouse was my favorite toy as an elementary schooler.  It looks like this:

All of the family and the furniture are outside the house in this picture. I promise, our talking family never had a garage sale like this family appears to be doing. Nor do I remember a grandfather clock and piano.

Anyway, the dolls talked when you put them in certain places in the house. There were little 3-quarter deep holes in all the rooms and whatever the talking family said correlated with that room. I know, I'm not explaining it well. I found you a Youtube video. You are welcome.

Mar, how come we didn't get the vacuum and the art easel, and all that other junk in the video? We played with that dollhouse for years. It very well may still be at my parents' house. Probably in the shed, but still hanging around for posterity. And that isn't a bad thing.

Anyway, there you have it. The rundown of my favorite Christmas gifts from childhood. Do yourself a favor, google "top toys of the '90s" and make your own Toys of Christmas Past list. Go on, you know you want to do it.

Let's talk about Christmas

 I hate to admit this to the world, but I'm really not in the Christmas mood.  I have a real tree up, gifts wrapped under the tree, I've been to the Christmas capital of the state*, and have been listening to as much Christmas music as possible. But I'm just not feeling it. Maybe it's because I'm still working and haven't started my "Christmas break" yet (do adults get those?) or maybe because it is about 75 degrees outside. Whatever the reason, I'm just not there yet. I wish I was. I'm working on being there soon.

Until there happens, I've been trying all kinds of hard to get there (annoyed with that yet? I kind of am.), including driving around looking at Christmas lights. My personal favorites are really close to the house so I get to see them often. I giggle (or stare in awe with my mouth slightly open) each time. Because I'm incredibly generous this time of year (and all year...), I'm sharing pictures with you!

And now (drum roll, please), in no particular order:

I call this the "slightly over the top, but not awful" house. I'm not sure how that inflatable Santa is going to fit inside the house to deliver toys. Maybe he has to deflate to get down the chimney.

This is the "gift-wrapped house" that I would return, should anyone give it to me. It's a bit run down, and I've got enough sprucing up to do at my own house. Ironically, the people that live in this house drive a Lexus SVU. No judgments. Just letting you know.

All meanness aside (who am I kidding), this is pretty impressive. I wonder how they store that great big bow. And what their electric bill is during October through December.  Remind me during Mardi Gras, they decorate for that too.

And this, this is "the Centenary house." It's on some road with Centenary in the name, but I don't know if it is actually affiliated with Centenary. Margaret?  I do like the outside Christmas tree. And I like how they didn't mix the colors, but used one Christmas color for each distinct part of the house. I think I like this one because of all the colors. Definitely one of the more classy colorful ones I've seen.

That's all I got. I'm going to go work on my Christmas spirit. At work. Because that'll help. Really.


*that statement may not be accurate.

The Color Run

I considered racking my brain for a cuter title, but I decided against it. Laziness seems to be my M.O. these days. I have no explanation as to why. But it's cold. Maybe that's it.

Anyway, enough with the excuses. About six months ago, I was conned into running in a race called The Color Run. Supposedly, it's the happiest 5K on the planet. I think the happiness comes from the endorphins released when running AND the euphoria that comes with making a mess that you don't have to clean up. Whatever the reason, it did make me happy. Dirty, but happy.

I'm going to give you a whole lot of pictures, because I know that is what you really want. My words may add humor and a lot of head-shaking, but let's face it - you are here for the photos.

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See that? That's about 15,000 people between us and that start line. Yeah, we cut to get closer to the start. I think all of us had places to be (well, not me, but I didn't want to tell anyone that so they wouldn't think I was lame).

All fresh and clean BEFORE the run.

Get ready for color!!!

First color, orange. No one really likes the color orange. If they say they do, they are lying.

Then blue. That's a LOT of blue chalk.

And then Monster energy drinks. Because people want to drink a Monster while running. Um, no.

I don't have a picture for yellow.
Forgive me.

Post pink!!! Pink was the last color. And the most fun. Because it is pink.

Chelse and Deanna.

the end!

I know, fastest 5K in pictures ever.

Then, the real fun began. Pouring chalk on each other and seeing how much we could get in Marla's mouth.

Three cheers for chalk!

We found a sign to pose with, but you can't tell how colorful we are. We won some and we lost some.

BAM!!! Marla got some green stuff all over her. I didn't post the next picture in the series because she would have been embarrassed, but if you ask me, I'll show it to you later.

A PR was not set for this run. We got out of the gates at 9:12 and crossed the finish at 9:58. When we were finishing, the last few waves were starting. Thank goodness we skipped some people in line to get a faster start time.

Yay for color! Now, Color Run, stop sending me emails.