I am in LOVE with...

This magazine. Absolutely adore it. It's SO nice and relaxing to read! And the organizational tips in it? Loooove it!

Cranberry-grape juice with 7-Up. Looks wine-ish without the [nasty] alcoholic taste. Hey, whatever makes me feel more sophisticated...

Sweats and blankets. As freakin' cold as it is outside (um, negative 2 this morning?!?!), it is really nice to come home, immediately change into warmer duds and make a nest of blankets on the couch. (That is, when I have a free evening)

My knit gloves. I got them at Ragstock in Iowa City when I was with Jordan, and they are hands down the most amazing things I have ever put on my hands. ZERO wind and cold gets through these things. I don't know where they've been the past 24 years of my life, but I can't imagine facing winter without them now.

Jesus. But that's a given.

People touching me. My love language is physical touch, and it sometimes feels like someone sent out a giant memo a few months ago to everyone I love and told them to increase the hugs and hair-playing and high-fives (not nearly as gratifying, but I'm definitely not picky).

My roommate. She's pretty much amazing, and I love that she is so self-less and loving. And she says the most ridiculous things to me/with me.

Time flies...

Things are definitely picking up speed as we're plowing through January! Can you believe that tomorrow is the 20th?!?! Seriously, where has this month gone? I'm starting to wonder if I'm going to wake up tomorrow and have to start end-of-the-year taxes again. This whole time thing is pretty ridiculous if you don't keep close track of it....

It's getting super hard to enjoy each day for what it is now too. I'm constantly moving from one thing to the next. 8-4, I'm working at my full-time job, and 5-9 most weekdays and 8:30-5 on Saturdays, I'm at H&R Block doing taxes. Sunday SHOULD be my sabbath, but instead I'm at Cornerstone and leading the infant room for morning services followed by Perspectives and then connection group. I enjoy the full schedule because I'm rarely left home alone to fall back into old habits (napping all afternoon/watching tv on hulu), but those little moments to myself are so valuable!

Every extra 5 minutes is nice, and it's especially wonderful when I USE that time to do something productive! Some ideas:

-Pick up a few things in the living room to clean it up

-Clean all the mirrors (amazing what this does...)

-Clean out purse (I feel like I lose a few pounds when I do this!)

-Return that phone call you keep forgetting about!

-Gather clothes that you need to take to Goodwill and put them in your car!!

-Actually take said clothes TO Goodwill!

-Download pictures from your camera onto your computer

-In fact, why don't you download that cd you've been dying for? (I've got like, 5)

-Reorganize the freezer

-If they've stuck around for a laundry cycle or two, throw unmatched socks away (seriously, why do we keep them? The dryer-pit of doom will never return them...)

I have this horrible habit of hitting the snooze button until I drag my bum body out of bed to frantically get ready for work. Guess what getting up 15 minutes earlier gets me? Time to put lotion on (luxury!!), pick up my room and get everything back in order, and usually enough time to get in a quick Bible read while my car is warming up in the driveway. 15 minutes!! I don't know how it all fits in there, but it does! And really, what good is that extra 15 minutes (interrupted at 5 minute intervals) really doing for me in the long run?

Despite having so many large demands on my time, I'm maintaining a surprising amount of sanity. Hope it stays though! Things will only get crazier when the tax season starts...

'Member That Time?

'Member that time when I finally confided in my dad that I liked a boy in my 2nd grade class, and he suggested I write him a note telling him so? And 'member how I snuck the "i like you" note in his desk during recess? And then I got anxious when he didn't respond so I put another "i like you" note in his desk the next day? And 'member he approached me WITH HIS GUY FRIEND and asked whether I meant as a friend or as a more than a friend? And how I blurted out in a panic "Asafriend!" as my cheeks became enflamed with embarrassment?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that never happened.

linked up from Paige

There's got to be a better way...

I cry an embarrassingly large amount when I cut onions. It's a natural response, I know, but honestly, I could do without the crying. I've actually gotten to the point where I cut my onions the day BEFORE I use them so when I sob my eyes out, I can immediately to go the bathroom, wash my face, and go straight to bed as leftover tears slowly fall their way to my pillow. (Only a slight exaggeration.)

This is where you come in. I need remedies to prevent myself from tearing up during food prep.

My grandma and cousin both said to breath through my mouth completely when cutting them - no onion smell means my back-up supply of fresh, ready-for-action, trigger-happy tears aren't given the signal that it's time for some serious action.

I gave it a shot tonight, and while it's true, I didn't tear up as much (though my eyes still buuuurned!), I had a reaction that was just as embarrassing and unappealing as the sad clown. For the sake of dinner tomorrow, I won't go into it.

So seriously, I want some advice. I COULD ask google, but really, I'd like to leave my fate in your hands. That way, when my dismal attempts at tear-aversion utterly fail, there's a physical person I could point the finger to from underneath my moist....nah, soggy pile of tissues.

And don't you dare suggest this.

Copy Cat

First off, if you (ladies) have not heard of or read Jodi Michelle before, GET ON IT NOW. I have no idea who she is, but I know I love her and her honesty and vulnerability. Most of the time, I read her blog and think, "Dang it!! I was TOTALLY going to say that, only not as eloquently!" (And if you go to her site, you'll see my last post has a few echoes of this post, but I swear it was an original thought at one point...)

I was thinking of posting again and had pretty much thought about what I wanted to say and all that. Then I went to her site and saw she posted on the same topic 2 days ago. For Pete's sake, woman! Get out of my head!

So in the spirit of individuality, I'll say something different. Or the same thing differently.

Please comment... Just this once. (Maybe). I'm perfectly content talking to myself (I'm an excellent conversationalist with myself... we could go on for hours), but it's far more awkward for me when I'm not sure if I'm still carrying on a conversation with someone who checked out 10 minutes ago (or months ago). So for the sake of my sanity, drop a note every once in a while if you can. Much obliged. :)

Life Management

I've noticed a growing number of my female friends own a "Home Management Notebook". At first, I attributed it to being just my married friends who have a home to keep up for their family, but recently, I've seen more of my single friends begin to implement this into their lives as well. For those who don't know (because I certainly didn't), inside are schedules for cleaning, cooking, different recipes for food and homemade cleaning agents, decoration ideas, and pretty much anything else you think might belong inside a home organizational binder.

I have NEVER heard of this concept before. My mom never had such a thing, though I can't see her operating on such a system. It seems very confining to "manage" your home by scheduling when to do cleaning and shopping and what to cook each night. In a way, it makes sense, I suppose; if it's on the schedule to clean the bathroom every Saturday, you KNOW the last time the shower was scrubbed and you don't panic when a friend decides to spend the night and you suspect she may venture into the bathroom to shower the next morning before you've had a chance to wipe away that odd dust that accumulates on the corners of the tub. (see, I definitely don't have any specific examples) Ok, I understand the necessity sometimes...

But my life schedule is always different! It's not guaranteed that I'm going to be home on Saturday - I may be traveling for several weekends in a row. I don't feel this burning desire to schedule my life and tasks and meals like a manager over a restaurant either. And I feel like a lot of these weekly tasks could be accomplished without the use of a schedule, if only I could use my time appropriately instead of hitting gmail immediately after getting home from work.

Oddly, I still feel this pull towards it though. Not necessarily because it's how I function best and how I know things will get done if I do it that way. (In reality, the binder will sit in my nightstand where I'll pull it out every few months, stuff papers inside of it that have been floating around/stuffed in the same nightstand as the binder and throw it back into the darkness for the next month. Again, I don't have specific examples on similar binders.) Because so many of my friends are utilizing this management notebook and their lives are so "clean" and organized and simple, I feel like I need to do it this way too in order to have a clean, organized and simple life. The end result appeals to me greatly, but definitely not the means on how to get there.

So while I try to figure out how to accomplish such a smooth life, I'll make do with small steps.

Small step #1: Be intentional. Vague, yes. Working? More yes. It can be as small as doing the dishes in the 10 minutes I have while cooking dinner to setting aside time to read each day and being deliberate about which book I read to even bigger life things that I can't even contemplate right now.

Next, I need to work on making a Dove Dark Chocolate bar last longer. It may not be related to accomplishing an organized and simple life, but I still think it's very important.

Confession

I hate new years resolutions.

You might ask if my reason for hating them has anything to do with the fact that I can't keep them.

Maaaaaaybe....

BUT. I hate the fact that people don't make the decision to change something (eat healthier, excersize, treat/pamper yourself more, manage money better, ect ect ect) when they realize something's wrong. I get it, the new year makes for a nice beginning point, and year long goals are easier to manage when it starts January to December. But still...if you realize that you've put on 10 pounds in the past 2 years, why wait to do something about it?

To be completely fair, I'm doing an awful lot of assuming and am only guessing that a lot of people do this. My basis for such an accusation? I did it. Guilty.

Of course, this goes a bit deeper than what I'm admitting. Having everyone list of their new years resolutions reminds me that once again, another year has passed and once again, I'm not where I thought I would be right now.

I've already mentioned before in blogs years past that I thought by now, I'd be married to an amazing man and have a kid or two that I stay home with. Obviously, that's not the case; I've reconciled that long ago, but I'm still reminded of those old dreams when I see friends moving onto the next stage of their lives.

Instead of having aspirations that are dependent on other people (i.e. marriage and kids), a few years ago I decided on ones that I can control more: paying off student loan debt, enjoying/growing in my job, moving towards missions, that sort of thing. And guess as to what I've done/been doing?

Zilch.

I get so embarrassed about it too. I beat myself up over how I'm not accomplishing much and how I haven't done this or that. I hate how I had all these big plans for myself and how I was going somewhere, but nothing (substantial) has happened.

But truth be told? No one else cares but me. No one else is as torn up about the fact that I'm not debt-free and doing accounting overseas except me. As far as I know (and please correct me if I'm wrong, I can take it), no one is ashamed of where I am in life.

So really, I need to stop making a big ado about nothing and actually ENJOY where I'm at right now. I need to stop apologizing to myself about not reaching a certain milestone when I think I should be. I DON'T have to have everything done by 25. CS Lewis didn't even become a Christian until he was 33 years old. Julia Child didn't start cooking until she was 37. Jesus didn't start His teaching until he was 30. I've got time. (Thank you for the reminder, Lauren!)

The big stuff happens in your 30's....I've got at least 5 years. :)