DOG

I am remided everyday why i don't like dogs and why i don't want one! I love our new house that we just moved into...the worst part? the do next door!!!!! It is outside the majority of the time, and it is almost always barking...we leave on a fairly busy street, near a college, and people are always walking and running and whatever...and the dog feels the need to bark everytime!! and for a long time!! not cool!

Boys will be Boys

OK. let me just say right off, that my boys will NOT be wrestlers!
BUT, i went to my first wrestling match ever yesterday, a middle school match, and it was HIlarious! the kid we were going to watch was in lightweight, so we didn't stay real long into it (didn't stay to watch the girl) but i think the little kids are probably the funniest! wriggling and squirming and flipping and sliding all over the mat, i was seriously laughing! one kid got pinned in 8 seconds, but the kid we were watching took it to 3 rounds before wearing down to exhaustion...he was a fighter, but i don't know if i want that kind of a fighter in my house...i want to be a soccer mom:)!

Summer in the Winter

It's 70 degrees outside! We already had summer and I was very ready for winter...but no, summer came back! I want to use my fire place and not sweat:)

I know it is warm out, but I was watching a story this morning about a winter driving school out in CO and I think everyone everywhere should be required to take it! Seriously, how many cars did you see abandoned along the side of the road or turned upside down last week when a little ice came through? And ice is so much more annoying than driving on snow. People think it is nothing, think they can handle it, think they are the king of driving and will have no problems, but they have not gone to winter driving school and gotten their winter driving degree yet:) Either be willing to stay off the road or else be willing to drive slower and more cautiuosly when the weather is hazardous. I can't go out to CO for the school, but I watched with my eyes glued and I am ready for the 30 degree weather and precipitation this weekend!

Party!

Matt and I had our first Christmas party ever!! It was lots of fun and I am glad we did it! I definitely over prepared the food, but I would rather have leftovers than run out any day! It is so easy for us to be content with staying at home and watching football or CSI or whatever good is on, while playing on our computers at the same time...and we do enjoy ourselves. But how much better is life when we include others in on it? It's more fulfilling and I think if we do include others then we are being more like Christ. I think Jesus would have come to our party:) And he would have taken the picture of Jeremy to hang on his wall!! I think we should start having more parties...hold me to it:)

Christmastime!

I remember when I was in high school and I had to write a letter to the newspaper and I decided to write about Christmas, and it actually got published! I wrote about how crazy it was that it wasn't even Thanksgiving before everything was out in the stores and the music was playing everywhere! So by the time Christmas actually rolled around, it seemed old! And every year it seems like decorations come out earlier and earlier for the holiday season...
But for some reason, this year I am really excited about Christmas!! And I have been for a while. I am trying not to go crazy buying decorations because I know how much things will go on sale the day after, and I love sales!! But it is hard not to buy! There is so much stuff that is SO cute and what if there is none left by the time things go on sale! I think it is because we moved into a new house and it is really big and it adds to the excitement of decorating...plus we are having a Christmas party....and Matt and I have NEVER had a "party" so I am really stoked to have people over and make the place look all festive. And I am even more stoked for the day after Christmas and all the sales so I can be even more festive next year! Plus it snowed today...I am so ready for the holidays!!! What an exciting time of year! There's a lot of exclamation points in here:)

Adventure Hike

I like to hike. But for the most part, I like to know exactly where it starts and where it ends, and exactly where the trail is in between points A and B. I am becoming a more spontaneous person (went to Richmond twice last week at the last minute) but I wouldn't normally put spontaneous with hiking!
Matt and I knew we wanted to hike, then camp, then hike some more, and we knew the wilderness area where we wanted to do this, but we had never been there before, and thus the adventure started! We got a late start as it was about 4:30 when we started and the sun sets just after 5, so it got dark fast! The moon was nice and bright for a half moon, but with our headlamps lit, we trekked on looking for a good camping spot for the night. There were no markings for the trail (something we are used to when on the Appalachian Trail) and it was hard for us to tell if we were even on it at times! There was a creek that was not too full of water and this helped us because I think we crossed it 5 or 6 times before we saw a fire in the distance and made our way towards it, hoping to find others who could help us figure out where we were. Success! Wefound people, got back on the trail, and eventually found a great place to make a fire, have some dinner and sleep for the night!

We thought for sure that when we got up in the daylight and started hiking again it would be much easier than the night before, but we would soon be surprised...We were on the trail for a while before deciding that if we went through the bushes and maybe even across the creek again, we would be closer to a different trail- the one we wanted to get on to get back to our car...After about 3 hours of getting stabbed by prickly bushes and crossing rocks over creeks and getting our feet wet when slipping on the rocks, and finding trails but then finding the end of them, and walking straight down through the creek for a while, and looking at the map we had in our hands over and over to see what we were missing....

We finally found our way back to where we had found the people with the fire the night before! YEAH! Although we originally imagined that in daylight we would find our way so much easier, we were put in our place! It was not any easier with the sun than it had been with the moon! And when we finally made it back to our car and the main map of the whole wilderness we found out that the trail we were trying to find for those 3 hours did not exist on that map like it did on the one in our hands!! We had made our own trail! So adventurous and spontaneous! And no one got hurt!

Starbucks vs Folgers

I'm a coffee snob! I love Starbucks! This didn't happen until after I worked there for a long time and begin to truly realize the taste of good coffee ( as well as the taste of really bad coffee!). If I had not worked there I would not have been willing to pay that much for a cup to learn to love it, but because I got so much for free, my tastebuds became accustomed to the taste of really good coffee, and now it is hard to think of drinking anything but. And I think it is the same with life, we find ourselves content with folgers just because we have not found Starbucks yet. And maybe we think we give our all to something, until we see someone else who gives more than our all, and we begin to wonder if maybe we have quenched our potential simply because we don't give ourselves enough credit for what our potential may really be???? What is your potential? Where are you content with folgers when you could have Starbucks?

Goals

Goals are good! Setting goals to run a race makes me get up and go for a run...setting goals to hiking for 2 weeks in Jan has really made us get out and go on long hikes. Sometimes I need goals, but the gratification and the completion make it all worth it, even if I do have to set goals to make it happen. Get out, it's a beautiful world that our God has created!

schooled

I really love middle school kids. I love when they begin thinking and processing life for themselves! I love their perspective on life! I love their simplicity. I love hanging out with them, but not entertaining them or babysitting them, just hanging out and getting to know them and getting to live life with them. Don't be so scared the next time you encounter one, they are not as bad as the reputation they seem to have!

New Things

I surprised my husband this morning! I got up early and said I was in a meeting, but I got my hair cut, I mean really cut. It was really exciting, because I was ready for a change, but more than that, I got to donate a lot of hair to a good cause, Locks of Love! Plus, I had never been to a place where I was so pampered and where everyone seemed so excited that I was there. From the initial smiles to the cup of joe, to the massage and facial, to the awesome cut, it was a nice experience, especially first thing in the morning!

Then I stopped by Starbucks and saw 4 of my old (and dearly missed) coworkers, and they are so nice and friendly, plus they gave me 2 coffees! And I do love my Starbucks!!

Then I came home to show my husband (it took him a little while to notice, even though i got about a foot cut off!) and I got a package in the mail! More new stuff. I love random shirts and I love my new Shane and Shane CD!! What a great day, and it isn't even 11am!

Gotta Run

I had every intention of running this morning...Really! Every intention when I went to sleep last night, every intention as I started to wake up this morning...but the bed was so warm and inviting...inviting me to continue in my warm, half-asleep state. Until it was finally time..time to get up and shower and start working...so much for that run! So...I signed up for a race on Thanksgiving Day so I will have to make myself get ready for it! I like to think of myself as a fairly discplined person, but I find that I can also be a very lazy person at times...I have to let the disciplined side take control more often! Anyone want to go for a run?

New and Nervous

I am not a big talker, but I am a big thinker... I used to be really in to journalling, but not with the intention of others reading it, and this is what that feels like...but I am excited about it at the same time! I have found that I am really bad at keeping in touch with people, but as technology increases in our world, it makes the life of communication easier and quicker. Reading other's info and seeing pictures regularly helps the process of staying up to date and in touch without feeling like long phone calls and emails are necessary on an individual basis, where you end up saying the same things over and over to friends and family. I am not trying to hide behind the computer and cop out of being personal with others, but instead I feel like this allows me to keep in touch with more people than I ever have before (keeping them in site and in mind- facebook helps a ton!). So this, I hope, continues to help me to be more active in keeping in touch with others, even if most of it is through the computer!