Merry Christmas!

It has been a wonderful Christmas celebration so far! Because of when Christmas fell this year and the fact I have to work on Monday, we decided to postpone Christmas with my parents until next weekend. And since our celebration with the Mitchells isn't until Sunday, Chris and I got to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning/early afternoon together.

This year we opened up one gift last night, one gift and stockings this morning and we'll give presents to one another at both set of parents' houses. I made Chris a pair of warm wool socks (I was really nervous about the fit, and while they are a little tight in certain places, now I know for future socks how I need to make them). Chris gave me an ornament with our adorable faces on it to commemorate our first married Christmas together :) Banjo got treats, which he carried around the house all evening long!



We watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation last night in true Christmas style and enjoyed the crackling fire. We also video-chatted with family. Good evening.

This morning we warmed up the pecan roll we got yesterday (yummy!) and opened up another gift and the stockings. A chipmunk fell into Banjo's stocking and couldn't get out until Banjo gently pulled it out this morning and proceeded to play with it, then kill it.

Chris got me the movie Watchman, which I'm really excited to watch again, but it's not quite Christmas material. I gave Chris an ornament I made to commemorate our first married Christmas together. I used leftover yarn from the shawl I made for the wedding (which few people saw because it was too warm to wear it), leftover beads from the bracelets I made and paper from our invitations. A fun keepsake. We're both really excited about our gifts to each other and can't wait to give each other the remaining ones!


I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Snowified

Over the past month, I haven't had much to post about. I've been knitting constantly, working on Christmas gifts. Next year, I think I should work throughout the year! Besides that, there hasn't been much to blog about. Banjo doesn't spend much time outside since his paws get cold very quickly and he refuses to wear the booties.

Now I have something to write about: the snow. Our snow storm made the top headline on Google news yesterday. The worst since the Halloween blizzard some years ago (which I remember trick-or-treating in, snowmobile suit and all). This kind of snow storm makes me extremely grateful for (1) a garage, (2) a husband that shovels and (3) neighbors with snow blowers that graciously work their magic on the public sidewalks.

While I worked on Christmas gifts, Chris was outside shoveling, and shoveling, and shoveling some more. He worked on our pathways, he helped neighbors dig out their cars when they got stuck, he raked off our roof. He is amazing.

The wind was whipping around, covering the windows with the fine white powder. The snow was whirling everywhere all day long as evident by Chris's face:


This is the view out the front of our house this morning. It's difficult to tell where the snow ends and the sidewalks and streets begin.



This is from the front porch - part of the large pile of snow Chris raked from the roof and shoveled aside. Last night, the mound was directly on the sidewalk around the house and was about as tall as Chris.Out the back of the house, you will notice the fence got a lot shorter. Chris stomped down some pathways for Banjo to do his business. This morning, Banjo was outside all of two minutes because of the snow and the below zero wind chills.

There are lots of people outside this morning digging themselves out. I saw a truck towing several cars that got stuck on the street last night. I'm glad we have such helpful neighbors!

Snow!!!

We finally got snow yesterday! It was wet and heavy, so heavy that a bunch of branches from the neighbors' pine tree broke off and fell next to the house.

It was a rude awakening for Banjo. He still likes to go outside, but he can't stand the feeling of cold and snow on his paws. We tried doggie booties on him last year without success. He didn't want to ruin his reputation in the neighborhood because of some silly looking booties. I will likely try that again this year because I think if he really tried it, he would like it. It would allow him to hunt moles in the backyard for a longer period of time (he caught another one yesterday and hid it under the deck).

While it was sleeting outside, I cleaned and organized inside. I let my room get extremely messy, to the point where it was frustrating just walking in. I pulled everything down, dusted it off and rearranged. I love doing that kind of thing because I like changing things up every once in a while. It makes things feel new even when it's all the same stuff. I finally got around to hanging more of my pictures too. They had been cluttering the bookshelf and now they are hanging in nice clumps on the wall.

Another project this weekend has been cleaning out knitting patterns. I have the tendency of saving any knitting pattern that I remotely think is interesting, which often means there's not a chance in hell I'll actually knit that pattern any time soon if ever. I decided to clean house, and it felt amazing. At the same time, I went through my stash and pulled out some long lost yarn for Christmas knitting projects.

This impetus for this cleaning was that I did something I told myself I wasn't going to do: buy more yarn before I worked through what I already had. That's one of the main reasons I hadn't started knitting my own Christmas stocking - it meant I'd have to buy more yarn. I finally broke down and got it though because if I didn't now, I never would. I'm excited to get started on it. There's little chance I'll get it done before Christmas, but at least I can get a running start at it.

I've also started realistically thinking about projects I want to get done next year. I have big plans, and hopefully those plans remain realistic! I think I'll be able to get a lot more done since we won't be planning a wedding! And for those of you who are wondering, we are still working on the thank-yous. We're taking our time because we're enjoying all the awesome gifts you got us!

Ghoulish Halloween Recap

We had about 80 trick-or-treaters this year (about 10 more than last). Chris wasn't working so he dressed up with me and we tag-teamed handing out the candy. We barricaded Banjo in the dining room to prevent him from eating the little monsters. He let out a bone-chilling howl each time we opened the door (Banjo made me write that - in actuality, all the kids asked "What's that?" He was mortified and will work on making his howl more terrifying for next year.) In addition to decorating the porch, we also put on costumes. Chris was a pumpkin and I was a bumble bee.

To kick off the Halloween weekend, we went to a costume party at G & P's. I was dressed as an Angry Bird (this was a blue bird costume for those who haven't enjoyed the game Angry Birds) and Chris wore the same pumpkin. The blue bird costume was actually one my mom made way back when and she wore it way back when. My friends determined my mom must have been quite silly and figured that's where I must have gotten it.

(Thanks for the pics Sarah)

Celebrations!

Congratulations to Autumn and James! May you continue to grow together and enjoy sharing your lives with one another!

We got to go to New Jersey for our friends' wedding a couple of weekends ago and it was wonderful. The ceremony was beautiful, the reception was a blast, and I had an amazing time. I more thoroughly appreciate all of the effort that goes into a wedding, especially when I see friends going through a lot of the same struggles I went through. It is a great feeling to see it all come together.

In addition to celebrating, we spent time in Pennsylvania visiting family and family friends. I immensely enjoyed hearing Mom Mom's stories and I loved relaxing (and often eating) with Cheryl and Jabbour (thank you again!). Although I felt like all I did was eat over the course of the week, that made it feel more like home. I was very excited that I got to truly meet family friends when we visited. The first time we met, I had a horrible migraine, which meant I got to say 'hi' and 'goodnight.' We really are connected to some great people. And I was extremely excited to enter the wonderful Josh Early candy store, scratch that, candy paradise. Yum yum!

Coming to term with high expectations

I am part of Toastmasters, the group that helps people practice public speaking. I also became the secretary (with strong encouragement). Given an officer's position in the club and given how involved everyone seemed to be when I first joined, I had extremely high expectations. I assumed most everyone was always invested in the club, always striving to be better and help all members achieve their goals.

Today I discovered people have competing priorities, and a volunteer/club usually comes out being a lower priority. The officers of the club met today to discuss various club business (upcoming events, meeting certain goals, etc.). One of the topics of conversation was the increasingly lax participation by various members. People have been canceling at the last minute when scheduled to give a speech or failing to show up at all. It has been becoming frustrating to see. When myself and another member brought this up, the long-standing officers commented the participation rate ebbs and flows - in other words, that's the way it is.

I am still trying to come to terms with that. It's not so much about the club itself because I understand this is voluntary; it's about the fact that everyone around the table is settling. That's the way it is, so why attempt to change it. That's the way it's always been, so why try to make it better.

The reason I'm becoming frustrated is because that's what I see all the time at work. People have stopped making suggestions for improvements, they have become silent workers because they have been shot down so many times. What's the point in getting shot down again? Why try when they know the answer going into it? I'm most frustrated because I see myself heading down that path, and it scares me. I don't want to settle. I want to like what I do, and I don't know if I do anymore. I realize I've only been working there for over three years and I keep hearing that I should be happy I have a job, and I am happy I'm receiving a paycheck. I'm not happy that I'm letting myself be dragged down because I'm no longer passionate about what I'm doing. I continuously see the majority of people in my work environment thinking the work I'm doing really isn't that important. If they don't see value in it, why should I continue to do it?

I really miss being challenged. I miss being excited about the project I'm working on. I rarely have projects anymore. I work on budgets. I work on software. I lack an overall direction.

So what am I doing about it? I'm going to talk to my boss about it. She might not be able to help, but at least she'll listen and maybe be able to throw an exciting project my way. In the meantime, I'm going to try to stay sane and not lose my mind to boredom.

The Gift of Flight

For our wedding, Chris's parents gave Chris and I the gift of flight...for one hour. It's not like a video game power-up - it was a gift certificate for a one-hour helicopter ride with Minnesota Helicopters. I just about died with happiness when we opened it.

For those who are unaware, I toyed around with the idea of becoming a helicopter pilot. I have never taken any lessons because of the cost, but I thought about joining the military to pay for flight school.

Chris and I cashed in the certificate last Saturday on a gloriously clear afternoon. We chose to start shortly before dusk (we wanted to blind the pilot for at least part of the trip). I was lucky enough to get the front seat :) We circled downtown Minneapolis, flew over our house, around downtown St. Paul, and finally followed the St. Croix. It was unbelievably incredible, especially seeing how large the mansions on Summit look even from 800 feet up and how flooded the river still it.

Chris brought up his camera for some fun shots, although I will only be posting one today:

Yes, I am alive

Hmm...almost a whole month without posting anything...

I've been attempting to focus. I feel like my mind is pulling me in a lot of different directions and I can't seem to choose that direction (or keep up!). Part of the reason is that I find myself going through a cycle of liking my job for a bit and then not liking my job for a while. I'm now in the phase of liking it again, mainly because I'm deciding what I work on and I basically haven't had any interruptions for about three weeks. It's been quite fantastic.

I've been lacking a big goal. This spring, it was gardening and the wedding. Now I'm left with a large chunk of time (which one would think I would use to write all of my thank-you's from the wedding). I have been thinking about new endeavors, but I need to think about it more. I have been knitting a bunch, which is quite fun. I am working on Kim's Christmas stocking (which is technically her gift from last Christmas). I'm also been knitting for myself - I have a new scarf and am working on a neck warmer - it turns out when I have short hair, my neck tends to get chilly!

I've also been biking to work often, which is fantastic with my short hair cut. I've noticed I'm a stronger biker and have been slowly improving my speed. It gives me time to think about things and to enjoy the fall leaves changing color.

Next week, Chris and I are headed out to Pennsylvania for our friends' wedding and to visit family. I am super excited about the wedding and seeing them!

The hunt to Courage-ville

I recently cut my hair short, shorter than I've ever had it. Most people react with praise, and some act surprised, refusing to say what they really think. Those people have asked me why I decided to cut my hair so short. The reason is because I'm tired of other people defining what beauty is. I'm tired of blindly following.

I had really long hair for a really long time. I told myself I wouldn't cut my hair until I was 30 because my hair was too pretty to cut short. I had various boyfriends and potential boyfriends tell me how much they loved my hair. I foolishly began to believe long hair was the reason I should consider myself beautiful. Those were the days I spent a ridiculous amount of time drying it, combing it and curling it. It was pretty, but it was never the reason I found myself beautiful. It's taken me a while to realize that.

As those around me know, I've been toying with shorter hair for the past few years. That's when I finally cut my hair shorter again (chin length - watch out!). Then I'd let it grow out, waiting about six months to a year to get it cut again. I quickly lost interest in spending a lot of time on my hair. I had so many other things to do with my life.

I really didn't like growing my hair out for the wedding, but I knew how much I'd love it on the day. That kept me from the barber's chair. But after the wedding, away it went, but only to chin length again. It went along like that until I decided to schedule another appointment. An hour before my appointment, I searched around on the Internet for a hair style. I lack the ability to adequately describe what I'd like, so I bring in pictures. I found an adorable chin-length hair cut...and I found a really short, wild hair cut. I printed both, unsure if I had it in me to cut it crazy short.

When I got there, I showed Andrea the pics. I said I was leaning towards the wild cut and she said, "That's the one". She was so ridiculously excited to cut my hair that short. She said I made her night. As the hair fell off my head onto the floor, I was continuously amazed that I had finally done it. I finally found the courage to cut it off, to create my own sense of beauty.

Welcome to Courage-ville:

The Return of Allergies

Bah, buh, BAH!

They have returned. Allergies that is. They have struck with a vengeance. My sinuses are completely full of nastiness; I have trouble breathing out of my nose; and I feel tired all the time. Oh Allergies, how I've missed you!

Completely unrelated to that is my apparently inability to focus. I feel as though I have no direction. I've been eagerly knitting for a bit, and then I'll get distracted by starting a new book, and then I'll decide that I should really finish the other book I'm already halfway through...oh wait, I should finish all the projects I have on my needles. It's getting a bit frustrating to say the least. I'm trying to figure out how to get re-focused.

Part of the issue is work: we were working a lot of overtime (including working two-and-a-half weeks straight). Then we got the budget out and the workload has not stopped. We haven't had a break. My coworker accurately described it as going through intense finals and not having the break that is supposed to follow. I'm finding myself becoming more removed because I literally have a difficult time thinking at work now. Luckily I got to test software most of last week which kept me productive. It was also a nice change of pace.

I'm thinking about what I want to accomplish in the next month. What I need to do is put them down on paper (my brain likes lists). Then I need to figure out how I can accomplish all the things on the list. Hopefully that will give me enough direction to feel somewhat grounded again.

As a side note: congrats to John and Maria!

Happy Anniversary!!!

We bought our house one year ago today! As Chris said, that means something is going to break tomorrow because our warranty just ran out :)

It's incredible to think that we've been here for that little of time. It certainly feels like home. I've even had a dream about the house, which means it's pretty special to me. I realize how weird that sounds, but I'm sticking to my story.

Happy anniversary!

Return of free time

Today is my first day off from work and I'm absolutely giddy! It's always crunch time the first two weeks in August, and this year has felt especially bad. The crappy thing is I've been putting in overtime since I don't know when. It's only gotten worse.

But today I'm free!!! I forced myself to sleep in until 7am - woohoo!!! Banjo was thrilled because I let him into bed. I'm going to the farmers market tomorrow morning with Kimmi which will be my first time shopping for food in how many weeks. In anticipation of my first day off in quite a long time, the weather decided to be perfect today. I'm immensely enjoying the cool breeze this morning.

I have other exciting news: I biked in 87-degree weather yesterday and didn't die! I have long had difficulty biking in temps greater than 76-degrees because I'm a wuss when it comes to heat. Yesterday it was different - I was mentally determined to bike because I was stressed about having to go into work yesterday for the second Saturday in a row. I felt fine until I stopped moving. When you're biking, you constantly have a slight breeze (and there were gusts of wind yesterday which was amazing). When you stop, no more breeze. Chris was incredible and cooled my craft room and had a smoothie waiting for me when I stepped in the door. Best husband ever!

I'm really looking forward to fall and doing some more yard work. There's lots to do still and I couldn't be more thrilled! The bee balm is attracting bees already and is starting to turn it's purple color. You're going to love it when you come down Mom!

I'm off to have adventures!

Sailor Dog

Me and my hubby went up to my parents' for the weekend and Banjo had some fun adventures.  He first got to go fishing with my parents - he helped them fish:

It was his first time swimming...with us that is.  It makes me wonder if he's ever really swam before :)

Demolition Weekend

This weekend has been all about household improvements, some long overdue ones.  Chris wanted to put in some cabling in the living room to boost the electrical flow into the room as well as bring in the network cord since that's where he does a lot of his photo editing (and so I don't have to trip over the cord snaking its way from his room in the back of the house to the living room in the front of the house).  In addition to the massive amount of work that went into doing that, he also installed one of our rain barrels.  Right now it's smurf blue, and I'm thinking I should spray paint that before it fills up...another project...

My project this weekend was to clear out the grapevines that were taking over the yard past the fence in back (I was informed those vines have been there for at least 25 years and some of the roots we pulled up proved that!).  I foolishly didn't take a picture beforehand so you could see how you couldn't see any ground in the back anymore because of the grapevine, but I do have one from much earlier in the summer:

 
Here is what it looks like now:

I definitely could not have done it alone - my parents both came down and my mom helped me tear out the grapevines and my dad helped Chris with the wiring.  Thank you!!!!  The great thing about the Ramsey County compost sites is that anyone who lives in Ramsey County can get free mulch when it's available, and luckily they had a bunch available this week.  My mom and I put a thin layer out back where we cleared everything out and I put a thin layer around the bed against the garage so the dirt doesn't keep splattering up when it rains.  It looks so much better, and I'm planning to get a lot more as I do more and more projects around the yard.

I'm pretty tired and really really dirty at the moment, but I am so glad this project got finished.  It's so great to have this feeling of accomplishment.  I am going to post the small lilacs shown in the picture about on Craigslist (unless any of you out there would like them).  They are all healthy, but they were planted in a silly place and I have all the lilacs I need on the other side of the fence.  My mom graciously offered to give me some of her Stellas to plant in back (they look like short lilies with yellow flowers that bloom all season and have great foliage).  It is going to look fantastic!

I was also really excited to find out that we have a chickadee!  That was one of the few birds I could easily identify as a kid and I love the look of them, but I hadn't seen one here until this weekend.

I also walked around to find some more plants blooming:

Blooms

My experiment with the garden is going well in certain respects and not-so-well in others.  The wild lupine is gone.  It couldn't handle the direct afternoon sunlight.  But the columbine is doing really well and has grown quite a bit.  In the other bed, the bee balm is huge compared to when I got it.  The butterfly weed tried to make me think it had died, but it has come back quite well.  I think it was taken it's time establishing its roots.  And the coneflower is looking beat up because Banjo likes to go through the bed and the rain pounds it down, but it's still growing.

The lilies are blooming too, and it's not a surprise that I love the color!

My indoor plants are doing well also:

Happy 4th

Banjo is not so happy.  He doesn't like the sounds of the fireworks.  He is staying extremely close to Chris and I and won't even go explore outside.  He said, "No thanks."

Chris is "enjoying" the new Super Mario Bros game for the Wii.  I say enjoying in quotes because he seems a bit frustrated with himself at times, and I'm learning my wifely duties by not saying anything.  Sorry for ratting you out Topher! 

I've been getting some knitting done.  I knit a cute little baby hat (looks like a pumpkin), finished a Nalgene bottle holder I started on back in March, and started on another project.  But what I have to balance it against is watching The Wire.  We're on the last season, and while this season hasn't been as gripping as previous seasons, it's still a damn good show.  I've been seeing a lot of the same kinds of budget crises as what happens at the City.  It's really interesting.   

Happy 4th!

We're officially hitched!

I'm now a wife!  Everyone has been greeting me with Mrs. Mitchell, and I keep getting confused - Chris's mom is in the other room...and then I realize they are talking to me!

Our ceremony and reception was absolutely amazing, and the reason it was so beautiful was because of all of you (besides how beautiful Chris and I are of course!).  Here are specific people we'd like to recognize and thank (it kinda feels like receiving a major award: "And now I'd like to thank the following people...":

• My parents:  Thank you so much for all of your love and support throughout my life, and for welcoming Chris into our family (with Pokey's permission of course)!  Dad, the plant stands and cupcake stand you made for us made our day feel all the more special!  Mom, your words during the ceremony made me laugh and reminisce, and it made me more fully appreciate all of your advice and encouragement throughout my life.  Thank you to you both!
• Jamie and Sue: Thank you so much for welcoming me in the Mitchell clan (and for not simply replacing Chris with me!).  Thank you for the grooms dinner and for brunch - it was wonderful to see everyone's reactions to our photos and for the fun stories retold about Chris and the hairbrush!
• Mom Mom, Seanly, Nina:  Thank you for driving across the country to share in our day!  It was fun spending time with you (hope it was fun winning my money in poker!).  I am honored to officially be part of the Mitchell clan! 
• Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Jabbour: Thank you for flying across the country to be an important part of our celebration.
• Kim: Yo Sis!  I would not have been able to get through all of those extremely busy days without your help!  I honestly cannot find the words to say how much I appreciate all of your support and refusal to let me do anything!  You gave me a rocking bachelorette party (I don't know the last time I laughed and danced that hard!).  You gave me a place to relax.  You gave me a saucy makeup job (who would have thought!).  You gave me an out if I wanted it - if you were wondering why I asked you to be my maid of honor, that's why, you are my best friend first, Chris's sister second when it matters most.  You organized and ran around for several days straight to make our day wonderful.  Most of all, you share yourself with me openly and without reservation; you have given me amazing emotional support and great advice regardless of the situation; and you are a kick-ass women.  Thank you.
• Eric and Chanda: Thank you for all of your help on our wedding day!  Your mad decorating skills and height gave us a great stage.  Eric, thanks for being the best man even though you only found out the day before the wedding.  
• Adam, Ildiko, Russ, Lisa, Brent, Autumn, James, Mary, Greg: Thank you so much for all of your help on our wedding day and for being part of it!  You all made the space look beautiful - I didn't imagine it could look that great!  We've gotten comments from several people telling us we have a good group of friends :)  You are all amazing!
• Becca: Thank for being the honorary personal attendant!  Thank you for filling the role even though I didn't realize you'd be put in that position!  You did a magnificent job - everything went more smoothly with you there.  BTW: the Skittles His and Her packs are amazing (I ate the Her pack, working on stealing the His pack)

• Gina and Perry: Thank you for being the photographer and DJ.  Perry - our photos are so much fun!  I am so amazed at how much thought you put into them!  Gina - the music was wonderful!  Thank you for all of your help decorating and setting up/tearing down too! 
• John and Maria: Thank you so much for letting us borrow your van for so many days and for helping with all of the set-up and tear down!  You made everything so much easier!  Sweet moves on the dance floor :)
• Andrea and Greg: Thank you for all of your help during the set-up and tear down!  I cannot get over how beautiful those centerpieces on our table were!  You also have mad cupcake-arranging skills!  Your support before/during/after the wedding was great!
• Gretchen: Thank you so much for all of your help and suggestions before the wedding and for being a kick-ass bartender!  We definitely need to go salsa dancing sometime soon!
• Friends and Family (and anyone we forgot to thank specifically!): Thank you for being part of our day!  Your love and support over the years has shaped Chris and I into the people we are today.  Thank you for traveling so many miles and braving road construction to get here!  It was an incredible feeling to look out over the crowd and see all of your faces smiling back at us!  It wasn't in a creepy way; more like a loving/encouraging way :)  Thank you.

Chris posted some preliminary wedding photos on Flickr.  Enjoy!

I have a husband!

Guess what today is...

It's our wedding day!!!  I'm really excited and a bit nervous about everything running smoothly for the most part.  Thank you all for your support!

Holy s&%# - it's almost here!

That day is just around the corner - I actually got butterflies in my stomach when I logged off and recorded my voicemail at work saying that I'd be out until July 6.  It meant our wedding day was really close.  Holy s%$#.

6 days to go!

For anyone that's looked at our wedding website today (or if you've looked at a calendar!), you'll know it's six days until Chris and I get married!  We're working on last minute stuff, like getting the wine (very important!), gathering supplies, etc.  I'm feeling pretty good about everything now, which is great. 

I'm also still working on my wedding shawl.  It's getting much closer to being done, so I'm holding out hope that it will be done by next Saturday.  And I bet you anything if I do get it done, it will be ridiculously hot outside and I won't be able to wear it!  It will be something wonderful I made for myself though and I'll be able to wear it plenty this fall.  It's been a great project for me because I find knitting so relaxing and it's a good excuse to relax a bit during the last-minute planning. 

I have been itching to do some more yard work though.  I have two rain barrels that are ready to be installed, but I have to modify the downspouts, level and clear out an area for the barrel, etc.  I'll be doing that soon after the wedding I hope, like maybe during the week we have off!  I am so excited to have some time off work!  It will almost be two full weeks including the July 4th holiday (which we get to take on July 5).  I only have two more days of work, and everyone will be lucky if I don't mentally check out earlier than that!

Time to run some more errands!

13 days to go

It's less than two weeks from our wedding, and I have resigned myself to the fact that I will likely not get my shawl done.  For those who didn't know, I am in the process of knitting myself a shawl for the wedding in case we have weather like we did today.  I am working on the second side and it's highly unlikely that it will get finished.  Mom suggested I take a day off work to work on it (granted she was saying it jokingly). 

I'm super excited that I only have seven more work days to go!  After that, I will be completely removed from work for almost two weeks including the July 4th holiday.  I can't wait!

Both Chris and I are getting excited.  We finally planned the ceremony and I can picture in my mind how everything will happen and it's wonderful.  I was working on music this weekend (with the help of Mary's excellent playlist - thank you!). 

See you all soon!

I rocked my presentation

For those who don't know, I presented at the national conference for GFOA in Atlanta (that's the Government Finance Officers Association - the club for government finance nerds).  I was extremely nervous given that this was my first time presenting at a national conference of anything and because I was presenting in front of a few hundred people.  Yikes!

It has been an incredible experience to come to Atlanta, and I've temporarily forgotten how crappy my job can be.  I am incredibly honored that my boss and the higher-ups asked me to give the presentation (granted it's because the Controller of the City was originally asked, but when he told his wife about it, she reminded him he had a family vacation planned that weekend, so to ensure they wouldn't need a divorce lawyer, he asked if I could do it). 

I've gotten a lot of really positive comments from people and someone stopped me at the even tonight and asked if I presented and told me what a great job I did.  Man it feels good!  I feel so happy!

Toastmasters certainly helped and I was surprised at how much less nervous I was for this presentation.  My mouth still got a bit dry and I stumbled on some words, but overall, I felt pretty calm.  I guess that's what happens when you know the subject inside and out! 

I've met some really great people at the conference, and hope that I'll see them again sometime.  For now, I'll focus on getting some sleep before my flight tomorrow morning.

Thank you to everyone for your support!  The good vibes reached me!

24 days to go

Whenever I go to our wedding website, it likes to remind me how many days are left until my wedding.  As if I needed a reminder!!!  I'm feeling pretty stressed with all of the details there are yet to plan or finalize.  I'm trying to get as much done as possible now (like making the card box, working on name cards, figuring out cupcake flavors, etc).  There are a lot of details! 

I'm really looking forward to a month from now when Chris and I are relaxing, enjoying not having to plan anything for a while, and remembering how much fun we had on our wedding day. 

Getting dirty

This weekend was full of gardening and other yard work.  I dug up the shrubs in the bed against the garage and set out to prep the bed for some of the native plants I bought last weekend.  I'm determined to get rid of that red pumice, so what did I do?  I dug out all of the pumice from the bed against the garage and added it to the bed against the back of the house!  I will get rid of it eventually...

I got the plants in the ground and officially started my adventure in outdoor gardening!  I've had houseplants forever and never enjoyed gardening - ask my mom.  But there is a great satisfaction when it's your own.  I felt great satisfaction when I got the first plants in the ground. 

Chris got the bird feeder post in the ground - it's replacing the shepard's hook we were using.  This way, we can have feeders on all sides if we want to.  When we went out to more hooks, we also stopped by the bird store to get an oriole feeder.  We're hoping to attract some - Chris has gotten some amazing photos of the orioles at my parents' and he'd love to get some here too.  We're going to put out the hummingbird feeder soon too.  All sorts of activity here!

While I had my camera out, I took some pictures around the house to document what everything looks like this time of year:

It feels so good to lay in the sun!

Latest addition

While I was browsing through Craigslist recently, I found a sideboard for the dining room.  I had been thinking about getting something to replace the speakers and chairs, and I finally found it:

Today I'm going with Gina to a plant sale at the fairgrounds.  I'm hoping to get some more succulents and some native plants to place the stuff in the bed against the garage.  I decided to only shop for plants to go in that bed, because otherwise I would be buying way too much stuff and I decided I'll tackle that bed first, and when life quiets down a bit, I'll start redoing the bed against the house.  Exciting!

Work has been horrible and I unfortunately don't see it easing up anytime soon.  I was close to having a breakdown yesterday, but I managed to keep myself somewhat together. We are scrambling to get the 2011 budget up for users and it's a major production.  That means I've been putting in a lot of overtime which means I'm cranky.  This is why I've decided to take today completely off, and I'll do work stuff tomorrow.  I have to remind myself often to take deep breaths - it actually helps for about 10 seconds :)

Lilacs in full bloom

I love our backyard:

I finished doing the spring cleanup this weekend and I got inspired to start planning out what future gardening I want to do.  I am determined to dig up all the pumice from the beds and to start bringing some more color into the plant selection.  Right now it's the lilac in back, and the bleeding hearts and potentially edible rhubarb in front.  By the way, does anyone know how to determine if my rhubarb plant is edible?  I'm going to bring it into a nursery soon, but I was wondering if any of you knew off the top of your head.

I'm thinking about trying to stick with native plants for the most part and stealing a whole bunch of flowers when we go up to my parents over Memorial Day weekend.

My centerpieces are doing well - for those who don't know, I'm going to spoil the surprise because I'm excited that they're still alive: I'm going to have succulents.  They are growing which is a great sign :)

Spring is exciting!

Banjo's busy weekend

It turns out Banjo's been chasing more than squirrels, chipmunks and rabbits out of our yard:

We now have to be on the lookout for bouncy balls!  What's next?!?

Banjo's anniversary

One year ago yesterday, Banjo came to live with us.  Because I didn't care enough, Banjo had to wait until today to get a special treat (just kidding - it was because I hadn't made time to go to the grocery store).  Banjo got a yummy can of wet dog food, a far cry from the dry crap he usually gets.  He was trembling with excitement as I prepared his special meal, and scarfed it down extremely quickly.  Licking his lips with satisfaction, he reflected on our year together. 

It certainly was a rocky start - I chose the worst possible week to get him because both Chris and Kim were gone a lot.  Banjo, given his new and noisy environment, had a very difficult time adjusting.  I was actually debating whether or not to take him back to his foster family.  And now, I can't imagine not having him.  We've done various training programs with him and we've had great results.  He's still bad crazy sometimes, but he's the third member of our family :) 

We had a major test for him on Sunday.  Chris's parents brought up all three of their dogs, the largest one is terrified of Banjo.  Banjo growled a few times, but didn't attack any one despite all of the excitement.  I think it was great that we were able to hang outside the entire morning. 

With the great weather, Banjo and I started our yard cleanup.  I've gotten most of the backyard done.  A lot of work needs to be done in the front of the house.  I didn't clean up any of the beds in the front yard in the fall, thinking the leaves would further protect all the plants during the winter.  Given the way all the plants are coming back up, I think it was likely a good choice, but more experienced gardeners may tell me the plants would have done just as well without it.

Spring really is exciting!

Major accomplishment

I did what I said I was going to: get the invitations in the mail on Monday.  Today is Monday and those invitations are in the mail.  Phew! 

I had a panic attack last Monday night and made a trip to Michaels at 7:30pm (making back just in time for Castle).  I got half of the stuff I needed to make invitations.  I continued on with the panic attack the following night with a trip to Target for the remainder of supplies.  I got some pimples on my face from all the stressing out about it (which drew even more attention to my large forehead - but I was too busy freaking out to notice).  Then I cut and printed, cut and printed, designed and printed, and cut and cut and cut...(it keeps going). 

I spent the majority of this weekend putting everything together, and it took me up until 10:30pm last night to get everything done, but I did it and it was a wonderful feeling.  It was also a major sense of accomplishment for me to design everything and put everything together by my goal date (that's one of the only things I've done on time and it felt damn good). 

Look for the invitations in the mail.  I realized after putting them in the mailbox a block away that I maybe should have had each weighted to make sure one stamp would do it...so my apologies if you end up having to pay a little bit or if the invites are delayed because they get sent back to me (at least it will give you plenty of laughs).

FYI - I've become what I didn't want to be: the bride that talks about her wedding all the time.  The problem is that's basically all I'm doing!

Holy crap - our wedding day is about three months away!

I finally got my butt in gear and really started organizing my thoughts about our wedding.  I needed some pressure before I finally got into "Let's get this planned" mode, but now that I'm here, I'm pretty excited!  I love lists (because I love the satisfied feeling I get when I cross stuff off) and I started lists of everything Chris and I need to do as soon as possible, as well as stuff that can be hammered out a little later.  I feel so much better now that all the thoughts swimming around in my head are now down on paper.  It helps me organize and feel a little bit more in control. 

I took my wedding ring into the jeweler last week for repairs - my mom gave me my Great Great Aunt's ring to use as my wedding ring and I couldn't be more excited about it!  Plus I finally took my dress in to get dry cleaned before I take it to the tailor on Tuesday (I figured she'd probably appreciate working with a clean dress - hee hee). 

Our next big decisions: specific time for the wedding and catering.  I'm also finally starting to really work on decorations.  I'm going to look at fabric next week for tablecloths and Chris and I are going to make a stop on the way down to his parents' to look at plants tomorrow.  I also found out about a big sale at the U in late April for the kinds of plants I'm looking for.  Let's see if I can take off some time from work to actually go!

One thing I really want to have for our wedding is something I've made for myself.  I started working on a shawl last week - I fell in love with the pattern the minute I saw it.  I hope I can get it done before the wedding! 

This post was much more positive than my last one - I got my portion of the crappy project done since then and finished my portion of the other project done.  Now I'm making great progress in rebuilding our budget applications.  I really wish I could have taken your advice Jamie...

Case of the blehs

I should not be writing at the moment because I feel frustrated.  I can't seem to focus on anything and I haven't been sleeping great the past few weeks.  The main issue is work.  A piece of the issue is that I have three major projects going on right now and each one seems to take more time than I anticipate.  Because each of those projects has a deadline of ASAP, I'm feeling a lot of pressure and I haven't figured out quite how to deal with it yet.  For the past couple weeks, I've been bringing work home with me because there never seems to be enough time during the day to do them. 

One thing that really irks me is one of the major projects is a new initiative at a time when we already don't have enough people to do the work we're currently doing, and it's a project that's not going to provide much benefit.  A group of us objected several times, but one of the higher ups (who has no concept of how time-consuming this project is) said to do it, so we have to do it.  One of my team members said long ago there's no point in fighting it and after several attempts, I finally accepted that.  But what I can't accept is the fact that my opinion doesn't matter.  Everything we said was listened to and without a moment's hesitation, we were told what we needed to do next to push the project forward.  I finally understand why so many don't bother speaking up anymore.  It may not be worth the frustration and effort.

The main issue weighing on my mind is that even though I'm busting my ass on these projects, there's still a chance I may lose my job in 2010 or 2011.  The Governor's proposed cuts to local government aid means there are many jobs on the cutting block.  It's the nature of government work I guess.  I just wish everyone in my division cared about the quality of their work and exceeded the minimum expectations.  If the bare minimum is all they are willing to do, maybe it's time to raise the bar. 

What I need to remember is that I'm lucky enough to still have a job right now.  I am grateful for that.  I hope I can find my sanity again someday soon.  What I really needed was to vent so thanks for listening to my whining and bitching.

Continuously sick

I've been sick for a while now - it's getting really old.  It's basically been a bad cold, but it coming knocked me out and I've had to take a few days off work (eek!).  Banjo's been enjoying stealing my body heat as we snuggle on the couch.  In my efforts to not go crazy, I've tried to be productive at something, like finishing a book I'm reading or knitting, but I've done a lot of zoning out.  That's been the worst part.  Banjo likes tearing apart Kleenex though (he's not picky if it's used or not).  That's the second worst part.

I did finally crochet some new potholders for us:

The turtles remind me of Longville - Turtle Racing Capital of the World.  haha

I also love three-day weekends

I had the best feeling ever this morning: I woke up around 6:45 with no alarm.  I love having a holiday!  This is a very enjoyable weekend.  We went to my parents for a couple of days (which translates to lots of yummy food) where I finally started Dad's socks and got close to finishing The Stand by Stephen King. 

For those of you who have read The Stand, it's so good!  And for those of you who haven't read the book, it's so good and you should read the uncut version!  The book was long, but I didn't notice because the story was so good!  It reminded me of The Storm of the Century in certain ways.  The book is about a superflu that kills most of the population, and what happens to the survivors.  Fascinating stuff and I highly recommend it.

I'm also recovering from the solution to my migraines - I had an IUD placed last Thursday which means I can have babies when/if I decide to AND have no more hormone-related migraines!  I know this information may make certain people uncomfortable, but I wanted to let people know so they can hopefully pass this information along.  It turned out my body had too much estrogen because of the birth control pills I was taking and my body's natural production.  That meant I almost always had a migraine once a month (at least).  My doctor suggested getting off the birth control pills for a couple months as a trial and I haven't had any migraines since.  That's when I too decided to get an IUD, which uses a low dose of a different hormone that hasn't been linked to migraines.  Plus I don't have to remember to take a pill every day and it lasts for five years.  Now you can hopefully pass on the word in case you know of other women suffering from migraines on a monthly basis. 

In other news, Banjo was a pretty good dog this weekend with Pokey.  The cat stayed locked up in my parents' bedroom the whole weekend...hee hee.  Banjo only growled at Pokey a few times, and he was super excited to get home.  It turns out he likes routines and his own space.  It's fun to visit, but he's ready when we get ready to leave.  He slept hard all the way home and all night.  It makes me feel good to know that he's making progress with both us and other dogs, because the beginning was a bit rough.  Totally worth it though :)

I love organizing

This morning I was trying to figure out what I wanted to accomplish this weekend.  Lately, since work has been mega brain intensive, I've wanted to do things that don't require much thought (namely knitting).  So this morning, I started by weeding out my binders of knitting patterns, recycling the ones that I have no intention of ever knitting.  It felt really good! 

In the process, I found a pattern I had forgotten about, but have been wanting to knit for some time: fingerless mittens.  I really liked the pattern, so I decided to cast on and I got one of the mittens done:

 

 

It always feels good to work on a quick project for that feeling of accomplishment.  What I also felt good about was the fact I found the yarn in my stash (from one of the bags of odds and ends I bought off Craigslist).  

Another accomplishment is I think I have finally gotten to a point in my knitting where I feel comfortable making changes to the pattern.  When I first started, there was no way I was going to do anything besides what the pattern said to for fear of ruining all the hard work (I ruined things anyway because of the mistakes every beginning knitter makes!).  Now, I modify as I see fit.  Proud day for me!

I've also found this in cooking.  Since I weeded through my recipes a while ago, I've been choosing one or two new recipes a week to try because I don't want to keep saving recipes that don't taste good.  I've had pretty good success so far, but am finding there are certain ingredients I don't like and certain ways of preparing things that completely differs from the recipes.  It has lead to some pretty savory discoveries.

Finally finished some UFOs

When I woke up Saturday morning, I was trying to think about what I wanted to accomplish.  I was looking around my craft room and realized I had four unfinished knitting projects still sitting on my shelf.  The part of the projects I really don't like doing is the finishing work (tucking in yarn ends mostly).  So if I don't have some kind of deadline for the project (meaning if I'm not giving the project to someone in particular), I usually put the project on the shelf and let it sit there until I find the motivation to complete it.  The reason I don't like tucking in yarn ends is because at that point, all of the knitting or crocheting is done, so when I do this, it doesn't feel like I'm making any sort of progress, which is not very motivating.

I decided to finally complete those four.  Two of the projects needed yarn ends tucked and needed to be sewn together (one was a cushion cover for my rocking chair in the living room and the other was a pair of baby booties).  One project only needed yarn ends tucked (a baby hat) and the other project, a baby blanket for donation, needed a border crocheted. 

I first finished the booties and hat and with my sense of accomplishment and momentum, I moved on to sewing together the cushion cover for my rocking chair.  After finishing that, I started crocheting the border on the blanket.  I will still need to block the blanket, but the fact that I've finishing tucking in the yarn ends and finished the border was amazing progress.  I still have a number of projects on my needles, but at least I've completed those that were sitting on my shelf waiting to be truly finished. 

Banjo's new sweater

Because Banjo doesn't like his sweaters that have to be pulled over his head, I made him one that straps on his chest and belly (not literally).  Here it is:

 

 

He loves it, can't you tell?  Hee hee.

1/2 done with mending

I am finally using my Home Ec skills: I finally fixed our comforter (Banjo attacked it way back at the apartment) and I fixed part of Chris's superman photography belt.  That sewing stand is working great Dad!  Still on my list: Chris's fleece blanket and my gray pants.

I hope I can finally get to the part of winter that involves planning my to-do list for the new year and catching up a bit from the last.  Part of that list is tone up for the wedding dress.  I don't want to look flabby in my dress, so I asked Kim for some advice on how to tone a bit.  She has me on a simple yet painful list of exercises: planks (actually my favorite even though they are really tough for me), squats, lunges, push ups and military press.  My goal is to firm up a bit before the wedding - I think I have plenty of time, but if I don't start now and make it a part of my routine, it will never happen.  I love encouragement!

And for your entertainment, here's Banjo in one of his doggy sweaters.  It cracks me up that we put him through this (for those of you who think it's a form of torture, we did it because we wanted to keep him warm on the trip home from my parents...still funny as hell).

 

I'm thinking of knitting him a dog sweater this year that will not only be easier to get on him (i.e. two straps instead of leg holes) but also a more flattering color scheme.  Plus the horizontal stripes make him look fat...haha - couldn't resist.

Celebrations in Longville

Chris, Banjo and I finally got up to my parents this past weekend to celebrate Christmas - we didn't go last weekend because of the potential Snowmaggedon.  I finished the animals' stockings finally - I made one for Pokey, Banjo and Slasher, complete with their name.

We opened presents on Friday evening (at my insistence of course).  We all greatly enjoyed Chris's calendars and great fun was had by all...including Banjo who attacked the cat while we were upstairs.  To all of our surprise, Slasher did not slash Banjo - instead, I had to break it up.  The cat spent the rest of the night behind the toilet and the rest of the weekend in the bedroom with the door closed.  Banjo tried to convince us he just wanted to say hi, but we didn't fall for it.

There was a lot of really great food: Mom made Snickerdoodles for Chris and Russian Teacakes for me.  Plus she made broccoli bake (my most favorite side dish ever) and waffles and everything else under the sun.  So good. 

Pokey and Slasher and Santa got me pennies for penny poker (I have the reputation for not having many pennies in my jar).  This time, I came away with some pretty big wins - big wins for penny poker of course.  We also started a jigsaw puzzle Saturday morning after stockings were opened since the power was out and the sun was up.  I of course chose one of the most difficult ones: polar bears in the snow.  Needless to say, we didn't finish by the time we left today, so we'll see if my parents finish it (hee hee).

Happy New Year to all!