Year in Review

1. I attended my first Post Secret event!
2. Dusty and I went to see Bela Flack and the African Project for Valentines day. One word: AMAZING!
3. I went to Vegas for the first time for my sister-in-law's Big 3-0!
4. Starting working towards living a better life.
5. Went to Brooklyn for my Birthday/ to check into future life plans.
6. Family trip to CANCUN!
7. Found out I'm allergic to pistachios or sushi on my way out of town on a business trip.
8. Rented our first home!
9. Planned and executed a wedding!
10. Married my soul mate, best friend, love of my life, the man I want to grow old with.
11. Had to put my bestest buddy Baloo to sleep. I'm sure he is in cat heaven now eating turkey and gravy and making sure Gus knows we'll treat him right.
12. Honeymooned on the west coast in wine country, BEST Decision! It was an awesome expereince :) I reccomend Homeaway.com to everyone.
13. My BFF Kelly asked me to be her Matron of Honor and I totally accecpted!!
14. Started volunteering at School on Wheels.
15. Adopted a new kitten who finally started sleeping through the night :D
16. Started taking pictures again.
17. Created some life long friendships.
18. Broke up with some people/places.
19. Working on realizing that today is what matters.
20. Despite ringing in the new year unemployed, I'm feeling very optimistic about all the opportunities it will hold for me. Cheers 2010, you were pretty damn good to me.

Well thats ADORABLE

Well thats Adorable!

Weight Training

This is a giant block of whatever is most difficult for you to carry & trust me on this, you'll carry it more times than you can count until you decide that's exactly what you want to do most & then it won't weigh a thing anymore.
- Story People

Important to Remember

Mandela's Way

I'm in the middle of reading Mandela's Way by Richard Stengal and it really gives a new perspective on things. It tells you about how Mandela was able to be the man he was and live by the high moral and ethical standards he did. Today I read a chapter: See the Good in Others and this stuck out to me...

"He believes that, just as pretending to be brave can lead to acts of real bravery, seeing good in other people improves the chances that they will reveal their better selves."
"He chooses to look past the negative. He does this for two reasons: because he instinctively sees the good in people and because he intellectually believes that seeing the good in others might actually make them better. If you expect more of people, whether they are coworkers or family members, they often contribute more. Or at least feel guilty if they do not. "

Stew on that.

The One

I don't know if I've said this before but I'm a HUGE scent person. I have a hard time repeating scents (perfume, candles, anything) because they always take me back to a certain time in my life. Good or bad, I still just want to keep moving forward.

Every year for Christmas I get a new perfume. This year I received Dolce and Gabbanna The One. This is some quality stuff. With 2010 perfume a few squirts would last me half the day, with this stuff, 1 squirt lasts almost ALL DAY. Quality product I tell you. Hope nothing bad happens this year or this strongly scented product could go bad really fast.

Caramel Beer Pretzel Recap

These turned out DE-LICIOUS!! A slight pain the in tush because I doubled the batch and had to individually wrap over 200 of them but all in all the taste made up for the monotonous work.

Next time I'll put the pretzels closer together.

Sorry about the low quality picture, apparently I couldn't hold my hand still enough to get a good shot.

3 HUGE Gladware containers and then we still took some down to the neighbors!

Set up a Surprise Party - 100 WTBL

Dusty turned the big 2-4 a few weeks ago! We had plans to go to a co-workers husbands birthday party so Dusty really didn't think we were going to do much more than go out to dinner. His sister came to town and we went shopping on Saturday. While we were shopping Dusty asked for some lotion (really?!) so I scrounged around in my purse looking for my lotion and I pulled a few things out and what falls out of my purse? The receipt from the lq store where I bought party supplies. Of course he's the one who spots it. He asked me a few times what it was for and all I could go was giggle and say it was from a long time ago. I'm pretty sure it was that instant that it was pretty much confirmed he was getting a surprise party.

We arrived he our friend Max's house around 10pm and when Dusty walked in, only Max was sitting on the couch. And then it happened, they played the same song they all had to dance to at our wedding and friends came out of all corners of the room yelling surprise. I even got a little teary eyed. It was way cool. I didn't expect anything too special for the unveiling but they did a great job. SURPRISE!!

We're lawyers!

Not our fireplace...

Clean Up Your House - 100 WTBL

When you move into a 750 sp ft apartment you have no choice but to assess what you own and what you really need. Before and while living in this apartment that is exactly what we did. There is absolutely no room for clutter, everything needs its place and there really is no place for anything. (Hurmph?)

We keep a pretty clean house and we are always reducing the amount of things we have. The longer we live together (a whole 3 months), the more we realize what we use and what can be taken to Goodwill. We've pawned a lot off on ol' GW.

We clean on a pretty regular every other week basis. If it's not me, it's Dusty freaking out because if the 750 sq ft (including the storage areas) is not pretty tidy, it starts to feel like 20 sq ft.

I'll have to say, having a clean house is definitely something that makes my life a whole lot better!!

Dashing through the snow!

Broad Ripple streets, I like how the flash captures the snow flakes :)

Snow ball fight!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

side note: not sure why dusty's face looks so discolored around his eyes.

Making These Tonight

A little Christmas treat for the families :)

Found here.

Holidays

Holidays don't stress me out. Going to the mall during this time stresses me out. HELLO, have you seen all those people? Shopping from the comfort of my couch and/or my cubicle is perfect! No lines, no people to bump into, no sales people getting in my face, just me and a little extra shipping fee.

To kick off the Holidays we went to my Grandma's house in Ohio last weekend to see my moms side of the family, all 50million of them. Well no, not really 50million at all it just seems that way. It's the best, most chaotic, most hilarious weekend of the year. We cram everything into a late late night on Friday, a LONG Saturday, and a brief encounter on Sunday morning before we make the 5 hour trek home. Everyone gets loud around the kitchen table, Papa gets mad and takes out the trash, everyone cleans up to make sure he doesn't get too mad and then we get loud again, maybe change rooms.

This week my bestest buddy Kelly is coming over for dinner and a little carmel beer pretzel making. We'll create and divide for a successful Christmas treat. Or atleast we hope it will be successful.

Dusty and I are celebrating our Chirstmas eve and Christmas day a day early. Going out for a nice dinner, enjoying some cocktails infront of the fireplace (we don't have one) and waking up in the morning to open our gifts.

And then the weekend Christmas extravaganza begins!!!

Perspective

I want to go to there.

How To Live in New York City

Move here when you’re 18 or 22, maybe even 24. Come from somewhere else-the north, south, west, Xanadu- and come to realize that everyone living in New York is a transplant. Even the ones who grew up on the Upper East Side end up moving into a place downtown, which, as you’ll soon discover, is like moving to a different city.

Discover the cruel and bizarre world of New York City real estate. End up spending an obscene amount of money on something called a broker’s fee, first and last month’s rent and a security deposit. Cry a little bit in the leasing office but remind yourself that you’re so happy to be here.
Picture hearing a man playing the saxophone outside your bedroom window. End up hearing a lot of sirens instead. Figure it’s okay because it’s New York and you’re still so happy to be here.
Go out to bars in the Lower East Side because the Internet told you so. Fall in love with a bar called, Max Fish, and always stay out till four in the morning. Eat a falafel and have someone pay for a cab back to your apartment. Watch the sun start to rise while going over the Williamsburg Bridge and feel like your life is becoming some kind of movie.

Eat bad pizza but trick yourself into believing it’s good because it’s made in New York. Do the same thing with bagels and sex.

Meet people who will be your best friends for three or four months. They’ll help you transition into city life and take you to weird bars in Murray Hill. It will be like the blind leading the blind but once you get a firm grasp on things, you can stop returning their phone calls.

Watch your life in New York go through phases. Spend a summer in Fort Greene with a lover and get to know the neighborhood and its rhythms. Once the fling ends, forget the blocks, parks and restaurants ever existed and don’t return unless you have to.

Encounter a lot of people crying in public. Watch an NYU student cry in Think Coffee, a business woman in midtown sob into her cellphone, an old man whimper on a stoop in Greenpoint. At first, it will feel very jarring but, like everything else, it will become normal. Have your first public cry in front of a Bank of America. Cry so hard and don’t care if people are watching you. You pay good money to be able to cry in public.

Work long hours at a thankless job. Always be one step away from financial destitution. Marvel at how expensive New York is, how when you walk out the door, $20.00 immediately gets deleted from your wallet. Understand that even though no one has any money, everyone is privileged to live in New York City.

Go home for the holidays and run into old friends from high school. When you tell them that you live in New York, watch their eyes widen. They’ll say, “Oh my god, New York? That’s so crazy. I’m so jealous!” Have a blasé attitude about it but deep down inside, know they have good reason to be jealous.

Go home and feel relieved to be away from the energy of the city, that punishing 4:00 a.m. last call. Spend the first two days eating and sleeping, getting back to normal. Spend the last two days feeling anxious and ready to get back to your real home. Realize this city has you by the balls and isn’t going to let you go.

Someday you might grow tired of it all though. You might start crying in public more often than you’d like, have a bad break-up and want to pack it all up.

Certain moments of living in the city will always stick out to you. Buying plums from a fruit vendor on 34th street and eating three of them on a long walk, the day you spent in bed with your best friend watching Tyra Banks, the amazing rooftop party you attended on a sweltering hot day in July. These memories might seem insignificant but they were all moments when you looked around the city and felt like you were a part of it all.

When you leave the city, you probably won’t come back. Eventually your life in New York will seem so far away and sometimes you’ll even wonder if it really happened. Don’t worry. It did.

BTW...

I think he's happy we're home.

Get a Pet - 100 WTBL

Yes, yes I did get a pet. Sometimes it makes my life better and sometimes it wakes me up and 3am pouncing on my feet, leg, arms, if I move in bed.

Don't let that innocent face fool you...

Gus w/ Amber. He's a really good snuggler!

Funny, he actually liked the snow. BUT he also thinks when we squirt him with a water bottle that it's a game.

Oh Gus, we love you. We just hope you chill out when you get your ball chopped off. Please.

Help Others - 100 WTBL

Helping others is something I've had a passion for since I was really young. I wanted to be a teacher and help people learn, I didn't always show this to my little brother and our friends in the most loving way, but I like helping people.

I remember when I was in middle school my mom adopted grandparents from church for our family. We would go visit a few times a week, take food, fix things around the house, clean, but mostly just visit. They were shut in their house for the most part. Marge and Cleo. I think we really got to know them when my older brother interviewed them for a project. It was fun going over there, it really was like having grandparents right down the street. Side note: Our grandparents are in Ohio and Florida.

Last year I adopted a family from United Way for our group of friends to supply clothes, gifts, and necessities for. It went over smashingly, even Dusty's guy friends got involved. We had all the things we needed and everyone contributed. Dropping off those gifts was the most amazing feeling ever.

THIS YEAR: we adopted two families! Once again a family the group of friends. For some reason it was harder this year. I don't know if people aren't in the spirit, is it the weather, location, I don't know. But the first family was taken care of and in the end, they got the Hook Up!

The second family I adopted with hopes of getting enough money from GPO to supply everything the family of 4 needed. With a little help from GPO, my family, Dusty's sister, and us, this family also has a pretty great set up.

Each family requests a few outfits, a coat, shoes, and 2-3 gifts they want. We try and go above that. We fill up the pantry, get them 3 outfits, hats, gloves, socks, toothpaste, toothbrush, soap, dish soap, all in reusable shopping bags and laundry baskets.

It's fun. We enjoy it. And, if giving a few gifts to these families means I have to cut back a little on my holiday spending so be it. I am abundantly blessed by everyone and everything in my life so I say, "Share the love".

Plenty to do

These past couple of days we've had PLENTY to do...

• Pulling together a surprise party for Dusty, gin and miller highlife for all (haha)
• Hosting the wonderful Ms. Amber Frey. We really enjoyed having her, however, we didn't get much sleep bc she was in the living room which is where we usually toss the kitten in the morning. By 6am we were all awake and having a little pow wow in the living room. Don't worry, we all took a nap that day.
• I went to Keystone mall twice. I don't like it there by the Frey's love it so we went, twice.
• Dusty and I recieved an early Christmas gift, a awesomely cool yellow lamp from Amber. Pretty freakin cool.
• Tree sitings down town. Amber and I were able to meet Santa, he drove a Harley, I asked him for a new job.
• I beat Dusty at scrabble (HUGE)
• We all tried Parcha's Sweets cupcakes because I picked them up for another surprise party we were attending Satruday night.
• Dusty's surprise was a success until he saw the lq reciept fall out of my purse. "There better have been something going on for you to spend that much money. I was going to sit you down and talk about this." hahah SURPRISE!
• Gary and Sandy came to town the Sunday after the party. Woof. It was much better than anticipate. No one was too hung over.
• Lunch at the Ripple Bagel shop (YUM)
• I forgot to mention, the first surprise party had a taco bar (YUM YUM)
• We crashed on Sunday at like 8:30pm.
• Monday we had a family trip to the dentist. Dusty's good to go. I'm going back Friday for some "preventative work". (7:30am GOOD MORNING)
• Monday night = Mini wrapping PARTY
• Tuesday has bake-a-palooooooza. Spaghetti squash (SCORE), Cinnamon Coffee Crumb Cake (the ladies at work liked it better than Panera), and tuna salad which I haven't tried yet but I am pretty good at, not to toot my own horn or anything.
• Wednesday we went shopping for our 2nd United Way Christmas family. Exhausting! We got home around 9 and luckily my bro and his gf helped us speed wrap some gifts but we were still up til almost 1 (WAAAAAAAAY past my bed time) wrapping gifts.

Now today, we are totally organized, all gifts wrapped, labeled, and in laundry baskets, food in reusable shopping bags, and address in GPS. We deliver, finish laundry, and crash.

Couldn't have said it better...

“What is family? They were the people who claimed you. In good, in bad, in parts or in whole, they were the ones who showed up, who stayed in there, regardless. It wasn’t just about blood relations or shared chromosomes, but something wider, bigger. We had many families over time. Our family of origin, the family we created, and the groups you moved through while all of this was happening: friends, lovers, sometimes even strangers. None of them perfect, and we couldn’t expect them to be. You can’t make any one person your world. The trick was to take what each could give you and build your world from it.” - JustbeSplendid

Sharing is Caring

This was the very last song played at our wedding. One word: AMAZING. Imagine all the people you love and care about most in the world, dancing around like [organized] maniacs because they love you just as much back.

Dusty and I had no idea what was going on except singing and dancing together for those 5 minutes and 8 seconds. Our friends and family had created a dancing circle around us that I saw once we got the pictures. It was amazing. It was my favorite moment from our wedding (except saying I do). So much joy, excitement, and most importantly love went into this last song. It was the most wonderful emotional high to feel everyone's love.

Day Ten: One confession

I sometimes say "Oh I know." when really I have no idea.

LOLosaur

Day Nine: Two smileys that describe your life right now.

:D

;/

Quite opposites really. I'm feeling a little teeter tottery today. Killer headache. AND I have to travel out in the cold again and again and again today. Ughh...

BUT we are going to the Yuletide Celebration tonight downtown as one of my 'and again's. My lovely co-worker bought Dusty and I tickets as a little 'thank you'.

Stay warm Indianapolis.

Day Eight: Three turn ons.

1. Scent. I love good smelling people.
2. Sense of humor!!!
3. Story telling ability. If you can keep my attention and tell a good story, I'll melt.

100 WTBL Start a Blog

Well howdy doody I started a blog a while ago, lets check that off the list.

I started this blog as a way to keep track of what I am doing. I really wasn't sure who my audience would be. I actually think when I first started I didn't tell anyone about it. Eventually I became brave and linked to it on my facebook and now my twitter so who knows who is reading it.

I like to look back and see what I said while I was in college, those last 2 years were quite the adventure. I like to see my progression into working full time, getting married, living with Dusty, getting a new family (the Frey's). I have to say it's been a lot of fun.

I don't know if my story telling has gotten any better or my writing any better. I like telling the stories, sharing the pictures. I'm sure one day when we start a family I will write about that. Now THAT will be fun to look back at.

Reflect on your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes of which all men have some. - Charles Dickens

Day Seven: Four turn offs

1. Can't take a joke
2. 1 day old facial hair (its too scratchy)
3. "better than you" attitudes
4. guys wearing clothes that are obviously too big and I guess that could go for clothes that are obviously too small too

Day Six: Five People Who Mean A Lot To You

In no paticular order:

1. Dusty


2. Parents (blood and marriage)


3. Siblings (including Amber!)


4. Nicole and Brenda


5. My 6 dearest friends (bridesmaids)

I know, I know, I kind of cheated on this one.

Day Five: Six Things You Wish You'd Never Done

Well this should be fun...

1. Think I didn't deserve or couldn't find better
2. Pigged out all Thanksgiving weekend
3. Blurt out innapropriate things in unforgiving crowds
4. Cried in front of my boss
5. Drank sour milk
6. Take red wine to a Jersey Shore party

Uncle Frank

She's making a list

...and checking it twice.

I've completed 7 things from the 100 ways to a better life and plan on sharing with you very soon.

Christmas Time is Here!...FINALLY

We finally started decorating for Christmas! We bought my first real Christmas tree on Monday, realized all of our Christmas supplies are still at my parents and simply enjoyed the wonderful smell until Thursday. My parent came up yesterday and brought our decorations, well most of them. With out further ado, here is out tree!

The bulbs.

The finished product!

The process...


"Quit taking pictures and help!"



Our boldly colored bulbs.

Note: I know our tree isn't full of decorations but it's the first one. We've got plenty of years to collect ornaments and a good star for the top. Don't want to buy too many "typical" things. :)

Day Four: 7 Things that cross you mind

1. Should we move to New York?
2. Am I going to fall down these stairs in the winter?
3. Does Gus (kitten) hate us for being such lazy parents?
4. Is it time to go home yet?
5. I will work out tonight.
6. My family (and then I text or call them)
7. My friends (and then I text or call them)

Florence + The Machines

A big "thank you" to the little kid dancing video that introduced me to this song. And now I can't stop thinking about it, tapping my foot, and looking up lyrics so I can one day sing along. I also immediately asked Dusty to get me this album to put on my ipod. Enjoy.

Day 3: Eight Ways to Win Your Heart

1. SURPRISES
2. Honesty
3. Compassion
4. Hugs
5. Laughter
6. Ice Cream
7. Steak
8. Back scratch

Day Two: 9 Things About Yourself

1. I hate listening to people eat cereal, chips, ice
2. I drink milk with every meal (almost)
3. I don't wear socks or stockings with dress shoes and my shoes stink
4. I have no desire to own a smart phone
5. I'm loyal
6. I'm becoming a minimalist and I like it
7. Fruit on the Bottom yogurt creeps me out
8. I wasted $2 on two pomegranites. I think they are a stupid fruit. I don't get all the commotion.
9. I put creamer in my to-go coffee mug and then get coffee from work