Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Thanksgiving 2011

Last year I made a point of making a list of everything I was thankful for. It is a nice little reminder for times when I start to feel sorry for myself {do all girls do that?} but this year I am just thankful. I didn't make a list, I am thankful just for having the opportunity to be a wife, sister, daughter, aunt, friend, employee and student. I am thankful that I understand that not every single day is going to be a good day. I am thankful that I have trials and tribulations so that I can truly appreciate the blessings in my life. 


We spent Thanksgiving in a small farming town in western Kansas. This will probably be the last Thanksgiving we spend at my Grandparents house because of their health, so this year was extra special. 


 Please note Grandpa's turkey-hat!!
 I guarantee this will be my parent's Christmas card this year.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Get 'em while they're hot

Last year my fake BFF Emily from Jones Design Company {meaning I stalk her life via her blog and she doesn't know who I am} posted some printable gift tags on her website. I used them on all of my gifts and they looked really great. This year she has posted a few more colors - and they are still all free to download and use!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Sparkles!!

I'd completed nearly all of my holiday shopping and then THIS opened in my city. Oh dear. Bad news for my checkbook!

Friday, November 18, 2011

It's beginning....

Let the holiday madness begin! When JJ came home from his month-long business trip I was so excited that I begged him to put up our Christmas tree. Last year we didn't get to decorate for Christmas because we were packing up our life and moving to Kansas City. So this year our apartment looks like Christmas on steroids.....and it's not even Thanksgiving yet.

I am really looking forward to some family time and some R&R next week. My lovely cousin is flying in from New York City and we're road tripping to my grandparent's house in western Kansas.

Until then, I am going to spend the weekend catching up on all of the homework that I've been neglecting since work got so busy {remind me again why I started graduate school??} and hopefully do lots of snuggling in my bed with mugs of home-made apple cider that one of my classmates gave me.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Groupon is mocking me

I've gotten in a terrible habit of buying Groupons for restaurants that I've been wanting to try and then never printing/using them. I keep getting emails from Groupon informing me of something to the extent of:

"What's for dinner tonight? You are aware that you have 7 Groupons waiting in the wings for you to use, correct?"

I'm pretty sure Groupon is mocking me.

We did recently try Garozzo's near the City Market in downtown Kansas City. Some friends at work had been talking about the magical pasta that is served here....and I only have to hear magical pasta once for me to need to try it. We waited nearly two hours for a table and spent another two hours soaking up every last drop with left over pieces of bread. Truly the work of a pasta magician.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Proud of myself

Today instead of stalking an old friend on facebook I called her on the telephone. That deserves a chocolate muffin!!

Perspective


My husband has been traveling for the past 3 weeks crunching numbers and doing other things that accountants do. Sometimes I'm ok being alone {mostly since I work full time and go to graduate school full time so I don't have any time to be lonely} but sometimes it is really hard. Last night was one of those nights. I laid in bed thinking it was too quiet. His side of the bed felt too cold. It is hard to sleep on those nights.

Being the wife of someone who travels constantly for their job is hard. You get into patterns at home to accustom yourself to being alone, and then you have to integrate your spouse into the routines when they come home. I shouldn't complain since I have a dear friend who has already had her husband deployed two times overseas in the one year they have been married. She has to worry about his safety. I respect her so much, and anytime I begin to feel sorry for myself about this season of our lives, I think of her and it puts me into perspective.

I spent a lot of time yesterday taking virtual tours of houses for sale on the internet. I even drove by one to assess the neighborhood and it was coincidentally having an open house so I got to give myself a real-life tour as well. But my "perspective" is telling me that I need to be comfortable with the right now instead of lusting over the next phase of our lives.