Friday, November 30, 2007

Simple Pleasures: Friendship

Last night I had the opportunity to get together with some great friends to share some laughter, conversation, good food, and fun times. During the course of the evening, I was reminded of a few great life lessons, including:

  • Don't let your job or career define you. There is more to life than what you do to earn your paycheck.


  • Laughter really is the best medicine. When you're tired and worn down by the little things in life, spending time laughing with friends can really turn your world around.


  • It doesn't matter if you get funny looks from one or two other tables in the restaurant as long as you're still with good friends and having good clean fun.


  • Our famous parking lot post-event conversations are a lot shorter when it's literally freezing outside. (I think I'm okay with this life lesson!)


  • You shouldn't underestimate the value of friendship. A good friend will be able to pick up conversation with you after not seeing you for weeks or months, as friendship will stand the tests of time.


I'm so grateful for good food, good friends, and good fun. It's good for the soul. (That's a lot of good!) :-)

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Accents

What kind of accent do you speak with? Apparently, I'm a neutral American speaker...
What American accent do you have? (Best version so far)

Neutral

You're not Northern, Southern, or Western, you're just plain -American-. Your national identity is more important than your local identity, because you don't really have a local identity. You might be from the region in that map, which is defined by this kind of accent, but you could easily not be. Or maybe you just moved around a lot growing up.

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Hustle & Bustle

So, the holidays are here. I've got my iPod hooked up playing my massive Christmas music collection in my office (who knew that a girl could own so many holiday CDs!), and the air has a crisp chill to it. Downtown streets are overflowing with holiday shoppers (and browsers), the Macy's star is lit up (I love that tradition!), and there are lights everywhere you look. Does it get any better than this? I think not!

I'm very excited to report that I finally have a replacement Rodney Reindeer for my Hallmark collection... he's back friends, and now available at your local Hallmark shop. My two (why do I have two?!) female reindeer will no longer be lonely. Yay!

Bring on the holiday cheer!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

100th Post: Thankfulness

So, I’ve been thinking for a little bit about what to write in my 100th post, and have decided to stop dawdling and just post it. To mark this momentous occasion, and since it’s the day before Thanksgiving here in the US, I thought that I would pay tribute to the things that I’m thankful for:

First and foremost, I’m thankful for my husband. I couldn’t have asked for a better man in my life, and I’m thankful for every moment that we get to spend together (even when sometimes I’m acting like a poopyhead and I don’t actually show my gratefulness well…)

Family. I come from a great family, full of laughter, love, joy, and inspiration. Thank you. Last weekend, I had the opportunity to hang out with my oldest nephew, and I have to say, he’s quite the young man. It was cool to get to spend time with him, and appreciate how he has grown up. I don’t often get to take time out to get to know my family better, and I’m very thankful that I have had multiple opportunities this year to connect with my family.

Friends. I have some of the coolest friends around -- people that you should really get to know. They know how to make me laugh, think, and change the world all in their own ways.

Faith. I believe in a God of love, who provides for me, walks with me, watches over me, and loves me regardless of what happens in life. I couldn’t do it day in and day out if I didn’t have God by my side.

Grace. I am a broken person who is far from perfect. But God, my friends, my family, and others around me continually show me grace and forgive me for being human. What a wonderful gift!

Health. A few weeks ago, I went to the doctor for my annual check-up. Got a clean bill of health, for the most part, and I am constantly reminded of how blessed I am to have my health. Sure, I should be working on fixing up my temple, but I’m grateful for the good health that I have today.

Paychecks. I’m really grateful for my paycheck, and for the opportunities before me. I don’t always express my thankfulness for this tribute that can often be taken for granted, but I realize that I couldn’t live how I do without my paycheck.

Food, clothing, shelter. Everyday, I walk by people who don’t have their basic needs met… they’re sleeping in doorways, shivering night and day, and begging for scraps of food or spare change. I’m lucky: I don’t have these issues, and my biggest problem is deciding whether or not I want the tall or grande mocha or whether I will catch the “early” bus in the afternoon. When you put it in that kind of perspective, it makes you grateful for event the littlest things, doesn’t it?

There are so many other things, big and small, that I am thankful for, and I could go on for pages and pages about all of the great things in life. But I want to know: what are you thankful for this holiday season?

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I love the start of Christmas season. The air is crisp (and sometimes downright cold), the leaves are all changing in the trees, and the holiday lights and decor is going up around the town. Yesterday, I was preparing to cross the street from the bus tunnel, and I noticed the finer details on Santa's headquarters at Nordstrom -- including fake snow on the eaves of the temporary sidewalk HQ. I love it! And today, oh today, I noticed that the Nutcrackers have invaded the downtown sidewalks.... I love it! (Check out the Nutcrackers online.)

One week left until I get to put the tree up and trim the house festively! Yippeee! Time seems to have gotten away from me (where did this year go?), but I'm excited about the start of the holiday season. Bring it on!

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Weekend Wanderings

Early this weekend, Lennie and I outlined a plan of action, including items like paint the bathrooms, do laundry, get new cell phones, finish our wedding album order, try a new church event, and go to the gym. I'm pleased to report that we have completed most of these tasks... we just didn't make it to the gym, big surprise. I'm exhausted as I type this, but I'm pleased that we we got as much accomplished this weekend as we had set out to do.

I "heart" Costco. Earlier this week, we stopped by the T-Mobile store in search of our new cell phones. After an unsuccessful high pressure sales incident, we left without any new phones to "think about" our options. We both fell in love with the new Blackberry Pearl phones, and decided to purchase them this weekend for the sale price of $149 each at the T-Mobile store. On a lark, we stopped at Costco just before going back to the T-Mobile store. It's a good thing that we did, too! Membership truly has it's priviledges with Costco, as we purchased the identical T-Mobile phones for $30 each, plus our activation fees were waived and we were able to sign up for our two-year plans on the spot. In total, I think that Costco saved us $300 this weekend on our new cell phones. Costco, I love you!

Perhaps on another post, I'll tell you why November 14th will be my last day with Sprint. I'm still too angry with them today to even vent about it on my blog right now... argh! Darn lack of customer service!

All in all, it was a pretty good weekend. The bathrooms need another coat of paint, but that was to be expected. They look really good though, if I do say so myself!

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Staple, Staple, Staple!

Okay, so I'm really not a fan of Jack in the Box. In fact, I haven't eaten at a Jack in the Box willingly since the Seattle-area e coli outbreak nearly 15 years ago. That's half my lifetime, friends, so as you can see, I'm not a fan.

However, lately their marketing has permeated my brain. As I was stapling a document at work yesterday, I found myself thinking "Staple! Staple! Staple!" (Get out of my brain, Jack! Get out!) Just like the cheerleader in the commercial. So, I must share this great work of marketing magic with all of you:



"Copy, copy, copy...." oy vey!

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Where Has the Time Gone?

Well, we set our clocks back this weekend, and I feel like time has just been whizzing by me. Autumn is definitely here, the air is crisp, the leaves on the trees have turned into beautiful shades of yellow, orange, and red. I love and hate this time of year all at the same time. I love it because things are changing, and something new is ahead of us. However, gone are the days of walking out of the house in a t-shirt and jeans, and the scarves are starting to get pulled out of the closet. What fun: welcome autumn and winter!

I was at my all-time favorite store, Target, the other day and I took a stroll through the Christmas section. Unlike usual, I was very excited to be walking through the aisles of holiday schwag. Christmas is right around the corner, and I can't wait to break into our holiday supplies and put the Christmas tree... it's taking everything I have to not put it up before Thanksgiving. After all, it is against some sort of rule to have your Christmas tree up before Thanksgiving dinner, right? Heh... I may have to test that rule this year!