The facebook post that finally got me.

Today was a horrible rotten no-good day.  It was one of those days that I felt everything was unfair and no matter how hard I tried to be the BEST support to the office, they kept sending me in circles.   While one co-worker pulled me in one direction, three others pulled me in the opposite direction.  Then everyone would change thier minds and tell me to do something else.  I was doing the best I could, and juggling 5 tasks at a time, but I just couldn't win.  I found myself snapping at my bosses and blurting out comments that were COMPLETELY unlike me, especially in the office.  I even texted one of my bosses after work to apologize.  I was so caught up in the movement and the hurry and the bustle and the visitors and the general stress, I just couldn't relax.  But there was one facebook post that reminded me to look beyond myself.  I don't think it is THAT much better the rest of the statuses, but it hit me at the right time:

$34,000 a year puts you in the top 1% of wealthiest people in the world. $16,000 makes you middle class. The poorest Americans, are better off than 2/3rds of the world's population.

I am so lucky for everything that I have and have been given.  There's nothing that I need or have ever needed.  I have no reason to be unhappy or think things are unfair.  While sometimes it is necessary to be in the here and now, sometimes you need to step outside of it and think beyond yourself and your life.  The key is to know when to be here and when to step outside.?  

YAY! A New Year!

Happy New Years!

I decided to ring in the new year a little differently this year...more like an old person would.  I spent the evening eating half a pint of butter pecan custard from Kopps and reading.  The butter pecan custard was the only readily available indulgence on a whim that would really make me feel like I was "living it up!"  I didn't even last until midnight and when I happened to wake up before 7 am, I figured I would greet the new year by watching a beautiful sunrise over lake Michigan.  I got dressed and headed out to get an early start on the new year.

....And 2012 welcomed me with coldness, snow, clouds, and awful, crappy weather.  Plan B: Caramel Creme Brulee from Starbucks.  At least I tried!

 Starbucks in hand, I headed down to Bradford Beach and my disappointment quickly wore off. I stood in the cold and wind and watched the waves.  There's something about the sound of the waves and lake that is always beautiful and calming no matter what.....

These are the first of the Polar Bears gathering to take the sub-freezing New Years day Plunge into Lake Michigan.  It was about 8 am when I took this picture.  The plunge is normally closer to 11/Noon.  They had a bonfire going and beers in hand.......

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A surfer was already out there and surfing when I arrived.

That being said, I am excited for a New Year.....new adventures, more things to learn and see and do.  What will this year bring????  Hopefully more happiness love and growth.  I have tons of wishes and goals, hopefully you will read about them in my blog during the year as they unfold.

I wish a Happy New Year to everyone.  Good Luck throughout 2012... may you find fullfillment in all that you do.  I am blessed with a great family and so many wonderful friends.

A quick peek at Christmas.

Christmas was great and I'm sure that everyone can agree it came and left in a whirl, a much too fast whirl.  Greg was in town for a couple of days and it was a Christmas marathon to catch up for lost time.  Our agenda included a holiday lights limo tour of Milwaukee and Candy Cane Lane then family, family, family. Unfortunately, Wisconsin did not see any snow. 

For Christmas Greg got me googletv.  LIFECHANGING. I've had this 42" tv sitting in my apartment doing absolutely nothing for the past month plus.....NOW I have Netflix, the internet, you tube, and tons of other features on it.... like a fake fireplace. 

....Endless hours of mindless televison or midful television also.  To relieve some of the guilt - I have been watching lots of series about US History.......... other than that Youtube plays a lot of background music that keeps me from getting too lonely.  Right now I am listening/watching Ani DiFranco whilst writing.

Not to be unfair to all the other wonderful gifts I got...... Toilet paper, papertowels and Windex from my parents!  My dad is always such a jokester.   Aside from that I got a nice big clock, lots of nice work clothes, giftcards, a mug for camping, DVDs etc.

And now that its 2pm, I should probably get off the couch........

The most wonderful time of the Year

Listening to Christmas music and Waiting for Greg's Plane to get in.... I am sooo ready.  I've had my work holiday party, two ugly Christmas Sweater parties, drunk lots of egg nog, fattened up from office treats, and all my presents are under the tree.  Today felt like an eternity at work and I'm sure tomorrow is going to be just as bad, or worse.  Bring it on Baby Jesus!

Gobble Gobble!

Thanksgiving.  What an awesome Holiday.  Since my return from Spain I feel like my life has gotten progressively faster every day.  Now, in the full swing of things it sometimes feels like I live an organized chaos with the never ending goal of running from one task to the next without missing a beat, neglecting anyone, or falling short on the many necessary initiatives to make my life better.  I can't decide if I thrive on the hussle or it simply exhuasts my life and time.... either way on Thanksgiving this is all put aside. 

Thanksgiving day I spent over an hour setting the table so that everything was just so and took the time to finally put something in the oven and hang out with my mom.  It felt so good to go home for a few days and put aside every obligation (except my laundry).  I skipped my work out at the gym, put on that dress I've been waiting to wear, drank an extra glass of wine, played video games with my brothers and caught up with Mark until 3am.

We had 2 turkeys. My dad makes his on the grill and my mom's is done in the oven. My favorite new recipe was sweet potatoes. I love sweet potatoes, but have never ventured to do anything with them. It was really simple: We baked them in the oven. Ran them under cold water, peeled, and cut them. Poured apple cider over them and put them in the fridge to be reheated the next day.

 

Lately Mark has been experimenting with different facial hair styles.  This new and controversial style was inspired by Mike Collins in the 70's.  Creepy or not? hmmmmm

It was great to have Grandpa and Sweetie with us on Thanksgiving.  As winter migrators they are normally in Florida by November, but with thier trip delayed they came to add to the numbers.

Our little princess: 2 going on... 21?  (j/k of course, its grape juice)  Besides, if you ask her, she is still a baby.  My favorite quote from the day was when I asked her if the 'chipmunk in her belly' ate nuts and she replied that it ate dough-nuts.  Her and Pete love word play.

I love that we always have more pies than we can handle and I know that I will be having pie and coffee for breakfast for the next week straight.....It counts as a serving of fruit. or two if you have two pieces.

According to my blog, I officially have the cutest godson in the world:
















They finally got the whole hug-tackle thing down.  They have gotten used to the inevitable tumble and now dont  scream or cry or anything, although it does take a little bit for them to figure out how to get up from it.

  

Holidays are great.  I leave you with some trivia:    In 1827, Mrs. Sarah Joseph Hale began lobbying several Presidents for the proclamation of Thanksgiving as a national holiday. It didn't see success until 1863 when Abraham Lincoln finally made it a national holiday with his 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation.    (Prior to this other presidents made one-time Thanksgiving holidays)

Sigh

I've been hiding this for weeks now... not only am I completely devasted and embarrassed, but also slightly/severely in denial.  My coffee plant has died.  I thought it was the perfect decoration for some new shelves I put up, but the little bugger didnt quite think so and when I went to check on him last week he was completely dead.  All cruchy and what not.  I figured the solution was water, lots of water.  I spent five straight days drenching his dirt in water to no avail. 

I took him for granted and it was too late to make ammends.  My poor plant, gone.  My first thought was "I'm going to redeem myself.  I will grow a plant from scratch, from a seed.  I will plant, water, and care for it until it is big strong and green!"  But, when I told my friend Victoria about the incident.  She replied in a text..."There's always some nice felt plants out there... crisp ones that look real and never die."  I was a little hurt by her comment, but a voice in the back of my head squeked out...Maybe she is right.  Maybe I am not cut out for this whole live plant thing.  I tried to make a good life in my home for the three of them, but somehow one slipped between the cracks and DIED.  I have some serious thinking to do before I replace my poor dead plant.

November Already?

Fall flew by.  I kept busy with a couple 'before the cold' climbing trips, the half-marathon, and last weekend I went down to Georgia/Florida again to visit Greg for his graduation.  He graduated from the first part of his training program.

With the dark cold winter lurking in, it was my last chance to see the sun.  Sunday I was at a bar on the beach with Greg, the sun, a pina colada, and better, fresher shrimp than I will ever find in Wisconsin.  I said goodbye to all of them for a while.

I flew into Jacksonville and we headed down towards Orlando, stopping at Daytona Beach for a quick peak of the ocean.  The coolest thing about Daytona Beach is that you can drive your car on the beach.  It was pretty cold so we didnt do much there except introduce his Jeep to the beach and snap a few pictures.

I attribute my beach obssession to the summer I spent on the beach in southern Spain when I was an aupair.  I also recently decided that was the best vacation of my life.

To celebrate Greg's graduation we decided to treat ourselves to a fun day at Universal Studios in Orlando.  I wasn't sure what to expect, not quite sure it was an age appropriate activity- I am 28 years old now.... but I am still a big kid. I loved the rides.  I loved the characters and walking around with a giant ice cream cone.  The weather was perfect.  Not too hot for Greg and not too cold for me.

 

Greg gave me the 411 on all the marvel characters.  It was one of his favorite areas. 

   

We were surprised to find that Greg is not a very popular name anymore.  The spider man cup options went straight from Grant to Gustavo.  Apparently Gustavo must be one of those new trendy names.

Dr. Suess land. ------------->

The largest rollercoaster.......

One of the highlights was the Jaws ride!  We walked through most of the areas and saw the new Harry Potter park, but it was packed like sardines and we left as soon as we could turn around.  Even the line for butter beer was at least 30 minutes.... I'm relying on my brother Mark to make me one this weekend.......................