2014

[photo I took the afternoon we chopped our Christmas tree down... over 2 months ago?!]


Well, hello! It’s been quite some time. Here’s what we’ve been up to since last time around…

- I traveled to Massachusetts for Thanksgiving. Will ended up having to work unfortunately, 
but he was kind enough to still send me on our planned trip, and I had a wonderful time.
- We hosted my brother and sister-in-law from San Diego for a few days here in PA, 
and they joined us for the aforementioned tree-chopping.
- I had nine days off around Christmas and we didn't travel anywhere. It was so amazing and lazy. 
It consisted of lots of things around the house, sleeping in, and 7 full seasons of How I Met Your Mother. Judge away!
- We had a super relaxing Christmas day.
- Climbed some rocks.
- We visited some dear friends from our church in MA who have recently moved to State College, PA. So good to see them!

It seemed like I was barely getting my hands around 2013 and it slipped away. We were just reminiscing about where we went for dinner last Valentine’s Day and the memory is so clear. Could that honestly have been a year ago? How does this happen? I had so many hopes about what I wanted 2013 to look like, and before I knew it, I was stuck in a routine that I couldn’t get out of: work, home, dinner, TV show, bed. Sure, we occasionally strayed from this formula, but more often than not we were stuck in it. I hate that.

After looking back and feeling a bit dismayed about what 2013 became for us, I came across of list of forty things (ambitious, I know) that I wanted to accomplish last year. And you know what? I actually did twenty of them! Maybe one needs to make an unreasonably long list so that when one only accomplishes half, it’s still twenty things completed! Probably not the best advice for the everyday list, but for a barely-addressed-year-long-to-do-list? Why not.

Some of them were bigger feats than others: pay off vehicles, boost up savings account, start planning a trip. But it’s nice to even acknowledge the small things: buy a new bath mat, hem some curtains, paint some furniture. After analyzing the twenty things that we did accomplish, I realized 2013 was a year of slow and steady progress, moving ourselves in the direction we want to go. Did we do anything incredible that friends and family should know about? Not really - particularly noticed when I was scrounging for Christmas card material. But we did steadily propel ourselves toward the next chapter of our lives, and that is not a wasted year. 

One goal that I’m particularly proud of achieving last year was to read more fiction. In early January, I made an account on Goodreads, compiled my lists of books, set a goal, and read 15 books last year! That's a big deal for me! Granted - not all were fiction, but like I said - baby steps in the right direction. Now, I’ve developed reading as more of a life habit and continuously have a book out from the library. The even babier-baby-step that got me here was when I decided to just read for 15 minutes every night before bed. That practice helped me to just be in a book, and then more regular reading came from that. 

I came across this list of questions to reflect on the past year, and I’m considering pondering over them (sorry - can’t remember where I found them!). I emboldened the ones that strike me most.

1. Where in my life do I feel stuck?

2. What am I most proud of in this last year?

3. Am I passionate about my job, or career?

4. What have I learned this year?

5. What have I been an example of?

6. How have I been open minded?

7. What new experiences, people or places did I experience?

8. How did I express myself creatively?

9. What projects did I start? Did I complete them, or procrastinate?

10. Did I get in my own way and make excuses?

11. In what ways can I restructure my time?

12. How have I been a good and supportive friend/spouse?

13. Have I been unfair to anyone?

14. Who do I need to forgive in order to move forward?

15. What (or who) do I need to let go of?

16. What old habits am I ready to get rid of forever?

17. What habits would I like to integrate into my life?

18. Am I healthy in mind, body and spirit?

19. What do my finances say about my life?

20. Am I spending my free time in healthy and productive ways?

What do you think of these questions? Do you spend time intentionally analyzing the past year? 

If you do, I'd love to hear how. I hope 2014 is starting off on the right foot for you all! :)

lobsters

A perfect Valentine's Day card from Sugar Paper that I should stock up on:

Don't understand it? Get in the know here.

Even though my hubby is obviously my Valentine, I'd send this card to my best friend, just because :) 

We've been using Phoebe's wisdom to describe our friendship for years.

a very warm halloween

We celebrated Halloween early this year with a Fall Family Festival in Santa Barbara at Landon's church last Saturday. Will may kill me for posting this, but here we are: geriatric Superman and pumpkin pie. 

Today we're going to tour the Midway aircraft carrier (a naval aviation museum) and explore Seaport Village. Some good ol' touristy fun.

Enjoy your candy everyone :)

Green Up for Earth Week: No. 3

This Earth Day post is coming a little late because Sunday was a day of sloth and recovery (and because this post is quite extensive, as you'll soon see). And by that I mean it was spent catching up on sleep, stretching out sore muscles, cleaning the house, reading good books, listening to a sermon, starting a movie, eating Chinese food, and enjoying some much needed Sabbath rest. Mmmm, now that's a good Earth Day.

Saturday was the real Earth Day celebration. We embarked with five friends to the summit of Mount Washington. Oh, Mount Washington. Their tagline is, "Home of the World's Worst Weather." Sounds inviting, huh? Actually, it sounds a tad dramatic, but it's really scary - the highest recorded windspeed on Earth was at Mount Washington, clocked in at 231 mph. Let's just say I'm glad I wasn't around for that.

We had hopes of hiking the Tuckerman's Ravine trail to the summit, but were instructed otherwise when we reached the cabin at the base. So we turned around about a half mile and hiked Lion's Head instead. At Lion's Head less than 1 mile from the summit, we decided that the ominous clouds emerging over the peak weren't very welcoming, especially as the wind picked up. From there, we watched the crazies ski Tuck's and hiked back down to escape the rain.

Tuckerman's Ravine [source]

It was tough to be so close to the summit and decide to turn around, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Mount Washington isn't going anywhere. But it made for a loooong day and some sore bodies. From when we left the house in the morning until we returned? 18 hours, with a stop for dinner. Long, long day. But, we were out enjoying nature!

This final installment of my Earth Week mini-series is one that I'll have a tough time writing about. A few months ago, I learned about something that made my stomach churn.

[via Be Green]

[via Honolulu Magazine]

[via Quest Garden]

Ever heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? Yeah, I hadn't either. 

But it's considered to be the world's largest landfill.

How this doesn't get more media attention is astounding to me. In the North Pacific Ocean, tidal currents from the shores of Asia, Australia and North and South America have literally created a vortex or whirlpool, which draws in marine debris and trash from all sides, creating a massive island of garbage that is roughly* more than twice the size of Texas. But where is it actually located? Althought it stretches all the way to Japan, a major convergence zone is in the ocean between California and Hawaii.

[via Ocean Conservancy]

What?! Why isn't this talked about all the time? Sure, it's talked about by scientific researchers and marine biologists, but this needs to become more common knowledge to the general public. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is made possible by the North Pacific gyre (gyre: noun - spiral, vortex; circular pattern of ocean currents) which is the flow of currents off the coast of four continents. Even though it's not near every continent, it is the whole world's problem. All of the currents eventually flow together, so no, this is not America and Asia's fault.

And it's not about avoiding throwing trash into the ocean or doing more beach clean-ups (although that's obviously important!) - 80% of the trash found originated on land (L.A. Times 2006).

[via NOAA]

Not only is this a problem because it's the most vile thing one could ever conceive, it's absolutely devastating to the oceanic ecosystems. Because of the sludge of plastic and chemicals, bits of plastic now outnumber zooplankton 6 to 1. Zooplankton play a vital role in the food chain of sea life, and now larger animals are getting the zooplankton confused with plastic. And the animals that eat those animals will also be eating that same plastic, and they'll be getting caught in the larger debris. Since plastic isn't biodegradable, it won't ever really go away completely. It will just get smaller and smaller, which means more confusing for the animals and harder for us to capture and clean. (greenfudge.org) Take a look at this sample...

[via The Telegraph]

That's what our sea friends are living in, drinking, and eating.

The saddest thing I've read about it is that there's no real way to clean it up. The damage has basically been done, so now we just need to maintain it and clean up our act for the future. This trash travels thousands of miles to reach the vortex and the amount of plastic has increased 10 times every two to three years for the past decade. (greenfudge.org)

[via garbagepatchinfo]

[via cookiesound]

a turtle caught in a plastic ring when he was young [via conservation report]

Feeling depressed and helpless like me?

Here are some things we can actually do to help:

- TELL EVERYONE YOU SEE.
(Tweet this post or link it to your blog or Facebook)

- quit it with the plastic bags and plastic bottles, already.

- participate in waterway clean-up projects.

- pick up litter.

- reduce packaging wherever possible.

- avoid plastic wherever possible, as it's the major problem.

And here are some great websites and articles for additional research:

- Greenfudge: The Parabolic Toilet of the Environment

- Ocean Conservancy: Myths and Realities

- Sustainablog: Our Throwaway Society

- Be Green

- CookieSound Travel Blog

I'd love to know - had you heard of The Great Pacific Garbage Patch before? Any good resources to recommend? Don't leave this Earth Day feeling discouraged. Leave feeling empowered, because God has given us this land to steward and everyone plays a part!


*The patch can't actually be measure since it's fluid and constantly moving, but enormous amounts of garbage do accumulate in this location.

Green Up for Earth Week: No. 2

The second installment of this Earth week mini-series is much more comprehensive. No matter who you are, you can definitely put some of these tips from Real Simple into action!

I freaking love this magazine. I got eight free issues once... those were eight of the best months of my life. I just feel a little wasteful because I move through magazines at a snail's pace, so maybe I'll revisit a Real Simple subscription again sometime in the future. But as for now, reviewing old magazines and clipping the heck out of them along with frequenting the website, seems to satisfy my cravings.

So without further ado...

All ideas by Real Simple. Read source article here!

AT HOME:
1. Set a programmable thermostat. Don't heat or cool the house when you're not in it!

2. Only wash your clothes when they're actually dirty. Most washing machines are 40 gallons per load. Whoa. Don't wash your clothes when they're wrinkled - wash them when they really need it, and do it in cold water. That way, you're saving the electricity that it takes to heat that water up, too.

3. Clean the drier filter. 30% more energy is used when those things are clogged! Yuck.

AT THE OFFICE:
4. Choose a laptop.  Laptops use about half the energy that a desktop does, and they also don't need to be plugged in all the time. If a desktop is the way you have to go - unplug when you leave. About 10% of energy costs comes from what's called "phantom power" - that's energy used when something is plugged in even though it's off. The nerve.

5. Cut back on the junk. Junk mail eats up trees, water and releases harmful emissions. Real Simple says if each American went through the slight hassle it takes to cancel some junk mail, 100 million trees would be saved each year. That definitely sounds worth it to me.

6. Buy green from your utility. For a few extra bucks a month, you can choose to be powered by renewable energy!

IN THE BATHROOM:
7. Turn off the tap. Three gallons a minute, so no need for the babbling brook sound effects while you pee, brush your teeth or shave.

8. Use a water filter. Brita is just as good as bottled water, so don't fear the tap! You can even get the kind that attach straight to your faucet!

9. Install a better showerhead. You can save 1,000 to 8,000 gallons of water, and not lose the pressure you love!

IN THE KITCHEN:
10. Give up red meat once a week. The meat production industry is killer on our resources. Skipping out just once a week can save 840 gallons of fresh water... for one serving?! How on earth...

11. Use biodegradable and plant-based dishwasher soap. They still get the job done, but without the chemicals.

12. Choose the right appliance. Electric kettles, toaster ovens and slow cookers - all very energy efficient appliances!

AT THE RECYCLING CENTER:
13. Donate old cell phones. These little devils produce more than 65,000 tons of potentially harmful waste. Do you really need that new phone? If so, recycle the old one!

14. Recycle wisely. Learn what can go and what can't! There is always more to be recycled. Earth911.org is an excellent resource!

15. Reuse everything. Think of new uses for things, give hand-me-downs, receive hand-me-downs, thrift shop... make a game out of it :) "Now what else could I do with this....?"

ON THE ROAD:
16. Carry a reusable water bottle. Save your cash for things like gas. Americans use 3.3 million plastic bottles every hour... and only 1 in 5 get recycled. That's horrific.

17. Don't idle. Turn your ignition off! No, it doesn't waste more gas than idling. And less emissions too!

18. Tune up. Maintaining your car the way you should is far better for the environment. Oh, and speeding, fast accelerations and quick braking wastes gas!

AT THE STORE:
19. Buy recycled napkins. If every American purchased one package of 100% recycled napkins, 1 million trees would be saved. Or - why not try cloth? But remember to reuse and only wash in cold when they're very dirty!

20. Purchase organic cotton clothes. Cotton is the second most chemically sprayed crop in America (corn is first). Ew.

21. Choose biodegradable cat litter, which can be flushed instead of dumped into land fills!

22. Buy local foods. Of course. It's fresher, supports local farmers, conserves fuel and reduces pollution. Can't go wrong.

23. Bring your own bags. Not as obvious as it sounds. Americans are still using about 100 billion plastic bags a year. Don't even get me started on what happens when those hit the ocean! Plastic bags have got to go!

24. Choose the right fish. Wild salmon is best, and check out this seafood watch guide to prevent overfishing: mbayaq.org

25. Reduce excess packaging. Let your veggies roam free in the cart, buy music online, and see what alternatives there are to heavily packaged goods.

Visit the source article for more details!

What's on tomorrow's agenda? A good long Earth Day-Eve hike in the White Mountains.

Look for another late night post tomorrow - if I don't fall asleep on the ride home. No promises.

Have a good weekend!

un voyage vers le nord

So I didn't post yesterday due to an unexpectedly busy day, but I'm here to tell the story of our Easter adventure!

With the help of a Groupon deal gifted to us from my parents, we spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday in 

[via]

and saw

[via]

on Monday night!

It was a great little getaway, but I think it's safe to say that when it was time to go home, we were more than ready. It's so astounding to only drive five hours north and experience such a huge culture shock. Everything was in French - every sign, every conversation overheard, every word directed at us - talk about stressful. 

The extent of my French is basically, "Bonjour! Excusez-moi, parlez-vous anglais?" Oh yeah, and "pamplemousse" which means grapefruit. So as you can imagine, that got me a long way. 

It was such a struggle to wrestle with balancing respect for this new culture with feeling like an enormous idiot. As soon as someone approaches you, there's this gut feeling of knowing that they're about to say a bunch of stuff that you don't understand. Then you take a moment and ponder how great your deer-in-headlights look will be for your I-swear-I'm-not-a-tourist image. It's just bundles of humbling fun, really.

Let's just say that Will's playful little nickname for me of "Panic Pants" rang true much of this weekend.

Aside from being afraid to speak to any human other than my husband, it was a pretty good time. We stayed right in downtown so everything was within walking distance. We did tons of exploring walking all the way to Old Port, and having some yummy meals along the way. If you're visiting anytime soon, I recommend going to Le Gourmet Burger on Rue Bishop and Fu Shi on Rue Sherbrooke. We also experienced some well-humored street performers, some less-than-ideal-accomodations, lots and lots of teenage PDA, saw enormous ships at the port, and met a few kind Canooks who were willing to help us out linguistically.

Something we did learn (or re-learn) is that we're really not city people. Three days in a city is definitely more than us woodsy folk would ever need, so I'm not sure why we went that route. Maybe why we spent close to four hours in the Arc'Teryx store (a really high-quality outdoor brand that doesn't have any retail stores of their own in the US)? Just a thought.

But the Ingrid show on Monday was fun! This was Will's birthday gift to me, and we didn't even plan it to be in Canada! Her show in Boston had been sold out for weeks, but when he went to see where the next closest show was, he noticed she was scheduled to play in Montreal for the weekend we were going! Small world, Ingrid. Small world. 

She was definitely great, but I was a little bummed with how few of her older songs she played. She played 10 out of 15 songs from her new album (I know, that's what the tour was for, I get it) and only five older songs - and three of those were in the encore! So her actual show set list only had two songs from other albums. Lame. But as a person, she is absolutely hysterical and I could tell that we would be grand friends, so that made up for it.

Those are some tales from our adventures, and I hope you all had a good long weekend too!

* Credit to Google Translate for helping me title this post. Bah, as if you thought it was me. Yeah right.

that elusive thing called time & the best Friday ever.

what breakfast can look like when 

you've been given the gift of time.

green tea, grilled english muffin with strawberry jam, kiwi, and
french vanilla yogurt with granola and chocolate chunks.

It's official - I'm now only moderately employed. While most people might be stressing their brains out, I couldn't be more pleased with the flexibility of my new schedule. Although my last day of full-time work was a week ago, I still feel like life has been pretty busy! I taught class on Monday and Wednesday, planned for class on Tuesday and studied for a ropes course certification exam I had Wednesday (which I passed!), had a meeting Wednesday night...

I guess that's how things typically roll. Whenever you feel like you've been blessed with free time, it gets filled with something else before you even have time to relish in your excitement about the time you thought you had. The nerve. When my life starts to spin out of control like that (which is almost always), I try to keep this quote in the forefront of my mind:

Isn't life always filled up? What an aggressive war we wage just to create space for God. Even chatting with my best friend last night, we realized that life can be filled with good things and still be so full. She's involved in tons of great things - a small group, helping with high school youth group, pre-marital counseling, wedding planning, she's in a play, her day job - right?? All good things! That's why keeping your life from being filled up can be so tough.

And that's also why I wrote this post a few weeks ago. I was really starting to feel convicted about how my time was spent. Now that I've been given tons more time, I want to be sure I use it wisely. 

You know that verse, "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much." Luke 16:10? Yikes... let's just say I hope I can be trusted with this "much" that I've been given these days.

Step 1: Have a good quiet time on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Right now I'm in a place where I feel like studying God's Word is a little chore-like. And I hate that. I had started an in-depth study of 1 Peter (a book I love) back in December, so I hope that picking that back up will help. 

Step 2: Train for a 5k to get your lazy butt back in action. I can't be trusted to exercise on my own right now. You know when you get so out of shape that the thought of the hard work to be fit again is a massive repellent? Welcome to my brain. That's why I'm using this chart from Fitness Magazine to help! Five days in and going strong :) This isn't my first 5k, but it sure feels like it.

[via]

So I pray that you're encouraged. Take hold of your schedule and let God know that He's a priority. Whether you have 30 free hours this week or 2, I pray that especially this weekend, you are able to delight in all who God is. 

Today is Good Friday. Didn't seem very good at the time, huh? Christ was being beaten, bruised, jeered at, spit on, harassed, and ultimately was crucified. But like all things, with time and faith, it became good. God the Father knew that He was working out the ugly and the cruel into something marvelous and beautiful. Something that would save us all. 

Rest in the knowledge that what happened on this day, while horrific in thought, was wonderful in the end. Be disciplined this weekend to dwell on who Christ is, what he did, and create space for Him to act in your life.

How can you show God your love for Him with your time?

the big day!

Well, here we are folks! One of the most anticipated days of my year! Why am I such a birthday spaz? I really couldn't tell ya. I think the people in my life just always do an awesome job at making me feel really special. What's not to love, right?!

My co-workers already threw me an Australian-themed party - so clever ;) - which effectively used up two hours of our workday. I think I've mentioned before that my job, although as dull as it comes, is filled with co-workers who certainly know how to party. And I love them dearly for it.

My phone has been blowing up with texts and calls which is so so fun, and I've been getting mail today and have been told that more packages on the way! Seriously, such a blast. Will and I are also going out to dinner tonight, and then maybe watching some LOST later with a glass of wine for the birthday girl. Yep, that's how I roll. Party. Animal. You don't have to tell me.

Growing up, did anyone ever ask you what age you would freeze life at if you could? Well, I'm at the age now that I always said I would choose to live at forever. So we'll see if it's all it was cracked up to be!

J.Crew also decided to celebrate by putting a bunch of bathing suits on sale! Woo! Thanks, J.Crew! Too bad I can't afford any of these anyway, but hey, a girl can dream and they're pretty to look at. Take a peak!

1. floral 2. seersucker 3. seashells 4. adorable retro bottoms 5. paisley 6. ruffly top

These are getting me dreaming of warmer weather, which is waaaay far off on this windy 30 degree day. Can't come soon enough!

I hope you all have/had a wonderful March 6th! I know I will :)

back in action.

people who know me oh so well.

Well, the days of Australian love and merriment are behind us, and we had a fabulous time with our family when they visited. They were here for one week and some of the highlights included:

- Meeting our God-daughter (that's right, we're parents kind of!) 

Quinn for the first time and falling totally in love with her.

- Watching home movies from when the boys were silly little tikes.

- Eating our body weight in seafood; you know, to get the full experience of New England.

- Going to Fire & Ice, an awesome restaurant in the city with my in-laws.

- Having an incredible dinner at Alchemy in Gloucester as a double date.

- Taking two vacation days from work, heck yes.

- Having plenty of relaxing time to reconnect as friends.

- The boys getting tattoos together; don't worry, they aren't matching ones.

But one of the dearest memories of the week for me was a very early surprise birthday party!

If you are a deep, deep addict like myself, you're aware of a certain plot line in FRIENDS from "The One Where Rachel Smokes". 

Phoebe and Monica decide to throw a surprise party for Rachel over a month before her birthday so that she's really surprised. And the planning evolves as follows:

Monica: All right, that's a little sketch of the cake, umm some sample menus, umm y'know what I thought we would start out with Tuscan style finger food, and for music, here's an alphabetized list of all my CDs! I've highlighted the ones that would go really good with the food.

Phoebe: What happened to the intimate dinner party?

Monica: Oh, we're not doing that. Okay…

Phoebe: So wow, it looks like you took care of everything. Thanks a lot, co-host.

Monica: What?! I didn't take care of everything, there's-there's plenty of things for you to do!

Phoebe: Like what?

Monica: (Thinks) Cups.

Phoebe: Cups? You're giving me cups?

Monica: And ice!

Phoebe: Cups and ice? Ooh, I get to be in charge of cups and ice? (Thinks of something) All right. Fine, okay, I will be in charge of cups and ice!

Monica: Wait a minute, I can get ice at the restaurant…

Phoebe: I got it! Mine!

(later)

Phoebe: (entering, carrying two garbage bags) Hey!

Ross and Chandler: Hi!

Phoebe: Is it okay if I leave this stuff here 'til Rachel's birthday party?

Chandler: Ah sure. What's in 'em?

Phoebe: Umm, cups.

Chandler: Oh good, because uh we got Rachel 800 gallons of water.

Ross: Seriously that's a lot of cups.

Phoebe: Yeah well, that's 'cause Monica put me in charge of cups and ice, and Monica is gonna rue the day that she put me in charge of cups and ice.

I love Pheebs. So that's when the party looked like this:

{via}

Phoebe: (To Chandler) Check it out! Cup hat! (Points to her hat.) Cup banner! Cup chandelier! And the thing that started it all, the cup! (Holds up one.)

Chandler: Great job with the cups, Pheebs!

Monica: (overhearing that) Why don't you just go out with her!

(Chandler starts to follow her into the kitchen.)

Phoebe: (following him) And did you notice the ice? (Gestures to 3 huge buckets of ice on the table.) Look! We have it all! We have crushed! Cubed! And dry! Watch! (Pours some water onto the dry ice, causing it to evaporate/smoke.) Ahhh! Mystical!

Chandler: Awesome!

Monica: Chandler! Everyone--no one's eating my Tuscan finger food 'cause they're all filling up on Phoebe's snow cones!

Aaaah, I just love it. That's classic Phoebe. So when I left work early on Friday to go home sick, I was really looking forward to just crawling into bed for a nap. Will, trying to coerce me into staying awake asks, "Would you sit with us out in the living room if we were watching FRIENDS?" Why yes, yes I would, always.

When I walk into the house, with my sweatpants and FRIENDS in mind, I walk into this:

A birthday banner, cup decorations, "The One Where Rachel Smokes" playing in the living room, a Funfetti cake in the oven, and everyone yelling "surprise"! About a week and a half before my birthday.

This wonderful, extremely surprising event was all the doing of my cousin's wife/more-like-a-sister-in-law, Dayna, who knows me oh so well.

And that's the most special feeling.

:)

Hope you all had a good week!

FRIENDS screenplay found here.

proof of much-needed exercise.

pink, swollen, chalk-covered hands.

These hands are proof that physical activity did indeed occur. And that it had been way too long.

We hadn't been climbing in a while (rappelling in January, but not climbing) - maybe since the early fall?

So after our climbing session last Wednesday night, even my armpit muscles were aching the next day.

Yep. More climbing is on the agenda and I'm thankful for the workout.

Oh, and happy Valentine's Day to my hub :)
These are for you:

Happy Valentine's Day to you all as well!

xoxo

{photos from Eastern Mountain Sport's Facebook}

points of positivity

I rag on my job a lot, and for that, I'm sorry. Time for some positivity 'round these parts. While my actual job isn't the greatest, my place of employment is the absolute best. Here's why:

1. When my office has a sign at our front desk saying that we're in a meeting, the truth is that about 98% of the time, it's actually a birthday party. My office parties hard :) When my brother used to work in the campus safety office, he was bitter saying, "We can't just stop and party, our work never stops! If we stop working, people might die! Your office is a bunch of slackers." Well, I don't hate it. 

If it's your birthday, you should still act surprised when a meeting is called and you walk into a fully decorated conference room - even when it happens for every person, every year. The decorations are always person-specific, but this week's party was over the top.

Our assistant direction loves the Myers-Briggs personality test. When our director will say certain things, she'll mutter, "You're such a T. You can't even control it." She will analyze things I do (lucky for me, I'm the same exact type as one of her daughters... feel on display much?) and say, "Why am I not surprised?" with a big knowing grin. Sometimes it's weird, but sometimes it feels nice to feel known so intimately.

So for her party, we all wore crowns displaying our Myers-Briggs types on our foreheads. And someone made  Myers-Briggs cookies using alphabet cookie cutters just for the letters E, I, S, N, F, T, J, and P. And we watched the You Tube videos of the motivational posters that were created for each of our types. Hilarious, thoroughly planned, and an hour well spent during the work day. 

What am I, you ask? I'm an

ESFJ

which Myers-Briggs refers to as "The Caregiver".

Read below to learn more about each letter! Except I lean more 

and more towards a P as my days go on, so don't be deceived.

And I'm really on the line between F and T.

Want to know what type you are? Take the test here!

via

2. The next reason why my workplace is actually really awesome, is a little game called Secret Heart. Initiated by our President's wife, this is a game of Valentine's Day themed Secret Santa (get it?) to beat the winter blues. Everyone who wanted to participate signed up online, and HR paired us all with faculty or staff members in different departments as a way to get to know one another better. Isn't that so fun? What an awesome way to make new friends! So from today until Valentine's Day, we'll be sending little gifts, notes or doing random acts of kindness for a colleague. On Valentine's Day, there will be a reception where everyone who participated can go and enjoy some snacks and the mysteries will be revealed.

They had us fill out a short questionnaire when we signed up so that if you were assigned to a complete stranger, you would at least have some clues on how to love on them. And then last week, a stealthy envelope was placed on our desk of who our Secret Heart is! And Gordon friends, if you're reading, I got the best assignment!! Except I can't tell you, because there's a miniscule chance that she might read my blog. But ask and I'd gladly brag! And no, it's not my mom. Human Resources knows we're related and she most def reads the blog :)

But whoever has me for this game is a freaking champ! For starters, they sent me a gift yesterday on January 31st. Over achiever. Secondly, did my mom get assigned to me?! Because my gifts have been spot on. Like, strangely so. Maybe it's someone in my mom's department, or maybe they emailed my husband for advice. How accurate? Well:

- I got a pear-scented antibacterial hand gel from Bath & Body. Pretty obscure scent, right? Well I adore pear flavored and scented things. I don't even think my mom knew that. Right on, Secret Heart.

- She also got me a Ghirardelli caramel-filled chocolate bar. I don't even really have a sweet tooth, except when it's chocolate + caramel. I used to get Caramello bars in my stocking. Mom would know that.

- Today, she sent me a Patriots car decal in an envelope that said "Go Pats!" Genius woman, for two reasons: I'm the major sports fan of the household, so Will is a little less pleased with the massive Patriots and Red Sox car decals on our Subaru. He said he would be more content if they were a little smaller. Secondly, I don't like the newer logos - I always go for the old school. So what did I get? A small, old school logo Patriots decal. My husband would totally know that.

What an incredibly awesome game this will be.

Happy two weeks from Valentine's Day everyone!

2012?!

Aren't we all supposed to be floating around in hovercrafts by now? I feel a little mislead...

Happy New Year friends! What an incredibly long blog break I took! Sorry to those who kept checking back to find nada, but it was so joyous to be without the internet for that long. But alas, I'm back at work and the booty I spent time toning over break will quickly return to administrative mush.

Did you all have a good Christmas? I hope it was fabulous! I know that ours was. It was so incredibly relaxing to just spend time together at home and stay in pjs all day. I'm easy to please. We made cinnamon rolls for breakfast, had cocoa, opened presents, made our delicious roast chicken feast for two, played Scrabble, watched Elf... it was such a relaxing day. No need to travel or entertain, just enjoyed the day and contemplated our Savior's birth. Did anyone start any new traditions or have any awesome tried and true ones? We're accepting ideas :)

Will gave me so many thoughtful and creative gifts too! I got some things I asked for, like 500 Days of Summer, but he also picked out some great things I never would have thought of. He made a light fixture like these ones on Design Sponge because he knew I loved them, and he got me these bad boys because, well, you know...

Let's just take a moment to applaud my hub for knowing his wife well enough 

to get her playing cards designed with the most beautiful font on this planet.

{standing ovation}

Thank you dear, they are gorgeous.

He's just so clever and creative. And I also made some artwork for him! I needed to stay up til 2AM the night before because I'm a major slacker, but they were a hit. I'll take some shots of them and showcase them soon.

So after a week of vegging with the hub and the dog, watching movies, watching maybe a little too much of The Twilight Zone marathon, playing five games of Scrabble, two games of Yahtzee and eating WAY too much junk food, we've made it successfully into 2012. It's time to turn over the leaf of gluttony and get into healthy practices again!

Will and I don't have any super concrete 2012 goals yet, but I'm working on some in my little cranium - another game we should have played over break. I'll update soon with some 2012 goals, but for now, here are some good ones to get the goal-juices flowing...

{via}

I concur.

Do you have any new year's goals that you're particularly excited about?

merry merry!

Well folks, I'm sure for many that the festivities begin today. I know they do for us! 

On the docket for the weekend:

1. Party at work today with lots of yummies and a yankee swap with gifts from home. I hope I don't inherit someone else's crap.

2. Crochet my head off at work so I can finish a scarf for my niece.

3. Christmas with my side of the family! Two parents, two grandparents, two brothers, a sister-in-law, a lovely girlfriend, three nieces, three nephews, the husband and a pug. Brother and lovely girlfriend in California will be dearly missed. Oh and Chinese food, hallelujah.

4. Bonfire tonight at a friend's house, post family gathering.

5. Presents with parents Christmas Eve morning.

6. Grocery shopping for our Christmas Day feast for two.

7. Back home to make three of Will's gifts (yikes) and then wrap my head off. My poor head will receive quite a beating this weekend.

8. Try to relax and wait for some snow.

9. And on Christmas Day? A little of this action...

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Boo ya.

I'll be taking a hiatus for a spell as we all party and make merry.

And I have a week of vacation next week! Rejoice. Thanks college :)

I'm in dire need of some extreme R&R. The perks of living far away on our distant point is that is 

allows me to justify being a shut in and I love it. The other tidbit to note is that we don't have

 internet at home, and it's actually quite great. I know, "GASP!" you're thinking. 

Most people would panic at that thought, but it's nice to unplug at home after being at a computer all day.

So on my internet fast at home, you'll be seeing less of me.

some fun for the season...

food and wine pairing guide

10 holiday cocktails

new uses for holiday decorations

christmas quotes

30 simply delicious holiday desserts

I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and remember the King who was born on this day.

xo