Personal Challenge Time!

Something you should know about me - I always accept the dare (unless it's illegal or against my personal standards) and I adore a personal challenge. Competing with others is good, especially on the volleyball court, but I compete best with myself. Where I got the stubbornness, I have no idea.

I am all about the personal challenges right now. If it's in my control, I'm working on it! This year I have the budget challenge, I'm flossing everyday, I've been working out about 5 times a week, and now comes the hardest of them all....

NO SUGAR UNTIL EASTER

I have done no sugar before but this is different. This one doesn't allow for any sugar free substitutes....oh dear. For me to even tolerate water I normally have to put the sugar free flavor packets in it, but now those are gone. No sugar free fudgsicles to ease the craving for sweets. Oh, and this also includes no fried food. No chips or french fries. Yikes!

The picture above is my last sugar until Easter. Oatmeal with dark chocolate chips. My hand was a little heavy on the chips tonight. So long sweetness, it will be a long 5 weeks until we meet again but I think that your absence is going to make me look bomb. That, plus the exercising and the flossing, of course.

Anyone else want to join?

Day Twenty Nine: Listening To.....

I'm getting ready for the gym so I put on my "upbeat" mix to put me in any sort of mood that will help me tolerate gym time. Read through it - some are kind of embarrassing (I'm talkin' 'bout you, Miley Cyrus) but most are just your run of the mill Top 40 and 90's kid throw back songs.

I like music but I'm not a music person. I have never been the first to hear a band and if they never play on the radio, I guarantee I will never know them. And I'm fine with that.

Movies on the other hand.......

Happy Leap Day!

I hope you wore your blue and yellow!

Day Twenty Seven: What I Ate

Trader Joe's ginger cat cookies

so yum

so so yum

i really like cats. videos of cats, pictures of cats with funny caption, and definitely cookies shaped like cats

Guest Post!

Check me out on Lizzie's blog today - The Dancing Toad Blog!

Isn't she great?

(saw this on Pinterest and LOVED it)

"Be humble for you are made of earth. Be noble for you are made of stars." 

-Serbian proverb

Expectations

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Have you seen the movie 500 Days of Summer? There is a scene where the main character is headed to his ex girlfriend's BBQ and when he gets there the screen splits and it shows his expectations of the evening and what actually happens - the reality. I remember watching it and feeling devastated because of the sheer familiarity of it all. 

I am extremely adept at planning how perfectly certain events will play out in my life. Naturally I am then left with a sense of disappointment because nothing ever goes as planned, especially when everything is out of my control. Who wants to live like that? It's no fun living in constant anticipation and then dealing with the effects of the letdown.

I'm over it! Having expectations is fine, but I'm changing them to be within my control and into something achievable. I think things are going to change in an amazingly positive way if I can learn how to properly do this.

Look out, world!

Day Twenty Six: Night

the White House at night

striking, isn't it?

Day Twenty Five: Green

Green. Scratch. Dollars. Call it what you will. I call it 'not enough'.

This is how much money I have left in my cash budget....for the next 5 days! $62!!! And I have to go to the grocery store tonight! This cash budget/saving money thing is HARD.

Happy Tulips

Our house boyfriend, Nate, sent some of us flowers for Valentine's Day. This particular arrangement was for Devon. I got home from work one day this week and was taken aback at how beautiful the light was hitting them. Enjoy! 

(I can't wait for Spring! Tulips are my second favorite flower and they tend to be EVERYWHERE!)

Day Twenty Four: Bathroom Cabinet

From this you can glean that I use Dove deodorant, wear at least 2 kinds of perfume, use the floss picks rather than from the tube, and that this is not a cabinet.

Oh, and that I'm not even a little bit organized.

Have a great weekend!

i miss meghan

wednesday i celebrated my grandpa's and sister's birthdays by skyping with meghan in china

oh, what a joy to have sisters you are at ease with

no pretense, no awkward silence, no makeup necessary (we both looked hideous and made each other aware of it - so great!)

don't we search our whole lives for those relationships?

not all families come with built in best friends but i'm lucky that mine does

i just miss her so

happy, happy 94th birthday, grandpa and happy 22nd, maria!

Day Twenty Three: Shoes

and that is definitely not all of them. 

the backside of the same door is also full and also a couple shelves inside the closet. i like shoes. 

true story.

The Newest Burn

Why is it that de-friending someone on Facebook is now such an insult? Think about this scenario -

A: "So and so is such a jerk! I mean, I totally hate her, but she deleted me on Facebook"

B: "That is so immature. Gimme a break, she's so pathetic"

I have heard that over and over again and I'm sick of it! It seems as though we are losing control of not only who our friends are, but also who our "friends" are! If I don't get along with someone, or only met them once or twice, or no longer associate with them - I shouldn't have to keep them as a friend. I have just seen too many people stress out over deleting or being deleted and I think we need to collectively make it a much smaller deal than it is.

I admit, I have made it a big deal in the past, but I promise I won't any more. Now...who's with me?!?!

(please don't delete me, i like you!)

Day Twenty Two: Where I Work

In DC, duh.

As a certified sign language interpreter I am rarely at liberty to reveal where I work or with whom. It is to protect the confidentiality of all consumers involved and it is so, so, so, so important. Whenever we do any public event, we are able to talk about it (the job itself, not which members of the Deaf community attended) and those instances are great because I want to talk about what I do all the time!

I love what I do, even if the silence kills me sometimes.

Day Twenty One: Favorite Photo (of myself)

not my fave

not my most attractive

not even great

however,

who else has a twinsies picture with a goblin statute in ireland?

winner.

Day Twenty: Handwriting

My mom is a sender of cards and I absolutely adore it. I get a card for every notable holiday and a thank you note for any minor gift or service. Rosie has the best handwriting I have ever seen. This is her cursive, which is quite lovely, but her real magic lies in her printing. At the flower shop where she works (hey, Carrie!), they have her write out all the cards that are attached to orders.

And I just really like my mom. She's pretty darn great and I'm happy to be hers.

Day Nineteen: Something I Hate to Do

I absolutely despise getting ready! Especially my hair, but I dislike the natural face, short hair or hair in a ponytail look more than I hate doing it. My routine is quite simple but nonetheless, I would gladly pay a team of people to do it for me every day.

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."

-Alvin Toffler

(this totally gave me goosebumps. i love it.)

Day Eighteen: Drink

Water. Just about the only beverage I'm getting nowadays.

And I took myself on a lovely little day date today. Walked around DC for a couple hours, got yummy Pinkberry, and read my book at leisure.

What a delicious day!

Lately on Pinterest

this seems like a nice segue into the weekend - i hope you have a great one!

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this honestly makes me laugh like a donkey on drugs

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(it's funny enough to overlook the grammatical error, i suppose)

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roasted parmesan green beans....i'm making these SOON

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cheesy tortellini tomato soup

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Day Seventeen: Time

it's only correct twice a day

Day Sixteen: Something New

I skipped Day 15 because I couldn't take a picture of my phone and I don't work in a place that always has access to phones. I use my 'one skip per challenge' card on this one.

This CA picture is the newest edition to my wall. I saw something similar on Pinterest and loved it so I took the art therapy opportunity and knocked it out pretty quickly. I like it. As always, I'm a San Diego girl, I just hope that life takes me back there someday.

Day Fourteen: Heart

I got a free red pen today so I made my own heart.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Day Thirteen: Blue

My bed! Looks kinda purplish in this picture, but I assure you, it's blue.

I never liked the color blue until about 2 years ago and now I'm quite strongly drawn to it. What's next? Bananas?! Yuck.

Day Twelve: Closet

the top shelf is jeans and cardigans/sweaters

hanging is skirts, dresses, shirts

shoes, bags, t-shirts, shorts, pants, pajamas, exercise clothes

I am now sharing my huge closet so I had to consolidate it down into one side only. There is really no order and it looks pretty terrible in pictures.

Looking at this I know I have a lot of clothes but I never feel like I have anything to wear!

Day Eleven: Makes Me Happy

megan, nate, me

my people make me happy!

dinner at Red Lobster (swanky, I know) with these two = happiness

Day Ten: Self Portrait

A day late!

I snapped this while getting ready for work yesterday and then I never got a chance to blog it. 

So yeah. Glad that's over.

I dreamed a dream...

Day Nine: Front Door

there it is

in all of it's yellow glory

The Laughing Heart

your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.

-Charles Bukowski

Day Eight: Sun

The weather took a turn for the cold and dreary today without even a speck of sun! We have enjoyed a very mild winter so far so I was expecting the photo today to not be a challenge at all. 

Luckily when I got home there was this little bit 'o sunshine waiting for me in the mailbox. My sister is fabulous at sending me stuff from the kids. 

They are my sunshine every day.

Day Seven: Button

I love cardigans! I've had this one for a few years and it's still one of my favorites so naturally, I had to feature one of its buttons. Naturally.

A few weeks after I bought this I saw January Jones wearing it in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. Win!

Honey Boo Boo

I got an email from my sister in China and this is what she had to say -

"Please search "honey boo boo" on youtube and you will witness why I am afraid to return to America"

I think she has a pretty good point. I'm still super excited for her to come home though. I'll try to help her avoid the kiddie pageant circuit.

Day Six: Dinner

Ugh. Long, long, long day of work so I didn't attempt anything fancy. Potatoes and eggs it is!

And a healthy dash of ketchup, of course.

Newseum

This is without a doubt my favorite museum in DC. It is dedicated to news.....which is why it took me almost a year and a half to get there. Seems lame, right? Within a few minutes I was in love. So I bought a year long membership. Naturally.

Oh just a couple sections of the Berlin Wall, no big deal

This is in section dedicated to the 9/11 attacks. This piece of twisted metal is the radio tower that used to be on top of one of the Twin Towers in New York City. On the wall they project words that Americans of various ages wrote about their feelings regarding that day and the subsequent days after.

This is a collection of national and international newspaper front pages on September 12th.

There is a small room that has a video of reporters on the ground and lots of never before seen footage. When Becca was here we sat for the length of the movie, clutching each other with one hand while the other alternated between furiously wiping tears and covering our mouths. Then we left the movie and hugged and cried for a long, long time. It's nice to share that understanding with someone.

There is a Pulitzer Prize photographs room, newspapers of famous headlines from the last 100+ years, and just SO much more! I'm creepily obsessed with this place.

If you ever come to DC, this museum is a must see. Your ticket is good for two days because you couldn't possibly see everything in one.

Day Five: 10am

Getting ready for church - I kinda look like the girl from The Ring, no?

I hope you are having a wonderful Sunday!

Hymn 128 - When Faith Endures

I will not doubt, I will not fear;
God’s love and strength are always near.
His promised gift helps me to find
An inner strength and peace of mind.
I give the Father willingly
My trust, my prayers, humility.
His Spirit guides; his love assures
That fear departs when faith endures.

Day Four: Strangers

This is actually a photo I took yesterday, but I'm happy to have these strangers on my blog! I met these missionaries in a Cafe Rio and my mom told me that any time I see missionaries I need to take their picture and send it to their mothers. So I awkwardly did. They were great to chat with and totally obliged my creepy photo request.

I emailed their moms and quite promptly got two grateful replies. They echoed what my mom said, missionary moms LOVE that sort of thing, so I would like to pass the challenge on to you as well!