Happy, Happy!

Shout out to An Ordinary Mom today. It's her birthday and she's just fabulous. I wish her all the best for the next year of her great life.

Snow Day… Again

Great pic courtesy of my brother here!

We’ve had bad weather her in Seattle yet again. It struck yesterday in the late afternoon with a vengeance. I usually pride myself in staying in front of such ugly weather and not getting in the traffic fray, but I was not so lucky last night. I spend two and a half hours traveling from my office to home. While sitting in my car for such a long time, I thought about how blessed I am. Even though I was in a messy traffic situation, I was safe and warm. These are a few other things I’m thankful for.

1. A DH who loves me and shows it in many ways.


2. A loving family that supports me.


3. A good job that challenges me and helps me grow in ways that I wouldn’t otherwise.


4. A warm house with electricity, gas, water, and sewer.


5. Really great friends both near and far. I know some really amazing people and they bless me in more ways than I can express here.


6. Cell phones that help keep me connected and make the commute go faster.


7. My health. I’m also thankful that I can work out regularly and feel good about myself doing it.


8. E-mail and blogs that keep me feeling connected to people I can’t see as often as I’d like.


9. A piano in my living room, even though I don’t play nearly as often as I should.


10. Access to great music, art, and programs that feed my soul.

A Meme -- from the rule-breaking, Miracle-Whip-eating, car-accident-surviving, accident-prone, contest winner.

I got tagged for a meme by An Ordinary Mom, so here goes. These are five things you don’t know about me:

1. On my mission, I spent the night in the Elder’s apartment while they were in their landlord’s resort house up in the Alps.
2. I like Miracle Whip sandwiches. Who needs the meat anyway? At least it’s not as gross as Mac ‘n’ Cheese with ketchup.
3. I’ve been in three major car accidents, but have never been seriously injured. This includes being the passenger in a car that was totaled crossing the Blue Mountains in Oregon and continuing to drive it to Seattle and back to Boise. The two of us in the car were fine, but the body shop asked if there were fatalities when it was brought in.
4. I lost my front tooth when I was hit by a swing when I was 2 years old and had that gap until I got my permanent teeth at 7. I think this made me much more empathetic when my mission companion wrecked her bike and lost her front teeth when we were riding our bikes in the rain.
5. I won a Father’s Day essay contest sponsored by the Idaho Statesman when I was 12 by writing about why my dad was so amazing (and he still is).

Seeing as I was tagged for this one, I feel it my obligation to tag five fabulous people as well. I'd like to know five new things about the DH, Annzy, The Duchess, and Darin and Liz over at Corndogs and Avodados.

Cheery Cherry bag

Shout out to my SIL, Kinsey, who made me the very cutest bag ever for Christmas. I love it!

New Beginnings

It’s a New Year and time for new beginnings. My dad always taught us to set goals and that the New Year was a great time to do it. I have a couple of things that I’d like to accomplish this year, but you know it scares me to put them in writing for everyone else to see. I’m not sure how comfortable I am with it. Here goes nothing:

• Continue to improve my overall physical health. This means working out 5 times a week (which should be fine because I’ve been doing that for a long time now), eating a more healthy diet with no refined or processed stuff (wish me luck!), and losing a little more butter.
• Improve my spirituality by reading the scriptures daily and attending the temple regularly (for Patrick and me, we think twice a month is reasonable). I guess I’ll keep doing other churchy stuff too and not slacking there.
• Improve my mind by taking a class in the spring and a class in the fall. I thought about convincing the DH to take a ballroom or salsa class, but we’ll see if that ever flies. That could also have dual benefits as it’s good for both the mind and the body.

I’m breaking it down to more granular goals for myself, but I think that gives you an idea of what I’m working on this year. Hopefully you’re doing the same!