happy birthday little blog.
today you turn 13.
(and i'm not going to lie...
that blows my mind a little bit...
i don't stick with a lot of my projects,
but...this one has stuck pretty damn good.)
friday i'm in love...
♥ with the way the sun shone through
the ice covered branches
early this morning...
it was like walking through a fairy land
all teeny tiny lights
and the only sound
was the crunch of snow
under my boots
♥ got home yesterday to find that my brakes
and my car stereo
have been fixed...
i missed my car stereo so much!
oh. and the brakes were important, too! :)
♥ this kid's sculptures...i am IN LOVE...
if you only click on one link in this post...make it this one.
♥ oh but wait...this is really cool, too!
are you sure you don't have time to open 2 links?
because this is so neat...video that shows how
everyone takes the same instagram travel photos... :)
♥ i got to spend an evening with an old friend the other night...
it has been far too long.
and it makes me so happy that,
even after being apart so long,
the conversation picked up
just like we saw each other yesterday.
♥ i think that next year, instead of celebrating New Years
and creating all the resolutions that I have already failed miserably at
because, let's face it...it's JANUARY, people...it's DEAD CENTER WINTER...
and you are exhausted from the holidays...
i am completely lying to myself when i say i am going to
go to the gym after work.
what i am going to do is come home, put on my pjs and hibernate
until the days get a little longer.
so...the thought of celebrating this instead seems far more plausible. :)
♥ someday. someday i am going to do this.
♥ i tried a new yoga class last night....
and i am SO happy that i did.
i am a little picky about my yoga classes...i tend to find
one instructor and then stick with them for a long time.
this instructor was new to me and so was the venue
but as soon as he said "are we all ok if we turn the lights down?"
i was sold.
today i have that almost pleasant muscle ache...
the one that reminds you that you actually did something good for your body.
i cannot wait to go back.
♥ have you seen this movie? you should.
(winter is the best time for settling in with a blanket and a pug,
some diet coke, buttery popcorn and letting yourself get lost
in a good movie...)
it's the teeny tiny things that count...
even when things suck,
there are always good things...
you just might have to
look a little bit harder for them...
but they are there.
TODAY
♥ all that was wrong with the car was a fuse...and it was fixed right in my driveway
♥ a beautiful mild night after the last couple of days of frigid cold
♥ counting the stars while taking the dog out
♥ hitting 20.00 right on the mark at the gas pump...i love when that happens
♥ sweating out my stress and frustrations on the treadmill to REALLY loud music
♥ jet stream so strong in the hot tub that i literally can't stand up against it...it pushes me across the hot tub but it feels awesome on my neck & shoulders!
♥ lunch with a best friend
♥ lemon lemon 7 up...it's very very lemony
♥ new moisturizer that makes my skin feel awesome
♥ texts from a best friend
♥ the sauna all to myself
♥ an interview for something interesting for my boy...fingers crossed...but thankful either way for the thoughtful teacher that went out of his way to recommend him for this.
♥ the sunset that i could see from the treadmill...it literally seemed to last forever...or...an hour anyway
♥ studded tires
♥ being tagged in silly things by my girl...which is kind of our way of saying i miss you...
and really....what more needs to be said.
plus....LOOK HOW CUTE THEY ARE....oh my heart.
the end of 2017 (warning: a teeny tiny bit of cursing ahead)
today marks the end of another year.
part of me wants to say good riddance
but i realize that although i struggled a little with 2017...
it was not all bad.
i planted a much too large and very active garden.
i chose ADVENTURE as my word for the year
and then went on many "friday adventures" which i LOVED doing.
i had some items for sale at the Muddy Crick Market.
i kayaked (and did not drown).
i joined a gym (and actually went).
i read 20 books...almost hitting my goal of 24.
i got to be in a 2nd play and it was so much fun getting to yell at people
and be a little "unhinged" as my character Laura.
i went to see the truck and tractor pulls in crapaud.
i drove down lots of dirt roads.
i ate ice cream sundaes every chance i got.
i drew many, many robots...not 365 yet but still working on that.
when i look back at that list,
i have to admit it was a pretty good year...
which gives me hope for 2018.
we all have rotten stuff that goes on behind the scenes.
stuff you don't want to talk about, stuff you don't want to display.
i would be lying if i said that things are always
as sweet and easy as ice cream sundaes and fluff filled doughnuts
over here in the big orange house....
but i am sure that is the same for anyone.
but i am making a conscious choice to go into 2018
with the intention to be positive...
which is why
when i thought about
what i would set for
my goals and resolutions this year,
i have decided that instead of
the usual
go to the gym/lose weight/pay the bills on time/cut out diet coke
i am going to focus on
FUN.
fuck it.
why not.
so this years resolutions will include:
boardgames
lego
friday adventures
roller coasters
puzzles
kayaking
camping
farmers markets
making new friends
spending time with old friends
live bands
building a snowman army
getting a bike
road trips
sleepovers
laughing til you almost puke and pull a muscle in your ribs
water balloons
saying yes
catch you on the flip side of a brand new year!
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
i have good intentions...really...i do...
i love to read.
when i was a kid
i would read ANYTHING and literally EVERYTHING
i could get my hands on.
my summers were spent
upside down on the armchair
in our living room
eating apples and reading a book...
laying out in my pink panther
bathing suit on the roof of our porch,
slathered in baby oil listening to billy idol,
yelling at my brothers
and reading a book...
in a little grove of trees
in the field behind our house
eating wild strawberries
while hiding from my brothers
and reading a book...
my parents bought a set of encyclopedias
that came with a set of 10 books for kids...
i read them all.
repeatedly.
even the ones i hated.
i read my mother's borrowed copy of
vc andrews my sweet audrina
when i was about 10...probably too young to be reading about rape...
always careful to put the book back
exactly
where it was so i wouldn't get caught...
i read and re-read the same books hundreds of times...
and one summer
i even went through the good news bible
they gave us one year in the religion classes i detested
being forced to go to
looking for the parables.
i used to make my brothers walk 45 minutes
both ways
so i could go to the bookmobile.
they still say what a great babysitter i was.
:)
i loved books.
and i always had every intention of returning them...on time...
but
i just never could.
it started with the miscouche school library & progressed
to the TOSH high school library...where the librarian
once saw me come in and shouted
(shouted! in a LIBRARY no less! shouted!)
"YOU! OUT!"
and sadly, it progressed to the bookmobile,
the town library...the library in the city 45 minutes away...
so i gave up on borrowing books.
i just wasn't good at it.
but that was before e-books! and apps!
and being able to return a book with just the push of a button on my phone!
AND (wonder of all wonders)
they gave me a new library card and a fresh blank slate.
and have you seen this library?
oh my 10 year old heart nearly cried
when i saw the new library
(i didn't stop and look around the night they gave me my card though...
i was scared someone would realize who i was and
shout YOU! OUT! again)
but look at this place...
and this space age thing...
LETS YOU CHECK OUT BOOKS
without
HAVING TO TALK TO ANYONE.
and...sometimes...that works for me...
nothing against the lovely librarians
(especially after they gave me a shiny new library card)
but sometimes...i'm just not good with
"people-ing"
heh.
oh. and just for the record,
i have already returned physical books
ON TIME
(well...they were only on time because
i was able to extend the borrowing period
by pushing a button on my phone
but that's a minor detail)
look how proud i am
(OR look at what a geek/loser i am
taking a selfie of myself
returning my books...you decide...
just don't tell me which one you went with).