non-resolution redux.

so. apparently we're already half-way through January.

Happy New Year, y'all!

according to popular conventions, by this point in the year i should have already done a sweeping, overarching review of 2014, committed to several large goals for the year to come, and probably already failed half of them. but i have done none of that. instead, i am spending this week frantically finishing all of the Christmas presents that i put off crafting until the very last minute in preparation for a giant Christmas/Birthday extravaganza with my whole extended family this weekend.  so while i have managed to extend the holiday spirit long past most of the rest of the world, i have not transitioned into the new year mindset quite yet.

BUT since I have a ton of different and exciting things rattling around in my brain that i dont want to not share, here is my best attempt at thinking through some things i would like to do and accomplish and be in the upcoming year (which is already 4% over. way to be ahead of the game, Mando.)

first of all, my goals for this past year; 14 for '14 and one to grow on:
(my comments in italics)

1. curtains. well, we had curtains made for the front room and dining room. they turned out to be all different lengths and i kind of hated them. and now we're rearranging all the windows so they'll probably end up being useless, but at least they happened. half-win on this one.
2. read at least 3 non-fiction books. read one for sure. finished a couple fiction books too. most recently started The Story and am on Chapter 6 i think. half-win on this one.
3. have pretty flowerbeds. Mark did get rid of the ugly tree on the front corner of the house, but left that bed full of weeds. he also tore up the side bed by the driveway during the great downspout extravaganza of 2014 but we haven't re-mulched it yet. i planted zero things. fail.
4. budget. haven't quite found a plan that has stuck long-term yet. but we're not broke so, win!
5. ride my bike. twice, i think. win!
6. read through my Bible. i recently started reading The Story. kind of like the Bible, abridged. half-win.
7. close my other bank account. not this year. this is just pathetic. fail.
8. big book of everything. good in theory, but never quite got it started. fail
9. pass the PE. DONE. PASSED! HAVE THE LICENSE TO PROVE IT. WIN WIN WIN!!!
10. overcome my fear of the lawnmower.  helped mow the grass once. that's about it. fail.
11. run. bought new shoes. decided running probably just isn't for me. counting it as a half-win.
12. sew a cushion for the entryway bench. still currently sitting 3/4 of the way done in the basement. have spent the past 6 months trying to work up the energy to finish the stupid thing. half-win.
13. get the air ducts cleaned. UGH. stupid air duct guy never showed up for our appointment. so i gave up and decided it wasn't that important to me. fail.
14. yoga. bought a new yoga DVD. did it twice. win?
15. start the kitchen renovation. of all the things on this list that i figured wouldn't happen this year, this is the one we actually did! cabinets and appliances are ordered, demolition is pretty much done, and rebuilding has already started. if all goes well, we should have a brand new space by spring! win!

well, that's a whopping 7.5 out of 15. this is my least favorite thing about goals: looking back on them and realizing how hard i failed at some of the simplest things. i did some BIG things this year professionally and house-wise that i am proud of, so why does having un-done things on my list get me so down? why set goals at all if not accomplishing them just makes me sad? padding my yearly list with fluff isn't going to do me any favors, but seriously - where is the balance between stretching yourself and setting yourself up for disappointment?

and yet, i still see the value in setting goals, and starting a new year fresh. everything is so full of possibility at the beginning of a whole new year, (or 96% of a new year in this case)  and i really do want each year to be the best year yet. i'm pretty sure the point of goal-setting to stretch your own boundaries and inspire personal growth, so i'm not giving up on the whole thing just yet.

in 2015, i would like to...

...finish the kitchen renovation with sanity and grace. this is big and exciting and a huge blessing. i want to keep that in mind rather than just freaking out over all the details.
...feel good in my skin. whether i lose some weight, clear up my face, grow my hair out, or just shift my personal perception of myself, i just want to feel better.
...focus on intentionally healthy choices: walk. eat salads. less sugar-bomb snacks. more jazzercise.
...be more organized. this includes previous years goals of closing my extraneous bank account, starting the big book of everything, budgeting, finishing up some half-done projecs, and hopefully just generally feeling more like a responsible adult.
...host parties. i'm going to have such a nice new kitchen, it would be a shame not to share it with people i love.
...spend time outside. sunshine is the best. and not much beats that wonderful exhausted feeling after a long day spent working or playing outside. i'd like to do more of that this year.
...get pregnant. this is something i dont really talk about much, because it is extremely personal and because i dont want anyone asking me "how's it going? *winkwinknudgegiggle*" ugh. awkward. no thanks. so why put it on the list? because i've been pretty singularly focused on it for the past 10 months but haven't let myself talk about it much, and it just feels good to put it in writing.
...take pictures. because i want to be able to look back someday and remember my everyday life, along with the big events.
...go to the beach. i just love it.
...have fun. smile. laugh. relax. be silly. just fun.

so there. i feel good about this list. it's probably not all-inclusive of everything that this year will bring, and of course is completely subject to change because who knows what God has planned for us, and i will still likely feel like i have failed at a lot of it come this time next year because that's just how i do. but if i manage to cross off even just a couple things on this list, i think i will feel good about that.

here we go. headlong into the remaining 96% of the year. let's do this.

so we went to florida.

and it was absolutely lovely. the perfect little getaway to celebrate FINALLY being done studying for and taking the PE exam. we stayed at my Aunt's beautiful beach house in Panama City Beach, and thanks to how wonderful this trip was, "own a beach house" has now moved up a few places on my bucket list.

 5 days full of sunshiney, warm, fun, breeziness with only a little bit of thunderstormy, tornado-ish, floodedness at the end.

 
the beach was gorgeous and not at all crowded. the water was a pleasant temperature once  you got used to it, and the surf was calm at first, but picked up a bit as the days went on, so we got some good wave jumping in later in the week.

 

 we lounged, we played games, we swam in the gulf, we relaxed, we rode bikes, we ate ice cream, we got sunburnt, and there was at least one day we just didnt wear pants because we were sunburnt and it was thunderstormy and we had no real reason to leave the house because pizza delivery is a great invention.

 

 

i got my camera out of its case for the second time since February (seriously, zero pictures of March this year) and it was nice to excercise my shutter finger again. 

10 pictures of this bird. only one decently non-blurry one.

 i needed this. we needed this. this winter was cold and nasty and long and full of drudgery, so this little taste of early summer with the sunshine and the warmth and the chilling out was perfect.

astronauts, birdseed, and moose.

as the title might suggest, there is no real rhyme, reason, or cohesive thought that holds this post together. it is what it is. because remember that one time i mentioned that July was kind of crazy-awesome-busy? take that, extend it by a few weeks, pack just a little bit more into each weekend, and that's kind of what my August felt like too. and honestly-it kind of wrecked me.

action camp ran straight into a beach vacation dumped us back into craziness at work interrupted by weekends of bonfires and a wedding and then sisters weekend with a quick turnaround into more big work meetings all capped off with a western week of camping and family fun.

ugh. i'm exhausted just reading all that.

each and every day had its own something special, and i kind of just want to wrap myself up in the memories and never leave...so, here's some pictures of august? with maybe a little bit of commentary but maybe not a whole lot? here goes.

action camp was space-themed this year, because when we LOOK UP to the heavens, we should be AMAZED BY GOD. i tried my best to convey God's grace, glory, and might to my young charges as much as i could, but i think i spent most of my time saying "please sit down, i'm so glad you have a dog, put your shirt back on, don't climb on that, come back here, who needs a bathroom break, simon says put your hands in the air! now is not the time for turbo speed, where are your shoes?"

i was the group leader for the green team, which was obviously the best team. here are some of us pretending to be big gorillas while we waited between stations. the rest of the team is either a) confused, b) oblivious, or c) totally pretending not to know these weirdos.

 



mmm... beach.  

 

 

 

 

we were only at the beach with Mark's family for a long weekend, but we did dinner out one night at a restaurant called Sedona. it was a bit more fancy than we were anticipating, but oh my word that food was one of the most delicious, delightful, dareisay thrilling things i've ever eaten.

 

(ps have i mentioned how delightful this fish tasted? let me just tell you one more time. DELIGHTFUL)



 

mark and i have not always agreed on what constitutes proper dress code for certain events: church, cookouts, funerals, weddings, etc. so i was mentally preparing myself for the inevitable "will you please just wear a tie this time?" fight, when Mark surprised me by saying "i think i'll wear a suit."

 

 

 

most tame, un-messy cake cutting ever. these guys are adorable. also: fantastic dancers.

 

 

 the newlyweds stopped by our house to change before they left for their honeymoon, since we live approximately 0.2 miles from the reception venue. mark took it upon himself to clean the extraneous birdseed off their car so that "massive bird attack" was not any part of their wedding story.

 

out of the three days we spent at my sister's house, i only have pictures of one part of one day. i documented the part where we hiked 3 miles to see the fire tower in Cook Forest. i did not document the float down the Clarion River, or the bonfire dinner, or the midnight toilet paper Walmart run, or church in the morning, or the tour of what may or may not be stasi's new house. so many exciting things!

 

 

i took this picture one day at work. on this particular day, i started my day in the Maryland office, attended a meeting in Delaware, hiked several miles of overgrown trail, and then drove to the York office for my fantasy football draft. 1 company, 3 offices, 3 states, 1 day. that was a good day.

 

two days later, i was on a plane. i took 23 pictures out of the plane window as we made our descent into Salt Lake City. the landscape just kept changing so drastically, and i was amazed by it.

 

we saw a moose while we were out west. this was the first picture i took of it, when i thought that this was the best shot i was going to be able to get.

i thought it was just going to quickly retreat back into the woodline, but instead she wandered down closer to the lake.

MUCH closer, in fact. and then, she just wandered her way along the path around the lake. after mom and dad brought the tandem kayak back in, mark and i took a spin and caught up with the moose at the far end of the lake, where we sat and watched that awesomely giant animal just chill by the lake until she wandered back up into the woods. so cool.

i'm thinking about just running away to the mountains. living off the grid. cooking all my food over a fire and sleeping in a tent. as long as said mountains are within walking distance of a bathroom and i have occasional access to a grocery store, i could totally do it. want to come with me?

 

my mom would come with me. she loves me, and she loves the mountain, and she feels the same way about the necessity of bathrooms and a grocery store. we would be unstoppable.

 

i'm not allowed to say much about this photo, or post any of the other ones i took of my mom's super secret project. but keep an eye on her blog for the next few days/weeks/months for the reveal, because you're not going to want to miss this one.

this was the worst part. getting back on the plane to head home. i briefly contemplated initiating a one-woman sit-in in the backseat of my mom's car so i wouldnt have to leave. although getting to board the plane from the tarmac did have kind of a rockstar-esque feeling to it, which was pretty fun i guess.

like i said, i am really wishing i could keep August around a little longer, but its probably better that i actually try to move on a little bit because september? (no WAY can it already be september!!) is starting to look like its just going to be more of the same: crazy. awesome. i can't wait!

catching up.

so. its been a while since i wrote much of anything of substance around here. if pressed for an excuse, i would have to tell you i've been busy. but if you ask me whats new? i would say 'not much.' which is kind of oxymoronic - how can i be busy, but have no new stories to share?

so today i am going to share:

- Mark has started a new project. normally i would say that WE have started a new project, but this one is totally him. he is building us a brand new storage bed, which is to say he is building a queen sized bedframe with a dresser built into it. so far, he has brought all of the material home, and has spent the past two weeks attempting to get all of the pieces cut while dodging scattered showers in the backyard. i swear, as soon as he decided to do all of his woodworking on the back deck to minimize the sawdust mess in the basement, it has done nothing but rain. my only contribution to the project was the first day when i attempted to help cover the stack of plywood with a tarp and ended up dropping the entire thing on my knee and his ankle. i havent even done so much as take a picture since then, to minimize my jinxing effects on the project.

- I have not started any new projects. i blame this on that whole "being busy" thing i've been doing for the past two weeks. this summer has my creativity at a standstill, and i'm having a hard time thinking beyond work, dinner, dishes, laundry. sigh.

- Action Camp was last week. it was awesome. and exhausting. the church does their week of 'camp' for a few hours each evening, so that the maximum number of people from the church will be able to volunteer. this year i was the group leader for the youngest group, the 4-5 year olds, all 25 of them. i had some AMAZING helpers who kept us all sane as we laughed, danced, sang, played, crafted, snacked, learned about our amazing God, and kept tears to a minimum (from both the kids and the adults!)

- we went to the beach last weekend! by the time we got there late on Friday night (after the last night of Action Camp) i was pretty much asleep on my feet. but the beach was just what my exhausted little self needed to unwind and recharge over a long weekend. the beach was sunny, the water was amazing, and i only faceplanted into the sand that one time, and its only because that wave hit me right in the head. apparently getting out of the ocean is difficult, ok?

i felt compelled to take a grand total of 9 pictures at the beach.  and one of them was of my dinner. i have no regrets - that fish was downright thrilling.

- we got rid of cable. we talked about it, and decided that we could live without it. fingers crossed that we actually make it through the end of baseball season without any major withdrawl. and dont even mention football season.

- i partially cleaned my bathroom last night. you dont even want to know how long it had been since i last scrubbed it down, and since i DO know how long it had been i probably shouldnt be proud at all of a partially clean bathroom...but there it is. this is my life.

- i have babies on the brain. this does not mean that i am having babies, or even trying to have babies, but i am thinking about them, and talking about them with my husband. of course some of our conversations are like the one last night, when Mark and I were discussing the merits and possibilities of long distance, virtual babysitters: he thinks that if we knock down some walls to create a more open concept living area, and we get a camera for the tv, we can just have the grandparents skype in to keep an eye on our future kiddos. seems legit, right?

there. now you're all caught up on the must-knows and even the probably-didnt-really-need-to-knows too. we should do this more often.

meal plan tuesday: august 6.

so yesterday was... how should i put this... crap-tastic. emphasis on both the crap AND the (fan)tastic.

i left my house at 6:30am and didnt make it home again until 9pm. thats 14.5 hours, for those of you can't be bothered to do the math for yourselves. everything inbetween was non-stop action and excitement, whether it was a full day at work, or discovering the joys of a speed trap when you're already running late, or being late on your first night of being the lead herder for 20+ four-and-five-year-olds at Action Camp. (love those kids. highlight of my day by far) and then when i thought i had already crammed in as much fun as possible for the day, i wrapped it all up by dropping a giant stack of plywood on my knee. once the swelling goes down a bit more, i have a feeling that this is going to be quite a spectacular, long-lasting bruise.

needless to say, there was zero time for meal planning yesterday. hopefully the rest of the week will be a little less action packed, but since i am still going to be working during the day AND brushing up on my cat-herding skills heading up the PreK-K group at Action Camp in the evenings, i have the feeling that (hopefully minus the cops and the bodily injury) the rest of the week is going to be pretty much the same kind of crazy.

i'm very thankful that they're feeding me every night at Action Camp this week, but since Mark couldn't be a helper this year he's on his own for dinners. good thing he has an awesome wife to at least point him in some semblance of a direction:

Monday: leftover potatoes.
Tuesday: leftover soup.
Wednesday: frozen raviolis in jar sauce.
Thursday: taco night.
Friday: egg sandwich.
Saturday - Monday: beach time!


PS if you think of it, be praying for Action Camp this week - this year is the biggest year yet, and there is a lot of work that goes into effectively sharing God's good news with all of these kids, which is something that the enemy is going to do his best to prevent!

back to reality.

i just want to keep writing about the beach. because not so secretly, i kind of want to live at the beach. i want to be able to wake up every morning and walk there: to feel the wet sand between my toes and listen to the waves crash and watch the seagulls fly. i want to have more pictures to share of waves and sand and my favorite people having fun in the sunshine. i want to live with salty air and perpetual beach hair.

but that's not my life. and it might not ever be. i may be a beach bum at heart, but i live in farm country, where the air is fresh but not at all salty, and i have to put effort into making my hair not look like a tangled wet mess. instead, i've got the smell of fresh cut grass in the air, and hair that is currently stuck in a perpetual state of growing out. for serious - i think this is the slowest my hair has ever grown. when i was getting regular haircuts in an attempt to keep it short, it was all "whee! look at how fast i can grow back! what fun!" and now that i'm actually attempting to grow it out to about chin length, its all "you know? i think i need to slow down and enjoy the ride. i'm just gonna go ahead and hang out here around your ears for a while." the nerve.

but i'm not complaining one bit. i like farm country. i like the life that i am living. and i really like that i get to live it with my husband, who would be less than enthused about living at the beach year-round to say the least. i've got a good thing going here. not perfect by any means, but definitely good.

so for now, i'm done talking about the beach. i've slowly drifted out of vacation mode and i'm finally diving back into real life here in the real world where there is grass to be mowed, projects to be started and finished, and adventures to be had: exciting things like yardwork, rearranging the basement, and fish-countering (among other things). get excited. it's gonna be fun.

photodump: sunset on the beach.



 

 

 

just beachy.

since we didnt have a ton of non-rainy time at the actual beach, i spent most of my beach time reading, soaking up rays, freezing in the water, and playing frisbee instead of playing with my camera. 

 

Mark spent most of his time at the beach wearing a hat, sunglasses, and a long sleeved shirt, seated directly under the umbrella. his goal was twofold: to not get sunburned, but also to not have to put on any sunscreen. he succeeded in not wearing sunscreen (despite much nagging from me) but since he abandoned his shady spot to briefly play frisbee and get his feet wet in the ocean, he brought home a super-awesome souveneir sunburn on his shoulders and the tops of his feet.

 

i, on the other hand, slathered and reapplied like a good girl who spent all day sunday out in the sun, and all i got to show for it was a couple new freckles and barely even a noticable tan line. 

 

as of yesterday, we have planned a vacation in August with Mark's family - another long weekend trip to the beach! i am excited to have another beach trip to look forward to, and i think Mark is mostly just resigned to the fact that he is stuck with the reality of being beach-indifferent while being married to a beach-lover. (that would be me! i love the beach!)

before i realized there were water spots on my lens.

 

ok here's just one more picture of the beach, and then i still have fun pictures of the boardwalk and a lovely sunset to share!

 

these colors remind me of my mom's beachy sign.

if all goes well, i think i can spend more time posting pictures and talking about vacation than i actually spent ON vacation...

when the sun rises.

woke up at 5:00 am on Sunday to catch the sunrise on the beach. i would say it was definitely worth the early wake up call.

empty streets. 

mirror image.

water behind a sandbar.

birds. 

 incoming waves.

magnificent.

 

love the perfect reflection on the wet beach.

 



what to do when it rains on your beach vacation.

so. we went on a little vacation. we took a couple days off work, and spent a nice long 4-day weekend in Wildwood, NJ. we planned the trip way back when it was still winter and we were just dreaming of sunshine and lazy days on the beach. we factored in work schedules and available leave time and even went bathing suit shopping.

but what we didnt plan for was an early start to this year's tropical storm season. oh hello there Andrea. SO nice of you to join us at the beach.

Delaware Memorial Bridge in the rain. 

so vacation wasn't quite everything we dreamed it might be - long sunny days on the beach, warm summer nights on the boardwalk, time for water parks and sandcastles and beach football, all culminating in one fantastic tan - but it was still fun because we refused to let the wet weather dampen our moods. so based on my now-extensive knowledge of rainy beach vacations, here are some tips to help you plan your own awesome rainy beach vacation:

1. Plan Ahead. check the weather before you go, and seriously - pack accordingly. if they are calling for rain, maybe pack more than just one pair of capris because you are in denial. because once your one pair of long-ish pants gets soaking wet, you're going to wish you had another pair to wear while they dry.

2. Get Wet. just because it's pouring down rain doesn't mean you have to stay holed up in your hotel room. get out! enjoy the emptiness of the boardwalk, and take advantage of it by going to that really good pizza place because you know you wont have to wait in line. stop by the Elks Club parade on the way back to the hotel. (then leave after a little bit because its pouring rain and they're not even throwing candy. the nerve.) do whatever you want, really. dont let the rain stop you.

boardwalk in the rain.

3. Stay Positive. smile. laugh. just remember that you are not at work and this is all just a great big adventure. dance in the rain. spend the weekend in a state of denial and blissful ignorance. eat lots of chocolate and ice cream. whatever you do, just be happy.

4. Play Games. mario kart. battle of the sexes. banangrams. monopoly if you're feeling up to it. dont let yourself get bored when there is plenty of fun to be had!

5. Don't Wait for Pictures. document the heck out of your vacation - rain and all. no need to wait for the perfect light or a break in the clouds or for everyone to even be looking all in the same direction... if you want to remember your vacation just the way it was, then just be constantly taking pictures.

photo ops in the rain.

6. Keep Track of the Weather. stalk the weather channel app like its your job. know which days, hours, and minutes are supposed to be rain-free. check often for updates, because the weather is a shifty minx.

jershey shore in the rain. (you can tell cuz of the raindrop on the lens)

7. Get Out When You Can. ok. you have a gap today where there's only a 30% chance of rain. load up and hit the beach! when it starts to sprinkle and everyone else is leaving, set up your umbrella and get situated. after all, it looks like its going to clear up soon. lay out in the rain - remember, those UV rays can penetrate through clouds and rain! ignore your goosebumps and your husbands whining and smile! you're at the beach!

walking the beach during a break in the rain.

8. Bring a Good Book. or two or three. mark brought seven diy-how-to books to peruse, and i blew through two novels over the weekend - Silver Linings Playbook, and The Memory Keeper's Daughter. both were kind of sad. but both were well written, attention grabbing, and the perfect way to kill some time during afternoon naps and early mornings when i couldn't sleep because i was so excited to be on vacation at the beach!

9. Have a Tasty Drink. or two or three. no need to wait for sunshine to enjoy a margarita or a rum runner or whatever drink just screams SUMMER to you.  we were vacationing with my brother-in-law-in-law who enjoys mixing fancy drinks as a hobby, so he was more than happy to play bartender for the weekend. every drink was delicious and came with a fancy garnish, or at least as fancy as his limited access to the proper tools would allow.




havana-something cocktail with a "twist"


10. Don't Worry. the sun will come out tomorrow. or the next day. so soak it up while you can.

 i have plenty more pictures to share (i took 180 over the 4 days!) so hopefully i will find time to actually do that in between all of this getting-back-to-real-life stuff like groceries and dishes and laundry and work and all that jazz.