Some kind of...

Yesterday was like that song - some kind of wonderful. I got some emails sent and calls made that were sitting on the front burner, I got my to-do list in order, and now we have some extra storage space.

After work, Dan had to meet someone at our church and I tagged along. Let me tell you that DAN is embracing the power of go. I think that might be his word of the year. I wasn't sitting for more than ten minutes while he went to the bathroom - just sitting on a comfy chair, with my coat on, enjoying the warmth and nothingness, doing some people watching, not pulling out my laptop - when Dan came along and said GO. Excuse me? So I sucked it up and got moving, but the coat stayed put.

For dinner we headed to a Thai restaurant that we love in that area, and I actually TRIED SOMETHING NEW. This is really unheard of, and a rare occurrence at best. My tried and true dish is beef teriyaki (spice factor #2 please), but last night the shrimp and asparagus with mushrooms and garlic sauce was added to the favorites list (total = 2). Dan went with his normal dish - chicken thai spicy - BORING. Come on Mr. GO.


Next stop was Home Depot. They're having a storage sale right now and we wanted to check out their supply. We made the mistake of thinking they closed at 10:00, so when we walked in at 8:30 and they close at 9:00, we had to browse quickly. After walking through all of our solutions we decided to go home and think about it - not too impressed with what we saw, but some of those individual "white metal bar shelves" seemed good to hang in the office closets. What are those things called? We decided to check once more at the front of the store, and there it was...a silver metal shelving thing like we already have two of, but bigger and the perfect size for our closets. We threw two of those in the cart and also got an even larger black one for my baskets and crafty crap that is taking up precious floor space. Woohoo!

Tonight and tomorrow - we hopping in the car and going to Columbus. We've had it with the wimpy melty snow here in Kentucky, and we're going north to find some REAL SNOW. That's my excuse, but really there's a surprise going-away party for Eddie at his and Sonya's place tonight. Shhhhh. He's moving to New York (as will she eventually) and will be missed. We'll be shacking up with Adam and Sheri tonight and hanging out with them tomorrow. Double woohoo!

I need to run out the door, so I'll post my photo-a-day(s) later. Irie.

Challenges galore...

Last week's sleeping schedule sought its revenge last night. After tossing and turning, somehow I woke up at 5:00a surprisingly awake. Had a nice, easy Wednesday to start off my three-day work week - and some pretty snow too.

I felt slow as a turtle tonight - wasting time - just trying to research and figure some things out with my word for 2008 and another challenge I've started. Yep, I know... another, but it's something I've been doing lately anyway. While I was feeling shelled in and slow, Dan and I decided to start a puzzle together. It was just what I needed for my photo del dia (of the day) and to get me going again.

First thing: my word for 2008. After talking with Mandy this morning, and Dan this evening, I decided to give the hat pick another go-round. The two words in question were GO and BALANCE. Last night when I blindly chose out of the hat, I got GO. Tonight, I let Dan choose out of the hat and we did the best two out of three. Both times he chose BALANCE - so balance it was. The fates must be telling me something about the balance I need in my life. I'll miss GO, but it doesn't have to be my word of the year for me to use it and be motivated by it.

Balance: to bring to or hold in equilibrium; mental steadiness or emotional stability; habit of calm behavior, judgment, etc.; composition or placement of elements of design, as figures, forms, or colors, in such a manner as to produce an aesthetically pleasing or harmoniously integrated whole.

There’s no secret to balance. You just have to feel the waves. - Frank Herbert

Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony. - Thomas Merton

There are so many aspects of balance, but I chose a few that I liked. For me, I want balance to get me out of the computer chair and doing different things. Not necessarily spreading myself thin with a BUNCH of things, but doing things that are better for me and my relationships. Allowing more of a balance between Dan, family, friends, our business, and personal time. I want to find friends in our area since we'll be searching for a house here soon. Eating balanced meals. Starting a yoga routine like my 101 list tells me to do. Being collected and confident mentally and physically - and just plain ol' feel the calm of "thinking balance" in stressful times. Bring it on, balance. I'm ready.

Second thing: 365 days in photos. So many people are doing this right now, the peer pressure was MURDER. Kidding - it's also on my 101 list to take photos of myself for a year, but I'm going to extend it to the things around me. Documenting what I do all year sounds rockin'. And why not start when the new year starts? Dan's photo in the previous post was for day one, and the photo above is for day two. You can find the 365 photo posts in my categories, or see just the photos on my flickr.

Tomorrow after work: calls to make, a new blog theme to whip up, day three photo, spend some time with Dan, create a routine for fitting in yoga, blogging, and cleaning a little each night before I go to bed.

Now: it's more than past my bedtime. I need to get out of here. Go check out Mandy's new blogging home, and Sheri's 365 days in photos.

New year + delayed perspective...

Just here to post something small. Last night turned out to be a good time with a bunch of couples - mostly friends and some we were meeting for the first time. As you can see, the poker chips came out for those who wanted to play (not me, that's Dan's territory), and some dice came out for a Yahtzee game with the remaining peeps. I had never played before, but caught on pretty quickly. I didn't get a Yahtzee, though.




These were two guests that we brought to the party. If you don't know about my obsession with pina coladas, then you haven't been reading this blog long enough. This might be a new staple in my diet. Oh it's so good, and just to smell it takes me back to Jamaica ordering booze with my breakfast. Irie mon. The tin of cookies are also a new favorite. Dan and I bought them to go with the chocolate fountain last night, along with a lot of other dipables, and they are abso-freakin'-lutely the best cookies ever with that vanilla filling (and even dreamier dipped in chocolate). I noticed that the serving size is three cookie sticks, so you should obey the serving size for calorie calculation purposes.


Today - I didn't get as much done as I wanted to, and that's okay. Dan and I took down the tree and some decorations, relaxed a little, went to the grocery store, and Dan made a cabbage soup for our New Year's dinner. I love that he cooks because that part of my brain was lost somewhere during college. The new year has started out just perfectly.

I'm sorry to say that I haven't chosen my word for 2008 yet. I'm stuck between two words. These two words convey totally different things and make me think/feel two totally different things. I thought I could remedy the situation by sticking the words into a hat and blindly picking, but no such luck. I need both of these things. Just because I pick one doesn't mean that I can't practice the other, so it should be easy...but no decision is easy over here.

Tomorrow - is my first day back to work, and an early day at that (6:00a). Yuck. It is Wednesday, though, a nice big hump day with a downhill slope to the end of the week.

Time to get some shut-eye. Enjoy your hump day.
First post of 2008 - check.