Feeling Merry

I just returned from a week away in Denver, celebrating Christmas with my family. I feel very blessed that we were able to have the time together and also see many extended family members and friends while we were having our white Coloardo Christmas. It felt extra special this year to all be together.

Since today is the last day of 2011, I thought I'd make a list (my favorite) of my top moments this year. And next week (yes, I promise to be back next week, but probably not so early) I'll talk about the start of my happiness project.

*My new job: A year in, and I am loving the decision to change jobs to something that I not only love, but something that challenges me.
*Our kitchen: We're about halfway done now, but I still love the change that is in the room now. I still can't find the exact right place for everything, but it just feels better.
*Outdoor work: The garage is wonderful, and our new patio will be so nice this spring and summer. I know Nathan has big plans for the yard this year, too, and it's going to be the nicest yard in Lincoln, I'm sure.
*Vacationing: Our trip to the Bahamas was a much-needed break from the cold. And I love that many of our trips were ones that let us see family and friends this year!
*Celebrating: So many of our friends and family celebrated big events this year: babies, weddings, engagements, moving back to Lincoln, and it is fun to be a part of their joy.
*Shelby: Little Shelby and I have gotten to know each other much better now that we spend so much time together. It's really good entertainment being home and learning all of her little quirks. I think I'd be bored out of my mind being home without her, though I have to admit I get a lot more done when she's not afraid of the vacuum, the hairdryer, the steamer, etc.

Wishing you a happy New Year!

Kitchen Progress

I had planned on doing a book review for you all today, but my friend Kelley requested kitchen photos instead. So we will save the book review for another day and instead let my first post in a while be mostly pictures!

These are the new cabinets about the stove, and our awesome corner cabinet. Originally, if you remember, we planned on doing open shelving over there, but it wasn't as easy to build as we thought. In the end, I was very glad we ended up with it because it holds all of our small appliances easily, and I don't really like everyone seeing the chaos that is generally our cabinets.

This is the other side of the kitchen. Even just with the upper cabinets done, we have more storage, so I moved my cookbooks into the kitchen so they are more accessibly.

Here is the fun rug I found at crate and barrel while shopping with my mom. You can also see some work that we still have to do--baseboard over on the far wall, the tall cabinet will be emptied and taken out of the kitchen so we can put the door in, and the bottom cabinets still need to be painted or replaced so the dishwasher can be installed.

Jim is currently working on the cabinet for the other side of the room, next to the fridge, so I'll show you that when it's all done.

Fall Love

Today is a dreary, dreary day, and I have to admit that Daylight Saving Time put me in such a good mood, I don't even mind. It's the perfect kind of day to drink hot chocolate and curl up with a well-loved book. Shelby on the other hand is having a very hard time adjusting to the time change and keeps trying to get us up early.

I am also loving that we finally have fall because I excitedly pulled out my winter clothes! I had worked on updating my wardrobe last year to have more work and home friendly items that didn't scream college student, and this year I realized that most of my sweaters had seen better days. So I decided to go out shopping.

Last weekend I found some great deals at Ann Taylor Loft--all sale things were 50%, so most of the things I got were $20, including some super comfy cardigans. It wasn't until I got home that I realized I already had at least two black and gray cardigans, but they do go with everything. I also found some super comfy sweaters at Target as well a $10 tall black boots. Then yesterday I got a sweater cape. Sweater capes fall into the category of "trends I questioned until I gave in and now can't imagine life without them" like tall boots and skinny jeans. I have been wearing it around the house all day and it is like wearing a blanket. Plus it makes me feel like an old-fashioned book character. Or Sherlock Holmes.

Toastmasters Speech: Learning Body Language

Since it is Toastmasters day today, I thought I'd share the speech I gave a couple of weeks ago. At the time it was five days before Shelby's adopt-iversary, and since the speech focus was "your body speaks," I decided to improvise some of Shelby's movements. So, whenver you see me describing a look, or see the word this, imagine me pretending to be Shelby.

I have never considered myself to be a dog person. I mean, sure, I like dogs and I loved our family dogs, but I never understood the people who are crazy over their dogs. You know, the people who talk about dogs like they’re children, the people who let their dogs sleep in the bed, the people who take their dogs everywhere they possibly can. And then we got Shelby.

Shelby the sheltie joined our family almost a year ago. We got her from a friend of a friend—they had two puppies left in a litter that had been born in June, meaning Shelby was four months old when we got her. And we were perhaps irresponsible dog owners, in that we did basically no research on the breed before we got her.

Here’s how I decided I wanted I wanted a sheltie. I found some at a local rescue and decided they were cute. I sent the link to my friend Leah, who said, Trent and Jess have sheltie puppies, let’s go look at them this weekend. So off she, Nathan, and I went to “look at the puppies.” We watched the two puppies play together and played with them, and then, when she got tired, Shelby climbed right into Nathan’s lap. Obviously, we were heading to PetCo to get supplies for our new puppy within the hour. And so started our journey with Shelby.

As we later found out, Shelties are known for being loving, loyal, affectionate, and willing to please and obey. They are also very vocal and expressive dogs.  And Shelby is no exception. She is our little shadow, We have learned a lot about Shelby over the course of the year, and she really is like a furry little person, with her own personality and expressions. That’s right—my dog has expressions. And tonight, I’m going to demonstrate some of them for you, as they are really the best way to get to know Shelby.

The first, most essential Shelby look is “the potty look,” which looks like this. When we brought Shelby home, Trent and Jess had already been working on potty-training her, so she was familiar with the concept. And during the first week, Nathan figured out that this meant I need to go outside. So really, potty-training Shelby was pretty easy. However, she soon figured out that if she wanted to go outside, all she had to do was tilt her head and we would stop whatever we were doing to take her out, even if she didn’t really need to go and all she wanted to do was play fetch. While we tried to break her of this habit, it was often met with the I’m so cute so give me what I want look. She also used this look to get us to let her start sitting on the furniture and sleeping on the bed. What can I say, it’s hard to say no to this.

This next look is not to be confused with the potty look. It is instead the look Shelby uses to communicate with us (demonstrate). When we talk to her or ask her questions, she’ll respond with head tilts. Now, I’m pretty sure she can’t actually understand what we’re saying most of the time, but, there have been some instances where I think she can. For example, we were talking about what flavor of food we should get for her next: chicken, beef, deer, rabbit, or duck. She’s She sat there listening tilting her head, and when we said duck, she went like this. So we bought her the duck and since then, she’s eating like a normal dog rather than picking at it like she was before. Maybe she understands us after all.

The best Shelby look is what we like to call big toothy grin, which looks like this. She did this a lot when she was a puppy and was very happy with whatever she was doing—playing fetch, doing her obstacle course, chewing up shoes—that kind of thing. She doesn’t do big toothy grin very often anymore though, and instead just smiles.

Other expressions in Shelby’s repertoire include the glare, the stoic look, the wink, and the I’m watching you look. And if you’re not watching her when she wants you to be watching her, she will paw at your hand like this until you start paying attention to her.

As you can see, Shelby is very good at expressing herself in ways that we understand. Or maybe after a year, we’ve just come to an understanding. And maybe, after a year, I’m one of those crazy dog people after all.
I thought the speech went really well, but I was surprised by the feedback, most particuarly the comment that I was using the word "and" too often. I am not sure if it is a "speech" thing, but I am curious about the hatred for conjunctions--there have been other times people comment on using and, but, or, etc. at the beginning of sentences and how this is "bad grammar." I personally love using these words at the start of my sentences (and I'm sure if you go back and read this, you could have a rather fun drinking game with my use of conjunctions), so it might just be something I have to accept that I will be called out on.

Ghost Stories

Today, I went to the library. Now, really, pretty much every blog post I write ever (assuming I am back to regular blogging, which I am attempting now that life has settled down a bit) could start with today, I went to the library. Because I go to the library a lot--there are some weeks where I go literally every day.

Lately, I haven't checked out any books I'm totally in love with. I've checkd out many audio books that I'm totally in love with, that's for sure, but nothing that I've read. So today, I checked out two books I've already read. But I checked them out because the third book in the series comes out today: The Strangers on Montagu Street.

I originally checked out the two pervious books for the cruise, without knowing that they were more ghost stories than they were historical house stories. And for those of you who don't know, I have a huge fear of ghosts. They freak me out--in fact, they are the reason that I am afraid of the dark. I did actually have nightmares on the cruise while reading them, but I can't resist them because they are that good. Plus, it always does us a little good to face our fears, which is why I checked these out again and also why I'm trying really hard to listen to people's birth stories and not immediately hide my eyes when someone gives birth on TV (yes, giving birth is my second biggest fear).

With a lighter work week ahead, maybe I can get these books finished before Friday and then head over to barnes and noble and read the third one on my nook . . .

Prepping The Kitchen

Fourth of July weekend, we spent most of our time prepping the kitchen. We took down the orignial cabinets, which we planned to re-arrange. The first couple came down relatively easy; however, the last set was so wedged into the wall opening that Nathan had to take it apart to get it down. In the process, we actually tore up some of the wall, which we had to patch.

But that was not the biggest patch job. When the guys were working on the garage, they had to disconnect our hardly-used kitchen fan. So, before we could paint or eventually put up new cabints, we had to take that out. And by we, I mean Nathan. It was also wedged into its original space, so it took a while to get it out. We then had to cover the hole with drywall. Once everything was sanded and ready, we used two coats of primer to try and cover up all of the gray and blue. It was about two-plus coats of purple, too.

While everything was drying, we started priming and painting the cabinets. Even after we decided to have Nathan's dad build us new ones, we still finished painting them because we could use them in the garage. And it's a good thing, too, because they don't look as pretty as I thought they would. Here are the lessons I've learned about painting cabinets since: sand the old gloss off and clean them. Watch out for paint globs. Use small foam brushes for the doors.

Back To The Kitchen

This weekend was very exciting for me--we finally have our new cabinets up! Our kitchen looks like a kitchen again, only new and improved. And for those of you who thought I couldn't talk any more about my kitchen, we'll have a week's worth of posts about my kitchen.

The whole reason for starting the kitchen project was my obsession with HGTV. I was watching an episode of Dear Genevive, and someone said something that I completely related to: I hate this room so much, I don't even want to be in here.

That is NOT how you should feel about a room in your house, but especially the kitchen (particularly if you don't really love cooking, doing the dishes, etc. to begin with). To me, our kitchen never felt like it made sense. I could not get the current cabinet arrangement to work with the way I felt things should be. It was dark and gloomy and I would glare at the cabinets because they were so ugly. The layout did not work with my chaotic style of cooking. And we didn't have enough counterspace.

So, armed with confidence from HGTV, I convinced Nathan to spend the weekend working on the kitchen. It would be so easy, we'd be done that weekend or at least that week. Or so I thought...

Banned Books Week: The Curious Incident . . .

Challenged Book:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Doubleday

According to the ALA:
"Removed from the Lake Fenton, Mich. summer reading program (2010) after parents complained about its "foul language." The book is about an autistic child who investigates the death of a neighborhood dog. It was a joint winner of the 2004 Boeke Prize and won the 2003 Whitbread Book of the Year award."

My Thoughts:Despite the foul language, which I can't remember too much of, I think that this book is definitely worthwhile for young adults to read. The perspective of the main character is unique, yet I think his journey of growing up and the realizations he comes to during the course of the book are universal for that age group. These realizations are even more real because the story is told from his perspective as if you're reading his mind. Additionally, the story is told through drawings and other non-linear text devices, which is appealing for that age group.

Banned Books Week: Water For Elephants

Challenged Book:Water for Elephants

According to the ALA:
Removed from a spring break elective course at the Bedford, N.H. School District (2010) after a parent complained about the novel’s sexual content. The complainant further suggested that the school only allow "youth versions" of particular books or organize a parental review system over the summer that would look at books that students need parental permission to read. A checklist has been proposed that Bedford school officials would use to rate books and other instructional materials.

My thoughts:
I loved Water For Elephants (the book and the movie). And while I can see why a parent might be concerned with the novel's sexual content, I more surprised that no complaint was made based on the violence of the book. However, I think there is such value in reading this book, for many literary reasons. It is a fantastic example of historical fiction that would more likely appeal to youth than other books in that genre. It is well-written, and the perspective of the narrator is unique, because it is a male character written by a woman author. And while there might be some questionable content for teenagers, I think that anyone enrolled in a spring break elective course likely has the maturity for this to be an appropriate choice, and the content is not any different than what can be found on TV and other books targeted to young adults.

Have any of you read Water For Elephants? What are your thoughts on it being read in schools?

Banned Books Week

Last week, I was at the library and noticed my beloved Alice books (by Phyllis Reynold Naylor) out on display for Banned Books Week. I loved the Alice books when I was younger (and honestly, now I want to reread them) but had no idea that they were on the banned books list.

That is the point of Banned Books Week:, I suppose. According to the ALA:

"Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment.  Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States."

This week, I'll look at three of the books on the list of books that were banned or challenged in 2010-2011 that I read this year. Until tomorrow, here is the list, courtesy of ALA.

Book Review: Sammy's Hill

There are two kinds of readers, generally speaking. Those who can reread their favorite books over and over and over again, and those who read books only once. There is not a right or wrong way, just different ways. Also, I'm sure there are people that are the exception to that, too. I fall into the first category: I can read my favorites over and over again. But they aren't necessarily my favorites; instead, they are books I can turn to when I just need something to read. Something that I know I will like, something that is easy.

I have read a LOT of very good books recently. But I generally have phases with my reading, where I read so much (I was going to the library every day and checking out at least three books each time...that's a lot!) that I just can't do it anymore. And that's where my comfort books come in.

The book I grabbed last night was Sammy's Hill by Kristin Gore, which is about the everyday life of a Capitol Hill staffer. But she is one of the best characters ever written, because she is totally quirky. I mean, seriously quirky, and you really wonder if anyone is that quirky, until you realize that you are. (Yes, that did happen to me while I was reading this.)

Here is an example of one of her quirks:
"Yet as I tried to fall asleep, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was going wrong. If not in my romantic life, then somewhere else. It was times such as these that I always got very worried about alibis. What if my weird feeling was intuition (which was even more plausible now that I knew about my mother's psychic prowess), and I was sensing that right at that very moment, while I was home alone with no witnesses, someone was framing me for a terrible crime?"

I read this book while I was in D.C., which is probably part of the reason that I like it so much. And I do like it that much--I saw someone else on the bus reading it after I had just finished and had to really resist the urge to talk about the book with her. And I read it twice in a row. As in, I finished it, and then started it again because I wasn't ready for it to be over.

There is a hilarious part that invovles sending a slightly scandalous email as a "reply all" message rather than reply, which is hilarious. Many fish and the conspiracy behind why they keep dying. Boyfriend drama and romance drama. And a look at what it might be like working in Washington. Really, the whole book is great for a laugh, and of course you end of cheering for Samantha all the way through the book and the sequel. There were talks for a movie back when I first read it, but alas, not yet . . .

Summer Recap: First Birthday

When I let Shelby out one morning last week, I was able to see my breath. It was about 5:45 in the morning, so that might have something to do with it, but I also think it means fall is coming. Plus, new TV starts for us tomorrow and I can't wait!

Because my poor blog was neglected so much this summer, I thought it would be good to recap the summer and what kept us so busy. Today, we'll start with Shelby's birthday, which was June 10.

She looks a lot happier in this picture than she actually was wearing the birthday bow. But I thought the silver was a festive color that matched her coat well. Shelby got a new toy for her birthday, a squeaky rhino named Ricky. She also got her very own birthday cake, which had applesauce, peanut butter, and carrots in it--all of her favorite things. We lit the birthday candle for her and gave her her very own plate to eat off of.

Overall, she was very spoiled as she started her second year of life, but what else would you expect for a very, very spoiled dog

TV: More Women Watch, Less Women Write

As soon as next week, some of my shows will start the new season (though of course, the ones I'm most excited for start last) and I have also carefully selected some new shows to watch. Last year, I didn't really add any new shows and cut down on the shows I watched. This year, I only had a few shows canceled, but I'm very interested in many of the new premieres.

Today, I found an article on my facebook news feed about how the number women television writers is going down, and I thought it was a very interesting read. I just finished listening to Tina Fey's autobiography (if she reads the audio book, too, is it an auto-audio autobiography?) and loved it. She is hilarious, and I loved learning more about her personal life and how she got to where she is today, but even more so, I loved her discussion on what it means to be a woman, as a boss, a wife, a mother, a writer, a comedian, etc. and how all of these "roles" fit together. The article also addresses some of the obstacles Tina Fey overcame, which she talks about in great detail. I hope you'll check them both out!

One Year Ago

One year ago we were celebrating the wedding we'd planned for a year with loved ones from near and far. Today (and this weekend), we're remembering our special day and and all of the special days before it, and thinking ahead to all of the special days to come.

On Spoilers

This will likely be the most controversial subject ever talked about on my blog: my reading process. Yes that's right. While most people read the traditional way (you know, following the story from the first page to the last page), I prefer to know the ending while I'm reading. Basically, I read as much as I can before I HAVE to know the ending, read the ending, then maybe go a bit futher back if I can't understand the ending, then go back to where I had stopped originally and finish the book. Unless I just don't finish the book because I'm either OK with knowing how it ended or didn't like how it ended. There are, of course, exceptions to this method, which include the last Harry Potter, and other books of such importance that I force myself to finish without spoiling them for myself.

Now, this is controversial to many people, Nathan included, who believe I ruin books for myself by knowing the ending. But lately, I've learned that there are other people out there who read like I do, or jump around even more than I do. (To which most of you are probably thinking, maybe you all need to find a support group for such a problem.) However, check out this article I found via on facebook today, on spoilers. Spoiler alert: Here's the end of the article, that sums it up quite nicely:

"So this means that a spoiler is not really a spoiler at all. It takes a complex story and simplifies it, allowing you to process it easier. The ability to process it easier allows you to be more engaged in the story and understand it to a deeper level. And think, just maybe, if that "spoiled" story is good enough, it can last for thousands of years, exposing it to future generations of readers."

Maybe this just goes to show I'm not so crazy after all . . .

Favorite Literary Couples

My friend Laura recently did a series on her favorite literary couples, and today is featuring her friend's favorite couples. You'll find mine in the post, too! Check it out here. I have to say, Laura and I are reading twins, so a lot of her favorites (which you can find on her blog) are also mine.

Toastmasters Speech: In Which I Learn To Improvise

Last night was my third toastmasters speech, which was "organize the speech" or something similar. I wanted to talk about sorority recruitment, as this is currently the week that UNL has "rush." (I know, scandalous that I just called it that!) I though when I wrote it, it could be super funny and light and fun, while also being very organized and to the point. And then I wrote it, practiced it, and hated it. It was none of the above.

When I got to the podium, however, I was struck with inspiration, and it ended up being super funny and light and fun, and everyone laughed. I was not nervous, I did hand gestures, and again, improvised it. It was an awesome feeling, and I was really proud of what I had come up with.

I think it was the first lesson in speaking. I thought initially that because I could write speeches that were good, I could give speeches that are good. But there is a huge difference, because with speaking, what you come up with on the fly (that's right, you don't PLAN it) ends up being better than what you wrote.

However, here's the written out speech. And because my improved first line made me laugh a lot, I'll share it first, so you can see the difference.

Improved First Line: I am not a typical sorority girl, as I quickly learned while trying to discuss The Sun Also Rises with the guy manning the keg at a frat party. (and yes, my speech had other references to The Sun Also Rises. It's like it's my favorite book or something.)

In contrast, here is my written out speech:

Certain times of the year always bring back memories for me, and this week is one of them. For four years in college, I spent the week before school started at sorority recruitment—and, if I’m being honest, four years in college, I spent the week before that dreading it. But now that I’m no longer actually part of the sorority recruitment process, it’s easier to see that despite how hard it is, I learned valuable lessons those four years.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the sorority recruitment process as a “potential new member,” it is a week-long opportunity to visit houses on campus to see which is right for you before accepting a bid to join a house. You visit eight houses the first day, five the second, and three the third. You see slideshows and skits, eat lots of food, and participate in lots of small talk and singing. That’s right—singing. After all of this, you make your choice and hope that the house you want also wants you and you’ll get to go there on the last day, bid day.

That first year, going through the process I just described, I learned that no matter how much you stress out about something, everything works out in the end. I had not intended to go through sorority recruitment, and when I decided to, I did a lot of research on the houses I thought I wanted to be a part of. I recently found these notes, and the house I ended up in was the one with the least amount of notes. But looking back, it was the house that I was most comfortable in, and the house where I connected with most of the girls. I spent so much of that week crying and worrying and stressing over not getting into the right house, that I didn’t even realize that maybe I had already found the right house all along. Seven years later, I still worry and stress and maybe even cry about other situations, but it’s easier for me to see that what’s right will happen whether I worry or not.
As I went through my freshman year, I couldn’t wait for the next recruitment season. There was no way that it could be any harder than what I’d gone through the year before, because now, I was in control. But I was way wrong. It was harder. On top of all of the prep work that goes into recruitment week, you have to learn how to talk to potential new members. I believe this was my earliest introduction to small talk with a purpose. While talking to potential new members, you not only had to learn enough about them to see if they would be a good fit for the house, but also keep them interested in the house, sell them on the house, and hope they didn’t actually hear how bad of a singer you are. However, I find that I use these skills in my current job—the small talk skills, not the singing skills. I have to know what I’m talking about, sell people on what I’m talking about, and do so in a short period of time.

I was actually excited about recruitment the summer before my junior year. I was ready to move back into the house with my best friend and see everyone again. I was no longer going through recruitment, I had hopefully mastered the skills necessary to be successful at recruitment, and my best friend was in charge of the food, which meant that when I was helping her, I got to actually leave the house. Certainly this would be the best year. And it almost was. The first day, I was out giving house tours and meeting girls, but by the second day, I was back helping Meagan in the kitchen. My biggest fear going into the sorority process the two years before was that I would get caught up in girl drama, which is not me, and let’s just say that recruitment brings out a lot of girl drama. The lesson that year, perhaps the most valuable lesson I learned, was the importance of standing up for what you believe in.

The last year, I had taken over the kitchen, and while I learned how to shop and prepare acceptable recruitment food for hundreds of girls, the lesson I learned during my final recruitment was the value of memories. Even though it seems like I learned a lot of hard lessons during the first three years, my last year was one I’ll never forget. Because it was fun. On top of being in charge of the kitchen, Kaitlyn and I lived off campus, which gave us a lot more freedom than living in the house did. The memories of us goofing off in the kitchen while making fruit pizza and driving around to every grocery store looking for flavored syrups are simple, but they are happy. And in terms of the house, the traditions that we did every year during recruitment had more meaning as a senior, and really encapsulated everything a sorority can be. So while not as valuable or applicable to my professional live, this lesson applies to my every days, and lets me think fondly back on my sorority recruitment.

Rereading this today, I think that this is much more organized than what I actually gave, but apparently that didn't matter as much as I thought it did. I have to admit though, the problem with just improvising is how excited I get. Excited Whitney is fast-talking Whitney, which apparently doesn't bode well for speaking. Oh well.

Vacation Photos

And here are the pictures promised yesterday. My mom has a lot more than we ended up with, but here is just a sample of our trip.

Golfers In Action

Indiana University Gates

Campus Forests

Reception Photo

Home Again, Home Again

Since I've started working part-time, I've found that my perception on Mondays has changed. Maybe it's because generally I'm not as busy on Mondays or because I'm getting back to my normal routine, but I have found that I actually look forward to the start of another week. This week was the exception, however, because this Monday means I have to get back home from a fabulous vacation. Our destination of choice? Bloomington, Indiana.

That's right--my cousin Phil was getting married and so we all met in Bloomington to help him celebrate! Thursday night we flew into Indianapolis to meet the rest of my family. My sister Stephanie was on our Chicago flight, so we got some more time with her, and then we met my mom and brother Joe at the airport. My dad had held down the fort at the hotel, so we had a big reunion in the parking lot.

The next morning we drove into Bloomington for a golf scramble. I am not so much a golfer, but Nathan was very good in high school, so he played, as did my dad, Joe, Stephanie, and most of my cousins. So my cousin Carrie drove me around in the golf card for the first nine holes. We had a bbq and then a really fun rehearsal dinner with disco dancing.

Saturday was the wedding day, but we had some time in the morning to drive to IU to check out the campus, as it is one of our new Big 10 rivals. I have to point out how wonderful everyone at IU was. As my dad said, we ran into three people on our self-tour. The first asked us if we needed directions and then gave us recommendations for lunch. The second offered to take a photo of the four of us. And the third gave us some history of the campus and then drove back around to find us and give us a magazine. We also had lots of people tell us that they all expected Nebraska to take the Big 10. :)

After some cocktails and time at the pool, we headed over to the golf course for the "10th tee ceremony." It was a beautiful ceremony, with so much personality. And all of the details were so pretty. The colors were orange and dark blue, and Kate had a gorgeous short dress. The centerpieces were cool--oranges and blue ribbons and orange roses and lilies--and there were really fun touches, like trivia cootie catchers and cupcake flavor labels. On top of all the pretty details, it was awesomely fun. Great music, great company, and great food. We had a blast.

Of course, on Sunday we had to head home. We were lucky in that all but one of our flights was on time, so we made it home about when we were supposed to. We also had a night without Shelby because we couldn't get back in time to get her from the kennel. She is back though, recovering from her time at the dog motel.

Tomorrow, I'll show off some pictures of our trip. Now, I have to get back to unpacking and recovering!

Toastmasters Speech: The Words Of Whitney

This is the first actual toastmasters speech I gave, meaning it was from the manual. You'll have to remember that because it's a speech, it is much more effective spoken rather than read on my blog. Unfortunately, I don't plan to film my speeches for you all to see (haha). But I actually thought it turned out OK, considering I procrastinated it until the last minute.


When I gave my first speech for toastmasters, I uncharacteristically went out of order in the manual and skipped over the icebreaker. Afterward, many people told me that the icebreaker would be much easier for me, as it was about myself. However, I think talking about myself is a lot more difficult than talking about, well . . . anything else. While brainstorming, all I could come up with was words, and I felt really stuck, until I realized that words were the answer I had been looking for.

The written word has always been a huge part of my life. That doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m a great speller, I have a fantastic vocabulary, or that I could take you down in a game of scrabble. No—instead, it means that as an avid reader and writer and former yearbook editor, English and journalism major, and magazine editor, I have chosen to let the written word dominate my life. Thus, it only seems fitting to let words dominate my icebreaker speech, as well.

Let’s start with the nouns. I am currently a wife, crazy dog lady, homeowner, and part-time fundraiser. I am also a daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, and cousin—and you can add in-law to most of that, too. I am a blogger, facebook-addict, reality TV watcher, and library enthusiast. I have been a Coloradan, a Goddard Rocket, a Littleton Lion, and a sorority girl. And I will always be a Nebraska Cornhusker.

But as I’ve moved from different states and different schools and had different jobs, I’ve learned that it’s the adjectives that really make me who I am, and that the adjectives never change. So here are three adjectives that I think best describe me.

Particular. When my husband and I first started dating, we discovered we had one very important thing in common: neither of us liked to have our food touch the other food on the plate, and we both only eat one thing at a time. He was relieved because his family would no longer make fun of him, as they would in turn be making fun of me, and I was super glad that I finally found someone who understood the importance of using a divider plate.

Being particular falls into everything I do in my life. I have an eye for detail and am very organized. I constantly carry around my planner, and my to-do lists are cross-referenced. I am never on time—I’m always at least five minutes early, more likely 10-15 minutes early. And don’t even get me started on my closet or the Tupperware drawer, two places in the house I have to have just right. While sometimes being so particular about everything can be overwhelming, basically, I like things to be just right. 

Enthusiastic. Going along with my somewhat OCD-tendencies, I get really wrapped up in everything I do. This means I have varied interests and can often find something to talk about with people. If I’m interested in something, I’m INTERESTED in something—I tend to go through phases where I’ll learn everything I can about a particular subject until I lose eventually move on to something. I like to have opinions on topics I’m enthusiastic about, but I like to try to see both sides of an argument and often end up on the fence most of the time. But what I’m most enthusiastic about is people, which brings us to our third and final word.

Compassionate. I love people. While I’ve been told that I come off as quiet, shy, or even somewhat snotty and standoffish, I enjoy making friends and learning about people. More importantly, I like to help people, and this is why work in nonprofit drew me back in, even though going part-time has been a transition to say the least. I try to think of other people’s feelings before my own, and I am an includer, so I try to make sure people feel comfortable and welcome and invited. Mostly, I just really like learning people’s stories, because everyone has a story.

And now for some words I am not. Cook and mathematician are two that come to mind right away. But most of all, I’ve never considered myself to be a public speaker, so I hope my time as a toastmaster will change that.

Random Summer

Happy Monday! This morning was finally cool enough for Shelby and I to get back to our long walks, and I can tell she appreciated it. I did, too.

A lot has happened around our house that I thought I'd give an update on. For starters, we are now parking in our driveway for the first time since May! Well, I suppose there was certain-times-of the-day parking allowed in June, but it feels like it's been forever. The garage is mostly done, the driveway is done, and life is back to normal.

The backyard, however, is not back to normal. We have the patio torn up so the electical company can come out and put our lines underground, which means that if a carport roof blows off onto the actual roof (not likely, but still) we wouldn't lose power. We also have to put in a gate to keep Shelby in the yard, install a doorknob on the garage, get a garage door opener, and redo the patio/pergola to go with the changes. Basically, garage=patio extension. Yay.

Our kitchen is functional, and our upper cabinets should be done very soon, at least half of them. It will be soo nice to have them again, and Nathan's dad has done a fantastic job on them (I've seen pictures!). So maybe in a month or two we'll be able to show off the "finished" kitchen.

We went and saw the last Harry Potter movie Sunday. I have always been kind of indifferent to the movies and for me, Harry Potter was already over when the last book came out, so I wasn't in too much of a hurry to see it. Or so I thought: I was surprised with how sad I was at the end because it was over, though I strongly believe she'll do more Harry Potter things. Did anyone else see the lifetime movie of her life? Very good, and now I want to find the biography it was based on.

That's all for now. Tomorrow, I'll be back with my long-awaited ice breaker speech!

Library Love: Everything Else

It might seem like I read a lot of chick lit, and I'm fine with that, because I do, and I love it. But today we'll look at some books that I've read that fall into the "anything but chick lit" category, including some non-fiction I've grabbed--mostly biographies.

Fiction Still Alice. Genova, Lisa. 
My name is Mary Sutter. Oliveira, Robin. 
First grave on the right. Jones, Darynda. 
The 19th wife. Ebershoff, David
The art of racing in the rain. Stein, Garth. 
The Paris wife. McLain, Paula. 

Non-Fiction Jeannie out of the bottle. Eden, Barbara.
The Diana chronicles. Brown, Tina. 
Deceptively delicious. Seinfeld, Jessica. 
Prairie tale.  Gilbert, Melissa

Library Love: I Want To Live In The South Books

I recently discovered a new favorite genre of books, and I call them, I want to live in the south books. They have several different things in common: female characters, family secrets, history, a southern setting, and occassionally a bit of magic or some ghosts. Also, they are generally by one of two authors: Karen White and Sarah Addison Allen.

Of the two Sarah Addison Allen books, I am most likely to reccomend The Peach Keeper, though I checked out another one by her today that sounds pretty good. And of the Karen Whites (some of which are not on here, I must add--the library must have not tracked them), my favorite was Falling Home, followed closely by The Lost Hours. Her "house" series is also good, which starts with The House On Tradd Street. Can you tell I'm a bit in love?

The peach keeper. Allen, Sarah Addison.
The beach trees. White, Karen. 
The girl who chased the moon. Allen, Sarah Addison. 
Learning to breathe. White, Karen. 
The memory of water. White, Karen. 
The lost hours. White, Karen.

Library Love: YA Books

A neglected blog during the week means Friday treats with extra posting! I still have several categories left in my I Love The Library week (as well as a book to pick up at the library!) so we'll get started bright and early this morning!

I still love to read Young Adult books, and I've found some good ones at the library recently, so I would recommend all of these titles.

Bumped. McCafferty, Megan. 
The summer I turned pretty. Han, Jenny. 
It's not summer without you Han, Jenny. 
Everything I needed to know about being a girl I learned from Judy Blume. O'Connell, Jennifer

Library Love: Chick Lit

There is something about summer that makes me want to read beach/pool reads, and so most of the books you see below have been checked out this summer. Some of them are more serious than others, while others look at the powerful career route that I'm not quite sure I would have ever survived had I head down that path. I would say the top pick for me is Kindred Spirits by Sarah Strohmeyer, but you all know my love for her books based on some other posts.

Kindred spirits. Strohmeyer, Sarah. 
Little pink slips. Koslow, Sally 
Last night at Chateau Marmont. Weisberger. Lauren
Immediate family. Goudge, Eileen. 
The divorce party. Dave, Laura. 
Wedding season. Fforde, Katie.  
Boy meets girl. Cabot, Meg.   
I think I love you. Pearson, Allison
Girls in trucks. Crouch, Katie. 
Men and dogs. Crouch, Katie.  
Love : a user's guide. Naylor, Clare
The second assistant : Naylor, Clare.
The first assistant : Naylor, Clare

Library Love: DVDs

It seems like it's been forever since I've talked about what I've read/done a book review. Recently, I discovered that the local library keeps a record of everything you've checked out, a reading history. Just another reason to love them! This week, I'll go over what I've "checked out" lately (I believe this is since March), broken out into different categories. Today's category is the DVDs I've gotten from the library, because I think it's awesome how big of a selection is available. Once netflix charges us more for DVDs, we'll start having a "queue" at the library instead, because those are free...

I'd also like to note that the only one I requested was Modern Family. Everything else was an impulse grab. I was really surprised I was able to find all of these without requesting them! And most of these are probably from this summer, rather than since March, so even more impressive.

Coco before Chanel. 
Everybody's fine. 
Fool's gold. 
Remember me.
Salt. 
Black swan. 
The lovely bones. 
The kids are all right. 
Modern family : Season 1.
Toy story. 

Our Wedding: The Book Theme

Even though I'm sure most of you have seen these details in person, I wanted to go over some of the book-like details we incorporated for our wedding. We actually had a lot of ideas we didn't use as to not go toooo book-y, but here's what we did.

For simple outdoor decorations, my mom made these paper-flower balls. We ordered the styrofoam balls of the internet, covered them in seam binding (off etsy) and then punched paper flowers and affixed them to the styrofoam balls with yellow-topped pins. We found the shepherd hooks on craigs list.

Our guest book was an old card catalog drawer, and we used the same punch as the flower balls to cut up more paper and affix the flowers to the corners of 4x4 pieces of cardstock. Guests each wrote a message on the cards.

Our programs were fans to help battle the Nebraska heat, even though it was actually a really nice day. They had a quote from Shakespeare on them.

Here is version one of our centerpieces. The books were borrowed from a friend and also purchased from a thrift store. We covered them in vintage wallpaper, bought off etsy, so we were able to bring in some color and also not have to worry about getting book titles that went with the wedding or looked pretty. The tables were assigned by letter--the frames are from Ikea and then the insides are just black cardstock cut to size with large cardstock letters, found on sale at Archivers, the best store ever. The little flowers also came from Archivers, not on sale.

The books sat on colored scrapbook paper. Our fabulous florist Melissa from Blooms and Bouquets came up with a wonderful concept for the other third of our centerpieces--she covered a vase in book pages (Alice In Wonderland from the Target dollar section) and filled them with carnations. We actually kept two because we loved them so much.

Not as much book-related, but I kind of loved our cake. Our cake topper (the smallest one) had the same quote from Shakespeare as the program on the back of the dress. The other two cake toppers are Nathan's parents and my parents, and we also included wedding photos of all of our grandparents and parents on the table.

Other book-related details were bookmarks as our favors, cut just from scrapbook paper, and then our save the date, which was inspired by a bookplate. A lot of people, including me, questioned the book-theme, but I thought it turned out even better than I imagined!

Our Wedding: Looking Back

Yesterday we talked about the beginning of the wedding, and today, we'll skip to the end. Check out my thoughts on wedding planning as a wedding graduate on A Practical Wedding here.

Tomorrow afternoon and the rest of this week, we'll talk about all the in between and the day itself.

Our Wedding: The Proposal

Last week, I found out that the post I wrote for one of my favorite blogs, A Practical Wedding, should run sometime this week! So, because I've always intended to write about our wedding on the blog, I'll take the opportunity this week to go all wedding on you.

To start out the week, let's go with the proposal. I wrote this for our wedding Web site back when it happened--almost two years ago now.

My sister Stephanie came to visit in March and told Nathan that my ideal proposal was on a beach at sunset, with dolphins in the background and antique champagne glasses that had been sanitized and champagne to celebrate. Nathan tried to recreate this with some Lincoln style. He proposed at sunset on 09-08-09 in front of a koi pond (that had a golden fish--much better than a dolphin, because we had looked for it on our first date). He had an iPod playing the first song we danced to playing and had an amazing speech prepared. As he went to bring out the picnic basket (strategically placed by Kaitlyn) before he got on one knee, we noticed that a small child named Elisha had been digging through it. The dad noticed, grabbed him, and made a quick exit. Nathan got down on one knee and asked me to marry him, and I said yes! We had antique champagne glasses (thoroughly washed) and Korbel champagne.

Kitchen Dreaming

I know, I'm a day late, but thanks for the comments on the kitchen! I'm glad people like the purple. I realized after I painted it that I thought it looked really good, but not everyone is crazy about purple like I am. But, it brings the living/dining room and the kitchen togehter, which I think is important since they occupy most of the first floor and it makes the purple in the living room more logical.

Currently, Nathan's dad is building us some cabinets, and here is my inspiration for the layout of our kitchen, found here via pinterest.

I pinned this photo right away because thats how much space we have to work with, essentially. Minus the corner/island part that's sticking out on the right side. So we'll be using essentially the same layout for the top cabinets as this photo, only the microwave will go over the stove so we can have one bigger cabinet rather than two smaller ones. And in our house, the stove and drawers are reversed.

We are unable to have a "u-shaped" kitchen because there is a small wall-thing that cuts into the kitchen that we can't take out. Also, there are windows on the wall, and rather than taking out the windows and drywalling, we're going to add a door. So currently, the fridge is blocking part of the window on that wall, but eventually it will work better. This is also where we'll add some counterspace. Because of the floor vent we can't build out too much on the floor, so instead we'll have a longer counter top with a large drawer. I thought I had pictures of this wall, but apparently not, so you will have to wait until it's updated.

After two days of having everything at least temporarily functioning, I'm loving it. I had forgotten how awesome it is to have a dishwasher next to the sink! We still have a while for temporary living--Jim isn't quite done with our cabinets yet, and we will have to take a couple of weeks to paint them once they are, but I'm looking forward to the mostly-finished project and I know it is worth the chaos!

Kitchen Nightmare

I have to start off with an apology to my fellow Lincoln residents: It is I who wanted crazy 100+ temperatures this weekend so our driveway (aka MUD PIT) could dry out and maybe we can get this driveway show on the road.

Crazy hot temperatures meant we couldn't do too many fun outside activities, so a lot of our weekend was spent working on the kitchen. However, we did make it out to Noodles Friday night with Shelby (so dog-friendly, they even gave her a big ol' bowl of water) and went out for drinks and to Barnes and Noble Saturay night. (That's how I can tell I married the right man. Also, pro of the nook eReader: I got to read a book for free for an hour, which is generally all I need to finish.) Even with the limitied "fun," it was so worth it to finally have a functioning kitchen and living room again. And in theory, an even more functioning one.

We are also appreciating the "do-it-together" aspect of this project, because there is a lot of pride and accomplishment that comes with demolition, painting, and installing ice makers. So, maybe we are having a little fun, too, especially when we add in the "Whitney Deliciousness," as we call it: Crystal Lite Fruit punch with vodka. Yum.

Here is a before shot of our kitchen. Because it's so small, it's hard to show the whole thing without a wide-angle lens, but this gives you a taste of the color and also explains why it took two+ coats of primer to cover up.

And here's a during shot of the angle I'm going to show the "after" shot from. You'll see the silver cabinets and the gray wall we were working with in the other parts of the room.

And here is the current after, after primer and paint on the walls and cabinet and the rearranging of our appliances.

Obviously there is still a lot of work to be done. Especially the sink full of dishes, yikes! You would think we actually cooked and ate during the week, but really, we went out way mor than we should have. And, oh ya, we need to install some cabinets. Maybe.

We had originally planned on just using our existing cabinets and painting them white, until Nathan's dad offered to build us new ones. So we decided to wait it out a little longer to get cabinets just as we want them. And I'll be back tomorrow to explain what our plans for the cabinets is

Book Review: With Friends Like These

Book Review Wednesday is back this week, and I'm going to try a different format. I have found that I have a hard time writing posts that really reflect my experience with the book, so I'm going to try something a little different. Let me know what you think!

The Book: With Friends Like These, Sally Koslow

Why I Checked It Out: I was at the library returning some books and stumbled across it because Sally Koslow also wrote a book I'd loved, The Late, Lamented Molly Marx. I also checked out Koslow's other book, Little Pink Slips.

The Plot: A look at the changing friendships between four women who lived together in their twenties and how careers, motherhood, and marriage effected the change.

Overall Impression: When I was reading the jacket copy for this book, I thought it seemed like a grown-up version of The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants series, and in a way, it was. The plot was much deeper, as the book is targetted to adults, but I think it's a real look at female friendships and how they can change as life changes, too.

What I Liked: I think Sally Koslow's characters are fantastic, and what's great about these characters in particular is that they are all flawed in some way, and we can not only see these flaws, but understand why they are part of each of them, and maybe even each of us. All four women seem very real, mostly because the book changes perspective with each chapter, letting each woman have her voice and letting us, readers, see both sides of the two main driving plot shakeups. And these women are not cookie-cutter perfect; they all make decisions or react in ways that I could relate to.

What I Didn't Like: I would have preferred a little more closure at the end, but I think it was appropriate with the way the story progressed.

Do I Recommend It? Yes. Don't give it the "chick lit" stigma though. Even though it's about female friendships, it's not quite as light and happy as it might appear, and it will leave you thinking about your friendships.

Related Reading:
The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants, Ann Brashares
The Wednesday Sisters, Meg Waite Clayton
Something Borrowed and Something Blue, Emily Giffin
Now & Then (OK, that's a movie. But still related.)

Thanks, HGTV

I am not a spontaneous person. I am also not handy with a drill. And I HATE getting dirty. Which is why it is a surprise that I decided to force Nathan into finally doing something about our kitchen.

Our house is a nice house, and works great for the two of us and Shelby. But I have hated the kitchen with a passion from probably day 1. There is practically no counterspace, I hate the portable dishwasher, and the colors, which might have been pretty with the other owner's stuff, are just awful: a bright tealish blue with dark gray on the walls, a metallic silver finish on the walls beneath the cabinets, a different color silver cabinet base, and dark-stained wood doors. It really got to the point that I hated being in there. So, my HGTV kick prompted me to decide that it would be totally easy to just start the project ourselves, paint the walls and the cabinets, and rearrange a little to have a better space arrangement.

As it turns out, it is not easy. We uncovered a huge, nasty hole when we took the now-not-working exhaust fan down, with cooking gunk from probably every other previous owner embedded inside. We moved a cabinet and discovered that the floor wasn't finished, and the baseboard didn't go to the end of the wall either. The plaster behind the cabinets is crumbling. And on and on.

We made some good progress, taking out two-thirds of the cabinets, filling in the hole in the wall, and getting a coat of paint on the cabinets and the wall. But we have a ton more to do, and as I kept admitting to Nathan, "this is going to take longer than I thought." But even though the house is truly a disaster and we have a half-functioning kitchen, I'm glad we started.

That was our Fourth of July weekend--how was yours?

My Recent Writing Life

It has taken me a long time to think of myself as a writer, even though three years ago, I was hired to be one. But after my first week of work, I decided it would be too hard and instead took the "easier" (but not, just more familiar) route of being an editor. The book I always thought I would write stays in my head, and other ideas for novels never get written down.

But lately, since leaving the actual world of publishing and starting down a different career path, I realize that while I may not fit into the definition of writer I have in my head, I sure do a lot of writing, including what you read here on my blog. But here are some excerpts of other projects I've been working on lately, which maybe explains why posting has been so sporadic!

Wedding Graduate Post: I submitted a wedding graduate post to my favorite wedding/marriage blog, A Practical Wedding. Here's my favorite part from it--if it ends up getting posted, you'll be able to read the whole thing:

It’s been almost a year since the wedding, and I learn something about marriage every day. Marriage is not about colors, registries, a pretty dress, delicious food, and spectacular photography. Marriage is about two people joining their lives together
and committing to each other, and it requires an open mind and heart, compromise, dedication, love, and the willingness to accept someone, all of someone, for who they are. Sometimes you don’t even need a wedding to have that.

Toastmasters Speech #1: For those of you who don't know, I started doing Toastmasters to help with my public speaking. It's been very rewarding so far, and while I was not quite sold on the idea at first, I really love it now. I had my first speech a week ago, and while I need to work on pacing, it went really well. I did not follow the manual and start with an "icebreaker," but instead did a speech that I could use while speaking from a campaign. I used the theme of a $100 bill throughout, which tied into a story I told about my high school graduation day.

On the day of my high school graduation, the superintendent of Littleton Public Schools taped a 100 dollar bill to the bottom of one lucky student’s chair as a way of demonstrating success. Although I was not the recipient of said 100 dollar bill, I remember thinking that 100 dollars was a LOT of money and there were so many things I could do with it.

Toastmasters Speech #2: This was the speech I was working on before I did my practice work speech. It's the traditional first speech, called an icebreaker, about yourself, so other members can get to know you. Everyone says this one is easier, but I have to admit, I find it difficult to write about myself. This is my intro, and it's currently all I have written, but because this topic fits into the blog a little better than the first speech I gave, I'll definitely share it when I'm done.

The written word has always been a huge part of my life. That doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m a great speller, I have a fantastic vocabulary, or that I could take you down in a game of scrabble. No—instead, it means that as an avid reader and writer and former yearbook editor, English and journalism major, and magazine editor, I have chosen to let the written word dominate my life, if you will. And so, I think the best way for all of you to get to know me is through some words that I think best describe me.

Let’s start with the nouns. I am currently a wife, crazy dog lady, homeowner, and part-time fundraiser. I am also a daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, and cousin—and you can add in-law to most of that, too. I have been a Coloradan, a Goddard Rocket, a Littleton Lion, and a sorority girl. I am a friend. And I will always be a Nebraska Cornhusker.

But as I’ve moved from different states and different schools and had different jobs, I’ve learned that it’s the adjectives that really make me who I am. And while we're on the topic of writing, there's an article in my Toastmasters magazine that talks about speechwriting, and I think this part applies to all writing. It's what I find myself stuck on doing, and even did it while writing this post:

"Speechwriters say it's important to discipline yourself to write a first draft all the way through without getting too self-critical at this stage of the process. All good speechwriting, it seems, is rewriting. And until you have enough words on the screen and have let your copy 'go cold' for a sufficient amount of time, you can't effectively return to start honing, reorganizing, or 'wordsmithing' your content." --Speechwriting Tips From The Pros, by Dave Zielinksi, Toastmaster July 2011

Definitely something to important as we start, and complete, projects, writing or otherwise.

A New Day

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. Mondays are normally really hard for me to welcome, and I feel like today's especially should fall into that category, as we had such crazy storms last night and I did not sleep well. But I recently heard this reflection at a campaign meeting and the reminder makes all the difference lately. So, I will share it with you to hopefully brighten up your Monday!

This is the beginning of a new day. 
God has given me this day to use as I will.
I can waste it or use if for good.
What I do today is important, because
I'm exchanging  a day of my life for it.

When tomorrow comes,
this day will be gone forever,
leaving  something I have traded for it.
 I want it to be gain, not loss; good, not evil;
success, not failure; in order that I
shall not regret the price I paid for it.

Thrifting: My Treasures

I consider myself to be a pretty organized person, and I seem to function a heck of a lot better when everything is organized and doesn't feel chaotic. However, with my new job, I get a TON of paper handouts (and email, for that matter) that seems important and I always reference, but I just don't have a way of organizing it without going too far over line and OVER organizing it (which, in my opinion, is almost even harder to deal with than not being organized). I mean, look at this mess:

THIS is why the dish drainer solution appealed to me as much as it did. And after searching (it seems like a lot of searching, but really, it wasn't that bad), I found this really cool-looking yellow dish drainer, for only $3.50. And that includes the cool mat thing that came with it! You know, if I was using this as an acutal dish drainer.

But before I could fill up my pretty new treasure, I needed to go through and file everything and THEN label my folders. It turns out I had a lot of folders already in place, but they were so overwhelming to use because I had to open each one to see what was in there. So I got out my trusted label maker and got to work, reworking folders and relabeling folders and all around having a good time. Here's my before picture (and yes, that's facebook in the background. I love distractions.):

Now, I know what many of you are thinking, and that's "Well, you know how they make these things called filing cabinets? You could maybe invest in one..." Let me tell you--we DO have a filing cabinet, but it's all the way down in the basement. And I love this solution because these are files I use on a daily basis, and while opening a drawer every time I need something might help me build some arm muscle (a girl can dream!) this solution gives me easy access to everything I need. And I mean, come on, how cute does this look?

I have to say, I didn't love the yellow color at first. I thought about spray painting it pink, until I realized that if I ever decided to use it for actual dishes (novel idea, right?) the spray paint + something you eat off of would probably = a no no. And then I overanalyzed even further: This room will become a nursery when we way down the road have kids, and when it does, I will have more yellow incorporated (yes, of course I've thought about how cute a nursery inspired by my childhood blanket my mom made me would be!) and as it turns out, dish drainers are also great for storing puzzles! So, that is how I eventually accepted the school bus yellow color.

Now, I said I went out with two missions: the dish drainer and a utensil tray. As it turns out, people who have super cute utensil holders don't give them away. Only people who have not-as-attractive plasticy ones (like us) donate them when they've outgrown their usefulness. So I had to find another solution for the keys, because Nathan was really desperate for one. And I didn't find anything I liked at the thrift stores, so I bought this cool white square bowl thing at Target for .  . . $3.50! That's right, the same price as my organizer, but new. It matches our dishes, and I think it looks pretty nice on the table here.

But I have one other thrift store find, and it's my favorite. A friend gave me a book by Sophie Uliano, and I found her health- oriented book there for $2. For a hardcover! Too fun. I can't wait to read through it and see what I can do to "live lean and green."

Now tell me: what's your favorite thrift store/garage sale/antique store find? Or even etsy find!

Thrifting: Overcoming The Fear

In theory, I should be a good thrifter. I'm cheap, I like hunting down the exact right thing I'm looking for, and I like to dig through things to find bargains. I'm also surrounded by people who are fantastic thrifters. There's my mother-in-law, who seriously finds amazing things at the lowest cost possible and also sees a potential solution in something I wouldn't have even looked twice at. There's my sister, who strives to live simply and be eco-friendly, and if buying used things doesn't go with those philosophies, I don't know what else does. And then there's my mom, aunts, and grandmothers who have given me a taste for everything vintage.

But, the truth is, I'm a horrible thrifter. I see all of these bloggers taking thrift store finds and turning them into something super amazing with spray paint, paper, etc. And I look at the process and think, I could totally do that. But, the project requires me to have some sort of thrift store find, which requires me to not only go into a thrift store, but to find something.

This is probably going to make me sound kind of snobby, but thrift stores stress me out. Generally, there are tons of people croweded in the small aisles, and they're generally on a mission and I'm scared to get in the way. Some thrift stores smell funny, and there always seems to be a ton of noise. The amount of stuff is so overwhelming, yet I can never find what I am looking for or even anything that has potential.  And then I just leave empty-handed and go buy something new.

I recently got an invitation to join pinterest and found some thrift store awesomeness I just had to mimic. The first was a solution for organizing file folders: a thrifted dish drainer. And the second is repurposing a silverware organizer for keys, wallets, phones, and all of the other stuff that seems to just end up on our kitchen table. So I decided to try and conquer my fear to find said items.

I went to a Goodwill yesterday and didn't find anything that fit my needs. Today, I stopped by another Goodwill and again, didn't find anything. On my way home, I passed St. Louise Gift and Thrift, which always has gorgous window displays and essentially calls my name every time I drive by. And it was there that I found what I will call Thrift Store Heaven. Seriously.

Everything in the store is displayed nicely, organized appropriately, and labeled clearly. It was easy to look at things and not feel like I was digging, and it was almost like shopping in a department store of used products. There was quiet, spiritual music playing and it was actually not super busy. And I found exactly what I was looking for and more.

I'm going to show you my thrifted treasures in use in my next post (trying to make up for being MIA this week!), so now I'll end by telling you what I didn't buy.

-Vintage Pyrex. This is all the rage over on pinterest, and it was so tempting because I found two sets. I might have to go back for it.
-Vintage copy of The Long Winter. Wanted it, but so particular about matching books that it seemed to be more of hassle than something I really wanted.
-A star-shaped candy dish. It would be so cute for the upcoming holiday.
-Picture frames. At 75 cents each (for 8x10), the were the right cost to buy in bulk for our recently-painted basement stairs and spray paint red, but I thought we should design first, buy second.

And there you have it--my adventures thrifting. I'm not sure if a good experience at St. Lousie's will help or hurt my apparent snobbery for other thrift stores, but maybe it's just something that takes practice. Or maybe I just need more pinterest motivation!

Driving Down Memory Lane

Last Thursday, I had a work meeting clear out south, which basically meant I had to drive from one end of Lincoln to the other. (Luckily, this was an endeavor that was less than a half an hour, but still.) Now, it used to be that I lived clear out south--in fact, about three years ago this week, we were moving into our duplex. I drove home using the route that I used to take to work every morning, and it reminded me of all the wonderful times I had in my "bachelorette pad."

Kaitlyn, Kelsey, and I lived in our duplex for almost two years, until last June when I moved in with Nathan, Kelsey bought a house, and Kaitlyn got ready to move to Dallas. I had just started at Sandhills, and my first paid holiday was the Fourth of July. So of course we had a party, and it was the party to which all parties will be compared to. It started in early afternoon and went into the morning, with fireworks, food, and cocktails. We lit of fireworks in the field behind the duplex and took over our neighbors lawn, because it appeared as though they weren't home. And it was so fun.

We had other parties, too, for St. Patrick's Day and birthdays, and we had fun without a party, too: Making dinner and watching TV, getting ready to go out together, "family" dinner, playing games, watching movies, and just hanging out.

I thought about all of this on my drive back to work, my new work, and thought about how much has changed since then. But what hasn't changed is that we're all still friends, even if we're no longer roommates.

Speaking of roommates, I was really bad and let Shelby up on our bed with me Saturday night, because Nathan was in Seward and she just looked so lonely down on the floor. I thought it would be fine because the bed is so tall, there's no way she'd be able to get in there herself. Wrong. Last night, she just all of a sudden appeared, and it was a suprise to all three of us. Needless to say, she was taken off after we stopped laughing.

Book Review: The Art Of Racing In The Rain

I've had The Art Of Racing In The Rain, by Garth Stein, on my to-read list for a while. I really wanted to read it on the way to Denver, but since we were leaving Shelby behind, and the book is about a dog, I knew it was probably just going to make me sad and miss her. But I started it last night and then finished it, because it was that good.

I have to admit, I had to stop reading and go cuddle with Shelby for a little while. Enzo, the main character, is a dog telling the story of his life on the eve of his death. (Don't worry, you find that out really early on, so I didn't spoil anything.) The life he has led, with his people, Denny, Eve, and Zoe, seems like just any other normal life at first, but it then, everything changes. I'll let you figure it out on your own, but it's definitely engrossing.

He is adopted by Denny, after being born on a farm. I love reading from the perspective of the dog throughout the book, but the first chapters, where Enzo is describing his parents, dogs in general, and his education have some of the best voice. For example, this description of his father:

"I never knew my father. the people on the farm told Denny that he was a shepherd-poodle mix, but I don't believe it. I never saw a dog that looked like that on the farm, and while the lady was nice, the alpha male was a mean bastar who would look you in the eyes and lie even if telling the truth would serve him better. He expounded at length on the relative intelligence of dog breeds, and he firmly believed that shepherds and poodles were the smart ones, and therefore would be more desirable--and more valuable--when 'bred back to a lab for temperament.' All a bunch of junk."

As a dog, Enzo is unique. He was educated by watching TV. He loves old movies, the weather channel, science programs, and especially racing, as Denny is a racecar driver. The most important thing he learned on TV though, is that when he dies, he will come back a man, and then he plans on finding Denny and finally communicating with him the way he always has, only Denny will be able to hear him.

As a character, Enzo is even more unique. He makes keen observations about life, many that come from learning about racing from Denny and his female master's Eve battle with her health. There are several passages I marked as "favorites," but this is the one I'll share with you:

"Such a simple concept, yet so true: that which we manifest is before us; we are the creators of our own destiny. Be it through intention or ignorance, our successes and our failures have been brought on by none other than ourselves."

This is where the title comes from--above is the art of racing in the rain. Rather than fearing the rain and driving like normal, you spin the car before it spins itself: that which we manifest is before us. And the book is full of similar observations, which is maybe why I liked it so much.

I'm sure I also liked it so much because we do have a dog, who we are crazy about. After reading the book, I like to think that Shelby is like Enzo--smart, incredibly loyal to us, and a keen observer of life. And it makes me appreciate the ti

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