Snowy Spirits

I'll confess that I love snow. I'm not a lover of the cold or the winter, but I do feel that if I'm made to suffer through those that my reward should be snow. At least it's pretty when it falls (the fluffy, 'romantic' snow is my favorite), it's pretty in the newness of the day and if you have the right toys (alas last night we did not), it can be pretty fun.

I've also come to learn that snow days aren't as fun as an adult as they are when you're still a child. Or teenager. Or some age at which you're attending school of some sort. I still wake up in anticipation of seeing snow on the ground mornings after the possibility has been thrown out there, but really it comes down to just being able to look at it. Not because work is going to be canceled. I mean, technically I can't get to work sometimes in my own car because of things like snow (a story in which I hang my head while telling) but for some reason beyond me it doesn't get me out of still having to find a way there.

And the snowstorm we got Friday night? I was so worried that we weren't going to end up with anything since Lexington seems to be surrounded by a protective bubble when it comes to any winter weather other than ice. But instead, it granted me a beautiful white scene Saturday morning and aside from not getting to head home to see the parents, an otherwise content weekend of being lazy in the house. And really wanting to find a sled.

No really, next time we get snow and if you've got a sled, hit me up. I'll make ya a good deal.

Got Lists?

I'll confess, I'm a lists kind of girl. Written lists. I love to write and I love to fill pieces of paper with grocery lists, to-do lists, ideas for different projects, guest lists, and well, the list just goes on and on. Maybe it has something to do with my inherent need to plan. Maybe I'm just a dork. Either way, I love to make lists and I'm not ashamed to say it.

I've noticed that others have a liking for lists as well. Bucket lists, wish lists, weekly/monthly/yearly goals. This year, I decided to finally start making a list that I ran across a while back: my 101 in 1001. If you aren't familiar with it, it's a listing of 101 things you want to accomplish in the next 1001 days.

Unfortunately after weeks have passed since starting this newest list, I've only got around 30 of the 101 spots filled. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of things that I want to do in the next 2 years and 9 months, but some things just seem a bit too arbitrary to write down on this particular list. I feel that it should be completed with goals of substance. But, then again, it's my list. And my personal wants to accomplish ideas. Here is just a sampling so far:

*Get married
*Take my mom to see the ocean for the first time
*Run a 5k
*Drive the boy's Camaro
*Get my CPA license
*Throw a themed dinner party

I keep reminding myself that everything doesn't have to be an above and beyond kind of goal that I want to accomplish, just things that I've thought about for awhile and just never made the first step toward checking it off my mental list. Now I have a written list to stare me in the face and motivate me. And can put a physical checkmark next to each item as I take the opportunity to fulfill it. And for this girl who loves lists, that makes my heart happy.

A New Year

I've never been one for resolutions. Sure, if someone were to ask me in the past what mine was after sharing theirs, I may spout something pretty cliche off, and I may have even thought about following through with it, but it was never a 100% serious statement.

Can't say that much has changed this year. There were no empty promises said aloud at the stroke of midnight on January 1st of this year. No thoughts going through my head in planning what my contribution to the pot of mostly broken by February goals. But I can say that changes have taken place. They just started a bit before the new year and in no way were contingent upon it beginning.

The boy and I haven't been truly active in an exercise format since last May. Because of reasons neither here nor there, we both decided to move away from our Krav Maga class despite our love for it. I started getting itsy around the end of the fall about becoming sendentary, and decided to start taking short runs around the neighborhood at night. The boy wasn't a fan of me running by my lonesome as there isn't a lot of artificial light out there after dark, so he joined me after the first few days. Although his skill level in running was beyond mine, it was nice to have him as a pacer in front (oh, who am I kidding...waaaay up front) to motivate me to keep running, to keep pumping my legs when they were just about to fall off (true story).

Truthfully though, I am nowhere near a natural runner. In high school I envied (in passing) the cross country runners who looked just as natural as deer romping through the woods. Because of this, I decided it was in my best interest to join up at a gym that would give me access to all sorts of fun machines to get my ass in shape. Literally. Enter the YMCA. Which happens to be right next door to my work. Thank goodness. It's because of that 50 yards that I have no excuses to not go at least 3 days a week. And the boy comes too :)

For going on two months now we've been hitting up the gym 3-4 times a week, sweating it out and eating healthy at home, at work and at play. Somedays it's not fun thinking that McDonald's isn't in the calorie budget plan, but then others it's a treat that you get to go and something you don't take for granted like you did before. It's a conscious decision that we both made in order to begin a healthier lifestyle together, a lifestyle that would continue over time not just be pushed to the wayside after a month exclaiming "Yay, we accomplished our resolution!" To date, I've lost at least a half inch around my stomach, hips and thighs and the boy is down about 7 or so pounds. There's something so immensely satisfying in typing and re-reading that statement.

To those of you out there who do make yearly resolutions- I'm not discouraging nor slamming you (I just know myself too well). To you I say good luck, and please keep it up. Whatever it may have been that you promised yourself you would accomplish this year, put your mind to it and get it done. If it's a long term thing, keep your chin up and keep that motivation going. You'll feel so good about yourself in the end!

Loco Moco, How You Blew My Mind

I won't say that I never try anything different. Cause I do. It's just really hard for me to move out of my comfort element in restaurants, though I do blame most of that on my frugalness. I just hate the idea of ordering something new, not liking it and still having to pay for it although I leave hungry. But I digress.

The boy and I like to watch a little show on the Travel channel called Man vs. Food. The host, Adam Richmond, runs around to different places in the US with one major goal: to attempt to win a food challenge in a restaurant in the town of the week. Now people, I have seen this man attempt to eat a 7 pound breakfast burrito, 6 "nuclear" chicken wings, a 72 ounce steak, and just last night a 5 pound cheesesteak sandwich (to make it relevant, there was enough meat on that thing to make SIX regular sized cheesesteak sandwiches). Granted, a perk to his job is he gets to visit other great eateries around the city while he's there and share some of their awesomeness with us (to tempt us. To eat food late at night. I'm just sayin').

A few weeks ago Mr. Richmond visited Hawaii and introduced us to a local dish called Loco Moco. We'll just say that Justin was drooling and I was a bit hesitant, but nonetheless, when he asked if we could try and make it at some point I agreed. And last night was the innagural taste test. I introduce you to:

Loco Moco

(unfortunately not my picture, but I had to show you!)

And no, your eyes don't deceive. This dish is made with a bed of white rice, a hamburger patty topped with a fried egg and covered with brown gravy. Kinda gross you say? I thought it would be too. And even as I topped my plate with gravy last night, I was still having second thoughts. But after the first bite, both Justin and I were sold. This is one of the best comfort food dishes I've eaten in a long time. All the flavors and textures blend so well together. And I only made one change to how we saw it made- the egg is usually cooked as over easy or over medium, but we went with over well so there wouldn't be any runny yolk. And surprisingly enough, as I was describing the dish to my boss this morning, she said that she used to eat rice and brown gravy all the time. Huh, who would have thought?

Now I'm hungry again...

Feels Like Home

I've been living about an hour north of home for right around 7 years now. Granted, four of those years were college days, so for the summer and extended holidays I packed back up and headed south. Upon graduating though, I made one of the first big decisions in my new "big girl" life and chose to stay in Georgetown in order to get an apartment and start my career in Lex. Two apartments in Gtown and one house in Lex later, I'm still an hour north and always dreaming of a future home with a few acres that will make me feel more in the country.

This past weekend though, after my first overnight stay with my mom and dad since maybe Christmas, I felt a homesickness I haven't felt since probably those first months out on my own. That Saturday morning when I woke up, the day wasn't dreary but it definitely felt more like fall than summer. Overcast and cool, I pulled on my shoes and made my way out to my mamaw and pap's house at the other end of the road to visit for a while and enjoyed the silence and calmness of it all with the windows down. There's nothing more peaceful than a backwoods early morning. The dew lays still on the grass, the trees sway silently in the breeze, everything is still sleepy and only beginning to yawn and stretch its way awake.

After talking for a while, Mamaw and I headed out to the garden to pick some fresh goodies for me to take back home. At first I stayed out, thinking the ground was too wet from the prior day's rain and would muddy my shoes. Then I took a few steps in, only to be told by my Pap that I'd get my shoes dirty and then "put them all over that nice clean car." I laughed and said "Well, that can be remedied now can't it?" and came back to the edge of the grass to take my shoes and socks off and roll up my jean legs. I then spent a bit playing in the garden barefoot while picking beans and tomatoes. It'd been so long since I'd done that. Mamaw started talking about a picture she has of me from when I was younger, standing barefoot in the garden with my hoe, helping with the upkeep. I used to help plant vegetables every summer- I still remember the way corn stains your hands pink.

I want so badly to have all that again one day. To own a home that sits on a piece of land large enough that it pushes the rest of the world away, if only for a mile or two. To be surrounded by trees that I, and my future children, can go exploring in and make up adventures along the way. To have backroad long enough to teach my children how to drive long before they ever hit 16. To be able to head to the backyard and have target practice without having to think twice. To have a small garden to provide homegrown nurishment to my family. Hopefully Justin and I will be able to find a haven such as that, be able to afford it and build our lives on it. That way I can grow old in the same way I grew up.

Kindness Gives me Hope

Friday morning I woke up a little too dreary and draggy and decided that I'd make it one of my "treat" days and grab a coffee at Starbucks. I'm not really a coffee drinker (unless there's a good amount of other flavors to cover the taste up) but I love the white chocolate mocha there.

I pulled into the drive thru and put in my order. I barely noticed that the lady in front of me was having a bit longer conversation with the barista than normal. She was probably just asking for a napkin or extra whip cream or something. When I pulled up to the window to hand the man my change (yes, I was paying with change cause sometimes it piles up and you need to lighten your purse) he made the following statement: "That lady that was in front of you? Her name is Leslie and she just paid for your coffee." I was shocked. All I could spit out was "What? Really? Wow." Profound, I know.

Of course I've never had anything quite like that happen to me before. But I was immediately wrapped in the thought of how it's the people like Leslie, who perform random acts of kindness for strangers, that really give me hope that the world isn't an entirely demoralized and bad place. That there are more people out there than I usually think that care about others at least as much as they care about themselves and sometimes just take a notion to make a perfect stranger smile.

Granted, I can't say that I've ever done such a thing as Leslie did for me that day, but I can say that I try to show my appreciation and kindness for others in the tiny, mundane things throughout the day. A door held open, thank you and please spoken to the person at the restaurant that takes my order, allowing people to pull into a lane of traffic during rush hour. All things that most folks don't really think twice about, but things that those that pay attention appreciate and reciprocate.

I've always enjoyed the stories of how just one smile at a perfect stranger you pass on the street can turn into a whole string of smiles going out to strangers who may have just really needed it right at that moment. Or the thought that if only one person sees you lend a hand to another, they'll be inspired enough to do one thing for someone else that day and so on and so forth. Hope is a powerful thing. And sometimes it's all you have to get through the day.

So thank you Leslie, whoever and wherever you are. Thank you for your kind gesture, for making me stop a moment to mull things over and put a few more ounces of myself into the part of my soul that holds hope for everything going on in life. I'll definitely not forget this.

It's Just a Little Crush

After hearing the name Halestorm being tossed around for upcoming concerts, I decided to take a gander at the band. And now I'm crushing :) They're first single "I Get Off" is an awesome summer anthem (in a voyeuristic kind of way) but this is the performance I'm totally in love with.

Here's Halestorm's acoustic cover of Heart's classic "All I Wanna Do is Make Love to You"