ENJOY LIFE NOW: December 2015

Thursday, December 31, 2015

2015 New Years Goals - End of the Year Update

Here we are, at the end of 2015. Gheesh this year went by fast. Now to see how I did on the goals that I set for myself last year at this time.

1. Be at work on time every day. If 9am is "on time" then I did this one. After Molly moved in and left for work at 8am every day, I started to cherish that hour after she left to get my hair done, do my make up, watch the Today Show all at my leisure instead of rush, rush, rush, "are you done in the bathroom" craziness. BUT, I'm going to do better in 2016 since I am going t make it a goal of going to the gym every morning before work. (ha!)

2. Cut back on 'after school activities'. I have been doing this and it's giving me a lot more time at home. We'll see how it keeps up in the new semester. I've been praying about a few different ways to get involved/uninvovled in different organizations so I'm thinking there will be some changes coming over the next few months.

3. Sign up for a half-marathon and get to the gym.
While I didn't run in a half-marathon this year, I did get signed up for one today that is in May 2016. Another reason I'll be more likely to go to the gym every morning is because I spent $90 registering and I'm not about to waste that money!

4. No fast food. I did really good at this probably the first five months of the year. Then I totally bombed at it.

5. No social media. This didn't go so well. I completely deleted my Facebook page. I just don't need it and the people that I am friends with on there are people I should be checking on IRL and not just through a screen. I also only check twitter while I'm at work, but really, does anyone use that much anymore? I only use my one for work and usually a lot of my stuff is scheduled in advance. I blocked instagram, twitter, and Facebook from Safari on my phone, so I can even creep!

6. Study my Bible daily. I've been doing really good at t his. Since BSF is on a break right now, I've been doing the "Keep It Shut" study on "what to say, how to say it, and when to keep it shut." It read the book at the beach over the summer and it was eye opening, so when I found it on Amazon for a few bucks, I went ahead and ordered it so I can take notes and reread when I need to and I ordered the study guide along with it. It's been great to read and answer questions, which has really pointed out a lot of things I need to change.

7. Be a better communicator. This is still a huge work of mine. I have started going back to my counselor that I saw a few years ago for help with this and other issues, which mostly stems from social anxiety that I have dealt with all my life, but has caused a lot of issues in my adult life over the last 5-10 years. So I'm setting some new goals for 2016 that will hopefully help me deal with SAD and my struggle with communicating with others - mostly those that are close to me (or that I want to be close to me).

So toodalu 2015 goals! May I do better in 2016!

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Late Fall and Stuff

It seems like football season started just a few days ago, and here we are the week between Christmas and New Years Day. Crazy.

Back in November I attended the first wedding of former students. Blake and Brent were married in Columus and I was able to go to the reception that evening and a lovely country club in Powell. The reception was very nice and very classy! It was a formal reception and everyone was dressed to impress! Blake and Brent were both students in my department and Brent was an officer in the fraternity I advised. They dated all through college and are now living in Atlanta! While I didn't get a picture with them...whoops!...I did get a picture with Caroline who came into town for the wedding!

Me and Caroline

The following weekend was my friend Jill's wedding. All my pictures from that weekend are on my Canon camera that I have yet to upload to a computer, so I'll do a whole post of pics from that sometime in the near future.

BSF is still going well on Monday nights. I have totally gelled with the group like I did last year, but I also keep looking back at my wonderful group from last year and realize that at this time last year was when we were all starting to know each other better. That group from last year is so wonderful, and a small group of us that also did a bible study this summer got together for a little fellowship before the holidays. And baby Cora came too!!

BRB....gonna go steal this baby!

Thanksgiving was spent back in Pike County. Molly and I ran in the Larry Cox Memorial Turkey Trot in Chillicothe. It was a little cold that morning, but once we got running it warmed up quickly. I didn't finish with a good time by any means, but I ran a race at 8am on Thanksgiving Day, I think that is good enough for now.

Post race selfie

One of my goals for 2015 was to cut back on after school activities so I have time to just be at home and not running all over the place. I have been doing better at that, but now I need to get better at being productive when I get home and not just sitting in front of the TV all night! I don't have cable, so my options are limited to what I can watch, but dang that sun for going down at 5pm because once it gets dark and it's cold, I just want to snuggle under a blanket and not move!

So instead, I end up doing this for 4 hours each night:

Yes, this night I ate dry cereal for dinner. Do not judge me.

Usually I have this on my lap. Especially if I have a book or computer that takes my attention away from her.

I'm going to add productive things to my schedule for my evenings in 2016. I have two baby quilts to finish and another two to start! I must get those done this winter. Sewing party at my house anyone?

A few weeks ago I went to the Ohio State basketball game with Abra. She got tickets through work and we went on to cheer the Bucks to a victory over Air Force. Our seats were for waaaay up at the top, but since it was a non-conference, early season game, the place was empty! So after halftime I moved us down a 'few' rows.

Our original seats were just below that Big Lots sign.

Friends for 12 years!

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

New Ornaments for 2015

Each year when I decorate my Christmas tree I'm able to reflect on all of the wonderful things I have been blessed with in the past because of my collection of Christmas ornaments. About 5 years ago, I started collecting ornaments if I travelled somewhere or if something happened in my life that I wanted to note.

This year, I was able to add a handful of ornaments to the tree from places that I went while I was traveling. I know I'm missing some, so I am just going to have to keep an eye out for them and add them to my tree next year. I also 'stash' them somewhere and then forget where I put them!!

I spent New Years Eve and New Years Day on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, so I of coursed picked that to be my NOLA ornament. We had such a good time. On that trip!

On our way home from NOLA we stopped in Nashville and visited the Belle Meade Plantation.

And my Buckeyes won the National Championship over the Oregon Ducks, so I have an ornament for that too!

In March, Molly and I took a long weekend trip to South Carolina to visit Lauren in Columbia and went to Charleston. We visited Boone Hall Plantation, which is where the Notebook was filmed and has the lovely Oak trees lining the driveway.

In early May, Molly and I took a spur of the moment trip to Niagara Falls and Canada. So commemorate the trip I got this cute ornament at the official Niagara Falls gift shop and also one to represent my first trip to Canada.

In June, Jill, Amy and I went to Myrtle Beach for a little girls trip and I got this crab ornament. It ended up being the theme of our week because we kept seeing these little crabs on the beach and we had a hay day in the "Crabby Jill's" store at Broadway at the Beach.

In August I rode in Pelotonia, so I got an ornament for me and Stacie and personalized it for our event.

I slacked on some events at the end of the year and still need to order an ornament to represent these life events:

Trip to Texas A&M in June
Trip to Savannah with the family in July
Trip to DC for work in August
Weekend trip to Lima for Blairfest
Trip to Louisville in October

Some of my past ornament additions:
2014 (apparently I didn't blog about new ones last year)
2013
2012

Thursday, December 10, 2015

5 Years of Friendship

It was about 5 years ago that I met some of my greatest girlfriends.

It was a 'blogger meet-up' at Easton Town Center that I had been invited to by Brittany (who I'd also met through blogging). She and I had met once before this outing, but I had no idea who any of the other girls were when I showed up at Cheesecake Factory, but I can't imagine my life without them.

I have ran half-marathons with these girls, attended their baby showers, and even visited them in the hospital the day their baby was born.

We've gone camping, to concerts and had drinks around a campfire or pool.

I've hosted them for Christmas parties, and we've gone to hockey and baseball games and movie sneak previews.

We've gone to funerals for each others loved ones, they've seen me ugly cry over breakups, and we've shared Thanksgiving dinner and craft nights together.

I've babysat their kids, and their dogs, their cats, and their houses while they were on vacation. We've done cross-fit workouts at each other's houses or Columbus Commons, so they know I'm weak.

We've watched high school football games in the rain, college football games in person and on TV, tailgated in summer's heat and winter's cold, and cheered for the teams each other have coached.

We group text about the Bachelor(ette) (and more) and I have stalked a celebrity with more than one of them (Justin Bieber, Cole Swindell, Crew players, The Bachelor contestants, etc.).

We've never gone to the same restaurant more than once in 5 years. (Food is involved in most of our get togethers.) And I've sunk into my chair more than once while playing Cards Against Humanity with them. (I'm embarrass easily.)

They're on my Christmas card list and some of my best friends. I'm so glad we first met 5 years ago. :)

And because I'm feeling a little sentimental, here are some of the outings of us since 2010. Thanks for being my group. Love you ladies.

2010: First meeting - I still hang out with four of these girls regularly.

LtoR: Holly, Stephanie, Brittany, Jenny, Lindsay, Shannon, Lindsay, Molly (I think), and Me

The following year we had another meet up. In between the two we kept in touch on social media, but after the get together in 2011 we started hanging a lot more. New friends came into the picture then. Some I see more than others because of family obligations and schedules.

I never had a big group of girlfriends that I felt comfortable with, and even though I can be awkward and they're way more stylish than me, I can't imagine life without them.

2012: Second-ish meeting