Countdown to 2014

I owe you all a Christmas recap. I'm sure I'll get around to that once I catch my breath...maybe Wednesday. Right now i have more pressing thoughts and not a lot of time to reflect on December. Is it really almost January? How did that happen? I'm currently at the gym, blogging on my phone, and in a few hours I'll be leaving for a few days in the mountains of Va reuniting with college friends (as is traditions every New Years Eve). You may remember (if you know the story) that Mike and I met December 30, 2011 while I was on one of the annual reunion trips in DC. Last year was his first official year coming on the annual trip and the time turned into an unofficial anniversary celebration of sorts. It hard not to reminisce about our story because it is a great one and involved a lot of wingmanning. (I shared the story with Mike's mom and sister this weekend and I'm glad they think it is as hilarious as I do.)

This year Mike cannot make it. He will fill you all in on his blog whenever he gets a chance which may take a while. Basically, more roadblocks were hit in the medical clearance process with Jag and  as sort of a last option, he is getting surgery on his ear on Dec. 31st. He was very fortunate his doctor (and very experienced  surgeon) ended up having an opening. The next available date was late January and these things are very time-sensitive given that he will have to wait a pre-determined amount of time post-surgery before reconsideration and the likelihood of other job offers arising during that time. It was a very very complicated an difficult decision to continue to pursue something that has been such a trying process for us both, but especially him. Anyway, he has a friend to drive him back from surgery and I will return on the 1st.

This brings me to a list of things I am looking forward to in 2014:

• Healthy ossicles! (the small misplaced bones in Mike's ear that will be fixed through his surgery)
• Starting a new job! (Oh, right, I haven't had time to mention anywhere that I am starting a new position with an organization whose mission I'm passionate about and I believe the work will be fulfilling as well as help support me in my professional goals. I start on January 13th. It's so difficult to process right now in the midst of traveling 24/7, but hope to have another post on that soon. But, I'm incredibly excited!)
• Disney! (Seeing Frozen in theaters got me even more excited to take this trip with Mike, Absi, Zan, Brian, and Kay; and I got the trip cleared with my new job!)
• Seeing Book of Mormon in February with Mike and his mom! (I've been playing the soundtrack on repeat already.)
• I'm turning 27 on January 4th!
• Mike's done with law school! (And takes the bar and hopefully becomes a legit lawyer!)
• 10-mile race!
• Reading tons of books that I've bought recently:)
• Allie (the kitten) hopefully growing out of her kitten phase where she eats everything (including toilet paper.)
• Seeing Ashton turn 1!

There's so much to look forward to and I'm so excited for 2014 to get here. I have a feeling it's going to be a great year.

Quote of the Day

“I naively believe that self-love is 80 percent of the solution, that it helps beyond words to take yourself through the day as you would with your most beloved mental-patient relative, with great humor and lots of small treats.”

― Anne Lamott

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/577984-i-naively-believe-that-self-love-is-80-percent-of-the

Hope you find a way to fit some humor, treats, and self-love into this week!

Loving Lately

• Coconut Oil
• Mike makes fun of all of the uses I find for coconut oil and the fact that I bought some in an almost-gallon-sized tub for costco, but I just ran out of eye makeup remover and started using coconut oil (because Pinterest says it can do that too) and it works just as well! I also stirfry veggies in coconut oil with parmesan cheese and pepper to give them a sweeter flavor and it's really good to use instead of non-stick spray for pancakes!
• Molasses
• Another thing Mike makes fun of me for. I like to mix some molasses in with my conditioner because it makes my hair super soft. And I also love it in baking! I once sent Mike to a store to pick up some molasses for me and he was trying to explain what it was to the attendant helping him. He said "it can be used as a conditioner for your hair..." and so was sent to the shampoo aisle haha.
• Cinnamon
• I put it in coffee, on oatmeal, in hot chocolate, and in my tea. I can't get enough of it this time of year.
• Scandal
• I'd heard a good amount about this show from coworkers and in blogs and have been meaning to give it a try ever since it appeared on Netflix. Mike and I started it this past weekend and are already 6 shows away from being done with Season 2! SO addictive! I (obviously) am obsessed with Olivia Pope's (Kerry Washington) wardrobe, the DC setting, and the blend of emotional vulnerability and terrifying strength that Kerry Washington is able to portray in her character. The women in this show are really good! The male characters have a lot of flaws, but you still like them. A lot of complicated, addictive characters.
• Google Maps for iPhone
• I feel like every other day I learn something incredible that I can do with technology that makes my life so much easier. I've recently learned how to get my Google Maps GPS on my iphone to talk to me and also to choose the easiest route for me to get somewhere. This seems simple, but up until recently, my iMaps software was the default on my iPhone. After Google Maps saved us hours of sitting on 66 on the way home for Thanksgiving, I've been using it ever since and I'm never going back!
• Wunderlist
• After Teuxdeux (my old to-do list app) tried to start charging me for services because my 'free trial' was over, I switched to Wunderlist. I like it so much more! I can't function without my lists, but this helps me to keep things organized, at least a little.
• WalMart
• There is a lot of controversy in the city over DC's two new WalMarts, specifically concerning minimum wage for its workers. One is a few blocks from Mike's law school and I didn't know what a WalMart would be like in the city (how it would function with traffic, etc.) so I decided to go exploring one day when I needed to buy a few items quickly. When I went, it was the first day of their Grand Opening and everyone was super nice. I almost could not actually believe the prices I was seeing. (They are comparable to my WalMart at home and that is the cheapest place to buy things at home.) I felt the sudden urge to buy everything, but then felt silly. I know there is a lot of debate about the store and whether it is in the best interest of the city and people who work there, but in a city where it's so expensive to live, it was nice to see affordable prices on food, clothes, etc.

Wal-Mart

You can kind of see the sign here. It looks so odd on a city block.

• Kittens
• "Alley" is Sara and Jeff's cat and a new addition to the house. I had forgotten how high maintenance kittens are, but she is delightful and keeps you on your toes. Today, she found a stash of toilet paper in the closet. When I found her, there were only shreds of paper left as evidence. That paper roll never stood a chance.

Alley and Mike bonding.

• Snow!
• Today was my first official snow day! I got to stay home from work, clean, bake, and catch up on some emails. (Recipe for insanely good cookies I baked are below.)

DC's first snow!

• Baking (where I act out my obsession with molasses and cinnamon)
• I haven't actually eaten these cookies yet because they are for our office potluck tomorrow, but I had some of the batter and I did consider keeping them for a second and telling people at work something had gone horribly wrong. But these cookies are actually so terribly right: http://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/2013/10/brown-butter-chewy-ginger-oatmeal-cookies/
• This cake is another staple for me during the holidays. I brought it home for Thanksgiving this year: http://ohsheglows.com/2010/10/02/pumpkin-gingerbread-with-spiced-buttercream/
• And this is what I ate for breakfast this morning: http://nakedveglunch.blogspot.com/2012/10/holy-pie-pumpkin-pie-oatmeal.html

Mike and I get to go to our second Shakespeare Theatre Company show tomorrow night. Then it's Williamsburg this weekend, seeing my family once more the following weekend, and then down to North Carolina for Christmas with Mike's family! So excited!

25 Days of Advent

I came across this blog post on Raptitude and really loved it. In many ways, it's a critique on traditional gift-giving, but I also see it as a challenge to give meaningful gifts. I never want to receive a gift that I won't use and I never want to give a gift that won't be used. Sometimes that's inevitable. But sustainable gift-giving is nice to think about and an ideal to aspire to.

http://www.raptitude.com/2013/12/what-to-get-everyone-for-christmas/

Thinking about gift-giving, I've really had it on my heart to do try to give back to my community this season. I don't go to church regularly (still searching for a congregation 'home' that I would feel comfortable in), but I still want to be intentional about using this season to reflect on how incredibly blessed I am and how, out of this blessing, I can give back to others.

I decided that I would try to do one thing a day that was reaching out to other people or giving back to the community. (I also asked Mike to participate with me so that we could try to remind each other to be mindful during the month.) I'm not going to share all that I've done so far because a lot of it is personal (reaching out to friends or family members who I haven't talked to in a while), but I will try to share the things that are community-based. 

Here are some things I want to do:

Donating food: My gym is doing a food drive so I'm going to get together some canned goods for that.
Donating clothing: ?
Donating books: ?
Donating coats: This weekend a cub scout group is doing an outerwear drive near Eastern Market so I'm going to take some clothes to that.
Donating time: Trying to fit some volunteer shifts for various organizations in my schedule.
Sponsor a child or family's Christmas gifts or Christmas dinner.

Here are some more general ideas for random acts of kindness:

• Give someone a nice compliment they wouldn’t normally expect.
• Buy lunch/coffee for someone.
• Go out of your way to “help” someone in need.
• Clean a mess that you didn’t make.
• Write a thank you note to someone who has helped you recently.
• Spend technology-free time with someone.
• Apologize to someone.
• Volunteer at an animal shelter or donate to an animal shelter.
• Do a chore around the house that no one has asked you to do, but that needs to be done!
• Call one of your grandparents on the phone.
• Tell someone you love one reason why you love them.
• Research a charity you can either donate money to or support through a future event (like a “fun run” or soup kitchen). Put it on the calendar and commit to it.
• Reach out to someone you haven't talked to in a while.

I like the C.S. Lewis quote below about giving. It reminds me that, even with all of the overwhelming Black Friday and Cyber Monday marketing messages that tell us to BUYBUYBUY, giving and sharing are so much more fulfilling.

“I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc, is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditure excludes them.”

― C.S. Lewis