welcome!

(I had a picture to add to this post, but Blogger is being cranky right now)

It's good to be back - I had about a week off of work around Christmas, and this is my first day back in the office (then I have 4 days off before coming back full-swing. I know, my life is hard.) It was SO nice to have some relaxation time - we visited with family, caught up with some friends, and recharged our batteries a little bit.

Not a whole lot happened in the past 10 days that was noteworthy - I just have a fabulous general feeling of contentedness. I treasure those moments when they creep up on me (unlike Paul, I have not learned the secret to being content in every circumstance....) - but I'm getting better at it. God has really blessed my life with lots of gifts - it's so good to sit back and enjoy them!

accomplishments

Yesterday I...
Drove Sam (our neighbor) to school at 7:30am
Unpacked from the weekend
Went to the dentist (regular check-up & cleaning - except the new hygienist I saw absolutely terrorized my poor teeth. I was happy to leave there...)
Went to work - saw 4 students, caught up on emails
Went to the gym - ran 2.5 miles on the elliptical
Went to Meijer - bought stuff for dinner
Ate with Brooks - salsa salmon, Caesar salad, biscuits
Wrote out 30+ Christmas cards while watching Friends with Brooks
Fell asleep on the couch at 9:30pm

I like productive days - you can look back and think that your time was well spent - and yesterday, I did a lot of things I'd been meaning to do for a long time (like the Christmas cards, and working out...)

Tonight my coworker Jayne and I are going out to eat, and probably getting a little Christmas shopping done, too. I'm excited to spend a little more time with her - we're the same age, did our Master's degrees together, but have so little time to socialize while at work (go figure). Hopefully I feel really accomplished by 9:30pm tonight, too.

movies and stars

I'm Feeling: a bit headache-y, actually
Background Noise: What Child is This by Sarah McLachlan

Last night we tried to figure this out - and I think Mark and I have watched 12 movies in the past 10 days... 4 in the theatre, 6 at home/rentals. YIKES!! I like movies a lot, but that's about 24 hours worth of sitting on my rear end and staring at a screen. I think it's time to get some stuff done...

Our weekend "away" was fabulous - we slept in, stayed up late, went shopping at the outlet malls, watched movies, cooked dinner, ate out, laughed a lot. On our way up to the cabin on Thursday night, we had an amazing display of Northern Lights, (not quite as bright as those pictures, but definitely a large, glowing green band in the sky... it was awesome!) and TWO shooting stars (that shot straight through the pretty light show we were watching). The next day, we saw two separate rainbows on the way to the outlets. God was putting on quite a show for us... it was awfully cool.

Mark's on his way to the UP right now, to return on Thursday - so I'm gonna write Christmas cards, work out, have dinner with a friend from work, wrap some presents, and get ready for next week while he's gone. I always miss him when he's gone, but it's so nice that we just got to spend a good chunk of time together.

looking forward

A lot of times when I look forward, the result is that I stress myself out. Things are busy, and I have an uncanny ability to make it seem like I'll never be able to relax for the REST OF MY LIFE. It's never true, but sometimes it feels that way.
However - today, when I look forward, I see some fabulous, relaxing stuff coming my way:
-tomorrow - I'm taking the afternoon off work, getting a massage with my friend Jane at 12:30, then going home to pack because Mark and I are...
-spending Thursday night through Sunday at Uncle Tom's Cabin (it's Mark's actual Uncle Tom's cabin up near Midland, not some strange literary theme park...). Just the two of us - movies, board games, books, cooking dinner... I'm so excited.
-next week, I'm off Thursday, and don't go back to work until the 29th. We'll have a Christmas dinner with just Mark, Brooks and I; we'll travel to IL to celebrate Christmas with my family (which includes going to the lovely Christmas Eve Service at my old church - although I'm partially heartbroken to not be at Riv...)
-we're having a New Year's Eve Party - 007 (James Bond) theme - it'll be crazy, but lots of fun (although, once again, partially heartbroken that we can't party with Dan and Suzanne and some other friends because they're hosting a party too...)
-back to work for real on the 3rd of January, starting a new semester. I've rearranged my schedule to hopefully have every Wednesday afternoon off (I'm not so excited about the earlier mornings, but I'm completely pumped to have an afternoon off each week!)

So that's it. Even though I still have some Christmas shopping to do, and some Christmas presents to finish making - I'm not that worried. I'll have lots of time, and right now, I feel really good about the things to come!

lazy weekend, busy Monday

No joke - everyone needs a weekend like mine once in awhile. Mark and I had unprecedented amounts of free time, and it was fabulous!! We went to the movies (twice!), had dinner together, ate lunch with a bunch of friends, and just enjoyed being able to relax, ignore the laundry, and be in each other's company. Just what the doctor ordered...
And that made it a lot easier to come to work on a very busy Monday. Finals week is upon us, but that often brings the students out in droves - worried about grades, admission to the college, courses for next semester, and much more. It was a rewarding day, however, busy as it was. Lots of fun meeting new people, and (hopefully) easing some anxiety.
And I'm off for our last WyldLife of 2006 - we'll be on hiatus until school is back in session!
Happy Monday!

changes and choices

I'm not sure why this has been on my mind lately, but I've been reminded of how easy it is to think that life is beyond our influence. I tend to let myself feel like I'm in a little boat on a VERY big ocean - waves push you around in different directions, and there's just not much to be done about that.
But I just don't think that's true. I may not have much control over the waves - the big events in my life - but I have every control over how I respond. When I was driving home yesterday, it occurred to me that I used to be a lot better about keeping my mindset positive and improvement-focused. That bummed me out. I'd really like to turn that around - and the cool thing is that I can just change my mind. I may have to remind myself of the change fairly frequently in the beginning... but it is possible.
Honestly, a big motivator for me is to be the kind of person that other people want to be around. I've been feeling overly busy and lonelier than usual, and it's easy to feel sorry for myself at those times. But I also know I'm not doing everything I can to be desirable company. No one really likes to hang out with someone who is whiny, or needy, or depressed or cynical. We like people who laugh, people who like us, people who look at life with hope and love, and people who want to serve those around them. I want to be that girl.
In summary... a quote that I find fairly compelling in this area:
"Find out who you are and do it on purpose." - Dolly Parton (the fount of all wisdom) :)

extreme makeover: blog edition

Thanks to Zoot's Free Designs - my blog finally has a new look! Hooray!
What do you think??

oh that it were true...

You Are Sunrise

You enjoy living a slow, fulfilling life. You enjoy living every moment, no matter how ordinary. You are a person of reflection and meditation. You start and end every day by looking inward. Caring and giving, you enjoy making people happy. You're often cooking for friends or buying them gifts. All in all, you know how to love life for what it is - not for how it should be.

What Time Of Day Are You?

my job has a mental disorder

If jobs could be diagnosed with mental illnesses, mine would be manic-depressive. Monday I had 11 appointments, Tuesday I had 6 in the morning, and 2.5 hours of meetings in the afternoon. Two busy busy days.
Today - I was supposed to have a staff meeting, but that got canceled. Now I don't have anything until the freshman seminar class at 1:30 or so. And that's it. Nothing else today. I can work on other projects and things, but basically, I am sitting at my desk. Alone. Weird.

a whole week!

I've been neglecting my blog duties of late, and I apologize... it's mostly because there's not anything new to report, and it gets dull to type the same things over and over (and, I'm sure - to read the same things over and over).

At any rate - I'm excited because (although I have to work today) I have a long weekend coming up. And Thanksgiving is an awesome holiday. It's full of my absolute favorite things to eat, lots of family, focusing on good things that we're thankful for, and it's the kick-off to the Christmas season... from Thanksgiving until New Year's is pretty much my favorite time of year.

Tomorrow Christmas dinner is at Mark's mom's house - it will be overrun with family as always, I'm sure. On Friday, my parents and sister will arrive in MI, and on Saturday, my brother and sister-in-law will join us, and we'll have our own little family time. It's been over a year and a half since most of my family has been out to MI (Meg just visited a couple of weeks ago).

I'm praying for a great weekend - the weather should be gorgeous, and I know the logistics will work out fine and dandy. But I specifically am hoping for everyone to feel loved and blessed as a result of the time they spend with family and friends this weekend - that God would just reach into the middle of our time together and do His thing.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Top Ten Reasons I'm a Dork...

10. This week, I downloaded directions on how to draw a turkey - I wanted to have a turkey on the chalkboard in my office.
9. I color code my calendar - green for work, blue for YoungLife, orange for Mark, pink for me... you get the idea.
8. My dad, sister and I laughed for ten minutes last night about what it would be like if our butts had knuckles (all rooted in my dad coining the nickname "butt-knuckle" eons ago... in case you're wondering, a butt-knuckle is like a goofball, only more ornery)
7. My sister and I habitually buy at least one bottle of sparkling grape juice whenever we're together, and we finish the whole stinking thing. Fast. Then we burp a lot...
6. Driving home last night, I got real sad because I realized I'd left my copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at work (I've read the book at least 3 times already). Then I got real happy because my booksfree.com books arrived in the mail, so I had something to curl up and read anyway.
5. I separate all the silverware in my dishwasher. And everything has to point up, except the sharp knives (obviously!). I'll reach in an rearrange gooky silverware if someone else does it wrong.
4. I seriously look forward to watching Scrubs with Mark and Brooks at night - we all sing along with the theme song at the beginning, and mock the funny sound that wraps up the end of each episode.
3. I'm making myself a pair of flannel teddy-bear pajamas. Yes, I just had my 26th birthday last month. Teddy bears are for grown-ups too...
2. I have a folder on my computer designated for the spreadsheet I've created just for myself. There are currently 7 excel files in that folder. They are all color-coded also... of course.
1. Really, I'm a dork because I want to be. I like math problems, I re-read books over and over, I like going to matinee movies with my little sister, laughing with your dad about butts is always funny... is there really any other alternative to dorkhood?

What are the top ten reasons YOU'RE a dork?

i OwE yOu!

I feel like I owe you - (it's hard to write that out full-length, just FYI) :D - a little bit more than just pictures of what food the silly online quizzes say that I am. You're probably thinking - "What's the down-low on Katie's life? I want to get the skinny, I wanna know what's happs, gimme the dirt..."
Okay, you're thinking none of those things (although if you are, I think your slang vocabulary is totally rad. like, for sure.).
I had four lunch dates in four days at work - Monday was Pizza House with Jamie and Shannon (gals I worked with in the College of Social Science), Tuesday was lunch with Lauren (always fun, plus she decided she needed to know my "boy history" - her words, not mine - which makes for funny lunchtime conversation), Wednesday was lunch with the 8th graders at Mason MS, and yesterday I ate with Jane (I really miss working with her everyday - what a FUN lady...)
Work is A-OK - busy some days, not so busy other days.
WyldLife is going great - we had almost 50 kids show up on Monday, and one kid already signed up for winter camp in February (he turned in the form and money less than 48 hours after we handed it out... that's a record for a middle schooler!)
This weekend will be (I think) pretty low-key. Mark will be gone, and Brooks and I don't really have much going on. Probably wash/dry/fold lots of laundry, and read a book or two.

Nerdy thing I'm most excited about this week: The equivalent of NetFlix for books - booksfree.com. The name is deceiving because it's not actually free at all - but it's essentially an online library that keeps track of the books I want to read and sends them to me automatically. I figured it's worth a try - I could read some great new stuff, and not charge a bajillion dollars at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com every month. I have a fairly expensive book habit. (ps - I know libraries are free, but I'm just too lazy for that. Plus, I have a habit of keeping things too long and paying late fees anyway - I'm pretty sure Mark and I are going to have to sell my car to pay the fee on an audiobook we've had for (literally) a couple of years.)

repeat?

So I know I just posted one of these, but I thought this one was funny too...

You Are Mashed Potatoes

Ordinary, comforting, and more than a little predictable You're the glue that holds everyone together

What Part of Thanksgiving Are You?

And accurate, because Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes is NOT Thanksgiving! :) Although I tend to come out as kind of bland, stable, ordinary, blah blah blah in these quizzes... should I be bothered by that?
(Can you tell I'm excited for the yummy food that's coming up in a couple of weeks?)

what kind of pie are you?

You Are Apple Pie

You're the perfect combo of comforting and traditional Those who like you crave security

What Kind of Pie Are You?

a little late...

Last weekend was a ton of fun - my friend Kristen and I met in Dorchester, Ontario (just outside of London) at a bed and breakfast called The Sycamore Tree - named after the Bible story where Zacchaeus climbs a sycamore tree to see Jesus, Jesus sees him and says "I will stay at your house today." I thought that was cool...

Anywho - we ate Hungarian and Japanese and Korean food, had massages/facials/haircuts, slept in, watched TV, read books, went shopping, ate gourmet 5-course breakfasts... it was a very fun, relaxing weekend. Kristen and her family (husband and two little boys) live near Rochester, NY, so we don't get to see them as often as we'd like. Plus it was great to have some girl time.

This weekend, my sister Megan is coming to visit me - I'm really excited about that. We always have a lot of silly fun when we're together - watching movies, eating a bunch of junk, and generally being weird the way you can only be weird with the people you've known since birth. Hopefully I'll have fun pictures to post from that.

how was YOUR Halloween?

The day began with a special message from Mark (yes, that's written in Halloween candy...)

After a very busy day at work (which involved a lovely chocolate cake that I did not get a picture of), I picked up Laura (my sister-in-law who officially became a Spartan this fall) and her boyfriend Mike - they wanted to help us hand out candy (for two VERY cold hours - we had 228 trick-or-treaters at our house. Yes, I'm a dork - I kept track)

Mark, Brooks and I got into full ninja gear (we had to use a special camera because ninjas don't usually resolve on film...)

Some of the boys that live nearby felt threatened by our ninja skills and decided to launch an attack (notice that Brooks is glowing with ninja power... or that's just his reflective running pants...)

All in all - a very fun Halloween. We handed out a TON of candy, still have a bunch leftover - we ate tacos, sat outside until our fingers and toes went numb, and watched an episode of Scrubs. Who could ask for more?

made my day

I had a great weekend with my friend Kristen - I will post a picture or two and more details later... today got away from me a little bit! :)

Today, my day was made by a birthday card I got in campus mail - signed in detail by all the lovely ladies I used to work with in the Department of Political Science. My new job is good - lots of great people and some cool new opportunities... but the growing pains and adjustments are hard. Sometimes I really really miss my old work "home" - and the card in the mail today is making me tear up a little. I sincerely wish I could have taken them all with me when I switched jobs - but "you can't take it with you," "this too shall pass," and all that jazz.

It's good to remember them all fondly, and know they remember me well also. I like that.

what do people need?

We abuse the word "need" in our culture... I need new shoes, I need an iPod, I need more time... I know I get caught swimming around in things I want, things that are really important, and things I actually need.
If anyone's ever taken a Psychology course, this pyramid looks familiar... it's known as Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. I haven't spent a ton of time analyzing the pyramid, or doing any research at all to see if holds true... but from what I do know - it's fairly accurate. The basic premise is that we cannot have certain needs met if our more basic needs are still unmet. For example, it's hard to feel a sense of self-identity and belonging if you're malnourished and homeless. We tend to focus on basic needs first, then our more complicated ones. Makes sense, right?

Today, my basic needs are well met. I have a warm house, lots of food, clothing - all the biological necessities to keep me alive. My safety needs are also well met - my home is safe, I'm in a relationship that's strong and getting stronger, and my town/state/country is not in a state of active warfare or anything. I start to get a little fuzzy once I move past this phase - granted, I have people that love me and groups to which I "belong" - but I think it's been awhile since I felt a true sense of ownership and identity in my extra-curricular activities. A friend told me on Tuesday that we all need to be surrounded by people who enjoy and love us exactly as we are (as well as encourage and push us along to become better) - as I've gotten older, that's gotten harder and harder to do. I've got a fair amount of self-drive when it comes to pushing myself to grow and change... I like that about myself, but it makes it hard to allow anyone to meet me where I'm at.

I'm not sure exactly what I'm thinking right now... I just miss the feeling of having friends that call you just to check in, people that you can hang out with and not have any anxiety or stress about how the time will go, and truly feeling part of a community where you fit well.

(Just FYI - I'm having a good day - I know this post sounds depressing, but it's really more just something that's been rolling around in my brain lately. Plus, it's sunny outside today - and that's FABULOUS!! :D)

do you ever wish life was like a musical?

Sometimes I do... I think it would be fun to bust out into song randomly (assuming, of course, everyone had dazzling vocal stylings with perfect pitch...), dance around when things are going well, and have music always playing in the background to clue people in to what's going on.

My hotel room in Indy had HBO, and I got to watch about 30 minutes of Evita - it came out 10 years ago (my junior year of high school) - and my friends and I were obsessed with it. I saw it at least twice in the theaters, bought the soundtrack, and owned the VHS as soon as I could(nope, not the DVD...). I still pretty much know all the words. It was fun to be transported back in time a little bit - think how much we laughed at each other's dramatic reenactments of Madonna's performance, how much we enjoyed every scene with Antonio Banderas (guys who can sing and dance are pretty hot - plus, guys that are hot are hot... it was a good combination for a 16-year-old theatre junkie).

I watched part of it this weekend after I got back - it was still amazing. I didn't have anyone to swoon with, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. There are scenes and songs that make me want to get up and dance... (and I did, once or twice...) and it definitely makes me wish that life could be like a musical all the time. Fun!

no restraint

One of the ladies in our office has a candy jar on her desk - and right now, it's brimming with caramels - the kind you really only see at Halloween. I'm pretty good at resisting certain things - but I've found myself grabbing one of these almost every time I pass her desk. They'll be the death of me! (probably not, but it's fun to be dramatic).

It's funny to think about the areas of life where I can show restraint, and others where I find it really hard. Most of the time, I feel as though I'm fighting against my natural inclinations - and that's a good thing, because we're sinful, right? But sometimes I wonder if I'm fighting with the way God intentionally made me. (Not to say that He made me to be a caramel-hoarding weirdo or anything...) I just wonder once in awhile if the reason that it's so hard to change things about yourself is because that's the way you're supposed to be. I think God doesn't always want me to be different - just to learn to use the gifts He gave me in a different way. For some reason, that almost seems harder to me...