Go Me

I just realized I completed one of my goals last year! I updated my blog at least once per month. Well yay! Go me. We'll see if I keep it up this year, too :)

I think this will probably be a short post. As much as I enjoy blogging, there just doesn't seem to be the time as more and more activities are added to my life. The good news is we're officially house hunting now! Tonight we got to spend some time actually looking in houses with our realtor, so that was fun.

I've also been trying to make it to crew more regularly. I did pretty well for a few weeks before things started getting busy again, but we're back on the water on Saturday - extra motivation to make it!

I still haven't gotten back into TV shows - I haven't really watched TV since before Christmas! It sounds much longer than it feels.

I think that's all the energy I have for tonight. I should probably go to bed (we'll see if that actually happens).

We Meet Again

Yes, my title is referring to the time of night. Yet again I'm up way later than I should be, and am I going to sleep? No. Instead I'm blogging about it. 

The big news around here lately has been the snow. We got tons of it. I mean, usually we get a few inches and everyone flips out and has a great time until it melts the next day. But the snow has been here since Sunday. And there's been a lot of it. I mean, look at how high it comes up on me:

The last few days have been a lot of fun enjoying the snow, but then today it got really slick and icy. That and our Internet was down for about 5 hours this morning, which made working a bit of a challenge, although I was able to keep busy and work on things offline for a while. Then, a couple of hours after our Internet was back up the power went down, which meant the router turned off and, again, I was without Internet. Although my work day wasn't quite as productive as I was hoping, I still got a lot done and was able to use the time effectively.

One thing that really helped was the ability to check email on my cell phone. That's right, we upgraded from our regular old phones to smartphones! We are now two proud iPhone users. I've been having fun exploring all sorts of fun apps, etc. If you have any suggestions, let me know. So far I've got everything from social media and productivity apps to sports and games apps. I decided to jump on the bandwagon and start using Instagram. Here's my first creation:

I found another fun photo app that let me add frames, so I created these two photos:

Needless to say (although I'm going to write it anyway), I've been loving my new phone. 

Anyway, it's 3am and I have a busy day at work tomorrow, so I'm going to go to sleep now. Really. Let me know if there are any more apps I should download, and good night!

A Stream of Thought

Apparently this is one of those nights where I stay up instead of going to sleep. No, I won't make it to crew in the morning; 3 hours isn't enough sleep for me. Although at this rate I still might not get a full night.

I'm doing pretty well with my goal of at least one blog post per month. I know I don't have the most readers, but I still enjoy writing every once in a while, even if it's about nothing in particular. Besides, I'm pretty sure I have a couple of loyal readers that will read almost anything I write - my parents are dependable like that ;)

We've been pretty busy the last couple of weeks. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, we've been pretty busy the last couple of months. Work has been insanely busy. The good part is we've been having a lot more clients come in. The challenging part is simply getting everything done. We did bring someone new in a few months ago, and she's been working amazing. That definitely helps!

But besides work, December is just always busy with getting ready for vacation, visiting friends/family in California (we had a blast, by the way), and then returning from time off. I feel like I'm finally starting to get a handle on things again - more than a week after getting home. Is that normal?

The good news is I've realized my priorities have totally shifted in a good way. I'm giving God the credit for that one, by the way. While we were in California I started seriously consider if I'd be able to make it back to crew after about 3 months off this past fall. I decided I wanted to do it, and despite being swamped with playing catch up, I've been able to make it to practice twice so far! Yes, I'm skipping tomorrow to give myself a few more hours of sleep, but I'm confident I'll be back on Saturday.

With spending more time working, adding crew back in, and taking care of various other tasks (weekly events with church, writing newsletters for a couple of different organizations in my free time, etc), I started trying to figure out what I would let go. As it turns out, that's a decision God seemed to make for me. I've lost pretty much all motivation to keep up with TV shows. Don't get me wrong, I still like my shows, but I'm not driven to watch them the same way. I'm happy to just wait and get to it if I get to it. Instead I'd rather spend the time doing things around the apartment, reading a book, hanging out with Matt or going out with friends. I'm still me, though. I seem to find ways to keep myself busy that don't include doing the dishes, housework, etc. Go figure.

We'll see if this shift in priorities lasts. I'm enjoying it while it does, though. I recently found a cute new photo album and printed out pictures from when we moved to Washington in 2009 to this past trip to California, and I'm almost done putting it together. I've also been wanting to eat food at home that's more healthy, although I haven't wanted to cook anything for a long time. It's more convenient if the healthy eating goes with a cooking phase...

Control & Planning

I like to know the plan. My dad must have told me, "Stick around and find out," hundreds of times when I was little. Even if it's going to change, I like to know what the plan is so I know what to expect (in fact, I've been known to plan to be spontaneous in certain instances just so there is an official plan in my head).

I often wish God would tell me what the plan is. I know that in reality, knowing what He's got planned would overwhelm me, and I'd probably try to do things my way so they wouldn't work out the way He wants them to. But I still like to know what the plan is.

I was recently reminded (yet again) that there's a lot I don't have control over. What I can control is my attitude and actions. The Bible doesn't specifically say, "Emily, this is what you should do in December 2011 or January 2012," but it does provide three actionable items that are what God wants for all of us:

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

I guess that gives me three things to focus on until I find out more of the plan... 

Photo Credit: SuperFantastic

If Only Dreams Came True

Last night I had an awesome dream. Well, maybe I should back up a bit to provide a little bit of context.

The San Francisco Giants are coming to Seattle in June!!! I am beyond excited. Considering the last Giants game I went to was the day Matt proposed, it's been way too long since I've seen them play in person. Don't get me wrong, I watch them on TV every time they're on (which sadly isn't often when you don't live in the San Francisco media market), watch games online and follow the team on Twitter/Facebook (in addition to a couple of beat writers)...but it's not the same as being in the park, rooting for your team as they play.

I've also been to several Mariner's games since we moved up here, but it's not the same. I mean, I'll root for the Mariner's and I like them and all, but they aren't my team. I'm not emotionally invested in their wins and losses. Even if their games are close, it's nowhere near Giants torture.

So, the Giants are coming to Seattle for three days in June. I really want to go to all three games; I WILL be there for at least two of them. I'm already counting down the days with a paper chain I made a couple of weeks ago (below). Current total? 185 days! 

Anyway, back to my dream. Last night, I dreamt that one of Matt's customers worked at the airport, in the section where athletes flew in and out, so he got us in to meet the Giants! We got front row seats for the game, too! It was pretty awesome. Sadly I woke up and realized it wasn't true, but it was still a really fun dream. Who knows, maybe sometime in the next 185 days one of us will meet someone that would make it happen?

The Muppets

If you haven't seen The Muppets yet, go see it. There were a lot of funny moments, many of which got me laughing out loud (literally) the second time we went to see it. Ever since we saw it the first time, I've had the songs running through my head. I don't want to give anything away though...so just go see it.

I will say there was a part at the beginning that made me think of our Halloween costumes this year (especially Matt's):

Not Your Average B&B

Okay, I'm no expert when it comes to Bed & Breakfasts, but I know enough to know the one we stayed at this past weekend, owned by Olaf and Charlotte, was way above average.

The Red Caboose Getaway in Sequim is fantastic! You get to choose from several luxurious cabooses to stay in overnight. We opted for the Grape Escape:

In addition to the fabulous theming (with great attention to detail), the breakfasts in the mornings were delicious! Served in a dining car, Charlotte created four-course gourmet meals despite my wide array of food allergies. My favorites included:

Orange Pull-Apart Mini Loaf

Strawberry Dutch Baby

I also really liked that they offered a lot of suggestions for things to do in the area and places to try for lunch and dinner, but also gave you a lot of space to do your own thing. If you ever make it up to Sequim, you should definitely give the Red Caboose Getaway a try.