Rollercoaster baby

Ok, no rollercoaster of love, but definitely a rollercoaster... of cost.



According to AAA's Fuel Price Finder, gas one year ago today was $2.77/gallon. Their website has this handy dandy little ticker at the top with averages:

Area Average : $3.141

Last Week: $3.544 Last Month: $4.083 6 Months Ago: $3.463 Last Year: $2.779

Average Cost To Fuel A Vehicle With a 15 Gallon Tank: $47.11Last Week: $53.17 Last Month: $61.24 6 Months Ago: $51.94 Last Year: $41.69

Now, today, gas for $2.77 sounds pretty sweet. In the past year, we've gotten accostomed to gas prices being in the $3something range, and recently, $3.99/gal was a deal. Oil barrel costs had gone through the roof, affecting our consumer cost.

Enter Hurricane Ike on 9/13, and welcome the 2008 gas crisis. North Carolina is one of those oh-so lucky places to only be serviced by 2 pipelines (Colonial and Plantation) coming from the coast, and when they're pummelled by a hurricane, supplies are diminished. The highest I paid for a gallon was $4.04, but that was pre-Ike. Thankfully in our area we were able to find a few stations with gas at $3.99. Five cents do add up, but it didn't stress me out too much.

Running out of gas did.

We just so happened to be in Myrtle Beach for a long weekend when Ike hit and the crisis began. The pictures were insane coming from stations all over the Southeast, primarily Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas. People lined up for hours, fights ensued, and it was chaos. We found gas in SC the night before we left, but the truck was sitting in our driveway empty. Slight panic ensued, but luckily C found gas on his way to work Monday morning.

Now that things have been fully restored to pre-Ike situations, we won't see any more pictures like this:

Prices are dipping down, hovering above $3/gallon, but that's a HUGE improvement over $4/gallon. We're already pretty frugal and conservative with gas usage, so it doesn't affect us too much, but it's the bigger picture that is an issue. Higher gas prices drive up the price of everything. Talk about a budget crunch...

101 Things

In the never ending quest to accomplish my to-do list, I figured what's better than creating a long term to-do list? Like I need another list to keep up with, but at least this one is fun. I'm jumping on yet another bandwagon...

The idea started here. I've seen it in several blogs and figured, "Why not?". In the end, at least it helps me put my goals on paper and have an organized way of accomplishing them. It has a start date and an end date, so that's good, but who knew it'd be this difficult to come up with 101 things. At first I thought it'd be a breeze, but now... not so much. This list will be updated as I go along, but here's the first stab at it. My official start date was last week, 10/1/2008, and the official end date is 6/29/2011.

TRAVEL

1. Go to Palm Springs
2. Go to Europe
3. Go to Uwharrie National Forest
4. Go to Hilton Head
5. Visit 5 places in the NC region I’ve never been to before
6. Go to Mexico
7. Go to Door County
8. Visit NC Wine Country
9. Go to Morrow Mountain

PERSONAL/EDUCATION

10. Get a library card
11. Read 101 books
12. Watch a scary movie without hiding
13. Run a 5k in under 28:30 minutes
14. Run a 10k in under 59 minutes
15. Complete a triathalon
16. Register to vote
17. Vote in a local election (not tied with a Presidential election)
18. Vote in a primary election
19. Take a cake decorating class
20. Take a photography class
21. List 101 things that make me happy
22. No TV for 7 days
23. Go see a dermatologist
24. See a nutritionist
25. Make 10 recipes from my cookbook collection
26. Drive the speed limit for 7 days
27. Go to confession 5 times
28. Learn how to knit
29. Start my IDP process
30. Become LEED certified
31. See John Mayer in concert
32. Make espresso at home
33. Call in sick to work and relax for the day
34. Grow my own herbs
35. Make a list of 101 things I’m thankful for
36. Try 5 new foods


30 DAY CHALLENGES

37. Do all of the dishes after each meal
38. Keep all new mail off the kitchen table
39. Put all dirty laundry in the hamper instead of the floor
40. Update food blog after each new meal cooked
41. No eating out
42. Complete the 100 push-up challenge
43. No soda for 30 days
44. Take my vitamins
45. Pray daily
46. Take 10 minutes and read a devotion
47. No alcohol


HOUSEHOLD PROJECTS

48. Finish the master bath
49. Build the vegetable garden fence/raised beds
50. Create a hard edge for all garden beds
51. Finish the basement
52. Plant an herb garden
53. Tile the guest bathroom floor
54. Get our diplomas framed and hang them
55. Paint the kitchen and tile the counter backsplash
56. Replace coffee and end tables

FINANCIAL

57. Create a will
58. Start IRAs for both me and C
59. Pay off the truck
60. Completely fund the emergency fund
61. Pay off credit card debt
62. Pay off student loans
63. Give to a charity once a quarter
64. Meet with a financial planner
65. Buy some stock
66. Start a CD ladder with the e-fund
67. Completely fund a short term e-fund
68. Allow a splurge or spontaneous decision without worrying about the budget
69. Make a list of everything that should be in the safety deposit box and put it all in there

HUSBAND/RELATIONSHIPS

70. Write five snail-mail cards and send to friends/family
71. Have ten date nights
72. Eat at ten local restaurants we’ve never been to before
73. Complete Anna and Lauren’s scrapbooks
74. Go to a Panthers game
75. Save enough money to recreate our wedding cruise and go on it for our 5th anniversary
76. Write four love letters to C
77. Do something out of the ordinary for C four times
78. Make a list 101 things of why C is an excellent husband and makes me happy
79. Go see a play
80. Go to the symphony
81. Make our wedding scrapbook
82. Go for a walk in the park 5 times
83. Take C to a Brewer game
84. Get a gift for C… just because

COMMUNITY

85. Complete 101 hours of community service
86. Coach a Special Olympics swim team
87. Volunteer for Habitat for Humanity (can be included in the 101 hours)
88. Give blood five times
89. Go through clothes twice a year and donate to Goodwill
90. Become regularly involved with church
91. Volunteer to teach CPR at the Red Cross (can be included in the 101 hours)
92. Participate in Angel Tree (or other charitable event) each Christmas
93. Write a grant and get it approved for special needs kids at the Y

OTHER

94. For every item completed, put $10 in a savings account
95. For every item not completed, give $25 to a charity
96. Buy an iPod Nano
97. Buy a Nike+ system
98. Buy a DSLR
99. Update my portfolio
100. Get my wedding dress cleaned
101. Learn to shoot a gun

Lt. Dan, ice cream!!

LOVE that movie. Forest Gump is one of those classics that will never get old, and you can't help but love Tom Hanks in that movie.

Anywho.

Although it has been a little over two months since my tonsillectomy, it's still all too fresh in my head. It was one of those necessary evil surgeries; something you never really wanted to do (although who wants to have surgery??), but knew you'd have to suck it up and deal with it. Surgery was Thursday, July 24, and I had to be there by 6:15 am and I was home in my bed by 10am that morning. I really wasn't given all that much information beforehand about it, and honestly didn't think to ask all kinds of detailed questions. I just wanted it over with. It lasted less than 30 minutes and C was surprised when the doctor came out so soon saying I was in recovery. I remember waking up with a dry throat and I was sitting up, which wasn't where I wanted to be since the room was spinning. I wasn't allowed water, only Sprite. Bubbles + fresh wounds is NOT a good idea. Not what I wanted, but another lost battle.

Hydrocodone is not my friend. I couldn't stand the feeling of floating a foot above the bed and the room spinning, so I only took it until Sunday and switched to Tylenol. I was a much happier person. The day after surgery I ate pizza, which probably wasn't the best of choices but I was so hungry I suffered through anything just to be able to have a full stomach. I ate lots of ramen noodles, a bit of jello, and some pasta... anything that would go down without a lot of effort. Although I had gotten ice cream from the store on Friday, I couldn't eat a lot of it. I was SO disappointed when ice cream didn't feel good on the way down; little did I know dairy causes more mucus, which means things are thicker and harder to swallow. UGH. Let me tell you though, the little neck ice pack the doctor gave me was my BFF starting on Tuesday and lasting through the end of the week after surgery. Loved that thing.

The Wednesday and Thursday after surgery were the worst; I felt like there were needles in my throat, constantly poking me and I broke down and cried late Wednesday night. I was frustrated, tired and hungry on top of being in pain. C was great the whole time, he stayed home with me the day after surgery and came home and waited on me hand and foot while he was there. He was amazing.

I only threw up one blood clot on Saturday and that was the end of the bleeding. It hurt to talk for long periods of time, which I'm sure other people enjoyed since I didn't talk as much as I usually do. Too bad for them I'm back to normal!

New York, New York

I can't help myself. Every time I think of this city, I can hear Frank Sinatra singing!

C had never been to NYC, so I decided to take him for his birthday present this year. Instead of going in August when his birthday actually is, he suggested that we go over the 4th of July so we could see a good fireworks show while we were there. Neither of us are very impressed with the shows that Charlotte puts on (that topped with having to move out of the way for all of the SWAT teams in riot gear... doesn't exactly equal my thoughts of a good show!), so why not?

My first trip to NYC was in 2/02 working on a mission trip for the Salvation Army. We served food to the workers at the WTC site, which was a very moving experience. More on that another time though, I'm hoping to find the email I wrote to friends and family immediately after that trip, explaining all of the things I saw, heard and felt. It is always interesting for me to go back and witness how much the site has changed from those few days I spent there soon after 9/11.

We stayed at the Hilton Penn Station in Newark, which was significantly cheaper than staying in the city. Yes, the 22 minute train ride into the city got very old after awhile, but it was worth it. We did hit the ground running after we finally got on the hotel shuttle. C's first NYC experience? Why, witnessing someone attempting to park of course! How convenient since he works in that industry!

It was a doozy. We've got parked vehicle number one, the Mercedes SUV, parked vehicle number two, the Ducati motorcycle, and then Mr. Brilliant in vehicle number three, the red Volvo.

Not only did Mr. Brilliant hit vehicle #1 multiple times, but he also hit the motorcycle a couple times. Now, one would think that if you're constantly hitting another car, it's time to give up and find another parking spot. Nope, not this guy. He got out of the car and attempted to move the bike. Well, that's a good idea, until the bike falls over. Oy.

Moving on now... we ate hot dogs from a street vendor, which was at the top of C's list of things to do. We were planning on doing the Statue of Liberty Friday afternoon, but unfortunately the line was ridiculously long. We headed back north, weaving through the city, stumbling on a festival. There was live music, tons of food, and several other street vendors stretching for several blocks. C stopped and got a gyro, and I enjoyed walking through some of the vendor displays. We managed to get to the South Street Seaport and lo and behold, there's the brewery! US Air had this section of the best breweries in several cities, so I wrote the addresses down of the Heartland Brewery. This was our destination after we nixed the Statue trip for the day. The beer was ok, not my favorite, but not the worst we've ever had either. We were able to sit out on the sidewalk and enjoy our sample tour of their beers.

As a quick side note, I asked about The Strand bookstore while we were in one of the shops and I was thrilled to hear it was just a couple short blocks away. They're not kidding when they say they have 18 miles of books! We could've spent hours in there, but after some browsing we decided to move on.

In all of the times I had been to NYC, I had never been on the Brooklyn Bridge. We had to do some creative planning after seeing the long lines, so we marched straight over to the bridge after enjoying some beer and books. It was CROWDED! It was neat to see the city from that perspective though, especially seeing it with a storm brewing.

Back to the subway and off to Top of the Rock. It was a cloudy day but we decided to go to the top anyways. It was nice and breezy, which felt good after all of the walking we had done. We managed to get a few good pictures up there and we sat down and relaxed a little bit. Our feet certainly needed the break!

After a trip back to the hotel to rest, we headed back to Little Italy, eyed some places we were interested in for dinner, then walked off to the fireworks. It was a much longer walk than anticipated to the park, that's for sure. We finally got there, it started raining, and we waited. And waited. And waited. We heard they were to start at 9pm, but it didn't start til almost 9:30. We were tired and hungry, but stayed for about 10 minutes of the show. It was good, but the hunger and exhaustion won over and we caught a cab back to Little Italy and grabbed some pizza. Yummmmm!

We had hoped that Saturday would hold some better weather, but no such luck. We stood in line for almost two hours for the Statue of Liberty. We probably wouldn't had done this had I not pre-purchased the tickets. It was cool to see, but we were pretty put off by the fact that the stores were hiking up the cost of ponchos right in front of our eyes. I know, I know, they know they'll get people to buy them, but we decided to get a little wet and not buy them after witnessing this. It wasn't bad at all, thankfully. We didn't get off at Ellis Island, it was pouring at that point and we just wanted to head back into the city.

Lunch was at Jackson Hole Burgers, which was recommended by a friend. Amazing burgers! Both of us really enjoyed our ginormous hamburgers and my root beer was quite tasty. I'd put it up there with Sprecher, which is saying a lot! Mass was next at St. Patrick's Cathedral. We got there in time to watch a wedding party walk out, complete with multiple stretch SUV limos, a Rolls Royce, and a coach bus for the guests. The groom's family was very Italian. I can't imagine getting married at a huge tourist attraction or in the center of a huge city!

The wedding left and we went in for Mass, which reminded Clay of a comment I had made awhile back. I mentioned that Mass was fast, and he told me that I had once said that Northern Masses were much shorter than Southern, which holds very true! It has been awhile since I've been up North for a Sunday Mass!

Times Square was our very last major stop. Quite overwhelming, that's for sure. We went to M&M World and decided that was the extent of our Times Square shopping. It was a long, busy, but fun two days... we were ready to sit and relax! We did find an Irish pub to stop at before heading back to the hotel, which was neat.

Overall, we had a good time, but I think our next trip will be to a much lower key place :)

23 months

C and I have now been married 23 months. Why does it matter, you ask?

Well...

We were dating 23 months before he popped the question.
We were engaged 23 months before we ran off to Enchantment of the Seas to get married.
We are now married 23 months... and nothing. Nope, we're not taking that next step (yet) and having a baby.

Marriage is hard at times, but absolutely wonderful at others. It has been great for me to have someone to come home to every night; someone I know will hold me tight, tell me things will be OK, and someone who will listen to my stupid stories. I'm the worst storyteller ever, so this is a big feat.

I'm incredibly spoiled by C. It is so hard to not take for granted that on Fridays I'll have a clean house to come home to. He truly takes care of me and looks out for my best interests, even though I don't want to admit he's right. I try to take on too much. It's probably my biggest downfall. He's right though, I have to scale back. Burnout is a nasty thing; been there, done that. I don't wish to revisit that experience.

Just today he's called me 3 times to check in on me (I had a small procedure this morning and have been a little uncomfortable all day). So sweet.

I'm so thankful.

Rain, rain...

Come and stay!

C and I went ahead and bought two rain barrels off Craigslist in June and definitely seeing the payoff! As luck would have it, we bought the barrels, rushed to set them up that day since it was supposed to storm, and... it didn't. We had almost 2 weeks of no rain, and finally we got massive storms the following week! Ever since then it's been on and off, but thankfully we've never completely run out of stored water. We've come close, but never run out.

Our setup is pretty simple; we have the retaining wall that was built last March, where we put in a French drain to divert the water away from the house. We purchased a little piece of flex gutter which is set up to drain right into barrel #1 under the deck. Knowing that we want to keep as much water away from the house as possible, we chose this one to be the recipient of the trash can we had been using to catch water. A little piece of hose, a hose fitting and there you have it... an overflow container!


Barrel #2 involved a bit of cutting, but it was still very easy to set up. It is positioned at the back corner of the garage, conveniently tucked behind the house. This barrel doesn't have an overflow container, but I think that is going to change very soon. We did take off one of the caps for the overflow water and let it just drain out where we already had water problems from the original gutter.


An example of them in use was one week early on that brought .75 inches of rain according to the Weather Channel. We filled up both 55-gallon barrels, 2-5 gallon pails, 1-2 gallon watering can, 1-1 gallon watering can, 2-2 gallon pails, 1-1 gallon pail, and 1-33 gallon trash can. That puts us at a grand total of 161 gallons saved from one rainfall! This means that I can water the veggie garden 5 times (when it's in its max planting) without running out. Due to the constant fear of drought, the rain barrels were crucial to our garden. Overall we never had to use the hose to water, yay!

Shopping those sales...

My recent addiction: shopping the sales at CVS, RiteAid and Walgreens. Slightly lame, yes, but I am constantly amazed at how much I'm saving each time I go. I am getting the hang of it. The thing is, you have to know what the regular store prices are to be sure you're actually getting a good deal. Sometimes I make a mistake and don't save any money, paying the same I'd pay at the regular stores I shop, and occasionally I'll pay more. Thankfully, those mistakes are few and far between; lessons learned the hard way.


It's no secret that these stores tend to be on the pricey side when it comes to shopping for the necessities, but I've found that with some careful planning, topped with creative uses of coupons and rebates, the upfront cost is pretty minimal.

I'll gladly spend 10 minutes a week sitting in front of the Sunday ads and making my little list of things I know I have coupons for. That 10 minutes usually pays off for us, saving $10, 20 or even $30. You can't beat the BOGO dish soap and having a coupon on top of that, so you're getting 2 bottles of dish soap for $1.50. It's hard enough to come by some of the coupons, much less coming across two of them for the same item at a time. Like store sales, coupons are cyclical. By the time you're finding sales you're actually interested in, it's tricky finding coupons that match your best interests. Not impossible, but in times like these... I'll do everything to save a buck or two.

Spring has Sprung!

I guess I'm a grownup now, so maybe I should do some grownup things. I've gotten into gardening of all things. First it was cooking, now gardening. Who wudda thunk?

When we first moved into the house, the outside was a bit of a mess. Overgrown bushes, that awful river rock, and a deck that we thought would collapse every time we walked on it. In Spring of 2007, my mom and stepdad graciously offered to help us totally revamp the gardens on the front and side of the house and tear down the old deck.

(Pics to come when I remember where they are!).

Wow, what a change, right? Apparently, not enough change to satisfy me. This past fall, I decided to plant bulbs. Now, a normal person would maybe plant 40, 50 or even 100, but I decided to plant.... wait for it... 681. I wanted a kickass garden that would blow people away. I envisioned tulips in various colors blooming while my daffodils were growing, then the daffodils would be in bloom while the tulips died off. Quite the vision, huh. Unfortunately my vision wasn't so great and didn't come out exactly as planned. For one thing, you can't see the driveway side of the garden from the street. Another thing was that the tulips ended up shorter than they were supposed to, and the daffodils taller than they were advertised to be.

Lesson learned, I guess. Now, here's the list of what was planted.

Side yard:


Allium

• Gladiator 4 50" tall, May/June Purple
  

Tulips

• Passionale 40 18" tall April/May Purple
• Purple Prince 16 14" tall March/April Purple
• White Emperor 16 14" tall March/April White

Deck Area:

Allium

• Purple Sensation 35 32" tall May/June Purple
• Christophi 15 24" tall May/June Purple

Hyacinths

• Mixed 30 18" tall March/April Mixed Pastel

Muscari

• Mixed 24 8" tall March/April Purple/White

Chionodoxa

• Luciliae Mixed 60 4" tall March/April Mixed Pastel

Front Yard:

Tulips

• Dancing Lady 135 22" tall April/May Mixed Primary
• Ile de France/Bastogne 60 18" tall April/May Red
• Yokohama 84 16" tall March/April Yellow

Daffodils

• Yellow Cheerfulness 36 18" tall April/May Yellow
• White Cheerfulness 30 18" tall April/May White
• Mt. Hood 60 16" tall March/April White
• Geranium 36 8" tall April/May White w/ Yellow center

Phew that was a long list! Here are some pictures now :)

April 11, 2008

April 16, 2008

It's Not Easy Being Green

Ahh, yes. Kermit. His simple little line translates into today's sudden need to be "green". It's definitely not easy being green, that's for sure.

Now, in this sense, being "green" refers to being environmentally friendly. Old habits are the toughest to break. How often do we just throw away the plastic bags we get from grocery shopping? What about throwing everything into the trash can instead of recycling? It takes effort. For some reason, people have recently had this epiphany that Earth is not in very good shape; the reports are saddening. The green movement crashed and burned about 10 years ago, especially in the housing industry, since people didn't really see it as that big of a deal. Now that we're running out of room to put trash, parts of the world are now in severe drought conditions, and glaciers are melting, there's this big push to be green.

Not that this is a bad thing...

One question I often have is whether or not people are making changes because it's the cool thing to do or if it's because they're truly concerned about the environment. I know, I know... that shouldn't be an issue, right? A change is a change... but aren't you more likely to stick with it if it's for the true reason of being more environmentally friendly instead of being cool?

Now, on to what simple changes can be done to help out the environment a bit:

-Limit driving to necessary trips.
-Change light bulbs to CFLs.
-Change from plastic bags at the store to reusable bags.
-Switch to vinegar-based home made cleaning solutions.
-Line dry your clothes.
-Use a rain barrel to collect water, which is then used for watering flowers and gardens.
-Reuse bags whenever possible.
-Turn off water while brushing your teeth, shaving, etc.
-Use low-flow toilets and showerheads/faucets.
-If replacing a toilet isn't feasible at this time, put in a 20 oz. bottle filled with sand or another heavy substance to limit the water usage of the toilet.
-Use ceiling fans to your advantage.
-Use Energy Star appliances.
-Compost yard clippings, kitchen waste, and leaves.

The list goes on for miles, but here are a few links for those who are interested:

http://lowimpactliving.com/

http://www.ecocycle.org/hazwaste/recipes.cfm

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/annies-top-10-vinegar-uses.html

http://futuremakers.com.au/category/all/

Two years... really?

There are places I'll remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all

-Beatles, "In My Life"

Wow. It has been almost two years since I was last in the building that I "lived" in for five long, trying years of college. The College of Architecture at UNC Charlotte, the Storrs building, was "home" for 5 school years. I went back today to try to close that chapter of my life; I have piles of modeling and drafting supplies just sitting in the basement that must find a new home. Tonight was the night I chose to go list those items on any wall space I could find.

I walked in and a rush of emotions overtook me. I didn't expect to be so emotional walking in. I was ok until I walked upstairs and saw my old studio bay, right by the stairwell. It was a little amusing, projects two years later don't look all that different from what we were pushed toward in my final years of schooling. Slowly I walked around, occasionally stopping to post my little flyers. I saw the offices of professors I really enjoyed and couldn't help but smile, but cringed inside when I saw the doors of those I despised. I paused for a minute by the elevator in front of the library, overlooking the salon that I had walked through thousands of times.

Here's my thing. I was far from the typical architecture student. Heaven forbid a student have to work in order to stay in school and avoid even more debt than what was already quickly accruing from tuition alone (out of state tuition too!). Strike one against me. Heaven forbid an architecture student be involved outside of the beloved CoA. Honors program, an attempt at a Spanish minor, who cares? I did, at least for awhile. Make that strike two. Heaven forbid a student have an interest in single family homes instead of large commercial projects. Well hmm. Looks like that's strike three.

Sometimes I wonder if I missed my "calling" for college and should've gone into engineering instead. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed some of my college learning experience, mainly my semester in Paul Clark's studio where we had to design a single family home... but for the most part, it really takes an effort to think of those good memories. The bad far outweigh the good. I remember being so upset that I couldn't go on the second day of critiques and had to go on the first day, the day after I returned from my dad's wedding. There were two days of crits and my professor refused to switch me. That same semester I stayed up for 67 hours finishing my final project. How is that healthy??! I'd love for someone to explain that to me.

The long days, the sleepless nights, and that was just for studio. Don't forget that there were another 10-13 credit hours on top of that that had to be kept up with. It's amazing that any of us survived those five years. Granted, several of us had major run-ins with exacto knives along the way, but thankfully that was the worst of it. The thing that always puzzled me was that the professors never seemed to care how long you'd been up, how much effort you'd put into your project, or what else was going on in your life. We saw these people for 9+ contact hours a week. The school shuts down for the new chancellor? HA. Not the CoA. They live by their own rules, to hell with everyone else. No wonder that school has such a reputation around campus. They don't care about other departments, so why should others care about them?

I do have to say that the CoA has brought me to a point where I do enjoy my job. Without what I learned in that school, I wouldn't have the job I do today. No matter how many bitter feelings I have toward the architecture school, it did do me some good. In typical "me" fashion, I was the anti-architecture student, if there ever was one. I worked, on average, 35-40 hours between my two jobs during the week, kept trying to keep up with a minor and the Honors program, and *gasp* was able to build a strong foundation with a man who is now my husband. It can be done, but I won't say there weren't thousands of tears shed.

Today was hard for me. It was hard to go back to that building. I never in a million years thought that it would be that emotional. As I walked back to the car, a couple tears did fall. I will admit that. The rush of emotions completely engulfed me. Like I told C, it's sad how the good memories are far outweighed by the bad. I have to really think about the good ones. I don't think it should be that way.


John Lennon gets it right again. The places of our past are either good or bad, some are gone, some are still there. Each place forms who we are today, forming a moment in our life. Maybe deep down I have a love for my memories at the CoA, but I still have to search for that love.

Living in a Material World

Living in a material world
And I am a material girl
You know that we are living in a material world
And I am a material girl

I know this is taken slightly out of context, but Madonna's 1985 song "Material Girl" is all too relevant in today's society. Amazing how times change so much but yet so little.

I'd like to think that I'm not all that materialistic. I really would. Part of me believes though that everyone is materialistic to a certain extent. The other day I was on a message board and it amazed me what material items people associated with class and social status. Is it really all that important that you live in the nicest neighborhood, drive the latest "hot" car, wear all the fashionable trends, and eat at the trendy restaurants? What about the high dollar items... the designer jeans, handbags, sunglasses, etc., that are all about the label? Why the latest gadgets? Why so much stuff?

I can't seem to wrap my brain around it. I know, I know... it's all personal preference, but still. I can't help but think even when I spend $10 on a shirt from Old Navy if I'm getting the best possible deal or if I really need it.

I look at our house, and while cute, is not grand by any means. That's ok. I don't need that. I need a roof over my head that's not going to tumble down. Our house is 1096 square feet, not big at all, but we have the basement. When that's finished off, we'd be lucky to hit about 1600 heated square feet. To me, that's plenty of room. We don't need anything bigger. Honestly, we don't. 2 people and a dog are very comfortable in even just the upstairs. I think part of the reason I like the house so much is it really makes me think about needs vs. wants. Do we really need that for the house? Where will it go? What will it take the place of? We (ok, I) have so much crap down in the basement it's not even funny. I'm trying to get rid of some of it, I really am. I've thrown out a bunch of stuff in this whole Clear Out the Crap Campaign. What's even worse is the last time I went through my closet I gave away so many things that were in great condition... hardly ever worn.

To me, materialism isn't necessarily labels and a status symbol. It's also the "need" for so much stuff. I fall into the latter definition. Labels and status symbols don't interest me. I have no desire for the big flashy jewelry, designer handbags or a new BMW. The only reason I have a Coach wallet is because it was a gift. My "old" '97 Accord does me just fine... it gets me from point A to point B and is a safe, reliable vehicle. That's not to say that I wouldn't love to have an '08 Accord, but I don't need it. Mine does just fine, why replace it? Our small house does us just fine, why upsize?

I do fit into the "stuff" category, although I really am trying to get better. I think that redoing my closet really taught me a lesson. Clay suggested that it would be really nice to have all of my clothes in one place instead of 2 (the guest closet/dresser and the master closet). I arranged the closet so that could happen, but still gave up a TON of stuff. It was good though. Why keep something I don't wear?

Honestly though, I don't know of a single person who won't admit that they have their moments of want when they don't need the item. It's human nature. Where is the line drawn? If you can afford the high end apparel, does the label become justifiable? Are people buying it for social acceptance or are they buying it because they like it and the price tag is affordable to them? How much stuff is too much?

It takes a lot of effort to really step back and take a look at what your needs vs. wants are and where to draw the line on how much is too much. Each person is different, but I just can't justify spending hundreds of dollars on a purse, over $30 on a pair of jeans, etc. Is there a general line of materialism?

If I had a million dollars...

Well, the writers' strike is over. Am I glad? Yes. Did I miss my shows? Yes. Was it the end of the world that there weren't any new episodes on? No. I actually got some stuff done around the house instead of plopping my butt in front of the TV.

This strike was a bit interesting to me. People got so irritated that their shows weren't on, there were constant reruns, and we were bombarded with some (awful) reality TV. It's amazing how self-centered our society can be. On the message board I frequent, I was a little saddened by how many people were saying to just get it over with so they could watch new episodes again. Um, what about the writers? They were the ones getting screwed...

Fashion Don'ts

I can't help but people watch when I'm out in public. We just got back from our 3rd cruise and for some reason, I thought it was blogworthy to note things that should never be done again when it comes to fashion.

Here it goes...

-Fanny packs. Dude, they're out. Sorry.
-Men with shorts, black dress socks, and bright white tennis shoes. Sorry sir, you scream Snowbird in Florida. Did you forget your white socks in Wisconsin?
-Matching his/hers outfits. Please shoot me if you ever catch me and my husband doing this.
-Men with two pierced ears. Especially older (read: 70+) men with bigger diamond studs in both ears than what most engagement rings have.
-Women in matching tops/bottoms. You know what I'm talking about. Those outfits with the huge flowers, usually with shirts that don't fit (usually those unflattering draping shirts) and the elastic banded pants. No one needs that much going on in an outfit.
-Women's jeans with no pockets on the butt. Trust me. Your butt looks 100 times bigger without the pockets.

What kind of world do you want?

I received an email yesterday from an old friend. Inside was a very simple message:

The band, Five for Fighting, is generously donating $0.40 to Autism Speaks for *each time* this video is viewed. The funding goes toward research studies to help find a cure. When you have a moment, please visit the link below to watch the video and pass it along to your friends and family. They are aiming for 10,000 hits, but hopefully we can help them to surpass this goal.
If link does not work, copy and paste.
http://www.whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com/
videos/view/id/408214

One, I really like Five for Fighting. Two, Autism Speaks is an organization I truly believe in. The song "World" is so fitting for these videos. It's a song of hope, dreams, and optimism. For a disorder that has few answers, hope and optimism can be difficult to keep.

This May marks my nine year anniversary of teaching swim lessons. Since I started working with special needs children about five years ago, my love for children has changed. I have found that special needs children have this amazing ability to love. On top of that, they have an incredible love for life. While some of these children may test my patience to the greatest extent on some days, I can't help but look back at the lessons each of them have taught me.

Isabel has several muscular and developmental disabilities, but she has never, ever let them get in the way of having fun. In my five years of knowing her, I have never once seen Isabel cry. Trust me, I have a habit of making children cry (I don't exactly let kids get out of things easily, which they don't like!). She always has a smile on her face and is so excited to come swim. When I left my former pool, I unfortunately had to leave Isabel. I saw her parents a couple weeks ago and we caught up on life in general. We were able to make things work out so I am able to teach her again. It absolutely thrilled me to hear that she still talked about swimming with me. I saw her for the first time in 2 years last week and her smile and love for life is enough to make anyone's day. She has taught me that there's a silver lining in life and that a smile can truly make someone's day. Her giggle is contagious and even with her extremely limited vocabulary, she still tries her hardest to convince you not to work but to have fun!

Brandon had a stroke when he was just a couple weeks old, followed several weeks later by open heart surgery. At the age of 3 when I first met him, he was barely walking and didn't really speak. I was teaching his older sister, Kayla, and the mother was having a difficult time keeping Brandon away from the water. We didn't get very far in learning to swim, but he was so fearless when it came to trying out new things. He loved to imitate what I would ask him to do (his favorite was "kickkickkickkickkick") and tried so hard to get himself out of the water. Brandon taught me that you cannot let things get in the way of having fun and enjoying life; for him, he never let his disabilities get in the way of enjoying swimming.

Isaiah and Jayson are very high functional Autistic twin boys. When I first started teaching them 13 months ago, they refused to go under water, wouldn't let go of me, and threw fits when I would ask them to do something out of their comfort zone. The lap pool was absolutely out of the question. My greatest moment with these two boys so far was watching the dad start crying the first time he saw both boys not only jump into the deep end of the lap pool (which originally they were deathly afraid of) and then swim unassisted down the length of the pool. He was so excited to see his boys successful and pushing their fears aside. It has been a long, slow process, but truly worthwhile. Isaiah swallowed too much water one day and threw up all over me and in the pool. We had to shut down the pool to clean it and I told him that we would try again next week. While on my way to the other pool to teach Jayson, I noticed Isaiah was crying. When I asked him what was wrong, he kept telling me that he was sorry he got sick and asking if I was mad. I realized that for him, all he wants is to please people. He gave me the biggest hug when I finally convinced him that I could never be mad at him for getting sick, but that he had to understand why he got sick (blow your bubbles!!). From that point forward, things became much easier. I finally realized what made him "tick". If I could get him to understand that I was so proud of him for how hard he has worked and how far he has come, teaching him would be easier. Jayson is a little different. The praise does little; for him, it's letting him realize that he can do things and that it's not so bad afterall. These two boys have taught me that no two children will ever learn the exact same way and that you have to find what makes them tick, even though it may take several months to find it.

Jessica has Cystic Fibrosis. When I first met her, she had a somewhat limited lung capacity and could barely swim the length of the pool. There were many cancelled lessons due to illness, but when she was having a good day, we really worked. It was hard for her. We pushed her limits. She loved the water, but not necessarily the work. What 10 year old loves working hard? When the doctors noticed her increased lung capacity, they were pleasantly surprised. Swimming has helped her so much. Last I heard she was swimming on a year round team. Jessica taught me that even though the work may be hard and we don't want to do it, the benefits are sometimes so great that that work may not be so bad after all.

Caleb had a stroke in-utero. He is another one that gives 110% all the time. We started out with basic skills and are now working on fine tuning some form. Caleb is funny. He always knows what he's doing wrong and how to fix it, but part of the problem is it takes so much effort for him to get both sides of his body to do the same thing that it's just difficult for him. His left leg and arm were affected and he walks close to "normal", but has several difficulties with his arm/hand. He tries so hard to do everything his friends do and goes hunting with his father. Caleb is another that has taught me to never let the little things get in the way. Obstacles can be overcome.

There are a few more children I would love to write about, but I need to save those for another post. These kids have each taught me a special lesson and I will never forget them. I can only hope they know how special they are to me. I not only have the opportunity to work with special needs children while I teach, but also through Special Olympics, where I serve on the county steering committee. Volunteering is probably the single most important thing that one can do to help out these children and adults; they really do appreciate it.

Now, back to Autism. http://www.autismspeaks.org/ has some astonishing facts on their site. A new case is diagnosed approximately every 2o minutes. It affects 1 in 150 children. The worst part is, the early intervention that is so desperately needed is usually not covered by insurance. I was blown away by these facts.

Hopefully one day (soon) we'll have solid treatment plans for this and many other developmental disorders. According to the Autism Speaks website, $30,000 has already been raised with the Five for Fighting charity site. I can only hope that this is the beginning; one of the things on tomorrow's to-do list is to forward this link to everyone I know.

Think Too Much

They say that the left side of the brain
Controls the right
They say that the right side
Has to work hard all night
Maybe I think too much for my own good
Some people say so
Other people say no no
The fact is
You don't think as much as you could
Hmmm

-Simon and Garfunkel, "Think Too Much"

I was listening to CNN yesterday on my drive to work and Robin commented about how Britney Spears was back in the hospital on a psych hold. This segment was promptly followed by a clip of "Oops, I did it Again". I have to admit, it made me laugh. Don't get me wrong, it's a very sad situation, but that clip was just too ironic.

Britney's freefall from fame prompted a rather lengthy discussion on a message board I frequent. For some reason, I can't wrap my brain around this. Why are celebrity lives so intriguing to so much of the American population? I just don't understand it. If I'm going to listen to the news, I would want to be listening to something that was worthwhile. One of my friends posted a link to a summary of findings regarding news interests. I shouldn't be surprised by the following fact:

As is often the case with tabloid stories, younger women made up the core audience for this story. One-in-five women under age 50 listed Ledger's death as the story they followed most closely last week. This compares with only 11% of both men under 50 and women over 50 and just 2% of men 50 and older.

Kohut, et. al. "Campaign and Economy Dominate News Interest; Interest in Iraq at All-Time Low". The Pew Research Center. 30 January 2008 http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=390

::steps up on soapbox::


20% of the young female population chose to follow Heath Ledger's death instead of the upcoming presidential election, the war in Iraq, the stock market's tumble, or the economic stimulus plan. Unbelievable. Yes, he died a sudden death and death is sad, but I can't wrap my brain around the obsession over celebrity lifestyles. That's a scary, scary statistic right there. They're people too; I'd have to imagine they enjoy privacy as much as we do. Aren't there more important things in life than focusing so much energy watching someone's every move?

::steps off soapbox::

I wonder how things will change for this week... I put my money that that same group (women under age 50) will be following the Britney train wreck the most this week. Granted, I don't always listen to the news, but I can guarantee you that as soon as CNN kept bringing up Britney yesterday as one of their top stories, my finger found the buttons to change the channel in lightning speed. As long as people listen, the media will continue to feed us the latest gossip.

Stealing the words from the cervical cancer vaccine commercial... "I want to be one less": One less person who feeds the media's desire to keep covering the celebrity train recks, one less person who thinks a celebrity's break up is newsworthy, one less person who puts Hollywood in front of real news. I like to think I already am one less. Are you?

The real question is... Does our generation (or even America in general) think too much or not enough? Sometimes I think we think too much and overanalyze, but a majority of the time we fall into a "habit" of not thinking as much as we should. If people would start thinking about what they're spending their time in (celebrity gossip vs. real news), where would we be? Instead of reading the latest on TMZ or Perez, would a few more people have realized that they were getting into a bad mortgage because they spent some time researching what they were getting into? Would a few more people be more financially responsible? Would a few more people be able to make an educated decision on who they should vote for?

I'm not trying to say that everyone goes and reads these sites or picks up their US Weekly at the checkout each week, but that statistic above is quite scary. Are celebrity lives really that intriguing? It's a vicious circle. Gossip sells. Increased media attention + upcoming movie/song/show = Better sales. Britney's going off the deep end and people wonder why. I can't imagine the stress of having your every move scrutinized.

I'm the first to admit that I don't know as much as I should about a lot of things, especially politics. I'll also admit that I have my own mindless places/things that I waste my time on. I don't know of a single person who has a perfect balance between thinking too much and thinking too little. Sometimes you need a couple mindless minutes, hours, or even a full day. I guess it's something to strive for. One thing at a time. Habits can change with a conscious effort to change them. Maybe enough people's habits will change and lead to Hollywood taking a back seat to real news on every channel, not just a select few.

A funny thing happened...

A funny thing happened tonight while I was cleaning out a few boxes in the basement. C says we have so much crap for just two people. He's absolutely right. I have thse pack rat tendencies, I have to admit that.

I picked 4 boxes to go through tonight. I thought they were mostly magazines, but imagine my surprise when I came across some old sketchbooks. I thought I had organized these all in a box and gotten them all together, but boy was I wrong. I found 8 different sketchbooks, mainly from my first years of school. I'm not afraid to admit that my sketching skills are absolutely horrendous. I sometimes wonder how I even got into architecture school with those skills.

A little over a year ago I took the last of my models, photographed them just in case I ever needed them for a portfolio and then destroyed them. I'm not talking about just throw them in the trash can destroy, I'm talking about an all-out slamming them into the ground and trash can destruction. It was a fantastic feeling; all that pent up anger toward architecture school was let go. It was hard to see the hours of tedious, hard work go to the dump, but the sense of relief after I did it took me by surprise.

I had no second thoughts tonight throwing those little black books away. It brought back a rush of memories. I'm almost ashamed to admit that most of them were not good. That's for another day, another post, I guess. I neatly set them aside after glancing through them and then tossed them in the trash. They're out by the street right now just waiting for the trash man to roll through the neighborhood.

The other thing that caught me by surprise tonight were all of the writings I did in college. Most of the things I read through tonight I don't even remember writing. I expected to see the architecture essays, some of which I was quite proud of, but others I didn't expect to see... those English 1103 writings. Heh. I hated that class. Despised it. I started to giggle a little when I saw my reflection essay in my "portfolio" of the class. I had some guts writing that thing. I was so candid in that essay that I felt a little sense of accomplishment re-reading it. Weird, huh? I felt a sense of accomplishment in what I had written. I told the professor that I felt my level of writing had gone down since high school and that there was an unfair stereotype from the first week toward the architecture students when she said that she didn't care as much about us since we weren't going to spend as much time on her class anyways.

I remembered my love to write tonight. I remembered how freeing it can be. I read in there that I thought I was half way decent at writing. I'd like to think that again... but that would involve writing more. I mean, I still write here and there, but it's always for a purpose. I wrote a 3 page letter to the executive director at the Y a few weeks ago and was complimented on it. I wrote a short essay for Special Olympics last week for the Independent Tribune. I never write just to write.

A funny thing happened tonight. I was inspired to write.

Who are you?

Well, who am I?

I am...
-a wife
-a teacher
-a daughter
-a friend
-a sister

So who are you?

I guess that list will grow as I think a bit more. It's funny, I never thought I'd be married at 25, heck, this year will be our 2 year anniversary. I never imagined I'd own a house, have a puppy, the list goes on. It's amazing what life throws you. It really is.

At my high school graduation, you could've asked me where I thought I'd be in 5 years. Flash back to 2001 and I would've said that I would've never had a serious boyfriend, I would be living in some trendy Uptown Charlotte apartment with some fabulous architecture internship. Flash back to 2006 and life was drastically different from what I could've ever imagined. 2006 was a very busy year; April we bought our house, May I (finally) graduated architecture school and started working for the homebuilder full time, then in July we got married. I did everything I said I wasn't going to do, and nothing I said I was going to do.

It's amazing what life throws you. It really is.

Flash forward to today. I'm sitting on my couch while Clay is at work, Jackson, our 1 year old black lab is happily nestled all snug in his bed. Life must be hard as a dog. Eat, poop, play, sleep, repeat. Oh, and you can't forget look adorable in there. I'm sure it's rough work looking adorable.

John Lennon got it right when he sang, "Life is what happens to you while you're making other plans" in "Beautiful Boy". "Life" was spinning around me while I was making all those plans in high school. "Life" is what forms who we are today.