Tiny Guest

This was our little visitor this week. So.tiny.small. His name is Chase, and he's a teacup poodle with an out of town owner. He's a cutie, but I mean....so tiny small? He did a lot of sitting and shaking at our house, because I think he's basically scared of, well, life. Poor thing.

Maybe that's because he and Kitty met for a brief second and it was no bueno, at all. Kitty turned into a fierce hissing monster, and Chase ran circles around me so fast that I just feared for his tiny heart. But, I grabbed Chase, Michael herded Kitty out the door, and all is well. 

But due to our Spring Break Snowstorm, we felt bad leaving Kitty out all day...so we put them in different rooms and prayed we'd come home to two animals alive and well.

We did. Hallelujah. I mean, if sitting and shaking is well? 

Poor little guy. I didn't know we were so scary...? He's coming to visit again soon, so maybe with less cats and more time alone he won't be as bothered. Come visit us. Maybe you're less scary than we are.

And I find it funny that in an apartment that is technically not allowed to have animals, we are slowly developing a children's petting zoo. It goes well with our bedroom greenhouse.

Happy...Spring?

I've been known to say that Easter Candy alone almost qualifies March & April as the real "Most Wonderful Time of the Year." I'm confident Andy Williams would feel the same if he ate two whole bags of Reeses Eggs before the last week of March like me ... this friend I have.

New sunshine, blue skies, fresh flowers - it all just adds to the glory of Easter candy and sometimes it almost almost trumps December.

This is Indianapolis right now. And it's still coming down...

Do you think December heard me?

Maybe it serves me right. Oh well. Reeses Eggs taste JUST as good inside.

Change Up In Here

Confession time: After a life of faithful hair trims every 6 weeks, the last time I cut my hair was in MARCH. Pre-wedding. Pre-Indiana. Pre-letting myself go. Just kidding. (No "letting ourselves go" around here - we actually both weigh the same after almost a year of marriage. I feel good about that, except for the Michael part. I think that maybe makes me look bad. See last post: proof I feed my husband.)

So last week, I finally decided it was time. As in, 8 months overdue. Before I went, I had my hair dresser/dance coach in Utah talk me into a change...

And with just a couple snips (right in front of my eyes, mind you. It was a little dramatic for a second), my forehead is gone. Bangs are back in my life, people. It has been a while. As you can see, they were a big part of me back in the day.

So now I kind of feel like I'm channeling my 7-year-old self. Hopefully just the good parts. Does cutting your hair make you nervous? I used to be a pro at it, you could talk me into anything when I was growing up. But ever since I grew it out, it seems like hair cuts just get scarier. Thanks for giving me the final push, Summer!

So, any suggestions for my haircut next February?

Kidding.

A Reminiscing Day

My friend from my semester in Jerusalem is coming home from his mission tonight!

France will miss him. 

A lot of people from my Jeru group are going to meet him at the airport,

and ooooh how I wish we could be there.

Just thinking of that Jerusalem summer sends me through a whirl of emotions, always.

First I'm just so, so happy and grateful. Then usually some specific memory makes me laugh.

But then, my heart really does just long for that time. Just one more day of it.

Don't worry, I know how important it is to live in the present and love today.

I try to not even crave Fridays, thanks to sweet Sister Samuelson.

But I will always ache for Jerusalem,

and I will always miss that summer.

Here's to a little nostalgia.

(Michael is my favorite souvenir.)

In Which I Confess My Grammar Addiction.

Confession: This girl is one of my best friends. 

Another one of my best friends that doesn't even know we're friends, admittedly.

I have this weird love for Grammar Girl and all her self-described "quick and dirty" tips.

Do you ever just stop and wonder things like...

"Wait, is it further or farther?"

"Is dinner totally burned or burnt?"

Maybe you "could care less" about a blog post on grammar,

but that kinda means you're enjoying this.

Maybe you don't have grammar questions pop into your head when you burn dinner.

And maybe you don't edit everything you read in your mind.
It's cool. Some days I envy you.

But if you DO share in my grammatical distractions,
then you can read the answers to those little wonders below.

And you can Google your way to Grammar Girl's answers for your future questions, 

and love all of her ways to remember things.

----------

Further vs. Farther: Farther is physical distance, while further is metaphorical. Think "far" means actually far away. I won't go into it further, but there's a little more to it.

Burned vs. Burnt: Sometimes both words win in a vs. battle. This one kind of just depends on where you live -- burned is more common in the U.S., but things tend to be more "burnt" in London town. 

Could vs. Couldn't Care Less: Sometimes you hear people say they could care less about [insert something they're trying to convey complete apathy about here]. But if they COULD care less, there's still a little bit of care left there, right? It's just a saying that has become increasingly incorrect over time...but I guess most people couldn't care less about it.

Well. Thanks for sharing this nerd moment with me.

And here are her top ten grammar myths and A Word Lover's Highlight of 2012
and her top five tips from someone who loves her as much as I do and....k, I'm done.

Thoughts: on those moments of inadequacy

I remember the spelling bee in 5th grade. It was so nerve-wracking.

The students all stood up round after round, giving me a nerdy adrenaline rush every time it was my turn. Suddenly only three of us were left, and I walked up to the microphone that was just as tall as me.

And then I misspelled "inadequate."

Quite the ironic blow, right? But I have to smile a little every time I remember that moment -- and I'm surprised by how often that is.

It comes up often in my mind because the topic does first. Inadequacy. Do you know how often girls talk about that, directly or not? It's heavy on our minds, and hearts too, because girls are like that. We all know it. We want to do our best, always, at everything. And when we just aren't understanding why that's not happening all the time, our feelings of inadequacy spill into our words.

"I didn't get enough done today."
"This doesn't taste very good. At all, actually."
"This entertainment center shouldn't have taken 34 man hours to finish."
"I feel inadequate."

That last one comes out on those terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad days, or when we give up trying to have our minds read by the other gender.

But you know what? I've realized that the times I feel inadequate are when I'm challenging myself. I feel inadequate when a project takes longer or costs more than I planned -- but that means it's a project I've never done before. I feel inadequate when dinner is ... meh... and the leftovers aren't even that, but that usually means I tried something new. I feel inadequate when I have to practice someone's piano accompaniment over and over and over. and over. But that means it's a song that's pushing me.

So I guess I let those moments of inadequacy hide what I'm becoming. They find a way to steal perspective, then I forget that I'm doing what I should be doing. I'm trying to better myself, to ditch comfort zones, to learn. Little failures are not a reflection of who we are. Big failures are not a reflection of who we are. They're just a time to be patient with yourself.

I think even the most patient person has some trouble with that one.

But be patient, because "He will turn your supposed inadequacies into recognized strengths."

Supposed inadequacies. That's all they really are.

DIY Trouble

We played a game last Sunday with some friends called "Loaded Questions."

Ever heard of it?

Someone reads a question, everyone writes down an answer,

then that someone has to guess who said what.

There was a lot of laughing involved.

One question was, 

"What always takes more time than you thought it would,

and still never turns out as good as you thought it would?"

We agreed to ignore the many inappropriate answer choices.

Then, it took me all but two seconds to write down:

"Pinterest projects."

When they read through all the answers, I immediately knew Michael's:

"My spouse's Pinterest projects."

Poor guy. And I think he even wrote his answer faster than I wrote mine.

I can't blame him. Our latest project beat.us.down.

We learned a lot of lessons, all of them the hard way.

The upside: When SO many things go wrong,

the situation becomes funny now instead of later.

Up above is our entertainment center we inherited from some 4th year dental students,

who moved out right when we moved in (so nice of them!).

I decided it was meant to be red. Simple, achievable goal, yes?

False.

You guys. 

Pinterest and blogs...they deceived us. 

They make things sound so simple. We make things so complicated. 

So, pride swallowed, here are all our lessons learned:

(and all you painters and professional Pinteresters out there are not allowed to judge.)

• Don't listen to Ace Hardware Man who tells you spray paint is the best way to go for a large piece of furniture.
• Don't buy spray paint that only appears to be maroon, but is, in reality, stop sign red.
• Don't spray paint in the dark, no matter how excited you are.
• Don't spray paint when it's windy, no matter how excited you are.
• Don't spray paint the inside of a large piece of furniture if you're not prepared to get high.
• When you prop the detached doors up to protect the inside from getting painted, don't pick up the entertainment center to move it. Doors will fall, potentially breaking the glass (we are lucky).
• Don't make the previously listed mistake four (4) times, because that's a big blow to your confidence levels. (We are seriously lucky.)
• Don't pull the little white thing out of the nozzle. It's not a stopper. It's what keeps your spray paint from working like a small hose. 
• Don't let your small-hose spray paint drip. It looks bad even after multiple, multiple layers.
• Don't feel bad when you have to sand away all the drips from your hose-like sprayer.
• Don't be afraid to buy all new colors of spray paint after you admit that stop sign red will never grow on you in your living room.
• Do spray thin layers. Let it dry. Spray again. That's not just a suggestion, even if you think the bottle makes it sound like one.

There were so many other lessons learned...

I hope some of those help any of you out there. 

Or I hope I at least come back and read this post once I've forgotten all the pain that was this project and I'm innocently gearing up for another painting attempt.

But when all is said and (mistakes are) done, our final project isn't too shabby!

Just don't look at it too closely when you come over.

My new DIY definition is 

Don't Initiate Yet.

We got way too excited...

next time: more research, more time prepping,

and more...common sense. :)

But yes, it was definitely meant to be red. I love it!

If you're ever getting depressed from the blogs and pinteresters who remodel every room in their house on a Monday,

in seven simple steps,

just because they finished cooking gourmet meals for the whole week and they're bored...

You can come read about our happy failures.

We're cool with it.

Up and moved.

Coming to you live from Indiana. Woohoo!

After a road trip to Vegas 

(my parents are the best. They have been the victims of just so many road trips to the Vegas airport. I love them!)....

some quick bag rearranging 

(50-pound rule always gets me)...

A 3.5 hour flight in which I started that Harry Potter series again

(I bring in constants to get me through change, don't judge)...

I landed HERE. Indianapolis, Indiana. Home of the...dental school.

It's great! Hot, yes. But spread out and roomy and I feel like we live in the country.

That may be because I'm driving around a pickup for the first time in my life,

and I feel like only country music can be played in it.

Or Radio Disney.

Michael braved the floor for a couple weeks until our mattress came in the mail.

(Yeah, we ordered a mattress online. That's probably weird? But whatevs.)

Add that to the hand-me-down kitchen table from kind moving neighbors,

and we have furniture to our name!

We're thinking of adding couches to the picture once Craigslist cooperates.

Michael is busy at school every day, and I'm...trying to be busy every day too.

We've already done some curtain-hanging and laundry-shelf building, 

so we're feeling good about that.

And I've now officially entered full job-search mode,

with about 40+ applications out there and sparks of hope every time I see an email come in.

And usually it's from Groupon. Dang it.

And do you want to know a true confession? Like, a hurts-my-pride-to-admit-it confession?

I ran out of gas for the first time in my life.

And this comes at a time when I probably have nothing else to do in life BUT watch the gas gauge. 

Dang it again. That's what being un-busy does to you, people. 

When you go from a crazy hectic, full schedule that you love...

to a new place where you don't really HAVE a place yet,

it messes with your mind.

And you run out of gas.

But it's ok. I know that things will come together soon, 

and I'll feel just as settled here as anywhere else I've loved.

When I filed for my change of address, the Post Office sent me this happy little note.

Then I remembered that everything is great.