Happy New Year

The boys ringing in the new year

New Years Eve at Chicago's Navy Pier

I suppose it is appropriate to say one of my new years resolutions is to blog more ofter than 6 times a year...we'll see how that works out.

Meet Mogli

Mogli is our new puppy. He's Cute.

New Plates

I'm so delighted to finally have my long promised set of plates. My husband Garret forbade me to register for dishware because he promised to make me some dishes. I patiently waited and ate out of a lot of bowls, and now have my wonderful set of Garret original plates.

7 things

7 Things to do before I die...

1. become a massage therapist
2. visit erica salluco in Bolivia
3. be fluent in spanish
4. raise a child
5. publish a book
6. make a gourmet thanksgiving dinner
7. stop biting my fingernails

7 Things I can't do...

1. stop biting my fingernails
2. downhill ski
3. read fast
4. say no to ice cream...dark chocolate...or peeps
5. tell a lie
6. pat my head and rub my belly at the same time
7. play a musical instrument...I've tried a few

7 things I say most often...

1. definately
2. not so much
3. I love you Garret
4. God have mercy
5. how are you feeling today?
6. on a scale of 1-10 10 being the worst pain you've every felt...how would you rate your pain?
7. I don't know...let me find out

7 films I can watch over and over...

1. Young Frankenstein
2. Some like it Hot
3. Hitchiker's guide to the galaxy
4. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
5. Sixteen Candles
6. Robin Hood - Disney Style
7. Waiting for Guffman


7 Books I love...

1. The Genius and the Goddess (aldous huxley)
2. Anatomy and Physiology textbook
3. Still Life with Woodpecker (Tom Robbins)
4. Anything C.S. Lewis
5. Me talk pretty one day (david sedaris)
6. Me - the katherine hepburn autobiography
7. Psalms

7 people I would like to meet someday

1. Jesus
2. The person who invented the standard pillow
3. The person who invented fleece
4. Fiona Apple
5. someone really rich who will pay me to build my dream building
6. someone who would take me for a ride in a hot air balloon
7. someone who knows the secret to cure cancer

7 favorite things to feel

1. warm grass under my feet
2. milkshakes in my mouth
3. warm rain on my face
4. snowflakes on my tongue
5. Garret's arms wrapped around me
6. my stomach hurting from laughing so hard
7. warm sand under my feet


These list's were made possible by the blog of Jordan

guacamole

so I made some guacamole last night. It was extremely tasty. The problem is I chopped up some serrano peppers and ever since, every time I bite my fingernails it makes my lips burn. Now I'm sure you are thinking I must be dirty and not wash my hands, but I promise as a professional nurse I believe in the power of handwashing. It's hard to spend 14 hours washing your hands every five minutes and then think to not wash your hands at all. I also happened to have been raised well and know that you should wash your hands after going to the bathroom. Believe it or not I have actually peed a couple of times since yesterday. For those of you who know me this may come as a shock. My bladder has even expanded in size since starting my nursing job. I'm pretty sure it is the size of a watermelon. This spicy taste on my fingers reminds me of when I was a kid and my parents tried the nasty tasting fingernail polish to try to stop my sisters and I from biting our fingernails. Needless to say I am 23 years old and continue to bite my fingernails. Some habits are terribly hard to break. But I guess out of all the habits to break nose-picking was probably the better choice.

flowers are pretty

The Steelers

Way to go Pittsburgh Steelers!!!!! They were kind enough to win the Super Bowl for me so I could tell all my friends and family back home how amazing my life is since I live in this city. Today we went to the rally downtown and saw all the players. I'm hoping Hines Ward will stop back in at Pamela's in Shadyside so we can have some more hotcakes together!

Today I'm in a bad mood. The best advice I've ever heard was from my father-in-law who said the best way to counter anything negative is to be thankful. So I'm fighting for thankfulness right now. I have just about everything to be thankful for, but yet I still have to fight for joy and happiness. Such is life I suppose. I don't know why it always surprises me to face these challenges. They are not new challenges, and I'm pretty sure I will face them again. My mind tells me to worry about myself, feel sorry for myself, feel angry about my life. But the truth is I have been afforded so many things, know so many great people, and am loved. I've even been enlightened to know and understand I am loved by God. That's not an easy thing to wrap our minds around, and maybe that's why I struggle now, because I forget the implications of God loving me and of others loving me.