Counting My Blessings #3

1. Dad taught me how to install light fixtures all by myself without electrocuting myself nor burning down the house!
2. Our vacation to the Eight Gables Inn in Gatlinburg is booked, so now I have something to look forward to next month (besides my last day of work).
3. Wednesday morning, there were occasional snow flurries on the way to work.  It was such a peaceful feeling, like I was inside of a snow globe as I drove.
4. Last night, Dave and I had an impromptu dessert date to spend a little time together since his work hours are getting more insane closer to the end of their project.  We shared fried cheesecake at Buffalo's Cafe... nom nom nom!
5. In light of the current "Sede Vacante" in Rome, this AWESOME video taught me a few new things and made me giggle more than once:

Counting My Blessings #2

This week has been a little crazy, but it's helped to be counting my blessings throughout the week to try to narrow down what will make the cut for the blog!

1. Dave didn't have to work last weekend (yipee!) because we had a family birthday party to attend for two of our nieces.  It was great to see everyone on his side of the family and to watch the girls having fun with their cousins.
2. Sunday was a monthly lunch date of a few friends from a now defunct book group (apparently we're a foodie group now).  There's nothing quite like stuffing yourself full of garlic knots and then laughing till your stomach hurts.
3. My hair appointment this week was long overdue.  It feels so good to have the cute Diane Lane haircut again!
4. Last night I attended the Thursday night cross stitch group for the first time in a few weeks.  My rear end was numb after a couple hours in those not-so-comfortable IHOP chairs, but it was nice to work on my project again.
5. My best friend's little girl turns 3 years old today!  It's hard living on the opposite side of the country, but through Facebook and text pictures, I'm still able to watch her grow up.  Happy birthday, Faith!

Aimee tries to make herself comfortable before
our lunch at Provino's.

Counting My Blessings #1

After an emotional rollercoaster of a week, I thought it might be nice to try a new weekly post for me to "count my blessings" instead of getting fixated on all of the unknowns that have been stressing me out lately.  It's a way for me to reflect on the positive things that made me smile this week.

1. Tea time with my favorite youngest sister last weekend and the smell of the new tea flavor I picked up while we were there: Mango Paradise 
2. I'm slowly swapping out all of our brass fixtures in preparation for putting the house on the market, and I managed to purchase all of the replacement light fixtures for inside our house for under $100--yay!
3. Adding a few books to my "to read" pile because of a discussion at Book Club: Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne (no, I've never read this classic), Around the World in Eighty Days by Michael Palin (someone who actually traveled the route of the novel), and Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World by Matthew Goodman (a fictional account of two female journalists racing to complete the book's journey)
4. Dave finally got his vacation approved!  Now I can actually make reservations at the Eight Gables Inn... if they get some spring specials posted soon ;-)
5. This text picture of my niece puppy, Layla.  I guess she was cold and tired, and I can totally relate!

Mommy, it's past my bedtime...

Special Valentines

When you're home sick (with a mutant sinus infection) a few days before Valentine's Day, what do you do? Well, if you're me, you look for a small project that doesn't require lots of energy.  Inspired by a craft I found through Pinterest, I made my own "Hearts Stitched Together" cards.  Since the template link from the source blog was broken, I made my own in Excel, printed it, then used push pins on a cork board to make the holes I needed on the blank card.  When I was finished stitching, I had three beautiful cards to send out, made at no cost to me (except postage) since I had everything I needed in my stash already!

The first card I made (top right) was stitched with a dark maroon thread and mailed to my west coast best friend with the inside message: Friend are God's way of giving us hugs on special days.  Consider yourself hugged this Valentine's Day!  As of right now, it's still en route to California (so Heather, you better not be reading my blog till after it arrives!)

I made the card in portrait for my second try and ended up adding a third heart because it looked so blank at the bottom.  The first thread is a deep red for the top two hearts and a medium purple for the third one.  I sent this to my grandmother with the message: You're sew special to me!  Happy Valentine's Day, Grandma!  Mom told me that Grandma was very tickled by her homemade card (despite the really bad pun).

The third and final card (bottom right) has one burnt orange heart and one navy blue heart with the saying inside: Happy Valentine's Day to my favorite Bears fan!  Of course, this was stitched especially for my dear husband, and it was very appropriate since we had Valentine's dinner at Bobby G's Chicago Eatery.  Please don't think less of my husband for not taking me out for a fancy dinner--this is the third year we've had Bobby's at my request because I love their Italian beef sandwiches.  The past two years, Dave brought it home, and I pulled out our china for the special occasion!

Benefits of Tea

The Pride and Prejudice Bicentenary Challenge 2013

Thank you, Robin, for pointing out another Austen challenge to me.  Fortunately, it fits right in with my 2013 reading goal to clear of my shelf of (mostly Austen) sequels.  I've chosen the Disciple Level of 5-8 reading selections since that's all I have on my self that is related to P&P, plus the two movies I own.  I'm not going to do the commenting back to the original post to win prizes (because my prize is getting a shelf back for all of my other books), but you're more than welcome to join up at The Pride and Prejudice Bicentenary Challenge!  Here are my selections:

• Pride & Prejudice on DVD (2005 Kiera Knightly version)
• Pride & Prejudice on Blu-ray (1995 Colin Firth version--such an awesome Christmas present from my sister!)
• The Pemberley Chronicles: A Companion Volume to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice: Book 1 by Rebecca Ann Collins
• Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife: Pride and Prejudice Continues by Linda Berdoll
• Loving Mr. Darcy: Journeys Beyond Pemberley by Sharon Lathan
• Mr. & Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy: Two Shall Become One by Sharon Lathan
• Old Friends and New Fancies: An Imaginary Sequel to the Novels of Jane Austen by Sybil Brinton

Reading Resolution 2013

My reading resolution for 2012 wasn't quite the smashing success I hoped it would be. At the end of the year, there are still five of the original titles unfinished on my shelf, but at least any books I borrowed during the year were read and returned!  I'm also five short of my yearly goal on Goodreads to finish 50 books... coincidence?

This year I'll again set my Goodreads goal to 50 books, but I'll try a different resolution.  My goal is to clear out half of my shelf of prequels and sequels--mostly Austen spin-offs.  There are 27 books on the shelf, so I would be thrilled to get it down to a dozen by the end of the year!