bah.

Blogger just ate my post, which it honestly has never done before. I guess I'm not supposed to be whining about how unchristmas-y I felt.

You know how I do feel though? Grateful that we spend time with so many of our family members this year. Grateful that I saw all of my sisters. Grateful that we are all healthy and blessed. Grateful that our lives are full of plenty. Grateful that I have many wonderful and beautiful friends that bloom even when struggling through their own challenges. Grateful for new friends. Grateful for parents that are still together. Grateful that my old friends have new friends to share their lives with because we don't all live down the street anymore. Grateful that I have the opportunity everyday to touch someones life.

So what that the extra trappings weren't right or the paper wasn't as sparkly as it usually is. What matters are the lives you touch, the hands you hold, the love you share and your relationship with God.

Here's to the end of a year of uniqueness and the start of a new opportunity to grow and become a better person.

Welcome to the second act of my life, it promises to be, if nothing else, interesting.

I can't sew.

Not very well anyway. Which explains this:




Mom bought the sock kit about 4 years ago. The socks got separated from one another and they were finally both found this last summer. That and sock monkeys used to freak her out so I had never put the monkey together.

We spent most of the afternoon this 4th of July at Marc's parents giving me the free time to sew and thus, Sock monkey was born!

He looks drugged. One ear is bigger than the other. And while his eyes are the same type of button, we could only find a big button and a small button. But she loves him anyway even though he is lumpy, big earred and looks kind of odd. So, there is one attempt of my sewing. Curtains and sock monkeys, can do.

Work music

After almost 2 months, I have finally found my perfect work music mix. If you look at my pandora stations, I have an odd mix of things. Aerosmith, Pussycat dolls, a station I borrowed from Lesley, Timbuk 3, Justin Lake/Timbaland, Trace Adkins, Gold Digger. These were okay, but still too distracting, even my classical station. NPR is okay for work, but sometimes I get too interested in what they are talking about and lose focus on what I'm working on. This week I picked up the new Kanye West CD, which is very different from his previous albums. I really like it though and it's been in my CD player since Saturday. I've listened to it all day. I built a new pandora station off of this and this station is my perfect work music. I don't know why I should be surprised that I work well to Tupac, 50 Cent, Jay-Z, Pharrell, Nelly and Kanye West. When I used to paint or print photos in college my favorite work music was Megadeath, Pantera, Flotsam & Jetsom. I work better with a strong beat, my taste has just changed to stronger bass and less screaming. "Walk" by Pantera still makes me think of turpentine.