Christmas Spirit Day List

Friends!

Hello!

I know it's been awhile, and I apologize it's just that...life got busy, you know?  It happens to the best of us.  Life is still busy.  I should definitely be writing a paper or cleaning my house right now, but, well...(to be honest)...I've missed you! So I thought I would pop in with a little Christmas Spirit Day check-in.  As always, bullet points are the way to go when there are lots of things.

• First (and most importantly) HAPPY CHRISTMAS SPIRIT DAY!  I know that some of you may still be in the dark about what this is, and I had intended to explain it to you by now, but...(see excuses above).  I hope today is filled with Christmas music, warm drinks, joy, and maybe a little bit of snow.

Happy Thursday!

As you may (or may not) know, today is Christmas Spirit Day!   If you don't know what that is, that's ok... I'll explain another day.  In the mean time, please humbly accept my tidings of comfort and joy.

Bullet points seem to be the only way to get a lot of unrelated thoughts out of my brain, so here we go!

• I'm so glad we're done working on the basement for awhile, so I don't have to write about it for awhile.  Back to sharing whatever strikes my fancy!
• Tomorrow is Friday.  This should be exciting, but I go straight from class to work until 10:15, so that's kind of a bummer...
• I saw this article on the Facebook and I really really liked it.  If you want to know what it's like to be The Sort of Pretty Girl, Ophelia explains it really well.
• Ever since I read this post by Joy the Baker, I have been craving a really big pastry. Really Steph?  Out of that whole post, the huge pastry is what sticks with you? Well... yeah.  Also, I want to bake these someday soon.
• You've heard of Apparently Kid, right? Kid Snippets did a tribute, and it's fantastic.  Whenever you need to laugh and lighten up, Kid Snippets are the way to go.

•  I was reading in my sociology book about a concept called status inconsistency (or discrepancy).  This is where people have a mismatch among their statuses, like a 14 year old college student.  I read this and I thought to myself, "this is my life."  I'm not really a "normal" college student, but college is my life.  I'm kind of an adult but not really. It's hard to figure out where to fit it.  Then my friends, Tina and Kari, shared this with me and it was such an encouragement.  Thanks, ladies!  I'm realizing that by not fitting in, I can connect better with others who don't fit in. 

• Another term from sociology is resocialization, which means learning new norms, behaviors, etc. to adapt to a new situation in life.  I have done this several times this year: adapting to unemployment, adapting to life on the other side of the pond, adapting to being back home, going to school, and a new job.  For a girl who's not crazy about change, it's been rough.  But I think I've turned a corner and I'm finally starting to feel settled.
• I had a great time celebrating this girl's birthday with her and other friends.  Love you, Mindy!

• Dancing With the Stars, Season 19 is in full swing! I'm loving it, and having a hard time picking a favorite.  I would list
  about 8 couples as my favorites, so we'll need to wait a few week and see how things develop before I weigh in.
• I've been missing England a lot lately.  I'm not sure why, but I think of it often and at random times.  Maybe we'll be revisiting London on the blog here soon.  Maybe not... I make no guarantees.

• The dogburts are as crazy and sassy as ever.  I think they're starting to get settled into a routine a little more, for which I am grateful.

Warning: this dog may contain gluten

• 
  Tim was in Alaska earlier this week.  The people he was working with said Alaska has about 2 weeks of fall, and he was there right in the middle of it.  His pictures are fantastic!

I think that's all for now. What have you been up to?

Real Life with the Taylors: Mud and The Crud

We're keeping tonight's episode of Real Life with the Taylors short and sweet, because we're working hard to get ready for a marriage conference at church this weekend.  Also, I've got The Crud and I'm not feeling terribly inspired.

First up, this is our side entryway.  This picture does not do justice to the mud and dirt that is constantly (CONSTANTLY) on the steps, landing, and mat. A week ago I had this swept and mopped and looking good.  I don't know why I even bother.  The stairs that go off to the left down to the basement have multiple spider webs that I can't seem to bother with vacuuming.

Trying New Things: Days 17-20

Wednesday, October 17th

This new thing was inspired by Beth & Mindy.  I was sitting in a meeting with Beth on Monday, noticing the color of her (always impeccable) nails.  As is typical for this time of year, they were Raiders' colors.  (Don't ask me why she roots for the Raiders...I have no idea.  But she is a super-fan).  So, like I said... Raiders' colors.  With an "s."  8 of her 10 fingers were painted black (not a dark, goth-type black, but more of a slightly-sparkly charcoal-ish black.  It looked good... trust me) and the other two fingers (her ring fingers) were silver.  Interesting.

Good Morning, Sunshine!!

Since Tuesdays are my Mondays, you can imagine how happy I was to get up for work this morning.

However, my day was made a million times better by checking my email while eating breakfast and finding this gem to greet me in the morning.

Happy Christmas Spirit Day!

What?  Christmas Spirit Day?  On a Tuesday? Are you kidding me, Steph?

Nope.  For reals.  For 10 years Christmas Spirit Days have been on Thursdays, and now we're changing it up.