End of the month

November is National Blogging Month, and my blog-a-day challenge has come to a close. I didn't make it every day, but I did manage 27 out of 30 possible days. Not bad.

Here's a quick run-down of my really fantastic and relaxing Thanksgiving week:

• Thanksgiving with my family was really nice. My mom is a fantastic cook and made us a feast, and sister Lindsay is a master pie baker... I wish I could eat pecan pie every day. 
  
• I ran 12 miles on Friday, in 126 minutes. It was a really good run, I didn't feel like throwing up a single time. That's a lot better than my last super-long run (Isn't it crazy that I judge success by my lack of vomiting? That's how I know this sport is nuts). Just 14 days until my half marathon.
• I put up several thousand Christmas lights on my house on Saturday. All by myself. I'm really proud, it looks great. I'm even more proud that I didn't need a guy to help. Except for the part where my dad came, but that was at the very end, so I don't count it.
• Tonight several of my friends helped neighbor Nick decorate his Christmas tree. I love having friends who live in my neighborhood, it's really special. I'm not sure why, but it makes me feel like a grown-up.
• Today I finished piecing together my latest quilt. I promise to post pictures soon. I'm really proud of how well it turned out.
• I didn't do a lick of homework the entire weekend. It was absolutely glorious.
  

Time to grab some sleep so I'm nice and fresh for my first day back in the real world tomorrow. Is it crazy that I'm excited to go back to work? I really do love what I do, and if I'm gone for a few days, I start to miss it. 

Shopping is hazardous to your health

Want to know why I like to get my Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving? So this doesn't happen...

Thankful

In honor of Thanksgiving, here is a list of things I'm thankful for:

• My savior, Jesus, who loves me when I don't deserve it, and who is more powerful that I will ever be able to understand.
  
• I have the most awesome family. Ever. You may think your family is cool, but I'm convinced that mine may be better. They're just really wonderful. And they make me laugh.
• I have a job that I love. It allows me to help people when they're sick and hurting. I get paid to work with local charities. I get to be creative and think outside the box every day. Every once in awhile I get to be on TV or in the paper. And I have fantastic bosses and coworkers. I'm so thankful for this, since it's where I spend most of my time.
• I got free tuition for grad school this semester. In fact, they even paid me a stipend. That's spending money that I wasn't expecting, not to mention that I saved about $6,000 in tuition this fall. That's huge.
• I have a really great church. They don't just talk a good game, the folks there are mission-minded, outward-focused, and passionate about people. They're not preachy, yet they've got such an obvious faith. I'm so proud to serve with them.
• I got to make some new friends this year. Some came from unexpected places. Funny how that works.
• I'm really healthy. So healthy that I get to run a half-marathon in two weeks. A lot of folks don't have the opportunity to do that.
• I have a home. One that I built, so it's exactly the way I want it. Even though I've only lived here two years, I already have a lot of good memories here.
• I get to travel a lot. This year I went to New York. Next year I'm going to Europe, and possibly Miami. I've gotten to see a lot of neat places since I got out of school.
• I'm debt free. That's a huge blessing.
• I have a really cool dog.
• I live in America, which means I have the freedom to do just about anything I want to do. I realize that freedom didn't come without a cost. I'm thankful for that.

And I'm thankful that I have a warm bed waiting for me. Goodnight!

There

I ran a quick two miles today at about 8:15 per mile. I really didn't want to, but I knew the guilt would be overwhelming if I skipped. Silly race...

However, I must brag that today I finished almost all of my Christmas shopping! I always try to finish most of it before Thanksgiving so that I can avoid all those crazy shopping fanatics who insist on a mob mentality approach to shopping. I got mine done in relative peace, and enjoyed finding the perfect gift for each person on my list. Now I can just sit back and relax for the next few weeks! (and run... and run... and run).

Christmas Newsletter

I have a new toy to go with my new MacBook... Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, & PhotoShop! Apparently one of the few perks of paying $35,000 for a masters degree is that you get crazy discounts on software! They were practically paying me to take it off their hands (seriously... I paid $200 for a $1200 package... I'm pumped).

Which can mean only one thing...

It's time to create my third-annual Christmas Newsletter! If you have never gotten a copy, this is a newsletter unlike any you have ever seen. If you want to be added to my mailing list, shoot me an email with your address.

Front page news

Today I had a story on the front page of the newspaper. Actually, it was on the front page of both Section A and Section B, complete with several pictures. That story represents hours of work behind the scenes, coordinating interviews for the reporter, prepping my folks being interviewed, finding background research... I even had to re-design our Web site so they could link to a certain video (which didn't exist until I did a quickie online tutorial on how to upload videos... now that's customer service!).  My name may not be on the story, but seeing it there in black and white (with color photos!) makes me a really happy girl. Plus, it makes my boss really happy, which is even better. I do these all the time, but this one I'm framing and hanging in my office... it was that good.

Other than that... I forgot to mention that I ran 5 miles yesterday with an average of 8:30 per mile. I've got to hit it hard again tomorrow, and then we'll run 12 on Friday. Three more weeks and I start my lazy girl workout!

What's for dinner?

My friends have created a neighborhood dinner club. We all happen to go to the same church and live in the same part of town, so logically this meant we just HAD to create a supper club! It only makes sense, it had to be done.

Tonight we met at Andrea & Sara's house, and Sara, the best cook in town, made us the most fantastic dinner! It was great... I got to hang out with old friends, and we invited some new folks to join us who just started visiting our church. It was a great picture of what good church outreach should look like... laid back, getting to know each other around the dinner table, and enjoying a good meal together. 

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.... Every day they continued to meet together... they broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

--Acts 2:42, 46-47

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves... Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

--Romans 12:10, 12-13

Happy birthday to me

Today is my birthday. The Big 2-8. 

It's also the one-year anniversary of this blog. Here's the original, written last year. 

And here's a throw-back to another birthday post on the old blog. 

I seem to get a bit sentimental on my birthday. But for some reason, not this year. I'm in a pretty good place, one of those transitional spots where I'm on my way somewhere, but not there yet. But as I travel to my next destination, I find myself happy, content, and thankful to be surrounded by some pretty neat people. And surprisingly enough, I don't feel the least bit introspective. Maybe I'm just too full with chocolate birthday cake to worry about much.

Tonight I had a birthday party... a retro roller-skating party with about 25 friends and family members. It was a real hoot--I promise to post pictures very soon. I felt like a kid again... possibly because I wore a glo-necklace, raced boys on rollerblades, and had my mom there taking pictures. Yep, I may be 28, but that doesn't mean I have to act like it.

Fa la la la la

It may be a week before Thanksgiving, but it's never too early to decorate for Christmas. I lit a fire in the fire place, cranked up the Christmas music, baked a home-made molten chocolate cake, and tackled those decorations. 

We found Harley the Wonder Schnoodle's Santa costume when we were unpacking decorations. He absolutely hates this outfit... I suspect because it's made from cheap polyester, which probably doesn't feel good on his skin. But when I put it on him, he cowers, sulks, pouts, and gives me mean, hateful looks until I take it off of him. I should probably be more sympathetic, but it's hilarious to watch, so we pulled out the camera to document his disgust. I don't know if you can tell from his body language, but my roommate was trying to get him to look at her while she took the photo, and he stubbornly refused. This is Harley's "I hate you both" look. Isn't it adorable?

Playing Hookie

I was scheduled to run with a friend tonight, and here's how the conversation went, via text message, about 30 minutes before our run was scheduled to start:

(Sara)--Brrrr! Are we still running?

(me)--Is it really cold? I haven't been outside. I feel sick today, we could skip and grab dinner instead.

(Sara)--lol. That was way too easy. My roommate is making chili, come join us!

(me)--Deal!

And that's how my 1-hour run turned into a 2 1/2 hour dinner with friends... which was so much better than running in the cold wind.

Speedy

Check this out... tonight I ran 4.06 miles in only 36:02 minutes... that's 8:52/mile. I know this because I bought one of those cool Nike thingy's that plug into your iPod and tell you how fast/how far you are running. It's a pretty neat invention!

Last Saturday I ran 10 miles in 1 hour and 56 minutes. For those keeping track, that's very, VERY slow (it would have been faster if I wasn't so close to throwing up for the last two miles... fun). I'm shooting for a 10-minute mile at my half-marathon, which means I have a lot of training to do in the next month! And then, after that, I will have a lot of sitting-on-my-couch-eating-ice-cream-and-not-exercising to do. Beginning December 15. Mark your calendar, maybe you can "train" with me.

Sushi Support Group

So a Muslim, a Jew and a Baptist go to a sushi restaurant...

Sounds like the beginning of a joke, doesn't it? Actually, that was my night--I went out to dinner with a few friends from grad school tonight after class, and we had a BLAST. It was so fun--one girl is a Muslim from Pakistan (but has lived in the US most of her life). Another girl is a Jewish Chilean who has just been in the US for a year. And then there was a girl from Keller... and then me. The blue-eyed blonde girl with freckles from Texas (sometimes don't you wish you were deliciously exotic? I do!).

I love getting to know people who are nothing like me, but everything like me. I love hearing their stories, breaking down stereotypes and learning what makes them tick. We talked about boys, school, religion, Middle Eastern conflicts, movies, our families, the election... all the stuff normal classmates talk about. And we did it all while eating $3 sushi at a little hole-in-the-wall close to campus.

Experiences like that form some of the good memories that I'll take away from my grad school experience. It dulls the pain of all of those hours of homework, the social activities I'm forced to sacrifice, and the evenings spent in a classroom with no windows. Because occasionally I get to make a new friend, somebody I would normally never get to know under any other circumstances.

In fact, we're already planning our next outing... a make-over party! One of the girls is a local television reporter who is a make-up pro... so she's providing the rest of us with a Sephora make-up tutorial. We may be grown-ups, but we're never too old to play dress-up. It's fun to be a girl, even if I'm not deliciously exotic!

Quilting Bee

I mentioned awhile back that I'm learning to quilt in my spare time. Well, here's number two. My quilting is much like my training for the half marathon... slow, painful, and sporadic. But I must admit that I really enjoy the challenge of learning something new. It's definitely a lot harder than it looks...

I apologize to my male blog readers who are yawning and super bored right now. But my quilting friends Tiff & Melanie will be quite proud.

Grant Teaff & Pecan Pie

I had yet another fundraising dinner for work tonight (this one for a very worthy Christian non-profit). If you're taking notes, that's my 5 millionth fundraiser this month. No kidding.

I must admit that I wasn't super excited about having to work until 10 p.m. on a Monday night (since Tuesday I have class until 9 p.m.--two late nights in a row), but I was pleasantly surprised because (1) Grant Teaff, the best football coach in Baylor's history, gave a fabulous speech, (2) I got to get my photo made with him (and my eyes were open!), and (3) they served some really fantastic pecan pie, which happens to be my favorite.

So my night turned out to be pretty darn good. Sic 'em, Bears!

Romance & Geese

This makes me laugh... in fact, everything found here makes me laugh.

License Renewal

I got my driver's license renewed today. It was a little bittersweet because I've been carrying the same license since I was 18... that's ten years! But alas, next week, on my 28th birthday, my beloved license will expire. And in a rare and unexpected twist of fate, I actually took care of it EARLY. This coming from the girl who was six months late renewing her car registration last year. Don't tell my dad... I finally took care of it after that nice police officer gave me a ticket.

So you can understand my anxiety when the lady at the DMV took my photo for the new license... and then began laughing. Uncontrollably.  Really? Is it that bad? 

After a lot of begging, she relented and agreed to retake the photo. Twice. This whole thing would be a lot better if we could just provide our own headshots. Everybody looks better with a few PhotoShop touch-ups.

Free Pass

I know I promised a blog a day for November. And I missed last night. But I had more important things to do, like organizing my laundry room and cleaning out drawers. What can I say, I lead an extremely glamorous life. 

And tonight I'm just not in the mood. So I will leave you with a short list of random things that I have discovered lately that I really like. Please do me a favor and let me know one of your recent fun discoveries in life. 

1. I really love naan. It's kind of like flat bread... I think it's Greek. Whatever it is, it's awesome with melted cheese, onions, peppers, and ham on top. You can buy it at Target.

2. I absolutely love gummy vitamins. They taste so good that I'm tempted to eat the whole bottle. But I'm not four, so I won't. 

3. I just bought cold water Tide laundry detergent. You can save $0.36 a load if you wash in cold water. And in a bad economy, every little bit helps! Only 1,000 loads until I can buy something nice!

4. My cafeteria just started selling jumbo hot dogs. I may pretend to be classy and sophisticated, but I love a good hot dog every once in awhile for lunch. It's kind of like working at the ballpark.

5. I may have mentioned it in a past blog, but I love leggings. It's pretty much my uniform when I'm at home, and I have begun wearing them when I run on cold mornings. I never knew the 80s were so wonderful.

That's it. It's 8:45 p.m. and I haven't had dinner yet (it was a school night). I'm off to go scrounge something up.  The dinner is really just a technicality... because I'm having ice cream for dessert. It's the best part.

Action

"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."

--1 John 3:18

Running again

I ran nine miles this morning. It was actually quite pleasant, considering it had been almost two weeks since my last run. Only 34 days til the half marathon! I can't believe it's almost here... it seems like forever ago (early July?) when Sara and Liz mentioned over dinner that they might do it. And here we are!

But what if it takes two more years?

My family held an intervention the past two nights. My parents basically told me that I am over-doing it with school and work and life in general, and that next semester I should go back to just one class. I guess it's not healthy to always feel like you're going to cry, or collapse from exhaustion that comes from working two jobs and taking two night classes. 

Part of me wants to hunker down and take two classes so I can stay on track to graduate next Christmas (I have five classes left). But another part of me wants to cry at the idea, and realizes that life has become too much to handle. Will the world end if it takes me two more years to finish? If, during those two years, I can coast and enjoy life and play with friends, and only worry about school one night a week? The thought brings so much relief. 

Maybe they're on to something...

Please feel my pain

I had (got?) to work a business expo today for work. The event was surprisingly fun, although one booth kind of put a lid on my fun.

My booth was right around the corner from an OPEN CASKET! Yep, the local funeral home had a booth near mine, and somebody thought it would be a positive marketing tactic to bring a casket. Because we all love to be reminded of our own mortality. Yep, I think I'll stop and get a chair massage, grab some chips and salsa, pick up a few highlighters and a koozie, and then go by the funeral booth to talk about dying.

Sometimes I'm a fashionista

There's a new trend out there that all the kids will be wearing very soon. It's the new "Bethe Onesie."  If you want your own, I can make that happen. Soon I'll be offering adult sizes (boys, these make super Christmas gifts!).

To see more of my original designs, check out Tiffany's new baby blog.

Better late than never

This is what I'm meditating on:

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,

and in his word I put my hope.

My soul waits for the Lord

more than watchmen wait for the morning.

--Psalm 130:5-6

There's so much to these verses. It talks about our source of hope, of being patient, of our soul longing for Christ. I love the metaphor of the watchmen... I can imagine him sitting on the wall of the city, waiting and watching, standing at attention, fully focused and committed.

Also, go check out Psalm 121, you'll love it.

Get some perspective

It's election night. I find it all very entertaining... it's kind of like Christmas morning, you finally know what's inside all of that pretty packaging. Sometimes you get what you want, sometimes you don't.

However, I wonder about all of the folks out there who have completely lost perspective. I think it's because the campaigns began almost two years ago. That's a long time, and we slowly became more and more invested in the process. Which is good, because folks should care about politics. But I think the unprecedented attention has made everybody lose their minds.

Guys, I think if Obama wasn't really an American, we would have known it by now. The mainstream media may lean a tad liberal, but I guarantee that the bloggers out there would have dug this up. Or some rogue reporter looking to make a name for himself. So take a deep breath and don't worry about that.

He's probably not a terrorist either. In fact, he's probably a decent guy. As is McCain. And McCain isn't George Bush. I really don't care for either candidate. But I also have enough confidence in my country and in our political process to know that we will survive. Either guy is going to make some huge mistakes. And we will survive. He will take credit for good things begun by Bush. He'll get blamed for things that began long before he took office. We will survive. No matter who wins, I don't think we will see the radical changes that have been predicted. The sky won't fall, the world won't come to an end. Because our government is overwhelmingly inefficient. Sometimes it frustrates me, sometimes I find it strangely comforting. Change comes very slowly and with a lot of resistance.

So instead I'm going to sit back and enjoy watching the political process in action. It's highly entertaining. And it makes me so very thankful to be an American.

Prison Blog

Today was a good day... except for the part where I almost went to prison.

Okay, maybe not prison. But I almost committed a class-B misdemeanor. Okay, maybe 30-40 counts of a class-B misdemeanor. But I did it with very good intentions.

I was trying to save the world and be a good American. Some patients at the hospital where I work had asked if they could vote on election day from the hospital. Being the patient-focused, pro-democracy girl scout that I am, I called my county elections office and got the scoop on how I could help these nice patients vote. 

Long story short, they told me that I would have to personally handle the whole process for ALL of our patients. Luckily I found out before it was too late that this is against the law--an individual can only assist ONE person with their voting from the hospital (which makes sense, because a bad, anti-American girl scout hater could hypothetically stuff the ballot box this way).  If you assist multiple people, it's a misdemeanor. I was going to do that 30-40 times. Oops. 

Thankfully I realized my mistake and didn't break the law. I won't be going to jail. Which is a good thing, because I've got a lot going on right now and am not sure where I would fit that "time" in.

In other political news, I have a big work event Saturday night, and my State Representative will be sitting at my table as one of my guests. It will be a lot of fun if he happens to be reelected tomorrow. If not, it could be awkward.

Love a challenge

My good friend David has challenged the blog world to write a post every day for the month of November. Apparently November is National Blogging Month. It also happens to be my birthday month, so if you're looking for a reason to buy me a present, now you have two! (just kidding... I'll settle for a funny-but-meaningful-and-heartfelt card and some cash).

I'm sitting here at Starbucks, trying to finish a long research paper due on Friday (I'm on page 18 of 20... almost there), and because I've consumed massive amounts of coffee, this blog may be a bit scattered. Which is why I will employ the numbering system... so I don't confuse you. Or me.

1. I hate it when furniture companies pay homeless people to stand on the street corner with those giant "going out of business" signs. It's absolutely terrible. First of all, why don't you just follow your city's regulations like the rest of us advertising folks and get a sign permit? Or run an ad? Or buy a billboard? But no, you would rather pay a homeless man in cash to stand there and humiliate himself and make me sad as he stands for hours at a time, in extreme weather conditions, holding your sign. It breaks my heart. Really. It makes me hate your store and makes me VERY glad you're going out of business. If you really ARE going out of business. So tacky.

2. I've been asked to serve on an advisory board for my local school district's school board. I'm so excited about this! We have our first meeting tomorrow night. This one excites me because I'm absolutely fascinated by education, and I love my local school district. Plus, the superintendent is the one who asked me, which was pretty special. So tomorrow night I'll be putting on my big-girl suit and meeting with the superintendent, the administrator of curriculum, a few teachers, and five other community representatives. Yea! I wonder if these folks know that on the inside I'm really a huge dork who's only pretending to be a grown-up. Please don't blow my cover...

3. Today was Tiffany's baby shower (shout out to Tiff, one of my few faithful readers!). It was a lot of fun, and not to brag, but I think my gift was the best. I made her a few custom-onesies with special sayings on them. My favorite was one that said "I want to be just like Bethe when I grow up." I'm thinking about mass-producing them and then handing them out for birthday parties, baby showers, wedding presents... this could be the next big fad! Let me know if you'd like your own special version (Joel, I expect you to be first in line!).

Back to that paper... maybe...