One Year Ago...

I was looking back at my posts from a year ago at this time. Check out the post from Nov 19, 2010 - "My list of Happy"

It is weirdly familiar to a post I can do this weekend. Look at this excerpt...

"I have been known to say that "I am just so excited I could burst" probably too often so that it's now lost some of it's emphasis. But, anyway, I am. So at the risk of sounding annoyingly happy, I wanted to wish you all a Happy Three Months Until Our Wedding, One Week Until Thanksgiving, First Month of Work, First Go Live as a PowerWorks Implementor, First Thanksgiving in Our House, Weekend Getaway With Abby, Weekend After My Two Shower/M.O.H. Visit Extravaganza, and so many Happys I know I am forgetting a million."

Okay so I guess it's not three months until our wedding, but it's three months until our 1 year anniversary! And it will also be one week until Thanksgiving (again), my first month of work in my new position (again), first Thanksgiving as a married couple, AND I am doing a weekend getaway at Abby's.

Isn't that weird? 

And yes, in case you were wondering, I am just so excited I could burst.

So Behind. So Sorry.

You would expect a great update with a title like that. Sorry. I have been so busy with homework reading that I don't have much to update about books you might care about. Unless of course you are interested in hearing about Foundations for Teaching Technical Communication: Theory, Practice, and Program Design. I present my book review on this collection by Katherine Staples and Cezar Ornatowski this Wednesday. Then I move on to completing my literature review, creating and finalizing my style guide, and then and only then I promise to talk about something else.

Like maybe fun things like slumber parties with my nephew....we made homemade pizza, played Candy Land, popped popcorn, and colored his bath water with these homemade, magic ice cubes.

Or maybe things like David's hunting adventures...
Or things like my new job at Heartland! The list really goes on and on. But patience please. Because right now I have to finish my homework. Right now I have to stay focused, not on Thanksgiving and baking and Christmas crafting, but on completing my two classes. Only a few weeks to go! Stick with me, please.

Hi My Name is Katy, and I Am a Pinterestaholic

I admit it, I am completely stuck on checking Pinterest. There, I said it. That’s all that I have to admit for the day. Actually, that’s a lie. I also have to admit that I don’t belong to Pinterest. I am afraid that someday there will be a knock on my door and I will open it to find some sort of Pinterest police.  She will arrest me for being a lurker. In my mind this Pinterest police is, of course, completely well dressed in the cutest Fall fashion and has a cloud over her head filled with all her boards of recipes, house projects, crafts, and adorable outfits.

Anyway, that’s not the point. I have found a few little sayings on Pinterest that have stuck in my head. As you know, I am not the best at making decisions and I overthink every, and I mean every, thing. Well two of the sayings go a little something like this (I can’t quote them exactly since I can’t re-pin them for future reference or give proper credit…you know, being a lurker and all.):

·         Have you prayed about it as much as you have talked about it?

·         What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?

I have been thinking about both of these a lot. I tend to ramble on and on about any dilemma I am in (thank you to my adorable husband and wonderful family and friends for always letting me do this). Sometimes I talk about it so much that I change my mind about the answer not just once or twice, but a few times a day. For instance, I will be completely honest here and tell you that I am having trouble working the offered classes into my schedule for next semester. So of course, over and over all day long I think about what to do about this. I talk to my friends and family, and I talk to David and Bo until I’m sure they are ready to scream. But really, in all honesty, I haven’t discussed it with God in any way more than a quick “help me to make good decisions about school and work” mention at the end of a prayer.

And the next one. I mean, come on. What do you think this quote does to a borderline OCD list maker? I was falling asleep last night when this popped into my mind. Two hours later I was thanking God for everything from the hardwood floors that make me happy in my room to the warm clothes I have to wear to work to the fact that I wasn’t a millionaire. I mean, it was a little bit ridiculous. But, still, I think it’s a good reminder. I don’t think it’s supposed to make you sit and worry if you covered all your bases or not, but I do think it helps remind you that you probably should be filling your prayers with gratitude a little bit more than “do this, this, and this for me…please.” I like it.

And since I’ve done such a lousy job of giving credit to my references, I wanted to leave you with one I can point you to directly. I even know who said it. Here’s one to sum up these Pinterest sayings:

Surely God is my salvation;

I will trust and not be afraid.

The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song;

He has become my salvation.  (Isaiah 12:2)

Christmas Music

Usually, once it hits November I can find some great radio station to play Christmas music for me. Apparently they have promised all those crazy people out there that claim you can't start Christmas until after Thanksgiving that they won't start the 24 hours of Christmas music so early.

Well, if you are like me and want to shake your fist in the air, call them all scrooges, and move on with your listening anyway, here is a link to one of my favorite artist's blog and he has posted his Christmas CD for free for all of us. Thank you Andrew Peterson!

http://andrew-peterson.com/players/btlog/

Merry Christmas-season!

Duck Hunting, Wallpaper Removing, Tub Re-caulking

I know I have been slacking lately so I thought I would give you a quick update.

On reading...
I am still working through The River Why. This could be the longest amount of time it has taken me to read a book, but it's not the book's fault. The book is actually quite readable and wonderful. And I really am almost through it. It's all school's fault. I have six hours of class during the week, and then at least six hours of homework sometime throughout that same week. So I go to bed or curl up in my chair with great intentions of reading only to get a few pages in and wake up with a start and a "what's going on." I really am almost through the book though and I have a few comments to make on it when I am finished. And when I am finished, just in time for the end of the semester and a month of no homework, I think I will read the Lord of the Rings series. What are your thoughts on that?

On house projects...
Guess who finally got their tub re-caulked! Yay. Our dingy old tub is much prettier now. I am sparing you the pictures because removing old caulk and adding in the new was not a pretty experience. It involved lots of scraping, lots of pulling, lots of bleach, and lots of patience. But we have a like-new, beautiful tub now!

And we finally removed the wallpaper border from our bedroom and taped off all the wood work and windows so that we can paint! Here is the old wallpaper..

We removed all of this from the entire room. It was pretty tough. To all of you out there that says this stuff just comes right off, no big deal, you are liars! We had to use this goo stuff and remove it in two different layers. So now we plan to paint a very light khaki color on three of the walls with a darker brown on the wall behind our headboard that is mostly windows. I will add the after pictures as soon as it's all completed.

On David and Bo...

Did I mention that we completed these two major house projects all between two different hunting trips? Yep, we didn't get much sleep in this weekend, but we did have a lot of fun and get a lot done. Here's what David did when he wasn't being my house project hero..

Yes friends, it was duck hunting opening weekend! David and Bo's favorite time of year! So I might be pretty lonely, but don't worry, duck hunting is only lonely from about 3:30 in the morning until 11 in the morning. And I love it because David is like a little kid on Christmas morning every morning that the alarm goes off for duck hunting. It's so fun to watch him get that excited. And then I can fill up my coffee cup, crawl into my favorite chair and read my books or make a to do list of house projects.

So Happy November friends! What are you all up to for the most wonderful time of the year?



Happy Anniversary To Me!

Wait, keep reading. This is not another post about how much I adore my husband (an incredibly large amount) and how long we have been married (8 months and 6 days). This anniversary is my work anniversary.

That's right. One year ago today I started with a little tiny company in St. Joe called Heartland (that "little tiny" was sarcastic if you don't know). I have had a year full of growing and learning. It hasn't always been pretty and I haven't always handled every situation gracefully, but boy oh boy have I grown a lot and learned a lot.

In the past year I learned two new software solutions and trained nurses and physicians on these solutions. I have walked into a doctor's office and felt unwelcome and I have walked into a doctor's office and made friends. I have driven to Nebraska to give a sales presentation to a room of physicians and didn't even cry or throw up (both things I would have advised you to bet money on that I would do). And I have done difficult things like watch coworkers move on. And I have done wonderful things like help write my first resonse to a state request for proposals.

And a lot of life has happened in this past year of work. I have gotten married, moved into our first house, watched best friends have babies, ran my first half-marathon, and so many wonderful things I can't even name them all right now...to which you are probably thanking me.

But all of this is just to say that I hope on your one year anniversary at work, or five year or ten, I hope you can reflect on all of the wonderful things you have learned. I can look at this past year and think, wow, I can't believe I did that, and wow, I can't believe how much I learned from that, and wow, I am so blessed to have met this person or worked with that person.

So Happy Anniversary to me and my company! Have a wonderful Tuesday.

Sister #4 and Ethiopia!

Two years ago I had the amazing opportunity to travel to El Salvador and spend a week in a small village there, building a well. I can't explain how life changing this was for me. To this day I dream about the people I met there and still pray for them by name. Sometimes I feel selfish thinking about everything I gained from this trip. I think that Heaven will look a little like El Salvador.

For Sister #4, this piece of Heaven is Ethiopia. My little baby sister (yes, she is 22 but yes, she is still my baby sister) is heading to Ethiopia next spring for seven days to work at two different schools and share God's love with the people she meets there. I couldn't be more excited for what this is going to do in her life and in the lives of each person she meets there. Hannah is this little, hyper, ball of light who spreads love and joy to everyone she crosses paths with. I have always admired her energy and excitement.

If you have a minute, please check out her website. I think it would be so encouraging if people from all over who read my blog, who she might not even know, would donate money or leave her a nice message to help her along the way!

http://www.giveforward.com/hstrasserethiopia

Practice What You Preach

I had the most wonderful weekend. It's weekends like this that make me feel so overwhelmed with joy and blessings that I honestly don't know what to do. I woke up early this morning, I think my body is conditioned to get ready for my runs, and instead of getting out of bed and running in the cold, dark early morning, I just laid there and counted my blessings.

Among these blessings were the health of my friends and their newborn baby, the relationships I have with my sisters and parents, my adorable and adoring husband and the almost 8 months of marriage we have been blessed with, the Fall weather and this holiday season, and on and on and on for an hour or so.

And then I got up, started to get ready, and went through my morning prayers, asking God to show me how I could be a good person today. I always ask Him to not let me miss things. I don't want to let a moment go by where I could have been the person He wants me to be, only to miss that moment and hurt someone or not help someone else. So I prayed that I keep my focus on the right things today and that He would guide me.

There was a Monday morning, not so long ago, that I walked into work to find one of my friend's not here. He was gone that day because his wife had suffered a miscarriage that weekend. This is something I can't handle.

Then there was another Monday that I rode with my manager to a demo and he got a call that his father might not make it unless they got to Mayo very, very soon. This is something else I'm not good at handling.

So this particular Monday, I walked in with my Fall coffee and visited with my manager who just got back from visiting his dad at Mayo. His dad is doing great! And I walked by my friend's cube and he was there, and his wife is due with their baby in April and they had a good weekend. And I sat down in my cube and started working, happily working.

Now I have set you up this way for a reason. Because this is the scene when an hour later my other friend came and sat next to me to tell me he had bad news and needed to tell me. My mind rushed through some horrible thoughts. He stared at me for a second, and then said that our team had won $200,000 in the PowerBall that we all play twice a week and that I had not gone in this past Friday so I would not be splitting that money with them. He said they had each won about $4100.

The pit in my stomach filled again with hope. I actually sat waiting for the bad news, but that was it. This, my friend, is NOT bad news. Yes, it's not good news. Yes, I wish that I had been put in that pot, but compared to the nightmares playing in my head, this was nothing. This was something I could handle.

My beautiful grandma Wilma used to say that "if it's a problem that can be fixed with money, then it's not a problem." I think that also, if it's bad news about money, than it's not really bad news.

So yes, this can go in the "not the best of Monday mornings" list. That list is quite short. It doesn't even compare to my list of blessings.

Have a wonderful Monday morning.

13.1 Miles!

We did it! And we did it quicker than we thought we could. We trained at a ten minute mile pace and ended with a 9 minute, 33 second average! This might not sound all that fast to you, but to me it's a huge accomplishment! We finished all 13.1 miles without walking, in 2 hours and 5 minutes. It was so much fun.

And along the way we saw a sign that said "Keep running because you can." And I thanked God that I could and then I did.

It was a beautiful day. I felt blessed and thankful for all of the beautiful mornings my friend Molly and I spent training together, the beautiful weather, our loving husbands who were there cheering the loudest, for my physical capabilities, and for all of the loving messages and phone calls we have had. This run was one of my favorite accomplishments and memories.

Before

During. This is the home stretch. Last block!

After

And after again. Isn't he too cute?

Pre-Race Day Jitters

I was just sitting here, doing just fine at work, when I decided to review my race day packet. I feel like I have remained very calm through all of this, but all of a sudden I got really nervous. Really, really nervous. Like when I looked at this picture I got the "throw-up a little, Christmas morning excitement, wondering if they use a gun shot to signify the beginning of the race, what if I fall over and die" type of nervous. Tell me this is normal.

"Live Like You Were Dyin'..."

I heard this Tim McGraw song again today after hearing it a lot lately. And here it goes, prepare yourself for the cliché, but it really hit me: Why am I not living every day like I’m dying? I know that if I really knew that tomorrow was my last day on earth I probably wouldn’t sit at work and I would probably give all my money away without worrying about my future and I would do crazy things. I know that we can’t really do those things. We have to work and we have to save money and not go into debt. But, on a much smaller scale, I plan to implement this idea.

For instance, what would I do if I found out that at the beginning of this winter someone was cutting down every single tree on Ashland? Well, I would drive that way more often, even if it was out of my way, and enjoy each beautiful tree (while safely still watching the road). Or what if I knew that maybe Sister #1 wouldn’t live in the same house she’s living in now by next winter? I would make sure to sneak in more times sitting on her deck watching her kids play in her backyard. Or what if I knew that next Fall my favorite orchard wouldn’t be there? I would make sure I went every weekend that I could and would bake as many apple-ingrediented dishes I could think of.

So instead of selling everything I own and walking out on my job and moving to Yellowstone to live with the wolves and my husband and brown dog, I am just going to try to think this way a little bit more every day. I’m just going to try to sneak these things in more, knowing that there is no guarantee that the same opportunity or view or event or person or moment will be there tomorrow.

Goals

My sisters and mom and I are all a little weird together (no laughing). We have this thing where if, say my mom is thinking about one of us, we usually end up calling her at that second. Or if I'm really missing one of my sisters in particular I get a text or an email or something. This happens daily to us.

This morning was my annual review. I can't believe I've been here a year already; it has flown by. My review was great. As I've said before, I work with amazing people that are hard workers, driven, supportive, and exciting. This review completely re-energized me. I get excited thinking about my goals, and I'm lucky enough to work for a company that never let's us not have goals. Our CIO just asked us, a few months after his talk on the subject, what our personal, work, and world goals were. He followed up and reminded us to keep working on them.

I will share with you that when he asked us to have goals, to actually write them down, that I did just that. I decided that one of my personal goals would be that I would be the best, most supportive wife that I could possibly be, one of my career goals would include getting my Master's so that I could think about a leadership position with my company in the future, and that one of my overall goals would be to find a home church for my new little family that would help me do big things in the world. Pretty big goals. But guess what, I'm working on them and think about these things almost daily.

You might be saying to yourself right now that one of my personal goals should be to not get so distracted. Where was I?

I was walking back to my desk from my review thinking that I couldn't wait to talk to Sister #2 about this particular topic tonight when I received an email from her that her boss had sent. (If you want to hear about what's movin' and shakin' with her career, bug her to update her blog. Seriously, Love It All, it's way overdue.) Sister #2 didn't even know I had my review or that I was all excited and motivated, but this pretty much summed up what my boss and I talked about for the last few minutes while planning the next year. I printed it out and pinned it to my cube. Don't you think that while thinking about your goals, it wouldn't hurt to keep these things in mind?

The Optimist Creed

Promise Yourself
To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

Here's To You, Baby Kennedy Sue

My amazing friends, Brady and Marissa, had their baby girl, Kennedy Sue today. Kennedy was actually in our wedding. We didn't know at the time, but Brady and Marissa knew, that she was standing up there with us. What I did know was that two of my bridesmaids were very pregnant. See the Purple rectangles below for Emily and Kimi, and then Marissa in the silver circle.

Emily had Neely about a month after our wedding:

And Kimi had Livia about a month after that:

And now, eight months after the picture with the silver circle, presenting...

Kennedy Sue Purvis!

Wednesday Humor

I saw this on a Facebook friend's profile today and had a little chuckle.



Things I Love That Aren't Books

You have to admit that I don't usually push things on you or talk about brands of things I love or restaurants or shops or anything, but that's all about to change. And please don't throw Harry Potter in my face - I am very aware that I did nothing but push that on you. And I don't regret that. If you trust my opinions and views on the books I read, maybe you care about some of the other things I love too (or maybe not), so I thought I would start talking about some of these things between talking about books. Let's start with my hair stylist.

There's this fantastic, family-owned shop on The Plaza that has been there for over 30 years. Family-owned. On Main Street of the Plaza. For over 3 decades. Wow.

My future brother-in-law and his family own this wonderful business. I wanted to tell you that right off, that it's my brother-in-law's shop, so you don't think I'm being sneaky and trying to promote it for that reason alone whenever you might find that out. It's true. But, that's not why I think it's awesome.

This shop is awesome because of the atmosphere and the talent. When you first walk in, the beautiful receptionist greets you by name, offers you coffee or water, and tells your stylist that you are there. They make you feel famous. And to them, you are that important. You really can tell that they know and appreciate each and every one of their clients.

The stylists are all very experienced, talented people. The Salon does things like send their stylists all over the world (I'm not exaggerating on that one) to continue their education and refine their skills, or fly people in to do on-site, private trainings.

The Salon's stylists are somehow always a few months ahead of the current styles. (I remember the first time Shane told my mom he could put a feather in her hair. We thought he was crazy. Fast-forward six months later and everywhere is sold out of those same feathers.)

The list of products and services is huge. I go for my hair. They do cut, color, special occasion styling, permanent straightening or waving, extensions...and the list goes on. But in addition to hair, they do facial treatments, massages, waxes, body wraps, brow tinting, make-up, make-up lessons, etc. I even bought my wedding lipstick from The Salon - this is truly a complete salon.

I know I'm rambling on here, but I have been going to The Salon for almost three years now and I haven't ever been disappointed. It has become my fun, escape, pampering place. I can't tell you enough that I think you should check it out for yourself. In fact, I think we should make a day of it together. I've been dying to get a facial treatment before the dry, dry winter. Check out The Salon's website (http://thesalonkc.com/index.html) or Facebook page, and then call me and we will plan a day together!