She Likes Purple

May Goals + April Goals Revisited

April was INSANE, guys. Like the insanest. May is shaping up to be more of the same, seeing as it's nearly mid-May and I'm just now posting this.

Anyway, this list is much sadder than March's. Let's hope for better things in May. And June. And other months too.

April Goals Revisited

1. Start my 30-Day Shred Challenge (I did start it and then immediately abandoned it; need to rethink this one)
2. Let's ease back into yoga and say: just get your butt to yoga at least once (I'm so red)
3. Finish at least one book (I finished four! I feel like that should earn me a trophy or something)
4. Buy a pair of eyeglasses (maybe even two) (BUT THEY HAVEN'T ARRIVED YET)
5. Go to the dermatologist
6. Send a bottle of champagne to someone
7. Leave the state!
8. Finish up the Pinterest challenge (just one left!) 
9. Make baked ziti
10. Set a date for my champagne dinner
11. Lose 5 lbs
12. Send those thank-you notes! (I sent some!)
13. Re-hang our photos over the couch
14. Take two neighborhood walks
15. Eat/make five vegan dishes/meals (One!)
16. No snacking after 9:30pm

May Goals 

1. Yoga. Seriously.
2. Finish The Great Gatsby
3. Eat a cupcake in New York
4. Make baked ziti
5. Lose 5 lbs
6. Start the Couch to 5K 
7. Finish Kyle's thank-you notes (a mere THREE MONTHS late)
8. Send off two thank-you packages
9. Make my vacation box
10. Dance to our song for our wedding anniversary
11. Eat at one new restaurant (this is quite an easy one, but done!) 
12. Start the research on hiring the right person to turn some of Kyle's best baby clothes into a quilt. (Could that be you?)
13. Make vegan strawberry cupcakes

I'm heading to New York this month for a work trip, a work trip that has required months and months of preparing for, and will be one of those go-go-go trips. A few fun meals, but mostly exhaustion and meetings and signings and more meetings and panels and walking and more signings. I'm tired already. 

So, I made my goals nice and easy this month. 

Patience with myself until at least mid-June is necessary.

Seven Quick (Jumping Back Into Blogging) Takes

I have vacation recaps to write and Pinterest projects to share and suggestions for where to eat in both DC and New Orleans, and I hope I get to all those posts before 2014. In the meantime, let's dust off this blog. Seven quick (okay, not quick at all) takes...

1. Last week (wait, week before last...April you are so nuts), Molly's eyes swelled up and got a little goopy. At first, we thought it was just allergies, but then we realized she had also stopped eating and wouldn't take a treat. (Molly is like her mother. She will always take a treat.) Turns out, she had a severely abscessed tooth that had infected her nasal passages and was causing her eyes to swell. She is, thankfully, nearly good as new after a round of antibiotics and pain killers and shouldn't need surgery. Phew!

It really sucked, though, during the time we weren't quite sure what was wrong with her. Molly is usually fairly healthy. I mean, she's given us a scare or two before, sure, but it had been awhile. It was this weird wake-up call that our girl is nearly 10 and she's not exactly facing more years ahead of her than are behind her. 

When the vet went over our options with Mike, she mentioned that if the antibiotics didn't work, surgery to remove the tooth would be necessary and it would be expensive (MANY THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS EXPENSIVE). We don't have a budget item for Very Expensive Pet Surgeries, but when Mike talked to me about it, it was just a given we'd figure it out. She's our girl.

She's a dog, yes, but she's also Molly. Molly! I've loved her for as long as I've loved Mike. While she can be pretty irritating on a day-to-day basis (she's the neediest living thing in my house), this was a reminder that she is absolutely part of our family. 

Again, she's feeling much better. She probably wishes she had pulled these shenanigans years ago because we've been giving her cheese on a nightly basis, and we don't protest at all when she worms her away into our bed at night. 

So many of my friends (online and off) sent out love to her, after I mentioned what was going on, and it meant the absolute world to me. Seriously, thank you so much if you were one of those people sending warm thoughts to our girl.

She's doing so much better, she's practically skipping.

2. Have I talked yet about Justified? Well, I fell down a Justified-sized hole on Amazon Prime a few weeks ago and basically watched the entire series in something like two weeks. You'd be disgusted if you weren't so impressed, right? (Or maybe you're just disgusted...)

At first I was hesitant to start this show because I was (foolishly) led to believe there are no love stories, and I'm a girl who really prefers her TV shows to have a love story or two. But, 1) there totally are and 2) who really cares when Timothy Olyphant is wearing that cowboy hat so well throughout the series.

I'm all caught up in time...to wait a year for the next season! Cable TV seasons routinely break my heart.

3. I hesitate to declare this here because I've been doing it for a WHOPPING two days, but I've finally started my 30-Day Shred Challenge. That would be 30-straight days of doing (level 1, I'm not insane) the 30-Day Shred. This is such a quick and effective work-out, and a few Twitter friends are tackling the challenge with me. Want to join us?

4. I read this beautiful post about Holly's grandmother who recently passed away, and besides being reminded that Holly talks about love and family and nostalgia better than anyone, I was also struck that I won't ever be able to write a similar post about either of my biological grandmothers. 

This makes me sad, on a basic that-kind-of-stings level, but right after that thought struck me, it occurred to me that Kyle will be able to write something that heartfelt one day (if writing becomes one of his things) about either of his grandmothers. Kyle is such a lucky boy, for a million reasons, but the relationship he has with both of his grandmas (Nana and Mia, as he calls them) is near the tippy-top of the list. I've said this before and I'll say it dozens more times, but the fact that he has this beautiful, special, unconditional thing with them both, something I never had, is one of my favorite ways we're rewriting history together.

5. This feels like a very silly thing to mention, but I am trying to fill a list here. I made some small edits to this site all on my very own, so I'm basically a web designer now (ha). I added new social media buttons, new "top post" pictures (right-hand sidebar), new links, etc. Just messing around a little bit, but enjoy if you...enjoy sidebar badges and those kinds of things. 

6. We're debating taking Kyle camping for the first time this year. We need to make this decision pretty much immediately because Texas is going to get really hot in about two weeks. We'd just drive up to Oklahoma for the night, no big deal, and I think Kyle would love it. I mean, he's in such a fun stage, where everything new is So! Much! Fun! Mike really likes camping, too, and I really like when they do outdoorsy stuff together and leave me in peace to read, so it kind of works out for all of us. Last time Mike and I went camping, there was a burn ban, so we "camped" while eating dinner in nearby restaurants. That felt a little fraudy. Anyway, I'll keep you posted on our camping plans as I'm sure you're on the edge of your "WILL THEY CAMP?" seats. 

7. Speaking of Kyle, age four has been a lot of fun so far. I loved age two (so much), and still loved age three (though will readily admit that, oh boy, do you have to pay attention when parenting a three year old--they will take a mile if you give them half a centimeter), so I was a little nervous about age four. But, regardless how hard age four can be (friends start to mightily influence other four year olds, unfortunately, wiping away ALL MY HARD PARENTING WORK IN ONE AFTERNOON), the age is just so HILARIOUS. He says the funniest damn things. He has said in the course of a week, "Slip me some skin, Mommy," and "Oh phooey! Phooey is my new word, Mommy." He spells words and can read a little bit and I'm amazed anew that I get to hang out with this kid. He's my son! It's very delightful every time I remember that.

I've figured out that babies just aren't my jam. I love babies! I especially love snuggling your babies and just...passing them back to you when they show the slightest sign of being unhappy about something. But toddlers? Then kids? Oh yeah. They're my speed. 

I remember when Kyle was between one and two, maybe 15-16 months or so, and the weekends were kind of brutal. One, Mike worked weekends back then so it was just my boy and me, filling up two straight days, and I'd be so relieved by Sunday evening, which is a hard thing to confess. I was just so exhausted and he wasn't quite talking yet but he needed EVERYTHING and I couldn't sit until he went to bed. Now, we watch The Voice and he helps me cook and he makes me laugh EVERY SINGLE DAY and he asks me questions about geography and dinosaurs and stuff I really like answering. So much better than angry pointing, like he did back when.

Anyway, the other day he was looking at a picture of my mom and me from when I was in college and if there's ever a picture of me that he's not in, he assumes he was in my tummy. "Is that when I was in your belly?" "No, actually, that was before you were in my belly. That was even before I knew daddy!" He did not understand. He looked at me like I was nuts. Before him? BEFORE? No such thing. He finally said, "Oh, I must have been sleeping."

He walked off, cool kid that he is, with his hands in his pockets, and I thought to myself: I'm just so glad you showed up.

I'm so glad we're here.

March Goals + February Goals Revisited

February was kind of tough for me, although I'm not entirely sure why. (I think it's just kind of a tough month in general.) I found myself saying a lot of harsh words under my breath this month, and my stress levels were kind of high. So, my goals list is a little sad. (Good news! I'm already dominating March's.)

At first, I had all these excuses listed beside the goals I didn't complete but, gah, that's annoying. So, without further navel-gazing:

February Goals, Revisited

1. Make that eye appointment 
2. Two Pinterest projects (more on those)
3. Read two books 
4. Throw Kyle a fourth birthday party (look!)
5. Go to five yoga classes 
6. Make 5 cookbook recipes 
7. Buy those frames!
8. Finish 30 days of Whole 30
9. Run a 5K
10. Email Kyle 28 times
11. Look into Rangers and Aggies tickets for the spring/fall 
12. Work on Kyle's letter book 
13. Create books from Christmas for my mom and sister (not on my 2013 goal list but a new goal all the same)
14. Send my brother a care package 

March Goals

1. Seriously, with the two books
2. Buy a pair of Kendra Scott earrings
3. Hang our frames!
4. Create a viewfinder for Kyle
5. Spraypaint something
6. Set a date for my champagne-inspired dinner
7. Go on a weekend trip with Natalie, to celebrate being friends for 20 years
8. Make baked ziti
9. Yes, seriously, with the eye appointment 
10. Go to five yoga classes
11. Thirty-one emails to Kyle
12. Finish Kyle's letter book 
13. Watch Argo and Zero Dark Thirty 
14. Host an Easter brunch and egg hunt
15. Send out (belated) thank-you notes for Kyle's birthday

What are you up to this month?

January Goals Revisited + February Goals

You may remember (but I won't hold it against you if you don't) that I'm breaking down my to-do list in monthly goals, which I should have done three years ago, and I'm revisiting these goals each month, too. Goals goals goals. It should be a very strong keyword search result on my blog this year.

Here's what I wanted to tackle in January:

1. Make an eye appointment
2. Start the Couch to 5K (I didn't put a very big dent into the program, but I did start it!)
3. One Pinterest project (I'm planning to do one this weekend and call it January's; my list, my ability to cheat my way through it)
4. Finish our second family yearbook (yay!)
5. Read three books (including Wild, from Elizabeth's best of 2012, and maybe The Great Gatsby) (I read one)
6. Read a little of the Bible
7. Menu plan 
8. Pick out frames for our above-the-couch travel photos (We painted our living room, instead, which is a very big thing I want everyone to know, and a very big thing Mike did all by himself but I get to claim because that's MARRIAGE. Anyway! We have the frames nearly picked out. Just not purchased.)
9. Clean out and organize my kitchen drawers
10. Buy new champagne flutes (They're really pretty, and I can't wait to use them in far too many weeks)
11. Go to 7 yoga classes (I went to ... one. I'm going to need to step it up in February.)
12. Make 4 cookbook recipes (I made three! That's so close to four.)
13. 31 emails to Kyle

Work was insane this month, realllllllly insane, so I'm actually pretty proud of the above effort. Let's hope February calms down some and I can tackle the below goals:

1. Make that eye appointment, JENNIE
2. Two Pinterest projects (January's and then February's)
3. Read two books (the two from January I didn't read)
4. Throw Kyle a fourth birthday party
5. Go to five yoga classes
6. Make 5 cookbook recipes
7. Buy those frames!
8. Finish 30 days of Whole 30 (SO CLOSE)
9. Run a 5K
10. Email Kyle 28 times
11. Look into Rangers and Aggies tickets for the spring/fall
12. Work on Kyle's letter book
13. Create books from Christmas for my mom and sister (not on my 2013 goal list but a new goal all the same)
14. Send my brother a care package (again, new goal)

We'll revisit in March, my friends.

Seven Quick (January Seventh) Takes

1. Phew, we're through Christmas and New Year's and my birthday and we can finally stop eating, am I right? Well, I can stop eating. I'm sure you have enough will power to have stopped already. (Show-off.) Anyway, the Biggest Blogging Loser starts today, so I start my own new year too. I'm loosely doing the Whole30. I say "loosely" because I have a few (work and personal) dinner commitments I can't/refuse to cancel or suffer through drinking water at and also because I won't beat myself up over missteps or allow myself to go hungry rather than eating something non-Whole30 compliant. I'm going to try my best, I'll say, and I'm mostly just trying to use this month as a tool to become re-aware of what I eat after (so many) months of getting disconnected with that.

A couple things I'm giving up for the duration of the Biggest Blogging Loser, though, are alcohol and chocolate. I know! That's 12 long weeks without a glass of something or a slice of something, but I think I enjoyed my fair share of both over the holidays and this will be a good re-focus for me on fruits and vegetables and healthy dishes.

I was texting Holly tonight about eating wholer--and I hope she's okay if I share this--but she said to me "don't let anyone police you." This is just what I needed to hear. You put intentions out on the internet and you can feel (maybe just me?) that the internet then gets a say in those goals. So, I'm repeating those smart words to myself over and over. It's really empowering.

I'm doing my best! We'll see how it goes.

Anyway, here's my January menu, if you care to see it. (By the way, I love this template I found for 2013 monthly calendars. Maybe you'll like it too.)

(Click to enlarge!)

2. I've somehow managed to watch a ton of movies over the last couple weeks and while I'd like to sit down and write out thoughtful movie reviews for each, I never seem to have the time, so I'll quickly recap a few:

Go see Silver Linings Playbook. Oh, it's so refreshingly good! I found it funny and heartwarming and dark and romantic. Bradley Cooper just owned his particular character and Jennifer Lawrence was perfect, too, although I felt she had less to prove. She's done small, independent films and she's done The Hunger Games but she's just good, you know? You don't doubt this girl can act, and I now don't doubt that about Bradley Cooper, either. So, if you're looking for a (likely-to-be-nominated) movie to see in this particular awards' season, see this one. (Although I haven't seen some of the other awards' contenders, so maybe take actual critics' recommendations now that I think about it.)

So, I had heard a lot of buzz about The Cabin in the Woods for a while now, and I had been wanting to see it. I finally convinced Mike to watch it (with my sister and her husband) over the holidays and, wow, what am I missing? The twist was kind of in the trailer, so as not to be all that shocking. Anything beyond the trailer was...not good. It was ridiculous. It was campy but not funny (which I was told it would be!). I just didn't get the appeal, and neither did the three other people I watched it with. 

We also watched Lawless over the holidays and I really enjoyed it. Sure, it's kind of violent but I can't imagine you'd go into a movie about outlaw bootleggers and be surprised by that. For the violence, you also get a healthy dose of Tom Hardy, so go ahead and give it a try.

3. This is the point in the year where I go from Holiday Mania! to Planning My Child's Birthday Party! and somehow I'm always surprised by this. It's like the holidays are a buffer for the weird feelings that Kyle turning a year older bring, and now that the holidays are over, I can properly feel all of them. I try never to let myself get too sad because I have a healthy, awesome kid. I wouldn't trade that for anything. But it's still weird, you know? He's nearly four! I sometimes just can't reconcile that. Anyway, he is nearly four and we're throwing him a dinosaur birthday party (although who knows WHERE yet because we have a very small house and he has a February birthday--one of the few notoriously cold months in Texas--meaning we can't just let the birthday guests run loose in the yard and that always makes our at-home parties feel super cramped and chaotic, but we'll figure SOMETHING out) and he is very excited about it, and I'm very excited about it, too. Four! I just don't know.

4. For Christmas, I bought myself Young House Love, and while I know they are a Very Big Blog (which bring Very Big Blog Opinions), I mainly like this book because I'm a home decor idiot. I'm bad at DIY and bad at decorating and bad at thinking of ideas while looking at my ugly walls. They broke down ideas and simple fixes all in one easy-to-reference place, and they also made it easy for me to show Mike "THIS! I WANT OUR HOUSE TO LOOK LIKE THIS!" and he understood what I meant without me fumbling through blog archives or Pinterest boards to show him photos. He's become re-inspired around our house (in part because of the things I've shown him from the book, I'd be willing to wager) and it makes it fun to dream up Home Fixes together. I love this book, really I do, and I'd recommend it to you, if you're anything like me.

5. Oh, hey, my college team won their bowl game, and I got to watch them do just that at my birthday party Friday night. That was a lot of fun.

We had a house full of Aggies, and it was a lot of fun to high-five and cheer together. I recommend watching your team win with friends, drinks, and snacks. (I just invented game-watching parties, didn't I? You're welcome!) 

6. One my favorite birthday gifts was a gift card to Target. I don't really understand people who don't like getting (or giving) gift cards. You're telling me I get a piece of plastic and can buy WHATEVER I WANT from one of my favorite places with it? THANK YOU, THAT IS FABULOUS, GIVE ME THAT GIFT ALWAYS. I don't want to buy groceries or things for Kyle or anything I would already pick up at a trip to Target with this gift card. I want to get something fun and something just for me. I've been looking at a necklace for ages (that of course isn't online since the Target website is THE WORST), but if it's still there at my next trip to Target, I'm getting it. What would YOU buy if you couldn't spend it on groceries or household things or anything you'd have to buy anyway?

7. I've been trying to think of a seventh thing for too long and it's time to head to bed, so let's just end by saying I have a super stressful week at work and I'm back to cooking and working out (I'm exhausted just thinking of getting to Saturday morning) so please diffuse the stress with some fun things. What are you most looking forward to this week? 

January Goals

Are you sick of hearing about goals? You probably are. Unfortunately, I'm not. I love goals, I love lists, I love making them and reading them and bookmarking them and on and on. But if you're unlike me, go ahead and skip this post (and the last one too, in case you haven't read that one yet). I promise to return with a Christmas recap soon and maybe even a post about a weekend trip I took in early December, something I meant to actually write in early December but Kyle got pneumonia as soon as I got home and, I'll tell you, pneumonia does not make a person more productive.

So, anyway! In an effort to really make this year my bitch and to be super-duper successful with my to-do list, I'm breaking down my list into monthly to-dos. (I'm also breaking my bigger to-dos into monthly chunks, so I can be sure to cross everything off.)

Here's what I'll (attempt to) do (or start) this month:

1. Make an eye appointment
2. Start the Couch to 5K
3. One Pinterest project
4. Finish our second family yearbook
5. Read three books (including Wild, from Elizabeth's best of 2012, and maybe The Great Gatsby)
6. Read a little of the Bible
7. Menu plan
8. Pick out frames for our above-the-couch travel photos
9. Clean out and organize my kitchen drawers
10. Buy new champagne flutes
11. Go to 7 yoga classes
12. Make 4 cookbook recipes
13. 31 emails to Kyle

Phew! Wish me luck.

A Week of Holiday-ish Activities

Refresher: My sister, brother-in-law, and nephew will be in Texas the week of Christmas. Instead of a month of activities, I'm going easy on myself (and my wallet) and putting together a week of activities while they're here. Subject to change the week of, of course, since kids are notoriously predictable in their unpredictability.

1. Make bead ornaments. (Maybe they can make a handful for friends, other cousins, etc.?)

2. Make and decorate Christmas cookies. I thought it might be fun for the kids to make some extras and...bring them somewhere to give to...some people. Yeah, I've clearly thought this kind act through.

3. Take a train ride! 

4. Let the kids color paper lanterns and then release them in our backyard. I'm about to make it a Tangled-themed Christmas! 

5. Candy cane hunt (stolen from Elizabeth who stole it from Jen)

6. Hot chocolate bar and then a movie (stolen from A'Dell; I have no original ideas)

7. Even though it'll be after Christmas, I'd like to take the boys to Barnes & Noble or the Target sale aisles and let them pick out an ornament or holidy book each. It can be the thing that reminds them of the Christmas they got to spend together since I'm not sure when it'll happen next.

Bonus! Paint pinecones. I kind of think if it's nice enough to hang outside at all that week, we should toss the kids in the front yard and paint pinecones.

There you have it! So much easier to pick seven activities than 25. 

My December Plan

Last year I wrote a December to-do list, inspired by A'Dell. It was so helpful! I'm doing it again, so the holidays can be possibly less stressy and nuts than they tend to be. (Although you will note that I am not adding "come down with strep three days before Christmas," HEAR THAT 2011.)

1. Hang lights on the house. (Hey, Mike, hang lights on the house!)

2. Make a decision about holiday cards. To send them or not to send them, that is the question.

3. Find a place for a girl's holiday tea. Then send an evite for said tea.

4. Gifts for Kyle's teachers. I think we'll make cookies with a Starbucks card attached, like always. Hey, who doesn't like sugar and the gift of fancy coffee? (Crazies, that's who.) (Kidding, if you don't like those things.)

5. Advent Calendar Activities. My sister and her family are visiting the week of Christmas, so I thought about making just a week-long advent calendar with fun activities for the boys to do together. 

6. Christmas pjs! 

7. Christmas menus. I'm thinking of dinner out on Christmas Eve since my sister won't arrive until that afternoon. Then we'll have our traditional cinnamon rolls and mimosas Christmas morning, and a big Christmas dinner spread. We'll have our traditional breakfast for dinner another night that week, when Mike's parents can join us. 

8. Make my birthday plans. I'm skipping a party this year and stealing away for the night with Mike. I'm really excited. 

9. Look at Christmas lights! I love this tradition and we'll either do this Christmas Eve or Christmas night.

10. Take a ride on the vintage railroad that runs from one nearby town to the Fort Worth Stockyards.

11. Make lasagna for a neighbor. There's a very sweet elderly woman who lives near us and ever since we first met her (years ago!), I've wanted to bring her a meal, to just be a little neighborly. We'll see if I can pull this off.

12. Write my (more realistic) 2013 to-do list. I hear you, readers! I should go easier on myself with the goals I set next year.

13. Take Kyle to see Santa. (It's free at Mike's work and I think free is grand.)

We're going easy on gifts this year, so I think I can knock out my shopping in one afternoon on Amazon, but I'll still probably add a task or two to this list, if I can think of something I'm absolutely overlooking. What's on your list?

On Goals (+ A Hotel Room Winner)

My year to-do list is sad, guys, and I've known this to be true for some time. I don't know if I just had an unexpectedly busy year or if taking off the entire month of February to watch Sons of Anarchy put a bigger wrench in my productivity than I first thought it would, but I will have left a lot undone at the end of 2012.

I think I'm more-or-less okay with this. 

Life is sometimes one task completion after another and sometimes it's just...the absolute opposite of that. I think I'm okay that my 2012 to-do list is basically the latter.

I still plan to write a list for next year and maybe reasses my priorities while doing so and also try to be more realistic about my home improvement time allotment. I just had a lot of ambitions to paint and re-decorate and hang photos and, wow, self, do you know the couch is in the same room as the wall you want to hang photos on? COUCH ALWAYS WINS.

I'm still doing daily goals via Twitter and I like it a lot. I'm also embracing the hell out of my reminders app (Alarmed). Basically everything I ever need to remember goes into that app and my phone beeps nine million times a day. It works for me, though!

A few things I'm considering adding to my to-do list in 2013:

A 60-Day Yoga Challenge (yoga 5x/week for 60 days)
Read all of the books on PW's best of 2012 list
Re-boot my book club
Start a cookbook club
Start Couch 2 5K and Couch 2 10K, so I can get back into the running groove of things

What are you already thinking about doing in 2013?

***

Oh, and we have a Radisson stay giveaway winner!

Congrats to #57, Leigh. I'll be in touch soon! 

Favorite Reads This Week

In honor of posting more, how about I post some things for you to read elsewhere? (It makes sense in my head!) Anyway, an ode to my (oh-so dusty) posts of the week and other awesome links, too.

Mommy Melee's "Please Remember These Things" -- Maria is one of my favorites. I wish I could make her write every day, but this post in particular was just so good. Beautifully written, completely relatable. I think that sums up a good blogger right there.

Lainey Gossip's "Nashville" recap -- I really enjoyed the pilot last night (did you?), and this recap touched on most of what I felt about the show. One silly random aside, there were a couple sweeping, FNL-esque sunset scenes and I felt weirdly territorial of those. Like, good try, NASHVILLE, I am enjoying you a lot, but you will never be Dillon, Texas. (I know, the latter isn't even REAL, it's AUSTIN, but WHATEVER.)

Hillary with Two L's "Will You Remember Me" -- From the post, "She is coming home next week. Just for a visit, not forever, but that doesn't matter. She is a forever kind of person." This was just beautiful and obviously made me think of Natalie. I'm not certain of much, not much at all, but I'm certain of Natalie. It's impossibly comforting to have a friend like that.

The entire Television Without Pity's Tumblr. Here are all the posts with a Parks and Rec tag. First, you're welcome. Second, kiss your day goodbye.

Rhi in Pink's "Getting in the Picture" -- Rhi's post is in response to this post, that's gone viral, and I love them both. Let me tell you a story: When Kyle was born a friend offered to take his newborn shots for free and they were fantastic, I loved them all, but I refused to get in any of them. I (thought I) was fat, I was exhausted, I was anxious, I couldn't imagine ever having an almost-four-year-old and regretting a lack of self in his baby photos. All I was thinking at the time was, Please don't scream through this, buds. Yet here I am, without a face in those photos. You will regret it, if this is you now. You will wish you could look back on your 27-year-old, new-to-motherhood face. Get in the picture, please.

Feels like as good a time as any to link to my recent Food and Style Lush posts, because they're both things I considered posting over here. Kyle's behavior chart, something I've mentioned a few times on Twitter (in short: it might be our best parenting idea to date, not that it was OUR idea or anything). A review of Eataly, a delicious gourmet market and handful of restaurants in New York, where I ate one delightful night on my recent trip.

I'm a book industry and book marketing nerd, so you might not find this fascinating at all, but as book readers, you just might. "Are Publishers Making a Killing on E-Books?" (Part one and part two.)

Any great links from your corner of the internet?

Ten (Not-So) Quick Takes Because I'm Feeling Chatty

1. I read to Kyle almost every night. This is simply My Thing in our house, even if Mike is around. No matter who does the PJ wrangling, the tooth-brushing reminding, the "STOP STALLING" yelling, I am the one to snuggle in with him to read a couple books. This is one thing I own in our house, this job of Book Reader, and it's a real full-circle kind-of role because if you ask me what I remember most about my own mother from my own childhood, I will tell you how she read to me. How she read so lovely, how she always seemed her most perfect self when she was reading to me, and every night I hoped hoped hoped she would read just one more book. Every night Kyle asks for just one more book.

Anyway, that was a very sweet lead-up to THIS: tonight as I finished up his book of choice (it's been Berenstain Bears' Picnic for like a solid month), I gave him a hug, a dozen kisses, another hug, and then he cupped my face in his hands and said oh-so sweetly, "Mommy can I give you a high-five on your cheek?" "That's called hitting, Kyle." "NO! NO IT'S NOT!" "Well whatever euphemism you've chosen, the answer is no."

Kids, man.

2. We're headed to California this weekend. I know, how did that happen? I am such a ridiculous vacation planner that trips are scheduled and booked and researched MONTHS and MONTHS in advance and then I shelve them and then they sneak the fuck up on me and all of the sudden we're on a plane and that's got to be confusing for the people in our lives and in our computers.

Anyway, we're going to celebrate a friend's 30th birthday. (Cherie! You know Cherie! She's the better half of Cherry Jean and she's also one of the best friends a person could ever hope to have.) She was so kind as to come to Vegas for my 30th birthday, so we had to reciprocate. We're taking the whole family on this trip (well, except Molly and let's not bring that up, she's bitter) and we're hitting the beach and going to Disneyland and also drinking adult drinks after our children go to sleep, oh yes.

When you ask Kyle what he's most excited about in California, he'll tell you 1) Riding on a whale (I've no clue) or 2) Legoland (Which we've not mentioned to him being in California because Legoland is 20 minutes from our house. IN TEXAS. Again I've no clue.)

Let's cross our fingers his mind is properly blown at Disneyland and I'm not going to have to guilt my three year old into humoring me.

3. THE BLATHERING SOLD OUT. I keep saying (to myself, to Mike, to the random internet friend who will listen to me) that it feels like a helluva lot of of hard work met a helluva lot of good luck. I'm just so excited we have our official people! And I'd now like to think about my Blathering Wardrobe. Here's where you come in. Saturday night is a wee bit fancier than the rest of the weekend and I want to get a new dress. Which do you prefer:

On the left is this one, and I'd color it up with a black blazer and black heels (maybe red/orange accessories?). On the right, the dress speaks for itself (check out the back) but I have no idea what shoes I'd wear. Black, maybe?

WHICH WOULD YOU PICK? WHAT WOULD YOU WEAR WITH EACH? (Heeelp!)

4. Mumford & Sons has a new album coming out next month (9/25!) and, guys, I'm an insane amount of excited. I actually thought to myself, "I should take off work to listen to the album on repeat all day," but then I realized I'd be out of town on a work trip that specific day, so taking the day off might be a wee bit problematic.

5. I taught my kid some yoga.

Speaking of yoga, in class the other day I thought to myself, "Wow, child's pose is awesome. I'd like a full yoga class with just this one pose." WHICH IS BASICALLY ONE STEP ABOVE NAPPING. It's basically stretching on the couch during an episode of The Vampire Diaries. I invented that.

6. On Style Lush, Hillary, one of my absolute favorites, asked what your timeless, classic, always-on-repeat albums are. I answered with indie folk, Texas country, and Christian worship. I confuse even myself, to be honest. What are yours?

7. I recently remembered something really wonderful and sweet my dad said to me on my wedding day. I hadn't remembered until then, and, wow, I wish I had remembered sooner.

8. Have I told you my sister is coming to Texas for Christmas? Rachel hasn't visited since Kyle was a baby, and her entire family has never been, and my boy has never met her boy, and I'm SO CRAZY EXCITED. I really am. I text her often with questions like, "Do you like wine trains?" and other things like "We're picking the Mexican restaurant, it'll be delicious, we promise/hope."

I can't remember the last Christmas morning I spent with both my mom and my sister. Don't judge if I put our tree up October 1st, and have already nearly planned our entire Christmas menu.

9. I have started a Facebook policy that is basically this: If you're an asshole, I'll unfriend you. I don't care if I shouldn't unfriend you, if you're my cousin's best friend and I might run into you at some random picnic in a couple years. I especially don't care if my only tie to you is high school English. If you are being stupid and saying thoughtless, mean things, I'm just going to go ahead and rid my social media life of you, instead of trying to make you see the error or your ways (which you won't). This has led to my Facebook feed being a very pleasant place to be. I rarely get riled up (by Facebook) and I think I may survive this election after all.

10. Mark your calendars, my friends, Sons of Anarchy returns 9/11. I'm thinking of recapping the episodes here, for no other reason than I REALLY WANT TO. Also, the promos stress me out already. The actual show is going to bring out the ALL CAPS, I am sure, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Week 1 of Half Training: Highs & Lows

I said I wasn't going to recap my half-marathon training by week this time around and here I am recapping my half-marathon training by week this time around. I will work on being a person of my word in 2013.

Anyway, I thought I'd break this week into the highs and lows, the winners and losers, the silver linings and the you've-got-to-be-kidding-mes, if you will.

The Highs

1. New shoes!

2. I went to a yoga class alone. Okay, you're probably squinting your eyes at the screen now, convinced you read that wrong, but nope. That's kind of a big deal in my little world. While I love group exercise (and love groups in general), I really only love group exercise with a friend. I'm shy in big groups when I'm flying solo. (Is that surprising?) So, I sucked it up and went to yoga last week all by myself, even though I was a bundle of nerves. Of course, it was fiiiine. No one laughed directly at me, and I made it out in one piece. Little victories!

3. These delicious and so-easy-to-make tacos. 

4. I did (nearly) everything on my training plan last week. Self high-five! I even felt GOOD after my 1.5 miles run last night. I'm sure that'll change next run. Running doesn't let you feel impressed with yourself for very long. Oh, running.

5. I totally curbed late-night snacking (which is my diet KRYPTONITE, you guys) all last week, and the scale reflected a loss this morning.

The Lows

1. I got sick last week. A sinusy/head cold-type thing. IN AUGUST! I have been cranky and bitter about it. I rarely get sick and then I get a cold when it's 108 degrees outside? (Come ON immune system. Step up!)

2. I indulged a little too much on Saturday (my no-rules day) and felt sluggish and gross all Saturday night/Sunday morning.

3. I need a dozen more sports bras so I don't have to do the laundry so much during this training schedule. (That's a weird low, but can we agree that more laundry is always a low, NO MATTER THE CAUSE?)

Revisiting Thirty Before Thirty

Years ago, I wrote a Thirty Before Thirty list. Since that birthday has come and gone and we're already half-way to 31 (I say we like you're invested in my aging process), I thought I'd revisit the list, to check out my success rate.

***

1. Sit down and talk, candidly and openly, with my father. And not about sports or movies or American Idol. I'm not quite ready to expand but I did this. I did this more than once. Pass me a drink.

2. Take a cross-country road trip and eat locally the entire time. Wow, 26-year-old me thought she would have some generous vacation time in her future, didn't she? I did take a cross-multiple-state road trip and ate well except for the times I ate at Burger King. I think this practically counts.
3. Sip on mimosas at brunch with my mom and my sister.
4. Scrapbook my engagement and my wedding. Why did I ever think scrapbooking was for me? I pass on this goal. I do want to make a photo book of my wedding/honeymoon, so I'll add that to the before-35 list.
5. Send out every birthday card I intend to for an entire year. (Same goes for anniversaries and births.) Ambitious, Jennie!
6. Have a child with my husband. My buds. I'm so grateful.
7. Go to my 10-year high school reunion ... skinny. I rocked that reunion.
8. Speaking of, LOSE THESE THIRTY STUPID POUNDS. Lost them, gained them, lost them, gained them. You know how it annoyingly goes.
9. Take Mike to Tulsa and introduce him to my uncle and aunt, two people I haven't seen since I was 13. The two people in question didn't deserve to meet Mike. I did take him to Tulsa to hang out with my grandma, who we love--we go once a year or so--and that's absolutely enough for me.
10. Buy Texas A&M season tickets. Past Jennie was delusional about both her vacation time and her bank account.
11. Become a full-time and money-earning writer. I have been paid (many times!) for my writing, and I'm grateful for that. I'm also grateful for my full-time job that has a lot of writing involved.
12. Run a half-marathon. Wait, let me rephrase slightly: finish a half-marathon. I added the halves and don't even feel guilty for that.
13. Go back to Tahoe City and eat breakfast at Rosie's, the place Mike and I ate breakfast together two days after we got married. I still really want to do this. I think for our ten-year anniversary.
14. Change my social security card.
15. Go to the Oprah show. Preferably when she's giving cool shit away. Sad face.
16. Buy a car.
17. Buy a house. It's a pretty house, too.
18. Take my child to both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Our time on the west coast! We have Atlantic Ocean plans in the works over the next couple years.
19. Send my husband to Vegas without me. This year, I think! He's going in December with some friends.
20. Build up a recipe collection and cook consistently. My Pinterest recipe board is killer, for reals. Also, I cook way more often than I did in 2007.
21. See a therapist and sort out the last of the things that need to be sorted out. Working on it!
22. Pay off every last cent of my debt. HA!
23. Watch my brother graduate from high school (holy hell, how is this only three years away?).
24. Meet a handful of incredible women who inspire me to be a more honest and stronger woman. This was in reference to some blog friends and I met them and loved them and want them to all move to my street.
25. Finish every book I own. I need to stop buying more books, I'll tell you that much.
26. See Greenday in concert (you with the eye rolling; who invited you?) So awesome.
27. Visit Portland. A couple of times! (I especially liked the time Mike surprised me with a trip.)
28. Dance to Journey with my son or daughter in the middle of the living room.
29. Take my mom on a spa weekend, just us. We should really do this. A spa weekend sounds glorious.
30. Forgive myself for all of it. Working on it.

Half Full

So, it's July.

I know this to be true because: 1) IT'S STUPID HOT (although not as hot as last year, small miracles); 2) the calendar says so; 3) my internal panic mode was jammed into the "on" position last week--as we hit mid-year--over all the things I have yet to accomplish in 2012. (My internal panic mode basically chants "FAIL" over and over, how about yours?)

I was expanding on my internal panic mode by detailing all the ways in which I've failed so far this year (not skinny enough, house not clean enough, Kyle still doesn't know how to open a champagne bottle for me) and then I told myself to just quit all that, immediately. The world keeps turning no matter how messy my kitchen or how often I have to get my own champagne. Tragically keeps turning on the latter, of course.

Anyway, instead of beating myself up over all I have to do and all I want to do and all I am legally obligated to do (someone remind me to get my car inspected, please), here's what 2012 has included so far, and it's not bad, my friends. Not bad at all.

1. Kept raising that too-awesome kid of ours.
2. Became a vegetarian. (That photo is of these delicious black bean sliders.)
3. Took a much-needed, so-fun girls' trip to Wimberley, TX.
4. Welcomed our new baby niece to the world. She's a keeper.
5. Walked (and snorkeled) the beaches of Culebra, PR.
6. Threw an engagement party for Kristie and Duvain. Congrats again, you two!
7. Finally brunched at Cafe Modern. Something that's been on my to-do list for a bunch of years.
8. Celebrated five (crazy) years of being married to Mike.
9. Kyle's first merry-go-round!
10. Launched a small business (Cherry Jean) with my friend Cherie. We've sold 50+ shirts this year so far. You should buy one!
11. Made a family yearbook.
12. Hung out with wild horses. No bigs.
13. Visited a black sand beach. Something I've always wanted to do, but something I didn't realize I could do outside of Hawaii. (I don't know why I thought this. Perhaps Hawaii is spreading lies.)
14. Dyed Easter eggs with Kyle for the first time.
15. Walked around Old San Juan.
16. Visited Fort Worth's food truck park.
17. Introduced Kyle to the world of track riding. He's already smitten and Mike is already beaming. (That same trip, we also got to spend time with my grandma. Something I didn't get to do at all last year.)
18. Discovered Sons of Anarchy. (Like that wouldn't make the list.)
19. Drove to Austin, to (finally) introduce blog babies to each other.
20. Threw Kristie a bachelorette party where we 1) had so much fun and 2) realized that 30 might be the official age to retire tequila shots.
21. Threw Kyle a pretty kick-ass third birthday party, at least according to the guests who wouldn't leave the balloon room. And according to Kyle, who began planning his fourth birthday party the next day. That's my boy.
22. Visited Vieques.
23. Held my best friend's (of 19 years!) new baby boy. Jack, you're the best.
24. Kayaked in the ocean, right after a beach bonfire.
25. Went to the Dallas premiere, where I wore Target and everyone else did not wear Target.

***

The year is half over. Half full, indeed.

Seven Quick Takes

(My friend A'Dell does these "seven quick takes" posts from time to time -- she put one up last week, in fact -- and I'm blatantly stealing this idea from her because that's what you get to do when you're friends with smart people. Steal their ideas and then serve them cocktails so they'll forgive you.)

1. I actually meant that cocktail part literally. I made this lemon light cocktail for Kristie and A'Dell for Mother's Day, and it was delicious. Make one for yourself tonight because it's Wednesday and sometimes Wednesdays need cocktails.

2. I also posted on Style Lush about my (sad and pathetically) bare living room wall and how I need to do something with this wall before I just give Kyle a book of stickers and let him go to town. Anyway, I think I've very nearly narrowed it down between filling it with different canvas prints or a bunch of symmetrical (but very large) white framed photos of our travels. Anyone want to vote to sway me one way or the other?

3. I woke up terribly sick at about 2am this morning, and I was up most of the night and most of this morning awfully, horribly, miserably sick sick sick. I haven't been that sick since, well, Kyle. I'm not pregnant, no need to let your mind wander there, but oooooh did it remind me of being pregnant and it reminded me how sweet time can be, to make you forget how awful being that sick really is. (It is just so awful.) Anyway, I'm already feeling better, although not quite 100%, but I'm going to spend the next few days crossing every appendage I've got that my boys miss the puking bullet.

4. There are many posts flying around and pins being pinned about Fun Summer Activities, and while nothing really changes for my house this time of year it's no secret that I really hate summer. I loathe it, in fact. It's just hard to describe how miserable it can be here, especially coming off of last year's brutal summer. So, I'd like to plan some fun activities that help me enjoy the next few months instead of complaining day and night about the heat while never leaving the couch because it's JUST. SO. HOT. OMG. ANYWAY, all that to say, I hope to come up with my own Fun Summer Activity List soon.

5. I still owe you (as if you've been DYING for it) one last Puerto Rico post + the logistics and cost of the trip. That's a'coming! Soon. Ish.

6. Over the weekend, I was hanging up some clothes and Kyle came into our bedroom and said, "I need a hooker." I couldn't possibly have heard him right, so I asked him to repeat it and he said the same thing over. After many back and forths of "what do you need?" "A hooker!" I finally figured out that's what he was calling clothes hangers. This is the kind of entertaining thing you have to look forward to, moms of crying newborns. Instead of correcting him (that wouldn't be fun at all) I asked him to go ask Mike for one. So, he took off down the hall yelling, "Daddy! I need a hooker!"

(I just typed hooker so many times, the searches to my blog over the next few weeks should be fun!)

He looks sweet but the mouth on this kid!

7. These shoes are impossibly expensive but I love them.

Things I've Accepted I'll Never Be

1. A gardner. I like the idea of gardening, of preparing a summer salad with fresh ingredients I grew myself, TAKE THAT WHOLE FOODS, but then I remember that I don't particularly like being outside unless cocktails are involved. I also know that the first time I found a bug on something I brought into my house TO EAT, I'd quit that hobby immediately. Growing food sounds awesome until you remember you're growing it in the same place spiders live.

2. A carefree car passenger. I should gaze out the window or hum to the radio or daydream, I really should, because I'm not behind the wheel (where I spend so much of my time as a commuter). And I think all that stuff sounds swell, I'd be totally interested if you weren't such a shitty driver.

3. A Mad Men fan. I talk about tv a lot around here, enough that I bet a few of you close your browsers a wee bit concerned over my investment in characters who are not actual people, but here is why I cannot get invested in Mad Men: The entire cast is miserable. I need at least one character to consistently smile on a show for me to watch it, that's my new rule. 

I also apparently like my tv crushes to either be a little unkempt (see Jax Teller, Tim Riggins, Lip from Shameless) or a vampire, and Mad Men offers me neither of these types.

4. A non-worrier. You don't have to convince me that worrying isn't an actual productive way to solve a problem, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that worrying is a real issue for me only when I let it stop me from 1) being happy or 2) doing the things over which I worry. I'm a pretty happy person, most of the time, and I also think I say yes a lot more than I say no, even if my mind is bursting with one giant all-capped CRAP while saying yes. So, I'm going to accept that worrying is just a part of who I am. I'll try to curb it, keep it reasonable, but I'm never going to be one of those people who stops using the all caps.

What about you?

Missed, Part Two

Part one is here.

1. I thought about adding him to the first post I wrote years ago because we had already drifted apart by then. But, I hoped the months without talking would lead into months of better contact. I don't know if I've seen him since, though. Nothing happened -- no falling out or bad argument, and there are still "heard that old song and thought of you"-type texts from time to time -- but he's a single urban professional and I'm a married suburban mom and there are only so many meals you can sit down to together to relive the good old days before it becomes painfully clear there are no new memories to talk about. Still. Oh still. There are simply no words for how much his friendship once meant to me. 

2. We're still friends, technically, and I wish her all the best in all the world but there was a time we were inseperable. We would laugh so hard, I'd end up spilling tears, and friendships with that much laughter are so rare, so special. You can't stay that close with someone forever, of course, as you both grow up and get jobs and make families and move to different cities. Life just can't be an all-night laugh-fest in a college dorm forever, but you hope the friendship might evolve as the years barrel on. Ours didn't, and that's okay. It really is okay, but laughing until you cry is pretty okay too. 

3. I dated him for a couple months, maybe not even that long. He was the rare Democrat in a sea of young conservatives at my school, and it was so refreshing to find him. At lunch one day, I looked down at my phone and realized we'd been talking for hours, and he had missed his next class. "I'm so sorry! You needed to go!" "I'd rather be here," he said, and that's always how he made me feel, that he wanted to be with me, no matter what we were doing. While it ended when it needed to and I never wished it hadn't, I still wish I could thank him for reminding a broken 19 year old that she was worth talking to for hours.

4. I saw her at my high school reunion and she was just the same. Loud and full of life and beautiful and fun, just like all those years ago, and she put me instantly at ease just like all those years ago. I always enjoyed every minute I spent with her, but we lost touch for all the same pointless, stupid reasons every pair of great friends loses touch: geography, busy schedules, new friends, new loves. I hate that people can be so careless with the relationships they care about. I hate that we just let friendships end, not because we want them to or need them to but because we fool ourselves into thinking we can always reconnect tomorrow.

5. She was my dance teacher in high school and she was -- hands down, without a doubt -- the best teacher I've ever had in any subject or hobby. She was so damn tough, she left us all in a heap of sweat on the floor at the end of every class, and she smirked about it the entire time. She pushed and pushed and pushed and she never let us go a minute early but usually ten minutes late and she'd look at us with a gleam in her eye that said, "I dare you to complain. Just try it." We never did. I wanted to do one particular type of leap that I kept struggling with -- it was a tough move -- and she said, "Go home, move your furniture, and practice it over and over and over until you get it." Practice, that was her only advice. Keep going, she would scream at us. Again, she'd bark. She never expected us to be perfect, but she'd rage if we ever dared to give up. We became great because of her.

I got a call late one night a few years later. She was killed in a car accident. I never thanked her for all she taught me. 

6. He took me to a fancy dinner when I didn't have a Homecoming date and out for ice cream when I didn't have a Valentine's date and he'd leave me hilarious messages on my answering machine because he knew they made me laugh even if he never once saw me laugh while listening to them. My freshman year of college, I did something pretty shitty to another friend, and most of our mutual friends stopped speaking to me for a while. Except him. He stayed by my side for those painful few weeks of cold shoulders. It's so clear when I look back on our friendship that before Mike, no one really loved me for me like he did. I would have laughed in your face if you had told me back then that we'd stop speaking one day. Never, I would have thought. Not until we're both dead and gone. Life can be so predictable on the one hand and then break us in half with surprise on the other.

Confessions

- I have kind of a foul vocabulary. I wish I cared about fixing that, but I just don't. Those bad words get me through commuting during rush hour.

- I sometimes think I would like to attend church. For the community, the connection, the service to others, but I just fundamentally disagree with too many parts of organized religion that I don't think I ever will (or ever will again, I should say).

- I'm good with only having one child, but I wish it didn't feel like I'm making such a strange choice. Mainly, I just wish I had more people to talk with about the joys and challenges of deciding to have an only child.

- I like IHOP. Kind of a lot.

- I either feel super organized or super unorganized, no in between. 

- I yell at Molly too much. It's a wonder that dog hasn't bitten me yet. She whines all the time, she's impossible on a leash, she paces, she's way more high-maintenance than my kid, and it drives me insane sometimes at the end of a very long day. I love her to pieces, though, which is where the mad guilt comes in. 

- I am not all "everyone should love kids!" or "my kid deserves to be adored all the time!" (not at all) but I get really irked when Kyle smiles or says hi to a stranger and they ignore him. Would you ignore an ADULT who was being friendly to you? (To be fair, some asshats would.) Kids are actual people, with pulses, so common courtesies should apply to them too. 

- I think I'm a good mom in a lot of ways, but I don't feel I know much about raising a kid (in the general sense). Whenever I see Twitter spilling over with parenting advice or parenting tips or parenting talk of any kind, I feel like a chip is missing in me. I'm all, "How do you people KNOW so much stuff?" Many people with just one kid, like me. I'm coming to the conclusion that these people read actual parenting books or other important material instead of watching the CW.

- I think I want a pair of TOMS. 2010 me is so pissed off right now.

- My car is a mess, usually always. 

- This may be kind of a tricky subject, but I get big-time irritated when Mike is overly praised for parenting. He's a good parent and that should be acknowledged (and I'm the first to acknowledge he's a fabulous dad and Kyle is a lucky kid) but he is not doing something revolutionary by taking his kid to a restaurant or being the initial potty-trainer. It's just what you do as half a parenting team.

- Big things I'd like to do in life: write a book, organize a race, go mountain climbing, visit Spain, start a charity, learn to play the violin, live in a different country for a few months. I fear I won't do any of these. 

What are your confessions these days?

My 2011

(2007, 2008, 2009, 2010; first inspired all those years ago by Linda)

1. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?

I ran a half-marathon, started a book club, got a Brazilian bikini wax (ouch), went to a Cubs game, visited Utah, introduced Kyle to some of Mike's family, watched my brother graduate high school. This was a year of a lot of firsts. Happy to see that in hindsight..

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

My list got dusty this year, but I have high hopes for 2012. 

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

A handful of close friends (including A'Dell) and then nearly every other friend got pregnant. 2011: the year of the belly! 

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Mike's great-aunt's husband, who we weren't close to, but it turns out he was a pretty fascinating guy. I wish we hadn't waited to hear his stories until after he was gone. 

5. What countries did you visit?

Just the U.S., but I managed to get to eight states. That's something! Washington, Illinois, New York, California (twice), Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you didn't have in 2011?

I'd like to have a grown-up, well-decorated, well-organized, mostly-clean-most-of-the-time house.

7. What dates from 2011 will be etched upon your memory, and why?

December 4th, my first half-marathon and December 25th. We had a really lovely Christmas this year and I'd like to keep that memory close.

8. What was your biggest achievement of this year?

That pesky half-marathon but, also, every early morning or long run I finished this summer and fall. They were each accomplishments in their own right.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Anytime I yelled or lost my patience at someone in my immediate family always sucks it big time, and I'm going to try much harder in 2012 to keep my cool. I also gained most of the weight back I lost during Biggest Blogging Loser. New year, new start, my friends.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

It was a much healthier year for my family except for Mike's 75 Man Colds and a handful of daycare-caused things. Those were all annoying, but nothing will compare to 2009: the year Kyle was sick every two weeks. I am shocked I still have a job.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Every year it's always travel-related things: plane tickets, hotel rooms, nice dinners in new towns. I never regret the trips I take or the memories I make on them.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Is it super cheesy to say Kyle's? I loved the shit out of age two and I'm weepy over the thought of saying goodbye to it. Not because I don't want Kyle to get older, but I just fell in love with this age. He was hilarious, sweet, fun, and so funny much of the time. 2011 wasn't my favorite year in some ways, but I sure loved loved loved being a mom this year.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

I'll just say this: You can't argue with crazy. You can sip wine while crazy argues alone.

14. Where did most your money go?

Bills. Daycare. Our (stupid) car fixes. Travel.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

An endless list of things from new Gossip Girl episodes to trips to Vegas. But, I think what I enjoyed the most was our family road trip this summer. It was everything I wanted it to be and then some. Except Roswell. What a complete let down that town was.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011?

Probably any song by Adele. I think it was the music industry's goal for 2011 to overplay every one of her songs.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?

Happier: yes
Thinner: unfortunately, the same 
Richer: yes 

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Gone to bed earlier

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Comfort eat, stress, shriek, overreact, worry. Will I ever learn?

20. How did you spend Christmas?

We had such a nice weekend, at home, with our family, my mom, and Mike's parents. 

21. Did you fall in love in 2011?

I loved it before, of course, but this year I fell in love with motherhood in new, cool ways. I also fell in love with some big ideas I've got. Stay tuned.

22. What was your favorite TV program?

Shockingly: Friday Night Lights. Runners-up: Parks and Rec & Awkward. 

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

This isn't a person, but I really hated summer this year. It was just impossibly brutal and soul-sucking. If we ever leave Texas, I'll probably look back on this summer as the official catalyst.

24. What was the best book you read?

Water for Elephants

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

I lamely didn't discover much new music this year that wasn't playing on a CW show. Maybe this is a good time to ask you for great music recommendations to carry me into 2012? 

26. What did you want and get?

I wanted a girl's night out dinner for my birthday. I wanted to finish the half-marathon without having to crawl across the finish line. I  wanted to see my brother graduate high school. I wanted happy family memories. Got, got, got, got.

27. What did you want and not get?

Those damn investment jeans. This year, you'll be mine, jeans!

28. What was your favorite film of 2011?

I didn't see much but I really enjoyed Midnight in Paris. All you nerdy writer types would, too. 

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 29 way back in January, and I had a gathering at my house and then went out the next night for a fancy dinner with all my girls. It was perfect.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Lottery jackpot, reliable cars, a less brutal summer, no commute.  

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept of 2009?

Cute on special occassions, slobby at work. I have got to change that.

32. What kept you sane?

You, Mike, Kyle, Kristie on all those long runs, bad tv, sparkling wine, running, my book club, my running club, Pinterest. 

33. What political issue stirred you the most?

Same, most years: gay marriage might be against your religion but that actually works out fine since no one is forcing you into one. People just want to be able to get married far away from you and your beliefs, and why we're still having this discussion at the beginning of 2012 is beyond me. I get angrier and angrier about it each year. 

(I am sure I don't mean you as in you but the more "general you" part of the population that is against this civil right.)

34. Who did you miss?

If you don't live in driving distance, I miss you. 

35. Who was the best new person you met?

At the beginning of the year, I got an email from Jen, a friend from college. We were in a few classes together and were also in the same sorority but were never that close. Anyway, she found my blog and the Biggest Blogging Loser competition, which she then joined. We began emailing more and more.

She was in Chicago at the time, so when Mike and I went for a long weekend, we met up with her and her husband Adam for a Cubs game, a lot of beers, and a delicious dinner. It was one of the highlights of our trip.

She then moved to Dallas this fall, and has become such a good friend. While I didn't officially meet her this year, it's been so great getting to know her and hanging out with a couple we really like. 

I'm also glad to have met and become close with some new blog friends: Erica, Julie, Caitlin, Kate, Tara, and a handful more. 

Good year for my circle of people.

36. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.

See #13.

Also:

- I need to start believing in myself as much as I believe in those around me. I'll be the first to tell you that you can do something, that you're awesome and capable and strong, but I get all negative and tough on myself in a totally similar situation. I don't know where that comes from or why but I learned this year that the only way to get me across any finish line (figuratively, literally) is to believe I can get there. 

- Life is not a linear experience and so many interactions come back to us, at some point. So be nice to people, as much as possible. 

- If you go to bed after midnight, you wake up feeling like you went to bed after midnight.

37. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

Not that this lyric really sums up 2011, but it was nice to hear it this year and then I kept returning to it for comfort when I needed it:

Always remember, there is nothing worth sharing
Like the love that let us share our name
--"Murder in the City" by the Avett Brothers

***

I hope your year was happy, my friends, and I really hope that 2012 knocks it out of the park. I look forward to sharing next year with you and hearing all about yours in return.  

My Very Grand 2012 To-Do List

For some reason I thought tossing the word "grand" into the title might make this the best and most crossed-off list to date. Only time will tell if my optimism is really insanity. (Here are my 2010 and 2011 lists!) 

Anyway, I brought a lot of things over that went untouched in past years but are still very much things I still want to do. If I haven't done these things in two years, you might ask how much I really want them, but to that I say: it's not that I'm in denial, it's just that I'm really, really tired most of the time. I also tried to be much more concrete in my plans this year. It's downright hard to cross something vague-to-define off any list and I really like drawing lines through things. 

So, here we go!

My Very Grand 2012 To-Do List

1. Create a business plan for the 5K I'd like to organize.
2. Finally buy those investment jeans.
3. Get brave with a new hair color.
4. Read all my book club selections.
5. Make Kyle's baby blanket and book of letters.
6. Take at least one yoga class a month.
7. Make a neighborhood friend.
8. Organize the upstairs work space.
9. Go to the Fort Worth Modern Art Museum and eat lunch at Cafe Modern.
10. Write and submit a piece on parenting.
11. PR in every distance (5K, 10K, half-marathon).
12. Get a third tattoo.
13. Throw a baby shower.
14. Take a trip with Mike, to celebrate our fifth anniversary.
15. See a therapist.
16. Update my SS card and passport.
17. Make a general doctor's appointment.
18. Go horseback riding.
19. Decide what to do with my race bibs.
20. Make these envelopes for thank you cards.
21. Create and fill up a magical thinking jar.
22. Paint some mason jars for our kitchen.
23. Do something with the space above our couch.
24. Create a nostalgia wall on the wall by our stairs.
25. Sneak in cans of champagne to a chick flick with friends.
26. Replace our kitchen counters.
27. Have a garage sale and donate half the money to our local food bank.
28. Create an address wreath for our front door.
29. Paint our front door.
30. Run at least 250 miles throughout the year.
31. Find a charity that speaks to me, that I can become a voice for.
32. Say something out loud every day.
33. Go back to College Station.
34. Pose for a boudoir session.
35. Wear pretty new under things on New Year's Day.
36. Enjoy Boston cream pie cupcakes.
37. Host a more organized run at this year's Blathering.
38. Take a family trip, even if it's just a weekend drive somewhere nearby.
39. Hold Natalie's baby boy in the hospital.
40. Create an Activities Advent Calendar for an early month in 2012.
41. Create my Christmas Plan by November 1st.
42. Create a media kit for my Lush sites.
43. Replace our stockings for 2012.
44. Buy a tree skirt.
45. Go to kickboxing, at least five times.
46. Sell 50 shirts through Cherry Jean.
47. Finish the 6-week boot camp class I've already paid for.
48. No phone or computer between 6 pm - Kyle's bedtime.
49. Start marathon prep.
50. Host a champagne-inspired dinner (champagne risotto, champagne cocktails, etc.)
51. Do something with our front porch. 
52. Take Kyle on a night out of town, just us two. 
53. Eat at Salsa Fuego, in Fort Worth,
54. Throw Mike a very rad 35th birthday party.
55. Re-read To Kill a Mockingbird.
56. Post on She Likes Purple at least 3x a week.
57. Play poker.
58. Volunteer at a race.
59. Karaoke, at least once!
60. Regularly work out the month of December.
61. Write a fictional story (here, on paper, submitted, somehow)
62. Hit send on a hard email.
63. Host an outdoor movie night in our yard.
64. Wear a swimsuit.  
65. Put a new pin in our wall map. 
66. Buy a great pair of impractical heels.
67. See Beauty & the Beast in a theater, again.
68. See the Nutcracker, Christmas season 2012.
69. Run 15 miles, at some point.
70. Get a new blender and food processor. 
71. Go to the ballet. 
72. Take professional family photos.
73. Write a letter to Mike once a month.
74. Do 10 real push-ups and one pull-up.
75. Run 3 miles on my 30th birthday.

***

A few more vauge-ish-type things I want to keep in mind this year:

• If I love them, I shouldn't talk badly about them
• Speak calmly and rationally, even if the other person isn't
• Get better and more knowledgable at social media marketing because I love it
• Clean the house regularly or just finally figure out how to afford a housekeeper
• Alwyas be as nice as possible to Mike because there is simply no one else I like more
• Smile more
• When I know what I'm doing, confidence comes easy
• Do the laundry more often
• Cook more often, especially when things get more stressful
• Don't apologize for crying at the One Tree Hill series finale
• Go to bed earlier, get up earlier
• Say yes as often as it feels right to. Same for saying no.

I have a good feeling about 2012. I hope you do too.