Friday, November 19, 2010

New Design

Being sick and staying in bed all day is bad.

Having an opportunity for a job dropped in your lap is good.

Seeing your niece and hanging out with a sister-in-law you don't have to pretend to like is priceless.

In other news, I'm working on the brevity of my writing style. I have a job offer, so keep your fingers crossed, and I am feeling much better today, although I did still sleep inordinate amounts of the day away. Tonight is date night to see Harry Potter with the husband! We're treating ourselves to popcorn and everything since it's such a momentous occasion. I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving and having a break from research paper-ness. That's about all. Hope you like the new design. It's much more me.

Update: Harry Potter on the IMAX screen was definitely worth it. There were more humorous moments than I expected, but I figure you need those to maintain such a dark plot for 4+ hours. I know the book too well, so any deviation from it caught my eye. Overall, they did a good job capturing the spirit of the book, if not the minute details of it.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

'Tis The Season

Well, not really yet, but I am attempting to organize our Christmas budget and gather gift ideas for the various family members we need to buy gifts for. Both sides of my extended family have drawn names, so now that I know who I'm looking for, I've decided to dedicate some time to the effort. I am a staunch believer that Christmas decor should stay hidden until after Thanksgiving, but gift buying can be a year-round pursuit. As my first Christmas as a married woman approaches, the list of people to find thoughtful and budget-conscious gifts for has more than doubled.

I've received wonderful suggestions from some family members, and I've already decided what others will be receiving, but now the challenge is to reciprocate with helpful suggestions as to what I would like to receive. Keeping in mind that my husband and I live in an amply furnished apartment and I just received everything on my wish list for my birthday, picking out requests is a challenge. So, as I surf the Web to find inspiration for gifts to give, I'm hoping to stumble upon some small items I'd like to receive.

Here are a few fun finds:

Book Cover Postcards

Initial Necklace

Ticket Stub Diary

Leatherbound Classic Books

How do you approach Christmas shopping? Is it a joy, a challenge, a last minute sprint? All of the above?

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Homecoming

Once again, I've been busy, and until my term papers are turned in the first week of December, that won't change. However, most of my presentations and smaller papers are complete, so I took the weekend off to visit friends in Searcy. It was a wonderful weekend, filled with food (seems to be the emerging theme of this blog) and relaxed visiting. I was reminded how blessed I was to attend Harding and how many awesome friends and experiences I have there.

I stayed with one of my bridesmaids, and since I didn't feel like I got to really visit with anyone at our beautiful, yet monstrously huge wedding, we had LOTS of catching up to do. While watching movies, sipping coffee, and working on a puzzle, I was able to casually see almost everyone I wanted to see. There are notable exceptions, such as Cara and Alexis, but the relaxed atmosphere and the sheer number of people I casually visited with was fantastic.

Obviously I missed my husband. Well, maybe it's not obvious if you don't know our long distance background, but after almost five months of marriage and being together uninterrupted it was difficult to be away for a few days. It made me thankful that our long distance phone-dependent relationship days are behind us.

I suppose the theme of this post and my last weekend was a sense of the overwhelming blessings in my life and an appreciation for the past and how God has brought me to where I am now. Friends, Husband, undergraduate experience (club, roommates, newspaper, Italy, major, etc.) all made me who I am, and thankfully I can look back fondly at the events and still have the people in my life.

Maybe someday I'll post something less reflective and start writing about everyday stuff rather than big events, but the title is "My Musings," so if you're reading you should have taken that as a warning of the sappiness quotient. Especially if you've followed my blog from its inception, which, if you have, thank you for reading. Readers like you are just another of my abounding blessings. :)