Nesting

I've had a lot of trouble 'nesting' in my new house. It's strange. I usually love to decorate my own space, whether that has been one wall and a bed, or a whole apartment. But since I got married, I have had decorators block. Maybe it's because I live with a boy, who I actually care if he likes it, or maybe it's all the wedding gifts that I feel like I should use, but don't always like.

Last weekend Steve and I went to Marshalls, and since I couldn't look at clothes (still going strong on not buying new clothes!) we looked at housewares. I found this awesome plate, which I loved immediately, and, even better, it was only $2.00! So I bought it.

It inspired me to take out all my random plates that I had picked up over the years, and display them!

I googled plate hangers, and they were either ugly or expensive (isn't that the way life goes?). Then I stumbled across this Martha Stewart gem! Steve and I went to Home Depot the next night, picked up some 18 gauge wire, and an hour later, we had this!

I couldn't get all five plates in one picture without the light glare, so you'll just have to imagine what they look like all in a row. Now that I see the second picture, though, I don't like the purple plate... I guess I'll just have to buy another new plate!

All I Have is Time

I'm working from home today, which means between IM's, reading through sources, and the other hundred things that make up a work day, I also get to do a little housework! I try to take 5-10 minute breaks every hour and do something useful, like put in a load of laundry or sweep the kitchen floor. Today loading the dishwasher was on my 5 minute task list, so I dutifully rinsed the dishes, and stuck them in the dishwasher. Like always, there were some dishes that can't be washed in the dishwasher. I was going to save them for later, like I usually do (and when I say later, I mean a few days later. Or until I need to use it. Or can't see the sink anymore...) but I thought to myself, why not just do it now? I put on my favorite song (still Party in the USA, if you're wondering, yes, I know, it's over a year old, and sung by Miley...) and started running the water.

I was done washing and rinsing the dishes and wiping off the counters before the song was over. I was so suprised! Seriously? That's all the time it takes to do a sink full of dishes? (The song is 3:22, I checked) Why don't I do that all the time? Can I really not spare an extra 3 minutes to really clean my kitchen well?

It made me wonder how many other things I put off becuase I "don't have the time", when I could proably get most of it done while I was making the excuse not to do it!

This reminded me of one of my favorite quotes, which used to be on my mirror, and will be again soon!

"Order your life more effectively and eliminate trivia, meaningless detail,
and activity. They waste the perishable, fixed, and limited resource of
time.
Choose to emphasize those matters that have an eternal consequence."

Richard G. Scott, Making the Right Choices

I just found out I can blog via text. My life may have just changed forever.

Things I Want

Today is my half birthday! It hit me a few weeks ago that I am almost 27... yikes! Most of the time I still feel like I'm 12. Ok, most of the time I still act like I'm 12 too...

I freaked out when I turned 20, because it sounded so old, and I still felt so dumb. I thought by the time I was 20 I would have life figured out! I would have a purpose! Direction! A lady in her 50's heard me saying this and started laughing. She kindly told me that you don't ever figure life out completely. You just do the best you can with what you have. I remind myself of that as every birthday approaches and I worry that I'm not where I should be at 'this age'.

But anyway...

If you're wondering what to get me, and this post didn't give you enough ideas, I have one more for you.

Happy shopping!

PS- No need to wait for a special occasion. I accept gifts all year! I also accept cash, check, and money order, in case you were wondering ;)

Winning Isn't Everything

It's no secret that I'm a huge Spurs fan. I jokingly tell people that I moved here because I was a Spurs fan, but it's more true than I care to admit. So you can imagine my happiness with our record this year. Top in the league baby, and the second best starting record in the NBA ever!!

And yet...

Only 3% of NBA players think that the Spurs have what it takes to win a championship. Why is this? Well, if you read anything Gregg Popvitch is saying, winning isn't everything. Sure, they have been able to pull out a lot of wins, but most of them have been by extremely small margins, and in the last few second of the games. Our defence is, well, embarrassing for most of the game, and we can't seem to pull it together until the second half. So while our win/loss record shows a good story, if you look deeper, the Spurs don't have what it takes the way they are playing right now. I have full faith they can get there, but only if they start pulling it together.

I think life is like this. We see people who seem to be 'winning', whatever that means. They have a great career, a great family, are beautiful, organized, have big beautiful homes, and perfect hair. I don't know about you, but it's hard for me not to envy those people. But if we look a little deeper, maybe there is something missing. Maybe they are so busy with their awesome jobs that they don't have enough time to do the really important things. Maybe their hyper-organization makes them stay awake at night with lists running through thier mind.

I'm not saying that we should look at others' lives and try to find what they are doing wrong just so we can feel better about ourselves. I'm just saying that we can't always look at the end result - the win - and assume that everything along the way has been right.

My Name is Bethany and I'm a Twitter Addict.

It has been... well, about an hour since the last time I checked Twitter.

I feel like sell out. I'm embarrassed to admit it... but I got a Twitter account.

And... I'm sort of addicted.

I only got the account because NMSU tweets all their games, so it was an easy way to keep up with my team. But NMSU was just a gateway tweet. I follow so many people now that I can check my account every hour and read something new. I now know that Bob Harper (of the Biggest Loser) had jury duty on Monday and DIDN'T GET TO WORK OUT. I know that Conan wore jeggings for his monologue. I know that at Target I can get free tubes of toothpaste with a coupon. I know what all my favorite bloggers are wearing/eating/doing.

Between this and Facebook, I think I might have a social media problem.

There Has to Be a Better Way!

I had a wicked bout of insomnia two weeks ago, and sometimes when I was not sleeping, I was watching infomercials (don't worry, I didn't clean out the fridge again). They are so funny, and always seem to use the same formula.

1. Show us how difficult our life is now. How can we possibly boil pasta/organize our closets/cut through a penny/open a carton of milk?? It's just too hard! There has to be a better way!
2. Show us a revolutionary new product that will change everything!! Now that we can boil pasta/organize our closets/cut through a penny/open a carton of milk, everything in our lives will be better! We will be happier, healthier, and more beautiful! Our families will get along! Our pets will be well behaved!
3. Throw in 'the extra'. Most of the time this is something that will allow us to get it done better and faster. All for the same low price! And if we call now, we get free shipping!

I've haven't bought anything from an infomercial (yet). I am an impulsive shopper at night (I did buy a magazine subscription, though. What? It was only $3.99 for a year!) so one of these days I'm sure I will. I have bought a few things that I've seen on TV at elsewhere:

• The Perfect Pancake- I'm not sure why it seemed so hard to turn a pancake over. I had plenty of spatulas in the drawer. It does not work like it should, though, there is a gap in the side and your pancakes will slide out if you're not fast! Don't even get me started with eggs...
• The Bumpit- I've always wanted big hair. All nature gave me was thin straight hair, though. I ordered my bumpit off eBay for a low low price of $8.00. It came from Hong Kong, so it took almost a month to get here. The next week I saw them at Walgreens for $9.00. Three weeks of big hair, wasted. Even though I had to wait for it, the bumpit was a dream come true (have you ever noticed how gross that looks written down??) I had a huge lovely bump! Until the day a guy asked me in church if I was wearing a bumpit. Honeymoon. Over. The bumpits (still looks gross. I may never get over this) now sit in a basket in my bathroom collecting dust, and I have returned to teasing my hair.

There are a few things I still want:

• A Snuggie- People might make fun of it, but I would be typing on my computer nice and cozily right now, instead of having cold arms if I had one...
• A Subakawa Cloud Pillow- It's like sleeping on a cloud! And (if you haven't seen this infomercial) you can totally put an egg under your pillow, drop a 10 pound weight on it, and it won't break! I could finally sleep with eggs under my pillow!!
• Pajama Jeans- Do I really need to explain? They're pajamas that look like jeans!!

My Official New Years Resolutions!

Last year I didn't make a New Years Resolution, I guess I was already perfect :). But this year I really wanted a goal to work for. Not just something general like lose weight or be better with my money, but something that I could really measure. I had a big list of things I wanted to do, but I decided to narrow it down to two. So. Drum roll please!

1) Run a 5k.
2) Only buy used clothes, shoes, and accessories for a year.

I have walked a few 5k's (how do you pluralize that??), but I want to run the full 3.1 miles without walking or stopping. I know this probably sounds easy to a lot of people, but I am not a runner by any means. I'm going to start with an easy walking program (found here) and move my way up to running using a podcast. The best part about starting with walking? Steve has agreed to do it with me! We'll see if I can talk him into starting the running portion in two more months!

There are a few reasons I want to exclusively thrift shop this year. First of all, I want to save money. At most thrift stores I can buy a whole outfit for what one shirt would cost me at a full price store. Second, it's more environmentally sound. Third, clothes are being made with worse quality all the time. It seems that anytime I buy something new it looks old after a few wears. Fourth, I feel the need to be more creative with my clothes, and shopping in regular stores seems to stifle that creativity.

So there you have it. Wish me luck!

So Long, Farewell

Well, Christmas is over. I can't help but be a little sad. Our apartment looks so empty with all the decorations gone. And I decided to change my blog decorations as well. Happy New Year!

10 in 11

Last year I posted a list of things to do in 2010. While I didn't quite get to all of them (I'm looking at you, #8!) it was super fun. So, here is my list of ten things in 2011!

1) Clean out my closet. I mean really clean it out. This goes for my dresser drawers too.
2) Buy a lace skirt. At a thrift store.
3) Run a 5k. Seriously. I'm going to do it this year.
4) Learn how to cook a super healthy, vegetarian meal. (Not that I want to be a vegetarian, but I do think I should eat less meat.)
5) Make something crafty for my house.
6) Read Anna Karina. I honestly don't know how I've made it 26 years without doing this...
7) Pay off my credit cards!!
8) Visit both of my grandmas.
9) Go to the zoo.
10) Find a cake to send to Cakewrecks.

Good Luck 2011, You Have Big Shoes to Fill

I have to be honest, I'm a little nervous about 2011. 2010 was such a big year, how can 2011 compete? In 2010 I:

1) Finished my Master's degree! After 18 months of not having a life, being chained to my computer, and stressing about assignments, I did it!! It feels so good not to have homework anymore! I get to read a book, just for fun, and not worry that I should be reading a textbook. Amazing!

2) Got a new job! How amazing is it to wake up in the morning and not hate the thought of going into work? Pretty amazing. And going to work and not being brain numb all day? Even more amazing! Getting out at a normal hour? Awesome! Working from home once a week? Best ever!

3) Got married!! What could top this?? At the end of 2009 I never would have thought that I would be spending the end of 2010 with Steve as my husband (I also didn't think I would spend it having a Star Wars marathon, but that's another post...). He has put up with me for almost six months (if you ask him, he'll say that he's put up with me a lot longer than that!) and every day I am amazed by him. His kindness, patience, sense of humor and innate goodness never cease to amaze me. I look at him sometimes and wonder how in the world I got so lucky. I'm so happy that he is mine to keep forever!

While 2010 is going to be hard to top, there are a few thing I will not miss! The angst of planning a wedding. The stress of trying to finish assignments and get them in on time. The many marriage pounds I have gained. The struggle the first few months of marriage, trying to put two lives together to make one. The suffocating feeling that I am failing at everything.

So here's to you, 2011. I promise to do my best to make you even better than 2010!