snuggles

One of my favorite parts of marriage is when I stir in my warm sleep

and awaken to my husband, gently taking my glasses off my face

putting my book on the bedside table (even if he doesn't remember to save my spot)

and covering me up to make sure I am warm and snuggled tightly in the covers.

It happens often, but makes me smile every time. I call it

pure bliss

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Traditions I Want to Save/Uphold/Begin for My Family*:

*Disclaimer: This is not an announcement that JT and my little family is growing anytime soon.

Good, now that that's settled, we can continue on with the list.

1) The importance of family: being close to, confiding in, supporting, praying for, and showing love for family. I didn't live close to my grandparents or cousins and regret not seeing them as much.

2) The Cosby Show. Thinking of buying the series on DVD. I want to be exactly like Mrs. Huxtable and solve everyone's problems with witty humor and perfectly timed cake. I won't give JT too much grief for licking the frosting before it's served, either.

3) Eating dinner together as a family. Not every night, because that's pretty much impossible, but much as humanly possible. Hopefully, they will prefer to be there!

4) I want to be able to teach my kids (at least the girls) how to sew and play the piano, two domestic essentials I don't have in my arsenal.

5) Love of playing outside: I once spent an entire afternoon tracking an ant from one side of my backyard to the other. I was always in a tree, jumping on the trampoline, and used to beg my mom to let me eat my pop-tarts on the driveway on summer mornings. I know life happens, but hopefully my kids will spend more time getting dirty than in front of a screen. Then again, look what happened when this mother let her kid play outside for too long :)

6) Christy Miller books. Everything I learned about growing up was from Christy and Todd.

7) Going to church together every week. JT and I have never skipped church unless we were sick or out of town. That aspect of family is important, too!

8 & 9) Music and Laughter: two important essentials I want to always be floating through my home. It will keep JT and me young and our kids worry-free as long as possible.

10) Bayton. I have a quilt named Bayton (I could not say "blanket") made by an old great aunt when I was born. It's pink and has all kinds of vintage fabric squares. It's the softest thing I've ever touched, even a baby's bottom. It's somehow the perfect size for my full-grown height -- I can tuck it under my toes and pull it under my chin. Even though I'm married, I still sleep with it. I want to make my kids one, because they sure as anything cannot have mine :)

11) Boy Meets World. Three words: Corey+and+Topanga.

12) Curiosity. I hope beyond all hope that I will not stifle my kids' curiosity by getting annoyed at their questions, but hope, explore, and believe with them and be inspired by them. I think my mom was great at that!

13) Not just before meals PRAYER, but a constant life of it. Something we depend on. I pray for him/her/them already, but I hope my kids will knock my socks off in this department as it's such an important part of life and I haven't been the best at it.

possessed

I came across this video today and love it so much!

"What would you have done if this was your little girl and that was you?" I asked JT.

"I would have been scared," he said. "I would have thought she was possessed."

Not Me! Monday

It's that time of week again! Time for us to take down our hair and 'fess up, courtesy of MckMama's brilliant mind!

As a productive wife who makes the best use of my time possible, I did NOT blow off housework Saturday after Pilates. And if I did, surely I would make up for it on Sunday, right?

I did NOT make three trips to Lowe's and one trip to Home Depot this weekend at my husband's bidding.

It was NOT me who spent hours obsessing this weekend over my company's Christmas party skit, and rewrite an entire 80s song to fit a cheesy topic.

As a mature adult, I would never confide my deathly fear of bees to two complete strangers on two separate occasions -- all in the five minute walk to my car. NOT me!

I did NOT go to every bookstore in town to see if they had the latest Anne and May release -- MULTIPLE times, sometimes within the same day. NOPE, NOT me!!

Last but not least, I did not buy fake UGG boots this weekend. I am about ten years too old for those, right? And I definitely did NOT tuck them into my pants even though I made fun of a mom for doing it just hours before.

JT and I did NOT go see Whip It and love it! And I did NOT just discover the band Owl City, who is kind of NOT growing on me.

Well that's what I have NOT been up to. Kind of boring, huh? Your turn!

weekly goals

1) clean my house

2) make enchiladas

3) revive my Project LGN blog

4) run 3-4 times (get back to medium distances, over 3 miles)

5) write 5 nights this week

6) get TONS done at work

7) get Anne and May's new book, A Little Help from My Friends. By the way, best cover art ever. See?

8) If I don't post pictures of a new haircut or tweet about it or something by the end of this week, find me, tie me up, and take me to the salon. It is absolutely necessary!

9) Cheer on the Texas Longhorns in the Red River Shootout on Saturday. It's gonna be a great game, as usual!

Must get some sleep!

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday, the liberating blog carnival that all started with MckMama! Kids or no kids, there are some things people just feel better about owning up to doing -- or NOT doing!

Like last week, when I stayed home from work sick, there's NO way on earth I'd watch ten episodes of One Tree Hill while I worked. There's no way I would indulge in guilty pleasures like that, much less waste several hours halfway watching a show while getting some serious work done.

Or while driving, I would NEVER honk at the Chic-Fil-A cow dancing on the corner of the street, only to realize it was inflatable and there wasn't an actual person inside. NOT Me!

I have NOT allowed six months to pass without a haircut for three consecutive times. Nope, NOT me! I have NOT resorted to wearing my hair in a ponytail almost everyday because my layers are unmanageable. I do NOT need my good friend Sarah T's help.

In Pilates class, I am NOT ALWAYS the fattest, slowest, and most embarrassing, often the youngest person there. Certainly I can keep up with the best of the 40 and 50 year-old women, and my body is definitely in the best shape since I am probably the only one who has not had children! And after a month of doing it, there's NO way I am still so sore after all of my classes. Surely I can handle them by now.

I would NEVER leave a full minute of grammar instruction on my friend's VOICEMAIL, even if it was asked for. Who would be that pompous?

If you noticed my post below, I did NOT stop on the side of a busy street as I picked up my Pei Wei and hide behind my car so I could take a self-portrait in the pretty flowers. I definitely have the sense not to do that.

I did NOT tear up when I saw the preview for next week's "Office." My life is NOT that vested in fictional characters!

Wow, that's a lot of things I did NOT do this week, but it sure feels good. What about you? Did you waste an entire day NOT looking at blogs? Surely you would NOT spend tons of money on to-die-for boots. Let me have it!

confessions

Hi, friends. I know I have been neglectful of my blog. I've had lots on my mind, but whenever I have time to post, it means my mind is unoccupied and I can't remember for the life of me what was SO important I had to say.

First thing first, God is SO good! In case you could tell from my subtle hints, I have been having some health issues due to my ulcerative colitis. When my uc is bad, my life is drastically altered, not only physically but mentally and emotionally, too. Since I was seeing no signs of improvement, we were looking at prednisone, which is a kind of steroid that makes me retain water, increases my appetite, and makes me in a perpetual bad mood.

I said if my symptoms didn't improve by the end of this weekend, I'd go on it, and I asked God to pleasepleaseplease work on my behalf and help me get better even though what I'd been doing for about a month wasn't doing much to help. I am happy to admit I am filled with hope because I have had ZERO symptoms today and believe wholeheartedly that it was all God!

My church just celebrated its one year anniversary. We had an amazing service today to commemorate and all got cool new shirts. I am on the worship team, and I have really felt a community of love and worship during our gatherings. My favorite thing about my church is that nobody pretends to be perfect, not even our pastor (whom I watched check a guy hard into the wall in his indoor soccer game last night), and I think the verse about God's grace being sufficient and His power being made perfect by weakness has never been more real.

Today, I wore what I've decided will be my favorite fall outfit, this super cute gray dress with a long sleeve black shirt under it and dark jeans and canary yellow flats. Also, my hair is long enough to do a cute little side braid now!

Other than that, I've been enjoying my absolute favorite month of the year, Texas Longhorns still undefeated football season, and pilates torture classes. Still, I think I'm going to have to do a long Not Me! Monday! post tomorrow because I have lots and lots of embarrassing things to come clean about. Until then!