New Year, New Resolutions

Every day I think of a new resolution to make in 2016.  It's getting a bit ridiculous at this point.  But I've nailed down a few for the year.

1. Eat a little better and exercise: Isn't this on everyone's list?  I want to try yoga and swimming mostly.  I know they're not the best way to lose weight, but you have to start somewhere. The eating better may be the most difficult, because I love to eat. And I mostly love sweets.  So there's some issues there, but I will try.

2. Create, Create, Create!: I hope this one won't be difficult.  I have loads of ideas for crafty projects.  I have plans for Project Life and I have a camera that is awesome.  I want to use all these things to have a creative 2016.  I also want to make the time to create. My life isn't all that crazy busy, so I want to take time away from vegging or netflix-ing to actually scrap and create. 

3. Explore!: My goal in 2015 was to travel.  And obviously, I totally abided by that one because it was super fun! And I want to continue to do so.  There's so much of the USA and the world that I have yet to see, and I can't wait to see them.

4. And as I talked about last night - Be Me More.  Always the toughest but probably the most important to me this year.

Happy New Year!  Here's to new beginnings and wonderful surprises that the new year will hopefully bring!

2016 One Little Word

Though it's not actually one little word, this is going to be my one little word for 2016. It's my new mantra headed into the new year.  I'm always playing it safe.  I hold my tongue a lot because I worry I might sound weird or grumpy.  I buy things that the media or the stores tell me I should buy because I'm not 100% sure what I like so I go along with what everyone else likes. 

I stay away from Match.com because I have no idea how to be me online and be the charming and flirty girl that all guys supposedly want.  Honestly, that's the struggle.  (If Prince Charmings fell from the sky, I'd be all set!)  I don't talk a lot about myself, because it's so much easier to listen to other people talk.  The social awkwardness that most people swear I don't have is totally real and a major bummer. 

In 2016 I want that to change.  I want others to see me for who I am. I want to have ideas and opinions.  I want to like what I like and see what I want to see.   Even if I do say so myself, that person I already am is pretty great.  So why not show her off?

Last Trivial Tuesday of 2015

~ When your entire team consists of players in their 30s, it doesn't bode well for a question on music from 2015.  Those players will likely not know 50% of the bands being asked about...

~ I somehow managed to get a question on the history of Math correct, and a question on Tea incorrect.  I'm not sure what to think anymore.

~ Question to ponder: Why is a question regarding peaches, specifically the parts of a peach, in a section called Good Anatomy?  I get the Anatomy part but not so much the Good part.  

~ Unfortunately, no extra points are given when you know the answer before the 3 choices are given.

~ Even my love for Glenn Miller didn't help with a question regarding where his plane went down.  Luckily, we're good with dates and battles of WWII so we were able to figure it out (The English Channel in case you were wondering.)  Though I still feel I should have gotten extra points for being the only team mate to know who he was.

~ Jerry Orbach was not only Lenny Briscoe but was also Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast.  How did I not know this?  I've seen that movie a million times and never picked up his voice.

~ You must be at least 7 feet from someone to keep from getting Flu germs.  That goes a long way in explaining why I got the flu the year I taught - the little outbreak monkeys and I were in a classroom about the size of a postage stamp.

~ Paul McCartney played a part in the Thriller album.  Seriously?

~ Thank goodness for House, MD.  Because of my love for the first season, I was able to answer the final question for my team and we were able to wager 40 points - the not so smart thing we love to do.  Why I can remember an episode all about African Sleeping Sickness being caused by a TseTse fly and not remember basic math, is anyone's guess.  But let's not dwell on that, and let's dwell on the 40 points we gained because of it...

It's the End of the Year as We Know It

It's almost the dreaded New Year, and again just as in every year, I'm overthinking everything.  I didn't do nearly half what I wanted to in 2015.  I didn't follow any of my resolutions.  I'm still not engaged to Prince Charming - heck I'm not even dating Prince Charming.  I still don't know how to Project Life.  I still don't know how to even live life. And 2016 is starting in 3 days so I now have to determine what resolutions to try and fail miserably at next year.  

It's quite the vicious cycle...

I'm assuming I'm not the only person that goes through this every year.  A friend of mine yelled at me the other day for actually setting resolutions.  She said she never resolved to do anything because she'd rather just do the things when she thinks of them rather than giving herself a time limit.  At the time I thought it was ridiculous, but now that it's crunch time, she might actually have a point. 

Of course, that doesn't actually stop me from making resolutions - I already have. There's a list in my head of all the things I want to do in 2016.  It's a fairly long list, if I'm being honest.  But new years bring new beginnings, don't they?  What better time to make big changes than in the start of a brand new year?  They may not last forever, but they give you something to work towards, and that's never a bad thing.  

So here's to new years resolutions!  They drive you nuts, but they may also bring love and fun into your life too (one could hope, anyway - paging Prince Charming...)

Happy Birthday!

On this day, just a few years ago, the world was graced with this guy's presence.  And I for one am quite happy about that! He is pretty much the best dad a girl could ever ask for.  He cooks, oh boy does he cook!  He jokes.  He cares.  He loves.  He's awesome and I love him to pieces!

Happy birthday bud! You deserve all the wonderful things this year will hopefully bring - especially that awesome Ravens win over the Steelers today : )

One Little Word - 2015 in Review

In 2015, I tried Ali Edwards' One Little Word Challenge.  The goal is to choose one little word for the year and focus your energy on that word.  I chose Explore for 2015, and I believe I was quite successful this year. It was such a wonderful year full of loads of trips and travel.  

  

In 2015, I EXPLORED:

 NYC: I LOVE New York City at Christmas!

 Alexandria VA 

 Austin for the first time - May very well be one of my most favorite places in the world!

 San Antonio - May very well not be one of my most favorite places...

 Washington DC

 Annapolis - Too many times to count, though the L'Hermione docking in port was definitely a highlight

 Central Park - One of our faves was the fountain that appeared in White Collar (though I'm sure it's appeared in tons more too...)

 DC SPN Con where I saw the "boys" and was on cloud nine for the weekend. 

 Brussels for LOADS of chocolate

 London - My other most favorite place on earth

 

 York, England

 The Cotswolds

Hay on Wye - the absolute best place to geek out over books in the world.  Love at first sight!

 Oxford, England

 

 OC MD for the annual girls trip

 My very first Navy Football game

 Austin again, (and I LOVED it again!)

 NYC for the third time.

And while I may have another little word for 2016, I plan on continuing on Explore this year as well.  I'm just in love with traveling and seeing new things.  I can't wait to see all I can see! 

Thanks 2015 for some awesome fun!

A Merry Christmas to All...

And to all a Good Night...

Wishing you a happy, healthy and fabulous holiday filled with family, friends and all things wonderful!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2015

What I Love About Christmas 2015:

~ It's about 65 degrees here in Maryland.  At the moment, they're predicting it'll be 75 on Christmas day.  Last year, it was in the 30s and flurrying on Christmas Eve.  Oh yeah, this year's weather is so much better!

~ Every single one of my Christmas cards was handmade and made it out the door in a timely fashion.  I may have epically failed at all the other crafts that were dancing around my head, but the cards were super cute and on time.

~ "Greensleeves" by Manheim Steamroller - I'm so loving this techno version of the classic.  My grandfather's organ could play this song at the press of a button, so it doesn't hurt that each time I hear it on the radio I have warm fuzzy thoughts of him. 
  ~ Bright red nail polish - My nails may not be long and manicured like they're supposed to be, but for me any little bit is an achievement.  They were just begging to be painted with a Christmasy color.

~ The I Love Lucy Christmas special.  I just love seeing the old shows pop up on television.  Nothing can beat her comedic timing.  And honestly, if you don't laugh at Vitameatavegamin, you have a cold dead heart. 
                 
~ Waiting anxiously for family to open the presents I've picked out.  If I could give them the gifts right now I would.  I may stress and mumble and generally fall apart in December, but every once in a while, I have a spark of inspiration!

~ Trying out December Daily has been super enlightening.  I'm not going to lie and say that I'm completely up to date - I think I've made it to December 11 - but I do plan to finish.  I've taken photos and notes of what to include, and after Friday, I have plans to get back on the ball.  It's not nearly as gorgeous as other's I've seen, but so far I'm happy with it. 

What I Hate about Christmas 2015:

~ Apparently the Sun didn't get the memo that it was 65 degrees.  It's been raining, more like pouring for the last 24 hours and it's supposed to continue doing so through tomorrow. Do you know how difficult it is to transport gifts in a torrential down pour?

~ My either defective or possessed Christmas tree, that refuses to actually need water. The whole house smells like pine which isn't a bad thing, but the darn needles are falling at an alarming rate and when I check for water, my fingers come out a slightly reddish hue - obviously, it's the devil, right?

Trivia Tuesday

~ Not watching "groundbreaking" shows like Mad Men or Breaking Bad will have nasty side-effects other than just not having a clue what everyone is talking about.  You may actually miss a trivia question because of this.  

~ I'm noticing a pattern with the Broadway questions being asked.  For some reason, it's always incredibly simple.  Seriously, who doesn't know that Man of La Mancha is about Don Quixote?  Give us Broadway Babies something really difficult the next time.  Enough with the boring sports Q's, bring on the theatre!

~ Unfortunately, when being asked about the monetary systems of Asian countries, not even having a banker on our team will help us. 

~ Apparently, the Mississippi River runs way farther north than I thought it did - all the way to the twin cities.  Who knew?

~ Thanks to a quality high school that had its very own dance for the 12 Days of Christmas, we were able to answer a very important question regarding the number of days birds were given as gifts.  6 in case you were wondering...Now to get that darn song back out of my head.

~ My new process for Toss Up questions - just randomly decide on a number - may be the next big thing, if only my team mates would take a chance on my numbers for a change.  My answer for the number of acting credits on Billy Dee Williams' resume - 142 - was pretty darn close to the correct answer of 132.  Too bad they went for 76 thus giving the 4 points and shots to another team.  (While this may seem like a great strategy, I must admit that the other 3 times I tried this, I WAY off...)

~ Sometimes even betting it all AND having the right answer isn't enough to win the big Turtle Bucks.  Sometimes the only other team that is ahead of you in the standings, will also bet it all and also have the right answer. Ugh.  So close!

Project Life: Here I Go Again

In 2014, I talked a lot about not getting Project Life.  While layouts and spreads were beautiful, and the idea behind it was lovely, the process seemed a bit over-done.  It seemed to me that scrappers were spending more time scrapping their lives rather than living them. At the time, I decided it was most definitely not for me. 

Then 2015 rolled around...

After milling around Pinterest and tons of gorgeous blogs, I began to get it.  It wasn't so much the process and what the product looked like in the end that counted, it was the fact that you actually had something to share.  The final product was a review of all things wonderful and not so wonderful in that particular year.  These albums are like snapshots of a moment in time and can be used to show children and grandchildren what life was like "back then."  It took me long enough to come around but I finally got there. 

So the obvious next step was to start an album of my own...

That sounded like such a great idea at the time. I bought a 6"x8"" album, organized my supplies, and started taking photos.  Now, I'm single and have no pets.  I read a whole lot and like to bake, cook and watch Netflix.  Often the most exciting nights I spend are at the weekly trivia game with friends.  Now if that sounds boring just reading it, imagine how truly nail-biting the album was.  I made it about 3 months and I was done.  At the time, I decided you needed a giant family full of kids and pets and daily schedules to make project life work.  There's no way you can have a "fun" album as a single girl in a not so exciting city.

Then along came blogs and twitter and Instagram - brimming with ideas for the single girl to scrap.

After a few months of kicking myself for not succeeding the first time around, I decided it was a fabulous idea to start back up in 2016.  Why, I have no idea.  I'm thinking I just might be a glutton for punishment...

So here we go again.  Let's just hope I can make it past March this time or my future children and grandchildren are going to think years were only 3 months long "back then..."

Every Single Year.

After a weekend spent braving Target and the mall 4 days before Christmas, I find myself asking why oh why do I do this every darn year?  Each and every year I tell myself I won't wait so long the next year.  I'll be organized and prepared and have everything done before December hits.  Then Thanksgiving rolls around, and it's all down hill from there. I was honestly feeling really good before Thanksgiving this year.  I had ordered a few gifts.  I had crafting ideas ready to go.  I even had my cards made and ready to go the first week of December.

Then, I'm not sure what happened.  But all of a sudden it was last week, and I had no ideas for anyone and I hadn't even thought about wrapping what little I did have. Every year I tell you.  Every year this happens.  And every year, I find myself worrying and wracking my brain to assure everyone has everything they deserve.  I LOVE Christmas.  I really do. And most of all I love getting someone something I know they'll love.  That's what stresses me out, I think.  Instead of doing what some people do - just buy something; anything to give them - I go out of my way to get something I know people will love.  But sometimes people are hard to buy for and that's when the stress comes.

All that being said, and even though I have a mountain of gifts currently covering my living room floor that still need to be wrapped, and 3 different appetizers for a party that need to be made and another batch of the perfect Christmas Pecans waiting to be baked, I'm actually pretty happy with my progress this weekend.  Check back tomorrow and I may be curled up on the floor in the fetal position cursing Santa and his elves, but for now I'm going to sleep happy and ready for the fun.

Trivia Saturday

This week we had 2 days of trivia due to our team somehow making it to the semi-finals. Let's just say we won't be making it to the Finals...

~ New venues (due to the increase of teams participating) lead to some seriously good people watching.  My favorite was the serious mullet that was wandering around.  You stay classy, dude.

~ When asked a question about Istanbul, singing "Istanbul" by They Might Be Giants doesn't help you determine the correct answer.  

~ Speaking of songs, there are other verses of the Big Bang Theory theme song.  Who knew?

~ Trivia people who like to drink come up with some seriously raunchy team names.  Not such a fan of these.  I like the teams at our usual bar much better. 

~ When the team answers every single question in the first half but one correctly, it's a fair guess that the second round the wheels will all come off the train. We missed 2 entire sections out of 3...

~  Risking it all and ending up with 17 points, goes does a lot easier when there are actually other teams that have less than 17 points. 

~ When you're feeling very smart because you've gotten an answer correct.  Don't logic yourself out of your answer into someone else's.  No points will be gained. (Apparently Mademoiselle is a new perfume by Coco Chanel not Petit Femme)

~ Being the only team with a team tee shirt makes you cooler than the rest. 

Friday Five

1. Someone's meniscus has been fixed and all went smoothly!  Woohoo!

2. Ok, I'm on the Adele train.  Honestly, I love her but I hadn't heard the new music yet.  I figured it couldn't be as good as everyone was saying.  It is.  It totally is.  Now I've got "Hello" stuck in my head but I don't have tickets to see her live.  Seriously, man?  How did they sell out that quickly!?

3. This.  This is most definitely true.  Is it wrong that I have off from work 12 days and I already have a list of 3 new restaurants I want to try.  And that's it.  Other than the obvious Christmas activities, I have no other plans for my vacation than to eat...

4. I've been dying to see Hamilton for a while now.  Luckily for me I got tickets - of course those tickets are for a show in September of 2016 so I'm guessing I won't get lucky enough to see Lin Manuel Miranda.  However, seeing his various interviews really makes me hope this isn't true.  His performance on Colbert this week was absolutely amazing.  So funny! Even the interview was lovely.  How can one human being be so darn talented!?
            

5. And speaking of theatre...While I'm usually not a big fan of musicals built around a particular song book, I'm a little too excited about this possibility.  I LOVE Jimmy Buffet.  Mostly I love how Jimmy Buffet music makes you feel.  It makes you feel like summer - toes in the sand, waves crashing on the shore.  Can you just imagine how great you'd feel after 2 whole hours of that?  Now, fingers crossed, they'll choose NYC as the city to premiere. 

Karma

I'm a big believer in karma.  I think bad deserves bad and good most definitely deserves good.  If you are fabulous person who is kind to puppies and babies, you deserve a fabulous life full of only good things.  And if you're a horrible person you don't deserve all those fabulous things.  It's not scientific but it's a strongly held belief of mine.  Though, so often in today's world, it never happens.  Kind people get hurt while the rich just keep getting richer.

That's why when today's big headline broke, it became my most favorite story of 2015. You probably remember the head of a pharmaceutical company from a few months ago - the guy that decided it was in his best interest to raise the cost of a drug used mostly by cancer and AIDS patients by about 5000%.  Yeah, that guy is a despicable human being.  Yet, in the last few months, he's pretty much gotten away with it.  Sure millions of people hate him but the cost of the medication still hasn't dropped back down to the original price so he and his stockholders are rolling the dough.

That's where today comes in.  Today, the FBI arrested this horrible excuse for a human being on Securities Fraud - completely unrelated to the cost of the medication.  While I would have liked a price hike like that to have been illegal, at least he's finally getting what he deserves.  

Karma, dude.  Every once in a while, it hits the right people.

Christmas is Hard

In the last 6 hours since I left work, I've been to 6 different stores.  I bought about a dozen different presents - though I'm still not done.  I stood in a line at least 3 people deep at every store.  I sat in traffic going to the stores and leaving them.  I argued with the people walking through the parking lot who didn't at least wave to thank me for not running them over - in the confines of my car of course.  I yelled at the dude behind me that was so angry that I didn't let him cut me off, that he decided to flash his high beams at me - also in the confines of my own car.  I sat in a local BBQ joint ate a delicious dinner, while about half the restaurant lip synced or whistled or outright sang to Glory Days because it's an awesome song and it was playing over the speaker. 

I made vanilla.  I decorated 9 mason jars full of Cinnamon Sugar Coated Pecans for work tomorrow.  I teared up at a Toys R'Us commercial and the ending of last night's NCIS.  And painted my nails - horribly, as per usual.  

And this is just today. Wrapping still hasn't even begun and Shopping hasn't even finished.

So, like I said, Christmas is Hard...

Trivia Tuesday: Christmas Edition

~ Even though I've seen The Christmas Story about 6000 times over the course of my lifetime, it turns out I have no idea where it actually takes place.  (Indiana.  Not in Ohio, which if you're keeping track, is where it was filmed.)

~ A Menorah is lit left to right - it often helps to have a Jewish person on the team for questions such as these.  We're open to any and everything, but Hanukkah isn't something we learned much about in our Catholic schools.

~ Along those same lines, when discussing the number of days of Kwanzaa, it helps if the trivia master accidentally includes a graphic that shows the Kwanzaa candelabra called the Kinara holding 7 candles. 

~ When given lines to classic Christmas songs, that aren't actually in the refrain, I get caught in an endless loop of singing those songs in my head; never really getting to the refrain that will help me answer the question.

~ A Poinsettia is also known as Noche Buena (The Goodnight Flower) and is also a very difficult word to spell under pressure.  In these situations, always go with your first instinct.  If not, you'll fail miserably - like we did.

~ Santa Claus is called Bappo Natale in Italy which is fairly logical leap since Merry Christmas in Italian is Buon Natale.  That's not Santa's name in "Carribbean" like some unhelpful person on our team tried to argue.  

~ When you're at Trivia in a bar and someone brings a sleeping baby in, it's quite difficult not to quote Reese Witherspoon in this scene:
                           
~ For as big a Dr. Seuss fan as I am, I was clueless as to how big the Grinch's heart is (2 sizes too small as opposed to the 3 sizes it grew!) or which mountain the Grinch was hiding out on (Mt. Crumpit.)  I did however know that he stole the stockings first and he met Cindy Lou Who. At least we weren't complete failures.

No More Star Wars

In honor of Star Wars Week, I have a confession to make - I've never actually seen Star Wars...like at all.  This isn't like I've seen bits and pieces.  I have never seen even a minute of any of the movies.  And contrary to just about everyone I've ever spoken to, I'm ok with it. It's not the sci-fi thing.  I actually like sci-fi and fantasy - I'm a huge Lord of the Rings fan, and some of the Marvel movies are awesome!  But I just don't get the whole star wars thing.

I think it might have something to do with how big it all is.  You have to remember like 12 hours worth of crap before watching the next movie. That's a lot of plot lines to remember when there's a few years (or decades) between the movies. Remembering what happened in the previous Harry Potter book from the summer before was bad enough.  Remembering who C3PO vs. R2D2 is just a pain in the neck.

So you can imagine, with all the hub bub around Star Wars, how super excited I am with seeing it all the darn time.  It's EVERY WHERE.  It's on clothes, toys, grown up toys, vehicles, subway sandwich and about a million other items I have no desire to purchase.  I'd like to say that I'm a huge fan of any and all romantic comedies.  I've never been able to purchase a robot from Love, Actually or a a fancy Bridget Jones dress.  I'm pretty sure that's somehow sexist.  Right?!  At the very least, it's darn annoying.

From all the reviews, I'm hearing the movie will be fantastic, so I don't foresee it going away any time soon.  Though, I'd really like it if we could just go back to Santa and Christmas all day every day.  I actually miss that.  And afterall, Chewbacca just can't pull off a fancy suit and hat like good old Saint Nick!

Gifts in a Jif

Instead of focusing on the ridiculous loss handed to the Ravens yet again, at the hand of the Seahawks, I'm choosing instead to focus on Christmas.  That is the preparation for Christmas that includes baking cookies, making presents and crafting cards - you know, all those things that I'd rather focus on to forget about the fact that I really haven't purchased anything yet.  The fun stuff...

So I thought I'd share the best gift ever.  This is the most perfect present for anyone.  It's super easy, super quick and super delicious.  This miracle gift is  Sugar Cinnamon Coated Pecans.  Unfortunately, I don't actually like nuts, so I can't vouch for them personally.  But I made some batches last year and they were a HUGE hit.  And this year, I'm planning to use them for friends and co workers.  What's even better, is that for about $12 at Costco you can buy 2 pounds of Pecans.  That will fill about 6 small mason jars which means you have 6 ready made gifts to go in a jif.  

Yay for making Christmas easy peasy, super yummy and delicious smelling!

I Love NY!

I say this just a little too often, but I do, I really do.  I'm in love with NYC.  There's just something about it, especially at Christmas time.  There are lights and sounds and people - oh so many people!  There's so many yummy things to eat and so many shows to see.  Honestly, what's not to love?  I have never understood people who don't fall head over heels for it when they first discover it.  

On that note, today was no different.  Just about every year, I'm up there at least once around Christmas, and everyone knows the best place to go at Christmas in the city is the Bryant Park shops.  You get a slightly smaller Christmas tree than Rock Center, but there are slightly less people too!  There, there were empanadas and macarons - quite the international combo.  From the park, we went to Mexicue, a place I'd heard about on the food network.  Let's just say I wasn't as enamored with it as they were.  From there, we saw some pop-up Christmas shops on 41st and then headed to the St. James to see Something Rotten, which was by far one of the best musicals I've ever seen.  So hilariously funny!  

After that, it was going to be John's for pizza and Shake Shack for dessert but both lines stretched around the blocks so we instead opted for the NY Kitchen which is a food market with a few different food stalls.  We chose the ramen with a soft boiled egg and it was to die for!  After a quick donut and hot tea for dessert it was back to the bus to head home in all sorts of traffic.  Aside from the traffic and the ridiculousness of Santa-Con all around us, it was the perfect day in NYC!

Friday Five

1. This little girl is about the cutest thing ever!  She belts out Adele way better than I ever could : )
                           

2.  Justin Tucker is my favorite Ravens player.  He's an amazing kicker, an awesome person and he also seems to be the only player that's decided to show up to work this season.  Now I find out he's also an amazing singer as well.  What can't he do? (The Ravens won't let the video be embedded, but the link works) He really is amazing!

3. I found these amazing coconut cookies on Pinterest (big surprise!) a few weeks ago and Christmas seemed like the perfect time to give them a try.  So delicious!  I love macaroons, I'm a bigger fan of chocolate chip cookies.  These are sort of a cross between the two.  And so easy!  Love a great cookie recipe!

4. If you need a good Tee Shirt, this is the one you should buy.  Not only is it cute, it's been created for women to support women and the funds go directly to Random Acts.  Such a great charity and such an awesome campaign!

5. Love this!  I most especially love this because an old teacher sent it to me because he remembered I loved Sunflowers.  How sweet is that?!

Almost App-tastic: Get Unstuck!

While reading a few new blogs this week, I discovered a new app written up in one of the blogs called Unstuck.  I have to admit, I usually avoid all apps that aren't social media or photography,  but this one sounded intriguing.  It's basically a crystal ball - not really but it's easier to explain it like that - that helps you determine where you're stuck in life or in relationships or in other areas of your life.  You answer a few questions and out pops an answer - and, I was told, ways to help get unstuck.

Mostly drawn by the design itself, I gave it a try.  I answered all the questions honestly.  There were only a few and none were that difficult.  And as it turns out, it mapped my personality perfectly.  I can see pretty much every part of this particular personality type in myself.  It's not a fantastic trait that I'm happy about, but it was most definitely true.  But this app was going to help stop me from continuing down this path, right?

It was supposed to give me tips on how to be more decisive and make a decision.  However, their helpful tips were nothing more than good ideas.  They wanted me to give myself time limits for decisions and decide if the decision I needed to make was life or death.  Apparently, taking the jeopardy out of the decision, helps you decide quicker.  That's all well and good.  But if it's difficult for me to make a decision, telling me to logic my way out of it, isn't really going to help.  

So if you're looking for a great descriptor for how you are or if you want to confirm you are how you think you are, I would give it a try. If you're looking for ways to be more decisive, or ways to change your thinking - maybe try another app.  I hear Facebook is nice...

Kristen's Christmas List

Otherwise known as, things no one can buy me, but still would be lovely to have...

1. A happy and healthy family heading into the new year. I want everyone I love and cherish to have the very best holiday. I want them to get over all their aches & pains (and torn meniscuses) and start the new year, ready and raring to go. 

2.  I want - no, I need - Donald Trump to not become the President of the United States. 

3.  If #2 is not an option, and the entirety of the United States loses its mind, I'd very much like Canada to open their arms to me when I come asking for a new home. 

4. Time.  Time to create and craft and read and relax.  Along with this, I'd also like some extra creative juices. Mine need a little topping off every now and again. 

5. A Winning Lottery Ticket - Seriously?!  Can someone please make this happen?

6. A way to meet people that doesn't entail using Match.com or hanging out at bars.  I know that it's not a mathematical impossibility - there are boys out there that are funny, and kind, and like to read and watch crazy television, that are big fans of travel and eating.  Where exactly do they hang out - other than online and in bars?  Let's make this happen people!

7. A new and amazing opportunity that will get me out of this professional rut.  If I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up, that would be fantastic.  If you're really looking for something to get me for Christmas - that's on the top of the list.  Just tell me what to do with my life.  That's all I really need right now.

8. One ultimate password, that is easy to remember, secure and will get me into every site I so desire.  Half of my life is spent clicking the "Forgot Password?" button on websites...

9. I could really use some hair that would automatically just do what I want it to do instead of having a mind of its own.  

10. Tolerance - to not go crazy (mumbling under my breath and cursing the gods) when people on Facebook, Twitter or on cable news say dumb, heartless and non-inclusive things. 

11.  For the Ravens to remember how exactly to win a football game.

12. For Jason Manns' Covers with Friends (including Louden Swain, Jensen Ackles, Tim Omundson, etc.) to be just as awesome as we all think it's going to be.  This is the one thing I'm almost positive will come true. (And while we're on the topic of cute boys of Supernatural - an early 12th season pick up would do wonders...)

Trivial Tuesday

~ It's quite difficult for some people to understand a question when said question isn't also appearing on a giant screen in front of them.  Thankfully the Trivia master got that problem fixed quickly or the night would have felt much longer. 

~ The Bears and The Packers have the oldest rivalry in the NFL - so apparently it's not just the guys at work that like to argue about these 2 teams. 

~ A Baby Echidna - I'm not 100% sure what that even is - is known as a puggle.  Not a wollie as we thought.  To be fair I know Echidnas are Australian and Wollie sounds a bit more Aussie than puggle.

~ Apparently China and India have the world's largest crops of Broccoli and Cauliflower.  We only chose China because we decided you get a lot of broccoli with Chinese food - offensive, yes, but also sound logic it appears.  If it makes you feel better, we were wrong on the second country, so our offensiveness didn't get us anywhere. 

~ My only memory of Snape in Harry Potter is that he teaches Defense against the Dark Arts.  But apparently, he also taught Potions - a small detail that I swear I've never heard before.  Luckily, my team are bigger Potterheads than I am.

~ Sometimes choosing an African nation or a Bond movie completely at random, is the quickest and most direct way to earn some serious points.

~ In the first speech of Macbeth, the witches chant includes the wing of a "howlet," not a crow.  In my defense, doesn't crow seem like it would rhyme with more than a "howlet ?"

Last Minute Crafty

As a crafty person, I get excited when there are new things to make or when I get requests for things that I haven't thought of making before.  However, I also get stressed when things are thrown at me last minute - things that need to get done in a short timeframe, which means these new projects will usurp the ideas I had to craft.  

Such as when your boss decides to quit (not a surprise - she did that last week) and decides that she'll be taking everyone out tomorrow for a good bye lunch.  This means you'll need a cake - something you were planning to make for Friday - a card (also planned for Friday) and flowers for tomorrow.

Then someone you haven't talked to in about a year, decides she really needs you to make her a card for her kid's soccer coach.  While all of these things are lovely, and not even that much work, I wasn't super interested in doing them all in one evening after working the full day.  However, somehow, the craft and baking gods decided to conspire in my favor for a change.  The cake turned out beautifully - so delish looking! - and I'm very happy with both cards.  Aside from skipping my own personal Christmas crafting, the evening went pretty smoothly.  

Now I can head off to bed while visions of paper crafting dance in my head ; )

Sunday Life

After a terrible, horrible no good, very bad football game - a loss to the Dolphins!? - I'm choosing to look on the bright side.  The house is decorated.  Two Christmas trees are up and sparkling.  And 6 different types of cookies were made by the cookie master - and they also taste delicious!  That's what I want to focus on. Not the sad Ravens game.  Not that the Ravens are 4 - 8 for the first time ever.  And not that they lost to one of the worst teams in the league.  

Christmas is coming and Christmas is by far my most favorite season.  There's so much more to be done - so much so that I'm sort of sticking my head in my sand about it.  But it's still fabulous.  It's sparkly and twinkly and I just love everything about it!  

Here's to Christmas and not so much to the Ravens! 

Cookies!

My most favorite part of Christmas is Cookie Time!  In this house, we tend to go a little over board and make about a dozen different kinds.  We usually go with what we know - Chocolate Chip & Peanut Butter which are the well-known recipes.  Then we have Ginger Molasses and Mandel Brot which are not so well known.  Then we have secret family recipes for Sugar Cookies - 2 different kinds!

Then thanks to Pinterest, we found a few extras.  I'm pretty sure they're going to be keepers. Not as yummy as the our usual, but quite delish!

First up, Coconut Dream cookies from Add a Pinch.  I love me some coconut, and add in chocolate chips, and I'm in heaven.  It's basically a Mounds in cookie form.

Then we had Chocolate Crinkle Cookies from Sally's Baking Addiction.  These were supposed to be a cookie I ate a few years ago and have never been able to find in recipe form. They were not.  But they were yummy.  Very, Very chocolaty and very, very yummy!