Ordinary Joy

#reverb10 prompt for day 27:


December 27 – Ordinary Joy. Our most profound joy is often experienced during ordinary moments. What was one of your most joyful ordinary moments this year? (Author: Brené Brown) 


I can tell you what my most joyful moment was this year: finding out that I was going to get to work for Weddingbee. I'm not sure if that would be classified as an "ordinary" moment or not. I'm not gonna lie: I had fantasized about working for Weddingbee in some capacity for a while. I just never thought it would actually happen! The Dude even took a video of me spazzing out after I got the news. Definitely joyful. Borderline manic, even. 


What was your most joyful ordinary moment of 2010?

Soul Food

December 26 – Soul Food

What did you eat this year that you will never forget? What went into your mouth & touched your soul?

If I had to pick a favorite new dish of the year, it would definitely be the fried alligator appetizer I ate in New Orleans back in April, at Muriel's.

And the classic, always delicious food that touched my soul in 2010? Burger and fries from In-N-Out Burger in Vegas. 

Maybe it's because we don't have them in Texas, but this is seriously my fave burger in the world. 

Speaking of burgers, the Dude and I embarked on a "Burger Quest" of sorts the past two years. I think we tried at least 15 different burger joints here in Austin, under the auspices of crowning a "best burger." Honestly, I think we just liked trying a new burger every month. It's kind of our thing now. We'll probably keep trying a new place every month until we run out of places to try. (Luckily, Burger Quest is exempted from our moratorium on fast food. We just can't go to any national corporate chains, like Wendy's, Mickey D's, etc.)

Capture

Um, looks like I'm quite far behind on #reverb10 again. I wanna finish these up now, 'cause it will seem kind of pointless once 2011 rolls around. So...day 25:

Day 25: Sift through all the photos of you from the past year. Choose one that best captures you; either who you are, or who you strive to be. Find the shot of you that is worth a thousand words. Share the image, who shot it, where, and what it best reveals about you. (Author: Tracey Clark)

This photo is somewhat aspirational, as my hair is professionally styled, and I like how I'm dressed. But I think it also captures the real me: the one who loves the shit out of her cats. And the fact that they let me express some of my as of yet untapped maternal instincts. When I was younger, I was unsure if I would want to have kids one day. Then a good friend of mine pointed out that I must have a maternal instinct buried in there somewhere based on the relationship I had with my cats. I'd never thought about it before, but it made sense to me! I want to be a mother; that much is obvious if you read my blog. So yeah, maybe 2011 will be the beginning of that process of going from kitty mommy to baby mommy.


Wanna play along? I think it'd be fun if you shared a photo of you from 2010 in the comments!

Everything's Going to be OK

And...the prompt for day 24:

December 24 Prompt – Everything’s OK What was the best moment that could serve as proof that everything is going to be alright? And how will you incorporate that discovery into the year ahead?

(OK, well I hate to be a grammar snob, but first of all I just have to point out that "alright" is not a word.)

Ahem, back to the question at hand. The moment that serves as proof that everything's going to be all right? That's really hard to say. Maybe when we got our check from the insurance company after our break in? It ended up being for more than we thought, so that was good. 

I also find that hugs from my husband are always reassuring. (Which is ironic, considering anyone who knows me knows that I don't really like hugs. I guess I make an exception for the Dude.)

I guess I'll apply this discovery in 2011 by trying to remember that whatever life throws at us, we are really fortunate. Our house got robbed, yes, but we are fortunate to have things worth stealing, to have insurance, to have the strength to say, "So what? I still love my home and my neighborhood, and I'm not going to stop feeling safe here." 

Also, more hugs. 

Names

Day 23's prompt was:

I'm really into boys names for girls right now (even though I know it's popular!). I really like Charlie. Chuck for short. Even though I was a prissy little kid, for some reason I've leaned more toward the tomboy aesthetic as I've gotten older. I guess I just wish I were cool enough to have been a little tomboy.

When I was five, I convinced my parents to let me change my name to Rosemary. They went along with it for a couple of days, until I got tired of being called that and wanted my name back. Seriously, Rosemary? Could I have been any girlier? Blech.

Travel

Day 22's #reverb10 prompt was all about travel:

In 2010, we I did a pretty decent amount of travelling. The Dude and I rang in the new year in Marfa, Texas, with my college roomies and their significant others. I went to Vegas in March to meet up with many of my fellow Weddingbee bloggers. The Dude and I met up with J. Dawg in New Orleans in April. We drove to Dallas to hang out with some more bees during the summer. Then we drove to my hometown, Mount Pleasant, Texas, in August. Finally, we flew to NYC in September for our one-year anniversary.

Next year, so far we have planned: 1.) Marfa for New Years again, 2.) New Orleans in April (for me), 3.) Vegas in March (for the Dude), 4.) possibly a drive to visit the Dude's parents in Colorado in July, 5.) London in August, and 6.) possibly Chicago or Colorado for the holidays. Whew! That will be a lot of travelling. Gotta get it out of the way before we have our first kid, I guess.

What kind of travelling did you do in 2010? What do you have planned for next year?

Dear Future Holley...

I'm soooo excited about this #reverb10 post today. The prompt is from day 21:

Dear 2010 Holley,

You know how you don't really like your job right now and it feels like the next six months before you quit are going to last forever? They won't. They will fly by. And then you will have the rest of your life to figure out your career. Enjoy the financial stability you've got right now. Keep paying as much as you can on your loans every month. Just remember: you're paying your dues.

Also, you know how you're a little bit obsessed with getting pregnant and having a baby? It will happen. Just enjoy the time you have now with your husband and friends. You will never be this free again. Ever. I know you feel like you're busy right now. Ha. You don't know busy. You don't realize it, but you're standing on the cusp of the biggest transformation of your life. It will be wonderful, but you will never be the same. Watch as much TV and as many movies as you can while you don't have a child to care for. And while you're at it, make sure to fit in as much adult entertainment as possible (and no, I don't mean porn). Pretty soon, you will be watching nothing but Barney and Teletubbies and Dora and whatever else babies like to watch. (The Wiggles? Are they still doing things?)

Mainly, just slow the eff down. You're young. Enjoy it. Oh, and you might wanna go easy on the burgers.

Love,

2015 Holley

---------------------

Might as well take a stab at the bonus prompt:

Dear 2000 Holley,

I know you are sooo ready to get out of that small town and move to Austin to go to college. Good news: it is going to be every bit as amazing as you think. Yes, boys will hit on you. Yes, people will invite you to parties and give you beer. And yes, you will have friends and try new things and maybe even like some of your classes. Just a little tip: go to class. Don't stay up until 5AM on the Internet every night. I know high-speed Internet is all shiny and new and awesome, but really? Do you need to talk to strangers in chat rooms on Excite Games? You could be out there making MORE friends and going to MORE parties and drinking MORE beer (OK, or trashcan punch, more likely) and getting MORE intellectually stimulated. Just a thought--you don't have to listen to me. You'll figure it out on your own eventually.

Love,

Holley

Avoidance

Day 20's #reverb10 prompt had to do with avoidance:

This is a pretty simple answer: this year I should have gone to the dentist but didn't.

Source

It wasn't out of fear (though I'm pretty sure I have a cavity), just laziness. You see, I had to choose a new dentist as my primary care dentist before I could book an appointment, and somehow this seemed like the most insurmountable task in the world. Good news is, I finally got the paperwork filled out, and my new dental-plan card came in the mail last week. So yes, I will be going to the dentist in early 2011.

Wow, what a boring answer to what was a very promising prompt.

What did you avoid this year? Why? Are you going to do it next year?

Healing

Once again, I'm terribly behind on #reverb10, but I think it's an exercise worth completing, so I will forge ahead. Day 19's prompt was:

Snuggles with my kitties always heal me.

It almost never fails that wherever in the house we fall asleep, when we wake up the kitties will be at our feet or our heads. For a childless couple like us, nothing beats the feeling of waking up to cuddly kitties.

In 2011, I'd like to be healed by more kitty snuggles, as well as a snuggly baby human. Might be more like 2012, but we'll see.

Mixtape Masters Fridays: My Ultimate Christmas Playlist

I know I haven't done a Mixtape Masters in a while, and I know I'm late for today's, but I really wanted to get a Christmas-themed playlist in.

I definitely couldn't limit myself to five this week. So have fun listening to this mix as you enjoy your Christmas! And if you don't celebrate Christmas, check out these songs anyway. They're pretty good.

  

Don't forget to check out the other mixtape masters this week!

Ashley   

Angie    

Tyler    

Lizzie    

Dana    

Jolynn    

Lisa    

Lyn    

Josie    

Kerry   

Stephanie
Ms. Bunny
Sarah
Heather

Merry Christmas and happy holidays and all that jazz.

Sexy Spelling

via College Humor

Try

Yesterday's #reverb10 prompt was really fun...

What do I want to try next year? I want to try to get pregnant, haha. There are also a few other things I want to try, and if you read this blog, you're probably already aware of them. Getting pregnant is a biggie, though.

What did I want to try in 2010? A lot of things, but I've talked about most of them here ad nauseum. So...I'll just say I wanted to try to read more books. You know, the printed word. It didn't really work out too well. Guess I had too much other stuff going on. I ended up reading all of the Sookie Stackhouse novels (that's ten, but they're kind of guilty-pleasure reading, not exactly super intellectually stimulating), as well as re-reading the Harry Potter books (still got to finish 7, which I finally got back from my little bro last week). That's seventeen books right there, plus I read a few others, most notably Moby-Dick.

Maybe next year I can really reach my goal of reading at least 50 books I've never read before. I've heard of people reading all the Newbery Award winning books, which could be a fun project. They're award winning, so they're obviously good, but they're also for children, so they're a little lighter and shorter than the average novel. I'd also like to see, at a minimum, all of the films that get nominated for Best Picture next year.

What do you want to try next year?

Lessons

I'm skipping the Day 16 prompt from #reverb10 because I really don't have an answer for it. I don't think I have a friendship that changed my perspective on the world this year.

Day 17's prompt was:

I learned that I'm the kind of person who can take chances.

I've already started applying that to my life more. Like today, when I was getting sick of my long hair.

So the Dude helped me cut it in the bathroom.

Scary, but I feel much better. And it was free!

I'm already contemplating a huge risk for 2011 that I've talked about here--leaving the legal field to pursue my dream career. I'm ready to make it happen.

2010 Memories

Day 15's #reverb10 prompt was:

Appreciate

Catch-up time. Day 14's #reverb10 prompt was:

The unwavering support of my husband. I don't mean to make anyone gag, but seriously, his constant belief in me is one of the main reasons that I feel confident enough to pursue my dreams. It's nice to feel like I have at least one part of my life completely figured out. Especially when I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to careers and babies and all that stuff.

Photo by The Nichols

So cheers to you, husband!

Mind/Body + Aspirations

OK, I'm gonna be real for a sec. I'm having one of those weeks where I want to pull out my eyeballs I'm so busy. And yet, when I'm actually at work, I don't have much to do. It's the most frustrating feeling, and needless to say, that is why I haven't been blogging every day. But, I've actually been writing blog posts on little scraps of paper at work--I just haven't had time to type them up when I get home.

So...back to #reverb10. The prompt for day 12 was:

I'm just gonna go ahead and refer you back to my post from day three.

The prompt for day 13 was:

I actually think I'm one of those people who's better on follow through than on ideas. In fact, sometimes I will stick to things (books that bore me, inane TV shows, DIY projects with lumps of glue everywhere that I should've given up on long before, and--oh yeah--law school) when it have been better--more productive--to just give up.

I don't consider myself to be someone who has amazing ideas all the time. I think my truly good ideas are few and far between. (Though I can think of a few off the top of my head: marrying the Dude, studying abroad in England in 2003, and perhaps that nifty test-tube spice rack I made in 2009.)

My next major idea (and time will tell whether it's a good one) is this transition I'm trying to make into a full-time career as a freelancer. How am I going to make it happen? Patience, for one thing. For various reasons, I need to stick my legal job out for the next few months. Then...it's just a matter of taking the leap and doing whatever I need to do to make up the income deficit for me and the Dude. I can't and don't expect him to have to pick up the slack for me, so if I have to supplement my income with a service-industry job, or something else menial and low paying that I'm overqualified for, I am 100% willing to do it. Now the tricky part: how do you get a job at Starbucks with a law degree?

Eleven for '11

The #reverb10 prompt for day 11 is my favorite one yet.

As a somewhat-recovering perfectionist, I love lists and I love self-improvement. So I present you with the 11 things I will try to ditch from my life in 2011.

1. Fast food. The Dude and I actually made a pact a couple of months ago to not eat fast food for eight months. I'm gonna try and see if I can make it the whole year. Maybe by then, I won't feel a need for it at all!
2. Negativity. I'm an optimist by nature, but there are times when I can get bogged down in the things in my life that aren't perfect. What's the point? My life is pretty great and I'm lucky. I wanna stay focused on that next year.
3. Bar loan. I know I talk about this a lot, but it's one of my major goals for next year. Pay off that stupid loan! I can't imagine a freer feeling right now than making that final payment.
4. Fear. It's time for me to stop worrying about what other people think of me and just do what feels right for my life, whether that be choosing a different career path or just being more open in how I write about my life.
5. Clogged pores. Time to get back to putting my Clarisonic to good use!
6. Social anxiety. I get nervous in social situations, and that is never going to change. But even if I'm dreading going to a party, I almost always have fun once I'm there. So, moral of the story? Go to more parties. Invite people over to our house more. Do more happy hours and brunches and late-night cocktails (balancing this with keeping to our budget, of course). 
7. Piles of brush in our yard. We need to kick those to the curb.
8. My "business." 2011 seems like the perfect time to tie up all of the loose ends left over from my Etsy shop. Bonus incentive: extra money when I close my business account!
9. Cavities. I'm pretty sure I've got one. Now I just need to make that dentist appointment and get it taken care of.
10. My bangs. I'm in the process of growing them out (and kind of mourning the loss of them). Can't wait to get out of this awkward phase, though.
11. Impatience. Anyone ever tell you to stop wishing your life away? I feel like I do this sometimes. I think it's the planner in me, always trying to get everything ready for when life is going to be "perfect." Ha. Time to start living in the now.

Wise

Yesterday's #reverb10 prompt was:

I'm not ashamed to say that I made some not-so-great financial decisions in 2009. Most notably, taking out a $15,000 private loan (at 13.5% interest) to pay for the bar exam study course and my living expenses during the time I was studying for the bar. However, in 2010, I decided to put all of my bad decisions behind me and move forward. The Dude and I have been able to pay four times the minimum payment on this loan for the past few months, thanks to careful budgeting and me working two jobs. In a couple more months, he will finish paying off his student loans, and we will up our payment to six times the minimum. That puts us paying off the entire loan by September 2011. That's 13.5 years ahead of schedule. If all goes according to plan, we will save over $25,000 in interest. Maybe the wisest decision I've made ever.

Although I do regret taking out the loan in the first place, it did supply me with a necessary source of income when I wasn't able to have a full-time job and my student loans had already been spent. It also allowed me to spend on little extras for our wedding. My mom paid for most of it, but I was able to go on crazy Michaels runs every week without worrying about blowing the budget.

Another wise decision I made in 2010 was taking a chance by reaching out to Mrs. Penguin about my interest in working for Weddingbee and my passion for editing. At the time, I felt a little silly, and I was sure nothing would ever come of it. But now I have my dream job! Even if it doesn't last forever, it has given me more confidence to pursue what I really want in life.

In 2011, I want to take the leap by giving up my full-time job and opening myself up to going freelance full time. I guess we'll see what happens...

Life is a Party (Not)

I think I'm a couple days behind on #reverb10 at this point. Let's get caught up, right?

This question is really tough because I'm having a hard time thinking of a party or event that really stands out above all the others. I'm not saying that I went to a ton of events this past year--really, it's more the opposite. I don't go out and party a lot these days.

I'm gonna go ahead and say the "Bees Gone Wild" trip to Vegas back in March is at the top of my list. I went without the Dude, which I am glad about because I'm not sure how much fun he would've had surrounded by a bunch of married and engaged women!

I spent the weekend getting to meet some of my Weddingbee pals for the first time, getting to see others that I'd met in the past, going to fun (and free, thanks to some generous and well-connected bees!) shows like Chippendale's and Cirque de Soleil, getting professional photos taken in the desert by the fab Jessica Winn, and just generally partying it up in the city!

And I got to meet Mrs. Penguin for the first time--now we not only work together, but we're friends as well!

And to think, I considered not going on this trip when my friend Mrs. Kitten had to back out. We were going to go as roomies, but then she found out her husband was getting deployed to Iraq right around the time of the trip! I still really wanted to go, but I was a little bit nervous about not having a "buddy" to go with. Good thing I didn't let that stop me because it was an amazing trip.

Coming in at a very close second would be the random trip that the Dude and I took to New Orleans, meeting J. Dawg there. It felt like being in college again.

What was your best party in 2010?

Different

Yesterday's #reverb10 prompt was:

I've been thinking about this for two days. It's a very difficult question! I think what makes me different from most of the people that I currently know and spend time around is my perspective. Almost all of them grew up in urban areas or the suburbs, but I grew up in a rural town of about 14,000. Being from a small town where I didn't really fit in culturally (a liberal atheist in rural East Texas?) has shaped who I am. I think that experience combined with studying law (a notoriously conservative field) have made me an open-minded and accepting person who is able to empathize with people even if I don't agree with them.

I'm really not sure what I do that "lights people up." I'm not really the "lighting up" type, and I don't have a super outgoing personality. In fact, I can be shy--borderline standoffish--and once I get to know you, I like to argue! So yeah, lighting people up isn't my forte. I am, however, an optimist, and I think I'm pretty decent at helping people see things from a positive perspective. I find people who go around talking about Murphy's Law and rainclouds following them to be quite annoying, in fact! Haven't they heard of The Secret?

So do my differences make me beautiful? I don't know, that sounds kind of cheesy to me. Are they even really differences? I kind of think that no matter how "different" you might think you are, there is always someone out there who can relate to you. It really makes me wish I had the Internet when I was in junior high--maybe I wouldn't have felt like such a freak!

Community

Today's #reverb10 prompt was:

I guess I don't really feel like I've "discovered community" in 2010. Yes, I am a part of the Weddingbee online community, and yes I love it. But I've been a part of it since 2009, when I first started blogging for the site.

I think that it being my first year post law school, in some ways I have lost community this year. I no longer have a school that I feel a part of.

I started a new office job, and while everyone there is perfectly pleasant, I do not feel a sense of community there.

My mom and my brother live here in Austin, but we aren't really a community, just a family, and a pretty small one at that. We have started trying to get together more often, which has been really good. My other brother is going to college 10 hours away, and he's in that phase of his life where he doesn't really need to talk to his big sister a lot. The Dude's family (who, for the record, I consider my family as well) live spread out across the country, and we don't get to see them often. (But they are coming to Austin for Christmas--yay!)

I have a few close friends that I care a lot about, but again, I don't feel like we're a community. We don't all get together and celebrate holidays, birthdays, etc. My friends aren't all friends with each other, and a lot of them don't even know each other.

I mostly like spending time with people one on one or in small groups, so maybe that is a part of why I don't feel a sense of community in my life right now.

Or perhaps getting married has made the Dude and me more insular, more codependent, and less reliant on people outside the two of us.

Source

I'm stumped as to whether my lack of a "community" is a problem. Maybe it's something I need to think about in 2011.

Beer Bad

Today's #reverb10 prompt is:

I was so excited for this topic today! I did a shitload of crafting over the weekend. (Would have done more, probably, but I had a bit too much to drink on both Thursday AND Saturday nights--hence the above title.) I'm not really sure what came over me--the Christmas spirit? Anyway, on Saturday, I started by painting our front door a glossy black. I'd been thinking about doing it for a little bit, since our door was the generic gray/blue that doors come straight from the manufacturer in. See for yourself:

And here's the after:

Ah, I love it! Twenty-dollar project that took about an hour (with the Dude's help).

Notice anything special on the door? Why yes, that would be my second craft project of the weekend. I made a tinsel wreath and a wax-paper pom to adorn it, courtesy of tutorials found here and here. Thanks to Kelly of Blushink for blogging about these super cool wreaths!

Wanna see a close-up?

The wreath was SUPER DUPER easy (well, except finding the effing silver tinsel--THAT was an ordeal), and the wax-paper pom was only slightly more advanced. It took me two tries to get the one you see in the photo above. It's still not quite as good as the inspiration pictures, but I was fine with it for a decoration that's going to stay outside. I'd never made a pom before. What's funny about them is they seem to photograph better than they look in person. Now I see why so many people make tissue-paper poms for their weddings!

Think I was done here? Forget about it! I still had all day Sunday to create. I decided to get going on a project that I'd been thinking about for a while, ever since I saw Kelsey at Minted Life and Mrs. Lamb both blog about picture-frame walls. I got out some random framed photos I had all over the house and hung them up on a wall in one of our hallways. I kinda liked it, but something didn't feel right. I wanted to paint the frames a bright color to tie them all together. So I chose a sunshine yellow to match the CB2 chairs we recently bought.

I don't have any photos of the process, but honestly, all I did was paint some picture frames. FYI, for small projects like this, you can go to your local paint store, pick out a paint chip you like, and ask for them to make you a sample. You can get a really small little plastic jar of paint for a few bucks!

The color looks really neon-y and harsh in these photos, but I promise it's more subtle IRL. I think it's just the lighting and my shoddy photography skills! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It's definitely not perfect, but it makes our house feel more homey.

Still on my to-make list: 17 teacup candles, maybe a pom-pom wreath, and most likely some handmade presents for my family to supplement the store-bought Christmas gifts.

What have you made lately?