Guilty Pleasures

**Again I've been bad about updating my blog, but there have been so many wonderful things happening over the last couple weeks that I haven't had much time to sit and write.  There have been pumpkins, mugs of chai tea, a weekend at home, a baby shower for my new niece, a classroom of respectful, fun students (some days), and a lot of laughter and good times among friends.  I hope you've been appreciating all your favorite things, as much as I have my own, and have been taking some time to sit back and enjoy this beautiful time of the year. **

The leaves have changed and are starting to fall, pumpkin scents have begun to spew out of my oven, and I've been switching my tank tops for warm, woolly sweaters.  The months of October, November, and December, have to be my favorite times in the year!  They are filled with my favorite people, foods, colors, and weather.  It's a beautiful time to really enjoy the beauty of Mother Nature; a time to love God's amazing Earth; a time to be thankful of the beauty that is all around us.


It's also a time of the year when we shouldn't feel bad about indulging in a guilty pleasure (or two.)   
For example, these might be things I should feel guilty about, but absolutely don't:

• I watched "Charlie Brown's The Great Pumpkin" four times.
• I wanted to pick out the perfect pumpkin, but felt bad for the loop-sided one, so got that one instead.
• I hoped my students brought me the "good" Halloween candy instead of tootsie rolls and smarties.
• I bought a bag of candy in case any trick-or-treaters came, but none did, nor have they ever the last two years.
• I decided to put my pajamas on at 5, because that's when it gets dark, and watch movies instead of going to the gym.  
• I giggled like a school-girl when I heard the first Christmas song advertisement on the radio.
• I stared out the window as the first snowflakes fell and thought, "I hope I have a lot of snow days this year."
• I started a countdown in my head (don't tell Patrick) for how many more days I have to wait until I can put the Christmas Tree up.  14 days....

It's a time of the year when you can indulge in all things that make your holiday season cheery and bright; a time to enjoy the people and things that bring you joy.  I hope you get to cherish this time of the year, and all your favorite things, by removing the guilt and replacing it with utter joy and bliss.
As my grandma used to say, "Ice cream for breakfast never hurt anyone!" and I know if she was here, she'd be enjoying all of the holidays' guilty pleasures, as much as me.     

A Weekend Getaway!

Marathon training, busy weekends, and leaving all my energy in my classroom are all the reasons that I'm going to blame not updating my blog for a month!  Not great reasons, but my vow is to try to get back to updating and blogging about my favorite things at least a couple times a week.  Here's to hoping it works out.

Today's favorite was easy considering Patrick and I just got back from a great weekend getaway to Charlottesville, Virginia.  It's a beautiful college town located about 2 1/2 hours from D.C. and it was a well-needed reprieve from the hustle and bustle of the city.  Our weekend was perfect with beautiful fall weather and all the quaintness of this great town.

We went to wineries, a UVA football game, dinner and drinks, an apple orchard, and just enjoyed each other's company.  It's amazing how easy it is to get caught up by the mundane routines during the work week and not actually make the most of your time together as a couple.  This weekend we laughed, acted goofy (with the help of some wine), and reconnected on the things that have been happening in our lives lately.  We made goals and plans for our next adventures.  We just relaxed.

I really hope every couple, married or not, gets a chance to getaway or just vary the normal routine to reconnect with each other.  It was such a beneficial weekend for us to spend time together and fall in love a little bit more.  As my grandma use to say,"Marriage is hard work.  Make sure you're in it with someone who you can have fun, laugh, and continue to fall in love with as you go."  I definitely have to agree with her and say that this weekend and my husband are two of my favorite things.


**Note:  I don't mean for this to be too mushy or gag-me-like, but I felt like it'd be good to refer to Patrick in one of my daily favorites.  ;) **

The Dog Days of Summer

With summer winding down and school starting in one short week, I know my days of freedom will be no longer and "my-summer's-over-depression" will begin to set in.  Today's favorite is enjoying a perfect summer day!  I LOVE a good summer day that is warm and full of sunshine.  Not a blazing hot day.  Not a humid day where my hair turns into a frizzball like Monica on Friends.  A nice warm day with bright blue skies and fluffy white clouds.  I love the way the sun shines down and makes all the colors of our earth seem magnified and beautiful.  Those days are pure perfection and I wished they lasted forever.

                                     

                                               

So, as the school year is about to begin and soon the fall season will be making its appearance (which I can't wait for), I'm soaking up this perfect summer day.  I hope it'll give me the energy I'm going to need, as my days will begin to be filled with summer stories, multiplication, and 25 third graders.  With that said, I'm headed back outside with my book to enjoy the day's beauty and soak up the last of the summer's sun.    

My Hoosier Home

Disclosure (as not to offend any of my east coast friends):  Before I start this post, let me start by saying that we moved to Washington, D.C. two years ago in September.  It was a difficult move at first, but we've met some amazing friends, had wonderful experiences, and grown closer today as a couple.  I can definitely say that I do not regret this opportunity at all, and in fact can say that it has been one of the best adventures we've ever taken (this is a big confession for me.)

With this said, I'm a Midwest girl all the way!  I love everything about the Midwest, and this summer I was able to spend a lot of time in this favorite place.  Many people assume that Indiana doesn't have a lot going on and that it doesn't have much to offer.  Well, according to me, they are very wrong.  Indiana has my family, friends, memories, simplicity, peace, and all the comforts of home.  So after spending two weeks in Indiana, it was very easy to pick this as one of my favorites (I know it'd be one of my grandma's favorites, too).


The first thing I love about Indiana is that it's been my home for 25 out of my 27 years of life.  So, needless to say it's comfortable.  I love the way my parents' house smells as you walk in after my mom has made banana bread; the way the trees hug the road with oranges, reds, and yellows in the light of fall; the beautiful waterfall my dad made in our backyard pond; roasting marshmallows in our fire-pit; the way my brother and I use to rush down the short hallway to see what Santa brought us (we did that last year too).  There are just so many wonderful memories and things that I love about home, that I could go on all day, but who has time to read that much!  :)

The other things that I love about Indiana range from perfectly planted cornfields, the coolness of a drive in the country, the way people wave at you when you let them out in traffic, weekends at the lake, the smiles and "Good Mornings" you receive by everyone you pass on a run, and the way the sky is filled with so many stars on a clear winter night.  The Hoosier state may not have a lot going on according to the average person, but to me, it is a state with filled with compassionate people and simple beauty.  I'm sure my grandma would agree that it was a wonderful place to call home. 



What are your favorites about home?

Friends are a Beautiful Thing!

           My Friends are a Beautiful Thing            
                

It is a beautiful thing to laugh so hard with your friends that you're crying and have a stomachache.

It is a beautiful thing to explore the world together.
It is a beautiful thing to learn new things about each other. 
It is a beautiful thing to be surrounded by people who know you better than anyone else and still accept you for you.

Drinking wine with a friend is a beautiful thing.

Solving the world's problems with a friend is a beautiful thing.
A long phone conversation with a friend is a beautiful thing.
An unexpected card or email from a friend is a beautiful thing.
Sitting and just letting the afternoon turn into evening with a friend is a beautiful thing.

This summer has been full of beautiful things with my friends: traveling, laughs, lunches, fuzzy slippers, candy necklaces, movies, hugs, smiles, and just FUN!   They are beautiful people who make my world a better place.  They are caring, compassionate, hilarious, fun, motivated, wonderful people, and I think they are the BEST friends in the whole world. 

My friendships are truly a beautiful thing and I am very thankful for them! 



Music to My Ears

My dad use to hold me upside down
to "dance on the ceiling."

You know when you're running on the treadmill and your favorite song comes across your shuffle and you want to jam along but people might stare?!  Or when you're driving home and you crank up the music when you hear that song you haven't heard in forever, or atleast since yesterday?!  Or when that dreaded alarm goes off and you're still exhausted, but somehow that one song pulls you from that tiredness to dance around in your bed and sing loudly at 5:45 AM?!  (Yeah, that's never happened to me either!) ;) 



The favorite for today are those songs that make you escape reality and take you to another place: your childhood, the college night when you and your friends had a dance party in your dorm room, or the first dance at your wedding reception.  Music always seems to fit the mood that you're in and I love that about it.  It seems to know what's needed at exactly the right moment.


So the next time you hear your favorite song or the song that transports you back in time, turn it up, pretend that no one is looking, and sing along loudly (and out of tune if you're me)!!  Because that's exactly what I did today and why I continue to love those 4 1/2 minutes of joy throughout my day.  

College dance night selection of choice!

Our first dance as husband and wife

The Beginning of a Beautiful Thing

“Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of my favorite things."   If you don't recognize these wonderful song lyrics, they're from the song in The Sound of Music called "My Favorite Things."  If you've never seen this movie, rent it!  This is one of my favorite movies, that my grandma showed me when I was young, and I've seen it more than 20 times.   Whether I was laying in my grandma's living room, nestled on her lap, or in my own home introducing it to my husband, it's become one of my favorite movie.

In February, that grandma, the best grandma in the world, claimed her spot in Heaven.  Although we were all sad, we knew she was much happier in her paradise where she could see and enjoy all of Heaven's beauty.  If you didn't know her, she was the most remarkable single mother of 8 children, grandmother of 19, devoted Catholic, teacher, and counselor, and the most ideal person to tell people to think positively and live in the present.  She truly appreciate all the little things in life:  the smell of lavender, a good blizzard from Dairy Queen, hearing children's laughter, poetry, a moving prayer, making those around her happy, drives in the country, and so much more.  She was a simple person, yet had such intelligence and faith, you had to believe everything she said because she seemed to know it all.  She has taught our family and me so much about keeping the right attitude during life's ups and downs and how every morning you have the choice to make it a good or bad day.  Even in her last stages with Parkinson's disease, it was evident that she was taking in all the little things she could, interlacing hands, holding the rosary, or enjoying a Wendy's frosty that we'd sneak into the nursing home for her. 

While I try my best to carry out her lessons daily, sometimes busy schedules and the negativity of life can catch up with me.  I've decided to take her lessons and do what she would always tell us, look for and enjoy the little things.

So that's that; my new project.  I'm going to pick one beautiful thing on a crummy day  or a pretty thing on a amazing day, and share it with you.  Eleanor Roosevelt said, "Happiness isn't a goal; it's a by-product."  I think these wise women, Eleanor Roosevelt and my grandma, knew just what they were talking about!

I hope you journey along with me and look for all the little things that bring joy and happiness to our normal everydays!