Day 8 of the YOU Challenge - Finished

So, I obviously haven't been doing this every single day, but every couple of days is good enough to me. It gives me enough time to really think about what I want to write and not just come up with things from atop my head. So here are my Eight Fears:

a. That Andrew will be taken away from me in some form or another and I will be left alone before we are able to raise a family and buy a house and live life together.


b. Death and dying. Every time I read or talk about (even in the Bible) it or participate in funerals, I get this tightness in my chest and I feel as though I can't breathe. I basically have an anxiety attack. This is probably my number 1 fear.

c. Or this one could be: violence towards women. I am actually not going to say what it is, but I am sure you can use your imagination to figure it out.

 Man this is hard. I might need a couple more days to think about these fears. So please excuse the blankness!

d. Not being supportive enough as a wife.

e. HEIGHTS

f. That I might do something at work (in the classroom) that would cause me to be terminated from my job.

g. I worry a lot about money and our financial situation. I owe a bit of money in student loans and I want to pay them off as soon as possible - but then I think that if I didn't have these then Andrew and I would be able to be more adventurous and do more things (like going out to eat) a little more often. Regardless, I worry a lot about finances.

h. That I am not living life to the fullest I am able and not being compassionate/passionate enough about living it.

Day 9 of the You Challenge

Nine loves (in no particular order except letter a):

a. Andrew - he is my closest friend and I am sad he is leaving today!
b. Cheesecake
c. My family (I am really close to them)/Spending time with them/being silly
d. The ocean
e. Sitting around a campfire eating extra burnt marshmallows
f. Snuggling up on the couch with a good book

g. Walking around trails in the woods
h. Laughing until I cry (or it seems like I am)
i. Being a part of something bigger

and just for kicks:
j. My job. I absolutely love being able to go to work every day and change a few dozen diapers and interact with the kids.

The Ten Day You Challenge

I got this idea from another Blog I've been reading (who I am somehow related to by marriage from Andrew's side).

And since I wanted to upload a bunch of pictures I've taken in the past two weeks and write about them, but cannot because Andrew is currently transferring files from this computer to the PS3, I will write on this instead and maybe this next weekend I can get around to editing and posting and writing. 

Ten Secrets - or maybe just some quirks about me you may not have known before.

a. I have a tattoo of a bird with a rose within its beak. It is inked over my heart and is in memory of my Grampie who died of colon (that spread of the rest of his body) cancer back in 1999.

b. I really like to shop in discount stores - or in the clearance section of most stores. BUT, I also like high quality items so I am willing to pay for something that is going to last 10+ years. For example, over Christmas break of 2008, I bought a $200 pair of hiking boots. I still have them and they are in great shape. 

c. A few years ago (and a couple of months before I got married) I impulse-bought a Coach wallet at a Coach Outlet store. Even then I felt it was a lot of money for something so small. Was I really buying something that expensive? (even though it was 70% off, it was still over $100)...but now I secretly want a Coach purse.

d. My two favorite Easter candies are the Cadbury Mini Eggs with the crisp sugar coating - but they only come out during March/April - and peeps. Stale peeps (that's the best way!)

e. I am an emotional worshiper of Christ. There is not a Sunday/song on the radio etc that goes by without some sort of waterworks from me when I am truly in awe or know the impact of the words.

f. I think my new favorite song is 'Somebody That I Used to Know' by Goyte.

g. I really wish I could update my glasses. I've had the same pair since ninth or tenth grade and it is time for a change. It would be nice not to have to wear my contacts all the time.

h. I absolutely love my job. I never thought that working with 6-12 month olds would be so satisfying and rewarding. It almost makes me want to get a Master's degree in Early Childhood Education...

i.  When it comes time for Andrew and I to start a family, I want to skip over the whole birthing stage. I do want to experience pregnancy, but I don't want to experience birth. I've heard and read accounts of people who say watching the birth of their child is a miracle and so beautiful...um hello?! It's gross. Yes, the miracle is in the child and the making of the child...but seriously? Giving birth is messy and gross and bloody and I would rather not have to experience that. No thank you. Give me the belly, then give me the baby without the belly. Without the blood and pain.

j. Sometimes - okay, many times -  I feel as though I am inadequate in the position I've been given (in this marriage) as a wife, lover, confidant, servant, best friend. It is a lot harder than I imagined trying to juggle many hats. I try hard to be the best I can be in all areas, but many times I just fall short. It's frustrating.

k. (This is just one for good measure). It would be absolutely incredible to be able to ride in the bucket of a musher's sled during the ceremonial start/end of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race that happens in Anchorage every year.

Oh how I loathe exercising!

So while in exercise class yesterday evening, I focused on my posture in the mirror while doing the arm pulses with the bar and I noticed something... I have a pudge! Where did that come from? After discussing it with Andrew, we decided to do a couple of things:
1. I won't be making any cookies/brownies for the next couple of months
2. I will be buying more veggies that I like to eat...and make them!
3. Find another exercise class to try and try to commit to exercising (ugh) four times a week.
4. Stop getting fancy Starbucks coffee every day of every weekend.

I really think it's the fancy drinks that are getting to me.

Wednesdays

Oh Wednesdays. Wednesday evenings I have all to myself - well, at least until 7:30, sometimes 8:30. Andrew picks me up at work anywhere from 5:15-5:20 (depending on the time I actually get out) then drops me off at home before he drives over to Changepoint (yes, the church we attend) to do his training night with Skinny Raven Sports. He sometimes usually stops off at Boscoe's Comic Book store after running.

So what do I do in my few hours of solitude? I would like to say that I do yoga or pilates or somehting of that nature...uninterrupted stretching etc. But I'm lazy :)

Instead, I make dinner, eat it while watching the newest episode of NCIS:LA. Tonight I made oven-fried cod and a salad Sarah made for dinner one of the last times I was there. It has olives, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and feta cheese crumbles.

 Then sometimes watch a re-run or two of an older NCIS: the original while menu planning for the next week (which is more planing that watching) and taking an initial inventory of our cabinets.

The cookbooks sans Betty Crocker.

I had originally saved this as right-side-up but for whatever reason, it doesn't like me. But this is the pasta cupboard.

Besides that, I also do some chores too, like clean the cat litter and feed him, do some laundry, unload the dishwasher and clean up from dinner. So I guess Wednesdays are relatively productive.

Hello Saturday!

Not much has gone on this week. I got the car on Monday because Andrew went to Alyeska with Julian to Snowboard/Ski. It was nice to be able to run errands like mailing things at the post office that have been waiting to be mailed for like, literally, a month. I just haven't had the time nor the money to mail them out.

On Wednesday evening I had a little bit of an upset-ment and so then I was surprised on Thursday when Andrew came into work with a bouquet of flowers and a chai from Barnes & Noble. Awww. Everyone at work was pretty jealous and kept asking about them. I have a husband who loves me!

Thursday evening we went on a date to Beartooth Theatre and had dinner while watching a documentary on bicycling across the US for the American Diabetes Association and Kupenda, an organization in Kenya that helps kids with disabilities get into school and supports them while there. The documentary was entitled Adventures for the Cure. The really neat thing about it is that not only one of the three has type 1 diabetes but also that all three guys rode across country on fixed single speed bikes. Yeah crazy.

It was relaxing to be able to go out with each other. I do like going to Hospitality House in Eagle River, but sometimes it is relaxing to not have to rush out right after work, when my clothes are full of drool, spit, poo, urine - you name it, I probably have it on my jeans or my smock... Not that I wear my smock out in public. But sometimes it leaks through.

Last night I went to a RefresHER event at Changepoint. There was a light dinner served but I didn't realize that and had made dinner at home. We worshiped and then there was a few skits and some giveaway prizes before the director of women's ministry at Changepoint gave a message and I thought it was very inspiring. I enjoyed her message. Afterwards, the First Lady of Alaska, Sarah Parnell joined the stage and this is where my enjoyment turned to boredom. I was very excited to hear what she had to say about God and how she is living in Faith etc, like her testimony etc (Mrs. Parnell and the Women's director are related through marriage as their children wed this past summer). And she did have some interesting stories about going to Africa - which I enjoyed - but her main talk was to advocate for sex trafficking in Alaska, especially here in Anchorage. Yes, I know it is important and steps need to be taken to help alleviate this crime against women. But I think it would have been much better if she shared her story. Her Christ story. Because I don't know who this woman is, apart from the fact that she is married to the Governor of Alaska.

After the event, I went to Barnes & Noble for coffees and I bought Andrew another bobblehead character for his collection: Thor. Then we headed off to the movie theater where we bought tickets to see Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. I don't really like the series, but I figured since I dragged him to see the first part of the 4th Twilight installment, that I at least owed it to him. And I must say. I SORT OF LIKED IT. Yikes!

This morning (bright and early since the movie didn't get out until almost 1 am and I got up at 7:45 am) I went to my appointment at Ambience Hair Design & Spa in South Anchorage. Let's just say that this type of wake-up call is a lot more effective than coffee, that's for sure! Good thing it only comes about once every five weeks!

Then I went grocery shopping. And Andrew went running. And although we were supposed to go snowshoeing at the Eagle River Nature Center today...I am still waiting on him to come home. Yes he was running 12 miles today, but it isn't the running that is keeping him away. He locked himself out of the car. And is currently waiting in Julian's car while AAA takes their sweet 'ole time to aid him.
So instead I will head to Chugiak and hang out with Sarah for a little while. Maybe tomorrow after church we will do our outing (I hope so).

I am so glad it is the weekend.

Bucket List

Do you have one? I have never watched the movie, but I get the idea. You have a list of things you would like to accomplish/see/do in your lifetime. Someone mentioned this to me the other day and I thought 'I don't have one...anymore'. I used to have this list of things I wanted to do (before the movie ever came out) and I have accomplished them. I had, at one point in my life, a SCUBA certification. I went on a Brio/Focus-on-the-family-sponsored mission trip. I spend three months living in Eastern Africa. I went to a small Christian School. I got a degree in Biology. I lived with my maternal grandparents for a year. I worked as a counselor at a summer camp (for three years while in college). I got married to a wonderful man and love him more everyday.

But what about now? Sure, I have goals for the year (see my 2012 resolutions post), but in terms of my life? From now until whenever? I'm not sure.

This has got me thinking...what are some of the things I have had in mind to do...eventually? Here are some of the things that have been rolling around in my head (and I plan on adding more/crossing them off as they happen with dates etc):
1. Visit the Redwood trees
2. Sleep in a tree house (they have them near Seattle Washington)
3. Live in Oregon
4. Visit India, Iceland, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Greece, Japan, Sweden
5. Ride in a Hot Air Balloon
6. Meet/talk with President Obama & First Lady Michelle Obama 
7. Collect all of my favorite Disney/other childhood movies

Alaska Bucket List:
1. Take a picture at the Arctic Circle
2. Relax in Chena Hot Springs
3. Camp/hike in Denali National Park
4. Spend a weekend in Homer
5. Talk/meet with Sarah Palin
6. Participate in the Fur Rondy outhouse Race
7. Hike Mt. Baldy & Crow's Pass
8. Go on a 26-Glacier Cruise out of Whittier
9. Ride the railroad
10. Participate in a higher than 5-k race during the Big Wild Life runs in the summer
11. Go to Fairbanks during the Ice Festival & view the Aurora Borealis
12.Go to an Alaska Aces game
13. Go to the Summer Baseball Games - Check! June 23rd 2012 Glacier Pilots vs. Chugiak Chinooks!
14. Eat more sushi.
15. Check out all the neat restaurants around Anchorage before we leave.