NaNoWriMo

So sometimes I hit the "next blog" button at the top of the page and scan other people's blogs. Most don't interest me, however, the first blog that appeared tonight was fascinating. It was titled "Life according to k" and I wish I knew this girl! Her posts were so interesting and she seems like so much fun. I think we could be very good friends, if we met in person.

The second blog I ran into was called "William's Ramblings" and was not interesting to me but for one post halfway down the page. It was titled NaNoWriMo and it immediately caught my eye, because the same thing was mentioned quite frequently in the Life according to K blog.

What is NaNoWriMo, you ask? (Don't worry, I didn't know either!) It stands for National Novel Writing Month (which apparently happens to be the month of November.... check it out here http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/whatisnano). It's just for fun, a contest that encourages people to write a 50,000 word (about 175 page) novel in one month! That's a pretty daunting task. K of Life according to K has taken up this challenge, while William of William's Ramblings, who is apparently an actual published writer, has not. I so wish I had known about this before now! It sounds so interesting. Of course, it's probably better that I'm not doing it this month, seeing as up to this point I've only been on vacation, sick, or working overtime, so I wouldn't have the time for it.... but I'm putting it on my calendar for next year! I have a year then to think of a topic to write about....

I think the easiest way to write a 50,000 word novel is to write a story about my life. Although I would definitely have to embellish things and just outright make stuff up to actually make it an interesting read..... hmm. This could be interesting! :) Luckily, the purpose of NaNoWriMo is that it's all about quantity, not quality.... so even if what you write is a bunch of crap, it doesn't matter! You can still pat yourself on the back for writing a 175 page novel.

I am SO doing this next year! :)

Stupid sinus infection

Boo to sinus infections. :(

This one is really bad, too. It must have happened when I was in Bahrain, and flying home made things that much worse. It's only on my left side, thank God, because if I had this insane pressure and achy-ness in both ears, I think I'd throw myself out a window. Thankfully the pressure isn't constant, it comes and goes, so that's something, and I went to the doctor today and was given antiobiotics, so I hope it clears up soon. This morning when I woke up the pressure in my left ear was horrific. I could barely get ready for the day. Thankfully, after taking a short nap before my doc appt, the pressure had cleared and stayed away for the rest of the day, but it's come back with a vengenance right now. :( I'm praying it goes away soon!

On an upside, I just found out that the random 167.00 deposit in my checking account from Lankenau was NOT a mistake, it was a little bonus to all the employees for doing something good. I don't really know what, to be honest, I had deleted the email that had explained this bonus without even reading it and then was left wondering about this money in my account for the past 4 days. I finally found out when the girls started talking about it at lunch. Which is nice, because I can always use some extra cash, and I wasn't too keen on giving it up if it had been a mistake. So yay for me! :)

Ok. My ear is seriously hurting... I'm going to go lay down and hope it clears like it did this morning. Here's hoping! *crosses fingers* :)

Long overdue update

So, I know it's been almost 2 months since I last updated the blog.... I've been so busy lately and just feeling lazy. And I did actually try to update a month ago- I wrote a big post and then my computer went crazy and I lost the post. It was all I could do to not throw my computer out the window at the time, so re-writing the post was definitely not an option. :P

Since September, here are some things that have happened in my life, just some highlights.

1) I have a new car. Noah didn't actually die, he's still at my parents house, and despite the fact that he's just an old car, he was MY old car and I miss him terribly. I know I sound like a huge weirdo for being so attached to my car, but too bad. I'm now leasing my sister's car, a black Nissan Sentra. My dad repainted it with sweet pink and gray striping on it's side (it used to be red and gray) and I like that a lot better. This car has been dubbed Sweets. For two reasons- one, beck named him Lance, a name I didn't really like. However, on one of my fav TV shows, Bones, one of my favorite characters is called Dr. Lance Sweets. (Everyone calls him Sweets). So it's perfect, my car's name is Lance Sweets. Plus he has a sweet candy pink stripe. :) I love Sweets, but miss my Noah a lot.

2) I've gotten crazy busy at work. My only co-worker lauren went on maternity leave on October 12, so I've been nuts taking over her work as well as carrying my own. I'm managing, thank God I'm a very organized person who's extremely good at multi-tasking, or else I'd be dead by now. My boss has been great though so that's good.

3) I'm getting really involved with my Church- I'm in two community groups, and I'm taking the 10 week Explore class (it's for people who are thinking about becoming members of the Church) plus I'm taking the 10 month Grow class- a class that's designed to help people grow in their faith. I've been loving it. It's been such a blessing to learn and grow with my fellow community group members. Not to mention we have tons of social events- the last weekend of October was the singles retreat (AWESOME experience!!! I had a great time!) this Friday is a game night at Leah and Jackie's house, there's a holiday party the first Sat of December at Phil's, and there's a singles Christmas party December 19. Oh and this coming Sunday is a cookie baking day with my Monday night CG- we're baking cookies for Jamie and Tabitha's mini wedding reception (being held for guests who come to the wedding but weren't invited to the main reception). I'm actually in charge of the mini-reception, I hope it goes well. Yesterday my mom and I were out getting a lot of the decorations and supplies. I had such a good time shopping with my mom!

4) November 4-9 I went to Bahrain to visit Becky!!! Unfortunately due to the travel time, I only had 3 days with her- it went way too fast. I would have loved to have stayed longer, but I was lucky enough to get these couple days off at work (see number 2 above) so I took what I could get. Becky was so wonderful, she bought the ticket for me, since I'm just a poor overworked researcher that no one cares about (no one cares about the research I mean, people care about me. At least I think they do! :P) so that was really nice. I flew British Air, which was awesome. I highly recommend it. The flights went so smoothly. Becky flew me over specifically so I could go to the marine ball with her... it was so much fun! I loved it. I'd put up pics but I'm feeling pretty lazy, plus I have a lot up on facebook so everyone can check them out there. :) I felt like a princess though. It was a nice feeling. :)

So, that's some of the biggest stuff that's happened to me for a while. There should be plenty to update now with the holidays approaching, and it appears I'm over my lazy slump, so stay tuned. I'll try to be better at updating!

It's been a while

I love reading blogs, and I feel bad that I neglected mine for so long, but I just didn't have the heart to write for a while. I was really in a funk. Maybe it was the changing weather, maybe it was turning 26, maybe it was the stress of my rapidly increasing workload at work, maybe it was being so uncertain about my future... maybe it was a combination of these things. I really don't know. But I do have time tonight, as well as some ambition, so I figured I should update this blog before yet another month passes!



A lot has happened in the month or so since I've written. First off, I sadly am not driving Noah anymore. :( After much discussion with my Dad, we decided the wisest thing to do on all counts is for me to essentially lease Becky's car from her. I don't have the money to outright buy it from her, and it's not fair to her or Britt for me to take it for free, so I'm paying her a small amount each month. It works in both our favors because I have a more reliable car to drive, and she gets some money for the car she can't use while overseas that would have just gone to waste sitting here for two years un-driven. So now I'm driving Sweets, a black with pink stripe (paint job compliments of my Dad :) '04 Nissan Sentra. I miss Noah, but I have to say, the CD player and fast heat is super nice. I'll also LOVE the AC in the summertime.



As far as Church, a lot has happened. I started Explore, the 10 week membership class for Covenant, and I also started GROW, a 10 month course to help people deepen their faith and grow more spiritually. I really like both so far, and have learned a LOT about Christian doctrine. In the space of only 4 weeks, I have grown more than I have in years.... I'm so excited for the rest of the time to come!



Two weeks ago, I went apple picking at Linvilla Orchards with my Newtown Square community group. It was crazy!! I don't know if it was a special day, or if it's normally like that, but it felt like being at a county fair, not an orchard/farmers market. We had fun though, and last Friday, I made homemade applesauce with my mom. :) It was a sweet time that I really enjoyed. I so love spending time with my family. I love and appreciate them so much and never want to take them for granted.



This past Tuesday we had a potluck for my Media community group. It was a great time of food and fellowship. I tried out a new recipe that I got from my mom and dad's weight watchers cookbook- orange chicken couscous. It was soooo delicous and so easy to make! Right up my alley as far as cooking goes. :) I got a lot of compliments on it. Besides for that though, there was some pot roast, chili, cornbread, and here is where I got cut off when my computer died!!!! I was so mad and I didn't realize it had saved! So here Katie, is proof that I did have an update in October, but after I (thought) I lost this, in my frustration, I didn't write again till mid November. Whoops!

Rough Sunday, rough week, Fabulous Saturday

This week didn't seem to go so well.

It all started on Sunday, when I was coming back to Ardmore after spending the weekend at my parents for my birthday. My car acted up again- I noticed it on the turnpike, but thank God, I managed to get to a Villanova parking lot before it completely stopped. I was upset because the car was doing the same thing that happened not even three weeks earlier- and I had supposedly gotten everything fixed. So I got my car towed to the same place, just to find out on Monday that the car was apparently acting fine- they couldn't find the problem because they couldn't get the car to "act up again." What? What? The car totally stopped dead at a red light on Rt 30- there is most definitely a problem here. So what happened? Did they not find a problem three weeks ago and just told me it was a vaccum hose when it really wasn't? Why did the car seem fine until 3 weeks later? Did they really find the problem this time or just told me some lie to appease me? The car seems to be ok for now, but I feel like I'm on borrowed time here- the car was fine for almost three weeks after the first incident, so what's to say that in another 2-3 weeks it won't happen again? It's frustrating and worrisome, to say the least.

That started the week off on a bad note for me, and just went downhill from there. I felt very blah this week, totally down and out, not myself. I took a week off from the gym, because I completely lacked motivation to go. I skipped community group on Monday (even though my car was still in the shop, I knew I could have called somebody to take me, but I just didn't feel like going) and I had to literally drag myself out of bed to go to work each morning. Plus, each day seemed like a year.... the time dragged on and on and on.

However, after taking time to just relax last night, I felt very much more myself. Mentally, I hated skipping the gym this week, especially because I wasn't being very nutritionally sound this week either. But physically, I think I really needed the break. I excercised again this morning and felt much better about it. Tomorrow I'm going to put together new workouts- I think I was getting bored with them, which probably accounted for a lot of my unmotivation. Plus, I mapped out some more fitness goals, which always helps!

I slept in this morning which was so lovely. I leisurely checked my email, excercised, ate breakfast, showered and got ready for the day, and then called my mom and made a date for a girls day with her! Yay! And it was just what I needed. She got to my apartment a little after noon, and we made sauteed veggies in tomato basil sauce (one of our new favorite recipes) for lunch. I really needed to go grocery shopping (another thing I neglected to do this week in my un-motivated, lazy state) so we went to Whole Foods and picked up a few things. Then we headed to the KOP mall for some shopping! We hit up NY&Co, one of our favorite stores. They didn't have a great selection today (it can be hit or miss for us) but mom tried on a pair of dress pants that looked AWESOME on her, which also showed off that she's been losing weight, which made her super happy. (Both she and my dad have been on Weight Watchers for about 5-6 weeks or so, and they're both doing so great, I'm so proud of them!) Then we went to Charlotte Russe, one of my favorite stores. We both bought these beautiful accessory scarves, and I also picked up three new shirts, and an AWESOME pair of earrings- big dangly ones that look like the eye on a peacock's feathers. Not so coincidently, they look awesome with every shirt I bought today, plus the one I was already wearing. Nice! :)

We stopped in a few more stores to browse a bit, and then went to Blue Pacific, this awesome sushi/chinese bistro in the mall. It feels like you're underwater, because it has soft blue lighting, lots of fishtanks in the walls, and sea decorations all over. They have such great food, I highly recommend it. Normally I get their sushi, but I tried the chinese today and got pad thai. Mom got a delicious seafood noodle dish that was the special. Yummy! Afterward we treated ourselves to dessert and had some frozen yogurt at TCBY.

Later, we went back to my apartment and watched some Bones episodes. Britt got us watching the show, and it's great. Booth and Brennan, the two main characters, have such great chemistry. Actually, I love all the characters on the show. They're a riot. :)

The perfect day ended when Mom had to head back home. :( But before she left, we made guacamole from the two avacadoes I picked up at Whole Foods. It's the first time I made homemade guacamole and it was DELICIOUS! Thank you Whole Foods, for putting the "RIPE" stickers on the avacadoes.... because I really don't think I'd ever be able to tell a ripe avacado from an un-ripe one without that sticker. They were PERFECT for making guacamole. Plus they were on sale. Yay! Which makes up for the ridiculously expensive goat cheese I bought because I read the wrong sign. That's the one thing I hate about Whole Foods..... they sometimes don't have prices listed at all, and often times, if they do, they're not clearly labeled, or the sign is not posted where it should be, so you read the wrong label. That's happened to me twice now, where I spent way more than I ever would have on a food product because their signs stink. Other than that though I like Whole Foods a lot.

Anyway, after having a slow, not so great week, it surely ended with a fabulous day today. I'm so glad and grateful I have such a wonderful, loving family, and that I can spend so much time with them. I really treasured the day I had with my mom today. It was such a blessing.

On that note, I'm heading to bed cause I have to wake up for Church tomorrow, so I'm praying hard that my car gets me to and from Church without any problems! I appreciate any prayers sent in my direction as well! :)

26 years

Saturday was my 26th birthday. It felt like just another day.... it was just another day. But I felt a little sad as I looked back on my life so far... I don't feel like I've done much with it. I want something more.... I need something more fulfilling. Well, is it that, or do I just need to be more thankful? I am thankful and grateful for my life so far. I've been blessed in so many ways- a loving wonderful family, good friends, good health, an able working body, a place to live, a car to drive, a great education, jobs.... the list goes on. I have so much to be thankful for, and I am extremely thankful for these blessings. God has been so good to me. But I want to get the most out of life that I can. I want to have selfless love and be giving and kind, a true servant to others. I don't want to compare myself to others. I want to help those in need in whatever way I can. I want the light of Jesus Christ in my life to shine through me in everything I do... I want to be a good witness for him. I don't want to be ashamed of Christ, I want people to see him when they look at me, interact with me. I want to be God's hands and feet.

I hope and pray that my 26th year brings me closer to these goals of mine.

Fall is in the air!

Oh, fall is just around the corner, I can feel it.... the shorter days, the cooler nights, the leaves hinting at changing color, kids going back to school, apple cider ready at County Line Orchard...(best fruit ever there, yum!) I love fall. I can't wait till we're fully immersed in it. Bring it on! :)