It's been five months since my last blog post.
I really have zero excuses, I just haven't bothered to update.

Sometimes, I don't know why I even bother this is blog. It has an incredibly small readership. But it's not about my readers, it's about me. I blog because it gives me a way to keep track of my goals. It provides me with an outlet when I'm stressed or just unsure about where I'm at in my life.

And so, whether my readership consists of one person or one-hundred, I'm here to stay.

A lot has changed in the last five months:

• We moved. We are still renting, but we are currently living in a four bedroom house instead of an apartment. 
• My work went through a massive restructure (this is still ongoing). While I didn't get a new job, I do have a new office location and new job responsibilities. It is currently madness. 
• I found out that I should be able to finish my graduate degree this year (as in a month from now!). 
• We went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. 

Okay, so when I list it out like that, it doesn't look like all that much as changed. But those few things sure seem like a lot of changes! 

I'm making some updates to my list and I'll post within the next few days about the some of the things I've accomplished while on my blogging hiatus. 

A (long) love story....

On Wednesday, we celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary. Four years! 

I'm guessing that the vast majority of you already know the story of how we met/got engaged/got married.  I'm going to tell you again anyway.

 It's going to be a long story. I'm warning you now.

I've known my husband since I was twelve years old. That's right - we met in middle school! We were the two students selected for the leadership council at our school, which just means that we sat in really boring meetings with a bunch of faculty and administrators that pretended to want our input on policies, procedures, events, etc.

We became friends through the leadership council and summers at the local pool. I had a membership to the pool and could be found there basically every day, and he often came with a friend of ours that had a membership too. I thought he was adorable and had the hugest crush on him (my now husband, not his friend).

By 8th grade, I guess he decided I was cute too and asked me to be his girlfriend. In 8th grade, that means we talked on the phone - and that's all. But he was so painfully shy that I could barely even get him to talk on the phone! As a fourteen year old girl that wanted to be showered with attention, it just didn't work. Like any other fickle fourteen year old girl, I started "dating" another boy that actually paid attention to me.

I did agree to be his date for the homecoming dance during our freshman year of high school. I still had a huge crush on him, but he was still painfully shy for the most part. We had a great time at the dance. He was so adorable, and he did kiss me at the end of the night. It was his first kiss! Who marries the first person you kissed?? My husband does, and thank goodness for that!

Anyway, a few days after the dance, he asked me to be his girlfriend again - via email! I wonder if he remembers this part... but I turned him down. Probably because he asked in an email.

For the next several years, we continued to be really good friends. We spent a lot of time together outside of school, sometimes in a group and sometimes on our own. He helped me through a few high school break ups, and I even set him up with a few girls along the way! My boyfriends were frequently jealous of our friendship and accused us of being more than friends, but it really was just a platonic friendship at that point.

Then, our senior year, something changed. We ended up kissing one night, and at first I thought it was one of those random high school kisses that don't amount to anything. But after a few days went by, it didn't feel random.

I actually remember the moment I realized I had feelings for him beyond friendship. It was on the bus ride home from an away football game. I was a cheerleader, and another cheerleader and good friend of mine had noticed that my now husband had showed up to watch the game without any friends. She had also managed to notice that we were acting a little differently toward one another. She called me out on it on the ride home - and I admitted that we had kissed. She followed up by asking me why we weren't a couple, and I couldn't think of an answer for her. I just didn't have one. And then I knew that I didn't want to be just his friend anymore, and luckily he had come to the same conclusion.

We decided to give dating a shot - a real shot. He had dated a few other people and he was no longer afraid of girls (sorry babe, but it's true!). So, we dated for three years, which spanned our senior year of high school and our first two years of college. We went to different colleges, which made it difficult at times - but I was only one hour away and so we still saw each other frequently. 

He asked me to marry him on September 25th, 2007. It was his 21st birthday. He told me that all he wanted for his birthday was for me to agree to be his wife. Isn't that incredibly sweet?

We got married on June 20, 2008. It was the summer before our last year in college. We were young, but I'd known him for so long - I knew what I was doing.

So almost eight years into our relationship and four years of marriage later, I couldn't be happier. Some people criticized us for getting married so young, and not without valid points.

I can't deny that we are entirely different people than we were at twenty-one/twenty-two. As we have become more educated and experienced more in life, our personalities and opinions on things have evolved. I wouldn't even recognize my twenty-one year old self in the mirror.

We are lucky, however, in the fact that we've grown in the same direction. We realize that too often, people that get married grow in opposite directions. It could have easily happened to us, and we realize that too. But it didn't, and we are more in love and in sync with one another now than we have ever been before - and I am so lucky.

We're incredibly lucky to have each other and I try to remember that fact each and every day.

So, now you know our whole life story.

(Not so) lazy Sunday

I am in love with today. 

Why? 

Because it is the Sunday of a three-day weekend. I enjoyed a nice relaxing Saturday with my husband. It was great. We went out for breakfast, went shopping, took a nap, and just spent time together. 

And now it's Sunday. Normally, Sunday would be the last day to get any rest and relaxation before jumping right back into the work week. But not today! This Sunday gets all the rest and relaxation it deserves with the promise of one more work-free day tomorrow. 

Isn't that great? 

Unfortunately, I don't get to spend these two days hanging out with the husband because he is working the rest of the weekend. Lame! 

So I'm starting off my morning with some granola + almond milk and some coffee out of my favorite mug. 

I love coffe mugs. There are just so many cute coffee mugs out there! This (pictured below) coffee mug is my favorite because it came from the most adorable coffee shop in the United States, and the iced coffee I ordered was incredibly delicious.  I wish I could say it's the most adorable coffee shop in the world, but I've been to Italy.. and well, it's still super adorable. The Thinking Cup is located directly across the street from Boston Common and provides a lovely view of all the goings-on in the park. 

We had just spent our morning volunteering at St. Francis House and discovered that this coffeehouse was the perfect place to rest our feet and contemplate the events of the morning.

I think about that service trip quite often. While I was actually there to chaperone the alternative spring breakers (who are actually only two-four years younger than myself), that experience really changed me for better. Well, at least I'd like to think it changed me for the better. 

I definitely look at homelessness differently and have sought out more service opportunities than ever before. 

Anyway, I'm allowing myself to be lazy this morning, but this afternoon it's time to get to work! Last weekend the husband and I deep-cleaned and organized our kitchen and bedroom. This also included the bedroom closet, which took FOREVER. But our apartment is more organized and less cluttered as a result. This weekend, we are tackling the bathroom and the office. 

The bathroom is already completed. I had entirely too many samples of lotion. In an effort to simplify our life/living space, most of those are in the trash or will be taken to work to share with others. 

I plan to start working on the office and have made some significant progress before the husband gets home. The closet in our office needs some serious review, it has become a catch-all storage space for things that don't have an obvious home in the rest of the apartment. After this room is completed, the rest of the apartment will need to be deep cleaned and then we'll be done! 

Yes, we do are doing our spring cleaning just as we entering the summer season.

Better late than never, right? 

I have considered going into work for a few hours before starting this project, but the jury is still out on that decision. I probably should, just to get things organized and ready for Tuesday, but it just doesn't sound appealing. 

Also, I don't eat beef, pork, or poultry anymore. 

Say what?!?! 

My post on the diet woes really got me thinking.  I need to be healthier, that much is obvious. So, does it really matter which diet is the absolute best? 

Not really. 

At the moment, it matters that I make a drastic change in my diet (in a position direction). I decided that a pescetartian diet was the most realistic diet for me at the moment. If I tried anything more radical or restricting, I would probably fail. 

This may be a stepping stone to something else, or it may be the way I eat for the rest of the my life. But it's the way I'm going to eat for now. 

I'll let you know how it goes. 

Burnout

I work for a university. We have 5ish times each year when things are crazy-insane busy. This is one of those times. I was evaluating degree audits at 8pm last night. 

It is not fun. 

Don't get me wrong, I do like my job. 

But when it gets this incredibly busy, I'd much rather be back here:

Or here......

No, I do not know those people.

Anyway, work is demanding and taking a lot of my free time at the moment. I will be spending some of my three day weekend at the office.

I like my job. I like my job.

Seriously, I like my job.

But I'll be very glad when things calm down just a little.

The Diet Woes

There are so many suggested diets out there. I'm not talking about those fad diets - but there are entirely too many of those as well. I'm referring to diet as a way of life, eating habits that are meant to last forever. Or at least a very, very, long time. They all are supported by science. They all seem legit.

Paleo?
Pescetarian?
Vegetarian?
Vegan?

The one thing that I can assert with 100% accuracy is that I have to change my eating habits in some way. I'm totally unsatisfied with my outer appearance. I'm also tried of dealing with an eternal shortage of energy and the constant headache, sinus, and allergy issues.

Despite all of this, I've found myself entirely unmotivated. I can never seem to be healthy and make a lasting change.

How do people do it?

It is so incredibly simple.

Don't eat the piece of chocolate. Go for a walk. Nix that (every) morning latte. Go for bike ride.

Yes, it's incredibly simple. It isn't, however, incredibly easy.

I've watched entirely too many netflix documentaries lately and it's really got me thinking.

I need to do something -- but what?

I need your help.

I know I don't have a lot of readers, and no one ever leaves comments, so it's time for you to step up your game and help me out.

I realized that I have an item on my list twice.

I have listed going on a picnic in two different sections of my list: around town and just for fun. Since we went out on a picnic two weeks ago (yay!), I crossed it off my list in the around town section.

That means I need something else to replace the duplicate entry.

Any ideas?

Please provide some suggestions!

Heart Shaped Hands

I love Sporting Kansas City.
I have never been a strong supporter of any team, until I went to a Sporting game last year and fell absolutely in love. Win or lose, SKC is my team.

Sporting Kansas City is a soccer team, by the way.

April 28th, 2012. The Westport Food Truck Festival.
We are enjoying our day at the festival, walking around deciding where to eat next. I stop dead in my tracks. Kei Kamara is walking toward me.

He is forward (a position on the field) for Sporting Kansas City and he happens to have the most incredible Cinderella story. He grew up in Sierra Leone in the middle of a civil war, somehow managed to make his way into the United States, and now plays professional soccer. He is a Kansas City fan favorite.

So, we did what any normal people would do, which is interrupt his day off and introduce ourselves. We discussed how well the season was going so far and how proud we were of our team. He thanked us for us support and hoped we planned on being at the mach the next week. Of course, we said, we are at every home match.

If you have ever been to an SKC match, you will know that "heart shaped hands" is Kei Kamara's thing.

It's something he does when we score a goal, when he is greeting fans, etc.

So, it was only fitting that I posed for a photo with Kei Kamara with my own heart shaped hands.

He was so incredibly nice.

Anyway, I met Kei Kamara and it was awesome.

The food truck festival itself was also very cool.  We tried some interesting things like fried mashed potatoes and deep fried oreos. Both things tasted amazing.

I have been meaning to post about that weekend for quite some time, but I have been so busy with coursework and finishing up the semester.

But I have a few weeks off before I have to start working on my thesis, so it's back to blogging for awhile.

Kei Kamara. Heart Shaped Hands.