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Auf Wiedersehen, 2011, and Good Riddance!

3 Jan

Hello Everyone! Did you all have a nice holiday break? Lots of friends, family and downtime? I know I did!

Can I just say how glad I am 2011 is over? Usually I’m not big on the whole “new year, new beginnings!” thing (I save that sort of sparkly-fresh optimism for my birthday) but I really feel great about this year. If 2011 was the year of being stuck, 2012 will be the year of moving forward: in my life, in my goals, in my faith, in my marriage. I can feel it.

Already things are off to a great start. We spent New Years Eve solidifying new friendships and meeting new people – quite a departure from our usual routine of a low-key night with dear old friends or chaperoning the high school lock-in. New Years Day was spent lounging around, eating hors d’oeuvres that I did not cook and drinking endless mimosas with my hubby and a new very dear friend who has just come into our lives in this last year. A got a deal from one of our favorite B&B’s for sixty percent off their best room in January, so we’re going away before tax season starts instead of waiting until after. A’s been working near-tax season hours since last October, so this get away feels so necessary it’s not even funny. We are currently eating like paupers so we can live like kings while we’re away, and I cannot wait.

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions (again, something I save for my birthday), but I want to try and cross fifteen things off of The List this year. That’s more than half of what’s left to do, leaving me with ten things to cross off once I turn 29. Hey, I figure aim high, so that if I don’t meet my goal I’ll still be close to done. Plus, some of the things on The List (numbers 14 and 19, I’m looking at you) will greatly limit my free time and attention once they’re crossed off, and I don’t want them to get in the way of getting the rest of The List accomplished.

So I am looking forward to a pretty great new year, and I can’t wait to share it with you. So I wanna know: what are you looking forward to in 2012?

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Haloo, Martigan!

20 Dec

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We didn’t think we’d find a dog this quickly. But you know what they say, when the world closes a door, God opens a window.

We’ve been trying to adopt a dog since October. We’ve wanted a dog since I wrote My List, and between now and then we lost a dog, gave back a dog, so, yeah, this dog has been a long tine coming. But Martigan is perfect.

He’s funny, fuzzy, and non-sneezy. He loves us, loves Logan, and loves kids. He hates riding in the car, which honestly I find rather funny. He’s part cat, soft as a bunny, and super smart. Already house trained, but keeps bringing his toys outside and sticks inside. He’s young – only one – and brings a much-needed energy into our lives. I didn’t expect to hit the doggy lottery so soon, but I’m so glad we did. I’m grateful and humbled, and happy to finally have a dog who’s not sick, and who’s the right fit. Hooray for keeping a goal crossed of f the list, and praise God for a new puppy!

Update: Our last dog, Westley, found the prefect home, who signed the adoption papers the day we adopted Martigan. Thanks DPS for making two families more complete.

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#8 Complete – I Ran a Half Marathon!

9 Dec

On October 16, 2011, I ran a half in the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco with two of my best girlfriends. For me, this fulfills #8 on The List: to set a rediculous challengs for myself that I [was] currently not capable of, and meet it.

The following is a re-post from my Team in Training blog, which won’t be around forever. So enjoy!

I have to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who donated, prayed, emailed, texted and tweeted your support. It’s because of you that I made it across that finish line (some of you literally – see below). Over all Team Fascinators raised $10,402.98 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. YOU DID THAT! That’s Team Fascinators Supporters: 1, Cancer: 0. Go team!

I’ve had a lot of questions from you since finishing the race, so I want to get a few of those out of the way before we get to the photos. Continue reading →

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Working on #1 With Benefit

28 Nov

I’ve tried a few times to get on board with the daily sunscreen routine, to no avail. So I decided to pull out the big guns. I walked into Sephora with a specific mission: get a good-feeling daily moisturizer that didn’t make me feel greasy, had a decent spf, and was tipping towards this side of luxury so that I would feel excited to use it every day without breaking the bank. Enter Benefit.

I love Benefit, and have since high school. Since before I knew what good makeup was. I was assured by the uber-helpful sales girl that even though it was a new product for them at the time, it was already a huge hit with consumer reviews. A quick test at the counter left me with sweet-smelling, softly glowing cheeks with no greasy feeling. Quite the opposite, actually, my face felt moisturized and fresh. I took home a bottle with high hopes.

Benefit does not disappoint. I used it for two weeks straight and was complimented regularly on how healthy and ‘glowing’ I looked. My friend Lady Dianne insisted it was because of the new workout regimen we started – week two and I was glowing already! – but I knew it was due to the cream. It just made me feel better. The one downside to this cream is it is scented. I think it’s the scent that accounts for the funny taste…hold on, before you go thinking I lick my face cream, there are plenty of socially acceptable ways I can tell that it has an obtrusively bad taste.

  • Scenario one: I put it on in the morning, avoiding my immediate mouth area, and head to work. Between campuses I grab a cappuccino, and since I have a rare ten minutes to enjoy my frothy treat I pop the top and sit down to sip while perusing my favorite blogs. While sipping, some velvety foam gets on my lip, so I stick out my tongue to lick it off. Instead of creamy, espresso-ey goodness, I get a bitter, astringent flavor that totally puts me off my cuppa.
  • Scenario two: A comes home from work, and is understandably thrilled to see me. A loves to kiss my cheeks. I don’t know why, maybe I have cute cheeks. So after a big A-Bear hug, he plants one on my smooch-puff. He then gives me a big, sweet, butterfly-inducing smooch on the lips…only it would have been that kind of kiss, if it weren’t for that bitter, astringent taste. Totally ruins the moment.
So, yes, I know my face cream tastes bad. Which wouldn’t be a big deal, except that it doesn’t stop tasting bad, even hours after I apply it. In my book, it makes my skin look and feel so kissably-good that I can forgive it a little bitterness during otherwise sweet moments. I just know that I have to proceed with caution and encourage A to kiss the non-moisturized areas on my face when I apply it. So definitely worth the buy, but next time I may walk in to Sephora and specifically request a face cream that doesn’t taste bad.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Hold on, Christy, if you’ve already found a product you love, wouldn’t that mean you’ve accomplished #1 on The List to wear sunscreen? Not so in my book, my friends, not so. You see, it takes roughly 21 days to make or break a habit, longer if the habit is addictive. The longest streak I’ve ever had putting cream on every day is 16 days. I’ll go in fits and spurts, then take a few weeks off. I’m really bad about it, actually, which is why it’s on my list. So I’ll cross this baby off when I’ve got a solid three months under my belt – I figure by then that habit will be pretty ingrained. Will Benefit take me all the way? Only time will tell…

Do you use a daily moisturizer with spf? Let me know what you like, and I’ll know what to try next!

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#23 Complete – I Love My Job!

18 Nov

We continue with our series of posts about at the things that were crossed off my list before this blog existed.


I added #23 – work at a job I love, or make the leap to self-employment – to The List when I was working at a job that I hated. It’s hard for me to say that because I don’t like to be so negative, but I really can’t sugar coat it, it was that bad. A trained monkey could have done what I did. 

I’ve had fantastic jobs for my whole working life, this one bad job aside. I lost a job that I loved because California’s schools have no money, and took a job in another district that was below my experience level just to have a job. When I was offered the position I called Aaron crying, because I knew I didnt want it, but we had a mortgage to pay. I convinced myself that it couldn’t be that bad and took it. My first day, after going through my ‘training’ to answer phones and the perils of the photocopier, I excused myself to the bathroom where I had a mild panic attack because I couldn’t believe that this was my life. I spent five months in that job; looking back, it’s true that I hated it, but it kept a roof over our heads and for that I am grateful.

Last January my good friend Brian suggested I try for a position at the private school he worked for. I got the job, and I was good at it. It was challenging, every day was different, and I was still working in education. What coulld be better?  I got my answer this past Spring. Before I left for my five-year anniversary with Aaron, our schools had our Spring programs which I got to watch and review. Thanks to my comments about the quality of hte singing, the Powers That Be at the top of our schools figured out that I had a background in music. Because of my experience on the corporate side of our schools, and my musical background, I came back from Hawaii to a brand new job offer. Now I get to work with teachers, teaching them how to teach their students to sing. I get to be in the classroom, working with students, improving teacher’s knowledge base. I make my own schedule, and every day is still different. While I still believe I was meant to teach (a feeling that is reinforced every time I start making a difference in a classes’ voices and all I want to do is stay with them forever), this is the best possible job that I never could have dreamed of myself. I say it all the time, I can’t believe they pay me to do what I do.

I never thought I’d be able to combine my love of teaching and music so soon. I prayed, so hard, for so long. I was unemployed, we ate through our savings, I worked a job that left me crying every night, moved to a new job when God opened the door, and was blessed more than I had hoped for or imagined. Thank you, Lord, for letting me cross #23 off of the list.

What was/is the best job you’ve ever had? Got any work horror stories? I want to hear them, so join the discussion!

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