2014 Favorites

In just a brief overview of some of the wonderful things I have loved this past year in terms of books, movies, tv shows, websites, and totally random things that are not work related. 

• Books
• Belly Laughs by Jenny McCarthy
• The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff
• Seven by Jen Hatmaker
• Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
• Divergent by Veronica Roth
• Insurgent by Veronica Roth
• Allegiant by Veronica Roth
• Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• Kingdom Keepers books 6 & 7 by Ridley Pearson
• totally juvenile fiction - however, if you are a Disney lover you should probably just read this series
• Movies
• Frozen (yes, I know it came out in 2013 but really we watched it more than I care to admit in 2014)
• Captain Phillips (yes, also came out in 2013, but I am behind the 8 ball and enjoyed this movie quite a bit)
• The Wolf of Wall Street
• The Book Thief
• 12 Years Slave
• Daniel Lee's The Butler
• Monster's University
• Mockingjay part 1

• TV shows
• Downton Abbey
• We are borrowing these seasons from a dear friend who owns them - loving this story
• Big Bang Theory
• Still love this show
• Bones 
• I realize this came out years ago, however, I am finally catching onto the wonderfulness of the whole thing
• Grey's Anatomy
• we are a season behind because we watch it on Netflix
• Call the Midwife
• I LOVE this series and wish there were 12,000,001 episodes - its on PBS.com and free to watch - go watch it
• Game of Thrones
• We stumbled upon this tv series after we caught up on Downton Abbey and ran out of seasons on dvd
• Several friends recommended it to us - while a bit graphic and the language leaves something to be desired, we surprisingly like it
• Miscellaneous Things
• Nikon D300
• I have fallen more and more in love with this camera this year, while actually using it quite a bit more and learning a ton about the different settings
• Pilot Frixion Ball Clicker erasable pens
• I found a few of these pens randomly in the church - who knows who left them and actually bought a pack of them - I LOVE erasable pens
• I Love This Yarn
• still by far one of my favorite yarns 
• okay I actually have other favorite yarns - however, this one I find wonderful in terms of price vs quality vs softness
• I hate that it is only sold at Hobby Lobby and Hobby Lobby online
• I don't like yarn shopping online - I like to hold the yarn in my hands
• The Project Life App
• A wonderful app for iPhones that allows you to create photobook pages right on your phone
• WORTH purchasing
• If you use your iPhone to take pictures and create photobooks it is worth getting this app - I LOVE IT
• Websites
• www.ravelry.com
• yay for free patterns to make sweet stuff
• www.facebook.com
• sooo wonderful to keep in touch with family and friends - while some days I hate facebook most days I come back to it and enjoy the ways it allows me to connect with those who are far away
• www.pinterest.com/sthomson/
• www.instagram.com/sathomson
• www.allears.net
• Yes I am obsessed with Disney and I love being kept up to date on what's happening in the parks
• www.youtube.com
• I love having some where that is easy to share videos with family and friends
• www.shutterfly.com
• the only way I will consider making photobooks/scrapbooks
• I also back up all of my photos here
• www.picmonkey.com
• love that this is a free website
• I use this for both work and personal stuff
• www.pandora.com
• I seriously listen to this every day at work

Do you have any favorites from 2014 that I should check out?

Winter crochet project

      This winter I have FINALLY been working on a blanket for myself, I have made lots of other folks blankets, but I finally got to the point that I wanted to make mysefl one. SOOO this blanket was born, I semi adapted a pattern from some things I had seen  and the hours of crocheting began. I began just after Christmas and finished a couple of nights ago. It always takes me a couple days to get pictures and uploaded. The blanket measures roughly 83 inches long and 52 inches wide. It is obnoxiously big and I seriously lost track of how many skeins of yarn it took. I used Hobby Lobby's "I Love This Yarn," which I love and went to town. I actually only had one skein of each of the colors but then the grey is where I lost track of how many skeins I used. I do still have a pretty good ball left of each other colors, which is perfect by me because they will be transformed into other things (hats, mittens, baby booties, ear warmers, the list is endless). 

     My pictures aren't amazing of the blanket, but I have a hard time photographing crocheted blankets. The one picture is while I was laying on the floor attempting to get some pictures of the blanket and Dakota laid down right in front of me and it felt like she was almost rolling her eyes at me and telling me enough is enough, move on and come snuggle me or something other than take photos of this blanket. I love it though. I suppose the size is a little large, but I wanted to be able to tuck it under my toes (I am just shy of 6 foot tall) while laying down and be able to pull it up to my chin without having to stretch it out. It is plenty wide enough that I can either sit in my favorite chair at our house or curl up on the couch and nap in it.
     While I loved this project was fun and mindless (I watched countless movies this winter while working on this blanket) I am happy to be moving onto another project. What's next in my crochet world? Great question, traditionally in the spring/summer my crocheting slows WAY down due to my love of the outdoors, but I a dear friend of mine just had a little girl who clearly NEEDS some crocheted goodness, a blanket for my mother (she wants a big one as well, so that will take some time) and a few other things up my sleeve. I also want to try out a couple of new things. Keep your eyes peeled, there will be more crocheted wonderfulness coming down the pipe.
    Given the weather this Spring winter my guess is we won't be hanging out too much outside for a bit. BLAH craptastic weather, bring on spring.

This Weekend

I just realized that this weekend is my introverted heaven.

Marc and I have had a couple of house guests living with us for the past three weeks, which has been marvelous for sure and without a doubt, however it does take some getting used to having two more adults living in our house. This weekend they are out of town for one reason or another and Marc is off to Madison, Wisconsin to volunteer and watch the IronMan race (which I am semi jealous that I don't get to go watch) - which leaves me home alone from Friday around noon till late Sunday night!!!! INTROVERTED HEAVEN.

Now, don't hear me wrong I don't totally have a free weekend, Friday night I do have a camp out with a bunch of church families and Sunday morning is booked full with church stuff, but Saturday from when I leave the camp out until Sunday when I show up to work - unless there is some type of an emergency - I wouldn't have to see another human being unless I wanted to.

I have begun a list of the things I hope to do:

• Laundry
• lights
• darks
• sheets
• towels
• rugs
• deep clean the bathroom
• bleach everything down
• vinegar the tub (we have a jetted tub which we rarely actually take advantage of but they said to run a vinegar solution through the tub every so often to clean it out)
• deep clean the living room
• can you say doggy hair palooza
• write some snail mail
• I have four snail mail letters I am hoping to write
• I LOVE sending snail mail
• Baby Gifts
• Apparently after the countless weddings I have attending in the past several years my friends are now moving onto babies rather than weddings
• and I like to make baby gifts
• I am hoping to make some:
• pacifier clips
• headbands
• hats
• fabric alphabet
• appliqued onesies
• Make freezer food
• I want to freeze a couple batches of cookies just to have on hand for potlucks and other such things or when guests show up unexpectedly
• I want to make some freezer burritos for quick meal options
• I want to freeze up a couple of loaves of bread as well
• banana, pumpkin, and who knows what else
• shutterfly
• finish Summer Ministries
• catch up on 2013
• start my wedding album
• Run errands around town
• deposit my paycheck
• pay bills
• pick up my wedding dress from the cleaners (which has been done for a couple weeks but I keep forgetting)
• return some random things to Menards
• parts of projects we bought too much of or didn't need
• Watch movies while cleaning and doing projects
• I have Anna Karenina coming on netflix
• I am borrowing Les Mes from a friend
• and I plan on going to the library Friday while I am out and about just to make sure I don't want something else too
• I also have netflix live streaming (I love this feature)
• I also am planning on going on a couple of good runs and getting a swim in

I realize this is a long list and some of it won't get accomplished, however it is my goal to see how much I can get done.

IT WILL BE AN AMAZING INTROVERTED WEEKEND!

What are you up to this weekend?

What are in your plans?

Do you like weekends to yourself or dread them?

GIVE 500 update

I have not forgotten about this project and I am seriously LOVING this project. While at moments it is hard to think about going through another box or another closet of crap I am loving the space that it is opening up. I wonder WHY on God's green earth did I have all this stuff sitting around in boxes and in my closet aimlessly. I don't need this much stuff. I don't need a different outfit for every day. I don't need to hold on to everything I have ever been given.

This project has been liberating. This may seem strange but seriously somehow it has given me the permission I needed to be able to give stuff, that is perfectly usable, away. Now I am not counting socks with holes in them or stuff that is broken and needs to be recycled or thrown away, I am counting stuff that I seriously just don't need. This has been a wonderful project. This project has set me free.

I am not certain what my count is at and I am fairly certain I have long surpassed the 500 mark, I have hauled a couple loads of books to the library, a couple loads to the good will, and a couple loads to the church rummage sale pile. Somehow I had bought into the world, I had bought into the idea that I need to have more, I need to have a different outfit for weeks upon weeks and I couldn't repeat them in a couple weeks. (No one notices what I wear unless it is horrible - I have a bunch of clothes still don't worry but now the difference is I actually wear them all - and they get rotated between each other and have many combinations.) I don't have totes of crap just sitting upstairs in my attic "in case I need this stuff" - seriously I haven't missed it - I do still have boxes of holiday decorations but those are different, it is the crap I had been hauling around for years, for no reason.

I got rid of stacks of books and movies (I love both of these things) and I have kept some of my favorites and the ones that I like to re-read and re-watch but the ones I have no intent of watching again any time soon are gone, I just don't need them, if I want to watch or read them I can check them out of the library or get it off netflix. There is freedom in no longer being bound to stuff and needing more stuff. I have realized that I am not justified by what I own or don't own. I am not justified by what stuff I have or don't have. (deep down I have always known this but.... my actions had me held to another standard)

By no means am I promoting getting rid of everything you own and living in a tent - more I promote evaluating what you have, using up the excess stuff that you have been storing (I apparently was a hoarder of reams of paper and shampoo) I have more than I need still and have less to dust and less stuff sitting around and I couldn't be happier.

• Anyone else have this type of experience when getting rid of stuff? 
• Anyone else have tips on how to keep my stuff to a minimum so I don't just revert back to acquiring tons of stuff?
• Do you like to have stuff around?
• I must confess there is a piece of me that still says... what if I need ___________ - How do you sort out what to keep and what to get rid of without going crazy on either end of the spectrum?

May the odds be ever in your favor.

This post will be rambly for sure. Feel free to read on and enjoy the craziness of my mind this morning.

Confession: I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Hunger Games, I was drawn in instantly, and I would like to note that I read them long before they became popular. The movie is good on its own as well, yes, I know there are lots of differences between the book and the movie.... however they must be viewed semi-separately. They can't include all the glorious details of the book in the movie it would be 65 hours long!Anyways... I love the books and the movie. I was captivated and drawn in.

Anyways... The phrase "may the odds be ever in your favor" frequently runs through my head. I text it to a few of my friends the morning of rally Sunday (kick off of Sunday school and really the fall church year), as I begin a run (in my head) I say it and everyone I pass I pretend is competing against me. When I get on the treadmill at the Y (which I try to avoid treadmills) I am totally racing the person next to me, it doesn't matter how long they have been on or if they are even walking, we are racing. Somehow this foolishness motivates me. Seriously. I am a strange duck I think.

I know the phrase doesn't work fairly quickly, no I am not out to kill everyone around me and I am not trying to be the last one standing, however some days the phrase just carries me. Yes, there are lots of other phrases that carry me that are probably much better however, I still love this one. I love the drive and the determination of Katniss to beat the odds and rise above when no one thinks she will. I love the way in which it is assumed she will not return and death will be the victor, I love that she faces the impossible and overcomes. I love that at the end of the day death will not be my victor either, I know that death (while still really really painful for friends and family of those who have died) does not have the final say rather life and life and life abundantly in and through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. There rests my hope, in the triune God, who continues to mold me and transform me, who continues to transform the world around me.

Totally unrelated: a dear friend of mine took some pictures of my fiance and I on Sunday (she supposidly isn't a professional photographer but rocks and could be if she wanted). Yesterday I got a cd of teh pictures and they are super fun! We had brought Dakota along and she played along really well. We had a blast hanging out at the arb and taking photos. Here are a few for you to enjoy. I love my sweet puppy and my fabulous fiance. I love the photos. It was hard to pick which ones to put up here, they all turned out amazingly. You may end up seeing a few more because I love them so much. Now to pick out which ones to hang in my house.

Do you have any phrases that motivate you?

What are your favorite books?