5.4 favorite quote

As for many people quotes, or more simply, words, have a profound impact on our thoughts. When I was a hall director every agenda I made had a quote on it. Sometimes it was serious, sometimes silly, sometimes I sould ask a staff member to contribute a quote. We would usually discuss the quote and try to apply it to our jobs.

At some point during my graduate career I felt as though I would never find The One, never be able to get married and have a family (this is normal for a 23/24 year old right?), never catch all of these big crazy dreams I had. Depressing. And then somewhere on the internet I found a little gem.

"You must try to become the person you would like to spend the rest of your life with."

I'm attaching the image too, full of beautiful two word mantras. I made it my wallpaper on my laptop and work computer.  It made me think about what I wanted, what would make no one other than me happy. I luckily was able to find the image again after losing it to my computer dying. I have passed it on to countless people and now I am passing it along to you.

This is important not just for the single gals amoung us, but for all of us. I mean how mad would you be if The One suddenly became The Boring One after you got married? The One loves me for who I am now, who I will become, who we are together. But that is because I learned to love me, and to feed myself postive mantras. And to be interested in things outside of myself.

And I'm going to keep doing so. For him. And for me.

This month I am participating in Every Day in May, a blogging challenge hosted by Jenni @ Story of My Life.

Garage Sale Season

It's that time of year where you see hand drawn advertisements popping up with the dandelions.  I plan to stop at some in the coming weeks in search of some bargain goods to fix up for our home.

I'm cheap folks. We bought our furniture full price, well on sale according to Gardner White, and guess what...I want mismatched furniture now! Not this perfectly curated to match business. Not this oay for 18 months because its crazy overpriced business.

Unfortunately,  or maybe fortunately,  the furniture has held up well for the 3 years and move that we have had it. And actually I'm not even looking for living room furniture so I will step off that soapbox. What I'm looking for at the sales of the garage variety are:

1. Patio furniture. Nothing big, couple of chairs, small table or even just a side table to set my coffee mug on. Also prefer a paintable option.

2. Side tables. I stole pur living room side tables to use as bedside tables. Now we have a tv tray as a side table. Just need one, and want something different than the run of the mill.

3. Shelves. Storage shelves, nothing fancy. 

4. Book shelves for our office.

5. Knick nacky bullsh*t. I would like to find a tall skinny-ish vase that I could spray paint. Maybe one of those little wooden drink trays. And whatever else strikes my fancy.

Not so much to ask for, right? Happy hunting to my fellow garbage, I mean garage, salers!

PS I'm also not above curb finds, I stalk our neighborhood trash mornings. No shame in my game!

5.3 uncomfortable

Today we are talking about things that make you uncomfortable. My most obvious of those are masks. Though I feel I have gotten better about it, I hate mascots. There is something so creepy about not knowing who is inside that costume and not being able to see their eyes.

Once at an Oakland U basketball game the Grizz came strolling our way while a friend and I were sitting in the bleachers. Now most people get excited about having a photo taken with these emblems of team spirit. And this particular Grizz wearer knew me and thought he was being friendly and coming to give me such an opportunity. But he didn't know about my phobia. I couldn't escape quickly enough and as he moved closer I hunched down and eventually fell off my bleacher seat. I guess that made him figure it out because he broke the code and revealed who he was to calm me down.
Another time my staff had gotten permission to borrow the costums for a program and I needed to one of my RA's a question. Now, she knew about my issue, but she didn't expect me to be knocking on her door. She opened the door dressed only in the bobble head and I took off running and screamed. Not the reaction she was going for but we were able to laugh about it afterwards.

I could keep going with times I felt so uncomfortable I had to bolt, my grad school alma mater loves mascots much more than my undergrad as I only encountered our pastor dressed as santa claus there in four years and saw the Grizz almost weekly at OU. But I will leave you with life's great irony.

My husband, bless him, is a nerd. He loves comic books, goes weekly to the comic book store to pick up the latest installment. He also loves Comic-Con. And he loves to build costumes. Including masks. Now of course I'm not freaked out by his costume. But you can bet that I will not be joining him at the convention,  even though he begs every time!

This month I will be participating in the Every Day in May blogging challenge hosted by Jenni @ Story of My Life.

5.2: an education (take FREAKING THREE)

I'm not meant to educate anyone today. Twice I have tried to type an interesting and witty post. I tried to say I'm more a generalist than specialist, sampling all kinds of interests and hobbies, quitting them on a whim when I lose interest. 

Then, TWICE my phones autocorrect deleted all but one, fractured sentence each time. TWICE. So. I'm teaching you all to not rely on your phone being smarter than your brain, even if you are merely a generalist (Miranda Bailey is a generalist and she is a pretty amazing, although entirely fictional, woman ya know!). Autocorrect not only can lead to incredibly awkward texts referencing your best friends nipples sent to the very wrong person, it has happened, but also to extreme frustration by deleting an entire blog post. TWICE.

Better luck to me tomorrow.

This month I am participating in Every Day in May, a blogging challenge posed by Jenni at Story of My Life.

Me (in 250 words or less)

My story. My autobiography.  Growing up in small town Iowa I wanted to be a writer. I went to two young writers conferences, afterwards I was told authors make no money. Later on I wanted to teach. Then be a social worker. All of these are professions that were visible to me through the lens of a small town worldview and also one where money wasn't my primary goal. I moved from that small town to a larger one for college. I studied psychology, pre-law, teaching, and back to psychology.  (The pre-law sounded good and would've lined my pockets more but man were those classes boring!) I moved even further away, to a suburb of a big, broken city. I got a masters degree and got married. Now more than ever I want to reach into my heart for my work, even if that means pinching pennies to make the finanacial goals that we have planned. We. This is new, a fresh young marriage, full of incredible happiness as well as some tension as we learn what it means to build our forever together. Life: by trial & error. That is what I am doing. What we, together, are doing. What other way is there to do this? And so I write these words, here in this place where I make no money for it, and no matter how long it had been between posts, it is always rewarding. 

238 WORDS.

This month I am participating in Every Day in May, a blogging challenge posed by Jenni at Story of My Life.

People are Inherently Good

This post has been brewing in my brain for weeks, before Boston and before someone sent poisoned letters to politicians, yes. But we have been here before: 9/11, Newtown, Columbine. Terrible things happen in this country and all over the world that boggle my brain to the point that it feels like I'm playing Perfection (remember that game?) and someone has fiddled with the timer and I only have two short seconds to try to make all of the pieces fit.

They don't fit. We all ask why and I honestly believe that we will never know. Life isn't an episode of Criminal Minds or Law & Order. It can't be wrapped up in a pretty television 45 minute story line. I wish with my whole heart that it could.

With all of the terrifying things we see and hear it often amazes me how some people can have such strong faith in God. I have often been a skeptic because there are just too many things that seem to lead me away from religion but lately more than ever I have realized that while I don't agree with the politics of religion, I do have faith.  Faith in humanity and faith in their being an element of life beyond our control.

The last two days I spent at the Michigan Chapter of the National Children's Alliance annual conference in Traverse City. I was able to attend sessions with world renowned speakers. To say it was an excellent experience is putting it lightly. Many moments throughout the presentations inspired me, but yesterday a presenter said something that sunk deep into my soul.

Olga Trujillo had a TRAUMATIC childhood (join me in reading her book "The Sum of my Parts") but has done tremendous healing. She vocalized that she still gets nervous telling certain parts of her story and a major one is that she was angry with God.

Her realization in recovery is what spoke to me. I am sure this is not a direct quote because I couldn't write quick enough but she said something like:

"I began to understand free will...God is not a person who makes bad things happen to people. People have free will and do bad things. God brought good people into my life to help with the bad."

Powerful.  This woman was able to find the good in others when terrible things were happening to her in her home. After both Newtown and Boston I saw the Mr. Rogers quote about looking for the helpers during a crisis passed frequently around the internet.

But what I've realized in the past few weeks is that if you really want to see the good in humanity, you have to look for the helpers all day every day. For the man who sees you struggling with you grocery bags and without hesitation helps you to your car. To the Starbucks barista who, even though it is an incredibly early hour, serves you with a genuine smile and "have a great day, hun!" We need to stop looking for the bad in others and being fearful of it but search for that good. It is not hard to see when you are open to it. And it might just start to restore your faith.

From My Kitchen: Spaghetti Squash "Lasagna" Bake

Over the weekend my husband graciously baked up our first ever spaghetti squash. Holy smokes is it delicious! (In case you don't know how to bake a spaghetti squash, check out this link here!)  The first day we ate just one half of the fake spaghetti with some good old 4 cheese red sauce. We then wrapped up the other half for later.

This morning as I was cleaning our shower I was thinking about ricotta cheese. I had some left from the best frosting I've ever made (will post that recipe soon too!) and although I could just eat it from the container I figured I should probably go the grown-up route and make something presentable for lunch. That's when I remembered the squash. And lasagna. And spinach. And I just started measuring everything out and making a mini squash lasagna! And it was sooo good, and filling. And may just make it again tomorrow!

Spaghetti Squash "Lasagna" Bake

1 1/2-2 cups leftover spaghetti squash
1/2 cup spaghetti sauce of your choice
2 tablespoons chopped onion
1 cup baby spinach
2 teaspoons EVOO
1/4 cup lowfat ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons shredded parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350º. Shred spaghetti squash to make your fake noodles, foodles if you will. In a small frying pan add oil and sauté onions. Once they start browning add spinach and cook it down. You can add some spices if you like (salt and pepper and anything that smells good) while they are cooking.

In a large ramekin add a layer of spaghetti squash followed by half the sauce then your spinach and onions. Add another layer of squash then your ricotta cheese. Add the rest of your sauce and sprinkle the parmesan cheese on top.

Bake for 15 minutes or until sauce is bubbling. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 5 mintes or so.

This recipe is only 6 points for all of its cheesy, saucey goodness! And now I'm in love with spaghetti squash...in the wrong season. 

If you make it and tweak the recipe let me know, I would love to make another yummy spaghetti squash recipe!