five things

I was tagged via instagram (@kjclover09) and figured I might as well share here, too. Plus I have pretty much done homework all day and I need a break.  The game calls for a self-portrait (it's called a "selfie" these days... news to me)  and five facts about me. 
Here we go!

Just sleeping in on a lovely friday morning. I love my schedule this semester - every Friday off! I'm not sure I want to join the working world come May.

1 - I'm not afraid of strangers. 

I see people as people.  I guess what I mean is that my heart hurts for strangers almost all of the time.  People I should maybe be more cautious around I find myself wanting to chat with them and see if they are ok.  I probably should try to be more afraid of them because I have come across some creepers with my relentless smile and "have a good one!" action on the T.

2 - I eat dessert everyday.

I used to only eat dessert on the weekends and then I would eat dessert the whole weekend long.  Now I work with adults with eating disorders and I have learned so many things.  Deprivation causes binges ergo eat dessert everyday if you want to keep your portions in check.  If I have three Oreos after every meal, there is never the need to eat a whole sleeve.  Plus I eat delicious things everyday!  I like it.  It's just a more fun way to live. :)

3 - I hope to be more artful.

Since I was little I always loved art.  I used to take art classes during the summers, but somewhere along the way, I lost it.  My confidence.  Now I don't sketch or paint because I am too afraid that I will fail.  Too afraid that I won't like the end result.  Too afraid that I am not good at being creative in such a free way.  I intend to get brave and stop with the judgments... sometime soon.  I plan to take an art class after I graduate and I can't wait!

4 - I rarely wear make-up.

Make-up looks fun, but while I am hair impaired, I think I am make-up impaired, too.  I have never even attempted a smokey eye.  I would probably look crazy anyways.  People are used to my plain old face, but if I start wearing make-up every day then I am trapped.  I don't want to ever feel like I have to apologize for arriving somewhere sans make-up on my face.  Apologize for MY FACE! That's crazy! Plus I would have to get up earlier to get ready and then there would be one more step before I can jump into bed at night.  It's just not worth it to me.  About once every couple of months I will put on tinted moisturizer, blush, and mascara and that's about as crazy as it gets over here.

5 - The unknown excites me.

I love the unknown.  Like right now, while I am in this state of not knowing what my life will look like after May... I love it.  The future holds endless possibilities for me right now.  Will I work... in a school?  a prison?  a hospital?  a hospice?  Will I work with... eating disorders?  substance abuse?  depression?  grief and bereavement?  trauma?  I just don't know and it makes it so fun.  I soon as I get nailed down to something, the possibilities for my future are suddenly limited.  And not always in a bad way... but limited nonetheless. 

and there we have it.  feel free to play along in the comments or on your own blog!

one year

this little buddy (on the left)

has been on his mission for a whole year TODAY!

woohoo!  only one more to go.

we can do this, right?  hopefully this next year will just fly by because i am ready to go on some fun family vacations and we can't go anywhere cool without rye.  i love you little brother!  keep up the hard work and keep preaching the gospel out in thailand.  

and we've got stripes!

all in a couple days work.

i think i will make some more of these guys.
they are loads of fun to throw and kick around.
just ask jeremy.
 

the good with the bad

so last night we went to max brenner to celebrate the first snow of 2013 with some of their hugmug hot chocolate.
 we all know this.

we met some friends and ordered our hot chocolate, excited to test out these hugmugs.  i stayed traditional and went with the milk chocolate topped with whipping cream.  when the waitress brought our drinks to us, 3 out of 4 of the them looked like this:

tall glass with a metal straw.  i was so disappointed. i still don't know why 3 of us had the tall glass with the metal straw and i wasn't assertive enough to find out or raise a big stink. well, at least one of us had the gem we were all expecting:

the hugmug

i think the only thing that made it all kind of okay was the fact that the hot chocolate was dreamy good.  so perfectly chocolate-y.  i'm still bugged that i didn't get the whole hugmug experience... but all in all it's alright.  there is more to life - way more to life. it means i can go back on another freezing cold day to warm my soul (and specifically ask for hot chocolate in the cool mug).  i can also experience it anytime i want because... i bought a hugmug on the way out! ha.

YAY!  how's that for problem-solving!?

there are even recipes for homemade hot chocolate on the box!  score.

big day

today was the first day of my last semester.

 can we just take a moment to ponder this craziness? when i graduated from BYU i knew two years were still to come.  but this is the actual last semester of my college career.  weird.  super weird.  i'm not sure what i am going to do with myself.  but i can worry plenty about that later, because for now, i have lots to do.  last week i was in a "i don't care if i fail my classes i just want to be done" mode and that's a dangerous one to be in.  luckily this week i am in a "let's do this" mode.  i am excited for my classes and on top of my readings like no other.  yay for first days!

as you can tell from the picture we also experienced the first snow storm of 2013.

we know what that means... i need a hugmug full of hot chocolate this weekend! 

 max brenner here we come!! 

just finished

i knit a ball.  

and stuffed it, too. isn't it the funnest thing?
i love it already and i finished it like 10 minutes ago.

not bad for my very first attempt at increasing and decreasing on such a small thing.  my next venture will be a striped ball, which may be tricky business, but i got to learn to knit stripes sometime. knitting toys is my new thing.

a little here, a little there

jeremy gave me this jewelry tree for christmas and i just love how it looks on my windowsill.  (i painted the flower box next to it many moons ago... like maybe when i was 13.  painting pottery has always been my thing.)  the swirly thing reminds me of what jewelry i have to wear instead of having it sit in some deep dark drawer.  it has also been getting me in the organizing mood lately, but not enough to take on any major projects.  i have found myself frantically cleaning out my sock drawer, going through some shelves in the book cases, and pulling shirts off of hangers that i haven't worn in a year to make room for the new clothes i gathered over the break.  i think little by little is a good way to go for cleaning out and organizing.  it can be a good distraction from the studying that is about to start up again.  classes start wednesday! ahhhh!

all the way from thailand

for christmas riley sent us these "sabaay" pants.

i had to youtube thai pants to figure out how to put them on.

i obviously have some practicing to do.

COW with an L

i forgot to share this little number i knitted over the break.  (that's actually what all of these are.  just different patterns and colors.)  it does wonders for keeping my neck warm on my commute. i can stretch it over half my face in the freezing temperatures.

now i am finally on to new knitting projects, not bigger... smaller actually. i will finish one soon... hopefully.

a first

yesterday jeremy gave his first injections.  and he had a great time.

 they do them on each other. eek! glad i'm not in dental school.

the cider saga

over the christmas break jeremy discovered hot apple cider.

(he has never been a hot chocolate lover like me.  i can have that stuff every day. he prefers once every couple of weeks.) well he tried hot apple cider in maryland and i think he had some almost daily after that first try.  he loves the stuff.  so when we got back to boston we were on the search for cider packets.  i went to 5 different stores and all of them were out.  they are seasonal they told me and they couldn't order more. what's this seasonal business?  it's still COLD even if it isn't christmas.  and i was about a week past the "season" and still no luck.  it's not like i am looking for hot apple cider packets in july.  it's the beginning of january and FREEZING!  dumb.  well good thing we have amazon, because you can buy just about anything on there regardless of the "season." 

so now jeremy is quite the happy camper with his hot cider.  

drinking his second mug of the night

a duo

over christmas, we had a mini photo shoot after we took a family picture of the whole gang.

he's my favorite.

a new year...

means new goals!   

i love pondering life and thinking about what i need more or less of in mine.  

 here are my goals for the year:

exercise because i want to

this year i want to exercise because i want to, not because i "have" to.  i want to keep my heart healthy, not obsess about working out to change my body.  there is more to life! i want to listen to my body, not overwork it.

read for fun

i love reading.  anytime i get a break from school, i read like crazy.  i hope to read more for fun this year, which will be easy-peasy after i graduate in may, but i want to try to read for fun even while i am still in school.

try something new

i want to create more.  use my hands.  take risks.  not be afraid to fail.  i think i will take an art class of some sort (sketching, watercolor, calligraphy, etc) after i graduate.  just to try something new and keep learning.

don't weigh myself for the year

scales are for fish not people.  my weight doesn't matter.  numbers don't mean anything.  it's about how i feel and how my clothes fit.  i don't need a number to validate me or bring me down.

dance party every week

sometimes my body just needs to be free to wiggle and move as it pleases, so why not just blast some tunes for ten minutes and get moving?!  plus i think a little dancing is good for the soul.

knit something challenging

i have been sticking to safe things ever since i picked up my first knitting needles in 2009.  this is the year that i will try to tackle something new (stuffed animals i hope!).  i also want to knit longer than just the winter months.

take vitamins

because we all know i am not getting enough veggies in my diet.  so let's skip the "try to eat veggies" goal this year and just go for taking a multi-vitamin and fish oil every day.  mission accomplished!

we'll see how this goes!

2012

in pictures

january

[we took a day trip to NYC.]

february

[we celebrated our wedding anniversary cross-country skiing in new hampshire.  we turned 3!] 

march

[jeremy turned 26.]

april

[we went to cape cod!]

may

[finished my first year of grad school.  these are my papers on the fridge.]

june

[we played at the lake in new hampshire.]

july

[we went to baltimore to visit jeremy's parents.  jeremy fished for HOURS! ]

august

[we went to wild wyoming with my family.]

september

[i turned 24.  YAY!]

october

[we visited salem, massachusetts - the witch city.]

november

[my family came to play in boston for thanksgiving. what a party that was!]

december

[we had christmas in baltimore with the whole clover gang.]

and we did TONS of other fun stuff, too. it was a BLAST!  i'm sad to see 2012 go.

i hope 2013 is filled with just as much FUN!  it's bound to be great, right?! 

just hanging out

a photo a day - christmas edition

day 17: we drove around jeremy's old stomping grounds, saw jack reacher, hit up chick-fil-a for dinner, and started packing our stuff.

these friendly horses are just up the road from jeremy's house.

tomorrow we head home... back to real life.