Blog Challenge Day 18: Where I am the Happiest

I think I'm happiest when I am at my house, in my yoga pants hanging with my hubby. Add a cold rainy weekend, a West Wing marathon and a bottle of wine and I'm pretty much in happiness overload!

That being said, I also find great happingess on a patio drinking a margarita, especially during summer months.

My husband calls Target my happy place and for good reason, I am very, very happy when I am there!

I also recently found a happiness I'd never experienced in a city before when I went to London on my honeymoon. I know part of that happiness was simply being on my honeymoon. But London in general lit a spark inside of me I'd never felt before. We were in London for several days, then went on to Paris and Rome and neither of those cities lit that spark that London did. I love Austin, but I London and immediately felt that I belonged there. Moving to London is now part of our 10 year plan. Get the kiddo graduated and her own fabulous life underway and then move to London!

One of my favorite New Year's Eve. Just hanging at home!

Girl meets London.

Blog Challange Day 15: 10 Things that Make Me Awesome

This was probably the most difficult challenge, I'm not great at recognizing my strengths. I end up asking my husband for his opinion and I'll add it after mine; it made me giggle.

1.  I'm very loyal. This includes friends, family, jobs, tv shows.. I stick with it!
2.  I'm good at finding family activities to do during kid weekends. I scour local blogs and websites trying to find fun stuff for us to do. If nothings going on I find baking and art projects. I've boredom breeds whining!
3. I'm a pretty good Wicked Step mom. I have my moments, that's for sure, but I think I try really hard and for the most part have a great relationship with my step daughter. She's only 9 though... I shudder as I consider her teen years. 
4. I'm eager to help. I'm a little shy about offering help, but if I asked I'm always eager to jump in and help where I can. 
5. I think I'm pretty well rounded. I can have a conversation that starts with latest Hollywood pregnancy rumors, moves into TV and movies, then politics and current events.
6. I'm very open minded. I figured out long ago that people and situations are all different. You do what's good for you, I'll do what's good for me. 
7. I love to do laundry. I think because folding it can easily involve watching TV.
8. I think I have a pretty good sense of humor. It can be a bit dry and contains sarcasm so it doesn't translate online well, but I love to laugh and making others laugh.
9. I've taken to international Soccer tournaments. This really only matters to my husband, but after a life time of no soccer watching I watched 2 World Cup matches and was hooked! Viva Espana! 
10. I'm nice. That seems weird to say, but that sums up a lot of it. I never go looking to be mean to others or make them feel bad. With close friends and co workers I can talk some snark, but I genuinely try to be nice to everyone. You have no idea what may be going on in their life, so even if all I can manage is silence, that's nicer than being rude!

Now the list my husband sent me!

1.       My Sweeteness

2.       Gets me breakfast when I need it the most

3.       Those Eyes

4.       Explorer at heart

5.       Best sense of humor I know

6.       That rear

7.       Loves The West Wing

8.       That front

9.       Bakes World’s Best Pumpkin Cookies

10.   Mywife!

Blog Challenge Day 13: Regret

First let me say I regret how many days I've missed. I had every intention of keeping up with these but then crazy days at work happens, extra days with step kiddo due to Spring Break happens, and time change induced haziness happens. But I made it back in time for regrets.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about regrets. I've made it a point to have very few for one simple reason; I love my life now and what if by changing something I regret, it takes me from my husband and my life now.
So while i sometimes regret things like I never had a college experience, where would I be now? Would I have met Isaac, would I have the friends I have now? I don't like that thought so I try to view every choice  in my life, good or bad, as part of what made me who I am today and not regret that.

The one area I regret is anytime I've hurt someone, intentionally or not. I hate hurting others and I deeply regret any time something I've said or done has made someone else feel bad. Every time my patience has left me too soon and I've snapped at Carolina. Every time as kids or adults where something I've said or done has hurt my sister or anyone in my family. Anytime I've lashed out at Isaac in anger and taken it too far stays with me.

I've admittedly pretty sensitive and I know how badly I feel when others hurt me and the thought of inflicting that on someone else makes me incredibly sad. So I try everyday  to think before I speak or act and ask myself if I'm about to do something I will regret. I fail many times, but I hope I've saved myself a little bit of regret.

Blog Challenge Day 4: Favorite Childhood Memory

Blog Challenge Day 4- Favorite Childhood memory


I feel like I had a pretty happy childhood, we had some nice vacations, my sister and I played together and I had plenty of friends. My parents divorced when I was 13, but I’ve always considered that just a small blip on my overall life. When I came to my favorite memories I realized I had a lot of good memories, but I couldn't pick a favorite. Until I remembered a weekend activity we would do several times a year.  The weekends our family would go bike riding downtown.

Austin has a really great running/bike trail downtown that loops around the lake and is well used and well loved by Austinites. Known simply as the Hike and Bike trail, it spans about 10 miles around the lake downtown.

I have great memories of Saturday mornings where my dad would get up and ask who wanted to go ride bikes. We’d eagerly get dressed, my dad would load our bikes in his truck and off we’d go. We’d park at Austin High School unload the bikes and be off. We usually did the full trail riding at times through trees and along the lake and then up on what is now Cesar Chavez but at that time was 1st street. We’d ride across the Congress Ave Bridge and in front of Auditorium shores by the old Palmer events center.

We usually rode with my dad in front with my sister and I in the middle and my mom bringing up the rear. As this was the early 90’s there were no helmets or knee pads we just rolled along with the wind in our hair and the sun on our face. Don’t worry, we wore sunscreen!

My sister, always the braver one, took on the hills fast, even after a couple spills she never backed off. I have always been much more cautious and if I wasn’t comfortable with a hill I’d simply hop off my bike and walk it to the bottom and then keep going! I think this says a lot about our differences, even today.

However, the best part of bike ride mornings were that after we’d ridden around for a couple hours we’d load the bikes back up and go get a late breakfast before heading home. There’s nothing better than pancakes and bacon from Magnolia Café after you’ve spent the morning outdoors!

Now at 30, I can’t even remember the last time I rode a bike that wasn’t in a spin class. Bikes aren’t cheap, but I’m hoping we can invest in some for ourselves and kiddo pretty soon. I’d love to take my family downtown someday and maybe have one of those amazing Austin mornings like I used to have.

Blog Challenge Day 3: What Makes Me Happy

I've been walking around all day trying to think about a good response for this and I realized I have many responses and that's a good thing! This is not a full list by any means but here are a few.

• Lazily drinking coffee on weekend mornings while chatting with my husband
• Family movie nights where all three of us end up under a blanket on the couch
• Waking up on non kid weekends and knowing I can sleep as long as I want
• Cold, rainy Saturdays spent in pj pants (not many of those in Texas!)
• The West Wing theme music
• A cold bottle of Coke
• Margaritas and lots of laughs on a hot summer day
• Hot pancakes covered in real maple syrup 
• a great run after work
• Doctor Who episodes
• Friday nights
• walking around London
• baking with my stepdaughter
• booking a flight to some place I've never been
• list making
• Body Flow class after a stressful day of work
• a glass of wine with dinner 
• For my uber sappy one, when I look at my husband of 6 months and have that "oh my god, we're married!!" moment.

 Just typing this out made me both happy and a little hungry!

Blog Challenge Day 2: Favorite Quotes

 "Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: All of them make me laugh."
W.H. Auden


I think this quote sums me and my life the most. I love to laugh. When my step daughter was about five she told me I was filled with laughter! I'll admit I have laughed at the wrong moment, but normally most situations can be made better if you focus on the funny. I love that I have managed to surround myself with people both at work and home who feel the same way. My husband cracks me up multiple times a day and his funny emails to me at work were one of the first things I liked about him!

I get to work with some of the funniest people I know as well and  the toughest days at work have been eased by someone cracking a joke that made me laugh out loud. Even those I don't sit in the same state with crack me up via IM and email everyday.  Laughter is the best medicine and I love surrounding myself with people that remind me of that everyday!

5 Things About Me

I've never done a blog challenge before, but I've had a hard time getting myself to blog on a regular basis and I'd like to improve my writing skills so this seemed like a fun thing to try. I also like it's not Mom specific. That sounds horrible, but as a non full time step parent, I feel hypocritical participating in Mom blogging, but sometimes it feels like that's all that's out there! I enjoy reading about other people parenting experiences, but I don't feel comfortable joining in on the conversation. I think that's what drew me to this blog challenge.

So here goes nothing!  Self portrait that makes me look like I have facial deformity, even though I promise it's just the way the sun was coming in the car window and 5 things about me!
   

1. I am obsessed with office supplies. Post its, pens, notebooks, highlighters, calendars, file folders, binders and so on. Lack of funds keeps me from camping out at Office Depot and the office supply aisle of Target. For all the supplies I have, I should be more organized than I am!

2. I never had a cup of coffee until I was on my second date with my now husband. He ordered a coffee and so did I so he would think I was cool. I now have at least one cup everyday! (My step daughter loves that story so much!)

3. As you will soon see I am a horrible editor of really anything. My brain just automatically seems to correct any errors as I read them. I can read things 10 times be convinced everything is fine, hit post and suddenly 10 things are spelled wrong. I need more than spell check I just need someone with more of an attention span to read and find errors for me. If they could also do my make up, my hair and make sure my outfit looks decent everyday I'd really have all my needs met!

4. I resisted hubby’s attempts to get me on Twitter for over a year but many of podcasts I like kept referencing it, so I finally logged in one Sunday. Within two hours Twitter was buzzing with the death of Osama Bin Laden! Quite the introduction to Twitter and the first time I really understood the power of social media.

5. If necessary I could sustain myself on Ritz crackers and cheddar cheese.

So that's five! So far so good, let's see if I make it through day 2!