Michelle Gets a Better Li-iiife!

Hello, all!

As mentioned in my previous post, my 2015 Reading List goal made me realize that I was in a bit of a rut, so I did a couple of things recently to give myself a kick-start (well, three things; I also wrote down some financial goals, but that's not what this post is about!).

One: I rewatched the entire Emma Approved series on YouTube. I know that sounds weird, but something about that series just makes me want to be more productive and take care of business. She's just so upbeat, and something about seeing her fancy outfits always makes me want to try harder and be more creative. For those who haven't heard of Emma Approved, it's a web series based off of Emma by Jane Austen, with a modern twist. I really like it. Emma is a tad annoying at first, but she grows on you pretty quickly. Just watch this video! This is actually the second episode, but I shared this one because there's this lovely moment around 1:00 where she does her Oprah impression: "You get a better life! You get a better life! Everybody gets a better li-iiiife!" So great. Actually, you could stop after that if you don't want to get confused by the storyline, having missed the first episode. But then go back and watch all of them!

Wasn't that fabulous? Accomplishment number two: I rearranged the furniture in my bedroom! The past few days have been sort of rough, and I really needed a project. I originally tried to just turn my bed so it was facing the other direction, but the spot I was trying to fit it into wasn't wide enough, and then I was covering up a vent...so my room looked a little like this:

Unfortunately, I didn't have the foresight to take the picture when my mattress was up and leaning against the wall all crazy-like and the bed was at an odder angle. But you get the idea.

So I sat there, feeling slightly defeated, when I realized that I kind of liked having my bed diagonal. Why not, right? So now it looks like this:

It's sort of a metaphor for life: sometimes you have a plan and think you know exactly what you're doing, and then BAM! It just doesn't work. But then you realize that maybe a "diagonal bed" is just what you need! Or at least you figure out a plan to create awesome with what you've got. Sometimes it's more that...

But getting back to the literal diagonal bed: it feels so fancy somehow, and I love it! I'm particularly excited about using the shelf sitting on the left side of the picture. I inherited it from my paternal grandmother. I used it all the time in past residences, but since moving into my current apartment and getting bookshelves to hold all my knick-knacks, it's been just sitting and collecting dust. Until yesterday! I gathered a few things sitting around, including some things that were sitting on that filing cabinet to the right that I'd been using as a night stand.

I also have a few nightstand things on the very bottom: my water bottle and rice bags, and my scalp massage thing one shelf up, stuck like a pen into a colored plastic cup with fancy rocks inside.

So I'm feeling pretty good about that. It's good to get up and get things done when days are rough, and I love the feeling that I'm accomplishing things, especially since I'm still trudging through Anna Karenina...

Thanks for reading.

On Life and Getting Real

My apologies to anyone who has been waiting all these months to hear about the rest of my Disneyland trip last year... I realized that trying to document my trips with so much detail was more stress than it was worth.

My dear BFF, Nikki, invited me to participate in a reading challenge with her this year. She found a list on Pinterest of book suggestions for a whole year, 51 in total. We compiled and compared our lists, and I've read a couple so far. I've realized that I'd forgotten how much I love to read. I really haven't had any fantastic reading sprees since last summer, when I decided to re-read all the Harry Potter books. I didn't even do my yearly reading of Pride and Prejudice.

It has occurred to me that I've really lost hold of a lot of my passions. It's just so easy to come home from work, brain fried from thinking too hard all day, and just get lost in whatever's on television. I don't make the effort to take part in something more productive, or even just more worthwhile. Whenever someone asks me what I enjoy doing, I still spit out the age-old "reading and writing", but really they're just forgotten hobbies that I claim to avoid having to admit that I really don't do much of anything.

It's really quite sad. I feel that I've become a shell of the former me. I think about books that I want to read, and I'm forever writing blog posts and stories in my head, but when it comes down to it, I back down and decide I'm too tired and not in the mood.

I also feel that I've stagnated in my adult life. It's kind of like my life up through college was a mountain, and I've gotten to the top of that mountain. In some ways, I'm done, but then there's this sign that says "The rest of your adult life is that mountain over there, but you have to figure out how to get to it". So I got a job and an apartment and started to build my bridge to the Mountain of Adulthood, but mostly I just like camping out at the top of Childhood Mountain. People further down see that I've gotten to the top and that I'm building a bridge and think that's great, but no one realizes that I've kind of stopped building my bridge. Of course, sometimes someone gets to the top and then we discuss the building of bridges, but then they get busy on their bridge and leave me behind.

Okay, that was a depressing and weird metaphor. But it's true. I'm not doing the things I should to be an adult. It's sad, really. The good news is that I'm realizing the sadness and am determined to do a better job. I wrote down some goals today. I hate goals, but I realize the necessity of them. So I wrote them down, and I'm trying to be responsible and make my life better.

Anyway, no one be sad for me. I'm not sad; I'm determined. I'm gathering bridge-building materials :)

Thanks for reading.

A Sad Announcement

I went back and forth on whether to post about this, but I leaned for posting in the interest of full disclosure, and in order to avoid questions when we have family over at Christmas time.

On Saturday our sweet puppy, Sherlock, passed away. We found out a couple of months ago that he had a growth on his liver that only had a slight chance of being removed through a risky surgery. My brother decided to forego surgery, and was told that Sherlock only had a couple of months left.

Many of you know what a big part of our lives Sherlock was. My brother got him as a puppy and trained him himself. He lived to be 11 and a half years old, which is pretty average for his breed (German Shorthair). My parents' house seems so quiet now, and I miss Sherlock a lot, but I'm so glad he isn't in pain anymore.

I know this is all over the place, but I feel like if I tried to be more eloquent it would just come out trite. I'll just wrap up with this picture of our whole family last fall.

Disneyland: Day Four - Part Two

After Tomorrowland, we spent some time in one of the stores, which involved trying on these fantastic hats.

We went to New Orleans Square for lunch, which is one of my favorite places in the park. I love the old-fashioned look and the jazz music. I even had the opportunity to try something that a friend at work had been raving about: the Disneyland (read: virgin) Mint Julep! And it was so good. The potatoes were also amazing, as was the band we listened to while we ate.

After lunch, we took a train ride around the park (even catching a glimpse of the famed Lily Belle car!) and got off in Fantasyland. The girls got to meet Tinkerbell and her friend Periwinkle, and we even caught Peter Pan spying on Pixie Hollow!

We were sure to ride King Arthur's Carrousel (including a picture of Kyra with Walt Disney's wife's favorite horse) and stopped to take pictures by the sword in the stone.

Disneyland: Day Four - Part One

Day Four started with Tomorrowland! While in line for Buzz Lightyear, Kyra and I took these lovely photos amongst the fake rocks.

 We then went to Innoventions, which basically doubled as the Marvel building. They had all the phases of the Iron Man suit.

After the Iron Man suits, we got in line to see Thor, and I took all these awkward photos of various Asgardian weapons, etc. It was really interesting because they were on display like historical artifacts, complete with little plaques to describe how they'd been used.

Please note Darin's appropriately chosen shirt; Captain America was also in the building, but we didn't have time to wait in line for both.

Disneyland: Day Three - Pictures I Missed

I was going through my pictures in preparation for Day Four, and realized I didn't post some great pictures from other peoples' cameras.

There were barrels under this bridge on Tom Sawyer's Island, so it sank when you walked across it. We walked/ran over it several times; it was so much fun!

Back to Mickey's house.

And Minnie's house. I love this vanity.