Take it easy

If I'm not careful, I'll wind up with a theme for my titles here...

It looks like I will get to go to Iowa! :D To which most of you reply: "wtf, why does she want to go to Iowa of all places?" to which I respond, "Family - why else would anyone go to Iowa, unless they just really, really like snow and ice and -30 temperatures?" My dad's family is there, including my amazing grandparents that I just can't brag about enough - did I ever tell you that my grandma was the first female lieutenant governor of Iowa? Or that my grandpa had his own cattle ranch of "Zimmerman British White Cattle" until just a few years ago? Whom I'm constantly forgetting are over seventy until they say something about their arthritis, which never fails to make me do a double-take and say, "Oh right, you're old!" Then there's my Aunt Lisa, who I am just like sometimes (she was a hypochondriac too), and her incredible family, and my brilliant Aunt Beth and her family, who live in Boston but always come to Christmas in Iowa (because they're crazy like foxes). I'm not sure if the rest of my dad's family will be there, but my grandparents, Aunt Beth, and Aunt Lisa are more than enough reason to brave hypothermia.

Truth be told, though, one of the biggest reasons I was so excited for Iowa was because I thought it'd be really good for my brother to go (especially with family stuff and our cousins all being his age or younger - I'm really more the babysitter :/ ). I almost didn't go because I thought he might not be able to join us for Christmas, and I didn't want to miss celebrating Christmas with him. But we've worked it out so that we're leaving Monday and coming back...Wednesday, I think? Maybe I'll fanagle it so I can fly back Christmas day and have two Christmases. Just to be greedy. Originally, I was going to leave the 22nd and not come back until the 29th, but a shorter trip is better anyway - way too much to study for.

Best part about leaving Monday? No wisdom teeth surgery. (Right on.) Technically, I never actually canceled it, but eh. I'll call Monday and try to reschedule for a week later.

This also leads to the worst part about being an independent young adult with a part-time job - no dental insurance of my own. So I'm trying to milk what I can out of my mom's plan, and she's under the impression that I lose coverage at the first of the year. Here's hoping they've got an opening for the 28th!

Benefits are nice. Get them.

For next time, I'm coming up with Top Ten (maybe Five, we'll see how I do) Reasons to Celebrate Christmas, so we'll be getting one each until Christmas Day. I might also tackle Top Ten (maybe Five, we'll see how I do) Reasons Why I Fail At Blogging. And no that's not me fishing for compliments. :P

Take another shot

This holiday season, there are a lot of things weighing on my mind. It's like life is pounding on my door, and I'm not quite ready to let it in yet, but if I don't let it in now, it won't be back for a long, long time (or at least what seems like a long time compared to my twenty-two short years here on Earth). Thus, this very first post of my very new blog has a lot of potential to be dreary and generally gloomy - but I'd rather not. I'm never one to dwell on depressing things for long.

For the Lord will not cast off forever, but though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men. Lamentations 3:31-33

So even those this past year has been sucky for many of you (and praise God for the great years some have had and the good things that have happened among the bad), here is my challenge: think of a few things that you made you happy today. Just today. They don't have to be big, important things, like "the roof over my head" or "the opportunity to go to college." They can be as simple as "Brown sugar on my oatmeal this morning" or "My cat falling asleep in my lap." You can write them down here, tweet them, put them in your own blog, or just jot them down in your journal. I would even recommend writing down at least one every day. It's surprising how the little things can just warm your heart.

(And I'll confess right now, I totally stole the "Happy Things Game" from Soph :P )

Things that made me happy today:

- Hot apple crisp at the Shakespeare Tavern
- Volunteering at the Tavern with Michelle after a REALLY long time of not volunteering with her
- Getting a hug from Debbie! (Shakespeare Tavern stage manager - noticing a trend here...)
- Making plans to go see the Princess and the Frog tomorrow, omg! >w<
- My silly coworkers at tahcha teahouse
- And this was yesterday, but watching Tenth Kingdom with some of my girls! ♥
- Oh, and this too. :)

So here goes, taking one day at a time so they don't overwhelm me (I mean, it sucks getting flanked), and making Christmas as Merry as can be!