Peeps, Peepers, and Peep Toes

It is my favorite time of year - springtime! It's that time of year that 50 feels warm (as long as the sun is shining), you can start to open up the sun roof on the car, and walks with the dog get longer and longer. I love this time of year - it's full of such hope and rebirth. You see the flowers popping up where the snow was just a short time ago. It is awesome! There is Easter candy gallore in the stores, including peeps. What is it about those sugar-coated bright marshmallows? It is like they symbolize springtime all by themselves.

The other night I heard peepers (and I scared my friend Alison who was driving the car I was in). For those of you who don't know, peepers are little frogs that you can hear when driving by marshy areas. They peep - it is awesome. It means springtime is here and summer is coming! Yeah!!!

On top of peeps and peepers, this time of year also means digging out the peep-toes. I swore I would never wear this style of shoe, but I now LOVE them, and just bought another pair yesterday. I'm not quite ready for flip flops or all out sandals, but peep-toes work, and it is like turning my clothes into a whole new wardrobe just by pulling out these shoes. The shoes aren't even new, but the combination is refreshing and new.

So head outside and enjoy this sunshine and all the smells of the spring. If you have seasonal allergies (like I do), don't let it hold you back. Grab whatever meds help you deal with them and enjoy the day!

Grandpa Andy

My aunt came to visit me this weekend, and we got to talking. Well, we got to remembering. It all started with her asking me if I would like a box that had belonged to my grandfather. That led to the stories of how he used to play cards and dice while he was in the service (and I guess he was pretty lucky). I hadn't heard these stories before, although I have a pair of wooden dice I keep in my jewelry box with a few other memontoes from my mom's parents. Now I know why they meant a lot ot him!

My Grandpa Andy was an amazing person. He was a mine sweeper in WWII, but before that he was the handyman at the Camp Fire Girl's camp that my Grandmother was a counselor at. That is where they met and fell in love, and it is right up the road from where my parents still live. The camp is nothing more than a few stone chimneys and the lakes (some of which Grandpa helped build), but it is still there. I personally think it is very cool that my parents still live on the mountain my grandfather and my mother grew up on. There is so much history there.

I obviously didn't know my grandfather way back when - I remember him as the gentle person who always had ginger ale and a game of war ready for me. We spent a lot of time together. I loved to eat kielbasa and baked beans, and he loved to cook them (he also thought I was the smartest child ever since I could "read" the baked beans can - i.e. I knew what it looked like, but I'll take it).

Anyone who had the chance to meet Grandpa Andy has a story about him - whether it is about the Genesee quarts he kept on hand, the juice glasses he drank that beer from, how he would do his rounds after church checking on various friends, or various other acts of kindess. He was known to be a friend to almost anyone, and he saw the good in everyone. He could get riled up as well, but from all of the memories and stories, I hope I portray the same welcomeness and love he did. My brother has named his son after him, and I know he will grow up to be an amazing person, just like his namesake.

We stopped at Grandma and Grandpa's house last every Halloween - where my brother, sister and I would split up our candy and trade for the pieces we really wanted. We also went there on Sunday while my parents went bowling, and on New Year's Eve (we even got Grandpa to put a party hat on). There are so many memories made in that house, with both Grandpa Andy and my grandmother. I miss them both tremendously, but they are watching over me ever day, just like my Gram and the other loved ones I have lost. I know I am blessed to have the love and support of an amazing family, and I cherish all the memories I have. A big thank you to my aunt for giving me this chance to walk down memory lane!

All Wound Up

I am all sorts of wound up tonight. Maybe the afternoon coffee isn't as good an idea as I thought it was at 3:30. It's midnight, I have work tomorrow, I have a paper I need to write in the next week, and I really should be sleeping right now... But when I close my eyes I start thinking about everything I haven't gotten to yet. I haven't called this person back. I haven't responded to this e-mail. I need to go grocery shopping... and the list continues. So I'm sitting on my couch (wearing my slippers of course), typing away.

What I need to do is start focusing on what I have accomplished lately. I am only one person. I only have so much time and energy (particularly when I can't sleep at night, which makes me tired during the day, vicious cycle, blah blah blah):

• I did manage to clean the disaster area that was my apartment (hopefully that will last for a while).
• My group finished one paper a week early and it's submitted.
• I am more than half way done with the other paper that is due next Monday.
• I remembered to water my plants today.
• I finished half of my to do list for the week, which is half over, so that is good.
• I have been to the gym this week and spent almost twice as long on the elliptical as I usually do.

Ok, now that I have at least made my list of accomplishments I can relax. Everything will get done - it always does. As my good friend has been telling me - Life is Good and This Too Shall Pass. Hopefully that applies to insomnia as well...

Flip Flops

I'm so ready for flip flops!!! The funny thing about that statement, is I used to hate flip flops. They don't cover enough of my feet, which I actually really don't like. Feet aren't cute, even with an awesome nail polish on them. That is probably why I love shoes - because they make feet cute :-)

Anyways, I have been converted to a flip flop fan simply due to necessity. There are definitely times in the summer where it is just plain easy to throw on flip flops to run down to the lake, run out for errands, head to the pool, and do just about anything. I'm ready for that season!

Someone I love dearly is the flip flop queen in my mind. She lives where it is a little warmer than here, but they do get some snow. She doesn't let that hold her back - she wears flip flops year round. All of the bridal party wore flip flops in her wedding. She knows who she is, and she should know I'm sending her a big shout out right now!

Bring on the summer, the flip flops, the cute tops hanging idle in my closet, and, yes, even the bathing suit (although hopefully my trips to the gym will have paid off at least some by that point). I can feel the warmth trying to break through - you can do it mother nature!

Grumpiness Can Be Solved By Blue Shoes

I’ll admit it, there have been times when I’ve been ridiculously grumpy the past two days. I have been overreacting about silly little things, simply because life has been hectic (not even bad, just hectic). Between work and school, I am finding little down time (I know, I know, I signed up for it, and it will all work out in the end, and I’ll be a better person when it’s all over, blah blah blah). The sad thing is, I know I actually have it easier than a lot of other people, and I know I am being selfish and overreacting. Still, I’ve been grumpy.

I don’t think I’ve been grumpy to everyone – only my close friends and family. That isn’t fair to them, but it seems like by the time I get around to catching up with them I am done trying to act chipper. (I guess by putting this in a blog post I am whining to everyone, so my whining has now become equal opportunity). Anyways, I need to say thank you to everyone who has listened to my griping the past few days. I woke up to an e-mail from one of those friends basically cheering me on, and it really made me realize that things could be so much worse and everything will work out in the end.

So this morning, when I got dressed for work, I put on my blue shoes and smiled. Positive thinking will help me persevere (and it feels so much better to be positive) and my blue shoes do make me smile and feel positive. So no more whining… even to my best friends. When I’m griping, tell me to shove it (and then tell me to look at my awesome shoes and smile). Life is good and this too shall pass!

Change Is Good

Today was my last day working at the office I've occupied for the past two years. I'm just going a down the road - same company, same role, different office. I'm excited about the opportunities and changes that come with this move, but I am also sad to be leaving the amazing people at my current (past) office. I keep telling them that I will only be a few miles down the road. I'll be back to visit. We'll do dinner. I'll fill in whenever I can. And I mean every word of it.

I can't pretend that this move won't bring change with it, and not just geography. I know I will miss my current co-workers, even though I will still talk to all of them regularly (and they are still my co-workers - I just can't go to their office and tell them every aspect of my life, which I know they just love). It will be different not having lunch at the little round table, people-watching out my window, and running out for coffee. I know I will love working at my new home, because I know the people I will be eating lunch and drinking coffee with now. Still, it will be, well, different.

Change is always uncomfortable and scary. It is also exciting, though, and I'm focusing on that aspect. I just hope that all of my friends and co-workers know how much they mean to me, and they stay in touch with me and continue to give me a hard time and challenge me every day. I love my job and I love who I work with. What adventures will this new placement offer? Only time will tell - and then I'll take my great friends out for a drink to share... because I'm a sharer (as you can probably tell). Change is good :-)

Perspective

Do you know what you were doing 7 months ago today? Was it a memorable day for you? I was in Virginia, celebrating my cousin’s wedding. It was also when I took a tumble down a large staircase, and ended up breaking my clavicle as well as my C1. Yup, I managed to break my neck. I’m lucky, though, and other than 4 weeks in a neck brace and sleeping in a recliner, I went back to work and kept right on trucking. I think my sister has had more long term effects (she is the one who found me, and she is the one who still calls me to check in and tell me how happy she is that I am ok).

Last week I had what I was hoping was my last appointment with the bone and joint doctor (who is awesome by the way), and after having what I had hoped was my last x-ray for a while, I found out my clavicle still has a crack in it. So I’m not totally healed yet. Needless to say, I wasn’t happy about this. Come on – it’s been 7 months and I have been taking my vitamins, drinking my milk, eating my yogurt, and taking it easy with that arm. Still, my clavicle is not whole yet!

So, when I got in my car I did what I do when I am upset – I called my mom. And my mom of course made me feel better. She simply reminded me to keep everything in perspective. If a sore clavicle and another appointment at the bone and joint center is all I have left from a major fall down a staircase I’m lucky. I have family and friends who took care of me, kept me laughing, and overall showed me how truly blessed I am. I went out to dinner, stopped by work, and even played darts all trussed up, and everyone made me feel normal without staring (at least not too long).

With that said, I guess I am living proof that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I don’t know if I would say I’m better because of the fall, but I would say that I am more self aware, and I love every day. I can whine a bit about aches and pains, and I can feel a bit self-conscious about the bump I will always have on my left clavicle, but overall I am happy. I am just going to keep on moving, finding joy in everyday things, and finding the extraordinary around me every day. Not too shabby!