Super Amy

December 30 Ad. What advertisement made you think this year?
Hmmm. It’s honestly been a pretty ad-free year for me. We don’t have cable, So for the most part the only television ads I’ve seen are those inserted into the Thursday-night NBC shows I watch on Hulu. I can’t think of any web ads I’ve seen this year that have been spectacular, either. I consider this a victory. One ad I have seen this year, however, and which I found delightful, is one that Jessi showed me: Goat Tears.

December 31 Resolution you wish you’d stuck with.
I know I made a few resolutions last year, nothing too significant. I wish I could find a definitive list of what they were (I know I had one somewhere, but apparently it wasn’t web-based — so much for accountability, eh?). All of them were based on trends I saw in myself in 2008, didn’t like, and wanted to correct. What I can recall are these:
1. Eat healthier. Weight loss wasn’t my goal; a balanced diet with more energy was, and I think I’m more or less there. Two things, I think, helped with this — I have been exercising more this year, which makes me crave exciting things like salads and fresh fruit. Also, i’ve been trying to buy more groceries lately, and to make those groceries primarily fresh produce, juices, and dairy (yogurt / eggs).
2. Stress less. I feel sometimes that it’s an ongoing internal battle with me, fighting my tendency to be anxious, overwhelmed, irritated by things outside of my control, and difficult in general. I can’t say I’ve made leaps and bounds in this area, but I think I’m finding it much easier to relax and stop worrying about things than I did this time last year.
3. Stop eating out so much. This is the one — the one that I would say, out of all of these, I “failed.” There were a couple of months where I made it home for lunch at least two or three times a week, and a couple of other months where I tried to cook dinner every night, but what an obnoxiously well-ingrained habit! It’s just too easy at work — my dad and I go out to lunch somewhere, and I always feel sort of like I’m abandoning him if I go home to heat up leftovers instead. And then after work, when I’m both hungry and craving social stimulation, dinner with friends just seems obvious. That being said, I did manage at least to bring the budget down a couple of notches (the primary incentive for eating-out-less has been financial), leaning much more heavily towards Subway and eliminating The Village Grill almost entirely (this is depressing, actually). But I could have done better, really.
4. Stop buying clothes. This was more of a commitment than it was a resolution. I started working full-time in 2008, which led to somewhat of a need for a new “professional” wardrobe, and also led to a bit of discretionary spending money. But by the end of 2008, buying new clothes had turned from necessary to a fun thing to do when I was bored, and I felt convicted about it. It wasn’t that I was a shopaholic, or that I was spending half of my paycheck on clothing, but I felt like financially, I wasn’t being a good steward. When I would buy something new that I didn’t necessarily need, I couldn’t help but to think of how much good that money could do in the right places. So for 2009, with a couple of minor and truly-deemed-necessary exceptions (hiking gear back when the Grand Canyon was a thing, and some charity-shop used purchases for good causes), I didn’t buy new clothes. Turns out that everything that I already had, along with some borrowed pieces from a beloved roommate (sorry, Abby), got me through the year just fine. I took the money I would have spent on clothing (based on some 2008 average spending figures — thanks again, mint.com! and sent some donations to Atlanta Union Mission, a great homeless shelter / recovery program in Atlanta. It wasn’t as painful of a sacrifice as I thought it would be, for the most part, and it was actually a relief when I would go shopping with other people. Not once this year did I have the internal “I-love-this-but-do-I-need-it” debate that chronically indecisive people like myself struggle with. It was a year of window-shopping. I can love it or hate it, but I know I can’t buy it, so no worries. And Atlanta Union Mission is truly a great Christian-based, fiscally-responsible organization that is doing amazing things for Atlanta’s homeless population. I’m hoping I can continue to support them in 2010, if there’s enough left over after the massively excessive shopping-spree I’m planning in January (only kidding, folks). I didn’t advertise this resolution much, save a couple of close friends for accountability, and I debated even mentioning it here, because I don’t want to seem like I’m bragging, or like I’m looking down on anybody who spends their extra money on things they don’t “need.” For me, it was based solely on a personal conviction. But it’s probably the 2009 “resolution” I’m most proud of myself for seeing through until the end. And besides, this blog is about me. (See my name up there at the top? In the url bar? mmm-hmm.)

—–

Aaaaand (drumroll, please!) this concludes Gwen Bell’s Best of 2009 Blog Challenge!I enjoyed the prompts, and remembered that I actually enjoy blogging, rather than putting it off and making a chore of it. I can say that I’ve never felt so narcissistic in my life as I have this past month, writing exclusively about myself every couple of days for an hour, so that’s been kind of a downer. Maybe one of my 2010 resolutions could be “blog more relevant and interesting stuff?” We’ll see. I am making resolutions this year — something I was undecided about for a while, but all of this reflecting on 2009 has convinced me that there are still changes I want to make. I think I’m saving it for a future post, though, if I decide to post them at all.

So for those of you who have been reading through December, thanks — seriously. I know I ramble a lot. (2010 — “blog more concise stuff?” so many options.) Happy New Year!

listening to: Bush – Glycerine (found 16 Stone for 99 cents at Salvation Army. Bought it, of course. 90’s flashbacks are the best.)

December 28 Stationery. When you touch the paper, your heart melts. The ink flows from the pen. What was your stationery find of the year?
For years, stationery has been an area of my life which needed some reigning in. Sadly, I don’t write paper-letters often enough, and don’t mail thank-you notes or cards often enough, but this is a truth which remains well-disguised by my supply stock. My collecting goes through phases. For a while, it was vintage papers and envelopes, then trendy themed sets (Sushi-nery and Pink Panther fold-and-mails among my favorites). This year, the draw has been to all sorts of cards — handmade paper cards from around the world, clean-lined letterpress cards, delightful story cards, and anything else that strikes my fancy. Some of them don’t even make it to the stationery shelf, and instead get pinned to the wall somewhere.

December 29 Laugh. What was your biggest belly laugh of the year?
There have been dozens, and 90% of them took place at Santa Fe Mexican restaurant here in Greenwood, as part of our household semi-regularly-scheduled dinner outings. Something about the combination of Wendy, Michele, Abby, me, and those tortilla chips make everything very, very funny. And good memories.

Not only a really big batch, but a lot of difficult questions. No wonder I put these off for so long. They’re long, rambly, and without pictures, so if you ever picked a post to skip, pick this one. Here goes…

December 22 Startup. What’s a business that you found this year that you love?
I’m almost always skeptical of startups, mostly because so many new businesses claim to have a “revolutionary” or “innovative” business model, but for the most part, they’re either recycling something that has already been done, or embarking on something that just doesn’t add up financially (and folding a year or two later). I mean, I’m certainly no business expert, but we all knew where ChaCha.com was headed long before they got there. That being said, I have always been fascinated by businesses that use micro-targeted marketing, especially as an integral part of their revenue system. I guess the real attraction is due to the fact that technology plays such a big role in tracking the trends and mining the data to support such marketing, and it’s something that I think still has a lot of unexplored (and sometimes ethically debatable) potential. So while I haven’t used this business enough yet to know if I “love” it or not, I’d definitely say that the most fascinating startup I’ve seen this year is Alice.com, which sells basic household products (non-perishable grocery, toiletry, cleaning, etc). Its business model sort of expands on the logic behind the “bonus” cards grocery stores give out — they get to track and analyze our spending habits, and in exchange they offer us discounts and targeted coupons. The difference is that Alice not only offers targeted coupons, they also ship everything you order for free, saving an actual shopping trip, occasional (targeted) free samples (beats coupons, no?), and prices that are comparable to Food Lion. Their selection is sort of hit-and-miss right now, presumably since they’re so new, but they do have a lot of interesting smaller brands and organic / green products I wouldn’t be able to find anywhere else. The customer reviews are useful, too. Alice stores a list of your products, and allows you to schedule an order frequency, emailing to remind you when it’s time to re-purchase something. It’s not something I think I’ll use exclusively (I’m the kind of person who doesn’t realize she needs more deodorant until she’s completely out, for example), or even all that often, but I’ve already found a couple of new favorite brands to keep me coming back occasionally at least, and I don’t think I mind trading my shopping trends for a few free samples.

December 23 Web tool. It came into your work flow this year and now you couldn’t live without it.
Mint.com is an easy answer. I have been using this site for a couple of years at least, but this is the first year I’ve really put it to work. This tool is truly incredible. It organizes all of my online banking — checking, savings, credit cards, investments, 401k, property values (well, I have a car, a bike, and a macbook — those count, right?), and keeps up with all of it. It automatically categorizes every transaction on all of my cards, and remembers my settings (”checks in amount x are always category y,” for example). It sends me alerts when my accounts are running low, credit card bills are due, or large transactions hit my accounts. It graphs my spending by category, lets me create my own categories, and lets me set budgets for my spending. I never have to think about how much money I “actually” have between my checking account and credit card bills — it figures all of that out for me. As for 401k / investments, it tracks each stock and its trends, like a little WSJ ticker or something. Being slightly obsessive-compulsive, charts and graphs are exciting to me anyway, and these are so well-laid out and useful.
I saw someone balancing his checkbook at work last week, and was shocked to realize that some people still actually have to put time and effort into keeping finances straight. I know I am a spoiled child of the 21st century, but I honestly can’t fathom why anybody these days isn’t using online banking and finance management. I itemize my taxes, and this is going to make it (almost) painless.
(And for those of you wondering what Mint’s business model is, yes — they’re also on the “micro-targeting” end of things. Their privacy policy protects you from anything too intrusive, but they are collecting aggregate trends and data to provide you with “targeted” sponsor offers along the lines of checking accounts, credit accounts, savings, etc. where they think you will maximize your savings, and they probably make additional profit selling such statistics. Again, this is somewhere I don’t mind trading a little bit of my generic spending trends for a valuable service.)

December 24 Learning experience. What was a lesson you learned this year that changed you?
I think I’m always learning something. This has been a big year of “learning” for me, at least if I try to remember what I was like a year ago, but it’s kind of hard to put my finger on specific “lessons” that I’ve learned. I think a big one (and one that is still very much a “work in progress”) is this:

“Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.” – Psalms 46:10

If I were to list my top favorite words of all time, “productivity” would be in the top half. I am a chronic Type-A personality. I don’t deal well at all with boredom, waiting on people, not having a set schedule, or days where I don’t accomplish much. I have had many days where I have actually cried because I slept past ten in the morning. When I am feeling stressed, I don’t take a nap or schedule a break — I make a to-do list, which I somehow find delightful and calming. (Just reading this makes me question my own sanity, honestly.) In short, “being still” has never been a strong point of mine. But reading about Mary and Martha, or Jesus’ time with His disciples, or even just Paul’s words about the fruits of the Spirit, it’s obvious that I’m missing out when I let myself get stuck into thinking that my value comes from how many check marks I can put on the to-do list each day. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about and are thinking “wow, she’s crazy, what a ridiculous problem to have,” you are probably right, but I know that there are others of you out there (somewhere? hello?) who understand the battle against a misguided sense of accomplishment. So that’s the lesson I’m fighting learning the most lately.

December 25 Gift. What’s a gift you gave yourself this year that has kept on giving?
Materialistically, you mean? I finally allowed myself to buy a reliable car, which is somewhat unlike me, and probably a sign that I am growing up / getting old.
If I allow a more broad interpretation of “gift,” I have spent a lot of really fun time with friends this year. Probably my favorite relaxing “activity” this year has been over at Anna and Justin’s with the game crew, playing Balderdash or Gin or Catch Phrase or Rook or whatever seemed fun.

December 26 Insight or aha! moment. What was your epiphany of the year?
… I don’t actually care about politics. I mean, I used to, a little bit, and then I for a while I was pretty opinionated on it. But this year, it just started seeming so irrelevant, when compared with the “big picture.” I don’t consider myself un-patriotic, and I stay informed enough to vote intelligently. But in so many parts of the world, people are living under governments so much worse than ours. Don’t get me wrong — I am not taking issue with anyone who enjoys or is involved with or opinionated about politics. I’m just saying that when I really started considering myself as a child of the Kingdom of God, I feel outraged for those suffering all over the world, and a lot of the pressing debates here in the states seem pretty trivial in comparison.

December 27 Social web moment.
After forgetting its existence for months at a time, only to log in and find myself aghast at the tasteless spam gracing my profile page, I finally deleted my MySpace account. Boo yah.

listening to: Dashboard Confessional – The Swiss Army Romance (Yep, the whole album. Turns out this “reflecting back in time” thing took me a bit further back than just January 2009…)

December 20 New person.
I have given this question some thought, and I don’t think I appreciated Alec Baldwin nearly enough until 2009.

December 21 Project. What did you start this year that you’re proud of?
The honest answer and the interesting answer aren’t the same. In fact, an interesting answer to this question might not even exist, so I’m just going to be honest and as brief as possible, for you guys’ sake. My favorite project I’ve started this year is, well, work-related (groan) — basically displaying 3D complete representations of our custom products, synchronized with all of our other editors, and allowing parts to be moved, added, deleted, and what-have-you. But the really fun part is that you can spin it around really fast, or zoom in and out by clicking on the parts you want to see. I like projects that provide easy amusement during down-time.

I know it’s been minimal effort lately. Tomorrow is back-to-work day for me, which I’m looking forward to. My beloved Abby has left me for Ohio, and I have been sleeping in her bed while she is away (my room is being loaned to the family of my other lovely roommates while they are in town). It feels like everybody is traveling for the holidays this year. Not me. I’ll be right here. Behind Abby’s curtain-wall. Until 2010, at least.

Mandy and I made dozens and dozens of cookies today — four different kinds. I’m thinking it should become a pre-Christmas tradition, because it was lots of fun.

Listening: Radiohead – Videotape

December 17 Word or phrase.
“Good idea; good idea.” – Wendy Coad

December 18 Shop.
The Blue Magnolia in Augusta, Georgia. This isn’t my all-time-favorite “stuff” shop, but it’s my favorite discovered this year. If I could afford / get away with it, I would do 100% of my gift-shopping at places like this. (Other favorites are “Helix” and “Frontier”, both in Athens.) My favorite finds at the Blue Magnolia: Matchstick Gardens and Fomato cards. (So funny!)

December 19 Car ride. What did you see? How did it smell? Did you eat anything as you drove there? Who were you with?

Abby and I took a road trip in August, first to Chicago to visit some friends of hers and to enjoy the city, and then to Ohio to visit her family. There were a lot of smells, really, between gasoline, Tennessee, and all of the food we took along (I remember a bag of spinach, Bulgur Wheat Salad, baby carrots, Vietnamese iced coffee, and several pounds of fresh cherries. Mmm! Abby and I always have fun together so I loved the drive as much as the destinations, I think.

December 14 Rush. When did you get your best rush of the year?
Train from London Gatwick to Winchester, via Clapham Junction, in March. I was listening to Slingshot Dakota. Lots of good memories, by way of familiar buildings and feelings and sounds and smells. It was a good rush.

December 15 Best packaging.
You know, when it comes to commercial packaging, I’m such a fan of super-clean modern packaging — bold blocks of color, strong white sans-serifs fonts, and cautious use of images or photos. Simple packaging always catches my eye. That being said, I haven’t found much of anything that really fits that bill in 2009. What I have been impressed with, however, is the packaging of every item I’ve ordered from Etsy this year. There’s something really exciting about handmade packaging with a DIY feel to it, whether it’s an item wrapped in tissue paper and string, or carefully placed in a hand-painted cardboard box tied with ribbon and stamped with a URL, I love thinking that I’ve received an item so personal that even the envelope was personally and individually considered.

December 16 Tea of the year. I can taste my favorite tea right now. What’s yours?
I definitely go through phases with teas. In general, as with most things, I prefer darker / stronger teas to lighter ones. Black and red teas are my favorites (Rooibos / bush teas, earl greys, assam, etc.), but just this past month or so, I’ve been really enjoying green teas. I recently signed up for Alice.com, which is a pretty interesting grocery / household shopping business startup which allows you to customize a shopping list with your favorite / standard products and order them. Shipping is free, prices are comparable to my local Food LIon, and they automatically apply coupons. It’s honestly pretty nifty — they remind you when they think you’re about to run out of something, and occasionally throw in some free samples based upon what you order. I’m usually a last-minute shopper with everything, toothpaste included, but it’s a great idea for people who live in cities or have busy lives that make frequent last-minute grocery trips impractical, and who doesn’t like samples? One such free sample I received with my first order was an entire sampler of Dilmah Ceylon Green Tea (I had ordered a box of Stash Earl Grey). This was shortly before the onset of a sinus infection, during which fresh green tea proved invaluable for many reasons, but aside from that, I’ve really enjoyed having this lighter tea available. It has a really fresh and crisp flavor to it, and I can drink two or three cups in a row at work without feeling jittery or ill.

Sorry, guys. No photos and very little inspiration with this one. In other news, this is the first time in a very long time I’ve been awake at two am. So forgive me.

This week hasn’t been as stressful as I expected. I’m learning how to be still sometimes.

Listening to: Jaymay – Sea Green, See Blue (Troy’s wonderful find, twice now.)

December 12 New food.
Pho Noodleville in Greenville — on Orchard Park Drive across from The Channel. Abby introduced me to this little place early this year, and we have both taken every opportunity to eat here since. It’s Vietnamese, which I’ve never tried much before, and they use fresh ingredients with no MSG. I tried the Pho (a unique broth soup with rice noodles and a meat. It’s so delightful that I haven’t felt the need to try anything else since. The service is sometimes a little casual, so we try to go when we aren’t in a hurry, but it’s rarely ever packed, and a pretty cheap place to eat.

December 13 What’s the best change you made to the place you live?
I don’t think a place can really feel like home until you’ve established some greenery. (Color doesn’t hurt, either.) In the summer of 2008 I was overwhelmingly fascinated by zinnias, which were being sold by the bucket at farmer’s markets in Greenville and Athens. I decided to plant some myself this year. It’s a project that could have gone better, but there’s always next year.

So there’s only so much to be said for having a near-airtight plan. No matter how many calls, reservations, and print-outs I make, sometimes things just come up that can’t be worked around, and it’s a pretty disappointing lesson to learn. I’m not on my way to the Grand Canyon right now, but hey. I still have the week off of work, and virtually limitless possibility. I didn’t go anywhere exciting today (though for a while I entertained the idea of driving very far north, Montreal possibly), but I did make an appointment to start volunteering in 2010, as well as research some family vacation cabins. It’s good to take it slow sometimes, I’m told, and maybe if I practice, that might start to make sense to me.

Listening to: Yeasayer – Ambling Alp (okay, the video’s weird, but I love this song)

December 7 Blog find of the year. That gem of a blog you can’t believe you didn’t know about until this year.
Late to the game as usual, I finally found Design*Sponge, which is a great blog to read if you: (A) have tons of spare time and never have enough artsy projects with which to fill the void, or (B) never have time, but enjoy the slightly-inspiring but mostly-depressing and guilt-filled feelings that come with seeing what other creative and productive people are doing with their time. I am blessed at least occasionally to fall into the former category (making up for the rest of the time I spend amongst group B), so when I found this, it made a pretty short list of blogs I have time to read anymore.

December 8 Moment of peace. An hour or a day or a week of solitude.
In October, somewhat on a whim (and also on a bit of a high after buying a car with a hatchback which allows for in-car tent-free camping), I decided to take a solo trip to Edisto beach, and camp in my car at the state park. During the planning, I was admittedly a bit paranoid about seeming flighty, irrational, or delinquent, since solo vacations aren’t exactly the norm in my sphere of experience, but I really felt like some time to myself, so I planned it anyway. It was probably the most spiritually refreshing couple of days I’ve had this year. Edisto is my favorite beach spot, because even during the summer, it stays pretty laid back and sparse, so when I got up early on Saturday morning to see the beach, I enjoyed almost complete seclusion. For a while after this trip, I entertained delusions of becoming a car hobo — picking a handful of clothes and possessions which would comfortably fit in a backseat, and freeing myself from the burdens of rent payment and singular-location living forever. Think of the adventures I could have, driving to a new destination whenever I felt like it! Oh, what an exotic dream it was.

December 9 Challenge. Something that really made you grow this year.
I’m hoping that hiking the Grand Canyon will count for this. If, due to blizzards and icy trails, it doesn’t come to pass, then surely driving across the entire country virtually non-stop will count?

December 10 Album of the year. What’s rocking your world?
Wow. While doing the prep-work for this question (sorting my iTunes library by release year to see what counts as 2009 and what doesn’t), I realized how many 2009 albums I have that I haven’t listened to more than once or twice, and some not at all! I’ve gotten dreadfully behind. That being said, of the 2009 albums I have listened to, I’ve got a very long list of runners-up: Beirut – Realpeople Holland EP (nothing brings back such incredible memories of PBS specials than the this), Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest (admittedly I’m in it for only a handful of songs), Rhett Miller – Rhett Miller (so catchy I can’t resist), and The Swell Season – Strict Joy (the couple from the “Once” film / soundtrack — a current staple in my car), Ben Kweller – Changing Horses (very alt-country in the most amazing sort of way), and Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz (didn’t think I’d like it, but I love it). With the award going to (why don’t I get my own awards show, anyway?) Andrew Bird – Noble Beast. With music, I’ve more or less resigned myself to the fact that I will never like a band’s newer albums as much as their older ones (or the one that first got me hooked), but Andrew Bird just seems to get better every time, and I love him for that.

December 11 The best place. A coffee shop? A pub? A retreat center? A cubicle? A nook?
Cubicle? Really? Eesh. Nope. I guess last year is technically when I discovered the “best place”, but it carried over into 2009 as well, so maybe it counts. I love taking day trips to Athens, Georgia. It’s full of my favorite little shops, restaurants, and coffee places. Around the corner from Wuxtry records on Clayton, there’s a little coffee booth called “OK Coffee,” and next to it is a tiny nook with a couple of booths and a lot of posters, sort of tacked on to the end of the record store. I love it because if it’s raining (or even if it’s not), I can buy a cup of coffee and sit down, more or less unnoticed, and watch people go by. The coffee is Jittery Joe’s, and their organic Peruvian is almost unreasonably good.

——-

It’s officially Friday, and I’m taking the entire next week off for a West coast road trip adventure. The original plan was to hike the Grand Canyon, and it’s technically the current plan as well, but we might have to adapt, given the unexpected blizzard. Current alternative destinations include (but are not limited to) California, Vegas, Mexico, Tombstone, Santa Fe, Boulder, anywhere in Texas, Florida, and New Orleans.

listening to: Hanson’s Christmas CD

(I’ve started Gwen Bell’s Best of 2009 Blog Challenge — read more about it here or scroll down to find my first challenge post.)

December 4 Book. What book – fiction or non – touched you?
I’m the first to admit that I don’t read as much as I want to — probably less than a dozen books this year. Standouts were Getting Things Done for organization and productivity, Crazy Love for faith-related, and The Plague for classics-I-should-have-read-sooner. I have made a pointed (and very rewarded) effort to read my Bible more this past year, and of course it’s been the all-around most meaningful of the year. I think that I’m finally learning the meaning of a “living” Word of God. But since I didn’t make it through the whole thing this year (I tried, but hey), I’m also going to mention Naive. Super by Erlend Loe. It’s a short little fiction book, a beautiful sort of character profile novel, and it broke my heart. I’ve been told that I let books and movies break my heart too easily, and that this is actually a humorous tale of finding hope in life. Maybe so, but I cried a lot at the end.

December 5 Night out. Did you have a night out with friends or a loved one that rocked your world? Who was there? What was the highlight of the night?
Easy. March 10th. Reunited with wonderful friends in Winchester. Just like old times, we went to the County Arms for drinks, games, and karaoke. Liverpool played Madrid on one screen (Liverpool won), and the Milan vs. Juventus on the other. I think they tied. Carol and I did not sing karaoke. Anthony and Giorgio did.

Carol, Amy, Anthony and Giorgio

December 6 Workshop or conference. Was there a conference or workshop you attended that was especially beneficial? Where was it? What did you learn?
Aaaand here’s where I start to twist the questions. Outside of work meetings and training sessions, details of which luckily for you aren’t going to make their way here, I haven’t really attended anything which might count as a conference. However, one of my New Year’s resolutions this year was to become more confident doing things on my own — attending group events on my own, eating in a restaurant on my own, taking a vacation on my own. Most of my life, I’ve had family and friends around me, and doing things alone just isn’t something I’m used to or comfortable with. But there is only so long a person can go avoiding wonderful opportunity just because of a little self-consciousness. So in late June, I joined the gym and made myself start attending the morning group classes. Sounds pretty lame for a “bold and confident start”, yes, but it was really challenging for me to walk into a group of people as the “new person” and make myself participate and be comfortable. And let me just say — if you ever decide to venture into a new and scary social situation, don’t try it at 5:30 on a Monday morning.

———-

Our Grand Canyon trip starts exactly one week from tonight. I’m both excited and nervous, but today I finally sat down, got my lists up-to-date, and put some action items to the stressful ball of “what-should-I-be-doing” floating around in my head. My biggest concern right now is the weather. Currently, there is literally a blizzard in the mountains of Arizona, with 40mph winds and lots of snow accumulation. It’s supposed to clear this week, and start up again next weekend. We’re scheduled to hike down next Wednesday. The winter weather is never as treacherous inside the canyon, where it’s consistently about 20 degrees warmer and freezing rain is about the worst to expect, but our hike begins and ends at almost 7000 feet above sea level, which means we’re pretty likely to encounter a lot of snow and ice. For the North Rim of the canyon, which closes after the first snow in early December, this is standard fare, but it isn’t typical for the South Rim (where we’re hiking from) in December, so we didn’t really expect this at all. We aren’t going to do the hike if the weather is too bad and are looking at some backup plans, but we would love prayers for good weather and a safe and adventurous trip.

I have been practicing earlier bedtimes, with varying degrees of success, depending on the week. I aim for ten if I’m getting up for the gym, and eleven otherwise. Tonight I’ve already lost. It’s more difficult than I expected.

And as Abby mentioned, we (or I, technically) have taken in a cat. I feel like somewhat of a hypocrite, since all year I’ve been good about not feeding the strays. We technically aren’t allowed to have pets here, due to pretty negligent previous owners. So I blame my sudden change of heart on last week’s sinus infection, which found me at home, curled up on the sofa with tons of hot tea, congestion, a mild fever and an overdue performance evaluation for work. It isn’t a condition which caters to reason and logic, and when the kitten came begging at the window, I let her in, gave her food, and named her Sylvie. By the time I came to my senses, I’d already purchased the litter box and food dish. Too late to turn back now. She’s already destroyed a bedspread, four vintage Christmas tree ornaments, plenty of tinsel, and a section of flesh about a quarter of an inch long on my thumb. I really do love her, and kittens in general, but didn’t expect this much stress. I hope she calms down some. I am very grateful for my roommates’ gracious acceptance and endurance.

Listening to: Tom Waits – World Keeps Turning