New blog address...

Hello! LONG time no talk...I thought I should pop over and tell you that I started a different blog. I know I don't deserve a second blog, considering I never write in this one, but I briefly explain the need for a new one. I always appreciated the brief glimpses into your lives and I am happy to share a different aspect of mine with you.

The new address is learningtobepatient.wordpress.com.

All the best, Kit

Hidden Treasures

Hello all....

I had a very quiet day to myself yesterday, where I spent most of the day slowly moving about the house...cleaning a little bit, then resting (aka watching Oprah's Oscar Special). Grocery shopping, then resting. Cooking, then resting....you get the idea.

But the most special part of my day came when I decided to clean out a closet upstairs. I am a very nostalgic person, so I tend to hang onto things. Maybe it's in an effort not to lose that little piece of reality that you experience when you read a note, or see a picture - and it takes you right back. Even though it was all one-sided, I had such a beautiful afternoon, spending time with old friends and reading their sweet words. I felt this amazing affirmation and encouragement, that was hidden in a closet for all of these years! Here's a glimpse at my walk down memory lane:

• My best friend, Kat. I found letters from high school graduation, pledging Zeta together, college graduation, cards just to say something funny, or not really anything at all. She's been one of the biggest blessings in my life and reading her words made me hope one thing: that I have encouraged her and shared my heart with her, the same as she did so many times for me.


• My high school & college friend, Shannon. She is Ms. Cardmaker, Extradoinnaire! Her creations were so bright and imaginative...she just has a way of lifting you up. Every now and then, I still get a post card in the mail from her. Maybe I'll make a display in the house of my post cards from Shannon. It could fill up an entire wall!


• My "college roommate", Whitney. Now, she has a way with words! I would tear up when I would read her cards, not because they were necessarily sad, but real. Raw. Again, I hope I told her how much she meant to me, too. And I hope she knows still how much she means to me today!


• My Penpal, Taylor. As funny as it sounds, she and I decided to be penpals when we went our separate ways after college. She has an eye for the most thought-provoking words and I love having her hand-written letters that still challenge me to think today.


• My mentor in college, Amy. Thank you note, after thank you note; each one meant so much. Spending time with her at Bliss was one of my best and most rewarding memories of college. If I can be half the mom and wife that she is, I think everything will turn out okay!! She brought so much to my life and I look forward to the continued friendship and realtionship.


• Sweet Suejin: I get cards in the mail from her ALL the time, just because. Sweet Valentine's cards, birthday cards, little teeny cards just to say hello. We are so far from eachother, but seeing her handwriting and reading her words makes me feel like she's right here with me.


• Countless sorority sisters: so many sweet handmade birthday cards, letters, pictures, sympathy cards, silly drawings....Olivia, Langford, Robley, Kristin...some of the best friends a girl can have. It made me miss everyone so much!


• My wise mother. She never really wrote much, so when I found the few cards she would send with things like, "You make me a stronger person", I really value the compliment in her words. SHE is the strongest person I know, so to think I ever taught her something along the way is 100% humbling and precious to me.


• My mother-in-law, Janie: something I will treasure forever is having card after card where she expressed that she's so happy her son found me.....you can't imagine how special that is. She's so easy to talk to and I am so thankful for her love for me. And SO thankful for the love she has for Justin.

I know I am missing some of the things I found...Save-The-Dates, wedding invitations, thank you cards, baby announcements - it was like I saw my life (and yours!) flash before my eyes (if you consider 3 hours a "flash" anyway, haha.).

It was so fantastic. I hope you have the time to rummage through your things one day, line by line. Word for word. Chances are, it'll mean the world to you. It did to me.

All the best.......

A Weekend Away

Here are a few pics of our oh-so-relaxing farm weekend, where we got some QT with our sweet nephew, Seth, and the girls snuck away to see The Vow (I cried the entire movie, which means I loved it!). While all good weekends must come to an end, it was the perfect dose of relaxation and family time.

Until next time!

So this is how it's supposed to be?

I have never gotten off work earlier than 5:30 PM since I started my professional career. In fact, at my last job, I was usually there until 6:30 or so. So now, with my new schedule, I think I'm going through a state of culture shock, or clock shock let's call it. I get off of work at 4:30PM and I am constantly amazed at how much more I can accomplish with an extra hour (or two) tacked onto my afternoons. I have done laundry, cooked dinner (and cooked lunches to take during the week), worked out and showered - ALL in one evening! And here's the best part - on more than one evening a week!

I'm so thankful for the balance.

Have a great week (and weekend)...

Sweet P

I downloaded Blogger to my phone, which is wonderfully convenient for the fact that all of my pictures are taken on my iPhone. So, this is a test post of sorts, first to see how a post turns out from my phone and second to post pictures of the sweetest niece known to mankind. She's a fantastic test subject.

Have a lovely week!

Back from the Dead

Well, hello!

It's been a while.....okay, more than a while. Let's take a vote - raise your hand if my blog is the bottom on your list of blogs, because I'm the most outdated blog. Ya. That's what I figured. Well, that's okay...I haven't been that great of company for the last few months, so you didn't miss much.

Actually, you missed a lot. But - in a good way.

Let me interrupt with an important note: I'm sorry for the dramatic intro because the story to follow does not involve any tragedy, horrible illness or shocking news.....but the last year has been dramatic for me and I think that finally writing about it makes me feel like I have come full circle with the situation.

Long story short, my job became my life.

And my "life" wasn't making me happy - as a matter of fact, there were many (well, most) days where my job made me wildly unhappy. To be plain, I wasn't myself anymore. And that truly hurts when you finally wake up and realize something so disappointing and heartbreaking.

So when I finally understood that the burden of my job was more than I wanted or needed to bear, I started praying. Begging, even. God, please, give me a sign that I am not just giving up...please, please, tell me whether you want me here or if you have something else for me. God, why do I feel so torn on what I am supposed to do???

And through such small ways, God really did speak to me. God really did provide direction and clarity.

I didn't have to stay at my job. No shackles, no chains.

I kinda laugh at myself looking back on it, because it's easy to assume that the miracle was that he actually talked to me. But let's be honest, the real miracle was that I FINALLY LISTENED. My deepest desire was for him to take the reins for me and - wow! - he did and I let him do it! It was magical. Like riding a bike for the first time, or something.

For so long, I carried this guilt or worry that my desire to quit was just because "I couldn't handle it" or because I was "giving up". But that was all in my head. All of my life, I have taken comfort in knowing that guilt is not from God - but I lost sight of that. It was a cut-throat culture and even to this day, I have to protect myself from hearing too much about what's going on at that company, because that guilt creeps up and again, I feel small.

But the fantastic news is, I have a new job and I have......a work-life balance. As I just typed the phrase "work-life balance", I literally just closed my eyes and took in a deep, deep breath of thanks....it feels so good.

Well, HELLO!

I won't even bore you with the, "I'm so sorry, I promise to post more" rant because quite frankly, I am not sure I can keep any promises like that these days! Work's been so busy and soawesome - so I guess if I can trade being happy in my job for having abundant time to write in my blog - then that's a fair trade.

But what I did realize is that when I don't post, I don't read your posts, either. So, shame on me - I've missed out on so much! So many beautiful babies and happy friends - it's so great to catch up on the lovely little details of my friends' lives.

So what's going on in my world!? Hmm. Let's see:

Well, my precious NIECE was welcomed into this crazy world on May 31, 2011. She's absolutely perfect and I have already seen her 3 times in her 5.5 weeks of being alive (Aunt of the Year, 2011). Everything went really great and my sister made it all look so easy! I look up to her so much and I know I'll rely on her VERY heavily when it's mine and Justin's turn. Her advice will be so precious to me. Here's her pretty little face:

And pretty her little belly:

And lets see, what else.....well, me and Justin have been having a blast together. He makes me laugh and I enjoy his company every day. Here's his pretty little face:

And as for our house, we're "completely done" as Justin would say, and "almost done" if you were to ask me instead. We have a landscaper coming to our house tomorrow to assess the Owen/Fletcher damage in the backyard and hopefully we'll have a lovely little space to entertain in a few weeks...I DO promise to post pics, once we see some progress.

But in the meantime, here's Fletcher's pretty little face (he's mad at me in this picture because his dog friends just left our house):

But in all truth, I hardly have time to look at the news on weekdays anymore - unless it's the day they announced the Casey Anthony verdict - so blogging has definitely taken a backseat. But I enjoyed spending a little time with each of you this evening, even if just through blogging, and I look forward to doing it again soon (hopefully).

All my best to you & yours...

Silence is golden...right?

I've only posted once in APRIL!? It's ALREADY April 22!?

My OH my, how time flies when you are busy at work. Which has been crazy busy - but crazy great, too! I had a great opportunity to move teams, so I started training this week and it's been really great so far. I am thankful to be expanding my skills and knowledge at Swift and I really see such a bright future there right now.

And it's not like I take work home with me (not too often, anyway) but I do have to say - that's about all I have to report! We've been layin' low for a few weeks and this weekend we're off to Arlington to visit my immediate AND extended family for Easter....which will be great because my dear husband has never met my dear GRANDMA! Crazy, right? It's a long story - but I am truly glad that he will have the opportunity to spend time with my family, in its entirety.

Oh - and- I'll try to take some pictures of my dear sister's baby bump because it's definitely picture worthy. Just less than a month 'til the little rug-rat makes her debut! And Auntie Kit can't wait (to be pronounced Awn-tee Kit - fyi).

Happy Easter to you & yours!

To Grandmother's House We Went

I've been out & about for the last couple of weeks and I feel like I've been run ragged! First, I jetted off to St. Louis for work, then back to Houston for a weekend (that went by in a blink), and then off to Fredericksburg for a mini-vacay with my Mom and sister!

We had a really (and I mean really) lovely time....I told Justin when I left that I was afraid I wouldn't be able to put work on the back-burner and just enjoy being on vacation - but the trip was SO relaxing that I actually forgot I even had a job by Tuesday!

So we drove up on Sunday and all met on afternoon for shopping & lunch. I thought some of the stores might be closed on either Sunday or Monday, but luckily we got to hit up everything. Some stores a few times (i.e. this store which I happen to be obsessed with).

Here are some pics of our short, but sweet, time together:

This was the house we stayed in...it was so cute and cozy.

We took long strolls in the evening

so we could drool over all the other cute houses in the neighborhood.

Such a sweet, little Texas town.

Me and my sister at lunch one day...

This is the only picture of ourselves that we took the whole time.

OOPS.

We had lunch at the Brewery - and I think it was one of my favorite meals...

Just simple, tasty and served with a side of local beer.

This was the chandelier I fell l-o-v-e with at Red.

Justin even played along and told me solid, logical reasons why we didn't need this...

(and I'll admit, he was right)

Still better than a simple, "NO!"

We did make a special day-trip to Llano to visit my grandma's house...

Mimi passed away a few years ago and we hadn't been back to her house since.

So many great memories...

I did buy this "antique frog carrier" and I am in l-o-v-e with it, too.

I actually got this in Llano while visiting Mimi's old house.

Can't you just imagine some little freckle-faced kiddo in overalls, out collecting frogs...

I might one day let my little boy collect frogs and keep them in here,

but til then, it'll be filled with candles.

It was fun & it was relaxing.

It was everything vacation should be.

But! Now on to the next adventure.

Have a great weekend!

Um Excuse Me!?

I'm travelling for work this week and I've chosen to waste my alone time on surfing Twitter, E! Online and Facebook....and when I saw this news story I'm about to share, I almost fell over off of my king sized bed here at the Hampton Inn!

So, my answer to this question: Uh, YES!

Not even just YES but ABSOLUTELY!

I mean, I knew I was indulging in some trashy content, but...that's a bit much. I don't even want to learn about that, "natural part of motherhood", as they call it, and I'm actually approaching my baby-makin' years! I'm going to go ahead and side with the critics because I think some things are better left to be discovered.

But then again, my sister and I had the baby doll that you were supposed potty train and we loved that doll.

Ya? Not the same? I know. But still weird that someone invented a doll that you potty train. Or breastfeed, for that matter.

Anywho! Now that I'm all caught up on the weird things happening in the world, I'm off to rest my poor, borderline abused brain so I can at least pretend to be intelligent during client meetings tomorrow.

Have a good one.

Soup's On!

Justin and I are big soup lovers and this soup (which happens to also be weight watchers friendly) has everything we love in it. Chicken - check! Avocado - check! Cilantro - check!

We made it last night and it gets 4 thumbs up from us. It's fresh AND it's filling, which is not always a likely pair. Here's the recipe and the link to the source (Stolen from Skinny Taste).

Chicken and Avocado Soup
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 4 • Serving Size: 1 bowl • Old Points: 5 pts • Points+: 7 pts
Calories: 285.8 • Fat: 16.8 g • Carb: 14.4 g • Fiber: 7.5 g • Protein: 22.1 g

• 5 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups shredded chicken breast
• 1 tomato, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-1/2 cups scallions, chopped fine
• 2 ripe hass avocados, diced
• 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped fine
• 4 lime wedges
• 2 tsp olive oil
• salt + fresh pepper to taste
• pinch cumin
• pinch chipotle chile powder (optional)
  

In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add 1 cup of scallions and garlic. Sautéabout 2 minutes then add tomatoes and sauté another minute, until soft. Add chicken stock, cumin and chile powder and bring to a boil. Simmer, covered on low for about 15-20 minutes.

In four bowls, fill each with 1/2 cup chicken, 1/2 avocado, remainder of the scallions, and cilantro. Ladle 1 cup chicken broth over the chicken and serve with a lime wedge

To save time, we used a rotisserie chicken from Kroger. And the only thing I'll add next time is crushed red pepper when you're cooking down the veggies with the olive oil (or use more of the chile powder). We love a little kick to our meals and so if you like some spice in your life, it wouldn't hurt. Oh! And I added a can of drained black beans to bulk it up a little bit!

Bon appetit!

The lesson I learned today...

Justin and I were talking last night and were talking about how hard it is to find time to work out with our schedules. If you know me, you know I journeyed through a huge weight loss "experience" a few years back and since I've started working in the "real world" it's been really hard to fit in a work out. We leave for work at 6:45 AM and we return after 6:30 PM or so...I hate to make excuses, but it's super hard to be motivated.

So to combat this issue, Justin and I decided to try working out together in the wee hours of the morning. We both kinda laughed when talking about it, because it's SO early...and we already get up really early as it is.

But we decided to do it.

We can do this.

The alarm's set.

Ready to go.

......until Justin remembers that he has some big presentation to prepare first thing at work and he decides that it's not the day to try working out in the morning.

"Well, I'm still going to try to go," I say with heavy hesitation.

Then my alarm goes off at 5 AM and...I, of course, decided not to go. However, FLETCHER hears my alarm and starts barking. And barking. And barking. Time to get up, MOM!

Insert valuable lesson here: When my alarm goes off at 5 AM and I decide to indefinitely postpone my work out, that's fine. I could go back to sleep. But guess who won't!? Fletcher Dearest. So now I know, if I plan on setting the alarm for 5 AM to work out, I can just assume that I am getting my butt up, because there is zero chance of going back to sleep. As a matter of fact, I should have gone today because this girl has been wide away since 5 AM, with no workout to show for it. And now I have to go tonight.

If you're the praying kind, pray for me to listen to God's little pushes to go work out and make wise eating decisions - instead of being a slave to my selfish desire to indulge and not pay the price for it. I don't want to back track on all the work I did and I want to be an active, healthy girl. Just need to find a creative way to work activity into my lifestyle.

Suggestions welcome!

Hope y'all have a good week.

Much love.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

A few weeks early....anyway.

But hey, exactly one year ago, we were in the throws of planning a lovely little farm wedding - and that's worth celebrating! Plus, I'm notorious for celebrating my birthday from August 29 (Justin's birthday) all the way until the actual date, September 21, and I don't see why we can't celebrate our marriage during March...all of March!

My friend Emily invited us to attend the Endymion Extravaganza in New Orleans, which is a black-tie event where the Endymion parade rolls through once it has rolled through the streets of New Orleans during Mardi Gras.

We had been talking about taking a trip to New Orleans to celebrate our anniversary so the timing was perfect. Since it was Justin's first time to go to Mardi Gras, we decided to make a big deal of it and stay all the way through Fat Tuesday. We spent the first half with Emily's family and then got a hotel room downtown by the French Quarter for the second half.

Here's some documentation of our trip for your viewing pleasure:

Before the ball...all dressed up!

All the girls

Me & Justin at the ball before the parade

Haha - Justin watching the parade - waiting for some beads

Our loot we collected from Endymion Parade

More Loot from parades on the street!

Okay I'm not big on the Charlie Sheen hype, but this was funny nonetheless.

Enjoying the wonderful weather at the Zulu festival

One of the dogs from Barkus, the dog parade!

We had a great time...if you can't tell. Emily's family was so gracious to host us (and so many other couples!) and we really enjoyed the time away together.

So here's to another year together! It's been the best year of my life and I look forward to celebrating all of March, each March, for the rest of our life together!

All the best to you and yours!

On the go......

I feel like this sums up my life for the last few weeks:

Except I've only actually gone on one flight....haha.

But I went to St. Louis for work to visit our lovely contractors and he weather was perfect - crisp & chilly. I always love travelling for work because it's a great way to break up the week - but I swear - I've been playing catch up ever since...

We also recently went to Austin to visit Justin's sister while she's doing her internship. It was so fun - we shopped, ate, saw live music - life was grand. And while we were there we also toured the Capitol, which I had never visited! Now I feel like a good ol' fashioned, bona fide Texan.

My Texas Boy

And, I learned how to play Texas Hold 'Em - which also boosts my status as a bona fide Texan, I might add. This was ACTUALLY one of my [winning] hands:

Everyone agreed that Justin better book us a ticket to Vegas while I'm hot!

But that's a little summary of our busy little life.

Thankfully, next week we're taking a few days off to celebrate our First Anniversary together in New Orleans! I won't give too much away about it so I can blog about it next week! All I'll say is there are evening gowns, tuxes and beads involved...

That's it from me - take care! Oh, and Les Bon Temps Rouilles!

Wired Over...

When Kat & I went to Canton, we kept seeing these old wire baskets...big and small, beat up, loved on...they all had so much character. I fell in L-O-V-E and I can't stop thinking about them.

I've been this close to buying some, but I don't really think I have any reason for them. I know what will end up happening is I will talk myself out of buying any, right up until the point where they're not as easily available anymore...but oh well. Maybe my husband will thank me for resisting the temptation. Especially an unfounded temptation.

Anyway, here are a few that I'm pining over:

Gymnasium Shelves

Stacking Shelves

Fun wire cage...

(these first 3 are from Urban Outfitters - Online Only - which means I can't just stroll in and buy anything on a whim - it would have to be a concrete decision.)

And one from Design Sponge!

I love them. I just do. But I guess it would make more sense if we had little unruly children in our house, who needed their little unruly lives to be organized by stylish wire baskets.....

At present I only have an unruly puppy...who....wait!......needs a basked for his toys! So maybe I can get one? Just one?

Doesn't this face need a wire basket for his toys?

I think so.

Have a good weekend!