Ten on Ten - December 2012

Since my last post, there have been lots of changes in my life.  Officially changed jobs, took a fun trip to London with my Daddy, and am on the road to home ownership again.  More to come on all of that....but for now, enjoy some pics....

love these paper decorations....many years of memories

very cold this morning - been awhile since I had to defrost my car!

my new office....very spacious and in need of some personality!

contract amendment accepted by the seller today....now the countdown to closing really begins!

new job still entails reports and highlighters!

one of my favorite nativity sets in my mom's collection - purchased in the Black Forest in Germany

more vintage Santa decor - been flying down our hallway as long as I can remember

one more vintage Santa - he was around back when my mom was growing up!

I'm more of a snowman girl.....this is one I made probably 30 years ago

and the end to another fun calendar by one of my favorites - Mary Engelbreit!

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Ten on Ten - October 2012

how is it that just about every day is exactly spot on?

morning paper outside my hotel room door --- and fun hallway carpeting!

working down the list

diet cokes in the fridge were expired and tasted awful, so I went in for a rare treat

Broadway showtunes on Pandora

mid-afternoon snack

browsing....

Sunset style chicken fajitas at Mi Cocina.....yum!

can't beat James Taylor....

my home away from home the past few days....

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Ten on Ten - September 2012

new {temporary} sleeping quarters in my parents' house

new {temporary} workspace - in my parents' dining room!

part of the garden in my parents' backyard

great-grandparents flanking a bouquet of buttons that belonged to my grandmommy

FedEx package ready to go back to the office

the reason for my move :-)

donating platelets at Meek

view from my computer

vintage stained glass window hanging in my bathroom

and the theme of my life right now....
navigating Plan B

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Adventure....

While I am definitely a person that thrives on structure and routine, occasionally the adventure bug bites me.  Earlier this summer I was able to mark one such adventure off my bucket list.

SKYDIVING!!

My friend Beth was given a birthday gift of skydiving by her brother and she asked if I'd like to go do it with her.  As skydiving is one of the things that has been on my "want to do list" for many years, I immediately said yes.  Another friend, Matt, decided to jump with us, so we worked on finding a compatible date and then booked our adventure!

I volunteered to drive since Matt's sister Holly and parents were also going to come along to cheer us on.  We all loaded up bright and early to head about 40 miles east.  Easy drive out there, interesting directions across some somewhat sketchy terrain, but finally we arrived at an airstrip.  But things looked a little off......there was no one around and certainly no planes.  We were only about 15 minutes earlier than we had been told to get there, so it seemed suspicious.  We called the number from our reservation and received some interesting news.  Apparently that particular airport wasn't allowing them to jump anymore.  What we all wondered at this point was why none of us had received a call letting us know that we needed to be somewhere else.  

After talking with the staff, we decided to go ahead and make a day of it and head for the other airport - even though it meant completely retracing our steps and then driving another 50+ miles to the west of our original starting point!

Once we got to the new airport, there were a few more snafus for us to wait through.  Sick crew members, planes at other airports, etc. But, we persevered through the wait and finally watched the girl in front of us head up.  And then, about 30 minutes later it was time for Beth and I to jump.  We put on jumpsuits and then were strapped into our harnesses.  We squeezed into a tiny plane with our two tandem instructors and the pilot and we were off!!  

me, Beth and Matt with our tiny airplane

Beth and I suited and harnessed up - ready to jump!

Smoothest takeoff I've ever experienced and my first experience on a grass runway.  About 20 minute flight to get up to 10,500 feet. Hooking our harnesses up to the tandem instructor and a reminder of the process. Open the door. Step out and then 40 seconds of freefall and about 4-5 minutes of canopy float to get back to earth.  

me on the left with the  multi stripe canopy - Beth is on the right with the red, white and blue canopy

coming down!

in for the landing!

landed perfectly standing up!

Beth and I in our Top Gun moment walking back from the plane

with my tandem jump instructor Scott

It was completely amazing.  Breathtaking for sure.  Exhilarating.  Exciting.  If I could have hopped back on the plane and gone immediately back up I absolutely would have done so.  The plane would only hold two jumpers at a time (with instructors), so we watched Matt jump next.  After all that excitement and driving all over creation, we were hungry!  We stopped at a great restaurant on the way back home.

And if my description above doesn't answer the question for you.....I can't wait to go again!!

Eight Years

I've been inhabiting this little corner of the blogworld for 8 years today.....sometimes I wonder why I still maintain this blog.  In the beginning, I blogged pretty often.  The Blogger dashboard tells me that I've posted 836 times over 8 years.  The first 5 years we definitely my most prolific blogging years.  But the last 4 years, I just haven't felt as compelled to blog.  I don't know if it is because Facebook has taken over my time and attention or have just felt like there wasn't much to say that I hadn't already covered.  I do enjoy reading back over posts from the past and will be glad to to have my blog as an online journal of sorts, so I don't think I'll actually stop blogging anytime soon.  My posts have evolved from random musings in the early years to just sharing photos of projects and vacations more recently.  I don't necessarily expect the pendulum to swing back towards more rambling posts because, really, who needs more noise from the internet blaring at them? But I guess we'll see. 

I've made lots of friends through this internet experience - some of whom I've actually met in person! Others are just still my virtual friends but are no less valuable. So thank you for reading....and we'll see where this piece of the internet takes us in the future!

Ten on Ten - August 2012

Well, this month's 10 on 10 found me on the eve of a major move.  Thankfully my mom came and helped me get packed up so that when the movers arrived today, they were almost surprised at how completely ready for them I was. But the move was today, the 11th of August.  The 10th brought final packing and errands before the big day.

one pile ready for the packers to do their magic

the fantastic packers - 2 hours for lots and lots of breakables to get packed up and ready to move - 14 boxes worth!

first errand after the packers finished was to drop off the cable box/modem

lunch with Sarah during our afternoon out

one last pair of new tennies from Run On - highly recommend this great store if you live in the Dallas area

afternoon distraction

first visit to Ulta - the ultimate drug store / makeup store.....wow!!

yummy supper of pizza and tortellini shared with good friends - I will miss our close proximity Sarah & Katie!

desk is last thing to be totally cleared off and ready for the movers

boxes, boxes and more boxes.....just waiting for the movers to arrive

And then bright and early today a fantastic team of Mike, Duke, Dee and Romero showed up at my house to load all of my stuff into crates on an 18 wheeler to await the direction of my new adventure.  {a special shout out to my friends Sarah and Jamie who kept me company yesterday and today} I'll be heading west in a couple of weeks to be closer to family and will be searching for a new direction of my career, as well as a new home to share with family and friends.  Pray that I'll be following closely the path God has set for me and that the fear and uncertainties will be overcome by peace.