Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! I'm not really a Halloween fan but I got into it a little more this year. For the kids. Right...we don't have kids... So, ok, for the dog. I know how much it means to her and all.

We bought Maia a costume (50% off at Petsmart - there was no paying full price for this thing, no way). And the intention was to answer the door for trick or treaters and have Maia greet them in her costume. However. Maia is not exactly IN to her costume. It's not really her thing I guess. If dogs can talk (and I'm somewhat convinced they CAN because I swear, sometimes Maia is telling me things with her eyes.) But if I could hear dogs talk here's how it would have sounded the night I tried Maia's costume on her....

This is SO embarrassing! Why did you have to dress me up like a cow Mooooom??

I'm taking it off.

Now if I could juuuust reach this velcro right. heere. Uh.

But sweetie, loook. It's so cute! It even has udders! Don't you think you just look so cute?! Can't I take just one picture? Just one??

Fine. One picture. See? (smile) There.

Now get it off!

I hate my life.

I'm going to my room.

Soooo, I decided that I would not force her to wear the dreaded costume tonight. I don't want my poor Maia hating her life. And thankfully for her I found out from one of my neighbors that kids don't even come trick or treating in our neighborhood. I was so disappointed! I finally thought I was going to see some cute little kids in costumes this year. Since it didn't sound hopeful, I decided to go to the football game instead and took the candy I bought to the office (but not before stashing some away for me and DJ...mmm...Reeses and Kit Kats.)

I hope the rest of you enjoy your Halloween! And don't forget to set your clocks back tonight!!

God's Fingerprints

Where do you see God's fingerprints?

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This post is part of "Fingerprint Friday." To see links to other posts, visit Pampering Beki's blog.

The Great Outdoors

I had the best childhood a person could ask for. I can look back on any part of it and be filled with warm fuzzies and regret that I don't have a time machine to take me back to those amazing days with just a flip of a switch. (Who cares about the consequences from using said time machine that would result?? And the fact that memories grow sweeter with time and how, when I was young, I didn't want to be young, so I didn't realize that what I had was so fabulous. We're going to say all that doesn't matter for purposes of this post. Agreed? Moving right along....)

Sometimes I wish I could go back and just tell my 7 year old self (the age I was when we moved to the campground) that what she is about to embark on are some of the best days of her life and should NOT be taken for granted. So carefree and easy.

I had constant friends. Either from our next door neighbors (pre-middle school) or the stream of children that ran through the campground every summer, Chace and I never had a problem of being friend-less.

We had "fun" responsibilities. Checking in campers, taking care of their needs, working with my friends each summer to earn money. They weren't always fun chores, but at the same time, I spent more time with my parents then most children can say they do. Both my parents. And those responsibilities that I had were part of the business. I did feel important sometimes. Kids like that.

Then there was all the space. We had vast amounts of space to run, hide, play, swim, dig, climb, you name it, there was a space for it. The greatest thing about my childhood was all that time I spent outside. I think my love for nature directly stems from all that wonderful time I spent outside as a child. I am forever grateful to my parents for giving me and my brother that love of the great outdoors.

My hope and dream is for my children to share that same love. There is something so raw and real about being outside. I feel closer to God. I feel an instant happiness when I just stand and look around. Just now, even thinking about being outside, brings a rush of endorphins.

The problem is, there are many, many, many distractions to keep children these days (and adults for that matter) from going outside. TV is the obvious culprit. Setting restrictions on the amount of tv that our kids watch will help with fueling this love. Obviously I don't have kids yet and it's probably easier said than done but really, if my goal is to establish a love for "outside", then it's a necessary step in the equation.

And, as I stated a couple of days ago, this is something I am striving to do even now, for myself. When I shut the tv off, I have to find other things to do and one of those things can be to go outside and find branches and leaves for my next project (or whatever it is that needs doing outside at the time. That's my current project though. Finding free things in nature to dress up my house. I'll post on that later. That'll be a fun one.)

I have discovered that having a pet helps a great deal in getting me outside. And one day, I imagine it will aid in getting my kids outside. Every time I take Maia on a walk, I am so grateful for that "excuse" to get outside. Otherwise I would probably have never walked around our neighborhood. It's a sad fact, but I think I would have felt like a crazy wandering lady if I just walked around without an obvious purpose. (Our neighborhood isn't really a "neighborhood" as you would normally picture a neighborhood. There are no sidewalks and walking around the neighborhood is actually walking across and through the front and back yards of my neighbors' homes. So yes, it would look a little crazy if I didn't have something at the end of a leash pulling me along.) As it is, I have really seen where I live and not just the front stoop. I have also met some great people!

My goal, when there are DJ-itos and Nichole-itas running around, is to have a reason or purpose every, single day to get them outside. Even if it's simple like running around the yard playing a game of tag. There will always be a time when they must go outside. I would consider it a failure if my kids grew up and did not fully and personally understand the sheer magnitude of what is right outside their front door. (I'll update this is in a few decades to let you know how successful I was. Stay tuned.)

Playmates

This is one of Maia's best friends at the apartments. Her name is Nala and she lives just a couple of doors down. I'm pretty sure she loves to play with Maia too. And guess what! Her owner is an athletic trainer as well. What are the odds? Her name is Heather. Maia might go visit Nala on Halloween when she's all dressed up. (Did I mention Maia has a costume? You'll have to wait just a couple more days to see what she'll be dressed as... Trust me you will not be disappointed. So cute.)

Maia has made many new friends at the apartments. We always knew she was a sociable dog. It's great most of the time. Sometimes it gets her in trouble. But irregardless, she has DJ and I wrapped around her too-long pinky claw.

Book Club

I am starting a book next week called The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families. It's by the same guy that wrote The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey. This book was chosen by the book club hosted by one of my favorite blogs - Simple Mom. The woman that started the blog (and turned it into a very successful business) is Tsh. I think she is pretty cool. I have learned a lot of neat things about living a simpler life in general and lots of things that are preparing me to be a mom one day.


So I thought, if any of you would like to read this book too, we could be connected across the miles and read the book together! You can join the book club too (or not) and get even more out of it by reading and writing on the forums with the other women out there that will also be reading this book. Just click on the picture above and it will take you to where you need to go.


Let me know if anyone decides to read the book too! This is part of my initiative to watch less t.v. during the week and spend more time on developing habits that will make me a well-rounded person.

Our Neighborhood

I took Maia on a walk the other day. (Actually I try to take her on a walk every day. Good exercise for both her and me.) It was absolutely gorgeous and the trees have finally decided to change their colors. Here's a glimpse.

This is in the yard to the side of our house. I have been waiting and waiting for this valley to just bloom into full color but I'm not sure I will get to see that this year due to all the rain.

Maia plays in this yard a lot. I've started letting her run around without me holding onto the leash. It's fun to watch her run and play unhindered. I can just imagine her screaming inside her little head FREEDOOOM!!!!



This is our house. We're the one on the end. Number 56. Isn't it cute?? I love the brick.

This isn't a pretty fall picture but I wanted to show you were I always walk Maia. (As you can see these trees are all still green - seriously, I don't get it! Some trees have already lost their leaves completely and yet these still look like we could be in the middle of summer.) This is another yard that is further down the hill from our house. I let Maia run around here too. Except that kind of backfired on me not too long ago when I didn't see a little wiener dog. But Maia did. And she shot off after it. Apparently the little pipsqueak, I found out later, was a rescue dog. The owners swooped her up really quick while Maia swiped at her with her dagger-like claws. At least that's how I felt weeny's owners saw her. I was so embarrassed. My dog is a bit much for a meek little rescue dog.

This is back up by our house.

I just love the red trees. They are my favorite. Either those or the fiery orange ones. It's kind of toss-up because they are both just so rare to see everywhere else I've lived!

And this is not a good picture since I was driving when I was taking it but at least you can see the amazing color. This tree is along the way to work and I have watched it sloooowly change from just a little red on the very tip-top to this.

Are you still seeing fall colors where you're at?

NaBloPoMo

November is National Blog Posting Month. Otherwise known as NaBloPoMo. The challenge for NaBloPoMo is to post every single day of the month. And guess what! I'm taking up the challenge! There is a website dedicated to this challenge and I've registered on it in order to keep me motivated. I will be entered into a drawing and if my name gets chosen and I've been faithful to post every day, then I win a prize! I love prizes!



The posts aren't "graded" on quality, just quantity. So I apologize in advance if I post something booooring (said in a singsong voice) but I'm going to do all I can do to be qualified just in case my name gets picked. If I know myself though,I probably will struggle with posting something just to say I've posted. I try to remind myself when I'm lacking motivation that the purpose of this blog is to document my life as I know it now. So hopefully none of the posts will be too bad. Enjoy!


And remember I'm always interested in knowing what you want to hear about. I like to hear from my readers (aka my friends and family...I have to specify since that sounds like other people actually read my blog and who am I kidding?) plus I will probably need help with topics during NaBloPoMo.

The Smokies

Last weekend DJ and I finally had an opportunity to venture outside the city limits and into the beautiful Smoky mountains. We had heard how incredibly beautiful the Smokies get during the fall so I had some very high expectations. I was a little wary though because I had also heard that all this rain we have been getting might have "confused" those poor little trees and caused them to either hang onto their green glory or just dropped their leaves like a hot potato before those leaves were allowed to change color.


In fact, we found a little of everything. There was still a lot of green glory going on, there were already some bare trees and thankfully there were some fiery yellow and red trees that had decided to debunk the theory that rain equals green. Bless you sweet trees. You provided this girl with a lot of eye candy and photo ops.

Speaking of photo ops, DJ and I took the opportunity to take a family picture while we were in the midst of the beauty. Everyone say ahhhh. Altogether now. Ahhhhhh. You will all be getting a little somethin somethin in the mail after Thanksgiving. If you don't get one for some reason and want one, just email me. I'll send ya one.

Now for the other pictures of our day. We drove through a loop called Cade's Cove. It was verrry busy that day. It's an 11-mile loop that took us a few hours to drive through and it was so gorgeous. I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves...

Passions

Everyone has something that really makes them passionate. Sometimes these things change and sometimes they are things that have been a part of a person's whole life.

I have found that my passions change in terms of hobbies or activities but the general theme always stays the same. Since about high school I have found myself constantly thinking and wondering how I can center my passions on making myself a successful and contributing citizen. It's always on the back of my mind. When I find another hobby that I love, I think, Could this be the hobby that takes off and I could turn into a business? So far, that hasn't happened but I'm not worried.

Being a Christian adds an additional element to this topic. I know that God gives each of His children special gifts and talents. I find this fascinating because this fact gives each and every person a purpose. A purpose in life. No one is here just to be. God calls each of His children to use their special talents and gifts to glorify Him.

Some people's talents and gifts are more obvious. Some people can sing. That's an obvious one. Some people can draw or paint. Another obvious one. Some people are mathematical and business-minded. This isn't as obvious but still more obvious than others.

I'm always wondering what talents or gifts God has blessed me with. I've come a long way since I started thinking on this many years ago but I don't think my gifts are as obvious. You could figure this out yourself too if you ever heard me sing. I mean, I'm not as bad as the Little Mermaid seagull but I'm not Whitney Houston material either. I'm good enough to sing hymns in church where only the people that are standing right next to me and love me (and thus cannot shun me) can hear me. And as far as artistic skills go, I once was inspired by my mom's artistic ability. I was probably 11 years old or so. I thought I would draw a beautiful Christmas picture, complete with holly and ivy. I got out all my mom's paints and brushes and a little piece of canvas (I wanted to start out small). I figured I would just sweep my brush here and there and a picture would just magically appear because of my inherited artistic talent. Let's just say, when I got finished with my picture, there was nothing magical about my holly and ivy. In fact I'm not sure you could really call what I painted anything close to art. I knew right then that I had sadly not inherited my mom's talent.

So finding the talents that God made me to have is always on the back of my mind as I find hobbies and activities. How is this hobby or activity that is really exciting to me something that I would be able to use to glorify God? And as God molds me into the person He wants me to be, I think those gifts become more obvious. I heard it described just this week that we are like gold. Gold has to be worked and shined and rubbed in such a way that all the impurities are brought to the surface and worked out so that the metal can really shine. I can certainly relate to this analogy as I feel that I have more impurities on the surface right now than a golden shine.

The beautiful thing about all of this though, is that no matter when you or I discover our God-given talents and discover those passions that really gets us going, God has a work in each of us that He will complete. This gives me hope. And I know that just because I haven't really figured out my niche yet, doesn't mean I won't. It's just not time yet. God is rubbing and working my impurities out so that when I do discover exactly what God has gifted me to do, I can shine and show the whole world what God has created in me and really do those talents justice.

Give 'em a break

Every morning when I drive to work and every afternoon when I drive home for lunch and every day when I return to work after eating lunch at home, I go through a very long school zone. It's actually one of the longest school zones I've seen. It's a side effect of having an elementary school on one side of the road and then just as you pass the elementary school, you pass a high school on the other side of the road. That whole way is a slow 20 miles per hour. I've learned to be patient during that stretch of road because otherwise that zone would be the death of me. It never fails that any time I am in a hurry, the school zone lights are blinking. So instead of maxing out the speed limit to get to where I need to get, I am slowing down to a mere 20 miles per hour. Seriously.

I've gotten to the point where it is very natural to reach this spot in my commute and hit the brakes. One could say it's a habit now. So yesterday was no different. I was headed back to work after lunch and I reached the school zone. Being the upstanding citizen that I am, I slowed waaaaay down. (I should mention that I was also chatting on the phone.) I had almost reached the halfway point which is a stoplight when a truck who had been driving along behind me suddenly honked its horn, sped up and passed me on the left into the turning lane. It is not unusual to see cars driving much too fast when they should be dutifully minding the speed limit (it's for the kids people!) but what I didn't understand is why the guy honked at me! I thought about it for a little while because it irritated me that someone could be so rude to honk when I was driving at a respectful 20 miles per hour. And then suddenly it hit me. I had been going 20 miles per hour when the zone lights hadn't even been blinking! And this guy had to endure me doing this because he needed to turn at the light, so he couldn't just pass me! I must have been so into my conversation on the phone that I didn't even check the school zone lights and just slowed down automatically. Talk about some patience. This guy was probably so irritated with the lady in front of him just talking away on her phone dutifully minding a non-existent speed limit of mind-numbingly slow proportions that I'm surprised he didn't lay on his horn a little harder. Now that I think about it, he was actually quite polite with the tap on the horn to say "hey lady, you're going ridiculously slow. Move along!"

So maybe the next time you see someone driving reeeealllly slooooow, give them a break. They probably just think they are doing their civic duty and minding the speed limit. They're not intentionally trying to irritate the "you-know-what" out of you. I know from experience.

A Commercial Break

I am trying very hard to get a new post completed that details our adventures last weekend but due to scheduling issues (DJ worked late Monday night, and the post depends on him since he has the computer and I was otherwise engaged last night), that post is coming soon (hopefully later today!) In the mean time, please watch for your viewing pleasure...

Fall Festivities

Well I hate to brag, but, well, I guess this would be the place to do it, sooo ok, here goes. I'm...DJ's favorite. I know what you're thinking. That's a pretty bold statement there Nichole. And normally, I might agree with you, but the evidence is screaming at me. I've gotta be right. I mean, he spent the whole entire weekend with me. And I'm almost positive he had as much fun as I did. Now you believe me right?

Friday night, we vegged out. Ate some delicious lasagna leftovers (fyi, DJ made the lasagna from scratch on Thursday. It was aMAzing and even better the second day. That's when you know it's really good.) It was so comfy in our house too because it was nice and warm inside and so cold outside. 40s or something ridiculous like that. I fell asleep at 8:00 p.m. It was a great night's sleep.

Saturday was a very special day. Remember this little girl?

Her momma had back surgery so her daddy had to bring her to work and he asked me to come watch her. Which meeeant that I got to go to work with DJ! I was way excited because that's like hallowed ground. That's what it feels like any way since that's where DJ spends probably 90% of his life right now and I don't really know what happens there or what it looks like. So to be invited to enter the sacred inner chambers, aka DJ's "office", was a true honor. I really wanted to take some pictures of him working but I started to feel obnoxious (and sort of ridiculous too, I mean, can you imagine what the guys would think if DJ's wifey started following him around snapping pictures? Not very professional.) so all I got were pictures after everyone left.

This is the main area of the training room. I was surprised at how small it was but I learned that this is a typical-sized training room. UNM's training room was abnormally large and is definitely not the norm. Even the Dallas Cowboys, where DJ interned for a summer, has a much smaller training room than UNM.

This hallway is the back part of the training room. The door to the left is where you walk into the head trainer's office which he shares with DJ. This is where I spent the majority of my time with Addison. Mainly taking her on rides on the little stools. Back and forth. Back. and. forth.

Another view of the main area.

Here's the indoor field. You have to walk through this area to get to the training room. That far wall has pictures of all the all-American players to come out of UT.

This guy is on there.

Here's another view of the indoor field.

And here's the man himself.

After "we" got done working, the plan was to go to a corn maze and pumpkin patch but instead we decided it was too cold and we were feeling too lazy to be running around like fools in a field of corn so instead we stopped alongside the road, bought our pumpkins and went to our nice cozy house.

You can really tell that DJ was almost having as much fun as I was picking out each special pumpkin.

The funny thing is that all these special pumpkins came from New Mexico! The Navajo Nation to be exact. They came out here on a big ginormous truck. Who would have guessed that the first pumpkins I would buy from a "pumpkin patch" would be New Mexico pumpkins in Tennessee?

And here's the special New Mexican pumpkins that I picked out. Now I just need a hay bale to finish the look.

Saturday night we were invited to the Party of the Year. That's what it should be called anyway. It was a great time at an even more amazing house. The ortho surgeon that DJ works with has an annual party at his house and I feel privileged to have been invited. The hosts were the most hospitable, kind, sincere, genuine people that anyone could ever ask for. I felt truly at home and comfortable to have a good time.

Some highlights... best quesadillas ever. Gorgeous house. Enjoyable guests. A delicious cheese platter. (hey, I'm easy to please sometimes. Just give me some good cheese.)

I'm going to leave Sunday's adventures for another post because this is getting to be a verrrrrry looooooong post. But you can look forward to seeing some beautiful pictures of the mountains I now call home. (I'm going to say hopefully tomorrow.)