by the bright shining light of the moon

 

oh, wisconsin.  how do you do what you do to me? 

 

as many of you probably know, i was in madison and appleton for a very brief stay this weekend.  i have recently been quoted as saying that i really love and miss wisconsin, but only in the summer.  turns out...that's not quite true... 

 

as soon as i got on the beltline, my heart felt different.  i drove past fish hatchery road and todd drive and was flooded with memories.  the places and faces and tastes of madison...there aren't enough words.  i got to see dan and holly.  i ate pho.  i played ultimate.  i got adjusted by chad, the best chiropractor in the freaking world. 

 

although it was butt cold, the weather was relatively cooperative and not much worse than indiana.

 

...and cheese.  OH, THE GLORIOUS CHEESES OF WISCONSIN!  it's something you just can't understand unless you have lived there.  when it comes to cheese, every other state is terrible.

 

and oh yeah, there was that great heart time with mj and jb.  nbd.  lots of giggling, quoting, and eating. 

 

considering i moved to wisconsin seven years ago on a pretty much just a whim, that state grabbed hold of my heart and refuses to let go, no matter how long i am away.

 

it's a terrible, good ache.  just think how bad it would be had i gone to a brewers game or the farmer's market or the farm...

i'll try being delightful

just as a nice change of pace, today i will discuss delightful things.  let's see.  where to start?

1) a delightful memory: in fifth grade, we had classroom auctions.  my favorite thing i ever bought at one of these auctions was a typewriter.  i still own this typewriter, although it is sitting in my parents' basement.  i think typewriters are super cool.  i love the noise they make.  however, when i am writing on my computer, i edit while i type.  so...that would be tedious and awful on a typewriter.  also, typewriters make me think of frank in you've got mail.

2) a delightful movie: you've got mail.  enough said.  but not really...enough good things could never be said about this movie.  i love it, and it tightly binds my heart with mj and jb's. 

3) a delightful near-future event: jb is turning 30 in a few weeks!  this is wonderful, because she has graced the world for three decades.  and because it means i get to go to wisconsin. 

4) a delightful near-past event: i helped pull out one of shorty mcgee's teeth last week.  she was a lot like heather in this whole process...as in, i could have blown on it to make the tooth fall out...that's how loose it was.  ha.

5) a delightful medical update: i used to have nosebleeds alllllllll the time when i was little.  but with the exception of being smashed in the face with a broomball stick and a frisbee, i can't think of any other recent nosebleeds.  heehee...i know you want to see this picture.  classic. 

(for those of you unfamiliar with the situation, i was playing broomball with junior high students and took a stick squarely to the face.  this picture was a few days after it occurred.  the result was a shattered nose, stitches, and two black eyes.  it.was.awesome.  (aside within an aside here: when i say it was awesome, i legitimately mean that.  i love injuries, and this was the first time i had ever gotten stitches.))

6) a delightful heart thing: our small group started last thursday, and i really love them.  i love them so much that i created a spreadsheet that has multiple tabs, and i contemplated how i could incorporate conditional formatting.  community and spreadsheets.  yesss.  which obviously leads me to...

7) a delightful work thing: spreadsheets are sooooo great!  i like that i have a job where i get to use them with regularity.

8) a delightful sports thing: i am delighted by the number of badgers in the super bowl this year.

9) a delightful food thing: aunt sue's tea house in marion certainly qualifies as delightful.  mmm.  tea.  scones.  i am drooling just thinking about it.  must.roadtrip.soon.

i bet you didn't know i had ten delightful things in me today, huh?  here it is:

10) a delightful truth: winter ends.  it always does. 

#iamgrateful

if we are friends on facebook, then you may have seen me hashtagging some things this week.  (and yes, justin timberlake IS the king of hashtags.  watch him here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57dzaMaouXA)

i don't normally like to do group-mandated activities, but we were challenged at church to post things for which we are grateful...and this is a good time to tell you to go read 1000 gifts.  just trust me.  so i'm hashtagging my gratitude.  (mom, hashtagging is a twitter term that facebook tried to steal, only it's less cool there.  it means putting the pound sign in front of a word or phrase to try and make it trend...that means make lots of people tag the same thing at the same time.)  because it's actually a very good discipline in my life.

here's what i came up with this week:

monday:

#iamgrateful for new mercies every morning.

#iamgrateful for burning thighs and bruised knees because it means this clunky jar of clay can still both move and feel.

tuesday:

#iamgrateful for cups of coffee and the book of hosea.

#iamgrateful that certain foods make me think of people I love. (Brussels sprouts...Stephanie and Holly)

wednesday:

#iamgrateful for sweaters and chai latte k-cups.

thursday:

#iamgrateful when my ribs hurt, because it makes me think of skydiving with Miranda and Melodie.

#iamgrateful for steak!!!

friday:

#iamgrateful for the many quality men i know.

saturday:

#iamgrateful for a life-changing summer in myrtle beach in 2004.



so what are you grateful for?

less profound

i feel a certain sense of pressure to write something awesome since my last post got an insane amount of traffic.  (let's be real...insane for me.  normal posts get about 20 views.  the momma post got 300.  what.)

but after a weekend of moving and trying to adjust to a new place and a new drive, i don't have profound thoughts.  i barely have any thoughts at all.

our apartment is cute.  it's nowhere near being finished.  and both of us are leaving for the weekend, so it's remaining a bit incomplete.  oy.  but the move went well.  aside from the washer flooding...that was kind of gross.  many people helped us, and they are wonderful.  even kim, who went to the wrong apartment and carried a box in for strangers.  who were actually moving out.  haha.

i've been pulling out clothes and cds and books (ok, not yet on the books.  but it will happen.) for donations, so the 'donate 31 items' will be done in a heartbeat.

the only other list item of note is that i 'helped' heather with her scavenger hunt.  essentially, i sat on a bench, yelled at high school girls to run faster, and drove home.  now that's what i call qt with the big sis.

and...i am headed to the wisco tomorrow after work to play with mj and jb.  yes, the one and only time my little booty is getting to the great state this entire calendar year.  depressing.  but spending great heart time with my girls.

and...as soon as the apt gets whipped into shape, i'll delight you with some pics.  deuces, everybody.

picture this: just one of those kids in wisconsin i happen to love...

i am making no promises about the frequency or quality of my posts over the next week. wisconsin and its residents can be quite distracting.

but anyway...this is jb and me before we went ice skating. but then we didn't actually go skating. we're tricky like that.

picture this: besties

they. are. here!

a list, wisconsin style

w: wisco weekend. heather and i drove up friday night and hung out in madtown. it was good and loud and random. we spent saturday and sunday in milwaukee with stephanie and miranda. yay! we also saw cousin katie. double yay!

i: i wrote a new poem today in class. it's called 'puzzle pieces,' and it's over on the side of my blog.

s: somebody awesome did all the driving (and in crappy weather) so that somebody else could do her homework in the car.

c: cheese, grilled. thank you, stephanie. magical, as always.

o: on our trip north, we made a list of 300 things for heather to do in her 30's. haha. i am obsessed with lists. i'll admit it.

n: not many things are funnier than hyperactive irish people. although...

s: skinny dipping in a bowl of whale's milk might come close.

i: i miss wisconsin. bunches and heaps.

n: november is practically over. how did that happen?

ok, i got tired after o. you're lucky i finished the list.

office woes

if both steve and mindy left the office, would i enjoy it as much? if mindy left, could bj survive?

if your name is stephanie or miranda, don't you think the fact that mindy's favorite movie is you've got mail speaks very highly in her favor?