don’t worry – i am alive

So, I did okay posting semi-regularly there for a little while.  And then dropped off the face of the planet.  What have I been up to since my last post you ask?

*I visited my good friend from high school and her family in Tennessee.  I got to meet her 10 month old baby for the first time.  And I fell in love.  Like wanted to steal her and bring her home with me.  Oh, how that baby stole my heart!

*We wrapped up football season.  Two games in the post season – not too shabby for our team.

*I saw two of my good friends down in Seattle (ok, Lynnwood) and we went to the Spaghetti Factory.  Which I love.  That browned butter mizithra pasta is to die for.

*I completed my cheerleading judging internship.

*We started basketball season.

*I turned 29.  My roommate made my favorite fondue to celebrate.  Apparently I like cheese based dishes a lot.

*Visited my grannie in the hospital.  Thought she could no longer remember mine or my uncle’s names.  Worried for about 14 hours and then got the call that she was “back”.  We still aren’t quite sure what the issue was, but I’m happy to have her healthy and remembering us again.

*I got deathly ill the day before Thanksgiving and was either on my couch or in my bed for the next 72 hours.  Worst cold ever.

*My first outing from the house was to go see Harry Potter with my roommate.  Loved it.

*Went to our staff Christmas party.  Won the best prize in the raffle.  Can’t wait for my personal boat day sometime next summer!

*Registered to take the WEST-B in January.  It is an entrance exam for grad school.  It was the first “real” step I took towards applying.

*Got our Christmas tree.  Finally figured out that it is better to get a smallish tree rather than one that will take over half of our (already small) living room.

*Did the majority of my Christmas shopping online.  Being able to ship things to Alaska (where I will be for the holidays) is wonderful.  I will still have to check a bag on the plane, but now I can at least pack clothes to wear as well.

*I observed a friend who is a newish (2 years) high school teacher.  It was good to be in a classroom and see what high schoolers are really like in that setting.  I am now excited/nervous for grad school.  Which is exactly what I was feeling before I observed his classes.  Oh, and I accidentally let it drop to my boss that I’m planning to apply for school.  Completely out of the blue.  Good planning, Cait.

*Flew to Spokane to judge a cheerleading competition.  Left Seattle at 8am and was back by 5:45pm.

*Saw Harry Potter again.  Loved it again.

*Went to a cheer coaches association meeting and got nice perfume in the white elephant exchange.  There was a $15 limit, so I’m guessing mine was a regift since the Be Delicous perfume by DKNY that I got retails for much more than that.  But I don’t mind – regifting was my gain.

*Came home and crashed.

*Woke up this morning for another round.  My eye is on the prize of the first weekend in March – cheerleading season will definitely be over by then and perhaps I can get my life back.

 

 

Meema

Meema is my great aunt.  She is the oldest of my granddaddy’s younger (actually his only) sisters.  Meema isn’t her real name.  It is really Mary and Granddaddy always called her Mare.  The name Meema actually came from her youngest daughter who is also named Mary.  I can’t recall the exact story now, but somehow the daughter Mary called the mother Mary, Meema and it stuck.  I, in fact, didn’t realize this wasn’t her actual name until I was probably 10 or 12.

(As a random aside – one of my most significant memories of Meema is from around that time and is of watching her carry a mug of tea really fast with no fear that she might spill it and burn herself.  Such confidence!  I commented on it at the time and she told me that if you move quickly and steadily, you have nothing to fear.  Sounds like good life advice all around.  But no matter what, whenever I have to walk with a mug of something hot I always, always think of her.)

Meema turned 90 this year.  She has outlived her two older brothers and her husband (who actually all had very long lives themselves).  Her birthday was back in March, but she had said that she would like to celebrate in the summer when people were at the ranch.  And the only thing she really wanted was cheeseburgers and Asti Spumanti.  And when your 90 year old relative gives such demands, you make sure it happens.  Her son provided the Asti (and it was plentiful, as it should be for such a celebration) and my dad and brother cooked up the cheeseburgers.  Then to top everything off, we lit 90 candles on one cake.  There were so many candles that the ones that had been lit first were just wicks sticking out of the cake by the time she got them blown out.  The joy on her face when she saw that cake was priceless.

We had a few other opportunities to spend time with Meema over the next few days and I was continually struck by how much kindness just flows out of this woman.  She is happy and genuine and sincerely excited about people.  I’ve thought a lot about writing a book (you know in the sort of fantasizing way of, “oh if I could just write a book someday!”) and writing each chapter about a different woman in my family.  This stems much from having relatives who are as wonderful as Meema is and always has been.

6 Month Check In

This past Sunday was my half birthday.  I know most of you are thinking, “What?  A Half Birthday?  That’s absurd.”  But my mom always celebrated our half birthdays growing up – no big deal stuff, but when my brother and I were little she would make a half of a round cake for dessert that night to celebrate.  Anyway, the half birthday this year reminded me of my birthday post from this past November where I made a list of 27 things I wanted to do this year (27 because I am 27 years old) and I realized I should check in and see what I still need to get crackin on.  I’m nervous because I’m pretty sure I still have about 23 1/2 things to get done and that’s pretty embarrassing.  But let’s see.  (My updates and new thoughts are in blue.  And sorry it’s so dang long.)

27 Things I Want to Do This Coming Year (as of 11/17/08)

1. Go to Alaska (this one’s easy – I’m going next week). Yep, I went right after my birthday for Thanksgiving and I’ll be heading up again in July.

2. Get my passport renewed (this has been on the to do list for almost 2 years – I’m ridiculous) Umm…still have NOT done this.  Ridiculous.  Ridiculous!

3. Go to a foreign country. See above – no passport means no foreign country.

4. Read the books from my current “to read” pile before buying any more I’ve actually been pretty good about this.  I’ve read from my pile (which is still quite large) and I’ve been going to the library instead of buying books.

5. Oops, except for I want to read Twilight so that I can see the movie in the theater if I end up liking it. Yep, saw it in the theater twice.  And I’ve seen it on On Demand too.

6. Downsize the amount of stuff I own.  Have sort of done this, but can do a whole lot more.  The one thing I’ve been doing well on is using up stuff like toiletries that I seem to just collect and then not finish before moving on to something else.  Plus I have big plans for cutting things down more in a couple weeks when I’m taking the week off work but not going anywhere.

7. Take more ballet classes.  Nope.

8. Actually go to the gym.  Maybe twice?

9. Celebrate at Naomi’s wedding.  Yep, in December and it was a lot of fun!  But we’ve been playing phone tag ever since.  Seriously.  Have not actually spoken to her since then.

10. Watch my cheer squad compete for the first time (and hopefully a second time if we qualify for state).  Check and check.

11. Take more pictures.  Haven’t been too good about this.

12. Blog on a regular basis.  Would like to do more.

13. Stop eating out for lunch so much.  Not so much.

14. Get my 3rd full body scan to check for any more skin cancer.  Appointment is set for September.

15. Figure out a next “step” in my life. Actually decided to just commit to working at my current job at least through December.  But nevertheless, this is always on the forefront of my mind.

16. Drink more water and less soda.  I’m drinking more water but not really less soda.  Basically my fluid intake is just up.

17. Go to my 10 year high school reunion (which I might have to plan ).  The word is out and yes, I had to plan it.  Its the reason for my trip to AK in July.

18. Volunteer at a food bank.  Not yet.

19. Do a better job keeping my room/house/car from looking like a bomb went off.  Actually I have been better at this!  It helps that we got another cat and I needed my room to be clean enough to let her be in there during the day without worrying about her knocking crap all over the place.

20. Take time to actually enjoy coaching during basketball season.  Totally happened.  Was probably the season I’ve enjoyed most so far in my coaching.

21. Continue to send birthday cards to friends and try to keep in better touch with them overall.  Sort of, kind of.  In different ways than I expected.

22. Write more thank you cards.  Unfortunately, no.

23. Try out yoga.  Not yet.

24. Clean out my email inbox (how boring am I on this one?!?!).  Done.

25. Spend more time with my Grannie.  Yes, but sadly because she broke her hip and was in the hospital and is now at a care facility.  So I’ve gone much more often to see her – especially when she was in the hospital and it was just about every day.

26. Not allow my social life to disappear because coaching and work take up too much time.  This has sort of happened, but sometimes I feel like my friend group here has drifted apart regardless of my own schedule keeping me from joining in on things.

27. Work on focusing on the positive and trying not to allow anxiety to get the best of me.  Always a struggle, but I’d say I’m doing better on the whole.

Ok, so I’m going to say I’ve got about 13ish done or at least incorporated in my life regularly.  Not quite as bad as I originally thought, but there’s plenty to get working on.

26 to 27

Today is my 27th birthday.  This is a day that never really crossed my mind when I was younger – I thought being 20 was old.  But here I am at 27 with 30 sort of looming right there in the near future.  Weird.

I celebrated with friends yesterday.  A bunch of girls from my small group joined me at the Abbey Garden Tea Room (one of my favorite places ever) for a little tea party and then a few of us went to the new James Bond movie after that (I liked it but I think Casino Royale was better).

In honor of this day and the year that has led up to it and the year that will come from it, I decided to make lists of 26 things I did in my 26th year and 27 things I’d like to accomplish or do in my 27th year.  So here it goes:

26 Things I’ve Done This Year (in somewhat chronological order)

1.  Went to Alaska twice

2.  Continued to support Harriet who lives in Uganda through Childcare Worldwide

3.  Read Pride & Prejudice for the first time (I’d read every other Jane Austen book except for Lady Susan but still had not conquered the most famous one)

4.  Learned to make really good garlic mashed potatoes and cooked a butternut squash for the first time (random I know, but these mashed potatoes are so good that I get sudden cravings for them at least every other week)

5.  Got my first bikini wax (I know – TMI, but it was significant in my year only because now I know they aren’t to be feared!)

6.  Went to Disney World for the first time (not as great as I imagined)

7.  Had surgery to remove a melanoma

8.  Became an aunt to my darling nephew

9.  Started my fifth year coaching cheer

10.  Went to Disneyland for the sixth time

11.  Met my good friend Naomi’s fiance

12.  Camped at a music festival on Orcas Island (and played about a billion games of Bananagrams)

13.  Went to the dentist for the first time in 5 years

14.  Hosted my friend Carlie and her baby on their visit here from TN

15.  Took a CPR/First Aid class

16.  Got hooked on the abc family show Greek

17.  Took my first ballet class in 5 years (after having danced from 2nd grade through my senior year of college)

18.  Went horseback riding (this was a birthday present to my roommate for her birthday 2 years ago!  I finally made it happen.)

19.  Went to the So You Think You Can Dance tour (I love Chelsea Hightower.)

20.  Quite working at the INN (sad.)

21.  Started this blog

22.  Went to Hood River for Naomi’s bachelorette weekend

23.  Went to the movies by myself

24.  Got rid of 2 garbage bags full of clothes and a box full of shoes (actually I still need to take one bag and the shoes to Goodwill!)

25.  Went to Stoney Ridge Farms for the first time (This is the Disneyland of pumpkin patches.  Oh, and I ate an apple right off the tree for the first time!)

26.  Voted in the presidential election

And now…27 Things I Want to Do This Coming Year

1.  Go to Alaska (this one’s easy – I’m going next week)

2.  Get my passport renewed (this has been on the to do list for almost 2 years – I’m ridiculous)

3.  Go to a foreign country

4.  Read the books from my current “to read” pile before buying any more

5.  Oops, except for I want to read Twilight so that I can see the movie in the theater if I end up liking it

6.  Downsize the amount of stuff I own

7.  Take more ballet classes

8.  Actually go to the gym

9.  Celebrate at Naomi’s wedding

10.  Watch my cheer squad compete for the first time (and hopefully a second time if we qualify for state)

11.  Take more pictures

12.  Blog on a regular basis

13.  Stop eating out for lunch so much

14.  Get my 3rd full body scan to check for any more skin cancer

15.  Figure out a next “step” in my life

16.  Drink more water and less soda

17.  Go to my 10 year high school reunion (which I might have to plan )

18.  Volunteer at a food bank

19.  Do a better job keeping my room/house/car from looking like a bomb went off

20.  Take time to actually enjoy coaching during basketball season

21.  Continue to send birthday cards to friends and try to keep in better touch with them overall

22.  Write more thank you cards

23.  Try out yoga

24.  Clean out my email inbox (how boring am I on this one?!?!)

25.  Spend more time with my Grannie

26.  Not allow my social life to disappear because coaching and work take up too much time

27.  Work on focusing on the positive and trying not to allow anxiety to get the best of me