Twelve Things.

Twelve Random Thoughts:




1. We really, REALLY need to do laundry. I’ve been putting it off for nearly a week now, and it’s time to bite the bullet and do it. Blech.

2. I can’t believe how cold it is in Nashville. Finally, I have a need to wear my puffy Northface jacket around town. In the past when I’ve worn it, I’ve gotten weird looks from people because it’s generally not cold enough to need a jacket with that much poof. Now, though, I get looks of jealousy because everyone wishes they had a jacket as warm as mine.

3. I sometimes forget that my sister is pregnant. That sounds awful. And it’s not that I’m not excited for her. But when she was pregnant with Ella I lived closer and saw her more often, so it seemed more real to me. Molly posted her sonogram on facebook today, though, and I got very excited to meet my new nephew! (That’s what I predict she’s having. She is not finding out this round.)

4. We are potentially driving to Detroit this weekend, depending on the roads and weather. Our good friend Megan recently lost her dad and the memorial service is in Detroit this weekend. It’s a long 9 hour drive each way, but we really want to be there for our friend, especially during this sad, sad time.

5. Our evenings lately have been consumed by marathon sessions of watching “The Office”. We have seasons 1-6 in our Netflix queue and have been watching multiple episodes every night. That show= hilarious. I’ve never seen all the episodes in order before. There are actually plot lines! I didn’t really realize that.

6. I got an iPad for Christmas. It is now attached to me at all times. I love it so much that it’s hard for me to imagine the time before I had my iPad. It’s just such a clever little instrument! I can check email, listen to my music, write a blog post, balance my checkbook, get my training schedule, find a recipe for dinner, read a library book, get a snow report for Vail, download pictures from my camera, view constellations in the night sky, or play multiple rounds of Scrabble, Monopoly, or Yahtzee. Amazing! Is it necessary to have this little device? No. Is it awesome, none-the-less? Absolutely.

7. I’m very excited that Da Bears are in the playoffs, and that they are playing the Seahawks this Sunday instead of the Eagles. If/When they go to the Superbowl this year, we will definitely be hosting a viewing party at our place, complete with Giordanos pizza, Portillo’s Italian Beef, and Garrett’s popcorn. If we can’t be in Chicago, we will bring Chicago to us.

8. Retirement parties at our office are a big deal. The associate Vice-Chancellor for our department, Doug, is retiring tomorrow. We had a celebration for him today, complete with a musical presentation that involved no fewer than 20 people, costumes, set changes, kazoos, and a ukulele. They changed the words to several classic songs like “What I did for Love (Doug)”, “When I’m 64”, “So Long, Farewell”, and the “Doug” song from The Hangover. It was impressive, to say the least.

9. I got a random card in the mail from my best friend Kelly today. It made my day. She’s a good friend even when I don’t see her often.

10. This is the first full work week we’ve had since before Christmas. It has felt very long. I’m glad it's almost Friday. I wish you were still entitled to snow days, even when you’re a grown up. I would have taken one on Monday.

11. I ended up going 18-12 on my college bowl picks. Not too shabby for someone who picks her winning teams by using totally irrelevant logic and reasoning. (Examples- I picked all the military teams who played because I like men in uniforms. Go Mare-ka. I picked Nevada because I like Las Vegas. I picked Northwestern because it’s near Chicago. I picked North Carolina because I despise Tennessee’s awful hunting orange team color.)

12. I’m quite jealous of my cousin Brian right now. He’s living out the dream that Will and I had before deciding to move to Nashville- traveling and working his way through Australia. I have enjoyed reading his blog, and glad he updates it often. Sometimes I wish we had postponed responsible adulthood by a year so we could have experienced living abroad like Brian is right now. But alas, the timing didn’t work out for us. Good for Brian for taking the leap! Maybe someday we’ll retire abroad…