Happy New Year!

It’s New Year’s Eve!! Yay!

This is the first year I’ve spent the holiday by myself. My parents are out of town and most of my friends had previous plans or didn’t feel like going out (I didn’t either!) Some people might think it’s pathetic to spend NYE alone, but I don’t mind it. I get to watch a marathon of Harry Potter movies and eat my favorite foods. Tonight I made Jalapeno Popper Chicken (recipe review to come…I think). I also love the freedom to reflect on this past year and think about the year to come.

To be honest, I’m happy to see 2012 end. It was a rough year.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Well it’s the day after the holiday and I’m officially full of turkey, cornbread stuffing, and caramel pumpkin pie. We have to be fancy here at the Hill house ;) Our meal was amazing and we have enough leftovers to last the rest of the year (not that I’m complaining!)

Waiting: Week Three~ish

I have to say I am coming off of a wonderful weekend. My best friend (hi Erin!) was here for 3 days before leaving me to go back to Oregon. We had a blast at another friend’s “goodbye bash,” a baby shower, and a girls game night. I got very little sleep and drank a lot of coffee but those are my favorite times. And I’m pretty sure I’ll be having another one of those weekends in just three days. I will be flying to Oregon for my sister’s graduation!

I’m absolutely positive I will get not enough sleep, but will get to spend precious, precious time with my beautiful sister. So far I’ve been promised a fancy caramel making session, wine tasting in the Willamette Valley, dinner at her fancy pants restaurant, and lots of uber closeness that will drive her bananas. :)

On top of that, God continues to patiently teach me about the process of waiting and I’m surprisingly finding more & more joy as I continue to pursue Him.

My wonderful journey continued with last week’s post: http://www.heirswithchrist.com/2012/10/15-free-to-fail-so-dont-wait.html

I was drawn to this quote from the above blog: “Cynicism masquerades as strength. We build buttresses made of negative promises. Arrows can’t pierce nonexistent dreams.”

The hills & valleys of waiting.

I love metaphors.

They are such fun little packages waiting to be unpacked. And they have this beautiful ability to help explain the unexplainable. What’s not to love about them?

One of my favorite metaphors for life with God is the image of our life as full of hills & valleys. It is so clear and easy to understand.

SYTYCD: Winner Chosen!

It’s the finale!! To the show!

The top 20 returned :) I loved having all of them back. As is tradition, they double up the judges panel and ask them to each pick a favorite to have performed again. This year the top four also picked a favorite dance. They showcased some favorite moments from the audition tour and they had some new routines to the show as well.

Although I loved the show and I got to see a lot of my favorite routines again, I wish they had showcased a bigger variety of performances. I get that a lot of the stronger routines happen towards the end of the season, but the top 4 were already guaranteed a lot of performance time and I think it would have been nice to see more from people who are no longer competing. The votes have been cast and I feel like the final show should be a celebration of dance and all the competitors. Okay, off my soapbox and onto the stuff we actually got to see :)

SYTYCD: Top 10 Perform; 2 Eliminated

Wowzers this is a delayed post!! Apparently my summer has also been all about being busy on Wednesday nights. My latest excuse is actually a legit one (IMO). I had a job interview in a city 250 miles from my house and the place I was staying didn’t have T.V. (which was actually really nice to be honest. I really should shut down my electronics more often). Anyway, and then after I got back I was busy with life and well Monday is the first day I was able to sit down to watch and review the show.

Overall thoughts: ALL-STARS are back!!! I forgot to mention last week that it was finally announced that All-Stars were to be a part of this seasons show. I love the all-stars for two reasons. 1) It allows you to focus on the competing dancer instead of comparing/paying attention to two at the same time. 2) There are some dancers that are brilliant and I just want to watch them again and again (like Alex Wong for example.) Plus the all-star dancers aren’t competing and I think they dance better because of it. On to the show!

SYTYCD: Top 16 Perform, Second Elimination

So normally I sit down to watch the show on Wednesday nights as soon I as I get home, but since that was 1:00am this week, I decided to delay my viewing until Thursday afternoon. Luckily I managed to watch it before SYTCD updated their cover photo on facebook. Spoilers are not my favorite. Again, I will reveal the bottom 3/eliminated dancers at the end of the post.

Overall thoughts: There were some phenomenal moments on the show tonight, however it felt like a lot of couples had some low performances tonight :(

Still not sure if I like the new format for dance selection, but we’ll have to go with it. 

Healthy food I like? Get out!

Something happened to me today.

I got excited about my snack. My HEALTHY snack.

And not just “yummy” excited. Blissfully-don’t-bother-me-right-now-excited. I closed my bedroom door and put on my favorite music and just enjoyed my snack.

I think I may have been replaced in the night. I hate healthy food. Or I guess I should say hated. I usually avoid it. Whenever I read a low-cal recipe with soy-anything in it, I immediately move on. A friend posted on pinterest about using cucumbers as crackers and I got a little grossed out.

I have been known to eat dessert AS A MEAL. I’ve also been known to say things like “there’s always room for ice-cream (my ALL time favorite dessert)—it just fits into all the crevices in your tummy.” I always choose full-fat versions of stuff, because—get this—I CAN TASTE THE DIFFERENCE and it bothers me. And even if I can’t taste it, I say crap like, “well, whatever they put in there to make it taste the same can’t be good for you.”

Summertime!

I love summer.

Actually I love all the seasons for different reasons (oh a crack myself up!) but since the first day of summer was last week, right now, I love summer!

I love it for all the regular reasons: warm weather, sunshine, beach trips, lots of free time, traveling, etc. As a teacher I still get summer vacation like the kids do. So I really love summer. I’m listening to one of Pandora’s “summer stations,” drinking my favorite coffee enjoying the warm CA sunshine streaming through my window. I’ll probably take a book out to the patio this afternoon, because I can!

Another reason I love summer?

It's the little things

It doesn't take much to make me happy. I don't need big, extravagant things to put a huge smile on my face. Here's what's made me happy this week:


-first paycheck as a sub (yep it's little but it's money!)
-subbing at the junior high where I student taught (it's like going home :)
-coconut coffee creamer
-snuggles with my kitty
-talking with my sister
-spending an evening with friends
-finding my crochet hooks (they went missing for a bit)
-listening to a good audiobook
-working in my art journal
-knitting a scarf
-buying my tickets for "The Hunger Games" (!!!!)


I don't always take time to appreciate the things that make me happy but it's fun to stop and think about all the good things instead of being consumed by the stuff that brings me down