WW: Frozen Time

This week at Mama Kat's... If you could stop time for 24 hours, what would you accomplish?

I, like just about everyone else I know or talk to, always seem to have lots to do and not nearly enough time to do it all in.

I don't like complaining about it since I know that most people have just as much on their own plates, if not more. (If you hear me listing all my "to-dos," most of the time it is just to remind myself! I tend to forget.)

Thankfully most of the things on my calendar are fun things: weddings, gatherings with friends, dog shows, etc. (Outside of work, of course. My work schedule is an entirely different story--and calendar. I try not to think about that one while I'm away from the office.)

Fun or not, they still take up a lot of time.

If I could stop time for 24 hours... I would clean my house, catch up on yard work (mow, plant bulbs), and then take a really long NAP.

Friends and family take priority over a clean house and a manicured lawn.

It would be so nice and mentally refreshing to be able to spend a good chunk of time cleaning and getting other little things done that keep getting moved to the bottom of the list (but never really leave my mind).

Then I could read a bit, drink some tea, and nap... without worrying about wasting time or thinking about all the things I should be doing instead.

That sounds so lovely I might just freeze time* on my own on Sunday!

*As long as it isn't like Forever Young when Mel Gibson is frozen for fifty-ish years because his girlfriend/fiance goes into a coma after being hit by a car... and then when he finally gets thawed out he ages super fast to the age he should be. That would suck. Please don't freeze yourself.

Writer's Workshop: I luv my job

It's that time again... Mama Kat's Writers' Workshop!

My chosen prompt this week:

10 reasons why you love your job.

Reason 1: I get to walk awesome beaches and "discover" places that I wouldn't have otherwise.

Writer's Workshop: Married with Children vs. ME

I've been slacking lately with Mama Kat's Writer's Workshops... but this week's prompt has been something I've been thinking about lately so it was perfect timing!

My chosen prompt: A list of things you no longer have in common with your married/child bearing friends... and why you love them anyway.

Of the friends I am still in close contact with from high school and tend to see more than others... I am the only single one.

Not just "single" like everyone else has a boyfriend/girlfriend... but that they are all either married or will be very soon, and two of the couples have kids.

(My friends from Western are slowly catching up... a few here and there are married or engaged, but no kids yet except the ones that were married when I met them.)

95% of the time I am just fine with that. But this post isn't about that 95% of the time, or even the other 5% of the time...

Writer's Workshop: Steppin' Outside the Box

Time for Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop once again...

This week I chose to write about "Steppin' outside the box... describe a time when you went way out of your comfort zone."

I've always considered myself relatively outdoorsy. I grew up fishing, climbing trees, and tromping through the woods that surrounded my parents' house (most of which has since been replaced by an office building and parking lot).

But we weren't a camping, hiking family. Yeah, we went on "nature walks" in the nearby park that was riddled with trails and the occasional "hike" on some of the local walking trails, like those at the base of Mount Rainier or on the Olympic Peninsula... but never anything that involved packs, real gear, dehydrated food, camping stoves, etc.

Enter college.

To graduate from the program I was enrolled in I had to write a thesis, study abroad, or do an internship.

I don't remember exactly how it happened but for some reason my only logical choice was to do an internship... and time was running out. Then an opportunity was presented to one of my GIS classes to participate in a cheatgrass mapping project in the North Cascades in various prescribed "burn units" where the park was hoping to reintroduce fire to the ecosystem, but they wanted to control the invasive grass first... so I volunteered.

Writer's Workshop: Overboard

Yay, another Writer's Workshop that I remembered to participate in!

This week's topic of choice: Describe a memorable camping trip.

Growing up (and still today) my family wasn't your typical camping family... my dad doesn't like to sleep on the ground when he has a perfectly fine bed at home, thank-you-very-much.

So we're not a hiking, sleeping in tents, campsite family. (Although I've come to love it since my college internship in the North Cascades... but that's another story.)

We're a boat-camping, fishing family.

The parents got the forward cabin and Jayme and I would trade off on the floor or the table-turned-bed.

The best part about it all was the food. Catching crab and eating it on the boat for that night's dinner? Yes, please!

The worst part was taking the dog(s) to the beach to do their business.

Writer's Workshop: Photos Yet to be Hung

Photographs can turn a house into a home. Share a photograph that is not on your wall, but should be... if you weren't so lazy about actually putting it there.

I've been in my house for almost a year now... I closed August 27 of last year.

Seriously, where has the time gone?!

One of the biggest "struggles" I've had is overcoming the urge to get everything done now. It's been a long time since I've lived in one place for more than a year so it is difficult to get over the "hurry up" tendencies I am used to for making a space my own.

I am making myself be OK with having a long, and ever-growing, "someday list." It's tough.

Like... "someday" I want raised vegetable beds. "Someday" I want peonies growing along my "someday" (hopefully this summer) fence. "Someday" I want to replace my deck... somehow. Maybe with a stamped concrete patio. "Someday" I want to have a bedroom that isn't a storage room, and office/guest room that doesn't have a single box of miscellaneous stuff that I have yet to find a place for, a kitchen with enough light that I can see what I'm doing...

... and "someday" I'd like to actually have some of my own photos on my walls, and not ones that I've just printed from my computer on regular paper because I'm too lazy to actually order real prints.

Things That Make Me Smile, vol. 2

My choice for this week's Writers' Workshop was too easy because it's more or less what I've decided to start doing with my new "Things That Make Me Smile" category. I've only done one of them so far... so this must be a sign that it's time for another.

Write a list of 10 things that are sure to put a smile on your face when you are not happy... aka

Things That Make Me Smile, vol. 2

10. Arrested Development. I don't even have to actually watch any of it--just thinking of my favorite scenes/episodes can put a smile on my face.

9. Raised donuts with chocolate frosting and sprinkles. Another new obsession only made worse after eating Frost's. OMG yum.

Writer's Workshop: The Love List

Look at me... finally participating in Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop after however long of reading/lurking! Woo hoo!

I have a few friends and friends of my mom that either meet cute my-age-ish boys/men and think I should date them... or are on a mission to find a my-age-ish boy/man for me to date/fall madly in love with/go to weddings with/take to gatherings so I'm not the only single one there, etc.

So this week's prompt... er... prompted me to finally think of some criteria for my friends, friends of friends, mom's friends, etc to base their recommendations/searches on.

The Love List: 50 25 Things I Look For in a Man