a brief hiatus

i haven't written in a long time for a few reasons, the biggest one being i haven't felt like it. tonight, i feel like writing in bullet form (as popularly seen on jen and diane's brilliant blogs). my paragraph entries seem to have been a bit serious and boring lately, so maybe this will spice things up.


in the past few weeks i have:

*loved the sight of town lake at sunset every day
*read and worked out basically every day and am feeling much better because of it
*renewed and deepened my friendship with the ever so sweet and beautiful kristen
*started dreaming of/looking at houses for next year
*decorated cookies
*cut my hair twice and been told by an older woman at work that my hair was "cool" and reminded her of her youth
*travelled to the homeland and oklahoma where my cousins are making me prouder than they know
*cooked yummy soup
*swapped stories about little ones with my daddy (he's training to be a CASA volunteer)
*eaten the BEST MEAL OF MY LIFE. this is not exaggeration. at all.
*talked to callers about several people that threatened to or quite probably attempted to kill their children
*realized that happiness is a conscious decision we make each day by not getting caught up in the monotony and let downs of daily life
*found a deeper sense of who i am
*been happy, VERY happy
*laughed until i cried
*given and received amazing hugs
*gone to meditation at church
*almost cried at church because it makes me so happy
and finally, tonight i played the Virgin Mary in a skit for the youth group. i believe i was type cast. ;)

in the next few weeks i plan to:
*finish my christmas shopping (hopefully tomorrow!)
*finish another book
*cook more yummy soup
*up my workout regimen
*improve my spelling (i've had to use a dictionary like 5 times while writing this)
*conquer my advent goals
*hug and love on my family for the 2.5 short days i'm home for christmas
*find something fun to do for new year's
*go rock climbing and probably die


ok, so i actually do have to share a story and for this purpose the bullet form entry fails me. but yes. we have these neighbors that i'm pretty sure are a household of gay men (they are attractive, well-dressed and giggle a lot while chasing each other around the pool). anyhow, they like to make polite conversation when they're sitting on their porch. which is like every day. and for some reason, i can never say anything that is even half-way intelligent or funny to them. example one: a few weeks ago i was walking in from work. they asked me if i was a teacher because i was wearing my security ID from work and well, i guess i just give off that teacher vibe. i said that i worked for the state and they responded with, "uh oh, don't arrest us." my brilliant retort? "don't abuse any children!" wow. genius.

then tonight, i was leaving for church. there was music playing in zilker park for the trail of lights. one of the guys said, "sounds like we're missing out on hillbilly carols." and yet again, my stunning and articulate self replied with, "it's loud."

i'm sure they think i have mental issues at this point and any continued communication will be pure sympathy. and sadly, i'm kind of ok with that.