Focusing on the Good Things

Hey everybody!

I know it's been an eternity since I last posted. 2013 in general is not shaping up so well, so I've been pretty busy.

Maybe I'll post some sweet nostalgic posts about the difficult things that have happened at some other point. Right now, I'm trying not to throw myself a pity party. You can ask anyone who's ever lived with me that I have a very strong tendency to throw pity parties and they're not fun events. There are no hats or pinatas, and only sometimes is there cake and I usually eat it all myself. ...I realize while I'm writing this that it's a really good thing I'm already married...

So sorry to my former roommates, immediate family members, and J! I really am working on it....

So instead of wallowing in the struggles of my life, I've decided to celebrate the things that are going well!

First, I am still married to my best friend.

In fact, we celebrated two years of marriage this month.

When I first came to graduate school, we were legitimately newlyweds. ...So new, I used to bring him up in conversations with new people to try to get used to calling him my husband. In hindsight I bet that was pretty annoying...oops. Now I sometimes have a hard time remembering what it was like to be single.

In all these hard times, he's been my rock. He's taken care of my every need, spoiled me, looked after me, taken care of things above and beyond his responsibilities, and bought me ice cream, an embarrassing amount of ice cream. He's an awesome guy, and I take that for granted way too often.

Second, I've been able to get more involved at church.

I'm finally teaching Bible class again and it makes me so happy! A friend and I get to teach half-a-dozen of the sweetest, most exhausting, smartest, and most adorable toddlers twice a week. I love their chubby, smiling faces and their sweet, honest hearts. I've hoped and prayed for a way to get more involved, and now I have one.

Third, I have finally drafted my thesis.

A friend from my cohort dubbed it "The T-Word." It was that evil monster-cloud of death hovering over my head for the past two years, and today I finally finished the first draft! There's more work, stress and long days to come, but the basics are there. That's a win in my book!

Fourth, all my friends seem to be getting on with their happy lives.

My Facebook is full of weddings, promotions, graduations, happy babies and rain. Rain is a really big deal in West Texas. My Facebook feed blows up at the first sign of a cloud...kind of makes windows seem redundant.

Anyways....

Did I not brag on my HS best friend's military promotion yet? I didn't?! Well she's totally killing it in the Army and I couldn't be prouder. I am a little scared that when she gets out, she's going to try to make me work out with her....If I get really fit suddenly, you'll know why. But seriously, she's an amazingly strong lady and I'm so proud of her accomplishments!

Did I not brag on my childhood best friend's baby? Man, I've been slacking! He's adorable. I haven't seen him since he was born last month, but I'm pretty sure he's gotten even more awesome since then. Talk about strong ladies, this girl was looking all kinds of gorgeous, smiling and greeting like 800 million visitors the day her huge perfect and adorable, but HUGE baby was born! I brought her a king sized candy bar because I have no children and therefore no idea what a new mom needs, and I love chocolate. If you need chocolate at any important point in life, I'm your girl.

Okay, I could go on and on and on....y'all know I'm prone to do that, but I'm going to stop there for now.

Thanks for bearing with me in the drought of last month. I hope to be back to posting recipes and fun stuff very soon!