#ReverbBroads11: Guilty (Updated)

Woah. I told a co-worker today that I loved #ReverbBroads because it kept me thinking. However, I was not ready for today's prompt. Then, I wrote this prompt last night about a good beer and my favorite bar (The Red Line Tap. They allow dogs - what else do you need to know?) But as I sat on the train this morning, I smelled (a good smell, for once) my favorite, most secret guilty pleasure. I'm sure Brandon doesn't even know this (although he will now, because I share every one of my blog posts with him.)

I have lots of guilty pleasures. Bad music (Nicki Minaj, Lady Gaga), Bad TV shows (Glee because of my friend Derik Nelson,) a good beer over a run on the treadmill, coffee (but I gave it up for my morning protein shakes), family time, cupcakes (MORE, preferably) and I'm sure the list goes on.

Honestly, I can't live without listening to Mom Jeans or My New Christmas Sweater, but mostly, my guilty pleasure is chocolate & salt. It started last year. For those of you who don't know, Brandon worked at GameStop part-ish time last year. Most nights, I'd come home and turn on a movie, just to keep noise in the house. One night, I made popcorn right when I got home, because I was hungry and I'd normally wait for dinner until Brandon got home. I ate some of it, but got distracted (most likely by work email) and it got cold. I didn't want to throw a whole bowl away, so I peeked in the fridge and saw chocolate syrup. I drizzled chocolate syrup on the popcorn and ate it. It may sound weird, but it was amazing.

Since then, I haven't been able to get enough of salt & chocolate. I've made salted hot chocolate (delicious. Apparently Starbucks sells it?), attempted salted chocolate cupcakes, tried out Mr. Goodbar again, and had another bowl of chocolate popcorn.

I could live without this guilty pleasure, as I don't have it that often. I'll probably have to make chocolate popcorn tonight, just so that Brandon can try it. I also think that, if I was not allowed to eat this, I'd come up with another guilty pleasure.

My iPad guilty pleasure? Fruit Ninja. If you haven't played it, you need to check it out.

If you haven't heard, I'm writing in December with a prompt-a-day. Today's prompt:  Name and explain the one guilty pleasure you can't live without.  ie: that cupcake shop you visit weekly, a book you repeatedly read to find solace in, etc).  Then explore the idea of how you would feel if you gave that thing up for a year.   

#ReverbBroads11: Alex & Kristin

I asked Brandon "how am I like my mother" and he responded "How AREN'T you like your mama?" Unsure of what that meant, I dug a little deep.

We both are McSassyPants101. I'm full of sass. (Honestly, I was never sure of how to use the word sass until I meant Julia D.) My mother is the SAME way. We have the same attitude, the same response to life, and the same sass. Translation: we have a comeback to life.

We're both short, fiesty and we can't stop talking. I've worked (not very hard) to alter my talkative gene, but it's really just brought out my contagious laugh gene. My mother introduced me (at a young age, I'm certain) to laughter. I incorporate this into my love, my laughter, my work with students, and my overall life.

The most important thing in life is to make sure you laugh once a day, and I don't think I could have taken a better piece of advice from the smartest, most lovely and strong woman I know.

#ReverbBroads11: Worst/Best Thing of Your Life

I think I've mentioned this once or twice (or a thousand times,) but I just returned from an eight day vacation to visit my family. This sort of answers my whole Worst/Best moments...

I took 6 days off of work, at the end of the semester, at finals week, to visit my parents at a time that can be the busiest time for an office. I've also mentioned that I'm transitioning out of one job (Coordinator of Student Life) and into another job (Coordinator of Campus Life) that I'm super happy about. The best thing in my life right now is that. I'm in a job that trusts me, and values me. They trust me, in that they are willing to allow me this type of vacation (where I'm the only one who can do my job in my current job) and they also recognize my talents and are willing to transition me into a new job (while letting me design that job a little bit.) I've struggled in my career path, as we all have, but this is a place that values what I give back to the institution and is willing to use my strengths to help advance not only my department but the university as a whole.

On the other side, I'm really far away from my family. I live in Chicago, IL and my brother (16) and sister (19) live with my parents in Gardnerville, NV (outside of Reno). While my partner and I live 3.5 hours from his parents (Grand Rapids, MI) and 5 hours from his brother and wife (Eau Claire, WI), spending every holiday (Fathers Day, Mothers Day, Thanksgiving & Christmas) with them is not always what I need or want at the holidays. Yes, we could split and spend the holidays with our families (making the holidays super expensive, as I spent $400+ on my plane ticket home), but I want to spend the holidays together. Unfortunately, it seems that we can't split holidays until we get married (an action that may take a while, as we aren't interested at this time) and that makes the holidays hard. Holidays are a rough time, especially when both of my mother's parents have passed. The holidays are a time for everyone, but I wonder how others (married, committed, or otherwise) deal with the difficulty of dividing your lives between families.

If you haven't heard, I'm spending my December in a prompt-full-blog-month. Today's prompt: What is the best and/or worst thing about your life right now?

#reverbBroads11: My 12/8/2011 Oops

If you didn't know, I spent the last week PLUS in Nevada. My parents and my baby siblings live there, so Brandon and I went to visit. He stayed for 4 days, I stayed for a lot longer. I spent my internet time on my life and my iPad. While I love the iPad, I realized that I either need to change blogs (blogspot is HTML and the iPad doesn't like that, apparently.) I realized (just now, on 12/12/11) that I missed a prompt, so here it is.

I tried to start blogging a long, long, long time ago, possibly back in the days of LiveJournal (does anyone even remember that?) This blog goes back to me taking my most recent job of the Coordinator of Student Life (a job that I am currently transitioning out of. I'll post about that in January.) I started blogging for our friends - to share my life with Brandon, in Chicago, with our Kalamazoo, MI friends; with our Grand Rapids, MI, Kalamazoo, MI, Battle Creek, MI, Cincinnati, OH & Gardnerville, NV family; and with anyone else interested. Since then, the Canada family has started watching, as have our Chicago friends.

I kept blogging because it challenged me. It challenged me to stay connected, and to keep taking photos and chronicling our life. Because of my blog, I have a photo for our Christmas cards this year. I've been able to keep in touch with Barb (and maybe other Canada "family") and I've been able to savor the memories.

What I haven't done is blog about work. I'm transitioning into a job that I think (hope?) I'm going to love, love, love. And I hope that, along with the ties to family and those far away, helps me stay blogging.

If you didn't know, I'm participating in an awesome blog-prompt-filled-December, #ReverbBroads11. Today's prompt: Why blog? Why do you or why do you like to blog (recognizing that these are not always the same thing)?

#reverbBroads11 - Laughter is the best medicine.

"It's not my fault you're a boxer."


"Great. I have cheetah legs and I have to leave."

Using winter gloves to drink a mug of mint tea.

Standing in the middle of the room, discussing who the ring leader of the toys would be.

"Why are you hibernating? You're not a bear."

"You should go Tungle somewhere else."

With this post, a lot of people listed everyone (or everything) that makes them laugh. Comedians are hit or miss with me, as are stupid youtube videos, email forwards, and most television shows. However, there is one person who can always make me laugh (whether or not he is trying to.)



I always talk about being super, super serious, and it's kind of true. However, I find that I continually surround myself with amusing characters. The funniest person in my life is my partner, Brandon. He keeps me on my toes, he makes me happy, and he keeps me laughing. My life since I met Brandon, as summed up by the Indigo Girls, was "wide-eyed-laughing."



He doesn't always think he's funny, but he is. He shares cooking tips with me (like that you should wear snowboarding goggles when cutting onions,) and lets me know how overwhelming my Google calendar is (that looks like Skittles threw up on your calendar, honey).



He's also very young, and I think will always be, at heart. He loves stupid tee-shirts (this is the oldest I've ever been), toys (he gets a Toy Story toy a least once a year) and is an active video gamer. But on the side, he's the funniest person I've ever met.


Most of all, he can make me laugh, even when I'm having a super rough time in life. Our regular daily interactions involve amazing (while sometimes inappropriate) quotes (I feel like my armpit has to fart), serious questions (do you think the Energizer Bunny ever gets bored) and all around confusion (who is Erin Water and why does she have her own show?)



He regularly has interactions with the animals that keep me giggling for days (vamoos goes the dog.) but ultimately, he knows me the best. "You've gotta be sassy. You're a ninja!"



If I could take one thing from this funny man in my life, it would be this. "Easy going. It's like my life."

 
If you haven't heard, I'm participating in #ReverbBroads11 this month. Today's prompt: Who or what makes you laugh so hard you spit milk out of your nose and why?

#reverbBroads11 - Day 6: My top 10 Nevers

I asked a lot of people what was one thing they'd never do and got a lot of answers of things I've already done. Some of those include eating odd meats (I've eaten alligator,) learning how to fly an airplane (I will do this before I turn 60,) move in with someone without a commitment/wedding ring (I live with Brandon, my partner,) and the list continues. Needless to say, this was kind of difficult for me, as I don't want to limit myself on life. I'm aware that this list is random, but challenge yourself to have a non-random list of things you have sworn to never do, or that you know you will never do.

- Post sonograms of my child anywhere (my office, Facebook, etc.) If I ever have children, that will be shared with those very close to me, and no one else.

- Have two separate Twitter or Facebook accounts. As an educator, I think it's really important to practice good social media behavior, so I will never (again) do that.

- Work with children under the age of 17. I have spent my vacation working with my Mother, Father and Sister who run a musical theater program for children (sometimes adults, too.) My dad also works in a middle school, and as I write this, I'm sitting in his auditorium going crazy. I have such respect for educators that can work with this age group, as I know how challenging it is.

- I will never win a track competition, or place first in my age group in any running event. I've tried, and I'm okay with this. This doesn't mean that I won't participate, and I'll probably (at some point) enjoy it.

- I will never perform on a Broadway stage. Many people can (should?) say this, but for me, I'm pretty confident that my sister will, which is an awesome accomplishment for her, and gives me the ease to say that I won't.

- I will never live on the same property as my parents, or my partners parents. This may seem like a harsh statement, but I want to preserve the relationship between the grand parents and the grand children. I lived on the same property as my grandmother and it really strained the relationship. I won't change much about my parenting style based on my parents, but I will work hard to keep that a loving, caring relationship.

- I will never move back in with my parents. As I watch friends struggle, either getting divorced, losing a job, or not being able to find a job out of college, I see them move back in with their parents. If everything in my life changed tomorrow, I would just find other options. My parents are still raising my brother (16) and my sister (19), so that wouldn't be a reasonable option for me.

- I will never not have a Christmas tree. I could have the tiniest apartment ever, but I would always find room for a regular-sized tree. For as long as I can remember, Christmas has been a huge part of my life and I cannot imagine living through November and December without having holiday decorations.

- I will never stop my fight against inclusive language. I think its really important to use inclusive phrases (elimination of you guys, that's gay, etc.) and I really see the value in those conversations, with everyone from my family members to the students and colleagues I work with.

- I will never own a deep fryer. In college, my friends had them and used them constantly. Its not healthy and in my hopes to live a healthy lifestyle, I have banned this item from my kitchen (and hopefully from the kitchens of those around me.)

If you haven't heard, I'm participating in #ReverbBroads11 this month. Today's prompt: List 10 things you would never do.

#reverbBroads11 - Day 5: Personal Success

I have a confession to make: I'm not a very good blogger. However, when I went back through my blog from the last year, I found a lot of things that I said I would do and actually did this year, but there was one that goes back a LONG time.
I dated a good friend (who I'm not in touch with anymore) my sophomore year of high school. He was going skiing and asked me to come with him. I told him I was busy (I didn't use the "I'm washing my hair" excuse, although I should have) and said I'd go sometime. I never told him I'd never gone.
My best friend worked the slopes. A guy I dated junior year worked the slopes. Most of my friends skiied. But I always had excuses. And that's all they were. "I don't have the money. The time. The energy. The motivation."
Another confession: I. Was. Scared.
Brandon's uncle lives in British Columbia. He got re-married on top of a ski hill. Guess what I did? I learned how to ski. After eight years of saying "someday," I did it. And you know what? I was pretty good. No, I didn't leave the bunny hills. But I also didn't fall. Not once.
I can't tell you if I'll do it again, but knowing the family of Brandon, I probably will. It was one of the most intimidating, scary moments of my life, because I was worried of the ifs... What if... I fall? I'm not very good? I can't do it? I fail?
I stepped outside of my comfort zone, and I didn't fail. But, even if I had failed, what matters is that I took the opportunity to do something new, something different, and something that scared me. And that is wroth all the falls in the world.

If you haven't heard, I'm participating in #ReverbBroads11 this month. Today's prompt: What is the one thing you finally did this year that you always wanted or said you would do, but in your heart of hearts never thought you would actually do?