Welcome, Natalie!

Today I'm excited to introduce Natalie of "Here I Am, the Handmaid of the Lord." A little while ago, Natalie posted about growing blogging relationships, and a few emails later, here we are, "interviewing" each other!

So here's how this works: Natalie and I each came up with five questions and we each answered all ten questions. My answers are all over on Natalie's blog and her answers are below. The first five questions are Natalie's and the last five are my questions. I've really enjoyed corresponding with Natalie over the past couple of weeks, and I hope you enjoy this interview!

1. Why did you start blogging?  I honestly started blogging on a whim.  I read so many blogs that it dawned on me, wait I can do that too.  And almost two years later, here I am still blogging.  (haha didn't even mean to have a pun on my blog name)

2.  Dog lover? Cat lover? Both?  Dog lover all the way.  I grew up with dogs and cats freak me out the way they stare at you.

3. What is your current favorite scripture verse? Psalm 90:14 "Satisfy us in the morning with thy steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days."

4. What is your favorite pair of shoes (picture encouraged)?  Now that the weather has warmed up, 85% of the time I will have my much loved rainbow flip-flops on.  If you haven't heard of these shoes yet they are leather flip flops that are constructed the same way they construct parachutes, so these shoes aren't falling apart.  I used to have a ton of sandals for summer, now I just have these, a pair of Birkenstock I picked up in Assisi and a pair of Chacos I got for a great deal on ebay and I wear for mission trips, hikes, playing outside and the like.

5.  If you could have any career where time being educated and pay didn't matter what would you do?  This is hard because I love being a nurse.  I think I would be a midwife right now rather than having to go back to school.   But if I were going to give you another career direction I would have to say event planner, caterer, or inspirational speaker.

6. Describe your family {big, small, loud, quiet, crazy, etc} I grew up in a family of four with my mom, dad, and brother who is four years younger than me.  I don't know if this has ever come up on the blog but I also have an older brother who was stillborn 19 months before I was born.  My mom was 39 weeks along when my parents lost my brother, Michael Stanley.  We like to play board games, spoil our two dogs, visit my grandma and enjoy dinners out.

7. If you had a whole day with no commitments or responsibilities, how would you spend that day?  First things first, I would enjoy my morning cup of coffee preferable on a deck or porch with scripture.  The rest of the day I would spend with friends, hanging out, Mass, hiking, creating meals, and hopefully a nap at some point.  It would include good conversation with deep roots.

8. What are your favorite books? If necessary, separate by genre.  I am not the kind of person who has a book they just can't get enough of.  If you want to look at some of the books I have read over the last year and a half check out the reads link on my blog.

9. What do you love most about blogging? What do you love the least?  I cannot get enough of the relationships I have formed through blogging.  They have brought more blessings to my life than I ever could have planned.  I also enjoy when someone informs me that something I wrote really inspired them, enriched their life and brought them closer in their relationship with the Lord.  It is because of those things that I keep going.  The things I dislike about blogging is the time it takes to actually write a post and when technology goes wrong.  I periodically reevaluate if I want to continue blogging and it is always at that time that one of those good things happen and I keep going and keep investing my time.  

10. If you could live in any location, where would you live and why?  Somewhere warm where I could have my flip-flops on all the time and not be cold.  This might be the lingering of the rough winter of 2014 talking but the idea of being outside in the warm sunshine with a breeze blowing is like pure bliss.

Thanks, Natalie! This was really fun, and I'm so glad that we got to do this. You can check out my answers to these questions on Natalie's blog. Thanks for joining!

P.S. In case you missed it, we are halfway done with Phase One of voting me to Rwanda! Please take just a moment and vote now! Thank you thank you thank you!

Finish This: Week Eleven

It's that special time of the week where prompts are given and responded to, laughs are had, and there is much general merriment. Wow, did I just advertise like a circus announcer? Maybe justabit.

Linking up with Jen at The Arizona Russums, Becky at The Java Mama, Lisa at Coastlined, and Nicole at Three 31.

When I need help with life's mysteries, I turn to Scripture, my parents, the bestie, my bosom friend, my sisters, and ye old Internet.

My next challenge is figuring out how to read two books with an average of 1200 pages each by the end of this calendar year. Oh yeah, plus twenty-two other books so that my 2014 goal will be complete. #firstworldproblems

I shake things up by painting my fingernails and my toenails different colors. Reading a lot {see above}. Cooking an actual meal instead of popcorn. Playing "Words with Friends" with both friends and strangers. Going to Zumba four times a week {with three different instructors}. Dyeing my hair whenever I'm with AJ.

High heels are something I don't worry about too often. For fancy occasions, I wear dress pumps. I have one pair of work pants that are a little too long {the challenge of having short legs} and so I wear ankle boots that have a 1.5 inch heel. Other than that, flats, please and thank you!

Thanks for joining the fun! Link your own blog on one of the hostesses' sites or leave your answers in the comments. Oh, and tune in a little later today to read a blog swap with my friend Yvonne!

Finish This: March 5th Edition

Linking up with Becky at The Java Mama, Lisa at Coastlined, Jen at The Arizona Russums, and Nicole at Three 31 for Finish This!

My favorite comfort food is dependent upon what I need comforting from, ha! The most consistent craving is for ice cream or fudge-sicles, but every once in a while mac 'n' cheese is the only thing to hit the spot. However, since these aren't the healthiest indulgences {because let's be honest: the healthy version just don't satisfy the craving!}, my flatmate and I are careful to always keep some Lindt's dark chocolate with sea salt in the pantry. One or two squares of this always makes life better!

My most memorable birthday was ...hard to choose! My 16th and 19th stand out to me as extra fun. For my sweet sixteenth, I had my 10th grade class over to play games for a few hours. It was the first time I felt really close to everyone in my high school class, so that was really cool. I was in Master's Commission for my 19th birthday, and my dad managed to coordinate a surprise and take me out to breakfast! So wonderful.

The best karaoke song is unknown to me because I've never sung karaoke! Gasp! Deep dark confession, I know. But if it's anything like rocking out in the privacy of my car, then T-Swizzle all the way!

Boots make me feel awesome. Every outfit is improved with boots!

I am grateful for the blogging community, friends, day planners, phone dates, information easily accessible on the world wide web, health insurance, massages, good books, sea salt chocolate, and this season of Lent.

There you have it, folks! Head over to the afore-mentioned blogs to share some link-up love.

Finish This: Week Five

Linking up with Jen at The Arizona Russums, Becky at The Java Mama, Lisa at Coastlined, and Nicole at Three 31.

I will never outgrow holding babies, staying up way too late reading, hating, fearing, and killing spiders, sleeping with Sylvester, wanting to live in both Washington and Kentucky, drinking mojitos, and wiping ketchup off my hamburger from Dick's Drive-In.

I splurge on good shoes. Good books. The clearance rack at Target.

My worst habit is leaving things in a pile for weeks on end. The house is clean...except for all the stuff sitting on my desk and dresser. But if I can shut the bedroom door, it still counts as clean, right?

My passport represents adventure! Last year, I traveled internationally three times within 12 months, which is pretty cool. You can read about two of those trips here.

My most ridiculous fear is probably having my car blown up because of someone's cigarette. I wrote about it here, for your amusement reading pleasure.

My favorite thing to give is time, because then we're both getting something! But if this prompt is asking for something tangible, then I will say I love to give books. It's the gift that keeps on giving :)

Ta-da! Go check out the link-up to read more.

True Confessions/Obsessions on Thursday

Some days, you just gotta spill your guts. These are not deep and intense thoughts; these are silly, random, obscure thoughts that just keep popping into my head at work and need to be shared somehow while not disturbing productivity. So here we go.

• Since returning from my beloved Kentucky, I've been unable to bring myself to wear "real" shoes. Sandals or nothing. Seriously. Oh, and here in the great Northwest, it has been raining almost constantly and has warmed up to a mediocre 65* average. But sandals it is!
• Have you guys heard of Veggie Straws??? They are made by Sensible Portions and I l o v e them. They give me the salty and crunchy fix that chips provide, yet they are made from vegetables and one serving size is 38 straws. Yep. Crunch away, friends! These things are delish. I'm in love.
  
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• Can we talk about Call the Midwife again? Butforrealztho. My mom and I just finished the first season {her first time seeing it} and we are ready to begin Season Two! So exciting! Some friends have said that "something big happens" and I'm really excited/nervous to watch.
  
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• And while we're on the subject of British shows, have you heard of "Miranda" before? Seriously one of the funniest shows out there. "Chummy" in CTM is played by Miranda Hart, a comedian and writer of this "semi-autobiographical" show. She is hysterical. Her sense of timing, her awkwardness, her comical situations- they all fit into this adorable show.
  
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  Warning: "Miranda" has some innuendos and/or conversations that are not suitable for children. But it is not the focus of the show, and it is conversation only. {Exception: one episode in S2 tries to be inappropriate, but again, it's conversation and intent only, and it's played for laughs.}
  Anyway, she is so funny; the females of my family squish onto the couch and watch it from a laptop and would be rolling on the floor laughing if we weren't wedged onto the couch so well. Def a fave.
• Save the Storks. I love everything about this group. Their tactic is to first offer help to abortion-minded women, and then provide them with information and resources. It's wonderful. Check them out at the link below the picture.
  
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• Confession: I watched "Star Trek: Into Darkness." Yes, I'm a nerd. But not for the reasons you're thinking. I watched it because of Benedict...*swoon* Confession: I'm obsessed. Seriously. Cheekbones. Gah. {And yes, that is a Sherlock reference too...see what kind of a nerd I am!?!?} There are probably dozens of other pictures I could have posted, but I will use self-control and only post one.

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Is there anything that can follow up after Benedict? Nope. So I will leave you with the image of Ben...

Victory!

Alright friends, we’re gonna get real here.

I’ll be going home 4 weeks from yesterday. May I just point out that this is the going home to stay home for the first time in three years trip. Heck. Yes. But this is an aside. The point is that I’m going home.
The other point is that Grams’ favorite hobby is shopping. And related to this point is that I too have gone shopping {quality time-don’t be hatin’!} while living in the Frozen Tundra {ok, and there’s not a whole lot else to do. I said we were getting real.}.

These points lead to the point that I was really nervous about all my, ahem, stuff fitting into suitcases. P.S. I’m flying Southwest because a) they’re usually cheap and b) along with that cheap price, they let you check two bags included in the price of the ticket!!! Score for this gal moving across the country!

So even with these two suitcases, I was nervous. So what did my little OCD-self do? Yep. Packed tonight.
Not everything; just my clothes and half my shoes. I wanted to see how much space it all took, because I had a guess, but I wasn't sure. I’m a good packer, but didn't expect to be that good.

ALL my clothes fit into one of my checked bags, and half of my shoes {as in, 3 pairs of boots and 4 pairs of dress shoes} and my socks and undershirts fit into my carry-on suitcase. Bam. Victory.

There are probably those of you wondering why would she pack up all her clothes a month in advance? Why was she even thinking about packing?? Some of you are probably thinking she needs meds for this level of OCD. And still others of you are thinking Geez! How many pairs of shoes does this chick have!?!?

Well, dear readers, fear not: I shall answer your wonderings. I unpacked after I packed. {This may raise more questions, but let’s review how many times the term “OCD” has been used already in this post and just let it be.} As for the meds wondering, I do take meds…actually vitamins, not actual meds. And for you shoe haters or lusters out there, I will say that a) 2 pairs of boots are snow boots-one can never be too prepared in the Frozen Tundra! and b) yes I like shoes. I have feet. Duh.

So there. You are now a part of my victory. Congratulations.

And for those of you completely bored by this post, here is a picture that cracks my sister J and me up every time. Yay, “Big Bang Theory”! You’re welcome.

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