Finish This: Week Fifty-one {and Merry Christmas!}

Merry Christmas to all! Can you believe that it's Christmas Eve already?! And next week is New Year's Eve, and then bam - 2015! Jeepers creepers.

Bek, don't get ahead of yourself. Today is a day for family, singing, candles, and link-ups. Stay focused!

By now, I hope you know the drill. I'm linking up with the awesome hostesses of Finish This: Nicole at Three 31, Jen at The Arizona Russums, Becky at The Java Mama, and Lisa at Coastlined.

{Next week is The Great Big Year in Review post - I'm so excited to hit "publish" on this puppy! If you'd like the prompts so that you can participate, comment below or email Nicole and we will hook you up. You don't want to miss this big kahuna of a post.}

My favorite Christmas tradition is opening one present from my parents on Christmas Eve... it's always pajamas and my sisters and I always wake up Christmas morning in new pajamas. For several years my mom has been complaining that there are no. more. pajamas. anywhere {with four girls, it's close to true!}, but somehow she works some Christmas magic and we always get pjs. It's my favorite. {I thought about sharing a picture, but then I thought you readers might not appreciate it.}

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My most memorable Christmas was probably 2012, because my grandpa was having a good day and he was able to stay awake and play dominoes with the family for a couple hours. It was one of the best days in Grandpa's last year, and my mom rightly noted that Christmas Day 2012 was a true gift, because it ended up being Grandpa's last Christmas with us on earth. I treasure my memory of that year.

The best gift{s} I've ever received, besides the grace and love of God, growing up in the best family ever, and having the most fantastic friends in the world, was the TARDIS blanket from my sister last year. I'd been asking for TARDIS slippers and she kept telling me she was not getting them for me. I didn't believe her, but it turned out she was telling the truth. My mom gave me the slippers and my sister gave me a warm snuggly blanket. I was shocked that a) she was telling me the truth and I hadn't believed her and b) that such a beautiful blanket exists.

The gift I'd rather forget was totally my idea and my sisters were dragged along in my madness. After performing The Nutcracker for two years {and between the four of us, there were only a couple dances we weren't in}, I convinced my sisters that we should perform it {AGAIN!!} for our parents... in our living room... with music for only 4 songs. So we practiced every time the 4 of us were left alone together, and on Christmas morning, that's what we did.
My poor, patient sisters... my poor, long-suffering parents...

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There you have it - Christmas memories galore! I hope your Christmas is holly-jolly, calm and bright, and full of the love of Christ!

I Need Your Votes, So I'll Give You A Story

Hey friends, remember way back to yesterday when I applied to go to Rwanda with International Justice Mission and Noonday Collection? Well, since you can vote every day {read: I'm begging you to vote every day because you can}, I'm going to try and nag motivate and incentivise you with a post every day! I realize this may be a turn-off to some of you, so please just click the link and vote and don't even bother reading further :D

Today's post is inspired by the fantastic necklace my IRL friends Ashley and Kayla gave to Samara and me! We had them over for dinner last night, and it was quite a laughter- and fangirl-filled evening.

Here's the necklace:

Sonic screwdriver + a key to the TARDIS

And here's three of us wrapped up in the Doctor Who scarf I crocheted! Note: this is only HALF the pattern I'm following... gulp!

Ash, Kay, Bek

the pattern

Yes, the three of us are wrapped up in what is only the first two columns of the pattern. I'm 8 rows into the mustard color at the bottom of the third column, meaning I'll be done with this scarf about the same time that my first grandchild is born. 

Also Whovian-related, my dear friend Dahlia gave me a TARDIS shower curtain and I hung it up this week. People. A shower curtain that's a TARDIS. Shut the front door. 

Yes, my bathroom now looks like this image

As you may have seen on Facebook, I told my mom about this {incredible and awesome} gift, and she compared me and my TARDIS products to becoming a crazy cat lady. And all the Whovians scoff! 

"But Mom, it's only a blanket and slippers and a shower curtain and earrings and now a necklace and oh yeah a scarf!" 

My dad chimes in: "That's what cat ladies say to the first three cats...then it's six cats."

Oi vey.

Anyway, show a fangirl some love and send her to Rwanda! Please and thank you, friends!

Finish This: Week Fifteen

Joining the party hosted by Nicole at Three 31, Jen at The Arizona Russums, Becky at The Java Mama, and Lisa at Coastlined.

My favorite vacation spot is anywhere warm! Plop me on a beach with some sunscreen, a margarita, and great book, and Bek is happy. Also, I'd go to Kentucky, because that's where a good chunk of my heart is :)

If I won a million dollars, I'd buy some rental properties, invest for the future, get some plane tickets, and buy some ultrasound machines for Save the Storks and Care Net.

If I could go on a date with one celebrity, it would be a really hard decision between Benedict Cumberbatch, Matt Smith, and Jennifer Lawrence.

seriously, what's not to love?

If we allow for time travel for this date, Sir Winston Churchill and William Wilberforce would join the race.

If I found a genie in a bottle, my three wishes would be quite the spectrum! I'd like a personal masseuse, to reverse Roe v. Wade, and for the Doctor and the TARDIS to show up at my front door.

My favorite clothing item is ankle socks. I have a pack that all have different colored stripes over the toes, and I love that I don't have to think when I'm trying to match socks out of the dryer. Do the colors match? Good, the socks match. Done and done.

Wanna join this party? You can leave your answers in the comments or add your blog to the link-up. See ya next week!

Finish This Week 2

Linking up with Jen, Lisa, Nicole, and Becky!

Check out the links here :)

If I could make anything grow on trees, it would be instant manicures. Pick one off the tree and BAM! Your nails are done. No waiting, no chipping, no clumping. Done nails, just like that.

I can't stop smiling because I've seen Sherlock Season 3. Because it's almost my birthday. Because zumba is tomorrow night. Because there is a Tardis blanket on my bed.  Because I'm in the middle of two good books. Because January has been awesome {and hard and wonderful and challenging and stretching} and February is shaping up to be pretty darn awesome. Because today is a good hair day. Because tomorrow is Volunteer Day. Because God has great plans for me.

I get back to nature by admiring Mt. Rainier. Ahh! 

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I dread washing the fridge. I can clean the bathroom and the rest of the house until the cows come home, but please dear Lord above don't make me clean the fridge. Please distribute grown-up points here, though, because I have actually cleaned the fridge since moving out on my own. Once. Moving on. 

There ya have it! See you next week for Version 3 of Finish This. 

"The Moment"

Yes, I watched Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary yesterday. Yes, I'm going over to a friend's house to watch it again tonight. Yes, Samara and I have tickets for another viewing in a downtown theater tomorrow night. Yes, I know that I am beyond nerding out at this.

In somewhat other news, I finished the TARDIS purse! Here it is last night with the letters sewn on. For a refresher course, here it is in process. And for those of you who crochet, here is the pattern I followed for the bag; I made the Purse-Sized Tardis. I didn't like her version/couldn't follow the pattern to save my life for the strap, so I didn't follow it. Raise your hands, those who crochet, if you've ever just made up your own pattern. If you don't have your hand up, you must not crochet yet, because duh.

The strap was obviously not too complicated-make straight line for desired length-ha! I followed {roughly} this pattern for the letters on the strap and then I just sewed them on with a yarn needle. Shout out to Catherine for telling me of this magic tool I needed.

Pictures of tonight and tomorrow's costumes will come....after they are taken, obviously. I may be a fan of Doctor Who, but I definitely haven't figured out time travel. Yet.

Anyone have a good suggestion for my next crochet project? Paige, if you want your birthday scarf before your next birthday, I suggest you speak now or find a new way to keep your neck warm. ;)

Allonsy!

31 Days of Writing: Day Eleven "Turn a Corner"

You turn a corner and are surprised to find...

...a blue police box. But then you are not so surprised, because you've always knew it was true.

You look around, searching for the Doctor. Where is he? Is he still inside? Has he just regenerated and is recovering? If the door is locked, it must be a sign to go in. With a deep breath, you push open to door. It opens easily; the Doctor must keep it well-oiled... or traveling through time does that. Whatevs. The door opens, and that is enough.

The door opens all the way, and you tentatively take a step inside, then another step, until you're standing right in the center of the TARDIS. It really is bigger on the inside, and as you turn to admire the grandness of the time machine, suddenly you hear that all-familiar sound. The TARDIS is taking off!

Wait.... who is flying the TARDIS!?!?!?

Frantically you look around for any indication of the Doctor's presence. Then you hear his voice, and you rub your eyes to help clear your vision.

Rubbing your eyes wakes you up. You realize that you've been dreaming, and that a Doctor Who episode has just started on the telly. A wave of disappointment flows over you, but only until you realize that this is not just any Doctor Who episode; this is the 50th anniversary episode! Your TARDIS adventure is just beginning...

via...careful: spoilers!

**linking up with Victoria. Join us!**

Tuesday's Tasks

Whew! This weekend was awesome and busy and fun and full of laughs and relaxing and exhausting and rejuvenating and still more fun. Or as Miranda's mum would say, "Such fun!"

Laurie and I had a great time. We hit up the less tourist-y spots of the neighborhood, had the sistren {like brethren, right?} over, made mojitos {some of the best I've ever made, actually}, hit up Ikea, painted and hung picture frames {my room is closer to finished}, went to dinner with my parents, skipped over the mountains to tour Leavenworth and visit Dahlia, and generally had a great time. Oh, and we watched a couple more episodes of Miranda because we can. So great.

I'm thankful for such a great visit with a great friend. It was a busy weekend, but it was also really restful. Laurie and I are both task-oriented, so I think it is complimentary to say that we got a lot accomplished this weekend, but we were still able to rest and enjoy a mini-vacation.

Because I'm task-oriented, I feel like I have a never-ending to-do list in my head. The worst thing is to start a task and not be able to complete it; I wish I hadn't started it because I keep thinking about it and its incomplete status. Sigh.

That's how I feel right now with the pictures in my room. I've got most of the frames hanging, but there are two that still need a picture. Then there's a frame that Samara and I are going to swap {long story- wrong color, already opened, etc.}. And since I had to take Laurie to the airport in the wee hours of the morning, my bed is unmade and the deflated air mattress is occupying an ungodly amount of floor space. Sigh.

I love having guests and friends over to visit, but I dislike the messiness that sometimes comes with that. I know it's not anyone's fault; it's simply an inconvenience of living out of a suitcase in someone else's room. But mess drives me a tad batty, and add the incomplete task of picture frames, and here comes crazy.

The good news is, tonight will be a fun evening meeting AJ's s-i-l who happens to live in the neighborhood. I'm so excited to get to know another part of AJ's family. And after dinner, I'm going to clean my room and wash my sheets and exercise and shower and go to bed early. This evening will be great, and a lot of my to-do list will get crossed off, and sleep will be wonderful tonight.

Oh! Exciting! Speaking of my room, I bought a clock yesterday for yonder bedroom. I'm really excited, because I think this fits the feel of the room. Now I just have to hang it...you're welcome to come over and make suggestions :)

Ending with an update: the TARDIS purse I'm crocheting... 'member that? Well, I'm happy to announce that I'm almost done! I just have windows and top of the TARDIS to complete, so yay! I promise: as soon as it's done, you will see pictures.

Happy Tuesday, dear readers!

Thanks for the Moral Support

Well, friends, thank you for all your support and encouragement. Samara and I have been recovering from our intruder the other day, and I think we're gonna make it. ;)

Since school has started/is starting soon {depending on your age and location}, I started thinking about my goals for this year. Am I even close to accomplishing them? Well, let's take a look-see...

Goals for 2013 {original post}:

1. Blog twice a week
2. Blog stories of depth as well as humor
3. Become healthier through adjusted food intake and increased activity
4. Travel to Prince Edward Island with Dahlia

How am I doing? *moment of soul searching...*

I'm pretty sure that I've been faithful with Numeral Uno. So far I've posted 81 times this year, which is an average of 2.18 times over the past 37 weeks of 2013. {Side note: we have approximately 15 weeks left of this year, and less than 100 days until Christmas. Gulp!}

Numeral Dos: I give myself a B on this goal. It seems that there are phases of funny stories and then a bundle of more serious thoughts... probably could go more on the serious side, but I also want to be real with what's going on in my head in the present. 

Onto Numeral Tres...this has had ups and downs. When I lived with my grandparents, it was really strong, for some obvious reasons: my grandparents spoiled me rotten let me eat what I needed and my bedroom had carpet {makes ab exercises kinder on my back}. Coming home was a little weaker. My mom cooks healthier food than my grandparents, but I wasn't exercising as much. And now that I've got my own place, I'm eating less but also exercising less. So...we're getting there. 

Y'all know about the big Numeral Quattro, but in case you've been living under a stupid rock, scroll through the archives and click on anything that says "Travel Journal." Dahlia and I went to PEI in August, and it was one of the highlights of 2013! I highly recommend it to anyone considering such a venture.

So what am I going to do for the rest of 2013? I'm going to continue blogging consistently and frequently, making sure to share my more personal thoughts as well as humorous happenings, and I'm going to implement a regular exercise routine at least twice a week.

Another goal I have for 2013 is to get fully settled into my new home. By the time 2014 rolls around, I want to have pictures on walls and boxes out in recycling. There are also a few little things that I'm looking for, and I'd love to not have a permanent mental shopping list in 15 weeks. 

Another goal I made for myself this year was to read 45 books. So far I've read 30, so Goodreads indicates that I am two books behind schedule, but what do they know? I'm in the middle of a biography of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother {mum to current Queen Elizabeth II}, and I've also read a few chapters of a book about vaccines {fascinating, right??}.

No commitment here, but I would be really proud if I finished crocheting my TARDIS purse. It may or may not happen, given that it requires sewing *sigh*. But hey, this can be a dream, right?

Thanks for "listening" to my accountability report. Let's talk again in a few weeks :)