Currently, I am…

Eating-chocolate pudding. Because I am a grown up, and I am in denial that the holiday “diet” is over.

Wishing-for 3 day weekends. Mondays are rough friends. I do love my job, and I am excited by the work I get to do every day. However, there are so many things I want to accomplish and do over the weekends that I always feel that let down on Sunday nights. Womp womp.

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Watching-Mad Men and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix. I really could not get more opposite shows. I love Ellie Kemper, and she just makes my smile with any project she does. This show is a great pick me up while I am cooking dinner or folding some laundry. Mad Men, however, I am not so into yet. It is kind of hard to watch with all the sexism. It is painful to know some of these things are still happening, but also heartwarming that so much has changed. I am half way through the first season, and I plan on watching the whole season to see if I get hooked or not. I can tell that I am not that into it because I can go days without watching it and wondering in the mean time what happened. Those clothes though…I may continue watching just to see the wardrobe. My dream era design wise!

Working on-meeting with so many students and their GPA configuration to retain scholarships or get off of academic probation. The last couple weeks have been non-stop students! As far as home projects, we are still working on getting our house guest ready. It seems like when we just are moving junk around to complete projects. But our basement is in a much better place than it was a month ago, thanks to the hubster. Now just to get to a place where we can see our dining room table again.

Wearing// layers and boots. I could wear boots every day.

Collecting// Kid’s books. Tom and I just admitted this week that we collect collections. So we are on a mission to have a massive library full of kid’s book collections. There could be worse things to collect. Right now, I am hankering for all the Curious George, Clifford, Berenstain Bears, and Littler Critter books. We also buy a lot from Usborne!

Excited to… continue building a new coaching program and working with student leaders again. Our office quite literally fell into some money two days before the session started that was earmarked for very intentional programming initiatives. Within those two days we created a framework of a peer mentoring program to start this semester, which included hiring two student staff members. It was kind of crazy to build an entire program from scratch in two days, and I still think I am flubbing around. We’ll get there though! It has been a couple years since I have supervised students, and I also mostly work with students who are at risk and need academic intervention. So it is really exciting to be working with this leadership population again.

Looking Forward To-February. January kind of kicked my butt. Also just generally warmer weather. My body is meant to be a beach body. George apparently has inherited the disdain for cold weather.

It has been a hot minute since I let you in on my thoughts about any TV shows. Well wait no more!

Right now it seems like all I am watching is reality TV with the extended breaks TV dramas are now taking in the winter months. I feel like the breaks are getting longer and longer every year.

Anyway, here are three shows that have my attention right now.

American Idol

I will be honest, I have never watched this show before. I really had no intention to for this farewell season, but my heartstrings were pulled. The radio station I listen to has been having contestants on each day, so I was curious by their stories. And after four episodes, I am hooked. I love the judges. I love every one of them individually, but they are great together as well. They play off of each other really well. It is very similar to So You Think You Can Dance, and I love watching the personal stories come out. Tom has been watching with me too, so that has been fun. Normally we don’t watch current TV shows together-Netflix is our thing. He was in choir in high school so I think he gets into the singing more than he lets on. I am not going to pick any favorites until I see more with Hollywood week. Athough Dalton who sang Phantom in kind of alternative rock is great, as well as the marine cowboy, John Wayne. So maybe I do have some favorites…

The Biggest Loser

https://www.instagram.com/p/_2lOQwnIYc/?taken-by=biggestlosernbc

I enjoy this show, but I think it may be on its way out. They changed a lot this season, with one change being Alison Sweeney no longer being the host. She was one of my favorite parts of the show, so I was sad to see that change. I am rooting for the father/daughter couple on the black team. They just have a sweet story, but obviously not sweet enough for me to remember their names. With that, I haven’t really felt connected to many contestants so far. They are still trying to build things up right now. It just feels a lot slower than past seasons.

The Bachelor

Ben may be one of my favorite Bachelors. He is right up there with Sean Lowe for me. He is super awkward though, and I LOVE it! I have no idea what Lace is still doing there, because by his facial expressions he doesn’t seem to understand her or like her. There seems to be a lot of superficialness going on right now. Since there have been so many years, really anything goes, including past contestants coming back. I love Becca though, so I am excited to see how their relationship goes. My other favorites for Ben are Lauren B and JoJo. Along with Lace, I can’t really do Olivia or the twins anymore. The twins just seem too young and high maintenance for Ben. Olivia’s mouth frightens me, plain and simple. To give her the benefit of the doubt, I think they are making her a villian out of small things. I think it is fair for her to want as much time with Ben, maybe how that comes off to us makes it seem worse than it is. I guess we will see how the drama unfolds.

There is something crazy fun about reality TV. I love the real stories coming out in these Hollywood creations.

Do you watch any of these shows? Do you have any favorite contestants?

My people, we finally have something on our walls.

It only took us 4 months, but I digress. We had them up before Christmas, I just have been slacking on writing the post.

I grappled with taking staged photos, but I am tired of stressing about that stuff. So you all are going to get the real look of our living room on a day to day basis.

I obviously love pictures so I wanted a way to display them easily. Because we take a lot of pictures, I change them often so that also needs to be easy. Tom made these floating shelves. And I love them! It is exactly what I wanted a completely changes the room. And I can change how the frames look anytime without putting more holes in the wall. And the best part is the cost. Something like this would cost lotsa monies because of the size.

So thankful for the handy husband!

Tom found boards that were the depth we wanted to make the top and bottom boards. He used pine because it is cheap and easy to work with. Pine also takes stain really well, so you can make it to look anyway you want.

Then he put 1X2 as a spacer to make a box and capped them on the end.

Once the box was made, he did a simple stain.

To hang them on the wall, he wanted to make sure they were sturdy and not going anywhere. He used flush mount hangers. One piece is screwed into the wall, while the other is screwed into the shelves. Then they slide into each other like a hand in a pocket. These bad boys aren’t going anywhere.

This whole project took Tom about an hour to complete.

It makes a huge difference in our living room. There are some pieces that I want on the adjacent wall to complete the room, but this is a wonderful start to make this place more homey and fit our style.

How do you like my end tables? Seriously though, actual end tables are coming up in the future, but we are making due right now with TV trays. Our house is a constant work in progress. Thank you Grace for your modeling skills.

How do you display your photos? Does you pet like to pose for you?

At least for me it has.

I am not fair-weather fan, which means I have endured many losses and disastrous seasons with the teams I support. I don’t know much about stats besides total wins and losses. I just watch to see a good game and to cheer on my teams. With the joy of seeing this year unfold, there have been many heartaches getting to this spot.

I am a Royals fan.

I am a Chiefs fan.

I am a Clemson fan.

These are underdog teams that many people have not seen coming this last year. You can tell by the commentators on ESPN and sportscasters during games. Underestimating!

This year, my teams are killing it! All of them!

So this is what it feels like to be a winner?

I think I like it here!

The Royals won the World Series! I still get tickled saying that.

The Chiefs won their first playoff game in 22 years this weekend. They dominated that game really.

True story, my undergrad band played a halftime show at a Chiefs game. So much fun!

And my Alma mater Clemson is going to the National Championship tonight! (Also a long time coming since the last occurrence was in 1981.)

To see all of my teams on the big stage in playoff territory has been incredible. I have loved watching them for years, but to see them get these accolades is amazing.

I also am slightly obsessed with Dabo. I super fangirled out both times that I have met him (Seriously, I practically jumped over tables and tackled him to get a picture). I was attending Clemson when he started his head coaching career, and it has been amazing to see him do what he does and how far he has come.

I didn’t miss a home game during my time at Clemson. Some of my favorite memories were in that stadium rooting on the Tigers.

I can hardly believe this is all happening. I love being a sports fan of all these teams! This year has been extra special for all this to happen at the same time!

Taking a cue from my friend and fellow Tiger (and KC fan), Dan, this is how I feel about this year.

Here’s to the underdog! It’s our year to shine!

Can I get a Cadence Count?

Are you watching the game tonight with Clemson/Alabama? Who are you rooting for?

It’s a new year, and new things to mark off the list hopefully.

1. Crochet something else besides blankets or scarves at least once a year (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)

2. Do a photography challenge (Took pictures once a week George’s first year)

3. Visit 5 cities I have never been to before (8/5)

• We went to Columbus, Ohio last weekend for the wedding.

4. Tour at least one a winery, brewery, or distillery

5. Send at least 5 snail mail a month

6. Become a “professional” photographer

7. Run at least 10 races (any distance) (5/10)

• I have several races picked out for the year! Here’s hoping for some good training!

8. Go camping with Tom

9. Pay for the car behind me in a drive through

10. See Tyrone Wells live as many times as possible

11. Tour Fort Defiance here in Clarksville

12. Water ski with my dad

13. Do a 5K with my mom

14. Take a swing dance class with Tom

15. Read at least one fun book a month and one professional development book every three months

16. Take a pottery or stained glass class

17. Do one new recipe each month

• Mac and Cheese bites-I combined two recipes, which I need to write down because they were delicious. I made them twice for the holiday festivities. And they heat up nicely as left overs as well.
• Potato Rounds-I made these for our appetizer Christmas meal with my mom and brother. They were pretty easy to make!
• Pancakes-Tom and I want to start a tradition of making a huge breakfast on Christmas day. This year, I made pancakes from scratch. They were pretty delicious if I do say so myself.

18. See both a Clemson and UCM football game live

• Clemson is playing Monday for the national title! Wahoo, waa-aa-aa-hoo!

19. Find a place to volunteer on a regular basis

20. Go hiking

21. Ride in a hot air balloon

22. Go to at least 20 “new to me” restaurants. (29/20)

23. Stay at a bed and breakfast

24. Spend a day without electronics (phone, t.v. and computer)

25. Do something unique and new for my birthdays

26. Explore Nashville while we live here

27. Watch at least 10 movies that I have not seen before that won Best Picture at the Oscars and at least 20 documentaries (not necessarily Oscar winning) Movies (3/10); Documentaries (7/20)

• The Greatest Show on Earth won best Best picture in 1953, so the filming was outdated. I love old movies so this was right up my alley. It wasn’t the greatest movie, but it was cute. There were some fun cameos in the circus audience like Bing Crosby. It had an element of a documentary with a fiction storyline under it.

28. Sew an item of clothing from scratch

29. Do a personal devotional/bible study on my own

30. Be a mascot for an event

31. Go on our honeymoon (preferably somewhere tropical)

32. Host an annual NCAA Basketball Tournament Championship game party

33. Go on a mission trip

34. Be on a recreation volleyball team

35. Become a mom

Not too many things, but progress is progress.