March 9, 2015 by Stephanie

35 before 35 Update

This last month is honestly a blur, so let’s see how I did.

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

I successfully made another hat. These are some of my favorite pictures of George to date too! You can click here to see more.

2. Do a photography challenge

I am steadily keeping up with this! I have some things coming up that I am going to try shooting in different ways and forcing myself to change different settings. Plus I am so ready to be shooting outside again!
I often find myself looking through his album now that we have 6 months worth of photos to see how he has changed, but also how some of my photography has changed.
Do you have any suggestions of things I should capture with George or techniques I should try?

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

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

5. Send at least 5 snail mail a month

6. Become a “professional” photographer

I have some potential clients with inquiries so hopefully they come to fruition.
I was blessed to be part of a charity event this Friday where I was the photographer. It is an organization that helps homeless children with a variety of things. There is an art auction every year, and this is my second year being a part of it.

7. Run at least 10 races (any distance) (1/10)

I am signed up for a 10K in September, but I need to find some 5Ks to hit up. None around here seem to fit into my schedule.

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

I started a new book for both of these this month. I am really struggling finding the time to read, and when I do, I fall asleep with in minutes. Even when I read at my desk during lunch, while I am pumping. Something needs to change lol.

16. Take a pottery or stained glass class

17. Do one new recipe each month

I am going to share it later this week, but I made pumpkin brownies yesterday.

18. See both a Clemson and UCM football game live

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. (21/20)

I went to two this month, both here in Columbia. I went to Casablanca with a friend from college who I haven’t seen in probably a good 9 years. It is a Greek restaurant in town that is REALLY GOOD, and pretty nicely priced. Their staff was really nice too. I then went to my first Thai place last week with a friend (who randomly knew Tom growing up, worked with me at Iowa State, and now we are both working at CC.). I will admit that I played it safe and had a stir fry, but it was still pretty good. The service was less than desirable, but hey when you are busy sometimes your emotions get the best of you.

23. Stay at a bed and breakfast

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

25. Have a Kentucky Derby themed 30th birthday party.

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 (2/10); Documentaries (7/20)

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)

I finally got Tom to agree to go on a honeymoon cruise for our 5 year anniversary next year. Is it too early to plan?

32. Host an annual NCAA Basketball Tournament Championship game party

I doubt this will happen this year. We just have too much going on right now to get this organized in the next couple weeks. Plus I will be out of town the week before for a wedding and will be heading up to KC that weekend to help with going through my Grandma’s things. My introvert emotions can’t handle having people over after all that. I know when to say no. Hopefully next year we will be a little more settled. (Or does that never happen?)

33. Go on a mission trip

34. Be on a recreation volleyball team

35. ~~Become a mom~~

March 6, 2015 by Stephanie

The Worst Job

In college and high school, I took some random jobs that were not exactly “life changing-fill your soul up” kind of jobs. The goal was to get money to save for college expenses. And because of that I came out of college (twice) with zero debt. Well these random jobs and applying for every scholarship I was eligible for did that.

Last night I was reminded of one of my least favorite jobs I had in college.

The dreaded alumni phone-a-thon.

I received a very sweet call from a current Clemson student who was basically trying to get me to give money to make “Clemson better.” I mean really why would some random student call me just to talk: I don’t think so.

My heart went out to her because for one semester my freshman year of college, I was her.

We had a list of alumni that we had to call “begging” for their donation.

First of all, I hate phones.

Second, I hate conflict.

Third, how awkward is it to ask money from total strangers? For me, it was very awkward.

With my phone anxiety at the time, this really wasn’t the most ideal job. Honestly it was the worst.

image via

Our team would have competitions to see who could gather the most donations each night. Surprise that I never one. I called it a successful night if I didn’t have someone yell at me for interrupting their dinner. There was one lady who yelled at me because her son had passed away (who was the alum) and to stop harassing her. Information noted and updated…

Every call I made, I had a pit in my stomach expecting the worst conversation of my life. A little dramatic but did I say that this was the worst job for me?

There were a few successes. I did get to have some lovely conversations with people who were education majors or were also in band like me. People like to talk about commonalities you know. My biggest donation was I think $100, and I about fell out of my chair in shock. I also did make a few friends who were in the trenches with me on the calls.

This was not the greatest job for me because of the anxiety of pissing people off and not seeing them face to face (not that I really want to see someone who I have pissed off face to face, but you get the idea). It was however the beginning of my introduction into Student Affairs. I did learn a lot about how institutions function. It also provided me with perspective from Alumni that I would never have seen otherwise. It helped me come out of my shell a little bit, and I worked through some of my cold call phone anxiety. But it is something I would never voluntarily do again.

So when this young woman called me last night, I couldn’t help but feel for her. I didn’t want to be that person who caused her anxiety or hung up on her. Because I had been in her shoes, I knew as soon as she started talking that she was going to get my money. I have donated every year, but when you get the call it does become more personal. I didn’t do it out of guilt, but more out of camaraderie because I had been a fellow phone-a-thoner. And I gave more than I usually do because I know on the back end how that will feel for her. I hope she continued to have a pleasant night.

So note to my Alma Maters, call me every year and you for sure will get my support. Because I am a sucker.

It does feel good to give back to your schools, especially since I was given so much through the experiences there. It is my small way of trying to help someone else have those “life changing-fill your soul up” experiences too.

I will say, Central needs to step up their game. I have never received a call from them or any emails about donations. And my phone and email have not changed high school. What has happened since I have been there?

Anyway, Go Tigers and Go Mules!

Do you give back to your Alma Maters? What was your worst job?

February 17, 2015 by Stephanie

Mom Confessions

I think we always share our highlight reels on social media. I have been wanting to share the not so glamorous parts that most people won’t admit online. This confession link-up gave me the push to actually post it.

So here are some of my mom confessions.

George is the worst nap taker and refuses to take naps at home. And there is no transferring him from the car-seat or your arms without waking him up. So if he falls asleep in his car-seat while we are out, I will leave him in the car-seat until he wakes up. There have been some times where he stays in his car seat for more than 30 minutes once we get home.

When I am driving and can’t find his pacy because well I am driving, I have put my finger in his mouth to calm him down. You do what you have to do sometimes.

I unintentionally may have flashed my entire office a couple weeks ago while I was pumping. I have blinds on my window, and I was all hooked up with boobs out when I noticed I forgot to shut them. MORTIFIED. My office is the kind though that someone would have kindly sent me a message reminding me to shut them. So I don’t think anyone saw anything, but I am still embarrassed that someone may have. Seriously my heart is pounding just thinking about it even though it was a couple weeks ago.

Speaking of forgetting things, every single day I think I forget to shut the garage door. Almost daily I have to circle the neighborhood to make sure that I closed it. Not once have I actually forgotten, but every day I am terrified once I get out of my neighborhood that I did. Just this morning I had to circle; and even after checking the second time out of the neighborhood, I still thought I may have forgotten.

The only songs I know without music are “The Star Spangled Banner,” “America the Beautiful,” and “Amazing Grace.” These are the only songs I sing when I rock George to sleep. So yes my kid falls asleep to the national anthem every night.

I use baby wipes to clean upstairs when I am too lazy to bring the cleaning stuff upstairs. Ok, I may use baby wipes to clean everywhere.

This is George’s original Halloween outfit. It is a 0-3 month, he will be 6 months old next week. Yes I still made him wear it in February.

What are your confessions?

February 16, 2015 by Stephanie

Snow Day

This morning I woke up to every school in the area being closed in the area except mine. So I begrudgingly got up, fed George, and got in the shower. I took my time hoping that my school would get with the picture and call for a snow day and also accepting that if they didn’t I probably would be late.

You see snow days aren’t just fun for the kids. Adults get giddy too seeing their school scroll across the bottom of the TV.

Halfway through my shower, Tom gave me the news that I did indeed have a snow day. SNOW DAY! I shaved my legs in celebration. I seriously never have time do that.

This free day off was much need after the weekend we had. It is giving us the chance to breath before having to go back to the real world.

This will probably be the only snow day the three of us ever have together. Police Officers don’t really get snow days, but since Tom is in school he got one today. (He is already back in bed for the morning.)

So we are going to do this snow day right.

Here is what is on the agenda:

watch 3 hours of Pretty Little Liars
take a nap
exercise for more than 15 minutes
read a couple chapters in my new book
do some laundry that I didn’t have time for yesterday
take some pictures of George that I didn’t get to this weekend for my photo challenge
write a couple blog posts I haven’t had time to complete
watch the SNL 40th with Tom
eat lots of donuts and cookies
And lots of this. I may just wear him all day. I didn’t put him down most of the weekend dealing with Grandma stuff. He was such a comfort.

The nice thing about snow days is it is like a free weekend. It’s like a gift. We plan to enjoy every extra moment we get to have at home.

What do you do on your snow days? Did you get one today?

February 15, 2015 by Stephanie

Life.

One year ago, we were celebrating the news that we would be adding life to our family. Valentine’s Day we found out we were pregnant.

This year we celebrated life in a different way. We celebrated a life lost.

Such a big life.

Friday night my sweet sweet grandma passed away.

This is such a hard loss because of the huge place Grandma held in our lives. While we knew this was something that was going to happen, her passing is still very much a shock because of how she has always been there for us.

She was one of the sweetest and most selfless women I knew. It’s hard to sum up everything that she was and meant to us.

She is colored popcorn balls.

She is lunch dates to Andres.

She is our first trip to Silver Dollar City.

She is the blue suede jacket that was forever a staple in her closet.

She was a trip to the movies to see the latest kid blockbuster.

She is her insistence that she was always 5.8 and a size 8 shoe.

She is watching Curly Sue, Heidi, and Big Business with me on repeat.

She is the shrimp holiday meal.

She is the immaculate manicure and updo. (Come to think of it, I don’t think I ever did see her nails not done.)

She is trips to Japanese Steak House.

She is the Hallmark movies she would save.

She is the angel Christmas decorations that would flood her house in the winter.

She is the call to make sure I was ok on campus, and that I was carrying a flashlight.

She is the family she embraced (blood and not). She adopted anyone as hers.

She is the laugh that fills you up.

She is the way she talked about each of her grandchildren and great grandchildren with great pride and love.

She is the support she showed us at every band concert, play, sports event, etc.

She is the way her eyes lit up when you walked in the door to visit.

She is a role model as a wife and mother.

She is the sparkle you saw when she talked about the love of her life (Grandpa).

She is the way she said I love you.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Grandma was so much to all of us that there is definitely a void that is felt by all.

We spent so much time at her house growing up. It was a safe haven for us, and we knew a good time would be had with her. All of these moments, I will cherish.

She was a mom to three, grandma to eight, and great-grandma to thirteen. And she loved as all so fully. Goodness it is hard to explain the emotion and all that she gave to us.

She was one of those people who gave everything that she was and then just a little more. She was seriously the best.

This was just a start to remember all of it. There will never be anyone quite like her. She was one special lady. This is my attempt to put it into words, but it’s still tough to process this loss. I just can’t imagine going home to Kansas City without seeing her face or hearing her voice. So much beauty wrapped up in one person.