Today’s Challenge: Your Day

A little vague, no? At first I thought about making this be my BIG day and sharing a couple of wedding photos with you, but then I realized that would mean hauling out my wedding album and scanning photos in. So instead, you’re going to get an idea of what an average day for me is like. I know, I know – thrilling. Try to contain your excitement. :)

I wake up in the morning around 6:45. Well, let me take that back – lately J has been coming in our room around 6:00, so from then until my alarm goes off, I get a little bit of dozing here and there. Then I hear my phone and hit the snooze once to feel like I’m pampering myself with 5 extra minutes of sleep.

We get our morning routine done pretty quickly, because I’d rather rush through the morning a little quicker than have to get up earlier. The boys and I head over to their day care, and of course every morning provides scenes like this:

Or, you know, not. Sometimes they’re all about being best buds. Other days we’re sleepy & we all just kind of stare out the window silently. And some morning there’s a lot of whiiiiiiiiiiining and I have the opportunity to work on my skill of tuning things out. The boys are both morning people, though, so mornings are good more often than not.

After day care I head to work. I don’t have any photos of my work area, but here’s the poster I have behind my desk – I love it!

I love typography (which most of you probably do not, so you’re probably wondering why on earth this poster makes me so happy) and had to get this for my space.

Brian comes and has lunch with me every day. Some days we’ll go out – lunch dates are always a treat – but most of the time we have something exciting like this:

After work I go pick up the boys, we all head home and then get dinner started. Bedtime for the boys is 7:30 (ish) and then Brian and I have some time to spend relaxing together, working on blogging or freelance, and getting ready for the next day. I stay up way too late almost every night, usually getting in bed around midnight (ish) where I watch a little HGTV and then CRASH. Ta-da! There’s my day in a nutshell. Or in a rambling post.

Today’s Challenge: An experience that made me who I am today

Yep, you saw that right. A visit to Chuck E. Cheese’s changed my life.

I was in elementary school, and my Mema & Papa (mom’s parents) took me to Chuck E. Cheese one Friday night. I can still remember having a lot of fun – they completely spoiled me with plenty of pizza and tokens, and patiently followed me around playing games with me.

As it got later we decided to head back home. Mema, who might have weighed 95 pounds soaking wet, walked in front of me, and Papa followed behind us, having held the door open for us to walk through. We had barely taken a few steps out of the door when it happened. Suddenly Mema was shoved brusquely to the ground as a woman ripped her purse from her arm and took off around the corner to what we later found out was the getaway car. My grandfather followed after them, but seconds later I saw a car zoom by, out of the parking lot and away from us.

That one moment changed me. For years afterward I would always walk beside my mom or Mema on the side where their purse was, holding on to it and hoping to help prevent something happening again. I was suddenly cautious of the world, wondering who else out there might do something so cruel without a moment’s warning. I had nightmares, not of the purse snatching, but of some other faceless person coming to kidnap me.

The nightmares stopped, and I eventually stopped worrying about something happening again. It didn’t scar me – I’m a happy, optimistic person. I’m still fairly cautious to this day, though, and I’ll always wonder if part of it can be attributed back to that night.

Even though that experience was a horrible one for me at the time, what happened afterward affected me profoundly in a way for which I will always be thankful.

The purse snatcher was eventually caught and put in jail – I think some good Samaritan had followed the car and gotten the license plate that night, although I’m a little vague on exactly how she was caught. I remember feeling relief that she was behind bars, and a little vindication that she would be punished for what she had done.

Then I heard that Mema had gone to visit the woman. I couldn’t believe it – the idea of it was scary to me at the time. But what amazed my little elementary school self most was that Mema hadn’t gone to yell at her, or to enjoy the satisfaction of seeing her behind bars.

She went to offer forgiveness. And that simple act has stuck with me my entire life.

Today’s Challenge: My Favorite Shows

Ok, confession – we watch a lot of TV. I think part of it stems from the fact that, with two little boys who go to bed at 7:30, we’re home a lot. But to be honest, we watched TV a lot pre-kids, too. I like to rationalize that we save money this way – we’re not out going to the movies, or eating out, because our entertainment is right there in our living room. Don’t worry, I won’t take you through all gazillion of the shows I like, but here are a few:

Top Chef – Wednesday nights on Bravo: I’ve mentioned before that Brian and I love to cook, so I guess it should come as no surprise that we love this show. I like that it generally focuses more on talent and skill than behind-the-scenes drama you find so much in reality TV. It’s motivated us to try new foods, and Brian’s gotten interested in the science behind cooking – he’s trying to talk me into getting equipment to try sous vide cooking.

House Hunters on HGTV: I could list a LOT of shows from HGTV that I love, but this is probably my favorite. I was especially hooked when we were house hunting, too. Even now, though, I watch it almost every night before going to bed. I always like to try and figure out which of the three houses the people will pick, and it’s fun seeing how they change the house after moving in. I usually watch this one alone, but if I could ever get Brian into HGTV, this would be the gateway show.

The Amazing Race, Sunday nights on CBS: Ok, I just realized that all three shows I picked fall into the reality TV category (good reality TV, in my defense!) but almost all of the other shows we watch do not. Oh well… let’s pretend I chose this theme on purpose. Anyway, back to the show – I think I love this one because it lets me travel vicariously through these other people’s experiences. The show starts off with a group of teams, and slowly dwindles week by week down to three final teams that compete in the last leg for 1 million dollars. Along the way they travel to different countries (and continents), and are faced with challenges that often reflect local culture. It’s fun to find a time to really root for (or against) and follow the adventures from week to week.

What are your favorite shows?

Today I’m participating in something new from It’s Gravy, Baby! The idea is that every day in March, participants share a photo and write from a provided prompt. I’m not promising I’ll stick to it every day, but I’ll try – I like the idea of having something to inspire a post, and to sometimes force me to write/share outside of my comfort zone a little bit.

Today’s Challenge: A photo of yourself with 10 facts

1. I hate having my photo taken. I would MUCH rather be behind the camera, taking photos of my two boys or my miniature dachshund.
2. I’m married to my high school sweetheart, who, in high school, regularly dyed his hair completely unnatural colors (I think he had it green for the longest period of time). I, on the other hand, worked at the Gap. Somehow we found middle ground :) and we make a great team.
3. I knew Brian was “the one” and wrote him a letter to read on our wedding day four years before we actually got married. I hung on to it even through a brief 4-month break-up, and loved giving it to him to read that day.
4. I’m a Christian and my faith is a central part of my life, especially in raising our boys. I believe in sharing my faith largely by how I live and how I treat others.
5. I was born and raised in Texas, but am not a “Western” girl at all. I’ve ridden a horse a handful of times, but I think it was as novel to me as it’d be to someone from NY! I do not own a pair of cowboy boots, and never have. I loved growing up here, though, and love living here now with our kids.
6. I am scared of flying, and have been for years. I haven’t flown in over 10 years, but want to fly somewhere with my family soon because a) I know the boys will love it and b) I don’t want this fear to hold us back from having great experiences, or spread to the boys. I’m also scared of elevators. I ride in them, but my heart races every. single. time. Even if it’s just from floor 1 to floor 2.
7. I LOVE to cook. LOVE it. I’m really glad Brian loves it too, because it’s a lot of fun to do together.
8. I’m kind of a picky eater, though. I don’t like any seafood that I’ve tried, and don’t like many veggies, either… although I’m getting better about trying and liking new things!
9. Prior to having my kids I wanted a girl. Would’ve been happy with either, but I thought that’s what I was suited for. Now that I have my boys it feels like a perfect fit and I love being a mom to boys!
10. I was at my first job for seven years, and just made the switch to a new job this past summer. It was more than a little nerve wracking to make such a big life change, but it has most definitely been the right decision for me and for our family. Now I’m a designer and get paid to be creative. :)

If you have a “10 facts” post about yourself, please leave a link in the comments. I’d love to read it!