Christmas List 2012

Okay, Christmas list 2012 done.

Please, oh please, Santa.

Friends and family, I will take contributions. 

I don't have anywhere to put it currently, but I could not be more in love with an appliance.  :)

Source: West Elm

Thankful: Voting

Today I am thankful for the opportunity to vote.

This was my first voting experience in Kentucky and I will say it just did not feel as patriotic. I was able to walk three buildings down to my precinct. Nobody was campaigning and there were no signs. I walked in and was asked for my ID before I even got to the table. No wait. In fact, nobody was voting when I went! Made my choices and walked out. No sticker. So I took this picture to document my experience, but it had nothing to do with the voting area as it was in a different room. When leaving the building, I was then hit on by a man sitting on the steps. (Convo went like this... "Did you hurt yourself when you fell?" "I didn't fell." "I meant when you fell from Heaven."... Yep, it happened.) It made me miss good ole Nashville where people are handing you stickers and trying to change your mind all the way to the door. 

Still glad that I took the 2 minutes from my day to let my voice be heard. I would have gladly done it even if it took hours.

God bless America. May God bless our future president.

(Fun fact of the day: In Kentucky (and South Carolina) you cannot sell/buy alcohol on Election Day.)

Thankful: Dreams

Tonight I am thankful for dreams.

Over my lifetime, I have had dreams to come and go. Some that were realized, some that were not, some that changed, and some that might be realized in the future. Let's take a look, shall we?

1. Go to college ✔ (Completed in 2006)
2. Live in a foreign country ✔ (2006-2008: China)
3. Become an anchorwoman
4. Have 12 2 children
5. Own a yellow house (Not as much as I once did)
6. Get married (Hmmmm.....)
7. Own a B&B (Getting there!)
8. Own a Vespa ✔(Thanks to Jan P!)
9. Live in Italy
10. Design a window for Anthropolgie
11. Go to culinary school
12. Be a teacher ✔(2008-2012)
13. Adopt
14. Write a book
....

I could go on and on. My dreams have helped carried me through some rough patches and made my life more full. I hope that I never quit dreaming. What are some of your dreams?

Thankful : Internet

I am thankful for the internet. (Thank you, Al Gore.)

Now you might be thinking what a shallow thing to say, but let me tell you how the internet has helped my life.

1. Keeping up with friends especially when I was half a world away in China.
2. How anyone majored in education before the internet is beyond me. Great lesson plans, activities, and so much knowledge out there.
3. I use the internet daily to pull recipes from... tonight was a cranberry mock/beertail and I just found a Pumpkin French Toast that will be making an appearance at the Inn.
4. Tutorial videos.... how do you think I learned to fix an egg over-easy or pin my hair in Victorian style?!?
5. I balanced my checkbook with online banking.
6. I can watch a podcast or church online when the Inn is full on Sunday mornings.
7. You get to read this post. :)

Shallow maybe, but oh-so-useful.

Thankful:Charlie

I am thankful for our dog, Charlie. (Also known as Charles and sometimes Charles-in-Charge.) We have had her for about a year and a half. Yes, you read that correctly. Charlie is a she. J started calling her Charlie and it just stuck. She found him when he was taking his canoe out of the water and after a search for her owners she became ours.

Charlie has been a source of happiness and companionship. We were heart-broken when we first moved because we did not think she could come with us, but thankfully it all worked out. (Thanks to some very sweet teacher friends who fostered her and then gracious bosses.) While she definitely loves J more, every now and then we have moments. I find myself just watching her often because she is so stinkin' adorable. We are so blessed to have this squirrel-loving, trip-taken, plate-cleaning, ball-chasing, fur ball.

Thankful: Stories

I am not sure how it became November already... Fall is zipping by. I can already feel the start of winter chill in my bones and the blanket hogging begins.

This month I will be joining the ranks of thankful bloggers and Cathy Zielske and posting for 30 days about things I am thankful for. Would love to see what you are thankful for each day either on your blog or in the comments section. It might be cliche, but actually taking the time to acknowledge things you are grateful for really can change the outlook of your day.

Day #1... I am thankful for stories. There is hardly anything I love more than hearing the stories of others. That might explain why I love my job (getting to hear the stories of travelers) and why my favorite radio show is This American Life. I love photographs because it has captured a moment in someone's story. I read through books like I cannot get enough. The telling of stories is therapeutic and releases a part of us. The actual participation of stories have helped shape us into the people we have become and are emotional. There are stories worth repeating and others that you wish were not brought up as often. Never do people laugh more than when I tell the story of the Harbin squatty potty.I am still amazed every time we tell the story of how we came to Louisville. I cry often when telling stories of my childhood.  No matter the good or the bad, stories connect us to others, our history, our present, and our future. I look forward to the stories that will unfold soon.