Top 5 of 2013

This is one of my favorite posts of the year. So much fun to look back to see which entries had the most hits.

Survey says:

#5) Work

#4) The Zoo

#3) Possibly Having a Stalker

#2) Clean Diet Round Two

...and the most popular blog post of the year (drum roll please)

#1) The Day I Got My Nose Pierced!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

With Love,

Caroline & Whelan

"Let your heart be light...."

2013 Reads

I've read 8 books this year and I'm trying to make it 9 by the time 2013 is over. I have my books listed at the bottom of my blog page, but I've decided to post it so that it can be saved because I am going to delete and start with a fresh list for 2014.

Here they are, in the order that I've read them:

1) The Secret Life of Bees  (Sue Monk Kidd)

2) The Great Divorce (CS Lewis)

3) The Omnivore's Dilemma..... this I listened to on audio and I didn't quite finish it, only because the technology messed up. I would like to finish listening one day

4) 40 Days to Personal Revolution (Baron Baptiste)

5) Freakonomics (Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner)

6) 50 Shades of Grey (EL James) Yes...I read it. Eh, it was okay. No desire to read the sequels

7) Handbook of Vintage Remedies (Jessie Hawkins)

8) Imagine: How Creativity Works (Jonah Lehrer)


It takes me awhile to get through a book, As you can see, I read about 1/2 a book per month. I think my favorite of the year would have to be #7. I'm reading this one on my kindle & I'd like to buy a hard copy just to have around so that I can replace all my western medicine with old, natural remedies. Basically every ailment can be treated naturally, another goal for me to work towards in 2014.

The book I'm beginning today is borrowed from my friend, Angie. Its called Women, Food, and God by Geneen Roth. Pretty sure I'm gonna love it.

Brain Dump Week

Yeah, so the brain dump didn't work out for me. If you promise not to judge, I'll share what I wrote on Monday morning (because that's the only day I did it.) Sleep trumped writing every other day. I'm not sure how motherhood will ever work out for me. Sleep is much too valuable.

Anyway, this is what my brain wrote as it was still beginning to process for the day....

"I think we're going to do 5 minutes in the morning. Its 6:38 now. the screen is bright for my eyes. my head doesn't hurt this morning like it sometimes does when i wake up. I think drinking lots of water helps with that. I want to drink water so that my skin will look pretty as I age. I'm almost 30 ya know!? Its a halfway goal of mine to be in the best shape and frame of mind in my 30th year. I don't want to be one of those who gains 5 pounds every year and goes downhill. I want to really change my habits for the better. I'm thinking- very conscious eating for 6 days out of the week and one splurge day. That's what the marion berry style lady does and I think she looks phenomenal. Exercise is also a key component and will be a major goal of mine for my 30th year!"

 I've been feeling extra chubby lately, so I guess talking about my good intentions makes me feel better about myself. These were truly my very first thoughts upon rising. I pretty much forgot what I had written until I went back later in the day to look at it. I was almost writing from a dream state.

Maybe you'll get more out of me over the Christmas break while I have some time away from the pre-teen drama that is 5th and 6th grade.

Trying Something New

I'm going to give morning writing time a shot. I've been hearing lots of tid bits lately about writing and lets face it, I need a boost. The new strategies I want to try will include: A) forcing myself to do what is endearingly called a "brain dump" each morning.  I use the term EACH very loosely. This "brain dump" was mentioned to me by a creative writing teacher I met through yoga. She says to set a timer for X amount of minutes & write down whatever comes to mind as soon as you roll out of bed, whether it makes sense or not. B) I will write whether I feel like it or not  (advice given by a novelist I recently met.) Sometimes it takes grit to get through writing a novel, but the end product is worth it. I have no plans for writing a novel; I'll gladly stick to this humble blog. However, I do want to rekindle the spark and write as often as I used to when I first began.

PS: This may not pan out at all, but in the morning I'm going to give it the old college try.

My First Turkey

...was a gigantic failure. We're gonna blame the turkey disaster on my oven. I strictly followed all instructions from my grandma. I de-thawed for days, I rinsed, I removed neck and giblets (gross), I rubbed with oil and spices, I stuffed, I wrapped tightly in foil, I baked. When it came time to open the oven 12 hours later, we had a halfway raw 18 pound bird on our hands. Good thing mom and dad came through with the ham. Also, thank goodness I still had a 6 hours before everyone came to my house for the feast! Back in the oven she went. Long story short, turkey became dessert.

But it didn't matter because we had:

family time....

a festive table ...

games like Boggle & Buzz Word (I don't have cable)...

lots of other yummy food...

my squash and zucchini casserole, however, DID turn out to be delicious. Whelan enjoyed watching me chop....

I loved having my family over at my new condo for Thanksgiving. One of my favorite parts of our day was reading "thankful" scriptures around the table and putting out our old and worn place cards that Cathlin made out of index cards when she was in 2nd grade. They each have a fall themed picture drawn nicely with colored pencil. Some of the best ones are: the skinny pilgrim, a piece of corn on the cob (husk included) a pumpkin on a hay bale, and a cornucopia. I should've taken a picture of them.

Psalm 107:1

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever."

Sidenote: On Thursday we went to RJ's in Statesboro with dad's side of the fam. Who knew that so many people went out to eat on Thanksgiving?? It was a first for us. The place was PACKED. We had to wait in a long and cold line out the door. Once we got settled all was well and lunch was delish!

October Re-Cap

Oh hey, let's do an October re-cap. If we make a list, it'll go faster, then we can move on to the quickly passing month of November, then it will be Christmas & before you know it, BAM- 2014.

1) Fall began at my new favorite place on earth, Whole Foods. It puts a huge dent in my wallet, but I enjoy the experience so much that I deem it worth dropping $100 each time I exit the door.

2) Taking in the last few lazy weekends at Wylly Island... moving date: November 1st.

3) Isle of Hope Art Festival. I went earlier in the day with mom and dad, toured all the booths, and got a few early Christmas gifts ( for myself....) The best part was running into so many familiar faces. Isle of Hope will always be home to me. We had Joe's Lobster Roll's for lunch from a stand in the marina parking lot. That guy was killin it....so delicious. Check out his lobster claw hat.

Later I came back with Josh when he got off work and we revisited all my favorite booths, drank some cheap wine, and listened to some live music.

4) Cathlin started working in the school system as a PSI parapro and now that we have the same work schedule, we send each other selfies every morning to compare outfits. The sad part is, I'm not even kidding.

5) The 5th grade team dressed up as the Pink Ladies for Halloween. I was Rizzo. Vicky, don't kill me, but I had to post a picture of you as Jan. Too bad the toothbrush in your pocket isn't showing. She was seriously the best. Oh... and our grade level won for best costume. Not bragging or anything.

The end!