Welcome to Blogtober!

It's so depressing to log into my blog and see that my last post was August 19.

Pathetic.

I knew it had been a long time, but that's just sad. That's why I hereby deem this month to be known as Blogtober!

The goal? To blog every single day for the entire month.

I know that sounds crazy and even unreasonable, especially since I didn't post yesterday. But in my defense, I wrote a blog post (while I was drunk) and had the foresight not to actually hit "Post." After reading the post this morning, I realize what a good decision it was. So you can expect two posts today.

But back to my original point. Will it be a challenge? Absolutely. But as library school becomes increasingly demanding and I'm finding myself with every minute of my life scheduled, I realized I need to take more time just for me. This blog will be a way for me to take a moment, take a deep breath, and reflect on my life a little. I'm hoping it will force me to reflect a little more and make my life seem a lot less like Groundhog's Day.

So, with that in mind, I launch into a month of daily posts. I don't know what will come of it, but I hope you enjoy it.

A happy little gift

My husband never ceases to amaze me in his ability to pay attention to the little things. Case and point:

A few weeks before my birthday, we were watching "Giada at Home." I know some people hate her, but I credit that woman for teaching me how to cook for an Italian husband. She's a godsend for those of us from Middle America with no discernible cultural heritage.

Anyway, she had the most adorable little kitchen accessory: a porcelain egg crate that was too cute for words. I casually mentioned how adorable it was to Mike, not really thinking anything of it.

A few weeks later my dreaded 27th birthday rolled around. And what do you know? My husband had managed to track down that little egg crate from Anthropologie, which is even more impressive considering he didn't even know Anthropolgie existed.

Is that not the cutest? It comes in blue or white, but the blue looks great with white eggs (which is normally what we buy).

It such a simple thing, but it makes me smile so I wanted to share it with you.

22 hours in Madison

If you've never been to Madison, WI, put it on your "must visit" list. It's a great weekend trip and there's tons to do. Earlier this summer my husband and I drove up with some friends for a quick getaway. We were only there for 22 hours, but we managed to pack quite a bit in.

We drove into town Saturday morning and went straight to the Dane County Farmer's Market -- it's unbelievable. Take your mental image of a farmer's market. Now multiply that by 20. We're talking BIG. There are all kind of local growers and producers set up in booths surrounding the courthouse.

Oh, and that whole Wisconsin loves cheese thing -- totally NOT a cliche. Everywhere you go people are serving cheese curds -- cold, fried, tempura, you name it.

A few shots from the market:

At the farmer's market we picked up some bread, meat, fruit and cheese (of course). We had brought along a cooler so we could pack everything up for a picnic.

We headed out to Prairie du Sac to Wollersheim Winery. It's only about a 20 minute drive, but it's completely worth it. The wine is great, and the people who work there are incredible.

We took a tour of the winery, bought a couple of bottles of wine and had a simple lunch sitting out on the winery grounds. It was kind of yuppie, but really fun (and pretty cheap too). It was a great afternoon, and we were allowed to just sit and chat as long as we wanted.

After the winery, we went back to Madison and got cleaned up before heading out for the night.

We went to the Great Dane Pub, which brews it own beers. I'm not a big beer fan, but even I liked it. They have a pretty overwhelming menu, but the staff is more than happy to make recommendations. After that we headed to a great little bar called The Old Fashioned. I highly recommend the Jack Horner Martini -- delicious.

The next morning we took the advice of several people and hit up Marigold Kitchen for breakfast. And seriously, doesn't this make you hungry:

All in all, it was a great weekend. Madison is such a welcoming city and the vibe is just very laid back and relaxed. The whole city is very into local ingredients and locally owned shops and restaurants. It's a great escape for anyone.

My happy place

I know, I know. It's been a while since I posted. I've been really busy between school and work and have let a few thing slides. Don't worry. I've adequately punished myself. But this week, I'm going to catch up (and keep it up).

That's because this week I'm in my true happy place: Sanibel Island, Florida. My in-laws own and place down here and it's where we go to escape. If you aren't familiar with Sanibel, it's just off the coast of Fort Myers and is quite the oasis. If you're into going out to the bars and cruising the beaches, this is NOT the place for you. It's a slower pace of life here. There are not stoplights on the island, you can bike almost anywhere, and the only chain stores are Dairy Queen and a CVS. It's awesome.

It's even better because my husband and I are here by ourselves. Usually we have friends or family with us, but not this time! Don't get me wrong, I love our friends and family, but it's nice to be able to have time to just focus on each other. This is only our second vacation alone in all the years we've been together (the first being our honeymoon) and it's wonderful.

So anticipate seeing some posts this week about thing I did much earlier this summer, but I just want to share. In the meantime, I'll leave you with just a few photos from the island.

When we took off from Indianapolis, the weather was overcast and just plain gloomy. But when we broke through the clouds we were greeted with a beautiful morning sky. Just a little reminder to myself that it's always sunny on the other side of the clouds.

These adorable birds keep hanging out by the pond near our pool. Unfortunately it seems they are illiterate and unaware their lives are at risk. That's natural selection, I suppose.

Sanibel has some of the best shelling in the world (or so I'm told). And no matter how hard I try to resist the urge, I always end up picking up these tiny aquatic homes off the beach. This is just a small selection of what we found today. So cute!

Source: www.wildflordia.com

Something not so cute. These ugly things. Florida's lovely 4-inch grasshoppers are everywhere this time of year, and a particularly giant one landed on me today. Gross. I love Florida, but the bugs are almost too much to handle.

Why routine is important

I recently lost my keycard for work. I have absolutely no earthly idea where it is. My best guesses? Somewhere in the library or the city dump. Luckily, I can get a new one for $5 and no one really cares. But still, it's embarrassing.

Why did I lose my key? Because I didn't follow my routine. I didn't put it back in the exact same place that I always put it and now it's gone forever.

I've always had fairly strict routines in my life, doing certain things in a certain order and following a pattern. We all do it, but I think sometimes that I take it a little far. I can remember being 5 or 6 years old and having a routine that I set for myself for getting ready for bed. Even at work, I follow a very careful routine with each job I start. I always thought I was kind of weird, but now I realize that it's actually a fairly essential survival skill that I've developed.

The fact of the matter is that I'm an extremely disorganized person, no matter how much I'd like to pretend I'm not. So the only semblance of organization I can get into my life is a routine by which I can keep track of what I'm doing and where I'm putting things. Without that, all is lost. I find a remote control in the bathroom or the keys under the cat (both of which have actually happened).

And now that I'm killing myself in school, my routines are even more important. For example, earlier this summer when I was getting ready in the morning, something threw me off my routine and I got all discombobulated. By the time I got to school (for my 7-hour class), I realized I had forgotten to brush my teeth! Who does that? I mean, seriously, what grown, responsible adult forgets to brush their teeth.

Me, apparently.

So to keep from losing anything else or completely disregarding my personal hygiene, I'm embracing my love of routine. It's a crutch I can lean on.

The eternal hunt for motivation

I am afflicted with a horrible disease: laziness.

My body, when at rest, tends to stay at rest. Which is a huge problem. Exercise and physical activity aside, I just tend to not do things. This morning I wasted a good five hours of time that I could have spent being productive.

Granted, I wasn't sitting around watching TV; I was sitting around reading. (However, due the the questionable intellectual value of the book--though funny--it doesn't actually qualify as time well spent.) But I should have been dusting or vacuuming or washing dishes or anything other than what I was doing.

And it seems like the less I have to do, the less I want to do. Back when I was struggling to get everything done for class and work and take care of my husband, I had all sorts of things I wanted to do and spent every minute of my day trying to fit in my to-do list. Now that I have some extra time on my hands, I have no drive. My laziness overtakes my soul.

Unfortunately, one of the symptoms of laziness is procrastination. So while there are at least 100 things I know I should do, I don't do them. For example, last week I was all proud of myself for closing my personal bank account. Yeah, be real proud there, lazy ass, because it only took you TWO YEARS.

After I wasted my morning, I thought, "How am I ever going to be able to have kids? I can't even get my act together when it's just the two of us." I made myself feel better by telling myself that I'm just banking my lazy hours now so that when I can't be lazy years from now, I'll feel better about it. (Hey, don't judge, it made me feel better, even if it is completely crazy.)

So for now, I'm going to try to find the cure for laziness: motivation. I'm sure it's in my house somewhere. Maybe if I clean up a little I'll find it.

Or I could finish my book...

Things that make me question your sanity

Sometimes the amount of idiocy in this town is overwhelming. Today it came to a head.

WARNING: Extreming venting follows.

Here is a brief list of behaviors that make me question your sanity. I have witnessed all in the last week. Please stop.

• Walking barefoot in downtown Bloomington in the middle of the day while carrying a pair of shoes.
• Making a left turn while your right turn signal is still blinking.
• Standing on a street corner letting your dog bark at/lunge at passers-by.
• Taking the screen off of your sliding back door and propping it up in your front door.
• Trying to return an opened tube of toothpaste to Target.
• Wearing a "romper" that you bought in the junior's department to work at the age of 28.
• Pulling up to a drive-up window, putting your car in park, getting out of the car and walking up to the window (seriously?).
•  Putting real flowers in that stupid vase in your VW Bug (maybe not insanity, but definitely poor taste).
• Trying to put the bumper of your car (which fell off after an accident) in your trunk. Hint: THE BUMPER IS BIGGER THAN YOUR TRUNK!

That's just a snippet, but it feels good to get that off my chest.