Dancing

Here's a really lovely video that my friend Rachel posted on Facebook a few days ago that has really stuck with me and is impacting me over and over again, even though I didn't plan for it to. Now, that seems worth the share. 

Christmas Craft Tour: Advent Calendar

I'm so excited to celebrate our first Christmas as a married couple, but I'm worried that it will pass me by and I won't have stopped to really enjoy it. The holidays come and go so fast. The easiest way to make sure I enjoyed a special moment each day was to make this advent calendar!

If you haven't done so, you've got approximately a day and a half to throw one together yourself! If you are doing one on the fly, let me recommend this one which cost approximately 5 dollars and took about 30 minutes. It couldn't be easier.

I used this blog post as inspiration and searched Pinterest (and my husband!) for good ideas to put inside.

Here's my calendar, hanging on my mantel:

And a close up of the envelopes:

Each envelope has an idea for a mini-date inside! It was a little tricky to come up with inexpensive, easy ideas that I thought we'd want to do every day. Want to see my ideas? Here's a pdf with my entire slate of activities. If you live in Kirksville, you could pretty much just print this off and use it yourself! If you'd like to make your own, the fonts I used are Kingsthings Christmas, Christmas on Crack, and KG Eyes Wide Open.

I recommend checking out your community calendars and going to as many of the free events as you can!

Making the calendar itself was quite easy! I downloaded the labels that Bloom Design provided. Rather than spend EIGHT STINKIN DOLLARS on label paper, I just printed them on copy paper, cut them out, and used good ole Elmer's glue to stick them to the treat bags I picked up at Hobby Lobby for about $2.50. I scrounged up some clothespins and we were in business!

I love how easy this project is, how great it looks on my mantel, and my hope is that it will help make our Christmas season even more special. Can't wait to get into them!

Christmas Craft Tour: The Wreath

So I've got a nice manageable list of Christmas Crafts going to help us celebrate the First Annual Comfy, Cozy Moser Family Christmas in style. To my mind, this is where Pinterest thrives! I'm really looking forward to spending time crafting and using those crafts to make our home more comfy, more cozy, and more Christmasy! Want a sneak peak? You can check out my Pinterest board to see what I've got in mind this year! 

The first craft I want to show off is our wreath, inspired by this post, over at The Paper Mama.

I have lots of burlap left over from the wedding, but it's already been cut into pieces so I'm trying to find creative, but smaller projects to use it up on. This wreath was a perfect fit. I followed the tutorial pretty closely, but used a few different materials.

 Supplies. This was an delightfully inexpensive project. I picked up a couple straw wreaths at Walmart this fall and had no plans for my second one. Using it for this was a no brainer. I picked up my ribbon and berry embellishments at Hobby Lobby last weekend. 

 The tutorial used a really wide burlap ribbon, but I just cut mine into strips. 

 Like the tutorial, I didn't even bother removing the plastic wrap from my wreath. Just started wrapping and gluing my burlap. 

 Success!

 I didn't feel like getting another style of ribbon so I used the plaid to wrap around the wreath. A dab of glue was all I needed. 

 Hot gluing the fancys. I put mine in a spot where the burlap looked funny. 

 I had to follow the ribbon instructions carefully. I can't tie a bow to save my life. 

Complete! You'll notice I skipped the pinecones. I wasn't against it, but they didn't have any at Hobby Lobby and I just didn't want to go out and look for them. You'll find this to be a comfy, but lazy Christmas season for me! 

More Christmasy Crafts to come!

Back in the Saddle

Well I've returned to the world of blogging. Won't lie- it was a nice vacation. BUT! Now I'm back and I'm totally ready to over-share and under-perform for my captive audience.

Isn't Thanksgiving the bomb? Or da bomb, rather. I just love it. So much food. So much family. I love my Iowa family and I don't get up to see them enough so when I do, it's a great treat. Food was awesome and I was so busy eating I neglected to take any photos.

Friday we drove to Kansas City to be with Brett's family for the rest of the weekend. It was our first trip to KC as a married couple, and look at this adorable way his family greeted us:

We had game night that evening and relaxed most of the day on Saturday, but did a little shopping here and there. We caught up with Chris and Sarah and we all ate and drank our weight in beer and pizza at Waldo's Pizza. Again, too much eating, no photos.

My wedding gift to Brett was a pair of Chiefs tickets and coincidentally, Sarah and Chris have season tickets and we were able to tailgate Sunday before (and after) the game. Photo time was totally on. Bask in the glory:

 Brett and I doing the tailgate thing

 Me and Sarah, whom I love

 At our seats

 With our treats

Game time baby! 

Outside the stadium, a little chilly at this point 

 The gang, cameo by other Sarah who looks cute even though she wasn't really in the picture which is something I never manage to do. 

Brett and Chris... True lovers. 

Yay for a photo-full post of fun things! We did it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

If you're me, and I am, you got up this morning and checked your reading list for new blog posts. So if you are me, and you're reading this-

Happy Thanksgiving!

Brett and I are headed to a carry-in with my mom's side of the family today up in Iowa and then we'll relax for the rest of the afternoon. Tomorrow we are driving to Kansas City for family/friend/football time!

I'm gunna take a blogging break for the rest of the week but hopefully I'll have so much fun I can do one of those "What We've Been Up To" posts that Rachel always does.

Blessings!

Here's a picture of us being goofy at the wedding (this is my "thing I'm always thankful for"):

Photo credit Katie Day Photography 

Christmas

So this Christmas will be the very first Christmas that Brett and I spend together as a married couple and I won't lie, I'm beside myself with excitement. I've already shared some of our favorite traditions, lots of which take place around the holidays.

I love Christmas so very much. It's my favorite time of year and I always get super into it. Here I am as the Holiday Cheermiester.

My boss Debi told me this funny story about her first Christmas with her husband. They decided it would be totally doable to do Christmas Eve in St Louis with his family and Christmas Day in Kirksville with her family and in doing so, ended up in a broken down car at 2:30 am several miles outside of town!

It made me think- what was your first Christmas like with your spouse? Did you start any traditions that first year that you still do today?

Any suggestions for something super fun we should do together? Share!

In closing, here are some fun photos from Christmases past

Fatty 2011

Christmas Tree 2011

Me and Brett, Crown Center 2011

Shawn, Loving Christmas Brunch 2011

The Mosers 2011

BEACHTIME! Just after Christmas 2011

Our very first Christmas together! 2007

Our most recent Christmas and our first Christmas!

Pleasures

Brett has been reading lots of Chuck Klosterman lately and in doing so, has been reading a lot of Chuck Klosterman to me. Which I like just fine. Klosterman is basically a pop culture aficionado which  makes for great, light reading and even better discussion. His books are basically collected essays (a la David Sedaris) so they are high on entertainment value for lack of a cohesive plot.

A few days ago, Brett read this essay on guilty pleasures to me and we cackled and completely agreed. We have no guilty pleasures.

So I've compiled a list of my non-guilty, guilty pleasures, in no particular order.

I Love New York, Season 2 

The last time I was emotionally invested in a show was Fall 2007 when Tiffany "New York" Pollard, would be lovah of Flava Flav, made her second attempt to find true love. It was a simpler, safer time, before Harvard graduate Punk (David Otunga) married and had a baby with Jennifer Hudson.

New York is just a confident, determined, mouthy broad and I loved her for it. I couldn't pull myself away. If someone could find this show DVD (this season, in particular) I'd probably die.

Ke$ha's new single, Die Young:

Soon, Imma hate this song. They'll overplay it on the radio, Brett will parody it over and over by inserting Fatty and Stella's names into the lyrics, and eventually the luster will be lost. But right now? I really dig it.

Also, Rihanna's new song, Diamonds:

Skip-Bo 
Have you ever played this game? It's great. Brett and I play it all the time. I always lose. I still love it. That's saying something.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas 

This is my favorite movie of all time. I watch it all year long. I can quote it from start to finish. Brett loves it because I love it. I would have a hard time loving him if he didn't. No lie.

Spongebob Squarepants and Rocko's Modern Life

I put these together because they're both Nicktoons and both feature a ton of the same creative talent. I love to point out which episodes parallel each other from both shows.

I know that 90s Nicktoons have kind of had a hipster resurgence, but I love these without any single shred of irony. When I don't feel good, or I'm grumpy, or I'm bored, or I'm homesick, I can put these shows on and I just feel better. There's something about it.

Brett and I have seen every single episode of Rocko dozens of times. We never tire.

So, let's have it then- what do you simply adore? Regardless of popularity, what things do you keep going back to time after time or just love the first time you saw/heard them?

On Hobbies

So this post is a bit of a conglomerate of ideas, but it's stuff I feel is blog worthy and I just want to put together in one post. They're all sort of "hobby" related, so there you go.

Firstly, you might know that I really enjoy crocheting. While I'm still completely a beginner, I have a good time doing it and I know I've gotten better. I thought I would pass along a resource that I used to learn how to crochet. I read lots of tutorials and saw lots of pictures but the tool that finally helped me get the hang of it? YouTube videos. These YouTube videos to be specific. This woman's name is Teresa and she has a blog for every video of stitch that is very specific and very easy to follow. She also does full tutorial videos from start to finish of a project. You can follow along, pause the video, rewind, start over. I found it very helpful and I still pull her channel up when I get confused on a pattern!

Secondly, I've told you about my fitness fairy Rachel and she suggested we try to do the 2012 Runner's World Holiday Running Streak. I'm a complete novice but Rachel is super encouraging and always runs at my pace and walks with me even though she could easily keep going. The idea is to run just one mile everyday, from Thanksgiving day through New Years Day. I think this sounds like a fun, completely achievable challenge. Want to join? Here's a google spreadsheet where we plan to keep track of our progress. Just add your name and log your activity!

Think that running on Christmas Day sounds bonkers? Take your whole family out! Make it a new tradition!

Lastly, that's it. I only have two things. I know that you're supposed to have 3 things or more in a list but I only have two. So.

Sunday Media Review

Books:
I'm stuck on Harry Potter of course. I'm on the fourth book, but I'll probably take a pause because Brett has decided to read along with me so we can have really meaningful book discussions based on ideas like "is the wizarding world a socialist society?" and "do wizards in all wizarding families have any formal schooling prior to Hogwarts?" You know. Important stuff.

What books are you reading right now?

Blogs:

Do you follow the girls at A Beautiful Mess?

If you don't, get ready to just D-I-E of envy. They're just.. ugh.. adorable. And I'm going to be honest, I've tried real hard not to like them. They're so hip. And cute. And just literally everything I think is right with the world. So naturally, that bugs the hell out of me. I can't find a single thing not to like about them. So- I'm just now coming around. They live and work in Springfield which just blows my mind. Did y'all see my engagement pics? (Taken by the adorable, wonderful, darling Katie Day) The one's taken by the colorful buildings were done on the street where they have their vintage shop, Red Velvet. See:

Anyway, I've taken to following them regularly and they've got a new e-class on blog design that I would really like to take called Blog (Design) Love.  They've also got a course called Blog Love, that focuses more on content and development that would probably be super valuable as well. The face is, these girls built a mini-empire based entirely on their lifestyle from the ground up. You know they've got good things to say.


TV/Movies:
Brett started watching Walking Dead and I didn't look away. I mean, I did in the parts where GUTS ARE HANGING OUT OF PEOPLE'S BODIES, ETC but I did watch about 3 episodes and I didn't hate it. Mostly because the guy they cast as Rick kinda looks like Josh Lucas.

Music: 
I don't know if you are listening to Lana Del Rey's new album Paradise, but you should be. I really, really like her. I can't quite tell if that makes me super hip or if the hip thing to do is to not like her but it doesn't really matter because I think her music is just great. I think she's doing very interesting things lyrically and representing our culture much more accurately and interestingly than by rhyming "maybe" with "baby." From "Gods and Monsters":

In the land of gods and monsters, I was an angel, Living in the garden of evil, Screwed up, scared, doing anything that I needed, Shining like a fiery beacon.You got that medicine I need, Fame, liquor, love, give it to me slowly.Put your hands on my waist, do it softly, Me and God we don’t get along, so now I see...

Working Style

So, I get real jealous whenever I read my friend Rachel's blog. In addition to just missing the pants off her and her husband Kyle who are some of our best friends- her awesome blog is full of posts about the fun stuff they do together.

Honestly, if I did a recap post of my weekend? It would be: "Well. I went grocery shopping. And watched 4 hours of Murder, She Wrote. And then I went to bed at 8:30." She just does FUN. STUFF.

The point is, I'm reduced to posting about my clothes, and my dinners, and the books I'm reading. Super interesting? Maybe not. But! It's giving me something to do!

Here's what I wore to work. I'm a big fan of color blocking.

Red sweater. Fushia pants. 

Bib necklace. Missoni for Target heels. (I lusted over those shoes for months)

My hair was a little too greasy to leave down, but I tried this tutorial out. I liked it! Yay for getting dressed in the morning!

Being Who You Are

Since I've been blogging and reading lots of blogs from both my friends and people who are now professional bloggers, it's got me thinking how social media has changed our culture and how we've changed how we respond.

I don't have tons of original insight on this particular topic, but I do want to share an article from a blogger that I really admire, Rosetta Thurman.

She discusses social media in the work force, particularly about its use in nonprofit organizations. Her take? Social media is a powerful, useful tool that ought to be welded responsibly.

Another point she drives home? You cannot separate your personal life and your professional life on social media. Most importantly, you shouldn't want to. Read the article, it's great.

Mostly, I just want to put this out there as a discussion point. I know people who have gotten into hairy situations for their online activity. How do you handle your social media activity? Are you facebook friends with your boss? Do you feel comfortable expressing the same opinions at your workplace that you do online? Do you believe in, as Thurman coins it, online integrity?

YOU GUYS

I just made the best smoothie of my life, no kidding. I've honestly never tasted a smoothie more delicious than this. It is so good that I'm completely disregarding (ok, rescheduling) the post I was going to put up today TO SHARE THIS AMAZING SMOOTHIE RECIPE!

I give you the Breakfast (and Lunch and Dinner and Dessert) Apple Pie Smoothie!

I can't find the recipe anywhere online, but I got it from a Taste of Home Cooking School magazine when we hosted the event in Kirksville last spring. I stuck a post-it on it earlier this week while I was doing my meal planning because I've been in a smoothie kick lately and we just got a new blender! Also, I've always got apples on hand so it meant that I wouldn't have to worry about picking up too many more ingredients.

Ingredients:
-1 cup water
-2 large (or 3 small, in my case) apples, cored and unpeeled
-2 ounces cream cheese
-2 tablespoons vanilla pudding mix, dry
-1/2 teaspoon apple pie spice
-2 cups ice (this ended up being about 12 cubes for me)

Blend it all up, one ingredient at a time, in the order given. This will give your smoothie a perfect consistency and your blender won't have to work so hard which is honestly something that I literally just learned today. Normally I just shove it all in there and watch it suffer. This is better.

I couldn't resist putting it in one of these foo-foo wine glasses. It's SOOO DELICIOUS! This recipe makes 4 servings, but I, uh, might have had two-thirds of the pitcher.... I SKIPPED LUNCH OK!

According to my recipe, if you use reduced fat cream cheese and sugar-free, fat-free pudding mix, then each serving is 3 Weight Watchers points, so that's pretty cool!

Monday Media Review

Since today is like my Sunday, (thank yoooou veterans) I'm gunna do my media round up post today! Also- I forgot to do it yesterday.

Books:
So I'm still working through the Vonnegut biography, slowly but surely. I think I'm going to have to renew that one at least one more time. It's thick! In the meantime, I've continued on through the Harry Potter series. I read the second one yesterday. Like, started and finished it. I just eat them up. I'm watching each movie as a finish the corresponding book, so that might be a little motivating. My cousin Emily had a great idea to have a discussion group and talk about the differences between the Muggle and Wizard worlds (her point: why don't they know what a dentist is? haha)

Here's a photo of the cast looking just dangerously attractive, imho:

(I'm Team Neville, all the way)

Blogs:
I read Jezebel pretty much everyday. I really love it, but warning- if you aren't a super liberal feminist, you won't be in to it. Like, if you have a conservative bone in your body- keep a wide berth. But, because I happen to be one of those, I dig it. (Though honestly, sometimes I'm even like really ladies? Really?) Anyway, I read this post about plus size bloggers and the corresponding NY times article, and I did in fact, want to go shopping. My favorite part of the article was this statement:

"When you feel that your current body is temporary, why spend money dressing it well?" said Ragini Nag Rao, 27, who writes for the blog A Curious Fancy from England and India. "Fat women need to realize that their bodies are worth dressing well."

That just speaks to me. I know I'm guilty of that. I'm constantly convincing myself that I'm on the verge of losing weight. That, as we know, can lead to some tricky emotional baggage. Anyway, Brett and I went to Columbia this weekend and fresh off working my tuckus off at the trainer and reading that article, I was full of shoppy confidence! Here's some photos of me rocking new purchases:

A really great and flattering royal blue shift with my new boots. Super comfy all around.

Been die die dying for an animal sweater and I, of course, find one at Target. I was going to make one folks. That's how desperate I was getting. Shit, I might still make one. Also, hello pink pants.

Another great flattering shift. Navy blue. Threw my lacy top over it and gave it a sort of peplum feel. Would definitely wear with tights this time of year! Great work wear!


TV/Movies:
As mentioned previously, I'm catching up on my Harry Potters. We found the last two on sale for $10/each this weekend which was a total score. I expect I'll be doing little else until I finish the whole series in a couple weeks.

The good news is that I got yarn to crochet at lap blanket for Brett and I at the Chiefs game, so I'll be able to multitask!

Music: 
My friend Kimber reminded me of the excellence that is the Now 5 CD. I want to meet the person who owns this entire collection. AND HUG THEM.

Sustainability

Friday night I went to a yoga class with my friend Rachel. I took yoga for the first time when I was in college and really enjoyed the experience. I've made a few feeble stabs at getting back on the horse since then, but there's nothing quite like having a friend and a classroom setting to be in. A video just won't do the trick.

As we were going through the poses, our instructor (a med student named Judy with a really nice voice and a great presence) said something that struck me so hard I practically started crying in class.

It's much more important that you find the place where you can do it sustainably than to push yourself to reach your maximum

It's obvious she was talking about poses here, you know shortening your stance if your legs hurt or coming up out of the pose if the stretch is too deep, but as is often the case with yoga- her advice lifted right out of the studio and hit me right in my everyday life.

Guys, this is such a lesson for me. If you've read my "About Me" page, you know that I jokingly refer to myself as a "Jill of All Trades," the emphasis being on the "master of none." I so often feel like I stretch myself thin so that I'm doing a hundred things and none of them well. I let myself get taxed out at work, then at home, and then I volunteer for another project- at least I did.

I'm a certified perfectionist. I'm the oldest child, I was a "smart" kid, and in my nontraditional family- I always pushed myself to stand out and be "special." That's translated into some successes for sure, but also a lot of anxiety in my adult life. It's embarrassing to say, but it's a bit of a revelation to me that it's better to say no to auxiliary activities in my life and focus on what I can feasibly do, sustainably- that is, what habits can I build for a lifetime? What behaviors can I cultivate that will take me into old age? What commitments can I accept that I will do with joy, and in doing so, bring blessing to others and myself?

Let me say this- working part time has made a tremendous difference in my ability to handle my shit. And I'm just thankful to God everyday that I have a boss who fought hard to get me the position I have now and a husband who was willing to say, "it's okay, we're going to be okay." Debi and Brett and probably the two strongest and best influences in my life.

When I look at how I spend my time now, I see a lot of joy:

-Stimulating and challenging work
-Training at FKS
-Running (okay, walking) and yoga with Rachel
-Quality time with my husband
-A happy, tidy home
-Crocheted scarves, hot tea, Jessica Fletcher
-Game nights with good friends

I cannot tell you how incredible it feels to say that this is how I spend my time now. Folks, I was down to broken earlier this summer. I was crying a lot, I felt incredibly trapped, and bitterness was creeping up all over me. I really, really needed a break from that and I hope it doesn't sound like gloating to say I'm thankful that I've gotten one.

I'm sure I won't work part time forever. Who knows what new opportunities will bring? However, it's incredibly important to me that I continue to evaluate my life from a stand point of sustainability.

How would you describe your schedule right now? Are you over taxed or have you found a great balance? What are your coping mechanisms? How do you stay healthy, mentally or physically?

Traditions

So I'm a big fan of traditions. My own family (my nuclear one, anyway) growing up was kind of all over the place, so I don't recall any regular traditions we had.  When I got the sense the Brett was around to stay, I latched onto making some our own traditions. Now that we are married? My mind is going into overdrive!

Lots of our traditions center around holidays, of course. When we put up our Christmas tree, usually shortly after Thanksgiving, we play lot Christmas music and eat one of those yummy Hickory Farms sausage and cheese baskets. On Christmas eve, we eat Chinese food and play games. On Christmas morning, we gorge ourselves on stuffed french toast and open presents together, just the two of us. (Can you tell that all of our traditions center around food?)

I can't wait to start new traditions as a married couple and I'm particularly looking forward to the kid time in our lives when things like that become even more fun! (I'm definitely planning to implement the Mini Van Express on Christmas Eve!)

Earlier this week, Brett and I hit our one month anniversary. Married for one month! It's a bit funny because neither one of us paid much attention to that (it was election day) because honestly, once you've been together for 5 years, a month goes by fast!

To the end of starting a new tradition, I decided we should write letters to one another, to be opened up on our first anniversary, a la time capsule. We each wrote a letter to ourselves one year from now. I am really looking forward to doing this each anniversary! While it first occurred to me that we should do letters at 5 year intervals or so, I realized that we might have some years where that's just not soon enough!

I adore love letters. Brett and I have several boxes of letters, cards, love notes, coloring pages, and other little cutesy things we've given to each other over the course of our relationship. I feel reconnected to that moment, reconnected to Brett, and often, recommitted to our partnership when I read them again. Now that we live together, we write notes a whole lot less, so I want to start this a tradition as a way to make sure, at least once a year- we've got a love letter to read!

What traditions do you have? Do you have different ones as an adult that you had as a child? Did you carry any over?

Recipe Review: Egg Muffins

The last time we went grocery shopping, Brett and I bought an extra dozen eggs with the specific intent of trying out this recipe. Luckily eggs are inexpensive, so if the whole thing went bust, we weren't out much.

Again, searching for low carb options for breakfast lead me to this recipe for egg muffins. I've seen it pinned lots of times and thought it seemed like a great idea for a quick breakfast, but wasn't troubled enough to try. But when Brett and I decided to opt out of starchy, sugary, enriched flour that pretty much eliminated our breakfast options- bagels, cereal, waffles, pop tarts... (ps- if you aren't watching your diet TRY THE PUMPKIN PIE OH MY GOSH LIFE CHANGING).

Again, we know my criteria for a good recipe- easy and cheap.

I chopped up some lunchmeat ham and green onions and threw them in a muffin pan with some cheese:

Then, I put the entire dozen eggs in a bowl and whisked them up and poured the it on top of my cheese, onions, ham.

When I poured the eggs into the liners, it was a little globby. I probably should have whisked a little more throughly. They baked for about a half hour- the whole house smelled like a breakfast restaurant so that was a major perk!

Mine aren't nearly as pretty as the original recipe and you can tell how they are kinda globby. Also- apparently the right side of my oven gets significantly warmer than the left side?

I also forgot to spray my liner. That was a bit of a mistake because I think I lost about a quarter of my muffin to the liner. I think maybe those aluminum liners would work great for this recipe if you don't have a silicone muffin pan (as I don't.)

Overall taste? Just okay. I can see how I could do these better next time. More cheese, for one. I'll whisk my mixture better and maybe use a little milk to smooth it all out. However, they were really filling (I only needed two for breakfast) and I anticipate it will be quite nice to throw them in the microwave this week and have insta-breakfast available.