Week In The Life: Friday Tweets and Photos

It's been a busy day and I'm so glad to have a couple of days off to spend with friends and family!

@Friend Happy Birthday!!!

Fishing for work. #weekinthelife

What a view. #weekinthelife

Subway #eatfresh. #weekinthelife

I took a power nap and wish it could have been a power sleep. #weekinthelife

I officially have a new name. And my car is titled it the state of TN. #weekinthelife

Riding to Wilkes. #weekinthelife

Explore: Catching Up!

I have been enjoying the observation encouraging and technique stretching prompts this week.

Here are a few of my pages. I will have some more to post on Saturday!






Happy almost Friday!!!

Week In The Life: Thursday Tweets and Photos

Thursday, Thursday. Kind of like a Monday when you have been away Monday-Wednesday.

Work meeting. #weekinthelife

What should be for lunch?#weekinthelife

Eyetalian BMT w/ letus, toemaytoe, pickled cucumbers, nanner peppers and ranch dressin #ryanssubwayorder. #weekinthelife

The building says "we're all gonna die". Saw it on my ride home at lunch.

So ready for a trainer workout! #weekinthelife

Listening to @nerdist podcast keeps me sane(ish) at work.

Ate a bunch of chocolate today at work. I will pay for that tonight. #weekinthelife

It is difficult to get a shot while on the treadmill.

Salads and #SYTYCD after a good workout. #weekinthelife

I will do better tomorrow. I spent a lot of time in meetings and working on things that I can't take pictures of, so tomorrow I will take more pictures and tweet when I'm not driving!

Week In The Life: Wednesday Tweets and Photos

I didn't take a lot of pictures or tweet a lot because I was driving (I'm a good girl). I'm home and I'm very happy to be here!

Reading the paper. Straight to the sports. #weekinthelife

Hot! Hot! Hot! #weekinthelife

“@aliedwards: Gentle reminder for the day: don't make it more complicated than it needs to be. Really.” Good advice for anything, any day.

Dinner with my hubby. #weekinthelife

Blue Moon #weekinthelife *swoon*

@Ry----- I missed your face. #weekinthelife

So glad to be back home and watching #SYTYCD.

Week In The Life: Tuesday Tweets and Photos

It has been a long day and I'm only going to blog Week In The Life today and I will catch up with Explore tomorrow!

Whoa. Super strange dreams. #weekinthelife

Hotel breakfast. Triggered memories of Bolivia. #weekinthelife #explore


Arby's got my order wrong #weekinthelife


They also got my name wrong #weekinthelife


My view right now is pretty nice. #weekinthelife


Fried banana & ice cream.


I am the most content I've been in a while. #weekinthelife





One final thought: You can dress up the display, but tampons are still tampons. Thank you, Hotel Chain, for the tampons though- I appreciate your thoughtfulness!

Week In The Life: Monday Tweets and Photos

Since I'm already doing massive blog posts about Explore, I figured I would keep these short and tweet, er, sweet. (Seriously, that was a typo and I'm keeping it!)

Sitting in a training about something I already know how to do. #weekinthelife
12 hours ago

Ready for creative time tonight. #weekinthelife #explore
9 hours ago

The hotel fitness center is packed. I hate bikes. #weekinthelife
6 hours ago

Being in a hotel leads me to watch terrible TV. #weekinthelife
2 hours ago

Editing pictures for #weekinthelife and #exlpore. @glittershim @aliedwards So glad the projects mesh so well!
1 hour ago

So that sums up my day. Wake up early. Drive 2 hours. Training. Hotel. Workout. TV time. Bed.

I love my bedding:

Driving to training:

Breakfast at training:

Checked into the hotel:

Finally! Privacy in the hotel gym:

I hope you all had a fabulous Monday!

Explore: Observation

Today's prompt came bright and early, which is a good thing since I left bright and early for an out of town training for work.

Where I Sleep

It was hard to leave my bed this morning, it was still dark and my pillows were so comfortable! Yes, that is a teddy bear. It had been sitting on my nightstand since Ry moved in, but last week I decided I wanted to snuggle something while I slept. Exhibit A why Ry should give in and let me get a kitten!

Where I Sit

I drive a lot for work. I sit in my car and drive all over East TN. I love my job most days, but the drive is sometimes too much. I use the time to record my notes, make phone calls, and listen to NPR or various podcasts. Something that I admitted in my journaling (I'll post my playbook tomorrow) is that I don't like spending that much time by myself. I love having time to myself, but not when I'm driving- so I let people talk to me while I drive. I can't stand to listen to music anymore while I drive.

Where I Stand

This is where I stand. I value the time I stand in the kitchen preparing healthy (and sometimes not so healthy) meals for Ry and myself. I love cooking and trying new things and Ry loves to eat. I also stand to eat because we just acquired kitchen seating on Saturday. Ry is assembling furniture while I'm away this week. We both look forward to having seating at our bar between the kitchen and living room.

Explore: Get Creating*

It has been a fun week of scrapping and exploration with Shimelle's Explore class. I feel that I have scratched the surface of some of the prompts and gone deeper into the others. I love the flexibility and inspiration this project provides.

Friday's prompt was to create something outside of the playbook. It wasn't until yesterday that I had the right material to scrap about. (Yes I have a ton of pictures yet to be documented, but nothing jumped out at me this week)

Yesterday, Ryan and I went to the speedway about 30 miles from our home and redeemed our wedding gift to each other. Driving lessons in a stock car. I have never been one to like speed or even being in a fast moving vehicle. We sat through a class and learned about the line to drive on the track and important things to know about the car and how to drive a race car. I was fine until they talked about crashing and the talented, experienced drivers who have wrecked at this speedway.

Bristol Motor Speedway

When it came time to ride along, I somehow ended up in the front of the line. I didn't have time to panic. Then I was strapped into the neck stabilizing device and helmet and sent to the track to get in a car. I started to have a panic attack. I couldn't breathe or form coherent sentences. I somehow relayed to the kind man whose job it was to stuff me into the car that I was highly anxious and couldn't breathe. He was very soothing and tried to make jokes as he helped me climb through the window of the car. The driver strolled over and the gentleman helping me into the car informed the driver that I was nervous and uncomfortable. The two of them talked to me while they hooked the 5-point harness system and offered to loosen my fire suit around the neck in order to make me feel less anxious. The driver assured me that he had never had a wreck with a patron in the car and that we would be fine.

The first lap went by and I decided I should open my eyes if I wanted to see how to drive this thing. With some deep breathing and positive thinking, I made it through the 5 laps with the driver. He gave me a thumbs up about half-way through and I gave him one back.

When it was my turn to drive I was less nervous. What does this confirm for me? I panic when I'm not in control. This is not a new thing. Things I have learned that send me into a panic attack- flying, deep sea fishing, heavy traffic, being in places where there are a lot of people and too much noise, and being in a speeding car driving in an oval.

Willingly climbing into a racecar

Thumbs up!

Supplies: Bazzill Cardstock, Crate Paper- stickers, paper, brads, Maya Mist, Sharpie Pen, American Crafts Thickers.

Sketch by Shimelle

When was your latest adventure? What did it consist of?

Explore: Maps and Perfection

Prompt 3 asked us to include a map in our play book. I picked up a few free maps and brochures as I left the gym on Wednesday night. I settled on the map of the area highlighting must-see nature spots and outdoor sports in the area. I love hunting waterfalls, wading in creeks, and rock jumping. I have set a new goal to use that brochure (or a duplicate copy that I haven't destroyed for a scrapbook) as a guide for my upcoming East TN Bucket LIst.



I loved the colors of the map so I just halved it and pasted it straight to the cardstock of my playbook. I have yet to work on the map themed embellishments, but I have the supplies ready for when I have some more time to craft.


What is perfection?
I have struggled with the idea of being perfect for a long time. Striving for the perfect body, the perfect grades, striving to be the perfect person in all of my roles. Over time I have softened to the notion that imperfections and difficulties are what make this life more precious.

The idea of a perfect body type has shifted from one of thinness to one of overall health. I will never have the perfect dancer's body. I wish I could have told that to adolescent me. I doubt she would have listened. I will, however, find a place in life where I'm learning to love a sport that tortured me from middle school through college.

I will never be the perfect daughter, sister, friend, spouse, or employee. However, I will strive to be authentic- honest and consistent with my words and actions to represent my true self in all aspects of my life.

Perfection is no longer about being afraid to make a mistake. Fear has immobilized me for far too long in this life. Perfection is about living life, mistakes and all, and learning how to be a better human being throughout the process. Perfection is an end result of how mistakes are dealt with and the growth that can come out of difficult times. Perfection is a life well lived, full of adventures, authenticity, and love.



The journaling behind the photo reads:

This photo isn't perfect and I don't think our love is either. I do think that we are a perfect pair. We compliment each other really well and build on each others strengths. This picture shows the sheer joy we felt on our wedding day.

And now...

Playing catch-up with photos:




This is the postcard I sent myself:


This was the journaling I wrote on the back of the card: