Five for Friday: the sad and the good

Five quick things, then we can all get on with our Friday. Before the fun stuff, though...

I would be remiss if I did not mention the tragedy that occurred on live news on Wednesday. I was horrified to see that two journalists were murdered, and saddened to see that it happened at Smith Mountain Lake. As many people know, my family has a house on SML, and we consider the lake to be a serene refuge from the "real world." Bridgewater Plaza, where the incident occurred, is a place that we have frequented over the years, and it broke my heart to see this tragedy unfold at a place that I consider one of my homes. It has been a sad week for the lake community, the news community, and the Hokie family, as one of the journalists was a VT grad. Keep them and the victims' families in your hearts, if you can.

Deep breath. OK. Let's do our five things!

1 // C made meatball pita sandwiches with homemade tzatziki on Tuesday night. I always kind of forget how much I love tzatziki, and then when I have it, I feel like I could drink a bowlful. Seriously. Garlic breath doesn't scare me. It's just so good. Try this recipe if you've never made it at home.

2 // We just bought tickets for a Hokie football game this fall, and I am beside myself with excitement. Can't wait to get "home" to Lane Stadium!! It will be baby's "first" football game (and possibly my first sober game... cough cough) and I know we will have a blast.

3 // In other baby news, a large package arrived on our doorstep earlier this week... we officially own a crib. Yikes. My in-laws were sweet enough to buy Baby W's bed for us, and while it's just going to sit boxed up for a while longer, I can't get over how intense that moment was when I realized that we have a crib in our house because a baby is coming.

4 // C is hosting his friends at our house this weekend for their fantasy football draft. It is intense and very, very serious, and I am very, very seriously vacating the premises for the weekend. I am planning to hightail it up to my parents' this weekend and spend some QT with them. It's my dad's birthday tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to celebrating, plus a few other fun activities with my mama. The boys will hopefully keep my house neat and tidy not destroyed, and I'll return home once the shenanigans are finished on Sunday.

5 // I've had some office requests for sweet treats lately, and it really has been a hot minute since I've brought any goodies in. May have to do some baking this weekend! Any suggestions for easily transportable favorites? I'm thinking brownies of some sort...

I told you this would be quick! What are your plans for this weekend? Send me your favorite baked goods recipe! Please :)

linking up with the five on friday girls:  Darci, Christina, April,and Natasha

linking up with karli and amy

'Fraidy cat.

Day 7: The thing(s) you're most afraid of.

I daresay that a better question would be "what are you NOT afraid of," as the list would probably be much shorter. Hmm.

It is not a giant secret that I am generally a big ol' 'fraidy cat. I am, as a rule, a jumpy, nervous, scared, anxiety-ridden worrier.  (Yet another character flaw.) In certain circumstances and situations, I am independent and a Big Girl, but that is usually not the case. 

In the interest of time, here is a short, off-the-top-of-my-head, list of things I can remember being afraid of at one time or am currently afraid of (points if you can guess old fears vs. new ones... you'd be surprised! ha):

• The dark
• Being murdered
• My family being murdered
• Silence
• Our house burning down
• Robbers
• Spiders
• Bugs in general
• Getting in a car accident
• My Peter Rabbit sheets when I was a toddler (explain that one)
• Scary movies (this includes movies that are not considered "scary" by most standards)
• Getting caught lying
• Getting in trouble
• Failure
• Public speaking
• Being put on-the-spot
• Not knowing the answer
• Unknown numbers calling me
• The bottom step of the basement stairs
• Monsters under my bed (yes, really)
• Thunder & lightening

I could go on and on. In addition to being scared of a number of mundane things, I am also the person who gasps constantly in the car (drives C insane) when other cars are coming too close (or not) and lets out a small shriek when doors slam.

Do not get me started on what happens when there is a spider in the house. It ain't pretty.

What are you afraid of? Physical things, or mental / emotional things? I clearly have a mix of both...

 

Reaching out

I, like so many others, am horrified and heartbroken over the incident in Connecticut on Friday. I don't know why, but, for some reason, this particular act of violence is hitting me especially hard. Perhaps it's the children involved, or the fact that it was at a school, at one of the singular places where we are all supposed to feel safe. I'm not sure - what I am sure of, though, is that I feel an overwhelming amount of emotion regarding this event. I think what's the hardest is the fact that I am not feeling sympathy in this case, as so many other are. I am feeling empathy - I know how it feels. I have done this.

I feel helpless. I want to do something. I want to help take away the pain - from someone, anyone, all of them. I want to apologize: I am so sorry. I am so sorry that this has happened again. I want to look into all of their eyes and promise them that life will go on. It will never be the same, but there will become a new normal. I want to tell them that they will always have Before and After, as I do, and they will always distinguish life events as one or the other. I want to tell them that I know how it feels to have a gaping hole in your heart, one that gets smaller over time, but that will never truly heal. I want to take away the hurt. I feel tiny and insignificant. I don't know what to do.

I am praying for strength for the Newtown community, and for even just one moment of peace for all of those people who are touched by this event. The people victimized by this will spread far and wide - it never ceases to amaze me that, in events of such deep sorrow, the "six degrees of separation" never fails to prove true. Everyone knows someone affected by this. Reach out to those around you, and let them know that they are loved. Don't hesitate for one second to tell people that you care about them, or to do something nice for someone, or to simply spread happiness. You truly just never know what your last experience with someone will be. Spread light, spread love, spread hope.

I want to share the words (pared down, just a bit) that Nikki Giovanni shared with us in our darkest moments, and hope that now, in Sandy Hook's darkest moments, they may also provide some minute degree of comfort:

We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning.
We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly, we are brave enough to bend to cry, and we are sad enough to know that we must laugh again.
We will prevail.

You are not alone.

'Cause Freedom Don't Come Free*

I thought about writing a post this morning about 9/11, and expound on my feelings about those events and the past 11 years – but when I opened up that blank page, it seemed that the words just wouldn’t come.

All morning, I’ve been reading tweets and Facebook statuses and instagrams about how “we will never forget” and how we “always remember 9/11” and “where I was when” – and I know that all that is true. I know that people won’t ever forget, and that everyone will always remember exactly where they were when it happened. And so, it seems redundant to say so here. There is no way that anyone can forget about the day that changed everything, even eleven long years ago.  My generation, in particular, is one that really doesn’t know anything but an America at war. We were in grade school when 9/11 happened; we were just starting to pick up on politics and world events and becoming aware of major events that impact us without personally impacting us.  We know, eleven years later, that the world as we know it exists because of what happened that day. There is no way we can forget.

Use today as a reminder to say a prayer, hug your loved ones, and appreciate the little things around you. It can all be taken away so quickly. I am forever grateful for the heroes – the soldiers, the civilians, the first responders – who run in when everyone else runs out, and who work so hard to protect the freedoms that we have as Americans. I am so proud to live in this country, and call myself a citizen of these great United States.

*American Soldier, Toby Keith

Nashville: The Sights

First things first - my heart, thoughts, and prayers are with the people of Aurora, Colorado, today, as they are reeling in those first few uncertain hours after a horrible, unthinkable thing has happened. I can empathize. Maybe say a prayer today, if that's your thing. Hug your loved ones today, for sure.
~~~~~
I promise that eating wasn't the only thing we did in Nashville... we played major tourists and saw some of the big attractions that the city has to offer. It's rare that we go on a vacation without an agenda, and can just do whatever we felt like. It was fun to throw around the options and settle on the things that made each of us happy.

As I mentioned before, pretty much the only weather we saw in Nashville was rain. While that wasn't ideal for our trip, we made the best of it, and found our way to some great indoor things. There is so much to offer that we were never in the rain unless we wanted to be! Ha. Here's what we did... **warning: iPhone-picture heavy post ahead!**

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

The CMHoF is the kind of place where a person could go and spend eight hours, or go and spend one hour, depending on how into you are. I think we were there for about four before we were just too hungry and needed to find lunch. I definitely could have stayed longer, but I still feel like I got my money's worth out of the ticket price. I loved seeing all the memorabilia and learning about the long history of country music!

The inside of the building is beautiful!

Construction where the museum is being expanded

The Grand Ole Opry

C & I took a backstage tour of the Grand Ole Opry, and I loved every minute of it! I am such a sucker for things where you get to "be where the stars are," and I had a blast looking at the dressing rooms, bathrooms, lounge area, and hallways that the Opry members (mainly my #1 girl, Carrie) get to use. I may or may not have turned to C and whispered, "CARRIE HAS BEEN IN THIS HALLWAY!" at one point. Do not judge.

There is such an amazing, deep-rooted history to the Opry, and any country music fan knows it. It was a sweet experience, and I am so glad that we chose to do this while we were there!

So excited!

Tourists.

On the stage!

The circle is unbroken!
This is the 6-foot wooden circle taken from the original Opry floor,
rescued & reinstalled after the floods, that all the performers stand on. Amazing!


General Jackson Showboat

One night that we were there, we got SUPER touristy and booked tickets on the General Jackson Showboat! This is a showboat with dinner and a music show that takes passengers on a 4 hour tour of the Cumberland River. While rather cheesy, it was a lot of fun! We had a good dinner, got some great views of the city that we wouldn't have otherwise, and enjoyed a musical show to boot. Not something I'd want to do over and over, but definitely a fun experience for one night.

We also saw the Bridgestone Arena, where the Nashville Predators play (can't go anywhere without a little hockey in our lives).

And pretty architecture in Downtown Nashville:

I could have spent so much more time there! There is so much to see and do - never a boring moment. C & I collect Christmas ornaments whenever we travel places, and we added some really cool ones to our collection at the Opry and the Hall of Fame. We will definitely have lasting memories of this fun trip!

But comfort zones are so... comfy!

Comfort zones are called just that for a reason: because they are the places where we feel safe, secure, and calm. They are the easy places, the places where we are sheltered and protected, the places where we just float along with the gently bobbing current. It’s so simple to get into an area where we are comfortable and just stay there, for days or weeks or years even. It happens in all facets of life – family, friendships, fitness, careers, hobbies. We find the things that we like that come naturally to us, and we hunker down. I, most definitely, am guilty of this. I am a creature of habit and comfort. Hell, I prefer “comfort” everything: comfort zones, comfort clothes, comfort foods… I just like to be comfy!

Every now and then, I have to give myself a little kick in the rear and force my way out of those safe places that I find. It isn’t easy. It makes me look long and hard at myself, and really evaluate the situation, and it forces internal honesty that sometimes makes me uncomfortable. But it is so necessary. It is so important to get outside of comfort zones, and find the amazing things that lie around you that you may never otherwise see (there is a possibility that I am just trying to convince myself of this, but I'm pretty sure it's true).

An easy current example of this is my fitness comfort zone. I have found routines and workouts that I like. I do the same mix of things week in and week out – I take the same classes, go for runs in the same areas, and stick to the same basic schedule. I like what I do. I’ve seen results from what I do. I still work really, really hard, and find myself out of breath and sore and sweaty – it’s not that my comfort zones are simple, they’re just my habits. And I forget sometimes to push myself just as hard in other directions. Sometimes I need a good shove.

In the last couple of weeks, I was coerced attended not one, but two new group fitness classes: Body Attack & Body Combat. And they were hard. It was pretty much as bad as I imagined, even hiding in the back of the room. I was uncoordinated. I didn’t know the moves. I was sweating like crazy and working muscle groups that I’d forgotten that I don’t necessarily work all the time. Let me tell you, I figured that out, because the day after Body Combat, I was so sore that it literally hurt to brush my teeth. I work those muscle groups (shoulders, arms, back) regularly – but not like that. It was such an eye-opener for me. Attending both of those classes reminded me about muscle memory – that even though I’m regularly working my muscles and my body hard, it’s necessary to throw myself for a loop sometimes, just to recharge and reactivate the muscles that get lazy and comfortable in their very own comfort zones. Besides, I actually really enjoyed both classes, which I’ve always previously said were “not my thing.” Maybe they are my thing, after all!

I’m currently out of my comfort zone in my professional life as well, and it’s not by choice, but it is necessary. I’m trying very hard to see it as a positive thing, and keep telling myself that perhaps this is the universe kicking me in the pants. Perhaps this is life’s way of pushing me out of the very comfortable spot I’ve been in for the last few months. After all, growth and learning do not occur if everything always stays the same. Change is necessary. Sometimes you find yourself in a big black hole, and it’s really scary – but if you walk a little farther, you realize that it isn’t a hole at all; it’s actually a tunnel, and you just hadn’t gotten far enough before to see the light. I had a serious talk with myself last night (not uncommon, apparently) and came to the conclusion that I can do this. Comfort zone, schmomfort zone. I feel like breaking into some sort of inspiring song and dance. Or hugging someone. Or at least high-fiving? YEAH. Hooray for pep talks!

Moral of the story: do the scary things. Do the hard things. Do the things that are “not your thing.” Get yourself out of your comfort zone, and grow a little, in ways you hadn’t even imagined. Annnnnd I’m off to take my own advice… (in my comfy clothes. Some things do not change.)