What I didn’t do was turn on the computer much. It actually was off for at least 24 consecutive hours multiple times.

On the drive back to NC I was all set kick off the year with this blog post, but come back to all the other Reverb Broads posts because my Responsibility strength is saying that I need to complete what I finished. I’m quieting that voice to honor my #oneword2012: Open.

Defined as: Be open to new opportunities and experiences, plus be intentionally open with others.

In the case of blogging, be open to what I feel like writing at the moment, not that I can’t come back to the blog posts, but I’m not confined.

A simple bridesmaid pictures can make you look gorgeous but it says so much more. It exemplifies years of friendship through many moves, fun crazy trips to get ready for parties & the Mummer’s museum, hang out night, shopping, the ups and downs of dating, being there in the hard times, hours of phone calls and then celebrating an amazing day in your friend’s life. It also declares that you are committed to remain in the bride’s life during this new period of time called marriage, to await phone calls of new jobs, make plans to visit each other, and see what life has in store for us both.

On the to do list because this deserves more than a short answer.
December 15, 2011
Did you taste any new flavors this year? Did you love or hate them or something in between? Will you incorporate these new flavors into your life?
Bethany

Take a plain, non spicy food eater who grew up in a house without salt or pepper on the table and what do you get?

A pallet of untasted flavors.

Does that mean I intentionally tried anything new flavor wise? Nope.

But regional food, which may have a new flavor, I’ll try any day. I’d actually identify as a regional food snob. Bagels & pizza need to be from NY if not eaten in NY. They actually travel VERY well. Philly cheese steaks are a must when I go back to my old stomping grounds. Eating these items in other parts of the country is something I try to avoid. Pizza unfortunately is a staple of any good student affair professional diet and I do cave on that, but not without a comment.

In the past year I’ve traveled a bit, whether for interviews, events in friend’s lives, or to take a contract position. Whatever part of the country I’ve been in I have tried some regional or special to friend’s families food.

In upstate NY I was introduced to the cultural phenomena of fish fry. I tried out ham salad while hosting a friend’s bridal shower in the Philly suburbs. Down here in NC I got reintroduced to the phenomena of Cookout milkshakes.

This is my food plan and I’ll keep with it.
December 16, 2011
What are your biggest pet peeves?
Em

Liar, liar, pants on fire the old phrase goes. That is my biggest pet peeve. Don’t lie to me. Simple as that. After reading so many other posts I wonder if I should say grammar, but I’m sure I’m one of the culprits on that. Thank you AP English which enabled me not to take English in undergrad! You prevented me from revisiting the rules of everything at a pivotal time. Good thing I just can read everyone’s tweets and then (right now I’m questioning if I used the correct than/then) make sure I’m using the right/write their/there.
December 17, 2011
Instead of a list of your favorite things, write a list of your least favorite things, e.g. Worst book you ever finished, the color you hate, bad songs, bad romances, bad recipes.
Amy

Rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens….these are a few of my favorite things.

Surfer Dude movie, being away from my kitties, seeing people’s heartache and children mistreated, spicy food…..these are a few of my LEAST favorite things.
December 18, 2011
Who would you most like to meet and why?
Dana

Years ago I joined an online listserve in my old field. Over the years the venue for communication online changed but friendships grew. When the last incarnation of the online venue was disappearing a group of us formed a place to still continue to be in each others lives. Some of us have known each other for 10 years now, others it’s been a little less.

Our collective life journey together has included: birth’s of kids & grand-kids; marriages; divorces; crazy lock-in stories, a gotcha day, moves, new jobs, losses of jobs, the heartache of job search, illness, surgeries, sharing recipes & crafts, celebrating swimming stats, new boyfriend stories, a years long competition to get the last word, graduations, fun pet stories (and videos), praying for each other and rejoicing. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.

These are my inner circle, the go to people who know when I have a job interview or would know about a new guy before so many others.

I know them and they know me. We are the “ultimate small group”. But I haven’t spent time with all of them face to face.  In the traditional sense, we haven’t met. If I could meet anyone I’d gather up everyone, including all the spouses, kids and grand kids and we’d have a large gathering. An extended time to talk, hangout, hug, and be physically in the same place at the same time. Now just to become rich enough to fly us all into one place…from NY, CA, OK,  KY, OH, IL, OR, MO, SC, TX, & NC.

1) Building community that’s like family
I’ve moved around a bit in my adult life. Starting over in a new location without knowing anyone is hard. Yet, I’ve done it two and a half times now. Once in Philly, once here in NC, and halfway in the Pittsburgh area for graduate school. I’m only counting that as half since my “sister” moved right after me to the ‘burgh, I moved knowing no one officially, but we spent many hours of our grad school years together.

I have this ability to make friends that are true blue and are like family. You know, those friends whose door you can just knock on, are welcomed in without anyone blinking an eye and we all go on with the day? I have many of them. Sure, not everyone I’ve been connected with fits this description, but enough that I see it’s a gift of mine. I have second families and have tons of places to go for holidays without giving it a thought.

Could be because I’m a social butterfly, as defined by my friends:

2) Being Resourceful & Organized
It wasn’t a surprise to see Input as one of my top Strengths, not at all. I’ve been a collector and resource saver all the way back to high school. You need a team builder? I have binders of them (just don’t ask right now, they are in NY). Book to borrow, got it. Ice breakers, check! Random supplies for a program, like taco supplies or fleece for blankets, probably have it. If not, I’ve got networks I can ask. Of course I would need to be organized to keep track of all these resources, a skill that comes naturally.

3) Landscape Photography
I’ll let you be the judge of this.

Name and explain the one guilty pleasure you can’t live without. ie: that cupcake shop you visit weekly, a book you repeatedly read to find solace in, etc). Then explore the idea of how you would feel if you gave that thing up for a year.

In the past years I’ve cut back on various areas of my budget. In the budgeting, I gave up one of my guilty pleasures: sending cards to friends for no other reason than to say hi & I’m thinking of you.

My card collection is pretty ridiculous and I used to be so good about sending birthday cards through the mail. I enjoy picking out fun cards to add to my stash. The act of picking out the perfect card for someone out of my pile of 30 or so “thinking of you cards” is something I love.

Giving it up was one thing I thought was financially necessary. But the cost to expressing myself and showing love to others wasn’t worth it. I feel like I haven’t been authentically me by cutting back and already planned on putting this guilty pleasure back in my life. The question now is: whose addresses do I need?

And if you’re a mother, how is/are your kid(s) like you?

Let me count the ways my sister would say I’m like mom….one million one, one million two…. We are more alike than I’d ever like to admit or will admit right now. Give me a couple more years.

One way I’m like my mom (& dad too) is in the area of money. They define frugal. Mom used to read all the women’s magazines or watch Opera. She would complain jokingly that there were new ideas on cost cutting from those articles or shows.

Mom can stretch a dime into 100 pennies. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle was the norm in our house. Between Couponing, yard sale, rummage sale, using our creativity, shopping sales, we did it. We were a typical middle class family who always had our needs met, some of our wants, and we took a two week vacation every summer. Plus my parents retired at 55 & 57 years old.

On the flip side mom (and dad) is incredibly generous with time, skills, and giving of the same money. I’ve been surprised recently to learn about their support of various charities.

While I might not take being frugal as far as they do, I’m frugal like mom in my couponing, sales, being creative, and not carrying credit card debt.

Maybe I’ll admit to the other ways I’m like mom in the future, but just won’t tell the sister.

Today I tweeted that, “The start of this new week ushers in a time of going forward and dwelling in new possibilities. Sometimes you have to go back to leap ahead.”

From that frame of mind I’ll just some up the worst in my life as: The job hunt continues.

In light of a continuing job hunt and all that affects, it’s easy to dwell in the challenges of life instead of playing the “Glad Game” as my LW friends call it. The best things become the little things that I am thankful for.

Thankful for:
1) To have a roof over my head, heat/ac, electricity
2) A position, even just for the unknown future
3) Family who loves me
4) Multiple “second families”
5) Coupons and the knowledge to use them
6) “Free” cafeteria food to eat if I wish to
7) Christians communities in multiple states
8) Facebook to keep in touch with people
9) That I haven’t NEEDED to use the services of the food pantry, although I knew I could, during the job hunt, so far
10) Food to eat & Diet Coke to drink
11) The freedom & ability to travel and help out friends when they needed me to
12) Friends across the country
13) Twitter & #sachat to keep me connected in the field
14) Good health
15) Faith

Picking one favorite children’s book would be pretty impossible. I think I’ve narrowed it down enough though to answer Friday’s prompt from Niki: What was your favorite children’s book?

Drumroll please:

In the True Blue Children’s Book Category: A tie between The Berenstain Bear series & Amelia Bedelia series

I love The Berenstain Bears because they teach a lesson in each book. Now if they would just make them about getting along with your roommate, fire safety, and binge drinking I’d be set.

Amelia Bedelia is fun because of all the goofs she makes. She makes me feel like I’m not the only person to mess up things.

The Fourth Grade Reading Level Award: The Babysitter’s Club

How can you go wrong with a dynamic group of young women caring for others? This is my first education on the issue of diabetes and the start of putting hearts on my I’s, thanks to Stacey.

Series I Would Collect: The Girl’s of Canby Hall

It’s no surprise now that I loved a series of books about students living in a residence hall! The Girls of Canby Hall was the story of a couple different groups of at a New England boarding school.

Series Worth Mentioning:
Trixie Belden
The Happy Hollisters
Bobbsey Twins
Sweet Valley High(and everything else)

Technically Adult Books:
Anything by Janette Oke, specifically the Love series

I’ve finally summed it up into three reasons I’ve blogged off and on over the years.

First reason is, because my soul is telling me to write and to share it with others. That’s why I joined this blogging month endeavor. A voice inside kept saying that “you need to write and be part of this”. So I write.

Obviously by the off and on over the years comment I haven’t been great about keeping up blogs, for many reasons. Sometimes when I write it’s to silence the guilt that is nagging at me because I DIDN’T blog in a while (reason number two).

Third, it’s to share my adventures in life, usually it was in the form of sharing a road trip adventure. As a kid I kept a travel journal and blogging served as that adventure recording for the adult me.

Forget TGIF for me, I TGIW.

Wednesdays are my tv laugh night. It’s still the time of year when new Psych episodes are broadcast. Over Thanksgiving my parents & I discovered Hot in Cleveland and the new season just premiered. Both of these make me laugh out loud at the clever writing and antics. Pineapple jokes, funny names for Gus- how can you beat the antics of Psych?

When I can’t catch these shows it’s because I’m busy at our coffeehouse where students perform. Laughs may come, but more so genuine smiles and my heart is happy as I watch these students share their talents in a supportive community.

For those need a laugh times I just watch The Skit Guys, a HILARIOUS duo.