Favorite Things Friday

It's been a while since I've done a FTF or linked up with Lauren. Giving it a shot again this week since it's been a good one.

1. I spent last weekend in Wisconsin with my boyfriend and parents.  Saturday we went on a Segway tour of  downtown Green Bay. Since I knew a lot about downtown already, the tour itself was lame. Segway-ing, however, is awesomely fun and nerdy.  I want one.

2. We spent Saturday evening celebrating my friend KP's new marriage. Wonderful to see her for the first time in years and to reconnect with some old friends. Too bad the boy and I didn't remember to take pictures together while we were all dressed up... but good thing this characture artist was there to document what we (didn't really at all) look like.

3. Sunday we went to the Packer game. Our seats were great and they won.  'Nuf said.

4. It's officially fall around here. I've worn boots every day this week. I've eaten popcorn and apple cider for dinner more times than I should admit in the last two weeks. I'm in the middle of a creep-tastic book. And Lady Bug is in serious snuggle mode. How can you not love that face?

5. Oh yeah.  And then there was that whole big announcement from yesterday.

You know it has been a pretty excellent week when you could have 15 favorite things and not run out!

Throwback Thursday

I am seriously missing my little sister right now.  The best thing about my moving home is that I will get to see my family more often.  But considering that my sister is living in North Carolina with her husband, kicking vet school's butt, I still won't get to see her as often as I'd like.

Just for good measure, one more photo of how awesome we used to be...

Sweet pants to both of us.  Extra sweet haircut and fanny pack to me.

Ode to my Home State

I don't think it's a secret to anyone who knows me that I have always been, and will always be, a Wisconsin girl.  My friends and family are up in Wisconsin (or Minneapolis, but that's pretty much the same thing minus their crappy football team), I am totally a beer, cheese, and football kind of girl, and I can even say I don't mind the winters that much.

When I left the Midwest four years ago to move to Nashville, I really didn't believe I'd ever go back north.  Maybe to the Twin Cities, but certainly not to Wisconsin.  I have always loved my home state but I didn't know if I would ever want to live there again.

I was wrong.

In the last year and a half, I have grown increasingly homesick.  Not in the I can't wait to visit sort of way but more of the I wish I never had to leave way.  My trips back have become more frequent and much longer than in the past.  I've started reconnecting with some of the people I used to be friends with and started keeping an eye out for the right job that could bring me home.

The thing is that I truly love my life in Kentucky.  I love my job most days, have an excellent apartment even if I've only lived there for a few months, have amazing friends even if it took me a while to find them, and almost appreciate horse racing and basketball even if I'll never get into drinking bourbon.  I knew I wouldn't leave for just anything.  Kentucky could easily have become home to me.

For a wide variety of reasons - my family, my best friends, and yes of course my boyfriend even if he wouldn't want to read that - I decided a few months ago to get serious about this whole moving back to Wisconsin thing.

Suddenly the time felt right to get it over with.  To leave this place that I've come to love and to build my life in a place that is so amazingly familiar and supportive and wonderful to me.

It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks to say the least because, all of a sudden, everything came together quickly.

Two weeks ago, I still didn't think I'd be leaving for another couple of months at least.  And then, in less than 24 hours, I found a sub-leaser for my apartment.  Once that was done, I decided to give my notice at work because I had a few things in the works up in Wisconsin and figured I could get a serving job to get by until I found something full-time.  And then I was offered an awesome job - in my field, doing something I love, for a company that I think will be amazing to work for.

All of that is to say, I'm moving back.  I will officially be home by Thanksgiving.

Some of you are probably thinking that all came in the wrong order - give up my apartment, quit my job, then get a new one - but honestly, everything about it was perfect.  I simply had to trust that it would work out. I wasn't wrong.

I'm so sad to be leaving my friends here and will miss everyone dreadfully.  At the same time, I am so incredibly excited for what lies ahead.  Wish me luck!

Opportunity Knocking

One of the most memorable things I've ever learned took place in a 2nd grade classroom.

Back then, our grade school hosted a series of career days. At the time, my mom was running a chain of fast food restaurants. To this day, I'm still convinced that the only reason I had friends that year was because my mom brought in french fries for career day.  But I digress.  The lesson learned had nothing to do with feeding your friends so that they like you.  In fact, after the infamous ChocoTaco debacle of 7th grade, I should have learned that lesson is one worth forgetting.

One of my classmates had an older sister who was married to a Green Bay Packer. If you know anything about Green Bay, you know that means he was pretty much related to a god. The day said player (I honestly wish I could remember his name) came in to talk to us, I'm sure we were all excited to hear about the glamorous life of an NFL player, a lecture on how you should play sports, or a chance to throw a football around.

We weren't prepared for this man to walk into our classroom, hold up a $20 bill, and tell us that whoever took it from him first could keep it.

The entire room full of 2nd graders sat there dumbfounded. What do you mean we can just come take it?

I distinctly remember him giving us multiple opportunities to take that $20 bill. No one moved. We were so afraid we'd somehow get in trouble.

More distinctly, I remember him going into a lecture about seizing opportunities. If someone hands you the chance to do something - something that could make your life a little better, a little easier, make you a little bit richer, a little bit happier - with no strings (or at least very minimal strings) attached TAKE IT. Don't question it. Don't think about all of the bad things that might happen. If you spend too much time dwelling on the negative, you might miss out.

Of course, there are plenty of false opportunities presented to us every day. But when something falls into your lap, when you get a chance to do something you probably never dreamed could happen to you, when everything simply feels right, maybe you should see that as an opportunity to act without thinking it to death.

We all missed out on the $20 bill back then. I wonder if any of my classmates would even remember this story. But for me, it was a defining moment. For the first time I think I realized that if we work hard enough things really might just be handed to us as a bit of a reward.

Big things are happening for me right now and I've been remembering that lesson constantly.

Don't ever pass up the opportunity to do what you know in your heart is right.
Seize that opportunity when it knocks.
Trust that you will find a way to make everything fall into place.

Monday Reminder: We Are Limited

I can never read all the books I want; I can never be all the people I want & live all the lives I want.  I can never train myself in all the skills I want.  And why do I want?  I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in life. And I am horribly limited. - Sylvia Plath