Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Well, here I am with another overdue post! First, I would like to thank those you have helped support my etsy shop Mitty McC! I had my first non family/non acquaintance/non friend purchase yesterday! Keep spreading the word for me. My newest addition to the shop is a friend ship bracelet set. If you have an ideas or suggestions of what you think I should sell, let me know.




I have finally made an official announcement to work that I will be going to graduate school at OSU this fall for my Master's in Social Work as a full time student. They have allowed me to stay on part time. I am very excited! School starts on August 22nd, so wish me luck...I think the academia world will be a big adjustment from Corporate America, but I am looking forward to the change of pace. I am not 100% sure what I will want to do exactly, but I would like to combine my paralegal certificate and experience with the social work field. I am meeting with an advisor on Tuesday. I just bought a book bag and am now counting down the days until the fun begins! This also means, I will probably be blogging more to help avoid doing school work... Dan and I have had a pretty laid back summer. I went Pittsburgh for a bachelorette party, and participated in a pole dancing class. Don't let anyone fool you, that is hard stuff! I took the next level of improv classes in Columbus. Dan and I have played movie trivia. We also made it back to Iowa over the 4th of July for my best friend before preschool's wedding and to see our families and friends. It was crazy hot, but a lot of fun! The wedding was beautiful as well! The theme song for our trip was Call Me Maybe! We also got free tickets to the Airborne Toxic Event last weekend. It was a blast!


 

Next weekend we are going to have a houseful of visitors from Iowa (Jamie, Katie, Derek, and Vanessa) ...I am resting up now to make sure I can keep up! We are going to go to the Heart concert, sing karaoke, go to the North Market, drink and eat like champions!

 Things we are looking forward to in the upcoming months:
-Caitlin and Zane's Wedding in Pittsburgh
 -Mumford and Son's Concert in Columbus
-School Starting
-Going to Madison for the UNI/Wisconsin Game

 Things we are enjoying at the moment:
 -HBO Go (especially Big Love and The Sopranos)
-Of Monsters and Men
-First Aid Kit
-Sweet Corn
-Blueberry Pies
 -Summer Shandy
-Weekend Coffee
-Nightly Walks in our neighborhood

Checkin' In

Here we are in February! One month ago I was making New Year's Resolutions, and I feel I am making good progress in 2012!

My resolutions will probably be the same as last years:
less TV -I feel like I am doing OK with this one!
more blogging-eh-there is still room for improvement right?
more crafting-Yes! I have made some cool stuff so far this year and will be making more, but that is a whole other blog post!
more reading-Yes!!! I have read some good books!
more working out-I took some time off for a cold...but I will jump back into it this week!! Also, I am going to try Zumba soon!
I would love to join an improv class-Third class starts this week!
and of course, I would like to keep in better touch with my friends and family.-Working on it!

Last week we went to see Nick Offerman (also known as Ron Swanson) at OSU. He did stand up comedy offering up his tips for prosperity. Some were funny like eat as much red meat as you want. Some tips really were inspiring, like make things with your hands, push the envelope, and stay offline. He made a very good point, no one is going to care if you had a high score on Angry Birds. Why not use the hours you "waste" each day and make something? I found this inspiring and am going to really try to make sure I am not wasting my time away, which often happens when I open my laptop and wander onto the interwebs...

Speaking of the interwebs, thanks to Pinterest, I have found an easy way to keep our house tidy and it only takes 312-30 minutes out of my day. So when I get home I clean right away and have the rest of the night and WEEKEND to relax! My new chore chart can be found here.

My recent favorites:

Homemade Thin Mints!

This Sloth Necklace!

Parks and Rec-This show gets funnier every week!

This shirt in green!

My next craft:

Necklaces!

New Picture!

Well! Here we are, it is the middle of December already! Dan and I are not going back to Iowa for Christmas, but we will be enjoying Ohio this year instead. Dan is actually working on Christmas cards as I type this, so check your mailboxes in a few weeks! Though, we are not going home, I must say that I am much less stressed about the holidays this year.
Below is a survey our friend Catherine filled out! I am copying her!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
I am partial to hot chocolate, but I will never turn down a good nog!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Neither. Santa put them in our stockings by the fireplace!

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Colored lights on the tree! White is OK, but color is better!

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
I don't. I don't think I have ever.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
This is my first year decorating in columbus. I put stuff up 2 week ago.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
Puppy Chow and Chex Mix. That counts right?

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child?
We used to go to my Grandparents' in South Dakota and would see our cousins. Also one year our cat chased a mouse up our Christmas Tree. It was pretty exciting!

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I think the 3rd grade. I really trust what people tell me.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Yes we did, mostly because my parents could not wait...

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
Growing up, it was covered in a bunch of random decorations. Now I have small tree that lights up when I plug it in. The decorations don't fit too well.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
I can live in it. I do not like how other people drive in it. I like to look at it from the warmth of my home.

12. Can you ice skate?
Yes, with double blades or on my ankles.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
My crimp and curl cabbage patch kid and my kid sister!

14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you?
My family and reflecting on or blessings! Also, time off of work!

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
Pinwheel Cookies!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
English Crackers! I don't really have any traditions yet!

17. What tops your tree?
Growing up it was an Angel. Now it is a Star.

18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving?
I love to give gifts! It stresses me out trying to find a good one, but I do like it!

19. Candy Canes?
Sure!

20. Favorite Christmas show?
Dan calls it the Holy Trinity of Christmas Movies: Home Alone, Love Actually and Christmas Vacation.

21. Saddest Christmas Song?
Christmas Shoes, both because it is a bad song and because it is depressing.

22. What is your favorite Christmas song?
I am not really a huge Christmas music fan, probably because they start playing it before Thanksgiving....I like Hark the Herald Angels Sing and All I Want for Christmas is You!

Come on ride the train, and blog it!

It is officially fall now, which means everyone will start blogging again...I think...
I figured I better get back on the blogging train!

We had family visits in June: Dan's mom and sister and my parents, sister, brother in law, and nephew. It was great to have our families here. Dan's dad is even coming this weekend too!!

We also traveled to two weddings (Sarah and Tom in Iowa and Sarah and Sean in MI). Both weddings were so beautiful and fun!

We also went to Montreal and Quebec City Canada in early September, to celebrate our 2 year anniversary. You can see the pictures here and here. It was a blast, which made it hard to come back to the real world!

I have been pretty homesick lately, but I think we may be heading back to Iowa around Nov. 3rd to see Kirsten's (Dan's Sister) musical and my new nephew Leo!

I have also been knitting and crocheting like crazy getting stuff done in time for birthdays and Christmas. I got some great yarn in Canada.


My next biggest challenge for this month is coming up with a Halloween Costume...Any suggestions???

Things I am enjoying lately:
-The Movie: Drive
-Aziz Ansari
-Pinterest- it is a great way for me to keep track of the crafty stuff I want to do and stuff I want to buy =] (tell me if you are on there!)
-CraftGawker
-Jason Derulo -it is fun to workout to
-Roots!-love my new sweatshirt!
-TV shows are starting up!
-Cider and Maple Leaf Cookies

Update from Dan

Hello readers. It's Dan again. It's been over a year since I wrote in our blog, and Amanda always asks me when I'm going to write in here. I've started a few entries here and there over the past year, but I've never finished any of them. Today, however, the sun reading on my horoscope said the following:

Mars and Pluto supply raw power for enhanced opportunities today. The planets help you cut through red tape and attack matters with decisive action and resourcefulness.

Clearly, I took this to mean that I should write a post in our family blog. Decisive action has never been my strong suit, but with the raw power of Mars and Pluto flowing through me, I will summon the energy to write a short blog entry.

The last time I wrote in our blog, I was just about to start my new job. I'm now starting year 2 of that job, and it's going pretty well. It's not super demanding, it's fairly flexible, I get to work with students, and I have my own office. I also get to take free classes and utilize all the benefits of the university. I can't really complain. Amanda's job is more stressful than mine, but it's also pretty good company to work for. They have a bowling league, too.

The problem I find myself with now is what do I do with my life? Yes, I work full time, but I've never been too eager to define my life by what I do at work. When we were in school, it was easy to defer this question - your only calling is to study, go to class, work occasionally, and fill the rest of the time playing video games, drinking with friends and sleeping. Once that's over (and including any grad school, internships, study abroads, volunteer corps, etc.) and you actually find stable employment, it's easy to think that you're on track. But if you're like me and not a workaholic career-driven individual, you find that your life is no longer on a track. You've left the railroad tracks and now you're just rolling across the open desert in an American Gladiators Atlasphere steel ball - no direction and very little momentum other than what you provide yourself.

What the hell do we do now? We're happily married, I'm actively saving for retirement, and we're not planning to have kids for a few years. It seems like my days are spent in a 50/50 split waffling between a) frantically investigating new life or career opportunities online and b) being completely at peace with my current life situation and seeking out new activities to enrich it: reading, working out, playing music, freaking out about political news, thinking up small business plans (to reduce the need for regular work) etc. Does this ever go away, or is this a constant life deal? It's actually probably unchartered territory, at least in terms of previous generations, because ours was really the first generation to grow up with creative spelling, "everyone's special, unique and wonderful" and "you can do whatever you want in life if you set your mind to it" guidance. With our "limitless" yet guided upbringing, our first steps into the uncharted real world are a tough adjustment. It's just one big game of Atlasphere.

Lately, though, I've been seeking out more things to actively pursue instead of watching TV and freaking out about what to do in the future. Amanda has been helping with this too; it's easier for me to do stuff when I see her working on crafts and printing t-shirts, etc. I'm still taking Swedish at school, and I've been reading books on the bus everyday. I've also decided to try and write more, both in this blog and in another blog I'm starting about how much I hate advertisements. Amanda, as much as she loves me, does not love my constant deconstruction and criticism of TV and internet ads, despite the fact that they're hilarious and thought provoking. Since we don't have kids yet to listen to my stories and learn from them, I'm forced to turn to the great void of the internet to share my opinions. Hopefully I will gather a large following and become an invited speaker at internet events and daytime TV shows.

So that's my update. I hope you've enjoyed it. I will be sure to try to write in here more, and I'll also post the link to my new advertising blog if/when it gets off the ground.

Going Ons...

Well the temps in C-bus have gone below zero for the first time this year along with our first hefty snow.I love how it looks outside, because finally, it is winter here!

Dan's birthday is coming up next week (the 25th), and we are also going to the OSU/Purdue(more like Pur-DON'T) game. I am super excited and slightly geeking out over this, because I will actually get to see a number 1 seed in the country play a NCAA bball game against another ranked team! In case you didn't know, I love college basketball I often listen to the ESPNU podcasts at work and will often curse the east coast school loving (mostly Duke) Doug Gottlieb under my breath...
I have even taken the Friday of March Madness off work. I should have done this last year, as it killed me not to be able to check in on the games throughout the day. I am super excited, but will super depressed once basketball is over and baseball will start...

I really don't have a lot of OSU fan gear, but will be wearing my OSU script shirt from Homage. It is much like Iowa's RayGun site. What can I say, I like sassy shirts!

A goal of mine for this year, will be to acquire more OSU gear and attend more OSU events!


So I joined a bookclub, in hopes of getting back into the hang of reading again. The first book, Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, is not quite what will pull me back into the swing of reading regularly, granted I am not far through it at all, but I am not sure if I want to be. I am not finding a connection to characters and I really don't care about them or what happens to them. It reminds me of The Great Gatsby, which I very much hated in high school, and angered my teacher when I voiced that opinion in my class. I will keep you posted though!


I am still crafting and have been making paper beads and bottle cap magnets like a mad person!
My next goal is to learn more about print making and stencils! I will keep you posted, because I am sure you are dying to know how that goes!

We are also thinking of planning a big trip to Europe. My brother and his family are moving to Germany, and maybe we can go see them. And also, since Dan is taking Swedish, it might be good to put his practices in use. The sad thing is, that this trip may be comparable in price to our trip to Iowa for Christmas...Not sure where we will go or anything, but we did talk about going back to Iceland for an extended layover and then to Europe...Any suggestions? Where would you want to go?

Other than that, there is not much going on here! I will be having some visitors from Chicago in a couple of weeks and am super pumped!

HNY

Happy New Year!
Last night I actually had a great time, not that I was doubting I would, but I have never really liked New Years. Mostly because it is right before my birthday and everyone always was partied out and didn't feel like doing anything on the 3rd. Anyway, we went to a friends house and hung out with good friends and rung in a Happy New Year. I also slept in in past 1 this afternoon, because when we went to bed I realized I had been up for 21 hours...


We had a great time in Iowa for Christmas, catching up and visiting with our families. I think I gained about 15 pounds from all the food I inhaled! We were both sad to have to come back to Ohio, maybe someday we will be closer to home.


Here are my goals for 2010! Dan can blog about his later...
1. start working out again, and to acquire a treadmill
2. become more crafty (like sewing and making stuff)
3. master knitting, stamping and making my own stationary
4. to cut down on my sugar intake
5. read more books
6. keep in better contact with friends and family
7. limit my screen time (tv, computer, etc.)
8. purchase a washing machine and dryer
9. visit/explore other parts of Ohio
10. blog more =]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

December? Really? Really.

Ok...so Dan and I are not good at blogging. And I guess what we aren't good at getting Christmas cards together either! I think we were a little worn out from sending "Thank-Yous" so I think we will wait until next year to have our McCurley Christmas Card debut.


November was a good month! We had a great Thanksgiving. We had a few friends over and played some Xbox 360 =]. We had lots of great food including a peanut butter cup pie from Perkins. I am thankful we have great friends to spend the holidays with, as we are unable to get back to Iowa as often as we would like.


I started my new position at work today. I am assistant manager in another department at the firm. It is great! I have a great co-assistant manager and a great manager. I will a lot from these ladies. The people in the department are great too. I am really excited. It is hard to start out and not quite know exactly what is going, especially since I had my other position mastered and made into a well oiled machine...but change is good!


There really isn't a whole lot else to report on. We are FINALLY settled into our new place and are welcoming visitors! (Wink)





Also I decided I want to become more crafty. I was in a bookstore the other day looking at craft books and was like I want to do that. I am not very good with scissors or any of my fine motor skills, but hopefully things will turn out ok. I am teaching myself to knit and want to start making my own stationary, which means gifts and cards may appear more frequently, in the mail...because who doesn't love mail! Let me know if you want anything!


Last but not least, I read a great book over Thanksgiving called the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I read it in a day. It was probably the best book I have read in a long time. It is a young adult book, but it was much better than the Twilight series. The Hunger Games is also part of series and only two of three books are out. I have yet to read book two, Catching Fire, but I have only heard great things. I totally recommend it.
Any other good reads out there?

HalloWeasley!

Dan and I celebrated our first Halloween as McCurleys! It was A good one! We only had 2 trick-or-treaters though.

We did carve a pumpkin:














I dressed up at work with my friends as Harry Potter, Hermione and Ron. It is kind of creepy how well it turned out:

















Dan and I had our first couple's costume as Ron and Hermione, but not the way you may think.















It was a great Halloween. Now on to November....