40 Day Lent Letters: Completed!

So, YAY!

Forty days ago, I committed to acknowledging Lent in a way that would be appropriate for me, a non-Catholic. I don't really have any must-have vices that I felt I needed to shelve for that time, so I borrowed Marianne's idea of sending just a simple note, once a day to a different person.

Remember this?

day 1 : march 5, 2014!

Well, today was the 40th and final day of these little letters. Strangely enough, I felt a little sad that I'm now done with these; I looked forward a little every day to the note I was about to write, and prayed that I would have the right words for whoever it would be. There's something about knowing a task but not knowing the recipient that makes something like this a little more fun (: 

Anyway, I am done. Lent Letter #40 is sealed up & ready to be mailed first thing tomorrow morning. Narrowing the list down to only 40 people was somewhat of a harrowing task, but I know there was a specific reason for each of these people. That being said, RECAP! 

days 1-8
jen v. | aunt toni & uncle norman g. | lu f. | jay w.
james g. | catie e. | rob s. | maricor j.

days 9 - 16
marianne s. | nalom v. | meagan g. | kortney b.
dave & nancy b. | dawne m. | dusty r. | dad

days 17 - 24
remy d. | nader s. | arley c. | ali l.
mo p. | kalyn p. | aunt cindy & uncle gary d. | kyle y.

days 25 - 32
jennica s. | trish b. | trish r. | becky s.
ms. ellen b. | mindi k. | matt l. | christine h.

days 33 - 40
steph & mark k. | mom | heidi vh. | marc & diana v.
laney p. | becky h. | olivia j. | gazelle d.

This.. was.. super fun. This reminded me very quickly that the power of a handwritten note should never, ever be underestimated. (:

********

In other news for today: Rob, Sydni and I started the day together with a solid message from SonRise, then made a pitstop for Rob to get his hair cut. Sydni and I ran a couple of errands and had a mini photo shoot to commemorate the beautiful day..

my favorite girl ♥♥♥♥

... & the rest of the reel ;)

Back at home, Rob started digging into the boat; it's time to wake that sleepy thing and get it ready for the season. Sydni took to her squirt guns and spent a couple hours assaulting everything from the front porch to the curb... us included (:. Kalyn invited us over for a bit to play some volleyball and grill out, so we of course obliged.

 

Kalyn's neighbors have a rather old pet rabbit named Dusty. Sydni made quick friends with Dusty... 

syd & dusty

I made a solo trip to Fairfield for soccer while Rob & Sydni stayed back at home. We narrowly missed pulling off a win, but in our defense, we were running a man short for the game since the rest of the team didn't make an appearance [womp womp....]. It was a nice workout, no less. I headed back home to find my three girls curled up on the new dog beds. Well, at least two of them were on there....

poor sasha... haha

^ Yep. Sydni had dragged the dog beds out to the living room and curled up next to Stella. Poor Sasha got jipped, but did what she could to at least have a pillow and make the best of an unfortunate [for her] situation ;)

I love this little family of mine. ♥♥♥♥♥

xo | cmd

AHHH! FRIIIIIDAY!!

I knew it would be a good day when I arrived at work, sat down and authored up the little note for day 3 of my Lent Letters. And yes, it's taken me three days to decide I'm calling them Lent Letters. Anyway, Friday opened up with that, and only got better from there.


day 3 (:

Friday lunch = Rusty Bucket. Nom. Nom. Freakin' NOM. (:

rusty bucket!

There was a small hiccup when I arrived home and found that Sasha, in what was probably a 5-hour [at least] span of boredom, had annihilated her pillow:

good work, sasha.. haha

^ Really nothing serious, just a poor pup who was locked up all day. I can't say I'd be any different. Fortunately, it was a quick cleanup, followed by a couple loads of laundry and a whole-house re-clean before the company rolled in.

Rob made it home from work mid-evening, and after a power nap, I awoke to the sound of car doors in my driveway.

They. Are. Here!!!

Sure, I should have a picture to mark their arrival, but let's be honest: I think we all know there will be plenty of those to go around this weekend.

G'Night!

xo | cmd

Progress Reports ;)

I'm on day 2 of my 2014 Lent commitment, and I have to say this is one of the best things I've ever done for Lent. I thought about this on the way to work, and consequently found myself preparing my heart for the words I wanted to speak to the person I would randomly draw from the jar. I prayed that I would find the best set of words to convey my appreciation for that person in the short space I've given myself in each little note card. These, after all, are not lengthy letters, but rather just simple notes.

jar of ♥s

^ Yes, this is my own little jar of hearts. This is only day 2 and I'm in love with the idea of doing this.
So there's that update.

Another mini progress report would be a tiny little victory shout that I have not fallen off this balance ball chair yet! Instead, I've put the daggone thing to work, and every spare second I have [which really isn't many, thankfully] is spent doing some sort of exercise. I stretched my back out for a bit today as well, and easily could've just stayed in that moment of bliss for the entire day.

this thing... is the best.

Yes, I occasionally find myself literally upside-down at work. Luckily for me, nobody can see me in my little corner without giving themselves away on the approach. Also, I'm not alone in my obsession with combatting office lethargy: Elisa is now using the other exercise ball I bought originally before I found my chair. Her desk sits lower than mine, so the height difference isn't as noticeable. Lizzy has a pedometer, and spends most of her in-office time marching in place while doing computer and phone work. Nancy does pilates every week, and Dave... well Dave is probably glad he's not a weirdo like the four of us ladies. Haha.

So far, so good.

Last update for today: I think Rob & I finally found our in-town sushi destination. We had made Se7en in Belleville our little spot when we were still living there, but we've been thus far up in the air about a decent dive here. Tonight we ventured over to Mango Tree in Mariemont, where I used to always order carry-out Pad Thai when I still lived in Fairfax. I'd never tried anything from their sushi menu, but we figured it was worth a try.

appetizers: edamame & spring rolls

 Our sushi arrived:

fried rice & top to bottom:
ultimate california roll, philly, spicy california, california

I am now a big fan of this place, and sure, here's a free plug for Mango Tree in Mariemont: GO THERE! Nom nom nom nommmmm...

Oh, and guess what. Tomorrow is FRIDAY.
THAT MEANS...

omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg.
...they're coming... tomorrow. omg... o..m...g.

I can't wait. I just can't.

I think we'll sleep well tonight (:

xo | cmd

Ash Wednesday | Cyclones Game

Can I be an honorary Catholic for today?
... Or really, for the next 40?

Ok, so I guess I don't need to be a Catholic to participate in Lent, but it's that time and I've already read dozens of proclaimed Lent sacrifices from some of my friends. Chocolate, Facebook, smoking, wine... everyone's got their own vice they're planning to cut out for the next 40 days, and here I am trying to decide if I should or shouldn't get onboard. Again. Every year.

I decided I wanted to do something this year, but struggled with exactly what... until Marianne came up with a genius idea that I quickly and totally decided to borrow. It's really a brilliant idea, and when I asked her if she'd be offended if I did it, she just laughed and told me to share it!

It'll go something [well, exactly, really] like this:

and here.. we.. go!

Simple, right?
Actually, for the most part, yes, it looks like it will be.

Since I'm all about making everything as crafty [and sometimes consequently complicated] as possible, this is how I went about it:

1. Pick 40 names. This was probably the hardest part for me, for a few reasons. First, I got to about 29 or so and started drawing blanks. I managed to slow my brain down and add the rest, but I started to worry that maybe I didn't even have 40 peo-- well, nevermind. I have them. THEN, I struggled with the idea of accidental favoritism, like... how I would decide the order in which I did these. I decided to do this the old-fashioned way: write all 40 names on little paper strips and fold them in half...

40 names.... and... go.

... and stick them in a jar. Accidental favoritism problem solved.

names in a jar, for fun, easy picking.

To take this one step further, I thought that rather than take up space in each little note with the explanation of what it's all about, I took the corny route and put together a little card to throw in each one. I have no doubt some of my friends will laugh at this, but hey, I'm not mass-producing the notes themselves, so hopefully they'll at least appreciate that. (:

a bit corny, sure, but we'll go with it

Today was of course the first day of Lent, so that meant the first note went out today.

day 1 - done! (:

I feel good about this one. We shouldn't need a reason to occasionally reach out to the people who are sometimes obviously close to us to remind them that we appreciate them, but I'll take advantage of Lent and put my heart into it.

If you think this would be something you'd wanna do, well, it's only day 1, but I wrote & sent off the first note, and I'm so glad I did. There are going to be some tough notes written throughout this, which will probably speak to me just as much as I'm hoping they will to their recipients. This could be good... really, really good ♥.

I'll be excited to share, in 40 days, the order in which these names were drawn, and how this impacted me. Call it a mini social experiment, if you will. Day 1, done!

That was how the day started.
The day ended with dinner & a Cyclones game with some of my favorites: Rob, Becky & Paul.

these people ♥

Cincinnati hockey has never really peaked on my radar, but I've concluded that I love pretty much any type of visibly competitive sporting match, especially when it's a contact sport. As soccer players, Becky and I decided that that love comes by nature ;).

There are always the die-hard fans with clever shirts:

There are also the beeramid makers [which we all enjoy watching]:

beeramids!
=SUM[$1 beers + thirsty fans + window ledges]

And then.. there's us: 

the guys...

... & the gals

Caaaaah-lassssyyyy... we know. Haha.

We ended up losing the game in shoot-out, but for what it was, we had a great time with awesome people.

And Becky, my awesome friend that she is, gifted me with these little guys! These were carved out of a single piece of wood; she brought them back from her recent trip to Nepal. They aren't really functional, but I love them and will absolutely be putting them on display at home.

hand-carved wing-in-wing owls!

It's been a good night. Rob and I realized we had never been to a hockey game together, which is weird since STL is all about the Blues over there. Meh. The benefit of mediocre general interest here is that tickets in the 4th row back from center ice were still just $13 each. Awe-some.

first cyclones game with the best friend (:

It's almost Thursday, which means almost Friday, which means my friends from Illinois & Virginia will be here before I know it. YESSSSS.

On that note, g'nite (:

xo | cmd