They Say Black Friday - I Say Quality Time

Growing up, I was a good kid.  And I was pretty close to my parents.  but I was SUPER close to my dad.  I was the quintessential "Daddy's Girl."  If my mom said no, I would go to him.  Big alligator tears in my eyes, quivering lip, the whole deal.

And I would always get my way. 

Now - that being said - I wasn't actually a spoiled brat.  They did say no.  I was a good student, polite, and well-behaved.  So the story above is more about how I could wrap my dad around my pinky finger.

But now that I am (dare I say it), an adult, I am very close with BOTH my parents, and more than I have ever been with my mom.  We both love a good book, movie, or bottle of wine.  And she supports me through every single thing I have ever chosen to do.  Even more, she has been here for me the past 7 months more than I could have ever imagined.

But one random thing is that ever since I went to college, one of our favorite mom-daughter traditions has been Black Friday shopping.

We aren't the crazy Black Friday shoppers that stay up all night and try to break arms for the $1 television.  We aren't the people waiting for the hot toy of the season.  We're just out there to see what's available, and essentially shop for each other for Christmas.

It's one of my favorite quality times with my mom.  ALL YEAR.

The night before, after dinner is done and we are in our PJs and all comfy, we tediously go through every ad and decide if we are going to the store or not.  Then we decide what we want from each store, and based on opening times plus desires, we make a strategic plan of attack.

That's right - a list, a plan, and timed goals for hitting each store.  If you know me, this isn't really a surprise, is it?

This year the stores opened earlier than ever.  2am.  Read it again - 2am.  And despite the craziness of it, we decided to still do our traditional shopping.  Even worse - we were going to hit 14 stores.  Because we are gluttons for punishment.

We were out there at 1:45am, ready for our first store.  It was cold.  It was windy.  It was dark.  But then the stores opened and we were in.  And then out!  And then in.  And out!

We're pretty much a power team.  We weave and bob through the stores with the best of them - one shops while the other gets a prime line position (if necessary).  We know what we want, so we grab as needed.  And we know to avoid prime Black Friday real estate (electronics, toys, etc...)

So there we were - the Best Black Friday Shoppers Ever - and then we hit Victoria's Secret.  And suddenly, our whole day came to a halt.  We were stuck in the world's smallest store, with the slowest checkout, folding every bra into pale pink tissue paper.

I thought I was going to lose it. 

*To this day, I'm still on an "End the Pink Tissue" campaign.  Pink tissue paper has no place in Black Friday!

We lost a lot of time, but we were together.  And we laughed and made friends with the people in line.  I showed my mom Twitter and Foursquare and Facebook - all from my iPhone.  And eventually, we made it out.

By the end of the morning, we were exhausted and settling in for a hard-earned brunch at one of my favorite local places.  We were ready for the nap that we had definitely earned.

But I was also really content with all the quality time I had with my mom.  The whole weekend was great (and I totally cried like a baby as I pulled out of the driveway to return to Indy).  But I'm already looking forward to next year - even if the stores are going to open even earlier!

Less Than Three

For those of you that don't know, less than three is the long way of saying "love."  It's computer speak.  It's shorthand - <3.  A heart.
My friend Meggie pointed me to a blog post (via Twitter!) that was titled the same thing as my blog post right now.**  And it got me thinking...

This women's post was fabulous.  Amazing.  I loved that she did it.  And I wanted to do it too.  I have so many things that I love.  Sometimes it helps just to list them out.  So I did, and they are in no particular order:

• Ice, cold Diet Cokes
• My ever-present companions - heating blankets at night, protectors by day, snoring little mischievious devils - Bobo and Tucker
• Things that are made in crockpots
• Starbucks - standard Skinny Vanilla Latte order, and the seasonal specialties of Pumpkin Spice and White Chocolate Peppermint
• The invention of DVR
• Wine - red, white, I don't discriminate
• Candles that smell like Christmas
• Dryer sheets
• Advil, ibuprofen, Tylenol - all the drugs that make my legs work after 13.1 miles
• iPods and their playlists - especially the totally embarrassing songs by Miley Cyrus and Justin Beiber
• Friends - the ones that push me out of my comfort zone, and the ones that catch me afterwards
• Frozen Yogurt
• Delta Gamma - I love the women that are my sisters forever
• My parents - they are always there - enough said
• Blue Moon, Leinenkeugel, Gumballhead....and their friends Bud, Miller, and Coors
• My iPhone - I don't know how I existed before it
• Flip flops

I think that sometimes I forget that the littlest things in life can really make me smile.  These are the things (big or small) that totally make my day.  I'm going to try harder to make sure that I take more time to notice these things.

Who knows - maybe tomorrow there will be another set of things that I <3.  I feel like this should be a never-ending list.

**My apologies to the original blogger....I can't remember where I found you!  Meggie - point it out if you know what I am talking about!

I'm A DG, She's A DG...

As some of my friends know, I spent the weekend at Purdue.

Nope - I'm not a Boilermaker (how dare you even think that!  DePauw Tigers all the way).  But I am a Delta Gamma....and one of the best things I did after college was become a Recruitment Advisor for the DG Chapter at Purdue.

So once a year I pack a bag and move into the DG house on campus.  It's a weird mix of wonderful college day memories, and a whole lot of feeling old!  Recruitment is intense on a campus as big as Purdue, but I am so lucky because the women there are just phenomenal to work with.

This was, however, the first year that I didn't have someone to watch the dogs as I ventured away to recruit new women into the Greek life.  So, what's a girl do?  Call PetSmart PetsHotel of course!  MY doggy daycare was booked up, so the PetsHotel was my next option.  I was admittedly nervous (because I am so lame) about leaving Bo and Tucker in a new place.  But I dropped them off Friday night and they seemed happy just to get 1000 new things to sniff.

With dogs safely secured, I went off to Purdue.  I spent all night Friday helping decorate for the next day, with all of Saturday spent listening to cheering (I'm a DG, She's a DG....I wanna be a DG, oh yes, oh yes, oh yes I do....).  In between the cheering, I got to count vote after vote.  A late night of recruitment, voting, and conversing with Panhel - only to do it all again on Sunday!

I can't share everything that I do there, but it's admittedly weird to anyone that hasn't experienced the Greek system.  And even though the amount of time in one weekend is exhausting, I love doing it.  I truly love watching the girls in the house start to form relationships with the women that they will invite for membership in just a few short days.  I like being a part of something bigger than myself.  It's strange to think about, but literally every DG chapter on every campus in America goes through the same process....and we all become sisters with this initial bond.

I don't think I ever thought of it this way - not when I was in college, not when I helped run Recruitment at my own house, not even the past few years of advising.  But now that I have taken time to do the things I want to do, I realize that advising is giving me a purpose.  More than being an employee, more than a girlfriend, more than a caregiver.  I get to continue to contribute to something that shaped the woman I became, and influences me to this day.

*Wow - didn't plan on getting that sappy....  I'm sure that there will be plenty of thoughts about that.

Was there drama this past weekend?  Of course.  Did I sleep very little?  Definitely.  Was it totally worth it when I saw the list of women joining the chapter (and of course, the sorority as a whole)?  Without a doubt.  Does it leave me missing my own DG sisters?  Immensely - more than ever.

A little shout-out to my own girls....We are pretty cute DGs, if I do say so myself!

My Own Pursuit of Happyness*

*I need to preface this post with the fact that I do realize that is is spelled "happiness," not "happyness."  The perfectionist in me is going nuts.

I think that most people know that I have been pseudo-unhappy lately.  I say "pseudo" because it has just been like a cold I cannot shake.  It's not there all the time, but sometimes I am just BLAH.  It's work, it's training, it's exhaustion, it's everything.  And while I consider myself a relatively happy person, it has just seemed harder lately.

I have a tendency to not be committed to myself, but instead by committed to everything else that is in my life.  I used to think that I was selfless.  In my worst days, I felt like I was trying to be a martyr.  But really, what I have come to discover is that I was just avoiding discovering what I really wanted.  So many of these types of realizations go back to the "Breaking Through" class that I took with Nicole....so we'll expand on these later.

For now - back to my Pursuit of Happyness.  I didn't necessarily know what truly made me happy anymore.  And although that concerned me, I didn't want to spend any amount of time thinking about it.  Luckily for me, Nicole did.  Going through her own journey has made her a wonderful person to chat things out with, and she has tons of great ideas for me.  So, much in the spirit of "The Year of Exploration," I handed over my happiness and asked her to put together some type of plan to get me through.  Her job: give me things to do that will create happiness, and allow me to discover what I like.  My job: do them.  NO EXCUSES.

So, we met 2 weeks ago and she handed me a bag.  Inside the bag was a day planner, 2 gift cards, and a list of instructions for my own personal "Pursuit of Happyness.".  I'll summarize here:

• Create a Happy Book (read about Nicole's here)
• Write in the day planner each night before bed - only write the things that made you happy
• No negative or neutral comments
• No skipping days!
• Review each week to remind yourself of what the week brought
• Pursue Life Outside of the Office
• TRAIN - even though I sometimes think it's a chore, I committed to Team in Training, and I do truly feel good after I do it
• Host 1 dinner party a month - invite different types of friends
• Go to the bookstore 1 night a week - buy a foofy drink, grab a book, and read for 2 hours
• This is where 1 one of those gift cards came in (no buying books - just drinks!)
• Make Work Happy
• Buy 1 iTunes song a day
• Hence another gift card...
• Only songs that make you happy
• Create a playlist out of these songs, and make it your "drive to work" mix
• Work semi-normal hours (no more killing 16 hours at the office!)

There were a few other random items, but this is the basics of it.  I live for lists, so this appeals to me down to the very core.  I also am totally ready to allow someone to run my life, tell me what to do.  I'm tired of doing it!

So, how am I doing?  Pretty well, actually.  I am dedicated to the "Happy Book."  Without a doubt, it makes me smile every night.  The other stuff is coming along.  The one that has been hard for me is the work hours - it's right before our large user conference.....Can I use that as an excuse?? 

But I am dedicated to the project because I really want to find out what makes me happy.  I really, really want to be able to make decisions....this is just the first step in that!