Travel Abroad

The blog-o-sphere seems to be full of people moving their families to live overseas right now. The Mister and I are working toward that goal, too, but we're still a few years out. We must finish our degrees (the Mister will be done in April, theoretically I will be done in 2013) and the Mister needs to get a couple of years experience in his new career before we'll be in a position to either get transferred overseas or move and take contracts that would allow us to work from home. Our first choice destination is London, but Sydney is not too far behind. Given the cuts to higher education that both the UK and Australia are experiencing right now, my best bet might be to take online teaching contracts with US universities. Daydreaming about living in London or Sydney has given me something fun to think about on my morning commute.

Life Without Cable

The Mister and I have been talking about getting rid of cable for a long time, but finally bit the bullet last week and ended our unhealthy relationship with the boob tube. I knew I was watching too much TV, that it was just too easy to "relax" by going downstairs and watching, but I had no idea how much time I would get back in my day by making this one phone call. It's invigorating. We've been eating dinner at the table, listening to music, and just talking more. What's interesting to me is that we've long felt like we haven't had free time, that our evenings were just too busy, but once we gave up TV we are realizing that all of our free time was being sucked up in episodes of Law and Order. It was such a gradual relinquishment of our time that we had no idea it was happening until we made a clean break.

I might actually get back to sewing.

MindLESS

I know that every magazine geared toward women in the supermarket check-out has at least one article about being more mindful, being present, and being in the moment. I am taking the opposite stance in one area of my life: my appearance. My goal is to have a wardrobe, makeup, and self care routine that is essentially mindless. I am building a wardrobe where everything matches with everything else so when the morning rush is on I don't have to think about what to wear. My makeup routine has been pared down to the bare minimum and can be done half asleep (as it is most mornings). Routine self care is going to be done on a regular schedule (toenails, hair, eyebrows, etc.) so that a minimum of effort is required to maintain it.

These things simply aren't important to me anymore. Don't get me wrong, I want to look nice and present a clean, professional appearance. But I don't want to have to think about it any longer. In a culture that is obsessed with image, my goal is to step out of that game and start thinking more about the things that are important to me. I realized a few weeks ago that I was wondering what the girls at work would think about this outfit or that outfit and I knew I had to stop. The comparison game only leads to greater dissatisfaction and competition.

Anyone else have experience with this?

Mr. Pouty Face

My nephew will be 3 in March. He'd been making this pouty face for a while but it was difficult to catch on camera. He was at our house just before Christmas and I had the perfect opportunity--he and I were arguing over whether or not he was going to eat breakfast (I won, but barely) and I just kept taking pictures. It took almost 40 shots, but I finally captured the look.

My sister's a little bit scared of what three will look like...