Completely Random Facts

Most of you know me pretty well...but since I post my blog updates on Facebook, who knows how many people I'm not aware of that actually read my blog. So, I thought I'd give you some random tidbits about me ;0)

*Warning: This post contains MANY seriously nerdy facts about me...most of which I am very proud of. Please don't mock me for them.

 

1. I love making "to do" lists - to be more specific, I love crossing things off the "to do" list. I watched a movie once (I think it was one of the lifetime original movies) where a male actor had a pda and made his "to do" list on it and the female actress commented to him about the inability to cross off things on his list when using a pda (I believe you just click a box next to the "to do" and it disappears)...and that was why she wouldn't ever get one. This obviously resonated with me, because I'm the same way. Part of the excitement, for me anyway, of finishing my task is that I then get to cross the task off my list. Wanna know something even more nerdy about me? Sometimes I write things down on my list that I've already done, for the sheer fact that I then get to cross it off.

2. I'm not good at printing out pictures on a regular basis (hmm...maybe this should be one of my hopes). I tend to only print pictures out when I'm going on a big scrapbook retreat or having a crop with my girlfriends. Which means, I then have to spend 3-4 evenings going through pictures on the computer, uploading them, putting them in my cart, then editing/cropping them, actually ordering them, and then go pick them up. Ugh, I'm tired just thinking about the process. I'd still have to do all of that...but if I ordered one or two months worth of pictures at a time, as opposed to what I did this week (which was order all of 2011 at once...I am excited about the 750+ pics to be delivered to me soon) the process wouldn't take nearly as long, and I wouldn't stress so much when prepping for my scrap retreats because most of my pictures would already be right in front of me. *For the record, I ordered all of 2011 at once because Snapfish is doing there 99prints for 99cents deal...which is WAY cheaper that what it would cost me to get my pics throughout the year like I usually do.

3. I'm EXTREMELY organized. I believe I've mentioned this before...about how I have some ridiculous OCD tendencies (especially when it comes to being organized). Case in point...my closet:

 

Things are all hung in like order (short one colored shirts are all together and organized by color, same with the long-sleeved one color shirts, t-shirts that can be worn to work are together, then the other t's, then skirts, then dresses.
NERD ALERT: I even organized my scarves and belts.

 
*Yes, my closet always looks like this! And Yes, Chris does have to deter me from the organization and purse sections of stores...they are my weaknesses.  He told me the other that under no circumstances am I ever allowed to go to the Container Store. ;0)

4. I love to scrapbook. Yes, I know you all know this...but what you don't know is that I see inspiration for scrapbooking EVERYWHERE! I sometimes have trouble falling asleep at night because I'm thinking about an idea I have for a layout and I'm just so excited about it, I can't get it off my mind. At this point I have never actually gotten out of bed and started on the layout (my realistic side tells me how insanely tired and irritable I would be in the morning if I got out of bed to scrap).

5. I love bacon. My sister got me a bacon air freshener for my car a couple Christmases ago...I've never opened it because I'm afraid it will make me crave bacon every time I get in my car.

6. Steak is my favorite food. Basically I'm a carnivore. Salad is what real food eats ;0)

7. I don't like any kind of salad sandwich...ham salad, chicken salad, etc. It's a texture thing, not taste thing. Same with breakfast casseroles made with bread.

8. I always look for the person chasing those crazies who are running on the side of the road. Why?...you ask...because I don't see the point in running unless someone is chasing you to kill you or steal your purse. And even then, there is nothing so very important in my purse, and if God is ready for me then so be it. People who say they enjoy running make me chuckle...those people have something seriously wrong with them.

9. I have road rage. I don't flip people off...but I do scream at them! I realize they can't hear me and to an onlooker I probably appear rather crazy as I scream at the top of my lungs...but it does make me feel better. To be honest...this started after I took a safe driving course in college (my Dad got a discount on my insurance if I did it...Can I blame him for this?) and realized just how many people don't know traffic rules.

10. Michael Jackson is one of my favorite artists. His music just makes me happy.

11. I have very random taste in music.  You'll find Third Day, Eminem, Michael Buble', and soundtracks to musicals on my Zune.

 

12.  I love ducks. You all should know this by now...if you didn't, where on earth have you been?

 

13.  Sunday is my favorite day of the week.  It's Crosspoint day and a relaxation day in all in one ;0)

 

14.  I have the best husband on the planet.  Seriously...I do!

 

15.  I spend 1-2 hourse twice a day doing treatments.

 

16.  I am a Christ Follower!

2012 Begins

 Holly's 2012 Hopes

Well, here it is...the blog post that to some degree scares the crap out of me!  Hahaha...

Why you may ask?  Well, as you all know, I don't like to fail when it comes to my personal goals and so this blog post scares me because I feel like I have to live up to everything I write.

Such is why I call them my "hopes". 

However, it motivates me because not only are they things I don't want to fail at...I don't want to let my dear blog readers down by not keeping up with them. 

I mean seriously, how lame would I be to give you my update at the end of the year and every single one be like, "well, I tried on this one, but yeah it just didn't happen." 

And then, instead of the (probably only) 2 loyal readers I have ( ;0) thanks Mom and Heather), I would have none! 

 I refuse to allow that to happen.

So, here they are, my 2012 Hopes.

*I've listed the ones that aren't really capable of being measured first...because let's face it.  These will always be on my hopes list, and are things I will continue to strive to make better.

~ I want to continue working on being the best wife, “maschia” to the ducks, daughter, sister, granddaughter, aunt, friend, etc as I can be.  There’s always room for improvement ;0)

~ I want to continue to work/focus on my marriage.  Every relationship in our lives requires work for it to continue to progress.  The most important relationship to me, aside from my relationship with God, is my relationship with my husband.  He and I share our lives together, now and forever, and in order for our life together to maintain it's yee-ness (I'll explain yee at another point if you don't understand this terminology) we will always have to work on it.  Go Team Elliott!

~ I would like to continue working on my faith and my relationship with God.  It’s very easy to become overwhelmed and let the stresses of life overcome and overshadow the things that we really need to focus on.  But if we make it a point to grow in our relationship with God we are better equipped to handle those life stressors.  It doesn't mean we won't have frustrations and trials, it just means we'll have the best resource (God) available to us to help us through those rought patches.

~ I am going to work on not letting other peoples issues become my own.  I feel like there are certain situations in my life that I could have easily been sucked into the middle of, when in all honesty, it doesn’t have to do with me.  I’m not one of the key players in the situation, and I’ve  tried very hard to not let the issues of those close to me, that are key players in the situation, become my issues.  It’s difficult…because when it comes to those I love, I want to go to battle for them, but I can’t.  I just can’t.  And I can’t let their issues become mine, and I can’t let their issues eat at me.  It’s not healthy for me, and it drags down those around me. 

~ I want to increase my random acts of encouragement.  I know this was on my hopes list from last year…but I focused on some of my other hopes more than I did this one.  So here it is again.  I want to do at least one random act of encouragement a month.  And I fully understand how odd that seems, like I'm planning out a random act of kindness.  But here's where the randomness comes in:  I will intentionally, once a month, seek some quiet time with God and ask him to put someone on my heart that I can help encourage.   It may not be random from God's point of view, because he knows what's going on with that specific person...but I don't.  All I know is that God loves that person in my life so much that He's showing them His love and encouragement through the words I have to say to them. 

~ I want to donate my time or resources to a local organization at least once a month.  Most likely (knowing me and how busy our calendar can get and how fast it fills up) it will more than likely be resources that are donated. 

   I made a conscious effort to go through my closets and drawers after Christmas, I tried on EVERYTHING…if I hadn’t worn it in a while, if I knew I really would never wear it, or if I didn’t LOVE the way it looked on me (even if it fit) I got rid of it.  There’s no reason to have clothes in my closet that I’m never going to wear and that I don’t feel good or confident in.  The original plan was to save it for our garage sale in May…but that’s 4 months away, which means it will be sitting in my basement for 4 months, UGH!  Then I thought I’d take it to Goodwill…then I thought, I wonder if there’s a local clothing pantry at a church or something????  I found one in Noblesville and will be dropping off a box of clothes in the next few days.  I don’t need the money for the clothes and I’d rather someone who truly needs them have them. 

~ I want to be better this year at doing Menu plans.  Last year started off good and trailed off there toward the end, with no menu planning being done the last few months.  Chris and I are very good about budgeting, but food is our weakness and we’re very easily talked into forgoing all that’s in our fridge to go out to eat.  This isn’t always a bad thing, but we just need to discipline ourselves to use more of our “go out to eat” money for grocery money.  Since I get home around 3pm every day it’s easier to make food at home...not like when we both got home around 6 and neither of us wanted to spend an hour in the kitchen making something, when we were starving right then and there.  How I plan to get myself in this discipline, I don’t know (suggestions welcome), but I definitely need to do so.

~ So last year my goal was to finish Scrapping 2010 before starting on 2011…granted I strayed a smidge from this as I did start on 2011 before completely finishing 2010…but I did keep my word and finished 2010 instead of just dropping it completely once I started 2011.  SO…this year I have a new Scrapbooking goal.  I want to finish 2011, get at least half of 2012 done, and get a little bit of 2009 done too…YIKES!  That’s a big goal.  But I do have a plan for getting this done.  Each month I plan to get 1-2 months from 2011 scrapped.  Some months had more going on than others, so if I encounter a long month to scrap…I’ll just do it.  If the next couple months are small scrap sections then I’ll do both.  I already have January and February of 2011 scrapped, so I’m currently a smidge ahead of the game (well, as far as 2011 goes) so I should be able to finish 2011 earlier in the year than December 30^th ;0) and get more than 2 months of 2012 done by the time 2013 is here.  Depending on how this goes, I may even up this monthly goal to include the month prior to’s scrapping, meaning in February I’ll work on January from 2012 as well as a month or two of 2011.  This would obviously make it easier to get caught up but may be a little over zealous.  My scrap retreats could be time focused on 2009.  I do have some stuff scrapped from then already, but at the moment I don’t know how much is done and how much I have left, so who knows how long it will take to catch up on it, but at least I’ll be working on things that are sitting in a bag in the closet just screaming to be put in an album.  Wish me luck…this is I think the biggest measurable challenge I’ve given myself.

~ Last year my Blogging hope was to blog once a week…go ahead and chuckle, it is humorous.  This year my hope is to simply blog…just kidding ;0).  I am going to be much more manageable with my hope for blogging this year and say at least twice a month.  I can do that, right?   Once every two weeks…that’s manageable, isn’t it?  YES…yes it is!  I can do it.

Well, that's all I've got for you right now.  Wish me luck, and feel free to ask where my hopes are at periodically throughout the year.