Baseball + Football

We're in that sweet spot of fall when baseball and football are on at the same time, which is awesome. Especially when you live in Wisconsin, and the Badgers and Packers are (so far!) undefeated, and the Brewers just clinched the division. Oh, and the Packers are defending Super Bowl champs. *CHAMPIONSHIP BELT*

This is all not to mention the other sports stuff going on -- other baseball teams, college football, Monday Night Football, etc. Occasionally, we'll even watch a womens' college volleyball team. This also means that my favorite football column, Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback on SI.com, is published every Monday morning, which I actually think about reading Sunday night as I'm falling asleep.

It seems like there's a sporting event on every night. It's hard to balance all of the TV we want to watch with taking evening walks when the weather permits. Fall in Wisconsin is so beautiful (albeit short), and combined with all of the awesome stuff going on, I think it's fair to say it's my favorite time of year. GO PACKERS!

Carrie Underwood singing How Great Thou Art

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLLMzr3PFgk&feature=share

This. THIS! Instant happiness once you hit the verse after the guitar solo in the middle. Especially when they pan to the audience, her peers in the music industry, and they're shaking their heads in disbelief at such a phenomenal voice. One good thing to come out of reality TV. :)

This picture

This was one of my baby daughter's first baths at home. I think it goes without saying that she did not enjoy it. This picture really captured the emotion of the experience. Ryan and I didn't know whether to laugh or cry -- we just knew we had to make it a QUICK bath. :)

Fast-forward six months, and she loves bathtime. Hooray for all.

Kate's MOH speech

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZbDpBFujno&feature=share

This makes me H-A-P-P-Y on a number of levels. First, my two younger sisters (twins) both got married this summer, Kate in July and Meg in September. I couldn't be happier for them -- they each married a wonderful guy who we're lucky to have join our family.

But down to business. Meg's maid-of-honor speech for Kate was awesome -- a very thoughtful and witty poem. Sadly, Meg's speech is not on Youtube. Fortunately, Kate's speech to Meg IS! Cutest thing ever. Enjoy.

Oh, and I'd like to add that I played a small yet vital role as Kate's music stand/moral support. It's not easy to play your accordion in front of almost 300 people. :)

When your blinker goes to the beat of the song on the radio

Has this ever happened to you? This rare but awesome phenomenon happens most often when you are alone in your car. You flip your blinker to turn, and between your random thoughts, you realize that you're nodding your head to the beat of your blinker. Wait a minute, no... the stars have aligned, and both your blinker AND your head are in sync with the beat of the song on radio. This most recently happened to me with the fun song "Tonight, Tonight" by Hot Chelle Rae, and it made me want to drive a little bit longer rocking out with my blinker on after the turn. :) But I didn't. I'll just have to wait for it to happen again someday.

Cleaning the Lint Trap

This is an odd one. I don't know what it is about cleaning the lint trap in the dryer, but it gives me a sense of great satisfaction *every* time I do it. (Which, now that I have a baby, is quite a lot.) With one circular swoop of my hand, I grab all of the fuzz that's come off our clothes (that's what ends up in your lint trap, right?) and throw it in the little garbage can positioned next to the dryer. It takes 2 seconds, but afterward, I always feel a tiny bit triumphant. Strange, right?

It might be because when my parents got married in 1978, as they tell us, they got a new dryer. But they couldn't find the lint trap -- it wasn't in a place that either of them had seen a lint trap before -- so they assumed it didn't have one (???). Fast-forward a few years, and my uncle stayed at their place. He did some of his laundry, and he found the elusive lint trap. It was like 6 inches thick with lint. Needless to say, he showed them where it was, so they ended up not setting their house on fire, which I can't believe didn't happen sometime in the years before he arrived. I imagine it was a close call.

Anyway, maybe it makes me feel like I'm somehow avoiding that fate (I have a monster fear of fire). Or that it's just a small task I can cross off my to-do list (another thing that makes me happy). But whatever the reason, that's that.

Revlon Nail Polish

Revlon is my fave-fave-favorite nail polish. Goes on smoothly, lasts forever. I'm in the midst of applying as I type, actually. (Careful!)

Favorite shades for fall are below. Enjoy! :) 

Plum Baby

Raisin Rage

Plum Seduction

  

Totally Toffee

The Meaning of Happy

Hi, all. Obviously, I've started a blog. Since making the transition from professional writer to stay-at-home mom, I don't write much anymore. I miss it! I recently wrote an essay for a magazine essay contest, and it brought me so much joy, I decided I should write more. Thus, this blog.

I suppose that means that this blog is more for me than it is for you, but what is a blog without an audience? So tune in if you'd like to read what I write, which I think will be about stuff that makes me happy. Not the obvious stuff like my friends and family, my health, my freedoms, etc., but the small stuff that makes me happy. Which, as you'll find out, is kind of a lot. :)