sympathetic nervous system series....or not

Remember when I said I would do a post each month about things that make me happy? You know, right before I went on a two-month sabbatical to re-configure my whole life because nursing school stuff was setting up camp in all the boxes and lines of my planner?

Yeah, so much for that...

Well, here is the second installment of what I've now dubbed the sympathetic nervous system series!

Just kidding.

Did you get it?

It was a joke, okay?

Sympathetic nervous system = fight or flight = adrenaline rush....anyone?

Gimme-a-break-'cause-I'm-in-school-right-now-and-all-I-can-focus-on-is-physiology-stuff-because-it's-kicking-me. in. the. rear.

10 things that put a smile on my face

1. Living close enough to campus that I can ride my bike to class and get to the science center in two minutes flat

2. My 6 qt CrockPot

3. Justin's and my weekly doughnut dates that involve some devotional time along with a good cup o' joe, a baked good of some sort and/or a mammoth-sized breakfast entree

4. The $0.41 pumpkin spice lattes at work

5. Going on runs without obligation nor any pressure to look at my Nike watch every five minutes

6. The fact that the appropriate time to start listening to Christmas music and decorating for the holiday season (AND CHRISTMAS BREAK) is getting closer...and closer...and closer...

7. Re-reading Justin's account of his near death experience - SO funny! To clarify, no harm was done to Justin or the deer.

8. The 20-minute dance party that Justin and I had last night (this morning?) at 1:30am to the Tron and Fight Club soundtracks

9. Getting to know some pretty incredible and amazing fellow student nurses so far this semester

10. Having all of my weekends free from work once again!

What's bringing you joy and smiles these days?

 

NPR



Madness, I tell you...

The lack of posts has a reason: life is C-R-A-Z-Y as of late.

For one thing, we're moving.

Again.

Justin and I realized that this will be our fourth living space in the span of two years. That's right - by the time we settle into our new abode, we will have lived in FOUR different places since tying the knot in 2009.

That is four times of packing boxes, crossing our fingers that nothing gets damaged in said boxes, breaking down furniture [ or not...because it's sooo not worth it to attempt to reconstruct those IKEA pieces sans the original instructions...], loading / unloading U-Hauls, re-assembling non-IKEA furniture, unpacking those mountains of boxes, figuring out how to best organize new spaces and places, and waiting for weeks until our new home actually feels like home.

However, this time we're doing things a little differently.

We always knew that at some point we'd have to do a major purge of our possessions since we've been planning on paring way down once Justin heads to med school. However, we didn't expect that to happen until at least next summer, so now we're scrambling to purge unnecessary items. Due to renting an actual house, we've I've gotten into this nasty habit of -ahem- acquiring [ and creating ] more items than we I maybe should have. Some vintage Ball jars to use as vases? Sure, I'll take four. Perhaps a decorative wall hanging? I'll craft some and then also take one for free from my mom! This has resulted in a few too many items than we actually need and I'm feeling just a bit overwhelmed at the sight of them as I mentally pack items into imaginary boxes.

"Please chase a peony, love"

I'm going to make a confession: I don't always do the greatest job of looking on the bright side. I realize this isn't the most ridiculous thing in the world since there are a lot of people who tend to be self-proclaimed "realists" [ c'mon, in all honesty that's just an excuse to be a negative Nancy ] and don't always consider the glass half full. However, a huge part of my motivation to revamp this blog was to change the name to Chasing Peonies, which was actually a metaphor for me to lean more towards optimism on a daily basis.

I used to be a bubble of flowers and butterflies, hopes and dreams. But somewhere along the way, for a myriad of reasons that need not be delved into, I transformed into a dark hole filled with nothing but shrewdness and negativity. While I've since come out of that [ thank goodness ] , a small part lingers and threatens to take over when I lose sight of what is so good and real in my life now. In fact, it probably comes out more than I realize, considering all too often Justin will encouragingly remind me to change my attitude with one simple phrase: "Please chase a peony, love."

this and that and everything in between

Since deciding to go back to school as well as moving into our church's house, Justin and I have become more aware of our finances and how we can possibly live more simply. In this post, he actually wrote about our attempts at living a greener lifestyle, which also translates into a "budget-friendlier"  lifestyle. Along with this topic, over the past year I've been struggling to live more minimalistically and environmental-conscienciously [ try saying THOSE last five words fast 10X ]. Maybe it's being married and starting a new life with someone, maybe it's the fact that my money is not solely my own anymore, or maybe it's just me going through some changes - as I wrote in my "About Me" section, I'm learning to be content with less.

I'll be honest, sometimes it is really tough. With social networking grabbing me left and right via Facebook or all the blogs out there, it's difficult to not get turn into the green-eyed monster. So-and-so has the cutest clothes, why can't I just make over my wardrobe? So-and-so's house and its furnishings are so beautiful, why can't I have that, too? Oh, how I wish I could have X, Y and Z just like so-and-so. The list goes on, and before you know it, I'm feeling all down in the dumps when in reality, I'm surrounded by mounds of blessings, both physically and emotionally.

But then I shake my head, remind myself of those blessings and I realize how much I truly have to be thankful for. Along with that, I remind myself how much joy I get out of doing some of those things that are considered "simpler" or not very extravagant. They actually really are just better for me because they bring me a sense of peace, being okay with the littler or more basic of things.