While I am still trying to figure out how I blinked and missed 2010, I have decided to face the reality that years fly by so fast, and start thinking about 2011. It seems like just yesterday 2010 was beginning. Chris and I were moving to Orlando, but came back to meet his new nephew for the first time. I remember those days so clearly that I can't wrap my head around the fact that it was a entire year ago. I received so many lovely year end letters accompanying Christmas cards this year, and it really made me wish I had done the same. So, instead I did mine on my personal blog, Traffic Notes, and you can read it here if you're interested in hearing about my 2010.
I am so excited about 2011 and the changes it will bring. I know change is inevitable, and sometimes it's not always welcomed with a smile. Sometimes change feels awful and life-ending. Always, it's not. The coming year is starting out with such excitement for me because I'm getting married! This time next year I will have traded in Barnett for LeBrun and fiance for wife. In true blogger fashion, I have created another blog for that so friends & family can be in on the planning madness (Warning: if you don't want to read the ramblings of a cheesy, newly-engaged, crazy woman, this blog is not for you.) However, if you are into love and all things mushy and maybe you are a crazy woman yourself, read this.
So, about the New Year. It's time for the dreaded word: resolutions. I am the person who makes new years resolutions, but can't remember one I've actually stuck to. I type this with my head hung down in shame. (And no, that's not a dramatization...I can do that because I don't need to look at the keyboard when I type.) This year, however, I have a new idea for a resolution that I've never tried before. Considering my upcoming nuptials, this one is important to me.
Here we go...
So, this year...before she becomes Mrs. LeBrun...I would like to be nicer to her. I would like to see her in the mirror and not whimper, and I would like to feed her more regularly and give her better food when I do feed her (A pack of tic-tacs will no longer count as a meal). I would like to motivate her to excercise more, not to lose weight, but just to be healthier and feel better about herself. I will not call her chubby anymore or make snide remarks about how her butt won't fit in her jeans anymore. This year, I will learn to love her as she was made and take care of her so she can stick around for a long, long time.
I will now stop talking about myself in 3rd person because I'm starting to annoy myself. See, there I go being my own worst enemy again! This New Years resolution is extremely important to me, because as I enter this new chapter of my life I want to enter it as a positive person and role model. And I certainly want Mr. LeBrun to marry a confident, strong woman. And one day...far down the road...when we have children, I want my children to grow up with confidence. The only way that will happen is if I have it first.
So good-bye Jessica of yesterday, you're mean and I've decided that you and your negativity are out!
On a side-note, I have already started working on my New Years resolution, thanks to my new fiance who gave me a wonderful blender for Christmas. I have had a fruit smoothie with fat-free vanilla yogurt and vanilla soy milk every morning this week. I feel more positive already! It's amazing the difference a little nourishment will make in your day!
So, I ask you, what will you change in 2011? What will be in, and what will be out?
I came across the blog of the anderson crew a while back, and it melted my heart. Not only are the blogger, Emily's, children absolutely adorable, but her and her hubby are in the process of adopting another little one from Ethiopa. Add that to Emily's wonderful photography and creative blog posts, and you have a blog that is more than worthy of bookmarking.
I have always wanted to adopt a child, since I was about...9 years old! I remember seeing some kids on TV and asking my mom if I could sponsor a child. Unfortunately, I had no income, so the answer was no. After spending some of my childhood living in the city of Cairo, Egypt, my passion for homeless and orphaned children only grew.
Even without those feelings already inside of me, I'm sure Emily's blog would still pull on my heart strings...and I'm sure it will yours as well.
So if you will take a minute to visit her blog, I'm sure you will become a follower, and maybe you will even take advantage of an opportunity to bring a little girl home to her destined family.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!! I know that I sure did! I just finished my "Year-In-Review" post on my personal blog, Traffic Notes. And, if you read all the way to the bottom you will see that I'M ENGAGED!!! Christopher proposed on Christmas Eve morning at the beach during sunrise. And of course, I SAID YES! I am so proud to be his fiance, and just beeming at the thought of marrying the man I love!
Ok, so enough about me, I want to talk about Christmas! Have you ever noticed how everyone becomes more kind, generous, and caring during the holidays? People tend to give more, and people say hi and Merry Christmas when you pass them. Overall, the holidays are a time of giving and kindness.
Of course, I think that's just wonderful. But, I have a question: why are we like that only during the holidays? We can't we have the same giving, caring spirit all year long?
I came across this quote that says it best...
"I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys." ~Charles Dickens
Christmas really is "a kind, forgiving, charitable time". So, ask yourself this, what would the world be like if we all had that same Christmas spirit all year round?
Why is it that we have to wait for a holiday to remind us to care about other people, and to be kind? Are we really too busy and caught up in ourselves to smile at someone else? Are we really so greedy that we can't spare some cans of food from our pantry, when we all know they have been sitting there for months unused?
So my challenge to you, and to myself, is to keep that Christmas spirit. Don't let it fade away because a date on the calendar has passed.
So Merry Christmas everyone! Yesterday, today, tomorrow, and the rest of our days!
Remember when I said my house was starting to look a lot like Toys-R-Us? Well, here is the supporting evidence! These are all of the Operation Elf gifts, all labeled and ready for delivery!
Yesterday, I delivered them all to St. Matthew's House. Christopher kindly loaded them into my car in the morning, and a very kind gentleman helped me unload at SMH.
I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to all of the "elves" who participated and made The Seed Project's first Operation Elf a success! Your gifts are going to bring joy to lots of kids this Christmas! One of the neatest things about the different projects I had done since starting The Seed Project, is the distance between those involved. Generosity, kindness, and giving has no distance limit! So, thank you to...
Melissa - Cape Coral, FL
Bobby - Charlottesville, VA
Michelle - Naples, FL
Tracey - Naples, FL
Yliana - Naples, FL
Heather - Bluefield, WV
Jennifer & Amelia - Downingtown, PA
Elaine - Montreal, Canada
Jonathan - Bluefield, WV
Brenda & David - Bonita Springs, FL
Chris - Naples, FL
Randy - Naples, FL
Alisa - Paducah, KY
Laura - Marco Island, FL
Lynn - Naples, FL
Merry Christmas to you all, and let's do it again next year!
Wow! I can't believe it's almost Christmas! It seems like just yesterday I was helping to pack a truck to move to Orlando in January, and now we are back home in Naples getting ready to celebrate Christmas and the start of a new year! Time flies, doesn't it?
I know everyone is trying to wrap up their last-minute Christmas preparations. Unless, of course, you are one of those super-early Christmas people who get everything started months in advance. My hats off to you. I am not one of those people, maybe I will be next year. With last minute preparations in mind, I wanted to share with you all a wonderful idea for a little Christmas fun! This is a great way to not only make Christmas fun, but to make small gifts into something special...and we all know we are trying to make more of less these days!
Christopher is always so thoughtful and creative, but he has yet to beat our first Christmas together. Since he had several small gifts for me he decided to send me on a scavenger hunt through our house (well, at the time, it was just his house).
I guess first you would have to know that I love penguins. I know, total dork. I actually collect penguins. They melt my heart and I'm such a sucker for love that it makes sense I would love an animal who mates for life. So, Christmas started out with a small gift...a baby stuffed penguin with this note attached to it...
This led me outside to the turtle tank on the patio. Behind it, I found this next note and some candy...
This led me to his desk which had an Einstein poster above it. Behind his computer, right under the Einstein poster, I found a small gift (if I remember correctly, it was a yearly quote calendar, the kind you tear off each day). There was also this note to me from Einstein himself...
Christopher collects old 3 Stooges stuff, so of course this note led me to his collection. There I found this note from Larry, Curly, and Moe, along with a mug and hot chocolate...
Next, I found a "papa penguin" under the pillows on the bed. He had a key attached to him. It was one of those with a light on it, for the front door of my house (I was living with a roommate at the time). Papa penguin also wrote me this note...
Papa Penguin gave me some penguin socks...but I had a little trouble figuring out where I was going. Chris gave me a hint that it was a place only a penguin could live. To everyone else who heard the story the freezer was the obvious choice. But of course I first checked the bathtubs and showers before figuring that out.
In the freezer, I found Mama Penguin with a string around her neck. On the string was a ring, and she also had a card with her. The card was written out with lots of promises for our relationship. The ring: a promise ring.
I know what you are saying "Awwww. How sweet!" And I'm saying "I know, right?!"
As wonderful as it was, my point in telling you is not just the romantic part...but the idea of making more out of less by making Christmas fun! That was the best Christmas I have had to date. I will never forget it and I will never get rid of those little notes. Sometimes, thoughtfulness and a little creativity is the best gift!
I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! And if someone surprises you with something thoughtful, tell me about it!
P.S. Operation Elf gifts were delivered today, so look out for a post about it tomorrow!
This past Saturday we got together and decorated the Christmas cards. I can't remember the exact count, but there were over 60. It was fun to fill out the cards, put stickers on them and all that, and not even know who exactly you are giving the card to!
After we finished the cards we drove over to a local nursing home. We weren't sure if they would even let us in, but it ended up being the perfect time because they were all having lunch. The nurse welcomed us and told us we could just pass them out during lunch. Everyone was so nice and they seemed really happy to have the surprise cards. Success!
We had some extras, which we walked over and gave to another nurse to pass out for those who were in their rooms in the other part of the nursing home.
The whole experience was a lot of fun, and I'm so glad that Jen let me in on this awesome idea! So thanks, Jen! Jen is one of the nicest people I have met since moving to Florida, so hopefully we can get together and do more stuff like this soon!
Speaking of Christmas cards, and on a completely unrelated note, I ordered my personal Christmas cards online. A few days later I received a package in the mail...full of white envelopes. No Christmas cards. I was freaking out because I really wanted to get my cards out in time, so I wrote an email to the company...freaking out! A few days later, I received my cards, and then I received an email stating they would be sending me another 50 Christmas cards to make up for the mix up.
While I really appreciate their kindness and trying to make things right, I'm really wondering what I am going to do with 50 more Christmas cards, personalized with pictures of Christopher and I. They do have The Seed Project's URL on the back, but I still can't figure out what I am going to do with 50 more cards.
Unfortunately, there aren't that many people in my address book, and I still have 5 left from the first 50 I ordered. Any ideas?
Christmas! Or...Toys-R-Us, actually!
In case you didn't see the post on our Facebook page earlier this week...I have GREAT NEWS! As of Thursday morning, ALL of the children on our list for Operation Elf have sponsors! I know, I know...some exciting stuff going on here, right?!
That means 36 children will be blessed with a gift this year from the "elves" of Operation Elf! Another neat part about this project, and all of the other things The Seed Project has been doing, is the distance between those getting involved. For this particular project we have gifts coming from Virginia, West Virginia, Florida, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and even Canada!
As of today, I have received 19 of the 36 gifts. Within the next week I hope to receive the rest, with a strict deadline of December 20th. This will give me enough time to deliver the gifts before Christmas.
Thank you, to all of you who decided to get in the elf spirit this holiday season to help The Seed Project with Operation Elf! Your kindness and generosity is greatly appreciated. I will be sure to keep updating you with the progress of Operation Elf up through the delivery of the gifts! I can't wait to see what we can all do next!
In the spirit of Operation Elf, and because I love to do this every year, I decided to Elf Myself! And, I picked the hip-hop version because this is probably the closest I will ever get to being cool like that.