our love story: questions and answers

This New Year's Eve, we celebrated our five-year anniversary. Those past five years have been harder and better than we could have imagined. And with this big milestone on our minds, I thought it would be fun to share our story. (You can read part 1 here.)

Our relationship blossomed over the next two years. Two months in, we said "I love you" while discussing 1 Corinthians. We went to every K-State football game together, and talked almost every day even if it was only for 10 stolen minutes. Over our first summer, we planned as many meet-in-the-middle dates as possible until we were back at school. Love was everything I dreamed it would be.

But it didn't come without challenges. Ian was my first boyfriend, so I had a crash course in balancing a serious relationship with other friendships and failed often. Ian's hectic schedule contained countless hours in studio, singing at both church and a college ministry, and even one semester with a part-time job. Mine involved stacks and stacks of reading, leading a small group at church, and odd hours at campus jobs. We had completely different rhythms to our college lives. This sometimes resulted in me feeling left out, and Ian feeling like I expected more than he could give. But we grounded our love in our faith and grew with every challenge.

We even weathered a summer apart, him in LA for an internship and me in Arizona working at a summer camp. Our communication improved leaps and bounds but we agreed we didn't want to do long-distance again if we could help it.

I was with Ian when his parents rushed to Manhattan to let him know that Micki's cancer was back, and walked with them through treatment. This was scarier than I imagined, but my admiration for him and his family grew as I watched them find hope and grace in adversity.

I never doubted that we would eventually get married. That changed the winter of my senior year. One cold night, after driving around for a serious conversation about my upcoming graduation and ensuing job hunt, we were back at Ian's house sitting in the driveway with the heat on full blast. "Don't wait for me." I was crushed. Did he understand those words said to me that we had an expiration date? That the kind of post-school moving on he was hinting at meant, in my mind, leaving us behind?

The next day we met in the Union for lunch. I braced myself for the breakup I was expecting. Instead we tried the conversation again. He said he didn't want to hold me back. To be the reason I wouldn't pursue a job I love. I told him it was enough if I could count on us, together, wherever I landed. We patched things up, but I could still feel the seams as we finished the semester and headed home for the holidays.

In January, after another late night drive as a break from studio, he told me he couldn't say that he wanted to marry me. I didn't understand. When we started our relationship we agreed that it wasn't worth continuing if marriage wasn't a possibility. Was this a breakup? He took me home without a resolution. I vowed to myself I wouldn't be the one to end it, but I was waiting again, heart aching, for what seemed inevitable.

My roommate Megan reminded me love requires an open hand and I needed to trust God knew what He was doing in my life. But I was hurt and confused. Since we had started dating, I only grew in my conviction that God was guiding us to a life together. What did the past two years mean if there was a different ending?

After days of tiptoeing around the issue, it came to a head. We knew if we did nothing our relationship would fall apart. Ian told me he wanted to fight for us, and that's all I needed to know. He hadn't given up. I wouldn't either.

I learned much later that he had a conversation with one of his best friends while I was waiting in limbo. As I had suspected, he was ready to break up with me. He told Jordan. Jordan slapped him (literally) and told Ian he couldn't throw away the past two years. The love Ian and I had built was worth saving, cherishing, fighting for. (Jordan, we are eternally grateful.)

On Valentine's Day, with a renewed sense of love and joy, we made a nice steak dinner at my apartment. As we sat down to eat, he handed me a stack of index cards. It was a story about a girl named Anna, who lived at the top of a 99-story bookcase. She had everything she could ever want. Then one day she heard a voice from the bottom of her bookcase. She went down and discovered an amazing boy. And she had a choice. She could go back up to the top of her bookcase and continue her charmed life, or she could take a chance and stay with the singing boy forever. That was it. No more cards. I looked up at him and waited, listening to my heart thud. Then he handed me a box of blue wine glasses and we watched a movie in my living room.

A month later I was on a mission trip to Mississippi to help with continued Katrina relief efforts. On one of our evening phone calls, Ian suggested when I got back we should sit down with my parents to talk about marriage. And so we did. They gave us advice and a premarital financial planning study, which we started shortly after getting back to Manhattan. This once distant hope was beginning to materialize and become tangible. We talked timing. A wedding before his required 8-month internship, scheduled to start in January, seemed optimal.

In April, Ian came over for dinner. We made pancakes. Manning the griddle, I answered a call from my mom. She had breast cancer. Ian was there supporting my family as we began the journey his family already had traveled twice. Because of that experience we knew my mom's diagnosis would bring challenges, but it also gave me confidence that she, with her early detection and thorough treatment, would win.

In May, I graduated with an English degree and landed a job as communications secretary at our church, in charge of all print and web communications. It was a great fit for my passions and skills, and they were willing to be flexible with my not-yet-confirmed-by-a-proposal 8-month hiatus to Philadelphia with Ian.

On Ian's birthday in June, we attended his cousin's wedding. Not wanting to skip over his birthday celebration, he and I headed downtown after the reception. Still dressed to the nines, we stopped at a wine bar then headed to the riverfront and strolled around the park. When I got cold, he wrapped me in his suit coat. Every time he turned or reached into his pockets, I held my breath for a little sparkle. The clock was ticking to plan a wedding before his internship. I reminded him of this the next day, and he assured me he had everything under control.

The next week, Ian came over for dinner after working in studio. He'd sent me flowers at work that morning, which didn't raise any suspicions as he had a penchant for surprising me with quirky arrangements from ACME Gift, where he was known as "the flower guy." We made Hamburger Helper, then I suggested a walk after Ian insisted we enjoy the cool summer evening. He directed us to Manhattan Hill, so of course we had to sit at our spot, the first T, which naturally led us to reminisce about our first date exactly two years and nine months prior.

He reached into his bag, but I assumed he was putting something away. He continued the conversation, telling me how thankful he was for me, and how I made him a better man. I briefly thought he was proposing, but brushed it aside. The walk had been my idea. But the more he talked, the more I realized that, after two previous unintentional proposal setups, it was really happening.

He slipped the ring on my finger, we hugged, we prayed, I cried and developed unromantic sniffles. We watched the fireflies dance before heading back on the path home. Surprise number two was waiting in the parking lot: a huge group of friends to help us celebrate. We piled into cars and toasted back at my apartment with bottles of Kim Crawford sauvignon blanc, my favorite from my flight at the wine bar for Ian's birthday. He had remembered and tracked it down, the exclamation point to his perfectly executed surprise.

Fun fact: Britni, one of my best friends and roommate at the time, headed out on a second date while Ian and I were making dinner. I attributed her excitement to the date, when in reality she was giddy that I had no idea what was coming in just a few hours (and also excited about the date). And in that sometimes-real-life-is-like-a-movie way, she married that date a little over a year later.

Stay tuned for the wedding and lots of photos!

(I blogged the proposal not too long after it happened, which you can read here.)

Click your heels together three times

We flew into Manhattan when we went home for Christmas. It cut down our total trip mileage and ensured some quality time in the spot that we love full well. I always leave a piece of my heart there for safekeeping.

It was wonderful to be back in Kansas. The crisp cold that accompanies the powdered snow dusted across open prairie, the sky wide above you. A warm car on the way to the midnight julotta service at a tiny country church. A fiery sunset that serves as a backdrop to silhouettes of otherworldly wind turbines dotted across the horizon, turning almost imperceptibly. A pace of life that reminds you to slow down and savor it.

And so we did. I baked with Grandma. We played BANG! with cousins (and Sara—so glad you came!). Dad served as tour guide while we explored the nearby towns and farms full of family history. We convinced Grandma Judy to join us in Dodge, where we ran around town with Grandma Marilyn and the aunts. We drove Micki home and spent an afternoon with Dane (who had to leave Dodge before we arrived because of work). I squeezed in a nap with Pfluff while the guys watched football. We met a new baby who belongs to dear friends. We even stopped at our favorite coffee shop and snuck in breakfast at the doughnut shop everyone has been telling us about.

Really, there's no place like home.

See the rest of our Christmas photos here.

Katharine Grubb giveaway winner announced!

image courtesy of Katharine Grubb

The winner of last week's giveaway for a digital copy of Katharine Grubb's Falling for your Madness is #1, Didy! Congratulations! I know you're going to love it. Email me at annakristina28 [at] gmail [dot] com.

Thanks to everyone for sharing, and don't forget you can still enter to win a SIGNED copy on Goodreads. Just can't wait until February 14? Buy it now on Amazon in paperback or for your Kindle. (Support a local independent artist!)

Falling for Katharine Grubb: author Q&A + giveaway

image courtesy of Katharine Grubb

I met Katharine a couple years ago at REUNION. Ian and I fell in love with her family (she and Marc have five amazing kids), and she and I bonded over our writing adventures (and Midwest roots and love of Big 12 football). I had the privilege of serving as part of a focus group for her second manuscript, which has now become her first published novel! I could gush about it, but since I already have, I thought it would be fun to hear from Katharine herself.

What's your elevator pitch for Falling for Your Madness?

Boy meets girl. Boy is looking for a bride. Boy has fake English accent, loads of charm, and strict rules concerning a counter-cultural relationship. Boy claims he is bound by the laws of chivalry both body and soul. Girl falls for him but suspects he is mad. Girl finds out secret of why he does what he does, a secret filled with magic. Does she release him or marry him? (And then, in a elevator pitch, I would give the spoiler, because an agent or an publisher would want to know. But for the sake of this interview, I’ll stop there.)

Have your own experiences with love and romance influenced this book?

My husband and I met online in 1995, back when you had to explain e-mail to people. So, like David and Laura’s, our courtship was unusual and there was an intentionality to it. We were both looking for a spouse, not a fling. We both understood God’s vision for marriage and agreed on how to go about courting each other in a respectful, honest way. I moved to Brookline, Mass in 1996 to be closer to Marc, and the neighborhood that we fell in love in is the same neighborhood of Laura’s apartment and all of the teas, lunches, and dinners she had with David.

That's so sweet! So what would you consider a perfect date? (Confession: whenever I hear this question, I think "April 25th. Because it's not too hot, not too cold, all you need is a light jacket." Thanks, Miss Congeniality.)

HAH! After you are married for 16 years, your expectations are a little lower and you’re always thinking "can we afford this?" But I will say this: the perfect date to me is eating a meal that I didn't cook. Laughing a lot. Maybe a hike. I have five kids, so I would probably just be thrilled with a little peace and quiet.

If you were in Laura's shoes, would you take a chance with David?

I would! Because I find respect and good manners attractive. I created him to be someone I would have dated—smart, funny, not afraid to be goofy, gallant, and not caught up in society’s expectations of what men should be. My husband is like him in many ways. Not the hair in his eyes part. My husband does not have that problem.

Poetry, specifically Tennyson's poetry, is generously sprinkled throughout the book. Why poetry, and why Tennyson (besides the fact that David is a quasi-British English professor)?

David’s obsession with chivalry had to have a cause. He had to be well-read and smart (plus, I think those qualities are very attractive in men). And a literature professor would be more fun than a history professor, in my opinion. In my research, I found out that Tennyson’s Idylls of the King were instrumental in keeping Arthurian legends alive. Honestly, I didn't know that much about Tennyson before I wrote this book. So, I looked at his other poems. "The Charge of the Light Brigade" is one I made my kids memorize. Once I put that one in, at the beginning, I realized that David would use poetry to convey his most passionate feelings. Tennyson had a ton of poetry to choose from and I had a lot of fun figuring out which was perfect for David’s big moments. Tennyson was a great fit for David. It kind of makes me want to sit in on his classes.

Tell me more about your journey as a writer.

One of my earliest memories is when I was about four years old and I had a blank piece of paper and a pencil and I remember thinking that I should put a story on the paper! But then I got very frustrated because my penmanship skills were far slower than my brain. I've always created stories in one form or another. But I've also been plagued by crippling self-doubt and a lack of confidence. Failing college journalism courses didn't help.

Six years ago, right after the birth of my youngest child, I spent a lot of time in prayer asking God what to do with my desires to write. It was a slow beginning—blogging, an article here or there, then I started a novel. God was faithful. Not only did the opportunities to write show up, but he revealed to me the root issues of my self-doubt and fear. Over the last six years, I've never written more, never been so free to be myself even though the journey has been, at times, very painful.

I know writing this book was a very different experience from that first novel. Tell me more about the process, and what that was like.

The first novel, The Truth About the Sky, came about because I wanted to challenge myself to write a novel. It took me five years to complete it. I’m hoping to release it next fall. I had just assumed that all of my novels would take this long. Falling For Your Madness, however, came to me in a flash. I had the entire story in my head over the course of a weekend, a workable draft in three weeks, a finished draft in six, and most of what is in the finished project within eight weeks time. This is unusually fast for anyone. I wrote like a madwoman. I barely spoke to my family. I barely stopped to eat and sleep. It was an obsession. I loved it! But at the same time, I've never been so obsessed with a story and it was a little scary!

Laura's father said to "fill up and look" so as an artist she overflows with creativity and unique perspectives. How do you do this?

I came up with this idea because I was trying to explain to myself why, all of a sudden, I was so obsessed with writing this story. It was like I was overflowing with words. One of my explanations of this was that earlier in the summer I read a LOT of fiction, all different genres. Perhaps I just filled up and overflowed. The idea of filling up on others’ creativity is good for everyone, artist or not.

Let's talk about self publishing. It's amazing: countless best sellers almost weren't because publishers passed them over; how many more are out there waiting? It's frustrating: I lament the exponential growth of poorly edited fiction that comes with the lack of systematic quality control. It's scary for writers: most self-published authors don't have the experience and knowledge a publisher would provide. How did you decide to take the plunge? What resources have you used to deliver a high quality book and navigate the world of marketing thus far?

I had never considered self-publishing because I thought that there was safety and credibility to sticking with traditional publishers. However, Falling For Your Madness changed everything. Because this is a romantic comedy, it was far more marketable than my first book and I believe that it will open doors for me that The Truth About The Sky won’t or can’t. I wasn’t convinced to self-publish though, until an early reader-stroke-college buddy, Kate, who loves indie authors and reads voraciously, strongly encouraged me to do this. Kind of like, “DO IT NOW! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!”

Luckily for me, I know a few indie authors and I've been watching how they did it. I went with Amazon.com’s self publishing venues, Kindle Direct and Createspace. It was ridiculously easy. Kate’s daughter, Bree, designed my cover. My church friend, Christina, did my editing. I have no marketing budget, but I’m relying on my indie author friends, blogs like this one and my social media presence (@10MinuteWriter and www.10MinuteWriter.com) and some unexpected, enthusiastic word of mouth sales. We’ll see what happens. Publishing is a slow, slow business. My goal now is to grow a reader base who’ll want to read my books in the future.

You present a variety of views of women, and what it is to be a woman. An object to be toyed with and conquered. An equal, nothing less but nothing more. A lady to be wooed and honored. (And the contrasting fear that chivalry reduces a woman to a barefoot, child-bearing homemaker.) While you explore this with much more finesse in the book, how would you explain in shorthand your own views on womanhood?

Contrary to the way I was raised in the 70s, I believe being a woman is a beautiful thing. God did not make us to hate ourselves, compare ourselves to men, or to cheapen who we are. Chivalry is just an orderly way of looking at God’s purpose for men and women. This is based on reverence and respect. When men and women view each other this way, it enhances them both and frees them to fully embrace all of who they are to each other. I never understood this until I was in college. Many of the things David says in the Arboretum came right out of my college ministry’s guidance to me in the 80s, which shaped the wife and mother I am today.

Several moments in the book made me laugh out loud. What role does humor play in the book, your writing style, and your life?

Which ones??? Oh my, humor is just a part of me. My family of origin used humor for good reasons and bad ones and I learned as a child that humor was a powerful force. I joke around when I’m nervous. I joke around to get people to like me. I joke around to diffuse a stressful situation. I joke around to teach my kids big concepts. I wouldn't know how to live without doing this. I’m also drawn to funny and I only write books that I would enjoy reading, so my books have to be funny. At least funny to me.

I wish I had noted them for you, but most if not all of them involved David and Merle—they make quite a pair!

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions, AND for generously offering a digital copy of Falling for Your Madness to one lucky reader!

To enter to win a digital copy of Katharine's book, leave a comment with the most recent thing that made you laugh out loud by Sunday, January 20 at 10pm (EST). I'll select a winner at random and announce here on the blog Monday. Good luck!

This giveaway is now closed, but you can still enter the Goodreads giveaway!

If you prefer paper, Katharine is giving away three SIGNED copies via GoodReads. It opens Wednesday and runs through Valentine's Day.

image courtesy of Katharine Grubb

Katharine Grubb was born in northeastern Oklahoma. She was raised in the Tulsa suburbs, attended OU, taught school, wrote stories, and then shocked everyone by moving to Boston to be with a man she had been e-mailing for nine months. She married that man, and with him had five boisterous children. She still lives in Massachusetts, homeschools her children, bakes bread, does ridiculous amounts of laundry, and sets her timer to write stories in ten minute increments. Her favorite type of books to read and write are quirky, imaginative tales of romance, faith, and humor.

our love story: take any heart, take mine

This New Year's Eve, we celebrated our five-year anniversary. Those past five years have been harder and better than we could have imagined. And with this big milestone on our minds, I thought it would be fun to share our story.

I first saw Ian backstage for his high school fall musical: curly brown hair, mascara-enhanced beard, and a brilliant white smile that lit up his eyes as he marched down the locker-lined hallway in a pirate costume.

I was there because my best friend Britni was dating a guy in the small town an hour away from ours. Since her boyfriend was in their musical along with a number of our other friends, we couldn't miss it. Before the curtain call, we snuck around to the hallway that served as their backstage to say hello. Ian's smile caught my eye before he disappeared, and Britni and I made our way to our seats.

I soon realized the cute guy backstage with the captivating smile was one of the leads, and I was smitten by the time he started singing "I am I pirate king." As soon as the lights came on for intermission I was flipping through the program to find out his name. Ian. I realized this must be the same Ian who our friends had mentioned earlier in the afternoon. The Ian who had just started dating another girl in the cast. It was better this way, I thought. It would save me inevitable heartache. By the next song, I was enjoying his good looks and amazing voice with no attachment whatsoever.

I put Ian out of my mind until the spring, when their show choir toured the area. For one song, Britni's boyfriend was one of two guys tasked with selecting a lucky girl from the audience. I was near the aisle, and I was a familiar face. They picked me. I walked on stage in a giant blue hoodie and sat down on an old band room folding chair surrounded by guys in sparkling gold vests. They were providing backup for the soloist—that same cute pirate king I had noticed and then put our of my mind months before. This will be an amazing page in my scrapbook I thought to myself as he held my hand and crooned "Can You Feel the Love Tonight." The rest of the day, girls kept coming up to me in the hallway during passing periods and gushing. "I want to marry that curly haired guy!" one of my friends exclaimed. I laughed and told them he had a girlfriend.

Late that summer, after the joint youth group mission trip with two nearby towns (including Ian's), a group of us made our annual hour pilgrimage to the Sherman County fair to see our friends. We ran into Ian working the putt-putt booth, and Britni and I gave him a hard time about skipping the mission trip for football camp after he and his girlfriend had planned to go. When he assured us he wouldn't miss it the next summer, we reminded him this had been Britni and I's last trip since we had graduated in May, then said goodbye with a laugh.

In August, I left for K-State, met my new roommate, and started classes. But Britni and I stayed in touch with our friends back home and discovered the cute, curly-haired boy was driving a wedge between two of them: he was newly single and they were both interested. We received regular updates through the fall. They were in the musical with him; one was the lead opposite him, and the other seemed to be holding his interest off stage. We shared her mixed feelings: excitement at the possibility of a relationship and sadness that her joy came at her best friend's expense. We learned in January she heard he was going to ask her to Snoball, but as the dance approached, she began to doubt he would. She said yes to someone else, and then hours later had to turn down a date with Ian, who did ask after all.

Just before Valentine's Day as I was working on a paper, I was surprised to get an IM from Britni's now ex-boyfriend, who I hadn't heard from since shortly after their breakup. "What would you say if I told you a guy I know likes you?" I was sure it wasn't him, but mild panic still hit. A few months ago, I had learned a guy from our friend's floor had a crush on me. I was not interested whatsoever, and still hid behind the potted trees in the dining hall whenever I saw him. But curiosity got the better of me.

"You remember that curly-haired guy who sang to you?" I didn't believe him. Ian and I had barely ever spoken, serenade notwithstanding, and what about Laurie? I gave permission to put us in contact after vague assurances it wouldn't ruin friendships.

Ian and I chatted online the next day for a few minutes. A few days later I talked to Laurie, who assured me she was in a blossoming romance with her Snoball date, and gave her blessing for whatever might happen. I finally indulged the feelings I had reined in more than a year before.

Over the spring, we chatted online almost every night. We stayed up later and later as the conversations grew longer. Back home in time for graduations in May, I managed to squeeze in his reception on our itinerary, which spanned two towns. He introduced me to his mom as Anna "from the internet" and I met the man who I assumed was his dad. Was he a funeral home director?

Ian had the opportunity to meet my parents a month later at my big birthday bash. The ladies who stayed for the slumber party informed me Ian seemed keen to impress my parents, and gushed with excitement at the possibility of my first boyfriend.

A few days after the party I woke up to a big box from Eli's Cheesecake, the present Ian had informed me was on it's way. He remembered I had mentioned how good Eli's was, and ordered me a box of cheesecake dippers. My dad, for the first time dealing with a boy interested in his only little girl, said in shock, "wow, he's serious."

We managed to see each other a few times over the summer (including a Third String show in Nebraska—our friends' band which I loved even before Ian joined), and made plans to spend more time together once we were both at K-State.

The first week of classes, I discovered I could earn extra credit for my Shakespeare class if I attended the local production of The Winter's Tale. Not wanting to go alone I posed the offer to our group of friends, and was thrilled Ian was the only one who took me up on it. After the show as we walked to the car, an elderly couple behind us commented on what a lovely couple we made. Ian smiled and said he agreed, and held my hand for the first time.

A few days later, he took me on an official us-only date and we ended up on Manhattan Hill. Sitting on the first poured concrete T, we finally admitted to each other what we had danced around for months. We made it official and started on the journey to find out if we had what it takes to make it forever.

concrete aspirations 2013

Last year's shortened but segmented concrete aspirations list didn't work out the way I hoped. I'm retooling again for success in 2013, and I'm going to check in once a month to stay on track, although that might not necessarily mean update posts.

1. Build and stick to a schedule that includes regular bible study, exercise (yoga and running), meal planning, and budget tracking.
2. Go through my French textbooks and Rosetta Stone to be functional again by May (for our planned trip to Paris!).
3. Write for “Riding with Charlie” once a month. (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12)
4. Organize and clean up photos in iPhoto.
5. Declutter the apartment again.
6. Make grandma’s cinnamon rolls, angel food cake, and potato sausage.
7. Call/e-mail a long-distance friend each month. (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12)
8. Video chat with (or call) family twice a month. (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12)
9. Go on a creative date with Ian each month. (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12)
10. Make plans in real life with friends each month. (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12)
11. Design and order a bookplate stamp or embosser.
12. Research how to advance my copy editing skills.

More details on my progress are in related posts.

thankful list | December

01. a Big 12 football championship. #EMAW
02. candlepin bowling with other REUNION leaders.
03. Erin's lasagna + brownies + company while watching the game.
04. a fun afternoon at book club.
05. Otto's + Anna Karenina with Emily.
06. coming home to a functional kitchen sink.
07. friends to keep me company while Ian is traveling.
08. awesome neighbors.
09. a high-powered space heater in the bedroom.
10. piles of blankets.
11. washi tape.
12. Fringe on DVD/BluRay.
13. Once Upon a Time on Hulu.
14. leftover chicken pockets for lunch.
15. FaceTime.
16. winning a flower arrangement from the company holiday party.
17. an afternoon of candy making with Wen and Wilbur.
18. great memories of Grandpa.
19. experiencing authentic Australian meat pies at a caterer tasting.
20. a fun holiday party with the site group.
21. finalizing (I hope) a stack of paperwork for a contract before the break.
22. not missing our second flight despite a delay on the first.
23. a warm place to spend the night in our favorite town.
24. Bluestem Bistro.
25. lunch with the UCC staff.
26. meeting a new baby over dinner with old friends.
27. a safe drive out to Grandma's farm.
28. free XM radio in our rental car.
29. time with family.
30. Grandma's potato sausage.
31. the Julotta (Swedish 11 p.m. Christmas Eve) service.
32. a hands-on workshop with Grandma on making dinner rolls.
33. learning more about the area where dad grew up.
34. convincing Grandma Judy to join us in Dodge City.
35. lots of time with Grandma Marilyn and Susan.
36. a chance to see Dane despite his holiday work schedule.
37. a nap with Pfluff.
38. breakfast at Varsity Donuts AND Bluestem Bistro.
39. stress-free flights back to Boston.
40. flying into and out of Manhattan.
41. eating at Frontera in O'Hare twice.
42. neighbors willing to pet-sit while we're gone.
43. a once-in-a-lifetime dinner for our 5th anniversary.
44. watching the fireworks from the warmth of our own sofa.

Concrete Aspirations 2012 in summary

I pared down my concrete aspirations list in 2012, but I had a lot of items that required doing it multiple times in the year. This was harder in terms of motivation, because I couldn't cross it off and be done. This meant I didn't necessarily get much done. And by not much I mean basically nothing... so I'll be retooling again for success in 2013!

1. Figure out how to access Rosetta Stone once we get rid of the PC, then do the lessons (or use another system) at least once a week. I dropped Tagalog to brush up on French. I got started, but this will carry into 2013 as we gear up for our planned trip to Paris in May.
2. Write for “Riding with Charlie” once a month. (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12) I did this a few times, but not as often as I would like. I was more observant this year though!
3. Organize and clean up photos in iPhoto. This is a huge project. I think I'll break this down into chunks for 2013.
4. Make grandma’s cinnamon rolls, rolls, angel food cake, and potato sausage. I got lessons from Grandma over Christmas and I should be pretty good at the rolls (and most likely cinnamon rolls) but I'd still like to try my hand at them.
5. WiiFit 3x a week. I do well at the beginning of the year, then summer hits... This is another one that will carry into 2013.
6. Read through Luke 10 times. (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10) I need to come up with a good Bible reading plan for 2013.
7. Call or e-mail one friend each month. (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12) This helped me be more intentional about contacting friends, but still not as much as I would like.
8. Write to Grandma once a month. (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12) We did talk more on the phone at least!
9. Video chat with family twice a month. (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12) For 2013, this is a recurring reminder on my phone, which should help.
10. Go through Sacred Marriage and Celebration of Discipline with Ian.
11. Design and order/print a bookplate stamp/sticker/embosser. Between that and my dust jacket covers, I’ll feel like we have a library. Dream come true! Really, we should be able to knock this out quickly...
12. Curate the rest of the bedroom, then move on to the kitchen and bathroom so they all are as streamlined and simplified as the living room.

More details on my progress are in related posts.