Rocks, Pebbles, Sand

I haven't blogged in over 3 months. But, while I haven't blogged in over 3 months, I also haven't really done any decorating projects, exercised, or even cleaned my house for that matter. Teaching is hard. Being a new teacher is hard. Teaching, grading, lesson planning, eating, sleeping, and watching some TV (because I don't have the energy to do anything else) has been my life since August.

I've decided, though, to take back some of my old life. I know that this first year teaching is going to be hard with long hours and lots of stress, but I have to leave a little room in there for myself too. There's a story I heard recently that I've really taken to heart:

A teacher places a glass jar on her table and faces her students. “This is your life,” she says. “It is yours to fill with whatever you wish.”
The teacher takes a bag of rocks and carefully places them one by one in the jar until it is full. “These rocks are the big important things in your life that you will be the most proud of at the end of your days.”
The teacher then scoops out several handfuls of pebbles from a second bag and lets them fall into the jar, shaking the jar slightly so the pebbles fall into and fill the space between the rocks. “These are the secondary things in your life that gives it meaning, but perhaps are not ‘your life’s work’.
The teacher then takes a third bag containing sand and pours it into the jar, filling the space between the pebbles. “Finally, the sand is the little stuff that fills our days, like watching TV or playing games.”
The teacher looks out over her students and asks, “Can you see what would happen if I started with the sand or the pebbles?”

With this story in mind, I've decided to prioritize my own life . . .

Rocks

• Teaching. duh. It pays the bills and is what I've always wanted to do. Plus, I kinda like it : )
• Family. We're not starting a family, I just need to be more attentive to my family.
• Friends. I need to be better about seeing and talking to them.
•  Health. I need to start eating healthier and working out.

Pebbles

• Decorating. I have not done any home decorating in months and that's just plain sad. Granted, I won't be able to do as much decorating as before because time (and money) is more scarce, but it does make me happy so I need to start doing more of it. Next post, some of the ideas that have been floating around my head . . . 
• Reading. I read all of the time for work, but I miss reading for me.
• Cleaning. Yes, cleaning is a "pebble" for me. I'm one of those people that needs a clean, and organized, space.

 Sand

• TV, Facebook, Pinterest, and, yes, this blog. I'm going to try my darndest to keep up and share my projects and life with you but it can't be a top priority. Especially with how lengthy my posts get ; )

So, what do you think?

Good news, bad news . . .

Let's be honest, the last month or so I've been an MIA blogger. Honestly, I just don't have the time, or the energy. This teaching job I have for the summer not only has a strange schedule but has also been completely exhausting. Plus, on the days that I do have off there's a list of things I need to do, like . . . starting to build my curriculum for the REAL teaching position I've landed for this upcoming school year!! Yes, I'm happy to announce that I've achieved the biggest goal I set for myself in 2012! I'm very very excited, however, I have a lot of work ahead of me planning a year's worth of lessons, researching, reading, etc.! (Any tips from veteran teachers out there?)

(my first classroom!)

 Anyway, this recent development has forced me to make some choices in how to use my free time (and this is where the bad news comes in) . . . You see, I can either spend my free time (1) writing and blogging about our lives and my home projects, or I can spend my time (2) putting together a kick-butt school year for my future students. While I love love love sharing our lives and my home projects with all of you on this blog, I think I need to focus more of my efforts on making kick-butt lesson plans. Educating our future and all, right?

So, that's why I've decided to take a hiatus from blogging for this summer, or at least until I get a better handle on my schedule and work load. I'm a little bummed by this decision, because I have a whole list of draft posts that I had planned on sharing at some point, but I just haven't been able to find the time and energy to actually finish them up. I'm not leaving blogging for forever, just for a little bit. While I know I could've just stopped blogging for the summer and left it at that, I did want to let you all know about my good news (yay!!) and also give you an update on our Washington life right now. And, right now, our life is busy. ; ) I hope you all understand!

If you want to stay up-to-date with our regular lives until I resume blogging you can follow me on Instagram (kristinhroberts), Pinterest, and Twitter (I promise to start tweeting more!!). I'd love to keep hearing from everyone and can't wait until I have the time to jump back on the blog and share all of the fun places and things we do!

Washington Wednesday: Gravelly Point

Ok, so this "Washington Wednesday" is a day late and promises to be short . . . A few weeks ago, Chris and I decided to celebrate our 3-year anniversary with a "date day" on one Saturday. See, I will not have a free weekend until September because of my summer teaching schedule so we decided to use one of my last weekends free to celebrate our anniversary, enjoy the nice weather, and do something new in DC. To us, that meant a picnic out at Gravelly Point.

Gravelly Point is a park in Arlington, Virginia along the Potomac River, just north of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. It's a pretty big park, with enough space for sports games, family get-togethers, etc. And, not only is the park picturesquely located along the river across from DC, but it's also an awesome place to view airplanes taking-off and landing at the airport. Plus, the Mount Vernon Trail goes right through it! Sounds pretty nice, right?

Unfortunately, in the almost 4 years that we've lived here, we've never stopped to actually enjoy Gravelly Point. We literally lived less than 3 miles from it for 2 years, we would run through it on the trail, and Chris would even drive by it every day on his way to and from work, but we never actually stopped to hang out there. That is, until our anniversary picnic a few weeks ago where we bought some cheese, crackers, fruit, and a bottle of wine (not sure if that's legal??...), parked ourselves under a tree, and relaxed while watching the planes . . . 

(for better plane pictures, check out our friend, Shea, at It's a Guy Thing who is a MUCH better photographer and has a cute little boy to boot!)

It also helps that we finished the day off with some good food and Boulevard beer at Rustico, a great restaurant in Alexandria. (For those of you that are unaware - and it's a-ok if you were - Boulevard beer is a local KC beer that just started being served at select restaurants here in DC. To say that Chris was excited for this beer is an understatement . . .)

Even though it wasn't some lavish anniversary dinner or night out on the town, it perfectly suited us and was a great and relaxing day. Chris, can we go back and do it again?

Ineffable

in·ef·fa·ble/inˈefəbəl/

Adjective:

Too great or extreme to be expressed or described in words. Too sacred to be uttered.

 As you've probably heard, I've been going through a training program for my teaching job this summer. A couple of weeks ago the word "ineffable" was brought up during a training discussion and, while I don't remember the context of the discussion, the word immediately resonated with me . . .

"Too great to be expressed in words."

. . . see, yesterday marked one year since our friend Jeremy was killed in action in Afghanistan. For the past year I've really struggled in expressing my thoughts and feelings on his sacrifice. While I certainly did not know Jeremy as well as Chris did (they'd known each other since high school) and Jeremy was not the first loss I've ever dealt with, his death has truly had a profound impact on me, one that I haven't been able to explain, and may not ever be able to. Not only have my thoughts wandered through the questions of life and death, but I've also pondered the true sacrifice of our military and their families, the direction of my own life, my views on religion, what it means to live life to its fullest, and, most importantly, love.

I always admired Jeremy and Colleen's love for one another. From the first moment I met Colleen, I knew they had something truly truly special. I didn't even have to meet Jeremy, who was deployed at the time, to see their love for one another; I saw it in the way Colleen talked about him, the perpetual smile she had on her face. Now that Jeremy is gone, I still see their love through their amazing little boy and Colleen's words of immense wisdom and inspiration in her updates on life now without him. Love like that is a remarkable thing and one to which we should all hold tightly if we are lucky enough to have it. Love like that is something we can all learn from; I know I have.

Love is ineffable. Jeremy's sacrifice is ineffable. The gratitude I feel towards him, his entire family, and our entire military for providing me with the freedom to live and love, is ineffable.

Extreme Makeover: Office Edition

So, I don't know if I've ever shown you our office? Nope, I just checked all of my old posts and while I've mentioned the office (in regards to the water leak we discovered after the hurricane last fall), I've never shown you the office. Probably Mostly because it was embarrassing. I am a neat freak and the office was anything but neat. It was more like a graveyard for crap (pardon my language). Our office was so bad that I actually would avoid using it. I would even use our archaic laptop to do work instead of our nice desktop, that I purchased, because I didn't want to go in the office.

Well, as I mentioned last week, I've been training for my summer teaching position and a majority of the training up until last week had been at home. The training required me to be at a computer watching videos, taking quizzes, participating in conference calls, reading materials, etc. a.k.a., I was actually going to have to use our office . . . which meant I was going to have to straighten that sucker up. (I'm one of those people that cannot work in an untidy room. I will seriously clean before I study/work.)

So, I spent a good two days clearing out the room, scrubbing it down, and putting things back in place. If you follow me on Instagram you probably saw this photo a few weeks back:

This was taken mid-clean, after I had taken everything out of the office and piled it all in the hallway. It was a dusty mess of books and random other stuff, like the cat drinking fountain box and a burgundy-colored crocodile-print briefcase . . . again, random stuff.

But, now it's time for the big reveal . . . and don't worry, I'm sharing the "before" and "after" shots so you can see how horrendous it looked before and how extreme of a makeover/cleaning job I did!



As you can see, not only did I remove the ladder and get a chair, but I organized our filing and the contents of all those boxes and bags.

Quick note on the chair. I have wanted an Ikea Poang chair for a few years now, but I could never muster up the courage to spend $100+ on the one I wanted. Now, if you've never sat in one, you need to find one and plunk your butt down because you'll understand why I've wanted one - they are coooooommfy. A few weeks ago though, I just happened to be searching craigslist for random stuff (like a retro metal bar cart) and realized that I should search for a Poang chair . . . A couple of days later I nabbed this beauty for $30! If you were to buy this chair straight from Ikea, it'd be about $150. Bar-gain!! And, it's in great condition! Anyway, back to our office makeover . . .

Then I had to tackle the bookshelves . . .

. . . oh, the books! Now they are finally all back in order on the shelves (by "type," author, chronology, etc.), the shelves are dusted, and the random piles of stuff have been contained (notice I didn't say removed!)!

Lastly, I conquered our desk, which pretty much meant organizing the piles of stuff on it. Easy stuff compared to the bookshelves.

Oh, and if you notice something different in the "after" shot, it's probably our diplomas that I finally hung up (because what office is complete without the diplomas?) and the teal-painted herringbone cork boards I made (thank you, Pinterest)! Here's a closer view of the cork boards if you're curious . . .

 They were super easy to make. I just bought four cork tiles from Target (the same ones I bought for my cork travel map that cost about $9), measured and taped off the herringbone design with painter's tape, took the tiles outside, and gave them a good three-ish coats of spray paint. I think this was one of the best projects I've done in a while - cheap, easy, and completely customizable. My mom mentioned that these tiles might be good for the side of a stainless refrigerator to hang invites or notes, that way you don't have to hang stuff on the front and potentially scratch the surface. Genius! Plus, you can do whatever design and color you want.

Also, if you noticed and like my uber-cute desktop background with the fun chevron pattern in the first photo, you should check out Atomicdust's blog (my sister, Danielle, works for them). Every month their designers take a break from client work to craft some seriously awesome desktops to download for FREE for your computer, iPad, and smartphones. LOVE them!

Anyway, that's our extreme makeover: office edition! It didn't require any painting or big furniture purchases, just some TLC, and a few days off work! Maybe someday we'll add a rug or a footstool for my Poang chair, but for now it's back to work in my clean and functional office . . .

3 Years!

I'm going to keep this post short and sweet (as much as I can at least), but I just want to give a shout out to my wonderful husband, Chris! Yesterday was our 3 year anniversary, and while we didn't do anything "special," he still happened to remind me of just how lucky I am to have nabbed him.

See, for the last four days I've been training for my new job and by yesterday evening I was absolutely exhausted. We went to dinner after my training day was over and I know that I was the worst date ever. Not only was I a hot mess with a wrinkled dress, stretched out sweater, blistered feet, and generally just sweaty, but I'm sure I was also the worst conversationalist. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if I just mumbled how tired I was over and over again. But, Chris was his usual amazing-self anyway. He actually talked to me about his work day (usually it's just me blabbering away), he carried my heavy bag of books, and then made me homemade brownies and watched So You Think You Can Dance with me when we got home. Definitely not the most glamorous anniversary, and not even remotely close to an exciting day, but Chris didn't care and neither did I.

I actually loved the ordinary-ness of our anniversary because it's really all of the little things that Chris does that makes me feel special and loved, not fancy dinners or presents (although those are still nice sometimes!). Yesterday, Chris took care of me, his zombified-wife, just like he always does and reminded me yet again of what an amazing guy I've decided to spend the rest of my life with!

Now don't worry, we're going to do some fun stuff this weekend to celebrate our anniversary, but no matter what we do this weekend, even if we get rained out of our plans and spend the weekend on the couch, it'll be perfect enough for me!

Happy 6th Birthday!

On this day 6 years ago, our "kids" were born! I know that I've written about them before, a lot of the times they just sneak into my posts (and they are definitely a focal point to my Instagram use if you follow me), but let me formally introduce you to our kids, aka, our cats, Luna (left) and Teddy (right)!

 They are six years old (obvi), brother and sister, spoiled rotten, cuddly, annoying, and, well, true members of our little family. Last year on their birthday, I wrote about their actual "birth" day and their momma, Yuki, so this year I wanted to write something different about these two crazy cats in honor of this momentous day in their little lives. As many of you pet owners out there know, pets truly have a personality of their own, and Teddy and Luna are certainly not lacking when it comes to the personality-department! So, in honor of their 6th birthday, here's 6 little tidbits about our "kids" . . .

1. They are chatty. Their momma, Yuki, was some kind of Siamese mix and while neither Teddy nor Luna resemble anything close to a Siamese, they definitely got the chatty-gene passed down to them. Of course, when they're "talking" to us we oftentimes talk right back. Yes, we are those weird cat people.

2. Teddy is big. Not only is he a fat cat at a whopping 18 lbs (don't worry, we have him on a diet!), but he's also long and tall. Taller than a lot of small dogs. As long as Chris' legs when he stretches out. He's a BIG boy. And because he's a BIG boy, he's slow and really easy to take pictures of :)

3. Luna is particular. In people-terms, we sometimes call that OCD. Luna is very particular about when and how she cuddles, when and how you pet her, and don't even think about picking her up. She will literally "yell" at you if you do something that displeases her, like touch her. And don't even try to take pictures of her!

4. Teddy's the ultimate lounger. Teddy would never just simply lay on something and take a cat nap, he lounges. Whether it's a pile of clothes, some books, or the bottom ledge of our coffee table, he's always leaning or literally resting his head on something. Sometimes, I'm secretly jealous of how comfortable he looks and wonder if I too should lay on a pile of books or dirty clothes . . .

5. Luna has recently become a little circus freak. That girl's got some leaping action going on. Instead of running down our steps to get into the basement, she'll just jump from the highest step that she can. One day, she jumped from the shelf in my closet, through the 6 inch gap in my closet doors, and landed on our bed, easily 4 feet away. Crazy. Also, she's crazy good at playing fetch, but since she's pretty particular, we only play fetch on her terms.

6. Usually you hear that cats are independent; ours are not. Teddy and Luna have serious attachment issues. Luna frequently follows me from room to room (talking to me along the way), while Teddy makes the most awful yowling noises when he's in a room by himself and is "looking" for you (we literally have to call to him so that he can "find" us). They're kinda pathetic in that way, I know, but gosh do we love them!

So, there's six tidbits about our crazy 6-year-old kids. I can't believe we've had these two crazy kids cats in our lives for six years already, but then again, I can't really imagine our lives without them. Happy Birthday, Teddy and Luna!!