The Weekend

Oh, I love a good weekend. Friday was an early release day at school. Normally, the worker bee in me would stay and get ahead. Not so on Friday. I left work and headed to Dallas to meet up with my college roommate, Adriane. Our plans? To hear Shauna Niequist speak, author of Bittersweet: Thoughts on Grace, Change and Learning. It was such a nice way to spend an evening, and oh so refreshing for my soul.

Shauna read a handful of passages from Bittersweet, and then we had a great question and answer time. My favorite chapter changes every few days, but one of my favorites is "Things I Do." I feel--as a woman--pressure from society to do: work 40+ hours per week, keep a clean house, cook fabulous meals, workout, maintain relationships, and on and on. Evidently, this is common. Shauna addresses this in her book, along with advice she was given:

"It's not hard to decide what you want your life to be about.

What's hard is figuring out what you're willing to give up

in order to do the things you really care about." -Bittersweet

This really strikes a chord with me. For the girl who wants to do it all, it's a challenge to be willing to give up doing. Shauna creates an ever-evolving list of "Things I Don't Do." What a great idea! On our way home, Adriane and I came up with our own lists. Though I want it to be a list that changes over seasons, here are Things I Don't Do:

1.) I don't bake. I don't like to bake. It requires precision and time that I don't like to give. And one small mistake can throw it all off (unlike cooking).

2.) I don't use cloth napkins. I know that it's super classy to bring the paper towel holder to the table, but that's what we do. I don't like washing more linens than absolutely necessary. And I sure don't want to iron these. So, for now, it's paper towels.

3.) I don't shop at Wal Mart. I know it's convenient and less expensive, but I don't like it. I prefer making two less stressful stops at Target and the grocery store.

4.) I don't finish reading books that I don't enjoy. They're not worth my time.

I feel liberated saying that I don't do things. I like it!

Adriane and I enjoyed shopping on Saturday morning and had more conversations about life. Then we visited my sweet friend, Christine, and her husband and oh-so-cute baby, Luci. After a quick trip to their fabulous farm store, Urban Acres, I headed back home. I arrived just in time to change clothes and head to a wonderful wedding.

Yesterday, after church, Husby and I did a little rearranging around the house. In the winter, our home gets pretty chilly. The coldest spot is the dining room; it hovers around 55 degrees. Brrr! We decided to move our dining table into our living room so that we won't have to eat a the bar for the next five months. That meant changing the layout of our living room. Twice. Then we organized the closet below our stairs. Husby assembled a new shelving unit, and I got to make order of all the stuff. He doubted my abilities to fit it all back into the closet. I guess it might take more than a year of marriage for him to have confidence in my organizing/packing abilities. I mean, who else can fit 55 pounds in a carry-on bag? That's talent, my friends.

I hope you had a great weekend. Happy Monday!