I want to play!

It is spring time and there are a bunch of things I have not done yet. I have not played hookie for the day, I have not taken an afternoon picnic, I have not shopped for spring clothes or rocked out to Jimmy Buffet and a little Margaritaville. There is still time though. I have picked flowers so I can add up those points.

I spent the beginning today, REALLY trying to scratch things off my list and I am getting somewhere, but what I really want to do right now is play. And I am not sure what. Part of me wants to go running out the door giggling like a little girl and roll down the hills of the golf course outside of our office. I am sure that would make for some great water cooler talk. "Did you see Natalie today?" By the end of the day it would be that I ran out of the office naked, screaming red rum at the top of my lungs and I was going to throw myself into the lake. So, I better stick to waiting until I get home. At least then I can blame my insanity on my need to entertain my dog.

If I owned a company, I think I would require my employees to take a break in the afternoon to refresh themselves and restore their sanity. Not that I have lost mine, but I see how one could. Maybe I should take this idea to my boss and see what he thinks..... I am sure he would show me the companies bottom line and ask me to figure up how a break would affect our bottom line.

I guess I must have the weekend blues, the springtime blues and post vacation blues.

All of my new lists

Before I married I had a list of things for work, a list of things for the wedding, a list of things for the professional organization I am involved in,

Georgia URISA

and a list of things for Greg and I's house. The longest list of course was the wedding list. There was one list that I never really put on paper, but it keeps nagging in my mind. That is the list of things that I really want to do.

A few months before Greg and I married I brought my easel to our house because it was just mocking me at my house and I did not have any time to work on the 9 sketches that were sitting on it. I also have a notebook full of short stories and writing ideas that I have not touched in several months. I have a plastic bag full of old tee shirts that I want to make a quilt out of, and a box of semi precious beads, clasps and threading for some jewelry I planned to work on too. Hmmm......

Now, I have new lists. Greg and I have an endless list of things that we want to do at the house. He has been so great about starting on them. When I got home last night he had hung my punching bag, perfectly. And when I walked through the door, he was painting trim in our kitchen. The man is amazing. I have not been so good. I am still trying to unpack things and really move in to the house. We still have several gifts to open and I have more thank you notes to write, then have been written and sent out.

My lists at work have changed too. Thankfully, I just moved into a new office where I get much more peace then I did before. But, there are a lot of changes going on at work and I am trying to get my hands around them right now. Most are pretty good, I hope. I was given some new marketing things to work on today which made me very excited. I spent the morning organizing my marketing projects and now I need to finish organizing my production projects. Now that I have my office organized, I need to get my house organized.

I have fallen in love with the IKEA site and now coming close to obsessing over some new bathroom furniture. Our master bath is not huge, but there is wall that is just bare as it can be. Part of me wants to knock a hole in the wall and build some shelves. I would lose the closet in the guest bedroom, so I guess I should not do that.

Here is what I am loving for the bathroom right now.


Now, I just need to find a good space for that.....

So, lists are changing and seem to be getting longer. I am just glad to see that my post wedding list is much shorter then the prewedding list.

Here is to happiness, love, and fun!
NRC

What is going on now?

As if a newly married woman does not have enough to do.... I just find more. But this is something that I feel strongly about. My mom asked me to walk with her in the Susan Komen Atlanta Race for the Cure. I am always up for any time that I can spend with my mom, but in doing this I get to spend time with her and help others. As so many people in this world, breast cancer has touched my life as well. I have been very fortunate, though. I have lost only one loved one to breast cancer and for that one that I lost, I have three who have survived it. That is a huge blessing.

I am adding the link so that anyone out there who is interested in supporting this cause or getting involved can do so. There is still so much to be done.

Here is to love, health and happiness!

www.komen-atlanta.org .

Ally McBeal Thoughts

I can't think of any other way to describe this...... For those of you who ever watched the show, didn't you just get a kick out of the insert thoughts? You know, like the ones Ally had when Ling said something that made her blood boil and she visualized that she was biting Ling's head off? I call those thoughts like having the feeling of jumping off a ledge or yelling at someone who smacks their gum loud, an Ally McBeal thought. My Ally McBeal thought right now is taking my computer and throwing it in the lake outside my office. I have a project that is a real thorn right now. At least I have not acted on it.

I have never been able to figure out what the compelling drive is to do things like that. Such as seeing someone ride their bike down the street and thinking about what would happen if you stuck something in the spokes of one of their tires, or the urge to stick your hand in the garbage disposal when it is on, or stepping on a frog...... Opps.... I really did that. Look, I was only three. I could not control that urge then. I have learned to now. I do not step on innocent frogs or stick things in cyclists spokes...... But I have thought of it.

What are the rules?

There are all of those phrases out there about rules: Rules of the game, Rules of engagement, Rules to live by, Classroom Rules, and the ever popular, Rule of Thumb. There is a rule made for a rule and rules are made to be broken. I am sure there is a study on this, so there is no need to reinvent the wheel.

What about the rules of life, or rules of blame? By nature, who really wants to be blamed for something? In a time that is full of uncertain situations, it becomes clear that by human nature, not everything can be predicted. There is harm when no one expects it and sometimes the most unexpected character turns out to be a hero. We have rules of diplomacy and those ever present rules of the game. We surprise each other by what we end up doing and sometimes cause harm in the name of malice....... Are there rules for malice????

There is a level of responsibility I dare not to wish for, and pray for those who do have it. Where is the beginning of the circle, really? What is the rule for inheriting Pandora's Box? If you, yourself do not know the whole story, can you really blame someone who knew the same story you knew and nothing more? A pendulum is swinging and that swing begins to grow and get closer to objects in it's path. If you stop it, are you saving your castle built with cards or interrupting the nature of motion? If you do not pull the trigger are you really sparing one who runs away, only to be hit by a semi because while they were running away, they looked behind them to make sure you did not change your mind and shoot anyway?

What are the rules... again?

The Bride

So, the whole thing went off without a hitch.... Well, no more hitches after I fell down the stairs.

I had the cake, the groom, the dress, and the beautiful weather. This girl could not have asked for more! So, now I am Mrs. Culpepper and I feel incredibly blessed to be married to a man, I love, respect and admire.

Life is pretty typical for us a new married couple, I guess..... We have managed to do more harm then good in our quest for do it yourself home improvement and we also threw our marriage license away, which we hastily dug out of the trash. Something tells me that marriage is not anymore calm then the engagement.

Now, I am back and ready to write again. Here is wishing you well and hoping the best for you all. More fun to follow.

The New Mrs.