Back to work

I'm really glad we ended up going to the wedding because it was SO nice in every way and Grandma only improved while we were there. The ceremony was held on a beautiful lawn under a canopy of massive, ancient oak trees. The weather could not have been more perfect -- sunny and upper 70s. After the wedding was a fun reception at a swanky country club.

By lunchtime Sunday we still hadn't decided whether to spend the night in Savannah, but once we got on the road we decided not to. The weather had turned cooler, it was drizzling, we weren't sure Sunday night is the best time to visit anywhere, we both had stuff that needed to get done for work, and we were just ready to get home.

The trip back felt like it took forever. We read and talked and stopped for Cokes and Twix bars and listened to an outrageous number of CDs and I even tried (NOT very successfully) to get Matt to play games with me, but it was still such a long ride. The only highlight was that we were still on I-95 at dinnertime so we ate at the Cracker Barrel in Lumberton. Sunday is Homestyle Chicken day, you know.

So I added music to the blog. What do you think? Good move, or annoying?

St. Simon's after all

I can't believe I blew March NaBloPoMo so close to the end of the month! Oh well. Yesterday at lunchtime Grandma still was alert and seemed pretty stable and was breathing on her own, so Matt and I decided to go to the wedding after all. By a miracle that would have made me very upset if we hadn't come to St. Simon's (because we would have been charged for the night), the hotel cancellation I had called in the day before hadn't gone through so our room was still available.

We checked in, drove around the island a little and had a late dinner at a pub close to the water. Then we met up with Mark and Jordan, Jacob and Carrie and a few other people who were in town for the wedding at another bar down the street. We were really tired and once we got back to the hotel we slept from about 1 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. I definitely needed it.

We are about to go grab lunch and meander around the island awhile -- we still have to buy Mark and Jordan's present! I keep forgetting -- before coming back to get ready for the wedding.

P.S. My tricycle ride through downtown made the front page of our newspaper. Check it out!

Quickie

Just a quick post to say thanks for thinking of us. Grandma seems to be doing better today. In the morning she was still basically nonresponsive, but later in the afternoon and evening she was opening her eyes and nodding her head when we talked to her -- you could tell she knew what we were saying. They're going to try removing the ventilator again tomorrow morning. Depending on how that goes, we'll decide whether to go on to St. Simon's or if we need to just stay here.

The best-laid plans ...

This was our plan: Wake up tomorrow morning, work out, head to Savannah. Wander around downtown, do some shopping, eat some good food, check out an Irish pub or two. Friday, drive to St. Simon's Island and do probably more of the same, maybe find a nice spot outdoors to set up camp and read for an afternoon. Saturday, go to Mark and Jordan's wedding! And Sunday come home.

But this afternoon we got a call that my grandmother in Atlanta had a stroke overnight and then a heart attack later, while at the hospital, and now she's on life support, and they're going to take her off of it tomorrow morning. It doesn't look that promising. So we've scratched Savannah and will leave for Atlanta first thing tomorrow. We'll just play the next few days by ear.

If you read this and you're so inclined, please say a prayer for my family!

London love

Keeping London last week was so much fun!


The Off candle provided hours of entertainment. The funniest was when she slung it over her arm like a purse, but I didn't get a picture.

Checking out the neighbor's dogs.



She is the most blissfully happy girl. She's forever shrieking with delight.


"Bye bye." (Off to the crawlspace she goes.)

Mmm, salt.

"What's that?"


She was a big fan of opening drawers and cabinets. Now I understand baby-proofing.


Miss Independent.

"Bubble bath? Bubble bath!"

Check it out, one of my Arbor Day trees is growing!

In one word (thanks, Lib)

1. Your cell phone? Off
2. Your significant other? Integrity
3. Your hair? Tangled
4. Your mother? Compassionate
5. Your father? Gifted
6. Your favorite thing? Inspiration
7. Your dream last night? Forgotten
8. Your favorite drink? Coke
9. Your dream/goal? Impact
10. The room you're in? Living
11. Your hobby? Etsy
12. Your fear? Ordinariness
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Surprised
14. Where were you last night? Parents'
15. What you're not? Bored
16. Muffins? Homemade
17. One of your wish list items? Travel
18. Where you grew up? Pinehurst
19. The last thing you did? Dinner
20. What are you wearing? Jeans
21. Your TV? Big
22. Your pets? None
23. Your computer? Overused
24. Your life? Full
25. Your mood? Irritable
26. Missing someone? Several
27. Your car? Dirty
28. Something you're not wearing? Shoes
29. Favorite store? Thrift
30. Your summer? Ideal
31. Like someone? Usually
32. Your favorite color? Green
33. When is the last time you laughed? Dinner
34. Last time you cried? Yesterday
35. You believe in? Prayer

Happy Easter

It didn't feel like Easter this morning, but people still rose to the occasion with pastel flowered dresses and white shoes. The community sunrise service I usually attend on Easter wasn't held this year for some reason, so we just went to church as usual.

Starting next Sunday our church is dropping back from two services to just one each week and as long as we have room for everyone I'm happy about that. I guess our church is medium-sized for our area, but there are so many people who go to it who I don't know because they always go to the 8:30 service and we always go to 11. One of the side benefits to this is that we're going to have a lot more help in the nursery, which is a perpetual challenge at our church.

Right after church this morning we had Easter lunch/celebrated Matt's Gran's birthday at his Gran's house. We completely stuffed ourselves and then went home to doze/read/watch basketball for a couple of hours before heading to Mom and Dad's for Easter dinner.

I was planning to work tomorrow since we're going to be out of town on Thursday and Friday but my day has been consumed with more fun plans: breakfast with Mom, lunch with Melissa, and an afternoon "Closer" date with Amanda (we're having company over for dinner at 5:30 p.m. -- they have two girls who have to be in bed by 8:30 -- so I'd have to be home early cooking anyway).

Mark and Jordan's wedding is Saturday in (on?) St. Simon's Island, Ga., and we're planning on heading south on Thursday, but we're not sure whether we're going to spend a couple of days in Savannah, or go straight to the St. Simon's area, or go somewhere else in the vicinity. Anyone have suggestions?

I'm done

I am officially done with lists for this month. I'm boring myself silly.

Lauren and Paul's baby boy was born about 24 hours ago! He is healthy, reportedly mellow like his mama, and so far nameless. Lauren and Paul, I'm sending you good wishes for settling on a name that both of you like and that fits him.

When Melissa's son Trevor was a year or so old she told me she thought they'd made a mistake naming him -- his personality was more suited to a Bailey. Lib's parents went so far as to legally change her brother's name when he was 2. And Amanda knows a family who have adopted four children and changed all of their names upon adoption (even though a couple of them were, like, 12 years old at the time).

I LOVED getting to keep Baby London the past couple of days! She was an angel -- couldn't have been sweeter, better behaved or more fun. Naturally, I took a stupid amount of pictures and will post the best ones as soon as I get around to uploading them.

So maybe this was a boring post too, but at least it wasn't another forced list.

P.S. My March Madness bracket is an absolute wreck. I picked a lot of upsets, but mostly the wrong ones. Only 11 of my Sweet Sixteen remain. What a waste of $5!

Letters!

I just found out that the theme for April NaBloPoMo is ... letters!

24 groups/people I might write letters to during April:

1. United Way (appreciation -- this and the next nine will fulfill No. 23 from my list)
2. Sandhills Coalition
3. Family Promise
4. Friend to Friend
5. Sewer and Water Assistance Program
6. Moore Free Care Clinic
7. Salvation Army
8. American Red Cross
9. Meals on Wheels
10. Bethany House
11. The family of Mom's liver donor (gratitude; No. 78)
12. American Home Shield (complaint)
13. The Pilot (re: Dad's retirement party)
14. Coca-Cola (praise and coupons request)
15. The village (re: greenway trails)
16. Mars, Inc. (praise for Milky Ways and coupons request)
17. Target (begging for one in our town)
18. Cook-Out (praise)
19. Remington Grill (begging for one in our town)
20. Lowe's Foods (re: per-unit pricing on GreenPoints pricing)
21. Chick-fil-A (praise)
22. Our church (re: access to church budget; No. 50)
23. Our associate pastor (encouragement)
24. Trader Joe's (begging for one in our town)

Have a suggestion for one or more of the remaining six days of April? I'd love to hear it!

5 ways in which today has not been a typical day

1. I got to have a two-hour lunch with the lovely Carrie and Lauren G.
2. I got to follow that by watching basketball at a sports bar. (No good news there -- six hours in, I'm ranked No. 25 out of 30 in our March Madness pool.)
3. I rode a tricycle all the way down Broad Street. Look for proof in The Pilot.
4. Baby London's on her way over to our house because ...
5. Lauren G.'s about to be induced!

6 grammar mistakes I wish I saw less often

First let me say ...

Happy Birthday to Dad! I looove you!

I realize that I probably talk too much about sloppy grammar, punctuation and spelling. I can tell I'm coming on too strong when I get emails that include a warning not to edit the email or judge the sender.

But believe me when I say that I do not form opinions of people's intelligence based solely on their (mis)use of the English language. Matt is one of the smartest people yet one of the worst spellers I know. I do not believe there's necessarily a correlation.

I also recognize that even people who do know the rules don't necessarily obey them all the time. I don't assume that just because you used a comma where there should have been a semi-colon means you don't know the difference; I assume you're just writing in an informal style.

Finally, in my defense, if these things didn't drive me crazy, I wouldn't be a good editor.

1. "I" vs. "me"
Wrong: "Mom is forever giving coupons to Matt and I."
Right: "Mom is forever giving coupons to Matt and me."

Wrong: "Matt and me saw 'Sense and Sensibility' on our first date."
Right: "Matt and I saw 'Sense and Sensibility' on our first date."

Hint: Read the sentences without "Matt" and you can trust your ear as to whether "I" or "me" is right. ("Mom is forever giving coupons to me [or us]." "I [or We] saw 'Sense and Sensibility' on our first date.")

2. "Who" vs. "whom"
This is a tough one to criticize, because it often sounds stiff and pretentious to use "whom" correctly. My main beef is with using "whom" incorrectly just because you think it sounds more educated.

Wrong: "Matt, whom is a Duke fan, wants to see a Carolina/Duke rematch."
Right: "Matt, who is a Duke fan, wants to see a Carolina/Duke rematch."

Wrong: "Matt, who I am married to, was one hot soccer player in high school."
Right: "Matt, whom I am married to [or to whom I am married], was one hot soccer player in high school."

Hint: Loosely rephrase the sentence using he/him, she/her, we/us, they/them: "He is a Duke fan." "I am married to him." If you would replace "Matt" with he/she/we/they (as in the first example), you should use "who" in that sentence. If you would replace "Matt" with him/her/us/them (second example), use "whom."

3. "Less" vs. "fewer"
Wrong: "I wonder why there are always less people at Jersey Mike's than at Subway."
Right: "I wonder why there are always fewer people at Jersey Mike's than at Subway."

Wrong: "The amount of rain we've gotten this year is fewer than we got last year."
Right: "The amount of rain we've gotten this year is less than we got last year."

Hint: Generally, use "fewer" for individual items and "less" for quantity.

4. Nonessential clauses
Wrong: "Matt, fantasy teams commissioner extraordinaire organized our March Madness pool."
Right: "Matt, fantasy teams commissioner extraordinaire, organized our March Madness pool."

Hint: In this sentence, you could remove "fantasy teams commissioner extraordinaire" without substantially changing the meaning of the sentence: "Matt organized our March Madness pool." Think of the commas as enclosing the nonessential part. Read this sentence out loud and it will be obvious that you need both commas, not just the first one.

5. "To" vs. "too"
Yes, they sound the same, but they are two (ha!) different words. Don't use them interchangeably!

Wrong: "Carolina won the ACC championship, and I think they're going too win the NCAA tournament to."
Right: "Carolina won the ACC championship, and I think they're going to win the NCAA championship too."

Wrong: "I drink to much Coke."
Right: "I drink too much Coke."

Hint: "Too" means "also" or "overly" and "to" means "to."

6. Extraneous apostrophes
Sometimes it seems that people use apostrophes on a whim, without any logic. They aren't difficult to master.

Wrong: "This home was custom-built for the McKenzie's."
Right: "This home was custom-built for the McKenzies."

Wrong: "I'm not the only person who dislike's the Thursday morning Body Pump teacher."
Right: "I'm not the only person who dislikes the Thursday morning Body Pump teacher."

Wrong: "One good thing about daylight saving time is that now my cars clock is correct."
Right: "One good thing about daylight saving time is that now my car's clock is correct."

Wrong: "I'll say it again: Carolinas going to win the NCAA championship this year."
Right: "I'll say it again: Carolina's going to win the NCAA championship this year."

Hint: Use an apostrophe to combine two words ("Carolina is" = "Carolina's") or to show possessiveness ("my car's clock"). Otherwise, you don't need an apostrophe.

17 green things I like

So yesterday was St. Patrick's Day ... and I totally missed the boat on this one. Oh well. Here we go, a day late:

1. Grass
2. Green Grass (as in this blog)
3. My scrubs that I wear as pajama pants
4. My $5 gym bag from Old Navy
5. The shoes Kaitlin just got at Old Navy
6. Recycling bins
7. Cash
8. Lib's "emerald" ring
9. Carrie's pea coat
10. Sharpie markers
11. Green tea
12. Romaine lettuce
13. Vlasic pickles
14. The Sandhills Striders logo
15. Christmas trees
16. The rug in our foyer
17. Green apples with caramel

My favorite things to read (nonfiction)

1. "Mere Christianity," C.S. Lewis
2. "Thinking Out Loud: On the Personal, the Political, the Public, and the Private," Anna Quindlen
3. "Loud and Clear," Anna Quindlen
4. "Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools," Jonathan Kozol
5. "Amazing Grace: Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation," Jonathan Kozol
6. "Messy Spirituality," Mike Yaconelli
7. "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America," Barbara Ehrenreich
8. "Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War," Tony Horwitz
9. "On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction," William K. Zinsser
10. "The Ragamuffin Gospel," Brennan Manning
11. "Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith," Anne Lamott
12. "Roaring Lambs," Bob Briner
13. "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," Maya Angelou
14. "Blue Like Jazz," Donald Miller
15. The Bible

My favorite things to read (fiction)

These books and short stories are my all-time fiction favorites. I could read them over and over again.

Novels
1. "To Kill a Mockingbird," Harper Lee
2. "Ladder of Years," Anne Tyler
3. "Breathing Lessons," Anne Tyler
4. "Raney," Clyde Edgerton
5. "A Separate Peace," John Knowle
6. "Fair and Tender Ladies," Lee Smith
7. "Saving Grace," Lee Smith
8. "Blue Shoe," Anne Lamott
9. "Roxanna Slade," Reynolds Price
10. "White Oleander," Janet Fitch
11. "Gilead," Marilynne Robinson
12. "Charms for the Easy Life," Kaye Gibbons
13. "A Cure for Dreams," Kaye Gibbons
14. "Ellen Foster," Kaye Gibbons
15. "The Stone Diaries," Carol Shields

Short stories/novellas/plays
1. "The Awakening," Kate Chopin
2. "The Yellow Wallpaper," Charlotte Perkins Gilman
3. "A Doll's House," Henrik Ibsen
4. "The Necklace," Guy de Maupassant
5. "Arrangement in Black and White," Dorothy Parker
6. "Death of a Salesman," Arthur Miller
7. "The Bet," Anton Chekhov
8. "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," Flannery O'Connor
9. "The Story of an Hour," Kate Chopin

What are your favorites? I love recommendations!

Top 30 memories from my college years

In no particular order ...

1. The huge snowstorm of 2000. Classes were canceled for a week (for the first time since the Civil War), all the dorms in our quad had a massive snowball fight, we never lost electricity because our dorms had generator backup, the yearbook staff pulled an all-nighter to make a deadline, and at the end of the week, all the on-campus students got to go to the UNC-Maryland game since the snow prevented so many ticket holders from getting there. (This was one of the best weeks of my life.)

2. Halloween on Franklin Street. Every year.

3. Eating chicken fingers and drinking sweet tea at Sutton's with Maegan.

4. Sitting in the Pit between classes, people-watching or listing to the Pit Preacher or just loving life.

5. Camping out for UNC-Duke tickets, watching us win, and celebrating on Franklin Street.

6. Finally meeting Lib, immediately clicking, and staying up all night talking in the stairwell.

7. Giving campus tours to high school students and their parents.

8. The intensity of exam weeks, with marathon study sessions, loads of caffeine and great relief when they were over.

9. The TTA.

10. Claiming the Robinsons as my surrogate family.

11. The last two weeks of every semester, when everyone with a meal ticket treated all of their friends to meals since they didn't carry over.

12. Running on trails all over Chapel Hill.

13. Getting the Dow Jones internship.

14. Playing intramural volleyball.

15. Every single journalism class, especially those taught by Chuck Stone.

16. Doing Tae-Bo with Meredith et al.

17. Running steps at the track at night.

18. Teaching the 3-year-olds class Thursday mornings at CHBC.

19. Staying up laaate, anxiously awaiting the outcome of the 2000 Gore/Bush election.

20. Knowing how to get around the parking police.

21. Drinking water from the Old Well and Maple View Farm chocolate milk in glass bottles.

22. Riding in a big van to Panama City Beach, Fla., for spring break freshman year.

23. Weekend retreats with Crusade.

24. Hearing the bell tower while walking to class.

25. Singing "Hark the Sound" after games.

26. Hall bathooms and the shower caddies and rubber flip-flops they required (didn't love them at the time, but now I'm nostalgic about them).

27. Flipping through a new Week by Week every year.

28. Living in Connor dorm with Holly sophomore year.

29. Hearing Jonathan Kozol speak.

30. Discovering Church of the Good Shepherd.

(This list started out as a Top 10 ... and I could keep going ... but we're walking out the door to Kaitlin's St. Patrick's Day party!)

6 topics that would have gotten more blogging coverage if I weren't constantly trying to think of list ideas

1. Mom and Dad's land being timbered. It makes perfect sense to have this done. It's cash in Mom and Dad's pocket, and when they sell it next year the land will be rezoned commercial and all the trees would have been cut down anyway. And I am not particularly prone to sentimentalism, if that's even a word. (I know the house itself will be bulldozed when the land sells, and that doesn't faze me.)

But somehow, seeing many of the trees be knocked down and hauled away has thrown me for a little bit of a loop. Those woods are the site of a lot of my best childhood memories -- treehouses, forts, clubhouses, running trails, tire swings, the witch pond, great climbing trees ...

It's sad to think that my kids will never get to run around in those woods, but at least Mom and Dad's new house will be built in the middle of some woods, too.


2. Carolina's win over Duke. I'm never so happy to be married to a Duke fan as when we watch together as Carolina beats Duke.

3. Lauren G.'s baby shower. I did mention this previously, but now I have Amanda's pictures from it. Here are a few of my favorites.

4. Stephen's comment as we were discussing winning the lottery: "If 95 percent of the people in the world could trade places with us, they'd think they had won the lottery." So true.

5. RPM. Meg and Lauren R. talked me into trying the cycling class at the gym. It was the hardest class I've ever done. A couple of times I thought I might throw up. This guy in front of Meg was sweating like nothing I've ever seen -- literally, a puddle of sweat surrounded his bike. Apparently it's a very popular class -- we had to get there 10 minutes before the gym even opened to guarantee a seat. I'm not going to become a regular, though. Meg and Lauren are rock stars.

6. Stupid Body Pump comment. No one's crazy about the Thursday morning Body Pump teacher. She's very unenergizing and is always saying "Let's go, teeeam" and tells us we need to stop talking between tracks and then asks us why we're so quiet.

So yesterday we were in her class and for the biceps track I added two 2.5-pound weights to my usual weight on the bar since the whole point, after all, is to get stronger. I put them outside of the clips so I could take off the extra weights halfway through since I was pretty sure I couldn't handle the extra weight for the entire track.

And she looked at me and said, "I can tell you right now you're not going to make it with that much weight." I thought, Watch me. And Lauren R., who was beside me, said, "Jenn. Do it." It almost killed me, but I did it and I know the teacher saw it because I was in the front row, but she never acknowledged it. I wanted to go up to her after class and tell her that she's the first teacher I've ever had to discourage me from challenging myself, but I didn't. I complain too much as it is.

After class, when we were putting up our weights, another girl came up to me and said, "I'm so glad you didn't quit. That was such a dumb comment." Seriously, what kind of teacher does that?

10 things that make my life easier

1. Automatic draft for paying bills
2. A husband who doesn't care whether the bed's made
3. My second laundry basket
4. Tilex daily shower cleaner
5. Online renewal of library books
6. One cell phone charger at the office and another at home
7. No landscaping to maintain (yet)
8. Not being on salary, and therefore not feeling obligated to be at the office 8-5 Monday through Friday
9. Using socks as rags for cleaning
10. My slow cooker

5 of my best decisions from the past year

1. Stop carrying my cell phone around with me.
2. Stop going for runs without either a friend or an iPod.
3. Join a Bible study.
4. Give "Lost" another chance.
5. Start a blog.

How I'd spend $10,000 that fell into my lap

I have always wanted to win a prize on the radio. It seems like it should be the easiest thing in the world. If I don't win one in the next year or two, it will have a spot on my next "101 things" list.

The first thing I had to do for work this morning was take pictures of a new listing, so at 10:10 a.m. I was in my car, heading back to the office. I was flipping through radio stations when I came to 94.7 and they were looking for caller No. 9 with a dollar bill with a 9, 4 and 7 in order (not necessarily in a row) in the serial number.

I randomly had cash in my pocket left over from dinner last night, so I checked out those serial numbers. The second dollar bill was a winner! Of course I couldn't remember the number to call, but I had a couple of guesses, so I tried them but both were wrong.

When I got back to the office I went to the Web site, made sure I had the rules right, got the correct phone number and tried it several times, but it kept being busy. About 10 minutes had passed by this point so I was pretty sure the window of opportunity had passed anyway.

It turns out there are five chances to win every day, and each time, if you're the ninth caller you win $100 ($1,000 on Thursdays) and get entered to win $10,000.

I made myself a Post-It cheat sheet with the 94.7 phone number, times to listen, and "94.7 WQDR" -- I feel sure that after I won and they asked me, "What's your station for free cash and great prizes?" I'd freeze and not know what station I was listening to. (I flip stations constantly.) I stuck the Post-It to the dollar bill in order to be well-prepared to be the ninth caller next time.

All that to say,

How I'd spend $10,000 that fell into my lap
1. Book a two-week trip to Europe
2. Buy Matt a GPS
3. Buy a Joseph Lorusso painting
4. Tithe
5. Put the remainder toward the rental house

Wish me luck!

20 reasons why I'm not quitting NaBloPoMo

(... yet)

1. I am not a quitter.
2. Unless we're talking about a really bad book.
3. Or movie.
4. Or TV show.
5. Or meal.
6. My high school track coach used to yell as we ran up and down and up and down the bleachers, "DON'T STOP! Don't you stop! You can stand anything for two more minutes!"
7. I still think about that all the time.
8. It's very true.
9. Isn't it going to be sad if, in 60 years, that's the only lesson I remember from high school?
10. Or would that be sad?
11. Isn't a lesson of perseverance, discipline and dedication more important than the conjugation of French verbs?
12. Yes, but those also are stuck in my head.
13. Suis es est sommes etes sont.
14. Anyway, I don't want to quit because I already have a label devoted to March NaBloPoMo.
15. My name is on the blogroll, and I would hate a) to have it removed or b) for people to click on Green Grass only to discover that I'm a dropout.
16. I do like having an incentive to blog every day, even when my posts are inane, as they have been for a while now.
17. Maybe I'll win the monthly prize for daily bloggers.
18. Gail told me not to stop.
19. I love frequent posts by blogging friends, and I try to live by the Golden Rule.
20. March NaBloPoMo doesn't take enough effort to justify laziness.

Weekend superlatives

Most fun:
Lauren's shower featuring "Take me to the Chick!" and mullet onesies, scrumptious cheesecake, and some of my very favorite girls.

Least fun:
Church drama.

Most unexpected:
Email from a former client announcing that she's changed her name. Her first name. From, let's say, Nancy to Lynn. And I quote:

"This is something I had wanted to do for a long, long time but just never seemed to get around to it. Had I known it would only take two weeks and $50 I would have done it years ago! ... I know it will be an adjustment, especially for those of you who've known me my whole life. But I hope the adjustment won't be too hard. I slip myself once in a while, so I'll be patient!!"

Most likely to cause me a headache tomorrow:
My laptop's power cord has suddenly stopped working.

Moment that made me smile:
Looking outside and seeing it wasn't dark yet at 7:30 p.m.

Moment that made me cheer:
Watching Carolina beat Duke with Matt.

Most helpful in making me feel like a spring chick:
Yesterday's Homemade Gourmet party, held at the home of the mutual best friend of Granny and Mimi.

Most likely to regret tomorrow:
Nibbling on shower leftovers all afternoon, and not running today or yesterday.

Most happy to finally be done with:
This list. I'm finding these lists to be much less inspirational than I expected, and I might drop out of March NaBloPoMo.

Good night!

Alternate lives

4 careers I might seriously consider pursuing before I die:
Undergraduate admissions counselor
Book editor
Real estate appraiser
Neonatal nurse

5 careers I used to think I wanted to pursue:
Forensic scientist
Attorney
Speech writer
Psychiatrist
Architect

6 jobs I'd like to hold for one week only:
Consignment-store owner
Private tennis coach
Fortune teller
SAT tutor
Astronaut
Auctioneer

100 questions

I'm shamelessly copying Lib with this one. Sorry, but I'm short on inspiration.

1. Were you named after anyone? My middle name is after a woman who mentored Mom when she was a young nurse and/or Virginia Dare, the first baby born to English parents in an American colony.
2. When was the last time you cried? I honestly can't remember.
3. Do you like your handwriting? It's too messy, but I like it better than most people's.
4. What is your favorite lunch meat? Turkey.
5. Do you use sarcasm a lot? Not nearly as much as I did when I was 16.
6. Do you still have your tonsils? Yes.
7. Would you bungee jump? If there were a lot of money on the line, but I would hate it.
8. What’s your favorite cereal? The Food Lion version of Special K With Red Berries.
9. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? Rarely.
10. Do you think you are strong? Yes.
11. What is your favorite ice cream? Chocolate-chip cookie dough.
12. What is your least favorite thing about yourself? How critical I can be.
13. Who do you miss the most? Holly.
14. What color pants & shoes are you wearing? Blue jeans, brown plaid open-toed ballet slippers.
15. What was the last thing you ate? Chili, a half-turkey sandwich, chips with extra ranch dressing, and a Coke with no ice at The Villager.
16. What are you listening to right now? "1, 2 Step" by Ciara (from Amanda's hip-hop mix) and Matt and Stephen telling Carrie she needs to go home if she really was just diagnosed with strep throat.
17. Favorite smells? Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day lemon-verbona scent, Gain laundry detergent, Jergens cherry-almond lotion, a slightly sweaty Matt.
18. Who did you last talk to on the phone? Mom.
19. Favorite sports to watch? Carolina basketball, tennis.
20. Eye color? Blue.
21. Favorite food? Italian, American, dessert.
22. Scary movies or happy endings? Neither especially, but I guess I like happy endings better.
23. Last movie you watched? "Juno."
24. Summer or winter? Summer.
25. Hugs or kisses? Kisses.
26. Favorite dessert? Key lime pie.
27. What book are you reading now? "The Reader," "Thinking Out Loud," "Tolkien and C.S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship"
28. What is on your mouse pad? Dell. Boring.
29. What did you watch on TV last night? Nothing.
30. Rolling Stones or Beatles? Beatles.
31. What is the farthest you have been from home? Roatan? Vancouver? I'm bad at geography.
32. Do you have a special talent? How do you define special? I can't sing or dance.
33. What time did you get up this morning? 7:30.
34. Where is the most beautiful place you've ever been? Scenic U.S. 1 along the California coast.
35. What do you usually have for breakfast? Cereal and coffee.
36. What is your middle name? Dare.
37. What food do you dislike? Sushi, turnip greens, black-eyed peas.
38. What is your favorite CD? A custom creation by Amanda.
39. What kind of car do you drive? Acura TL.
40.Favorite sandwich? A six-inch veggie sub from Subway on white bread with double white American cheese, a tiny bit of lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers, extra pickles, a little extra mayonnaise and mustard, and extra salt and pepper.
41. What characteristics do you despise? Dishonesty, arrogance, intentional meanness.
42. Favorite item of clothing? A great pair of jeans.
43. If you could go anywhere in the world for a vacation, where would you go? All over Europe.
44. What color is your bathroom? Some shade of khaki.
45. Favorite brand of clothing? 7 for All Mankind jeans, Express work pants, J.Crew everything else.
46. Where would you retire? I'd like a home base somewhere in North Carolina, but I'd want to travel all over the country and the world.
47. What was your most memorable birthday? I don't particularly care about celebrating my birthday, but my 26th was memorable -- it was Amanda and Stephen's wedding day, and they had a surprise cake for me at the reception.
48. Favorite saying? "It is what it is."
49. When is your birthday? Sept. 3.
50. Are you a morning person or a night person? Night.
51. What is your shoe size? 8.5.
52. What did you want to be when you were little? Among many other things, a speechwriter. I wrote a letter to Peggy Noonan and she wrote me back.
53. What is you favorite candy? Tootsie Rolls.
54. What is your favorite flower? Tulips.
55. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Granny Smith Apple.
56. Pet peeves? People chewing with their mouth open. People interrupting other people. People trying to be funny by being mean.
57. Favorite television show? "The Office," "Brothers and Sisters," "The West Wing," "Lost," "Studio 60."
58. Favorite soft drink? Coca-Cola Classic.
59. Favorite fast-food restaurant? Chick-Fil-A.
60. Hair color? Dirty blonde/light brown.
61. What was your favorite toy as a child? Sit 'n' spin. But really I just wanted to be climbing a tree.
62. Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate.
63. What is under your bed? Nothing.
64. Who is the friend you've had longest? Grace.
65. What are you afraid of? Very, very, very deep ocean water.
66. How many years at your current job? Three.
67. Favorite day of the week? Saturday.
68. How many towns have you lived in? Eight, if you count summers during college.
69. Do you make friends easily? Yes. But I can be pretty anti-social sometimes.
70. Can you drive a stick shift? I could in an emergency, but it would NOT be a smooth ride.
71. Last movie you watched in the theater? "Juno."
72. Favorite holiday of the year? July 4.
73. What do you do to vent anger? Discuss it with people who already know the backstory and/or cry.
74. What is your favorite, fall or spring? Spring.
75. Is your house mostly clean or dirty? Clean.
76. Cherry or blueberry? Blueberry.
77. What inspires you? Idealistic conversations. Studying the Bible. The prospect of doing things I haven't done yet.
78. Hamburger or cheeseburger? Cheeseburger.
79. Favorite car you've owned? My old Camry.
80. How many U.S. states have you visited? 25. I've never been to most of the Midwest states.
81. Favorite movie(s)? "Closer," "Rent," "Juno," "Man on Fire," "Roger and Me," "Office Space," "Life Is Beautiful," "Little Miss Sunshine," "Primal Fear," "Steel Magnolias," "Shag," "Dead Poets Society" (those are pretty much all the movies I like).
82. Favorite candy bar? Milk Way.
83. Salty or sweet? Usually salty.
84. If you were stuck in a deserted island, which celebrity would you like to be stuck with? I think Kristin Armstrong, if she counts as a celebrity, would be good company.
85. Favorite drink? Pretty much any white wine. I'm not picky.
86. What is on the floor of your closet? A laundry basket for dirty clothes and a basket full of my flats.
87. Do you think you're funny? Not especially, but I love being around funny people.
88. What do you collect? Used books.
89. What do you like to do in your free time? Read, run, hang out with people, be active, be lazy, go shopping, start a project around the house, paint something, clean, blog, sit outside with a drink, watch two or three straight episodes of a good TV show.
90. What's on your shopping list? Aluminum foil, laundry detergent, Band-aids, patio furniture.
91. Where do you sit to eat dinner? At the kitchen table.
92. Favorite room in your house? Our living room. But come summer, it will be the porch.
93. Favorite beauty product? Mascara.
94. Longest you've gone without a shower? A weekend.
95. What do you wish you could buy? Time, a lake house.
96. Do you like roller coasters? Very much.
97. What's the most important thing you keep in your purse? My cash-back credit card.
98. How many songs are on your iPod? Maybe 500?
99. What's the first thing you do when you get home? Kick off my shoes, go through the mail.
100. How long did it take you to answer these questions? Longer than I anticipated!

Six fun weekends on the way

1. This weekend -- First Friday. Carolina-Duke game. Lauren's shower. Daylight saving time after-party?
2. Next weekend -- Dinner with the Z's (no easy feat). Free Starbucks Saturday morning. St. Patrick's Day party at Kaitlin and Vinny's
3. The next weekend -- Thrift-shopping expedition (in Greenville, S.C.?) with Lib. Melissa's birthday. Easter.
4. The next weekend -- Long weekend in Sea Island, Ga., for Mark and Jordan's wedding. Arrival of new baby Greaves?
5. The next weekend -- Stoneybrook. Mark and Jordan's in-town reception.
6. The next weekend -- New York with Mom and Amanda

The maid of honor

http://www.okcupid.com/online.dating.persona.test
Who can resist a good personality quiz? Not I.

Deliberate Gentle Love Master (DGLM)

Appreciated for your kindness and envied for all your experience, you are The Maid of Honor. Charismatic, affectionate, and terrific in relationships, you are what many guys would call a "perfect catch"--and you probably have many admirers, each wishing to capture your long-term love. You're careful, extra careful, because the last thing you want is to hurt anyone. Especially some poor boy whose only crime was liking you.

We've deduced you're fully capable of a dirty fling, but you do feel that post-coital attachment after hooking up. So, conscientious person that you are, you do your best to reserve physical affection for those you respect...so you can respect yourself.

Your biggest negative is the byproduct of your careful nature: indecision. You're just as slow rejecting someone as you are accepting them.

Your exact female opposite:
Half-Cocked
Random Brutal Sex Dreamer

Always avoid: The False Messiah (DBLM), The 5-Night Stand (DBSM), The Vapor Trail (RBLM), The Bachelor (DGSM)

Consider: The Gentleman (DGLM), someone just like you.

20 pieces of Day 5 randomness

1. I'm not feeling this blog today.
2. I just met with some Girl Scout leaders and they gave us four boxes of free cookies.
3. The Caramel DeLites taste as good as Somoas to me, despite the uproar about the change.
4. I'm really excited about the birth of a new Greaves creature.
5. Matt and I are going to Acadia National Park and Nova Scotia for our anniversary the last week of May.
6. Travelocity's last-minute packages have spoiled me and I now feel that I want to wait until May 22 to book this trip, which is impractical on every level.
7. We're having a girls night at the Jefferson Inn tonight because it's half-price martinis night.
8. I have to buy something green for Kaitlin and Vinny's St. Patrick's Day party, or else I'll have to stay on the porch with the dog, so they say.
9. My letters order is at a standstill because Michael's is out of two of the letters I need.
10. I have eaten five Caramel DeLites since starting this list. (I told you they were good.)
11. Tomorrow is going to be a very long day full of a lot of fun stuff and one meeting I'm dreading.
12. Our office is out of Cokes so I had to buy one at the laundromat.
13. Matt gave me the "Juno" soundtrack for Valentine's Day and I have not stopped listening to it in my car since.
14. I think I can tell a difference in how strong I am after a month of twice-weekly Body Pump classes.
15. I got the cutest shoes ever yesterday at Monkee's marked down from $65 to $13.
16. I'm wearing them today and they are killing my feet, but they're still so cute.
17. Last night we had some crazy rain and wind and I was sure we'd lose some trees or at least some shingles.
18. At one point I heard a train whistle and freaked out, but Matt told me it was a real train, not a tornado.
19. Matt just came in to eat a fake Somoa and said, "These don't look right," then he tried it and said, "I like it. It tastes basically the same. Is there a difference?"
20. The last list item is always the hardest.

Butterfly picture

Finally, I saw one of those blue butterflies on a parked car when I had my camera with me! I never would have noticed the SMW without being told, but it's obvious when you look for it.

20 favorite free things

1. Magazines from the recycling bin
2. Tap water
3. Bright sunshine
4. WiFi in coffee shops
5. Drink refills
6. Public parks and beach access
7. Online newspapers
8. Paint stir sticks and swatch cards
9. Trail running
10. E-cards
11. Library books
12. Blogs
13. Parking
14. Logo lid grippers
15. The radio
16. Wedding reception food and drinks (free to me, anyway!)
17. Business-card raffles
18. Animated conversation
19. Arts festivals
20. Window shopping

20 reasons I'm thankful for today

1. It's the 12th anniversary of when Matt and I started dating.
2. It's the first anniversary of Mom's liver transplant.
3. It's Carrie and Jacob's first wedding anniversary.
4. It's my half-birthday.
5. It's Amanda and Stephen's 2.5-year wedding anniversary.
6. I have a closing this afternoon.
7. The high today is going to be in the 70s.
8. I ate breakfast on the porch this morning.
9. The gorgeous weather means we're probably going to walk to lunch and eat outside.
10. After work I'm going to have a long trail run in shorts and short sleeves.
11. We get to get dressed up and have a nice date tonight in celebration of our dating anniversary.
12. Daylight Saving Time is less than a week away.
13. We decided where we think we want to celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary, in May, and are about to start planning that trip.
14. Our tenant paid rent on time.
15. I ended up doing 12 of the 20 things from yesterday's list.
16. I found the missing lens of my sunglasses wedged between my car seat and the center console, just in time for a sunny day.
17. Stephen and Carrie are both out of the office today so I can listen to my music without worrying about bothering them.
18. We have fun stuff coming up for the next six weekends.
19. My cell phone contract ran out on March 1 so I can get a new phone that might hold a charge more than 15 minutes at a time (whether that's really a good thing is debatable).
20. Today was not a 5:15 a.m. Body Pump day.

Learn CPR, check

Learning CPR turned out to be one of the easier items on my list (worse than trying 10 new restaurants, but better than learning Spanish). Amanda and I took the class together yesterday at the local American Red Cross. We got out early and put the unexpected free time to great use taking pictures of ourselves.

She demonstrated her CPR technique on me (below) ...

... and then I returned the favor.

Even though we were somewhat in danger of being run over by a car in these pictures, our new CPR certification kept us from being worried.

The class basically consisted of watching a lot of video, practicing on dummies, acting out Check! Call! Care! to our classmates (Amanda delivered by far the most animated performance), drinking Coke that expired in 2006, and passing an open-book, open-ask-your-neighbor test. But I definitely feel that I've got the technique down.

The class also covered performing the Heimlich maneuver and using a defibrillator. The most important thing to know about that is that after you turn it on it will tell you exactly what to do, so you never need to worry about not being able to use one.

20 things I should be doing right now

1. Sweeping the whole house
2. Folding four loads of clean clothes in order to free up two laundry baskets so I can carry four loads of dirty clothes to the laundry room
3. Scrubbing the glass in the shower
4. Marinating chicken for dinner tonight
5. Drinking water instead of sweet tea
6. Trying to persuade Matt to spend a couple of hours with me organizing our garage or at least the closet under the stairs
7. Sitting on the porch (it's a gorgeous day!)
8. Working on letters for the Apex lady
9. Reading newspapers from the past four days
10. Changing our newspaper subscription from daily to weekends-only
11. Emailing Steve C. about Dad's retirement party
12. Posting updated details about Dad's retirement party on the secret blog for attendees
13. Calling Melissa
14. Returning about a dozen emails
15. Filing a claim in the diamonds class action settlement
16. Planting bulbs around our mailbox
17. Picking up pinecones in our yard
18. Running the dishwasher
19. Putting together a spring load for the consignment store
20. Touch-painting our end tables

This is important

I love the fact that people read this blog and I really don't want to make it private. But because a) there's no way to know exactly who's reading it and b) it's accessible to a lot of random strangers through things like NaBloPoMo and Twenty-Something Bloggers, I've decided to heed Kaitlin's advice and make my blog a little more anonymous.

So, I have attempted to delete all references to people's last names and where I live. And (this is the important part) I am going to stop linking http://jenndare.blogspot.com with the domain name that is my full name. So -- change your bookmarks to http://jenndare.blogspot.com. Many thanks!

Another sale!

I promise this is the last time I'll do this to you guys but I must announce that I just got a custom order from my Etsy shop! A woman in Apex likes my XO set (below) and wants me to do five letters for her.

That is all.