Workforce Reduction

Well, the economy has finally punched me in the face. I was a part of a "workforce reduction" at my company today. I can't say too much about it and even though there had been rumors and I know the economy stinks, it was still a shock.

Getting laid off sucks, but I will say it was like a weight lifted off my shoulders. I had heard rumors for months and it had been difficult for me to feel happy or secure there. And if I didn't have the burden of car payments and mortgage payments I would probably be happy it was over.

But alas, a new weight has been put on my shoulders. So I spent some time today looking for new jobs. I applied for a few, but there isn't much out there.

I had an interview last week, so I am keeping my fingers crossed on that now! And I'll keep looking. Who knows. Maybe I'll go apply at Target or Starbucks or someplace I love as a consumer. It probably won't pay all the bills, but maybe it can get me by until the economy picks up.

Please keep me in your prayers and let me know of any job opportunities you may know of!

Fresh Air Fund

I got an email from someone at Fresh Air Fund asking me to promote this cause on my blog. I had never heard of it and I am not big on promoting just anything on my blog. But when I looked in to it, I remembered my summers riding bikes around my neighborhood in my swimsuit or exploring the woods or going up to the lake or to the pool with friends. Growing up in a small town has its perks, but some city kids don't get to enjoy the great outdoors in that way. One of the things Fresh Air Fund does is have host families open their homes to city kids for a few weeks each summer to let them have a fresh air vacation. I don't have the space, time, or means to host a child but maybe you do. They are in need of host families this summer, so if you are interested, go here to learn more.

I Need a Drill Sergeant

I am so not motivated lately. I don’t know if it is because I am overwhelmed, drained, lazy, defeated, or some combination of all of the above. I don’t want to get out of bed in the morning. I don’t want to go to work. I don’t want to clean my house. I don’t want to exercise. I can’t stop eating and shopping. I’m no psychologist, but I would say I have a problem.

Something just feels off in my life and I just can’t seem to muster up the energy to get it back on track. I don’t even know where to start.

The funny thing is that I don’t feel sad or anxious or upset about anything. I’m not depressed. In fact I’m pretty content or even happy most of the time.

There are things I want to change, like the amount of dog hair in my house and the size of the fat cells on my body but I just can’t get motivated to actually do anything.

I am so tired. My routine feels so off. I have no energy to push myself. And this is so not me.

That is why I feel like I need a drill sergeant to get back on track. I need someone to blow a whistle in my face every morning, tell me my tasks for that day, and stay on me until I get them done.

I’m at a loss. I need help. Any advice?

In Honor of Match.com Mondays…

I thought I would give you an update on my dating life. I stopped checking my match.com. I have no more new dates or random phone conversations. I am spending most of my time with witty guy. I guess you could say we are dating exclusively now!

We pretty much spent all weekend together. I don’t want to go in to too much detail on here, but here are some random snippets from our relationship:

- My dog like loves him. He gets so excited every time he sees him and even starts whining because he just can’t control his excitement. Cam doesn’t even do that for me, so it makes me a little jealous.

- Witty Guy calls me Miss Crabby Cakes sometimes when I am in a bad mood, but that’s ok because he can be Mr. Cabby Cakes sometimes too.

- I like holding his hand or laying my head on his shoulder.

- He stays at my house pretty late on most nights that he comes over. We tried to implement an 11 pm curfew, but rarely does he leave my house by then because I guess we just don’t want to say bye to each other.

- We’ve done lots of fun stuff together like play tennis, take Cam hiking at Umstead park and to play at the dog park, went to the art museum, lots of shopping together for some reason, and he treated me to The Peddler and Firebirds this weekend.

- He’ll probably be mad at me for saying this, but he even watches America’s Next Top Model with me…it’s like our show now and his favorites always seem to be the ones eliminated every time. He says I am very much a girl’s girl when it comes to my TV shows, but he will give in to watching that one show with me.

What can I say? It feels comfortable with him and I like hanging out with him. It’s still pretty early and we are still getting to know each other better, but when I think of him, it makes me smile. I don’t get tired of hanging out with him and even miss him when he’s not around. I don’t want to talk about our relationship on here too much, but I wanted to give you all an update.

Oh, and I’m trying to convince him to write a guest post for my blog. Of course I have editorial review because it is my blog, but I think it would be fun to see something from his perspective on here!

L.I.F.E.- List Idea Friday Everyone

This one isn’t from the book, but just something I think would be a good thing to put on your life list:

“Own and/or Drive a Convertible”

Today is the last day I can call myself a convertible owner. For the past four years I have been leasing a VW New Beetle Convertible. I wanted a “fun” car to enjoy while I was still young and had no kids to haul around. I decided to lease the car because I knew I did not want it forever.

I wasn’t completely satisfied with the experience because VW’s seem to have a never-ending problem with the check engine light and because the lease caused me to almost obsessively watch my mileage (I'm glad I had the 4Runner to alternate with or else I would have been WAY over the miles). It also didn’t help today when I had to have the car “inspected” for any extra wear and tear and they gave me a summary of the report estimating $892.26 worth of repairs that needed to be done (for a cracked front fender and some minor scratches on both of the rims on the passenger side where I brushed up against a curb.) The guy said it wasn’t an invoice and he didn’t know how much of that VW would be charging me, if any, but I will have to go home and carefully review my contract and give them a call to discuss that because almost $900 is crazy!

I will seriously miss that car. It was so relaxing to put the top down on nice days and drive the back roads home from wherever I was coming from. It is a totally different driving experience. Cam loved it too. At first I was scared he would jump out, but he never even tried. Riding with that top down was like the ultimate “stick your head out the window” experience for him.

The car was so zippy because of the turbo and was very fun to drive. I would describe it as “cute” when the top was up, but “hot” when the top was down. It had an automatic top, so if I decided to put down the top at a stop light, I could very easily.

I’m glad I got to own and drive a convertible for four years. I would highly recommend adding it to your list! I'll miss you beetle bug!

Baby Bug

I have never really been a big fan of kids. Probably because I have not been around them much and thus they kind of scare me. They are unpredictable. They cry and scream. They are messy. They don't listen. They can't communicate well. They require a lot of attention. They're fragile and get hurt easily. It's all very terrifying.

I always wanted a big family. I wanted a household full of activity. I wanted to have huge Holiday gatherings. But somehow I kind of wanted to skip the kid part I think. I used to want to have at least 4 kids, but now I am thinking 2 because I don't know that I could handle much more than that.

But lately I think the baby bug has been nipping at me. I find myself gazing at cute tiny clothes in the store. I find myself oohhing and ahhing over random babies. I think the things my friend's kids do are so freaking cute. I suddenly want to ask pregnant ladies when they are due.

When we were in DC I got to feel my friend Heather's baby move. It was crazy. It wasn't like a kick, but more like she was turning inside her tummy and pushing outwards on her stomach. I felt so weird but was so amazing.

I am not ready for that at all. It terrifies me the thought of being pregnant, giving birth, being completely responsible for a little creature, and having my whole life change. And luckily it is not in my immediate future, but somewhere so far off I don't really have to worry about it. But I find myself fighting the possibility of that happening sometime in the future less and less.

It also helps knowing that people who have taken that leap have had the same doubts, fears, and mixed feelings. Heather wrote the most amazing post this weekend sharing her thoughts on what is about to happen to her life. I loved it because that would probably be a lot of the same things that would be going through my head were I in her shoes (along with how the heck is this thing going to get out of my belly without me having to go through hell?). It was a very open, honest, and endearing post so go check it out here.

L.I.F.E.- List Idea Friday Everyone!

Every Friday I will feature a new idea from the book Dream it. List it. Do it! that you can add to your life’s to do list.

Today I picked one from the chapter called “Love My Job”-

Come home from work exhausted but fulfilled

Don’t you just love those days? The days where you work on a project you feel really passionate about and you get a lot accomplished. Maybe you have to stay late and maybe no one notices the work you are doing, but you feel good about it. It’s like a high. And you want to complain about how much you’ve been working and how tired you are but secretly you love it and wouldn’t trade it for the world.

I have captured this feeling a few times at every job I have had and it has always been for different reasons.

At my first marketing job, I loved the numbers. I was a Marketing Analyst and I loved working with the numbers to make sure everything added up just right and creating the reports and organizing the data in a way that made sense. I love breaking down the previous year’s data and trying to find the pattern to set the budget for the next year. I would stay until 8 or 9:00 at night sometimes just to get to a good stopping point. I loved creating the marketing dashboard report every Monday and would race myself to see if I could beat my time from the previous week to complete it. I felt important because I knew everyone, including the CEO, was waiting to see MY report. I got frustrated when they wanted to see things a different way sometimes after all the work I had put in, but that work really did give me a high.

At my second job, I loved streamlining and perfecting the processes and procedures in our department. I was a Marketing Programs Supervisor for a regional chain of drug stores. I loved making our department’s processes more structured and getting a perfect printed piece with no errors in the end. I also loved having creative input. I loved trying to think of new ideas to promote the products and our stores. I loved doing copy writing. I loved being the team lead for our Visual Merchandising Team and seeing our projects come to life in the stores. I would spend my time on the treadmill thinking about creative ideas for our projects. It was so satisfying to come up with a great idea and see it through to completion and hanging in our stores.

At my current job I get really excited about trade shows. I feel like the one show I was in charge of last year went really well (except for some staffing issues) and I’m looking forward to trying to improve on it this year. (It was one of the few that didn’t get cut!) When I was at the show I worked my butt off and almost lost my mind, but I loved it. I also like working on projects as a team with the other Product Marketing Managers. We kind of came together as a group and started thinking of projects that could promote and help all of our product lines and then working as a team to get them done. Working as a team breathes a different kind of energy in the project and helps us think through things we might not have thought of as individuals. It is also helpful to have a team effort to cut through the miles and miles of red tape we have to go through. Whereas on your own, you might get stopped or even not have the energy or hope to even start the project on your own in the first place.

I still yearn for a position where I feel this high more often than not. Usually the high will only make a few appearances a year. And I know it might be unreasonable to expect that everyday, but even if I could get that feeling 50-60% of the time, it would make all the difference in the world!

One of the things on my list is to find a job I love. In this economy I am going have to figure out a way to mold my current position to capture that feeling more often, or pray for a miracle intervention. Either way, being happy with your job and feeling that satisfaction is one of the most important things in life.

What gives you that high at work?

P.S. Check out these clips from real-life job interviews on How to Nail an Interview. I seriously could watch these all day!

Defining Character: 10 Ways I am Going Green

Next Wednesday is Earth Day. I’m not a hippie or anything, but I do think it is important to be more environmentally conscious. In honor of Earth Day next week I am going to do 10 things in an attempt to “go green” this week:

1. Just say no to paper and plastic. I have been trying to accumulate a collection of reusable grocery bags. By next Wednesday I’ll complete this collection and vow to only use these bags. I’ll make sure I always have them in my car, so that I’ll never have to use a disposable bag at the store again.

2. Carry a water bottle. I have a water bottle I use at work everyday, but I plan to put one in my car as well. That way I will be less likely to purchase bottled water and maybe I will even put my coffee mug in my car to so I can use that at Starbucks instead of their paper cups. I do have 12 cup holders now, so why not take advantage of them?

3. Walk to the grocery store and gym. My grocery store and gym are probably less than a mile from my house and you know how many times I have walked there? Zero. I am going to walk to the grocery store and/or gym at least once this week and make a conscious effort to do this more in the future.

4. Cut down on mail. I hate the mail. 80% of what I get is junk. I already cut down on a lot of mail by doing online banking, but I would be ok with never getting any unsolicited mail ever again. I went to the Direct Marketing Association and registered so I can remove myself from some of these lists. I already removed myself from all credit card offers and I am going to monitor my mail for the next week so I can remove myself from other non-relevant mailing lists.

5. Spring Cleaning! I am in desperate need of a spring cleaning at my house. Saturday I am going to clean out my closets and donate my things instead of throwing them away.

6. Cut down on dog poop waste bags. I try to do this by only picking up multiple piles of poop 2-3 times/week, but this has back-fired on me. My neighbors contacted my homeowners association and complained about the poop because it wasn’t being picked up right away. I found this product called Flush Puppies that is a biodegradable bag you can use to pick up the poop and flush it. I ordered a sample pack to try it out.

7. Unplug my cell phone charger. I always leave my charger plugged in so I can easily just plug my phone in before bed. But while that charger is plugged in it is still drawing electricity. So I am going to unplug this when I am not using it and try to unplug other appliances when not in use as well.

8. Cut out beef this week. The world’s 1.5 billion cattle are estimated to produce up to 18% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. That’s more than cars, airlines and all other forms of transportation combined. I can’t completely cut out the dairy because of my love for cheese, but I’ll try to cut down on that too.

9. Replace the light bulbs in my bathroom with compact florescent light bulbs (CFLs). I have 2 light bulbs burnt out on the vanity in my bathroom and I am going to replace them with CFLs. They probably won’t match the other 2 that aren’t burnt out yet, but that’s ok. No one really sees that bathroom but me anyway.

10. Change my air filters. I am really bad about this because my ceilings are really high and it isn’t easy to get to the vents. The last time I replaced these was when my heat went out this winter, so I’d say it’s time for some new ones!

What things have you done to “go green”?

Suz goes to Washington DC

Visit Washington DC- check!

I took a trip to Washington DC with 7 of the best girls I know this weekend and it a long and stressful at times, but I had a lot of fun and really like DC!

We left super early Friday morning and it only took about 4 hours to get to DC. We had a little problem with the hotel we were staying at because they lost our reservation, but they got it worked out and half of us ended up staying at The Normandy Hotel and the other half at their sister hotel- The Dupont Hotelfor the awesome rate of $79/night because I had the hook up. I love the Dupont Circle area (and yes that circle is kind of crazy to drive). It had a great feel and lots of cute restaurants and shops.





We took the Metro everywhere and it wasn't too hard to figure out. The escalators going down to the metro at our stop was kind of crazy though. It was way long and looked like you were going straight down into a big hole!



Friday afternoon we went to the Holocaust Museum and it was really powerful. I never knew too much about the Holocaust except that it was horrific and a lot of Jews were killed. I felt like I had read a novel after I left because you have to read all of these panels of information leading you through the whole story. My favorite parts were the model of what the concentration camp and how they tricked them in to getting gassed and the children's exhibit- Daniel's story.

After that we walked up to the Washington Monument and it was very tall and windy up there. It had already closed at 5 so we didn't get to go up to the top, but that was ok.

We then decided to take the Metro back to our hotels and get a little settled in. We then had to decide where to eat. This was a process, but we finally decided on Cafe Luna and it was good and very reasonably priced. By the time we were done it was almost 11 pm and we were all so tired and had such a long day ahead of us that we decided to call it a night.

The next day it was raining which sucked, but we got an early start at 9 am. We went to Starbucks and then ate breakfast at a very delicious restaurant/bookstore (weird combo huh?) called Kramers. They wouldn't let us bring in our Starbucks (even though their juice and coffee was included free with the breakfast) so I hid my cup, ordered a cup of their gross coffee, chugged it and poured in my yummy Starbucks. I had their Berry Berry Berry Pancakes and they were delicious. We then met up with the other girls who had eaten at their hotel and took the Metro to the Smithsonian.

Our first stop was the Museum of American History.


There were lines everywhere, so I didn't get to see everything. I saw the First Ladies exhibit with all gowns and other belongings from various first ladies, an exhibit called Within These Walls that walked you through 200 years of this house and the families that lived there and the changes the house went through, and The Price of Freedom- Americans at War exhibit that walked you through all the wars starting with the Revolutionary War and ending with the war in Afghanistan. I ate lunch in the cafeteria in this building and a wrap, water, sunchips, and cupcake cost me almost $20!

Next we went to the Museum of Natural History.



This museum was INSAINE. It was so packed I started feeling claustrophobic in the first 15 minutes. I got to breeze through a lot of the exhibits and see the Hope Diamond, but then we got the heck out of dodge because it was not worth it for the crowds.

After that we walked to Ford's Theater, but it was closed so we went across the street to see the house where Lincoln died.



Then we walked down to see the White House. They were unloading stuff for the Easter celebration and I got a few good pictures of the back. We were too tired to walk around to the front.


Then we walked down to the monuments. We started with the World War II memorial and then walked down to the Lincoln Memorial. I took lots of pictures because you could see straight down to the Capitol Building from here.



I really liked the Lincoln Memorial. It was huge!





Then we walked down to the Vietnam Memorial. This was one of my favorites too. We saw a lady in a wheelchair there that was etching a name off the wall on to a piece of paper and it was really touching.



I also thought this picture of my friend Heather turned out really good. She didn't know I was taking it and I just love her reflection in the monument and her cute little preggers belly at that one little moment.



After all this we felt like this:





But it was time to eat and we knew whatever we decided we would have to do more of this:


At this point my feet hurt so bad they felt like they were broken! I could barely stand on them. But we walked all the way up to Georgetown and ate at a restaurant called J. Pauls. It was pretty good, but honestly it was as far as we could walk and had the shortest wait on the block.

I want to make another trip to DC just to go shopping in Georgetown. They had so many stores I wanted to go in, but I knew I had no money to shop with right now. I think I will plan another trip with a shopping buddy and hit up those stores and do some things that I missed like the Art Museum and the Jefferson Memorial and the cute little cupcake shop near our hotel.

We finally made it back to the Metro and back to our hotel about an hour after we left the restaurant. (Made me think twice about complaining about my morning commute!) It was now almost midnight and we just went back to the hotel and passed out.

The next morning we got up and got breakfast at Teaism and Starbucks- mainly for me because I don't like tea. Abby and Kristin went to get the car out of what was according to them "the tiniest parking garage ever" while I walked back to the hotel to get the stuff ready to go. On the way back I ran in to the cutest street farmers market ever! I had seen people walking by with these beautiful flowers and I was wondering where they got them and now I had found the motherload. There were so many tulips, daffodils, blossoms everywhere, it was hard to decide. I ended up getting a bundle of peach blossoms and a bundle of daffodils for $10. They brightened my day and might have been my most favorite part of the trip.

Aren't they pretty?


I had wanted to stop at the Arlington National Cemetery on our way out, but there were problems with the GPS and Abby was nervous about city driving and I think everyone was anxious to get home, so we skipped it.

Overall it made me wish I would have taken a city job right out of school for a year or two just so I knew what it was like to live in a city. I would get good at navigating the Metro, walk like I knew exactly where I was going, have my "spots" in the city, and would even love to go jogging around the monuments and parks. However, I know I would be annoyed with all the tourists. I WAS a tourist and I was even annoyed with them.

I learned a lot this weekend. Here are some random observations from my trip:

- There are a lot of homeless people in DC and most don't ask for money outright (one we saw passed out on his bag in a park with his hand stuck down in a Cheerios box, and another was lying on the side of the side walk completely covered up by a sleeping bag), but the ones that do always asked me for money to get a sammich. I gave one guy a dollar and wanted to tell him to spend it on some deodorant. Another one asked me for sammich money as I was going in Starbucks, so I brought him out a bagel and cream cheese. I was starting to wonder if sammich was code work for crack because I am pretty sure most of them were cracked out. It was just different because you don't see that as much in Raleigh.

-DC fashion seems to love cute coats, scarves, skinny jeans, and i-pods. The cute metro looking ones anyway.

-I learned a lot about columns. Thanks to Ellie I can now identify Corinthian, Ionic, and Doric columns.

- I also learned about soldier on horses statues. If the horse in the statue has all four legs down then the soldier died of natural causes. If the horse has one leg up the soldier died after the war due to injuries he sustained in the war. If the horse has 2 legs up reared back, then the soldier died in action.

Overall, I like DC and I plan to go back again- just not on a busy weekend (maybe even during the week?) and with someone who wants to do exactly what I want to do so we can make an itinerary and get the most bang for our buck!

My Mom Said Don't Talk to Strangers

The weirdest thing happened last night. I was at Target shopping with witty guy and we were looking at the bathing suits on the 30% off rack (I have no idea why because I am no where near bikini ready, but I just can’t resist looking.) Anyway, this girl comes up and starts looking on the other side of the rack. Then she gets closer and closer and strikes up the following conversation:


Girl: “Oh, did you go to ECU?” (I was wearing one of my very old Zeta shirts)

Me: (Smiling) “Oh, (looking down at my shirt) yeah I did” (awkward pause) “Did you go there too?”

Girl: “Oh, no” (long awkward pause while she stands there smiling) “Did you like it?”

Me: (a little confused) “Yeah it was really nice. I did like it.” (still smiling and friendly)

Girl: (to witty guy) “Did you go there too?”

Witty Guy: (a little surprised and confused) “Oh, uh, no I’m from out of state”

Girl: “Oh, ok…” (more staring and smiling and nodding)

Me: (wanting to escape this awkward moment turning to Witty Guy) “Do you like this one?” (holding up a swimsuit and ignoring the girl)

She lingered a little longer as we discussed the pros and cons of the swimsuit, but eventually she got the point and walked away.

After a few minutes I said to witty guy “Was that just really weird?” He was like “uh YEAH!” We discussed why this random girl might have decided to strike up a very random conversation with us and just felt more freaked out and confused by it. I mean I thought maybe she went to ECU too or somehow I knew her from somewhere but really that conversation was going no where and just felt weird! We walked around the store for the rest of the time trying to avoid running in to her again.

I did have to give her props for starting up a conversation with a random stranger, but still it was weird. I would never walk up to some couple shopping and try to start up a random conversation without some kind of point. In fact, I have a pretty big wall up when it comes to strangers. I can manage light conversation and friendliness, but until I get to know you and trust you, I will keep you at arms length. Some people may call it being shy. To some people it may come off as being stuck-up or a little bitchy. But I can’t help it. It takes a little while to gain my trust and have me open up to you.

How about you? Do you talk to strangers?

Celebrating the Win!

I just had to share this video from the celebration on Franklin Street in downtown Chapel Hill last night.


Franklin Street: The Celebration from The Daily Tar Heel on Vimeo.

And I thought ECU fans were crazy!

CHAMPIONS!

Way to go Tarheels!!!!
2009 NCAA CHAMPS!!

12 Cup Holders Baby!

The word for my new car is LUXURIOUS!

I didn't plan on buying a new car this weekend. I was just going to shop and look around to get an idea for what was out there. But I found THE ONE.

It started when I saw a beautiful white Lexus RX 330 glistening in the sun as we were walking over to the Saturn place. That is my dream car. I love it. It has the cutest backside on the road! (I am obsessed with how cars look from behind sometimes.) A salesman saw us looking (of course he did...they must have a beeper that goes off as soon as you set foot on their property) and asked if I wanted to take it for a test drive so I thought "why not?"

Big mistake. This guy sucked as a salesman. He was asking me all these personal questions about what I did, what car did I have now, what kind of payment did I want, when did I loose my virginity...ok maybe not that far, but seriously, I just agreed to take it for a spin not tell you my life story. Whatever you do, do not step into the office.

But the test drive was glorious. It drove so smooth. It had all the bells and whistles. The salesman made sure he pointed out the dimmer on the visor mirror because we all know that is all girls care about when buying a car- how is my face going to be lighted as I put on my makeup on my way to work. Seriously, the sales guy almost ruined the experience of driving my dream car. The car was great, but had a lot of miles for a lot of money, so I was not sold on it at all.

I'll spare you the rest of the details of our day-long car shopping excursion. Let's just say I was very closed off to sales people for the rest of the day. I looked at the new Saturn VUE but it was too much money for what you get in my opinion. I really wanted to find a used Ford Edge. I looked at a lot of them. The sunroof is amazing and the back seats even recline! One of the top contenders even had DVD players in the headrests.

We went to a total of 4 or 5 places and by the time we got to the last place I was kind of annoyed with the sales experience of car shopping. Our last stop was Auction Direct, a semi-new place in Raleigh. It is kind of like Carmax but way nicer. But the unfortunate thing was you couldn't get on the lot without being assigned a salesperson, answering this questionnaire about what you were looking for, and getting the low down on how things work at Action Direct. I suffered through all this because I knew they had some cheaper Ford Edge models on the lot from my internet research.

I liked one of the Edge models we looked at but my attention was drawn to this red SUV sitting further down the lot. I liked the way it looked and took it for a test drive and was already well on my way to falling in love with it. Then they let me take it home overnight and that sealed the deal.

I forgot to mention that literally 30 seconds after I stepped away from the Ford Edge I liked, a couple came up to look at it, took it for a test drive, and actually bought it before we had left the lot on Saturday. So I saw firsthand that cars move fast around there. I was so afraid if I took back my new love it would be sold right out from under me. But I had to wait until my bank opened on Monday to get the financing (they had a lower rate). I explained this to them and they said "No problem. Go ahead and take it home and bring the check in tomorrow." I love them.

So I went back today and officially am the proud owner of a slightly used (but new to me) Volvo XC90! (and yes- the fun fact of the day is it has 12 cup holders!)



The only sad part was trading in the 4Runner. My parents got me that car brand new back in 1997 and I loved that car. I loved it so much that I kept it during my lease on the Beetle Bug. But it was time to give it up. I almost cried driving away from it tonight though. But it was worth it. I love my new car!

L.I.F.E.- List Idea Friday Everyone!

Every Friday I will feature a new idea from the book Dream it. List it. Do it! that you can add to your life’s to do list.

Today I picked one from the chapter called “Cook More”-

Go to the Farmers' Market every week and make a meal from what's fresh


I told you in my post last Friday that I am not the most "domestic" person in the world. I can follow a recipe pretty well and I have a few things I can whip up, but I just don't do it that much. First of all, it is hard cooking for one. If you make something, you most likely will have lots of left-overs and who wants to eat the same thing night after night? Secondly, it saves a lot of time and is much easier just to zap something in the microwave.

However, this idea appeals to me because visiting the Raleigh Farmer's Market has been on my "to-do" list in my mind for a while. I just went and looked at their website and this Saturday is their "Open House" where they will give out free samples and prizes! I was supposed to go car shopping this weekend (the lease on my bug is up this month and the 4Runner died in the middle of the road earlier this week- most embarrassing moment ever!) But I might try to fit in a trip to the farmer's market too.

Then again it may be super crowded and I get so claustrophobic in big crowds so I might put it off until a more uneventful weekend. I'm also going to DC next weekend so I really don't need a lot of groceries for the week, so another weekend might make more sense. Then again going to just get a feel for it and taste lots of yummy free samples might be worth it!

Have you ever been to your local farmers market? Is it worth the trip?


P.S. Go check out my review of my latest book Mere Christianity on my Bookshelf Blog!