Operation Spoil Brian: Underway!

If you had asked me two months ago if I would ever be happy or excited to know that my boyfriend was at an Army base in Iraq, I would have given you a dirty look and an emphatic "No!" But after three weeks of him waiting around in Kuwait, and a week sleeping in an airport, I was excited and relieved to finally get word this weekend that he is settled in to his new base. Not only does it mean that he will be able to get into a routine that will hopefully make the next 11 months fly by, but it also means that I have an address where I can send goodies!

It has been over a month since Brian left Georgia, and I started assembling his first care package almost before he left. Well, I started brainstorming ideas and gathering supplies almost as soon as he got his orders. Anyone who knows me should not be surprised by the fact that I have an Excel spreadsheet mapping out what I will send and when. My first attempt at mailing a package to an APO address was pretty mundane. Sure, what's new to me is probably a really common occurrence for the postal worker. She wasn't nearly as friendly as the guy who helped explain the customs forms and different size boxes, but the package got labeled, stamped and is hopefully on its way!

I will post pictures and detailed summaries of each package the week after I send it (it wouldn't be a surprise for Brian if I spilled the beans as soon as I mailed it!), so stay tuned for the contents of the "Oktoberfest" package. I'll also include any recipes for home made goodies, just in case you want to try them out. If anyone has ideas for themes, feel free to pass them along. The big holidays are pretty obvious, but I'm going to have to stretch my imagination for the weeks in between.

During my four hour baking marathon on Sunday, I decided that holiday gifts for friends and family this year will also be of the food variety (apologies to anyone who was hoping for a full sized quilt or cable knit sweater). I'm really looking forward to trying a bunch of new recipes, ones I've cut out of magazines or found in cookbooks that I've bought but seldom used. This morning while reading The Savannah Magazine and enjoying my yogurt and granola, I found a great recipe for shortbread from a local chef. It sounds delicious and made me think of Scotland. Yum!

Etsy Update!

Hello Internet-land!

I just updated my Etsy store! Feel free to stop by and browse for your holiday gifts... and tell your friends and family, too. I will (hopefully) be adding many new and exciting items after Thanksgiving, so check back again soon.

Skye Tyler Designs

Slowing down the crazy train

For those who haven't heard me whining and complaining, October was a crazy month! Dad was installed as Vicar, Brian deployed but is still on layover and trying to get to his base, I spent a week in Rapid City, South Dakota for the American Center for Credit Education conference then flew home with a flu that I couldn't shake for almost a week. I had an insane number of workshops and classes on top of planning three large community events for Protect Your Identity Week. Just thinking about last month makes me tired.

So, for November, I am making a concerted effort to slow down. I'm spacing out my work obligations, and even managed to say "No" to an evening PR opportunity. I'm not beating myself up for taking some downtime in the evenings to read or watch a movie. Sure, I'm way behind where I think I should be with my holiday crafting, but so what? I've started doing Pilates again every night and love the fact that I've managed to make my health a priority over all the clutter that usually clouds my motivation (I know working out doesn't really qualify as "taking it easy" for most folks, but it really helps bring me into balance, so I'm counting it).

There is another reason, besides the potential for burnout, that I'm trying to pamper myself a little this month. The fact is, December is only a month away. December means the first anniversary of losing Mom, Jen, my old job, and the life I thought I was going to be living. While I am very happy with the way my life has shaped up here in Savannah, it's still a bit overwhelming. Grief and transition are similar to tides and the waves at the beach. You can be standing in warm, dry sand one moment and then a big wave washes over you, buries your feet in muck and flings sharp rocks and shell shards of sorrow against your legs. I want to be in as good of a place as possible going into next month; an ounce of prevention and all that.

What did your last weekend in October look like?

As I may have mentioned to some of you, last week was national Protect Your Identity Week. I planned three community shred events and felt that, overall, they went really well. It was a learning experience for me, since I hadn't done anything on this scale before. Luckily we had wonderful weather all three days, and decent turnouts for the events in Savannah (South Carolina was a disappointment in attendance, but the guys from Advanced Document Shredding and the Port Royal Police Department were good sports).
Speaking of wonderful weather, this past weekend felt more like August than the end of October! Sunday was so perfect that Harley and I grabbed a blanket and laid out in Forsyth for a while. We got there just in time to watch folks pack up from the Jewish Food Festival, Shalom ya'll. What a great name!

An ant's-eye view of the live oaks with draping spanish moss. It felt so good to just be outside and relaxing: this kind of day was made for jeans, t-shirts and barefeet in the grass.

For my friends in the chilly northern climates, I can almost guarantee that you do not have morning glory blooms right now. Yet, here in sunny Savannah, they look as fresh as the first of spring.

A Finished Project!

I decided that I needed to challenge myself with learning a new quilt block. I know, I don't have enough on my plate already, right? Well, I wanted to try making a rounded pattern, since all I've ever really done has used 90 or 45 degree angles. I skimmed through my quilt book library, but couldn't quite find anything that spoke to me. So, just to make things harder on myself, I decided to improvise...

This should have turned out very, very badly. Given past experience with craft projects, it's usually a really bad idea to wing it on a new project when you're already overwhelmed with life in general and your behind schedule crafting obsession.

But, in a rare twist of fate, the quilt actually turned out well. Sure, it was a learning process (as intended), but I didn't have to rip out more than one seam and I absolutely LOVE the way it looks! I will be using this pattern again, to be sure. Oh, and the quilt is for Pastor and Cindy Koch, who are having their first little boy (first BOY, who will have four older sisters!).

Random photo: the light from the setting sun reflected off of the plastic container I use to hold Harley's food and cast these really pretty reflections on the kitchen wall. They just struck me as really funky, so I had to take a picture.

Better photos from the last post...

I didn't have these downloaded when I wrote yesterday, so here are some additional pictures to go with the old news.

Dad got his vicar's collar and a beautiful cross necklace from the folks at Messiah Lutheran Church. He's really loving his new role and is doing a great job on the study load for his classes.

This picture of Rushmore came out a little better than the one I took with my phone. Dad's photos from this spring are much more dramatic with a clear blue sky behind the monument. Oh well!

This mountain goat was wandering around by the parking area when we arrived. It was a little sad to see how tame he was, since this wasn't a petty zoo or anything. But at least there wasn't someone herding him around and charging to take his picture (a la Peru).

Look! Snow! That's real snow on the ground and blowing in my hair. With any luck this will be the only snow I see all year. My knees are still recovering from the cold and I don't think I'll miss shoveling or scraping my car windows.

What happened to October?

I guess that I will never cease to be amazed at how quickly time passes. On October 1st I took my dinner out to Tybee and ate on the beach. It was such a perfect autumn day: warm sun, cool breeze, soft sand. I picked out a few neat shells, watched the minnows dart in and out of the waves and spent some time cleaning out the cobwebs in my head.

The beach has always been one of my favorite places to go and think. I'm sure this will come as no surprise, but I rarely just lounge in the sand. My best thinking, and meditating, is usually done while active, and walking the coast is a very therapeutic way for me to work out the kinks. On this particular day, I spent a lot of time thinking about how much my life has changed over the past year...and how much it is still the same. Earlier this year I spent several months feeling like my whole world had been torn apart and shaken to bits. I had a hard time feeling like myself, or even feeling like I knew what it meant to feel like myself. Lately, I have begun to realize that I am still me, I just have a few more experiences to tally up. I don't feel nearly as fragile or tender, like another emotional blow will break me to pieces.

On October 3rd I got to spend a few brief hours with Brian then went to Brunswick to watch Dad get installed as a Vicar in his church. I'm so proud of all the hard work he has put in so far and know that he is going to make a wonderful Pastor.

October 5th was Brian's deployment date. I got to talk to him while I was driving to Dad's, and he was kind enough to humor me by leaving a voicemail that I can listen to over and over during the next 12 months. I was actually doing okay with the whole thing until he mentioned that it may be a few weeks before he was settled in at his base and could email me. I didn't like the idea of "no news is good news" when the only way that I have to get news is from him! I didn't have to fret too much, though, because I got my first email from him on Tuesday, so I can start breathing again.

From October 6 through 10 I was in Rapid City, SD for the ACCE LIFE Conference. I had an awesome time and loved networking with so many other financial educators. I didn't get the weather memo before I left, so I wasn't completely prepared for the temperature dropping to the teens and snow. But it was still a great trip. We had a group outing to see Mount Rushmore and dinner at Prairie Berry Winery and I even sang a little karaoke at Murphy's. The only real complaint I had (besides constantly delayed flights) was that I was fighting a losing battle against a cold/flu/bug for the whole conference. I finally lost the battle on the flight home and have had a fever off and on since Saturday. Yuck.