The Sunday Currently XIII: Challenge Accepted

Quickly, before we get to the order of the day, let me say thank you for showing love on yesterday's post.  Sarah was nervous to have her Maid of Honor speech published online, so your comments meant a lot.  Now, on to Sunday!

Usually, when you hang out with fellow bloggers for the first time in real life, things start out slightly awkwardly - you know, because you both know so much about each other but you've never actually met before.  It's totally normal.  But, though the conversation smooths out and you relax around each other, you don't often stray too far past blog material and/or conversations about the blog world.  It happens, sure, but rarely at the first meeting.

When KC and I had brunch in Bethesda a few months ago, we got into the weeds.  This woman lives a life I can't even imagine - she's part Martha Stewart, part Lois Lane, part Ada Lovelace, and part Wonder Woman, all while serving our country - and yet she was totally into my incredibly intrusive questions about daily army life, the realities our international foreign policies, being a woman in a male-dominated field, and, of course, Disney weddings.  I felt so challenged and yet so welcomed at that brunch.  It was amazing; a testament to KC's enthusiasm and openness.

We also bonded over having been in long distance relationships, our shared love of running, the trials of cooking in temporary kitchens, and the holy grail of finding an intense yet respectful debate online.  (Can you believe we only had one mimosa each?)  If you don't know KC, start here on her blog, Challenge Accepted - and get to know her below, too!

Hello, Betsy’s wonderful readers! I’m KC. I’ve held a lot of odd jobs in the past few years. Just recently, I was an assistant professor at the United States Military Academy, and now I’m a strategic analyst out in the Hawaiian islands, but that’s the Army for you! I blog over at Challenge Accepted about my crazy Army life and about getting in the mindset to tackle all of life’s challenges, from external challenges to a few more internal challenges, like the one’s I’m talking about on my blog today. I also talk a lot about taking on some pretty lofty goals, and pretty much anything that inspires me.  My job, my husband and family, home renovations, running – lots of running! – and good food. I love a good conversation, which is what usually brings me over to Betsy’s blog. There’s always good food for thought over here, and a good and fairly played debate going on over in the comments.

I know I can always find some good insight over here, so it’s a big treat for me to be able to share the Sunday Currently. For those who aren’t familiar, it’s a little candid snapshot of life behind the scenes of the week’s more carefully written and curated blog posts, a bit of insight into what’s going through the writer’s head on a given Sunday. This has become one of my favorite posts to write and to read, and I hope you enjoy this little peek into the life behind the blog. For more of the blog, come on over and say hi!

Currently…

In… the beautiful island of Oahu, finishing up my first month living in our townhouse – and making the to-do list for renovating it! It’s a fun place in a great location, but it needs some love. Lucky for me, the husband and I are both big-time DIY nuts, so we’re itching to get started on projects. And as you might have guessed, the one space I’m looking forward to working on more than anything is the backyard patio and garden. The most beautiful things grow in Hawaii, and I can’t wait to cultivate them, along with our own vegetable and herb gardens, right in the backyard.

Feeling… blessed and cursed to be in a place that has so much sunshine. Blessed, because the vitamin D and the brightness does wonders for my mood, and cursed because I’m a redhead, and we don’t mix with sun very well. So while I will definitely be out enjoying the vitamin D, I will be wearing a hat and something with plenty of SPF!

Smelling… coffee, because it’s the only thing in the morning that transforms my husband and me from shambling zombies who grunt at each other into human beings capable of handling power tools, painting walls, and holding any form of intelligent conversation. There will probably be raspberry sun tea brewing out on the back porch later, but the day starts with coffee.

Planning… typical Sunday stuff. Every Sunday, I sketch out what the meal plans are going to be for the week so I know approximately when I need to make time to go to the store or to Costco. I also map out the to-do list for the week so Scott and I can divide and conquer. I can’t do it all, and the nice thing is that I don’t have to. And he’s got a lot more control of his schedule, which means he’s the one who’s going to have to wait in line at the DMV to get the car registered, poor sucker. We’re also taking some time to make a budget for the renovations we want to do in each part of the townhouse, so that we can get an idea of when we might be able to get each part done.

Wanting… pretty much everything I see on Pinterest regarding home décor and furniture, but we are so not even in the decorating stage. There is absolutely no point in picking out décor for a place if we’re going to be ripping out floors, walls, ceilings, carpet, bathrooms, and so forth. But I want that apothecary jar for my bathroom and those pillows for our bed and that piece of wall art…

Needing… to not go to Target unless I win the lottery, because that’s where most of the décor stuff I want lately resides. And every time I go there for something completely unrelated, I end up walking out with a pillow or a candle holder or something else phenomenally impractical and yet necessary.

Cooking… kalua pork in the crock-pot for a lunch of pulled pork sandwiches with fresh homemade slaw, and I’m trying my hand at the butternut squash fries a friend gave me a recipe for recently. Buying the squash made me a little sad, because I’m missing my absolute favorite season on the mainland. Pumpkin spice lattes just aren’t the same in 90-degree heat. I know, I’m asking you to feel sorry for me and I’m in Hawaii, but…just trust me on this.

Reading... home renovation stories and how-to's on Young House Love, beachy design tutorials on Sand & Sisal, DIY ideas on Nest of Bliss...and when I start getting a headache from the thought of how much work we have to do fixing up our townhouse here, stories of travel and adventure from Lost in Travels and Nomadic Matt. And revisiting Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix just for fun. It started when I went looking for a particular quote from Sirius Black, and then I just fell back in love with the stories all over again.

Writing… some free-writing exercises. I’ve been picking prompts off this site and just writing, going with whatever my mind comes up with, and it’s resulted in {I think} some pretty cool insights. Some of those have been transformed into blog posts. Some of those have been stuffed back into the depths of my psyche {seriously, brain!} and others will probably merit some exploring later. The whole idea is to get more comfortable with my writing voice, and the only thing that really helps with that…is writing. Lots and lots and lots of writing.

Wearing… a work shirt, cutoffs, sneakers, sunscreen, and I have a hat handy. I’m lobbying to start on the master bedroom closet. That will mean pulling everything out, ripping out the carpet, installing hardwood and baseboards and painting, and hopefully soon putting in a new closet organizer. Even if we don’t end up doing that, we’ll be working on something in or out of the house.

Loving… life. Love. Blogging. Healthy living. Sunshine. Even life without butter. I feel much better…but I’m really missing the butter.

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