Monday, April 29, 2013

Random Monday Thoughts

Not much substantive here. Just some thoughts.

This next month is going to be absolutely insane. INSANE I tell you. We've got so much going on at home. And work is redonk. I literally have 5 hearings on ONE morning coming up. Three of which will require some serious lawyering. Not that the others won't.... But they aren't contested.

I booked the very first family vacation for my side of the family today. First as in ever. The whole fam damily (um, that auto corrected to farm family first. Which may be closer. We are a freaking funny farm most of the time.) is headed to Destin, FL in August. So excited for my Mom and Dad! This was my baby bro's idea - I just executed the details.

We packed about 15 boxes thus far. What I have learned from this experience is the following:
1. I love dishes. Dishes of all kinds. But particularly anything Fiesta Ware.
2. I could throw some absolute baller parties with the amount of serving dishes we own.
3. When we registered for our wedding, I obviously thought we had a much larger ghost family living in our home, because I sure as hell wasn't registering for a normal sized one.
4. Bubble wrap does not go very far.
5. Packing is boring.

My hubs is addicted to the show Fringe. It scared me. I have a hard and fast rule - I only watch romances, comedies, or romantic comedies. Maybe a little drama thrown in. But nothing scary, freaky, sci-fi, spooky, creepy or stupid. I think Fringe is borderline freaky/creepy. It sure isn't romantic comedy.

I worked until 7:30 tonight. Came home and packed some dishes up (imagine that). If you looked in the cabinet you couldn't even really tell. But I packed 4 boxes.

I am obsessed with toast with cinnamon sugar butter, eggs in a forms, and oatmeal. For any meal. Not necessarily all together. Can be separate or two of the three. Although all three sounds pretty yummy.

Some times I wish I were a teacher if for nothing else, to have summers off.

It really infuriates me when people make snide comments and like to pretend they were joking or being sarcastic. Um, no. That's called being a witch. Guess what? It's rude. Go figure.

The allergies are making my eyes itch so bad. Hopefully the new glasses are in soon so I will be able to wear glasses instead of contacts and also be able to see.

The end. Happy Monday peeps!

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Rainy Days

It has been raining for two days straight. Literally. It's affecting my mood y'all.

We have some pretty big changes on the horizon. It's exciting and scary all at the same time. Things we've been praying frequently and whole-heartedly for are all starting to come to fruition. It's amazing to see God's hands at work.

In the midst of all of this, I'm a little sad by the behaviors of some of those closest to us. What should be such a joyful time for us gets dampened by the negative Nancy attitudes of others. It's so silly to let that affect my happiness, but I wear my heart on my sleeve and always have.

I will never understand choosing to miss out, purposefully ignoring, consciously being hateful to your loved ones. Especially in a time of joy. But I know that bitterness and jealousy are pushing the behaviors. I also know that one day, those behaviors will be regretted. However, when is enough enough?

I am excited to share the changes as they happen... So much to be thankful for.

Until then, anyone have any boxes? ;-)

Friday, April 26, 2013

Newbies

I'm linking up today with Kelly's Korner or 20-something's with no kids who blog. I love that she did this link-up because I think she made a great point. There are lots of connections for young moms but not many for those of us who aren't quite there yet :)

Anyway, if you are stopping by - heeeeeey! (Imagine that in a slow southern twang) I'm Claire, late twenties, married to my Jr. High sweetie Justin (or Jay) and live in a very tiny town in southeast Missouri.

I'm an attorney by day. I have two degrees in social work as well, and focus a majority of my practice to providing high-quality legal services to women who are victims of domestic violence. It's a pretty stressful job and sometimes takes quite the toll on me.

I'm a follower of God, a striver to become more connected to His word each day. I believe with all my being that Jesus died for my sins so that I can have eternal life. I'm blessed to be married to a Godly man who leads our spiritual life and family.

I love watching Jay coach sports and spend a lot of time at his games. His students all become our "kids" rather quickly and I am their den mother as they like to say. We have a precious pup named Oreo who I know God created just for us - because there is no other way we'd have a dog so perfect for our personalities.

Life is changing for us, and I'm excited and nervous for what lies ahead. Stick around because I'm sure to share more of this journey soon.

Also, you can click the links above to read all about our wedding and also some pretty thoughtful posts on my favorite quotes and scripture.

Please say "hello" if you wish, and I can't wait to meet y'all!

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Making Marriage a Priority

I don't often blog about our marriage. At least nothing too serious or in-depth. I feel like it is sacred and something I shouldn't just put out there because it's not just about me. But a group of bloggers have been doing a weekly series on marriage and I felt called today to chime in.


Right now, I'm sure many could argue that it is easy to make our marriage a priority because we have no children. However, that does not mean that LIFE doesn't get in they way.

I work 40+ hours a week, full-time at my job plus I am now taking private practice clients as well. I also volunteer weekly with a Teen Outreach Program group. Justin is a teacher and coaches three sports. Right now he's thick into baseball season. That means this week alone he has four games, three of which are away. Plus practice. Plus trying to take care of a home, cook, clean and have a social life. So it would be very easy to push our "us time" to the side and not make it a priority.

But peeps, my marriage is my TOP priority behind my relationship and faith in my Lord and Savior. And let me say that when we are blessed with children, we have both already made the conscious decision that we will FIGHT with the devil to keep our marriage a top priority.


How do we do this? I make his likes and passions mine and vice versa - to an extent. Justin loves coaching. I enjoy watching him live out this passion. I try to make as many as his games as possible to show my support. I do anything I can for his team because they are MY team, too. I like to talk. Justin knows this (as does anyone else who is around me). We've recently started going for drives some evenings just enjoying nothing but the sound of our voices.

My husband comes first. Period. It is healthy and needed to have outside relationships and I have a wonderful collection of friends and family that I love hanging out with. But I make the choice that my husband (and our children one day soon) will always trump my to-do list. If we have had a crazy week and no time together, that means I try not to schedule anything but "us" time on the weekend. Does this always work? Heck no! But the point is - we both know that the other tries. It's obvious through our words and actions each day that we are working on making the other a priority.


We may have random date nights or date days. Sometimes we just run to the neighboring town for a quick dinner out. About once a month we will spend the day out shopping around and maybe hitting a movie. But what I make sure of is that my husband knows, without a doubt, that there is no one more important to me than him.

I'm sure some may say this is old fashioned. Some may say its unhealthy or ridiculous. Some may disagree. But I lay my head down each night and wake up each morning knowing that I have a partner in life who always tries to put our relationship at the top. Sure, we may fail some days. It's not always pretty and easy. I know that as we enter different seasons of life, we will have to adapt and change. But that's okay. We've got this.




Friday, April 5, 2013

Random Brain Dump

I think I may be in a little bit of a blogging funk. A lot is going on, but it is not all "stuff" I feel like blogging about yet.

We had a very nice Easter. We went to Church and then went over to Justin's Grandma Jo's. Our church had an Easter breakfast and Easter Egg hunt for all the children, but we chose to skip that part this year. I don't necessarily think it was purposeful, but I don't know if my heart would have  really been up to it. The service was very nice, however, and it was good to be there.  Justin's Grandma Jo always cooks up a plentiful meal, and it was soooo good! I ate so much! After eating, the "kids" had an egg hunt, and then the adults had one. I put kids in quotations because Justin hunted with them. Ha!


I feel like we have so many balls in the air that I may drop them all at any time. But such is life. There is so much going on. I am hoping for a low-key weekend of nice weather and some yard work.

I am also hoping, on a completely unrelated topic, that people realize how their attitude and sometimes selfishness can effect other people. It is like so many just live in their own little world, never thinking about how their actions and comments (or lack of) can really touch someone other than themselves. It's a little disturbing. I think that some people just lack an awareness. For example - saying about 500 times in ONE short amount of time "OH that's because I am a MOTHER" can really grate on my nerves. I get it. You are. I am not. Whatevs. Or how's about the experiment I am undertaking called "let's see how many times you make an attempt to talk to me without me making contact FIRST OR you needing something?" Yeah, that's going splendid. My hypothesis is correct. Rarely.

On a brighter note, every morning this week I have woken up early and done a devotional and read some scripture and prayed. This morning I also watched an episode of Joel Osteen that I had DVR'd. It makes such a difference. I just feel better and definitely more grounded in the Lord when I start my day off right. I promise. Despite the entire paragraph above of complaining. Have to get it out though :)

Here's to some sunshine and warmer weather!