Making Friends

Growing up, it was easy to make friends. All you had to do was look at the person next to you, smile, share your fruit snacks at lunch, and boom, you have yourself a best friend for life.

Then you grow up, graduate from college, move once, move twice, move a third time, and it makes it hard to meet friends, and develop friendships. I think because of all of our moves over the past few years, I became a bit gun shy in making friends and joining groups. We always had one foot in, one foot out, ready to head the other way at a moments notice.

P and I realized earlier this year, that Dallas, well it ain't so bad. It is not our first choice, but its not as bad as we thought it would be. Not everyone has big hair, oil money, or a luxury SUV. There are artsy, down to earth, hippyish, sportyish, and great people.

I have realized in order to make friends, you have to put yourself out there. Out into the community, out into groups, out into organizations that interest you. For a lot of my life, I have always acted as a consumer, rather than a contributor. An observer, more than an actor.

I have never been one to have a large number of acquaintances, I have always had a small, but close group of friends. Friends that know me well, and friends whom I know like the back of my own hand. As an adult, I have become much more quiet, and more introspective. I have become more apt to allow others to take the stage and have the staring roll. I am more content now to be in the background, to ask the questions, to divert the attention from myself.

Lately, things have been changing for us. We have started to plant some roots, seek out friends, take chances, and develop a community for ourselves here. No one gives you a game plan. No one tells you how to operate, how to create a community for yourself when you are not sitting in a classroom with 20 other kids.

I am realizing to make friends, you have to open yourself up, allow yourself to be vulnerable, to give a little piece of yourself, and that is what I am doing. I have found myself creating relationships with women from all walks of life. Women that I don't necessarily have a ton on common with, but women who make me laugh, who challenge me, and inspire me.

What about you? Do you make friends easily? How did you come to be a part of your social group?

Friday confessions

1. I went to an event after working out without showering or brushing my hair. I just threw jeans over my sweaty legs and left.

2. I listen to NPR everyday, and they are doing the pledge drive, and I know I won't donate.

3. I read twitter when I drive to work

4. I had my hair cut for the first time in over a year.

 

Fess up!

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Yard Update

This past weekend was glorious. Saturday morning P and I looked at each other, and I think we just knew it was going to be one of those weekends that we turned off the t.v. and basically lived outside.
We tended the garden, planted some roses, added some pavers, and tended the grass. At 6pm on Sunday, I realized I had not gone to the store, I had not cleaned the house, and I still had a ton of laundry to do, but friends, I didn't even care.

Grow grow grow!!

                                                                 This is the herb garden I
                                                                 planted a few months ago,
                                                                 and it is exploding!!!

                                                          This is the grass we planted back
                                                          in February, and it is growing
                                                          so well. I love that we replaced the
                                                          dirt and pebbles with this grass.

                                                        P wanted to start a rose garden
                                                        and I think they look beautiful!

                                                        Tomatoes for canning

                                                         Looking good, just grow grow grow

                                                         Veggies to eat!!

                                                         Another herb garden

A panoramic view of the yard.

 

How is your garden doing this year? 

Friday Confessions

I have nothing to confess today, only prayers for those in Boston and West, Texas.

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Are we ready, Part 3; The Meet Up

For more information, you can read part one here, or part two here.

The third component of our evacuation plan is a meet up spot. In the event of a disaster, natural or man made, we have picked two places to meet up as quickly as possible.

If we were to lose power, or to lose Internet and cell service and we could not get a hold of one another, we have picked two places to meet up. One is relatively close, and the other is a bit further.

If I am being truthful, I think this is probably the hardest part of the plan for me to swallow. If I were not able to find P, I don't know that I would want to leave the city. Trying to make my way to our rondevu on my own, not knowing if P was headed that way, or if he was even alive or well, that would be hard. My instinct would tell me to stay in place and search for him, but that is the reason we have a plan. We have these procedures set in place to protect us, and get us to safety as soon as possible.

Do you have a spot to meet up if your family is separated? How do you think you would respond if you were seperated? How would you get there? Do you think you would be ready and willing to leave the city on your own without your spouse or kids?

Are we Ready, Part 2, Cash on Hand

In light of all that has transpired these past few weeks, I thought it would be appropriate to discuss emergency preparedness. This is something that P and I have thought about and discussed at length these past few months.

After yesterday's post, you guys brought up some great points. While acknowledging that we don't have control, most of you agreed that we should do something, that we should prepare, while not allowing this type of situation to consume us. Lets be honest, when the sh&t hits the fan, we are not going to simply care for ourselves, but our neghibors, family, and friends. Cell and internet(technology)service could go down at a moments notice, and we will need to be prepared to help ourselves, and our community.This was a great reminder, especially for someone like me. I know myself, and if I were to go down that road, I know that preparation could consume me.

 In the event of a natural disaster, the Federal government suggests we be prepared to care for ourselves for a minimum of three days. Given the state of our government and how inept many of our politicians are, it is my belief that we need to be prepared for longer than three days. The people who were in the path of hurricanes Katrina and Sandy had to wait for help for much longer than three days. P was actually in New Jersey after Sandy, and saw first hand the choas, destruction, and need in the following days. If it were a man made disaster, I fear that response time could be even longer.

The first step in our emergency preparedness plan is to have a cash reserve at our disposal. If or when something happens, we don't believe that paypal, bitcoin, or our debit cards are going to get us anything, especially if power is lost for several days.

We have a steady amount of cash on hand. We feel like it is enough to see us through several weeks. It could pay for a hotel room, food, gas, or supplies if necessary. Just enough to provide the bare minimum.

Please know, that we are not going down the path of Armageddon here. We are simply trying to take precautions to ensure that if a disaster occurred, that we would be able to provide for ourselves if necessary.

How much cash do y'all think a family should have on hand in case of an emergency? Do you think cash will buy anything in an emergency situation?

Are we ready? Part 1.

There are no words that I have for those runners in Boston. I sat and watched the news in pure shock. How could this have happened? All of the runners and spectators who were there are in my thoughts and prayers, constantly.
There are no words to describe the pure and utter sadness of this event. This is a world wide event, and it is full of people who worked hard to get there, people who sacrificed so much to push their limits, and someone who hates us chipped away at our naivete.

Then the news cuts to the terrifying situation on the Korean Peninsula. Threats of bombings. Vows to destroy us. Desire to throw the world into chaos.

What is happening? What can we do? How do we respond to this?

The past few weeks, P and I have had some serious discussions, asking if we are ready if a terrorist attack occurred, or a major natural disaster, what would we do? How would we respond? Do we have the necessary means to care for ourselves for a few hours, a few days, or even weeks? Where do we go? How do we contact each other?

Over the course of the next few weeks, I think we need to have this conversation. How do we prepare for an emergency and how do we respond in that event?

Tomorrow I will start outlining our emergency preparedness plan. I will show you what we have done and what steps we have taken to prepare for an emergency.

Do you have a plan in place? Are there any precautions you have taken?

Friday confessions

1. I went to the store in my pajamas and without a bra on this week.

2. One day I had on hot pink, bright blue, orange, and purple all at the same time.

3. When someone is mad at me, I turn around and decide to get mad at them for being mad at me. This mostly happens to P.

4. We watched 10 hours of Downton Abbey on Sunday.

Fess up peeps.

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Still here and my obsession

Hi, my name is Allison, and I am a bad blogger. Besides my Friday Confessions, that I have to admit we're pretty half as@, I have not blogged in over two weeks.

Sorry y'all. I will be better. Even though I was not writing I was still reading all of your bliggity bliggity blogs.

For now.......our newest obsession....

Downton Abbey

I know that everyone and their grandma has watched this show since it first premiered. Being the trend setter that I am, I jumped on the bandwagon, 3 years late.

I don't even know where to begin letting you know how much we like this show. The best part of watching it is that it was P 's idea. He asked me if I wanted to see watch it on Netflix, and I said sure.

Many many episodes later, I found that I wasted the majority of my day. Every time I had to use the restroom, get a drink, or walk out of the room, I made P pause it so I wouldn't miss a thing. I,of course did not offer him the same courtesy.

This morning I was tempted to call in sick, change into my pj's and watch more episodes. Don't worry, I didn't.

Watching this show brings out my history major geek inside. I want to wear hats, drink tea, and speak with a British accent.

Please tell me some of you watch this show too because I need someone to geek out with.

Do you watch Downton Abbey? What do you think?

What show are you obsessed with?

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Friday confessions

Here are my weekly confessions

1. I bought breakfast for the office. So done came late, so I ate theirs.

2. I was dropping P off at the airport and we were in a rush and he wanted to eat at a fast food Mexican restaurant for a "big ole burrito." I told the drive through "I'll take a big ole burrito to dunk directly in the toilet."

3. I changed clothes in the gym parking lot.

That's it. Fess up peeps.

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