Day 165

Okay, I realize that, with this post, I am giving far, far too much of my dorkiness away ... but, I think it'll be worth it!

Get excited, a meteor shower is coming! The Geminid meteor shower, to be specific. The best times to view it will be post-dusk on Thursday and early Friday morning (2am-ish) and then again on Friday night and into Saturday morning. I know, I know, waking up in the middle of the night probably isn't your cup of tea (believe me, it's not mine either), but if you haven't seen a serious meteor shower, you are missing out!

My dad used to drag us out of bed for meteor showers, eclipses, comets and all kinds of celestial stuff when we were kids. I'm so thankful that he instilled in us an appreciation of such events, because I think I'm starting to really understand why they're so amazing -- they're a realization of God's glory on earth! I fully intend to set my alarm, tune my iPod to some Chris Tomlin and spend some time with my Maker!

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." Psalm 19:1


{image: Alan Dyer via SkyandTelescope.com}

Day 164's wish

It's supposed to be 79 degrees here today. Geez ...what does a girl have to do to get a little winter weather?? It felt so so wrong to be listening to "Winter Wonderland" on my way to lunch, and even more wrong to see women in tank tops and flip flops. Oh the horror! I mean, it's December, people.

Day 160's big purchase

Oh me. Wes and I bought a car last night! It was all very exciting and very scary at the same time. We have been planning to replace Wes' Honda Accord for some time. My 4Runner is getting up there in miles, but it's been our go-to car - the one we take when we leave town, or go basically anywhere together. We like having something with that much space, so we wanted to keep it, and with gas prices on the rise, we decided to look at getting something that would help out in that area. First we were going to buy a car in September, then November, then we decided to wait until after Christmas.

On Wednesday of this week, I was driving the Honda on the way home from work, and it started acting funny. I know next to nothing about cars and really really didn't want to break down on hwy. 31 in the middle of rush hour, so I pulled over. Wes met me and drove the car home while I followed in the 4Runner. Sure enough, it's got a problem (but don't ask me to explain it!). I guess half a day of having one car between us was enough for Wes, because he starting calling around about cars on Thursday. Long (boring) story short, we came home last night with a 2008 Nissan Altima! Our original intention wasn't to buy a brand-new car, but we got a great deal, and we're both quite pleased. Now begins the oh-so-fun task of making monthly car payments!

Day 158's inspiration

Style editor Heather Chadduck of Cottage Living has great taste and a quite distinctive style. Just before she joined the crew at Cottage, they wisely photographed her Dallas home and featured it in 2004. Her Birmingham hacienda underwent quite the renovation before it met her discerning standards. I tore out pictures of her blue and brown bedroom when Cottage published it last year, and today I came across the virtual tour of the house before, during and after her remodeling efforts.

Wow, has it come a long way! It gives me hope that the cottage we can afford now (er, when we start looking this spring) can one day be the cottage we love. Don't miss kitchen - it's definitely the most dramatic and inspiring transformation. Seeing this, I might even be able to settle for some truly heinous linoleum!

{image from Cottage Living}

Day 157's exciting discovery

Keeping in line with the robin's egg blue dictionary and letterpressed desk calendar, check out this great Web site. See Jane Work carries TONS of pretty desk accessories and office supplies so nice you might actually want to go to work! I said might ...