December 31, 2007 -- Final Curtain

Wow! Today is the final day of the Fancy Simple Project. How crazy! Here is what was posted on January 1, 2007.

I wanted a perfect ending. . . Now I’ve learned, the
hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear
beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking
the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen
next. Delicious ambiguity.

-Gilda Radner

Today is filled with “delicious ambiguity” as all of 2007 sits in the
future. How do you approach a new year? What are your hopes, dreams, and plans
for the year? What do you want to leave behind about last year?

And now, coming up on the end of this adventure, Barb and I had to decide what our parting thoughts would be. Would we be funny? Would we be sad? Could we provoke anything big? Well, probably not.

We hope you have found this to be a challenge. We hope some days we made you laugh, some days we made you tear up, some days we gave you that extra little kick you needed to get through your day. Our futures are filled with ambiguity... that is the fun part. Where will this all lead?

"Roads? Where we are going we don't need roads!" -- Back to the Future.

The end.

Goodbyes

When I was a 10, my family moved about a four-hour car ride away from everyone and everything that was familiar to me. We went back to visit family and friends often, but it was still inevitable that each time I loaded back into the family station wagon (wood panels and all) I would cry a big, ugly, sobbing cry that lasted for at least the first hour of the trip.

I'm terrible at saying good-bye.

That's what is on my mind today as we approach the last days of Fancy Word for Simple.

Thank you for going on this strange little adventure with Angie and me; I've enjoyed it tremendously. I'm proud that I made a resolution and followed through on it. I love that I've met so many people with such interesting stories to tell. As difficult as it was some days, I think finding a quote to think about for the day really helped give me purpose some days.

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."
-----Dr. Seuss

Quote of the Year Nominations?

So what is YOUR recommendation for quote of 2007? Have you had a favorite here at Fancy Simple? A favorite that didn't make the FS list? Please share!

I will NOT. . .

Seems like resolutions are the thing to make as a new year begins.

Today, I challenge you to make a list of things you WILL not do during 2008.

I will NOT. . .

"Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans."
-----Peter F. Drucker

12-27-2007 -- Top Tens

Wow. The days are flying by at the end of the year! Since this project is about to come to an end, it is time for a little reflection. I am magazine junkie and love the Top Ten of 2007 type lists that always come about in December.

So share with us... what were the top ten things that happened to you in 2007.

I will be back to post mine later!

Whew! The Day After!

What a whirlwind the past week has been. I am really looking forward to the quiet and calm of the next few days. Also looking back at the past year and trying to decide what my 2008 adventures should include! Taking inventory of one's life is an interesting concept.

How are you spending the "day after?" are you shopping all those deals? Putting away your tree (not us yet, Mike wants to wait til after New Years Eve)?

Luckily, I am spending time today with Barb. Watch out. Last year it was our post Christmas shopping that got us going on this project, who knows what we will come up with for next year!

Love actually is. . .

I'm indulging myself this Christmas eve morning with cheesy Christmas love stories (think The Holiday and Love Actually). I did, however, have to crank up the television a little higher than normal to hear it over the drone of every single snow blower in the neighborhood and curl up with a extra blanket. Nevertheless, I had a good Christmas cry this morning.

"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion love actually is all around."
-----Love Actually

Here's to hoping you have a holiday filled with love.
(And, please, if you have a favorite cheesy Christmas love movie, let me know! I've got a long vacation coming up!)

Home

Are you headed home for the holidays?

"So much of what we know of love we learn at home."

Obsessions

What are your obsessions right now?

Mine. . .
1. Peanutbutter. (Because I ate at P.B. Loco)
2. Christmas music.
3. Hand lotion. (compliments of the winter weather)
4. Getting Christmas cards in the mail.
5. Online shopping. (that obsession needs to stop soon!)

"You've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed."
-----John Irving

Friday Freak Out

Is there anything that you would like to freak out about today? I am staring at a pile of gifts, begging to be wrapped, laundry crying out to be washed and a house whimpering to be cleaned. What am I doing instead? Getting a pedicure and manicure.

What are your freak out items today?

Deep Thought Thursday

“ Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. ”

- Mark Twain [Samuel Clemens] (1835-1910),
humorist, essayist, novelist

Shop til you Drop

Well everyone, tomorrow my cousin Darla and I will be doing our final Christmas shopping run. I have made a list. I have checked it twice. Most people on it have been naughty, but I will still be nice. I am hoping we can get in and out with out too much fuss - but I have to admit, I laughed out loud when I saw this quote.

I love to go shopping. I love to freak out salespeople. They ask if they can help me and I say, "have you got anything I'd Like?" Then they ask me what size I need and I say, "extra medium."
Stephen Wright

LOL.

"A man isn't poor if he can still laugh."
-----Raymond Hitchcock

What is makes you laugh?

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

I am guessing by now, that most of you have your Christmas trees up and adorned. I saw this quote and think it might be my favorite Christmas quote yet this year.

Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.

~Larry Wilde

Tell us about your tree. Do you have a tree tradition? Care to share a photo? Here is a glimpse of mine and Mike's...

Sunday Traditions

Sunday was always a day steeped in tradition when I was a kid.

My grandparents (now just my grandfather) live on a lake. On Sundays, the family (my four aunts and uncles and their spouses and children along with my parents and brothers and sisters) would head to The Lake to eat hot ham sandwiches or go for a boat ride or watch football or just be together. The kids would hang out in the basement and play with the same toys that are still stashed in the cupboard while the adults played cards or drank beer or just shot the breeze (the women were usually separate from the men).

Really, it's been almost 20 years (I can't believe I just said that!) since we've had these kinds of Sundays (people move and families change). But, I can still see and feel these kinds of Sundays.

I apologize for the lengthy trip down memory lane. Sunday tradition is just something that is sticking in my mind early on this Sunday morning.

What are your Sunday traditions - past and present?

"What an enormous magnifier is tradition! How a thing grows in the human memory and in the human imagination, when love, worship, and all that lies in the human heart, is there to encourage it."
-----Thomas Carlyle

December 15, 2007

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Everywhere you go....

A little more about Christmas

"Let's be naughty and save Santa the trip."
-----Gary Allan

I couldn't resist caring on a little more about Christmas.
Here's to doing something just a little naughty this weekend.

(And I can't figure out how in the heck to get the underlining to stop. Sorry.)

I am married toa 12 year old.

I thought about posting a quote this morning. But then I received an email yesterday afternoon that just begged to be shared with the world. Better than a quote.

Dear Ang,

I just got off the phone with Santa. He said he thinks

I should get a Wii or a PS3 for Christmas. I think he

may have been drinking too much eggnog.

love, Mike.

Now this would be precious if it was from a kid. But no, it is from my adult husband. Any funny asking for gift stories you would like to share???

It's beginning to . . .

. . . smell a lot like Christmas.

"Memories, imagination, old sentiments, and associations are more readily reached through the sense of smell than through any other channel."
-----Oliver Wendell Holmes

What holiday smells are your favorites?

Winter Weather?

Are you getting hit hard with winter weather? I have been reading about snow storms and ice storms and all sorts of wintery bluster. In Northern Wisconsin it seems that we are going to miss the worst of it (for a change!).

I thought I would send a wintery quote to you and yours (and give us a report of what it is like where you are!)

To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake, you must stand outside in the snow.

Another Birthday

Happy Birthday, Brad!
Enjoy your 29th year.

“Birthdays are occasions for looking forward to the making of plans, for dreaming dreams, and hoping they will come true.”

How does this compare to your attitude about birthdays?

Full Weekends

Are you living for the weekend? Do you jam yours full and then on Sunday evening wonder where the time has gone? I know the feeling! Yesterday I worked in the morning, then spent three hours in the car, visited Mike's grandma in the hospital and then drove home three hours in the car. I am tired!

This morning? I am trying to convince myself that everything I 'have' to do today can wait, well, except laundry (a girl has to have some clean undies, tired or not!). So in honor of my relaxing Sunday -

Calgon, take me away!

Three Words

A lot of mornings I feel like the quote I bring you is far less than inspiration. Be prepared today to be inspired though, very inspired.

I sat down on the couch, cuddled up with a blanket and the laptop, and grabbed the remote control; I needed a little background noise for making today's prompt.

I found the video above playing on Good Morning America. (It wasn't the exact video; it was this week's version of it.)

I am completely enthralled.



People upload video of themselves writing three words that summarize their week. GMA puts it to music and shares it with their viewers.

So. . . what are the three words for your week.

Friday Tunes

Do you love Christmas music? I must say - I look forward to the Christmas tunes as much as anything about the holidays. So today, instead of a quote - share your favorite Christmas song.

Mine:

Here Comes Santa Clause - Jackson 5

All I Want for Christmas is You - Mariah Carey

Oh Holy Night -- By anyone who will sing it

Silent Night - Emmylou Harris

Sweetie

I've had a major sweet tooth lately. I think it was spawned by the amazing tray of Christmas goodies that Angie's mom cooked up. But, seriously. I cannot stop craving sweet things.

"What you see before you, my friend, is the result of a lifetime of chocolate..."
Katherine Hepburn

What sweet things are you craving this holiday season?

Wacky Wednesday!!!!

I am having a brain dead day today. I drove all the way to the office and THEN realized I left my laptop at home. I had to run back home and then back to work. Maybe I should just stay in bed today!!!



What wacky things are going on in your life?

Stuck on Tuesday

"I am imagination. I can see what the eyes cannot see. I can hear what the ears cannot hear. I can feel what the heart cannot feel."
-----Peter Nivio Zarlenga

I'm a little lacking in the inspiration department today. Usually I choose a quote related to something that is on my mind (or my schedule for the day). But, honestly?

Nothing is on my mind right now. Too much birthday excitement yesterday.

December 3, 2007

The secret to staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age. -- Lucille Ball.

Happy happy birthday to the lovely Barb. I hope this year makes all your wishes come true.

Signs of the Season

Despite the weather (lots of snow and ice and wind and cold), Angie's party was a complete success. No need to shed any tears.

My favorite thing about the evening? The details.

From the Christmas tree to the Martini Tree to the drink recipes to the appetizers to the red table clothes. . . Angie and Mike made every attempt to get all of us in a festive mood.

I'm not sure if we've ever posted a picture of us together. With no further ado, I present you with your Fancy Simple creators!


What festive details did you notice (or create) today?

"Excellence is in the details. Give attention to the details
and excellence will come." -----Perry Paxton

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to. -- that 50's song.

You might recall that I am having a big big big Christmas party today. Well Mother Nature decided not to cooperate. We are getting a lot of snow. And a lot of cancellations. This might be my last party for a long time!