darker than my skin

My freshman year of college, my friend Maggie always forced herself to drink her coffee black, because she, who was pre-med, said that if she was ever going to be a real doctor, she had to learn to like it that way. I'm not sure who told her this, but she was adamant about it as she struggled through the bitter every day.

I have the exact opposite relationship with coffee. Skim? Yep. Cream? Of course. Sugar? Obviously.

For a while now, Katie and Sara have been trying to get my to drink it a little darker. They joke that no matter what, even in the dead of winter, my coffee is always paler than me. I'd like to think they're complimenting my complexion, but I'd be lying to myself.

However, I mentioned last week that I am sugar free so far in 2012 (minus the occasional cocktail), and the most difficult challenge has been my java.

This is how I like it:
However, I'm making strides and am down to just a little cream:
And even sometimes, Maggie-style:
Soon enough I'll be drinking with the doctors!

check it off

Two of the things I most strongly believe in are:
1. Laziness is the real root of all evil.
2. Clutter is draining and exhausting.

I also very strongly believe in list making and (I should not admit this, I realize) make two lists every day, one professional and one personal. It's a pretty solid process; I make the list in the morning, and then highlight as I go throughout the day. The list for work is in a notepad and the personal one is on looseleaf lined paper. After I check everything off, I throw it away. But, if I haven't finished something on it, I can't throw the list away.

Last weekend, I was a little behind on things, and realized I was carrying 13 lists around. 13! And then it hit me: this is equivalent to clutter. Sure, they're all stashed away in my planner. But they're still draining - especially since all of them had one, or maybe two, things on them. And - worst of all - it was almost the same thing on every list: buy bike for triathlon.

Seriously? I don't need 13 reminders to buy a bike for a race I'm doing, especially since it is at the forefront of my mind how insanely behind I am going to be if I don't get on it.

And the sickest part of all is that on a few of the lists, one of the tasks was: manage lists.

It's a disease.

I checked the remaining items off, minus the bike (grr!), and allowed myself to purge all of the lists with "buy bike!" on it. I don't think I am going to forget.

And. I'm actually lying because I consolidated everything into a new list and put little bikey on there. It's getting checked off reallll soon. Promise.

PS: Don't judge me.

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second chances

Remember Tallulah and Delilah? Ya. They didn't make it to the new house.

Instead, Katie planted two beautiful flowers on our stoop. Then, the following day, she accidentally knocked one of the pots off with her suitcase, spilling the soil and happy flowers everywhere.

Is my bad luck with plants rubbing off on her?

She didn't have time to repot it before she left town, so, unaware of my [lack of] skills, she asked me to do it. I went for it this weekend, and am going to put all of effort into not killing them before she gets back into town.

I'm also putting all of my effort into not naming them, since they're her plants and it should really be her choice. It's a big decision.

But if I were going to name them, I would probably pick Marcy and Minty. I'm just saying...