Wednesday, January 12, 2011

November: A me-centric kind of month

November always seems to be very Katie-centric around our house and this last one was no exception. Many awesome things happened that I am glad to have experienced. For the sixth year in a row now I took part in NANOWRIMO, and actually managed to pump out 50,000+ words in less than thirty days. I am always excited to do it and never know what I will be writing about until the night or so before it starts. This years story premise was certainly influenced by the copious amounts of NCIS hubby and I watched while he was recovering. Basically, it was the story of a CFO's wife being kidnapped in exchange for him helping them steal huge amounts of money from his firm, and his attempts to get her back. Y'know...

The real treat for me this November was getting to attend my first Time Out for Women conference. I have never gone before because I didn't want to pay the admission cost, but this year the tickets came as quite a treat. A friend of Ann Sherry's daughter had three extra tickets that ended up not being able to be used. My best guess from here is that she offered them to Ann's daughter thinking maybe she'd like to come down from WA to visit. When she couldn't use them she must have offered them to Ann and from there Ann called me and two other ladies to see if we'd like them. Complicated? A bit, but totally worth it. I called another one of the ladies, Robyn, who was going, to see if she wanted to car pool and stay the night in Portland at my mom's house so we could go to both sessions. It was so fun to get to know her better, as we've always been friends through friends. I had a great weekend with her though! The speakers were amazing. I was particularly touched by the story of this amazing lady, Miriama Kallon.




Miriama and me during a break...glad to have had a chance to hug and meet such an inspiring woman!

Now, if you are Mormon and you don't know who Hilary Weeks is, I have to ask if you've had your head in a hole for years? If you're not Mormon, then it's totally understandable and I will explain. She is an amazing singer/songwriter who I love to listen to. She has written one of the two songs that I listen to time and time again when I need a bit of encouragement and a reminder of why I do what I do in life. What an unbelievably awesome treat to get to see her perform it live.


I pulled out my cell and decided to record her, but since I was sitting too far for a decent video I grabbed one of a big screen near me. Watch it if you'd like, but it was mostly for me. My only regret of the weekend, as you will understand from the pictures, is not having a camera with me. My phone doesn't stabilize well, and so most of the pictures were very blurry. But. one of my favourite quotes holds true: The best kind of camera is the one you have with you.


Hilary Weeks and me right before she went back on stage to preform. Love it!

And finally, here is one with some of the lovely ladies I know that Robyn and I ran into while there. I swear I saw so many people I know from all over the place there. It was wonderful!

Dea T., Robyn B., me, Ann H.


November also brought the birth of the blackberry tree forts. The kids had a little cave in some of the blackberries that run through the tree row on one side of our property. One day I went out and majorly went to town with the clippers and made them a long set of tunnels and rooms, and then we took some lumber and built some ladders and lashed some seats in the trees, so that they could spy on pirates and monsters coming to attack the fort. That is how little boys are meant to play my friends!

November was also the month that anyone with in earshot of me got to listen to how people need to get out and exercise their civic right and duty to vote. I'm a big believer in voting and being informed on the political affairs of our nation, states, and communities. So when it's November, I will be making sure you've done your duty (or telling you if you don't you have no right to complain!)

Goob decided to really leave his baby ways behind in November and started toying with the idea of walking. It still didn't happen really for another few weeks but he was well on his way.

The boys found my little brothers old trombone in the garage one day. It was too cute!


And while I could post an entire post about it, I will just mention that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out in November and it was A-MAZ-ING. That is all.

I celebrated my 28th birthday on the 15th and was treated lovely by all around me. I think my birthday was on a Sunday this year, and truth be told I can't remember exactly what we did, but I remember feeling very loved.


Some of my birthday goodies included crocheting supplies for a projected I wanted to do, Kermit (swoon) Yahtzee, and a gift card to Pier 1, where I bought this lovely wall hanging.

The month wrapped up with Thanksgiving, and along with that came Sheepie's pilgrim feast in class. they make great little pilgrims.
He wore that hat around for days!
Sheepie and his best friend Avonleigh... Said it once; will say it again. Wouldn't they make the cutest little grand babies for me ever!


Well, I know that was a LONG update; way to keep up. I think I will do a couple for December, since there is much Christmas stuff to post and then, oh yes, then we will be caught up!

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