What I've Learned From Gift Wrapping

Every year I wrap gifts. I wrap gifts more often than I even realize because, with my family, there's a birthday in literally almost every month. But then comes the holidays (for my family, Christmas) and everything explodes with ribbons and tape. 

Now, you would think with how often I wrap gifts that I would have some sort of actual system or plan going into the ordeal that is wrapping gifts for 6 family members as well as friends and my significant other and his family. There isn't. There hasn't been for as long as I can remember. It's really just a total mess, so here are some lessons that I have relearned again this year about gift wrapping:

1. Metallic wrapping paper often reflects light and makes mistakes less obvious.

         See? You can hardly tell this    needed two separate sheets of paper.

2. Make sure all of the supplies you buy to wrap gifts are unwrapped before you start. Nothing is more annoying than trying to pry open a fresh roll of tape while holding your perfectly flat paper against a gift.

3. There are two kinds of people in this world, those who hate curling ribbon, and those who can never have enough. (There's never enough curling ribbon.)

4. Simple can be the best looking, and obviously easiest, way to go about it. "Brown paper packages tied up with string" is definitely back in style and takes the guessing game out of matching colors.

5. Be prepared to lose everything. Put down the scissors, pick up the tape, spend 15 minutes looking for the scissors again. There's teally no winning unless you are insanely organized, which I am not.

6. Don't stress too much about how it looks. If you're awful at wrapping, there are always gift bags (and most stores will wrap what you buy for you). Also, the paper will end up on the floor and in the trash later anyways, so who care of it's not smooth or covered in tape or a weird color? The gift and the thought are what matter most.

If your had any revelations while gift wrapping this year, I'd love to hear the ! Happy holiday everyone, and happy second night of Hannukah!

Today I Believe...

• It's okay to have several favorites of everything. Personally, I could never choose one color or movie or song because I change my mind every few minutes.
• Setting 5 (or 8) alarms is acceptable.  Just make sure if you're going to sleep through them, you sleep alone or far away enough that you don't ruin someone else's sleep.
  
• This right here:

• Change jars are a great thing to have, especially if you work somewhere with a vending machine.  As an adult, snacks become your meals.
• Just be a big kid and do things yourself.  You can't rely on other people to make things happen for you.
• Forgiveness comes in a lot of very small, mostly painful steps, but if it's worth fixing, it's worth the work.
• Sometimes you just have to cut it all off and start over. Literally.
  

Things I've Learned from Courtney & Nick

My sister is getting married this weekend!  I am so excited for her and her new life with Nick, who is such a great guy for her.

They've definitely had their plates full for the last year, with Nick being deployed with the Air Force, both of them moving to Oklahoma, as well as planning the wedding and all of the things that go along with it. I'm not sure how they've managed to get everything done in such a short time, especially with my sister starting a brand new job down in OKC, but they've managed to get everything together and seem to be handling the stress a little better than some couples do.

 They've been up in Connecticut for the past few days and on Monday I got to spend the day with them putting together some of the final details for their special day.

This man was a great help in finding THE shoes!

Things I've Learned From Courtney & Nick

• Life is a great balancing act, and when you can't get what you want you  can always learn to accept someone else's way.
• Value the people who value their own happiness.  They're the ones who give the best advice.
• If it's meant to be, it will be, and it's well worth the wait.
• Things don't always go as planned, but things will always work out for the best in the end.
• Love can deal with distance, especially if you're the adventurous type and can close the gap one day.
• Taking a risk can be the only thing between you and the life you want. The worst that can happen is getting turned down, in which case you move on.

Congratulations Nick and Courtney!  I'm so insanely happy for the both of you and I wish you all the luck in the world, although I know you won't need it.  I'm so excited for the wedding Saturday!  Love you both!

Things I've Learned From Hannah

My sister Hannah's birthday was the 15th, and I'm obviously getting to this post a little bit late.  Randomly recently, I remembered a time when we were a lot younger and my older sister, Courtney, and I made Hannah eat maple leaves from the trees because we would play Land Before Time and they were the tree stars.  I wonder if they remember that =P  Happy birthday, Hannah!

Things I've Learned from Hannah:

• Sometimes, the only thing you need to clean your room is $10 and OCD sister.
• Pie nights and Gal-entine's Day hold special meaning and should be done as often as possible.
• Pipe dreams and plans of owning a bakery are a great distraction from not-so-fun current jobs.
• Discount, post-holiday candy and zombie movies make for great nights and paranoid survival packing.
• Walking Dead episodes are way more intense if someone is sitting next to you screaming and/or almost crying.
• You always need a sidekick who will follow along for long drives or 1:00 AM Walmart trips.

Welcome to your 20's, little sis.  Love you!

Things I've Learned From My Brother

As some of you may already know, I come from a fairly large family (3 sisters and a brother) which rarely leaves room for dull moments.






My brother, Brandon, is turning 18 tomorrow!  I am so proud of him for sticking it through high school and getting everything into place so he can graduate in a month and he's become such a great guy because of all of the work he's done.  Congratulations, little brother, on everything you've accomplished and I couldn't be happier for you.  I know this is a big year for you and I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Things I've Learned from Brandon:

• Music is sometimes the only way to explain how you feel and can often explain it better than you can.
• Being a peacemaker is hard, so when in doubt, make them laugh.
• There's a lot to be said about the value of hard work.  There's also something to be said about sleeping until 5 PM.
• Don't be afraid to be goofy.  You can be your own best joke. But don't worry, people will still take you seriously.
• Homemade costumes can be just as great as store-bought.  However, homemade costumes are easier to fit over casts due to over-confidence in your Spidey Senses.
• Be interesting. Be amazing. Be a super hero.

Things I've Learned from Kaeley

Kaeley has become one of the nearest and dearest friends I've come to know over the past three years now, and now we're moving in together!  She's been my backbone and my other half of crazy for the last few months and I can't thank her enough.  From Kaeley, I've learned that...

• ...if you have three days off, it's kind of okay to spend all of that time on Pinterest
• ...putting a ton of things into online shopping carts with no intentions to actually buy them all right now is perfectly acceptable (and keeps your wallet happy)
• ...booze and baking, so long as mishaps are avoided, go hand-in-hand because everything is more delicious.
• ...being the boss doesn't mean you will have all the answers, and you shouldn't always have all the answers anyways because then you look like a snob.
• ...decorating and organizing is really exciting and fun, especially if both people have the same ideas/tastes.
• ...boyfriends can be left on the sidelines for a while and be perfectly okay while you go out and do things with your lady-friends.  They have video games and other things to do, too.

I cannot tell you how excited I am to move in with Kaeley.  We've been in the processing and packing and planning stages of the move so far and (hopefully) within the next week I'll be in the house!  I hope (and sort of know) she's as excited as I am.  Happy birthday, Kae (on Friday)!