Kate Middleton, My Girl Crush

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I tried my very best to wake up at 5 am this morning to watch the royal wedding. I have to say, I have a girl crush on Kate Middleton. I think she has this natural grace and elegance about her, but also a streak of Independence and toughness. She is also naturally very pretty. I admire her. I think she nailed the wedding dress, for what she needed it to be - conservative, elegant, and royal. While I don't want sleeves on my wedding dress, she single handedly just brought them back in style I'd say. Not to mention her waist in that dress looked like a double zero.

She just lived out 2 billion girls fantasies. Commoner to Princess in the wedding of the century. But I have to say I think she has a tough road a head of her, there is a tough life behind all that waving to the public. It was the constant media attention that ultimately killed Diana. I hope that they can rise above the media, the attention, and the constant scrutiny that the royal family is continually under and live the real-life fairytale. That story that ends with "and they lived happily ever after".

Anything You Can Do.. I Can Do

So the home renovation projects continue this week. My main entry door is a wood door that is also equipped with a storm door. The storm door, has been annoying me the last few weeks. Sometimes the latch works and the door stays shut, and sometimes it doesn't. Also, upon cleaning my basement I realized that the storm door came with a screen that can be used in the warmer months to get air. But, the current door handle, while it has a lock, I was never left the keys, so I feel weird about ever leaving the door open and using the screen

This week, I went on Home Depots website to look at what I might need to fix the door. I bought a new handle, new clips to hold the screen in, and a new one of those things that hold the door from swinging too far, as the most recent storm had broken mine since the latch wouldn't stay shut. I got out of work early yesterday because I was working at a different office. Upon arriving home, I found that my Home Depot order had arrived. At this point, I contemplated if I should wait for Joe to do this or not? If I had to admit defeat, I would be sans door handle until Joe could come help me. I decided to take the project on.

I went to the basement and got the screen that matched the door and cleaned it off. Then, I unscrewed the old screen clips, and removed the glass where I was going to put the screen. I put the screen up and inserted the new screen clips which held the screen perfectly.. PROJECT COMPLETE... THAT WAS EASY.

NEXT: Feeling pretty good about myself, I decided to tackle the door handle next. I unscrewed the old door handle to find that one of the main screws holding the darn thing together was stripped. At this point, I was standing with my screwdriver at a stand still. An old man walked by and said, "man gotta love a woman trying to fix things around the house." (as if this is a foreign concept in the new millenia). Next my neighbor walked by and offered to help me. With some advanced tools, we were finally able to get the old handle off. Licking my bruised ego, I wasn't sure that I wanted to take the project on anymore.. but the pamphlet only had three steps-- how hard could it be? After about a half hour I had successfully installed the new handle complete with the new dead bolt. The door looked like new. I locked the screen and left the door open to go to the kitchen to make dinner.

I cut some squash, zucchini, and vidalia onions and put them in a hot bag. I threw those on the grill with some steaks. As I stood there by the grill, pretty impressed with my domestic and renovation abilities, I began to think about gender roles and whether they really exist anymore. I know not all girls are like this, but I believe that anything a man can do, a woman can do. I would rather try and fail at a project then not try out of fear or doing it wrong. I am as comfortable with a grill as I am with a stove. I am as comfortable with a hammer as I am with a spatula. Am I the only one?

I think there is a lot to be said for being well-rounded. There is a lot to be learned in this world.. and gender shouldn't hold anyone back. I never knew how a door handle worked until yesterday...and I have a great sense of pride for my new door.

April Showers.. Bring Redecorating

Well I am happy to report that things have calmed down a bit in Nicoleland. Joe got a new job and starts May 2nd. The days of travel are officially over. After a mini-meltdown last week, I have resigned myself to the fact that in two months I will be sans roommate as my current roommate is moving in with her new fiancé. While I was pretty sad about living alone, I am not prepared to take on some random roommate instead. I have been living with a roommate since 2004 and I just need a break from cleaning up other peoples messes. I just want to focus on me. While taking a random roommate sometimes works out, I'd rather not take a chance. Regarding Joe moving in, while that is the short-term goal, at the moment I don't feel that we are prepared for that. I think he really needs to live alone too, settle into his job, and know what its like to take care of yourself (since he lives home now) So, for the time being, I am going to live alone... I have resigned to this.
What better way to prepare for living alone then REDECORATE and make the house better. While my original goal was to plant the flowers outside this weekend, the rain prohibited that from happening so I decided to work on this inside instead. Joe and I headed off to Pier1 & Bed, Bath and Beyond to pick up a few things that I had been eyeing. Also, my spice rack that I had ordered came in so that needed to be installed as well. Here are some pictures of my new finds:

new spice rack

Fork and Spoon chalkboards in the kitchen from Pier1

Hanging plates from Bed, Bath & Beyond

What do you think? I also made my 3rd bedroom into a quite nice guest room. Visitors Welcome :)

Amazing Grace

How you climb up the mountain is just as important as how you get down the mountain. And so it is with life, for which many of us, becomes one gigantic test followed by one gigantic lesson. In the end it all comes down to one word: Grace. Its how you accept winning and loosing, good luck and bad luck, and the darkness and light, that defines you. In the moments of triumph or sorrow, will you respond the way you should? Will you rise to the occasion and act with grace or will you let the situation get the better of you? We cannot choose what happens to us or around us I guess. But we can choose how we respond to it. Life is hard. Anyone who tells you different is lying. The world owes you nothing. Sometimes life throws you curve balls and you will find yourself in a situation you did not expect to be in. In these moments, it is the toughest to respond with grace. More often then not, we resort to the more readily available emotions: anger, hate, jealousy, resentment, sadness. Its only human nature I guess. Its hard to be the bigger person, its hard to suppress the more readily available feelings and continue on the high road and act with grace. But, when all is set and done, acting with grace preserves dignity. It ensures that no matter the outcome, you've shown your best possible self.. and no one can say anything about your character. Act with grace and you come out a winner because you know you've faced the situation head held high and self-worth intact. And in the coming days as I act and react to life's tests and lessons.. I hope I can find it within myself to act with grace no matter how I feel on the inside.