HI ELIZABETH!!!!!

LOOK, I'M UPDATING IT, AND IT HASN'T EVEN BEEN "TWO WEEKS"!
but unfortunately i dont really have anything to say. i had a really crappy day at work today and then came home and took a nap for 3 hours on the couch. now it's pretty much my bed time and i'm gonna go to sleep again. you see? this is why i don't update it very often - you don't miss much! :o)

my name will soon be in print - don't tell mom

i'm hoping to surprise mom, so we'll see how often she checks my blog.... but i have volunteered to write the weekly article for The Leavenworth Lamp this next week because the usual person who writes it will be on vacation (in hawaii, of all places) and unable to do it. i am very excited about the opportunity and volunteered immediately when she put out the email asking everyone for help - something quite unlike me, to just put my "skillz" out there. but i figured the time was right and felt compelled to do it. it's kind of a big deal... well, to me at least - probably not to the general population of Fort Leavenworth. it's just the weekly blurb from the housing office staff, but i'm hoping to spice it up a bit. i haven't fully decided what i'm going to write about. i'm thinking i might do something along the lines of "an enlisted wive's perspective of the Fort Leavenworth community/being a new Army wife". this would be interesting only because on this base, the officers run the show and the enlisted guys get shit upon - that's the rule. so for an enlisted person (or anyone associated with an enlisted person) to have a voice might be interesting. my challenge might be to not be cynical or negative; because my job at the housing office in particlar has afforded me the insightes into just how many ways the enlisted personnel are currently and will be screwed over in the future, with reguards to housing at least. so i have to figure out how to spin it all with an optimistic light. should be a challenge. because if i decide to go with a more "personal story" approach, how many people would really give a care? probably not many... unless i do a really awesome job of it. and i haven't thought of anything that good yet.
but alas, i just recieved my task yesterday afternoon and have until friday to complete it. i plan to be done by wednesday so i can run everything past a couple people so that i dont make a fool of myself for my first chance to be in print. i'm obviously excited but nervous at the same time. i know that this is 100% me. which is good. bring it on. but at the same time, i am doing this to help out denise, the marketing director. the marketing director who WAS my nemisis, who stole the job i wanted. i now know just how much i am REALLY glad i didnt get that job, and i actually kinda like denise, she's really nice and seems pretty cool; but i'm still afraid that she uses other people to stand on so that she can make her way to the top. so i am struggling with myself as i do this and am afraid in the back of my mind that she will find a way to take some glory or somehow make herself look awesome as i do this. ya know, word has gotten out that i know how to write and everyone brings their documents to me for proofreading. well, she did it friday for the first time - she brought me her newspaper article before she submitted it so that i could proof it. interesting. i dont mind doing it - it's a great way for me to stay sharp and use my knowledge that God gave me, i just think it's interesting. but i guess i just need to quit worrying about the glory. like i just said, God gave me the gifts, and it is my responsiblity to use them to help people and not to keep a score card for myself. the chips will fall where they will fall. i guess i can just hope that God will see fit to let my bosses notice that i am using my gifts, or that i even HAVE those gifts, when the time comes for a raise - if that's what He wants me to have.

i'm not dead - i think i'll go for a walk!

(here's a picture of my grandpa kelly in his airforce uniform - this will be a part of my office decorations. something ELSE that i just remembered that i should possibly add to my pictoral montage on this blog.... but really, arent you totally intrigued now?!)

well, not so much on the going for a walk thing, it's cold and rainy outside..... i'd rather just make some chilli and put on my sweat pants and snuggle. well - scratch that, i only got 4 hours of sleep last night, i dont want to actually "make" the chilli, i'd be good with just eating the chilli and then doing the rest of those things.

so yes, just wanted to do a little blog here for the one or two people who check up on me to say that i'm alive. i have lots and lots of pictures to post on here and i'm quite excited to do so but have, as always, been a bit occupied. our super fun house guest left this morning, but not before i finished the blanket i was making for his daughter (hence the 4 hours of sleep). so that will be one set of pictures. we got some new furniture; i took a trip to another state; i DO fully intend to write a novel about my health and thoughroughly gross everyone out/embarass myself by showing the world my nose snorkel - but i just havent done any of those posts yet. but i will do them, along with a couple other random things i've taken pictures of along the way... like me playing in the ocean. I LOVE LIFE!!!

honestly, i hope that when i die, i am remembered as a person who never missed an opportunity to live. pass it on.