On Our Way To Crazy

Feb 1 – Snow snow snow everywhere. Read lots of books.
Feb 2 – Snow canceled school and allowed a rare mid-week lunch with one of my favorite kids.
Feb 3 – My awesome husband brought me lunch.
Feb 4 – We made turkey meatloaf and crash potatoes for dinner and almost died from the deliciousness.
Feb 5 – Super fun and much needed girls night out.
Feb 6 – Nice, normal, non-stressful Saturday. Spent the afternoon with Jeff Bridges and some Sour Patch Kids.
Feb 7 – The power that had been out all morning came back on just in time for us to barely make it to church.
Feb 8 – My friends were very good to me. And I was thankful.
Feb 9 – My friend Steffanie had her second beautiful daughter, Elliot.
Feb 10 – Avett Brothers, all day long.
Feb 11 – Texas got a ton of snow and every single person I know called to tell me about it.
Feb 12 – Girls sleepover! Cookies and games and glitter and general hilarity.
Feb 13 – The kids were awesome on our service project. Then we had really expensive cheese cubes and listened to a barbershop quartet.
Feb 14 – We tried some new things with the youth group format and it went really well.
Feb 15 – Breakfast for dinner.
Feb 16 – Had an unexpected and really good talk with a band wife.
Feb 17 – Had a beautiful Ash Wednesday service at church followed by Olympic snowboard watching at Flying Saucer with the band.
Feb 18 – Saw a really cute high school production of Nunsense.
Feb 19 – Long, delicious dinner with friends. Tempura avocado, crab salad, crunchy salmon, japanese bbq chicken, lots of wine.
Feb 20 – Saw Jennifer Knapp open for Todd Snider in what may be the greatest pairing ever.
Feb 21 – Had a really interesting discussion in care group about what it looks like to share your faith as an adult.
Feb 22 – A friend gave us tickets to a benefit for Porter’s Call, an organization very dear to us. It was a really cool night full of stories.
Feb 23 – Read Don Miller’s new book. Loved it.
Feb 24 – Got to be silly and a little gossipy with coworkers at lunch.
Feb 25 – Saw a freaking amazing Waterdeep show AND got to meet them afterward.
Feb 26 – Delicious sushi dinner with new friends.
Feb 27 – Took two long walks with my boys.
Feb 28 – Ate a greasy fried lunch and ran into fun friends at the mall.

Jan 1 – I read two books and Aaron made me pancakes.
Jan 2 – We celebrated our ten years of dating anniversary with delicious garlic basil butter sauce. It was on something, I’m sure, but I don’t remember what.
Jan 3 – Good discussion about goals with the kids.
Jan 4 – Bought some awesome new boots.
Jan 5 – Pancakes for dinner. 2010 is the year of the pancake.
Jan 6 – I survived an overwhelming day.
Jan 7 – I survived an even more overwhelming day and had delicious sushi with friends for lunch. Also, drove in the snow and did not die.
Jan 8 – Ate at Chuy’s with Aaron and a band guy and we got TWELVE FREE SOPAPILLAS.
Jan 9 – The Cowboys won a playoff game.
Jan 10 – I learned I am no longer a young adult. It’s a good thing, I promise.
Jan 11 – Insomnia led to staying up crazy late watching music videos with a friend.
Jan 12 – The song “Caves” by Jack’s Mannequin knocked me on my face. In a good way.
Jan 13 – I learned the word ‘qhapffin’. Don’t try to look it up.
Jan 14 – I acquired the most perfect pair of pink plaid slippers in the history of the world.
Jan 15 – Girls dinner out for restaurant week! Melon salad and curried salmon and crazy wine and berry cheesecake and so so much laughing.
Jan 16 – Spent a wonderful evening with some of my college girls. They make me so proud.
Jan 17 – Had a really interesting discussion in youth group about Haiti. I have some sharp kids.
Jan 18 – I talked a lot today. It was necessary. And good.
Jan 19 – Avett Brothers, Avett Brothers, Avett Brothers.
Jan 20 – We played Celebrity with the kids and I laughed so hard I WEPT. They rule.
Jan 21 – Today was very interesting. I will not tell you why.
Jan 22 – Played basketball for the first time in ages.
Jan 23 – Kari sent me an inappropriate text. Or should I say… sext.
Jan 24 – Our biggest Sunday morning ever! I know it’s not about numbers, but sometimes numbers make you feel good.
Jan 25 – Homemade chicken tikka masala.
Jan 26 – Finally finished my Christmas returns and found some great deals on much needed new clothes.
Jan 27 – American Idol reminded me of the awesomeness that is Shai.
Jan 28 – Super fun and looooong dinner out with friends.
Jan 29 – Snow day! We watched movies and made cookies and played a thousand rounds of Phase Ten.
Jan 30 – Snow day again! We got stir crazy and went to Target and bought $5 war movies.
Jan 31 – The Second Annual Manes Family Grammy Party was a success! We had glow sticks and 3-D glasses and a beer incident and more dip than you could ever have the chips for. Awesome.

Dec 1 – My boss and the guy who gave me my job announced that he was leaving. Good for him, sad for me. It still counts as a good thing if it’s good for someone else, right?
Dec 2 – Fun silly night with the junior high girls.
Dec 3 – A meeting I was pretty scared of turned out to be not so bad.
Dec 4 – Knocked out a ton of my Christmas shopping.
Dec 5 – Family Force Five and Remedy Drive show with the kids. Super fun night.
Dec 6 – Silly lesson based on Elf turned into great discussion with the kids about identity.
Dec 7 – Lovely afternoon at the movies alone with Mr. Fox.
Dec 8 – Hunger Games!
Dec 9 – Played a hilarious round of Things with the band.
Dec 10 – Catching Fire!
Dec 11 – El Tormento at the nativity.
Dec 12 – GPYG Christmas Extravaganza! Six hour service project followed by amazing food and the craziest video scavenger hunt ever.
Dec 13 – Lunch after church with my favorite college girls.
Dec 14 – Made three pies and a huge batch of pumpkin muffins.
Dec 15 – Care group Christmas party where we ate amazing turkey and came home with a sweet plastic sword and an all-weather radio.
Dec 16 – The kids wrapped all the GraceTree gifts beautifully. Or, at least you couldn’t see what they were.
Dec 17 – Dinner with friends and the Andrew Peterson show.
Dec 18 – Random night at home in the middle of the holidays.
Dec 19 – Sushi, Jack White’s record store, Andrew Jackson statue in the freezing cold, Grimey’s with the scary Santa and elf, chicken chili, football and THE COWBOYS BEAT THE SAINTS.
Dec 20 – Super fun Christmas game morning with the kids.
Dec 21 – Actually spent time with my friend across the street instead of just talking about how we should.
Dec 22 – Tamale dinner and green chile sauce drinking challenges.
Dec 23 – Cookie decorating!
Dec 24 – Gift wrapping and farkling and chocolate peanut butter crackers.
Dec 25 – Christmas Day! Cinnamon rolls and snuggies with my parents, gossip at Mamaw’s and a fifty person Christmas extravaganza complete with camouflage blankets, pocket knives and some kind of jalapeno jelly mess.
Dec 26 – Family Christmas with the Maneses. My brother-in-law went to a fancy makeup store and bought me expensive eyeliner. So awesome.
Dec 27 – My Papaw and I smoked everyone else on one hole of Wii golf. We got smoked the rest of the time.
Dec 28 – Girls night with my high school friends. Really good talks. I miss them.
Dec 29 – Super early flight home, nice long nap, movie date with Aaron and George Clooney.
Dec 30 – Fun pizza lunch with the staff.
Dec 31 – Low key New Year’s with good friends, good fajitas and Sam & Dave on vinyl.

Nov 1 – We took the kids to see Where the Wild Things Are after church.
Nov 2 – Pizza for dinner.
Nov 3 – Made a great ‘dark and moody’ playlist to match my mood.
Nov 4 – I read the wrong assignment for class but managed to fake my way through it.
Nov 5 – I had a productive, plan-making, mind-clearing, butt-kicking meeting with my counselor.
Nov 6 – Really good meeting with a potential new volunteer.
Nov 7 – We cleaned the whole freaking house from ceilings to floors.
Nov 8 – I discovered smores made with chocolate covered graham crackers.
Nov 9 – Homemade broccoli cheese soup in my brand new white bowls.
Nov 10 – Finally finished the design for our new youth newsletter.
Nov 11 – An old friend sent me the most random memory ever.
Nov 12 – Watched M. Ward on Austin City Limits.
Nov 13 – Pirate Radio! So awesome.
Nov 14 – The kids packed over 1200 food boxes for Feed the Children.
Nov 15 – WATERDEEP SHOW. In Nashville. I die.
Nov 16 – Read an entire novel on a blanket in the backyard.
Nov 17 – One of our kids got a baseball scholarship to Vandy.
Nov 18 – JENNIFER KNAPP SHOW. In Nashville. I die.
Nov 19 – Productive meeting about some new programs for 2010.
Nov 20 – Big Thanksgiving grocery shopping trip.
Nov 21 – I watched Kenan Thompson impersonate Reba and laughed until I cried.
Nov 22 – Excellent Sunday afternoon nap action.
Nov 23 – I took my time at Trader Joe’s and bought way too much random stuff.
Nov 24 – Aaron’s parents arrived and we showed them around town.
Nov 25 – Pie making!
Nov 26 – So much food. Lots of good friends. Hilarious game playing. Cowboys win.
Nov 27 – We found a bunch of cool stuff at the flea market.
Nov 28 – We finished decorating for Christmas and ate delicious fajitas.
Nov 29 – Great discussion with the kids on what it means to be rich.
Nov 30 – I finally got to see An Education. It was great.

Oct 1 – Two high school football games. Lots of yelling, lots of fun teenagers, lots of cotton candy.
Oct 2 – Dinner with an old friend of Aaron’s. Enjoyed the nicknames.
Oct 3 – First college football game! Should have cheered for Vandy but hotty totty is too fun to say.
Oct 4 – I stress shopped. It helped.
Oct 5 – Good late night couch talk.
Oct 6 – Awesome Kalamata’s lunch. Only slightly marred by the fact that Miles ate my cookie.
Oct 7 – Introduced the kids to Apples to Apples. So much fun.
Oct 8 – Vegas week! I heart SYTYCD.
Oct 9 – Sleepover. Pumpkins and skits and gel icing and a broken house alarm at 2am.
Oct 10 – Our first Second Saturday service project was a ton of fun.
Oct 11 – Football, newspaper, nap. Excellent Sunday.
Oct 12 – Got lots of reading in. Love me some AJ Jacobs.
Oct 13 – Free hair cut and color!
Oct 14 – Rainy weather and tall boots.
Oct 15 – I drove all day for dollar tacos and a lingerie shower.
Oct 16 – Manicure, lots of driving, chocolate chess pie.
Oct 17 – Alisa’s wedding! Also, the after party. Also also, facebook on the ceiling.
Oct 18 – The after after party. Also, biscuits the size of your face. Also also, road trip home and potential new client for Aaron.
Oct 19 – I bought the Barcelona record and died of joy.
Oct 20 – New Lyle Lovett record!
Oct 21 – A super stressful day was made better with cider and Beatles monopoly.
Oct 22 – Girls pumpkin carving party with some new friends.
Oct 23 – Cuban sandwiches and West Wing reruns.
Oct 24 – Went to a surprise party and ate the best wings of my life.
Oct 25 – Date night. Sushi and the Belcourt, my new favorite plan.
Oct 26 – I packed all my stuff into a carry-on bag. I am an awesome packer.
Oct 27 – Delicious mid-morning breakfast with a friend. A day with pancakes is always a good day.
Oct 28 – Family pumpkin carving night! My Mad-Eye Moody was AWESOME.

Oct 29 – High school girls party. I love having friends I’ve known for 25 years.
Oct 30 – Super late night out with the guys and some Dallas friends. So fun.
Oct 31 – My mom bought me Taco Bueno to make up for smoking me at Zonk a thousand times.

Sept 1 – This video made its way into my life.
Sept 2 – Our fall kickoff cookout was great fun.
Sept 3 – Went to go see the Toadies for free with a friend. It was a great night for an outside show, even if the show itself kind of sucked.
Sept 4 – Aaron went out of town and I watched Post Grad and two Kate Winslet movies.
Sept 5 – The band played for 60,000 people in South Dakota. I wasn’t there, but it was still good.
Sept 6 – Listened to a lot of David Gray.
Sept 7 – Labor Day cookout with good friends. Almost killed myself on a trampoline.
Sept 8 – I packed everything I own for a three day trip to Florida.
Sept 9 – We saw a really sweet mullet on the airport shuttle.
Sept 10 – I spent most of the day by the pool.
Sept 11 – I spent half the day by the pool and the other half at Universal Studios watching the band play and riding crazy roller coasters.
Sept 12 – We got to sleep in at the hotel and eat Dunkin Donuts.
Sept 13 – We had a potluck lunch for youth families after church and it was fantastic.
Sept 14 – Happy birthday, Mom!
Sept 15 – Homemade thai peanut noodles. So delicious.
Sept 16 – Rainy day. Canceled meetings. Work from home in pajamas.
Sept 17 – Acafellas entered my life.
Sept 18 – Super fun girl date with Susan to Mad Platter and WICKED!!
Sept 19 – Sold the last of our old furniture on craigslist.
Sept 20 – I wore real shoes for the first time in ages. Fall is on the way.
Sept 21 – New David Gray record!
Sept 22 – Our local NPR station went to all talk during the day. Excellent for all the afternoon driving around I do.
Sept 23 – Our first Wednesday night with new programming was successful.
Sept 24 – Glee made me laugh so hard I cried, then made me actually cry.
Sept 25 – Spent the afternoon at the movies with Anna Wintour.
Sept 26 – Date night – It Might Get Loud and Zumi Sushi. Excellent.
Sept 27 – Care group! At someone else’s house! That we didn’t have to clean!
Sept 28 – I cleaned out a bunch of attic boxes and found a lot of awesome and embarrassing things from high school and college.
Sept 29 – Great meeting about volunteering at the church.
Sept 30 – Successfully helped one of my kids with his geometry homework. I can’t believe that stuff was still in my head.

Aug 1 – I had more stuffed mushrooms and chardonnay than you should legally be allowed to consume.
Aug 2 – Solo road trip to North Carolina.
Aug 3 – Fun girly day with Kari, Alisa and Andrea.
Aug 4 – Pool! Taco Tuesday!
Aug 5 – I had a Thin Mint blizzard on the drive home.
Aug 6 – Nice relaxing afternoon with Aaron.
Aug 7 – Holiday World! My favorite summer day.
Aug 8 – Aaron and I won a spontaneous water balloon fight.
Aug 9 – I got to baptize five kids at our end of summer service. Amazing.
Aug 10 – I turned 29 for the first time.
Aug 11 – Counting Crows at the Ryman! The show was just okay, but still. Fun.
Aug 12 – I had an epically successful shopping trip.
Aug 13 – Ate a delicious steak salad.
Aug 14 – Sad but fun party for our awesome admin’s last day.
Aug 15 – We moved the furniture around in the office to make room for my new youth space.
Aug 16 – Our last care group meeting as leaders was a big success.
Aug 17 – Actually took the day off and went swimming and to the movies. Was surprisingly not disappointed by the Time Traveler’s Wife.
Aug 18 – I painted my new office a lovely ocean-y blue.
Aug 19 – Made $1200 selling church furniture on Craigslist.
Aug 20 – Took the edge off a super stressful day by walking a million miles with Aaron and Miles.
Aug 21 – Finished my office! It is awesome.
Aug 22 – I bought skinny jeans. Lord help me.
Aug 23 – We had more kids than ever before, including a ton of new ones. So exciting.
Aug 24 – Went to the doctor. Not currently dying. Yay.
Aug 25 – Free fridge for the youth room! Thanks Craigslist!
Aug 26 – Fun text conversation with a random friend.
Aug 27 – Pappasitos, british candy bars and an amazing hotel in Atlanta.
Aug 28 – Ikea! H&M! Red Robin!
Aug 29 – My awesome youth staff helped me convert a bland conference room into a fantastic youth room in about ten hours.
Aug 30 – My excessively wise junior high girls summed up our lesson with these words: Make peace, don’t not make peace. So simple, yet so genius.
Aug 31 – Fun lunch AND dinner out with girlfriends. Can’t beat it.

I am embarrassed by the tiny number of posts between the last good things post and this one. July? It was hard.

July 1 – I got a haircut that was only about six months overdue.
July 2 – I made a seriously good photo slideshow for a friend’s birthday. Seriously, you would cry and you don’t even know them.
July 3 – Derek Webb movie thing and delicious barbecue downtown.
July 4 – A failed attempt to see baseball and fireworks turned into a rip-roaring Trivial Pursuit challenge and the hugest “sopapillas” I’ve ever seen.
July 5 – I discovered, and quickly became obsessed with, Word Challenge on facebook.
July 6 – I made tikka masala for dinner and it was delicious.
July 7 – The end of the great flamingo tour of 2009.
July 8 – Camp paperwork is finished! We are now prepared for any hospital visits, food allergies or major destruction that may come along.
July 9 – Went to visit my dear friend Anna and her sweet baby Ian at St. Jude’s in Memphis. That place is amazing and he is doing so well.
July 10 – Camp shopping at Target! So much fun.
July 11 – Took the youth girls to see one of our own in a musical. She was fantastic.
July 12 – Haircut day for Miles! I think he lost 20 pounds of fur.
July 13 – We made it to camp! The drive was only three hours! Camp is the best!
July 14 – I spent two hours talking about books with a 93-year-old man over jello.
July 15 – Mega Relay!
July 16 – We took the kids to see Harry Potter during camp free time.
July 17 – Girl talk in the party room.
July 18 – I laughed so hard driving home from camp that I almost ran off the road.
July 19 – An exhausting but productive meeting went well.
July 20 – We got to share our bed with Miles after a week with plenty of leg room.
July 21 – Finally caught up on our camp laundry.
July 22 – We made plans to go to Florida in September.
July 23 – I rediscovered the awesomeness of West Wing reruns.
July 24 – I fished out what I thought was a great youth idea to parents and was resoundingly shut down. Yay for constructive feedback.
July 25 – Long lazy anniversary celebrating day with a fabulous steak and fries dinner to finish it off.
July 26 – We made it to seven years of marriage.
July 27 – A short work trip for Aaron turned into a free youth conference for me.
July 28 – Long lazy day at Ridgecrest, reading and walking and hanging out with the band.
July 29 – Found delicious chicken fried steak in Knoxville.
July 30 – Energizing and encouraging youth staff meeting. Good things are coming.
July 31 – Laughing, dancing and margaritas to celebrate a dear friend’s vow renewal.

June 1 – We went to an awesome birthday party that ended in a classic rock singalong.
June 2 – So. Much. Flamingoing.
June 3 – Fun night painting furniture with the kids.
June 4 – My parents got here! We ate breakfast at Noshville and dinner at Kalamata’s, two of my most favorite Nashville meals.
June 5 – We drove down to Lynchburg to tour the Jack Daniel’s distillery and eat fantastic barbecue.
June 6 – A ton of our friends came over to grill out and eat my dad’s non-key-lime pie.
June 7 – We spent the whole afternoon in the backyard playing bocce.
June 8 – Nash Trash Tour!
June 9 – I drove across America to pick up flamingos that weren’t even there. Oh wait, that wasn’t good.
June 10 – Nachos after church with some fun people.
June 11 – Breakfast for dinner.
June 12 – My team, the superhermanos rojos fantasticos, made a great video at the sleepover.
June 13 – Super nappy Saturday.
June 14 – I spent most of the day watching America’s Best Dance Crew.
June 15 – My youth website actually went live!
June 16 – We had indian food for the first time, and my life is now better for it.
June 17 – Our kids were extra helpful with the elementary kids.
June 18 – Delicious sushi lunch.
June 19 – We got to see Danyew and Over the Rhine play. So awesome.
June 20 – We saw Ben Folds at the movie theater.
June 21 – Tried a new, delicious, sushi place with the band.
June 22 – Miles and I both survived his trip to the vet.
June 23 – I discovered Harry Potter the Musical on youtube.
June 24 – Great ordination class on second Corinthians.
June 25 – I had a not totally horrifying swimsuit shopping experience.
June 26 – Indian food and Away We Go. An excellent date night.
June 27 – We spent the whole day on the lake and then I died of happiness.
June 28 – Our care group meeting turned into a 90′s music singalong.
June 29 – Great evening with some friends we don’t see often enough.
June 30 – I had a wonderful night at home by myself.

May 1 – We took advantage of a rainy night and stayed in watching movies.
May 2 – Delicious crepes and fabulous pedicure with Susan.
May 3 – My junior high girls really got into a discussion about the fruits of the spirit.
May 4 – Good bonding time at a youth leader cookout.
May 5 – I finally booked the Nash Trash tour for my parents’ visit.
May 6 – Our junior high group helped the elementary kids with a service project and didn’t whine or complain at all.
May 7 – Lunch out with some friends I hadn’t seen in ages.
May 8 – I was greeted by a million pink flamingos when I walked into my office.
May 9 – Fun night with friends and the band.
May 10 – My junior high girls did announcements in main service and rocked it.
May 11 – We grilled fajitas and made homemade guacamole.
May 12 – A big stress was finally relieved for me.
May 13 – I treated a friend to a fun, wine-filled lunch for her birthday.
May 14 – I started my Harry Potter reread.
May 15 – Great girls night out with our small group girls.
May 16 – We treated ourselves to a long, lazy dinner out. It helped.
May 17 – We had a sad but joyful going away party for our music pastor.
May 18 – Tough but good college discussion with a senior.
May 19 – Late night flamingoing with a couple of kids.
May 20 – We had a good meeting with our new music pastor and the whole team.
May 21 – So You Think You Can Dance started! Get pumped!
May 22 – Aaron and I almost got mauled by a dog while flamingoing but got away just in time using our catlike speed and reflexes.
May 23 – Graduations! Graduations! Graduations!
May 24 – Unexpectedly good discussion in youth group.
May 25 – Delicious Memorial Day picnic for two.
May 26 – LONG overdue lunch with my first Nashville friend.
May 27 – We got freaking awesome tickets for Counting Crows at the Ryman! The day after my birthday!
May 28 – Aaron went out of town and I watched movies all night.
May 29 – Oh my gosh, y’all. Super Target. I want one.
May 30 – I had a great afternoon babysitting some staff kids.
May 31 – A difficult morning was made better by an afternoon in the backyard with Goblet of Fire and a bowl of strawberries.