Thursday Thirteen

**note - just to let you know how messed up I am this week, I wrote this whole post thinking today was Thursday and it's only Wednesday!**

It's been one of those weeks. The holiday weekend was great, but it has left me feeling like I'm dead last in the race of life. I just can't seem to get caught up. My brain is really too tired to do Poetry Thursday today, so I'm going to "creatively borrow" an idea from my blogger friend Amber and make a Thursday Thirteen list.

So here is my thirteen favorite things to do with my free time:

1. READ (duh) Anything I can get my hands on. Magazines, the Newspaper, the Internet, my Bible and yes, my favorite - a great work of fiction. It doesn't have to be incredibly intelligent, I've been known to dabble in the Chick Lit genre, but it MUST, with a capital M-U-S-T have a good story.

2. BLOG (double duh) Including reading blogs. I've been so inspired and motivated by the great writers and thinkers out there. The past few months I've tried things I never would have had the courage to attempt if it weren't for my new found blogging friends.

3. Watch movies. Love action/thrillers and comedies. Oh yeah, and I'm a sucker for a period romance. (Love, love any of the Jane Austin books to movies.)

4. Watch my kids when they think I'm not looking. It's such a window to their little souls. I love seeing my kids serve and encourage others - it does my heart good to know they actually know how to put the needs of others before their own (even if they don't practice it in the walls of our house every day!)

5. Going on real dates with my husband. Something we don't get to do very often, but it's always a treat.

6. Going to a bookstore or library, just to browse. I could do this for hours at a time, and I've been known to do just that!

7. Go to the downtown artists market in Portland. My dad took me to this Portland tradition almost every weekend when I was a girl. His office was near by and we'd go get lunch at the market and wander the stalls and then go back to his office so he could work for awhile. Unlike my very restless younger sister, I was content to sit and read while he worked. They were wonderful outings as a young girl and I still love to visit the market.

8. I love to make things - crafty things. I'm not the greatest artist in the world, but I like to try to copy things I see and like. A few years ago I saw wine glass charms for sale in a magazine and thought to myself, "I can make those for much cheaper." This sent me on a quest for the supplies and just the right design long before these things were in every discount store around. I like to knit (though I'm still just working on scarves), love to make beaded jewelry and try to scrapbook (but I'm years behind on the pictures). Visiting Swirly's site, I even tried my hand at collaging this year. I'm also working on improving my photography skills having been inspired by the incredible pictures I see on some blogs out there.

9. Go antiquing. I collect milk glass and love to go on hunts in my local antique stores for new pieces. I love imagining the history behind these objects - what have they seen through their history?

10. Hang out with good friends. The kind that you can just "be" with and don't have to put on any masks of politeness or pretention. Many people would say because of the work I do and the ways I serve at the church that I'm a people person but often, I'd rather be home by myself or with just the family.

11. Work. I know that sounds weird. I'm actually enjoying many of the projects I'm working on right now as they are stretching me in ways I hadn't imagined. I'm the kind of person who does better in life if I have a project and I tend to function better if I'm busy as opposed to having too loose of a schedule.

12. Teach. I get the opportunity every once in awile to teach our women's group at church (about 80 women) and I just love the time that goes into preparing for speaking in public. I love to find the delicate and mysterious threads that link our physical, emotional and spiritual well-being and share truths about what God really thinks of us. (That he loves us as a parent loves a child - knowing we will blow it, but walking with us, supporting us, loving us all the same.) If I'm going to be honest, I also like the attention I get when I teach. It's not so much that I want people to look at me and say, "Wow! She's really smart." (OK that's nice though . . .) But what I really want is for people to say, "Wow! She's really studied this issue and knows what she's talking about." I have often dreamed of becoming an expert in some area so that when the local news needed and expert in some obscure area of information, they would come knocking on my door and say, "Ms. G., as a local expert in ______________, could you please comment on _______________."

13. Travel. I love to travel but don't get much chance to do it at this point in my life. I love it because each trip is like a story waiting to be written. A great adventure, with me as one of the main characters. Some of my favorite (and sadly, only) trips have been to Boston, MA; York, England; Victoria, B.C.; Nashville, TN; and Southern California.

I'd love to read your favorite thirteen so feel free to share yours and let me know where to find your blog!