timing

{found via pinterest from brutal generation}

so much of life is timing.

sunday a friend of ours got married, and so we were catching up with a bunch of other friends at the wedding and talking about how crazy life has been lately. after we returned home i took a look at my marathon training schedule and realized that i have two weeks left of full training before i start the slow taper to the race. two weeks feels a little bit more manageable than five right now.

and then i also realized that peter has two weeks left of soccer season. of course those things would coincide.

we still have plenty to do in our kitchen remodel project as well, but we've made so much progress in the last few weeks, that it feels like there's a light at the end of the tunnel with that too.

we still need to cut and stain our new counters, demo the old counters and sink, and put in the new counters and sink.
do a little bit of tiling, but not a full backsplash,
a little bit more painting, stencil,
and build and install open shelving.
and i have a few small decorative projects too.

but that list is a whole lot smaller than it used to be. it feels like there's actually a chance we'll finish it before christmas, which i wasn't so sure about a few weeks ago.

besides, taking 6 months to do a kitchen overhaul when you do the vast majority of it yourselves, and hire no professional contractors for anything is pretty reasonable. especially with everything else we have going on... right? right.

i just have to keep reminding myself that this kitchen is going to last us a really long time. and it should be at least 10 years before we do anything of this magnitude again. as in, keane will probably be a teenager. {which is very weird to think about.}

i've also been watching fixer upper on netflix over the past couple of days, and it has me reinvigorated for the rest of this kitchen project. i know they make it look pretty easy, but it's that whole "look at the transformation" thing that gets me every time.

anyway, it just feels like it has been quite a long time since i could really relax. right now a lot hangs over my head, or screams a bit in the back of my mind every time i stop. i know i should be working on something else. i know there's more i could be doing. it makes it really easy to be completely self-focused. {because that wasn't easy enough already}

margin is one of those things that i don't think about until i have none. and the less margin i have in my life the less i think about others. the less margin i have the more entitled i get about my time, and i get upset when something interferes with said time. the less margin i get the uglier i am to the world around me. it makes it really tough to love others well. and sometimes to love them at all.

too often i assume that i'm supposed to be so busy as to have no margin. it's accepted, and expected to live life that way. but it's so important to be adaptable. it makes life so much more enjoyable when i'm not rushing all.the.time. and when i'm not upset and fuming because i'm running late, or have too much to do - i'm more likely to see other people. really see them.

it's easy to glance at people and not really see them. and when i'm so caught up in myself, i can't see them. but i'm supposed to love them.

which is why i need margin in my life.

my goal is to take our lack of coaching, and lack of marathon training {a few weeks later} and not shove a whole bunch of other stuff in there. the holiday season is always crazy enough as it is, and it's almost upon us.

i want to try to enjoy it this year. and have it bring out the best in me instead of the worst.
wouldn't it be nice if "peace on earth, goodwill toward men" was actually how we acted during "the most wonderful time of the year"?

xoxo