Oh hey, that's my sister.  


Also, this is the first time I've ever included the tag "ACLU" on anything.  It's for you.  Kristin, I love you and love what you're doing!

MY SISTER FLIES IN TODAY!!!

I know this from experience.  

Just bought my tickets for the Rodeo and

Extreme Bulls this weekend!!

I get to see my sissy in THREE DAYS!

Counting down the days until our next visits has become a regular (and important) part of living with my sister in Nashville.  Typically, each summer I visit her and at least once a year she visits here.  We're lucky to get to see each other twice a year (sometimes more), I know there are others who see their loved ones less often, but still goodbyes never get easier. 

The weeks leading up to our next visit become bright spots in the year.  And this time we only had to wait a little over two months between our trips.  It made saying goodbye in Nashville this past July a little easier.  It was truly just a "see you soon." 

My sisters started going to the Ellensburg rodeo together back in the early 2000's.  And soon brought me in on the annual trip to begin a sister tradition.  The last time we went was just after Kim & Jason were married.  When Kim mentioned flying back for a little renewal this year, I couldn't have been happier.  This little heart feeds on family traditions and the ones that have nothing to do with a holiday are kind of like Halloween candy in September.  (early candy, not old candy. let's be clear.)

The Red Sox happen to be in town over Labor Day as well, so Jason was even more supportive of the idea.  Three more days and I'll have a weekend of festivities with my sissies and our beaus - and some amazing time with my crazy wonderful family all together.  A treat usually saved for Christmas. 

Sister trip to Vegas - 2010

Summer has come to mean Tennessee for me.  Nearly every summer since high school graduation has brought a trip to Nashville.  Days like today, where the sun starts to pour through the windows like the country music pouring through my headphones, my heart starts to wish for those back roads and green hills.  Knowing that two of my very good friends are currently there, sipping coffee at Crema and filling up on sweet tea and pulled pork and fried corn just makes it that much worse. 

Every trip to Tennessee reminds me who I am, and seems to remind me where I am.  I come home from each visit so much more comfortable in my identity, more confident.  Something about their air puts me at ease with life and all its uncertainties, struggles, and blessings.  It's just a place I love.  And of course, it's home to two of the most special people in my life. 

It's as if every trip I'm spending quality time with three people I love:  Kimberly, Jason, and Tennessee.  My heart needs each of them.  And I'll be eagerly awaiting whenever I next get to visit.

PC: Adam Carpenter

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You wanna know what gets me on Facebook  FAST? 

Kimberly Keith mentioned you in a comment.



Kimberly wrote: "My sister needs to marry this dude (@Katrina Hope)"

If you have a sister... and if she's anything like mine, you know that on the right day that post could have been written anywhere... on anyone's wall.  This is the sister who decided I needed to marry a guy at her church in Tennessee.  She conspired with his cousin (who was her friend... I'll give her that), started stalking his blog and Facebook - sending me photos and updates.  And had never talked to the guy in person.  Seriously!  A year or more and her first real conversation with him was when I came to visit when he walked up outside after church.  I wanted to tell him right there "My sisters been stalking you for a year." But somehow, I felt his cousin had already been planting her own thoughts in the situation as well.  So yes, when I wake up to this email, I'm quick to check what she is up to. 

Kimmers, Love you. Mean it. :)

Favorite things I was told today:

1.  "Dream on Little Sister and Live alive."

2. "Jarrod wants to get you more involved with all the proposals."

3. "That is the cutest lunch I've ever seen!"   (it was pretty cute)

Looking forward to an old tradition returning again this year - Kelly girls at the Ellensburg Rodeo! :)  

Though it won't ever be the same without our man Flynn. 

For those of you I've mentioned it to, and for those of you I haven't, check out the incredible decorating and baking my big sister Kimberly did for her friend's baby shower last weekend!  She blows me away with her creativity - and with what she can do with sugar and flour. ;) 

So grateful for FaceTime, so I could get a nice little tutorial of it all the night before.

 If I had a pinterst.... and I had even a clue what I actually did... I'd post this morning's adventure. :) 

That's right big sisters... I did that.   And I like it. :P 

And yes Kimmers, that IS in fact your favorite sweatshirt. :P 

"Do you own another sweatshirt?"  "Did you get it at Value Village?  Because I'm pretty sure it's from when I was in high school."   :) 

Paint-splattered and proud, Kimmers.  Paint-splattered and proud.  Teehe. 

Love you.  Mean it. 

Christmas with the Kellys

& Keiths

(This might be the first full-family shot, ever?  
At least first in two years) 

The Kelly Sisters. 

A. Same color 

Our hair is all almost the same color for the first time...maybe ever. 

B. Same Sassy. 

C. Same Silly.

D. Same three girls as always 

(same sick tradition that amounts 

to picking on the 'little one'!!)

Oddly enough, now that we're all in our mid 20's - early 30's and used to not looking anything alike... we finally look like sisters. 

 (Turns out our parents might have been telling the truth all along.)

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your families and loved ones.  Hope you had as many laughs as we've been having, as many delicious treats, and as many wonderful moments.  (And perhaps even as many un-shared photos restricted to your hard drive as there are to mine.)  Love you all!  

Business Casual.

(Kinda)

Believe it or not, the argument could be made that we're the fancy ones around here. ;)

Bourbon in chai. Turns out it's good. :)

Sister, "Drink.my.hot.Kool-aid!"

That line alone, when properly delivered, can make Kristin come as close

to peeing her pants as I think exists. :)  And yes,  I might in fact have reason

for wishing her to experience that ...event.

Can I tell you something I love about my family? 

We're fix-it people.  Figure-it-out people.  Problem solvers. 

And my sister Kim among the most.  Maybe not in the "replace the pipe in the kitchen sink" way (because we also disdain things being done in a poor or shoddy way and if we don't think we have the required capability, we won't do it), but definitely in the "I bet I could figure that out" way.  If it comes down to it, all three of us girls can work from what we do know to what we don't.  We know how to research, how to try, and how to learn from mistakes.   Check out these cards Kim designed.

 Granted, she does have some training in graphic design (she is an incredible wedding card designer, and a number of years ago she had some private lessons for Photoshop, etc.), but she just is great at figuring stuff out and teaching herself.  She's taken a number of jobs she didn't necessarily have experience in, and by hard work and her ability to learn, she's become excellent at each.  She inspires me.  Truly.  New jobs aren't easy, and new industries are even more difficult.   Yet, she's used what she knows to transition and master what was once completely unfamiliar to her.  I love it.  And I love her.
As I've have the opportunity to be training people for the past month and a half (like that word choice? Opportunity), I've discovered just how much I appreciate when people are really go-getters and problem solvers.  There's a reason why that comes up in so many interviews, and while any intelligent applicant will describe himself as a "problem solver", it's really not a common characteristic.  And it makes for good employees.  If I ever own a business, I am going to find a way to really test if people are in the interview process.  And in the meantime, I'm going to be grateful for however my parents managed to impart that into us kids - and their parents into them.

Thanksgiving Traditions:  Last Year's Christmas Pajamas and Coffee

I was almost late to work because of this cute thing.  I didn't want to leave her this morning!!  I love her so stink'n much!!!  And when I babysit her, she's usually in bed when I get there (as was the case last night).  So getting hugs and loves from her this morning in her jammies was heavenly.  She puts her arms out to me and my heart just melts into a big puddle of Finleigh Love! This morning it was all smiles and "what's this?" My favorite was when she goes, "What's this?" and after I responded "Scarf", she pulled it up to her face just like it was to mine, and smiled up at me. 

Happy Friday. We're there. And in this office, that's a triumph worth celebrating. I'm sipping my Pete's Gingerbread Latte (the fact that there's a Pete's within walking distance is proof that God exists, and He loves me). And I'm thinking about what is beautiful.  What we find beautiful says a lot about us. I think of my sister Kristin and what she finds beautiful.  How she always finds beauty where others see the defects.  And I'm grateful for that.  Because I've been her little sister for 24 years, and I don't know that others would have found quite so much wonder and beauty in the messy, crazy, (usually naked) wild little child I have been.  And without her finding something to admire and enjoy there, who knows if I'd have had the courage to stay that crazy, passionate girl.

[When I was in high school and I decided I wanted to paint my nails black, people teased me that it was 'goth' or just weird, but I thought it was beautiful.  I didn't know why.  It wasn't me acting out. And it wasn't popular.  Kristin, came home one day with black polish for me.]

I'm so prone to pick what's hard when I'm making a decision. What is more of a challenge? What would distinguish me more? Open more doors later? Kristin couldn't believe the day I told her about how I'd gone through college making sure that I could still go into law school (in case I decided that is what I wanted), or become a creative writer, or a marketing CEO, or a professor... Grad School or Business School or Law School. I did my best to keep my grades as high as possible "just in case." How terrible to one day look back and realize you'd taken the easy route and it'd blocked you from where you most desire to be today.   And part of me is interested in each of those things. 

But, that can lead you to hard places you don't need to be. And as I'm processing new decisions today and I'm grateful for the hard work opportunities I have taken and pressed through, I'm beginning to consider more than that. I think I can start to begin to be more selective about what I want to be doing, what I love, where I really want to go without so many worries of where I might end up.   So, I'm asking myself to forget all that I know about hard work and the difficult route, etc. Stop thinking about resumes and keeping 'all the doors open.'   And today, I'm just thinking about the things I love. The things that are beautiful. The things that make my heart light, not just the things that make my heart ache. I'm not going to make any decisions today, or tomorrow, or Sunday.   I'm going to take a step back and just enjoy for a moment.   Remember what I dream about, and what makes me happy. I feel so stupid and silly saying that, but I guess it's more than just self-help crap.   I'm young and I can consider it.   It's what I'd want anyone I love to consider for himself too.   And not considering it is how you end up dead, in a good paying job. 

These are a few pictures I came across this morning that made my heart smile.  And I'm trying to not jump to conclusions and decisions just yet... but hmm.

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4: 4-9

NB:  Today was my first day as a "paralegal."   What that looked like was me sitting in a chair next to my sister all day... watching her do my work, while neither of our normal jobs were getting done.  There are two of us, trying to do the job that three of us were barely completing before, and meanwhile she is trying to train me in a completely new position.  This is going to be a very tough transition for both of us, and right now the weight is definitely falling on her.  I'm not blind to the fact that she's doing it at her expense, and with a smile, for my sake... and I'm definitely humbled, grateful, and a little bit teary-eyed.

That's just like her.

I've been thinking today... I'd truly be lost without my sisters.  And I never want to have to find out what it would be like without them.

And now, to bed, because this week I certainly need it.

You can pray grace over us both, if you don't mind - for her to get her work done, and help show me mine... and for me to learn quickly and remember, and have extra grace to get my other job done too, in record time. ;)

PS.  I am excited and incredibly grateful for the new position.  :)