The Word for 2016 | Transformational

Our word for last year was "Overcome." When I wrote of selecting that word, just over a year ago, I said:

I think we're entering a season of overcoming what was and beginning to dream about what can be. ... I can't wait to look back on December 31, 2015, to see all the ways we experienced God's promise that we are overcomers.

So what did we see in that look back?

We were overcomers - in ways we didn't expect.

• We paid off our house 5.5 months early.
• I landed in the job of my dreams.
• We dealt with the loss of our beloved Ben and a change in dynamics of adding two new kittens.
• We started work on long-awaited renovations to the Hayley House.
• We met with our financial adviser to have our first-ever "What's next" discussion instead of  a "When we" discussion.

It's crazy.

So when Kelly and I sat outside on Christmas Day (an unbelievably 80F gorgeous day here in Texas, y'all), I asked him what might characterize 2016.

We decided that 2016 will be Transformational.

While we expect a transformation in basic things:

• The look of the Hayley House as we cash flow renovations.
• Our fitness level as we return to our old strength+cardio routines.
• A better life-work balance as we continue to adjust to life-and-work for both of us in Plano.
• An approach to rest, as we start to take vacations again now that the house is paid for.

It's the transformation in other areas that we're curious about.

• How will our level of generosity change? (Being generous - beyond the tithe - is a choice.)
• How will our family reinvent itself?
• How will our connection to community change?
• How will our friendships evolve?

Based on past experience, we know that we can't even begin to imagine what the future will hold - though it's still fun to guess, to dream, to hope and to plan.

2016...We're ready for you.

Hayley Year-in-Review

We're continuing our unintentional tradition of creating a digital year-in-review holiday card rather than sending a printed card to everyone on our address list.

Maybe one day we'll get better about doing that. 

Probably not.

Best wishes to you and yours in the 2016!

Catching Up on Two Months

My blogging has been pathetic of late. Hayley Daily? More like Hayley Whenever.

But to be fair...this is what happened during the last two months:

First week of September | We went to a Cowboy's preseason game. It was in no way spectacular, other than the people we spent time with in our suite.

Labor Day weekend | We had our first ever downtime in months. No Galloway running group. No obligations. So we spent our time on mini-road trips exploring and eating.

Second week of September | I went to Cleveland for Content Marketing World and had John Cleese as a keynote speaker. It was as awesome as you might imagine it would be.

Second weekend of September | We hosted former Olympian Jeff Galloway for a weekend packed with activities.

Third week of September | We went to Addison's Oktoberfest.

Third weekend of September | We started a four-week running form class in addition to our regular Galloway running activities. Plus we ran a half marathon.

Fourth week of September | We went to McKinney's Oktoberfest.

Fourth weekend of September | We hosted the Dallas Marathon's Executive Director for a run with the Galloway training group.

Fifth week of September / First week of October | We said goodbye to our Ben. Plus I had a presentation, a kick off planning meeting at work and a huge special event in downtown.

 

First weekend of October | I broke my foot.

Second week of October | Helped with a large city-wide special event.

Second weekend of October | Tami got married. I made lots of signs. And a speech. Then Kelly hit a huge raccoon on his way to run a marathon. He ran the marathon anyway and we towed our car from nowhere East Texas to Tyler to be repaired.

Third week of October | Big work meetings and photo shoots. I get my first Stitch Fix box (I'm in love!) and I have the best Boss' Day ever. Oh, and we adopted Oliver.

Third weekend of October | Kelly runs the Haunt Jaunt 1 miler as Mr Pumpkin Head, to the delight of children and his wife. He then runs the 5k and places 4th in his age group...less than a week after a marathon and hours after a 15 mile training run with the Galloway group.

Fourth week of October | We spend all week playing with and taking photos of Oliver. There's also lots of reassuring for the Bridget-boo.

Fourth weekend of October | We adopt Jasper. We also hung out at Steinfest.

Fifth week of October | Another photo shoot, a grand opening and a memo of understanding issued between Bridget and the kitten boys.

Fifth weekend of October | The first weekend we've had at home to rest in forever. And ever. And we didn't even stay home the whole weekend - on Sunday (November 1), Kelly ran the DRC Half and since I was still booted, I handed out finishers medals to all of our Dallas Galloway runners. Now that was fun!

Anyway, that's my excuse for falling so far behind in blogging and I'm sticking with it.

I'll try to catch up over the next month or so - but no promises.

Random: Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Spotted on my morning commute:

I have no words.

Tracking Life Changes One Ice Cream Crank at a Time

Two weeks before I started working at my previous company, Kelly and I made homemade ice cream.

We didn't make it again until the July 4th weekend, two weeks after I started working at the city.

That's a nice bookend, don't you think?

And it says quite a bit about free time, work/life balance and embracing the simple pleasures of life ... like Butterfinger ice cream and not sharing with kitties, no matter how cute they are.

Tower Tipping: Not Trees, Not Cows, Just a Tower

The week before I started the best-job-ever, I snuck into a new job related event. It's fun being unofficially official!

In 1985, this was built to serve Legacy business park:

But the tower sat unused for the last five years and needed to be removed to faciltate the development of Legacy West, a new 250-acre mixed-use project.

The tower was 178 feet high and weighed 550 tons. How exactly do you get something like that down in a safe and cost-efficient manner?

Answer: Tipping.

The tower base was cut like you would cut a tree trunk for felling. The contractor's crew started work early and at 9 a.m. on the dot, down came the tower!

The griping you hear in the video is me, upset that I wasn't ready at 9 a.m. on the dot for the tower to fall. Thankfully, Kelly is always prepared and captured it all on video.

Once the tower was down, the contractor's team cut up the tower and took the pieces away for scrap. In fact, contractors usually bid to remove these structures because the value of the scrap metal is far higher than the cost to take down the structure. Economical indeed!

And that, my friends, is how you remove a water tower! Pretty cool, huh?

Spray Tanning for a Novice

Tan in this photo is not as natural as it appears.

I am a very white white girl.

Strawberry blonde, with a burn-then return to ghostly white skin. I've tried tanning booths - paying money for a burn to turn ghostly white. I've tried applying sunscreen and sitting in the sun - only to burn and turn ghostly white. The thought of being tan was merely dreaming the impossible dream.

Then I received an email from Yelp with a variety of free to try service offers from Facelogic in HP. While I'm no spring chicken and probably should have picked a microdermabrasion, I ran to the phone to book a spray tan.

I've never had a spray tan before - scarred by memories of Ross Geller's experience on Friends. Why risk glowing teeth and two-tone skin?

Now was the time to put on my big girl pants - or in the case of a spray tan on a 40-something-year-old body, remove my big girl pants.

Prep for the appointment was super easy. The spa told me what to do (exfoliate, don't use lotion/deodorant before the appointment). They sent text messages the day before and day of my appointment.

I had great advice from a friend to put lotion on the heels and outside of my feet, and on the palms and outside edges of my hands to prevent color build up there. As a pale girl, my friend also told me to pick the "fair" tone spray.

Facelogic offers a hand-applied tan. After checking in, an attendant takes you back to a private room. There, you're given a shower cap to protect your hair and are given privacy to strip to your level of comfort - and that includes nekkid if you prefer. (I did not.)

The sprayer:

The spray zone:

The attendant returns and proceeds to spray.

She was super nice and made me feel comfortable through the process. Her instructions were clear and conversation was easy and professional throughout.

After she sprayed me all over (including my face - which was optional), she turned the sprayer to air and dried me off.

I had to avoid showering for 8 hours, then I was good to go.

The results were GREAT. The tan was evident but not orange or outrageously dark. My pastor even asked me where we'd gone on vacation because I looked so relaxed and glowing.

It's now 5 days later and the tan is still lingering and nice, fading the way a natural tan would. I was told to expect my color to last for about a week and that looks to be true.

Will I get another spray tan? Most definitely. I think will stick with having it hand applied from Facelogic because, you know, Ross Geller.

Can't.Stop.Looking.In.The.Mirror - who is that tan girl?

Making Changes

Today has been exciting, scary, thrilling, sad and every possible emotion that you can imagine.

After more than 16 years in my industry - professional services - I'm changing course to work in public service. Many things remain the same. I'll be focused on connecting people, telling good stories and making things better.

Other than the obvious difference of change in organizations, there's one very big change: I'm going to be working just 15 minutes from home. A mere 7 miles.

For the past three years, I've worked nearly an hour and a half (with traffic, door-to-door) from home. A 24 mile journey.

I can't even begin to imagine the change that this is going to bring.

It's been a real quandry over the last three years - the best company I could imagine working for, wonderful colleagues, amazing stories and a challenging (in a good way) role.

But the energy drain was real. Very very real. Over time, I realized that I was tired - all the time. I stopped enjoying cooking. Craft projects piled around the house, half done. I couldn't commit to activities with my church or my friends.

Work became everything, because the drive (or train ride) there and back took everything out of me. As it increased, what made me me became less.

This wasn't my company's fault. It's totally a byproduct of who God made me to be - a person who goes All In on everything I do. I let my yes be yes and all-too-often look up to realize that I've left a pile of wreckage in another part of my life.

I'm thankful that Kelly was patient with my commitments, adjusting his schedule and activities to make sure we could spend a few intentional hours together each week. But I'm more thankful that he pushed me to examine my energy level and needs.

So change. It comes and it's exciting, scary, thrilling and sad - but it's good and it's what keeps us alive and energized. And I've learned it's best not to have regrets, only warm memories and thankfulness for the goodness of God to bring people and experiences into your path for however long He sees fit.

Now on to the next adventure ... (and maybe more time on this blog!)

A Beauty Flunkie Learns New Tricks

I had yet another silly 101 list goal - to get a professional makeover.

I didn't really want to be made over into someone that I wasn't. I wanted to learn how to put on makeup properly, because outside of theater and clowning, I've never had a makeup lesson. Ever.

That's how I found myself spending the afternoon with a makeup artist (no makeup counter salesperson application for me, thank you) walking through the basics of foundation, contouring, lip lining and the like.

And the result? Still very much like Shannah but slightly more polished.

I did take home some new skills that I can replicate for myself, although I think I'd need my makeup artist, Mandi, to pull off this extremely polished appearance every day.

Was it worth having a silly goal like this? I'd say yes - I feel a little more sure of myself when standing in the aisle at Sephora and I certainly know what to say yes to and what to ignore as a waste of money.

Four Seasons and Always Beautiful

Just a silly little post to update on a silly little 101 list item - take a photo of a place in every season.

As a runner in the Dallas metro area, I spend more than a fair amount of time at White Rock Lake making it fair game for my photo project.

Summer sunrise:

Fall mid-morning:

Winter crisp and cold:

Spring morning glory:

How could you ever pick a favorite?