It has been an interesting week. A lot of highs and a few lows. I will give you some of the highs...
Tonight, I got together with some girl friends and we had a great time chatting it up and laughing. After that I went to a grocery store called Kroger and they had Utz potato chips!! I was quite excited over this. Utz is a brand that we can find at home in Lancaster, but have never seen them here. Mom and Dad went to Kroger last night and said they had a whole section of them! I had to go check it out for myself and what do you know, a whole section! It was like Manna from Heaven! I can't tell you why these chips are the best, they just are! It probably goes back to what I knew first. I just hope that people here like them and buy them so they continue to load the shelves. I'm sure my family could keep them in business but we might weigh 300 pounds if we did, and that's just not good.
Work was also good this week - and it also helped provide my biggest low. Wednesday was a rough day for me - not sure why, but it was just one of those days...I talked to a lot of angry people. Today made up for it though. I got some questions answered that had been hitting the back of my mind and it felt good to have a resolution to them. I am very thankful for my job and love what I am doing. It is stressful, and hard, and demanding at times but it is also keeps me challenged, is a lot of fun, and I have the privilege of working with some awesome people.
I also started to work on a Bible study by myself. It is going to be hard to stay disciplined, but I think I can do it. I am starting the Esther study by Beth Moore. I hope to go this weekend and get the video tapes (I have a coupon :) ). I am really excited about it!! I have heard great things about this study and it was recommended to me. Now it is about setting aside the time to really dive into it and I pray that I am able to get so much out of it . I really like the idea of studying a book of the Bible. My Sunday School class just finished a 30 week series on the book of James - that's right 30 weeks on 5 chapters! It was so encouraging and enlightening and really made me think about things and how I live my life. It really wet my appetite to do another book study. So here I go, onto another adventure.
I have really started working out. I am watching what I eat and am exercising several times a week. This week I have started to see some results and that is really exciting, and also motivating :) I wasn't overweight, I will be the first to admit that, but I just needed some toning and some shaping up. They say that once you start living the new "better for you " lifestyle that you will wonder how you lived any other way, and I am beginning to see that. The things that I craved before - the unhealthy stuff - have gone by the way side and I have craved better things. So here is to keeping motivated and eating better :)
My dad gave me this awesome fun Pirate songs CD. I think it might be a kids CD but the songs on there are hilarious!! They are so much fun and can instantly make my day better. The CD is to get us in the mood for our cruise coming up - oh yes its definitely helping :) It is called Pirates of the Caribbean: Swashbuckling Sea Songs and is on iTunes - you definitely need to check it out you will get a great laugh!
I know this is cliche, but I mean it - I have the best family! I am so thankful for the time that I have with them. I got to hang at my parents a couple of times this week and eat with them, and I get to work in the same building as Ben and Sarah. I mean if I need anything at all, Ben is one floor above me, and Sarah is 2. Not many people can say that. I am so thankful to have my family here, in the same state, nearby. I am also so thankful that we are as close as we are. I know not all families are like that, but we actually enjoy spending time with one another and I love that! I'm excited about getting together on Monday to scrapbook and hang out together. I think it is going to be the highlight of my weekend - just saying.
2 words that make me smile: long. weekend.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Tables
My dad is awesome!!! He worked incredibly hard at stripping, sanding and staining my coffee table and end table! They were dark brown, almost black, and he re-stained them so they are now a light brown!
I'll give you some back story...Some 30 years ago, when my parents got married, they bought a Living room set (entertainment center, coffee table, and end tables), and a Dining Room set (hutch and dining room chairs and table) My sister got the living room set, and I got the dining room set. Everything was the same color.
Through the years, Ben and Sarah bought darker furniture, so their coffee table and end table no longer matched. Last summer, dad re-stained their coffee table and end tables darker to match.
Well, this year they gave me the entertainment center because they needed the space for something else. So now, I have the Dining room set, and the Entertainment center, all matching wood. When I moved on my own, my grandmother gave me her coffee table and end table. They are a very dark stained wood - not the same color. This summer, I asked dad if he would make my tables to match the other set.
Today, they dropped off the finished tables, and they match perfectly!! I am so excited about them! You would never know they didn't come that color originally. It took him almost 2 weeks I think to strip them down to the bare wood, then re-stain them. They were complicated pieces too with lots of curves and he had to take the tables apart in order to do it correctly. My dad is a perfectionist when it comes to work, and I am so thankful that he is because they are perfect, and look brand new!! And now, I will always have the legacy that the tables came from my grandmother, but my dad put is sweat and hard work into them to make them what they are. I will have these tables forever because it will be incredible hard to give them up now. Too much history behind them.
Thank-you dad, you truly are amazing Love you!!!
I'll give you some back story...Some 30 years ago, when my parents got married, they bought a Living room set (entertainment center, coffee table, and end tables), and a Dining Room set (hutch and dining room chairs and table) My sister got the living room set, and I got the dining room set. Everything was the same color.
Through the years, Ben and Sarah bought darker furniture, so their coffee table and end table no longer matched. Last summer, dad re-stained their coffee table and end tables darker to match.
Well, this year they gave me the entertainment center because they needed the space for something else. So now, I have the Dining room set, and the Entertainment center, all matching wood. When I moved on my own, my grandmother gave me her coffee table and end table. They are a very dark stained wood - not the same color. This summer, I asked dad if he would make my tables to match the other set.
Today, they dropped off the finished tables, and they match perfectly!! I am so excited about them! You would never know they didn't come that color originally. It took him almost 2 weeks I think to strip them down to the bare wood, then re-stain them. They were complicated pieces too with lots of curves and he had to take the tables apart in order to do it correctly. My dad is a perfectionist when it comes to work, and I am so thankful that he is because they are perfect, and look brand new!! And now, I will always have the legacy that the tables came from my grandmother, but my dad put is sweat and hard work into them to make them what they are. I will have these tables forever because it will be incredible hard to give them up now. Too much history behind them.
Thank-you dad, you truly are amazing Love you!!!
Before
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Harry Potter
My sister has been bugging me for years to read Harry Potter. I have always turned her down because I didn't want to take the time to sit down and read 7 books. I have watched all the movies, but never really understood everything that went on.
My sister doesn't give up, and I am glad! She finally started to bring me the books and I started reading them. Needless to say after book 1 I was hooked - which is misleading because it is the smallest of the 7 books. She gets you hooked with a small 100 page book then she writes these 700 page books! I will tell you, it is all worth it! I read all 7 books in 7 weeks!! They are that good!
Rowling is an amazing author. I was a little nervous that they would be too child-like, but they aren't! They are intricate, deep, and dark. They have a little bit of everything, romance, fights, conflicts, love.
Each book builds on the one before it, and every detail counts. In the last book she brings out details from the earlier books that you had forgotten or didn't realize until she points it out. I found myself going back and looking to see if it was true, and it is. She has a way of pulling you into this world, and you find yourself cheering for them, crying with them, wondering, hoping your favorites don't die, or get injured, or that they get together. While reading the last book, I was holding a pillow so tightly, and punching it, that at the end of the book, it was no longer in the shape of a square.
Rowling has one great imagination! I have no idea how she came up with this entire world. I can't wait for the last movie to come out in July. Definitely going to the midnight showing with Ben and Sarah - since she got me hooked, I'm making her go then :)
My sister doesn't give up, and I am glad! She finally started to bring me the books and I started reading them. Needless to say after book 1 I was hooked - which is misleading because it is the smallest of the 7 books. She gets you hooked with a small 100 page book then she writes these 700 page books! I will tell you, it is all worth it! I read all 7 books in 7 weeks!! They are that good!
Rowling is an amazing author. I was a little nervous that they would be too child-like, but they aren't! They are intricate, deep, and dark. They have a little bit of everything, romance, fights, conflicts, love.
Each book builds on the one before it, and every detail counts. In the last book she brings out details from the earlier books that you had forgotten or didn't realize until she points it out. I found myself going back and looking to see if it was true, and it is. She has a way of pulling you into this world, and you find yourself cheering for them, crying with them, wondering, hoping your favorites don't die, or get injured, or that they get together. While reading the last book, I was holding a pillow so tightly, and punching it, that at the end of the book, it was no longer in the shape of a square.
Rowling has one great imagination! I have no idea how she came up with this entire world. I can't wait for the last movie to come out in July. Definitely going to the midnight showing with Ben and Sarah - since she got me hooked, I'm making her go then :)
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Prayer
Today in Sunday school, we talked about James 5:17-18 and it really resonated with me.
It pulls from the Old Testament, from 1 Kings 17, the story of Elijah when he prayed for rain. There had been a drought in the land for three and a half years. Elijah prayed for rain, then sent a servant out to see if there was evidence of rain...there wasn't. Elijah prayed again, sent the servant, but no rain. Six times they did this, and on the seventh the servant saw a little cloud, "and the sky poured rain and the earth produced it's fruit."
So often with prayer we pray for things - specific things, and then get upset when we do not get the answer we desire. We get upset when God doesn't answer our prayer right away, exactly how we want it. We give up, we get frustrated, we loose our trust in "the system" if I can call it that. We don't realize that it isn't about praying for what we want, it's about praying for what God wants. We can't pigeon-hole God into answering prayers. He is much bigger than that. We think we know what is best, but we don't - God has the best plan for our lives, we need to trust Him and His plan.
Elijah had to send the servant 7 times before he got his answer. Sometimes we have to pray 7 times, sometimes its a year, sometimes its 10 years, whatever the wait, we need to pray for His will. "The length of the wait develops the depth of my faith and trust." (Amy Peterson) Sometimes God delays giving us what we want because it isn't what is best for us right now. That is so hard for me to understand, because the things that I want aren't bad things. How can they not be good for me?? The longer He waits to give me my answer, the more my trust and faith grows. The more deeper my relationship with Him is. That is what is best for me right now - not what I am desiring, but my relationship with Him. Becoming the woman I am supposed to become - which will influence and impact the rest of my life.
So the question is: "Can I let go and surrender what I want in prayer to receive what I get through prayer" (Amy Peterson)
It pulls from the Old Testament, from 1 Kings 17, the story of Elijah when he prayed for rain. There had been a drought in the land for three and a half years. Elijah prayed for rain, then sent a servant out to see if there was evidence of rain...there wasn't. Elijah prayed again, sent the servant, but no rain. Six times they did this, and on the seventh the servant saw a little cloud, "and the sky poured rain and the earth produced it's fruit."
So often with prayer we pray for things - specific things, and then get upset when we do not get the answer we desire. We get upset when God doesn't answer our prayer right away, exactly how we want it. We give up, we get frustrated, we loose our trust in "the system" if I can call it that. We don't realize that it isn't about praying for what we want, it's about praying for what God wants. We can't pigeon-hole God into answering prayers. He is much bigger than that. We think we know what is best, but we don't - God has the best plan for our lives, we need to trust Him and His plan.
Elijah had to send the servant 7 times before he got his answer. Sometimes we have to pray 7 times, sometimes its a year, sometimes its 10 years, whatever the wait, we need to pray for His will. "The length of the wait develops the depth of my faith and trust." (Amy Peterson) Sometimes God delays giving us what we want because it isn't what is best for us right now. That is so hard for me to understand, because the things that I want aren't bad things. How can they not be good for me?? The longer He waits to give me my answer, the more my trust and faith grows. The more deeper my relationship with Him is. That is what is best for me right now - not what I am desiring, but my relationship with Him. Becoming the woman I am supposed to become - which will influence and impact the rest of my life.
So the question is: "Can I let go and surrender what I want in prayer to receive what I get through prayer" (Amy Peterson)
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Cats
I have always been a cat person - not a dog person. I do not dislike dogs, just not a fan of them. So needless to say, I have 2 cats...didn't plan on either one of them, but since they came to me, I had to take them in :) They are as opposite as night and day, but they are so much fun!!
This is Lexi. She came to me in 2008. She actually showed up at work. My sister's department is some what the "catch all" department (no offense :) ) so they called her to figure out what to do with this cat. Sarah, being the animal lover that she is, took her home and she lived in their bathroom. Sarah didn't like that she was cooped up, so she asked my parents if they would keep her at her house while we searched for the owners. She had clearly been walking around for awhile because we thought she was de-clawed due to the fact they were all gone, and she was incredibly skinny. We put up fliers but never found her owners. My parents, not wanting a cat asked me if I would take her. So I did. I named her Lexi, because she was found in Lexington. She is approximately 3 years old
She is my subdued cat. She won't eat people food, she likes to be kept to herself, she doesn't like to be picked up...your typical cat. Her favorite thing to do is take bobby pins out of my hair when I am sleeping, or just paw at your hair in the middle of the night.
This is Meeko. She came to me from another person at work, and my sister was yet again involved! I had been wanting another cat for Lexi because I wasn't home that much and thought she would enjoy another cat. I got Meeko in 2009. A guy at work took in their neighbors cat when the family moved away, and the cat became pregnant. He was getting rid of the kittens, and sent an email to Sarah to see if she knew anyone interested. Sarah sent me the email, but none of the cats were long-haired, and that is what I wanted since Lexi has short hair. Well, he sent another picture and there was Meeko, a fur ball - only one of the litter. I named her Meeko because I wanted something different, and I was googling Disney character names (because of the Disney fan that I am) and there is a raccoon named Meeko in the movie Pocahontas. I watched the movie a few months after I got her, and it's amazing how much her and her namesake are alike!
Meeko is my crazy, wild cat. She gets into everything, she eats anything - you can't leave plates around. She can be a cuddle-bug, she sleeps on my bed. She is a talker, and loves to be petted - on her terms of course!
This is Lexi. She came to me in 2008. She actually showed up at work. My sister's department is some what the "catch all" department (no offense :) ) so they called her to figure out what to do with this cat. Sarah, being the animal lover that she is, took her home and she lived in their bathroom. Sarah didn't like that she was cooped up, so she asked my parents if they would keep her at her house while we searched for the owners. She had clearly been walking around for awhile because we thought she was de-clawed due to the fact they were all gone, and she was incredibly skinny. We put up fliers but never found her owners. My parents, not wanting a cat asked me if I would take her. So I did. I named her Lexi, because she was found in Lexington. She is approximately 3 years old
She is my subdued cat. She won't eat people food, she likes to be kept to herself, she doesn't like to be picked up...your typical cat. Her favorite thing to do is take bobby pins out of my hair when I am sleeping, or just paw at your hair in the middle of the night.
This is Meeko. She came to me from another person at work, and my sister was yet again involved! I had been wanting another cat for Lexi because I wasn't home that much and thought she would enjoy another cat. I got Meeko in 2009. A guy at work took in their neighbors cat when the family moved away, and the cat became pregnant. He was getting rid of the kittens, and sent an email to Sarah to see if she knew anyone interested. Sarah sent me the email, but none of the cats were long-haired, and that is what I wanted since Lexi has short hair. Well, he sent another picture and there was Meeko, a fur ball - only one of the litter. I named her Meeko because I wanted something different, and I was googling Disney character names (because of the Disney fan that I am) and there is a raccoon named Meeko in the movie Pocahontas. I watched the movie a few months after I got her, and it's amazing how much her and her namesake are alike!Meeko is my crazy, wild cat. She gets into everything, she eats anything - you can't leave plates around. She can be a cuddle-bug, she sleeps on my bed. She is a talker, and loves to be petted - on her terms of course!
Friday, June 3, 2011
Commitments
I am weird - I will fully admit it and am not ashamed of it. I am random, sometimes there isn't a rhyme or reason as to why I do the things that I do.
I usually have no problems with commitments. If I say I am going to do something, then I will. I don't like to back out of things - I hate calling a doctors office to cancel, or a friend to bail on dinner. It annoys me to do those things and I feel bad because I feel I have wasted their time. I am committed to my work - I have an above normal work ethic (not trying to gloat, just be honest), I love my job and want to do my best at it.
However, there are 2 things that I can't commit to - buying an iPad, and getting a tattoo. I have thought about both of these things for years. An iPad since it came out, and a tattoo since 2004. For some reason, I just can't bit the bullet.
I have loved the iPad since it was first revealed. My brother has one, my dad has one and I love them!! They are neat, handy, small - yet bigger than my iPhone, quick, convenient. My problem: I have a computer, and an iPhone....why do I need an iPad? Well the bottom line is that I don't NEED one, but I WANT one! I am having a hard time justifying spending $500 on something that I have 2 things capable of doing all that the iPad does. However - it is constantly in the back of my mind to get one. Now I have been known to let money burn a hole in my pocket, but that isn't the case here. I don't know why....
The second thing is a tattoo! I know, this might shock some of you, but I have wanted one since I was a junior in high school. I think they are cool (to an extent) and can be very tasteful. I know if I were to get one, it would be on my foot or my ankle. I now know what I would get. The problem: do I want to have this for the rest of my life, I don't want to get something that is odd, I want something that has meaning, but I don't want to over-spiritualize it and use that as justification to get one. I also wonder what people think - I know that you shouldn't worry about that, but, I do wonder what my family would think, what my friends would think. I have pondered this for 6 years, and just recently decided dead-set what I would get. Yet, I still have a hard time committing to it.
So these are the 2 things that I have been keeping in the back of my mind for years now, and can't seem to get rid of them. Part of me is very close to committing to both, but other parts of me are still hesitant and wonder if I will ever make a decision.
Only time will tell I guess...
I usually have no problems with commitments. If I say I am going to do something, then I will. I don't like to back out of things - I hate calling a doctors office to cancel, or a friend to bail on dinner. It annoys me to do those things and I feel bad because I feel I have wasted their time. I am committed to my work - I have an above normal work ethic (not trying to gloat, just be honest), I love my job and want to do my best at it.
However, there are 2 things that I can't commit to - buying an iPad, and getting a tattoo. I have thought about both of these things for years. An iPad since it came out, and a tattoo since 2004. For some reason, I just can't bit the bullet.
I have loved the iPad since it was first revealed. My brother has one, my dad has one and I love them!! They are neat, handy, small - yet bigger than my iPhone, quick, convenient. My problem: I have a computer, and an iPhone....why do I need an iPad? Well the bottom line is that I don't NEED one, but I WANT one! I am having a hard time justifying spending $500 on something that I have 2 things capable of doing all that the iPad does. However - it is constantly in the back of my mind to get one. Now I have been known to let money burn a hole in my pocket, but that isn't the case here. I don't know why....
The second thing is a tattoo! I know, this might shock some of you, but I have wanted one since I was a junior in high school. I think they are cool (to an extent) and can be very tasteful. I know if I were to get one, it would be on my foot or my ankle. I now know what I would get. The problem: do I want to have this for the rest of my life, I don't want to get something that is odd, I want something that has meaning, but I don't want to over-spiritualize it and use that as justification to get one. I also wonder what people think - I know that you shouldn't worry about that, but, I do wonder what my family would think, what my friends would think. I have pondered this for 6 years, and just recently decided dead-set what I would get. Yet, I still have a hard time committing to it.
So these are the 2 things that I have been keeping in the back of my mind for years now, and can't seem to get rid of them. Part of me is very close to committing to both, but other parts of me are still hesitant and wonder if I will ever make a decision.
Only time will tell I guess...
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