Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Um, yes

Um, yes... 4 pieces of pizza is a good idea before you get in a swimsuit

Um, yes... all friends should be introduced to the phrase "that'll make your tongue slap your brains out" when referring to delicious food

Um, yes... I love when people dig out high school photos and tag me on facebook, because I was one hot mama with my greasy ponytails and no makeup!

Um, yes...  it's been a LONG day

Um, yes... when my toes are in the sand, it will all be worth it.

Um, yes... I know this was kind of a sad little blog post.

Monday, June 25, 2012

God is Intentional

God is intentional.  Those words keep playing in my head.  Yesterday I went to my sister's church since I spent the weekend in Nashville.  Their regular preacher wasn't there, instead it was a retired Army guy.  That was one of the first things he said.  He went on to talk about the parable of the talents, and my mind was running the whole time, it had about a thousand different meanings to me.  God is intentional.  I have the gifts I have for a reason.  I don't have certain gifts for a reason.  He gave me the tools I needed to serve Him in the way He wanted it to happen. 

I've really been struggling lately with purpose in my life.  I'm feeling like a failure in my service to God.  I know we are supposed to use our every day lives to serve, and I just feel like I'm not doing that.  It's distressing, and I feel unfulfilled, and somewhat useless. 

Last week I was reading a blog, and I came across this... " I'm a woman who isn’t the greatest cook. But a woman who wants to learn to be more thankful for what I am than guilty for what I’m not." 
That spoke to me big time!  I tear myself down constantly, I feel nothing but unworthy, not good enough, I feel guilt about the things I can't do right, I don't have time for, I don't have talent for. 

But all of these feelings are wrong.  God intentionally made me as I am, and I need to be thankful for the gifts I do have and to celebrate when he gives me the opportunity to use them. I need to work to make these skills stronger and sharper so they are always ready to glorify God to the fullest. 

Am I making any sense? 

Basically, I'm still struggling with what I'm supposed to be doing, struggling with remembering what my gifts are, but I feel like God put each of these messages in my path to see things just a little more clearly and to let me know He's still there.


Friday, June 22, 2012

Friday Fun

It's Friday, It's Friday, lalalalalalalala!!

Happy Friday People!!

Last night Emily and I met to workout.  It's been a while since I've done much of anything besides running.  We started with a 4 minute circuit, then switched to Tabata circuits, one with cardio emphasis, one with strength emphasis, and the final one with a plyo emphasis.  It was fun to switch things up.  I used my new kettle bell, and it was great to be swinging that thing again!  I'll be honest, it was really tough, but I thought I hung in there.  Emily seemed to be struggling just a touch more.  I know why now, she's been doing this stuff and she was already sore!!  I can't imagine doing that circuit again today.  My back, arms, and abs are screaming.  I know that's what happens when you get back into something, but ouch!!

I'm thinking I may hit the track after work tonight a put in a few miles.  I think I'm going to need it, I foresee a long Friday at work.  I've taken a break from running the past couple of days, and I think my hip is thanking me, but I'm ready to run a little!

I may also take some swings on the driving range.  I was starting to see some small progress in my golf game, so I need to stick with it!  Speaking of, last Friday night we did a night golf tournament for a good friend's 30th birthday.  It was fun, but it was dark!!  That is a weird feeling, but it so cool to see the little lit up balls flying thru the air!

Tomorrow is Melissa's party.  I'm excited!  We start the day out with some pampering and wind up with some nice relaxed hanging out, my kind of day!  I'm also getting to check out my sister's new house this weekend.  They moved in Tuesday and I can't wait to see it.  I heard she's had great help all week, so I think I may have successfully skipped all the work part and now I just get to see the lovely finished product!!

Have you noticed lots of exclamations in this post?!?!?!?!?!?!  Can you tell I'm excited about the weekend?!?!?!?!?!

I hope you have a great one, too!

Source: etsy.com via Anna on Pinterest

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Blog Makeover!!

I got a blog makeover!!  Don't you love having talented friends who are willing to put up with your demands about unacceptable pictures!  I'm so excited.  Thank you Emily!!!  Next Mexican night is on me!!

Emily says the header makes me look a bit like a sexist.  Let me just say, if you can't tell from the blog, I never take pictures!  And the ones I do take tend to be terrible.  I'm the least photogenic person in the world!  But I do have guy friends, a dad, and other males in my life, I also have more than four friends, I just apparently don't take pictures with them :-)

But thanks Emily, I feel so blog pretty right now!!

It's Ok



Its Ok Thursdays

It's Ok...


...that I'm broken out like a 13 year old
...that I've let dry shampoo take the place of real shampoo a little too often lately
...that I've wanted to eat EVERYTHING in sight this week
...I just discovered Etsy... and that could be dangerous
...I finally bought a kettlebell for myself, and I'm very excited, but I also have an irrational fear of accidentally throwing it across the room
...that I wish the term "grody to the max" would come back
...that this makes me laugh
Pinned Image
...that cousin sent me an email today that was so up my demented line of humor I was laughing hysterically in my office by myself.
...that a girl at work wanted to set me up with a best friends ex-boyfriend.  She had been talking about him for a while and when she finally said his name today, I just died laughing.  What a small world.
...that I have all the new "Dallas" taped but I still haven't watched any.  I think I'm afraid they won't live up to my expectations.
...that I've become an old woman and I'm ready for bed at 10:00.  I don't know when this happened.
...that there are several countdowns going on in my life, most immediately, beach vacation, then the Olympics, then the start of football.  Much to look forward to!

Happy Thursday!

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Moon Pies... 10 Miles... I Survived... Barely

So last Saturday was the big 10 mile run. 

I pretty much prepared in the most horrible way ever.  Wednesday I ran too fast, faster than I can go and Thursday and Friday my legs were mad about it.  Friday night I helped put together a friend's 30th birthday party.  We played night golf.  I got in bed at 1 am after eating crap.  Not smart decisions!

Foot tag thingy - kind of cool we got to keep them
Saturday morning I was up at 5, getting ready to go do this thing.  My friend picked me up at 5:30 and off we went.  We got there, got our stuff and headed to the start line.  My friend, Melissa, had signed up, but with wedding planning and such going on, she decided she would just do a few miles, then turn back.  I'm so glad she did!  She did the first 3 miles with me, and honestly the went by so fast.  I'm so used to running with a partner, and  I really enjoyed getting to run with her.  At mile 3 she turned back.  3-4 wasn't bad, lots of downhill, probably my fastest mile of the race.  However, I was still toward the back of the pack (but not the end!!), and the ambulance was right behind me, for a long time.  At first, it was a little reassuring, then it got just a touch annoying, then it was humorous, a couple of us were asking each other if the paramedics knew something we didn't know.  Finally I pulled out in front of the ambulance enough I didn't have to hear the roar of the engine. 

Once I started running by myself, I began praying.  I had thought about it earlier in the week, and decided that was how I was going to keep my mind occupied and not thinking I was going to die.  So, mile 3 was spent thanking God for my Mama, who is always a super encourager, and has been so supportive of my running, my sister, Clair, who will listen to my aches and pains on the phone and who is always honest with me, and my sister, Susan, who awed me two summers ago with her willingness to get out of bed early all summer and go meet folks for cross country practice.  I was just so impressed with her committment to stick with it, even on the days she hated it. 

Then came mile 4 and the hill, holy smokes, that hill.  It was long.  I knew it was going to be tough, so this mile I thanked God for my daddy who pushes all the time.  He pushes himself and his daughters.  Recently I saw him, and he asked if I had run, I said no, he said, well there's plenty of daylight left.  So, what did I do, ran that night in the dark.  So, mile 4 I had him in my head telling me not to stop and to get up that hill, to expect nothing less than the best from myself.  I finally made it, and there at the top, were these little angel children saying cold water, and they handed me a little dixie cup full and it was amazing! 

At this point, I'm still doing ok, and I'm almost half way.  At mile 5, I thanked God for my friend Thomas.  When I first started running last summer, he received lots of texts... "I made it 4 miles", "I made it 5 miles", "I think I'm going to die from shin splints".  He was always encouraging, taught me about the wonders of ice, and he'll listen to about anything I say (whining, excited, discouraged, happy).  I prayed for our friendship, his future, and our neverending world of football.

I wish I could turn my pictures the right way.

Mile 6, about 6.5, the bursitis flared up, my hip was hurting, and it was getting hot!  These last miles I thought about my running friends, first Kathleen, she's the one who initially made me realize people ran for sport.  Honestly, I didn't really grow up knowing people who ran, some walked, but very few ran.  Most of my friends and I only ran when a coach was blowing a whistle.  But Kathleen would leave our study groups in college to "go run"  When I would ask later how far, it would be rediculous answers like "8 miles"  Who does that??  Now I do :-)  So I thanked God for Kathleen and prayed for her to stay injury free and for her new marriage of almost a year, and for blessings in her life.

Mile 7  I realized Melissa should be getting back to the start.  Melissa just started running a few years ago.  First she and her mom walked a half marathon, and then Melissa decided she was going to start running and she did.  I'm one of those people who wants to think about things, mainly as an excuse for not doing them, and I took that approach with running.  I thought about it, how do you become a runner, blah blah blah.  But then Melissa started doing it, and started running longer and longer distances.  I was so proud of her.  She went from a non-runner to a runner.  If she could do it, I could do it too.  So I thanked God for Melissa, for putting her in my life in grad school.  I prayed for her upcoming marriage and all the stresses that go along with wedding planning.

Mile 8 Um, I'm tired.  The Bell Buckle policeman says there is shade and water ahead, please bring it on.  I'm back and forth with these 3 girls in front of me.  I think about how I started running, just over a year ago.  And I think about Emily.  Without Emily, I'd still be sleeping late every morning, I would laugh at the thought of 10 miles, and I'd be a couch potato.  Emily and started working out together a couple years ago.  I knew she ran too, but I had no interest in running.  I did a little on the treadmill when our workout called for it, but that's about it.  She told me a running group was starting in town and that I should join.  I kind of him hawed, she stayed on me.  Finally, I joined.  It was kind of expensive, but I think that turned out to be a good thing, because after paying that money, I definitely wanted to get something out of the investment.  So, every Monday, I left work early and hauled myself back to town.  The first week was one mile.  When I got back I couldn't breathe, it was tough.  Emily encouraged me, helped me with my training runs, and let me join she and her regular running buddy for their runs.  Somehow in all this, I fell in love with running.  It was a challenge and it felt like such an accomplishment when it was over.  So I thanked God for Emily.  I prayed for success in her workout and eating goals.  I prayed for blessings in her life.

Mile 9  A little truck drove by.  It was about 40 feet in front of me when I thought to myself, you idiot, if you had jumped in the back, he would have taken you to the end :-)  But on I drudged.  At this point, I thought about Erin, my running buddy.  She's amazing.  She's run a marathon in every state, plus some.  She has running goals and sticks to them.  I need accountability in a bad way.  I need someone meeting me to run.  I don't love running by myself.  So she comes to my house most mornings and off we go, sometimes by ourselves, sometimes with a crew of 6-7.  Then we eat most days at a hole in the wall place.  It. Is. Awesome!!!  Erin pushes me, keeps me moving, and has taught me a ton about running.  I thanked God for bringing her into my life.  I prayed for her to meet her goals, to stay strong, and for blessings in her  life.

Mile 10 Almost the end, and a hill, seriously, a hill on the last mile, what kind of cruel people laid out this course???  But this is it!!!  I keep running, back and forth with some people, starting into town, starting to see people, and I see Erin.  She has finished and is coming back to run me to the end.  And she does, and we get to pass Jane and Jason who are cheering me on, and then I can hear Kathleen, Mickey and Melissa cheering, and then Brandi and Chris (yeah, pretty much everyone had finished and had their breakfast by the time I got done).  It was so great to see and hear everyone. The announcer guy called out my name and I crossed the line, woo-hoo!!

Erin and I almost to the end - PS Brandi I completely stole this picture off facebook, since I'm a picture failure!
I spare you the details of how I almost passed out at the end, and black spots were everywhere and all that.  Let's just say I still have some to learn about fueling before and during a race and not partying late the night before.  But overall, glad I did it, and thankful I finished.  I still want to do a half and plans are in the works for a combo girls trip/half this fall.  I'm looking forward to it already!

When I got home and saw my phone I had several texts wishing me will and saying prayers for me that morning.  I'm so thankful for those folks and those prayers, they were much needed!

Thursday, June 14, 2012

It's Ok

It's Ok Thursday!!

Its Ok Thursdays
It's Ok...

...that my longest race ever is Saturday and my hip bursitis decided to flair up on Wednesday and my foot decided to start hurting today.

...that last time I did It's Ok I forgot to link it up

...that I'm thinking about having a golf club fitting for new clubs even though I have no time to play

...that 6 months after getting my iPhone, my love for Words with Friends hasn't waivered

...that I made a new healthy recipe last night for dinner, and it was not good, so I substitued ice cream

...that I taped the new "Dallas" last night and I can't wait to watch it!!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Running Verse

I mentioned before my running partner is working on learning Psalm 119.  That thing is LONG!!!  But this morning, she was telling me about a verse in the sections she's currently working on memorizing.  It is Psalm 119:32  "I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart."

First, of course the running part struck a chord with me.  "I will run the way of thy commandments".  It means to me, I will run on a path pleasing to the Lord, I will do what God has asked of me.

Second, when she said the part about "enlarge my heart", my mind immediately went to the horse, Secretariat.  My dad is a horse lover to the core, so I've know probably from age 5 or so that when an autopsy was performed on Secretariat, his heart was 3x larger than a normal horse's heart.  He had an enlarged heart, and it's what gave him the power to win.  It's what gave him the strength to run... FAST!!

So my hope is for God to enlarge my heart with knowledge and understanding so that I can run fast down the path He has laid out for me.

T-minus 3 days to the 10 mile race!!  Kind of makes my stomach hurt a little!!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Entrepreneurial Spirit

I come from a family of the self-employed.  My dad, my mom, my grandfather (kind of, he was an insurance man, so his success was based on what he sold), my other grandfather, my grandmother (yeah, she was a business woman before being a business woman was cool), and my great grandfather started a bank with his 8th grade education.  So yes, a very long line of them.

I think that's one reason I've always had a job, always been interested in money.  I could count money from the time I was very little.  My mom gave me coins to count to keep me occupied.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not a "lover of money", but I've always been interested in it and how to earn it.

So in my mind, I'm always thinking, looking, identifying opportunities.  My dream life is having about 10 part time jobs.  Here are my latest ideas/ventures.

#1 - I've joined a company called ACN.  It's a direct seller of telecommunications.  I was really intrigued by the business model.  You earn essentially a commission on everyone you sign up for different communication products, cell phone service, satellite TV, internet, etc and energy in some states.  And, my favorite part, you continue earning that commission the entire time that person is a paying customer.  Pretty cool, huh?  If you want to check out what kids of deals are going on, check out my website, it might could save you some money .  It's all the names you've heard of Dish Network, Direct TV, Verizon, Sprint, etc, just maybe a deal that's not available somewhere else.  Or if you are interested in learning more about the business, let me know, I'll be glad tell you more about it.

#2 - Yesterday, Danielle, had a post about her spray tan machine.  If you have read my blog for any amount of time, you know I'm obsessed with the spray tan, but it's really expensive!  I'm strongly considering purchasing one so that I can get one any time I want!  Then I could spray friends and family and earn enough to make my spray tans free.  I'm still thinking.





#3 - Our kettlebell instructor left town, so sad.  I hope she's incredibly happy in her new endeavors, but I'm missing the kettlebell class.  Right about the time it ended, I was starting to see results.  Before she left, I asked her about how she got certified.  She told me.  It's something I could do, I'm just not sure if I could make my money back or where I would have the class, and the actual kettlebells themselves are pretty expensive.



Anyway, those are the things on my mind this week... phones, tans, and kettlebells.

What is your dream job?  Do you think up random ways to earn money?  Do you earn money in a random way?

Friday, June 8, 2012

What's on my mind Friday...

1.  My last blog post - Organization hasn't really happened at my house yet, but I can see some of the wood on my desk at work.  I'm counting that as progress

2.  Bell Buckle 10 Miler next weekend - All I have run before race wise are 5k's, so we'll be going from 3 miles to 10 miles in one big leap!  I'm really not even sure what kind of goal time to make.  Yesterday I did 7.5 miles in the morning, and then I finished up with another 2.5 last night at the track.  They felt good, really good.  I've gotten used to running in the morning, because that's the only time that seems to work, but I really enjoy running at night.

3.  My golf game - it's terrible.  Last week was our work Scramble.  I'm pretty sure we didn't use my ball one time.  Next weekend I'm playing again so I went back to the driving range last night.  Side note - have I told you about this driving range??  A friend had told me about it.  It's open 24/7.  The first time I went, it was late, and I was the only one there.... except these creepy eyes I could feel watching me from the garage.  I finally texted my friend who said this was the upkeep guy who lives there.  Sure enough, about 15 minutes later out comes a shirtless 50-or so year old man who starts cleaning up with a water hose.  I was just praying all that came off was the shirt...  So, back to how terrible I am.  I went back last night and felt no improvement.  I was whining to golf friend about how horrible I was.  He says I've probably hit 50,000 golf balls in the past 5 years, and I'm still no expert.  Me, "So you are telling me to shut up about still be bad after I've been to the driving range a whole 3 times".  He just looked at me.  I think that was a yes.

This is one of my new happy places, the 24/7 driving range.  It really is quite peaceful out there.

4.  Melissa's Shower - Super excited about Melissa's shower this weekend!  We had a little snafu with location, but it has all worked out,  and hopefully just makes things more memorable.  Now I just need to get my chef hat on to make some really good food.

5.  My Nephews!! - Melissa's shower is in Nashville which gives me the perfect excuse to head up early and visit with my sister and nephews... and have my sister help me cook!  I can't wait to see Will and Fletcher!!

6.  Annie - I'm heading to see Annie tonight.  The community theatre is putting it on.  I've heard they have done a really great job.  Can't wait to see all those kids in action.

7.  Spray Tans - Yup, I got one yesterday, and yup, they still make me happy.  I did have a really hard time this time getting the old one off.  And this one probably looks a touch funky because I never did completely rid myself of the last one.  I asked the girl how to get it off and she said to buy some cheap shampoo and put sugar in it... interesting, I guess I'll have to try that. 

I think that's it for today.  Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Monday, June 4, 2012

Happy June!




Can you believe it's June???  I can't.  I'm going to be honest, June is making it hard for me to be at work.  It seems like there are lots of people on vacation, at the lake, hanging out by the pool.  The little green monster is starting to creep up on me!!  But, I'm trying to beat him down and get some work done.

I have a few goals for this month.  Yesterday, I turned over my job as secretary/treasurer of the cemetery association to someone else.  Woo-hoo :-)  For the first time since I graduated from college 8 years ago, I have no extra job, no non-profit books to keep, no nothing.  It's so weird, and so freeing.  I almost want to pick up and move to some new place, but I don't think I will.

I want to take this refreshed feeling and put it to good use.  I want to work on having a cleaner house.  It's just not a natural thing for me, I just really don't care, but when it is straight and clean, I do think I enjoy it more.  It's nice to not be stepping over piles of clothes.  So that's the first order of business.  Next, I want to file my papers and get my office organized.  I have a nice big file cabinet I bought at an auction, time to use it!  Then, I want to get my car clean.  It is a wreck, like embarassing when someone walks by, takes a few minutes to clear out a spot for someone else to sit kind of wreck.  I just want to get organized, and that is just not my strong suit!  Those are the un-fun goals.

Next, the more fun goals.  I want to watch less TV.  Somehow this year, for the first time in a while, I had a show most every night that I watched or DVR'd. While that's just 1 hour of TV, there are several nights that I don't get home until late and I go straight to bed, so that meant the nights I did make it home, I would spend 2 or 3 hours catching up on shows.  That's too much TV, not enough productivity, so instead of all that, I want to work on my golf swing.  I've been to the driving range a couple of times lately, and I've really enjoyed it, it's oddly relaxing.  I want to work on my speed.  I enjoy running, but I'm slow!  And sometimes I don't feel like I'm challenging myself like I should.  I've challenged my distance, but not the speed, so I want to do a little speed work.  I've found a track, and I actually enjoy running on it.  I'm also trying to use this time to get a little more used to running by myself.  Most all my runs are in a group with at least one other person, a lot of times more.  I LOVE that.  I LOVe my running friends.  The problem is, I don't love races, and I think that's the main reason.  I get bored running by myself, time seems to inch by as do the miles, so this is a good opportunity to train myself on how to do some solo running.

I also want to challenge myself spiritually.  I feel like I've been a flunky on that lately.  My running partner is working on memorizing Psalm 119.  A friend's mom is working on memorizing James.  Our share group leader last night was challenging us to share and give generously in all things.  I thought he asked an interesting question, "Have you shared a Bible verse with anyone lately?"  How comforting can our favorite verses be, yet we don't share them freely and often.  All this to say, other than getting back to better Bible study, I'm not sure yet exactly what I want to do here, but I know I want to do something. 

So that's the plan for June... PRODUCTIVITY!!  And the beach, oh the beach, bring on the beach :-)

Any fun June plans for you?