Hate is such a strong word

So, I will use the word dislike instead. I really, really, really, really, really dislike season finales. One year I'm going to get smart and start recording them three weeks before I know they are going to end. Then, I'll just wait until the end of the summer to watch those three episodes right before the new season starts. That way, I won't have to face a summer long cliff hanger. It makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, I never follow my own advice. And then I'm stuck wondering what is going to happen all summer long. Grrrr. :)

What I love about my IPod

So, I'm always a little behind on the times. I'm used to that. I got an IPod for my birthday last year and have loved it ever since. Mom got me the car attachment for Christmas so that I am able to listen to the IPod in the car. I love it because it is like listening to your radio on shuffle with no commercials and only your favorite songs! It cracks me up sometimes that I can go from "How Deep the Father's Love" to "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy" to "Part of Your World" (from The Little Mermaid) to "Famous in a Small Town" to "Mighty to Save" to "Cheeseburger in Paradise" to "The Book of Love." You get my drift...country to Christian to musicals to soundtracks to old songs from CDs I forgot I had. Anyway...I LOVE it! I hardly ever listen to the radio anymore.

Day Three

Apparently I have more time to blog when I'm on vacation :)

Day Three of my vacation was a typical Sunday for me with a few bonuses.
I had a meeting at church. Then Sunday School. Then church. Then home for lunch and a chat with my mom. Then time with the Lord. Then a chat with my roommate. Then back to church for electives. Then on Facebook for a little roommate rivalry. Then roommates enjoyed a quiet evening watching Sherlock Holmes. Then Emily had to go to bed (she is not on vacation--sad for her).

I am currently tallying our Facebook poll (well, I was before I started typing this). Once this posts, I'm going to go enjoy my book until I decide I'm too tired to keep my eyes open.

Roommates

One of our friends took this for us at the wedding. We picked a bad location and time of day, so he had to use the flash, which meant that there is no background. Just imagine a pretty pond surrounded by green trees with a fountain in the middle of the pond, because that was what was behind us. :)

Day Two of my Vacation

Yesterday was Day Two. It was kind of a yucky day and put me into a bad mood where I just wanted to lay on the couch and watch movies all day or read a book. But, alas, I had a schedule to keep. In the morning I went to a purse party. I didn't buy a new purse, but I did order a really cute thermal tote (aka a lunch box). I went to this party with Amy and Daynah, so afterward we went to lunch. Then I went back to my apartment, avoiding the dreaded trip to Walmart.

But, alas, as I told my roommate, "I'm going to put on my big girl panties and go to Walmart." So I did. At 1:45. On a Saturday. Shoot me now. But, I made it out without too much hassle.

Then I laid around for the remainder of the afternoon until it was time to get ready for Kelli and Peter's wedding. My plan was to have pictures to share, but no such luck. I took my camera with me and successfully left it in my purse all night. Well, technically that's not true. Emily and I attempted to take some pictures of ourselves. We have lived together for a year and a half and have never taken a picture together. Shame on us! The wedding was beautiful and I am so happy for Kelli and Peter. Then it was on to the reception for much partying and dancing. Well, for me it was socializing and watching others dance and repeatedly telling people, "No, I am not going to dance, but thank you for asking." The moral of the story...good times were had by all.

Day One of my Vacation

Here are the things I accomplished today (some productive, some not so productive)
1. Stayed in bed until 9:15
2. Laid on the couch and read a book until I finished it somewhere between 11 and 12
3. Spent an hour with the Lord
4. Spent a lot of time on FB and returning/sifting through emails
5. Did the dishes
6. Put away my clean laundry from Tuesday
7. Finished paperwork (I know, but it couldn't wait until Wednesday or I wouldn't have remembered what I did with my clients)
8. Paid some bills and wrote a couple notes
9. Returned something to Target
10. Shopped at Target...including buying 2 bathing suits
11. Went to Dad and Amy's to try the bathing suits on for Amy (decided to keep 1 1/2--two tops, one bottom)
12. Arrived at Dad and Amy's just in time for dinner. Score!
13. Played a game of euchre with Dad, Amy, and Daynah
14. Played a game of Hand and Foot with Dad, Amy, and Josh
15. Began some beauty treatments...green mask and painted toenails (bought a new color at Target)
16. Going to start another book in a minute :)
17. And I blogged twice in one day!

A successful start to my mini vacation!

Liking the place where I am

Lots of random thoughts on my mind, so forgive me up front if I ramble and/or don't make much sense. You're getting some of my thoughts "live", meaning I am not filtering.

I was talking to a friend recently about something I was dealing with with one of my clients and her statement to me was, "You're going to make a good mom." I thanked her and didn't think much else of it, but about a week later, I had one of my "moments." The longing and desire of my heart is to be a wife and mother. I know how I get when these moments hit me. The normal pattern is a couple of days of melancholy and discontentment. I didn't want that, so I turned to the Lord. Last summer I did a study on the book of Esther by Beth Moore. One of the weeks, we discussed what ifs. Beth challenged us to take each what if statement and end it with "then God." So that's what I did. Here's what I came up with...

If I don't ever have children, then God will bless me through ministry and a ton of friends and family members who have kids I can love on and I can take part in their lives in ways I wouldn't be able to if I had my own children. I have seen God's faithfulness through this in the past, and I am fully confident that He will be faithful in the future.

After this thought, I went on with my day without another moment of discontentment. Praise the Lord!

Then yesterday and today I began to process it more fully. God is an amazing God who lavishes His love on me. He is a personal God who cares about the details of my life. He knows the number of hairs on my head (no small feat considering how much I lose daily!). He rejoices with me in my triumphs. He comforts me in my sadness. I think He laughs at me daily in my attempt to "do life." But most importantly for this discussion, He knows the desires of my heart. But here's the kicker, and why I am content today in the place He has me, even if I don't fully understand it:

If He knows the desires of my heart, but I think He hasn't fulfilled those desires, then I can believe one of two things.
1. I can believe that God has failed at His work in my life or
2. I can believe that what God has planned for my future is inexpressibly more than I could ever hope or imagine.

I choose, with full assurance, to believe that God has a great plan for my life. It may or may not ever include a husband and children. And I am okay with that. Because I know that God will uphold me. He will bless me in ways I could never comprehend. He will align my desires with His desires. He will use me. Marriage and a family won't complete me any more than the "perfect" job. Only God can complete me.

And that is why I am liking the place where God has me today.

Stirrer and Dumper

Last night I helped Kari make chex mix for Kelli and Peter's wedding for about 3 hours. There were 4 of us for most of the evening. We had a rough start trying to decide what a good system would be. First, we all tried making our own batches, which requires several steps. We quickly learned that this was not going to be the most efficient way to do things. Being the smart girls that we are, we decided to do an assembly line. Kinsey made the dry mix. Kari made the wet mix. Emily and I combined the dry and wet mixes and were in charge of cooking the mixes in the microwave. This involved having two microwaves each and microwaving the chex mix for two minutes at a time for six minutes, stirring in between. We each became very adept at our individual tasks. Well, except me, I couldn't seem to stir without getting some on the counter or floor. Kinsey's job was the quickest, so she also became the sweeper and general cleaner-upper. Once the chex mix was done cooking it went on paper towels to cool (thus the dumping part of the title). Oh, and then once it was cooled, it got dumped into a huge rubbermaid container for the next job of filling individual containers with the mix (a job for other people on a different day). When I got home from church, I reeked of chex mix. And I mean reeked. At least it wasn't as gross of a smell as stale cigarette smoke or 8 cats in a one bedroom apartment (that's what I normally smell like on Thursday after work).

And let the five day weekend officially begin... Well, sort of. I technically need to do this evenings paperwork sometime tomorrow, but lets not get technical! :)

Planning to Relax

Okay, so I am a planner by nature. I can be spontaneous, but most of the time I have to plan to be spontaneous. Several weeks ago, I reached a melting point. I can always tell when I need a break from work, but once that comes, I normally can't just take time off. So, the debate became, do I take a week of vacation in May and just lay around the apartment, or do I take a week in June and go somewhere? I went back and forth for a couple of weeks, discussing the finer points of the decision with many, many people (most of which probably didn't really care what I did as long as I stopped talking about it). But eventually I had a BRILLIANT idea handed to me...why not do both? I have the vacation time. BUT, I'm also taking a week off in August to go to Florida, so I couldn't really foresee myself taking a week in May, a week in June, and a week in August. So, I considered for another week what I would do. My final decision (if anyone is still reading to find out)....
This Friday starts a five day weekend for me. HOORAY! Relaxing at home.
Yesterday I booked a ticket to Texas in June for a week. HOORAY!
August I will go to Florida. HIP HIP HOORAY!

Let my vacation season begin...

A Few Pictures

Here are a few pictures to make this post a little more interesting! :) Hopefully. A couple of weeks ago I went to a wedding shower for a friend. We started at Fired Up where I painted a new candy dish. This is the result. It turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. I wanted it to look like a flower.

And this...is a turtle! :) From Australia! Thanks Kelli and Peter for getting married :). A couple of years ago I saw this turtle in Peter's apartment and commented on how much I liked it. He told me he got it when he went to Australia. I told him that it was too bad I didn't think to ask him to bring me one back. Then, this Sunday Peter told me he had a surprise for me...the Australian turtle. It was one of the things that he just couldn't move to their condo. So, I get it! Yay for me!

Tonight I'm watching Iron Man in preparation for Iron Man II coming out on Friday.

Okay, that's all for now. I promise, eventually I will have something that is slightly interesting to share with you guys!