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!

And this is why I haven't been blogging...

All day long, I've had something in mind that I wanted to blog about. And as soon as I sat down to write that blog, I forgot what I was going to say. Sigh.

I drove down one of my favorite streets in Pekin. It's one of my favorites because of the huge trees that grow together over the road so that it almost feels like you're driving through a tunnel. It was a good point to working late, I guess. It made me smile at least. The road also has pretty houses to look at.

Well, definitely not what I was going to blog about, but there you have it.

What makes you cry?

So, I've been bombarded about the fact that I haven't blogged lately (okay, really only my mom and one other person, but still!) So, here I am.

I am a person who cries a lot. Sappy movies. Funny movies. If I see anyone else crying. Good books. Hallmark commercials.

Emily and I are watching the newest Hallmark movie. I have always loved the Hallmark movies. I have good memories of watching them with my mom and crying through the commercials (not both of us, just me). There is a commercial from years ago about a dad carrying a Hallmark card through a lot of snow for miles to a particular spot. Once at that spot he opens the card, which was from his daughter, and it was their first Christmas away from each other. I cried. But I can remember the first time mom and I weren't together to watch the newest Hallmark movie. It was sad. I might have even teared up.

Here is a list of some of my favorite Hallmark movies:
The Sarah Plain and Tall series
Follow the Stars Home
The Magic of Ordinary Days
Riding the Bus With My Sister

What a Box of Wheat Thins Will Get You

Many of you (do you like how I always talk as if TONS of people are reading my blog?!) have heard me tell different client stories. Well, I have a client that I see every Tuesday right after school. To put it mildly, she does not like being in counseling or spending time with me. The ride to my office is filled with insults and very hateful things. I usually ignore what she says, because as a therapist, I know there is something driving her to say those things. Once we get to the office she is fine with being there and we can have a pretty good session. Anyway, last week I had a really hard time putting aside what she was saying, so I decided on a new tactic. I told her that if she could go two weeks without saying any hurtful or hateful things to me, then I would take her to get ice cream. When I asked her if that was good enough incentive, she said no. I asked her what would be a good enough incentive. She thought for a few seconds and then said, "A WHOLE box of Wheat Thins." :) I laughed and told her that I think I could do that since Wheat Thins cost about as much as ice cream. She then asked if she could have the Wheat Thins AND the ice cream. I told her if she wanted to go four weeks without saying anything hurtful or hateful then she could have both. She opted for just the Wheat Thins :). I didn't really expect this to go anywhere, because I have been unsuccessful to get her to not use her words when she is upset, but I was surprised to see her this afternoon without any hurtful or hateful words! Apparently, Wheat Thins are a great incentive!

Tippy is an overachiever!