‘Tis the Season to Give

A couple weeks ago I came across this blog of a woman I don’t know at all. I’m not sure what I was searching for that led me there, but I saw a post & challenge that she was in the middle of doing(http://kingdomfirstmom.com/category/30-day-giving-challenge). It kind of intrigued me & so I read further into it & knew right away I wanted to be a part. Her challenge was 30 days of giving. Doing something every day to give to someone else. It could be the simplest thing as smiling at someone, taking a dessert or dinner to someone or donating money or items to a cause or anything else you can think of. I started my 30 days a couple weeks ago and it’s been so great. Each day I spend at least a little time thinking of what I can give. A couple days it’s been as simple as just clicking on a website that donates money to causes for clicks (http://www.clicktogive.com/). Other days I’ve done more. As I’ve been looking for ideas I’ve noticed so many opportunities from donating canned foods at any WalMart, rounding up purchases at Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma, to the more common of donating clothes, furniture, etc. I’m only half way through, but already I can notice the change in thinking more of others instead of just me and it’s great. It’s made me excited to give more and look for opportunities to serve. It’s also caused me to be more grateful for all I have been blessed with and how it doesn’t take great effort and doesn’t even have to take any money to give to others and that’s the least I can do to partly show my gratitude to a Heavenly Father who has given me so much.

I wish I was here....

No plans to go anytime soon, but it's been too long!

The Garmin 305

Anyone who knows me knows I am not a runner. I have distinct memories of yelling at the treadmill when having to run just 20 minutes a day from my trainer at the time. My least favorite thing. So you might be thinking from the above picture why on earth do I now own the running watch??? While I remember the hated runs each day I also remember that during this time when I was really good about running daily that if I had to miss my body missed those runs. As I've been trying to figure out the best way to get back into exercising I kept thinking about running (maybe more like jogging! :)). For some crazy reason I'm always impressed when I read people's stories of marathons or other runs they do. While I'm not quite sure this is an end goal I have - still don't get what your brain does while you run for 4 hours, I just think I'd be bored - it's intrigued me and running makes the most sense. I don't have to drive to a gym that really isn't by my home or work. I can just walk out my front door and put in my time. Since I prefer residential streets I needed some way to track how far I was going so I'd be able to see my progress and hopefully that'd help push me on those days when I feel like yelling. Here's where the super nice running watch comes in...built in GPS! Now I don't have to do any of that work, I can go put in my time & just look at my wrist and see how far I've gone. It'll even keep record on my computer to track my progress and many other things I don't even know now. Amazon.com has promised it'll be here by Thursday, so that's when the real fun will start, but until then I'll have to just rely on my brain! :) Wish me luck!

Pictures of the house!

It's not all done, but here's what it looks like so far...

Updates - finally!

It's been forever since I've updated & I have no pictures of my house to share. It's mostly put together, but there are no curtains & I think my mom would be happy for it to stay that way since my getting curtains requires her helping me sew which is something I think neither of us is looking forward too! Maybe one day I'll finally figure out the sewing thing & not totally hate it! A few other minor things need to get finished too, hopefully they'll be done in the next week or so. I'll try & take some pictures to share shortly, but until then here are my overdue posts: San Francisco, Orlando & getting my butt kicked by Sione!


San Francisco

I went a couple months ago & had a blast. Was only there for 24 hours literally, but it was so much fun. It's such a great city! The reason for the trip was the Yves Saint Laurent exhibit & it was definitely worth the trip. What an incredible vision he had & what he contributed to fashion is just great! I also just love the Golden Gate Bridge. It's so great!







Orlando/Epcot Center

I was in Orlando for work & so went with a co-worker a couple days early so we'd have time to play! Once the work starts we don't ever see the outside of the hotel. We went to Epcot & had a good time. I hadn't ever been & it was so much fun! I even found the white dishes for my house in 'China' at Epcot! I think I might have a problem when basically all I bought at Epcot is more dishes...





This is a horrible picture, so don't look too closely, but this is me with Sione from this past season's The Biggest Loser. I love this show & was a big Blue Team fan. My cousin somehow got connected with Sione & his trainer & they set up this mini bootcamp. It was for 2 days & started at 5am (who is up that early??? not me!) and it was crazy hard! After the 2nd day is when I got my picture, hence the not cute photo - no makeup, up at 5am & after working out for 1 hour - not a good combo! I can't believe how amazing he looked though, it's totally crazy! Unfortunately neither he or his cousin won.

My new house!

My offer was accepted & so a month from now this house will be mine (or at least I will owe a bank for it!) Kind of scary and all I can think of is the million things that need to be done. Hopefully the inspection & everything goes great. Here's a pic of the outside & it has a nice rose bush that is in full bloom that hopefully I won't kill very quickly!

Newspaper or romance novel????

This is definitely worth the couple minutes watching. I was dying laughing when I saw it on his show and then watching it again, it's still just as funny! If you just heard him reading it sounds like a cheesy romance novel, not the front page of the Washington Post!