Tuesday Randoms

1.  Saw on SkinnyRunner's blog today where she said you can't out run or out exercise a bad diet.  Hmmm, maybe that's my problem.

2.  I heard on the radio that leafy greens are the biggest culprit for food poisoning.  I ought to be safe on that one..

3.  Strawberries seem to be coming back, yay!!!

4.  I signed up for the Country Music Half Marathon in April, woo-hoo!!  Excited and scared!

5.  Work is kicking my rump this week.  I work, go home, and work some more.  Not the most fun, but I'm seeing the light... I think

6.  A friend at work brought in the most delicious turtle brownies today.  Wow!

7.  See #2 and #6, I'm pretty sure February's mini goals are going to have to do with getting my eating under control!

8.  It was crazy warm this morning.  I ran in shorts!  And in good Tennessee fashion, it appears I will be in fleece lined tights in the morning.

9.  I'm concerned about my bug guy.  He never misses an appointment and he didn't show up to spray this morning.

10.  My sister, my cousin, and I had makeover night last night.  Very fun!  Cousin is a makeup pro, and I think sister's notes and drawings are going to leave her with a fun new look!

11.  I bought this curling wand, and first try was a fro disaster, but I'm liking the results today!

Happy Tuesday!  Smile and make someone else smile today!

Babysitting at it's Best

I need to take a moment to flash back to last month when my cousin agreed to go to with me to my sister's house and babysit when her sitter cancelled on her, because I was terrified to do it on my own thought it would be more fun with two of us.

Emily is definitely the baby person...

 

I'm a fan of those who can walk and play...

 

I wanted him to smile, so I said to show teeth, this is the result...

 

Fletcher was sad...

 

And made us all sad...

 

Time for a photo session...

 

Where I played with the flash and made Will look scary...

 

And the final collage of the night...



2013 Theme

I've seen several bloggers who focus on a theme for the year.  Neat idea.  I've been thinking about what mine would be.  I have it.  It's TRUST.  Trusting God in everything; not trying to manipulate things to go the way I want them to go.  I can already see it making a difference.  My heart is lighter, my burdens not as heavy.  He's got this.  That doesn't mean His plan will always necessarily be what I think it should be at the moment; it doesn't mean things will be easy for me; it doesn't mean I won't make mistakes.  But it means I don't have all this weight on me of analyzing all these aspects of my life and trying to figure them out.  I'm not in control, at least I don't want to be anymore.  I want God in control, but the only way I can really let that happen is to really trust, even WHEN THINGS DON'T GO MY WAY The underline and capitalize is for me, to remind me, trusting means I'm not allowed to make all the decisions; I can't say I'm trusting then when things take a turn, try to shift everything back to my plan.

I think I've repeated myself about 10 times now, but I have to, because God has been trying to tell me this for years now, and I've ignored it.  Seriously, lately it seems like every devotional I read is about trust.  I get, God, I'm finally getting it.  So, if you see me, if you talk to me, on the days I'm feeling confused and frustrated, remind me, TRUST.

Proverbs 3:5-6  Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.

This morning I was telling a friend about my theme of trust, and she sent me this verse...

Psalms 112:4,7  Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man...  He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.

So here's to a year of trust and watching God's plan unfold in my life :-)

21 graces

  I'm linking up with Jordy today for 21 graces.  She decided to begin recording 3 graces (what I might call gifts) every day and then listing them each week.  I think it's such an awesome way to keep my mind in thankful mode.

 

1.  Extended breakfast chat with a friend.

 

2.  4.5 mile run with no pain.

 

3.  A night to relax and catch up.

 

4.  A sermon that spoke to me.

 

5.  Football with friends.

 

6.  God providing me devotionals with the same theme to make me listen.

 

7.  Fun co-workers.

 

8.  The ability to work all night.

 

9.  Friends you can ask to pray for you on hard days.

 

10.  A walk with a friend.

 

11.  Rejoicing with others in their accomplishments.

 

12.  A mom who never fails to make me laugh.

 

13. Pictures of my nephews.

 

14.  Running

 

15.  Pro/con lists with a friend.

 

16. Blog posts that challenge and inspire me.

 

17. Catching up with friends from the past.

 

18. Sharing in the joy of engagements with friends.

 

19. Sprouting buttercups.

 

20.  Lots of coffee at my favorite breakfast place.

 

21.  A clean bedroom.

 

 

Flashback: My 30th Birthday

I can load pictures again!!!!!!!!!!  I don't know how, I don't know why, but woo-hoo!!!


I have fantastic family and friends.  For my 30th birthday, my sister, Clair, and my friend, Brianne, organized a scavenger hunt for my birthday.  I came back across the pictures tonight.  They crack me up!

I can't remember what all was on the list, but the teams were to take pictures as they executed the tasks.  I only have two teams pics on my computer, so I'll share some of those.

 

Hostess Brianne snagged some mild sauce for points

Hostess Clair, um, can't remember why a plastic whale would score her points

 

The rest of Bri and Clair's team.  They thought this counted as taking a shower. hmmm

 

And my team, hanging out with the canon on the square.  Cute, aren't they??

 

Erin with the sombrero

 

John took on the sombrero for our team

 

 Even got the WalMart folks in the game to spell out my name

 

 Pre cartwheel

Cute girls on the slide

And the one that almost makes me wet my pants every time I see it... the boys spelling out my name...

 It was such a fun way to celebrate turning 30.  Some of these friends have been with me always, some are newer, but they all have in common they are some of my favorite people in the whole wide world!!

 

I would definitely encourage a scavenger hunt sometime.  We all had a blast.  Just find a creative person to come up with tasks, grab a camera to document completing the tasks and off you go.

 

Thanks so much to the organizers and the partiers!

Random Wednesday

1.  I still can't post pictures.  My lack of blog skills is reaching a point of utter frustration.  I've tried different  computers, downloaded Mozilla, looked at settings.  I do not know what I've done, ugh!!!

2.  The 4 pounds I wanted to lose has turned to 6.  I think the February goals may have to work on food, or maybe a little lack thereof.

3.  I think I signed up to host a Super Bowl party for friends of friends, and the first tier friends won't be attending.  Does that make sense?  I don't think I explained that well, but they are fun folks who love their football, and I love to host, and I have two couches (much to my running pal's chagrin)

4.  I think my red jeans have shipped!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5.  Going back to Pure Barre tonight.  I'm sorry, arms, I'm sorry.

6.  How fun is it to see others around you succeed??  Love that!

7.  I watch Sports Center... for fun... until baseball season starts.

8.  I've jumped on the Ray-Lewis-is-retiring-Go-Ravens bandwagon.  My football boys have shunned me.  I don't care.  Go Rayvens (did you see that play on words there?  sometimes my cleverness amazes me)

9.  I hate every.single.time I lose in any of these phone games, Words with Friends, Scramble, SongPop, Matching... good thing I'm pretty darn good :-)

10.  My friends at work gave me a Lulu Lemon gift certificate for my birthday.  How cool!!!  I'm hoping to make it to Nashville in time to do some shopping with it this weekend.  I hear capris and running tights calling my name!

Happy Wednesday!! 

Colossians 3:23 - Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men

January, How Have I Done??

So, how have I done on the January resolutions??

Let me start with this.  January 2013 has been loads and loads better than January 2012.  January 2012 was rough, in every way imaginable.  This year, I came up with some ways to survive January.  Let's see how I've followed through...

1.  I will eat dinner with a friend at least once a week... Success!  Friends at work, friends at church, running friends, high school friends, family friends, favorite guy friends, family, I've seen them all.  Sometimes it's a quick dinner and back to work, but it's still a break from the office.  It's still staying connected, oh my, how I've realized that when all you want to do is go home plop on the couch and eat Totino's pizza, the thing that gives me the biggest boost is to talk to a friend.

2.  I'm in physical therapy 3 mornings a week for this knee issue. The other 2 mornings I will walk, hopefully soon I will run. I will do the hip exercises he gave me at least 5 days a week... I'm back to running (she says as she lifts her hands in praise to the Lord)  I'm so very thankful.  Saturday I did 4.5 glorious miles.  It was wonderful.  I've been doing my hip exercises and I'm seeing a big difference.  Must make those hips strong and able to handle big miles.  I've also had to learn it's ok not to run every day, these long work days just aren't conducive to every day running.  So rest days are good, breaks are good.  Bodies and legs and brains need rest.

3.   I will spend at least 10 minutes a day on household chores, including hanging up clothes, dishes, laundry so that things don't pile up... Ok, so not 100% on this one.  I started strong, but today, dishes are overtaking my counters and I'm running out of socks because I haven't done laundry in a week.  But, an awesome friend helped me put my room in order and it's clean  Yay!!!  And I've kept it in order.  Currently there are no clothes laying on the bed or in the floor, all is clear.  So, while there have been some major accomplishments in this area, I still want to get back on the 10 minute train to keep everything under control.

4.  I will ride a horse at least once during the month... I'm running out of time on this one.

5.  I will tackle some task that's hanging over my head at least once per week...  Pretty disappointed in myself on this one, lots of junk still hanging over my head, but room cleaning was big.

6.   I will read my Jesus Calling devotional every day. I will journal at least twice per week. I will read James over and over during the month. I will keep count of how many times...  Utter fail.  I've read Jesus Calling sporadically, which is insane, because it's SO GOOD!!!!  Journaling, not so much.  My new Jesus Calling is a journal, so I've done a smidge, but really another faily.  I've read James... once.  Working on it again.

7.  I will do arm and ab exercises at least 3 times per week...  Not so much.  I've done some abs while I've been laying on the floor doing my hip exercises.  I also went to my first Pure Barre class, really really tough!  I'm going again tomorrow night.  There were lots of pushups in the beginning, made me realize how I've let my arms go completely.  It hurt to turn the steering wheel for 3 days.

So, some good, some bad, but all in all, I think having a plan and keeping these things in the back of my mind have really helped me make it a better month!

It's Ok

It's been a while since I linked up, but I always love

  So...   It's Ok   ...that I can't make blogger upload pictures, except it's not ok, it's a real bummer, and I have a few draft posts sitting out there that just need pictures!!!  Maybe my other computer will cooperate.   ...to finally have a little snow!!  That's right, snow day here in TN!  Of course, I'm still at work, and not enjoying the snow, but I can see it on my car out the window.  And I think this is a good excuse to leave early tonight, don't you??   ...to have -0- desire to get up and run when it's this cold and windy.  My friends are still doing their part, but I'm keeping my warm footsies in bed.  Must do better this week!   ...to be so excited about a high school basketball game tomorrow night.  I'm surrounded by coaches in my life, and my friend since 5th grade coaches a fantastic team ranked one of the top 10 in the country.  Tomorrow night they play another Top 10  team.  The battle of the undefeateds.  I can't wait to cheer her on!   ...to have created a new song game to keep me awake and entertained for late night drives home.  When I was a kid, my family played a game in the car where one person would sing the line of a song, then the next person had to pick a word from that song and sing a line of a song that used that word.  Do I have you good and confused?  Well, I've now talked to dear friends into playing with me over the Voxer walkie talkie app on our phones.  I'm talking it's hysterical, they are good sports.   ...to sing a Veggie Tales classic "Oh Where is My Hairbrush" during said song game   ...to watch a hair tutorial and then buy 4 new hair products on the Internet because you are just sure with the right product your hair will do exactly what hers did  (um, yeah, already having a little buyer's remorse on that)   ...to now want a $30 curling wand you saw a different girl use on her video hair turorial, b/c you are sure your hair can look like that (when will I learn??)   ...to be way excited about my Oxo containers for organizing my pantry   ...to be slightly obsessed with the Manti Ta'o story kind of to the point it might have slightly hurt some productivity at work because the emails and texts messages flying back and forth with wise cracks were owning me!   ...to be ready for high school football to be back, and to anxiously await the spring game   ...to feel good about feeling like I followed something God wanted me to do even when I didn't want to do it.    Happy Thursday!  Hopefully I'll be back soon with pictures!

January... I will Survive

As I mentioned yesterday, January is all about survival for me.  Work is completely overwhelming during this month, and it tends to take over my life, my attitude, and my mind.  Last year wasn't pretty.  So, these are my resolutions for the month.  I'm going to write them out and follow up on how I'm doing every week.

1.  I already mentioned this, but I will eat dinner with a friend at least once a week.  We will have fun.  We will bond.  (Are you listening out there potential dinner dates?)  We will not talk about accounting.  I will leave the office early.

2.  I'm in physical therapy 3 mornings a week for this knee issue.  The other 2 mornings I will walk, hopefully soon I will run.  I will do the hip exercises he gave me at least 5 days a week.

3.  I will spend at least 10 minutes a day on household chores, including hanging up clothes, dishes, laundry so that things don't pile up.  I hate when I walk in my house and think, has a burglar ransacked the place, no, that's the way I left it this morning.

4.  I will ride a horse at least once during the month.

5.  I will tackle some task that's hanging over my head at least once per week.

6.  I will read my Jesus Calling devotional every day.  I will journal at least twice per week.  I will read James over and over during the month.  I will keep count of how many times.

7.  I will do arm and ab exercises at least 3 times per week.

Ok, that's it.  I kind of like this one month thing.  I don't like commitment.  I try to avoid it at all costs, so just signing up for one month of stuff is not nearly as intimidating as resolutions for an entire year!

I think the big thing this list is missing is something that involves giving back.  Maybe I'll figure out where to fit that in during the month.  I think that's a big missing piece in my life right now.

2013 Quick Randoms

1.  I've become meaner and less agreeable in the past year.  I'm going to fix that.

2.  I'm reading the book The Happiness Project.  I like it.  I'm probably a quarter of the way through, and  I'm ready to implement some of her suggestions for 2013 for myself.  I just like the idea behind the whole thing, becoming happier.  And it's not just that, it's really just being in control of yourself.  It's 4.99 as a Kindle right now, in my opinion, definitely worth $5 or $9 for the paperback.

3.  Related, I'm really excited to be reading a book again.  I've just been completely disinterested in books for a couple years, after being an avid reader most of my life.  I've always liked non-fiction more anyway, so maybe The Happiness Project will get me back on the reading bandwagon.

4.  If you have a Kindle, the Kindle app is pretty darn awesome.  I just downloaded it this week, and you can go back and forth between the real Kindle and the phone and it tracks where you are, etc.  All the books you've downloaded on the Kindle are available on the phone.  Way cool!

5.  My physical therapist for this morning was a runner.  He felt my pain in not being able to run.  Really nice guy who gave me some really great suggestions on what to do.  One of the things he told me to use was The Stick.  My friend, Erin, had given me one when during my last injury, so I already have it, woo-hoo.  The not woo-hoo part, the thing is killer.  My thigh is still sore to the touch after using that thing!

6.  I'm pretty sure I have some sugar issues.  I'm pretty sure it might be related to how I feel.  I'm pretty sure cutting out sugar and sweets would resolve the issue.  I'm pretty sure as much as I hate it, that needs to be a big effort for this new year... I used to rarely eat sweets, never was much of a candy person, but here lately, I'll go to the candy jar at work after lunch, and I'll eat the dessert that I used to normally pass up.  It's not just the extra calories, I think it's making me feel really bad and really weird, and may be part of my moodiness problem...
So question... what do you keep on hand for a healthy snack.  I'll often end up staying at work late and grab a mini Snickers when it's time for supper to hold me over until I make it home.  What would you be eating in that situation???

7.  January is my most difficult work month of the year.  It's guaranteed late nights, long hours, weekends, working from home, just lots and lots of work.  Goal for that is to stay positive, be cheery, and remember how blessed I am to have a great job and great people with whom to work (really trying not to end with a preposition... you're welcome Mr. Ham and Mrs. Deborah).  Another goal is to try to have dinner with someone, friend, family, anyone who will have me, at least once during the week to break things up and leave the office at a decent time, and have non-work related conversations, even if I work once I go home.

8.  God and I chatted last night, and I once again resolved to let him have control and quit fighting for my own way.  Oh my goodness, you would think I would have this through my head by now.  Get with the program, Anna Catherine, it's so much easier on you if you quit trying to manipulate and justify things.  Just let go.  "His yoke is easy, his burden is light"  "Cast all your cares upon Him" "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."

9.  I'm planning to sign up for the Music City Half Marathon.  It's one I've always wanted to do, and while I've heard it can be a booger, I still want to do it!

10.  My newest game playing app is Song Pop.  Have you played?  It's fantastic!  Love it!  Except my friend who has downloaded the Pro Wrestling song list.  Say what??  Who knows what song matches what wrestler??  He destroys me on that one every single time.  It has me questioning our friendship  :-)

Hope to be back soon with some specifics on what I'm planning to implement from The Happiness Project and how it goes, but then again, I was going to do a post on my Christmas decor b/c I thought it was so darn cute, and as I was taking the last few ornaments off the tree, I remembered I never took a picture.  Grrrr 

Happy 2013!!!