new blog

I have "officially" retired this blog. You can find me here. =)

so long, farewell...

to 2009...

Hello 2010 resolutions!

I'll try and make this quick and painless.

1. I want to meet people who are homeless. Jacob's Well does a great job of helping people, but I don't want to depend solely on the church to do it for me. So I'm trusting that God will help provide a way for me to do this.

2. Listen more than talk. I just want to be more aware of what's going on around me and what people are really saying, and I found it's harder to do that if I'm talking all the time!

3. Be honest with myself. I tend to morph to be like the people I'm around, and so starting this year, I'm really praying God helps me see who I am in Christ, and that I'll accept that, and be more comfortable in my own skin.

4. Run a half-marathon. Last year I did Bloomsday. This year, I'm thinking either the Rock and Roll half-marathon in Seattle, or Run Like Hell in Portland. Or maybe I'll do both. Or maybe not. But I want to be able to run it in such a way where I don't feel competitive towards TJ, where I don't feel bad if I run 10 minute miles, and I can just enjoy the fact that I'm accomplishing something I never thought I could.

5. Shop more intentionally. I'm not a big shopper. Not because I don't like to necessarily, but because I'm horrendously cheap and practical. But now, I'm starting to find value in supporting local business, buying higher quality products that last, and buying straight from the vender (like etsy or craft shows).

6. Spend less time on the computer. It's gotten out of hand. I probably check my facebook/blogger stuff/email 25 times throughout the day if given the chance. And so one of the ways I've decided to cut back is to take a break from the blogging world for a while. Or maybe for good. I'm not sure yet. I've been thinking about it the last few months, and now I finally feel peace about stopping. I'll probably continue to check up on my friends and family, and maybe leave a comment here or there, but I think at this time there's no need for me to continue cranking out blog posts.

So good-bye 2009. Good-bye my little blog land. It's been fun.

I started writing this awhile ago...

(Picture taken from here)

To try and sum up the last month in a few words is nearly impossible. My life has been complete chaos. But in the midst of everything, God has given me moments of pure joy and peace, and has blessed me in so many ways.

For example, a few Sundays ago, our church had their children's program (which was AMAZING, to say the least...) It is so clear to me why Jesus said that we ought to be like little children.

TJ had the opportunity to arrange the hymn "Oh, Come Emmanuel" with a few friends and play it in church. It was so incredible to be able to see TJ using his voice and musical talent to glorify God. The arrangement was beautiful and so worshipful... I wish I could have recorded it.

Work has been great. Between my coworkers and the kids I work for, it's almost like another family. It seems that after I crossed the 1 year mark, things became more comfortable.

We moved to a new apartment. For just a small increase in rent we were able to get another room, a washer in dryer in the apartment (yay! no more laundromats!), windows that work, hot water that lasts more than 10 minutes, a dishwasher, garbage disposal, and natural sunlight... so wonderful!

So since all this has happened, I now sit at the beginning of 2010 and wonder what in the world God is going to do this year.

I have a few resolutions in mind... but I'll save that for another time.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years!

RUN LIKE HELL!

That's exactly what TJ and his sister did.

Three weeks ago, we drove to Portland with TJ's sister and her husband for the RUN LIKE HELL half-marathon. We planned a little extra time into our trip to do a little mini-tour of Portland... but I'll talk about that some other time.

What was so fun about this race, was that it was halloween themed. And what do you get when you mix halloween with a race? Entertainment! I could not believe the crazy outfits people wore. And not only wore, but RAN in! I saw batman, superman, mario, cavemen, numerous guys dressed as girls, guys wearing suits, wonder woman, nurses, prom queens, gorillas, care bears... you name it, people ran in it.

My personal favorite had to be the guy dressed as Fred Flinstone. HE RAN BARE FOOTED! And he was pulling his two kids in one of those kids bicycle trailers that he strapped around his chest. Can you imagine running 13.1 miles like that???? Here's a picture to prove it...

But I digress. Back to TJ and his sister. They both did AMAZING! Their times were well under 2 hours and they both finished strong. We hope to be able to go again next year, and get my little niece in the kids 'Run Like Heck 1/2 mile Run'. And who knows, maybe I'll do a little running too...

Here they are before the race. Yes, it was that dark!

TJ- running strong to the finish

After the race!

my new friend

I have lived in Spokane for just over a year now. In 2 weeks I'll have been at my job for a year. And today, I made my very first Spokane friend.

And she's seven.

Okay, so maybe she's not my very first Spokane friend, but she's the first one to invite me over to her house!

It was really quite wonderful.

I don't know what it is, but I always seem to hit it off with kids, elderly, and developmentally disabled. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, (I think they are some of the most beautiful people), but sometimes I wish I could connect better with people my own age. And the job I have now certainly isn't helping. I tend to forget how to have normal adult conversations when I spend all day talking about hermit crabs and poop, and communicating at a 5-year old level.

Sometimes I wonder if it's because of my own insecurities and fear of being known. I feel like I can be myself around those people and they won't judge me. They don't care if my grammar is bad, or if my shoes don't match my clothes, or whether or not I have all my ducks in a row. I guess I feel safe.

So now all I need to do is get over myself and not care so much about what others think. Easy, right? Then I'll make some grown up friends. And it probably wouldn't hurt if I read some books with big words and tried to expand my vocabulary...

comfort music

It's kind of like comfort food...but minus the calories.

To me, comfort music is what I listen to when I just need something familiar during a time of change. It's music that I don't have to think about. It's music that I never seem to get tired of, even if I put it away for a season. And the sound of it usually brings me back to a different time in my life. Today, I need some comfort music.

So I think I'm going to pull out Enter the Worship Circle - Chair and Microphone I and III, make myself some tea, finish baking a couple of cakes, and head over to the JW coffee shop for some good conversation and knitting.

What's your comfort music?

a little explanation

After getting a text from a very loving and concerned friend (thanks Danille!) asking if I was okay, I thought I'd better explain what exactly happened today.

At the gym I go to, they offer two classes in a row. On days when I'm feeling ambitious, I'll do both. Other days I pick one depending on my schedule or how lazy I feel. When I woke up this morning, I was planning on doing both, but after I got home from work I had convinced myself that since I had such an exhausting work weekend (50 hours in 4 days...) I would nap, and then do one class.

I checked what classes were going on tonight and the first one was a cardio class and the second one was a class called Abs n' Booty (Awesome, right?). Soooo... being that I did not feeling like exerting too much energy, I chose the Abs n' Booty class.

So I enjoyed a nice little nap, dragged myself out of bed and headed to the gym. When I got to there I discovered a room full of people who had just finished the cardio class, but nobody wanting to do Abs n' Booty. The trainer then offered me a free training session instead and I took him up on the offer.

He asked me if I wanted an intense cardio workout or a cardio with weights workout. I told him to pick and he chose the later. I had done this same workout with him when I first joined and I figured it wouldn't be a big deal.

I had made it through almost the entire workout. I had one exercise left to do. I think it was chest presses on one of the machines. I started feeling nauseous and stopped. He went to get me water and the next thing I know I'm on the floor!

Needless to say, I felt like a dork. And to think, I used to be afraid that I would biff it off the treadmill, but I never considered fainting.

Lesson learned today: Breathe while exercising!