Random video

This cracks me up - I don't know why, but I love it!

Becoming a morning person...

If you know me, you know that I am not a morning person. I will sleep as late as I possibly can and the snooze button is my friend. I use it multiple times every morning. I have even been known to change my alarm time while half asleep to allow a few more minutes of blissful rest. Amazingly I have never been late to work because of these habits. I think I am just too smart for my own good and know exactly how little time it will take me to get ready in the morning to still get to work.

Last week I completely surprised myself and my co-workers by getting up early in order to be at the gym by 630. Yes that is 630 in the morning. A completely obscene time in my opinion. But it was my only option to workout for a few days, so I set 4, yes 4, alarms to make sure I would get up. At the time I assumed that would be a one time deal.

Starting Thursday, though, I will be a morning person. As much as I would love to say this is because of my knowledge of the health benefits of morning workouts, OR because it would be a great way to start my day. But my reasons are none of the above. My reasons are much more trivial and pure convenience. We are having some work done on a room in our house - and you guessed it, they start work on Thursday morning. At 7 am. So I figure my options are try to get ready around workmen which always makes for awkwardness as well as trying to maneuver around many vehicles in my driveway in order to leave. Or I get up early, hit the gym at 630 every morning and get ready at the gym. In my mind there was only one option: become a morning person.

Hmmm...a morning person by necessity.

Definitely not me.

Don't be surprised if after these 2+ weeks I am back to sleeping in as late as possible and reacquainting myself with my friend, the snooze button.

All About Who?

The last few weeks God has been doing some amazing things in my life. It seems like many of my blogs cover the same time period, but I keep getting hit with new realizations. God keeps moving, so I'm going to keep blogging :)

I've been thinking about prayer a lot lately. Not so much on the "deep" "philosophical" level, more of the "smack me over the head why the heck has it taken me so long to get this" level. I realized that my prayer life is selfish. Not selfish in the way most people think of selfish. But selfish in a scarier way.

I was praying for "things" - for "miracles" - for "guidance" - for "connection". But I was neglecting to do one of the most important things. Thank God for the prayers He answered. And thank Him for the prayers He didn't. I realized after the urgency of the moment passed, and things were resolved, I haphazardly thanked God and proceeded to move on. I wasn't thanking Him with the energy He deserved!

I really started to see this a few weeks ago. There was an urgent prayer in my life - I found myself praying harder, stronger, with others, by myself, throughout the entire day. And when God took care of it, I truly started to thank Him. I still haven't stopped thanking Him - it was that important. And that's when it started to hit me.

Why don't I do this all the time?

Shouldn't every prayer that gets answered deserve a "Thanks"?

Don't we all sometimes just want to hear a simple "Thank You"?

Doesn't God deserve that the most? And yet, when we neglect to do so, He keeps on giving - keeps on answering - keeps on loving us.

I Believe

Not so long ago I was in a valley. It was a rough place to be and I felt as if God was silent. I was hurting and scared but I couldn’t hear his voice when I so desperately needed to. I was at the point where I knew I needed to read my Bible, but yet I couldn’t. I was lucky enough to have a few things in my life at that point that kept me afloat – kept me from sinking. Often during times like those, music and lyrics are what help me get back on track. So many times it feels as if a song was written specifically for me. This is one of the songs from that valley:

I Believe In Love
By Barlow Girl

How long will my prayers seem unanswered?
Is there still faith in me to reach the end?
I'm feeling doubt I'm losing faith
But giving up would cost me everything
So I'll stand in the pain and silence
And I'll speak to the dark night

I believe in the sun even when it's not shining
I believe in love even when I don't feel it
And I believe in God even when He is silent
And I, I believe

Though I can't see my stories ending
That doesn't mean the dark night has no end
It's only here that I find faith
And learn to trust the one who writes my days
So I'll stand in the pain and silence
And I'll speak to the dark night

I believe in the sun even when it's not shining
I believe in love even when I don't feel it
And I believe in God even when He is silent
And I, I believe
No dark can consume Light
No death greater than this life
We are not forgotten
Hope is found when we say
Even when He is silent

I believe in the sun even when it's not shining
I believe in love even when I don't feel it
And I believe in God even when He is silent
And I, I believe.

Hittin’ it Hard

I had a rude awakening last week. Over the last few months my eating habits during the day had headed downhill fast. While I was still eating fairly healthy for breakfast and dinner, my lunch and snacking habits had gotten way off balance. I had stopped consistently losing weight. But I was still continually gaining muscle from my regular gym visits. Then it suddenly occurred to me. If I just changed my habits back to making healthy choices throughout the day, my weight loss would begin progressing.

When I sat down one day last week and looked at the average numbers of fat and calories I was in taking daily just for lunch, I was shocked. If I just changed that one aspect of my life, I could reach my target weight and size with a whole lot less effort. As well as making myself an overall healthier person.

So, that’s what I have been doing. I’m not letting myself get off easy at the gym, and I’m watching the food choices I am making daily. I’m pushing myself harder and trusting others to help me be accountable.

The irony of my life is this time I had all the knowledge of how to lose weight the right way. I just only followed it for half of my day.

But times have changed. While you may still find me on occasion splurging, as all of us should, it has become the exception not the rule. Watch out world – times they are a changin’

"Because It's Not About You"

One of the great things about my job is that I often get driven to other church's websites. I get to see what they are doing, how they are doing it and the impact they are making in their communities.

This morning Liquid Church came on my radar. And the media I watched touched my heart. It inspires me. It makes me smile. It makes me proud to be a follower of Christ.

Check it out - its worth the few minutes.

Trust me.

I heart smoothies

It's hard to believe only a few short months ago I was completely unaware of the amazing smoothies that are right next door to my gym.

I wanted caffeine this morning - badly - but instead of choosing Starbucks I decided one my favorite smoothies. I'm trying to become less relient on caffeine every day. And I must say, my smoothie made me very happy. So happy in fact that I took a picture of my Maui Breeze smoothie with my phone.



Jumpin' Juice and Java has found a special place in my heart. While I have heard that Jamba Juice is amazing, especially by one person who will remain nameless that is completely obsessed, I have yet to have experienced one. Hard to imagine that it could be better than my Maui Breeze.