The Simple Act of Making Your Bed

I have a new habit. A new simple as can be habit that makes me feel super organized even if my organization project is still nowhere near completion. That new simple habit is making my bed every morning. I read somewhere that making your bed every morning brings happiness. So to inspire the beginning of my new habit, I bought a new chevron comforter and started making my bed every. single. morning. It's a habit I considered implementing a few times before, however, I was evidently in need of a dose of inspiration to kick start it. It has been about two weeks now and I am amazed at how fast I get this done every morning. Less than 15 seconds. I can honestly say it makes me feel more put together & organized which does indeed lead to feelings of happiness. :) It's amazing what one simple, quick act can do! If you are not already in the habit of making your bed every morning, I say why not try it for a few weeks and see if it makes a difference in your life.

Texas Skies

I'm in Texas, with my parents & dog child, visiting my sister and her family for the holidays. I lived in Texas for four years and forgot how beautiful the skies can be here. Good to be reminded. God is so talented. Here are some sky shots I took the past few days:

Pink Christmas Tree-2013

Living with your parents as an adult means living out of your small childhood bedroom. Which does not leave much room for your very own real Christmas tree. So instead of no tree this year, I found a cute mini PINK Christmas tree that sits perfectly on top of my printer. It makes me so happy. Pink just makes everything better, doesn't it? It is definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas. :)

New Find-Hurraw Lip Balm

One thing I absolutely love about the blogging world is the opportunity to learn about awesome new products via other bloggers, that I otherwise may have never found out about. Some of my favorite things that I have purchased I discovered via other bloggers. And I am not just talking about product reviews & advertisements-but bloggers sharing their favorite things & all the products that work for them. I bought an awesome shirt, Scentsy burner, drawer organizer, a monthly planner, books, and makeup products all because of bloggers sharing their awesome finds. I vow to continue this awesome opportunity that blogging brings by sharing my favorite things & awesome new finds {when the budget permits} with all of you who may be reading or who happen to stumble upon this little blog of mine. My most recent find I want to share with the world: is Hurraw Lip Balm. { you can learn more about it HERE} My lips are forever chapped & the past lip balm I was using had no SPF in it. {Which I have learned is no bueno for your lips because they need just as much sun protection as your face does.} So this past weekend, I ventured out to my favorite natural grocery store in town and came out with this gem of a lip balm. No SPF like I was looking for but was told randomly and sincerely by three employees that this lip balm was great. I hesitated to get it at first because it had no SPF in it but when I felt how chapped my lips were I bought it anyway. And let me tell ya, those employees were not just saying good stuff to try to sell me stuff, this lip balm is as great as they said! It was well worth the $4.00. So much so that I went to their website and ordered three more, two with SPF even, which made me oh so happy, happy, happy {as good ole' Phil Robertson would say.} If you are in search for a new lip balm that actually works and doesn't just mask the problem-I so recommend trying this one. It may just be the best lip balm out there.

I am Blogger of the Year

Not. I stink at keeping up with my blog. I admit it. I have so much I could blog about. Okay, not "so" much but a lot. But for some reason I keep getting blogging writer's block. I guess it's the whole sharing my life and letting people into my life thing that I sometimes find difficult. I proofread way too much and then never post anything. Been like that since I started my blog. Which I think is one of the reasons I keep my blog, to work past that. I also love to blog when I'm feeling fully inspired to do so, not just to blog for the sake of it-it's difficult to be inspired when you have blogging writer's block. So instead of not blogging at all, I thought I'd at least share what I could be blogging about:

Like my first experience of donating blood, two amazing photo shoots I did just for fun with my spiritual mom aka as one of the most important Godly women in my life, what I've been reading lately, what God is teaching me these days, turning 30, experiences of being a college student and living in my childhood home with my parents at 30 (no shame here), how God is taking the opportunity of me living at home and turning it to something beautiful instead of something to look down upon like much of the world does-it's like a healing of my first childhood, going to my first painting class, my millions of pictures I take of the clouds and beautiful skies God creates, pictures of my adorable dog Asher Agape, how my organization project is coming along, playing gymnast at one of my good friend's daughter's birthday party, steps I'm taking to work on my finances, kayaking adventures, and how I've been doing a lot of Zumba lately and loving it.

So that's what my blog would be about these days if I was actually blogging. Maybe one day I will keep up with it more regularly. Until then thanks a bunch for sticking around until my next inspired day of blogging. Hugs.

Cry Out

The older I get the harder change has become. Lately, there are a lot of changes going on in my life. Relationship changes, change of jobs, change of school setting {from online to the classroom}, parents are both jobless in August {living with them while I finish school}, etc.. I feel so overwhelmed. I cry out to God constantly. Asking him to take this and take that. To give me peace. This song reminds me of those very moments I cry out to Him. How beautiful it is that He is always there for me, always. In a world where change is constant, it's comforting to have a God that is never ever changing, never.

Let the Stay-cation Begin

July 4th kicked off my 12 day stay-cation from work!!!

Woo-hoo!!!

Normally, I am out of town this time of the year but this year there was no funds for that.{This girl is trying to work on a budget & a savings account} At first, I was really bummed out about it but now I am seeing it as a blessing. I could really use the extra time here at home to get up caught up on all sorts of stuff I am behind on in schoolwork for a History summer class, organizing/cleaning-as always, my finances, blogging, etc. Plus, I am soooooooo looking forward to having some extra time for fun and relaxing as well! Who couldn't use more time for that?!

To kick off my stay-cation, I went to a nice little town nearby and watched a fireworks show that had a laser show going on at the same time!

Definitely a first for me.

I had no idea about the laser show until it started, so it was a nice surprise to witness something new & fun!

Last year's 4th, I was in Washington D.C.-which was amazing in all its glory

but this year in small town America I still had an amazing time in its own right!

Every year, I am more and more thankful and appreciative for our soldiers who fought so hard with all they had to give us the freedom that we enjoy so much today. I feel extremely blessed to know freedom. I vow to never forget the men who died and gave that right to me...God bless the USA!

Bye Bye Old TV of Mine

Ever since I started my {super long} unorganized to organized project, I've gotten pretty good at getting rid of old stuff that doesn't serve me anymore but two weekends ago it made me quite {humorously} sad to get rid of my old tv to free up some space in my room. Perhaps, I was sad because I've had it for 18+ yrs and it still works {RCA is the way to go}, or maybe it was the vivid memory of how super duper excited I was to get it on Christmas as a young girl or maybe it was just knowing now as an adult that my parents used their hard earned cash to buy it for me just to make me happy on Christmas. I'm not sure exactly but I was filled with a bunch of emotions. It's funny how we have such strong emotional ties to some of our things. Some people can look at some of our things and think that's trash, throw it away but to us some of those things hold very special and dear memories. It may sound silly but it's so true. Emotional ties can keep us bonded to stuff we don't need.

I use to work for a moving company. We didn't move heavy stuff. We just unpacked or packed people's stuff when they moved or when they were doing renovations to their home. I would unpack people's stuff and put it away so easily, without a second thought. I would also easily pack up people stuff. My boss use to say that it was because we were not emotionally tied to their stuff like they were. Those words ring so true for me now a days. When it comes to my stuff, I get stuck getting everything organized and in its place because there are so many things I can't decide on whether I should keep or throw away or where it should go.

That's probably why it's taken me awhile to finish this organizing project but I am not giving up. I'm going to keep going and keep the bigger picture in mind: that it is okay to let go of some of my stuff because none of it can go to heaven with me anyway. That was what I kept in mind when I finally gave away my tv. It was time, time to say goodbye not just to my tv but to my emotional ties to my tv. So I said adios to this tv and donated it to Kiwanis in hopes that they will find a good home for it and not just go straight into the dumpster-I still had the remote, so there is hope that someone might make good use of it:

Said hello to this smaller tv, that a co-worker kindly gave me yesterday. It takes up much less space. Not the newest tv but perfectly new and functional for me:

Harlem Shake Craze

I usually don't know what's trending on YouTube but I somehow stumbled across the silly Harlem Shake video craze {not to be confused w/the authentic Harlem Shake} and have been cracking up! I don't quite understand the videos where people take their shirts and pants off-I skip over those, but I love the ones that make me smile and laugh. Here are some of my favorites so far:

From one of my absolute favorite married couples:

Funny news anchor one:

Dr. Oz:

Adorable father and son:

I just love this college crowd flash mob/Harlem shake in Maryland:

And my absolute favorite one, the puppy Harlem shake version. Love, love, LOVE it:

Reading

I have had an on and off relationship with reading over my lifetime. I remember I loved reading the Babysitter's Club and Babysitter's Club little sister books when I was younger. Then high school hit and I dreaded reading. I only read when I absolutely had to. Like for a class project. Then somewhere in my early twenties I started to like "the idea" of reading that I started purchasing books frequently. But I really didn't enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed "the idea" of reading. I started so many books and never finished them. Books sat unfinished in my room for years. It wasn't until three years ago, when my relationship with God grew stronger, that I fell in love with reading because of all the wisdom I got from it. It began after reading When God Writes Your Love Story. It was the first book I finished reading since high school. It gave me so much hope for my future husband and trust in God to bring him to me at the right time. Hope and trust I never knew about until I read that book. After that book, I wanted to read more and more and gain more and more wisdom. That I started to read the Bible more too. Now I absolutely adore reading. Mainly books that I can learn something from, such as non-fiction books. They are my favorite. I am going to start sharing my current reads, especially the good ones! Here is what I've read recently and reading now:

Rocking the Roles

{picture found via Amazon, read more about it here}

My co-worker read this for a class she took while attending Liberty University and really liked it. So much so that she randomnly brought it in for me to borrow. I had never heard of it before and had no idea what to expect and wow, did I like it! It's very insightful. It really broke down the wife and husband roles. It also made me look at being a stay-at-home mom in a whole new light. Before I read the book, I was okay with being a working mom but after I read the book I really desired to be a stay-at-home mom one day, if and when that time comes. The author doesn't look down on working moms at all, he just makes you think twice about what is best for children.

Things I Wish I'd Known Before We Got Married by Gary Chapman

{picture found via Amazon, read more about it here}

I love and live by Gary Chapman's book the Five Love Languages, that any book he writes I'm super eager to read. An old co-worker {not the same one from above} gave me this book over a year ago and I never picked it up until a couple months ago. I really enjoyed it! It was a super easy read and it really confirmed that some of the stuff I want to make sure is right before I marry someone is good. It also taught me a lot about what forgiveness means and that everyone has a different language for apologies. I learned that he wrote a book about it, called the Five Languages of Apology. I quickly added that to my mental list of books to read. I tell ya this man is a genius with his theories. The Five Love Languages is so right on. I have never felt more understood with what makes me feel more loved than when I learned my love language was words of affirmation.

What I am currently reading:

After reading those two books, I wanted to read something fun and light and not so serious, so I started to read my first fiction book as an adult,

Redeeming Love

{picture found via Amazon, read more about it here}

I had heard many women mention how great this book was because it reminds you of how powerful God's perfect never-ending unconditional love is for us but I stayed away from buying it for awhile because I also heard it was a fiction book. But when I learned that it was inspired by a true story in the Bible, I thought perfect, this is the best fiction book out there for me {a truly devoted non-fiction book reader} to read. So far, it has me drawn in and has me wanting to keep reading to find out how it ends. Does Angel finally have a happy life with Michael or not?? Can't wait to get there.

Okay, well it's time to go read some more so I can get closer to finding out what happens between Angel and Michael.

Thinking Twice Before I Post

I am up late.

I should be sleeping because this girl has to work in the AM.

But I started surfing the internet.

If there's one thing that steals more hours from my life than anything else, it's surfing the internet.

I go online with the intention of only checking my email but two hours later I find myself wondering why I am still online.

Tonight was one of those nights.

I randomnly ran across an aritcle about a blogger who has gotten some positive and negative publicty for his blog.

So much so that the Huffington Post is linked to one of his most popular posts.

He recently deleted that post, because of promises he made to his family about what he would share and not share.

His story really got me thinking...

That sometimes the blogging world gives one a false sense of security.

Security to pour your heart out.

I believe there are some things that are meant to be shared only with close friends and family and no one else.

It's not that I want to make my life out to look like it is perfect, because it's not. I'm the first one to admit that. I just want to be careful of what I share especially if it involves other people I truly care about.

I want to share the good work God is doing in my life, so it can be difficult to decipher what needs to be shared to glorify Him and what is best kept between my closest friends and family and I .

So before I post I am going to the extreme of asking myself:

"Is this something I would want the media to publicize for the whole world to read or not?"

I have no intentions of becoming the next famous blogger, I just want to do my best to guard my heart and the hearts of the amazing people in my life.

Because famous blogger or not, you just never know who will stumble across your blog.

Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. -Proverbs 4:23 {NLT}

Go Upward Sports

Yesterday was the first game of the season for the Upward league I am volunteering for! This is my second season volunteering for this league as an assistant cheerleading coach. I am volunteering with my good friend, Deanna, who is the head coach. I absolutely love Upward and all the biblical values they aim to instill in every cheerleader and player! They may not keep up with all the fancy stunts, tumbling, and competitions that can go with cheerleading but they keep their focus on the One that matters most. {You can read more about it here} I am so thankful for this opportunity. I admit I am much more comfortable with being a cheerleader {cheered for 6 years in my childhood} than I am being an assistant coach but I get to fellowship with amazing girls and God is stretching and growing me in so many ways that I can't help but be thankful for this opportunity and the time spent with my good friend. I love that we cheer with God in mind. I love that each week we lead the girls to a bible verse to think about and ponder on. I love that we pray during practice. I love that we pray on game days. I love that we have a halftime devotional on game days. I love that not only are we having fun but we are doing it all in the name of the Lord. This past week during practice and game day, we focused on self-control and went over the bible verse

Everyone should be quick to listen.

But they should be slow to speak.

They should be slow to get angry.

-James 1:19b {NIrV}

Self-control as defined in the Upward coaches handbook is "choosing to do what you SHOULD do, not what you WANT to do. No matter how frustrated or annoyed or mad we get, there is always the choice to have self-control." Talk about truth. It really caused me to look within. Sometimes I am so quick to speak and get angry at my parents and bf, that it was a good reminder that I do have the ability to self-control in those moments. After all, they are the people who love me the most in this world. They deserve my best. We will be discussing self-control for two more weeks. I am looking forward to learning more about what the Bible has to say about self-control and I pray that the girls learn useful lessons that stay with them always.

Ringing in the New Year

For New Years, {now ex} bf and I were still driving back home from our Christmas vacation in Texas, in fact we were only two and half hours away from home when the clock was about to strike midnight. We thought we'd be home by then but since we weren't, we pulled off the highway into Tampa, went to a 7-Eleven and bought some cheap {very} tiny wine bottles to toast, then went to a parking lot behind 7-eleven, blasted a Christian music stataion, and set off some sparklers and fireworks we bought in Alabama. While we were doing that, a stranger drove by and asked if he could join us and set off some fireworks with us because he couldn't in his neighborhood. So he joined us. He even lit up lanterns and sent them up and away, which was something I had always wanted to do {ever since seeing Tangled}-so that was cool! It was a random, unplanned, spent with a stranger, and different way to celebrate New Years but it turned out to be fun and just right for us being on the road! Sometimes the best things in life are unplanned.

I also contiuned my yearly tradition {since 2010} of watching the first sunrise of the new year. Let me tell ya, it was not an easy task this year since I only got about 2 or 3 hours of sleep the night before from being in a car/driving so many hours back home. But like every year it was well worth it! I kept up with the tradition I started last year too- of watching the first sunset of the new year.

Sunrises:

Sunsets:

Cheers to a new year of fresh starts, growing closer to God, adventures, accomplishing goals, learning, and to be all that I can be!

Paperwork, Paperwork, & Even More Paperwork

Happy 1st Saturday of 2013! As much as I wish I had something super fun planned the first weekend of the new year, I don't. What I do have planned though {and have to remind myself of}, will bring much more peace into my life in the long run. I am continuing my unorganized to organized project by designating this weekend to sort through, ditch, and organize the piles of paperwork I have allowed to accumulate for days, months, and even years. Prayers for success. This is such a daunting task for me. Perhaps that is why I have let the piles grow so much. I have been avoiding it. This weekend I begin to take action. I dream of finishing this project by the end of this weekend but knowing my sense of time, we shall see. When {and if} this project is completed I will post pictures of my much less, beautifully, organized paperwork.

In perfect timing this morning, while getting mentally prepared to take action on this project, I stumbled across some organizing motivation from a sample on amazon of Maria Menounos’ new book The EveryGirl's Guide to Life . In the book, she devotes the first chapter to getting organized and showcases some pictures of her inspiring, organized closet.

Here are some words of organizing inspiration from her book:

“Disorganization inhibits happiness and increases stress and chances for failure.”

“Think less not more when it comes to your stuff. It’s freeing to have breathing room where you live. The more stuff you have, the more you have to clean, to distract you, to maintain, and to move.”

Her friend, Randal Malone, “concluded through his many trails and journeys, that the key to happiness is organization.”

“Many people treat their houses as giant closets, hampers, or in extreme cases, garbage cans. Bedrooms littered with clothes, desks covered with papers, bathroom counters scattered with products, and closets stuffed with everything you’ve owned since junior high school are all humongous roadblocks! Our homes are supposed to be our sanctuaries from the woes of the world. When you think of a sanctuary, do you really think of garbage and clutter?”

"Since I've become more organized, I am so much more happier."

Thank you for that much needed motivation Maria Menounos! Now off to start this project. Happy organizing!

Tis' the Season to Count Your Blessings

Christmas 2012 blessings:

Jesus.

Fun traditions-Christmas music, Starbuck's peppermint mochas, secret santa, watching Elf over & over, baking cookies, opening gifts at midnight {upbringing tradition}, hot chocolate, Christmas cards, ect.

Overall good health for my family, friends, and I.

Capturing cute pictures of Asher {my dog child} & Nena {parent's dog}. {photographing dogs, especially mine, is not always easy}

Having the week of Christmas off from work.

Going on a road trip to Texas, to visit my sister, brother-in-love, and two nephews.

Spending Christmas with all of them.

Snow on Christmas day!!

Enough snow to make snow angels the next day w/my youngest nephew.

Praying before dinner with my nephews for the first time.

Downtown Dallas being one of them.

Reuniting with good friends, Brenda & Suemi, before heading back home.

My mom and dad taking care of Asher while I was away.

Stopping to dayhike and explore a couple state parks in Northern Florida on the way to and from Texas.

Making it home safely.

Having many pictures of the trip to relive and always remember it.

Rolling down a hill for the first time:

Yummy Colombian hot chocolate and food from El Portal:

On a extremely cold night, went to the Chinese Latern Festival,

minus being almost frozen, it was something new and nice to see:

Lately, while sightseeing or on vacation, I like taking jumping picture:

I love the way the clouds and water collide here: