They Say It's Your Birthday

Today has quite possibly been the birthday I've had since I turned nine.  I'm pretty sure I say that every year, well every year except year twenty-nine when I got dumped by my boyfriend ON my birthday, but that's another story.  My special day just seems to get better as time goes on!


My birthday celebrations actually started Sunday when my parents, sister and brother-in-law surprised me with one of my favorite meals and gifts.  On Wednesday my best local girlfriend and her parents had dinner, cake and gifts for me.  And today....

Another Year Has Gone By

Most people come up with yearly resolutions on January 1st.  I don't do this; it's way too much pressure for me.  I'm an all or nothing kind of girl, and when I am not on track with my resolutions by February, I'm done for the year.  I do, however, still set resolutions for myself.  I'm very goal oriented and this helps me not only focus on the future, but it gives me a gauge for how far I've come.  

I set my yearly goals on my birthday each year.

Role Models

"So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone..."

Galatians 6:10

When I was little, one of my favorite things to do with my dad was to visit people in the hospital and go to nursing home services once a month.  I know, this is a little odd, but I'm leaving out that I loved helping him with funerals when I was in high school.  :)  As a pastor's kid you grow up doing these things and don't even realize how abnormal it is until you're grown.

I can remember taking in the smells of hospitals, loving the food, being intrigued with how they were like little cities, and admiring the nurses walking the halls.

Ode to Malawian Culture

I daydream A LOT.  I spend a lot of time thinking about people, life, cultures, travel, the future, what links us together and other random things.  Today I found myself thinking about where my life has been and where I want it to go.  I pondered the term, 'hero'.  I thought about relationships and life events that shape us.

Upswing

This morning, when I fell out of my desk chair, I knew it was going to be a good day! 

This crazy Texas weather can't make up its mind.  Every three days we get a good taste of spring, only to have it ripped from us and replaced with winter.  Today I had to wear thermal underwear under my wind pants.  If you've ever worn wind pants- for those of you born in the 80's I KNOW you've worn them- you know how slick they are on certain surfaces.  Let me tell you, that slickness is multiplied by about 100 when you start layering.  I sat in my chair and immediately slipped out onto the ground.  Luckily, this happened before I had a class.  

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Disclaimer: I don't really believe the title of this entry.  :)

In college God, through a mutual friend, gave me one of the best roommates ever.  Although we always had a good relationship, our friendship has grown even deeper in the years since graduation.   Kristina is a vital member of my “inner circle”.   She is deeply caring, creative, an incredible cook, adventurous, appreciates the small things in life, is passionate about people and relationships, has a heart for God and His ways, and sooooo much more.  I am so grateful to call her one of my closest friends.  If you get a chance, check out her blog- All Is Well (she’s also an great writer).

We had a wonderful time of catching up, encouragement and good food.  Life keeps us from getting together often, but when we do have a chance, I leave with my heart feeling just a little bit happier.   On this occasion Kristina brought me a gift- a book entitled, “One Good Deed a Day, a journal”. 

A Day in the Life

The primary reason I started blogging was to become disciplined to writing something everyday.  Yes, I've already been unsuccessful a week into it, but that's the point.  Someday I will travel the world,  hopefully live in another country, and when that time comes I would like to be disciplined enough to write my experiences out.  I spent the summer in Malawi two years ago and my biggest regret is not writing out my thoughts, feelings and experiences. I would come in from a long day of work (I interned at a music school) and would make every excuse why I wasn't in the mood to journal.  I thought that I would remember everything, because life there was SO different than it is here.  Two years later, my memory is like an impressionistic painting.  I don't want to repeat this.  Besides, when the time comes, I want to have enough practice that I can write everything out well.  

The Benefits of Stretching

One of the best things about yoga, in my opinion, is the fact that it's an exercise built around stretches.  Research shows that stretching improves the following: flexibility; range of motion; circulation; pain and relaxation. (LIVESTRONG Benefits of Stretching)  I love to stretch!

Stretching is not always comfortable.  Actually, if I am not in class on a daily basis, stretching is sometimes painful, but the pain is tolerable because I know that it's good for me.

Happy, Happy, Happy

In honor of tonight's Ducky Dynasty marathon:
Things that make me happy...

Gypsy By Nature

Travel.  Jogging.  Prayer.  Water. 

No matter what is bothering me, no matter what I'm trying to sort out, no matter how stressed out I am, any one of these four things can help clear my head.  They help me relax and refocus.  (I even enjoy them when I'm not strung out.)

It is no secret that I love to travel.  I am probably more passionate about travel than even music.  New places, new people, and new experiences both excite and energize me.  I am not happy if I am forced to stay in one spot too long.  There is just so much of life I feel I'm missing when my wings are clipped.  One of my favorite poets, Robert Service, sums me up very well...

Comfort to Courage

Life.  It's beautiful.  It's heartbreaking.  It's full of adventure.  It's terrifying.  It's exciting.  It's painful.  And often it is just plain hard, even in the midst of the grandeur.

Sometimes I feel like I am just in a holding pattern.  That I am roaming aimlessly through this life phase.  I feel like just beyond the horizon is a painting of all of my hopes and dreams, but that I'm just close enough to see it and not get my hands dirty from touching it.

Waiting.  Learning.  Growing.  Patience.  Pain.  Change.

Lint, I Mean, Um, Lent

"Lent is a six-week season of reflection, repentance and renewal in the Christian calendar that prepares us for the commemoration of Christ’s passion and resurrection. It is a time where we disrupt our daily routines by choosing to give up something that is a part of our everyday life or take on some new daily practice. This disruption serves to make us more aware of and responsive to God’s presence in and around us."

-Mike Reading-

Taken from  IBC Lent 2013

I am, and always have been, an Evangelical Christian.  I say that only to clarify that I did not grow up practicing a six-week fast before Easter.  In fact, until I was in college studying masses and the liturgical calendar, the only thing I knew about Lent was that it was a word I heard in conjunction with Mardi Gras celebrations.

A few years ago I was fortunate to hear a fellow AG PK (Assemblies of God pastor's kid) talk to my small group about his experiences adding aspects of the liturgical calendar into his walk with Christ.  

You May Be the Walrus, But I'm the Pigeon

Ok, so I'm not really a pigeon.  BUT it is my current favorite yoga pose.  I was reminded of this tonight when I went back to yoga for the first time in two weeks.

Me Experimenting With Acrobatic Yoga

Welcome to My World

"Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights.

But your ears thirst for the sound of your heart's knowledge. 

You would know in words that which you have always known in thought.

You would touch with your fingers the naked body of your dreams.

[...] The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals."

-Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet-

And so begins my journey into the world of online journaling- a record of my eclectic, and often erratic, musings and daily adventures.  Encouraged for some time by my friends to start blogging, I am finally caving.

I LOVE lists.  Long lists, short lists, colorful lists, drab lists, to-do lists, any shape, form or fashion, I love them all!  How better to introduce myself than with a list?