Updates and a Declaration!

I've been conflicted about the blog lately. I don't have time to devote to it the way that many other bloggers do. I honestly just don't feel like making a fancy page, getting sponsors, creating tabs, and having a blog that's worthy of hundreds of followers. But when I try to participate in this blogging world, I feel pressured to do those things. I get jealous of the bloggers I follow. I feel like I need to be traveling to fabulous places, wearing the most trendy outfits, and snapping breathtaking pictures with an outrageously expensive camera. But that's not my life. And I don't want to feel bad about my life because the fact is...my life is pretty darn wonderful as it is!! I am blessed beyond words. So I don't want to get caught up in something that makes me feel otherwise. And it's no one's fault but my own.

I will probably still read blogs of all types, and I'm not saying I won't EVER post a fluff piece, but I am going to rededicate my blog to God. That may seem strange, but that was the original intent of this blog. I wanted to share what God had been doing in my life and all the lessons I was learning through my time with Him. And I've gotten so far away from that. So now it's time for me to declare that I am going back to the basics. You will be seeing a lot more of what I meant for this blog to be about. Probably still some other things every now and then, but not as a majority. If you quit reading, I understand. But I hope you don't. Because I hope that you can be inspired or learn or grow with me in this journey.

Now...I feel like I can't move forward without at least doing a quick update from where I left off back in December. So, here it is...in pictures! Enjoy the recap, and check back tomorrow for the beginning of my posts of substance! Thanks, friends! :)

I turned 27, and Scott bought me these cute boots and a Joyce Meyer devotional :)

Pictures of all the pretty things around my yard...

We decorated for Christmas

I graduated with my Master's! Whoop!

We celebrated Christmas...this is my niece Kyli and her mom.

My other niece Keirra

Me and my sister in our new PJ's! 

Me and my Daddy

We redecorated our master bathroom...new paint, light fixture, shower curtain, mats, soap dispensers, waste basket, tooth brush holder, and towels! 

And we painted our master bedroom...more work still to be done in this room!

Happy Tuesday!
~Christy~

Life, As I Know It

Ready for some Christy updates? Lots to share, my friends; lots to share!

I seem to be basing most of these blogs around my resolutions, or as I prefer to call them, goals. I mentioned before that I don't like resolutions because they're so cliche and are rarely achieved (at least by me!). But goals seem attainable! So, goals they are! Moving right along, here is how I'm progressing with my goals...

Hanging out with friends more (at least once a month)--CHECK! Scott & I went over to April & Waring Harvey's house the Sunday before MLK Day. I love hanging out with them because we have so much in common, laugh a lot, and just feel comfortable together. We can sit with them somewhere for HOURS and just talk and we're not bored or awkward. This time we hung out at their house, went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner, came back to the house for more hanging out, then went out to get frozen yogurt. I LOVE these hip new frozen yogurt places, where you select your yogurt flavor and proceed down a buffet line of toppings and mixin's. Your price is based on the final weight of your cup of yogurt. It's so tempting not to overload the cup with all the delicious toppings available because they all look so tasty. Last time I went to one of these places, I fell into that trap and ended up with a really weird combination of flavors. This time, I was wiser. I got the lower calorie option (Cranberry and Pomegranate Sorbet) and tried to only put toppings that I thought would compliment that flavor (and used them SPARINGLY). The result was DELICIOUS! :) So, friend time and trying to stick to my healthy living goals--check!

So, since I brought it up, healthy living goals...they are going really well, I think. I have been eating more fruits and vegetables both with my meals and as snacks. We cook healthier recipes for dinners, and on the occasions where we do eat out, I try to get the lower calorie options and eat less!! Part of my problem has always been gorging myself on delicious things when I go out. Those things are always bad for me. Now when I go somewhere that I know isn't going to necessarily be healthy (like a Mexican restaurant), I try to get a smaller portion meal than I usually would. And surprisingly I've found that I'm actually satisfied. I don't feel like I'm about to burst when I leave, but I don't feel hungry either. I've also been working out more often. I go to the gym a few times a week and sometimes I work out at home by dancing to music, jumping around, lifting weights, or do other at-home exercises like crunches and leg lifts. Last week I lost 1.8 pounds! Definitely in line with my goal of 10 pounds in 2 months and a great improvement from the previous week's .2 pound! I'm hoping to see an even greater loss this week. But even if it remains fairly constant, I don't need much more than a pound a week to meet my goal. :) I already feel better about myself, and I'm happy with the way I'm living. It's not just a means to lose weight, it's a lifestyle change that I'm excited about!

So far I'm managing school work really well. I've got the next few weeks of my life already planned out and I haven't fallen behind yet! I know this is only the second week of classes, but with all this textbook reading, it's easy to fall behind.

As discussed in my previous post, I am growing closer to God and spending more time with Him. I am thrilled to be getting that closeness with The Lord back, and I'm learning to recognize my sanctification process in all that I experience. I want to praise God for speaking to us in unmistakable ways. Ya know how sometimes you might think something or read something and wonder...was that God? I love that when you may be unsure, God will say it again in another way! A lot of the revelation I had this past week was discussed and explained (though with different analogies) in church yesterday! Brandon was essentially preaching the message I had been needing to hear. How amazing that God orchestrates things like that. And it's a reminder that if He can orchestrate messages, He can certainly orchestrate circumstances in my life. I'm just trying my best to give them to Him and not worry about them in the meantime.

On my non-school book reading, I am far above my goal of one book a month for this month! I'm already on my 3rd! (4th if you count the small giftbook of my grandpa's that I read in 20 minutes). I finished up The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner a week or so ago. It was a really quick read (hence, short life), but I enjoyed it. I loved the characters and knowing Bree's fate from Eclipse didn't ruin the suspense. In fact, I found myself feeling for her all the more. Stephanie Meyer has a great way of making readers care about her characters. I mean, how many mad crushes are there for Edward and/or Jacob? TONS! Because we fell in love with them along with Bella. I really admire that kind of talent. And now I am on to a new book called Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. It's set in China in the 1800's and chronicles the life of a young girl named Lily and her laotong (an arranged permanent friendship that last a lifetime, much like an arranged marriage but with more love and compassion afterwards) Snow Flower. I'm fascinated by the cultural history in this book! I knew about many of these customs and traditions (and many I did not know of), but I had no idea what it was really like emotionally for these women! Everything from footbinding to women's duties to arranged marriages! Even their friendships weren't of their choosing! It's very enlightening, intriguing, and even entertaining. Lisa See is a brilliant storyteller, and I'm captivated by every line! I'm about halfway through the book. I bought a new book the other night called Lipstick in Afghanistan that I plan to read next. Now I'm interested in reading about other countries, and the very title of this book caught my eye. I believe it's about a recently graduated nursing student who goes on a mission to Afghanistan after 911. I'm looking forward to it.

I realize this post is going on FOREVER, but there's so much I've been doing lately! Saturday I worked at the Southern Conference on Children from 7-4:30. Much of the time I was just sitting at the front desk in case of questions, so I spent a lot of time online. I wrote my last blog and talked to some people on facebook. I actually spoke with Charlie Phelps, who was a Mormon missionary who came to see my family when I was a senior in high school. I actually was an active Mormon for a few months during that time... But it was a great conversation because we hadn't spoken in a while. We talked about my family, his life issues, and our relationships with God. It's always so refreshing and encouraging to have these types of conversations with others. He is no longer a missionary and wasn't in the mindset to convert me, so we didn't have those kinds of strains on the conversation. It was just an honest, open conversation about our walks with God. Definitely helped me get through the day.

And lastly, Scott and I had a date night after I got off work. We went to El Som (where I had a SMALL burrito), Booksamillion, and the movies to see No Strings Attached with Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman. It was about what you would expect for that type of movie. Probably too much profanity, but that was to be expected for a movie about friends with benefits. But of course it turns into a very predictable, yet still rather charming, love story. I'm not going to say it was a particularly well-done movie, but it was entertaining. I would recommend watching it on DVD, but we wanted a fun date night so we went for it. Apparently I'm in a Natalie Portman fest or something. We watched Brothers, Black Swan, and this movie all in one month!!

Well, kids, I think that's it for me! Time for me to make some tasty dinner (honey-crusted chicken, corn, edamame, and rolls), and get ready for my hubby to come home from work. Life, as I know it, is pretty darn good right now! :) I hope you can say the same!

~Christy

Making Progress

Hi, folks! As I've mentioned to some of you already, this year I plan to blog more frequently and more generally. In the past I've tried to limit my blogging to divine inspiration. I wait until I have something to share that God has shown me, or I've used it to share my praises of the Lord. I still intend to do this as it is an excellent way to glorify God and, hopefully, minister to others who may be going through some of the same issues I am. While I like this style of blogging, I've found that I often wish I could just blog about life in general. So, I plan to blog more regularly and just share about my life in general. As a Christian, God is involved in everything I do, so He will still be a focus of this blog. But you should not expect an attempt at a profound lesson or revelation every time you visit my site.

Moving on! I have been making some progress on my resolutions. I haven't made any huge changes, but I think gradual and small alterations are the key to long-term change. Here are the things I have done so far!

1. Plans are in the works for hanging out with our friends April & Waring sometime this month. April and I used to be super close because we worked together in the Office of Admissions and later took classes together in the M.A.T graduate program. Since she got married, graduated, moved to Pooler, GA and got a job in Savannah, we haven't been able to spend as much time together. I miss her and her sarcastic attitude that she gets away with because of her cuteness! :) And luckily we discovered that our husbands get along really well, too! They have a lot of the same hobbies and get to talk about manly things like guns and SCUBA diving. And they're both Christians so we often have inspired conversations and fellowship as well. I'm so looking forward to starting off my monthly friend time with them! :)

2. We aren't visiting any more family members this month because we just saw most of them during Christmas and New Years. We did start talking about our plans for February, though. I think we've decided that, if possible, we're going to go stay with my Maw Maw (great-grandmother) in Morrow, GA for a weekend to visit and also help clean up her house. She is 86 years old and isn't able to do a lot around the house anymore. When we were there for Christmas we noticed a lot of things that needed a good cleaning, such as her attic fan vent being coated with thick mounds of dust (which Scott cleaned while we were there). I'm very excited about this plan because she is such a wonderful and giving lady and I feel I've done very little to give back to her in my life. And I know she likes her house to be clean and it's probably driving her crazy that she's unable to physically take care of these things. Plus, she won't be around too much longer and I want to spend more time with her and I want Scott to get a chance to know her better. This will be a great way to accomplish the goal of visiting family once a month and also the resolution of giving more! :)

3. I've been drinking TONS of water! I drink it constantly at work, which makes me have to pee like once an hour at least, but I feel really good about it. I already feel healthier and more lively just from that alone.

4. I've been trying to get up and walk around some at work. I sit at a desk all day, so it's helpful to stretch my legs once or twice an hour. Getting up to pee a lot has helped. I have often gone to the restrooms on the far ends of the building just to get some extra walking in.

5. We've started making recipes from our new cookbook that offers healthy alternatives for tasty meals. Last night we made nachos! We used ground turkey, non-fat black bean dip, salsa, low-fat chips, low-fat skim milk cheese, and Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. I want to make a plug here for Greek Yogurt. I had never had it before, but it is nice and thick and really tastes a lot like sour cream! It has tons of health benefits like being super high in protein and full of probiotics that aid in digestion and colon health. Supposedly you can eat it like regular yogurt, though it seems too bitter to me. But as a sour cream substitute it's wonderful. It's thicker than regular yogurt or low-fat sour cream and has more health benefits. I highly recommend it!

6. I haven't devoted 30 minutes a day to God yet, but I have been spending more time in prayer and Bible study each day. I've also been reading a non-school book during lunch and before bed every night. It is one of my Grandpa's books: Knowing God: Knowing Myself. It's quite good, and also helps with the God-time, too!

That's it so far. In other news--tonight Scott and I are having a date night! We are going to Savannah after work, having dinner, and seeing Black Swan in the theater. After that, if we're not too tired, we may walk around River Street. I'm super excited! We're always together, but when we take the time to plan something different it's always extra fun and feels more special.

Good luck with all your resolutions, friends! Mine are certainly a work in progress, and I hope yours are coming along, too. Happy Friday!

Resolutions!

I really don't like the idea of new years resolutions because they're so cliche and hardly anyone ever accomplishes them, especially me! But there is something about starting a new year, the idea of starting fresh and coming at things in a different way, that is so appealing. I took some time to think about why my resolutions always fail. There are several reasons I can come up with. 1) the goals are long-term and not paired with any short-term, attainable, and measurable goals. For instance, losing weight. I'll either make it a generic goal of simply that or I'll say something like...I want to lose 20 pounds. When I don't see results soon, I get discouraged and give up. There isn't anything to keep me motivated. But if I made smaller goals, like 4 pounds a month for example, I can start to see progress and start meeting little goals, thereby encouraging me to keep going. 2) the goals are something I feel like I should do, but not something I really want to do. Or maybe I do want to, but not as badly as I want something contrary to it. Maybe I want to lose weight, but not as badly as I want to eat chocolate. Maybe I think I should go to the gym everyday, but I don't really want to. I think there are ways of getting around this. (I know I keep talking about losing weight, but it's such a common one and something that, as cliche as it is, I do want to do.) But I think if maybe I broaden my thoughts of losing weight to more than just hours logged at the gym, I could start living a healthier lifestyle by doing other physical activities, making small changes, and eating tasty but healthy things--rather than completely cutting out things I love. And this brings me to the final reason I think my resolutions fail. 3) I make it all about restrictions and abstaining from things. What is meant to be a positive and encouraging endeavor becomes a negative and insufferable experience. So, maybe rather than only focus on things I won't do, I can focus instead of things that I will do. It seems much easier to start something new than to quit something old and familiar. Not to say I shouldn't cut some things down or make changes, but positive additions will go a long way, I think.

So, bearing all this in mind, I have come up with a few "resolutions" for 2011.

1. Eat more veggies! I feel like I hardly ever eat vegetables and there are so many choices out there that are tasty and super nutritious.
2. drink more water. Water is good for you in so many ways, it's free (we have well water), and it's refreshing!
3. search for more alternative recipes for some of our favorite dishes (ie, whole wheat pasta and breads, fat free sour cream, egg substitute, etc...)
4. find more ways to be physical throughout the day (walk around every 30 minutes at work, lift weights while watching TV, always take the stairs vs. the elevator, etc...)
5. do more physical activities for fun, like riding bikes, taking walks, dancing, etc...
6. spend more time outside. I feel like I'm always indoors! We have such a beautiful and spacious lawn and a nice pond outside our house and we never go out there! I want to spend time sitting on the front porch reading, fishing in the pond, walking around, and playing the lawn games we got for Christmas!
7. visit family more often. we tend to wait for reasons to visit people, and some people never provide concrete events or "reasons" to come see them...so we don't see them at all, or only once a year at Christmas. I want to see everyone more, especially siblings, cousins, and grandparents. I want to make plans to do this at least once a month.
8. hang out with friends more often. Scott and I always joke that we don't have friends. It's not that, it's just that we are homebodies. We love being at home and relaxing. And we love being together so much that we rarely feel the need for other people. But relationships are important to me and I want to be close with other people. There are people in my life who I love and I want to spend more time with them. I want to plan to do this at least once a month as well.
9. Spend more time with God. I used to spend at least 30 minutes a day in prayer and Bible study...just talking with God. I can't remember that last time I did that. I still pray and read the Bible, but not in larger segments of time, and I rarely give God my undivided attention. I honestly feel like I've lost a lot of the passion in my relationship with God and I want it back so badly, and I've been struggling with this for a few months now. I hope that seeking him through devoted time each day will help me grow closer with Him.
10. Continue paying off my student loans each month, even though I don't have to since I'm still in school. It seems smart to make payments before interest kicks in again. We stopped doing it b/c of Christmas expenses, but I want to start again.
11. Find ways to give more, whether it be with money, time, possessions, etc... We tithe regularly, donate to ministries, and volunteer regularly at the church. I don't feel like we're doing poorly in this area, but I believe there is always room to do more and I don't want to become complaisant in this area.
12. Read more books! I want to read at least one non-school related book a month. That doesn't seem like a lot, but I often get bogged down with school work, and if I do any outside reading it's the Bible. That is more important than other reading, but I think I have the time if I set it aside to read for fun.
13. Do at least one project around the house a month. There are lots of things I would like to accomplish in our home, but I rarely feel like doing any of it. But projects can be fun once you get into them, and I find that I'm always so much happier when the house is clean, organized, and put together. I want to do some work outside, paint several things, fix the trim around our fireplace, etc...
14. Make all A's each semester
15. and lastly--write more. This blog is about the extent of my writing outside of emails and school papers. I want to continue to blog, but also do some free writing every now and then. I don't know exactly what my goal is in this area. Maybe 10 minutes a day? That's not much, but it's good for starting out, I think. I really want to make these goals simple, attainable and measurable. And they need to be things I'm committed to. I can go ahead and tell you that I won't do all these things, but I hope to at least make small improvements in all areas.

So, there ya have it! Lose weight, yes--but through specific changes and additions. But really more than that, I want to grow in my relationships with God, family, friends, and myself. And of course, I want to grow with Scott--but that isn't an area that I need to set goals to accomplish. We are naturally awesome at being together! ;)