Goals. January 27, 2012

At the beginning of this year, I wrote about my goals for the year. So far, I think I’m on the right track. I wanted to give an update, mostly for myself, so I can keep track. Perhaps I’ll do this once a month.

Reading through the New Testament
Last night I finished reading Matthew, and I want to finish the rest of the gospels by the end of February. I fell off the wagon mid-month, but have been picking up the slack on my reading and making sure I read at least one chapter of the Bible before bed. I want to be more deliberate with my time and what I use it for, and making reading through the Word a priority is important for me. I am also buying a Bible commentary so there is more context and information behind what I’m reading.

Read books sitting around my house
Check. Read World Without End. Still have 13 books on the list I came up with, but I’ll get them done.

Drink less soda.
Yikes, this one could be going better. As I sit here I’m drinking a Diet 7-UP. Baby steps, right?

Be healthier.
I am totally making much better decisions regarding my lifestyle. I started doing a 5K training program but it’s been halted temporarily because I have crazy shin splints and have to get a new pair of shoes with good insoles next week before I can run. However, instead of quitting entirely until then, I still sling on my running shoes and go walk at least as far as I had planned on running. It takes longer but I’m moving my body still and sweating and doing good things for my heart. Charisse has been coming with me sometimes, and we’re going out tonight, too. Steph and I are running a 5K in a few weeks, and even if I can’t run most of it (hopefully my new shoes will enable me to!), I’ll be able to walk most of it, and that’s my goal. I’m also really working on changing my food habits. I’ve been trying to eat a fruit and/or veggie with each meal as well as incorporate a good, healthy protein. I have been loving Greek yogurt with granola, but it gets so expensive so this weekend I’m going to try an experiment and make my own. It looks pretty easy, and only involves a quarter cup of regular yogurt, plus four cups of milk. It makes regular yogurt, and then you strain it using coffee filters and a colander to make it thicker for Greek-style yogurt.

I’m not getting paid or anything to say this, but I just started using Nike+ yesterday and I think it’s going to be a huge motivator for me. I love to keep list and track my records, and not only does their website do that, but it also lets you challenge your friends, and you can set up goals for yourself. I set up four goals for myself for the next four weeks:

• 16 runs (or more!)
• 40 miles (or more!)
• 14,000 calories (or more!)
• 3 (or more!) runs with an average of 15:30/mile

The website shows you progress on each goal. If I don’t make them, that’s okay. I just keep going and stick with me. It’s perfect for Type A people like myself.

Grow in God.
This one is going great. Like I said above, I’m working on being much more intentional about my time spent reading the Bible, and I’ve also made some changes to areas of my life that were possibly keeping me from God. For instance, I deactivated both of my facebooks last night because there’s stuff on there that is representative of my old life and right now, I need distance from that stuff. There’s some stuff at church I’m considering doing as well that I think would serve me well, and I’m working on getting more invested in Sundays and really applying what I’m learning to my life. I think it’s amazingly helpful to have my Thursday night home group to reflect back on the sermons (although last night we spent a LOT more time laughing about trolls and other weird, random stuff than talking about the sermon). I want to move forward and let go of the fear I have about what God is going to do in my life if I allow Him!

New year, same kind of post January 10, 2012

1. Obviously I’ve been in a blogging rut the last few months.

2. January is always a hard month for me. It’s okay, it’ll be over before I know it!

3. I’ve read two books already (one normal length, one short) and am working through a third one. It’s a 1,005 pages long, so it might take me a million years to finish it.

4. Charisse starts jujitsu today and I get to take her to her first class. I’m really excited to see this go down.

5. Charisse will be eight years old a month from Thursday and I kind of want to weep. She is growing up so fast. There are only a few months left in second grade. Where does the time go?!

6. I miss my Tommy dog. There’s a dog that plays at the park sometimes, named Holly, and for some reason she reminds me so much of my Thomas and whenever I see her, I miss him like crazy.

7. Charisse and I have been doing the Ease into 5K program. Week 1 was fantastic. Week 2 (we’ve only done the first day) sucked so hard. I think it’s because half of what I was doing was uphill, but I wanted to cry. I still managed 2.21 miles, though, so that is excellent. I’m hoping that it will be easier when we run tomorrow because I’m going to stretch more/better and run a route that isn’t asking for a world of pain.

8. The weather has been so windy. Thankfully it’s finally less windy today. It was so nice outside. I sat out in the sunshine at Starbucks today for an hour and just enjoyed the perfect temperature.

9. There was a robbery at the pizza place literally a tenth of a mile down the street from me. Well doesn’t that make me feel all kinds of warm and fuzzy?

10. I can’t wait to see Celine again in Vegas in mid-March. There are third row tickets available to one of her August shows for “only” $271 (including Ticketmaster’s dumb fees) and I’m seriously considering going!

News Year’s Goals/end of the year post December 31, 2011

I haven’t blogged in so long that WordPress decided to automatically log me out. Thank you, WP, for protecting my best interests.

Anyhow, I haven’t been blogging because… my life has been boring. And that’s totally fine by me. It was the first year in… um, a really long time I have no zero school, so that really freed up a lot of time. Basically I spent this year reading a ridiculous amount of book, stalking people on facebook, rewatching Grey’s Anatomy from the start, falling in love with Friday Night Lights, moving out of my parents’ house and then spending more time each week at their home than my apartment, making old friendships stronger and turning new friendships into old ones, and growing as a person. It has been a good year. I’m ready for what 2012 has to bring, though.

With that said, I’m going to list some of my new year’s goals. I read on the interwebz of a lady calling her “resolutions” goals instead because it seemed to make more sense, so hereunto, I present you with Krista’s New Year’s Goals.

1. Grow in God.
   I’ve been going to Calvary Chapel in Camarillo for about 15 months now and I love it. But lately I’ve been slacking in the church/God department. I know that God doesn’t dwell only or primarily in church, but it’s a good place to be built up and to learn. I really want to focus on learning about God this year and growing in my walk with Him. I have so much to learn, and I really want to approach learning about Him the way I have always done with school, and that is with full force and with excitement! He has become more real and special to me since I started going to church again, and I don’t feel like it’s right for me to profess to being a Christian but not living a lifestyle that really shows that. There are a million things I could write to be more specific, but I’d like to make it general because this is a really personal goal for me. There is a lot of work that needs to be done in me, and I’m thankful that I have some really fantastic friends in my life who will hold me accountable to this goal because they also understand its relevance to the lives we live. And I’m very thankful that these same people will have the hard conversations with me about my life when I’m not living it in a way that honors God.
2. Read through the New Testament.
   When I started going to church in 2010, I started reading through the Bible, beginning with the Old Testament. Mistake. Seriously, I lost interest not because it was boring (well… it was a little less interesting) but because it’s hard to relate to some of the OT because we live in a New Testament world. So while I’d love to read the entire Bible the whole way through at some point, I’m going to start just by saying I want to read the entire NT this year. I want to know what Jesus did and said, and I want to be more like Him. I think doing this will really help me with the first goal, to grow in God, because how can you not grow in God when you’re reading through the words His Son said???
3. Be healthier.
   Again, I could be a lot more specific with this one, but I don’t want to set any unrealistic goals for this one. I do have plans to do the Couch to 5K and follow that with the Bridge to 10K program, but other than that, I really just want to be intentional about putting healthy things into my body and to do things like moving more and using my body in the way God intended it to be used instead of sitting around, being lazy. Lazy is good but I always feel even better when I’ve been active and healthy!
4. Read books I have sitting around my house.
   There are so many books I have sitting on bookshelves that I’ve wanted to read and just haven’t. I’m so excited to get started with this goal tomorrow. I’ve picked 14 books I want to read throughout the year. Of course I’ll read more, but these are the 14 that I know I’ll read for sure:
   • Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver
   • My Name is Memory, Ann Brashares
   • The First Hour I Believed, Wally Lamb
   • My Name is Mary Sutter, Robin Oliveria
   • Freedom, Johnathan Franzen
   • … And the Ladies of the Club, Helen Hoover Santmyer
   • World Without End, Ken Follett
   • Some Sing, some Cry, Ntozake Shange
   • Redeeming Love, Francine Rivers
   • Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
   • Sophie’s Choice, William Stryton
   • The Great American University
   • Getting In, Karen Stabiner
   • The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery
5. Drink less soda/caffeine.
   We’ll see. This is more goal every year but I struggle with each time.

Pay it forward November 26, 2011

My friend Vanessa shared a link with me recently on facebook and I am so in love with the story the link told that I wanted to share it with you all, too. It’s a project one woman took on to celebrate her birthday, and I am so excited to do it for my birthday. The thing is, my birthday is still three and a half months away, which feels like an eternity to me, so I’m going to do it for the holiday season as well.

If you’re too lazy to click the link (and I wish you weren’t, because her telling of her story is way more amazing than my telling of it), here’s her story in a nutshell: on her 38th birthday, the woman of the blog (whose name I can’t find!) celebrated by doing 38 Random Acts of Kindness, in varying degrees of “bigness.” She took back people’s carts in the shopping center, paid tolls at toll roads, and bought gift cards for strangers. It blows me away. I wish that there world were full of more people who were willing to do something like this, even something small. It doesn’t take your birthday to do a random act of kindness; it is something you can do on a large or small scale every day.

So from December 1 until December 25, I’m going to celebrate each day by doing at least one random act of kindness. More if I’m lead that way, but at least one. I dare you to join me!

Life update November 18, 2011

1. I’m back from Idaho. It was great until I got sick but even then it was still great. I never realized how much I like cold weather until the Saturday after I got back I was out in the 72 heat and thought I was going to melt. I guess the cold just agrees with me.

2. I downloaded The Christmas Sessions by MercyMe on iTunes and let me just say, I love it. It might be my favorite Christmas CD ever, followed very closely by Faith Hill’s Joy to the World. And I used to say “Silent Night” was my favorite Christmas carol, and I still love it, but I think my new favorite is “Little Drummer Boy.” The message of the Little Drummer Boy is so powerful me — what do I bring to honor God, even when I think I have nothing?

3. November is a month of many breaks. This week is over, next week is a short week, then it’s a full week, and then it’s Thanksgiving week and I only work three days. (And I get to put up a Christmas tree and get all giddy…)

4. I really need to step it up with the Christmas shopping. So far, I have one present for Gwen. That’s it. And I bought that months ago. I know what I’m getting most of my giftees. Tonight I’m going to Michaels to buy part of Charisse’s gift so I’ll feel better about that soon.

5. I wrote this on November 4th. It’s now November 18th. Whoops. Since then, it’s now become the full week at work, and I’m only working two days next week, and one of those days I’ll be at the district all day sitting on an interview panel. Also, I bought Noah a Christmas present that is great.

6. I’ve been looking at the rest of the people on my Christmas list and I’m getting pretty excited for payday so I can just sit down and pay. I’m disappointed that I didn’t do it like I did last year, two presents a month for several months, because it’s definitely more stressful this year than it was last time, but oh well. I haven’t finished Charisse’s gift but I know exactly what to get…

7. The reason I’m excited about all of this Christmas present buying is because we’re putting the tree up next week on Thanksgiving! Ryan works so Mel, Charisse, and I will put on the tree and decorate the house for the holidays, and every good Christmas tree needs some wrapped presents under it! They’re going to the Duston’s for dinner and I’m going to my grandma’s for a little bit, and then we’ll probably come back to the house and decorate some more. Gah I’m excited. Then it’s acceptable to actually like Christmas things!

8. All I want for Thanksgiving day is maybe some cool weather and overcast skies so we can stay inside and drink hot cocoa and wine with the fire roaring while we decorate. Too much to ask? I think not.

9. That’s where I am. There’s more but it’s just too much to type right now.

Wordless Wednesday: Apartment Tour October 27, 2011

(HUGE thanks to Kim for doing the storyboards — that was the hard work!)

tuesday 10 October 19, 2011

1. i have started at least three posts about the stupid, entitled 99%ers, but i get so annoyed by them that i can’t even finish. apparently i do have a little conservative voice inside of me hiding out.

2. i leave for vacation in less than 24 hours. at this time tomorrow, i’ll be soaring through the skies. if all goes as planned, i’m be over northern california after leaving from oakland at 9:00 am. it’s weird getting to idaho so early. when i’ve gone to alabama, i always picked an early flight but between five hours of air travel, usually a one- or two-hour layover, and travel from the airport, it’s six or seven by the time i arrive. my flight lands in boise at 11:30 so if all goes as planned, i should be at kim and cory’s house by lunch time! and it’s only an hour time difference so it isn’t too bad. my flights are 90 minutes or less — barely enough time to reach cruising altitude, get a snack, and then begin the descent again.

3. i’m looking forward to fall weather. it’s cold in ventura right now, but it isn’t what i would call fall. it’s more like early winter: dreary and cloudy. the weather changes a little bit each time i look at the forecast, but as of right now, there are no days “hotter” than 69, and the lowest low is 33. one day is supposed to rain. all days are going to be great.

4. kim and i have compiled a list of fun traditions to do while i visit (since my october visit has become a tradition itself!). some of these include: making homemade paula dean cinnamon rolls. making an apple pie (maybe this year will be the first time we can actually do it!). going to the pumpkin patch. watching a movie on a rainy night. getting addicted to a game on the iPad (easier this year since i actually own an iPad and don’t have to use hers when she’s not using it or using my iPhone). kim, add anything i’ve forgotten.

5. i packed last night but i have to repack tonight because a) i had to sit on my suitcase to close it, b) i need to do some reorganization after i do laundry, and c) i just got to the point where i was throwing stuff in there for the sake of making sure it got in there.

6. i’m bringing my camera but i can’t find my camera usb cord so the only vacation pictures i’ll post until i get home will be via my iPhone. #firstworldproblems

7. i’m so excited to see peyton and noah! peyton is like a mini-charisse, except that she looks like kim. and the last time i saw noah, he was still really little (it was in april, which was six months ago, so he was only around seven months old).

8. this morning is draaaaaging. so slow. painfully slow.

9. have you heard of spotify? it’s like pandora but way, way, way better.

10. that’s all i’ve got.

Awesome sauce scarves October 9, 2011

I am sooo tired right now and I have to be at work mañana bright and early after a long weekend, but I’m waiting for the load of laundry I just put in to finish so I can throw it in the dryer and as such, you get an post from me while I wait. (Also, if I don’t post this now it will be like the post about the yummy cinnamon rolls I made for the first time two years ago while I was in Alabama. I documented every step with pictures, even me and Kim enjoying them, and then I never wrote the post. Shame on me.)

I kept seeing this cool gray and yellow twisty-braidy scarf on Pinterest but I never repinned it. Then I saw that a lady, Keight, whose blog I read (and whose name I love so much I’ve shortlisted it on my list of baby names!), wrote an entire tutorial post about how she and her husband figured out how to recreate the scarf, which was selling for $40ish bucks, for less than seven.

Well okay then. I was ready to make it.

Also, she created an awesome tutorial completed with very detailed, clear instructions, pictures, and there’s even the bonus Price Is Right hand gestures in a video if you so wish. As soon as I read the tutorial, I was like, “Even I, who am really stupid when it comes to visualizing this kind of stuff, get this.” And I even got the hardest part, which is sewing the seam on the inside of the scarf. So I decided to do this before I go to Idaho in a few weeks, but there’s only one problem.

I don’t own a sewing machine.

A few people offered to let me come hang out at their homes and do it, but I just hate creating a mess at others’ houses. Fast forward to this weekend, when I was in San Diego with my friend Lindsay. (Amtrak and I were not friends on Friday night. It took me six and a half hours to get from Ventura to San Diego on train — a whole lot more than the planned five hours and two minutes! I could have walked there faster.) Lindsay and I had the brilliant plan to buy some clearance jersey sheets from Target and use her mom’s sewing machine to get some stuff sewn and scarves made. She is doing a craft sale in a few weeks, while I’m in Alabama, and I was gung-ho. So after we got back to Ventura tonight, we left her kids with her parents, hopped in my car, and perused the aisles at Target.

There wasn’t that great of a selection, but we decided on some plain gray and red jersey sheets (both in size cal king, because it’s go big or go home for us, and also because they were the same price as the twin sheets and I’m a firm believer in the biggest bang for your buck), plus two body pillowcases and a regular pillowcase (none of which I can find on the Target website. Fail, Target.) As we were leaving, we saw the clearance bedding and they happened to have a set of bright pink jersey sheets and pillowcases on clearance for $6.24. I didn’t really want to spend that much more, but I would have regretted not getting them, so I did. We both spent about $50 on stuff and then headed to her parents’ house to get started.

It took us about three hours to make the first scarf, but not because we’re stupid. (Well… that’s debatable.) Lindsay had to deal with her kids, and I helped her, and there was dinner involved, and bathtime, and bedtime. It was really an eventful night.

Anyhow, here’s Lindsay about to sew for the first time tonight. This is also mere seconds before she temporarily broke the sewing machine. (You think I’m kidding but at one point the bobbin hated our guts and we wanted to weep. Lesson learned? Looser stitches and less thread tension. Also. Don’t let Lindsay thread the needle because she misses a few steps!)

 

 

The first tube I made! I was so, so proud. (What you can’t really see here is just how HORRIBLE my measuring/cutting was. Seriously. It was so bad.)

 

 

 

Both of the tubes on mine ready to be braided, but dinner calls. (You can see that in the background of this shot.)

Some of the aftermath. We’d already cleaned up a little here.

My scarf! (This is the second shot after I fiddled with the braiding a little bit. Still needs a little more adjustment to perfect it.)

Lindsay and I with our finished projects! We’re making some more tomorrow for a craft fair in two weeks, but we needed to do a few trials runs so we could figure out what the h— we were doing. There were some stitches that we were nervous about (actually just one — the part where we turned the fabric into a long tube) but overall I think they turned out awesome, considering we haven’t used sewing machines in 13 and 14 years, respectively! (Please excuse my diiirty hair, sweaty face, glasses, tired eyes, and horribly “supportive” sports bra!)

A short list of things I learned tonight:

1. Jersey is nice to touch, but terrible to cut. Especially if you’re me. Then you cut “straight” lines like a drunk sailor.
2. Sewing is so much harder than it looks if it’s been a while since you last did it.
3. Awesome tutorials rock!
4. This scarf is easy and fun and actually very simple once you get done with a sample one.

 

Show Us Your Life: Pet Edition October 7, 2011

The weekly Show Us Your Life at Kelly’s Korner is all about our pets. I am a sucker for my dogs, so I’m excited to get to do a post about them!

My dogs are technically my parents’ pets but I consider them mine, too. Minus the parts where I have to buy them food and pay for their vet bills. Then they’re entirely owned my them. I’m going to talk about the order in which we got them.

Baytor Nerrise, "Rottador" mix (rottie/lab),8 years old

Baytor, who is named after a Star Trek character (my parents get the blame for that one), is truly a marshmallow of a dog. In fact, we often call her Marshmallow. She is 100 pounds of dumb dog. We got her from the pound about six and a half years ago. She loves all of us (me, little sister, and parents), but Dad is her person. She’s slow and doesn’t like to take long walks or anything, but we’ve started taking her to the neighborhood park and she likes it. Her idea of playing catch is to lie in the grass and when we throw the ball to her, if she can catch it sitting down — great. If not, we have to get the ball and throw it again. It’s called Lazy Catch, and she’s a pro at it. It makes me sad to think we don’t have very many years left with her (life expetencies for rotts and labs 9 and 12 years), but she’s already showing signs of aging. She’s much slower than she used to be, and over the last few years she’s had constant eye, skin, and ear infections. It is going to be a heart-breaking day for all of us when she dies or has to be put down. For now, we just enjoy out “So Big” (as we affectionately call her, and she responds!) and appreciate the fact that she is still here.

Tommy Dog, Rhodesian Ridgeback, 13 years old

Tommy was an awesome dog. We had to put him down on July 1 of this year after he developed a rapidly-growing cancer in his leg, and it is honestly one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. My mom and I stayed with him through the entire euthanasia, and while I will say that I will be there for any dog I have until the end, it was terribly hard. He lived a good life, though, because the average Ridgeback has a life expectancy of 9 years, and he was almost 14 when he died. We had him for three years and he was such a good boy (our family’s only boy dog, actually!). He loved walks and playing with tennis balls. You can read more about him in the doggie obituary I wrote for him. (Awww, I just read this again for the first time in a while and it makes me miss him. He really was such a good, good boy!)

Chloe, Chihuahua, 4 years old

Chloe is also another one of our pound puppies. My sister, who was four when Chloe came to our family, really wanted a dog of her size, since we had two big dogs. My parents said, “Sure!” (actually, I think it was my mom who said sure and my dad just went along for the ride) and Chloe came to be part of the family. She is named after Chloe from Beverly Hills Chihuahua and has the same initials as my sister (yes, all of our dogs of middle names). Chloe was a really ugly, malnourished dog when we got her, but now she weighs a whopping 11 pounds (she is a larger chihuahua; she’s n0t one of those gross fat ones!) and is a very pretty girl. Her back legs are longer than her front ones, so she stands at a slant, and when she runs the back of her body drifts to the side, so she never runs in a truly straight line. She needs a lot of walking and running. She plays hilarious games with us, and puts up with a lot of crap (like when I dress her in my sister’s Build-A-Bear clothes). She is a good girl, and we’re stuck with her for a long time because chihuahuas basically live forever.

Her Halloween costume (my dad is a police officer)

Working on her lazy

She has fun ears

Fixing education October 3, 2011

I’m already a few days behind on my blog-a-day challenge for October, but that’s okay. Yesterday’s post really resonated with me, so I’m going to be posting it today. It’s all about how we would change education given the possibility. I know we can’t change anything in a blog post (as some smart commenter noted… this is me, rolling my eyes, and the duhness of that comment), but I think education should be something we talk about all. the. time.

It might seem crazy, but when I have kids, if I have the opportunity to homeschool them and I think it would work well for them, I wouldn’t hesitate. Not one bit. There are so many negatives said about homeschooling: that the kids are less socialized. Their curriculum isn’t as good as a teacher’s because it isn’t taught the same way. They don’t go to college. They won’t learn as much as in a traditional school. All homeschooled kids do is sit around all day. And the thing is, all of these things are wrong. Many homeschooled kids end up more articulate, well-spoken, well-rounded, and academically prepared for life and for higher education, and I think a big, huge reason for this is because homeschooling a child gives parents the opportunity to teach the way his or her child needs to learn.

My point here isn’t that everyone should homeschool their children; I think that’s a big stretch to say that. Homeschooling isn’t right for every kid, and it’s not right for every parent. But I think the key to education lies in what I said earlier about the possibility of homeschooling: if it’s right for my kid. Education in the United States falls, for the most part, into a one-size-fits-all box, and clearly it’s broken. The US average high school graduation rate from public high schools is 70.1% and in California it’s only 68.17% (source). That means for every thousand California students, 32 of them don’t graduate high school. It blows my mind. But at the same time, if I’m being honest, I have to admit it doesn’t really surprise me all that much. Kids get funneled from traditional elementary schools to traditional middle/junior high schools to traditional high schools, and somewhere along the way many of them are getting lost. And the saddest part is, we are losing smart, talented kids because we have such a linear education system that assumes all students will make it to college and all students will be proficient at state testing (thank you, No Child Left Behind). We’re missing something here. Something major.

What about the kids who have good mechanical abilities, and want to work with cars or be electricians or work as craftsman?

What about students who are gifted in the arts (whether it’s singing or dancing or painting or writing)?

What about the students who are incredibly smart, but their learning styles don’t mesh with the 8 – 3 classroom?

We leave them all behind by expecting them to fit into a single mold. And that’s why, if I were able to wave my magic education wand, I’d make sure every parent knows that there are options for students, options that are so much broader in scope than a typical classroom, and I’d make sure that we give parents the opportunity to send their kids to the schools that would best suit them.

In grad school I learned about open classrooms. What! They’re amazing. I wish this kind of classroom had been around and accessible when I was in elementary school, because I think it would have made learning so much easier for me, especially in areas where I am weak, such as math and science. What I really think is powerful about these kinds of classrooms are that they allow students to be the experts in subject matter in which they excel. Have a child who’s great at English or creative writing? Let him or her help the rest of the students in the class. The same goes for math, and science, and history. Even bigger than student experts is that these kinds of classes allow teachers to teach the curriculum without separating everything into pieces. In my seven-year-old sister’s class, they have specific times each day for spelling, social science, math, and reading. Imagine how much more effective it would be to combine history and writing into a single lesson, or math and writing, or science and spelling… the list is endless. You do, of course, have to get more creative with your assessments, but I like that teachers have to work a little bit more outside the box in open classrooms.

Another tool I think is under utilized is the concept of a virtual classroom. For students who like a more traditional approach to academics, this would work well but give them flexibility by allowing them to do their work online. Most programs are state funded and provide a computer and printer as well as a subsidy for internet access to families who need it. Um, hello? This would have been AMAZING for me in high school. Amazing. Especially in those cases where the classes are self-paced. That was a big struggle for me: there were classes in high school that were just too easy for me, and sometimes I felt stifled by having to hold myself back so the rest of the class could catch up. (And the converse is true as well — there were classes that were insanely difficult for me, and I needed extra help, but couldn’t always get it the way I wanted and needed because we needed to keep on a certain schedule).

A third idea? Ix-nay the concept of “college is for everyone.” It’s not, and that’s okay. I say this as someone who works at a college and studied college student personnel in graduate school. Let’s take our cue from other countries, like Germany, and break our educational system into chunks. Everyone gets the basics as a kid, whether it’s in a traditional classroom, homeschooling, or something like an open classroom. As you progress, you move into different types of schools, like schools that lead to university or schools that lead to a trade. There’s nothing wrong with going to a trade high school and learning there. Seriously, I know a lot of tradesmen and women who are way more set than I am, and their jobs are in less danger than mine! It all goes back to the concept of one size doesn’t fit all, and how can a student who wants to fix cars or build things care about politics and mathematics the  same way a university-bound student can? Neither of these students is better or more important than the other — the reality is, we need them both — yet we as a society (sadly) prize one over the other.

These are just three of countless ways to educate kids that don’t fall into mainstream education ideals, but they’re three ways that might be successful at netting more kinds in areas that they’re interested in, not to mention catching the kids who fall through the cracks because they’re not best served by a traditional college prep curriculum.

Commence the magic wand waving.

Books and more books September 30, 2011

I feel like I’ve gotten stuck in a blogging rut the last few months (I’ve posted like three times since school started in August), so I am doing a post a day challenge in October. Well, I’m starting it today so I’ll have post for every day in October plus my bonus post today. Want to join in? Check it out over here!

Today’s post is about the five books that have influenced you the most. This is actually much harder for me than it appears so let’s see if I can do my best… Here they are, in really no particular order except for number one, which is the most influential book to me (not counting the Bible, which I’m not including on this list because it kind of exists above and outside of any other books).

1. The Power of One, by Bryce Courtenay
I read this one during the my senior year of high school and was changed by Peekay’s determination and tenacity even in the face of adversity. I am a heart-thinker, not a head thinker, and I will always remember one of the book’s mantras: “First with your head, then with your heart.” It’s hard for me to summarize how this book impacted me, but it’s all about choosing how to act in the face of difficulties, and I think that reason alone is what inspired and touched me as I read it for the first time (and have since ready it countless other times as an adult).

2. I’ll Be Seeing You, by Mary Higgins Clark
This was the first “adult” book (well, technically I read most of The Stand when I was 11 but I’ve really tried hard to block that out of my mind because what 11-year-old should ever read Stephen King?!) I read. I was 12 or 13 and bored, and this was all that was around, so I picked it up and devoured it. Mary Higgins Clark was the start of my love for suspense and mystery novels as an adult, with the foundation built on Nancy Drews. It had murder and mystery and a love story. Although it’s not fantastic writing, it’s certainly a very strong reminder of my love for reading and where it all started.

3. Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
Speak is the story of a young woman unable to speak up after being raped at a party. This was, for me, one of the first times I’d read about someone having survived what I’d survived, and although it’s a young adult novel, that doesn’t make it any less powerful. As Melinda finds her voice, and her own power and control, I did as well — at least the start of it.

4. Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
Who doesn’t love a classic? This girl loves lots of them, but Little Women is high on that list of “Books I’ll Forever Love.” As a teenager, I remember reading this book and finishing in, a crazy mixture of emotions going through me. I was so sad, and so happy, and so excited, all at the same time. Jo and Beth and Amy and Meg, they were some of my best friends as a child, and I could take great comfort in their world.

5. Maus/Maus II, by Art Spiegelman
In 9th grade we had to pick an SSR book for our English class that we’d read for the first 15 minutes of class each day. I picked Maus and then was told it wasn’t appropriate because it was a comic. Well, Mrs. Ledbetter, it’s actually a graphic novel, but whatever. I read it at home, and then I checked it out a million more times from library. This is the story of Spiegelman’s father, who survived WWII and the concentration camps, and how it affected the rest of his life. The characters are represented by various animals. It’s such a moving, powerful account of one of humanity’s darkest moments.

Wash, rinse, repeat September 28, 2011

I have been a terrible blogger lately, but it’s hard not having the internet at home (do you have any idea how hard it is to type a decent blog on an iPhone?!) and I’ve been really busy with work and life that I haven’t had time to blog. So, here are a few updates.

1. If you read my last post about Sara/Gitzengirl and checked out her blog, you should know she passed away on Saturday evening. What an amazing woman Sara was, and is. I never knew her in person, but her blog touched me in so many ways.

2. Work is work and I will choose joy in what I do even if it’s not joyful by nature.

3. I had a few days off of work for some sickness/dermatology stuff and it was nice to kind of rest and enjoy those days, but it’s back to answering phone calls and emails for this girl. Good news — it’s very nearly the weekend, and just three weeks and a day ’til my Idaho trip.

4. I’m so excited for Idaho! We are going to each tasty food, and hang out, and just have fun. I only wish other friends could come as well!

5. This Saturday is a girls’ night with my friends Vanessa and Lauren from college, and another girl that Vanessa is friends with. I’m also looking forward to that because we need to get away.

6. The weather is becoming more fall-like and this is the first year I can remember truly embracing it. Hooray for fall!

7. I have my fingers crossed that the weather in Idaho starts to cool down and stays down. It’s got three weeks; I want a fall-feeling fall!

8. Book 57 has been hit. Yay for me!

Choose joy. September 15, 2011

I am writing this from my phone, and with tears rolling down my face no less, so forgive any typos or other mistakes.

There’s a girl whose blog has inspired me over the years. I’ve never read her blog regularly, but every few weeks or months I go back and catch up on all that I’ve missed. Tonight I happened to see a tweet from someone that mentioned this girl’s blog and a posted entitles “Going Home.” My heart sunk because the girl, named Sara (or Gitzen Girl) has a very serious disease that negatively affects all of her body, and as she’s gotten older, the disease has gotten progressively worse. She is homebound and hasn’t been outside in several years due to her health. So a post about going home causes fear because when you’re homebound, there’s only one other place you can go, and that’s Home.

You know. The capital H kind.

The Home that Jesus paid the mortgage on thousands of years ago.

I made my way over to Sara’s blog reluctantly as I sat in Starbucks waiting to pick Charisse up from cheerleading practice. And to the great sadness of my heart, Sara IS making her way home. As her body shuts down, hospice has come in and is keeping her comfortable and at peace, and she will soon be with Jesus. Restored. Transformed. Whole and healthy, without the physical limitations this earth has put on her.

And still I cry.

I cry for many reasons. The first is that I don’t want to go Home young. I know that’s not very cool-Christian of me to admit and I have never really shared this before, but even though I know Heaven is so much more amazing than my mind can fathom, I want to be here to get married and have babies and she Charisse grow up and have babies. Just like Sara did.

But at the same time, I weep because, sick as she was, Sara always chose joy in her life. Sick and in pain, Sara worshipped God to her fullest ability and was able to turn a serious handicap into the work of God.

I pray that I can live my life like that: in joy and in honor to the extreme. and I pray that you’ll join in my prayer as Sara makes her way to her Home.

gitzengirl’s blog

catching up August 26, 2011

I feel like I haven’t blogged that much because it’s been a little bit crazy in my life so now’s the time to catch up. In no particular order:

1. I have got to sleep in my own bed for two nights in a row (Wednesday and Thursday). It is literally (said in Rob Lowe’s voice) the most nights in a row I have slept in my bed. I dog sat for two weeks, spent one night in my bed, and then spent the night at the parentals’ house so I could take to her first and second days of second grade. Both nights in my own bed, I’ve taken Benadryl and slept like a baby. What a difference a good, solid night of sleep makes.

2. If you are my friend on facebook, you read my note about Books for Books. (If you’re my friend on facebook and haven’t read the note, go it it. If you’re not my friend on facebook but want to know more… figure out a way to contact me.) I am so excited to donate children’s books to a worthy cause, and people are already pledging their donations. I’ve already traded in my points on Swagbucks for $15 worth of gift cards. As soon as they come in, I will be buying books through my MyPoints link (therefore earning 10 points/$1, thereby increasing my rewards anymore). My plan is to buy all of the books I get new online through bn.com, because then I get MyPoints for them (not to mention cheaper prices and free shipping!) and can cash those points in for more gift cards and more books! I can’t wait until I get to deliver them in January.

3. I have been obsessed with painting my nails lately. I’m sure it’s not good for my nails because it means I’m using a lot of polish remover, but it sure looks fun! I love all of OPI’s colors, and their top coat is the best.

4. I have been drinking way too much caffeine lately. It’s time to get back on the wagon and give it up. Starting today (no coffee or Diet Coke today!), I am sober again. I’ll see you when it’s time for my 30 day chip.

5. Idaho is only two months away and I can’t wait! Actually, two months from today will be my next-to-last-day up there. I leave on October 20th and come home on October 27. It’s going to be real fall weather and I am beside myself with excitement. Apple pies and cinnamon rolls, oh my!

6. I’ve got to start thinking about buying my dress for Jaimie’s wedding. I get so anxious when I think about buying it. I know we don’t need the dresses until March (so by mid-February so we can get them altered) but I always worry they’ll discontinue them! I may way until November to get it, though.

7. How is even possible that my sister girl is in second grade already? Where has seven and a half years gone???

Here we go again, beautiful August 23, 2011

Dear Goosie Girl,

How is it possible that summer is already gone and you’re in second grade? Weren’t you just that little girl on the first day of kindergarten who colored a picture of a bucket, and then drew a handle on your own because the people in the picture needed some way to carry the water and sand? And weren’t you just my little first grade sissy who was so excited to have recess on the big playground with all of the kids? It’s like I’ve closed my eyes for just a single day and a year has gone by when my eyes open.

But it’s not just yesterday. It’s an entire year of yesterdays that have passed us, and even in my disbelief, it’s true: today you are my favorite second grader ever. This year I want to learn to slow down and enjoy every moment you have in second grade, every new beginning and new friend and book to read and paper to write  and project to complete — because next year it will be the first day of third grade and I will look back and wonder to myself, “How is it even possible?” and “Where did it go???”

My wishes and hopes and dreams for this upcoming school year haven’t changed too much. I pray that your mind grows strong and full, that you always question what you’ve learned and that you stand strong in your beliefs. When I think about the little girl who’s grown up since the first day of first grade, I cannot help but me ridiculously proud of you. You are compassionate to other people and to animals. You are witty and funny and you have killer timing. Oh my goodness, the things that come out of your mouth just make me die laughing (a gem from you this morning: “I’ll just far in the blender because no one uses it anymore”) and I am so glad I take the time to write them down (another recent fav: “Wow, Sissy. You look like a character from Horton Hears A Who. Your hair is sticking straight up like a feather!”). And your mind, it’s just so open to learning. Please, please don’t lose that. I love it when you use words like “nemesis” and I love it when you can’t pronounce a word and you use its definition to figure it out (“I can’t say the word corup-coorp- it means ‘participating a lot’” [the word was cooperative]) and I love it when you shock your teacher by knowing things it’s almost impossible to know (like what a Venn Diagram is). Your intelligence is so beyond your years, and yet you still do the sweetest, smallest things that remind me that you still need us, like when you told me a few weeks ago, “I don’t say boo-boo [a word we used to use for a soft kid's blanket/snuggly thing] anymore. I say blankie. Blankie sounds tougher than boo-boo.” Tougher to you, but nevertheless still endearing to your family.

This morning you were nervous and excited but not scared about starting second grade. I asked you, “Are you tired of me saying, ‘I can’t believe you’re a second grader!’?” and you said, very clearly, “YES!” After a rough start with your shirt (maybe we shouldn’t let you eat a fresh, juicy orange while wearing a white shirt) and another freak out with your shirt at school (you got wet sand on it, leaving a dark brown mark, but I reminded you: a dirty kid is a kid who had fun!), you basically ignored me the rest of the morning. I’m a little bit sad about that because it means that the days of you really needing us to be there with you are gone. It didn’t help that as soon as I got in the car a song I recently added to my iPhone, “Never Grow Up” by Taylor Swift, starting playing, and I sniffled and cried through these lyrics as I drove to work:

Your little hand’s wrapped around my finger
And it’s so quiet in the world tonight
Your little eyelids flutter ’cause you’re dreaming
So I tuck you in, turn on your favorite night light
To you, everything’s funny
You got nothing to regret
I’d give all I have, honey
If you could stay like that

Oh, darling, don’t you ever grow up, don’t you ever grow up
Just stay this little
Oh, darling, don’t you ever grow up, don’t you ever grow up
It could stay this simple
I won’t let nobody hurt you
Won’t let no one break your heart
No, no one will desert you
Just try to never grow up, never grow up

I guess I knew this day would come. I just didn’t expect that it would happen on August 23, 2011. I am lucky that you will always love us, even if you don’t need us in the same way any more. You, my goosie girl, have changed my life and I hope second grade changes your life for the better. I love you with all of my heart!

To my favorite sissy ever: I love you so much starfish, sister mister!

Love forever,
Sissy Krista

Jesus above all else August 8, 2011

Last night I was at a friend’s house and while I was checking my email I my phone, I started laughing. I had sent a new-old friend (new to facebook, old because I’ve known him for a long time) a message last week apologizing for some really ridiculous stuff I had said to him years ago — yes, it’s been a while, but it’s been weighing on me lately. He never responded and then yesterday he posted something on my wall regarding my message to him, and a random third person, who at least knows me and the guy, jumped in and started commenting on something else entirely. It made me laugh, and I was telling my friend the back story. In short, this guy and his friend were in high school when I was in college, and they were both very devout Christians who would do a Bible study together during lunch, and I was barely 20 years old and very hurt by… well, by a lot of stuff, and I’d talk a lot of crap about church and God and Christians in general. Of course, now that I have dealt with a lot of my issues, I can see what I was doing and why I was going it, and now I feel bad. To his credit, this guy and his friend never took the bait I was so actively wiggling in front of them, and I really, really worked hard to get him to bite.

(As I was telling my friend this last night, she said, “Wow. That is amazing that a high school kid would stay that calm!” Yes it is.)

In response to her comment about his ability to remain calm, I told her about a facebook status he’d posted, where he’d talked about starting medical school today, and how he had a lot to do, but first, Jesus said to him, “Here I am.” And then I read her the post he had written on my wall. I wouldn’t say my friend dropped her jaw, because that’s a little too cliche for my liking, but she did get a look on her face and she told me, “You need to marry him. I’m serious. Marry him.” I just laughed because, let’s face it, I’m not anywhere near marrying anyone.

But the crazy thing is, I had kind of already thought the same thing she did.

Not, you know, actually marrying this guy, but marrying someone who is like him. Smart. Patient. Articulate. Kind. Forgiving of my faults and wrongs. And above all else, someone who loves Jesus. That is the man that I want to call my husband, and the man I want to father my children. It’s the kind of man I had been telling myself I would never get when I was busy settling for second-best with the last guy I “dated.” I don’t want that.

I want a Godly man. And that is all I will settle for.

I should be there. August 4, 2011

Yesterday I saw her picture on her wedding site. I see her face most days, because in most of my college pictures, she’s there, one of the four of us. There are too many pictures of her and I and them to cut out her face, so I am reminded daily that she’s gone. For two years, essentially since the day she made the decision to end our friendship, I have seen her face staring back at me and it’s never hurt like it did until yesterday. Yesterday her gentle ache became a pain that nearly brought me to tears. Because as she prepares for her wedding, I should be there, and I’m not. I should know what her wedding dress looks like, and how she will wear her hair, and the color of her bridesmaid dresses, and her honeymoon destination. But I don’t know.

Instead, I am reduced to finding out the small details of her live when I run into her sister in the drive thru at the McDonalds just down the road from my office.

I should be there on that day to tell her that she looks beautiful, to not be nervous. I should be there to get her food when she’s lightheaded from nerves, to help lace up the back of her gown, to bustle her dress and smile for countless pictures. I should have been one of the first people she called when he proposed, and I should be there to help her pack up her boxes as she moves off with him and starts her — their — new life. I always thought I’d be there, helping hold any babies that came and painting the walls in her new homes and laughing together on holidays when our families got together.

But the truth is, I’m not and I won’t be there. Even if this bridge were rebuilt, I wouldn’t be there. Because how can you be there when someone has let your friendship dissolve over a decision that one of you made? She may not have liked the decision I made, and she may have said she supported me, but at the end of the day, for what it’s worth, her own actions and words said very different things.

I know this because I’m not there.

I’ve said a thousand times that it doesn’t make me sad, but that’s a lie. Of course it makes me sad. How can it not? She was an amazing friend — when we were friends. In so many ways we were similar, and the parts of us that were different brought out a good part of me. She was one of the first people outside my close group of pre-college friends I really bonded with. When I think about those years of friendship, I can’t help but smile because they were really good years. Lots of laughter (a lot!). Vacations together with friends. Tears and being there to support one another.

How can losing that not hurt?

Regardless of the pain, though, I am so happy for her. Though I won’t know the small details, I do know she is happy and in love, and that is all I could hope for for her. So even though I won’t be there, and I thought I would be there, a hundred times I thought it and planned for it and waited for it, even though: she is there, and that is good enough.

Juice update August 3, 2011

It’s day six. I have hit-or-miss internet access the last few days; hence no vlogs. But here’s an update:

I had to eat a piece of plain chicken the other night. Yes, it’s true. I needed some protein, stat, and so I gave in. I felt both better and worse. Better because my body had some fuel, worse because I hadn’t eaten real food in four days by that point. Today is day six and I am tired, tired, tired, but that has more to do with my cracked-out sleeping habits than anything else. I’m hoping I can get to bed before midnight tonight.

That’s it. I got to keep the juicer Ryan and Mel loaned me, which is exciting. I will be sure to always have fresh juice as an alternate to drink now, but I’m going to be real: it will probably be fruit juice, not veggies, and I will not drink a ton of it per day. (But fresh orange juice… yum!) The biggest struggle I have right now isn’t the hunger (which was pretty bad on day three) but the fact that I just miss real, delicious food.

Juice fast, day three July 31, 2011

There are two videos here, and that’s all thanks to my screen saver, which apparently makes Photo Booth shut down once it’s activated. Whoops.

Juice Cleanse, Day 2 July 31, 2011

 

Day 1 juice cleanse July 29, 2011

As promised in the video, here are the mixtures I used for my juices today (except I forgot to promise but I intended to so you get ‘em anyway!):

Fruit Juice
- 2 green apples
- 2 oranges
- 2 carrots
- 2 pieces pineapples
- 1 lemon
- 1 nectarine
- 2 pieces collard greens
- 1 stalk celery
- 1/3 very large cucumber

Notes about this juice: I like green apples because they’re tart; use whatever kind you prefer, but try to pick larger ones. For the pineapple, I bought a medium pineapple and cut it into about ten average-sized pieces and used two of those in this juice. The carrots were pretty big ones. The lemon was small, and I should have just picked them off Ryan’s grandparents’ tree because they would’ve been bigger and less hard. I wish I had found fresh kale instead of collard greens but they didn’t really affect the taste. I might try three pieces next time. I bought pickling cucumbers, not English cucumbers, because the picking cucumber tend to be larger and about a buck cheaper. It was really a VERY big cucumber. This juice was really actually very good and I plan on making this version again before my ten days is up. Except without celery.

Veggie Juice:
- 2 carrots
- 1 beet
- 4 stalks of celery
- 2 pieces of collard greens
- 1 large tomato
- 1/3 large cucumber
- 1 small handful spinach

Notes about this juice: I didn’t really love this. It was pretty gross. An additional tomato or some fresh herbs like basil, thyme, or oregano would have really helped the flavor, or even a clove of garlic. Also, I’m willing to play around with this again but I’ll reduce the number of celery stalks to zero stalks instead of four, and I’ll add another whole tomato, and try to find kale instead of collard greens. I might also try more spinach since this juice is the one where I’m getting most of my veggies. I think something sweet would have helped, too, instead of just relying on the beet. Seriously, I cannot tell you how hard it was for me to drink this with celery. Yuck.

Overall notes: Tomatoes, carrots, apples, oranges, and cucumber produce a ton of juice — stock up on these and start with them when you’re making a batch of juice and then add the other stuff that produces juice but not as much. Don’t be surprised when the littler things, like celery, have a strong scent and flavor. I will probably never use celery again. If you’re juicing leaves, like spinach, romaine lettuce, cabbage, or greens/kale, put them in the juice with a larger, firmer vegetable or fruit (like a cucumber, carrots, or an apple); otherwise, you’ll get hardly any juice from them. And mix it up! I really am surprised how well carrots go with fruits. Also, use the strainer that separates the juice from the bits of pulp that made your way through the blender. I gagged my entire way through the veggie juice both times because the pulp. I’m sure it was good for me, but I would prefer not to spend my time gagging when I have to drink it.

One more prep day July 28, 2011

The juice fast starts tomorrow! So as a present for hanging with me during these ten days, you get the following as a present:

Preping for Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. July 27, 2011

Note: It has come to my attention that this video is messed up. I apologize and I’ll get it fixed when I can!

As many of you know, I recently watched Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead for the first time (and the second) last week, once with my friend Megan and her husband and once with my mom. I was really inspired by the documentary to change my eating habits and gain control over my health. I am nearly 30, after all, so this is as good a time as any to make a life-long change in myself. I’m be vlogging my way through the fast and then maybe a little beyond, so feel free to leave me comments here (or YouTube, but it’s probably easier to just leave them here since I’m here more frequently!). And of course, your encouragement is always appreciated.

Join the reboot with me!

just some random thoughts. July 20, 2011

1. Denver was nice. So hot and humid, but nice. I have never been somewhere where it’s almost 90 degrees, humid as heck and then it pours rain. (Well. That’s actually not really true. El Salvador was like that, and so was South Africa. So never mind. I’ve never been anywhere like that in the US.) I mostly stayed at the hotel, although I did venture out to a few food places for meals that weren’t provided as part of the conference. It was so nice to come home and see Charisse for more than five minutes.

2. I was a little bummed to come to work on Monday only to discover that my office had not been moved from its old spot to its new spot on the 15th as I was promised. Even more frustrating? I had taken my computer apart and put all of the cords in a bag, and asked the movers to take my monitor apart (it’s connected to the desk and I didn’t have the tools to do it myself). They were kind enough to do that, but now I can’t use it because it’s disassembled and too wobbly to connect it to my computer. Sigh. So Monday I wokred in the break room on their computer and both yesterday and today I worked in my office on my work laptop. Today I got smart and connected my computer to the internet using the ethernet cable that was in my desktop. BAM. Faster internet.

3. I made myself four doctors appointments yesterday. Four. I was a doctor-calling maniac. One for my eyes, one for the unmentionables (and I’m glad I rescheduled that one [I was supposed to go today] because I got moved to a midwife I really like), one for a general check up with my primary doctor because I’ve just been feeling so sluggish and run down and achy lately, and one for the dermatologist since I’m nearly 30 and I better get all of these moles looked at while I can still fix them. But four. And three of them are in a three-day span (two on the same day!). How fun for me.

4. I’m reading Breaking Night, which is written by the girl the movie Homeless to Harvard was about. What a great, touching book. It’s so sad, but so good. Note: I actually finished it after I wrote this post. I cries at the end of it.

5. Chloe pretty much ate a pair of my favorite shorts. It’s a good thing that dog is cute and that I love her because I’m pretty pissed. They’re the pair I wear the most! I guess I will just replace them once I get paid next week.

6. I have so much going on in August: a birthday celebration, Charisse’s half birthday party (just a small one, and no presents, and I’ve got to make her a rainbow cake for it!), my housewarming party, San Diego for a weekend with Lindsay, the start of VC’s fall semester, a week later Charisse’s first day of second grade (I cannot believe it!), another doctor’s appointment (the dermatologist), and a baby shower and a bridal shower (maybe on the same day!). I’m gonna be a very busy girl!

7. I was a little sad to see the foggy weather this morning, but a little relieved. It’s nice to have a day or two of foggy for every perfect day.

8. Chloe is currently curled up at my feet at the end of the couch. She us such a sweet dog (when she isn’t actively destroying my clothing!).

9. Tomorrow is my Friday. Hooray! I am so exited to sleep in in actual Friday. I’m tired. I got so used to being on vacation that it has been hard adjusting.

10. The Glee Project is my new favorite show. I’m team Hannah and team Lindsey!

Women of Faith, here I come! July 19, 2011

As many of you know, I review books for a few publishers. They “pay” me in books in return for reviews (just a disclaimer: only honest reviews — I don’t have to give a positive review for the book, just an honest one!). One of those publishers has a program called Book Sneeze, and a month or two ago I got an email from them asking if I’d like to participate in a program they had going on where they offered their book bloggers two tickets to a Woman of Faith event in return for a few blog posts about the event. Um. Yes! I have wanted to go to a WoF event for a while, since one of my favorite bloggers, Angie Smith, shared about the event on her blog. She’s going to be a speaker at some of the events (they’re scattered throughout the US for the remainder of this year) and what she shared really made me want to attend.

So anyhow, of course I signed up, not thinking that I’d actually be selected. But I was! I got an email this morning about it, and I am so excited. I’ll be attending the event in Anaheim on September 9th and 10th and I can’t wait. (Yeah. I sound a tad bit repetitive, don’t I?!) My particular event is the Over the Top event, and it’s described in a nutshell this way: “God loves us more than we know. He gives us more than we can ask or dream. He’s unrestrained… excessive… outrageous… Over the Top.”

It’s been about a year since I started going to church again. I was talking with a friend about that last night, and it’s a joyous occasion. This event is right around that one year “anniversary” and I’ve got to admit, this year has been about me rebuilding my relationship with God. It’s been a challenging year to be sure, but it’s also been a year when I have learned and continue to learn all over again that God is the biggest in my life, and He has given me so much that I can’t even comprehend it all. What better way to celebrate a year of that than with a weekend of being in God’s mighty presence?

Also, there are two other things that I’d just like to say.

Amy Grant? At my event? It’s like my high school dreams of attending an Amy Grant Concert are coming true

And last but not least, this is like an adult Youth Convention, and I haven’t been to anything like that in ten years, so I am READY.

There are still seats available at this event and the others, so check out the preview video below and then go to the Women of Faith events page to find an event and register. The video makes me so excited to go to this event and I hope it does you, too. I am so stoked to be filled with God’s presence and the blessing of thousands of other women who love Jesus, too!