Book Club Friday- Year in Review

For Book Club Friday this week I am jumping on the bandwagon I saw Amber jump on and doing this book meme all about the books I read in 2012!

My Stats:

How many books read in 2012? 18 (I was pretty slack this year, but in my defense I finally finished The Bible which is a super long book!)

How many fiction and non fiction? 13 fiction, 5 nonfiction

Male/Female author ratio? 5 male, 14 female. I know that is 19, but The Vow was co-written by the couple that experienced it.

Favorite book of 2012? Sorority Sisters-  I read it during beach month and loved it!

Least favorite? Love Lies- I knew it was going to be biased but I was so curious I jst had to read it

Any that you simply couldn't finish and why? I think I started a book but put it back on my to-read list because I was ready for some fiction and it was a non-fiction book

Longest and shortest book titles?  The Bible was about 900 pages of tiny font so that was definitely the longest.  Empty Promises was probably the shortest at 224 pages.

How many books from the library? none.  I live within biking distance of a library but I get most of my books through paperbackswap.com

How many books read did I purchase? I think I actually purchased 3 of them.  The rest were trades through paperbackswap.com or borrowed from friends

How many were gifts? One was from a blog book swap, but I don't think any were gifts

How many were given to me for reviews? One

How many books read on kindle? none.  I don't have an e-reader yet.  But I really want a nook or an i-pad mini

Any re-reads? no...i have too many on my to-read list right now to re-read

Which countries did you go to through the page in your year of reading? hmmm honestly I can't remember.  The Bible of course had many and the one I am reading now has already taken me through Germany, Rome, Capua, Judea, and Africa.

Which book wouldn't you have read without someone’s specific recommendation? The last one that I read on fear, worry, and anxiety.  I haven't reviewed it on the blog yet, but it was excellent!

#27- Read the Bible all the way through

Hallelujah!  I can FINALLY mark something else off my list today!  I finally finished reading the Bible all the way through!

Back in 2008 I decided to try an email service that was supposed to email me passages everyday and within a year I would have read the whole bible all the way through!  Well, that didn't work out.  So I bought a New Living Translation Bible (Someone recommended this translation to me because the language is much more simple and reads more like a story.  I LOVE it!) and I bought a reading guide/journal to help me:

I started out strong but quickly lost track and finally gave up for a while. I was struggling and way behind.  The Old Testament is just not that easy to read sometimes.  By May 2011 I had only made it through 12 of the 66 books in the Bible.  By this point I had completely given up on the Devotional Journal.  I was now mainly reading through the Bible app on my phone when I got a chance.  I had a spreadsheet to keep track of my progress.  During the past few years I also did deep studies on some of the books of the bible and would mark those off my list as we completed the studies.  The ones I did on major books of the Bible were:

These studies help tremendously to really go deeper and completely understand what the text is saying and what it all means.  The Galatians and Romans studies were by Tim Keller who gets kind of deep and I personally have a tendency to get frustrated with them.  But that frustration I've found is good for me.  I grew more spiritually during these two studies than any of the other ones we've done I think.  The Esther and Daniel studies were Beth Moore.  Oh I love Beth and her big hair and seeing her outfits on the videos each week.  (Yes there are videos with these and they help a lot!)  I really enjoy Beth's studies!  These deep dive studies take a long time.  Anywhere from 6-12 months!  But I love them and can't wait to do more!

Other than those books and after I gave up on the chronological study guide (probably around Deuteronomy) I just read straight through the Old Testament.  I did take breaks and do smaller books like Proverbs and Ephesians during times we were studying those at church.  When I finally finished the Old Testament, I knocked out a few smaller books of the New Testament just so I could feel like I was making some real progress.  Then I went back and started with Matthew.  I jumped around a bit in the New testament I think because the last two books I ended with were Acts and finally Revelation.

It feels good that I can finally say I have read the Bible all the way through!  But I am by no means done!  I will spend time everyday in God's word.  I want to do more deep dive studies on specific books for sure!

I think it is good for everyone to read the Bible all the way through from start to finish because it really does tell a story!  Tons of little stories and some are really shocking and interesting! But also one bigger story of God creating us, giving us chance after chance to have a good relationship with Him, us rebelling over and over, God trying to correct us, us screwing up, God loving us, the promise and foreshadowing of Jesus, and then finally Jesus comes and fulfills the promise!  And now we no longer have to try to save ourselves   He sent us a king and savior to take the punishment for sin and all we have to do is accept that gift and make him Lord!  It is so amazing to see everything come together and how God used all these things to weave together such a beautiful story!

My favorite book of the Bible?  Ecclesiastes

My favorite character in the Bible (other than Jesus)?  David

My favorite story in the Bible (other than the crucifixion)? Abraham almost sacrificing Issac

 My favorite verse in the Bible? (at the moment) 

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10 

(but there are so may more good ones!  It could change weekly!)

Have you ever read the Bible all the way through?  What was your approach?

Sorry for being MIA

Hi remember me?  I feel like it has been so long!  I have been so busy.  What have I been up to?

I read some books (full reviews coming soon on the Bookshelf blog):

Fishbowl- 3.5 out of 5 stars

Love Lies- 2 out of 5 stars

Fifty Shades of Grey- 4 out of 5 stars

I have been busy trying to figure out what to do with all the veggies I have been getting in my CSA box each week.  It's only been two weeks but so far all the veggies have been things I would never buy at the grocery store.

Week one was kale, lettuce, turnips, and mizuna.  I made kale chips (will post about that tomorrow) and ate the turnips raw with some hummus or on a salad with the lettuce.  They were both yummy.  I ended up throwing away the mizuna.  It was supposed to be like arugula but it looked very wilted after about a week.

Week 2 I got beets, red leaf lettuce, scallions, and swiss chard.  I already threw away the red leaf lettuce because it wilted after just 3 days.  I have a recipe for the beets and scallions.  Look for that on an upcoming Pinterest Wednesday post.



So far I am not loving the CSA.  The way it works is you pay for the whole year (mid May-Oct).  It comes out to be about $11.75/week and you get a grocery bag full of random fruits/veggies delivered to my work each week.  It has forced me to eat more veggies and try things I would never buy, but can I get some regular old green beans or peas or something?  And a girl can only eat (and store) a certain amount of lettuce each week.  Enough with the greens!

I took a fitness test at work.  It was for National Employee Fitness week.  We had to run 1.5 miles, bike 1 mile, do as many sit-ups as you could in 1 minute, as many push-ups as you could do in 1 min, and a wall-sit for as long as you could stand it.  We were supposed to try to beat the president of our North America Group's times/numbers, but considering he is a super in-shape guy who did the 1.5 mile run in like 9 minutes and I still can't even run a mile in 9 minutes I didn't come close.  I did the 1.5 miles in about 15:20, the 1 mile bike in less than 4 min., the wall sit for 90 seconds, and about 25-30 of the sit-ups and push ups. 

I have made progress on The List.  It looks like I will hopefully be going on a kayak trip June 9, I only have 77 chapters left to read it the Bible, and I am on my way to the healthy weight range and beginning treadmill training to run a 9 minute mile so I can declare myself in the best shape of my life.  Now I just need to find a cute boy to take me fishing and kiss me in the rain.

I finished my sewing class and made a pair of PJ pants.

I still need to hem them because we ran out of time.  But due to a mix up and them only having 1 sewing machine for the whole class, we get to take another month long class in September for free!

I also went to see this for the second time and it was great even though they didn't do justice to my favorite song "I'm not the girl".

I've also been super busy at work.  I just got to create a Pinterest account for Lenovo US!  I love Pinterest and don't think twice about pinning things or setting up new boards on my personal account but for some reason I was so nervous setting one up for Lenovo!  Would people follow us?  What should I pin?  Please do me a HUGE favor and FOLLOW US!  I promise I will try to pin good stuff and not be annoying or overwhelming.  PLUS we will be having an awesome contest on there in a few weeks for Back to School and you could win a new computer with accessories or an Android tablet!!

I'm going to try to get back to a regular posting schedule.  Thanks so much for still following despite my silence lately.

Sunday Snippets- God can use ANYTHING for HIS Glory!

I'm trying to finish up #27 on my list- read the Bible all the way through.  Today I started on Matthew.  It starts out with what I once thought of as the boring "so and so begat so and so and they begat this person..."  It is basically used to show linage because the messiah was to come through King David.  I was reading through this list but when I got to this verse (Matthew 1:6) I stopped:


"Jesse was the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon (whose mother was Bathsheba, the widow of Uriah.)"

It goes on to list the rest of the linage up to Jesus. But the names David, Bathsheba, and the word widow brought that story rushing back to me.

It's one of the most shocking stories to me in the Bible- the story of David and Bathsheba.  David was a powerful king and saw a beautiful neighbor, Bathsheba, taking a bath.  He sends some people to get her and bring her back to the palace and he slept with her.  Bathsheba got pregnant.  David tried to cover it up by having her husband brought back from war and getting him drunk and trying to get him to go sleep with his wife so no one would ever know it was his child.  But all his plotting and planning didn't work.  So David had Bathsheba's husband sent to the front lines of battle so he would be killed.  Then he made Bathsheba one of his wives once she finished mourning the loss of her husband.

The story was just so shocking because David loved the Lord.  He had been blessed by him and was a good man.  How could he make such a mistake?! Why would he do this??

God sends a prophet to tell David a story of a rich man taking one poor man's beloved lamb to slaughter for a party he was having even though the rich man had plenty of his own lambs.  This outrages David in it's unfairness and the prophet tells David "you are that rich man" because of what he did to Bathsheba's husband.  David realizes his sin and confesses his guilt.

But when I read that verse in Matthew I realized if David would have never had that affair and killed Bathsheba's husband then would Jesus have ever been born?!  He came from the line of Bathsheba and David!!  It just made me so thankful.  God can use anything for His glory! 

It's just so comforting because I felt like around me there's been a lot of discussion "is this a sin? is that a sin? should I being doing this or that?" And I do think it is important to think about those things, but if you stress out about it too much it can become paralyzing!  If you are sinning, God is going to let you know.  The Holy Spirit will let you know when you are doing something wrong and when you should change bad habits.  But if you mess up, it is not the end of the world.  Jesus has paid the price for our sins.  We don't have to die for them!  We just need to confess and repent when we mess up!  AND God can even use those mistakes to bring glory to His name!  How awesome is that?!?

List update- almost there!

Here is what is left on my list:
#1- get in the best shape of my life
#9- kayak
#10- catch a fish
#18- upgrade one room in my house (DONE post coming soon)
#26- kiss in the rain
#27- read the Bible all the way through (I finished the Old Testament and a lot of the New! Only 16 books left!)

Last year I had said in this post that order to mark #1 off my list I needed to run two laps around Lake Lynn without walking (aprox. 4.5 miles) and run a 9 minute mile.  Well I accomplished one of those this week!  I ran around Lake Lynn two times without walking.  I was so happy.  I am actually seeing progress with my running.  It is SLOW.  SLOW progress.  But it is progress.  And the feeling of doing something I had never done before was fantastic!!

I haven't tried the nine minute mile yet.  I am scared.  I'm still slow so I don't want to try yet and get disappointed if I'm not even close.  But I ran an easy mile as part of a fitness challenge at work and my time for that was 10:16, so maybe it isn't impossible.  I'm just not mentally ready to to try yet.

As I was running around the lake I decided I am adding something else to the criteria for crossing this one off my list.  I must be at a healthy weight according to this chart:

Source: tiptoebutterfly.blogspot.com via ncsuz on Pinterest

I tried not to make it about weight because I HATE how we girls become a slave to that number on the scale.  But I just can't declare myself "best shape of my life" if I am overweight.  So yeah.  All my life I have found it can be hard for me to fit what charts say is healthy because I am so short.  At my lowest, skinniest size 4 self in high school I was still at the upper-end of "healthy" according to the charts.  But this chart has a wider range than I have seen in the past and is totally do-able I think. 

What do you guys think?  I know I have asked this a million times, but how would you define "the best shape of your life?"

Sunday Snippets- I am Jonah

We started a new sermon series at church this week on the book of Jonah.  It's another one of those stories you kind of sort of know from Sunday School maybe.  Or Pinocchio.  Or is that just me?

Anyway the sermon this week was FANTASTIC.  They don't have it posted yet, but when they do post it, you can find it here and I highly recommend it.

I took two pages of notes, but here are just a few snippets:

• Rebellion is simply saying NO to God. What area of your life are you saying NO to God in?

• There will always be a ship to Tarshish.  Or in other words, if you are ever even thinking about disobeying or saying no to God, the devil will always make it easy for you because that is exactly what he wants.  

• What if your enemy is laying a trap for you?

• That "peace in your heart" you had over a situation you know is wrong, but you are doing it anyway could be Satan numbing your conscience.

• It starts with small acts of disobedience and goes down to total devastation (this is so true!)

• God sends storms to break His people from self-reliance.

• Jonah is willing to obey God UNTIL it costs him the things he loves and/or fears most.

• Real obedience is when you would give up EVERYTHING to maintain your relationship with HIM.

• He even referenced Daniel when Shadrac, Mishac, and Obedigo (I probably massacred their names) went in to the fiery furnace.  His question to us was- Would you rather be in the flames with God or out of the flames without God????

• The storm is not God's retribution, it's God's restoration.  In other words He didn't send the storm to pay him back, he sent the storm to bring him back.

I am telling you.  You should go listen to is if you get a chance this week.  Just look for the one about Jonah.  It should pop up tomorrow sometime.

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend and were able to spend time with the Lord.  Between this awesome sermon and the Daniel study and a few little things going on, I felt God talking to me all over the place.

If you are looking for a church in the Triangle area, I highly recommend coming to visit during this series.  If last night was any indication of what God is about the teach me...it is going to be awesome.

And if you want to follow along even more, there are lots of study guide resources HERE.

New Year's Goals

Here are my goals for 2012:

1. Finish my 30 Before 30 list before my birthday in August. (2 years late but hey at least I will finish)  In order to complete it here's what is left:

• Get in the best shape of my life (working on it)
• kayak
• catch a fish
• kiss in the rain
• read the Bible all the way through (almost finished with the OT)

(I've already completed upgrade one room in my house. I need to write a post about it)

2. Run a half marathon (hopefully in April)

3. Pay off my car early.  (I am supposed to be done with payments April 2013, but I would like to pay it off early if possible!)

I also liked the idea from last year of something to start, something to stop, and something to keep.

I would like to start eating healthy on a more consistent basis.  No more cheat days that turn into cheat weeks that turn into taking the whole month off.

I would like to stop complaining so much.  I am sick of complaining.  Complaining is so unattractive.

I would like to keep running.  I took almost 3 weeks off during December from my 10K training plan and I was so afraid I was going to have to start all over.  But my body stayed in shape better than I thought it would.  I started off doing 2 miles walking/running at the lake last week.  Then I picked it back up yesterday and ran 5 miles and walked 1 for a total of 6 miles!  It wasn't super easy, but I did it.  And according to my bodybugg I burned over 3,000 calories yesterday!  I must keep running in my life to get those kind of numbers!

What are your goals for 2012?

List progress

ohmygosh I am so glad Blogger is back up!  I was kind of worried I might lose my whole blog and have to start all over again.  That would have been tragic!  Don't scare me like that again Blogger or I may have to switch to that other blogging platform!  Now onto my slightly delayed post I wrote yesterday...

I haven’t marked anything off my list in a while. But I am slowly making progress with the remaining items:

#1- Get in the best shape of my life. Ok, so maybe I should have defined what “best shape of my life” means. My whole life I could barely run a mile. Even in high school when I played soccer I hated Mondays because that was the day we ran the mile. I have been steadily making progress with my running. I run 2-4 miles 3-5 times/week. I’ve ran three 5Ks in the last 6 months and even though I said I was done for the summer, I am running another one this weekend. But my body is nowhere near the “the best it has ever been”. I’m not the size 4 I was in high school. I can’t even fit in most of the clothes I wore just 4 summers ago. I’m working on that part of it. But does “best shape” mean what my body looks like or what it can do? Oh well, all I know is I’m not ready to mark this one off the list yet.

#9 kayak- It is the perfect kayaking weather right now. I’ve looked in to options around Raleigh and it looks like it will cost about $40-$50 if I do it around here. Last year I was going to sign up for a kayak excursion through the NC Aquarium while I was at the timeshare we have at Atlantic Beach. Well, it was sold out. They have that as an option again this year and it is only $20. I could do that, but I think the one in Raleigh would be better (way less hot if I do it now!). Hmmm…I can’t decide. What do you think?

#10 catch a fish- I keep telling my friend to let me know when her dad is taking her son fishing so I can tag along. Hopefully it will be soon.

#18 upgrade one room in my house- so I painted my Master Bath, hung some pictures, and installed a new faucet but I never touched up around where I got paint on the ceiling. I am working on re-doing my home office/gym/guest room. I also hung curtains in my living room. But the main thing I want is hardwood floors! I feel like I need to get the hardwood floors to mark this off my list. But I might not. Who knows. If the home office/gym/guest room turns out fabulous and I touch up the ceiling in the master bath maybe I will just consider it done and save that money for something like paying off my car early.

#26 Kiss in the rain- HA!! Yeah right! I think the only way this one will ever get marked off the list is if I die and heaven turns out to be one big long romantic comedy. There are no kissable boys even remotely on my radar. Let alone someone I could have my “movie love” moment with.

#27 Read the Bible all the way through- The Bible has 66 books. I have finished 12. I am getting closer to finishing Romans through a study my small group is doing and I am working my way through Luke with the sermon series my pastor is doing. I’ve done studies on Esther, Galatians, and Proverbs so those are covered. I gave up on the chronological plan I was using and instead just read in order they are written with the Bible app I have on my phone. I just finished 1 Samuel and it was actually a pretty good story- lots of action and adventure. I will say switching to The New Living Translation was a huge help! So thanks to you all that suggested that!

#29 Attempt Surfing- I am going to mark this one off at the beginning of August when I go to the beach. The NC Aquarium has a class for only $25!

So that’s it…just 7 things left. If you are just joining the blog I am already 30. I made my 30 Before 30 list a few weeks before my 28th birthday and apparently 2 years just wasn’t enough time to accomplish everything. So now my goal is to complete my list before I finish this year of being 30 on August 12, 2011. Fingers crossed!!

Sunday Snippets on Monday

I’m not going to post my sermon notes. It was all about the “hiddenness” of God…how He doesn’t just come down from the sky and tell us “here is the truth and what I want you to do”. If you want to listen to or read the whole sermon, go here.

Really the best line from the sermon this week for me was “Until you’re surrendered, God’s not showing you anything.” 

This is still the hardest thing for me. I like to be in control of my life. But I did want to know where God was at one point in my life. I started to feel like maybe I couldn’t do it on my own. So I went looking for God. I researched other religions because I didn’t want to just believe something because it was all I knew. But after the research I still believed in Jesus. I started trying to find a church. I listened to the sermons and I prayed (not out loud) but I still didn’t really feel full or different that much.

Then I started surrendering and doing things I REALLY didn’t want to do like getting dunked in a tank of water or writing a check for more than $20 to drop in the offering bucket. I wanted to know God and I was finally willing to do things outside my comfort zone because it wasn’t for me this time, it was for Him. I was admitting “Maybe I don’t know it all”, let me try doing it YOUR way.

I stuck it out in a Bible study that made me feel SUPER uncomfortable. I stuck it out volunteering even though I HATED it at one point. I signed up for a mission trip that cost over $3,000 when I couldn’t even afford cable. And all of these things have more than triple paid off. I LOVE my b-study girls! Volunteering and the mission trip both helped the church finally start to feel small. I actually knew people…I was connected…it started feeling like a family (believe me it was at times painful getting to this point).

(Yes, you don’t “earn” your salvation by what you do, but what you do does reflect what’s in your heart. How would everyone truly know what is in your heart without looking at what you do? It’s the easiest way I can illustrate what’s in my heart to you.)

Most importantly though I was finally looking for God because I truly wanted to know HIM and not just what he could do for ME. He fills me with a love and peace I could never find before. It isn’t easy, and I still grip things tightly, and I still ask for things selfishly when I pray sometimes but knowing God and seeing Him everywhere now has been totally worth it.

He still doesn’t make it easy to get to know Him. Have you ever really sat down and read the Bible? Not just the fun parts, but the more boring obscure parts? It can be confusing as crap. I have so many questions every Tuesday for my small group. I want to know what they think a passage means or why it would be that way, or what happened to the dinosaurs…seriously I ask so many questions. And I know we will never have the answers to them all, but I still seek Him. I still read the Bible to find out what I can. That really is the only way to get to know God. Otherwise you are probably just making God in your image instead of the other way around…projecting your feelings, experiences or beliefs into His character and making Him be like you…essentially making yourself god. Only when you give that up…surrender yourself and make Him Lord of your life everyday, truly seek Him to know Him, that’s when He reveals Himself to you.

Pause & 30 Before 30 list checkpoint

First of all I want to ask all my readers to stop and say a prayer for Egypt.  I subscribe to the blog of a girl who lives in Egypt.  Early last week she posted something about the protest before it was in the news, before anything had grown in momentum.  She was going to protest with her brother.  She was scared, but knew it was important to take a stand.  To show support for something she believed in.  I can't even do that in everyday life, so I admire her courage.  She is a girl I relate to through her blog. She has a lot of the same thoughts, dreams,and aspirations I do.   These people in Egypt are humans just like you and me.  Yes, their culture and homeland is different, but we humans are more alike than you can imagine.

Then her internet access was cut off and she had a friend from outside the country post updates.  I wanted to know what was going on there and have been trying to follow the story but it is hard for me to even wrap my head around.  I just can't imagine what these people are going through.

And if you think just because we live far away from all the distress, don't fool yourself and think it doesn't affect us.  I just saw a reporter interviewing a group of Murbarak supporters and they told her to go away and that they hated Americans.  She tried to ask them why they hated Americans and they said "Because you are not a good person...we hate Americans."  Then they forced her and the crew to flee in their car while they beat on the car and threw rocks.  Why?  Why is there so much hate, anger, and violence?  I don't know enough about either side and I don't know why they hate Americans so much, but it scares me.  I know Americans aren't perfect but I would never look another human being in the face and tell them I hate them just because where they are from.  The violence between the protesters and police scares me.  The politics behind it all scares me.  All that is happening to the infrastructure and daily life in Egypt scares me.  Please pray for Egypt.

Now to something less heavy.  I wanted to pause and look back at the list that started this whole blog.  I have 8 things left on my list and I still plan to mark them off in the next couple months:

1. Get in the best shape of my life- I think I am almost there.  Not weight or body wise yet, but I am running more than I ever have and doing weights regularly.  I am going to run another 5K in April and want to come in under 31:00.  I want to do an 8K, 10K, and half marathon eventually. 

9. kayak- hopefully in the spring I will be able to convince some friends to help me mark this one off my list.

10. Catch a fish- maybe in the spring my favorite 4 year old can show me how to catch a fish!

18. Upgrade one room in my house- I attempted this one with my bathroom.  But I think I made it worse.  I SUCK at painting.  I will never do it again.  It I can fix the trim maybe I will consider this one done, but there are so many other things I want to do to my house.  Here is a sneak peek at the bathroom:

Old bathroom- not bad, but needs improvement

New bathroom

Turquoise stripe on one wall

Obviously I can't stay inside the lines- and yes I did use tape

21. Go skinny dipping- I have plans to mark this one off my list.  I've been skinny dipping before, but it is time to go again.  I'm just not going to tell anyone when or where until it is done.

26. Kiss in the rain-  I don't know about this one.  I am very cynical about love right now.

27. Read the Bible all the way through-  I have been trying.  This one is so hard because the Old Testament is sooo hard to read.  It has crazy stories that make your jaw drop and then very long passages about lineage or long detailed instructions for building the Temple or what to bring for their offerings.  But I do have at least 7 books marked off.  Tons more to go though.

29. Attempt Surfing- I hope to do this one just before my birthday on my annual beach trip.

Any advice for any of the things left on my list?

Just call me a sucker

I had every intention of cancelling my cable and internet service today. I know, I know…I’m crazy huh? Well, the TV thing just got out of control. I sat down to catch up with my DVR last week and I had 14 hours of recorded TV to watch! 14 hours in 1 week! It was just insane. So I was going to go cold turkey in the hopes of breaking my TV addiction and doing something more productive with my time.

Plus I would save $120 a month! I rarely use my internet service from home so I was pretty sure I could live without it. $120 a month is a lot. All that extra money and free time would totally be worth it. I lived without TV and internet one summer in college and it was the most productive summer of my life! With all that free time I could concentrate on getting some things on my list accomplished like getting in the best shape of my life, reading the Bible all the way through and taking Cam to an agility class. With all the money I would be saving maybe I would be able to save up so I can travel abroad, upgrade a room in my house, pay all my own bills and invest in the stock market. It just made so much sense. I NEED to get crackin’ on this list because I only have less than a year left to get everything done!

Anyway, I called the cable company and of course I get a computer. I tell the computer I want to cancel my service. Twice, the computer transfers me to nowhere land. No hold music, no ringing, just dead silence is on the other end of the line. The third time I call back I decide to call the “sales” number thinking they would be less likely to lose a call to that number.

I finally get through to a person and I tell her I want to cancel my service for financial reasons. She asks which services I want to cancel and I tell her everything.

We spend the next half hour going down, down, down with the price. She is very persistent and despite me telling her at least 10 times I just want to cancel, she is not going to let me go.

First, she can get me all my services for $105/mo then she goes down to $100/mo then down to $95/mo. Now if I downgrade my internet, I can get everything for $89/mo and if I downgrade my cable I can get it for $85/mo. Now if I give up DVR and downgrade the internet some more, I can get it for $45/mo. Finally I just ask her what is the lowest I can go. She comes up with just the broadcast stations and “light” roadrunner for $28/mo. Keep in mind I started out at $120/mo.

I still want to just turn everything off for a while. But she tells me if I decide to turn it back on I will have to pay an instillation fee. I figure the $28/month isn’t that much to pay for keeping up with my TODAY show routine in the morning and catching some of the cable shows I like every once in a while and having internet to keep my I-pod up-to-date and for emergencies. So I agree to it.

I am a sucker. I cannot believe I gave in when I had my heart set on cancelling! But it is a really great deal right? Or do you think I should call back and try to cancel again?



P.S. Update on the mouth situation: It isn’t hurting anywhere near as bad today. I called my dentist yesterday to double check for cavities and he said he didn’t see anything. I cancelled my orthodontist consultation because I don’t think that is going to solve my pain issue. I called my doctor back and told her it didn’t hurt nearly as bad as it did this weekend. She wants me to start the Tegratrol, but I am holding off until it hurts again. They also made me a neurologist appointment but it isn’t until Nov. 3rd! So it is all good for now, but I will keep you updated.

30 Before 30 List Updates

Here’s an update on my “30 Before 30” list progress (or lack thereof) lately:

Get in the best shape of my life/5K training- I have taken 2 weeks off my trainging due to my hectic schedule and the blisters on the back of my feet. I am regretting it now because I can’t seem to get back into the swing of things. Last night I changed into my workout gear right after work and do you know what happened? I fell asleep on the couch. Until 9:00! Only 7 more weeks until the race! So I better get on it! If you haven’t signed up yet, go join our team now:

Jingle Joggers ROCK!

If you can’t be there, contribute to my fundraising efforts by clicking here

I have also started a diet. Diets are so hard, but I have to do something. I am not comfortable in my own skin. My clothes are too tight which causes me to dress frumpily. I don’t want to be a frump. I want to be cute! So don’t tempt me with anything I shouldn’t be eating, k?

Get a job I love- Well, you guys weren’t much help with my poll. Only 3 people voted- one for Marketing Superstar, one for Graphic Designer, and one for Store Owner. I have no freaking clue. I guess all I can do for now is to go with the flow since I have to pay my bills. I did sign up for an MBA Boot Camp course through my employer that I will be taking Nov. 3-7. Maybe that will give me some insight!

Pay all my own bills- I have made a decision. When my lease runs out on my beetle-bug in April I will not be getting a new car. This makes me oh so sad. I was looking forward to heated seats and an extended warranty, but for now I have to stick with old faithful. I am going to drive the 4Runner for a while. It is over 10 years old and I am afraid of it dying in the middle of the road, but it is what I need to do. I need to save more money and this will be a good way of doing that. I am going to take over my car insurance payments from my mom at that time and hopefully my gas expenses too so I can check this one off the list!

Grow a plant- I still have not gotten any tulip bulbs. Heck, I still haven’t put my laundry away or vacuumed in like a month, so first things first people! My light fixture in my kitchen has not been replaced. It is just the ugly fluorescent bulbs for now with no cover. At least I never have anyone come visit to witness this disaster that is my house. (its not that bad really, just needs a little work!)

Read the Bible all the way through- I told you earlier about an email service I signed up for that would email me some chapters each day and within a year Viola'!- I would have read the whole thing. Well, that didn’t work out as well as I was hoping. They had technical difficulties and I wasn’t getting the emails everyday like I should. So I am going to old fashion route.

I bought a new Bible- isn’t it pretty? It's pink...and brown but so cute!






And I bought a reading guide/journal to help me:



The rest of the stuff is on hold for now.

Update on The List

I feel like it is taking FOREVER to cross the next thing off my list! (I’ve already told y’all I’m not patient at all!) I am also getting a little nervous because 2 years seemed like a long time when I made the list, but time goes by more quickly than you expect. And if I don’t get everything crossed off I am going to feel like a complete LOSER, so the pressure is really on. It would really help if I could find a money tree somewhere around here. I didn’t realize so many of these things are going to require a good chunk of change!

Anyway, here is an update on The List progress:

1. Get in the best shape of my life- the 5K training is helping with this a little, but I need to step it up! Maybe I’ll get a trainer? They really do help!
2. Try snowboarding – trying to get a ski trip planned for Feb. I guess I’ll be renting a board instead of skis!
3. Get a job I love – Still no word here. I am thinking about going back to school.
4. Take Cam to an agility class- no time or funds right now. But he did learn to “bow” recently (it’s so cute!)
5. Pay all my own bills (with no help from mom)- I plan on taking over my car insurance when I get a new car next year. (My lease runs out in April.) I’ll have to learn to budget better in order to take over the gas though, and hopefully prices will go down a little.
6. Ask out a crush- This would require an adequate crush. There are none at this point in time. Sad…I know!
7. Run a 5K- I might have to take a week off from training because I have the worst blisters on the back of my heels! Or maybe I could run in flip-flops?
8. Go to a water park and not feel self-conscious- luckily I don’t have to worry about this until at least next summer!
9. Kayak- too cold to kayak now, but I think a camping/kayaking trip in the mountains sounds fabulous!
10. Catch a fish- This can wait until summer
11. Open my heart to someone- Yeah, that would require a guy. (see #6)
12. Make a baby laugh- My friend in ATL is having a baby in Feb. Maybe I will get a chance to go out there to meet the little munchkin, act stupid and get a laugh out of him!
13. Change a diaper (no I have never done this) - I don’t want to think about this. But whatever baby laughs at me, I guess the least I can do to thank them is change their diaper!
14. Go on a mission trip- I found out about a mission trip to South Africa in December, but I looked it up on the website today and it costs $2500! That took the wind out of my sails!
15. Help a stranger- no strangers that need help have crossed my path yet
16. Find a doctor I trust- haven’t had time to investigate this yet, plus I have been pretty healthy, so there hasn’t been any motivation to do so.
17. Grow a plant- I’m going to wait until growing season for this (someone please let me know when “growing season” is!)
18. Upgrade one room in my house- My light fixture in my kitchen broke. I had already been thinking this would be the room I would re-do. So I guess I’ll do it one thing at a time. I’ll post some pics when I finally get a new light fixture!
19. Travel abroad- yeah money is an issue with this one. I might have to count Mexico as “abroad”!
20. Swim with a dolphin
21. Go skinny dipping- No…no desire to do this right now
22. Visit Washington, DC – I am trying to see if I can pull together a trip this spring to see the Cherry Blossoms.
23. Take a dance lesson- I did have a dance lesson from a 7 year old last week…does that count?
24. Sing Karaoke
25. Invest in the stock market- umm…have you seen the news? I don’t want to get on that roller coaster ride!
26. Kiss in the rain- Need I remind you? …THERE IS NO GUY in the picture right now. If I kiss my dog in the rain could that count? (Yet another reminder of how pathetic I am!)
27. Read the Bible all the way through- I signed up for this “Bible in a Year” email service. It emails you a selection each day and in a year you will have read the whole Bible! I also joined a Bible study group. We actually have to memorize a new verse each week. It takes me back to Bible School days!
28. Go see a movie at the theater- alone!- Nothing that I am dying to see right now
29. Attempt Surfing- Again…waiting for summer…too cold for the ocean right now!
30. Purchase 1 piece of expensive jewelry for myself- By the way, the other night I thought I lost one of my earrings and FREAKED out! It was just the icing on a bad day that I didn’t need! Luckily I found it in between the sheets on my bed. Note to self: Do not wear expensive earrings to bed anymore.

Oh and I finally finished my latest book! Check out my review of The Friday Night Knitting Club on my Bookshelf Blog!

Excited about Church!

Since January I have been attending a great church- The Summit Church in Briar Creek. The pastor there, JD, is young and a great speaker and even though the service is long, it doesn’t feel that way at all. I can relate to almost everything that comes out of his mouth and sometimes find myself wanting him to continue even though we have been there for 2 hours! The worship music is outstanding (I’ve even downloaded some songs I’ve heard there from I-tunes to motivate me on my runs)! The people I have met there are great. They even have great multi-media presentations sometimes that are very well designed (which appeals to the marketer in me!). Even though Southern Baptist is a big departure from Episcopalian, I really like it.

They are starting a new series next Sunday that I am really excited about:
Pastor JD says on his blog:

Over the course of the next 2 months we will be looking at the 7 most common objections people give against Christianity. Whether you are a Christian or not, this series will be for you, as we will probe into the foundational relationship between faith and doubt.

8/31: “How can there be only one true religion or way to God?”
9/7: “How could a good God allow suffering?”
9/14: “Christianity is too restrictive”
9/21: “The Church been responsible for so much injustice”
9/28: “How can a loving God send people to Hell?”
10/5: “But science has disproved Christianity!”
10/12: “Everyone knows the Bible can’t be taken literally”

I am so excited about these topics because I feel like not only will it help with answering questions from non-Christians (I always find myself fumbling and changing the subject when things start to get uncomfortable and I don’t have the answers they are looking for) but it will also help answer any lingering questions I have. Like:

What about dinosaurs? Did they just not make it on the ark?

So all Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Scientologists, and people of every other religious faith are going to Hell? Really?

A lot of churches are so hypocritical and corrupt. Why does this happen and do I want to be associated with that?

Have you read some of the rules in Bible? “You should not lie on a bed where a menstruating woman has lain, and you can't sit on a chair where she has sat” (Leviticus 15:20). What’s up with that? (Check out the book “The Year of Living Biblically” by A.J. Jacobs- he tries to take all the rules literally for a whole year.)

So yeah, it should be interesting. And it just might inspire me to start #27 on my list- “Read the Bible all the way through”. If anyone is interested in coming with me to church over the next few weeks, just let me know!