Posts

Showing posts from 2015

5 Tips for Giving Gifts

Image
I had been planning on writing for the past couple of weeks a small gift-buying guide to help people out. These plans were reaffirmed when I read about my ISFJ personality today at church. It says, “When it comes to gift-giving, ISFJs have no equal, using their imagination and natural sensitivity to express their generosity in ways that touch the hearts of their recipients.” Just an hour after reading that, a good friend texted me how much she loved her birthday/Christmas present. She said it was “seriously the perfect gift.” I’ve been complimented many times in my life on my ability to give the best gifts. I don’t know if it can be taught (I don’t say that to toot my own horn; I say it because some people seem to really struggle with it). But I thought I should at least try and share some of my gift-giving strategies in a few simple steps. 1. Listen Carefully This strategy works especially well when you spend a lot of time with someone or spend a lot of time talking to somebo

Christmas 2015

I always make a list of everything I got for Christmas, whether it was a material item or not. I've clarified before that I'm not sure why I do this. I just like lists, and it's fun to look back on Christmases from years prior. Coming soon, I'm going to write a gift buying guide because many people say I'm a great gift-giver. This year… From Carmen I got -           A rainbow scarf -           A coffee set (had to give it to my brother) From my roommates -            A Wal-mart gift card -            Sliding fitness disks From Kristen -            A TGI Friday's Gift card From Julie -            An awesome house plant From Rachel -            A letter -            A big mug and hot chocolate from World Market From Parents -           Workout bottoms -           Better Than Before paperback -           Cash (I’m gonna get a grill what what!) -           Thor DVD -           M&Ms -           Dove dark promises with al

A Summary of My Life

Image
(Disclaimer: Please don't take this post as me being negative or ungrateful. I have so many blessings in my life, so many simple comforts and conveniences, and so many supportive friends and family. I have my health, and that's so important. I am grateful, always. Just struggling. And I'm just reviewing the past few months in brief.) I have a lot of blog ideas typed into my phone but figured I would need to write some kind of catch up or summary post. I've actually intentionally avoided blogging because of how many things have happened in the last few months. But here goes. You already knew Patrick and I had been house hunting. I closed on my condo on July 7--financially it was all in my name. We couldn't go in to the condo for a while after closing, as a courtesy to the sellers who still needed a place to stay. It was pretty horrific when we finally got in. It took us over a week to clean it completely. I could write an entire post about that. Maybe I will.

A Ghost of You

He is everywhere. He’s in the imperfections of the paint on my condo walls, and my freshly enameled doors. He’s in my beautifully remodeled master bathroom—in the tile he put up, the new baseboard he installed, the shower head he got me for Christmas, and the bathtub he paid to have installed. He’s on the shelf he fixed in the living room, and the TV that’s mounted on the wall. He’s hanging up my wall decor in my living room. His fish is swimming in the tank he bought for me. He’s in the bedroom we were supposed to share, and barely squeezing his things into that closet with all my stuff. His vacuum cleans this house. His router gives me wi-fi. I think of him when my water drains quickly down my bathroom sink instead of clogging. He’s in my car telling me how dirty it is. He’s here on my laptop, which he got me a discount on, and my FitBit too. He’s in my water that comes from the fridge he replaced. He is everywhere. This condo was his. It’s a product of him. And though it’s ful

A Step Forward

I have a lot of blog posts that I want to and need to post.  For today though, I'll just talk about today.  It's a Friday, which is already good.  It started off with donuts, which is also good.  Then in walked a friend and coworker to my classroom with a Christmas card for me. I opened it, just excited to be getting a card and the words inside were beautiful. Not only that, but there was a $100 bill in there. My mouth fell open. What on earth? This was so unexpected, and too much. I ran up to her classroom and hugged her and yelled at her saying it was too much, and she must be kidding. How amazing and sweet is she? Wow. I have been in awe all day from her generosity and love.  My kids were pretty good today, too. Especially for a short day and Friday.  I got an email early this morning from the National Academy of Sports Medicine. I did a free trial a couple months ago, and talked with my rep, telling him I wouldn't be able to start the program fina

Because I Was Loved Once...

From my NaNoWriMo Scribblings this evening... In trying to make a safer decision (and get some sleep) one night in August, I decided to leave his apartment. It must have been about two in the morning. As I was on my way out, I whispered goodnight and said I would see him later. He sleepily said, “I love you.” My heart exploded into a million pieces and then came back together like the miraculous order settling the universe after the Big Bang. Not sure I had heard him correctly, I asked, “What? Connor? What did you say?” and he slept on. I slipped out the door wondering if I was crazy. I came to find out later that he was too afraid to really say it, so that was him “testing the water” to see how I would react. I never knew what to make of that and wished that he had just told me directly, meaningfully, in the daytime. But at the same time, his fear was kind of endearing. It meant that he knew I could hurt him. His fear showed his tenderness. I guess this meant that we wouldn’t

Do What You Love

I submitted my resignation letter yesterday. The deadline was today, July 10. I’ve known that for several months and have been dreading that day because I knew I probably still wouldn’t have a job lined up by then. But if I let the deadline pass, I’d have a penalty on my final paychecks. I definitely need the dollars to be as numerous as possible. So I turned in the resignation on time. Yesterday morning I was in tears from stress and sadness. All my education was to help me prepare to be a teacher. And I’m a damn good one. I really believe I am. To walk away from something I am good at, something stable, something secure, and not know where you’re going after—that’s a scary experience. I prayed and cried to Heavenly Father to give me peace and comfort to know it was the right thing to do. My amazing fiancée was very supportive via text while he was at work. He told me he was not worried about income, that he could support us, but that he was worried about my sanity and well-b

Weight Loss: Flexible Dieting

Image
I started counting macros (i.e. flexible dieting, iifym) on February 23 when I started training for my race. I wrote a blog about that before. At that time, I had lost six pounds. My experiment worked. I've now been tracking macros for 17 weeks and two days. I am down about 18 pounds. I've kind of stalled the past couple of weeks because I haven't been very disciplined about my food--not out of control, but not awesome either. I have been disappointed at my lack of progress recently. But knowing it's been 17 weeks and I'm down 18 pounds makes me feel better. It shows me I'm right on track for a healthy pace of weight loss--one pound per week. I still want to drop another 10 pounds but am not rushing it. I will get there. I'm also trying to focus on clothes, sizes, and measurements. Maybe I haven't lost weight, but I very well could just be losing fat and turning it into muscle with all the weights I've been doing. After my race, I had Dallas r

A Birthday, A Move, A 5K, and More

Image
I like to consider myself a consistent blogger. Then I see one post per month or less, and I feel like I'm a failure. Oh well. Here is a recap of some things that have happened. In April, we went to California. And Disneyland. And took our first trip to the temple together as a couple to do my mimi's (paternal grandmother) baptism. And we went to a Bees game. In May, we celebrated Patrick's birthday Avengers style, my parents sent me an edible arrangement, Patrick's nephew was born, we got engaged, we house shopped, I picked a wedding dress (no picture here!), I ran a half marathon, I moved to my roommate's townhome, we went to another Bees game, and I ran a 5K with an awesome third grader. He put the balloons on the ceiling. Bees game with friends Girls on the Run event with Reagan Roses at my roommate's townhome And so far in June... We tried The Chocolate (OMG why didn't anyone tell me abo

I Trained, I Sweated, I Ran

Image
Well, I committed to a race in February, and I blogged a little about the training. It was a 12 week schedule. And I accidentally started a week early. So I ended up repeating week 8 (or was it 9?). Anyway, I drove down to Alpine and had my stuff all ready to go. I was pretty disappointed that there were only THREE outhouses. Granted, there were not that many runners, but still. You know that everyone  is going to pee before they run 13.1 miles. I was grateful that the weather, which was predicted as rain, was actually clear and lovely. I enjoyed my run. I stopped for water several times. I even slowed to take pictures when I was close to the mountain. One major hiccup was at mile 10. With only 5K left to go, my Bluetooth headphones died. They straight up died. They didn't beep due to low battery. Nothing. Just suddenly the music stopped. I am probably much too dependent on music for my runs. I ended up holding my phone in my hand with the music on speaker so I could finish