Weekly Update

I looked at my blog before I started typing and realized my last post was a week ago. At least it's better than I had been doing! Actually, that's a little encouraging when I think about my Book List. I finished The Giver in a day and then started on the Hobbit... which feels like it is taking me for.ev.er to read. I'm almost done with it though! I will probably finish it tomorrow. I don't know what book I'll read after that. Not the Lord of the Rings though... I'm not ready for that. ;-)

I'm getting pretty excited for my trip! Ok, I've been excited since we booked it way back in October, but now it's getting real! Greg is letting me borrow his big suitcase and carry-on for the trip. I picked up the suitcase last night (he's using the carry-on for a business trip to Florida this weekend), and I already started packing!

It looks like I packed more than I actually have lol

One of the many great benefits of going to the Bahamas in February is that most of the clothes I'm packing are not in regular rotation right now. It felt a little odd digging out my shorts and flip-flops when it was 13 degrees earlier today! I think I have everything I need for the trip. Amy and I went shopping on Monday night and split the cost of some to the items we can share like shampoo, soap, room snacks/drinks, etc. Somehow that made this trip a little more real. :-D

In other news, I am currently in the midst of a 21-day prayer fast with my church. We fast corporately a few times a year, and I always learn new things about myself and my relationship with God in the process. I wouldn't say it's fun necessarily, but it is beneficial. My church supports all sorts of fasting; total fast, Daniel fast, media fast, whatever. This time I decided I'd give up all meat except seafood. So far I've learned that I'm ok not having meat, but I don't like meal planning. I think that's where my real sacrifice lies! But I use that time as a prayer reminder so it's all good. However, on Monday the Lord told me to add something else to my fast.

I just want to take a minute to say that when I say the Lord told me to do something, I don't mean that I heard a booming voice in the heavens or an angel appeared before me. It's hard to explain exactly how I know when God tells me to do something, I just know. It's a kind of conviction and certainty that I can't quite explain. Anyway, back to my fast...

Apparently, I'm not allowed to complain/whine/wallow for the rest of my fasting time. That is definitely harder than going without meat. I hate to admit it, but I have gotten into such a habit of texting Amy or Greg when someone makes me angry or annoyed. And it's not to vent so I can move on, it's to get them to agree with me and validate my irritation. And sometimes I will sit and stew in the negativity until everything makes my skin crawl. So I have to stop. That's not to say that I can't speak up when something is seriously wrong or that I can't let people know I've had a rough day, I'm just not allowed to rehash it a million times. I think this will also help me reclaim my joy in 2014. Is it odd that I'm kind of looking forward to the struggle?

The Giver

I’m off to a good start with my reading list! After I typed up my list I looked to see what I could get from the R.E.A.D.S. website. I was surprised to see the Giver was immediately available so I downloaded it and started reading right away (it surprised me because it was recently announced that it will be a movie later this year). 

This book has been recommended to me several times via the “you read this, you may like this” sections on Kindle. Apparently they know what they are doing, because I read it in less than 10 hours. It’s a pretty short book, only 204 pages, but still.  

The Giver centers around Jonas, a twelve year old boy living in a seemingly ideal world. However, when he is given his life assignment as the Receiver he begins to realize the dark secrets of his fragile community. It was recommended to me after reading the Hunger Games and Divergent. Good book, I recommend it. If you enjoyed those,  you should check this one out. As is usually the case when an adult reads a children’s book, it made me think about things a little differently.  

Right now I am eagerly waiting for my friend Leah to let me know the gender of her baby. She held a gender reveal dinner with her fiancee's family and is supposed to let the rest of us know after the dinner. She told me when she found out she was pregnant that she wanted a boy, but I'm fairly positive she'll be ecstatic either way. I hope she posts something soon! The suspense is killing me! :-)

Bibliophile

With my upcoming vacation (23 days and counting!), my brain keeps yelling at me that I need books for my trip. I don't know what it is about a vacation that makes me want to read, but it's the trend. I was telling Amy about my predicament, and she told me to to go for it and we could allocate 40% of our time for reading. You don't have to tell me twice! But that started the cycle of looking through my book pins on Pinterest and jotting down authors and titles that I've wanted to read... 40+ titles later I have a list of books I want to read. Needless to say I'm not planning to take all of them on vacation with me. I decided to keep a running list here on the blog so I can remember what I wanted to read. If I try to read all of them this year, I'll average about one every 9 days. Which actually seems feasible. I'm not making it a challenge because we all know I fail in epic proportions at those. But I would like to spend more time in books and less time doing nothing, i.e. mindlessly browsing social media. Nothing against Facebook personally, but I never seem to get anything productive out of it. At least Pinterest provides me with recipes and book recommendations. :-)

I'm not sure if I'm more excited about my book list or my vacation. Amy and I need to go shopping for our shared items like shampoo and toothpaste. We're entering that phase where I can't really believe that I'm about to go on vacation. This is what happens when I plan trips more than a month in advance; by the time the trip arrives I've been planning it so long I don't know what else to do! the correct answer is start planning another one. Maybe G and I can go some place interesting this year, like a theme park or something. We haven't taken a trip since August 2011, which is far too long to my poor little soul.

*For the record, no, Amy and I will not be spending 40% of our vacation reading... it will be 30%, max.

Something fun

The there are so many thing that I think are fun. I love cooking, crocheting, singing, watching movies... but probably one of my most favorite things ever is getting sucked into a good book. Even better if it's series.

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Oh... and I have a think for YA lit. I'm a kid at heart. Anyway! This is the first book in a series that is a sequel to another series I enjoyed. I finished this book a few days ago and I'm already jonesing for the second. I borrowed the ebook from my library, but they don't have the second book. Well they have the audiobook, but not a readable one. I have no clue why. Regardless, this means I'm either going to have to buy the ebook or... well... I'm just going to buy the ebook. And probably the whole series. :-)

Currently

I'm still alive! I know, I know, it's be ages since I posted a blog. I feel like that's what I get for bragging about my awesome amount of focus. About the time I clicked publish, all of my focus went out the window! 

May has been a BUSY month so far. Between my birthday(s) and subbing for my boss, I’m just now getting to a point where I feel like I can relax. I promise I will post about all of that (as well as the crochet patterns/reviews I owe you), but there is a small hiccup with getting my pictures out of my phone. More on that later.

But for now, I decided I wanted follow the trend with the “Currently” survey. Does this remind anyone else of the surveys on MySpace? I loved those, too. 

Current Book(s):

Ha! The books I’ve read in the past few weeks are a little eclectic, but I liked them.

City of Bones by Casandra Clare

I’ve seen this book on the shelves and been interested, but when I saw a trailer for the soon-to-be movie I decided to go ahead and read it. I really liked it! I plan on getting the second one on my next payday.

Cure for the Common Life by Max Lucado

My small group was using this for our most recent study. I’m not going to say I’ve learned a lot, but it’s changed my perspective on a few things. Read it!

And for real, I’m currently reading Size12 and Ready to Rock by Meg Cabot.

I’ve read the other 3 in the series, and I found this was available from the library as an e-book. I put it on hold, then forgot to download it, so I had to be put back on the list! I like it so far.

Current Music:

Most people know I only listen to Air 1 in my car. It was a personal decision, but that doesn’t mean it’s all listen to. Some of my favorite songs include:

Gold by Britt Nicole

You’ll Never Be Alone by Capital Kings

Can’t Hold Us by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Just Give Me a Reason by P!nk and Nate Reuss

Current Guilty Pleasure:

Chocolate Dipped cones from McDonald’s.

Current Nail Color:

I just took it off, but I was wearing OPI VIII

Current Drink:

Coffee

Current Food:

Peanut Butter and Honey Sandwiches. I had one for breakfast and it’s like the 12^th I’ve had this week. I’m addicted.

Current Favorite Show:

This is going to sound lame, but Good Morning America. 

It’s the only show I get to watch on a regular basis, and I do love it.

Current Wish List:

Clothes. I realized I don’t have many spring/summer clothes.

Current needs:

New work capris. All of my old ones are too big.

Current Indulgence:

Ice cream

Current Blessing:

I’m so blessed I can’t even believe it some days. I know that may sound hokey, but it doesn’t make it less true. I feel the most blessed with my friends and family.

Current Outfit:

My blue sundress. My friend is graduating from Law School this morning, and I’m typing this while waiting for Greg to pick me up.

Current Excitement:

The chance to finally catch up on my personal life!