Day in the life

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

2012-01-17T12:19:00.000-08:00

This is the only picture that I took while we were on vacation in Orange County. This was taken at Laguna Beach. We had so much fun celebrating our anniversary and Ben starting a new job. I took the entire week off and was able to workout, swim, go to the Irvine Museum, the beach, tour Ben's mission and just relax. It was so enjoyable. I can't wait for our next vacation....As for now, back to reality :(

A New Year, a New Day!

2012-01-02T11:29:00.000-08:00

Happy 2012! Wow 2011 was quite the year for us in the Allen household. As I a reflect on what transpired in 2011, it's quite over whelming and I can see how much we've grown. In March we moved thousands of miles away to the great state of Texas. I arrived on March 30th to a blazing 85 degrees. The next day I totalled my car returning home from the grocery store. What a welcome to Dallas. Ben was transferred here, but things went downhill fast, which left us wondering what we were going to do. We battled through one of the hottest summers on record and survived living in a 2 bedroom apartment for 6 months.

October came and we were wondering where we were going to live. Ben had been interviewing with several different companies around the US, but we felt like we should stay. While I was away on business, Ben found us a home to rent in Richardson, TX. We are thankful for a home with enough space for Ben and I to each have our own office and he doesn't have to use the living room anymore. After 7 interviews with Mimi's Cafe, Ben was offered the job as a Field Marketing Manager. He will be over the central states. We could not be happier with this new opportunity.

A week from today, Ben and I will celebrate our 2nd Anniversary. On Saturday, we are headed out to L.A. and spending a few days, before Ben starts his training in Irvine, CA. I fortunately, have the entire week off and I'm looking forward to exploring the area while he's working. I love Ben so much. He is my rock and my best friend. I look forward to many more years with the man I love.

OK, enough with the mushy stuff. I am excited for what 2012 will hold. Even with all of the trials that have been thrown my way, I feel very blessed and excited for what is to come.

All Things Driving

2011-11-15T21:32:00.001-08:00

Well folks, Ben and I are close to celebrating our 2 year wedding anniversary and so I thought it is time to officially change my name on my driver's license. Yesterday afternoon I spent a few hours at the DMV and got that all squared away.

When we went to sell our Ford Escape, we found out that the officer who filed the accident report, used the VIN number for the Escape, instead of the Focus to report the accident. The Focus was totalled, so we are unable to sell the car until we get this resolved, so Thursday we get to go to downtown Dallas and pick up a copy of the accident report and then I get to call the officer who did the report and have him change the VIN number. Then we will have to go through the whole process again to get another accident report.

10 Year Anniversary of 9/11

2011-09-11T07:42:00.000-07:00

On this day 10 years ago, I was a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That morning we woke up and did our scripture study and got ready to meet the English speaking elders to teach a discussion to a single woman. Right before we started teaching the discussion, the Elders said that one of the members of their ward said that a plane hit the world trade center. I seriously laughed and said that could not be possible. We left the discussion and went to our next appointment. Our investigator opened the door. The TV was on and they were sitting there watching in disbelief. We sat there and watched the 2nd plane hit the tower and the tower collapse. Afterwards we asked them to mute the tv. We sang Nearer my God to Thee and said a prayer with them and left.

I must back track a little bit. I was serving in Freeport, TX, which is an island on the Gulf of Mexico, where the refineries are massive cities. We had to take a bridge in between the refinery to get to our apartment. We went home for lunch and had several messages from the rest of our appointments for the day saying they were evacuating the island. Panic started to set in and we called our mission president to see what we should do. He said to pack several items and if a mandatory evacuation was asked of us to head to Austin. Also, he told us to always have a full tank of gas.

We had no more appointments, so we decided to go tracting through the streets. As we got out and walked down the street there was not one person on the streets and it was eerily quiet.

After I came home from my mission in 2002, I had so many questions. I had to ask my dad who Bin Laden was. It was hard not being able to use the internet, tv or read newspaper, when such a huge event in American History took place. At college, I was part of a play that was written about the events of 9/11. We posted newspaper articles all over the building from the events of 9/11. I remember spending hours reading about the events that occurred, because I felt disconnected from that day.

I am so thankful for those who have sacrificed everything to defend our country.

I will never forget.

Back to the Grind

2011-09-06T16:50:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it's Tuesday and that it's September. It was so nice to have a lonnng 4 day weekend. The weather was gorgeous. It was in the 80s on Saturday and we were able to open up the windows in the apartment for the first time since April.

Work was ok today, but I'm sure it will be even busier tomorrow, as quite a few people took today off. During my lunch, I went and worked out. After work, I went to get the oil changed, did a little shopping for an outfit for my mother in law's wedding. Now it's off to get gas and go grocery shopping. We went through the Barefoot Contessa cookbooks this weekend and picked out several recipes to try. We are opening up our repertoire of dinner menu items. I'm excited to make new things. I'll definitely take some pictures of the new menu items as I make them and post them on the blog.

Breast Cancer Awareness Chain Game

2011-09-02T19:31:00.000-07:00

One of my husband's cousin's wife's posted a link to a Blog post by C.G. Ward about the game that started this week and clogged the status update on Facebook as things like, "I'm 10 weeks and I'm craving..." I loved her article. Apparently, faking that you are expecting a baby was supposed to raise awareness for Breast Cancer. I really don't see the connection of the two. She had some great points. If you'd like to read her full post, here's a link to her blog: cgwardphotography.blogspot.comBeing a huge supporter of Breast Cancer Awareness this game is completely offensive. There are many ways to raise awareness. One is to support a Breast Cancer Charity. There are so many different non-profit organizations. For several years I raised money and walked every mother's day for the Beverly Breast Cancer 5k walk. One of my friend's friend had Type IV Breast Cancer at age 32. She fought a huge fight, but lost her battle at age 35. She would come in her wheelchair and participate in the walk with us. How sad it was that she left 2 young daughters and a husband.Also, she touched on infertility in her blog post. There are so many women in this world who yearn to have a baby of their own, but have difficulty conceiving. Many people feel isolated and bear their pain in silence. I know that once I started seeing people post this on their boards it made really sad, even though I was excited that they were having a baby. We want a baby, but have not been fortunate enough to have one of our own. I would just ask that if you're going to play a silly, thoughtless game, think about the consequences of what you are doing, before posting it for the whole world to see. Also, ask yourself, is this really going to bring "awareness" to the cause.

Accountability

2011-08-30T19:12:00.000-07:00

Ok...so It might get a bit boring, but I have to do this, because if I'm accountable, I will actually follow through. Today I could not wake up at 6am. I laid in bed wayyyy too long and had to get up to walk to work (aka the second bedroom). Instead of putting on some pj's, I ended up putting on my work out clothes. I wore them the entire day. When I got off work, I put my gym shoes on and went to the gym. YAY!!! Wearing my workout clothes all day really worked. It was a constant reminder of the commitment I have made to get fit and healthy.

Back On Track

2011-08-29T18:49:00.000-07:00

After a rocky summer of very little exercise the last few months, I'm back on track. Saturday I started working out at the gym and doing my floor exercises at home. I was quite sore in my legs the next day. Today the alarm went off at 6am and I got up, got dressed and headed to the gym. I love when working out starts to get easier and the distance can get longer. I got home, got showered and I had a spring in my step all day long. Tomorrow I start all over again. My mother in law is getting married in a month and I hope to have shed some more weight before then... And so the journey begins...

It's July! Where has the time gone?

2011-07-01T05:46:00.000-07:00

Well, Ben and I have been in Texas for the past 3 months and we love it here! Our ward is fabulous and we both have callings. Ben is the Ward Clerk and I'm the Mia Maid Advisor. I haven't been in Young Women in 13 years and so much has changed. I'm looking forward to this new adventure.

Right now, we are on the house hunt, but finding one in our ward boundaries is proving to be impossible as it is 2 blocks deep and 6 blocks wide. It makes for slim pickings, so we've had to start looking outside the boundaries.

I love the 4th of July! It is one of my favorite holidays. One thing I will miss this year are the fireworks in Chicago. They are always
so spectacular. I did however hear that one of the neighboring towns in Dallas has the number 3 ranking for best fireworks, so after I pick up Ben from the airport, hopefully we can go watch them.

We are so blessed to live in a country where we can choose our own destiny. We have so many freedoms, because of the sacrifice of those before us.

I'm so thankful to be an American.

Charity

2011-05-16T13:36:00.000-07:00

This past year has had sooo many ups and downs. I feel like I've been on a roller coaster ride. Moving to Texas has been such a blessing for us. Ben is my rock and I'm so glad to have a wonderful, supportive husband.

I'm not going to lie. I've cried a ton this past year feeling sorry for myself about loosing our first baby. Emotionally, I think that is the toughest thing that I've ever had to experience in my life so far.

Finally I think I have gotten some answers... Moroni 7:40-48 struck my heart today. Below are a couple of the versus that popped out.

42 Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope: for without faith there cannot be any hope.

43 And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart.

44 If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity.

45 And charity suffereth long, and is kind and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."

I know I've read these scriptures a hundred times, but today they have offerred me guidance and direction.

There is a line in my patriarchal blessing that also has shed new light about developing the quality of charity.

I really need to work on developing charity, especially all of the qualities that are present in verse 45.

I feel so blessed to have the knowledge, that my Heavenly Father loves me and is mindful of my needs.

Weight Loss Journey

2011-04-13T10:54:00.000-07:00

Drum roll please.... Today I got on the scale and I have lost a total of 20 lbs!!!! Yay!!! Happy Dance. Only 85 lbs to go.

What I weigh today is what I weighed when Ben and I got married in January of 2010.

I mark my weight loss goals with specific events that have happened in my life.

-15 more lbs (35 lbs total) I will weigh what I weighed when I met Ben in 2009

-20 more lbs (55 lbs total) is what I weighed when Jenny, Jilly and I were working out at the gym 5 days a week together in 2006

-30 more lbs (85 lbs total) is when I graduated from College in 2003

-20 more lbs (105 lbs total-Hit my target weight loss)-What I weighed when I started college in 1998.

Yes, it is sad to say over the past 13 years I've gained over 105 lbs. I know that I can make it back to what I weighed in 1998, which will make me happier and healthier.

This weight loss journey has taught me so much about myself. I have become conscience of the decisions I make. I'm an emotional eater, so whenever I have the urge to eat to comfort, I think about why I want to eat and then I resist the temptation. I have taken control of my life again and it feels great. I had to take a week off prior to vacation, because I was sick and recovering from the accident. Monday I started working out again and will be back on my 6 day a week training program. After I loose the next 35 lbs, I will post a before and half way through picture on the blog.

The Weight Loss Journey and move to Dallas

2011-04-06T21:12:00.000-07:00

A week ago today, I arrived in Dallas safely. Our townhouse had many things in its proper place, as Ben had already started the process of unpacking. The next day, I went back to work and then got ready to make my first venture out to the grocery store. I went shopping at Aldi and Walmart and headed home around 5:30pm. At approximately 5:45 I was at the intersection to turn onto the street we are living on and traffic was stopped going the opposite direction. The other drivers were waving me on, so I proceeded to turn. Unfortunately, the last lane was still moving and my car collided with another vehicle. After all of the airbags deployed and my car had stopped. I sat for a moment and then I called 911. I got out of the car and went over to the other driver. She was headed home from work and her cousin was behind her. My shoulder was hurting and my hands were burned from the airbag explosions. During the crash my glasses flew off my face and I couldn't find them. After my call to 911, I called Ben who hurried down the street the two blocks and waited with me. After the fire department cut power to the battery, all of the items inside the car needed to be unloaded. Unfortunately, I still had 3 boxes of files for work, all of the groceries and several different other items from the move. Ben had to move all of it into his car, because my hands were covered in ice packs. Both drivers walked away with only minor injuries. He took such good care of me and was my backbone when I was pretty shook up about it. Yesterday, we found out that the car was a total loss. The car will be paid off and we are going to be a 1 car family for a while. i started driving again this week, but I've been proceeding with caution. I've been taking it easy and my body is healing really well.

In other news, I've dropped more than 15 lbs and I'm feeling great!!!!! Before I left Indianapolis I started working out at the gym and going to kickboxing. We have a gym in our complex, so I hope to start going after our trip.

It's Official

2011-03-21T16:56:00.000-07:00

Ben and I are moving to Dallas, Texas next week for work. We have a townhouse that we are renting and our home is rented to a nice family. It will be nice as both of my brothers and family are headed down there in the next 4-6 months. We are looking forward to living in a warm state.

I'm committed

2011-03-14T20:55:00.000-07:00

Well, this past weekend Ben and I were talking about my weight loss journey and I have not been motivated to go out on the pavement. SO, I broke down and joined a gym.

At 6:30am this morning I left for the gym. I used the elliptical for a half hour. This afternoon my Visiting Teacher and I headed out to do Taebo for an hour with some other ladies from the ward.

It felt so good to get my body moving. My muscles and body ache, but it's the good kind of hurt.

Weight Loss Journey

2011-03-03T09:28:00.000-08:00

Well, It's almost been two months and I'm down 12.5 lbs!!!! Yay! I only have another 10 until I'm at my weight when I got married. Then another 8-10 and I'll be when I met Ben.

The weight loss journey definitely has it's up and downs, but fortunately, I've been able to start going in the right direction with my weight.

Twins

2011-02-11T06:30:00.000-08:00

So, yesterday during my lunch break, I watched a set of 1 year old twins. They are so sweet. They know me a little bit from church when mom is near by, so this was a new experience for them.

At first, James began to cry and then Whitney looked at him and then started sympathy crying. I ended up with one on each hip and the Disney Channel in the back ground. As long as I would sway the twins began to calm down and watch the show. About 15 or so minutes later, I was able to sit down and rock them. Fortunately, we have rocker recliners at our house and so it made it easier. After a little while longer, Whitney was ready to play on the ground. As long as I stayed near her, she was fine. James seemed a bit tired and wanted to be held. I massaged his feet and helped him to relax. Every little while, he would whine a bit and then he would be fine. One time while he was crying he looked up at me to see if I was paying attention to him and I said, "it's ok, you don't have to cry anymore." I think I may be mellowing out in my old age.

Yesterday, afternoon I called my mom and relayed my experience, she then goes to me, you are the next one on both sides to have twins!!! Yikes... I have an appreciation for all of those parents that have multiples.

The Weight Loss Journey

2011-02-09T11:45:00.001-08:00

Well, Ben and I have been on our diet/exercise routines for a month. Things are going well. Ben and I have both lost weight. What we've found to be successful, is to make the life change and then stick to it. It also helps to have someone to be held accountable to. Our diet consists of fruits, vegetables, lots of ground turkey, chicken, whole grains, fiber, fat free yogurt and cheese. We have basically eliminated red meat, except for the ocasional stew we have on Sundays.

Well, we will continue to plug forward. I can't wait for it to be warm outside, so I can hit the pavement running. I hope to run some races this year.

The Weight Loss Journey

2011-01-17T18:44:00.000-08:00

So, Ben and I have made some lifestyle changes starting last Monday. At the beginning of the week, I will have to admit that it was extremely difficult and I was cranky. We have cut out all Fast Food and cut down on our calorie intake. I'm cooking dinner using the Weight Watchers cookbook and Cooking Light magazines. All of the Cooking Light recipes are online. I absolutely love it!!!

A few years back when I was working with a personal trainer to run my races she taught me quite a few floor exercises that I can do anywhere. It helps with the my problem area, my stomach... I also lift weights on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Since it is cold outside, I put on my StepUps and head to either Super Walmart or Meijer and briskly walk for a minimum of 30 minutes.

My goal is a lofty one, so I will be making my strides with smaller steps. This is embarrassing to write, but I plan to loose a total of 100 lbs. I'm on my way as I have dropped 9 lbs this past week.

My first goal is to run (2) 5k's this summer.
I will be implementing my training program that I used a few years back. I trained from August to November. I plan on being ready to run my first 5k by May.

So as I embark on this journey, I'll take as many cheerleaders as I can get.

2010

2010-12-29T02:31:00.000-08:00

Well, it's 5:30am and I can't sleep as my mind is racing with so many things. 2010 has brought quite a bit of change and it's had some very high highs and very low lows. I'm hoping for a much calmer 2011 in the Allen household.

Christmas Cookies

2010-11-28T14:31:00.000-08:00

Well, today I started on the Christmas cookies and candies. Today I have made English Toffee, Snicker Doodles and Mexican Wedding Cakes. This week I will make the sugar cookies and peanut butter Kiss cookies. I'm thinking about making Kolachky's too. I'm excited to give all of these cookies to the people we visit teach, home teach and others.

100 Things I'm Thankful for

2010-11-24T08:04:00.000-08:00

In no particular order.

1. Ben
2. Our Home
3. Job
4. Parents
5. Siblings and their wives
6. Nieces and Nephews
7. Wonderful Visiting Teachers
8. The Scriptures
9. My callings
10. Talents
11. Jillian
12. Technology
13. Birthdays
14. Membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
15. Prophets and Apostles
16. TV
17. Electricity
18. Cars
19. Trees and shrubs
20. Ben's Job
21. Christmas
22. Vacation
23. My Mother-in Law
24. Tonya
25. Jenny
26. Terry
27. Our Ward
28. Trials
29. Sunshine
30. Music
31. Rain
32. Food
33. Baking
34. Service
35. Cooking
36. Ability to hear
37. Ability to see
38. Brother-in-laws and Sister-in-Laws
39. Swimming
40. Walking
41. Love
42. Babies
43. Flowers
44. Bed
45. Computers
46. Cell phone
47. Internet
48. sweet memories
49. Singles Ward
50. Clothes
51. Drives in the Country
52. Snow
53. The Holy Ghost
54. Testimony
55. Temples
56. Family History
57. Doctors
58. Teachers
59. Education
60. Rainbows
61. Mountains
62. Nature
63. Good Books
64. Freedom
65. USA
66. Airplanes
67. Indiana
68. Chicago
69. Mama Mia's
70. Wisconsin
71. Swing Dancing
72. Baseball
73. Musicals
74. Plays
75. New York City
76. Washington D.C.
77. Golden Girls
78. Grandma
79. Aunts
80. Cousins
81. Quiet Moments
82. Waterfalls
83. Spending quality time with Ben
84. Road Trips
85. Bowling
86. Laughter
87. Eye Glasses
88. Chocolate
89. Make Up
90. Shoulder Rubs
91. Baths
92. Manicures
93. Sacrifice of Jesus Christ
94. Thanksgiving
95. Art
96. Home Teachers
97. Blessings
98. Life
99. Priesthood
100. Neighbors

Living for the Weekend

2010-11-11T19:09:00.000-08:00

This week has been extremely long, especially with work. I have worked so much this week, that I will be off at 2:30 tomorrow afternoon.

Saturday will start out with Worldwide Leadership Training. Then I will be heading to Chicago again this weekend to go to my Mom's cousin's daughter's 1st birthday party and my youngest cousin's Fiance's Bridal Shower.

I'm looking forward to relaxing Sunday evening, to start my last full week of November before Thanksgiving. This year is seriously flying by.

Relief Society/Organist

2010-11-10T11:14:00.000-08:00

For all of my adult life, I have either been the Ward Organist or in some capacity in Relief Society. As we have moved to Avon, Indiana, I am now in the Relief Society Presidency and an assistant Ward Organist.

As an assistant Ward Organist I play the 1st Sunday of every month. This is a good calling for me, because then I keep up on my playing. It is so fun to pick out the hymns for the next 6 months.

In Relief Society, I am over Education. We are having the Worldwide Leadership training on Saturday morning and will receive new manuals. As I have been studying for a Teacher's meeting that we are having next month, I have gained a new appreciation for the teachers that prepare each Sunday to teach us true doctrine. We are so blessed to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Shape Ups

2010-11-09T12:13:00.000-08:00

Well yesterday was near 70 degrees here, so I ventured out with my new Sketchers Shape Up shoes. It is suppose to feel like you are walking through sand.

I can honestly say these shoes are awesome! Can't wait to go walking again today...

Missing Home

2010-11-07T18:56:00.001-08:00

This past weekend Ben and I were able to head to the Chicagoland area to see our families. It was so fun to visit with my parents on Friday evening and see their new decor in their home. It was also nice to see my sister, Elisabeth, who has had quite the year of not being able to walk and surgery in October. She started physical Therapy this week and has recovered well from surgery.

After visiting with my parents, we headed to my mother-in-law's home. It was so fun to see all of our family on Saturday. We had an early Thanksgiving, because this year we go to the wives side of the family. We ate delicious food and spent a wonderful time catching up.

As Ben and I headed home Saturday evening, we were extremely sad. We miss Chicago and all of our family. We hope to one day make it back to the Chicago Area.

On the Weight Loss Journey

2010-10-17T14:50:00.001-07:00

This year has brought quite a bit of change. 1. Getting Married. I love having a wonderful, caring husband. The only bad thing-weight gain. 2. Get pregnant-even more weight gain. 3. Have a miscarriage- and keep the weight on from all of this. 4. Move to another State-All the stresses of building a house and learning about another states culture-more weight gain.

All in all, I've gained too much weight and really haven't wanted to face the facts until a few weeks ago. Ben and I have made a pledge to eat better and exercise. I have lost 5.5 lbs in two weeks! I hope to weigh less than when I got married by Christmas.

Temple in Indianapolis/General Conference

2010-10-03T14:29:00.001-07:00

During our lives, Ben and I have both lived within a close distance to a Temple. Since, moving to Indianapolis, the temple is a couple of hours away. A little over a month ago, Ben and I were on a drive and discussed how wonderful it would be to have a temple in Indianapolis.

Yesterday, during the first session of conference, President Thomas S. Monson announced that a temple will be built in Indianapolis. What blessed news that we received.

Conference has filled my soul.

Photos of Our New Home

2010-07-29T15:15:00.000-07:00

So today, I finally took some pictures of our home. It is so nice to be almost finished unpacking.

The Family Room Looking into the Kitchen/Dining Area

Our Family Room

The Loft Area

Guest Bedroom

Another Angle of the Office

My Office

The Stairs I can't seem to flip the Picture

This is the Living Room

The Whirlwind Last Month

2010-06-29T16:47:00.000-07:00

We finally closed on our home 3 weeks after our original closing date. With all of the new regulations on lenders, it's amazing anyone is closing.

Our home is coming together nicely. We have unpacked over 30 boxes of kitchen supplies, finished the living and family room. We absolutely love our living area. The rest of our boxes are sitting in our formal dining room.

Working from home has been such a blessing. I love making meals for Ben and being here when he gets home from work. I'm so glad to be living under the same roof again.

We are both busy with our callings. Ben is the Valiant 10 teacher and I am the 1st counselor in the Relief Society Presidency. Our ward is wonderful and very welcoming.

All in all, we are very happy and enjoying our time together. We feel so very blessed.

If you are ever in Indianapolis, please stop by, we love having visitors.

Pictures to follow of the finished home.

Our New Home

2010-04-27T19:11:00.000-07:00

Today was an exciting day as our home was sided and the laminate flooring was put down. Also, the ceilings received the second coat of paint and the walls should receive their second coat tomorrow. We feel so blessed to be building a new home. We are looking forward to moving into our new home next month. Below are a few pictures that Ben took today. He's so good at documenting the progress of our home.

Finishing the front of the house with Siding

Finished Siding on the front

Back of the house is sided

Cabinets

Laminate Wood Flooring

Our Loft

Wedding

2010-03-22T19:36:00.000-07:00

The past few months have flown by so quickly since Ben and I were married.

The last day of our honeymoon we were looking at homes to go look at to purchase in Illinois, when Ben was sought out to interview for a job as the Director of Marketing for Pizza Hut.

About a month later, plans had been solidified for us to move to Indianapolis. House hunting was quite stressful, but in the end, we decided to build a home. Ben has been good at taking pictures each day on the progress of the house.

I'm living in Illinois during the week and head down there on the weekends. I will be very happy when we are living full time in the same state, under the same roof. The reason I am in Illinois is because my employer has offered me to work from home, doing exactly what I do now. That will be a blessing when we have children to not have to work outside the home.

We have been greatly blessed. I am so glad that I have finally found my best friend to spend eternity with.

I'm getting Married!

2009-10-19T20:42:00.000-07:00

July of this year was an extremely hard time for me. While Jillian and Carl were in Hawaii, I was so frustrated about my current life. I was crying and praying all the way home from work and then I was about to be home and I decided that I needed more than a few prayers, but that I needed a father's blessing.

I called my father and headed to my parents' home. I was given a blessing of comfort and the tears would not stop falling from my eyes. I was talking with my mom and she wasn't able to understand what I was going through. The loneliness was too much for my heart. I stormed out of the house sobbing. As I was getting on the expressway, Jillian called me from Hawaii. She was truly heaven sent. She just had felt like she needed to call me and it was so comforting to know that my prayers weren't just hitting the ceiling or the roof of the car.

A couple weeks later I was at church and the institute instructor, Sister Worlton took me over to meet this nice gentlemen. His name was Ben Allen. Our fist meeting was quite awkward, but every time that I would go to church, I would think, where is Ben, I want him to see how good I look today.

After weeks of this questioning, I asked Nalihda what she thought of Ben. Nalihda is good about getting the 411 on everyone. All that she said was reassuring. After we finished our chat, she turned me and said, he's a great guy, you should totally go for it. I was like, what I just was curious. At that moment, I realized that I was interested in getting to know him.

A few weeks passed by and I was on my last furlough in August. I left a few important facts out of my previous post about going to Tennessee.

While there, I had no TV, Cellphone, or Internet. I had quite a bit of quite time. While there, my grandmother gave me her wedding set. At that moment, it was confirmed that I would marry soon. My mind kept on thinking, there are no prospects. Several evenings I would be relaxing and Ben Allen would come into my mind. I was like, seriously, I don't even know him. It was really funny because one day on the way home from the hospital, I told my mom about my entire wedding reception. I even showed my grandma and mother a picture of the dress I had picked out in December of last year when I was visiting Jenny in Utah. I thought this is so bizarre that I'm telling them about this and I'm not even dating anyone.

The following Sunday after I returned Ben gave a talk in church, which was probably the best talk I've ever heard. That is the point, I started opening up to the idea of dating him.

That evening I texted him and gave him my phone number. The following day Ben called me before Family Home Evening. It felt so good talking to him. He asked me if I had a key to the building. I actually had never brought back the key from when my roommate was in charge of FHE, so I was able to give him the key. Afterwards, I had to meet with the missionaries. He waited for me to get out of my meeting. Then Dave, Mark, Jonelle, Ben and myself headed to Buffalo Wild Wings.

Ben and I talked the entire evening to each other. It was quite easy conversation. What truly made me hesitant is that he's an oldest child also. Two oldest makes for quite the pair. As we were leaving the restaurant, Jonelle and I headed one direction and the guys headed another. I thought that was absolutely the end of it. While I was driving home, feeling that nothing was going to happen, a text came to me from Ben wishing me a good night and that I drove home safely. I then thought, "maybe there is hope."

A week had passed and he hadn't asked me out on a date. I was playing the Organ in church and then he came up to me before the meeting and said that he had prayed that I would have angel hands when I was playing that day. Then I just blurted out,"Want to come over to dinner tonight?" He said yes and I could hardly contain myself.

He came over at 4pm and then he stayed and talked to me until 11pm. He basically told me his whole life story in one night. At the end of our date, we hugged and I thought that this might only be a friendship. I was disappointed and went downstairs to bed. I called Jillian and told her about my day and how I thought nothing was going to happen. She then told me to take a chill pill and that everything seemed perfectly normal.

The next day we went out and things seemed to be going well.

Things began to progress quickly and we have become best friends. Ben is so kind and giving. He will help me out with all of my responsibilities and lightening my load. I love him so much and cannot wait to be married to him forever.

The Last Week

2009-08-23T19:26:00.000-07:00

About a week and a half ago my mom asked if I would take her to Tennessee to see my ailing grandfather. I agreed because I had the following week off.

We loaded up the car Friday evening and left around 5:15am for Tennessee. We arrived at the hospital around noon. Candy, Troy, Cassandra, Logan, Taylor and my grandma were already there. My grandfather was having trouble breathing, so the nurse gave him morphine. He then went to sleep and we went to lunch. We ended up at one of the only restaurants in Paris, TN. After downing some food, we returned to the hospital and talked with him for a little while longer. My mother and I were exhausted from our journey and left for their house, which was 45 minutes away.

Shortly after we arrived in Big Sandy, the rest of the family came back. There was quite a bit of things that needed to be done. We sat on the porch and talked about different childhood memories of our grandpa.

Sunday my grandpa came home from the hospital. He was pretty strong and was able to walk into the house. My mom and I went to church and then we came home and made my grandfather's favorite cake-German Chocolate.

Tuesday the home health nurse came and my grandpa was extremely weak by the time that she was done testing him. By 4pm he was having trouble breathing, so I loaded him and my grandma into the car and we headed to the emergency room. He was given a shot of Lasix and was released.

Wednesday, he slept most of the day and was not doing well at all. Thursday at 3am he was having trouble breathing. My mom and I had to return home, because my younger sister was in need of help getting ready for camp. He had a real bad bout and the nurse informed my grandma that he only had 2-3 days left before he would pass.

Friday, August 21st, around 3am Robert Marion Gaba passed from this life, no longer suffering. His wake is tomorrow in Frankfort, IL and his funeral is on Tuesday. He will be laid to rest near his daughter, who passed 2 years ago.

Earth Day

2009-04-22T22:16:00.001-07:00

This morning I had to wake up early and begin my day with a little work. Even though I'm on furlough this week. Also, another memo came out today and we will be on furlough next month too.

Faith Mickley and I jumped in the car this morning and went to The Museum of Science and Industry. We went to a presentation on the earth and that we need to reduce, reuse, and recycle. After that, we traipsed through the entire museum. The highlight of my day was going to the Toy making factory. While there you get to design your own spinning top and watch it be made from start to finish. It is even inspected to make sure that it has been made properly.

After a couple of hours, we went on another adventure. We went to the Pupuseria El Salvador and picked up pupusas. They are so yummy! Pupusas have pork and cheese in the middle with masa on the outside.

Tonight a group of us went and saw the new Disney nature movie Earth. It was absolutely amazing. James Earl Jones did a wonderful job narrating it. I highly recommend this movie.

Slacking in my Writing

2009-04-21T09:32:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's April and I haven't written on my blog in a couple of months.

February 17th I went to the Jason Mraz concert in Dekalb, IL with Jillian and Carl. It was a wonderful concert, but on my way home I started reflecting on my life and where I was at and where I would be going in this next year. I began pouring out my soul to the Lord, and told him that if my work here in Chicago was done, to allow me to leave the area and be of more use somewhere else. Honestly, I was quite frustrated, especially with the current economic situation and my current employment.

The week continued and whenever something big is about to happen in my life, I freak out and I'm a bit annoyed with the change. Sometimes I don't even know what's coming, but get a feeling of uneasiness.

Sunday, February 22nd, I took Chelsea Barnett to the airport fairly early. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep the night before, so I thought I would take a nap at the church before my meetings. I decided I needed to read my scriptures, so I went into the nursing mother's room, where it was quite and began to read. I then read my patriarchal blessing and as I read the words of my blessing, "Relief Society President" came into my mind as clear as day. My first thought, "I've definitely lost it, and I need to get more sleep!" The feeling continued and I felt quite overwhelmed by the responsibility of caring for the sisters' in the ward.

After sacrament meeting, the Bishop called me into his office and he extended the calling of Relief Society President to me. All I could get out was, "Ok, Ok....Ok" Then the tears started streaming down my face from the overwhelming task ahead of me. I then relayed the experience I had had only hours earlier. He then told me that that is when they as a Bishopric had determined I would be the next Relief Society President.

The rest of church was pretty much a blur.

While sitting in relief society, the lesson was about lifting where you stand. Our closing hymn was, I'll go where you want me to go." I purposely sat in the back and tears again streamed down my face.

That afternoon, I went home and fell asleep on the couch. When I awoke, I asked my mom if I was just dreaming that I was the new relief society president. She said, "No, you still are going to be the next relief society president." I asked my father for a blessing. The most poignant part was when I was told to not worry about my temporal needs and that He would take care of them, but that I needed to focus on the spiritual things and my new calling.

I know that the Lord is mindful of each one of us and our needs. He will not leave us comfortless. I'm thankful for the opportunity to serve and grow in ways I never thought possible.

The following Sunday I was called as Relief Society President. That day was filled with quite a few different tasks and meeting with quite a few of the sisters. We had a break the fast meal at the Stake Center and then a fireside. I was so overwhelmed. I was about to leave and Chelsea said she needed to talk to me. We walked away from the group that we were with and she said that she had been fasting that day to find someone to live in her house after she left. She told me she knew the moment I was called, that I was to live in her house. I was like ok, let me think about it. That was March 1st and by March 11th, I was completely moved into my new home. It has a beautiful back yard, and a wonderful area for entertaining the ward and my friends.

New Year, New Resolution

2009-01-13T19:25:00.001-08:00

Christmas to New Year's was spent in Utah with the beautiful mountains and one of my best friends', Jenny. We spent much time catching up and took a drive around a few of the temples. The Bountiful temple is most beautiful. I really wish I would have gone to the temple, because the Chicago temple is now closed to early March or later.

December 30th in the evening Tim, Jenny and I were sitting around and started making our New Year's resolutions. This year includes running at least 5 5ks, 2 10ks and 1 half marathon. Over the past few months I have realized running has taught me life lessons. I'm looking forward to achieving my goal of a half marathon before I'm 30. I've also renewed my commitment to reading the scriptures. My other goal is to develop another talent. I have decided to get more involved in my writing. I love to write and would eventually like to write a book. Lastly, I'm going to start graduate school. I've been looking at several options. I figure it's been 6 years since I finished my undergrad and I should go back while I have the time.

Life is wonderful and I'm looking forward to embarking on these new adventures. May I complete these goals...

Christmas Day Adventure

2008-12-30T10:43:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning was relaxing as we all slept in a got up around 9:30am. I still had a few more things to pack into my suitcase for my trip to Salt Lake City. I left the house at around 1pm to attend our Christmas luncheon at my brothers' in-laws.

About 1:45 pm I received a blackberry message from one of my friends in Utah, who told me they had blizzard conditions and no power. I thought, I have to get out, so hopefully everything will be cleared up by the time I'm to arrive in Utah. I check my flight status and everything was on time.

We had a delicious dinner of prime rib, BBQ ribs, squash casserole, homemade roles and sweet potatoes. After a couple of hours my brother and sister-in-law took me to the airport and I checked in with ease.

We loaded the plane and took off early to Minnesota. When we arrived I had to book it from one terminal to another, which also involved getting on a tram. I quickly arrived at the gate only to find out that we were delayed. We continued to wait for almost an hour and then we loaded the plane and headed for Utah. When we were approaching Salt Lake the captain continued to warn us of freezing fog, low visibility and keeping our seat belts securely fastened. I always sit in the window seat and as we were about to touchdown, I realized that the white below was the actual runway. We touched down and fortunately didn't slide off the runway.

As we approached, the tarmac was filled with hundreds of planes and our gate had to be reassigned, but there was one catch. The gate we were transferred to was not made for our type of aircraft. So they had to move quite a bit of heavy machinery, which ended up taking over an hour. We were literally 10 feet away from the gate, but we started to slide, so we had to wait for someone to tow us in. Back and forth and back and forth several more times until we finally made it into the gate. Cheers and applause could be heard throughout the cabin.

We deplaned and it was 2am. Several stranded passengers were scattered throughout the airport sleeping or playing on their computers. We ended up deplaning in Terminal 2, but our luggage was sent to Terminal 1. We were directed to carousal 4 where we waited for another 1 1/2 hours, until the luggage started to spit out on to the carousal.

After retrieving my luggage, I hopped on the bus to the economy parking lot. When I arrived at my brother and sister-in-law's car, there was tons of snow on the car and it was up to my calves. It only took about 20 minutes to clear off. I said a quick prayer and started my journey to my friends house.

None of the roads had been plowed and it was quite slippery. I fortunately made it to my friend's home in safety at 4:20 am.

Subzero Weather

2008-12-25T07:55:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday I woke up early to prepare to go to the Sunday Christmas program. As I started to prepare the weather advisory said that it was 32 below zero windchill and that we would not reach even zero degrees. I was not thrilled with the idea of going outside. Unfortunately, I'm the organist and choir pianist, so I had no choice of skipping out.

I put on my dress and decided to put on my sweatpants and boots to keep my legs warm. I did remove them before church, but couldn't help but get a picture of me all bundled up.

Quilting 101

2008-12-07T18:57:00.000-08:00

I was on my way out of work after a stressful week in the office, when I received a text message from one of my guy friends asking if he could use our sewing machine. At first, I chuckled wondering what he needed to use it for, but then he explained that it was for a t-shirt quilt.

I headed home, picked up the sewing machine and arrived at his house around 6:30pm. We went to dinner and then went to Wal-Mart to pick up some things for this quilt. I am not domestic in any form of the word. I can cook well, but sewing is absolutely out of the question.

We headed back to his house and started on our adventure. We realized we had forgotten some things for the quilt, so we had to leave again and ended up at Joann's. It was literally the blind leading the blind. Fortunately, we found some clear grid plastics that we took two and taped together to make a 16" x 16" square. We didn't think that we would need any more than one fabric cutter, so the last of the 36 squares were quite fun to cut out with a dull blade.

We began a process that he would cut, I would iron and this went on for a couple of hours. Towards the end of the cutting of the squares, we realized we had to thread the bobbin. I started on my attempt to thread the bobbin, which turned out to be disastrous. I resorted to watching a video on YouTube, which I have to admit was extremely helpful. I can now say that I'm a professional bobbin threader.

Threading the entire machine was another adventure. I had my guy friend thread the sewing machine as I cut out some more squares. He fortunately took Home Economics in the 7th grade, so he's much more experienced than me. After we laid out the squares in the order of the blanket, he started sewing the rows together. As he would finish a row, I would have the next row ready to sew and this took a couple more hours.

2am rolled around and we ran out of Navy thread. We decided that there was a 24 hour Walgreen's down the road, so we got bundled up and headed out to the snow covered streets. Luckily, Walgreen's did have spools of thread, but our options were limited to white or black, so we opted for black.

We then headed back to the house and began sewing the rest of the rows together. It was good having two people handling the quilt, because the quilt got extremely heavy at the end.

At 6am we were finishing the edges and extremely proud of our awesome accomplishment. We had one more edge to go and were finishing the corner, which were pretty tough, because of the thickness of the batting and material. The last stitch on the second to last edge, was extremely difficult and the needle ended up breaking. We called it quits, because by then it was 6:45am.

He fortunately finished the quilt yesterday!!! I definitely can say I feel much more domestic after our quilting marathon. Next time, I'll spend more than one day on the quilt.

Birthday Weekend

2008-11-30T12:20:00.000-08:00

Wednesday in the middle of work, I had the thought that I should treat myself to a weekend in Chicago. I went on priceline and booked a Five Star hotel for cheap. I was so excited at the idea of spending some time in my favorite city.

Friday morning I awoke around 8 am and headed to the gym for a two mile jog and then I attempted to get a little Christmas Shopping done on the way home. I have vowed I will never take my children the day after Thanksgiving to shop, because it's not fair to them or me, especially with all of the people.

I got home and started packing for my weekend adventure. I packed up my car and headed into the city around 3pm. I arrived at the hotel around 4:30pm, checked in, and relaxed in the room for a couple of hours.

I made my way down Michigan Avenue and hit Victoria Secret, which was having some awesome sales and found my mom and sister-in-laws presents. I was pretty excited and after shopping for a few hours returned to my hotel room. I headed out and found some yummy dinner and went back to the hotel and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Saturday, I woke up around 8am and got ready for the day. I left the hotel around 10am and headed to Millennium park. I ate a muffin and sat and watched people at the Bean for a couple of hours. I headed to Macy's on State Street where the windows are a disappointment, but they were having some great sales, so I went and shopped, but didn't find anything worth buying. I then headed to various other stores.

Around 3:30pm my family arrived into the city and we went to the German Market and they ate some Bratwurst, Strudel, and Hot Chocolate. It was all delicious. The German Market was very packed, since it was the first day, and my family had had enough after only about 45 minutes. A couple of my friends came into the city and we went and ate tapas at Cafe' Iberico. It was delicious.

After dinner we wandered back to Millennium park and then started heading north on Michigan Ave. One of my friends asked what we should do. I thought for a moment and then suggested we go to the top of the John Hancock building. We walked a few more blocks and waited in line for about 20 minutes. We had an awesome view from our table and sipped hot chocolate. Honestly, the best view is from the Women's bathroom. I took a couple of pictures I'll post.

Sunday, I headed home early, because it started to snow. My family returned home from church and we had lasagna and pumpkin cheesecake for my birthday dinner. I got another kitchen gadget. It's a hot air popper which the top is a bowl! I look forward to using it soon.

Thanksgiving 5K Turkey Trot

2008-11-27T10:21:00.000-08:00

Last evening, I anxiously prepared for my first 5K. I went and stayed the night at Nalihda's, one of my coworkers, so that, I wouldn't have to get up as early. I arrived at her home last evening around 8:30 and worked on upper body and abs with her. It was my second workout of the day, so I went a little light on the weight.

After the workout, we watched Runaway Bride. I fell asleep in the middle of the movie. Then around 11:30pm I began getting ready for bed. Nalihda is an experienced runner, so I asked her for some advice on how to finish the race. 1st have goals, which I already had and 2nd to keep good form and focus on my breathing.

I woke up 20 minutes before my alarm and began to prepare for the adventure ahead of me. When we arrived at the high school where the race was beginning, there literally was a sea of thousands everywhere. I entered the gymnasium, found my name, what number I would be wearing, and quickly hurried to the table to get my number.

After receiving my number, I had to put a disposable chip on my shoe to record my time and pinned my number to my green pullover jacket. I had to continue to remind myself to breath before the race even started. I put in my headphones and began listening to Fall Out Boy. We were able to cross the start line about 2 minutes after the race began. The times reflected do not have the approximate 2 minutes removed. I quickly fell into my pace and hit the 1 mile marker at about 13 minutes. The 2nd mile marker I hit at 22 minutes and I finished around 38. The official scores will be in around 3pm this afternoon.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I had this Thanksgiving to run the race and make it to the finish line. I look forward to next year and the many more races I will run.

Weddings, Reflections, and Thanksgiving

2008-11-22T11:35:00.000-08:00

A week from today is my 29th birthday. Ever since my mid life crisis at 25, I have been enjoying my birthdays. In conjunction with my birthday, yesterday Lara, one of my high school friends, got married. Wonderful news came yesterday as Jenny announced that she is having twins in May! These events have ignited a myriad of memories to flood my mind.

I remember Jenny, Beth and I meeting one hot August day in Southern Illinois as we laughed and experienced band camp before our Freshman year. Lara came into the picture as we started our Freshman year. That early bond has lasted and been fortified, through all of our life-changing events.

One unique thing about this bond formed over 14 years ago is that we have never had a fight, not even a squabble. Life for the four of us was always healthy and uplifting. We made it through break ups, hook ups and every other kind of joy and/or disappointment.

I have looked upon these memories and realized the value of true friends. True friends will do anything for you and you will reciprocate to them in the like manner. I value those few friends that love and respect me even with all of my flaws and imperfections. I feel blessed for good friends who have stood by me throughout the years and will continue to do so for the rest of our lives.

At this time of Thanksgiving, I add a small list of things I am thankful for in no particular order: Family, Friends, Faith, Jesus Christ, Heavenly Father, Love, Prayer, Career, Exercise, Food, Scriptures, Temple and Talents.

Answered Prayer

2008-11-09T15:21:00.000-08:00

Today I was feeling extremely sick in the morning. I received two phone calls letting me know that one of my friend's would be speaking in church. It was the first time this friend talked in church, so I got dressed and headed for Sacrament meeting.

Today's topic was Prayer. The message of the Hymn, "Did you think to Pray?" was used twice in two different talks. The line, "Prayer will change the night to day..." had great impact this day.

The message and testimony my friend bore was powerful. I have been praying for over two years that this individual would find joy in this life. It made me feel fulfilled. It also taught me again that Heavenly Father will answer our prayers in His own due time. Hearing that talk was worth getting up for today.

I hope that I will feel good enough to train tomorrow morning for my race.

On the Trail again

2008-11-08T16:03:00.000-08:00

On this cold, dreary November day in Chicago, I got up around 9am and then started preparing for my run outside. I arrived at the Old Plank trail and started my run. The first couple of miles were a breeze. The last mile is always the challenge, but I concentrate on my breathing, which keeps me focused. Today, in my last mile I had the Frankfort Grainery in the foreground to focus on. Millions of memories flooded my mind of being on the trail as a teenager. It was quite pleasant to finish my run with those thoughts. I have also discovered that Fall Out Boy is my choice of music to keep me going on a good pace between 10-11 minute miles. I'm hoping that it's not any colder than it was today on Thanksgiving morning or it could be an interesting run.

hitting the pavement

2008-11-06T16:25:00.000-08:00

Ok so I have never posted from my blackberry, but I have a few spare minutes before the soccer game, so here goes nothing. I have begun running outside. It is quite different than running on the treadmill or elliptical. It is wonderful to feel like I'm actually going somewhere. Thank goodness I've found my niche. I'm going to run 4 miles outside on Saturday. I'm sure I'll have quite a bit to say about that adventure.

Test of Commitment

2008-10-30T21:30:00.000-07:00

Today started off wonderfully with little Auberita coming to our house and the opportunity to see her before I left for work.

Work was very productive. I was entering orders like crazy and I even stood up to one of my clients that has been a bully these last few weeks.

After work, one of the YSA regional reps needed help with getting all of the food for the Halloween dance tomorrow night, so I decided to help. We spent a couple of hours at the store, then headed for the church. We then began the process of washing and cutting all of the fruits and vegetables. After we finished, I headed to religion class for 1 1/2 hours.

By the time I finally left the church dressed for the gym it was 9:45pm. I was not very confident in myself that I would actually make it to the gym tonight. I purposely went the local route instead of going on the Toll road, so I would have to stop at the gym. Once there, I ran 11 minute mile and then got on the bike for 10 minutes and then back on the treadmill for 9 more minutes to get my full half hour of cardio.

It's now 11:37pm and I will be at the gym by 6am to start my regime of 30 minutes cardio, 30 minutes with my trainer. This exercise thing is extremely addictive. I'm so happy I'm finally succeeding at working out consistently.

Running...Running and more Running

2008-10-29T10:40:00.001-07:00

This was an early morning with the trainer, who pushed me even further in my strength training. Then I went and did my run for 30 minutes. At first, I was dreading it, but by about the 10 minute mark, I was set in my pace and ready to roll.

Since I have been consistently running for 2 full weeks, I've dropped 3 lbs and I can see a difference in my size. I love seeing the results . November 7th will be my 2 month full body measure with the trainer. It truly makes a difference when you measure each month and then focus on areas that need improvement.

I have found my love for running. I'm excited for the upcoming Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning and some intense training to do a half marathon next summer.

5K TRIAL RUN

2008-10-25T23:01:00.000-07:00

This morning when I woke up, I doddled for a little bit dreading running a 5k this morning. Finally, I convinced myself and got dressed for the run.

Running is such a mental thing for me when I'm running for distance. I use some of my educational background on how the brain works and use chunking of 5 minute intervals to coach myself to the end. It seems to be working, because I coached myself to the end of the 5K and finished in 37:37! For being my first time ever running that distance, I felt it was ok. Now I have plenty of time to improve upon that time.

Running has become my new therapy. I was going to wait until Thanksgiving to run a 5K, but since I can already run the distance, I'm going to find some local races to run in the next couple of weeks.

Courtside Bulls Game

2008-10-24T22:10:00.000-07:00

It was about 2:30 this afternoon when I looked at my Blackberry and saw my blinking red light inferring I had a message of some sort. There was a phone number that I wasn't familiar with, so I listened to the message. It was an old friend that I hadn't spoken to in about 2 years and I was being offered free court side tickets to the Bulls game this evening with 2 extra tickets to be used by whomever I wanted. Who could pass up that opportunity? I surely couldn't...

I quickly started getting in contact with people and soon had 2 other extremely willing individuals.

We all met up at around 6:45pm and headed into the city. When we arrived at the United Center we found parking across the street and walked straight into our seats. I've never sat that close in my entire life. You could see the perspiration on the players as they ran up and down the court. We were leading by about 20 points after the first half, but the Wisconsin Bucks quickly tied up the ball game, which resulted in overtime. Fortunately, the Bulls came back to win!

What a fabulous once in a lifetime opportunity! I'm grateful I was able to take advantage of it.

Long Day

2008-10-23T20:48:00.000-07:00

Today wasn't very exciting, I don't even think I have a story to tell, but I'm trying to keep up my writing, so maybe something will turn out of nothing.

Last evening I asked my Dad some questions about me. The most poignant part of the conversation was when he told me that, " I'm too hard on myself."

Ever since I was a little girl, I have felt that I need to be the best at everything that I do. For those of you who know me, understand my extreme competitive nature. When I don't quite succeed at what I'm trying to accomplish in my life, I feel as though I have failed and that I must overcome whatever obstacle or challenge is infront of me. Today has been a great day of reflection as I fasted and prayed about where I'm at in my life. The conclusion, I'm doing pretty well and I need to keep doing what I'm doing and I'll be okay.

Early Morning Exercise and Self Reflection

2008-10-22T17:23:00.000-07:00

My days have been starting early this year and I've got the exercise bug. Today, I got up at 5:20 am and headed to the gym to meet my trainer. I just experienced buying my first pair of free weight gloves last night on my way home from the gym. I'm thankful that I bought them, because today was shoulders, biceps and triceps work. After signing in, my trainer tells me that we're going to the bench press. My first reaction was, "Are you kidding me? I haven't bench pressed since high school!!!" Fortunately, I've been working out for a couple of months and I bench pressed 60 lbs for 3 sets of 10. I know that's not a lot, but it's little by little.

These past few weeks as I have started training to run a 5k on Thanksgiving has taken me to mentally preparing before each run. Pace and distance have been my two concerns. Yesterday, I ran on the treadmill for 2.2 miles. I know it will be different when I'm out on the road running and conditions will be different. I'm going out Saturday to do my first test run around the neighborhood.

Thinking about life in general, we all need to think about pace and distance. I think too often, I don't pace myself and my goals. Training for running has given me a new insight to taking my time when new challenges and experiences are on the horizon. I often run away (figuratively speaking) whenever I get close to one of my goals, because I doubt that I really could fulfill it or am not worthy of the accomplishment.

I'm thankful for wonderful friends and family, who stand on the sidelines cheering me on and help me to meet and achieve my goals.

Rain, Kohl's, and No Bosses

2008-10-21T17:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was quite the day. It was full of customer quotes, calls and entering orders. I didn't even recognize that it was raining until about 4:45. I was informed it had been pouring for a couple of hours.

After work I went to Kohl's because I needed some new running shoes, and it was still drizzling. As I entered through the double glass doors and wiped my heals and headed straight for the shoes. As I stepped across the waxy tile floor and put my heal down, I started to loose my balance and slid right into a rack of men's clothing and breaking a couple of blood vessels in my thumb. I quickly walked onto the carpet and made my way to the shoes, hoping that no one saw my little mishap. Even if they did, I don't know them, so it doesn't really matter.

This morning brought early morning meetings with the sales manager and sales supervisor. While in our meeting we were reminded that all of management will be out for the remainder of the week starting tomorrow. The sales manager told us that he is "quite the proponent of slacking a bit when the bosses are out, but that we are not to get caught." The room exploded into laughter. Some of the ideas that were tossed around were drinks with umbrellas, extended lunch hours and breaks, etc.

Having been in business world for over 5 years, it amazes me the productivity of some co-workers versus others, depending on how much management is around. My work ethic is to work as though every manager is present in the office every day. Hopefully this will eventually lead me into management.

Add or Find a Husband

2008-10-19T19:38:00.000-07:00

After church today the singles congregation had a seminar on how to get started on the new.familysearch.org website. Each person entered their personal information and after completely registered, would look up their pedigree chart. The first screen that appears is "Add or find a husband/wife", which in a group of singles was quite humorous to hear the reactions to the prompt.

One women mentioned that she had tried adding a husband or finding someone that she could marry. Another was hoping that there would be a search button next to it. The best comment of the day was the slogan, "Add or find a husband, Isn't it about.... time."

Old Maid

2008-10-18T22:02:00.000-07:00

Ok, so for many years, people have told me that I should start a blog, but I've just never had an interest until today. I was driving down the highway to begin some retail therapy when the thought occurred to me that I really needed to blog about my experience in the morning.

It was a wonderful fall morning in Chicago, and I thought I was going to get a ton accomplished, until around 9:30am in the morning when my Aunt called. I ignored her call, because I wasn't ready to talk to anyone. Then my mother's cellphone began to ring. It was my Aunt. I promptly handed the phone to my mother, who quickly gave it back to me.

My aunt began recounting her train experience the other day and how she had met my husband. It's never good when that is the reason for the call. She tells me how sweet and wonderful he is and what he is majoring in. The icing on the cake was when she told me how he looked like my brother. Who wants to marry their brother? I politely said that I wasn't interested and thanks for trying. Then she said, " Come on you don't want to be an old maid."

That line has been said twice in the last two weeks from two of my relatives. My first thought was the picture of those little cards we used to play with as children where the old maid had white hair and grandma spectacles. Fortunately, I don't fit that criteria as an old maid. Then I realized that I have become a great concern to my family that I'm not married, nor is there a prospect and am fast approaching my 29th birthday. I feel as though I'm Loula from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, who's parents set her up with several "matches" and the entire family is concerned for her. Luckily, her story had a happy ending. May mine do the same