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Five things

23 May

My blog friend Carrie tagged me to do this post about 5 things. So here I am!

The Rules:

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.

2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.

3. At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog.

4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

What were you doing 5 years ago? 

Five years ago, I had just finished my freshman year of college at the University of Minnesota. For the summer of ’03, I lived in a college house with 2 other girls and 2 guys (the guys moved out b4 the next school year and were replaced with girls).

A typical day for me was sleeping in/getting over a hangover, then laying out on the beach at either a lake up 35W North near Mounds View or at Lake Calhoun, trying to exercise outside (I was very out of shape at this point), then working at Herberger’s until closing, then coming home to party it up. The next day I did it all over again.

What are five things to do on your to do list for the day?

1. Survive work. 🙂

2. Enjoy the weather outside by either going on a run or a walk.

3. Spend time with my husband tonight.

4. Get time in the Word over lunch.

5. Cook dinner with what little food we have at our apartment. As my mom says, “It’s Mother Hubbard!”

What are five snacks you enjoy?

Do I have to choose just five?

1. Dried cranberries/raisins/fruit–too bad they’re so sugary!

2. apple or banana with peanut butter

3. baby carrots with avocado, salsa, and salt & pepper

4. granola or berries with light n fit vanilla yogurt

5. anything with cottage cheese

What five things would you do if you were a billionaire? 

1. Travel the world!!

2. Quit my job and volunteer for disaster and hunger relief.

3. Write my memoir.

4. Pay off the debt for everyone I know.

5. Donate money to every cause I could think of (hunger relief, disaster relief, non-profit ministries, Op Xmas Child, my church, fellow believers in need, fellow humans in need, unsuspecting restaurant patrons, etc.)

What are five of your bad habits?

1. Wasting time on the internet

2. Starting multiple books at one time

3. Using artificial sweetners like it’s my job

4. Being jealous of other girls’ clothes that are cuter/trendier than mine

5. Not praying every day–or even every week!

What are five jobs you have had?

1. Car hop at Sonic in Myrtle Beach, SC

2. Sales Associate at Herberger’s (a department store)

3. Hostess at Cracker Barrel (my least favorite job ever)

4. Continuing Education Support Specialist at Prometric

5. Creative Resources Coordinator at Dare 2 Share Ministries

What five people do you want to tag? 

1. My boss Carol Ann

2. My co-worker Neva

3. My blog friend Juliet

4. My boss’ daughter Robbin

5. And her other daughter Bethany

 

Update: Going solo

19 May

So I ran the race yesterday morning and I made my goal!! I ran the 6.2 miles in 62:36, which is about a 10:06 mile. I was shooting for 10:00s and was actually running sub-10s for the first 5.5 miles. But right at mile 5.5, there was a huge hill. Since I had been really pushing myself, I didn’t have much extra energy to get me up a hill. Plus, I couldn’t breathe. So I ran as much as I could up the hill and walked the rest. It was a great feeling anyway to run that far in that time–a PR for me in Colorado and in a race period–and I got a cool medal to boot!

Here I am:

me running

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This may not be normal…

16 May

But I love exercise.

As I was reading the book my mom gave me called “Comfortable in Your Own Skin,” the author was suggesting ways to live healthily. She said “You should exercise at least 30 minutes 3 times a week. I know, I hate exercise too but for the past 5 years, I have been diligent in exercising 3 times a week.”

First of all, three times a week isn’t really that much. I probably exercise 6 days a week, if not 7. But I’m not in a gym all 7 days–probably not even 2.

Second of all, how do you hate exercise? This is mind-boggling to me. Humans weren’t meant to sit around on their butts, doing nothing all day long. We were meant to DO things and be active! I can’t stand how I feel after sitting down all day.

But here’s the thing. I think most people think exercise = gym = bored out of my mind. Well, good news for them! There are many forms of exercise that don’t require a gym AT ALL! You can rollerblade, bike, run, hike, walk, play tennis, basketball, soccer, ice hockey, go canoeing, kayaking, swimming, dancing…really, the possibilities are endless. And I bet that if you asked the author of that book or anyone else who says that they “hate exercise,” they could probably name at least one (if not two or more) things on that list that they would enjoy.

Anyway, I’ll get off my soapbox now. The reason why I say all this is because I’ve been thinking about it ever since I read what that author wrote and also because last night and this morning I’ve had 2 great “workouts” that were extremely pleasant. Last night, Travis and I biked to McDonald’s and got their free Southern-style Chicken Sandwich (with the purchase of a medium drink). We also split a hot fudge sundae (yum…) Then we went on a 10-mile bike ride around Boulder. It was so peaceful and relaxing and a lot of Boulder’s Greenways go through undeveloped parts of the cities. So the ride was very scenic, spring-like, and wonderful.

Then this morning, I went on a 3.7 mile run. I normally don’t run in the morning (because the sun doesn’t come up until 5:45) but Stacey from work asked me to run a leg of the Colfax Marathon this Sunday. I’ll probably be running a 10K (6.2 miles) so I wanted to get out and run a little before Sunday, just to reassure myself that I can still do it. And I found out this morning that not only can I still do it, I can do it faster than ever! I ran 10 minute miles–I had been consistently running 11 or 11:30 minute miles before! Granted, I was beat by the end of my run but I did it!! YAY!

As I was praying on the way to work, I was thanking the Lord for my body. It’s a lot of hard work to get in shape but once you do, it is one of the best feelings in the world. I wish more people could experience it. It’s worth it. (Plus, all that hard work builds character.) 🙂

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Men, women, and dishes

8 May

This could go for just about any aspect of cleaning but this morning it happened to be involving dishes.

I typically get up about 30-45 minutes earlier than Travis. It takes me about 15-20 minutes to shower, do my hair and makeup, and get dressed (+10 minutes if I have nothing to wear). I then make lunches for me and Travis, eat breakfast, and possibly iron his shirt, make the bed, do the dishes, and maybe read the Bible.

Travis stumbles out of bed half-awake around 6:30. He takes a shower for 10 minutes, then shaves, then gets dressed. He eats breakfast and reads his Bible for about 10-15 minutes. Then he grabs his lunch, puts it in his backpack, brushes his teeth, and is ready to leave.

So this morning, as usual, I was running around after eating breakfast, trying to get my running stuff together, brushing my teeth, making the bed, etc. The sink was piled high full of dishes. I was going to ask Travis to do the dishes but he was reading his Bible. Dishes aren’t more important than God…(although, if he shouldn’t be bothered to do the dishes instead of reading the Bible, then why should I be?) so I let him be.

I was a little bitter that Travis was reading while the dishes obviously had to be done (you literally couldn’t fit much else in the sink). But I realize he’s male and I’m female. What I notice, he doesn’t notice. What I think about, he doesn’t think about.

Proof of this: When I saw the pile of dirty dishes in the sink after breakfast, I made a mental note, “Must do dishes before going to work.”

When Travis saw the pile of dirty dishes in the sink after breakfast, he wondered, “Where I can find a spot for my plate?”

I just have to laugh at him. Men.

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Clean eating

6 May

Since the half marathon is over, I don’t really have an excuse to eat bigger portions and more food like I did when I was training. (I did though have my celebratory high-cal high-fat meal at BWW–boneless wings with french fries–DELISH!) So it’s time to tighten up my eating habits.

I already eat pretty healthy. I research nutrition content before going out to eat at restaurants. I stay away from fried foods almost completely and I have a general knowledge of calories for most foods. I have though almost completely stopped counting calories and focused on intuitive eating.

But there are a few things in my diet that should be limited–like all the chocolate, candy, and ice cream I eat. I’m going to back to the strategy I used this past fall to lose 10 lbs–no sugar for 6 days out of the week. One cheat day when I can eat ice cream and chocolate. Because I could never give those up!!

I am also going to cut out all the unhealthy processed foods I eat (except for on that one cheat day)–things like chips, soda, sugary cereals, white pasta, white rice, salad dressings, etc. The Eat Clean Diet has you eat a lot of veggies, fruit, lean meat, whole grains, and lowfat dairy.

So this isn’t really a diet. It’s more like spring cleaning my eating habits. So we’ll see how it goes! I already had to say no to a peanut butter cup from the Mountain Man. 😦

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I DID IT!

4 May

I finished the half marathon today. My time was 2:30:46. I was hoping for 11 min miles. It turned out to be about 11:30 min miles. But as Travis lovingly pointed out, 11:30s were what I trained at so that was what was realistic for me. But I finished nonetheless.

We got up at 4:30 to make it to the buses by about 5:15. They bussed us up to the starting point and then let us stand outside and freeze for an hour. It was probably in the 30s when we got up there so everyone–all 1,000 of us–were all huddled over on the same end of the field. It was a long hour. My feet were the coldest.

I had debated about whether to wear pants or not but I did. And then we forgot to bring a plastic bag to put our sweatshirts in so I had thought about just leaving my sweatshirt in the car and not having to deal with it. I’m so glad I didn’t! I would’ve been completely miserable without those two things.

The race started off fine. I was a little tired but around mile 4, I got into my stride and we were running about 11:05 min miles. Around mile 8 though, I hit a wall. My feet were hurting (and that’s no wonder considering the giant blisters I have on my toes!! My running shoes have officially been retired from long distances) and my boob was hurting and my hip flexors and my knee. I wondered to Travis why my training runs seem to go better than the real thing.

About a year and a half ago, I ran a 10 mile race in Minnesota. I trained for it for about 3 months and even ran 10 miles before the actual race. No problems. But the day of the race, the first 7 miles were great. I was running faster than in training (9:30 min miles) and feeling good. But then I developed this huge blister on the bottom of my foot and it felt like I was running with a small pebble lodged between my toes. I even stopped to get the “rock” out of my shoe, only to discover that it wasn’t a rock. It severely slowed my pace so that I finished averaging 10:00 min miles.

Anyway, so after mile 9, I stopped to walk a little at every water station. It was so hard to will myself to keep running. But I did and I ran the majority of the race. And it’s exciting to me to finish so close to what I trained at, even with all the walking I did.

And I pumped it for the last .2 miles, especially the part where all the people were standing and cheering.

I”m glad the race is over so I can start doing stuff besides running. I want to start doing yoga and I want to do more weight training and less cardio. Yay for my first half marathon!

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My materialistic dream come true

27 Apr

Ever since I saw a Coach purse however many years ago, I’ve wanted one. Coach is just one of those brands–I love every style and design. The North Face is also like that for me. I drool over just about anything I see that is made by The North Face. They also have one more commonality: they’re crazy expensive.

Which explains why I didn’t have a Coach purse, nor did I think I ever would. I don’t have $300, let alone $300 to spend on a purse. So I relegated my Coach purse dream to the part of my brain that stores all the “Maybe someday…probably never” dreams that I have (those dreams usually involve possessions and things of superficial worth).

But my mom got this gift card for $50 off a $150 purchase. She asked me if I liked Coach purses and I said “Uh…yeah!” She asked me if I would use the gift card if she gave it to me. “Well, $50 off…but I don’t have that extra $100.” And then she said, “Well Dad and I could give you $100 now for your birthday (which is in July).” Sold.

I was still a little dubious about whether I could find a purse that I really wanted for $150. But I was willing to try. So I headed off to the Coach store at Flatirons Crossing and I did find one that I really liked, the only problem was the stupid handle. It was only long to be carried on your forearm, not put over your shoulder. I’ve had purses like that before (and I’ve had a LOT of purses) and it’s always just a little annoying. It’s what separates a great purse from a good purse. So the more I thought about that purse, I knew that if I bought it, I would always be a *little* disappointed about the handle.

Thinking that maybe the Coach store didn’t have EVERY style out on display, I checked out Coach.com. And I found 3 viable options, 2 of which were realistic. 🙂 When we went back to the Coach store yesterday, I found the 2 purses that I liked, tried each on and looked at myself in the mirror. The one I had expected to like better was actually a tad big for my taste. Travis thought the same thing (and the bigger one was more expensive so that was an automatic “I like the other one better.”) I ended up buying the other, smaller one that cost $218. With my $50 off, it cost $182. So I have to pay $82 out of my blow money, $40 for the next 2 months. It’s worth it!

As we walked out of the store, me carrying my ritzy Coach purse inside its own Coach pouch inside a glossy Coach bag, I wasn’t completely sure that I bought the perfect purse. I really wanted one with gold on it but the style I wanted didn’t have that as an option. The one I bought that is very sophisticated and will en vogue even when gold is out. 

Nevertheless, the minute we got to the car (after Travis went to Dick’s Sporting Goods to look at hunting scopes), I transferred everything from my old purse to my new purse. And the more I used it last night and this morning, the more I absolutely love it. My materialistic dream has finally come true!! I am the proud owner of a Coach purse! (And it doesn’t have as much to do with the “status symbol” as it does with the fact that I just really LOVE Coach purses. I mean if you asked me if I wanted a Louis Vitton purse, I’d say no. I just don’t like Louis Vitton.)

So here is a picture of my new beloved possession:Coach purse

Beautiful, eh?

On another note, the half marathon is in exactly a week. Travis and I ran 11 miles today so I think we’re pretty well-prepared.

On yet another note, I never get sick of making analogies between the Christian life and running. So I have another one before I end this post. I have been pretty dedicated to training for this race because I know that if I don’t do the short, weekly runs, I’ll never be able to do the long, weekend runs (or the race for that matter).

My dedication to running makes me think about the dedication I have to other areas of my life, especially my time with God. Too often, I’m not that committed. I think, “Well I have to train because or else I won’t be able to run the race, but it doesn’t REALLY matter if I don’t get into the Word today. I mean, what’s going to happen to me?”

But I think that if I saw the whole race stretched out before me and I saw what would be required of me down the road (or what I would be able to achieve with consistent training), my approach to time in the Word and in prayer would be quite a bit different. God doesn’t want me to spend time in the Word because “it’s a good thing.” It is a good thing but I am not just training for a little stroll in the park when I get in the Word. I am training for battle. I am training for challenges and circumstances that are only possible for me to face and stand against when I am grounded in God. Just as the distance I can run increases the more I train, so the difficulties of the obstacles I can face increases the more I train my soul and mind.

That’s food for thought.

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How to: Live in a Christian Bubble

23 Apr

For tonight’s care group (which is like a Bible study for those of you who aren’t members of Grace Community Church), we walked to Baskin Robbins and got ice cream. It was yummy. (I had York Peppermint Patty).

But on the way there and back, we were supposed to talk one-on-one with other people in our group about evangelism, because that’s what last Sunday’s sermon was on. Well, to be honest, I talked to the girls about things other than evangelism because I really want to get to know them better!

When we got back to Paul and Carrie’s house where we meet, we went around the room and everyone said who they had talked to and what were their thoughts/opinions/hindrances regarding evangelism.

And the whole thing got me thinking more and more about evangelism, the reasons why Christians evangelize, what motivates us, and why I don’t evangelize really at all. I mean, I work at a non-profit youth ministry that is dedicated to teaching teens how to share their faith! We’re all about evangelism. So why am I so “bad” at it?

The first explanation (though it is by no means an excuse, and actually could make it worse that I don’t evangelize) is that I work with all Christians at a ministry. You can’t evangelize to Christians. You can talk to them about your faith, encouraging and building them up. Which is definitely a good thing! But you can’t lead someone to Christ who has already been led…

The second explanation (still not an excuse) is that beyond my co-workers and my fellow churchgoers, I don’t know anyone in Colorado. I have no unbelieving acquaintances to share the gospel with. I mean, I guess I know some people that Travis works with but wouldn’t that seem weird to call them up randomly to hang out? Even the woman I teach English to is Christian (or at least agrees with Christianity). I shared the gospel with her and it didn’t seem to be anything new.

I have been thinking about the different activities/clubs I could get involved in to meet some unbelievers. I’ve thought about playing softball with Travis’ work team. During the games isn’t the greatest time to get to know people (since you should be paying attention to flying balls and batting orders) but maybe before or after, there would be food and drinks involved and we could get to know each other? After Travis’ company Christmas party, we went over to one of his co-worker’s houses. I thought it might be the beginning of a friendship but we haven’t done anything since.

I know that I have to be more intentional. Expecting non-Christians to be intentional about forming relationships with other people is a little unrealistic, especially when even some Christians (like me) aren’t that good at it. I have even been meaning to ask some girls I work with or some girls in my care group out to coffee. When I was involved in CO, that kind of thing was routine. Going to coffee with a girl you barely knew wasn’t out of the norm. But now, it seems like it would be a little odd.

To be honest, the thing that it really comes down to is priorities. Evangelism isn’t my priority. It sounds like the sermon on Sunday talked about making evangelism a priority, which makes me interested to listen to it. I know that the Great Commission is right next to the Great Commandment in the Christian life. When we love God and are truly His followers, we will have a heart for the lost and be living our faith in such a way that people can’t help but notice the difference and that we can’t help but share.

I also know that the more I grow in my relationship with God, the more I’ll want to evangelize. But the reverse is also true–the more I evangelize, the more I will grow in my relationship with God. If I am really serious and passionate about an intimate relationship with God, evangelism will be part of my life. My Spirit wants to evangelize and share my faith–I was actually just praying about that this morning. But my fleshly desire for comfort is completely content with my life staying exactly how it is right now.

How to break out of my flesh in the evangelism area? I don’t want to do cold evangelism to people I’ll never see again and yet sometimes I feel like that is my only option if I want to share my faith at all.

Thankfully, in matters related to sanctification and evangelism and really everything about the Christian life, I don’t have to strive or worry. I can lift everything up to God and ask Him to mold me and shape me into a more Christ-like person every day.

My life is in your hands Lord. I trust that You will do what You deem best.

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Expectations: Unrealized or Unrealistic?

4 Apr

It’s inevitable as a human to have expectations about something. When anticipating a future event, it’s our natural tendency to picture how it will all happen and what it will be like. It’s also inevitable for the event to never turn out how you pictured it.

For women, this happens a lot with marriage. I personally grew up always dreaming. I dreamed about having a boyfriend: he would understand me perfectly and know exactly what I wanted. In high school, I dreamed about marriage: we would have the same interests and go on lots of exciting adventures. When Travis and I were dating, I imagined what being engaged would be like: I would finally be assured that I was loved. When Travis and I got engaged, I dreamed about marriage: we would finally be able to be intimate and share everything. We would lie in bed on Saturday mornings, watching cartoons, cuddling, and eating pancakes. We would go on romantic vacations and explore the world together. We would be so in love and constantly exclaiming “I love being married!” As the wedding grew closer, I dreamed about our honeymoon: a week of relaxation and bliss next to the ocean; a week of uninterrupted intimacy and romance; a picture perfect world.

But when you think about it, where do the greatest romantic movies end? Right after the beloved couple realize they’re “meant for each other.” If the movie went on (and were anything close in semblance to real life), the movie wouldn’t have such a happy ending. It wouldn’t be an unhappy ending either (not necessarily at least) but it wouldn’t leave you with the feeling that everything is right in the universe.

Rather, I imagine the feeling would be more like how my marriage makes me feel. The sense that there’s great potential for the situation but something just doesn’t sit right. That the movie started off great, you could sense the couple’s love for each other was (and is) real, but their current relationship doesn’t really seem to reflect that at all.

This morning Travis and I ended up in a fight on the way to work. About what doesn’t matter. Something insignificant, really. After I dropped him off and was on my way to my office, I started thinking. When we first got married (which will be a year ago on May 19th) and went on our honeymoon, I had a really hard time. I had been trapped in the expectations mentioned above, imagining that everything would be 100% perfect, romantic, and intimate 100% of the time. But as I discovered the first day in Mexico, even on your honeymoon, your life is still your life. Reality is still reality. When you get married, you don’t float away on the clouds with Cupid to sing love songs and feel butterflies for the rest of your life. Husband and wife are still just as sinful as fiance and fiancee–who were just as sinful as boyfriend and girlfriend–who were just as sinful as man and woman. Since we are the same people before and after said event, the relationship will mostly be the same after said event (obviously with a few exceptions).

I learned after our honeymoon that having expectations about the way things should be, especially in marriage, wasn’t a great thing to have. And I have continued learning this throughout our first year of marriage. I can’t expect Travis to be a certain way any more than I can expect myself to know what I want for lunch next Tuesday. Or what book I’ll want to read in July. Or where I’ll want to go out to dinner on November 15th–or if I’ll want to go out to dinner at all.

Neither can I expect that our marriage will be a certain way. I can’t expect us to be 100% in love and intimate all the time. I can’t expect to lie in bed on Saturday morning watching cartoons–if not just for the fact that we don’t have cable at all nor do we have a TV in our bedroom. I realize expectations cause tension and dissatisfaction when they aren’t realized.

But my question is: what do you do about your expectations? What do you do when what you had pictured your marriage being like isn’t at all what it actually is like? If you desire for your marriage to be a certain way, even after the rose-colored glasses have been sat on and squished, and yet it’s not that way, what do you do? “Change it” would be the easy response. But unfortunately, changing a marriage’s dynamic doesn’t happen overnight or easily, as I have found.

I fear that I still have expectations about our marriage and that those expectations are causing me to constantly compare our real marriage against (what I would consider) our ideal marriage. But is our real marriage ever going to measure up? Do I need to edit my expectations so that they are more in line with what it is actually like? Sheryl Crow says in her song “Soak up the Sun”–“It’s not having what you want; it’s wanting what you got.”

Does marriage come down to wanting what you got instead of getting what you want? Are my expectations about marriage just unrealized or are they unrealistic?

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Hobby Rant

29 Feb

I’ve been bothered lately that I don’t really do any of the activities that I say are my hobbies. I like scrapbooking–haven’t done it since August. I like writing–that is like pulling teeth. I like cooking–I use being tired and not having enough grocery money as excuses to not do this often (although this is one thing that I do still do).

So tonight, I finally made my personalized travel coffee mug all cutsy (until now, I had been using the insert that came with it). You have to see all three angles: the front, the side, and the other side (it’s round). Isn’t it cute? The pictures aren’t so great because of the glare and I didn’t want to go to the trouble of taking the paper out again (because it isn’t very easy to get in there).

But there is one hobby of mine that I do on a very regular basis (nearly every day) but I feel like I would get scoffed at if I actually said I enjoyed it…exercise. I really enjoy exercise. I like going to the gym, I like lifting weights, I like running (except in CO where the air is so freaking thin!), I like feeling healthy and strong.

But there’s this aura of jealousy and sabotage surrounded weight loss efforts and health. It’s the reason why overweight co-workers jump on the free food in the lunch room and get disgruntled when I don’t. (My fellow Nesties know what I’m talking about–www.thenest.com) Anyway, I’m not going to get on that soap box.

Actually, I am. Why do people think that they can comment on healthy choices, making the person feel like they’re being stuffy and boring by eating right, saying “Wow, a salad, you’re being so good today.” I mean, it would be a major faux pas if I said, “Wow, you’re eating a really big burger. You’re being so bad today.”

And it’s not just limited to food choices either. I had a person at work (who happens to have a louder personality) ask me the other day if I was “always this quiet.” I replied, “No, I just don’t say anything if I have nothing to say.” For a couple days after that, I was really bothered. What if I asked that person, “Are you always this loud?” They made it sound like it was a bad thing that I don’t talk all the time. Being shy/quiet has been a source of beef with me since I was little. People always say I’m shy but I correct them saying, “I’m not shy, I’m just quiet.” There’s a big difference between those two, believe me.

Man, what happened here? I came to post my new coffee mug and I got riled up. Sorry.

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