I'm ready for a change! Let the games begin!

I have decided to change my life! :)

How will you do this, Kim? You might be asking yourself. Well, readers, I plan to do this one day at a time for a year. Have you ever read Celebrations of Discipline by Richard Foster? If you haven't, stop reading my blog and go read it right now!

OK, have you read it? Good. It's a pretty amazing book. My wonderful cousin, Amanda got it for me as a high school graduation gift and I read it way back in the year 2004 (that was 6 years ago people!!) but I definitely did not get everything out of it I thought I could. A few years ago I picked it up to read again and read a few chapters. For those of you who did not follow my directions earlier (shame on you!) and have not read the book, each chapter covers a different discipline. For me, the book shows how discipline must be worked at constantly in order to achieve more depth in our spirituality and relationship with God.

I have decided to read this book again, but in a much different way. There are 13 chapters, one of which is an introduction to the spiritual disciplines. That leaves 12! (Yay 1st grade math!) Since there are 12 months in a year, I got a bright idea. WHY NOT FOCUS ON ONE DISCIPLINE A MONTH! Wowee! What an idea. So that's what I plan to do faithful blog readers. I will choose one discipline to study and implement in my life more intentionally. I figure I can handle reading one chapter in a month, right? (This from the girl that reads 4 or 5 books at a time. haha)

Foster separates the disciplines into three categories: the inward disciplines, the outward disciplines and the corporate disciplines. The inward disciplines include meditation, prayer, fasting and study. The outward disciplines include simplicity, solitude, submission, service. The corporate disciplines include confession, worship, guidance and celebration.

My plan is to focus on one discipline each month by first reading the chapter on that discipline at the beginning of the month and praying about how God wants me to implement it in my life. I won't necessarily go in order of the book, but see where God leads me on this journey. I am a very task-oriented person and even in my spiritual life I need structure. I know this won't be a "to-do" list where at the end of each month I'll be like "Yes! I mastered worship! Now on to prayer!" I just feel like I need to take a step back and really dive in deeper to each of these disciplines. I am really excited about it and hope you will go on this journey with me. I will always update at the first of the month to let you know what I will be working on, but I will also continue to write about random things because I love the randomness. :)

Now, for October I have decided to focus on....

SIMPLICITY!

I really feel like that's where God wants me to start. I have felt just a heaviness of "extra baggage" on my shoulders and I want God to simplify my life. I want to follow Him and worship Him only. Stay tuned for more on simplicity.

My Not-so Little Brother

On Sunday I am heading to Oklahoma for a visit family road trip. I am quite excited. :) My main reason for going is to see my little brother who attends OSU in Stillwater. He is a junior and I can still not believe he is over halfway through with college. When I headed off to college, Mark was only 13 and honestly, I still think of him as that annoying little guy. :)

Mark and I had a typical sibling relationship - we got along, but we definitely fought quite a bit. I remember being in a department store with my mother while I whined, "Mom, Mark bit me!" and showed her his teeth marks on my hand. He then responded with, "Well, she bit me first!!" and he showed his own bit wound. We argued a lot and were definitely not quiet about it.

Even though we fought often, it was all done with love. I truly did care about my little brother and I know he liked me too (Despite what he tells you!) He loved to spend time with me and my friends. I remember him staying up late to watch movies with me and my friends at my 16th birthday party sleepover. I said he was an annoying pest at the time, but I honestly loved that he liked to spend time with me.

When I left for college in 2004, I really think that helped our relationship move from just siblings to good friends. We have talked more on the phone and shared more about our lives then we ever did when we were younger. I am amazed how this little 13-year old I left in 2004 has transformed into this intelligent, awesome man. Heis excelling in a difficult chemical engineering major and has found a wonderful girlfriend who he has dated for over four years.

He'll probably be incredibly embarrassed I did this, but my desire to embarrass him constantly has not changed so YAY! :) I love you Mark, and I am very proud of you. I can't wait to see you next week.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

Today is my parents' 34th anniversary.

My parents have always been amazing role models in my life and their marriage is no different. I have been amazed at their relationship and how they have been together so long in a world where divorce is very common. They are not perfect and they are not "happy" all the time...but they deeply love each other and share a strong faith in God.

I feel blessed to have such wonderful parents and such a strong example of a good marriage. It has given me high standards on my future husband. I am thankful for being raised in such a loving home. I am biased but they truly are the best parents ever. :)

Hope you enjoy a couple of fun pictures from their wedding that my mom just put up on facebook. I especially like the last one because of my dad's AWESOME outfit (Sarah, I think Kevin should wear that at your wedding haha!)

It would be my honor, to be your maid of honor!

A few weeks ago my best friend got engaged. Her wedding will be next year and I get the privilege of being her maid of honor. We have always talked about being each other's maid of honors (I guess NOW she will be my matron of honor hah) but also joked about how we would never get married and become old spinsters. The time, however, has now come for my lovely friend, Sarah to tie the knot!

I could not be more happy for Sarah. She has found an amazing guy and I know they will be happy. It is a bittersweet time for me though because I have lived with Sarah since I was a freshman in college. (Technically I didn't junior year, but we were basically at each other's places every day so I still count it. tee hee) It will be incredibly weird to not live with her. I know the time has come to move on though....I have felt God preparing my heart for this. Doesn't make it any easier though.

I am incredibly excited about our last year together as roommates though. It will be awesome and I look forward to helping her plan the big day. I feel so blessed to get to be her maid of honor and I hope I serve the title well.

I love you Sarah! :)

I'm officially old

This is the third weekend in a row I have not been able to sleep in past 8. Last Sunday I was in bed at 10 the night before and awake at 5:45 AM. What is happening to me??? I used to be very proud of my "sleeping in" abilities. I could easily sleep in until 10, 11 or even past noon at times. Now that I am a "veteran" working adult, that seems to have gone out the window. I remember making fun of my dad and calling him "old" because he was in bed so early and always up before the sun. Well, Dad, I guess I'm old too. ;-)

Even though I miss sleeping in, I am glad to be getting in a better sleep pattern. I know that is better for me and I actually feel like I have more energy now that I am consistently getting 7-8 hours a sleep a night instead of 6ish during the week and 10+ on the weekends.

This whole adult thing is a weird transition....but it's happening so I guess I better jump on board.

But I still can't believe I have already been up 3 and a half hours and it's Saturday and not even noon! :)

Here's the skinny....

I have never been a health nut. Junk food is one of my favorite things in the world. I crave chocolate. I love snacking on chips and candy. I truly believe ice cream is one of the major food groups. I know (in excess) this stuff is bad for me, but it's so hard when it tastes so good.

I have always struggled with my appearance and weight along with my junk food tendencies. I used to think I was "fat" in high school....I was 25 pounds LIGHTER in high school so obviously I WAS NOT FAT! Now that I'm older, I have a much less skewed view of my body. I don't think I'm fat, but I know there is room for improvement. I don't want to be ultra skinny, but slimming down a bit definitely wouldn't hurt and I really just want to be healthier.

I recently got an adult physical, just to make sure the 'ol body was healthy. :) Well, my blood test results came back and apparently my cholesterol is a little high. :/ Yikes! I thought that was just for old people! (JK Mom and Dad haha) It did freak me out though and really made me think about what I choose to eat and how often I exercise or vice versa. This really shook me up and I really don't want to be worried about my health at age 24!!

So I decided, here and now, that I'm not going to let my arteries get clogged and wait until my heart explodes like a ticking time bomb (OK, a little dramatic...sorry tee hee) I want to make some goals for myself and I decided to share them with YOU! :)

1. EXERCISE!!!!! - I'm going to start with 30-45 min. 2-3 times a week. (Start small and build up....it's better than once every 3 weeks like I have been doing)

2. One treat per grocery trip - I tend to load up on the sugary snacks when I go shopping so ONLY ONE! (I can't say none because well, c'mon!)

3. One treat during the week and one treat on the weekend - I also tend to grab ice cream after school when I've had a rough day or I'm tired or I just feel like ice cream haha...so I need to limit myself. :)

4. Cook dinner at LEAST 4 times a week at home -This will be a toughie....but it needs to happen!

5. Eat breakfast every morning- I have already started doing this, but I want to keep it up! :)

6. Get 7-8 hours of sleep! - That means 10:30 bedtime on school nights....so hard, but so necessary!!

Thanks for reading....

I MOVED!!! :)

It's been awhile blog fans! I am sure you have missed me desperately! ;-)

There are two big reasons for my absence:

1. I started teaching again at the end of July....kindergartners keep you BUSY!

2. I MOVED!!!! :)

The second reason actually wore me out more than the first if you can believe it. Moving sucks....big time. BUT this time was not as bad as I had thought it was going to be. It probably helped that I was SUPER excited to leave my former residence which I affectionally referred to as "the crap shack". It's funny but that place was 10,000 times nicer than the place before it...as scary as that is. :)

My current residence is an absolute DREAM COME TRUE. I am 10 minutes from work. I live in almost brand new apartments in a super nice community. My room and bathroom are AMAZING. And I still live my best friend. Life is good. :)

If you would like to visit me....PLEASE DO! I am actually proud of this place. Not only because it is nice but also because I moved ON MY OWN without my parents' help at all. I am officially a grown-up. I mean I drove a U-haul by myself. I have hit the big leagues.

Hopefully now that I am settled there will be more blog posts....until then, bye friends!