Edmond Beautiful Edmond

February 14, 2011-Leadership Edmond went around the city today checking out all of the different public services. The fire department has a safety course for kids age 4-7 that is scaled down to 5/8 size of normal buildings and roads. It was awesome and such a great idea! The day was great and it makes me feel lucky to be part of this city. Today is also Valentines Day!!! My favorite holiday...poor Ryan. He did so good though, bought me a Spa giftcard and took me to Inspirations Tea Room!

Let the half begin

February 13, 2011-I forgot to take a picture today simply because I never felt like I sat down until I crawled into my bed exhausted. Ryan and I decided a long time ago we were going to run the half at the OKC marathon in May. Today was day 1 of training. We took to the pavement at the Lake and did our first 2 miles...what have we gotten ourselves into?!

Leprosy and other such things

February 12, 2011-I had the chance to spend the day with two of my favorite little girls today! We stayed busy all day making cupcakes, playing UNO and the Wii, drawing pictures and playing the game, Life. While we were drawing pictures, Arden told me she wanted to draw my face...as she was drawing my freckles, I noticed that they were extra large so I said, Arden those don't look like freckles, they look more like leprosy. After I said this, below is what I received...lol

PBR!!!

February 11, 2011-For Valentines day, I got Ryan tickets to the PBR in OKC. We had such a fun night eating at the Wedge before and then getting to see some of the best bull riders in the world!

My Nerdy Boyfriend

February 10, 2011-Ryan had to work tonight while I was at his house and you have to know that I made fun of him for this. Please take note of the three tv trays in use, along with the printer on the side of the couch and the calculator on top of the couch. ohhhhhh accountants....

Ultimate Fail

February 9, 2011-Since it snowed so much today, I was able to work on a lot of homework that I had been behind on. However, this is what happened when I brought the book in the bathroom with me as I was brushing my teeth.

I'm Listening

Something funny happened just as I clicked post...

I got an email from Seth Godin's blog and the title was, "You don't need more time." I clicked on the blog wanting to read a long excerpt about time since I just finished blogging about it and all the email said was, "...you just need to decide."

Ok, I'm listening.

Snowed in Decisions

Snowed in for the second time this month, I have been given an unusual opportunity to sit back and think about, well try to think about, life. Honestly this is what my default brain mode has gone into ......................................................................................................................

I think snow has a way of making even the busiest person stop for a few minutes and refocus. Trying to plan for the next phase of life when you were not exactly read for there to be an end of an era is somewhat difficult.

I do well when I can make a decision quickly because I'm able to cross if off my list of things to get done for the day. However, the decisions I am running into recently are not cross off your list decisions. I am reminded constantly that nothing great is achieved suddenly, that things take time and majority of the time you do not even know what greatness looks like until you take risks and give something your best shot.

This weekend I found a picture of my grandmother and I when I was 2 years old and being the girl I am, I got a little teary eyed. Not really because I miss her so much, even though I do, but because I see that picture and wish more than anything that life looked that simple still. The comfort of not worrying about the future and being so happy in the arms of someone you know loves you more than anything in the world is what the picture reminded me of.

Psalm 55:22 says, "Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall." Thinking about this today, I realized, these are the arms that carry me now. I look forward to living my life with these arms around me while making all the difficult decisions to come.

A Modest Spark

Lately, I have had several people come up to me and say, "Wow, you're doing a lot of things right now, I wish I was that motivated," and if you looked at my outlook calendar, which is so neatly outlined I might add (thanks in part to Lori), on paper I am doing a lot of great things. While I am appreciative of this statement I also wonder why I keep going and going. If having two things on your plate was normal, I would have six and if being involved in one committee was exceptional, I would be in five. But Why?!

I read an article the other day about a woman that was frustrated because at the time she could
not fulfill her passion in life, which was to write. After one bestseller and the beginning of a new novel, she had run out of ideas and became so hard on herself that she no longer had the motivation or ability to continue. In the article she decides to ask advice from a close friend because she began to think that her calling in life had changed and she was not supposed to be a writer anymore. Below is an excerpt from that article:

"She was not suggesting that I ditch my passion forever, of course, but rather that I temporarily ease off the pressure by exploring something new, some completely unrelated creative endeavor--something that I could find interesting, but with much lower emotional stakes. When passion feels so out of reach, Sarah explained, curiosity can be a calming diversion. If passion is a tower of flame, then curiosity is a modest spark--and we can almost always summon up a modest spark of interest about something."

After reading this and looking at the last month of my life, having a modest spark sounds more appealing now than ever. Passion can sometimes be a hindrance and being able to look outside our main focus and appeal to the creative yet sometimes hidden desires can be the cure to unlocking the thing inside all of us that wants so badly to achieve our goals. So, for the meantime, the outlook calendar has been cleaned up a little and I will be taking up cooking and hope that as I crack the twentieth egg open and pour the seventh cup of sugar, my passion will not seem so far out of reach and my spirit will be revived.