The psychology of week days

I was pondering today what each day of the week’s personality/mental stability might be according to how we view them.  I came up with the following:

Monday- He can be shy but he can also be aggressive.  People fear him and even more loathe him.  He starts your week off and either gets you in a running start in the right direction or makes you look forward to the upcoming weekend as if it were Christmas.  He gets a bad rap because he comes after your freedom from the weekend and pulls you right back into reality.  He is the type of person that can either be your best friend or worst enemy. Be careful about how you view/treat him because he will be kind to you if you are kind to him or he can ruin your entire week.  People don’t often enjoy hanging around him for long periods of time.  However, someone in the group has to be the tone setter, someone has to take charge and be the leader even if it means they might be scorned upon.

Tuesday- The middle child, content, quiet, does what they are told, not overly excited or underwhelming.  She’s happy she doesn't have the weight on her shoulders that Monday carries, the expectation of perfection and fun that Friday contains and the lull in the week that is Wednesday. She’s happy being the day that is forgotten and ignored because at least she doesn't have to bring her A-game every week.  She doesn’t like pressure and she won’t pick up the slack.  She gets by in life with the least amount of effort she can put forth and she is proud of this fact.  She loves tacos and is happy everyone else enjoys them in her honor.  She is just plain old Tuesday and couldn’t be happier.

Wednesday- Is basically the island of misfit toys.  No one is quite sure what to do with Wednesday or how they really feel about her.  She can be silent, calm and for the most part unobtrusive.  However, if you linger on the thought of her long enough you start to feel disdain and disgust.  She becomes a bump in your road to the weekend, a black hole of time and the one thing stopping you from feeling like the week is finally wrapping up.  It's no wonder Wednesday can often be depressed, keeps to herself and even has an identity crisis once in awhile.  She yearns to be Thursday, who is happy and laid back.  At times she even wishes she could be forgetful Tuesday, at least Tuesday has Tacos to be happy about.  She has more nicknames than any other day of the week and feels like she is constantly living in the shadows of Thursday.  The best part about Wednesday is that it too has a happy hour, for at least part of the day people are happy to see her.

Thursday-  The little brother to Friday and cousin to Saturday.  He is a follower, always ready to have fun, over eager for the weekend and often forgets that he is not the dominate end of the work week.  He is strong, powerful and potent when you encounter him.  He can bring your week to the perfect climax leading up to Friday or make you absolutely regret not waiting until Friday to have some fun.  He is always on the go, full of energy and the lively day of the week.  They call him thirsty for a reason and boy is he ever.  He is always jump-starting a pre-mature weekend for many and wants to race past Friday right on to Saturday.  This young gun can't help but bring a smile to your face when you see him, you just hope to still feel that way when Friday rolls around.

Friday- The one with the silver spoon, the gleaming smile, the excitement of endless possibilities and the start to freedom.  This golden boy gleams shiny and new every week.  He is resented by the rest of the week, loathed by Monday and hailed by Thursday.  Friday makes itself better just by existing.  It is the most talented of the bunch, always excelling at all he does.  He is the jock, full of life, strong, ambitious and a big dreamer.  Even though he is high energy, like Thursday, he knows how to pace himself for the weekend that lies ahead.  He always serves up the right amount of fun and freedom to start your weekend and always sets your mood to easygoing.  He delivers on every opportunity that he presents.  He is the life of the party and therefore life of the week.

Saturday- Often affected by Friday, but still a good time.  If Friday is nice to you then Saturday can be just as fun.  She is normally a little more outgoing than Friday, has bigger ambitions and tries to fill up your day.  She wants you to enjoy all of her and therefore is the people pleaser of the group.  All she wants is for you to be happy and for you to look back on her fondly.  With these aspects in mind it is also good to note that she tends to wear herself thin and tries to squeeze too much into her long day of bliss.  It feels like you have all of the time in the world while you are with her and therefore it is easy to get sucked in to her siren like call of fulfilling all that you deem fun.  She is far enough away from Monday that you still feel blissful and free.  She is the seductress of the group, always a good time and rarely a disappointment.  

Sunday- He often gets a bad rap much as Monday, but normally not quite as harsh of one.  He still has some time left for fun, but is more conservative than Friday and Saturday.  He is soft spoken, set in his ways and always sticks to his beliefs.  It feels like the clock speeds up while you are around him, but it could be from the list of tasks he keeps shouting at you to finish or accomplish before you leave.  He can still squeeze in some fun, but it is normally not as enjoyable as it is with other days because all you can think of is that darn list.  Even if you please him and accomplish his list of demands early, you still will miss out on the full feeling of freedom and charm from Saturday.  Once you accomplish his tasks you normally find yourself in a lethargic state unwilling and able to accomplish anything for the rest of the day and/or weekend.  So you rest, relax and lay down.  All the while you can’t get him out of your head as you go over his list over and over again.  You become anxious around Sunday because you know Monday is right around the corner.  Unfortunately for Sunday this is the bad rap it has to carry for being such good friends with Monday.  His accountability is sacred but also scorned upon.  He wishes he could be as care free and easygoing as Saturday, but at the same time he knows that all of that fun and freedom would just drive him crazy and make him anxious (after all his that long list of tasks to be accomplished and there’s not as much time with him as you think).  He is somewhat of a fun-suck, but he is reliable and noble.  He could be coined the grandpa of the group.  People love to hate him, but in the end he is a necessary evil to allow your week to start off right on the dreaded Monday.

If days of the weeks were people this might be how they would come across.  Which day of the week are you?  What is your favorite day of the week?  Is that day your favorite for some of the traits mentioned above?

Let the rain pour down

Hello everyone, today I want to start off by sharing a video from one of my favorite speakers, Rob Bell.  The first time I saw this video it hit home right away and brought me to tears...well at least on the inside.  The following devotional is about fear and I feel this video is a great lead in to this topic.

Enjoy, "Rob Bell's Rain portion of his NOOMA set": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_kJpVjLwVY&playnext=1&list=PL659BC2970DBA95A1

If you live in LA and even on the east coast right now we have all had our fair share of rain.  For LA we have had an exceptionally high amount of rain lately...even though comparatively to the east coast it still isn't a lot.

I don't know about your life during this new year so far, but mine sure feels like it keeps raining.  I knew it would be a year of change and even stated so in January.  What I forgot, in my optimistic look at the changes to come, was that with change is growth and with growth we some times experience pain.  The changes that have occurred so far for me were not necessarily the changes I was envisioning or looking for in the new year.  I have to remind myself though, that it is foolish to think that "my plans" and ideas for the future are a map of what is to come at all.  Gods plans and ideas are greater, better planned and in the works long before I come up with my naive "plans" for my future.  When will I learn? :)

I say all of that to say that I have noticed the rain in my life and have even felt like the screaming baby on his fathers back literally crying out in the humblest purest form wanting the "rain" to stop.  I have to remind myself, of Gods promise to us, that Rob mentions, "when you cry out to me, I listen.'  He even says, ‘I cannot ignore the cries of someone who is afflicted.'"  However, just like the baby I sometimes can only see the reality of the storm and fail to see beyond the rain.  Sometimes I can't feel Gods warm embrace even though I am sure he feels how Rob describes the following, "I pull him close to my chest, and I wrap my arms around him.  I hold him so tightly up against my heart...whisper into his ear, over and over again, ‘I love you, buddy. We’re gonna make it. Dad knows the way."  When I struggle now and feel like I am crying in the rain, I try to remember that God is saying..."I Love you Sam, you're gonna make it, I know the way".  When I watched this video and really thought of it with this analogy the comfort and power that came across me was overwhelming.  It showed me that no matter what storm would come my way or what fear I may have to face God is holding me tight to his chest telling me he loves me and will help me through.

When I think of all of this the first scripture that comes to mind is the following:

Psalm 23:4- "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me."

I don't know about you, but every time I read or hear this scripture I really "feel" the "walk through the valley of the shadow of death"...part.  The imagery and emotion that come across in my mind are so deep, dark and emotional.  It literally brings an emotional shiver through my body.  It also takes me back to some of my darkest and lowest memories/moments in my life.  Quickly my emotions tied to those memories are of comfort and strength, because God did guide me through those dark times and allowed me to face and conquer fears that I truly felt I couldn't handle.  He was comforting me the whole way through whether I acknowledged it or not.  

The next scripture seems to reflect what the "Rain" video is saying:

Isaiah 41:13- "For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you."

We live in a culture where someone holding our hand is a comfort and often brings joy to our heart and a smile to our face.  I immediately have a movie of images that run through my head to express this, but will share my thoughts :)  If you think about different scenarios when someone has held your hand and how that made you feel, I bet it is tied to the feeling of comfort and safety.  I think about friends grabbing your hand to give it a gentle squeeze to say, "It's ok friend, I am here" during a trying time or loss in your life.  I also think of the first time you hold hands with your significant other...there's something comforting and protective about that act as well.  You feel safe in their hands literally.  With that in mind, the above scripture becomes much deeper and more meaningful when it mentions God taking hold of our hand and telling us to "...not fear"...for he, "..will help you".

Two other scriptures speak to this strength we can have in the lord and how with that strength fear is almost obsolete.  Those scriptures are:

2 Timothy 1:7- "For God gave us not a spirit of fearfulness; but of power and love and discipline."

Psalm 27:1- "The Lord is my light and my salvation--whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life--of whom shall I be afraid"

Whenever I am struggling with fear, sadness or just the feeling of being overwhelmed I think of Psalms 27:1 and the song, "Who am I" by Casting Crowns...here is an excerpt from that song:

"Not because of who I am, But because of what you've done. Not because of what I've done, But because of who you are.  I am a flower quickly fading, here today and gone tomorrow, a wave tossed in the ocean, a vapor in the wind.  Still you hear me when I'm calling, Lord, you catch me when I'm falling, And you've told me who I am.  I am yours....Whom shall I fear...Cause I am yours"

Those words and knowing that these things are true, to me is such a blessing and comfort in my day to day life.  No matter what I might be going through, facing and or struggling with I always know that God is there guiding me, holding me close to his chest telling me, "I Love you Sam, you're gonna make it, I know the way."

To wrap all of this up and leave you with more reading for a later day :)  I have to mention one of my favorite blogs that a good friend of mine shared with me a few months ago called abeautifulrippleeffect.com.  I can't tell you how many times I have gone to that blog and found a post that I am directly relating to.  Sometimes it feels like she and I are going through the same ups and downs in life.  Once again our lives and thoughts seem to be on the same wave length.  When writing this post and looking for inspiration I decided to visit Carolyn Rubenstein’s blog once more, sure enough she connects with me again.  I feel one of her recent post sums up and relates to what I have been discussing in this post quite nicely.  If you have the time I highly suggest checking out her blog and this post in particular.  http://www.abeautifulrippleeffect.com/2011/02/on-a-high-dive-inspiration-from-steven-spielberg-my-dad/ 

I always find it comforting to read or hear about someone else that has experienced or is experiencing the same emotions and thoughts I might be having.  I hope at the very least this blog post and any other posts I might make can do just that for those of you who are reading them.  Thank you for taking the time to step out of your every day life for a moment and reflect on some thoughts I have bouncing around in my head :)

Guest blogger time!

Hello friends out in the interweb land,

I have been super busy lately with work, which is great, but it has also taken me away from posting as much as I would like.  However, each day is a new day and many opportunities lie ahead.  I have a few posts brewing right now and they should be up soon.  Until then though, I would like you to read a blog post/bible devotional that a friend of mine has written.  Her name is Leesha Miller and she is a great young women who continually inspires a group of us with her words and insight on life and faith.  Her post this week was great and it was so good that I wanted to share it with all of you.  So sit back, relax and take in this yummy/filling dose of insight and faith!

Head Versus Heart

Something that has really been laying on my heart and in mind lately relates to that dichotomy itself, specifically the pairing of a mind and heart understanding of God’s will, His message, the world in general. I think as women we can have a unique struggle with this establishment, or at least I know I can.

This combating understanding, though, does not only relate to my understanding of God’s direction. It is played out in all areas of my life. I can just as easily demonstrate a head understanding of my individual physical relationships on earth as I can my spiritual relationship with God. I find it particularly easy to identify, establish, and accept a “head understanding” or a basic knowing of my family’s love for me, my boyfriend’s appreciation of me, and my friends’ understanding of me. However, I often have a much more difficult time fully accepting each of those in the deepest parts of my heart. We all hold secrets and insecurities that prevent us from completely accepting ourselves and seeing in our own selves what others find in us. And probably what makes this acceptance so difficult is that we are often unwilling to admit that insecurity.
We can face this very same struggle between heart and mind in our relationships with God. It is fairly easy to come to an understanding in terms of knowing his promises and direction. Yet, it is much more difficult to completely accept those ideas as true in the deepest crevices of our hearts. Again, I think this relates to our insecurities. But, with God, it seems more so that it is his knowing too much about us that He couldn’t possibly mean those promises for us too, helpless sinners.

This, however, is the most awesome and intimate concept of our relationships with God, though. He knows our struggles. He knows our insecurities. He knows our insufficiencies…And, He loves us for them, through them, in them. We need only to surrender them to him to come to a full acceptance of his promises. And, in surrendering we need to come to know him fully, which He says takes on simple step.

In Jeremiah 29, we find a true representation of this principle. He makes a promise to us and reminds us of the reciprocating action we must take. “This is what the LORD says: ‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and will bring you back from captivity…’” (vs. 10-14a)

In this passage we see that God indeed does have things in store for us (if we relate the scripture to us personally) and that to move past a simple head understanding, we need to seek the Lord with all our heart. When we do so, He will be found by us.
I encourage you today to move past a head understanding and allow Him into your heart. Know that He knows your deepest thoughts and insecurities and lives you in spite of them. Allow his promises to calm your fears. Let go and seek him with all your heart. See the difference this makes in your relationship with him (and with all of those around you).

~Leesha Miller

I like music in the morning

This morning the song "California" was in my dream, the song that my radio alarm clock played to wake me up was "California" right at the, "California here we come" part....weird right?! Then LFOs "Summer Girls" got stuck in my head (yes random). I hopped in the car and the first song on Pandora was, "Trouble" by Ray Lamontagne....a sign of things to come or just a weird/cool music morning?! You decide.

Whether you know this about me or not, I basically have a radio of songs constantly playing in my head.  Which is awesome for me because I LOVE music!  When those songs line my dreams though, I sometimes get tripped up on whether I was actually dreaming or not.  Most of those times the dream songs end up stuck in my head for most of the day.  Either way, I enjoy my brains version of Pandora that keeps me entertained and groovin' all day!  :) 

That's your random fact about me for the day!

Oxymoron

I am a walking oxymoron. 

Yes I can hear the immediate laughter of my friends and family now.  It is true though, what kind of oxymoron am I? 

Well, I am a clumsy athlete. 

It's true, I can run and kick a soccer ball with ease, I can catch a pitch and gun down a runner at second without hesitation, I can throw a football at a moving target or catch a football while running, I can run up and down a basketball court dribbling the whole way, yet I get hurt doing the simplest of things.  Even though I can excel at sports and am super coordinated when it comes to sports, you wouldn't know it if you saw me day to day without sports. 

I can fall down while walking on completely even flat ground (ok maybe that's not completely true, but close), I have fallen out of a chair while sitting in it, I run in to tables I walk around every day, walk into door frames, break toes on garage doors and choke on hot chocolate.  I once slammed my arm into a pipe that was hanging on a wall but barely stuck out two inches...it left my armed bruised and soar for a week.  I don't get it or understand it.  At this point I have just come to accept it.

I AM the clumsy athlete who can compete with the boys and then trip walking back to the car after a pick up game.  Friends and family seem to get a baffled kick out of it and honestly I can't help but laugh myself.  So many injuries or random clumsy things have been so outrageous "you gotta be kidding me" moments that my first reaction normally is to laugh and then move on with life.  I tell myself and others that I believe God put me on this planet so he could laugh every day.  I am sure he enjoys his front row seat to my every day crazy happenings.

So yes I am an oxymoron and proud of it!

Grass Inspectors

So the other day, while walking my dog, I thought of something.  I know, great Scotts, you had an idea?! Haha...Anyways, as I was walking my fabulous puppy dog I realized that we should call dogs, "Grass Inspectors".  

Have you watched a dog while they are outside to do their business?  My dog, at least, acts like she is on a mission and it is her job to make sure every piece of grass on our block is viewed, sniffed and inspected.  She does it with a vengeance, speed and authority.  You would think it was a matter of dire urgency and importance.  Which I guess in a dogs mind it is.  As a human we are thinking, "What’s the big deal, its just grass".  Too a dog it is a sacred place and ritual that must be carried out with vigour every day.  

All of this got me thinking that it could be thoroughly entertaining to have a cartoon based on a dog as the "Grass Inspector" in which the dog goes on crazy adventures and runs into other animals which are villains such as cats and squirrels.  Then just the visual of my dog as a cartoon dog with a Sherlock Holmes’s hat, a pipe in her mouth, a super hero cape around her neck and her sitting proudly on the top of a mountain of grass looking out at the world, made me laugh a little.  Maybe it's just me, but I was entertained by my imagination.  

The next time you see a dog outside though, think about it!  "Grass inspectors!"

Yes it's corny, yes it's photoshopped.....but you have to admit it's kind of cute and funny :)

Happiness: Emotion, feeling or state of mind?

I was recently inspired by a sermon I heard at church and from an article I read recently on the psychology of happiness.  So to start our wheels turning try the following exercise with me.  Just take a moment and write down the following:

Write down your answers to the following questions:

How do you define happiness?

How happy are you currently?

What’s the happiest you have ever been?  What memory or memories are tied to that?

On a scale of 1-10, 1 being least happy and 10 being the happiest, where are you today?

Think about your answers and think about if you feel you need or want to improve your current state of happiness.  The article I read pointed out that most people who take questionnaires about happiness often rank themselves lower than their actual state of happiness.  Most people also will find they would like to improve their happiness and would like to strive to be happier.  The author also pointed out that if someone were to try to say they were completely content with their state of happiness and their life as it is then they most likely would be lying to themselves and would in fact not be at their happiest state in their life.  The authors reasoning behind this point is that to be happily content is to basically be complacent.  You are saying that you aren’t striving for anything beyond where you currently are.  Which retrospectively, that state of mind sounds a little sad to me.  I also believe there is a difference between someone being content and someone being truly happy.  I consider myself to be a pretty happy person, but I still am constantly striving for more happiness in my life and to spread happiness around to others.  I live for that drive and pursuit of bigger and better things in my life, whether that be growing in maturity, my knowledge of my career, my spirituality or my over all knowledge in life.  The pursuit of happiness itself often raises our answers of the above questions and then in turn continues to improve our state of happiness.  As the author of the article put it, “...know that no matter where you are on the spectrum, you can become happier than you are right now. Because there’s one thing all the researchers agree: Happiness begets happiness.”

I personally am very intrigued by the human mind, relationships and how we act as a community and as individuals.  I am constantly paying attention to how people react to different situations in public.  Whether it be watching couples out to dinner, watching an individual standing in a line or paying attention to the driver in front of me and what they might be doing while we are waiting at a light.  (all of this in a non-stalker sort of way of course, I mean I don’t sit there and watch people for long periods of time, I try to pick up on little things fast in just a glance or moment)  In my head I am normally trying to guess why they are at this location, what they are doing, what kind of person they are and what their story might be.  I think a large part of all of that is the imagination/creative/story telling side of me wanting to tell a story beyond reality and what little information I know.  Another part of it is just my general curiosity about human interaction and our reaction to life and the world around us.  (If you would like to read the full article that I have been referring to click here: http://www.spiritmag.com/features/article/perk_up/)

I am saying all of that to explain why I am so intrigued about this happiness study and my own general pursuit of it.  I believe all of us try to look for the good in ourselves and our lives.  That’s part of human nature I feel.  I personally hope that I never stop striving for happiness and to help others find happiness in their lives as well.

The concepts discussed in the happiness article and highlighted above in my own take on things, most definitely made me think of my faith.  In particular it made me think of the following scripture: 

Revelations 3: 15-16 “¹⁵ I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” 

I know as a kid this scripture stuck with me and was a terrifying image.  It hit home from day one and has always stuck.  I constantly reference this idea when analyzing my life and my struggles.  I believe this concept works for more than just your faith, for now though I will focus on how it connects to the happiness article and our faith.

In faith as in happiness, if you don’t pursue the knowledge of your faith and beliefs and go after more, then you most likely won’t build and strengthen your faith as it stands now.  The reverse is true as well; if you strive to better your faith and grow in your faith then you most certainly will have a stronger more knowledgeable faith.  This is similar to the striving after happiness in turn makes you happy or happier.

Just by chasing after your faith and beliefs more deeply you are already increasing your faith.  That’s kind of exciting and cool to think about in my opinion.  Along with chasing after happiness, when I dig deep into my faith and go after more knowledge I always feel a burning desire or drive to know more.  It becomes infectious and addicting.  I feel like chasing after happiness gives you this same sort of happiness high.  Both of these pursuits are a healthy way to help you feel better overall, mentally and physically.  It is one of those things that I would tell people, “Why wouldn’t you try to do this” or “There are no negative effects from doing this so what do you have to lose?”

A few good verses that relate to this, I think, are:   

James 1: 2-4- “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

This is one of my ALL time favorite verses.  Even though sometimes I wish the trials didn’t have to come…which I think is human nature.  However, looking back after every trial I have faced, I continually know that each trial has only strengthened my faith and allowed me to persevere in life.

Luke 17: 5-6-“The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”  He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.”

Whenever I am struggling with my faith or how much my faith can actually accomplish I try to remember this verse.

A great description of faith is found in this set of verses:

1 Peter 1: 8-9- “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

I don’t know about you, but to be filled “with an inexpressible and glorious joy” sounds like a wonderful thing to me and sounds like a goal I wouldn’t mind chasing after.  In your pursuit of happiness and faith I feel you will find yourself continually overwhelmed with joy and glee that you weren’t aware of before.  I hope you chase after your happiness and find the things that bring you great joy in your life. 

On the topic of finding happiness I came across a great blog and article in that blog, thanks to a good friend of mine who always brings me happiness!  The blog is: http://www.abeautifulrippleeffect.com (I highly recommend taking some time out of your day to read this blog and check out her posts.  Each one has been great so far!)  The specific activity that I feel strongly applies to my blog post is creating a happiness board for yourself.  In the authors original post it is an inspiration board, but I feel you can take that same concept and apply it to happiness and it will work just as well.  With the happiness board try the following:

1. Find yourself a large corkboard so you can glue, staple, pin or tape anything you want on the board. (These can be found at any art supply store, craft store, target and even Wal-mart….the bigger the better in my opinion.  After all this is displaying your happiness so you should want to shout it off the rooftops and share it with others, right?)
2. Take a sticky note and write: What makes me happy?  Place this sticky note in the center of the board.
3. From that moment forward collect different things that make you happy or remind you of things that make you happy anytime anywhere.  These things can be post-it notes, images printed from the internet or cut out of magazines, articles, words, quotes, colors, photos, dried flowers, etc.  It’s your happiness board so it can be whatever you want it to be!

4. This step is simple and easy: remember to collect things and take some time out of your day or week to reflect on your board when you need some inspiration or a dose of happiness!

I think this activity will be super fun for anyone that tries it!  I am going to do it too and will try to post pictures of my happiness board periodically on this blog.  I think this activity will also show you in a very real way how “Happiness begets happiness”.

I do recommend if you have the time going through the relaxation menu blog posts, it is a great activity as a whole and in my opinion, is worth setting some time aside for it.  You can find it here: http://www.abeautifulrippleeffect.com/2010/09/how-to-create-a-personal-relaxation-menu-part-1/

In conclusion I want to leave you with some lyrics from one of my favorite artists, Florence and the Machine: “Happiness hit her like a train on a track…Happiness hit her like a bullet in the back”.  I know those both sound morbid, but I look at them and think, I hope you (the readers of this blog) find happiness that is so overwhelming and powerful that it hits you like a train on a track or a bullet in the back!  With that I say good luck pursuing your happiness and faith! 

The beginning

I have had a few other blogs before...I tend to start out strong and fade into the quickly forgotten cobwebs of the inter web.  My goal and determination this time around is to stick with this blog and frankly "just do it"!  No excuses!  Originally I was going to start up my separate blogs all over again, but instead I decided to let them all live here.  Why not combine all my interests in life and let you get to know me from every angle.  I'm an out of the box kind of girl so why not give you an open source to see my ins and outs.  So here you will find some thoughts on life, faith, thoughts on sports, music reviews, movie reviews, random thoughts I just have, the continuation of "Food Shape Fun" and much, much more. 

To give you some insight on myself I'll share a little bit about myself.  I am currently a Production Coordinator for a company that shoots: promos, commercials, interviews (for TV shows and films), press junkets, awards shows and more.  I have been blessed to work in a career that was the same as the degree I received in college.  I am blessed to live in the amazing and beautiful state of California just two blocks from the beach.  I love the area that I live in and truly love LA, Hollywood and the surrounding area.  I love to be active, play sports, watch sports, talk sports, exercise, do P90X, hike, bike, walk the beach and hang out with friends.  I'm really into movies, TV shows, music, photography and art!  I'm a creative person and as such my ideas and thought patterns tend to be way different than friends I know or people I am around...however if you ask them I am just weird :)  I have the cutest dog in the world that I absolutely love and can't get enough of!  She is a constant source of joy in my life.  I enjoy reading fun blogs, gathering people's insights on life and getting to know people through their stories and writing techniques.  I hope I am able to give you some laughs, pondering thoughts and just information to think about.  If you have questions for me feel free to ask.   

Enjoy!