Stress

My life has been crazy—getting ready for vacation, vacation last week and now catch-up from that.  I saw THIS blog post and knew I wanted to remember (and share) it.

50 Ways To Reduce Stress

1. Mental prayer (meditation) every day. I pray the rosary every day.
2. Pray with Scripture daily.
3. Frequent The Sacraments - Mass as often as possible + monthly Confession.
4. Quickly forgive others when they mess up.
5. Forgive yourself when you mess up.
6. Go on a retreat.
7. Take several days off of work / your normal schedule.
8. Socialize with friends more often. Schedule if necessary.
9. Go on dates with your spouse.
10. Pray with your family.
11. Eat dinner with your family.
12. Learn to not worry about things you can't control.
13. Don't work to please other people. Please God.
14. Remember that you are wonderful and lovable, even if imperfect.
15. Smile more.
16. Do nice things for other people, just because.
17. Spend time playing with your kids.
18. Spend less time around negative people.
19. Have difficult conversations, in a loving way. Don't avoid them.
20. Work on your character flaws and poor communication skills.
21. Ask for help more often.
22. Be content with what your possessions. 
23. Exercise regularly.
24. Sleep more.
25. Laugh. 
26. Talk to a spiritual director regularly.
27. Learn from your mistakes.
28. Be OK with not controlling others.
29. Reduce your to-do list by distinguishing 'must' and 'should'.
30. Spend time with a pet.
31. Read more good books.
32. Listen to more good music.
33. Turn off the TV and do #32 and #32.
34. Spend time doing something you like to do.
35. Volunteer to help others.
36. Eat healthier.
37. Stop an unhealthy habit (overeating, smoking, drinking too much, etc.)
38. Temper the tone in your voice and the words you use when frustrated.
39. Realize what upsets you and create a plan on how to deal with it in the future.
40. Don't get upset in traffic or with other drivers. Slow down. Chill.
41. Say "no" more often if you are over-scheduled.
42. Don't procrastinate.
43. Don't lash out at others. 
44. Spend time improving yourself. This isn't greedy, it helps everyone around.
45. Question worrisome thoughts. Are they rational / probably / helpful?
46. Focus on the present. Not the past or future.
47. Keep a journal or diary as an outlet of your stress.
48. Say more positive things. I love you, you are wonderful, thanks, etc.
49. Stop wasting time reading blog posts, Facebook, etc.
50. Pray for an increase of faith and hope. Expect God will answer your prayer.

Thanks, Aggie Catholics.  If you’ve never checked out their blog…it’s a must read.

Now, I’m off to partake in some of those stress relievers…

Consolation

“…Jesus allows struggle and difficulty in our lives and in our service to Him because He knows we can take it.  He knows we won’t quit.  He can lean on us.  Jesus needs to take His consolation where He can get it, so we must be at peace if He counts us as good friends who will accept a share of the cross with Him and continue to serve.”     --from Mist of Mercy, by Anne, a lay apostle

Ronald Reagan

Life is busy right now…work has me on overdrive, along with all the fun of the summer starting.  I feel like my 30 kids are all coming home and so now my once easily filled nights and free time are getting put to even more use (not sure how I find time) to see all my kiddos now that they’re back for the summer.  God is good, though, so I’m not complaining! 

I saw this on a blog the other day and loved it…wanted to share.

 

In June of 1971, just days before his 26-year-old son, Michael, got married, future-U.S. President Ronald Reagan sent him the following letter of advice. It really is quite stunning.
(Source: Reagan: A Life In Letters; Image: Ronald Reagan, via.)

Michael Reagan
Manhattan Beach, California
June 1971

Dear Mike:

Enclosed is the item I mentioned (with which goes a torn up IOU). I could stop here but I won't.

You've heard all the jokes that have been rousted around by all the "unhappy marrieds" and cynics. Now, in case no one has suggested it, there is another viewpoint. You have entered into the most meaningful relationship there is in all human life. It can be whatever you decide to make it.

Some men feel their masculinity can only be proven if they play out in their own life all the locker-room stories, smugly confident that what a wife doesn't know won't hurt her. The truth is, somehow, way down inside, without her ever finding lipstick on the collar or catching a man in the flimsy excuse of where he was till three A.M., a wife does know, and with that knowing, some of the magic of this relationship disappears. There are more men griping about marriage who kicked the whole thing away themselves than there can ever be wives deserving of blame. There is an old law of physics that you can only get out of a thing as much as you put in it. The man who puts into the marriage only half of what he owns will get that out. Sure, there will be moments when you will see someone or think back to an earlier time and you will be challenged to see if you can still make the grade, but let me tell you how really great is the challenge of proving your masculinity and charm with one woman for the rest of your life. Any man can find a twerp here and there who will go along with cheating, and it doesn't take all that much manhood. It does take quite a man to remain attractive and to be loved by a woman who has heard him snore, seen him unshaven, tended him while he was sick and washed his dirty underwear. Do that and keep her still feeling a warm glow and you will know some very beautiful music. If you truly love a girl, you shouldn't ever want her to feel, when she sees you greet a secretary or a girl you both know, that humiliation of wondering if she was someone who caused you to be late coming home, nor should you want any other woman to be able to meet your wife and know she was smiling behind her eyes as she looked at her, the woman you love, remembering this was the woman you rejected even momentarily for her favors.

Mike, you know better than many what an unhappy home is and what it can do to others. Now you have a chance to make it come out the way it should. There is no greater happiness for a man than approaching a door at the end of a day knowing someone on the other side of that door is waiting for the sound of his footsteps.

Love,
Dad

P.S. You'll never get in trouble if you say "I love you" at least once a day.

 

Stole this from this blog:  Letters of Note  (**very cool, fascinating blog!**)

Being Lazy?

Okay, so I’ve been struggling lately with basically, what I think is just burnout.  Burnout on life, work, ministry, the whole nine yards.  I have just felt completely restless—like basically nothing that I do or want to do is ever ‘right’ and I just feel like I’m spinning my wheels, barely ‘getting by’ in what I’m doing.  Heck, maybe it’s a little bit of depression thrown in there, too, I don’t know.  I just have been sort of in a hard place and I haven’t been able to get out of it.  I’ve been extremely lazy (now, of course, in my world, lazy is probably different from other people’s lazy!), but, basically that means, just wanting to sit around, be home, do nothing, or at least do only things that make me happy.

Well, I think God got tired of that for me this morning. 

I got an unexpected package in the mail yesterday from Adore, with the cd series on “Ordinary Worship.”  I’m not sure why it came in the mail, as I have all of the talks, but, maybe I asked for them, I don’t know.  If I did ask, it was a LONG time ago.  Anyway, I brought the cd’s to my car and decided I’d listen to one on the way to work.  (Did I tell you my spiritual and prayer life has been pretty low, as well?  Well, it has.)  I’ve been yearning to sort of wake-up from my ‘slumber’ and the talk that I listened to today, finally did that. 

The talk, by PG, entitled “Seeing the Ordinary” basically just brought me back to what our call is in life…we are called to work beside God everyday, doing his works and showing his love.  Basically, that’s it.  Anything opposite of that, is really living for someone or thing other than Him.  We went all the way back to how God created Adam, and placed him in a garden, to work the fields with Him, beside Him.  I really kept thinking about what I’m doing right now and it’s nothing.  I mean, nothing that is really producing the fruit that it should be.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m still doing ministry and working, but, really, am I doing it to the extent or way that I should be?  Heck, no.  Seriously, it’s taken me about 3 months to still have nothing set up or accomplished for our summer schedule.  And, oh yeah, summer is now!  Have I put into work the ability or effort that I should?  No way, as my Inbox full of emails will attest to.  All of these things, that God has put in my path and called me to, I’m really just shutting aside.  I’m ‘getting by’ but really, just living the life I want to live, as opposed to how He wants me to live.  Going through the motions and not fully working beside Him, or doing it the way I want to do it, as opposed to how I know I should do it, again, isn’t right.

I felt like as I listened to that talk, I was finally coming out of a haze.  A haze of just postponing things, of skating by, of just letting things go.  I really finally felt like the cloud (or, was it a veil?!) lifted and I was ready to move forward in my life and the way I was working.  I know God will show my heart freedom when I see the fruit that is produced through my works. 

God has a great sense of humor, let me tell you.  As I walked in, opened my email, and my personal/work Google calendar, I added about 4 meetings and 2 events in under a half hour.  See, I told you, He’s a funny guy.  Nothing like throwing me back in at full force. 

Now, I’m going to schedule a few more meetings.  Seriously.  ;)

The Fray!

So, I know, I know, I have TONS of music loves.  What can I say, I’m a music girl!  One of the three things I’d take with me on a desert island…my iPod, hands down!  I can’t live without my music!  I’m eclectic in my tastes, to say the least, but one of my top 10 favorites is the band, The Fray.  I’ve been a little obsessed with them for a while now, especially knowing their Christian background and roots.  Love that they can play secular music to the masses, but still have the Christian overtones in the songs.  That’s why their music speaks to me…I can hear it.  I can put on their albums and just immediately go to my happy place.  I can also listen to their ENTIRE album start to finish and not have to keep skipping songs that are sort of ‘eh’.  GREAT music, my people, great music!

They came in concert to Tipitina’s last night and I got to go with my sweet work friend, Diann.  At the last minute she filled in for one of my other friends that couldn’t go, so I was so grateful! 

To make the whole night an ‘event,’ with our other friend from work, Karly, so we started off by hitting Magazine Street for some dinner.  We went to the Rum House and I had yummy queso and mahi mahi fingers.  They were GREAT.  The restaurant was fun, had a cool vibe and was packed—due to it being $2 taco Tuesday.  LOL.  I’ll definitely be back there. 

 

 

Up next was my favorite part of the night (next to the concert, of course!)…SUCRE!  Um, yeah, it was ‘cheat night’ so we went for dessert right up the street at Sucre.  They have gourmet chocolates, desserts, macaroons, gelato…oh, be still my heart!  Seriously, one of the most awesome dessert places in the city!

  

 

I tried a salted caramel macaroon, which was delicious, then I decided to go big or go home and get the gelato po-boy.  Um, yes, I said gelato po-boy.  I had three types of gelato, peanut butter crunch, vanilla cupcake, and cookies ‘n cream, topped with whipped cream, sandwiched between a french ‘dessert’ bread, then drizzled with chocolate and strawberry sauce. 

 

 

 

Pure heaven.  This is on my heaven buffet. 

 

Here’s a favorite pic…the guy behind the counter was super sweet and loved that I chose all his favorite gelato flavors and was getting the po-boy.  We were ‘blog’ prepared to take pics, but then we saw him behind the counter whipping his phone out to take pictures of the masterpiece!  hahaha…awesome! 

 

 

 

 

NOW…to the concert!  It was at Tip’s, which is an awesome place to go see a concert, just due to the fact that it’s super small and intimate.  Which, can also mean that it’s packed to the gills and a little annoying at times, BUT, for this one, I think it was pretty amazing.  And, considering the last time I saw The Fray it was at an outdoor amphitheater with about 5500 other people, this was WAY cooler!

The Bad Boyz Brass Band opened.  They weren’t bad, however, in NOLA, I sometimes feel like if you’ve heard one Brass Band, you have heard them all…and, of course, I was getting tired and anxious for The Fray…so, hurry it up BBBB!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a little fun in between sets while laughing at and trying not to get annoyed with the crowds of people stuffed in there.  These two tall giants stood in front of us, and at that point, all you can really say is…REALLY?!  You see two short girls and yet, this is where you think your 12 feet of height is where you need to be?!?  How RUDE!  ;)

 

 

 

Finally the show started and IT RULED!  The sound was great, Isaac and the whole band sounded fab, and it made my day/week/maybe even month!!  Here’s some of my pics…not the greatest, but it was what I had to deal with, since I was peeking through heads most of the night to get my ‘show.’ 

 

This one picture below makes me laugh, because I finally just decided that if those two tall people were going to stand in front of me, the least they could do is take a picture during my favorite song, “We Build Then We Break”…so, here’s the shot he got.  LOL.  He’s not the best cameraman in the world, but it did cut out some of the ‘heads’ I was getting! 

I didn’t get a picture, but during ‘Turn Me On’ Isaac and the band invited all of us to get our dancing groove on, and invited Trombone Shorty out on stage to perform it with them.  SO FUN!  Dance party?!  I’m all over that.

It was a great show, needless to say.  Seriously, I love them.  Please, be my bffers.  Sing to me all day long.  hahahaha.

On one final note, we made friends with someone else standing by us, and he told my friend, that he had gotten tickets to the show from a friend of his.  Apparently, his friend had waited on them earlier in the day at Surrey, and they had gotten to talking to her about their being Christians (she had seen them praying prior to eating), and they at one point even prayed over her while there.  AND, of course, they left her some free tickets to the show.  I knew the background of their faith, but it still puts such joy in my heart when I hear stories of people who we see as extraordinary (musicians, movie stars, celebrities), just put back into a basic, ordinary status, just like us on our walk with God and our faith.  I love people who stand up as witnesses.  I pray I can be like that. 

BFFER Birthday Celebration!

We finally had in my birthday celebration with the BFFERS…I combined it with Bffer day, just to make sure we were maintaining my 52 things obligation!  ;)  We had a great day just hanging out.  Much needed girl time was in order and I *truly* am blessed by these two girlies!  We went to the Chimes for lunch, ate some yummy cookie cake (again—cookie cake!  YAY!!), headed to the Mandeville lakefront for a leisurely stroll and rest (all while pretending we were in San Diego—sorry, folks, there is no comparison!), and then topped it off with snowballs!! 

Sugar free white chocolate macadamia nut…um, yes, please! 

Paris?

This is a huge reason why I’m leaning towards Paris as my 35th birthday trip…

 

 

The blog Little Brown Pen has images of Paris like this everyday that really just make me first, sigh, then put my hand under my chin for a second and daydream about just sitting and BEing there.  I could just sit there for hours…

 

I’m in a constant state lately of wanting to ‘be’ places.  Not necessarily having to be doing things, but just sort of ‘taking it all in.’  We did this in San Diego and it made me oh so happy, and now, I find myself trying to do that here in my normal life more. 

 

But, dreaming about BEing in Paris…now, that’s one that I’ll keep doing all the time!

Karly’s Birthday…Luke!

Today is my sweet friend, Karly’s birthday!  She is one of my two besties that I work with—she’s fab and super bourgie and that’s why I love her!  One of her favorite things to do is be a foodie, so today for her birthday lunch, she wanted to go to Luke, one of the John Besh restaurants.  The atmosphere was old and neat and the food was too yummy.  All in all, I give it a thumbs up!

    They had a great old bar that was pretty sweet…who doesn’t like a big bull head staring down at you at dinner? 

The floors were awesome—they were all this old hard wood that apparently was brought in when he re-designed the place and it had this great vintage design in them.  It almost seemed nautical to me.

Who doesn’t like Diet Coke in old glass bottles?!?!  Um, no one.

I had the croque-madame, which was a ham and cheese sandwich, with an organic fried egg on top.  The yummy hand-cut french fries were amazing.  MMMMMM.

 

Cheesy, yummy goodness. 

Karly’s birthday lunch=success.

Remembering my 52 things…

Weekend Update…in Instagrams…

All day Saturday was spent lounging at my house…never left the house—amazing, right?!?!  It was a fabulous day—blue skies, gentle breeze, no humidity, 80 degrees…sent from heaven!!  I stayed out back on the water reading for the good majority of the day.  I’m telling you again, HEAVEN!  An early Easter present!

 

Yesterday, I stayed home for a while, then went out to see my two favorite boys in town, to celebrate Easter with them.  How cute are they?!  Beau and Lyric had a great time being cousins and played outside in Beau’s new pool Mimi and Ya bought him.  Baby Luke wasn’t as excited about his new pool (he did NOT like Beau and them splashing down that slide!), but, of course, he was excited about being held! 

 

Now, aren’t the Instagrams fun?!  I’m still learning about what to do and trying to figure it all out, but my vintage-loving heart loves them.  *happy sighs*

 

This past weekend was one of solitude, peace and just joy.  Being single and by myself stinks alot of the time (ask me how I was feeling on Thursday—not good, AT ALL!), but really, I felt like God gave me such a renewed heart this weekend.  I felt alot of strength and just mercy given to me and really almost felt like he was sort of building me up so I’d be joyful in the midst of all this week and any other crazy week has to throw at me.  It’s times of feeling His true love like this, that makes me SO, SO thankful about the reality of my Savior dying for me.  I mean, for me, for YOU, for all of us.  How awesome is that??!!  He lives!!  YAY!!

Random Thoughts…

Okay, so I thought while I had a minute to spare, I’d share some of my random thoughts on this VERY wet and dreary and sort of yuck Wednesday morning…

First off…this happened:

EEEEEK!!!  How excited am I?!  Instagram is now an Android app.  If you know me, you know I love some Instagram pictures and you know I love my Android.  So, now, I can be SO SO in love with Instagram on my very own phone.  Be prepared for lots of Instagram pics on this blog.  Cause they rock my world.

 

 

Speaking of rocking my world…on my birthday, the girls from work took me to lunch.  We had delicious sandwiches from the St. James Cheese Company (be still my heart, that brie!) and then….drum roll please, we knocked off another thing on my list!!  We went to Creole Creamery!!!  Um, it really was the greatest. 

Wait—do you love how it’s the old McKenzie’s bakery?!  I love NOLA history like that.  Makes me happy.   And, the color green on the building, that seriously makes me happy.  I’m a sucker for cute color.

        

That statement above pretty much sums it up, right?!  I mean, come on, ice cream makes anyone happy.  And, if you’re wondering, I had a scoop of chocolate amaretto cheesecake and a scoop of petit four ice cream.  De. Lish.  And, yes, the bffers MUST go back with me.  I decided.

Hmmm…what other thoughts must I leave you with today??? 

I’ve been working my tail off with my Thirty-One parties, and they are proving to be a lot of fun!  I had one last night and got to see about 10 girlfriends from high school.  Great times seeing us all ‘grown up.’  Definitely a blessing. 

Dinner with Dad’s side of the fam for my birthday tonight at Copeland’s.  More food.  Wow.  Can my stomach handle it?!  I really just want to eat apps and desserts.  I think I might.  Why?  Cause it’s my birthday.  And if you can’t do that on your birthday, when can ya?!

Style Crush

Okay, okay, I’m blowing your minds again, with 2 posts in one day…but, I landed upon this blog and I immediately now have a HUGE style crush on this blogger.  Yes, not a crush-crush, but more of a like “I wish I was a size 4 and could wear the clothes you wear and have the jewelry you have and oh, also wear those heels you wear” sort of thing.  But, instead, I’ll just dream of being that bourgie, skinny, and being able to wear heels like that.  I can, however, rock some jewelry like nobody’s business…so, at least I got one thing going for me!

Oh, and I know this is going to sound probably some sort of weird, or whatever, but, I’m not going to lie, I’ve said it before and I’ll have to say it again…people in Utah (yes, usually they’re Mormons) are so flippin’ pretty.  What is it that it’s in the water there?!  It kills me…ask me about that later if you’ve never heard me have this conversation before…

Here’s her blog and some of my fave outfits/styles:  Pink Peonies

 

 

 

 

Seriously…is she not the prettiest?  The jewelry, though, the jewelry…I. Die.

Birthday time!

Can you believe it?!  I know I can’t…but…I’m 32!!  I am very, very, very blessed and happy happy. 

These beauties were waiting for me on my car this morning, from my sweet Dad and stepmom.  They match my outfit, too, p.s.  And, yes, I got dressed before I saw them.  How did anyone know that I would *love* (or for that matter, be wearing) PINK?!  ;)

I’ll start off by saying sorry that I’ve been a bad blogger.  I left for San Diego, got back, and it’s been a whirlwind of my new Thirty-One business, trying to figure out how to add that into my life, and then continue on with my regular, normal, everyday crazy life.  I don’t know, I’m trying to get it together, but sometimes, I just have to accept that I can’t do it all!  And, that it’s okay that I can’t!

Yesterday, I had a birthday celebration with this cutie…we went to the Chimes and it was a gorgeous day, perfect for celebrating!  He had to have Nanny’s sunglasses for the ride, because the sun was just ‘too bright’.  We both bought new pairs of sunnies afterwards when we went to Old Navy and Stein Mart.  What can I say, the kid has good taste! 

I have another family celebration planned for Wednesday night, along with a birthday lunch today with my work girls.  I’m hoping to do something with my friends when we can all get back together…everyone had out of town plans so it didn’t work out to do something this past weekend.  Easter is this coming weekend, so I’m not sure when, but I’m sure eventually, we’ll do more celebrating.  It may be better, too, to spread out all that eating!  ;)

 

 

Just to recap some of my other recent adventures…last Thursday, I volunteered with Jazzy for Samaritan’s Feet.  I had wanted to do some extra volunteering for Lent, and they were in town for an event with the NCAA Final Four, which New Orleans was hosting.  We went to Martin Luther King Charter School in the Lower 9th Ward, and they were planning on giving away about 900 pairs of shoes to the kids there.  Samaritan’s Feet washes the feet of all the children before they put on their new pair of shoes, just as Jesus did for his disciples.  A lot of times this is one of the few times they get to hear just how loved and special they truly are, one on one.  We didn’t get to be there, unfortunately, for the feet washing or shoe giveway (our shift was the early, set-up shift), but DEFINITELY plan on getting involved volunteering with them again, when they are back in town for the Superbowl next year.  Such a great organization and a blessed experience. 

    

Way cool, right?!

Oh, and did I mention, the fish frys are DONE?!  I know, I know I complain about it, but, really, I love getting to hang out with some of my favorite people, Brandon, Ryan and Amelia.  Erin, Joe and some others are faithful helpers, too, so really, it’s sort of a win-win situation for me.  Except for taking out that trash.  Ew.  That’s pretty disgusting.

No, I really don’t know what he’s doing in this picture.

And, yes, I will post about San Diego one day…I swear it!  ;)

I hate the NFL.

We interrupt any blog posts about why I haven’t blogged in forever for this Public Service Announcement.

 

Really, Roger Goodell?  A YEAR suspension on our coach?!?!  What’s next?  You want to suspend half our defensive line for the year?  Un.be.lievable.

Sorry, but, you suck.  There, you made me say it.