Future Relationships?

Today's thoughts as I avoid my business law studies:

From now on, all future potential significant others will be required to take "How to Treat a Woman" lessons from my youngest brother.  My reasoning?  Because my 17 year old brother has a better understanding of how a woman needs to be treated than any of the men I have EVER attracted.

No more believing I am not enough, or feeling like I'm too much.  I won't be treated like an object, nor will I feel like something that should be shoved in closet until life is at its upmost convenience.  

Whew.  Back to the books.

Dog-Child...

It was an exciting day at my house.  Not only did my dog-child find something gloriously dead, she also rolled in said dead thing, giving me no choice but to turn in my brownie points and endure stink eyes and silent treatments for the remainder of the afternoon. 

Enjoy :)

Bath Time?  We're not friends anymore.

I seriously hate you right now.

Remember:  Payback's a b****.

I will cut you.

A powerful lesson on love...

Romans 12:9-21

"Love must be sincere.  Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.  Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.  Honor one another above yourselves.  Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.  Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.  Share with God's people who are in need.  Practice hospitality.  Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.  Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.  Live in harmony with one another.  Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.  Do not be conceited.  Do not repay anyone evil for evil.  Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.  If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.  Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord.  On the contrary:

'If your enemy is hungry, feed him;

if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.'

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

This is my personal lesson for the week.  My prayer this week is that God will show me how to apply this to my life.  I feel an incredible urge to love people.  This is my calling.  It is my job; my reason for life on earth.  I am to show love to the world around me, accepting everyone as they are.  God will take care of the rest.  

Isn't that great?  My only job is to love others as Christ loves me.  I don't have to worry about judging, reprimanding, or showing the world what not to be.  I get to love people, REAL people, with open arms and an open heart.  

God is good.  All the time.

BABIES!

I just realized I haven't updated you all on the latest addition to my family!  

Take THIS...

Add THIS...

And a little bit of THIS...

And WALLAH!  My little baby Willow :)

She's equally the cutest mutt and the biggest brat in the entire world...

...and I love her to pieces.  

THE END!

Achievements and New Beginnings

It has been way too long since my last post.  Why?  I'm lazy.  Well, maybe not lazy, exactly; I was just recovering from a very, VERY stressful final semester at Kirkwood Community College.  That's right! Final.  I graduated.  Finally!  After 6 years, I am officially a college graduate... with an associates degree.  Ha!  But never mind that.  It felt good to finally achieve something.

A little update on myself since my last posting...

I completed what is called the ALPHA course with my church at the end of June.  During this course we went over many of the basics of Christianity and while I didn't really learn new information, I found myself falling back in love with what God can do in a church setting.  It was very healing and incredibly inspiring.  I'm back to being a regular at Hope and have even joined a small group Bible study!  Wow.  Crazy how life changes, huh?  But above all, I'm falling back in love with God.  It's wonderful.

I finished my first race on July 14th!  My youngest brother joined me and a handful of my coworkers as we took on the challenge of the Warrior Dash!  It was incredibly fun, and unfortunately incredibly hot.  Abe and I didn't originally plan to run as we had promised to walk with my coworkers.  However, when we were accidentally separated from the rest of the group we both decided to go for it and run!  Sadly, we only made it about a half mile before the sun beat us AND the rest of the runners down.  It was over 100 degrees and by the time we finished, we were all over-heated, dehydrated and many people were suffering from heat stroke.  But it was fun to say I did it!  I'm definitely planning on competing next year!  Bring it on!

Last Thursday marked the beginning of my journey to complete my bachelors degree with William Penn CWA.  I've got to say, the program is PERFECT for my situation; however I felt like I jumped head first into the middle of the semester.  It's going to be a LOT of work; but it will be over before I know it!

Health wise, I haven't gained anything!  But I haven't lost, either.  I've been pretty slow with my workouts due to the heat... and I'm not just making excuses, either!  With temperatures this high, I am very easily overheated and after an unpleasant experience the last time I tried to push myself in the heat (yeah... definitely blacked out), I've decided to take it easy.  Fortunately I think it's finally cooled off enough to jump back into my routines; but after taking a break the last few weeks, I'm a little nervous I've lost everything I've worked for!  But tomorrow marks the big day!  

Here's what I have planned:

The next two weeks I will be fasting from processed sugar and white flour in order to help myself jump start back into a healthy diet.  Once it's out of my system, I don't crave it or even enjoy it, so I have no worries about going back to old habits after these next couple of weeks!  (Side note:  I've done REALLY well despite my lack in exercise and motivation, though!  I just don't want to be tempted to eat junk when I'm trying to push myself through a grueling workout!)  

Now for the workout:

Monday/Wednesday/Friday

10 minutes jumping jacks

30 minutes running/walking (Couch to 5K program)

Tuesday

P90X - Back and Shoulders/Ab Ripper X

Thursday

P90X - Arms and Triceps/Ab Ripper X

Saturday

P90X - Legs and Back/Ab Ripper X

Sunday

P90X - Yoga

There you have it.  Keep me accountable!  I'm hoping to be down about 8 pounds by the end of August; but we'll see :)

Take care, world!  I'll see you next time!

Aly

A New Chapter

I can't explain how unbelievably giddy I am right now. I just received an email from Kirkwood outlining registration dates for the summer/fall semesters. It took me a second of skimming the dates and racking my brain to think of what other classes I may need to take before I finally remembered...

I won't be registering for anymore classes at Kirkwood. Ever. Period.

Funny how it only took me 6 years to complete this stage of life; but nonetheless, it's finally over. Well, it will be in 4 weeks, anyway. I finally filled out an application for William Penn University, submitted transcript requests and applied for financial aid. I'm a little slow on the go; but given my track record, this can be expected.

It's hard to believe that I will be moving on. That, aside from the few friends I have left in the area, my ties with Cedar Rapids will be no more. It's almost sad, but in a completely nostalgic way. I'm excited, too.

And now for the wait to hear back from William Penn and FAFSA! Oh yes, and deciding whether or not I'm going to participate in the Kirkwood graduation ceremony.......? We'll see.

Until next time, good night ya'lls!

Unsocially Social

This last week and a half has been such a strange mix of miserable and unbelievably freeing! While I crave sugar like the boogie man craves small children, I have no desire to eat it again. I feel great! Well, mostly great. I still feel like crud, but I do have more energy now than I've had in months... and I'm attributing that all to the lack of unnatural sugars in my system. However, it was everything I could do to keep myself from buying a bag of dark chocolate caramels after work today. I literally drove by Dollar General drooling because I knew behind those doors a bag of Riesen chocolates had my name on it. Ah well. I survived.

I think Facebook has been the worst part of the last couple of weeks. While I am excited about the overwhelming freedom I have to not be so attached to status updates and spying on my friends, I have felt stupidly lonely. If I come to understand anything out of these 40 days, it'll be this: I am unsocially social. I miss my Facebook friends. Sometimes it feels like they are the only friends I have! Funny, they are real friends; but there's a difference between cyber friendship and the real thing. I feel secluded, but that's only by my own doing. I realize now how negligent I have been in regards to my real social life. This must be remedied.

I'm looking forward to seeing what the next 29 days teaches me! Right now feels just a little unstable; but I'm sure God has something great to teach me by day 40.

Until next time...