Friday Favorites

Favorite Style - Saint Laurent Pre-Fall 2013

Favorite Treat - French Cookies with Nutella and Strawberries

Favorite Shoes - Betsy Johnson Vale Pumps

Favorite Quote

Favorite Recipe - Double Green Smoothie

What Would You Do if You Weren't Afraid?

Happy Hump Day everyone!
Health is important and it also can be skewed.  Health does not mean skinny.  There are many people who are skinny and not healthy and there are also people who would be deemed fat when they are indeed healthy.  At this point, I am in neither of those categories. I have recently gotten back on the workout and healthy eating train.  You can read about my story right here.  I actually recommend reading this before reading this post because then you can get an idea of where I am coming from and the power that some of these words hold.
With the start of the new quarter, I also wanted to begin exercising again (and when I say again, I have not consistently worked out for about two years).  I became a member of LA Fitness a few months back and have only been a few times.  Now many of you can not relate but I love the gym.  That is my preferred place to work out.  I love the fact that you can do your cardio (yes I love cardio machines and really don't get bored on them) walk 20 feet over to do lifts and then go and catch the hour long yoga class.  I love the versatility of being at the gym.  I decided that if I did not use my gym membership consistently this quarter then I would cancel it.  No use in paying for something you do not use.  Classes for this quarter just so happen to be the perfect time schedule to be able to workout before class.  I can get up around 8 or 830, go to the gym, shower and be ready for 11am class.
The first day of classes (which happened to be a Friday) came and I epically failed at getting up and going to the gym.  I laid in bed with all of my excuses and decided that I would not be going today.  So when Monday came along and I had the same plan and I was so tempted to stay in bed again.  As I was fighting with myself a question came to mind that shouted so loud I could not ignore it..."What are you so afraid of?"  Right away I knew that it wasn't because of laziness or lack of motivation that I was not getting up but rather it was out of fear.  I jumped out of bed went to the gym and thought about fear the whole time I was there.
What am I afraid of?  Jesus has been showing me how much I fear certain things and how much that fear gets in the way of me living.  What was I afraid of?  I was afraid of failing.  It is easier to make excuses and live by those beliefs than to give it a try and fail.  At least that is how I have been living in regards to the gym.  The reason why that shocked me, woke me up and got me out of bed is because I decided about a month ago that I do not want to make decisions out of fear.  I want to make decisions out of faith.  Faith in my self, my abilities and faith that God is with me and even if I do fail, "failure" is not my identity.  Since that morning I have been going to the gym, working hard and more motivated than ever.
I work at Whole Foods market as well and in perfect timing they began a 28 day Engine 2 Diet.  It is a plant based whole foods eating lifestyle.  It is not a diet in terms of Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig.  It is a way of eating to be more healthy.  So for the next 28 days, that will also be going on.
The most beautiful thing I have experienced through this new routine is that I am not in bondage the way I was in the past.  My past scares the crap out of me.  I do not want to get to that point or anywhere close to it!  With this being said, I am not going to let that fear determine the choices I make.  I am excited about this but also not so excited that it is an obsession.  I will keep you updated on "Healthy Hump Day" about my progress, how I am doing and *gasp* my failures ;).
I hope this was a helpful post for you all.  Don't be afraid, it holds us back from too many good things that can happen!

The Christmas Box Collection

Although Christmas is past, today I will bring it back a little by writing about my favorite Christmas book, The Christmas Box Collection.  I have mentioned this book a couple of times but I thought I would actually tell you all about it.
Hallmark came out with two movies called The Christmas Box and The Timepiece in 1995.  My family and I watched them (me being very young) multiple times during the Christmas season and I still have very vivid memories of those times.  We recorded it on VHS and they eventually got "lost" along with all of our other VHS.  I put lost in quotations because occasionally when my dad would clean out the garage he would just start throwing things away and I am sure that our boxes of VHS movies were one of those things.  Hallmark eventually stopped playing the movie and it became a story that was no longer seen or thought about in our house.  About 3 years ago, I came across the book on Barnes and Nobles website and had to buy it!  So that Christmas season, I read the book (it is actually three books bound together).  So many memories and good feeling came back while reading the beautiful story and now it is a tradition that I read that story every year during the Christmas Season.  It was actually a nice surprise reading the books because, as I mentioned, Hallmark had only made two movies.  It wasn't until I read the book that I found out the story continues and you find out what happens in the lives of the characters.

The first of three books, The Christmas Box, is about a young family who move in with a widow named Mary.  The widow is a bit mysterious and you don't find out much about her past.  The family moves in to take care of her and grow very close with her and acts as a grandmother.  This book is much about the importance of family as well as the meaning of Christmas.
The second book, The Timepiece, is a prequel to the first book.  This is when you learn about Mary's story.  It is the story of how she meets her husband, having a child as well as much tragedy that happens within their family.
The third book, The Letter, is about a mysterious letter which was left at the grave site of Mary and David's daughter.  It is much of a quest to finding out who wrote it.  This book is beautiful and much on forgiveness and moving forward.

I highly recommend this book!  You can buy it HERE.  

How It Began

Today, the beginning of my new prompt schedule, I will be writing about a memory.  Because most of these memories will be involving college I thought I would begin with telling the story of how I ended up in Seattle and the anticipation it involved.

I decided I wanted to come to the Pacific Northwest for not much more reason than that it was different than what other people were doing.  I applied to 5 different schools, all being in Oregon or Washington.  When I visited SPU I felt like I had to come here!  I remember so clearly the day that I received the letter.  I had called earlier in the week to see if it had shipped and they said it had and it should be arriving around Friday.  So after school, I sped home, opened the mailbox and saw a big envelope.  If you have ever gone through the college application process, you know the good letters are in the big envelopes and the let downs are in the small envelopes.  I jumped back in my car at the end of the driveway and couldn't even wait to pull in so I immediately ripped open the envelope and found the letter and all the goodies that go along with the being accepted.  I called my mom, texted my teacher and everyone who I had been talking to about this anticipated day.  I was accepted and had no doubt in my mind that I would be moving to Seattle and going to school there.

The summer before was awesome and, as much as I can remember with it now being almost four years ago, seemed to go by very slow.  All my conversations involved talking about the upcoming years in school.  Where I would live, who I would live with, fears, excitements and everything else you can imagine.  I spent time with friends(now knowing that was the last time) who were also leaving for school and preparing to say goodbye to my family(which I really didn't know or understand what that was going to look like).  The closest reference I had to relate the experience to was going off to camp.  I had been going to summer camp for about ten years and it was a very familiar feeling.  That is what it felt like.  Summer camp.  I felt like I was going to leave my family and then come right back.  Yes and no.  Yes, I was coming back and of coarse got to see them but I was also moving away. This meant I would be in Seattle more of the year than I was in California.  I remember about a couple weeks before I was leaving, my mom would come in and say goodnight to me and would be crying.  I will never know until I have the experience with my own kids(if I am blessed in that way) what my mom was feeling.  I do know that it was sad but also a joyous feeling she felt.  She has never shown disapproval of me moving and has been so supportive which is what children really need from their parents.  To know that what ever they do, they could never step out from their parents love or acceptance of them.

I look at this time leading up to college and see someone who has grown up so much now.  And that is perfectly okay that I was the person I was then because now I am a more sanctified version of that person.  Jesus is sanctifying me on a daily basis and that is the reason why I can look back at life and be joyful.  If I could say one thing to that person the summer before college it would be to not fear.  Funny because how often I did hear those words only not coming from me but rather coming from the Lord.  There is no reason to fear the unknown or the unexpected.  It all works out, it always works out.  And even better, when you are in Jesus' family, you only have joyfulness and comfort to look forward to!

I could have never expected the amazing journey God put me on when He brought me up to Seattle but I will ride this wave of His grace until He decides to put me on another one!

My mom and I my junior year of high school visiting Seattle.
This is when I decided I wanted to come to SPU!