Feb8

Fear Is Not An Option

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Yesterday I saw a quote that I haven’t been able to get out of my head. Actually, it was on a fortune cookie of all things, but it stuck with me.

“Never fear shadows. They simply mean there’s a light shining somewhere nearby.”

How profound is that? Too many times I worry about starting something because I have fear. I don’t want to fail. I don’t want to quit and not accomplish something. You know what that leads to? Not trying anything. That doesn’t help anyone and doesn’t get any of us anywhere.

I’m scared to death of not completing a goal this year that I’ve put out there for myself, completing a half marathon. It’s easy for me to use fear as a crutch and an excuse to stop me from doing something great.

It was fear that made me believe I couldn’t question my place in the nursing program, not being accepted into the ASN but rather the lower PN program. It was faith in myself and the hard work I had achieved, along with the awesome scores I posted, that made me ask for my scores to be reevaluated. It was the knowledge that I worked hard and deserved to be heard that made me go back a second time, even with the dean looked at me like I was insane, and tell her something just wasn’t right. It was not listening to the fear that was ever present in the back of my mind that was telling me not to question, not to put myself out there, that made it possible for my scores to be reevaluated, for the mistake to be found, and for me to be placed into the ASN program in the spot that I earned (and receive an apology from the dean for the mistake being made in the first place). Had I not had that faith in myself I would still be in the PN program (which is completely OK!) but it would have taken me an additional year to complete my course work and be able to become a registered nurse, which is where I want to be.

That’s a big price to pay (time and tuition) to let fear have a place in my life and it’s not worth it. Shadows are okay because it means a light is shining and I’m ready to run to that light.

Feb7

Trendy Tuesday – Booties

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Time to talk about a trend!  If you know me, you know I absolutely LOVE shoes.  More than likely this won’t even be close to the last time that will be mentioned here.  My best friend even got me the perfect card for my birthday last month.  On the cover was a woman shoe shopping and surrounded by all of the shoe boxes with the inside reading: “it’s your birthday – surround yourself with the ones you love”.  I’m telling you, the woman KNOWS me.

Even with all that shoe love going on there are definitely some trendy styles of shoes that I just do NOT get.  That’s what this weeks trend is about.  Booties.  I just do not understand this shoe.

I can’t say that they’re inherently ugly.  I have seen some with great colors and cute embellishments but I’m short and these do absolutely nothing for my body.  I don’t wear pants, only skirts, and these completely cut me off and make me look like I have stumps for legs.  I already have short legs, I do not need my shoes to shorten them even more.  I’m sure there are some long-legged ladies, and some super skinny chicks, that can pull this look off but for the most part, I just do not see the appeal.

Do you wear the booties?  Can you convince me that they’re fabulous and I’m just not seeing it?

Feb6

Best Laid Plans…

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Things this weekend didn’t really go as planned.  We had some good times, like the surprise party for one of my awesome sister-in-law’s 40th birthday (love you Rachel!), and not so good times, like a friend having a heart attack and the death of another friend, our pastor’s mother.  Laundry was not done, the house was left unclean, and homework was pushed off.  I like to schedule things as much as I can but there’s an adage that just rings too true sometimes “we plan and God laughs”.  It’s great to have plans but often times life gets in the way and you do what you need to do because really, the rest will figure itself out in the end. 

Feb4

Simply Thankful Saturday

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Sometimes it’s nice to sit and reflect on what you have been blessed with.  I was driving a few days ago and a song came on the radio that I hadn’t heard before.  It was by Martina McBride and the verses talked about a woman diagnosed with cancer.  It caught my attention and was emotional but it was the chorus that touched my heart.

When you’re weak, I’ll be strong
When you let go, I’ll hold on
When you need to cry, I swear that I’ll be there to dry your eyes
When you feel lost and scared to death,
Like you can’t take one more step
Just take my hand, together we can do it
I’m gonna love you through it.

The only person that came to mind was Gabe.  He’s been the one that’s held me when I’m weak, who’s told me everything would be alright when my world was falling apart, who encourages me when I don’t believe in myself half as much as he believes in me, and who I take every step through this life with.  I am thankful for a man, a partner, that is everything for me and I hope I am at least a fraction of that for him.

What are you thankful for today?

Feb2

My First Deal!

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And by mine I mean Gabe’s.  But I’m taking the credit.  That’s just how I roll.  As I’ve said before, I want this blog to represent who I am and all things modest.  One of the ways we’ve been doing our best to live modestly is to really watch our budget (it’s pretty much a requirement when one of the two people supporting the household is an unemployed college student!). We love to read but that’s not always cheap when looking for new books and fun reads.

That’s where Gabe’s deal comes in.  Not only do we love to read but Gabe is a fabulous writer who wants to share his work as much as possible with the world.  Starting tomorrow (Friday February 3rd) at 3:00 a.m. (12:00 PST) his collection of short stories, Contemplations of Dinner, will be FREE at amazon.com in the Kindle store for 48 hours.  If you don’t have a Kindle don’t let that scare you off.  I have an iPod and love the Kindle app.  You can also download the Kindle app for your PC!  And do you know how much the app costs?  It’s completely free too!  How awesome is that?  Oh and there is no limit to who can get the deal.  You are welcome to share this deal with the world too. 

If you love a deal as much as I do, and want to read a good collection of stories, swing by amazon.com and grab Contemplations of Dinner for free.  Your weekend reading is just a click away and won’t cost you a thing!

Jan30

My Little Punky Brewster

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That little pumpkin over there to the right is my modest girl who has a LOT of ideas about how she should be dressing. Her favorite formula for an outfit is “a skirt, leggings, and a shirt”.  And that’s exactly how she says it.  Normally it’s something like “can I have a skirt, leggings, and a shirt?” or “I picked out a skirt, lettings, and a shirt”.  Oh and every once in a while “I don’t want that skirt, leggings, and shirt!”.  Generally that one is said with yelling and tears because apparently I’m trying to dress her horribly.  She has her own style, that’s for sure.

This outfit, for example, is most definitely of her doing (please pardon the quality, I took it with my phone because she stopped for a minute and I didn’t have time to grab a proper camera).  She actually wore the dress to church yesterday but with brown tights and a cute cream sweater.  Today she has her polka dot dress paired with polka dot leggings and while it’s hard to see, the hood on her jacket has pink polka dots.  I am a BIG fan of polka dots and think they are just lovely but this MIGHT be a bit much.  If I had picked this outfit out it would have probably lead to World War III with wailing and gnashing of teeth but because it is her choice she is more than happy to prance around looking like she got dressed in the dark.  Oh well, at least I didn’t have to pick it out!

Jan29

Sifting Through

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While perusing my Facebook page the last couple of days and scrolling through the updates, I realized I barely recognized half of the names I was looking at.  I had a list of 440 “friends”, some of which I don’t talk to and barely know.  There are times I have had to scroll through endlessly to find an update from someone I really know and correspond with.  That is just silly and so I decided to pare that down a little bit.  By the time I got done I was at 398.

Hhhmmm.  I’m not sure how to feel about that.  I mean, I love meeting new people and I love that I feel like I have contact with so many people in my life, so it’s not like I am opposed to having a larger number in that spot. As a matter of fact, there are people I know through blogging and through Facebook that I’ve never even met face to face.  One of my closest friends, known around my house as “Canada Jenn”, lives in another country.  And some of the greatest support and advice I have gotten the last few years as a new mom and going back to school has come from all over the world.

So yeah, I love meeting and getting to know people.  But do these people really know me?  I think that’s part of the point of starting this blog.  I want to share so much more about myself than what fits in a Facebook status update or a quick tweet.  Maybe my friend number will go up from here, we shall see.

Jan28

Introducing the Gang

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I have a lot of plans for this space, including themes for different days, or at least some possibilities in mind.  I want to talk about all things modest, not just in my clothing.  I think you can be modest in so many ways, whether that be in food (which I have NOT been doing lately) and in your finances.  Budgeting is one thing I have learned to do even better after losing my job in November.  Beyond that I want to talk about my family and all of the things my life holds right now.

Of course if I want to talk about my family, it really seems like I should introduce them.  First, there is Gabe.  He is my husband of 13 years and the love of my life.  We met in 1996, got engaged in January of 1998, and were married October 24, 1998.  We have been through good times and bad, side by side, and he is still the love of my life.

Besides being the amazing husband and father he is, Gabe is also an amazingly talented author.  I am an analytical person and while I think my writing is okay (I mean, I can put together sentences and stuff!) it’s nothing like his.  I can write about myself and things I know (or heck, research for school and all of that) but he comes up with things in his head and I am immensely impressed.  I don’t have the level of imagination he has and I am always in awe each time he writes something new.  If you want to check him out I HIGHLY recommend swinging by his blog or heading over to amazon to check out his novel or his collection of short stories.  Not to shill for my husband or anything but I definitely do not think you will regret it if you do.

Now, he’s probably going to kill me for posting this here but one of my very favorite things about Gabe is his ability to laugh and be silly.  I think this photo pretty much sums that up and I can’t help but share that side of him with all of you.

This man put on my hat and then actually let me take a picture of it.  Yep, that’s just who he is.  And I love him.

The other two most important people in my life are the tiny humans called Aiden and Olivia (better known as Livi or Miss Livi).  Aiden will be turning 5 in March and Olivia is 3.  They are CONSTANTLY on the go and up to something. Aiden is in pre-school and learning every day, which is AMAZING to me.  I have always loved school and want my kiddos to have a love of education too.  Livi isn’t quite old enough for pre-school but she is definitely busy all the time and absolutely learning, school or not.  Aiden has a love of all things video game related and Livi could not be a bigger girlie girl.  He loves Mario and Lightning McQueen, while Livi is never happier than the times she is dressing up in her ballerina dresses or playing with her dolls.  They bring joy to me each and every day and are part of the huge motivation I have to be something better than I am.

So that’s pretty much us.  Hopefully I will be sharing them with you as much as possible from now on because I wouldn’t be who I am without these people in my life.