These are my thoughts; though they may be public domain, please have enough respect and understand that they are mine and are not for the use of your own deviant agenda.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Pictures! Get your pictures! :)
Hello all... I finally got some pictures posted to my album. If you haven't already seen them, here are the links to the individual events below... Or just Click Here to go to My Album.
Have you experienced an upward spiral day? I mean I’ve had plenty of downward spirals, where one thing after the next adds up to being a horrible day. Well today I am experiencing the upward spiral!
Like I have said in prior blogs, I’ve been seeing the need for positive thinking. I have been shown a lot of great exercises to get a jump start on changing my thought process. This one particular exercise is to start your day naming 10 things you are grateful for. Not just the routine list of things you are grateful for, but an emotionally driven gratitude list, the one where you almost feel that tear forming in your eye.
I listed the things I was grateful for, one being that it was Saturday and I could lay in bed and just enjoy slowly waking up. I was smiling by the time I got out of bed. Things just keep getting better and better… That upward spiral!
So not only did I *not* gain my 2 pounds back with my Thanksgiving Feast Thursday, but I lost an additional pound! How awesome is that!? I weighed myself three times to be sure! Haha I am now down 36 pounds! :-D Having that pleasant surprise presented to me I found that I was getting ready for the day with a little dance in my step… literally! I was thinking about how I needed to go to the bank and to get the zipper replaced on my favorite pair of jeans and was wondering how to fit it in before the movie. I was running a little behind when Mike knocked on my door to tell me that Brian got called into work and that we wouldn’t be going to the movie right away and oh by the way he had picked me up a coffee from starbucks and he’d just sit it by my door! Better and better I tell ya! Now I had the time I needed to finish getting ready, go to the bank and to drop my jeans off at the alterations place and on top of that had my morning starbucks brought to my door!
By this point I had a nice perma grin going! Life is good! I was heading out the door with my checks to deposit and my jeans in hand and I get a text message from my friend Jason that made me laugh out loud. My neighbors across from me and next to me looked up and I just smiled ear-to-ear back at them shaking my head and it hit me… Today is one of those upward spirals!
And it’s an absolutely beautiful day out today! The sun is shining, the air has a bit of that winter chill, and I have been enjoying every minute of this day! I called my mom and shared with her all that I’m experiencing and what I’m learning and she was totally impressed with my passion for it! I feel more alive then I have in years! posted by Charity at 11/25/2006 12:29:00 PM
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
I didn't think I'd have the time for an update. But good news needs to be shared! haha
Weigh In - 11/23/06
I've lost another 2 pounds (for a total of 35 pounds lost)! Which of course I'll probably gain back after all the good food I'll be consuming today! haha But the exciting part about this is that this means my walks that I have been doing in the morning and during my lunch break are helping me get past the plateau I was finding myself in with my weight loss. So not only are the walks helping me mentally they are helping me physically! YAY! Now I just need to make these walks a habit. I originally did them consistently as a test and I can see getting annoyed with waking up early. But once I do it I feel so much better!
Inspiration - I am inspired to change my thought process. I mean it's been happening lately but last night and this morning I've watched things that encourage positive thinking! My favorite saying right now will be "I've got a pink kink in my think!" hahaha Ask me if you don't know where that line came from! I watched a special this morning that I recorded the other day. It was very inspirational! I kept it so that I can watch it with my friend Brandie but also so that I can take notes. I mean there are a couple things I don't agree with, but for the most part it's biblical but not put in biblical terms. I feel the need to learn, to strive, to change... There is so much more out there that I can be but I've allowed myself to believe they were not possible because of my fears and insecurities. Anyways, I look forward to sharing as this process takes place.
Well I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! Be sure to express what you are thankful for! Hey, that’s not a bad idea…
What I’m thankful for….
My life - For where I’ve come and where I am going My family - Whom I will be spending the day with! My friends - My heart is filled with such joy and gratitude today for my friends! I wish I could just give all of you big bear hugs to express my love for your impact in my life. I feel a natural high because of the amazing reminders I’ve had this morning of how wonderful my friends truly are! I love you guys! My camera - The ability and desire that I have to capture the life I see around me through the lens of that camera. Starbucks! – (I’m feeling the affects of my drink from this morning! Haha) My morning fix and the people that work there that now know me as a friend
Gosh, if I had more time this list would just keep going, but I gotta go get ready to head over to my parents. But honestly, the biggest thing that I’m thankful for are my friends, old and new alike, acquaintances and close friends! I love you all! Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Well tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I have a lot to be thankful for. Who God has brought into my life, and where He's taking me. I am genuinely happy, filled with an inner joy I haven't experienced, to this extent, in a long time!
So blogger just added a feature that I totally love! Labels! So I can go back and label all the posts I've ever done with pictures and if you click on the the label "pictures", it will pull all those posts up! How cool is that!? I'm sure other blog interfaces do something similar but this is new for blogger and I'm REALLY lovin the idea! Though I think I'm a bit too lazy to go back and label all 3 1/2 years of posts! haha Can you believe I've been blogging that long!? I can't... I have been reviewing some of my past entries and it's amazing how much changes in such a short time.
If you want to get inspired and smile watch this video!
I love this video! Just got done watching it yet again. :) My friend Jason is the one who originally sent me the link, I've gotten so inspired by it that I presented it to my "Post High School to 30-Something" group and we're going to go out and give out free hugs December 10th! I'm really excited and nervous about it. It's out of my comfort zone but that's good.
Well I'm off for my lunch walk... I don't know if I'll have time to update the blog before Thanksgiving so I hope everyone has a great day and eats lots of turkey! :)
Last night was a pleasant surprise. I had planned on going to my friend’s AA meeting (something that was suggested to me because the program is great for more then just alcohol addiction). I ended up not making the meeting. Instead my brother called me as I was pulling onto the freeway onramp and told me to stay down the hill and that he and Mike were coming down and wanted me to join them for dinner and a movie, "Casino Royale" the new James Bond film. I decided to take them up on the offer. They had just left my house so I knew I have a good 45 minutes of wait time. I went to my favorite Starbucks, said hi to my favorite Starbucks employee and friend Michael, brought out my journal and started in on a couple paragraphs and then got a call from my friend Russ. It was great to catch up and we're trying to figure out a time to get together. Both of our schedules are hectic and since he lives in Burbank there is a commute we have to work around too. My brother showed up before we were able to make definitive plans.
Brian, Mike and I ended up going to Chevy's for dinner. Its always fun listening to them go back and forth... They've been friends since elementary school and act a lot like brothers... and of course there is always the fun 'guy talk' that I have to deal with. haha It was a fun time. My brother Brian seems to want to hang out more. They made a stop at R.E.I. and I said I was probably going to stay in the car and finish my journal entry but he wouldn't hear of it. It was kind of cute... Making some kind of sob story that he won't be around forever and I'd regret not taking the time I could to walk around R.E.I. with him... haha
Casino Royale was awesome! I was really impressed with it. I had only seen the preview once and was not necessarily expecting to like it as much as I did. I am a Bond fan though. I grew up watching them. They did a really good job! I was skeptical of Daniel Craig making a good James Bond (I'm a Sean Connery fan all the way) but mmmmm lets just say ... not so skeptical now! :-P He is a definite hottie! hahaha
I got home and in bed pretty late. But this morning I was able to sleep in. I have been working on the cards we want to hand out for our Post High School to 30-Something group, we're having a meeting today so I had to have them completed. I think they look good. I noticed a few errors on the final printout but I can fix that before we make mass amounts.
I have realized lately that I have been laughing a lot more. In a blog post back on the first of July I talked about laughing so hard I had tears and how rare it's been to have one of those experiences. But lately I feel like I'm laughing and smiling all the time. It's best explained as driving on a beautiful spring day where all the lights are green and you're listening to the best cd for your upbeat mood... I feel like that most of the time now. All smiles, ready to laugh and have a good time. Speaking of good cds! Lately it seems that the lyrics of most of the cds I've been listening to are reminding me of someone. Haha It's always interesting to see how that works out.
My good friends David and Erin just had a baby boy on Thursday November 16th, 6 pounds 14 ounces, 16 and some odd inches. Hehe David was a bit out of it when he called to tell me that night. He is a firm believer of picking the name after you get to know their personality and I just found out that they picked William Douglas! How cute! It’s their 5th and last kid … they say. I told them I wanted to stop by this week sometime and see him. I don’t get to hang out with David as much since we don’t work at linkLINE together anymore. But I call every couple of weeks for an update. I miss hanging out with him though.
Well it’s about time for me to head over to my meeting. I do hope to get some pictures up this weekend but I’m not going to stress about it. Hope everyone is having a great weekend. posted by Charity at 11/18/2006 02:09:00 PM
Friday, November 17, 2006
So much is going on (I start a lot of my entries this way, this recurring theme has been pointed out to me. Sometimes these themes are not of a positive nature, mostly because my focus has been off.). Anyways, so many wonderful and exciting new things are going on. I have learned so many amazing things about myself as of late. It can almost be overwhelming to have so many revelations hit you at once. (Yes, I used that specific phrasing just for you Jason!) ;)… I am awestruck with life! I feel like a kid who’s being led by the hand through this incredible world for the first time, shown the amazing thing that is called life through a new set of goggles. It’s not just one person, place or thing that is facilitating these revelations. It’s God and timing! I don’t think a few months ago I would have been as receptive as I am now to all that I’m experiencing and seeing within and about myself. It’s exciting! I feel different, regenerated and very curious to what my future holds.
I finally got to the Getty Museum Wednesday! I had a great time. My friend Brandie came with me. Being a fellow photographer we had a good time taking pictures of the grounds. We only went into one building and that was to look at “Where We Live: Photographs of America from the Berman Collection”. The rest of the time we spent enjoying the architecture and scenery. I will be posting some of my favorites from the day soon. posted by Charity at 11/17/2006 04:20:00 PM
Saturday, November 11, 2006
I am doing great! There is so much going on in my life. I'm really excited to see where I am going to go next. :) Yes, there are moments of sadness and frustration, but they are happening less and less and all-in-all life has been really good.
Weigh In - 11/10/06
I lost another pound this week for a grand total of 33 pounds! Go me. :) I measured myself for the first time in a few months. I have lost 9 1/2 inches here and there for a grand total of 35 inches lost since I started taking control of my weight! That made my day. Realizing my body has changed that much! No wonder the last few weeks I've seen a drastic change in the shape of my body. I'm more motivated to keep it up. I feel so much better about myself.
Voting with Bullets - I have been getting out more lately. It’s been kind of nice. I went to my friend Turtle's show and took pictures of his band playing at the Ponderosa on 10/21/06. Turtle has been an acquaintance since my wannabe Goth days ages ago! Truth be told, he was my first kiss. Hah! Here are a couple shots from the show.
Turtle
The rest of the band
My friends Erica and Joe
Walks - Here are a few pictures of what I see on my lunch break walks by my office. Beautiful huh?
New Coworkers - Here are a few pictures of my new coworkers.
Keith
Cathy
Stephanie
Sandeep, Eric and Hector
Sandeep's last day, he just moved to Fresno
Disneyland - My sister and I had a blast! We met a lot of cool people. I have never had so much fun talking to complete strangers! We even made a couple new buddies who hung out with us for the first half of the day, a young guy named Dillon who goes to UCLA and his little brother, Jordan who came out for a visit. We met a couple other ladies who were totally awesome and of course I took pictures all along the way.
A cool worker on the Tower of Terror Ride
Jordan and Dillon
Jordan, Dillon and Heidi
Proof I was there haha
Heidi, Hannah and I can't remember her moms name :(
Friendship - It's strange how friends can come and go during different chapters of your life. I’ve been more cognizant of it in the last couple of days. I have made a wonderful new friend named Jason, someone that challenges me to be a better person, someone that I can trust with my feelings, someone that I can have a good old fashioned wholesome conversation with (the sad part is aside from my long-time friends I have found this to be rare!). I am grateful that God brought him into my life… with the help of my cousin. ;)
Dating - Well I have gotten back out into the dating scene. It’s been an interesting experience. All my relationships have started with friendship and then blossomed from there. But for the first time in my life, I have multiple guys interested at the same time. I’m not sure how I feel about it all. Most don’t share my faith so that stops things from going any further. I figure at this point I’m not ready for anything serious so I’m enjoying it while it lasts. I have never been one that *had* to be in a relationship. So I’m just going with the flow.
My Hair - I went to my sisters place today and she cut and colored my hair. I absolutely love it! The after picture has my hair curled and I rarely curl my hair. But I can't wait to see what it's like when I style it tomorrow. Anyways, it's awesome that I can now go to her to do my hair. :) She did an awesome job! I know she was nervous but I'm soo proud of her. Here are the before and after shots.
Before - 11/10/06
After - 11/11/06
Well I know there is plenty more I could share. But for now I think this is enough scrolling... :) Hope you enjoyed the pictures. I have tons more from these events that I will upload to my album eventually. hehe
Life has been good... great even! But yesterday I was kind of down so I didn't feel up to writing too much. I have had an internal battle going on for the last few days about something I thought was going to happen but didn't and I'm extremely relieved.
Morning Walks - I have started getting up a half an hour early in the mornings and walking around my block a couple of times. It's felt really good to get the blood pumping and start my day out right. I realized that I have needed to take an extra step in my weight loss program because I've apparently hit a plateau... I keep fluctuating between two pounds. I know I can get past it. I've been doing really well with my diet. I am focused and I can see a pretty big difference in the shape of my body. I guess that's why this plateau isn't bothering so much, because I'm still seeing changes. It feels really good. I clocked my walk by driving around the block and its 0.4 miles and I walk it twice, so each morning I've been walking almost a mile. If I get up just a tad earlier I can get up to 3-4 times around the block. My brother said I should take his bike on my route because it has a computer that will clock it more accurately.
The week prior to starting my morning walks I was pretty consistent in taking my lunch walks around the building complex where I work. I took pictures last Friday of the walk because I've always loved the view. I will have to upload some of my favorites. Earlier this week I wasn’t able to get to my lunch walks because either I had to take a short lunch or I had to talk to Crystal in North Carolina about the site I'm still working on. But today I got my lunch walk in and I feel great!
North Carolina – I am more set to stay then move to North Carolina. Both my parents and I felt that it’s possibly something I need to do, but the timing isn’t quite right. So for now I’m waiting. Maybe after the first of the year things will change.
I’m still working on the project for my brother. We worked out a payment agreement and I’m excited to get some things paid off.
Work – It’s going well. I am getting more and more projects handed to me. But it’s not challenging yet. I think once we get caught up I will be able to get into more challenging work. So we’ll see.
Disneyland – I am planning on going to Disneyland with my sister on Saturday. I’m looking forward to going. I got a free ticket in the mail. Crazy I know. I have to use it by November 15th, and I’m not complaining.
And of course I'm tired so I'm just gonna stop here and write more another day.
