Slow me down, Lord....

Slow me down. Lord.  Eas the pounding of

my heart by the quieting of my mind.

Steady my hurried pace with a vision

of the eternal reach of time.

Give me, amid the confusion of the day,

the calmness of the everlasting hills.

Break the tensions of my nerves and muscles

wit hthe soothing music of the singing streams

that live in my memory.  Help me to know

the magical restoring power of sleep.

Teach me the art of taking minute vacations....

of slowing down to look at a flower,

to chat with a friend, to pat a dog,

to read a few lines from a good book.

Slow me down, Lord, and inspire me to send

my roots deep into the soil of life's enduring values

that I may grow toward

the starts of my great destiny.

(that was from a plaque I am took down from my wall.  funnt...

while on the wall, I never read it all the way through.)

HANDBOOK 2011

Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
5. Make time to pray.
6. Play more games
7. Read more books than you did in 2010 .
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily -- and while you walk, smile!!

Personality:
11. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don't over do. Keep your limits.
14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Society:
25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything.
28. Spend time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least 3 people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:
32. Do the right thing!
33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. GOD heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change..
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come..
38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
39. Your Inner most is always happy. So... be happy.

Mom forwarded me this handbook in an email.  I really liked it so I thought I would share.

Trying to change..

I have wanted to change my hair color for a LONG time. I think dark hair is much prettier than blonde. After some drama, today is the day it might actually happen. I went to http://www.taaz.com/ to change my hair color ot help convince my mom it wouldn't be too bad to go really dark. It was really fun to change the style and color. I think I will ask her to cut it with a few layers. I have been swimming pretty much each evening and taking a shower after. This has freed up my mornings so now I will actually style my hair instead of settling on a ponytail or braid. My favorite is the largest picture and how I would love to have my hair every day. It my happen. I will TRY to make sure it does. When we finish this morning, I will post pictures of before and after. Can't wait!!

Resolution...

I have found my New Years Resolution. Simply put:

Before you quite, try!!

droll weekend..

After the feelings of Friday, the weekend was kinda a let down. I didn't get my hair colored until Sunday.  And even then the color didn't turn out as I expected it.  Tonight Mom is going to try another color so hopefully we will get it to the dark I want.  Right now I went maybe 1-2 shades darker than my natural color.  I will post pictures when possible.  Saturday was a blah day until the Seahawk game.  What a game!!  We beat the Superbowl champs (NO Saints)!!  WWOOHHOOO!!  It was amazing!!  I still get chills think of it.  We next play the Chicago Bears on Sunday in Chicago.  My new bro in law Josh is a Bears fans so we will see how it goes.

Today I agreed to start work at 530am!!  What was I thinking??!!  I haven't seen 530 in a long time. I am working til 430pm so it will be a fun day. WOOHOOO for overtime pay though.  Now question is, do I want to volunteer for 530am tomorrow too?

Interesting morning so far because:

-I donated blood at work and learned I am A+ bloo type.
-I am excited to dye my hair.
-I am on call to come into work at 530 AM on Monday.
-HALLELUJAH it is FRIDAY!!
-tomorrow is the Seattle Seahawk vs New Orlean Saints playoff game in Seattle and kick off at 230!!

Exicted...

becuase I am going dark tomorrow!!  That right...Mom is going to dye my hair!!  We went to Sally's beauty supply on Tuesday and got the color.  I selected a dark (but lighter) golden brown that had some red tones.  We are going to add some red (from the previous dye job years ago).  I am nervous but excited.  If it doesn't turn out like I plan, thankfully I can just dye it back to blonde :)  As soon as it is done, expect pictures on Facebook and here.  I think I will also cut it short.  I will have to think about that.

uhoh!! my list is gone!!

I have created a 101 things to do in 1001 days list.  I went to the webiste to review and see what I can check off and what I can start.  To my shock, the list is gone!!  The page talks about being down becuase of heavy traffic and wont be back up because the webmaster is India with only a backpack and an Ipad. 

I am not digging through old posts and papers trying to find it!!  Keep your fingers crossed i will find it so I don't have to start over!

Here's to new beginings..

So there are a millions thoughts going through my brain. A new year has begun.  The chapter titled 2010 is closed and the page has turned.  It is both thrilling and terrifying.

I really can't find the words to express what I am feeling so I will say that I do not have any resolutions.  I am simplying resolving to try. It will be a success as long as I have tried.  The outcome will not matter.

So what I am going to try to do is 1) learn to say no, 2) not care what others think of me, 3) read the Bible all the way through, and 4) be healthy.