Licenses, Birthdays, Highlights, Taxes, and Inventories

One. I thought I was going to be all on the ball with things and get my teaching license renewed early, but I must have messed something up because my five year license application was demoted to a two year license. It's really not that big of a deal, I guess, but I'm just bummed out and confused about the whole licensing renewal process right now.

Two. For the first time in many years, I think I have made birthday plans for myself. Actually, for the first time in many years, I think this will be the first birthday weekend in a long time that I will not have had an obligatory basketball game of some sort to attend. As much as I get lazy and don't like to leave town on the weekends, getting out for a birthday celebration will be well worth it, I believe.

Three. Actually, I'm just really looking foward to this spring. Current expected highlights include (but are not limited to) Birthday Blast 2014 (see #2); a school trip to Washington, DC and New York City; the Fargo Half Marathon; and Michele's wedding!

Four. I am pretty excited for the month to be finished so I can finish my taxes. I am the Queen of Procrastination, but I really do plan to get things done on time. I have had what I believe to be all of my tax documents for awhile, but I have been waiting for the last day of the month just to make sure I have everything... Now I can file my little heart out!

Five. Since working with high schoolers and trying to figure out career and college advisement for them, I decided to mess around with some interest inventories myself. The first three I took told me I should be in education. I was really hoping for something else... I was in an adventurous mood last night and really wanted to be told I would make a good astronaut or Olympic athlete or something. However, I'm glad to know I'm right where I should be at this point in time!

It's a Girl Thing

Something I have come to realize about myself in the last couple of years is that I really dislike the spotlight. Now, I recognize this is coming from somebody who has no trouble standing in front of a room and carrying on like tomorrow will never come so, perhaps, I would be more accurate in saying this- I don't like having attention placed upon me for any reason having to do with personal accomplishments, recognition, or the like. Crowd control? Yes. Anything else? No thank you. However, I can truthfully say this is a 180-degree turn from where I was at growing up. 

Ready for a little secret? I loved the limelight as a child simply because I needed to know people liked me. Ready for another secret? I have, only in the last couple of years, decided to take stand against my insecurity and form, for myself, the healthy self image God intended me to have.

Well, that's a weight off the proverbial chest.

What I have really come to recognize after working with girls in a variety of contexts is the super difficult position in which our young ladies are placed in today's society. I was entirely overwhelmed at the beginning of my first summer at camp with all of the girls and their emotions and their general need for obsessive reassurance over the most trivial of daily issues. (No, I do not care whether you wear your purple shirt or your black shirt and, no, I don't think anybody will remember you wore that shirt to run to the bath house to brush your teeth last night. No, I do not think you are weird for wearing that shirt again and I promise to tell nobody... I'm just not going to tell you the last time I have, or haven't, washed this hoodie. Ha!) The all-consuming insecurities faced by these girls at all ages just broke. my. heart. And the staff wasn't immune to petty insecurity either. Approximately one night each week was spent in the bathroom over analyzing what other people may have thought of our behavior at a specific point, how the boys possibly did- or didn't- view us in a specific situation, whether we'll ever measure up as "big girls" in a consumingly degrading society... any sort of lighthearted material (*ahem*) we could muster at whatever hour of the day. Let me assure you... Girls in the school are not any different than those girls at camp. Uffda!

But, I digress. That summer, my heart really began to break for young women as a general subset of population, especially young Christian women. We, as a collective Christian community, are seeking to raise and disciple girls at a time where we are asking them to be meek and mild, supremely intelligent and self-disciplined, simultaneously be "in the world but not of it", and sharing the light of Christ with all while being strong, secure, and capable as the creation God has created each to be. Other than the fact some of those demands are directly contradictory, we are placing a ginormous burden upon out girls, many of whom are struggling to love themselves while we demand they show love to everybody else. Now yes, I often say that life is not about me and selfishness is not healthy, but I fear the number of girls we are losing because they become so overwhelmed with everything that they count it all a loss.

It seems like at least once a day, in whatever class for whatever grade, so many of my female students talk about how yet another boy ignored them for whatever reason or another boy did them wrong in one way or another. Some of it is teenage angst, but you can also tell that some of those girls actually believe it. I am so grateful that my dad sends me a little gifts every once in awhile, both because I felt special that he remembered and it was also a good example to my girls that life is what you make it. Of course I wouldn't have turned down flowers (or anything else for that matter!) from anybody else (I mean... the mysterious "KJ" sends me flowers every year on my birthday and I eat it up every year!), but I'm choosing to think that maybe they were just given an example that security and acceptance doesn't need to come from outside sources.

It's so tough to be a girl... Especially when you don't know where true love and acceptance really are.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that is did not know him. 1 John 3:1

If You Can Read This, I'm Not in Last Place

So the title of this post doesn't really have anything to do with anything. I was actually trying to look for some sort of clever quote or quip about hydration, but apparently hydration humor isn't the most common... Who'd have thought? However, it's rarely nice to come in last, so I figure they are good words to live by, nonetheless. I do know one water joke, but I'm not going to share it because it's also a chemistry joke and I'd just like to continue hiding my nerdy side for as long as possible. 

ANYHOW... I've always been a big water drinker. When I am out to eat at a restaurant, it's not unusual for me to drink three glasses of water with my meal. If the server isn't on top of things, I'll often finish of my mom's glass as well... A server at one of the restaurants we frequented in college knew my group of friends well enough that he would often bring me two glasses of water right off the bat. Since embarking upon my boot camp endeavors and generally working to be more healthy this year, I have been trying to drink a gallon of water each day. 

I thought I drank a lot of water before, but this gallon business is not for the faint of heart. I have my trusty ol' Camelbak that is by my side most every day and, according to my math, I need to drink just over five of him each day to meet my gallon goal. So far today, I have drank 48 of my daily 128 ounces of water. It's getting easier to put this much water down now that my body has started to make use of it and doesn't just want to get rid of it right away. 

My body has been pretty slow to recover from workouts and I don't doubt that it's mostly due to dehydration and poor nutrition. My goal this week is to get my hydration on track and then really hit the nutrition hard next week!

Getting Back on the Proverbial Horse?

Oh well hey there! This semester is off to a running start. I always swear I am going to budget my time more wisely and be more productive in my days, but then my usual habits take over and I find myself behind like usual. Blergh. Such is life. 

I went through a really tough week of getting only two or three workouts in because I had niether the time nor the energy to get anything more done. Then I finally dragged my butt into the gym on Thursday (I think?) and suffering through an eighteen minute run. It was only eighteen minutes (Day 3-2 of C25k, specifically) but it was terrible. However, I was proud of myself for getting back into the gym and winning the mental battle for myself on that one. Last night (Sunday) I went back into the gym and had an excellent 30 minute run. I was about dead by the end of it and was definitely ready to be done, but it felt good.

Tonight I was back at boot camp after I missed on Friday for coaching, but it was good to be back. I feel like I am finally making the switch in mindset to where I look forward to working out again. I was sore for about two and a half weeks straight, but my body has finally adjusted. Things are still far from easy and I honestly haven't seen the numbers move on the scale yet, but that's okay. Actually, the whole scale deal is a little discouraging, but I know my diet has been far from the best lately and I haven't been drinking enough water.

This week I want to be more conscious of what I choose to eat and that will not be the easiest because I have three away games this week. However, I have to start somewhere.

My goal is to run a full 3.1 miles with no walk breaks on January 31. I'm not worried about time or pace right now... I just want to make the mileage mark. I think I will be able to make it through those miles in the next 11 days and I'm looking forward to pushing myself to make the mark!

Finals, Yo-yos, Planners, College, Books, Makeup, and Weekends

Well I clearly missed "Five on Friday" this week so I'm moving on to "Seven on Sunday."

One. Well, this week sure got away from me. It was the last week of the semester at school so along with administering finals, student work that magically appeard from all over the place, parents and students alike all worked up as to why said finals and work weren't graded and in the book 3.8 minutes after submission, we've had practice all week, a four game quadruple-header on Thursday, a triple-header on Saturday, and I never really did sleep more than four hours a night.

Two. This week had also been one heck of a yo-yo week. Well, it wasn't been so much up as it had been crashes and then back to baseline. But thankfully there were enough good things in the week that the baseline was been frequent and attainable. 

Three. I have switched back to my beloved classic Franklin and my life feels so much better again. I tried to downsize planners this last semester and I just couldn't handle it so back to the big ol' binder we go and I am loving every minute of it!

Four. Between undergraduate credits required to earn a new edorsement and my graduate level courses this semester, I will be taking nine credits... While carrying on with life as normal. This is my last semester of structured class, though, so at least I have that light to come up on at the end of the tunnel. I'm looking forward to my classes this semester and I'm secretly all nerdy excited that one of my profs already posted the syllabus so I'm not too upset about getting classes underway on Monday.

Five. To date, I have really enjoyed all of Dan Brown's books (especially The Lost Symbol) and I have been super stoked to read Inferno since it came out last May. I even considred buying it while in Thailand on my break from reality this summer, but I just couldn't justify the $30 on a hardcover book that I knew I'd be able to check out from the library. I started the book once this fall and couldn't get into and I started it again about two weeks ago and I still can't get into it. I'm about halfway through it and I'm darned and determined to finish it just so I can say I've read it. I have one more Dan Brown book to read after Inferno and then I will have caught up on all of his books. 

Six. Not that I have ever been skilled at all in the area of makeup, but I have recently decided that I am going to learn to wear eyeliner. Easier said than done... Uffda. Does anybody have any tips or tricks for making eyeliner look more chic and less like I just lost a boxing match and/or an morphing into a raccoon?

Seven. I was definitely spoiled by my two and a half week Christmas vacation. This weekend is a typical two day weekend and I am far from ready to go back to work tomorrow. But only 18 more weeks of school... We can do this!

Boot Camp... Not Army Style

I am still just so excited to see what 2014 will bring. And it's a bonus that I haven't even gone back to work yet. Tomorrow is the day, but still... I've tried to make the most of my vacation and I certainly am more relaxed now that I was a couple of weeks ago. School starts again tomorrow, though, and for once, I'm feeling refreshed and kinda ready to go back. I figure from here on out, we are always one day closer to summer vacation... Woo hoo!

Anyhow, today I am really late on the link-up over at Happy Is a Choice but it's all about getting fit, feeling confident, and being healthy.

I've made it quite clear that my goal this year is to run a marathon.

Tonight my mom and I joined a boot camp at the local MMA gym. I'm all over the place on how to track progress with my fitness endeavors this year, but I do know that I want to get fit and stay fit. The easiest part of getting in shape is staying in shape. I don't want to be a yo-yo dieter and I don't want to be a yo-yo athlete either.

I'd like this year to be the year I make permanent changes that I maintain throughout my life. Tonight I started by joining an MMA gym. Yeah, I didn't see it coming either. But it actually was pretty fun. I'm not planning on taking up fighting any time soon... Or like ever... That's just not my gig.

New Years Resolution... Yes, Just One!

I have one resolution this year and it is to run a marathon. 

I have neither had time nor made time for this goal in the past, but I feel like this year is the year. 

This spring promises to be a tough one between teaching full time, coaching, and taking nine credits, but such is life.  Life isn't slowing down for awhile and I'm not getting any younger... And I'm ready to take charge and do something for myself. I feel like I have lost a piece of myself over the last couple of years and I want to figure out what that is.

Running 3 miles is not something that comes easy to me, so I know 26.2 miles will be the most difficult thing I've done in a long time. I'm excited to do something difficult. 

I've gotten all to content with doing only the things I know I will be good at and/or those things that I know I will be able to finish without too much inconvenience to myself.

My baby steps to running my marathon are as follows:

1. Run a 5k on Friday, January 31.
2. Run the Fargo Half Marathon on May 10.

This year is going to be the year. As I've said before, I am looking forward to the changes 2014 is going to bring and I pray that one of those changes is a self-improved, more disciplined self.

Soli deo gloria.