6 quirks

so i've been tagged by tanys
6 weird things...

premise: blog a blog about six weird things about yourself. Then "tag" via intarweb 6 other people to do the same thing. Don't forget to let them know on their own Bloggy Mc Blogs that they've been inter-tagged.

End result: everyone gets to learn about your lovely little quirks

here we go...

1. When I get up in the mornings I always take my alarm clock with me into the bathroom so I know exactly how much time I have for each bathroom activity. (shower, dry off, hair, makeup etc.) That way I know if I'm running a bit late then I'll have to shave minutes off certain activities.

2. If I can't sleep at night one of the first things I'll do is put my hair up if it's down because that way it's out of my face, therefore, I should be able to sleep better....you said this was about quirks! Or if my room is a mess I'll clean it because it reduces at least the physical amount of clutter around me.

3. Whenver I eat ice-cream (and this is a family trait) I never eat the full amount of ice cream that I scoop onto the spoon. I always eat it in two bites, sometimes three.

4. I always put cutlery "handle down" into a dishwasher. My mom said it made sure the part you ate from got the cleanest.

5. I hate watching tv if there's clutter around. If I can't fully be bothered to clean I'll at least make everything on the tables around into neat piles.

6. I always leave at least 2 cm on the bottom of my bananas. I always want to make sure I don't get that "spider leg" part in my mouth!

ok and now for the tagging..

Russell, Steve and Heather and Karyn (because you haven't blogged in forever girl!)

Running

I've started running again. I ended up stopping during the Winter months that I've been home in Canada. I'd gotten used to year round mild weather in England and had forgotten how cold it can get over here in our large country.

I first went out Monday of this week as it was beautifully mild, if not a bit cloudy. As I hit the pavement the familiarity of the exhilaration and freedom I find in running began to surge through me. I thought "now why on earth did I let cold weather stop me from this!" There was only one problem. Not having run for about 3 -4 months my body wasn't in the same condition that my mind seemed to be remembering. With the goal of running a marathon in mind I'd managed to achieve running half the distance (13 miles). However, it was soooooooooo hard to get going for those first two miles. - I find that it usually takes me about 2 miles to get warmed up and ready to go any further. I felt slow, sluggish and like my muscles that were once lean and hard had suddenly gone soft and spongy. I was only slightly discouraged though, as I've managed to get out twice since then and it is getting increasingly easier. Today I was actually joined by a friend! I ran past an old cabin on the dirt road behind my house and this huge, dopey, floppy, black, brown and white dog came bounding out of the driveway and joined me running down the road. He actually stayed with me for a good mile. He was very friendly. He was jumping all around me then running into the puddles in the ditch and returning and soaking my legs. He was very cute though. If I had been looking for a dog he would've been the perfect one. Big, a bit shaggy but completely lovable. Maybe it was love at first sight - as far as animals go (don't worry Russ, you've not got any competition)

Anyway, sorry for the tangent. What I wanted to say was this, while running I started thinking about the spiritual parallel I could take out of the situation. Sometimes we can really grow in our faith and build up our spiritual muscles. We can go through experiences that train us to grow closer to God and we learn so much. But, if we don't continue to use what we've gained we can lose our edge. What can remember what we learned and the memory and knowledge can remain in our minds but it can fail to be action. All of a sudden we find that what we remember is harder to put into action than we thought. We can get lazy and complacent.

I guess I always equate exercise to our spiritual lives as well. There are verses about running the race before us and running to win the goal, fixing our eyes on the target, persevering. I find these all particularly relevant to me since running something I love but I am reminded as well about the spiritual application to my life. I don't know if I always live it as best as I should but I try my best. I believe it was Paul who said that physical training is of some value but spiritual training has value in all things.

Hear hear!

Why can't we get all the people together in the world that we really like and then just stay together? I guess that wouldn't work. Someone would leave. Someone always leaves. Then we would have to say good-bye. I hate good-byes. I know what I need. I need more hellos.

~Charles M. Schulz

Update of sorts

I suppose it's time for a bit of an update.

Lets see here....where should I start?

Work is going at quite a steady pace. Between Indigo and CH I'm certainly keeping myself busy!! (By the way I got a second job at Indigo books in case not everyone knew that). For example tomorrow I'm going to the second day of my Non Violent Crisis Intervention course for CH from 9:30 - 3:00, I then have a meeting with my supervisor back at the project home when the course is finished, then I have to drive across lovely Ottawa to be at Indigo and work there from 5 - 10!!! Yikes...I may be tired by the time I get home. To top that off we're supposed to have 15 - 20 cm of snow tomorrow. O Canada!

Between work I'm slowly working through wedding plans. The rockin' pace I started off with has slowed down considerably with work and since the major venues have been booked. I'm heading to a bridal store on Saturday morning with one of my bridesmaids - the only one who I will physically be able to try on dresses with. That should be fun and perhaps I'll get to try my dress on again which will be super fun :D ( I really love my dress!!)

Russell is in Zimbabwe at the moment and I'm sure he's having a fantastic time. The hardest part is not being able to talk with him while he's there. The country is subject to power cuts and so they never know when they'll have access to the Internet. I received one email from a contact at Capernwray letting us know they're safe, other than that I will probably have to wait until he gets back! I can't wait to hear all about it.

Social life...well that's a bit non-active at the moment. I was thinking about this today. I realised it took me a good 2 years to build up the friends and support I had in Morpeth; that's a long time! I think part of me feels it's just not worth the effort because I don't know if I'm sticking around. However; that being said one phrase that I have really felt in my heart over and over is "bloom where you're planted." I was praying the other night and praying that God would give me the strength to put down roots even when I don't want to. It's this whole "once I get them planted I have to pull them up again so what's the point" attitude that's going on. I actually feel quite stubborn about it, like this resistant little plant. The thing is, though, because I'm not putting them down I also feel lonely, frail and withered. Lovely eh! I just want to keep to myself and let life get on to when I want it to be. I really am trying hard but it's one thing to recognize something and another thing to take action. Before I went to bed I randomly flipped open my Bible - not necessarily the wisest thing to do when seeking council from it but occasionally God will surprise me with the words I find - and I flipped to Jeremiah 17:7,8:

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out it's roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; it's leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit"

Tears came to my eyes. How awesome is God that even in my stubbornness he speaks to me this way. My problem isn't necessarily about putting down roots. It's that I'm not trusting...darn self sufficiency!!

Lord I want to trust! Give me the strength to trust! Help me to take action when I can to trust and surrender my fear.

My Nephew

I have the cutest and most handsom nephew in the world! (That is until he perhaps has a brother, then there might be two cutest and most handsom nephews)

I pinched a pic from Tanys' site that I thought was absolutely adorable! I can't wait to see him this June. It's just too far away!


Isn't he ADORABLE!!

Dress

I've bought my wedding dress!! :D
I'm afraid I can't post a picture of it because I don't want a certain someone to see what it looks like but I can tell you that it's beautiful and I love it :D

Photogenic...??

For all the people out there who don't think bad pictures of me exist:

(I was making this face on purpose though)

I Start Soon

I got the job with Christian Horizons. Yay! The interview went well and as soon as it was over one of the managers said she was 100% confident that as soon as all my references came in I would be set up with an appointment to view one of their homes. They have you do that before they hire you to give you a chance to see if it's actually what you want to do and whether or not it's what you were expecting. No sooner had I filled out a written question for them when I was asked to hold on because they had my third reference form and were trying to set me up with an appointment. I ended up going to view a home right then and there. It was a home of about 5 residents, 1 gentleman and 4 ladies and they're all a bit elderly. I met the project manager and she showed me around and we set up an appointment for Thursday to start the hiring process. I have to come back and fill out lots of forms and have a criminal records check done etc. Hopefully soon I will start my first shift!

I'm so glad it's all worked out. Thank you so much for all your prayers :)

Decisions

Decisions. Life is full of them.

As I posted earlier I went for a job interview at Starbucks which I was pretty excited about. I thought to myself "hey! Starbucks seems like a great place to work!" But since having a really good interview and feeling like I probably could have a job there if i wanted to I was granted the opportunity for another interview with an organization called Christian Horizons . They provide support and care for people who have developmental disabilities. The position I'd be applying for is a support worker in a home for whatever type of people are in the home. That interview also went really well and I was asked back for a second one this coming Monday. The only problem was Starbucks called today to say they'd like to hire me. Time for a decision....what do I do? Out of the two I really feel that I'd like to work at Christian Horizons...but I don't know yet if I actually have a job there. Starbucks also seems like a great place to work and I have the chance right in front of me to take a job and start right away....I do need the money. What do I do? So, I called Starbucks back and asked if it would be possible to give them an answer next week. It's not possible. They need the answer right away. I want to still go to my 2nd interview with Christian Horizons. I have to make a decision and I do. I say thank you very much to Starbucks but I'm afraid I can't give them a definite answer but maybe if they're still hiring in the future I'll reapply. Am I crazy? Did I make a bad decision? I don't know. I guess time will tell. I'm just trusting God that everything will work out as it should even through my human-ness of decision making. I trust that whether or not I do get a job with Christian Horizons that things will work out as they should, through His plans and His timing in my life.

Proverbs 16:3
Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed.

Is She Starbucks Material?

This has been a good week because:

I have the best finace in the world and we're getting married!
I have a wonderful, supportive family!

I got my health card within 20 minutes!
I was able to get my drivers license switched in 10 minutes without jumping through hoops!
The trip to the dentist yesterday wasn't too too painful! (Although I do have to go back again...twice)

.....and.........drumroll please!.........

I got a job interview for Monday!! Watch out all you coffee lovers you might see me behind the counter of Starbucks soon!

(Got any tips Leanne?)

The Blahs and The Bliss

Christmas is over, the new year has come and is now starting to go and Russell has gone back to England...I have to admit life seems a bit mundane now. My ring is in being sized at the moment so it will be fun when I get it back but I'd rather have Russell back. The plan at the moment is to stick around home for a while and see if I can get a job to get a few $$ behind me. I'm thinking with a wedding to plan for now it would help to have a bit of money saved up in the bank. I hear they're expensive affairs.

I applied at Indigo, Starbucks, Kelseys, The Red Dot and Scotiabank today...hopefully I hear something from someone. I'll probably go out again tomorrow armed with more resumes. I forgot how lousy looking for a job can be! Especially when you've had one you've loved and now you're just trying to find one for the soul purpose of earning money and not necessarily for the fulfillment it brings.

Ecclesiastes 3:1,11
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
He has made everything beautiful in its time.

Proverbs 3:6
Acknowledge Him in all your ways and He will make your paths straight.

I'm trying my best to remember these things during this time. It's just a season and I have so much to look forward too. I just need to remember there is a purpose in this time as well as everything that I'm looking so forward to. sigh

On a really fun note, however, I manged to get free tickets to The Palace Bridal Show in Ottawa this past weekend and my Mom and I made it for the last day. It was a lot of fun! I entered a draw for some fantastic prizes (which I didn't win) and we saw a fashion show of wedding dresses, suits, and some lingerie. I was able to enter some smaller draws for free makeup, and other wedding type things. It was such a fun atmosphere! I got really excited thinking "I get to think about all these things for MY wedding!!!!"

I've been online a couple evenings with Tanys discussing wedding dresses. Here's a few pictures of one's I found that I really like. I'm sure they cost a fortune but I'm having so much fun looking!




Aren't they pretty???? I can't wait to start trying them on!

Oh...I almost forgot, I have a dentist appointment tomorrow. Prayers would be greatly appreciated!!!!!

Engagement Announcement

A few days late but better late than never....
What did I do this January 1, 2007? I got engaged!!!!!!!!!!