Mommy vs. Me - One year to find balance or bust!

Hahaha...balance

Well, it's been well over a year! I'm married, still only have three kids and have just purchased and moved into a new home. Not to mention the business I mentioned about a year ago is booming, I'm taking college courses and becoming more active in my church and with friends...

BALANCE?

What was I thinking?

Balance is like the illusive jack-o-lope. You think it may be real, but you've never seen it, you just hope that it actually exists.

But I'm hopeful that I'll at least remain sane enough to move forward.

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Weighs and Measures

You know, balance has been an illusive critter. Let's think of the Great White Stag for a moment. If you've never read this book, I recommend it. I sat down at the book store the other day reading it and it was beautiful.

Anyway, balance - like the White Stag - seems to be always near, but just out of reach. And it seems that whoever finds the White Stag becomes wise beyond their years or becomes ruler of a kingdom. I imagine that balance is the same way.

Once you find balance, you become wise and can essentially rule the world.

I have yet to find it. But I'm hot on the trail. Things in my life are lining up. Each step I take has been leading me to a new place with more uncertainty but also with more promise of a dream come true.

So while I still strive for the goal of balance or bust, I'm quite positive that the adversities I'm encountering now will empower me for later...so that when balance does come my way, I can appreciate it even more and be wiser for having been through all this CRAP!

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You Know You're Okay When...

A good friend of mine, Tommey, from my first church home, always spoke of her "weird God stories."

Well, since I've become a Christian...I've had my fair share of weird God stories. But now that I've had so many - they're not that weird anymore, more like commonplace occurrences in my life.

Here's an example:

During the course of performing my new "job" I bumped into a very savvy, very accomplished business owner. He liked my style and offered me an opportunity within the first 5 minutes of me walking through his door.

I returned home that day and told the hubby about the offer - which sounded incredible - then continued on my merry way doing my door-to-door sales gig.

Now, for nearly a month I had been trying to get a hold of him

but always seemed to miss him somehow.

Well, the weirdest thing happened the other day (weird to you, but typical for me). I had just walked out of closing a $2,000 deal and I dialed the phone number to the savvy business owner I was just telling you about. I questioned myself afterward on why I would be motivated to do such a thing when I had just made so much money with my current position - well, all I came up with is, it's a God thing.

Anyway on this day, "savvy business owner" was the one who answered the phone. He immediately asked if I could meet up with him and another of his business partners who just-so-happened to be in town. I dropped my appointments for the day and rushed over.

Moral of the Story: It is to God's glory that I met up with Papa Llama and

Jeff just a few days ago and am now the

Head of Sales for the corporation.

posted under christian, church, God, god is good, God story, job, Llama, moral, sales | 0 Comments

Wanted to Share This...

June 6, 2010

I don't like that I can't write separate posts on these "pages" of mine. But, until I write to Blogger to help me out with that, I'll just have to deal, right?

Kind of like marriage, until we open our mouth and express our feelings, we just have to deal with "it."

Buddy, the Pastor at my church, spoke again about marriage. But he put a crazy spin on it that I hadn't yet come to know about.

Being freshly married, I could totally relate to the sermon today and it touched my heart deeply. Actually, the correlation between our marriage to our spouse and our relationship with Jesus was shocking. I just never knew...

Women, generally, spend thousands of dollars on looking perfect for one day - their wedding day. Here's a list of things that I went overboard on (cost-wise) for my wedding:

*dress

*shoes

*nylons (two pair, since I lost one and had to have my mom buy some the day of the wedding)

*necklace (custom made)

*earrings (also custom made)

*make-up (bought it myself & did it myself)

*hair (did NOT do it myself)

*hair piece

*"girdle"

*bra

My "look" for the day ended up costing me well into four-digit figures.

So, why do we do this? Vanity? I don't think so. Peer-pressure? Not at my age. Cultural stigmas? Probably.

But for me, it was so that I looked beautiful for my soon-to-be husband. I wanted to take his breath away and etch that moment of me, being stunningly beautiful, into his head for the rest of his life. I wanted him to be proud of me and I wanted his heart to swell with happiness that he had picked me.

Now lets Take it from the guys side...a wedding is not such a big deal for them. They rent a tux which, by the way, comes with everything except underwear & a tee-shirt. They sit and drink soda and watch t.v. before the ceremony and all they have to do is stand there and wait. But Buddy informed me today, that even the most macho of men get choked up when they see their bride for the first time. (Yes! Just what I was hoping to hear!)

When the doors part and the bride comes into sight, grown men weep. They really do feel pride. Their hearts really do swell and the love they feel seems to grow exponentially with each step their bride takes.

now: Imagine Jesus as the groom. He's standing, waiting for us to walk down the aisle and when He finally sees us, He sobs and with each step we take closer to Him, He loves us more and more. He's proud of us and He wants nothing more than to have a happy, close, fulfilling relationship with us - but here's the catch:

This relationship has no stipulation "till death us do part."

Nope.

He DIED for us so that we COULD have this relationship with Him, so that we COULD have God on our side. It is not at death that we will part, it is because of His death that we are brought together.

It just amazes me, breaks my heart, overwhelms me with joy and baffles my mind that God is so graceful and generous and loving.

A special thanks to God and Buddy for opening my heart and my mind today that not only did I marry my one true Earthly love, but I have also married my Lord and Saviour and must nurture that relationship just as I would nurture my marriage here on Earth.

Glory to God! All praise and worship, all honor and love to You, Jesus.

AMEN!

posted under bride, Buddy, church, death, God, god is good, grace, groom, Jesus, love, marriage, nurture, relationship, sermon, wedding | 0 Comments

Coming Soon - A New Me and Maybe a Book For You!

Usually I'm the type of girl to buy a box of hair color and have a girlfriend over to chat, drink wine and apply the potion to my head. (Maybe we should drink wine AFTER the potion is applied?) But I've opted to have a professional color my hair tomorrow. Why? Because she gave me a coupon for a free cut & style with any chemical service.

FREE???? Yes please!

But I've realized that it has been nearly a month since I've seen my two best friends. We used to get together once a week to exercise. But then one of them went out of town, then the other one went out of town as soon as she got back and then when they were both home I went and got a full-time job! So....needless to say, we've sort of lost touch.

So how am I supposed to gain balance in my life if I don't have any girlfriends to vent to? How am I supposed to keep my body in shape and keep my sanity if I don't exercise?

Well, I started reading. My dear friend from California sent me a gift card so I purchased several books with it. The latest I've read is by James Patterson, Sundays at Tiffany's. It was absolutely brilliant. I laughed. I cried. I was shocked at the end. It was wonderful and I would LOVE to star in the movie version!

So, what I would like to do is give away a few of these "escape from reality" gems to the ladies who read this blog! Here's how it will work:
1. Tell me what you do to find a little bit of balance in your life.
2. Tell me who you admire and wish to be more like...and why. (It can be anyone.)
3. Share my blog with one person - have them leave me a comment.

That's it! I'll give a book away to the first five people who respond!

In the end...it's balance or bust!

“What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter - a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.”
Henri Matisse

posted under balance, balance or bust, book giveaway, friends, full-time, girlfriends, hair color, James Patterson, job, Sundays at Tiffany's, vent | 0 Comments

So much money, so little time

I guess I should tell you that my whole reason behind getting a job was not to get away from the kids, although it has turned out to be a blessing in that department (I'll explain better in a moment.)

My ultimate goal in getting a sales job, was to put all my money aside to put a sizable down-payment on a home.

My lack of self-control when it comes to spending is quite remarkable.

While working, I venture into some truly spectacular boutiques, jewelry stores and high-end, big-ticket stores. Today, I took my twins to the puppy store: mostly so they could play & so Leo could get over his fear of puppies and partly to see what was available as a playmate for our current dog, Blue. Well, wouldn't you know it, a beautiful red, freckled Cocker Spaniel was there. We played for 30 minutes with her. My heart broke as I walked out the door, knowing full-well that there was NO WAY my husband would let me spend $799 for a dog. Duh, we prefer pound-puppies anyway - don't we?

AAAAWWWWWWWEEEE!

I also had to walk away from a stunning piece of hand-made jewelry. (As seen here.) The story behind this piece is remarkable..."truly an investment," I tell myself as I walk away, promising the shop owner I would be in tomorrow. Ergh.

Now, if any of you keep up with the weather, you'll know that way back in September, the metro & surrounding areas of Atlanta, Georgia were subjected to heavy, disastrous flooding. Our entire world floated away with the river...yup, and all my clothes too. So, needless to say, I'm without adequate summer clothes! So, I walk into several trendy clothing stores and nearly pass out when I walk out!

The strain and pressure I put on myself to not spend all my money gives me a headache - LITERALLY!

Now, among all those stresses I must say that I come home much more eager to greet my children. I feel more in love with them after having been gone all day and I enjoy each moment a little bit more than I used to.

Balance is proving to be quite an illusive goal. For one day I'll feel like I've reached it and the next day it's as if the world flipped on it's axis and all is wrong again. But yet I move forward in search of it!

posted under artisan, balance, boutique, clothes, flooding, hand-made, having kids, I got a job, jewelry, money, puppy, self-control, shopaholic, shopping, spaniel, spending money, summer clothes | 0 Comments

Lost & Found

Ever feel like the woman you used to be got buried in an avalanche and cut off from all human contact...almost like Tom Hanks in that one movie where he befriended a volleyball named Spaulding? Actually, he was plane-wrecked not buried...but anyway! The avalanche I'm speaking of (in my case) is Mommyhood, Wifeyhood and all the complexities that come along with being responsible for people other than yourself! I vow to spend the next year discovering, nurturing and sharing habits that will help me (and you) to find balance between being the woman we once were and being the June Cleaver of the modern day world. Here's to Balance...or Bust!