Oh well...

Hi! Ok, for those of you who have been following (which I think it is cool if even just one person reads what I write, it's mostly for myself anyway) I'm sure you have noticed that I did not keep up with my goal of trying a new thing every day AND posting about it everyday.  I guess life happens and procrastination due to life happening... happens! I did try many new things of which at this point cannot account for all of them.  But here are a few:

-Murderer Mystery Dinner... so fun!

-Highlighted my own hair... it always comes from a box at my house but this time I did it all by myself!

-Became a nonstop cleaner, due to my extra job cleaning the church! I'm a full time working girl now by the way... we will talk about that later.

-Saw the Muppet Movie, hilarious I highly recommend it!

-Started three new classes! 

-Learned I am a Peaceful Phlegmatic and Seth is a Popular Sanguine. 

Just a few things, but new! 

I forget how much I love blogging! It's fun, is it not?

Recap!

     Due to procrastination and faulty time management I have failed to meet my expectations of blogging everyday about my NEWvember! So sorry folks.  Anyway, here is a recap.
Unfortunately I haven't had the time to try something new EVERY day, but I have managed to try many new things! Here we go!
     -My Budget went into works on Tuesday.
     - I started Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred (I'm super sore...)
     - I now wash my face with a cleanser made of........ CARROTS! It is called "YES to Carrots!"
I already see a huge difference in my skin and I LOVE IT!
     -I now take Vitamin D-3, good for the lack of sun in the winter months, also supports breast health!
     -I have begun a project (not telling what it is for) that involves going to Goodwill once a week to buy tea cups... hehe
     -I started a new class for Wedding Planner School! It's fun...
     -I wrote out my own education plan and (ideally) I will have my Bachelor's Degree in General Ministry in a YEAR! The idea of finishing early sounds so good to me. It doesn't have to happen, but it could!
     -I made a venture to Otterbein to visit my lifelong friend at her apartment where I had never been before, God is so good to allow us to stay best friends through all of these years.  We made a commitment to see each other more than once a year... which I think is perfectly achievable!

     These may not be in chronological order, but that isn't what matters I guess!
Happy Veteran's Day!!!! God is so good, thank Him for something today!

Day Three!

     Alright party people! We are on day three! Now, I had trouble finding something new to do today.  Which gave me anxiety because it is only day three and I was already having a brain block.  I had an idea in mind, then decided it was too boring to blog about, then decided to stick with it.  As boring as it is.
    Drum roll please... I started a BUDGET! (See, told you it was boring...)  I recently started cleaning the church, just for some extra cash and to learn some discipline.  We always clean in pairs and last night I was with my friend Kristen. Somehow we got to the subject of finances.  After a long discussion and guidance from Kristen (you go girl) I decided to start a budget of my own.  Even though I am not making car payments, house payments, or insurance payments yet I thought it would be a good idea to teach myself NOW and at least be prepared (maybe not ahead of the game... but at least PREPARED) for what is to come sooner or later in my life.  Kristen told me just a few basic principles she learned through Financial Peace University (shout out to Dave Ramsey).
     Basically, it goes like this: Give a third, Spend and third, and Save a third.  Pretty simple. So, today I bought a tiny composition notebook and wrote out my budget! I am starting with just the thirds for now, then going into more detail later! I prayed about it before I did it.  I want God to teach me how to do this properly and really treasure the gifts He has blessed me with.  I know with His help and with confidence in Him (not myself) we will succeed!
     As boring as it may be, it is certainly something new to me.  Honestly it is a little embarrassing to admit that I have never done this before, BUT better late than never!

     Hope everybody's week has been a fruitful one! Keep going! Only one more day until the weekend!!

Days One and Two combined!

     Hi friends! Okay so, I didn't blog for yesterday because I was still doing my first new thing as I fell asleep last night! BUT! Better late than never! Here goes...
     For the first day of Newvember I learned my first stitch in knitting.  The most basic one of course, seeing as I have never knit before in my life, but I have been pursuing to learn the art for a month or so now.  I learned the knit-stitch.  You knitters out there are probably laughing at me, but for my first time it doesn't look so bad! My goal is to knit a scarf by the end of the week. We will see how this turns out.  Anyway, for the mean time here is a picture of my progress so far!

     Not the best, I know.
Don't you just love that color of green though??

     Ok,  for day number two I tried something not so hard on my fingers.  While on Pintrest last night ( and if you don't know what Pintrest is... well just go to Pintrest.com and your life will be changed forever I promise) I came across a homemade lip exfoliating treatment.  I thought "HEY, I have never exfoliated my lips... Perfect for day two!".
     Therefore tonight, even though I am tired and have to open at Choffey's tomorrow and I didn't want to let myself and or you down, I exfoliated my lips, with all natural ingredients!
The recipe is:

One part EVOO, one part brown sugar and one part honey(or blue agave in my case... no honey in the Hurley household tonight)

BEFORE... wah wahhhhhh

After! Yay!

      TO make it more fun I decided to grace you with a before and after shot... hehe









     My lips do feel a little more soft! Thanks Pintrest! Happy Newvember 2nd everyone! Talk to you tomorrow!

PS
Verse of the Day Hebrews 3:13... good eats...

NEWvember!!!

     Randomly this morning while I started doing laundry (which, due to major procrastination on my part, is still in the works as I type... will I ever get things done ahead of time?? hehe) an idea popped into my head.  I got so excited about it I have to tell y'all! I'm in a Paula Deen mood I guess? Anyway, I have decided that November is going to be the month of trying new things! Hence, NEWvember!
     Here is the challenge, try one new thing every day in November.  This is what I vow, I will try something new everyday this month.  I also vow to blog about it EVERY DAY. So, I count on you guys to keep me on track! Also, if you have any fun ideas for me to do let me know!           To go into more detail I plan on doing anything that does not require money or far travel.  For example, yesterday I made pumpkin bread, I had never made an actual bread before that involved yeast and waiting hours (literally hours) for it to rise.  It inspired me and I want to keep going with it!
     Please join me if you want and let me know what kind of new things you are trying! Maybe just once a week? Twice a week? Or everyday!
     Learning new things and trying new things can be a huge character building block, I believe at least.  OH! I am oh so so excited! This is going to be fun!!!
Happy Newvember!!!!!!!!!

The heart

     I have been praying lately for God to give me a heart like His.  I had no idea what I was asking for honestly.  It has been hard to discern what He wants from me, where He wants my heart to be, but I have been stagnant in my search.  I have not have an active participle faith.  He wants us in the Word.  The Word that is fresh on the page.  It is cool to think about.  God's timing is not based on minutes or days or years or centuries.  God just.... is. To Him, His Word is just as fresh as if I were hanging out with Paul right now while he was writing his letter to the Philippians to encourage them to imitate Christ's humility.
     I can't even comprehend this, not completely anyway.  But it does give a completely different view of The Word.  Let's be in the Word because it is NEW!!! It is FRESH! Read to eat!! Let's learn to love like Him.

Reoccurring Themes...

     In high school I took a few AP classes (only the literary ones, my brain doesn't handle math or science well...).  We would all read a book of historical or artistic significance to literature, most of the time it would be books that were considered "classics".  Yet, without fail, almost every book was ridiculous and no one in their right mind could relate to it let alone understand it.  Anyway, sorry about the small rant, the whole class would discuss the book and, of course, the popular topic was "Reoccurring Themes" in the book.  I haven't thought about those long discussions in a while until lately, when I have come across some reoccurring themes in my own life.  Specifically reoccurring themes God is bringing to my attention.

     I am always asking God to reveal things to me that are a hinderance to my relationship with Him.  Although I am asking Him to "reveal" things, a few obvious things are already in my mind that I had been trying to work on.  I have been asking for this for a while, and it is so cool how hinderances change and the ways I have been trying to push them aside.  The closer I get to Him the more I see things that have been eating me up for a long time, that 6 months ago I would have never recognized as a hinderance.

     For example, lately I have been seeing my "acts of service" as a hinderance.  Sounds weird? Let me explain.  God wants us to have a servants heart, a heart completely enticed in wanting to serve HIM and no other.  So, even when I am pouring a coffee for someone with a smile on my face and words of encouragement, if it isn't for Him, He wants nothing to do with it.  Also, it has become something of a show sometimes.  I, subconsciously, am sweet and humble with the motivation that someone will notice it and think "Oh, she is such a sweet nice girl..." 

.........uh, oh....................

     Scary to think about, but its arrogance. Ouch, right?  This is hard to admit, but it is true.  God wants me to serve HIM.  He wants me to be loving to HIM.  Our society is so concentrated on self-fulfillment, and we will never be completely satisfied in ourselves.  We still crave, we still want, we are still selfish.  God is so good, He understands us, and still loves us! Crazy love...

     So, thank you Ms. Ressler and Mr. Auvdel.  Even though I saw discussing reoccurring themes in goofy books as pointless, it did teach me to be aware of it in my life! I am using what I learned in high school in real life! :) 

   

     Lord, please give me a heart for You. Teach me more everyday, so that I can love You more and therefore love on others more, because You love them just as much as You love me...