Nerd alert!!

So I went to Joann today after working out (never the best time to go shopping considering I'm weak in mind and body, haha) and they had the "Daffodil Dash" sale going on. Pretty much everything you could ever dream of wanting is on sale.

What I originally went in for was a Sizzix machine - as an early birthday present to myself, mind you, and they were all out of the one I wanted. Bummer!  So I meandered around and found some fabric to make more Nook covers. I still haven't mastered the iPad cover so I think I'm going to put that on the backburner for a while since I have a million ideas for covers for the Nook Simple Touch that I have mastered.  Anyway, I found out that McCalls patterns were on sale for...wait for it...99¢!!! How can I pass that up?!!? Answer: I can't. So I picked out three patterns then I mozied on over to the fabric again and picked out some fabulous fabrics to make the pattens out of. I'm SO excited.

Here's a picture of my splurge:

Yeah I'm pretty excited. I totally want to wear a lot of dresses and skirts this summer.  How about the rest of you girls??

Faith Story

Tonight at my church house group (like a bible study) I shared my faith story.  I was really nervous all this week working up about what to talk about, and not ramble on about.  All in all I think it went pretty well. A lot of the women came up and hugged me afterward, which made me feel like it was all worth it.

One thing that I'm coming to realize is it's not much OF a faith story.  I mean...I am in my early twenties, and I felt like I had a good relationship with God, but I think after confessing and sharing my story with all of my new friends and house group members, I realize that I really don't have as good of a relationship with God as I pretended to.  I realize now that I have a lot of growing up to do in my walk with God and I have a lot of things that I still need to learn and deal with and commit to.  I want to be so much closer to the Lord and I know how to now.

I've got some friends that I've made already at house group and I am so excited to get to know them more, and I can't thank God enough for them.  I need to start following Him more, and relinquish that control I love so much in my life.

Penny for your thoughts?

Five years from now...

Today my church started a new series called, "Future You".  Basically it's like this: If you could come back to TODAY from the future, what would you say to yourself? What would you tell yourself? What advice would you give?  Today's sermon was FIVE years from now.  Next week will be FIFTY years from now, and the week after will be five hundred years from now.

Pastor Dave really hit home today with starting off saying, "If you could go back to 2007, what would you tell yourself?"  Then he proceeded to say that give years from now, we probably would give ourselves the same advice.  Examples -- "Quit the addiction, NOW." or "You really need to take your relationship with God more seriously, take it to the next level" or "You don't really need to spend that much time on facebook" (guilty...), or "Spend more time with the people you love, and be kind to them." Things like that. 

So I started thinking. What would I say to 2007 Amber?  There were a few answers that I'd rather not share that came to mind immediately. And a few things that I had to really think about.  But I had a few realizations.  I'm wasting time on activities or things that really just don't matter. What are my priorities at home, at work, in my relationships, and why?  What kind of life changes can I make NOW to have a better future?

Sounds like I need to start changing. First thing -- spend more time with my husband. No more sittnig in different rooms doing our own thing. We need some good quality husband and wife time together. Even if it means watching a movie I don't want to watch. Or going to eat somewhere I don't want to go. Or showing more kindness. Not arguing about stupid things. Kissing him a couple more times every day.

What would the future you, five years from now, tell you TODAY?

Fasting too much??

So apparently I decided to fast blogging waaaay longer than I should have! OOPS!  Fasting electronics for a week was TOUGH.  I was constantly thinking to myself, "Man I would love to blog about this! Or that! Or this!" And what happens when I'm actually able to use them again? I totally ignore my blog. :( Sad day. 

Things have been going OK around here. My job is at a lull right now -- super boring most of the time, and I'm trying to find another position at least part time, hopefully full time. I had a job interview scheduled for this morning, but the lady called and had to reschedule because she had a meeting that came up.

We went on vacation to California! My best friend in the ENTIRE world, Reanna, got married!! Oh my, she was so beautiful.  I was sobbing the entire day. She's like a sister to me- I've known her practically my entire life.  Here's a picture of the beautiful bride on her wedding day:

Her husband, Josh, is one of the coolest guys in the world. He treats her so well, and gives her the love and respect that she deserved. I'm so excited that they're starting their life together!  I love you, Re!!

In other news, Brian and I finally finished our taxes (oh, one day before they're due... O_o ).  We were told originally by our tax guy that we owe the IRS like five grand. OMG. We were freaking out.  Correction -- I was freaking out.  Then we decided to not be stupid and to actually figure out our deductions and the cost for running his ebay business. Thank the Lord we did - because that number went down to four hundred dollars. That's manageable. That doesn't make me want to rip my hair out lol.

ALSO -- We're going to JAPAN in October for two weeks! HOLEY MOLEY I'm excited.  I keep telling myself, "You gotta study your Japanese" but we'll see if that will actually work. *Sigh* I've got a lot of stuff on my plate right now, haha.

Well, that's it for now. Mostly because I've got nothing else of importance to post. I'll post again soon, I promise!

Fasting

What do you think of when you hear the term "fasting"? I generally think of someone not eating for a long period of time for whatever reason.  The Bible teaches us that Jesus spent a lot of time fasting and praying to become closer to His Father, God, and to determine His will for Jesus during His time on earth.  The last couple of days I really realized that Easter is close upon us, and it feels like God has been impressing on my heart to fast something. But what?  So I prayed.  And the answer was almost immediate -- gadgets.

I am SO attached to my electronic things. My iPad, iPod, computer, Nook, cell phone, television, Wii, anything.  And I was thinking about it today and you know what they are? Distractions. Distractions from God. Distractions from what He is calling us to do.  It seems like He is constantly yelling for us, "Hey! Over here!" but gets lost in the crackling of electricity coming from all of our gadgets that we're basically married to now-a-days.

So from today until next Sunday, I'm going to fast my gadgets, with one exception -- my Nook. I read a whole lot and I'm not sure I could handle myself if I went without reading something for a week. Plus I'm on the last book in this AMAZING series (The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini if anyone cares to know...) and I can't put it down.  I'm going to pray as much as possible, determine God's will for me for the future and see how much I can dive into His word.

What do you think? I guess I'll find out in a week when I read any responses you may have :)

One Whole Year

Hello! Happy Anniversary to...ME! Today marks one whole year since I started working as a dental hygienist (and at my current job!).  Hurray! I can't believe I've actually made it this long (for reasons that are not unknown to the general public lol) and I still love, love LOVE what I do.  I remember two years ago when I was cramming for exams to get my license and thinking to myself, Am I sure that this is what I want to do? Did I make the right choice? Maybe I should have gone for being a RN...

I have some great patients (including my wonderful husband who has come in twice already for me) and some interesting coworkers and scenarios at work, but all in all it's been a pretty good year.

Now it's just time to find a new office to work at.

Workout and health catalyst!

Hi everyone,

First of all, Happy (belated) Valentines day to my wonderful husband Brian. I love you!

Nothing super new here except I decided to start up my Herbalife diet again! I first tried it in 2010 and got some pretty good results. But then I slacked off and well...let's just say I didn't succeed. Well, this time I am going to the gym frequently (as in a minimum of 3x a week) and I am going to stick with it! A healthy Amber is a happy Amber!

Here's a summary of the first day (yesterday):
Starting weight: 165.6 lbs
Goal weight: 130 lbs
Total starting inches: TBD

I will update this probably on a weekly basis and let you all know how I am doing! Hooray!

Love,
Amber