Let's Get It Started

This year, instead of a list of New Year's Resolutions, I decided to make a list of experiences that I want to have in 2014. The first thing on my list was to complete the AdvoCare 24 Day Challenge.

I ordered my challenge kit a few weeks ago and finally got the chance to go pick it up yesterday. Today, I planned my meals and did my shopping. Now I am ready to get started!

I am determined to fully commit to this plan for the next 24 days. I don't think it is going to be a miracle cure that will instantly make me lose 20 or 30 pounds, but I am hoping to lose a little weight over the next 24 days and I want to improve my energy and decrease my craving for all things sweet. I am also going to be training for a 5K over the next few weeks, so I am getting more active, too.

I don't just want this to be a cleansing of my body. I am also going to commit to a devotion plan for the next 24 days and will include Bible reading every single day.

I am going to be blogging about my experience - telling you all about what I'm cooking and eating, what I'm doing for exercise, how I'm feeling (from what my friends say, this AdvoCare Spark is supposed to be the best thing ever and should give me TONS of energy) and what I'm learning in my devotions each day.

I currently wear size 12 jeans (they are tight and I have a major muffin top when I wear them, though...ugh). I am not going to share my weight or measurements, but I will be reporting on if I have lost pounds or inches at the end of the first 10 days and at the end of the challenge so you can see my progress.

I have a great coach and some friends who have already done the challenge with great success, so I am looking forward to the next 24 days!

Now, let's get it started!

Here's to 2014

I really don't do well with New Year's Resolutions. I typically sit down and make a list of things that I would like to accomplish in a new year, but I almost never stick to anything long enough to actually see those resolutions through.

This year, instead of resolutions, I am going to plan some experiences - things that I want to do and places that I want to go this year. I listed twelve experiences, one for each month of 2014. And unlike my normal resolutions, these aren't things that I have to focus on for an entire year (which is good for me because I can't focus on anything for very long).

January - Complete the AdvoCare 24 Day Challenge
February - WinterJam with my little brother to see Lecrae
March - Dance Alabama! Spring Dance Concert
April - Braves vs Nationals game in Atlanta
May - Memphis in May with my Papaw Hoot
July - Mary Poppins at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Montgomery
October - Canton Flea Market with Mama
November - Alabama Football Game
December - Graduate from college!

Other events (which don't have specific dates yet)

The Color Run in Tuscaloosa
Participate in part of the Southern Literary Trail
Beach trip

Here's to a year full of great experiences and lots of fun times and great memories with family and friends.

Things All Sales Associates Wish Customers Knew

Working in retail is...interesting, to say the least. Any job where you work for the public provides certain challenges, and working in a retail department store during the Christmas season is definitely an experience. I think it is good for people to have a job like that, to learn how to multitask and to learn what it means to provide good customer service. It is important for people to know what it is like to work on the other side of the cash register.

Here are some things that I wish customers knew:

1.  I am here to serve you. That means that I am there to help you find the items that you are looking for and, if we cannot find them in the store, to help you order the color or size that you need. I am there to help you print out a bridal registry, to give you directions to another department or the bathrooms if necessary, to offer you coupons and show you the best deals each day, and to climb the ladder to get items off the top shelf for you. This does NOT mean that you are allowed to treat me like crap or that I am supposed to ignore every other customer in the store and solely wait on you for the entire time that you are shopping.

2.  I do not personally own everything that we sell in the store, therefore I cannot give you a personal testimony about every single item.

3.  It is not my fault that the coupon from the paper doesn't work on your item. Please do not get rude with me just because you didn't read the fine print.

4.  I am just a lowly sales associate and have no authority to lower prices for you just because you ask me to. A dent on the corner of a box does not make an item damaged and will not get you 50% off (especially if I see YOU dent the box on your way to the register). Also, if you DO buy damaged merchandise at a discounted price, you CANNOT return it.

5.  I do not have the price of every item in the store memorized.

6.  It is my job to straighten up the store throughout the day and especially at the end of the sales day. However, the store floor is not a garbage can. Please be a decent person and throw you gum wrappers, leftover coffee cups, fast food bags, and candy wrappers away instead of just dropping them wherever. Also, if you decide that you don't want an item, but can't remember where you got it, at least leave it at a register and tell the associate that you changed your mind. Trust me, I will find the cowboy boots that you decided not to buy and shoved four rows back behind the pillows, and I will curse you under my breath when I do, whoever you are.

7.  Just because you saw an item online does not guarantee that we have that item in-stock at the store.

8.  When a Door Buster price says that it ends at 1:00 p.m., that means that you must check out before 1:00 p.m. in order to get that price. If you check out at 2:00, but swear that you picked the item up before 1:00, you are not going to get the Door Buster price. Also, I cannot honor that price the next day just because you still have the sales paper. There are rules, people.

9.  If you have worn it, slept on it, or broken it, then please don't return it. However, if you do have a problem with an item breaking or tearing up (for example, if your coffee pot doesn't work right and it is a manufacturer problem), then feel free to bring it back and exchange it, but please tell the associate what is wrong with it so that we will not put it back on the shelf and sell it to another customer in it's damaged state.

10.  I do not work on commission, but I do have an hourly sales goal that I must meet in order to keep my job. Therefore, if I help you for 10 minutes or longer (if I go to the stockroom to get items for you, help you dig through stacks of dishes to find a specific accent plate, scan every set of silverware that we carry so that you can see which one is the best value) and then you go to another associate to check out, I will secretly hope that you trip in the parking lot and break every single one of those dishes you just bought.

And one more thing... I know it is annoying when sales associates ask for your personal information, but I am required to ask for your telephone number and/or email address. I know that you have both, so don't lie to me. And if I don't get this information, I will get in big trouble. You can mark it as spam and unsubscribe as soon as you leave the store, but please share this information with me. A little junk email never hurt anybody, did it?

No More Waiting

I just read a great blog post here. I have thought plenty about waiting. I have even written a couple posts about it myself (see Called to Wait). Lately, I have really started to wonder what exactly it is that I am waiting for. For as long as I can remember, I have wanted a husband and a family of my own. I have always been what others considered "smart" - I always made good grades in school and I am sure that people expected me to have big plans and dreams of a great and successful career, but I never wanted that. All I really wanted was to get married and have kids. Being a stay-at-home mom sounded (and still sounds) like Heaven on earth to me, and that was what I wanted to do.

But there is a problem with that ambition. It depends on a man deciding to ask me to marry him.

Like the article I linked above mentions, I have been taught that I should wait for that man. I don't wear a ring on my left hand because I am waiting for a diamond. I have learned how to be a good wife. I have prayed for that man and hoped for him to come into my life for years. People keep telling me that God will send the right guy at the right time, which is really easy for a girl who got married at 18 to say. I am not doubting that God can give me a husband, but I have to be realistic. I have no reason to expect that He will. A spouse is not something that God promised to everyone, and if you look at the numbers, there is no way that every girl in the world has a guy out there who is made just for her. (There are almost twice as many women in the world than men, and then there are guys who are gay or who just don't want to settle down, so there are going to be some forever single ladies out there. That is just a fact.) So, in reality, I have spent the first 26 years of my life waiting for something that might never happen. And that is a pretty miserable way to live.

I used to believe that girls were called to wait (I must have, I wrote about it), but now I'm not so sure that God wants us to do that. Of course, we are supposed to wait until marriage to have sex. That is definitely God's plan and design, but we aren't supposed to be waiting to LIVE. I say we because I am totally guilty of this. I keep putting things off, thinking, "I want to do that with my husband someday," or "If only I was married, I could do this," or "If I had a boyfriend, I would..." I am limiting myself because I am single, and that is not what God wanted from His children.

Think of all the things that I could do for God if I stopped waiting and started living! I don't have to have a husband to work for God. I don't need a husband to be involved in ministry. I don't need a husband to teach children about God. I don't need a husband to help the less fortunate or to make a difference. I don't need a husband.

Wow. Let that thought sink in for a second.

I don't need a husband.

I have always thought that I needed one. I have always thought that, for me to be happy and live the life that God designed for me, I needed a man by my side. But I don't.

It has always been hard to me to figure out what exactly a single woman is supposed to do. God created women to be the help meet for men, to love and support their husbands. So what is a woman without a husband supposed to do? I asked my pastor this one time and he told me to read the book of Ruth because both Naomi and Ruth were single. I know he meant well, but Naomi and Ruth were widows, and that is very different than being single. In fact, it is hard to find an example in the Bible of a woman who is in the position that I find myself in everyday. The woman at the well in John 4 was single, but she had been married and divorced many times. We don't know about the personal life of the woman with the issue of blood. Mary and Martha seem to be single, but we don't have much insight into their lives and how that particular struggle affected them. Esther was married to the king (not by choice, but still, she was married). Ruth was a widow and has a beautiful love story with Boaz. Jacob loved Rachel enough to work for her for 14 years before he got to marry her.

The two women that I seem to be able to identify with the most are Leah and Hannah. Leah was married, but to a man who didn't love her (in fact, the Bible says that he hated her). No matter how good of a wife she was to Jacob and no matter how many children she gave him, he never loved her. She waited for him to care about her, and he never did. She was never loved.

Hannah was married to a loving man, but was waiting on a child. To make things worse, she had her husband's other wife, who got pregnant easily, picking on her about it all the time. (Kind of like those people who constantly ask why you're not married. It is really, really hard to love those people and impossible to like them.)

Anna (the prophetess at the Temple in the story of Jesus's birth in John) was also waiting. She was waiting on her Savior.

We single ladies need to take notes from Anna. She was waiting on something that WAS promised to her. She was waiting for something that would absolutely happen and would change not only her life, but the entire world. Anna was waiting on a Prince that she knew was coming. Today, we don't have to wait for that Prince anymore. He is already here, and he invites us to be in a relationship with him every day.

Now, I'm not saying that it is easy to just give up on the dream of having a husband. I still haven't given up completely. I am reminded every single day (by my naked ring finger, among other things) just how single I really am. I am lonely. I want to be in a relationship. I want a husband. I want to have kids. And even though I finally decided that I couldn't bank on being a stay-at-home mom and went back to school to get my degree, I will more than happily trade in my future career to stay at home and take care of my husband and kids in an instant if that opportunity ever arises. I still dream about that and I still want it, but I can't put my life on hold for it.

It is easy to get mad at God and blame Him for never sending that guy that you always heard was promised for you. But think about it. Did God ever really promise you a husband? Or was that just people talking? Really think about it. Have you ever read in the Bible where God said, "And I will make a perfect person for each person who believes in me and all of you will get married and have wonderful lives full of romance and happy times"? I don't think so. If you have, I want to see what translation of the Bible you're reading, because it just isn't in there.

I have no right to be mad at God for not giving me something that I want. That's like opening all your presents on Christmas morning and throwing a hissy fit because your mom didn't buy you the exact brand of jeans you wanted. It is childish and it is completely ungrateful. God doesn't have to give us anything, but He blesses all of us with more than we deserve every day.

I know that I will probably always hope for a husband. But I am not going to wait for him anymore. I need to stop waiting for a man to complete my life. I need to stop waiting to live. I am almost 27 years old, and when I really think about it, I haven't accomplished much of anything in my time on earth because I have spent most of my years waiting for something. I have always wanted to wait for perfect conditions or perfect circumstances before starting something. But I am not going to get a second chance at life, and I don't want to miss out on life just because God didn't send me a husband. If I do, it won't be His fault. It will be mine.

Thanksgiving

I am not typically one to be warm and fuzzy and share sappy sentiments. In fact, I know that I can be hypercritical about most things. But I do love the season of Thanksgiving. So, without getting too sappy, here's a list of the things I am most thankful for...

1. My parents, for everything
2. My little brother, for making me laugh on a daily basis
3. My grandparents
4. My extended family
5. My church family from Springfield, Fayette, Sulphur Springs, and Mt. Harmony
6. The opportunity I had to be involved with children's ministry at Sulphur Springs
7. MUW and my great professors
8. My mentor teachers at New Hope
9. My retail job (even on days like Black Friday)
10. My Aunt Wanda, for being the best roommate ever
11. The ability to cook (especially Thanksgiving specialties like turkey and dressing)
12. My (ever growing) book collection
13. Baseball, a.k.a. The Greatest Sport Ever
14. Alabama Football (Roll Tide!)
15. America and all the soldiers who have sacrificed their time and lives so that I can enjoy my freedom
16. Country music (especially the old stuff)
17. Being Southern
18. Big, comfy sweatshirts
19. Family recipes that have been handed down for generations
20. Family traditions

The Hissy Fit

I have thrown many school-stress-induced hissy fits this semester. They look a little like this...

According to Urban Dictionary, a hissy fit is defined as "a sudden outburst of temper, often used to describe female anger at something trivial."

While hissy fits are not exactly lady-like, sometimes they are just necessary. They are also uniquely Southern. I am sure that women from every region have meltdowns at some point (because, honestly, no woman can be expected to get through life without falling apart every now and then), but the term "hissy fit" only applies to those ladies who are lucky enough to be from somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon line.

As a Southern woman, I can totally vouch for the benefits of throwing the occasional hissy fit. They aren't pretty, and I truly feel sorry for any witnesses or (heaven forbid) victims of irrational Southern female anger, but sometimes a girl just needs to let off some steam. And when you go to Subway during your already way too short lunch break and stand in line for twenty minutes only to find out that they are out of wheat bread and turkey (WHAT KIND OF SANDWICH SHOP RUNS OUT OF TURKEY???) sometimes you just can't help but to snap.

Not that being stressed makes it okay to rant and rave like a crazy person. It is never okay to take your anger out on others. Before you start thinking that I screamed at the Subway worker, you should know that my mama did raise me to be more of a lady than that and that I let out an annoyed sigh, marched out of the store, and reserved my hissy fit for when I was totally alone in my car. I am totally aware that having a hissy fit did nothing to fix the situation. Subway didn't instantly get more turkey and make me a sandwich after that. But having that hissy fit led to something else. After I did it, after I screamed and punched the steering wheel and kicked the tires on the car, I did something else. I laughed. And what is it they say about laughter? It's the best medicine, right? Right. Especially for stress.

We Southern ladies know that our hissy fits are not rational. We know that they are slightly ridiculous. And we usually laugh at ourselves after we throw them. But they are so engrained into our personalities (probably because we saw our mothers and grandmothers throw them from time to time) that we really can't help it.

So cut us Southern ladies some slack about our hissy fits, okay, y'all?

And, if anyone from Subway is reading this, don't EVER run out of turkey, okay?

Nutty November

This month is going to be nuts! On top of having a 20 page research paper, my creative writing portfolio, and a major instructional unit due for school, I am trying to get a part-time job and I have to get 20 observation hours done so that I can begin my student teaching in the spring. I'm also going to be helping my parents finish remodeling their house and I am supposed to help my grandmother paint her bathroom. Add apartment hunting to that, and my plate is going to be pretty full.

I am determined to end this November in better shape than I am starting it, so I am going to be doing this 30 day Ab and Squat Challenge on top of my normal workout routine. (I really need a workout buddy for this so that I can't slack off just because I get busy.)

I may not get a chance to post much this month, but here are some of the things I am really looking forward to in the crazy, jam-packed month:

The Good Doctor presented by MUW Theatre Department - November 7-9

Alabama vs. LSU - November 9

Thanksgiving - November 28

The Iron Bowl - November 30