Be.

Much of my thoughts and efforts of late have gone into who I want to be in the various roles of my life. Yours 20s are crazy. Your life changes drastically every year of your 20s, or so I believe. And your roles within your family, your friendships, your church, etc are always changing. Each year I value more the roles that I am in and doing them with as much excellence as I can muster.

Friend. I want to be a reliable, thoughtful friend. I love being the one my friends come to for advice, support, a good cry, prayer, or a laugh (usually about budgets, dieting, or bad dates). I desire to be the kind of friend who is always adapting to keep up with my friends growing, changing friendship needs. As my friends move, get married, make babies, change jobs, and go through the best and worst of times I want to be there with sound advice, endless encouragement, and thoughtful gestures.

I was recently touched by a sweet guy friend who texted me, 'that is what I love about you'. I was caught off guard as I responded, 'what?!'. He came back by telling me that when he comes to me for advice I never judge. I purpose to give open, honest advice but I am trying desperately to learn the value in telling the truth in love.

Aunt. I am in my first year of being an Aunt. My newest and potentially most important role. As an aunt I want to be loving, gracious, fun, encouraging, thoughtful, wise, and in the future - always waiting with some raw cookie dough to hear what's new in her life. My sweet niece, Noa, brings so much light to my life. I want to be there for her big moments and I want to always keep her at the top of the priority list. I want to faithfully pray for her, love her, and visit her.

Sister. I am a sister to the most precious gifts the Lord has even given me - my sweet Rae & Ruthie. As the lucky middle child I have both an older and a younger sister whom I couldn't love anymore than I do. I want to be consistent in my calls, texts, pictures, and letters. I want to be diligent to pray for them and to know what is going on in their lives. I always want them to know my love for them is endless.

Daughter. The older I get the trickier this role becomes. It's fun that my parents actually call me for advice some now (usually about electronics). I love being a part of their lives as both a daughter and a friend. I love praying for them, encouraging them, and cheering them on as their lives go through changes as well.

Writer. My role as a writer is always growing. I started writing letters diligently last year and I've grown to have over 20 pen pals. I try to faithful write encouraging, inspiring, and whitty little numbers. Obviously, my writing is held here but in the past year I have taken on the role of writing for my church's women's ministry blog with great excitement. What a joy to use my love of the written word to share with the women of my church!

Hostess. As I work hard to develop my entertaining skills with new recipes, crazy cleaning tips, and purposing to always be welcoming - I have fallen farther and farther in love with playing hostess. I hope to be someone who doesn't have to plan ahead, who's willing to put an extra place at the dinner table to tote an extra towel to the pool. I look forward to hosting many a friend this summer who needs 'a little sunshine and summertime'.

Sinner. As I study Roman's with my bible study I am reminded of my role as sinner. That I am saved by grace. That I am redeemed. That my life was bought at a costly price. I am humbled and encouraged by this. There is freedom in knowing that I cannot save myself, and I don't have too.

Neighbor. Perhaps one of my most exciting new adult roles has been being a neighbor. Few things bring me greater joy that my weekly interactions with the sweet people I do life with on a regular basis. Each of us our in such different phases in our lives, but I cherish the wisdom of those who are farther along in life than I. I love baking them goodies, or having them over for dinner. I'm touched by how they are constantly working to make my life easier. I am blessed with great neighbors.

This entry doesn't scratch the surface of the roles I'm playing...but it gives you an idea of what's on my heart lately. I want to be a person who recognized their opportunities and takes advantage of chances to show love.

Love,

B

Haiti Update - By Vlog!

I Just Have to Confess...

I thought it would be a brilliant idea to sell a few Coach bags I bought in my days of working retail and being the ultimate consumer (you know, working for the discount, spending more than I made). Since graduating college and moving into the work world, my taste and needs from a bag have changed, so it seems like an obvious time to unload a few in favor of making room for the ones I'm actually carrying.

After deciding to save up to have the batch pad painted (hopefully in April or early May) I decided to try eBay. I figure e-bay is the Craiglist of the brand name ...enthusiasts. Mind you, I'm not nearly as internet savvy as most people give my credit for and I've never, ever bought anything from eBay (mostly because I am a chicken). So I used my sheer brilliance to google 'how to sell something on ebay' and went from there.

What I didn't count on in this process was being OBSESSED with watching my item be auctioned for 5 whole days! My bag will finally have a new owner at 2:07 (exactly) today and I can finally return to my usual insanity, void of waking up in the middle of the night to see how many bids (3), watchers (11), and views (87) I have. Whew! It will be nice to have my life back.

No one who knows me EVER encourages me to put all my energy into anything because A. if they could find a way to tap my energy they could light entire countries after my 6am workout and 645am coffee and B. because everyone who knows me is terrified of me when I'm on a mission. So it shouldn't come as a shock to any of you that I've literally become obsessed with selling these 2 bags.

Crap. While we're confessing...I've also considered selling every single bag for the sheer joy of this ridiculous waiting game of the auction. Clearly, I need meds. Happy Saturday from your neighbor ebay creeper and congrats to whatever sweet young thang takes home my Coach bag-of-the-day.

Love,

B

Yard Sale Morning Vlog.

Yard Sales, Lunch Dates, and Chic Lit - Oh my!

I would like to wish my Momma a very Happy Birthday today to begin this entry. She is one incredible woman and for your sake, I hope you each get to meet her someday. What a fabulous Mom she is. I hope she feels special and loved on this big day.

By the time you read this it will be the weekend! Congrats on successfully completing another work week, with excellence, I hope!

I'm staying busy this weekend, per my usual. Friday - lunch with my sweet friend Toni at Seasons 52. Love her, and love their delicious food. Greatly looking forward to starting my weekend off right.

After work I will be headed with leftover pizza in hand to finish up the yard sale prep with my sweet friend Jess who graciously signed on to host this yard sale for me. We will be using the proceeds to pay off the remainder of my Haiti trip (which is in April). We are planning on eating pizza and salads, prepping, and then watching a Lifetime movie. The one where Rob Lowe plays Drew Peterson. Anyone seen this? I've actually watched it once and he's super creepy and convincing. Yikes.

Bright and early tomorrow morning I will be back at Jess's to sell, sell, sell! I'm so grateful to everyone who has donated their trash/treasure to benefit my trip as well as all the ladies and gents who have offered to help my hauling it up to Jess's and/or helping with the day of festivities! In Tampa and hoping to come by? Text me for the address!

After a book about the downfall of Haiti, one about the holocaust, and a prison memoir I decided it was time for a little chic lit - so I'm currently devouring (and I mean that, as I've almost finished it 2 days later) this little number:

This book is darling and each chapter has a cupcake recipe...yum! If you haven't read it and you're looking for an easy poolside read (ok, showing my Floridian nature here) - pick this up.

Here's to wishing each of you a great weekend - and if you're social networkers you can watch for funny yardsale pics tonight and tomorrow.

Love,

B

Time Management & a New Strategy.

via Pinterest.

I've griped before about my annoyance with people who always make excuses for themselves. Of these excuses I am most irritated by the excuse of 'not enough time'. Now I recognize the need for boundaries where our time is concerned and for staying on track with our priorities. But making the time excuse ignores the fact that we CHOSE our priorities in life.

If I had a nickle for every person who said they wished they had 'time' to read as much as I do, I'd build myself a library off the back of my townhome. No really, I would. And it might look like this:

via Pinterest.

Assuming that you haven't found someway to have more or less than 24 hours in your day, you have exactly as many opportunities to read books as I do. In college I gave up cable for 2 years in an attempt to refocus my time. Watching hours of TV per week is a habit I've never picked back up. Now, in the spirit of full disclosure here I should share that my TV hour per week goes up noticeably during football season - since I usually watch at least 2-3 games per week (the colts, SNF, and MNF).

Working out is another area people love to make excuses for, right? 'I'm just not a morning person' is a good one. Several days a week I workout at 6am, because after work I have to go to do more work til about 10 pm. I confess that working out at 6am and then working a 12 hour day is BRUTAL and not for the faint of heart. But it is doable. So the moral of this post is really, don't make excuses about your time - sit down, determine your priorities, and go at them hard.

I love having a clean house. I love that if a friend calls me last minute and wants to lay by my pool or stop by to watch a movie, my house is always company appropriate. But I'm trying a new idea I got, also from pinterest, for doing a little cleaning every day. This is my first week trying it. On Saturday I vacuumed my room and bathroom and mopped the bathroom floor. Sunday I changed the sheets and did the laundry. Monday I cleaned the bathroom. Tuesday I dusted. Wednesday I paid bills. Tonight is cleaning the inside of the microwave and cleaning out the fridge.

I'll have to report back a little farther in, but so far I'm loving it! There was a list on pinterest (check my OCD board if you're interested) on how to do this. I made my own way, per my usual. But I love the concept and so far, the results!

How do you manage your time to get in all the important things?

Love,

B

Happy Valentines Day.

Happy Valentines Day loves! I hope whether you think this is a lame hallmark holiday or not - you feel loved today and everyday.

I was feeling extra festive this year so I bought myself this shirt on Groupon (yes, groupon):

The words say 'get in here'.

I also made cupcakes for my neighbors, who I adore:

I was incredibly proud of them since the cupcakes were dark chocolate made from scratch with and Oreo baked into them AND the icing was homemade as well. They were of course topped with half an oreo. Yum! They were a huge hit and my neighbors were so grateful for my special Valentines Day delivery!

This week is going to fly by in prep for this weekends yard sale but I wanted to pause today to tell you all how grateful I am for your friendships and that I hope you celebrate all the people in your life you love today.

Love,

B