The Great Divide.

I've come to think of your 20s as the great divide. The age bracket in which you separate the children from the adults. This is a truly frustrating time in life. Thanks to the 20-somethings who have determined that early adulthood can be just like college, the rest of us have to fight even harder to be taken seriously. Our youth should be an asset but sometimes it can be a hindrance.

Success in your 20s is in my mind about your perspective. To me the 20s are a time to put in the work. Work hard, save hard, put yourself out there, dream, be, and overdo it (in all the right ways). We're making the name for ourselves we'll later need and laying the foundation for our entire futures - this is big. What you do in your 20s will determine whether you spend your 30s trying to piece your life together or enjoy the fruits of your labors. Why do more people my age not see this?

I know it's against my blogging rules to discuss boys here but I'm going to break my own rules, again. Dating in your 20s has the exact same problem. I occasionally go on a first date (I say first because that's all there ever is with these guys) with a guy I meet this, that, or the other place and I've found more often than not that guys my age are still stuck in their frat boy days. Oh, you sleep on a futon at your friends house? Oh wait, you haven't decide what you want to be when you grow up? Hmm, what exactly have you been doing since college? Oh that's right, hanging with your boys. Fabulous.

Now before I get a bunch of angry comments, hear me out. Your 20s should be fun. The people I know who peaked in college are miserable now. The last 2 years have been a whirlwind of fun adventures for me but the trick is that you balance fun with taking care of business. You'd be hard pressed to find someone who has as much fun as I do but I've also worked towards the career I want, bought a condo, paid off my car, learned how to budget and invest, and begun writing a book. It is possible to balance work and your personal life in a way that allows you to be a success at both. So why do few people find that balance?

I have a theory. You are who you hangout with. The people you surround yourself with will ultimately make you who you will become - at least to a certain extent. Your life will grow like the people that invest your time in. Choose these people wisely.

I'll give you an example of my close circle of girlfriends. These are the girls that I invest in and who invest in me. I learn and grow from each of them and I admire their lives so if mine turns out to be a little more like theirs this time next year, that would be great.

Candy - my best friend is in her first year of marriage. This has been so much fun to be a part of. I hope when I'm a bride I'm exactly like her! She was a fun, laid back bride not the crazy ranting bridezilla of Bravo tv. She has an incredible work ethic that drew me to her when we met working for Coach in college and I'm confident that as she makes a career change this year, she'll be an asset to her workplace. She's also an incredibly inspiring friend, I strive to be the kind of friend she is. She has taught me so much with her thoughtful ways, her encouraging words, and her loyalty.

Aubs - Auburn is probably the person I feel most like I 'do life' with. Of my Tampa friends, I'm closest to her. She's the person I talk to about budget items, boy decisions, my spiritual life, and work 'stuff'. We both work in the football world, though on different levels and in different industries. We share a love for the NFL and being able to work with them, as well as a flare for fashion and finding a good deal. She's incredibly talented and I admire how hard she works. I'm always learning from Auburn - she's one of few people I know who finds time to be a gourmet chef/ organized homemaker AND dominate in the work place. I'm all for being a little more like her, any day. She's the person I took budget classes with, we do bible study together, we go to church every Sunday, and in general take on life as a two-some.


Bekah - B-squared as I now affectionately refer to 'the other Bekah' is a childhood friend that's made a strong comeback into my life in the last year. The timing or her re-arrival couldn't have been more perfectly coordinated. She works in the non-profit world and as an assistant to a director, like I. Her family is a huge priority to her, like myself. She challenges me in my walk with the Lord, tough loves me when she thinks I'm being too easy on myself, and as a former UNC volleyball player - makes a great person to run my workouts by. She's confident, courageous, and self-motivated. I admire her, I look up to her, and I have stinkin hilarious dialog with her every day. Oh and maybe best of all? She's a freakish list maker like me.

Jess - First off, Jess is 90% of the reason I made it to back to Tampa. I owe her a huge debt for helping me get to where I am today. She not only helped me look for jobs, she gave me a place to live! She's shared her family with me over the years so that I've come to love them all as my own. She's someone I can really let my guard down with and dish my dirt. She's always supportive and amazingly, she always seems to know exactly what I mean. We both became first time homeowners in 2010 so we've battled through figuring out how to keep up households together. She's a girl who knows what she wants and I'm confident she'll do whatever she sets her mind too.

There are a lot of other great girls in my life who have shaped me over the past few years but I won't tell you about all of them today. I also have an fabulous set of guy friends who encourage and challenge me regularly. They treat me like a sister and I'm so grateful for their support. I am truly, truly blessed.

I have the kind of friends who will change the world one day (some of them already are). They are behind many of my successes of late, I owe them much. It goes a long way in life to surround yourself with people you can learn with and from. Find people who are doing it better than you are, and learn from them. Or as they say in Mean Girls - soak up their awesomeness!


Love,

B

Book Review: The G-Free Diet.

If you're a faithful blog reader you already know I'm in the process of going g-free. I bought Hasselbeck's book with a giftcard I'd received for my birthday back in September and committed to read it over the holidays in prep for a gluten-free experiment phase in 2011. I hope to begin this journey soon but I feel I still need a little more time to research and prepare my kitchen, it's a pretty huge undertaking.

That being said, Hasselbeck's book allowed me to get my feet wet with the concept. She shared her story to discovering that her stomach trauma was a result of Celiac disease. This part of the book wasn't particularly relavent to me, so Celiac is not my issue. But having a good friend, Melina, who does battle Celiac disease and just being an insanely curious person by nature, I was rather fascinated with all the info about Celiac disease.

I found Hasselbeck's suggestions for eating out, how to be g-free without killing your social life, and the recipe section most helpful for what my version of going g-free. Not having Celiac, her excessive discussion of cross contamination got a big tiresome for me. I was ready for her to move on to the more relavent about 3 chapters before she did.

As far as a survival guide, I think she was a little generous with that title. Reading that book wouldn't give you everything you need to know to live G-free. Not even close. I put down the book after finishing it and thought - I've only scratched the surface of what I really need to know. It was also short on testimonies, real-life experiences from other people who have gone g-free. For me, that would have been hugely encouraging. There were a few tidbits but could have been more if she hadn't over-done-it in other areas.

If I were rating the book on a 1-10 scale I'd probably give it a 4. It was interesting. Somewhat insightful. Somewhat informative. But sorely lacking in a few key areas. It was a surface scratch - not a survival guide as far as I'm concerned.

Love,
B

Because Sometimes You Just Need to Blabber.

This entry doesn't have a topic or theme or anything exciting like that. I just thought it'd been too long since I just wrote a little update with no real point except to say a few things that don't fit in any other blog entry I've written recently.

6am workouts are brutal. Seriously, brutal. Then you take 6am which is what I like to call an ungodly hour and add Jillian Michaels to it and it's hellacious at times. The good news, however, is that I'm seeing more and more how interval training and weight lifting can get you the results you want - tone. I decided a while ago I didn't want to be 'skinny' I wanted to be fit. No, these are not even remotely close to the same things. A few of my 'skinny friends' are my least healthy. I have zero desire to be a marathon runner or a triathlete but I want to treat my body well, work it hard, and feed it right. I'll go ahead and confess here that these 2-a-day workouts are giving me SO much energy, I'm not sleeping enough. So I have to work on that after this whirlwind weekend.

I promised myself that after I lost weight, I'd buy myself a really nice pair of designer jeans. Ok fine, I already have like 10 pairs of Seven for All Mankinds and a couple pairs of Michael Kors - but I mean the cream of the crop of jeans designers. So while I was home over Christmas I bought my first pair of Joe's Jeans. Joe apparently knows his denim because these jeans fit like a dream! I share my newfound love for Joe's with a few people you may recognize...

Since my Mom asked and some of you may be wondering what the difference between 20 dollar jeans and designer jeans is... it's all in the rump. Ok, not all. It's also in the way they hold their shape. The way they wash. And the way the fit juuuust right. But mostly it's just about the butt.

I actually used my new knife set last night. Let's talk about that. I learned to eat fish over Christmas vacation, which I gave up oh, 10ish years ago when I got food poisoning at Red Lobster (eck). Over vacay my sister and bro-in-law made almond crusted baked tilapia and I decided to give it a try, knowing that eating fish is extremely good for you and guess what, I liked it! So last night I had my friends Dena and Tina (I just realized how funny those sound when you say them together) over for tilapia, this amazing salad I also just learned to make, and veggies.

I may cook for you all someday if you want to come to my house but you'll have to be willing to eat healthy. I've finally quit feeling bad about trying to eat low calorie and just started inflicting my health habits on people who come to my house. Sorry, I won't be making you fatty foods to eat in front of me. Maybe someday your waistline will thank me.

When you buy a home you have to decide what kind of homeowner you're going to be. When I thought about this I decided I want to take after Nance, who you all may recall is both my Tampa Mom, my friend, my realtor, and one of the coolest people I know. When I was in middle school and high school and was friends with her boys there were always people are her house. She's the best hostess. I remember always feeling welcomed there, even if we hadn't planned it in advance and there was always fun happening there.

When I bought the condo and I wanted it to be a place my friends felt like they could invite themselves too. And thankfully, they do. I love that my friends just show up, call to borrow my pool key, decide to spend the night, etc. That's the kind of house I always want to have. There may not be food and I may have laundry that needs to be folded piled on the couch but I always want people to feel welcomed.

I've had my nose in my latest book this week and I expect I'll finish it en route to Indy this weekend... Oh yeah, let's talk about THAT.

I brag about having the best, best friend in the world with regularity so it won't shock you to know, it's true. My precious best friend, Candy, shared a Southwest voucher she had with me so I can go to Indy this weekend to see my Dad's playoff game! She's so precious - she said she wanted me to be able to be with my family because she knew how big of a deal this weekend is for us. I can't tell you enough how often I thank the Lord for a best friend like her. She's truly incredible.

So I'm headed out Friday night back to Indiana to be with my family and cheer our Colts on to victory against the New York Jets in the first round of the NFL Playoffs. I'm humbled by the Lord's working in our family and our team this year and I'm thankful for a great season. I hope that the post season lasts til Dallas but either way, the Lord has been so good to us.

Life is good friends. 2011 is off to a great start and I'm feeling excited about where my life is headed. I hope you're feeling some of those vibes as well.

Love ya,

B

Acheive.

Acheive could be called the theme of my 2010. I really went after it hard last year and I acheived some huge goals. I shared those victories via facebook last week and was met with much encouragement from those who have really supported me through an exciting year. I value the importance of celebrating along your journeys. Even small victories deserve their due attention. Don't be afraid to celebrate your accomplishments - it inspires you to keep going.

So when I think about acheiving in 2011 - I guess I feel like I already answered this a few days ago with my goals for 2011. But those aren't the only things I want to acheive this year so here's a few more thoughts...

Prayer. I want to submit everything to God through prayer. My Mom presented a great idea of what this could look like for all the Christensen women this yaer and I'm taking the challenge. What I've also decided is that from time to time, I'm going to post a written prayer here, on the blog. Gasp, I know. Sharing my prayer life PUBLICALLY. But I find there's much value in writing out your prayers - and I hope that it will reveal to you all what the Lord has laid on my heart. So expect that some of that will be present in 2011.

Investing in key relationships. This is big. I'm a firm believer that the people you surround yourself with have a profound impact on who you become. Surrounding yourself with and putting effort into relationships with people who push you towards the things that you value is crutial to your success in life. This year I was to focus in on the people I really see being those key people in my life.

Volunteering. I really want to spend more time this year volunteering. I signed up to work a great event with the Shriners Hospitals for Children in February so I'll look forward to sharing about that in the future.

Quiet time - I want to spend more time alone with the Lord this year.

I'll be adding things along the way I'm sure but those are some key focuses as I think about acheiving in 2011.

Love,
B

Note: For me, this is ending my reverbs for the 2010. I hope you've enjoyed them. I've certainly appreciated the prompts to get me writing and sharing.

Ordinary Moments.

I know it's January and for the past few days I took a breif break from my reverb prompts but there's a few left I really wanted to write about...

One special but could be called ordinary moment from 2010 that stands out above the rest for me is a lunch I had with my Dad. He'd invited me out on a father/daughter date which had sadly been overdue for a while. We went out to lunch and just talked about everything - my goals, dreams, fears, disappointments, struggles, battles, loves, victories...the whole 9 yards.

He really helped me hone in on what I need to keep me focus on this year (2011) and how to set some small goals to help me reach my bigger goals.

What makes this moment so special to me is I continue to be touched by what a great Dad I have. Some of my closest friends are less blessed in this area and my heart goes out to them. Even though my Dad has a crazy schedule and his work keeps him busy pretty much year round - I always feel like I'm a priority. He sets aside time to make sure I know that he thinks what I do and what's going on with me is just as important and is higher profile job/life. That friends, is pretty incredible.

I hope for a few more Dad dates in 2011.

Love,
B

Exploring G-free Living Continued.

Here I started talking about my delving into research on the g-free diet in, 'But is G-free for me?'. I've continued my research and taking small steps towards a trial run of g-free living. If you read my New Years post about my goals for 2011 you know that I plan to spend at least one month of 2011 being g-free as an experiment to see if the health benefits out weigh the cost (the time, the effort, and the annoyance).

Let me start off by expressing my worst fear about g-free living - being 'that girl'. You know the one I'm talking about. The girl who comes to your house for dinner but can't eat anything you've prepared. The friend that brings her own lunch because 'they don't serve anything I can eat here'. The girl that orders a salad minus 5 items, with g-free dressing on the side, and then asks if it was cross contaminated in prep. Yeah, that girl.

Lets be brutally honest here, everyone hates that girl. On top of that, it's worse when that girl does it willingly. It's not like I have Celiac disease or a gluten intolerance. That would be acceptable to be picky about. But really, I'm just looking to give my stomach a fighting chance of surviving 2011 and exploring the health benefits of removing gluten containing products.

As I've been doing my research and you KNOW I'm thorough here's the question I've been asking myself - how feasible is this? I'm a realist through and through. If I say I'm going to do something, I will find a way to do it. But I want to know just how realistic it is for me to actually be g-free. So I've researched how eating out on the g-free diet, recipes, prepackaged foods (let's be honest - I'm young, single, busy, and a traveler - prepackaged is a staple).

From what I can gather, it's actually quite doable. 3 years ago, not so much. But g-free as a lifestyle has become increasingly popular and more and more restaurants are coming on board. Many chains have g-free options now including: Carrabas, Outback, Ruby Tuesdays, Chilis, and BJ's brewhouse. You can even eat fast food when you have to (though I'm not a big advocate of fast food in general) - some options being: Burger King, McD's, Subway, Taco Bell, Chickfila, Chipotle, Subway, and Wendys.

Since I travel for work it's essential that eating out fits into my lifestyle. I often wish that wasn't the case because eating out is murder on my IBS at times but I love what I do and I'm not willing to give up traveling over food issues. My thoughts are that eating gluten free when I travel may be just the ticket to having IBS related trauma free travel experiences.

As the beginning stages of my conversion to g-free I've started eating Gluten free when I eat out. Last week I went to Chili's for lunch with my friend, Chelsea, and I looked up the menu in advance to see what I could have. The most exciting lunch option I saw was the grilled bbq chicken salad - minus the croutons and tortilla strips. They had several GF dressing options and I chose citrus balsamic vinaigrette on the side.

I didn't break the rule - I DID tell them I'm gluten free when I ordered so they'd understand why I needed my salad that way (and not toss the croutons on by accident and just pull them off) and be aware not to contaminate my salad with gluten in any way. I'm gauging the responses of restaurants on having a gluten free guest. As previously mentioned I was impressed with BJ's Brewhouse when they asked me how severe my allergies were so that they could accommodate (clean the kitchen before they prepared my food, etc).

Chili's was equally accommodating. I told my waitress that I'm g-free and told her the items I couldn't have on my salad. She was great about it! My salad came exactly as I'd asked for it and it tasted delish! Props to Chili's for accommodating the g-free life.

I had a less exciting experience when I tried to eat g-free at Bahama Breeze. I had friends in town so I hadn't picked the restaurant (but honestly, I love Bahama Breeze!). They don't have a g-free menu and the naturally g-free things they do have they note the don't guarantee to be uncontaminated. Lucky for me, I don't have a gluten intolerance or I really would have been in a pinch!

I finished the book on my flight from Tampa to Indy for Christmas. I feel inspired. I can do this. I don't know if it will be a permanent lifestyle change for me or just a worthwhile experiment. But I feel ready to take it on when I return home and can buy some g-free groceries.

Love,
B

2011 Goals by Month.

January - Jog my first 5k. I'm registered to run on January 15th in St. Pete Beach. I really recognize more than ever what a gift it is to have a functioning, healthy body. I'm committed to using it!
- I will also finish Reverb 10 as suggested my one of my friends and readers, Mindy, in the month of January.

February - in February I will take Paige's suggestion and do a fast. I will plan to do a 21 day long Daniel Fast - which means giving up meat, bread, caffeine (sob) and sweets. I believe that fasting should always be with a purpose. Mine will be as a sacrifice and to pray for direction on the next few years of my life. As I've worked towards creating a '5 year plan' I continue to pursue the Lord's will for my life. I hope this fast will open my eyes further to what that will might be.

March - Thank you to Lisa for March's challenge - I will be going Gluten-free for a month! This totally and completely freaks me out by the way. Especially following 3 weeks of fasting. My food life is going to be challenging in the Spring. But I bought the book, I'm going to read up over my break (Christmas) and I'm going to go for it in March.

April - An Anon commenter suggested that I take a picture of myself and post it everyday for a month (actually I think they meant a year but the request was for 1 month challenges, so I'm changing that a little)! This should be interesting. I hope it does as you say, spark creativity! I hope you all don't get sick of looking at me. : ] You asked for it - you're getting my mug (or something) every day for a month in April.

May, June, & July - Read through the bible in 90 Days! This suggestion came from Elisa, thank you. I hope I'm up to the challenge. I found out I can get it on my Kindle (so it can travel with me through the summer), so I plan to read the e-bible in 90 days.

- Note: I'm also hoping to reach my ideal goal weight in June or July of this year. : ] I'll let you know as that gets closer if I think I'm going to make it.

August - In August I'm going to volunteer 4 times (the equivalent of once per week). I think this will give me the chance to get my hands dirty in several activities and will make August a month to focus on giving of myself.

September - my birthday month! In the month of september I'm going to go somewhere I've never been before. But I won't be revealing where at this time. I'm going to decide between now and then. Stay tuned.

October - Thanks to Courtney and Meghan I've decided October's goal will have to do with cooking. In the month of October I will try one new recipe per week and actually cook something - healthy! I've got the Biggest Loser book so perhaps I'll cook from that. I will share with you here my experiences, of course, and the recipes (if I like them).

November - Complete the 'Write Brain' book my sister and bro-in-law gave me to prepare my for writing my first book. There are over 360 activities but I'd like to finish 200 activities by November (I figure I won't actually want to do EVERY activity).

December - Complete my second year-long book list. My goal for this year is 24 books. That's 2 per month. I'm scaling back my reading goal because I hope that 2011 will be more focused on writing than reading.

I hope that 2011 will be full of new adventures and chances to grow as a person. This list is only scratching the service of all the things that I want to accomplish this year - but it's a great start with some bold choices. Thank you to all the ladies who made suggestions - I feel really inspired.

Love,
B