A Day of Doodles

Hey everyone! This weekend, I'm in Chattanooga, TN with my sweetheart of a boyfriend. So today's post is going to be a bit....fluffy. I apologize. BUT I think you'll enjoy my doodle pictures! 

How did I acquire these skills? Well..when you're president of your high school's Pep Club....you have to make A LOT of signs! :)

These first 2 pictures, all my #StartExp friends have seen. For everyone else, this first picture is of my journal we are supposed to keep during the Experiment. I decided to take a legal pad, and just make it my own. It's fun AND cost effective!

This next picture is one of my journal entries. We were asked to write down our biggest fear. Well. I made mine pretty. Because pretty fears are just not intimidating.

The next photo, I drew while I was on the phone with darling Brett. See, even though I'm 27, and he's 32, I still have unmistakable feelings of high school love. You know what I mean? Just pure giddiness. So, I channeled my inner high school-er, and came up with this!

The next 2 are chalkboard signs I made for my sister's wedding! (If you want to read a short and sweet post about her wedding, click here!)

Finally, these last few pictures are some shoes I decorated for my sister last year for her birthday. It was a special birthday, because she was getting ready to move to Oklahoma, she was about to audition for American idol, and not known to her, she was about to be engaged.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my doodles! :D

Appreciating the Small Victories

I'm a big picture kind of girl.

As Jon Acuff explains in his book, Start, there are "how" people and there are "wow" people. "Wow" people think of big, grand ideas, and "how" people are the ones who can build the steps to get there.

I'm a wow-er.

I can dream up some mega-plans! (ok, re-read the word "mega-plans" in a deep, echoing voice, and maybe picture the hulk ripping his shirt off or something.)

But when it comes to figuring out the steps to get there, I get frustrated. (Reason number 1923834745785 why I love Brett. He is a "how" person and can logistics his way out of a paper bag!.....i know. That is super grammatically incorrect.)

Sometimes on my journeys to greatness, I get frustrated that ALL OF THE AMAZING THINGS aren't happening RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND.

That is a problem.

When we focus too much on the end goal, we forget to appreciate our small victories. 

We also forget that those small victories help us to get to that sweat-dripping, fear-crushing, tear-running, photo finish.

Today, my blood glucose levels were good. After a terrible endocrinologist appointment last month, you'd think I would really enjoy that! But I was so focused on work, and the Start Experiment, and my several meetings I have coming up, that it took me until 3:30 pm to stop and say "Yes!! YES YES YES!"

That is a total of 8 and a half hours of not appreciating a great thing.

The sad thing is, I've gone longer, much longer, without appreciating great things, because at the time, I thought of them as insignificant. Because those victories weren't the fireworks I had been so focused on.

Stop and think about all of the terrific things that happened today. No matter how itty-bitty. Appreciating the small wins in life makes the ginormous triumphs even sweeter!

What have you overlooked today? 

I'm Going on a 24 Day Adventure

A couple of weeks ago, Jon Acuff posted a blog that said something like this:

24 people. 24 days. Guaranteed risk. Dragons. Wizards. Machetes. This message will self destruct in 24 hours. Sign up now.

Ok. I made some of that up. (interestingly enough, not the machete part.) But the point is the same.

So I signed up.

Here's what is going to happen:

I'm going to be on a "team" with 23 other dream chasers from the Nashville area. I'll have an accountability buddy. Each day we will send each other an idea, words of encouragement, or something else to help them with their dream.

I got to choose my own goal for the 24 days. Mine is to blog EVERY day of those 24 days.

We will get an email from Jon each day with a "new challenge, point of encouragement or other such awesomeness"

I am excited! I don't know where this is going to take me, but I do know I'll at least be closer to my goal. *excited squeal*