Contentment

Contentment. Do people really know what the secret to a life of contentment is? It isn’t about getting rid of everything in your life. It’s not about hearing stories about people and praising them for their success. It’s not about what is happening in the present moment. All of these things are great and respectful and a great way of living contently, but all of these things can be done while still struggling with discontentment. There is a secret found in Isaiah 41:10- “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” The secret isn’t found in what God does for you when you need him…the secret is in Him who strengthens you, helps you, and upholds you. The power of Jesus working within us is the secret to a life of contentment. Many people think that they can change any circumstance they are in, but that is wrong. Jesus is the secret within ourselves, not putting yourself into a different circumstance.

I hear things and, yes, I think these things as well…

My friends are getting married and I’m not…

My friends are getting pregnant and I’m not…

My bank account is low and the bills are piling up…

My friends’ lives look so easy and mine doesn’t… 

Even when things might be going so well in your life just like you hoped…. STILL CONTENTMENT IS FOUND IN CHRIST. Jesus is ALWAYS the answer to my needs and longings. He will always be the Giver of courage, the Creator of faith, and the Contributor to everlasting joy. Through Christ we are strengthened with the beauty of grace to celebrate with our friends, with the attitude on life to not place hope in materialistic things, and with the everlasting perception to live in the present with the fullest heart of eternity.

The secret to contentment isn’t by putting yourself into different circumstances, it’s by Christ. Through Him we see what we have by letting go of such as timelines in our lives. Putting everything into his hands will stop timelines because you rely on Christ to put everything in place. Who He has made us to be is always enough and tell yourself that everyday… and you want to know why that is- it’s because HE IS MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR US!

August Goals

I’m obviously going to continue to focus on my fitness goals, which I hope you all are doing the same thing. I hope the tips that I’ve provided you have helped you reach some of the goals you’ve been having trouble with! I’m going to start each month with goals/to-do lists and hope you will share yours as well.  My desire (and what friends have encouraged me to do) for this month is to say “no” to things that don’t matter and “yes” to rest, quality times with friends, family, and Ryan. We don’t have that busy of a month, but have some exciting things happening. A dear friend of mine- Amanda Franklin- is having her bridal shower, we have a Junior Women’s Club event (I will do a post all about JWC), and we are going on a trip with Ryan’s friends to float the Frio.  Below are listed some of my personal goals (not fitness related). I’m obviously going to continue to focus on other things outside of these, but these are things I want to accomplish in the month of August.

1.      Save money & organize the clutter

-Sit down and really figure out what are priorities rather than wants and de-clutter the closets and random areas.

2.      Be strong & healthy

-Create a list of healthy recipes to try (share those on the blog), stay active (new-workouts/activities I haven’t accomplished), make meals at home (rather than cereal).

3.      Keep being/trying to be a present friend

-Remember friends are everything and more!

4.      Plan best friends shower (yay for Heather Wilson)

-Plan (with Heather Hoover- check out her blog she's an awesome women of God and Keely Hulme) and continue to buy clothes/decor/baby EVERTYHING!

5.      Make time for God

-We all tend to get busy with life, extra circular activities, summer fun etc. We/I need to remember to slow down and spend time with Jesus

6.      Prepare for trip to Frio

-Make a list of what we need so we are not buying stuff last minute.

7.      Finish up the guest room

-I’ve been needing to do this for months upon months. I plan on getting a bed (finally) and decorating. We’ve been having company but they have to sleep on the couch-haha!

There are other things more as “to do list” rather than goals that I need to accomplish this month. What do y’all have planned for this month? I love reading everyone’s goals so please post! 

Nordstrom Anniversary Sale

I know you’ve all heard about the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale from many bloggers by now. This truly has become one of my favorite sales because I finally became I card holder. This doesn’t mean I have a credit card or rack up a ton of money on a card that I can’t pay for, it actually is a card that the money comes right out of your account! Can you believe it! That’s not the only thing you also receive points when you spend money and other little surprises. If you haven’t consider this you might want to ;)

I thought I would share a couple of my favorite things I’ve purchased so far from the #Nsale!  

BP Open Front Cardigan- only costs $31.90, fits true to size, oversized, and comes in tons of colors! I bought the maroon color because it’s a perfect color for fall, you can throw it on with leggings, and/or clothes from working out. It’s not only lightweight but it actually keeps your warm! If you haven’t purchased this I would highly recommend that you do!

BP Woven Twill Tunic- again only costs $31.90, great button down, and has an oversized fit. It can be dressed up or down. You could put heels, jewelry, and cute skinnies on to make it a night out outfit or just throw a pair of converse on to run errands.   

Dreamers by Debut Cowl Neck Pullover- one of the most comfortable sweaters! It is a little oversized, lightweight and comes in multiple colors. I bought it in black to go with everything because who said black on black isn’t one of the most chic outfits!  

Zella Deharma Hooded Jacket- this jacket is great to throw on when meeting friends for coffee or an early gym session! It’s thin enough to wear especially if you are in and out of stores all day. You won’t be annoyed with taking it off and on.

BP Sleeveless Woven Shirtdress- oversized shirtdress, lightweight, and the material is SUPER SOFT! I would size down, which I know it’s supposed to be oversized, I felt it was a little too big with my normal sizing. Due to the arm holes being a little big I would just put on a bandeau if needed. 

Don't forget, prices go back up on August 8th! So make sure to get these basic items while they're still marked down. Let me know some of your Nordstrom Anniversary Sale best purchases have been so far! 

College World Series

First things first though- you might not know this about me but I’m a very big birthday person. My family always makes sure that each birthday is celebrated no matter how old you are. It’s one day that holds a special place in your parent’s hearts and a day that is all about you! You might be wondering

why I am talking about this but… Ryan’s birthday was the 13^th of June! This meant that I had to do something out of the norm since he is the best person at figuring out presents.

I decided to surprise him with a trip to the College World Series. What better time than this year, since the Aggies were ranked number one (they didn’t end up making it thoughL). Ryan was super excited when he finally got his gift and said this is by far one of his favorite gifts ever!

Day 1:
We drove early Sunday morning to the airport and immediately had to grab coffee from Dunkin Donuts! (We were tired from one of the most beautiful and fun-filled wedding we attended the night before - the Turner’s wedding). If you’ve never been to for Dunkin’ Donuts you should really reconsider. They have a rewards program and offer different specials throughout the week. 

We finally landed mid-morning and had the hotel pick us up (they offered a free shuttle service - LOVE FREE)!  We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn Downtown Omaha. It was only a half mile away from the stadium. Also one of the baseball teams stayed at our hotel-UC Santa Barbara.

 Since our room wasn’t ready, we decided to go to the baseball stadium. Ryan and I probably looked like young kids wanting to do everything. They had games, vendors selling everything and anything, free giveaways, and so much more.

We knew TCU and Texas Tech were playing each other, which was a must for us to see. We bought general admissions tickets for only… drum roll please… $10. I was as shocked as you! While we were walking around I didn’t really notice the heat but the heat, inside the stadium was indescribable (results in my red face and huge hair).

 

Another part of Ryan’s birthday present was reserved tickets to the game Sunday night. Side note - when buying tickets to the College World Series, you want to buy them in advance (cheaper), but you take the risk of not knowing when each team will be playing. We decided before the game started to pick which team we thought would win. We both picked Coastal Carolina which they ended up beating Florida.

 

Day 2: 

Monday morning we decided to explore the downtown area since there weren’t any games until later that afternoon. There were many stops along the way but Ryan was definitely a trooper!

 After doing so much walking, we decided it was time to have breakfast. We found this cute little hole-in- the-wall eatery and bakery, Wheatfields. They make everything homemade- fresh bread, pastries, cookies and much more! They even made these cute cookies for the College World Series. We had read many reviews about their honey fried chicken but it was too early for that! Maybe next time J

 

 

I had the fruit and yogurt parfait and Ryan had the lobster and crab cake eggs benedict. I would recommend anything on the menu. Everything that kept coming out looked very delicious.   

After breakfast we started our way back to the stadium to look around at more vendors. Remember how I said it was so hot the day before - today all day it was overcast with a nice breeze. Then all of a sudden this happened… the OSU vs Arizona night game was delayed but ended up being a good game to sit at since the rain made it cooler outside!

Day 3:

Tuesday morning we decided to sleep in and get rest since this was the day we had to go home L. When we finally woke up we decided to do a little more exploring. We also had to have breakfast again at Wheatfields! 

ConAgra Foods headquarters is in Omaha, Nebraska - who would’ve known! The man in the above picture is the Chef Boyardee man better known as Hector Boiardi.

In this Old Town Market Area we found this secret little underground area. It had three different levels with shopping, eating, and even spas.

We had been eyeing this ice cream parlor since we we’ve been here. We finally decided to check it out. It wasn’t an ordinary ice cream parlor; it was an Omaha tradition since 1984. All of the ice cream is made from scratch with a slow-churner (the old-fashion way) made with rock salt and ice and only fresh ingredients!

We had so much fun exploring and experiencing the College World Series. There are some tips that I would like to leave you with:

• pack clothes for all types of weather

• pack a hat due to the sun being so hot

• bring a water bottle (they have stations all throughout the stadium to refill your bottles)

• no need to really care about your hair so leave those hair essentials you think you need

• pack food for the hotel room since nothing is open after the games

• sunscreen is a must

• pre-purchase seat cushions if you plan on sitting in the general admissions section

Feeling Confident

I’m sure we can all agree that we dread hearing or seeing things about swimsuit season coming up. Many people are intimidated to take off their t-shirts or cover-ups when the time comes to attend that fun pool party. I think that, we as young women, get this thought in our heads that we need to look like our friends, people you follow on Instagram, Sport Illustrated women/girls or a model in a Victoria Secret magazine. We think that our bodies need to be in that form to feel comfortable or confident in our swimwear. Feeling confident comes from being content with your own body, but you know that’s easier said than done!

To be honest, this isn’t the easiest thing to talk about…. there are many reasons why I started this blog, one of those being able to talk about my struggles such as my health and body image. I’ve been told that I look stubby (people called me “stubs”), that I carry my weight in my legs, I look like a softball player (which are probably from all of those years of playing softball) and many more. I had heard this all through my adolescence and some during my adult life. So it is safe to say I HAVE MANY INSECURITIES ABOUT MY BODY. But I know that I’m not the only one- we all deal with insecurities. We have things that we dislike about ourselves that make us question our worthiness.

When we deal with insecurities in our bodies the first thing we target is what we put in our mouths. I know that fully well because I’ve had a complicated relationship with food since I can remember. Holidays and parties (which seem to always be happening) are especially hard for people who have complicated food relationships. The lack of control over a menu would/give me anxiety, thinking about what I’m going to eat and how am I going to work it off the next day. Going through this struggle (that I sometimes still deal with today) isn’t the easiest thing to go through, especially when you feel alone.

When I went off to college, it sort of “rocked my world.” *Side note- I dealt with many challenges in my college life which I will tell you all eventually ;)….. It made me feel like I needed to constantly fit in with everyone, go to all the parties or go anywhere anytime I was invited, be thin and overcommit myself in order to be liked by everyone. I started doing things that I wouldn’t normally do which made me realize that when I ran it would make my mind be at ease. After realizing that I could control my world by running why not become thinner by not eating as much. I started getting compliments that only made me feel better about myself, which made me think that I was actually fitting in because people were noticing me. This was such a LIE that I kept telling myself, but I continued to do it because that is what I considered success at the time.

As I continued to lose weight and eat in this weird way that seemed healthy, I became the center of attention in any room. My friends and family praised my discipline and what appeared to be -“healthy” habits, - but I knew I wasn’t feeding my body what it needed after running. Each time I ate less and less, I had so much pride in my control. Many people targeted their desires for thinness and working out upon my thin body which resulted in them wanting my advice.

Before I knew it, my mom was starting to worry about me and even had tears at times, which still didn’t make me want to change the way I lived. It made me think a little bit, but it truly never changed me. After graduating college and going through a hard break up (which didn’t make the eating problem any better), something in my head sort of hit me. I wasn’t being the healthy person I wanted to be, nor was I enjoying life. At this point I knew that I needed to talk to someone about this it helped me not only with that problem, but many more things that I had delayed dealing with.

Being more open about issues and knowing that you aren’t alone is a way to fight Satan away. He wants us to keep all of our struggles bottled up. He doesn’t want us to speak about our problems to others and God. Satan knows that when we confess our sins or shortcomings that we are being set free from God.

So if you are struggling with body imaging or an eating disorder remember that it’s ok to talk to someone. And if you find yourself getting stressed or anxious about food, remember God created food for you to enjoy! Don’t give Satan the power of keeping everything to yourself. Here are a couple of verses to help:

• Instead everything that God has created all of those foods are a gift for you to savor and enjoy. (Genesis 9:3)

• When you call to the Lord he will answer which help deliver me from all fears of being afraid. (Psalms 34:4) 

• I praise God, everyday knowing that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are his works and my soul knows it. (Psalm 137:14)

• Food is meant for your stomach and the stomach for the food-so whether you eat or drink you should always do it all to glorify God. (1 Corinthians 6:13 & 10:31)