Bucktown

Lately at Starbucks we have been working towards speeding up my store. Well i was so excited because My morning team this last Wednesday had the highest number of transactions in a given half hour than any one else has had in the past 4 months... AND Today i was on bar (which i am not the best bar person... but ive wanted to get better) and beat my score that i made on Wednesday... TWICE IN A ROW!!! I was so blessed by that. My whole team was working so hard and it paid off.

The LORD provided me the strength to finish our Peak and to keep the momentum and speed constant. THANK YOU LORD!!!!

Such a great day at Work. I remembered today why i love my job. Team work, Encouraging employees, and a manager that cares about the partners.

Cleaning House

The past few days i have been cleaning out drawers and the things stored on shelves in my closet. My room has been a disaster because everything has been out and ive been tossing things that ive kept for far to long and have never used. I am a recovering Hoarder!!! I keep everything. Why?! Because i believe that EVERYTHING can be used for scrapbooks :) But it has been very refreshing. I feel so much better because a lot of crap has been thrown out.

In the process I came across this little thing that my mom got me... I LOVE these things :)

Mine sings let me call you sweet heart

In other news i have the best room mate ever :) She made dinner tonight... Hello i feel spoiled already :) Love you Jules!!!

Weddings Galore

Over the last 3 weeks i attended 3 weddings and stood in 2. To start the wedding extravaganza Kristin Sylvia because Kristin Hildebrand :) Then was my Brothers wedding to my former roomie Amber. Its was gorgeous. The weather turned out beautifully, it was an all outside wedding/reception. The reception was held at my parents house and boy did it turn out wonderful! Side note: My parents are truly amazing! They re decorated their entire backyard for Derek and Ambers wedding. From putting a pool in to planting tons of trees and flowers they worked so hard preparing for my big bros wonderful day. Their wedding was probably easily one of the prettiest weddings ive ever attended. It was simple and homey and my whole family came in from Arizona to Celebrate with us. It was perfect. Not to mention my Wonderful Boyfriend was the DJ/MC to the event. So of course that made it all the more perfect. It really would not have been the same for me had he not been there to share it with me. Another Side Note: Cudos and special thanks to Brandon for all the hard work and hours he put into the very last minute playlist and reception set up. He did a great job and i appreciate you putting so much time in for my family! I love that boii. Finally to end the Wedding parade was my Best friend Lauren Azzaro who is now happily married to a wonderful man Jonathan aka Scotty Shepherd. Their wedding was as elegant and elegant can be. After a very rainy day the evening cleared up to leave crystal blue skies for their ceremony. Plus Terra was in town so i got to spend a lot of time with her! Which she of course means the world to me so it wouldn't have been the same without her. So glad she could fly in for it! :)

Needless to say i was very exhausted! Though it was a glorious 3 weeks of celebrating the beautiful love these couples share and the holy matrimony and joining of hearts in GODs name. I was blessed to be apart of them as well as to see them all be over! Thanks GOD for finally allowing me time to catch up on the sleep i so desperately needed!

Remaining content. Accepting gifts. Being Thankful

Today is a new day. A beautiful day. Today I was reminded how often I overlook all the blessings in my life and go about each day with an additude of discontentment and ungratefulness. Oh, how disappointing is this?! I've come to realize how contagious this world is. How easy it is to act like a spoiled brat. How hard it is to be different from the majority of those I am surrounded by constantly. LORD open my eyes! I've prayed this so many times. Today I am revising it. LORD help me to stop quenching my eye lids closed. Kill this evil inside my heart that distracts me from you. Help me to keep my eyes wide open! I want to be better. I have to admit I've struggled with having a heart of gratitude; I have allowed myself to focus more on the negative things in my life like Brandon moving to Austin and not being able to be with him all the time. My financial situation and not being as comfortable or having ad much in my bank account as I used to. Problems with work, not always having Sunday's off. Working all the time. Being so tired and feeling hopeless like I will have to work over 40 hours for the rest of my life. Dwelling on this negative energy. Feeding myself with self loathing and pity. Feeling so sorry for myself and refusing to get over it! I've forgotten my word for 2011... POSITIVE! Well today folks, I will be different! I will have a new state of thinking! I challenge myself to a anti-negativity lifestyle. I will be positive. I will see all that I have been given! I will dwell on the beautiful things in life and refuse to be intoxicated with the problems I think I'm having. The LORD had been nothing but good to me. He has done nothing but continually provide for me. He has been nothing but faithful to me! OH HAPPY DAY! :) The LORD and our Heavenly Father alone has rescued me from this ugliness I've chosen for myself. Darkness will reign no more. The light is shining on me and I feel new again! How Great is our Papa! He is a wonderful GOD! My provider! My love! My life! My everything! So hopeful!

Rain

Dear LORD,

Please bring Rain. It is incredibly dry and is getting warmer every day. We trust you and Love you

In Jesus name i proclaim this

Amen

Hey Old Friend!

Soooo... Since July there have been some pretty awesome changes in my life and 1. i apologize for being a horrible blogger and 2. i dont wanna waste anytime talking about how awful i am as a blogger anymore(We all know this!) so lets dive in shall we?!

My wonderful boyfriend and i have been going strong for 3 months now... Excited, Blessed, Challenged, Joyful, Optimistic and whatever other positive adjective you wanna place there is how i am feeling about our relationship. He is unlike any guy ive ever met. He challenges me and encourages me and cares for me so immensely all the time! I love it, i love him, its awesome and i cant express in words how grateful i am for him in my life. My mom always told me that i should never be someones appetizer. That i deserve to be someones main course. Well, hearing that i was always like "Yea, i know... OK mom..." And since i have been with Brandon i have never felt so appreciated and adored in my life. This guy is incredible and i love sharing life with my best friend! :) He recently moved to Austin(this last sunday) and i have been trying my best to stay positive but it is difficult not seeing my sweet boy everyday. I miss him, but at the same time i am very enthusiastic about our relationship getting stronger and growing deeper in love with him which i know will happen with the distance. I also know that many people have had it much worse, so i am grateful he is just an hour away as opposed to states, countries or continents away. Thank you LORD for that!

Another big thing is that our Foster babies unfortunately had their rights terminated and are now going up for adoption. We are in the process of praying and seeking GODs will for their future. We pray that we will have the opportunity to raise the two girls at least. But i know that GODs plan is way better than mine and i trust completely that whatever he decides my heart will be at peace and i know it will be best for the kids. So if you would join my family and I in prayer as we deal with this it would be greatly appreciated!

I got promoted to a Shift Supervisor at Starbucks, which is both exciting and tiring all at the same time. I love my job, but there is a fine line between living to work and working to live. Lately it seems the line is blurred and all i do is work with little living on the side. I am grateful for this amazing opportunity to grow as a leader, i just Pray i wont get burnt out!

My car got tagged today in my Apartment complex parking lot.. Right in front of my apt. IN broad daylight... That was not fun, but i did get it off by scrubbing it with windex. I hope the paint didnt fade though because of the windex... We will see!

Lastly my Cousin had her baby today. And let me tell you this WOW GOD story... She was born dead. The first 4 minutes she had left my cousins womb she had no pulse and was not breathing. After those heart wrenching 4 minutes her heart started beating and she is now healthy as ever and extremely alert and responsive. My mom told me how they put the baby on my cousins chest immediately after being born and within seconds snatched her away and began working on her. I am amazed at how faithful GOD is and equally ecstatic to see what little Ava's mission on earth is. It must be something fantastic for the LORD to spare her life so willingly. She has an amazing testimony. I am PRAISING THE LORD that she is ok! What a horrible tragedy that would have been. Thank you LORD for life.

Why Jesus?!

I was doing my homework for the Daniel Bible study that i've been doing for the past 10 weeks, and one of the questions today was about why I chose Jesus.

Ive believed in Jesus for a long time. But the reason i am so passionate about him is because he has proved himself Mighty, Faithful, Trustworthy, Loving, Grace-Filled, Merciful, He alone has guarded me and protected me from harm my entire life. The verses in the Bible are true about him. He is Just. He is Love. Jesus is everything to me because he is Real and he alone is the reason i'm still Alive and well!

Plain and Simple. Jesus is real, He's awesome! I am nothing and i have nothing without him.