Another Day In The Closet...

Wow, I’m so excited about another Cleaning Out The Closet Wednesday over at FTLOB’s! If you all recall, last Wednesday I really went in and pulled out a lot of old baggage the needed to be removed. This Wednesday I think I’m going to stay on the surface and just take a look at what needs immediate attention.

So if you've been reading, last week was really rough but I’m getting over all that inner drama that I caused and have regrouped and centered myself. I know I have a lot of personal issues I need to sort out which is another reason why I LOVE Wednesday’s theme!  I think today I want to focus on things that have recently taken place in my life, the struggle I’m having with myself and fully understanding why I’m here. 

My entire life, I’ve always believed that God has a purpose for every person and that everything means something, that there really are no coincidences and that in due time the meaning of everything will be revealed, so that being said; recently I took a hard look at my life and at almost 30 years old I felt like such a failure. I could not think of anyone whose life I had impacted in a positive way, I have no children, and I really think my job is meaningless I mean I'm a Coordinator! As a child I always wanted to be able to help others and to be honest my job just does not afford me this opportunity and really I feel like I'm worth so much more than this. Besides being married, I have not accomplished any big feats in life. So imagine if you will, for your entire life being under the belief  that you are special in God’s eyes and that He put you here for a special purpose and then basically getting a slap in the face by realizing that almost 30 years in, He still hasn’t used you to do anything worthwhile!! Maybe He passed me over for someone better! Yeah those thoughts really hurt to think about!  

So anyway,  I really let this bother me and it completely rattled my soul. I started wondering all sorts of crazy things, like what I had done to God, or if He could even hear me, and  had He finally given up on me? All these questions ran through my mind…Then after taking a personal hiatus, I realized it was me, I had faltered in my Faith and trust in Him, I thought I had faith but then I would show doubt by having a plan B "just in case", what a contradiction! I had gone my own way instead of His.

So while I took my personal stay-cation, I was able to realize, it's not so bad, I’m still young and trying to figure this life thing out so maybe God is just waiting for me to get a better grip on my life and then He will give me my special job… 

So today, what I’m cleaning out of my closet is the fact that I feel so guilty for getting mad at God, for blaming and questioning Him instead of looking at my own actions and thoughts.  

It hurts me more to I think I’ve damaged my relationship with God then to believe that I've done the same with any person on earth. People come and go but God will always be there… 

Keep Reading, 

My Day of Inspirational Blog Hopping

Today is my inspirational day so I’ve hit up some of my favorite blogs to get big dose of creative juice flowing for this up and coming weekend! My first inspirational blog is one I refer to often for fashion ideas. Check out Everyday Eva if you’re looking for fashion on a budget! My inspiration from this blog is that my husband is always “complaining” that I spend too much money on clothes and shoes so now I read Eva’s blog to be a bit more cautious with my spending while still looking cute! Thanks Eva!

My second inspirational blog of the day belongs to Reflections of Something. I have had a heck of a week and only parts have actually been good, I have been in some sort of a foul mood and I have no idea why but this blog has help me to lift my spirits and also posed a challenge which I'm considering! (Thanks a lot Branson!)

My third inspirational blog of the day for me holds the crowning title because I came across her blog purely by accident though the Fab Friends Friday Blog Hop, but was so glad I did. Serendipity I’d call this, a fortunate mistake that has turned things around for me. This blog belongs to Rachel and is called Randomness with Rachel. Turns out we share the same love for Audrey Hepburn, Jesus, shopping and reading, oh who would have known there'd be another person who likes this same weird combination of things! Her most inspirational thing that helped me  through today was her homepage and it reads: 

So a big, BIG thank you to Rachel!

Lastly, I have decided to list Words by Katie as an inspiration blog for me today mainly because her blog just all around, cheered me up. She really had a great theme and I love her posts and concepts.  (Also we are both Tim Tebow fans!)

So to my fellow bloggers who have given me some inspirational thoughts and ideas as well as cheered me up after a somewhat bad week; you all have my gratitude! Thanks so much for doing what you do best (blogging) and inadvertently plastering a smile across my face!

Keep Blogging,
City Girl

New Years Resolutions

I have been meaning to write this blog all week and with it getting closer to the end of the first week of the New Year, I felt I’d better get it done sooner than later!  A couple of days ago I posted my Bucket List under the Writers Block section and I was planning to leave it at that until I found myself chatting with Alaina, a friend of mine from work when she randomly asked me about my New Year’s resolutions and before I knew it I had come up with a few that I thought would go along well with my Bucket List. Turns out this year I plan to:
·        Attempt to do something new at least once amonth
·        Read more, watch less T.V.
 So by chance this past Monday I came across a few art projects from Art House and decided to sign up for one or two not really thinking they would fall into any my first resolutions but just because it looked really cool and interesting!
I decided to register for The Sketch Book Project which is described as similar to a concert tour but with sketch books! So far 28,835 artists from 94 different countries have registered (including me)!   What will happen is that we will send in our sketch books and they will go on exhibit in many different galleries and museums across the county. The cost to enter was only $25.00 and when the tour comes here (The Transformer Gallery in DC, April 11-30) I plan to go see my work on display and then I will truly feel like an artist!  By the way you have to choose a theme for your sketch book and I decided to go with Below the Surface.
The second project I have decided to register for is call A Million Little Photographs which is described as a way that viewers can experience the myriad ways that a single story can be captured in an image. You also have to pick a theme (mine is The Great Adventures Of…). It will also go on cross-country exhibit starting in September 2011 and a book will be made into print in December 2011 which I plan to purchase as proof that I am a publish artist! ;)
So I think I am thus far off to a good start on my New Year’sresolution! Check out our Links section to see the story that CNN did and to view the Art House Website, also  see our Video section and watch the "I joined The Project" video for more info as well!

Keep Reading,
CG Chronicles Editor in Chief
Faith M. Steward

Bucket List

Last year I was having one of my regular over the phone chats with my older sister Ava when she casually mentioned to me that her son Christian had created a “bucket list”. Unbeknownst to me, she had planted the very beginnings of a seed that was about to blossom into a giant flower! If my 13 year old nephew had already created goals for his life, why hadn’t I? it wasn’t like I didn’t have things that I wanted to do, it was just that I hadn’t organized them into an actual cross-off list nor had I set out to actually take the steps to achieve them, instead as I did something in my life I would say or think “wow, I’ve always wanted to do that” and that was basically it, no crossing off, no celebration, or journaling about it. Then as New Year’s approached a few days ago I did my traditional reflecting over the past year and planning of my New Year’s resolutions (which as we all know rarely last longer than a few months) and as I was thinking of what I would add to my resolution list this year I decided to make a few changes and instead create a bucket list of things that I can achieve over a lifetime, why limit myself to only a year? Some of the things on my list I have already accomplished, others will come with time and will give me something to do with my free time or something to look forward to as I get older so drum roll please…

Faith’s Bucket List:
1.)     Visit Europe (Done)
2.)     Write a book
3.)     Have one of my articles featured in a magazine/website 
4.)     Work for myself one day
5.)     Visit the Acropolis in Greece
6.)     Visit Stonehenge
7.)     Stand under The Eiffel Tower (Done)
8.)     Appreciate the simple things in life
9.)     Finish the Bible cover to cover(work in progress)
10.)    Take life one day at a time
11.)    Create my own Happiness Project (will start this soon)
12.)    Help others
13.)    Create a website and keep it going!(work in progress)

So this is my current list but it will not end here, as my life changes each day so will the things that I want to do and I’m sure that I have left off a few things anyways. I read somewhere today that you should attempt to do something everyday instead of every other day or just a few days a week because the more you do it the easier they will becomes and the more it becomes a part of your daily. 
“So if there’s something that you wish you did more regularly, try doing it every day; if you do something every day, revel in it”.
First things first, update m y website every day with new content also start on some other daily tasks like reading the Bible cover to cover if only a page at time, start taking life one day at a time and begin creating my own happiness project.

The Three R's of My "Staycation"

If I had to give a theme to the past few days, I’d have to say that it has been all about the 3-R’s: Reorganization, Reconnecting and a Redirection of my life.

Reorganization: 

I once read that to simplify your life you need to get rid of all the excess items that are holding you down. That being said, over this past Thanksgiving break I had plenty of time to myself to do just that.  Each morning I woke up bright and early ready to sweep through one room at a time trashing things that I hadn’t used in a while. I’m normally a person who struggles with getting rid of things because I never know when I might use it again but I decided that if I hadn’t used it, wore it, read it or even looked at it within the past year it was time to let go of it.   I was able to go though a lot of areas of my home, get rid of a lot of things that I no longer used. I reorganized things that for so long I have been meaning to do but for one reason or another just kept putting off.

So what was the final verdict: I now have room to walk in my walk-in closet which before I couldn’t even do, I have extra space in my home office, an area in my laundry room to actually sit my laundry basket and space in my kitchen that was once cluttered with things that I had collected over the years but never used.

I donated about 65% of my clothes to Goodwill along with some books and kitchen items and the rest went into the trash! It was shocking but I actually felt as if a weight was removed. I guess you never really pay attention to how “stuff” can add excess weight to your life and hold you down.

The lesson I learned here: If you don’t need it, let it go and this doesn’t just apply to stuff but to every aspect of your life.

Reconnecting:

One thing that people tend to do at the beginning of every year is say I’m going to start doing this or doing that and maybe we do for a few months but then life seems to always get in the way and those little things that we hoped to keep doing fade away until eventually we no longer remember why we wanted to do them in the first place. In the time I had to myself I was able to sit and think about different areas of my life that wanted to spend more time in or that I was already spending time on but not as much as I’d like. What I realized is that happiness is loosing site of the things you love to do but making time to do them.  Should we really put off today what we could do tomorrow when we aren’t even promised a tomorrow? It amazing the in 5 short days I was able to reconnect with myself, my soul and with the things that I missed and loved. Reconnecting with yourself is a lot like rediscovering who you are and then understanding why you let yourself go in a different direction.  Most people lose their selves in the daily demands of life and other commitments that caused them to push what they really want aside. How many times have you read or heard about those few people who just quit their job and go off to do what really makes them happy and to be honest, don’t those people seem happier, less stressed and more focused on what life is really about. No, I’m not going off to explore the world but I am taking it one step at a time and I’m so excited to see where my new reconnection is going to take me!

Redirection:

I have found that redirection is a lot like reconnection though for me; my redirection is with my faith and relationship with God. For a large portion of my life I have had a fairly good relationship with God.  However, I have been reading a book titled Crazy Love and the first few pages of this book completely took what I thought I was doing and tore it to shreds, all the times I felt I was close with God, nope I wasn’t even a flicker in His shadow. Because I put so much stock in my relationship with Christ, to me these realizations were so horrifying and I immediately knew where I needed to make the redirection to my focus in my life.

So these are the 3-R’s that I was able to journey through in what I call a 5-day “staycation” and to be honest I loved every minute of it. At times it was a lot of quiet contemplation and thoughtfulness while other times it was running around, cleaning and staying up late to get things done but no matter what, it was what I needed!

I know a lot of people are going to shy away from reading my site now because of my open expression to my love for Christ but that’s okay because where 10 leave, 30 more will join and even if that doesn’t happen, what really matters to me is that I’m giving glory to God, which to be honest is the whole point of what life is all about.

So that being said, you have probably noticed a few small changes to my site and a lot of them have to do with these 3-R’s, a word of caution: there will be more to come and believe me, it will all be surrounding these 3 topics!

The "Thankful List"

Not to be all festive or anything, but with Thanksgiving right around the corner, I have had a lot of time to contemplate what I’m really thankful for this year and in my life in general.  A lot of things have come to mind but there are a few really big things that seemed to stand out. I don’t think that I have ever mentioned it here before but those of you who know me personally know that I am a Christian and have a great love for God, you’ll understand why I mentioned that in a minute.
While many of you might say your thankful for your car or your job, your home or even that big diamond ring your rockin’.  All these things can easily be provided for you simply by having a relationship with God but he can so easily take them away so you won’t see any of these things on my list.

I have made my “thankful list” and checked it twice (just to make sure) and though all those things listed above are wonderful to have and without a doubt make life a bit easier I have decided on things that to me are less materialistic but instead hold a real and true meaning.  My “thankful list “ is about the things that matter most, or should matter most to us in the short time that we are here on this earth so without further ado, here are the top 3 things that I am thankful for:
First and foremost, I am undoubtedly thankful for my knowledge of and the relationship that I have with Jesus.  Without this, my life on the surface might seem to be “wonderful” but deep inside I would feel empty and lost so this is my number one thing, I can’t even express to you how truly grateful I am for this! Secondly, I am thankful for my family and thankful to my siblings for making our once small family now much bigger with the laughter of little children! Next, I am thankful for my marriage and the wonderful man that I have spent the last 11 years with! Through the good and the bad God has made a way for us and we have always been able to come back stronger! 

This Thanksgiving, I wonder how many people will ramble off a whole list of things they are “thankful” for and unquestionably half the things on their list might be materialistic items that can easily be taken away from them in the blink of an eye?  I know what I’m thankful for and what really matters in life… Do you?