new life, new year, new perspective

I am now officially a charlottier, or whatever they call us people in Charlotte. I am loving it here and although the stresses of up and moving across the country and finding a whole new way of life is intimidating it has been the best thing. I have my very own place for the first time in my life, it's been interesting.. and scary, but mostly just very different. I have had a good time decorating and discovering all that "home ownership"(not really any kind of ownership actually) is good for. I may not have had a couch for the first 3 months, but that's okay, all in due time. Every day it becomes a little more like home. Pictures to come tomorrow, but for now let's talk about this new year.

For maybe the first time in my life, I don't have the urge to up and move, or the feeling of needing something new or different. I could potentially live in Charlotte the rest of my life, or at least for the next decade. It is easily one of the coolest cities. This year my focus is not on making a lot of changes, but really discovering those things that sustain me. Getting really good at the things I do best and finding my passions. How do you make passions habits? I have finally come to the realization that I am a pretty cool person, not to sound stuck up or self absorbed, but I can see some of the ways God has so richly blessed me, the gifts and talents he has given me, and I am excited to find ways to use those talents. I am at a point in my faith where I want to pour into others.

The Middle East is something that is greatly on my mind, so very often. I think it's mostly because of my past experiences in Saudi Arabia, but I feel like I always have a connection to the people over there. I know many in my family feel the same way. Looking back, I don't think any of us thought 12 years after moving away from the Middle East that we would all carry some kind of burden for those people. There is a certain closeness that we feel to that place. My new church in Charlotte has started supporting mission efforts in Lebanon, and I think that is really when I knew I had found my new church home. I want to be involved, no matter what that looks like. God put this experience in my life for a reason and I feel like it is time to use that blessing. We will see what that means over the next year.

I have also been given the gift of leadership, although I don't always feel appointed. I am currently blessed with amazing employees that I get to work with very closely, every day. Sometimes my job doesn't feel like a blessing, which I feel miserable admitting, but it is a struggle daily to manage having a personal life, relationship with God, with friends, with anything other than work. I sometimes feel as though I am a slave to my job, which is a very common problem among managers and supervisors, or I think anyone in the hospitality industry. It often gets me down and just when I feel as though I can't possibly keep going down this path, something really good happens and I am rejuvenated instantly. My prayer this year is to develop strong friendships, you know those type of friends that love you even when you have to cancel on them last minute, and that understand that sometimes your life is out of your control. Again, I plan on being in Charlotte a while, so bring on the friends.. I'm ready!

Fitness seems to be a big thing for people every year. People join diets to quite them, exercise programs to let their gym membership sit without use for months. My goal this year is to do some kind of exercise for at least 30 minutes each day. My life can be crazy, everyone's can be, but it takes me like 30 minutes to figure out how long I can snooze my alarm before I don't have time to take a shower before work, so I figure I can make it happen. Charlotte has amazing walk ways and parks, something that has really been an encouragement, and the weather is amazing, except when it's not, and those are strictly gym days. Fresh air is the way to go though. Food seems to always be a struggle, to but it lightly, I love local restaurants, can't get enough, and a classy place called Bojangles is also my downfall. My goal is not to cut out all the delicious, dirty food that I love, but be intentional with my eating. If I know I am going to go out for dinner, eat a healthy breakfast and lunch and really enjoy myself that night. I am learning to be happy with the way God has made me, and that needs to flow into my own body image. With that being said I can 110% be more healthy, that is my goal, but at the same time, pizza is good for the soul sometimes... in moderation.

My last and final non-resolution, resolution.  Prayer. That's it. There's so much power in words, especially words to our Savior. He truly is all powerful, and being given the gift of direct relationship with Him is overwhelmingly good. I have gotten out of the habit of prayer journaling, which has been a crucial game changer in my life. If you have never gotten the opportunity to learn how to pray, I highly recommend it. My life group at church is starting a new book on prayer in a few weeks and I can't wait. 

And if you could not tell, I plan on blogging more, as if I haven't had the resolution before ;) but it might not be every day or even every week, but you can be sure it will be filled with a lot of fun and way too many of my thoughts.

Happy New Year Ya'll!

So many changes, so little time

Life has been a world wind lately, I was asked to do "task force" for Marriott at a property in Des Moines, Iowa, of which I accepted and then left 3 days later... so there is that, on top of 2 weddings, applying for transfers, packing, and moving. I'm not sure what exactly possessed me to mix my life up a little (or a lot) and spend the month in Iowa, where I know exactly no one, but it has really been fun, and an adventure non-the-less. The next adventure of my life will be decided this week, of which I am so excited, nervous, shocked at. More to come on that when it is official.. or not, we shall see :). Regardless of where I am, I will be getting the every exciting task of finding a new place to live and then decorating!! Oh how I love decorating. (no sarcasm..none)

As part of my adventures around Downtown Des Moines, I stumbled upon 3 antique stores, of which I could have bought out. My mind was racing with ideas, new thoughts of how I would place things in my place, wherever that might be. In the end, all though I so desperately wanted to ship back a few doors, old windows, and about 34 different pieces of furniture, I settled on just a few things, all suitcase sized, and got out of there quickly. I can hardly wait to display the new items :) :) yay!

You may be wondering, my one reader, why I suddenly blogged, today, of all days. Well, truly I am procrastinating from a multitude of e-mails, trainings, and packing, but I also have a lot on my mind, and being that I am sitting at a coffee shop alone, really working on that focus thing, I thought I would share it with you.

In this whole process of applying for jobs, moving to Iowa for a month, etc I have been feeling a lot of peace about everything. I am literally living life day-to-day, trying not to stress on the things to come, and simply praying when I start to over-think things. I say, "God if this is not the right position for me, or the right place, or the right whatever, please don't let it happen". Trying to follow the will of God and not my own desires. It has been entirely more rewarding than I imagined.

There's the update.. so much more to come.. back to "focusing".

my life is a perfectly timed clock

Oh San Diego, something about you makes me really wish I was a fish, or maybe a crab. I love that feeling of excitement when you look out and see the fast ocean, and the sound of the crashing waves. If beach bum was an occupation, I would be absolutely okay with that. I was so lucky to get a few days off right around Easter and take a fairly spontaneous weekend get-a-way to San Diego. It was just what I needed, let me tell you, and the teary good-bye while driving away at the end of the trip says it all. You know the feeling of no plans, no cares, no deadlines. Just sitting or sleeping or snacking all day if you want, it was one of those weekends. I went in knowing that I wanted to spoil myself a little and enjoy every minute, and it was amazing. Every weekend, yes, please, thank you. I was able to see some old friends, make some new friends, and eat A LOT of awesome food. If I was a normal blogger, I would have probably documented the whole thing a lot better, but sometimes you just cannot encompass a feeling into a photo.

A few days prior I celebrated a birthday, my 23rd to be exact. Twenty-three. I know that to a lot of people that seems young, I have been told over and over again, but to me it's that age where I thought I would have everything figured out. Growing up I always thought 23 would be the age I would be when I got married, had my own house, really figured out life. Obviously, I thought a lot would change before this time in life :) but there is a saying that I have been thinking about a lot lately..  "Grow where you have been planted". Often I think of myself more as a tumbleweed, still looking for a comfy place, moving about constantly, but growing slowly over time. I have a hard time realizing that this is where I'm at right now, flourish and bloom here, now, not in 3 months, not when I move again, not when I'm older. Enjoy where I am at, look for ways to use my gifts here, be settled. 

God seems to be teaching me a lot lately about timing. Nothing ever seems quick enough or to my own planned pace. I have a whole list of things I would have liked to complete yesterday. I see my life differently than God has planned for me, I do not always realized why the timing is the way it is, but I try to remember that God has perfect timing, if I can just remember to give up my prayers and concerns to Him first and wait for guidance. I don't know where I see my life in 2 months, or in 2 years, or 20, but I know that my faith needs to be steadfast, I know that there is a plan for me, and that even the little things like getting the stomach flu, missing a class, and sitting in traffic, everything has been far planned in advanced. I need to only rest and enjoy the ride. Don't stress about the things you have no control over, but live your life to glorify God, pray for guidance, and grow where God has planted you... and enjoy spontaneous, perfect vacations, that only come once in a while. :)

30 Day Challenge

I love this photo because it just screams America to me, we have the big well fed cow, the bright blue skies and grass fields as far as the eye can see. This photo was taken during a recent trip to Flagstaff in which we did not find the chocolate falls, sadly, but we were able to get really close to this guy, and that made it a little bit worth it. Today I am reminded how blessed I am to live in this country where freedom is evident and dreams are within reach. Most of all though, I am blessed to live in a country where I can worship my God in what ever way I please, and not take punishment or physical abuse. We have it really good in this country, and yet sometimes we use that as an excuse to not tell others. We assume that others have heard or we simply get to comfortable living our daily routines to even think about breaking out of our box. What would it look like to tell one person a day? You don't have to bring them through the entire conversion process, and it will be uncomfortable at times for sure, but are we putting ourselves out there enough to even have the possibility of having a meaningful conversation with someone about Christ? I was thinking the other day, do the people I interact with know I'm a Christian? If they do, how long did it take them before they knew that about me, if they don't, why don't they? How could we make Christ evident in our lives within the first 5 minutes of conversation?

Continuing on this thought, I am starting a 30 day challenge, for myself. This is not exactly like the squat challenge or ab challenge, but my goal is to meet 30 new people in 30 days. Since moving to Phoenix I rarely make an effort to go out and meet others and build relationships outside of the friendships that I already have. If you want to do this with me, comment or just do it! I think it will be a great opportunity to meet new people and hopefully get myself into some of those situations to encourage meaningful conversation.

Ready, set, go!

watermelon watermelon watermelon

Every time I think of the word watermelon, I remember a time back in the day, maybe like close to 15 years ago, when the amazing truth came out that if you said the word "watermelon" instead of the actual words to a song people would not be able to tell. Mind blown. In true Miranda fashion I had to try it, so during one of those wonderful elementary school programs I pretended to not know the words, just to see if the whole watermelon thing worked, I think it did.

Well this post really has nothing to do with singing, but it has everything to do with watermelon.

I first saw a recipe for a watermelon salad on pinterest and honestly thought it sounded a little gross. Let me tell you, I was wrong. The combination of watermelon, lemon, feta cheese, and balsamic vinegar was absolutely wonderful. I would probably add some green onion and maybe some mint next time, it would add a little more dimension. The yellow that looks like scrambled egg is lemon zest and I through a few lemon slices into a glass of white wine. Combined with grilled chicken or on its own, so good.

I have finally made it to my weekend, it has been a long couple of days, but also very rewarding. I have loved the influence that I get to have on my employees and there are people that have so much heart, they are such a good reminder of what happens when you have a good attitude no matter what is going on. When you really try to live to the glory of God, your whole mind set changes. There's a greater purpose than making money or becoming famous. My life has changed in the last couple of weeks. I have been trying to embrace time with the Lord and improve my prayer life, really focusing on praying for things consistently. My heart has changed, I have a longing for God that I have been missing for a while. I can live my day being content in the person that God made me to be, and not in the person that I feel I am expected to be or that the world tells me I should be. It is a daily choice that I have to make. It is easier to live in a dream of what you see on TV or read in a book or blog, and some days I struggle a lot, but it's not a sin to struggle, it is okay to not be perfect. I always felt that I needed to look a certain way and act a certain way to be a "good" Christian. I didn't think that I could pursue my passions or be successful. I am trying to figure out what my gifts are and how I can use them now and how God intended me to use them in the future. It's a journey, I don't know how it ends, where it ends, or who is in it, but that is okay. I don't have to have everything figured out right now.

I have been working through this online devotional called "She Reads the Truth" it has a lot of different programs you can use, and combined with an online journal, it really is a great fit for me. It is not incredibly in-depth or hard to understand, but I look forward to reading the devotional every day and then expanding upon it in my own quite time. I like that it is online because I don't get intimidated looking at a large book, feeling like it will take me forever to get through it. I am also into all of those online things right now, so it's very relate-able for me. It is not going to be right for everyone, but it is a great fit for where I find myself right now.

I have also been obsessed with a worship CD by, Will Reagan and United Pursuit, called, "Live at the Banks House," which is unfortunately not the home of someone named Banks. Listen to the whole thing beginning to end and love it. Today I found out that Will Reagan's wide Andrea Marie also sings in a few of the songs, and has some great music of her own. Listen and enjoy.

So maybe spend some extra time in prayer and whether that is over a nice cup of coffee or fifteen minutes on your way to work, remember that is enough. You are enough, the change happened with the death on the cross and the empty tomb.

Happy (Almost) Wednesday.

and sometimes you make cherry pie

 

 Sometimes you don't work at night and actually get to have a social life.. on such occasions you make fresh cherry pie and have friends over. It seems like it has been forever since I have baked and made something that was just really really good. I totally have had the time too, but I have just been a little lost in other things. The other night when I set my mind to making something, it felt good, I felt like myself.

Sometimes I don't feel like blogging because I wonder if I am living my life on the internet too much and not in real life. I enjoy sharing what is going on in my life, not for others, but so that I can look back and see all of the many ways God has blessed me.

Life lately is simple, I am still figuring things out with my new job and trying to get into a new routine. It seems weird to be done with college and be a real Adult, which I do not feel like, ever. What do real adults do that makes them an adult? If you find out, let me know. There has probably been way too much One Tree Hill watching and some old school Dance Dance Revolution. Also, a lot of decorating and "creativity" has been had, which who knew I could do? Cray..

walkin' in a winter wonderland

 This past weekend was the first real touch of winter, and what is winter without some adventures, and pumpkin spice lattes. A few of my good friends came up for a visit from Phoenix and much to their delight, we froze together and enjoyed the laziness of the season- movies, games, hot chocolate, the works. Here are a few pictures from a spontaneous adventure in the woods in which I wore Toms and forgot my jacket.

~Miranda