Changes

Not sure how I feel about the new layout, but I needed the change.

This was a bit of a crazy week for me. I realized that I experienced a lot of changes these past 2 months... and there are many more changes to come!

Starting 2006...

• I'm single again
• I have bangs
• I have a tattoo
• I moved into my own apartment
• I went on my first business trip

I was looking at my 101 in 1001 and wished there were other things I put on there. For example, I should have included getting a tattoo, going scuba-diving...

101 update

#2&3: Keep the list updated and Blog about each item. Although I'm not finished with this list, I suppose keeping things updated for 2 months allows me to assume that I'm going to accomplish these two items.

#87: Live on my own. I just moved into a nice 1-bedroom apartment today. I'm super excited about living on my own. My parents are bringing some furniture tomorrow. For now, I'm all set in my apartment except I have no living room furniture. Eventually, I'm going to set it up with a loveseat and 2 wicker chairs. If anyone wants to donate any of those items, let me know! Until then, if anyone has a tent I can borrow to set up in my living room for fun, let me know. After spring break I'll look into getting a cat. =)

#94: Finish a crossword puzzle without any help. I kinda cheated on this one. Newsday crossword puzzles are incredibly easy. But hey, I finished it without help.

A week of food

I feel like I went to bed Sunday and woke up to a Thursday. Where did this week go?

101 update:
Task #49: Cook a new recipe a week for 6 weeks
Week 1: Beef with Pea pods
Week 2: Shrimp with Soy beans
Week 3: Veggie Alfredo pasta
Week 4: Red Bean Soup
Week 5: Teriyaki Pork (with homemade teriyaki sauce)
Week 6: Orange-glazed pork chops
Week 7: Spicy BBQ Ribs (I threw in the 7th week just for kicks since the red bean soup was kind of a cop-out)

All of them turned out well except the orange-glazed pork chops. I'll have to try that again. The Spicy BBQ sauce was also homemade (oil, water, vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, ground red pepper) - and I'm not sure I'm a big fan. I like ribs, but I don't think I'll make it at home again. They're so heavy!

Task #81: Eat only homecooked meals for 1 week
It wasn't that hard - I don't go out to eat very much anymore.

Lots of thoughts, but I'm too tired to blog more right now.

Being Frugal

I noticed this morning that my lifestyle choices have greatly changed since I started working. Although I still like pretty things and have a tendency to be materialistic, materialism no longer takes up my time or money. Here are just some of things that have changed:

• Instead of $45 haircuts at Salon XL, I now opt for $15 cuts at the Aveda Institute
• Instead of $20-30 Bumble&Bumble hair products, I now buy $5.99 products from Garnier Fructese
• Instead of $60 hair coloring, I dye my own hair and do my own highlights for $10
• Instead of $2.50 floss, I buy $0.99 floss
• Instead of $70 dress pants, I wear $19 clearance dress pants (which I was very glad to hear from my co-workers that they still look like they were tailored especially for me!)
• Instead of $70 cashmere scarves, I'm knitting my own scarves (which costs about $3.99-$15 in material!)
• I only buy my shampoo and body wash on clearance
• Heck, I even buy makeup on clearance - my lipstick (that I love) was on sale for $0.99
• I buy store-brand cereal if nothing else is on sale
• I eat out much less (and when I do, I always box leftovers for at least 1-2 more meals)
• I work hard at my job and treat my business trips as vacations =)
• I realized this morning that most of my clothes are 2-4 years old or were bought recently on sale (note: most, not all)
• I check gasbuddy.com to get the cheapest gas...and I fill up on Wednesday evenings because gas prices rise on weekends
• I now read the news online rather than subscribing to Time Magazine or a newspaper
• Two sites I frequent prior to making big purchases: overstock.com and shopping.com
• I actually use the $$ advice from my favorite magazine, such as this or this.
• Three words: cash back bonuses.
• I go to the library instead of the bookstore.

There are some things I still occasionally splurge on. Such as cooking supplies and spices (my spice racks are shaping up quite nicely! =)) I used to be a big spender. I guess these decisions developed over the last year. Call me cheap, call me thrifty, but I'm happy. =) Ah, the joys of frugality.

Sleep-Deprived

I woke up this morning and felt like I was run over by a truck. I think I took on too much this semester and I'm tired. To top things off, I found out last Friday that I have scoliosis. It should be correctable with physical therapy, but until then I have to radically change my posture and carry less in my bags. I woke up to back pain this morning. I don't know if it's really getting worse by the day or if I'm just more aware of it now.

February is a tough month to get through because it's right smack in the middle of Michigan winter. My mantra now is "3 more weeks till Florida." I've decided to take no work with me and treat my off days like a true vacation. I'll even allot a whole day to sleeping.

Some thoughts I've had about worship and vocation. I read in T. Trevethan's book The Beauty of God's Holiness that worship is about the object of worship (God). It's not about us or how we're best served or what we're used to. In fact, the reason the Israelites tended to corrupt worship was because they started practices that made more sense to them (modeled after pagan practices in their culture) rather than worshiping the way God had mandated them to. As I'm planning the worship seminar for my church, I've been thinking a lot about the style of worship. We often worship (musically) a certain way because it "reaches us more" or because we're "more comfortable with it." But those are not Biblical reasons to choose how to worship. In fact, the concept of choice in how to worship is not Biblical. So where does that leave us?

Similarly, we have this concept about vocation that we're called to do what God has best gifted us to do. We're also called to do what we're passionate about doing. But in the Bible, God often called people that didn't seem to fit their calling. Moses was not an orator. Gideon was not a warrior. Neither initially had the desire and passion or the giftings to do what they were clearly called to do. So where does that leave us in our search for our vocations?

The whole notion of worship and vocations fitting us - is that a new and incorrect concept? If so, how do we decide how to worship as a church? How do we decide what career to go into? I'm so confused. Maybe because I'm tired.

101 update
Task #99: Make chocolate-covered strawberries…and eat them. Saturday we had a spontaneous girl's night and we tried out my new dessert fondue. It didn't work terribly well, but it did work. We melted Ghiradelli milk chocolate and cut up bananas and strawberries to dip. It was delicious! =)