Create a Will

In my Financial Peace University class at work Dave Ramsey mentioned on one of the dvd's (or was it a book?) that everyone needed to make a will. Yikes, I hadn't even thought of it! I know it seems morbid and you don't want to think about it...but you should!  You have worked hard for your things, pass them on to the people you care about.  Make it TODAY, you aren't promised a tomorrow.  "This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!" Psalms 118:24.

Why would I need a will, I don't have anything!  haha.  That's what I kept telling myself, but the more I thought about it the more I thought I wanted to make one.  In Texas (I'm not sure about other states), if you do not have a will the court will decide who gets your belongings.  The government decides on things all day, do you want them to decide on YOUR stuff?  Think about how many times you have complained about the government and how they do things! haha  They will decide on everything from your house, your kids (poor Jabba), your 401K, your savings, etc.  Even if your family 'knows' your wishes, it won't matter.  Write it out and sign it!  Think about everything you have and write it down; your car, your children (where will they go, who will take care of them), your savings/checking accounts, your 401K, your life insurance, your belongings, your jewelry, your pets, your house, your business, your rental/extra properties, and/or your investments (I know I am forgetting some stuff!).  Also think who it will go to; your family, your kids, your baby mama, or your favorite charity (Ronald McDonald house, Make a Wish Foundation, Driving Jacks, Girls on the Run, and the SPCA are a few of my favorites).

(not my real will! Source)

I started my will in March and had a basic idea of who I wanted my items/money to go to in the event of my death.  I knew that since I do not have children (Jabba 'technically' doesn't count in this case) or a husband that I wanted my nephews to get everything (basically).  I won't go into details of what I am giving (too personal, sorry!) but you get the idea.  I will tell you that Jabba goes to my friend Mandy who just happens to be his godmother. :)

While I had started it in March, I did not finish it until today.  Me=Procrastinator.  What made me finish it?  Well, I am going skydiving on Sunday as part of my 30 Before 30 List.  Who's terrified to jump out of a perfectly good airplane?  THIS GIRL!!!!!!

The thought of the government making decisions on my behalf about who gets MY stuff drove me nuts!  I printed the document (technically the will can be a napkin as long as it has your signature), had two witnesses sign it, and also had it notarized. It is currently on it's way to my parents house via the mail to be placed in their safe (well, they don't know that yet but they will find that out when they get it in the mail)  :)

So what is your action plan?  MAKE A WILL TODAY!  Skydiving or not. 

Wish me luck on Sunday when I jump!!

Laziness Confessions

I have a confession. :/ I have not been running and exercising as I should.  I have put on lbs that I had recently lost, I have lost my focus, I have become LAZY again. I have pictures for encouragement as soon as you walk in my door, but I choose to look away from them.

I do not go to the gym or even turn on a tape.  “I don’t want to get sweaty and gross” or “I’m sleepy” or “I will do it tomorrow” or “I want to spend time with Jabba” or “I need to do XX or XX instead” or “It’s dark outside and I don’t know this area very well” or “It’s dark outside and I don’t know how safe it is” are just some of my excuses I have been telling myself.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!   It’s time to quit making excuses and make the LIFE that I want to have.  I’m not getting any younger. J

In order to do that I have began to plan my return back to running.  Remember my 2012 goals?  Well, they aren’t all going so well.  That is about to CHANGE though.  It’s the year of the OLYMPICS for goodness sakes.  How many of us will be inspired by their dedication (and their athletic bodies) and will get out and do something.  Some people will do it for a day, a week, a month, a year.  I want to choose to do it for LIFE!

So, this is my schedule for the fall running season.  I am not doing any 5K races, I am concentrating on 10K’s, 10 Milers, ½ Marathons, 30K’s, and MARATHONS!  Yep, I said it.  January 2013 will be the month of the marathon.  I have chosen these 6 (maybe 7) races based on training plans, time in between them, and meeting my goals.  Plus I can win some BLING for finishing them. Gotta love bling.  If I finish the Texas Bridge Series (Toughest 10K Galveston and Kemah, and also LaPorte ½), I will get an extra medal!

Here they are, if you want to do any of them with me let me know (or sign up!).

September:

Toughest 10K-Kemah-September 15^th -$30 (by Aug 15^th) Kemah

October:

10 for Texas-October 13^th -$55 (by October 7^th)-The Woodlands

Toughest 10K-Galveston-October 20^th -$30 (By July 29^th)  Galveston

Chosen ½ Marathon-October 27^th $75 (BY JUNE 30^TH) Total: $88.40 (New Braunsfels)

December:

LaPorte by the Bay ½ Marathon-December 2^nd-$65 (By Nov 2^nd) Seabrook

Naughty or Nice 30K (tentative-website is not updated)

January:

Houston Marathon-January 13^th $125

or

Disney Marathon-January 13^th $150

Why these two?  Well, originally I wanted to prepare for either the NYC Marathon or the Philadelphia Marathon, but being the lazy bum that I am, I haven’t been running and am WAY out of shape to run either of those.  If I choose the HOUSTON MARATHON my family/friends can be there and it’s cheaper (no travel costs).  However, it’s a lottery system so I am not guaranteed entry.  If I don’t get into that one, I decided on the DISNEY MARATHON! Whoop whoop.  Pros:  It would be super cool to say that my first marathon was Disney,  It’s the 20^th Anniversary, I’ve never been to Disney so I could see Disney!  Cons:  Travel costs would be expensive, I’ve never had to travel for a race before and my family and friends can’t travel that far (less support).  It really depends on if I get into the Houston Marathon or not. :/  We shall know in late June or early July!

So, if you hear me making excuses or being LAZY please let me know and give me a swift kick in the rear.  2012 is the year of changing my life for the better and so far it has been status quo.  Come on!   We have 8 months left, get in gear with me. J

Life does not have a remote, get off the couch and change it yourself!

Orange as Jabba

Don’t be as orange as Jabba

Orange as Jabba after I got a spray tan?!  Ha ha.  I went to get a spray tan last night for #3 on my 30 under 30 list!! Whoo hoo!  Did I turn out orange?  You be the judge!

This is me the morning after at work!

 When I got off work I posted that I was going to be getting an airbrush tan and got lots of comments on FB.  My friend Brittney commented that hopefully I wouldn’t look as ORANGE as Jabba. Haha.

I went to Throwing Copper in Houston on Tuesday night for my airbrush tanning session with Samantha.  Throwing Copper uses organic materials to airbrush you and it was an easy and relaxing experience.  The session is $55 and usually lasts about 7-10 days depending on how well you follow the care directions.

I got to the studio and walked in to the tanning room.  Samantha was super sweet and told me about the process and made me feel comfortable about getting undressed in front of a stranger (I could get all the way undressed, but I decided only to my panties!).   There were four black panels on the wall with a vent that sucks up all the excess paint so you won’t breath it in.  There was two sets of foil on the floor when you stuck your feet to so the bottoms of your feet wouldn’t get tan (that would look weird!).  She had me face the back and keep my arms down.  Then she directed me on what to do like move my arms up over my head, or elbows bent, or straight out, etc.  After she finished one side she used a blow dryer to complete and set the solution.  She had me turn around and we did the front.  On my elbows and ankles she put an extra lotion like solution to keep it from getting orange in those places.  After she was done with both sides she set it with a powder.  That’s it, super easy and quick!  I think I was in and out in less than 30 minutes (probably more like 20).

She said to go home and get in comfy clothes and don’t take a shower for 6-8 hours and said I could wait to shower til in the morning, but be careful to lay an inexpensive sheet over my bed so I won’t get it on my expensive sheets (but if you do, it washes out).  She said when I take a shower to make sure that I rinse off til the water runs clear (the part that comes off is just the bronzer part, not the solution).  It seemed to take forever this morning to have it run clear, but eventually it was clear water again.  When I got to work I noticed my ankles looked a little spotty so I will be scrubbing the dicken’s out of them tonight.

That week when I took a shower my bathtub was DIRTY!  It was so gross and it was actually hard to scrub off. YUCK! 

I didn’t get any before pictures (I know, I know), but here are some from after.  This picture is from right after the tanning session when I had just gotten home. I sort of freaked out a bit because my calf is really dark and the bottom part of my leg was dark.

Would I do it again?  Not sure.  It’s still new in the process and I’m not sure how long it will take to get used to and also how it will disappear.  If it looks weird when it is fading then probably not.  Also, it is kind of expensive.  $55 per 7-10 days?  I can’t afford that!  It might be good for a special event though…we shall see.  It was a fun/interesting experience though. J

If you are interested go to http://www.throwingcoppertanning.com/ to book a session today.

Driving Jacks 5K Fun Run Recap

This recap is a behind the scenes recap of the Driving Jacks 5K.  My usual race recaps are from me running in events, but this is my first 5K to plan and execute so the recap is a bit different.  Enjoy!

The 5K was MONTHS of planning, WEEKS of gathering things together, DAYS of stressing ;), HOURS of enjoying, only MINUTES of running, and SECONDS between the first and second place winners!  We hope that everyone had a fantastic time and can't wait to do it all again in 2013. I loved it all (even the stressful parts...not as they were  happening, but as I am looking back on it) and I am glad that everything came together to make the event a success.

Friday:  I got up around 5:15 with a looooong list of things to accomplish before I set out for Nacogdoches at 8:00.  I tried to get as much stuff packed and ready to go before I had to leave, but I was still scrambling at the last minute.  True to myself I was running late and left around 8:20 am. :/ 

At this point in the day, after expenses we were projecting around $2,000 raised.  Little did we know there would be more blessings in store!

I had to pick up Carberry on the way (btw, Carberry is the funniest road trip companion ever!) and made it to Humble around 9:15.  I stopped to get gas and Starbucks before I got there (Starbucks gave me a free drink-go me!) so we could go straight there.  We stopped in Lufkin to pick up the Best Buy gift cards that were donated (Thank you Best Buy for being a DJ5K sponsor!) but little did we know that they were already picked up.  We made it to Nacogdoches at 11:40 and Matt had just enough time to make it to his lunch meeting.

I called the Nacogdoches DJ5K chair Courtney to see if she wanted to have lunch to finalize last minute details about the 5K.  She said yes and we went to another DJ5K sponsor: Auntie Pasta’s (we choose them because they had bread and I was starving!) for our lunch.  Yummy.  After lunch was a frenzy of last minute details and picking things up.  We headed to the grocery store to pick up the award (cookie cake) that would be given to A.C. S.P.E.A.K. for the DJ5K registration contest winner.  Afterwards we headed to the stadium to make sure we had power outlets to plug things in and see some more logistical information.  We ran into some of the committee picking up water jugs and we helped them transport them to the office.  Back at the office we finalized the details on where all of the volunteers would be assigned (on race day morning at 5:30 am I realized that I had lost this paper!) and also registered some last minute people.

That afternoon was really stormy but we needed to head to the route and finalize some details.  Matt, Chris, Courtney, and I all started in the field and walked the entire course.  We needed to know where to put the signs (which Chris had done awhile ago, but we needed to verify) and also where to have volunteers be standing for additional directions.  The rain was a light rain, but it still wasn’t fun to walk in the rain (if I would have danced I would have been able to mark something off my 30 under 30 list! Darn it! Haha). 

Around dinnertime the alumni started to get in town and as we were finalizing details and making signs we were all telling funny Driving Jacks stories.  Some of the new Driving Jacks members were listening to us and had no idea what we went through to get Driving Jacks where it was today.  It is completely different from the small organization of my time. Haha.  Oh the stories we kept to ourselves. LOL.  At 9:30 the Alumni committee was supposed to meet to talk about things and take an inventory of the things each of us were supposed to bring (Robby-bibs and safety pins, Hector-signs, gift cards, black bags, Spencer-water and bananas, me-timing chips, shirts, trophies, cupcakes, serving spoons, and more!) plus Courtney was there with last minute stuff also.  We put all of the timing chips on the bibs and about 7 of us took a trip down to the football field to make sure we knew exactly what to do in the morning.  The start line was to be at the 20 yard line on the home side of the stadium and the runners would run around the track, through the tunnel, and out to the rest of the course back to the finish line that would be at the 20 yard line on the visitor side.  Afterwards we went back to the office to finalize the timing chip system.  Some people I knew would not be able to come (but they wanted to donate to Driving Jacks anyway) so we took the off the list of people who were needed a timing chip.

Around 2 am I headed to my friend Amber’s house to get some sleep.  I set my alarm to 4:30 am so I would have time to be at the stadium by 5 am.  Well, true to my style I woke up around 4:35 since my alarm clock did not go off and was about 5 minutes late.  I am not quite sure what happened to my alarm clock (maybe it was the 2.5 hour sleep time) but I made it so that is the most important time.

Saturday morning:  Race Day!!!  What is up with it being so cold?!

It was about 5:05 am when I got to the stadium and Hector, Courtney, Matt, and Robby were already there an unloading everything.  Being the super control freak planner I am, I had already sent everyone a list of items they were in charge of the day before, morning of, during, after the 5K, items to bring, timeline of events, and a schedule to stay on.  Everyone knew their duties, with a few minor tweaks.  We unloaded the cars, set up tables, water stops, signs, awards, packet pickup, and registration all in the knick of time.  The packet pickup started at 6:30 am.  We handed out walkie talkies to the committee members, but every time I tried to use it, it didn’t work (or I did it wrong?!) so I just said to call my cell phone (it went dead by 9 am from all the calls and texts!).  I did hear that everyone had a fantastic time playing with the walkie talkies though. Haha.  Some strange things were said across those walkie talkie lines. LOL.

We had heard that people were confused as to how to get to us so we sent people up to every parking lot to direct our runners.  The timing chip guy got there around this time also to start setting up.  We needed the water stop captains (Marcus and Thomas) dropped off by 6:45 so they could start filling up the water cups while they were waiting on other volunteers.

At 7 am the other shift of volunteers were set to be arriving so we dropped them off at their various locations.  Thank goodness for Carberry because he walked the route with us and he knew exactly where we needed people to be stationed.  I think he was on North Street somewhere directing people after he dropped off the volunteers. Hector was originally supposed to speak on the mike making announcements, but he was at a water stop (I heard water stop #1 was really fun) so Robby made the 15, 10, and 5 minute countdown announcements. I was also trying to get volunteers where I needed them and was way over by the Forestry building at 5 minutes to start time.  I ran over there (so I technically did run this 5K, haha) and made it just in time to see everyone off.  The lead guy Jose was in the lead the entire time (it kept coming over the walkie talkies where he was) and was the first to finish (he is a junior in high school!).  The rest of the winners started coming in and we were handing out water bottles (donated by Whole Foods), and telling them to get fruit (bananas were donated by Whole Foods, and the fruit trays by Cotton Patch!).  

Finally it was time for door prizes and awards.  We had a list of about 20 trivia question that Spencer asked on Driving Jacks and SFA so we could hand out extra tickets.  The questions ranged from who was the DJ founder (Amy Shields), to what stadium we were in (Homer Bryce).  Mostly I could tell that the Driving Jacks members were whispering the answers into people’s ears.  Haha.  Cheaters!  I’m kidding.  Carberry did a fantastic job as M.C. for the door prizes and awards.  We gave away gift cards to Best Buy, Birraporetti's, and Auntie Pasta’s/Clear Springs.  Macy May donated a Vera Bradley purse, and we also had a $300 photo session donated by a company in Houston (I will get the name); Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers donated a gift basket.  Three SFA ceramic bowls/platters were donated as well.  I hope I mentioned everybody!  (I know that this paragraph and probably the entire blog post is filled with grammar errors, but I don't care and it's my blog!) ;)

We presented A.C.S.P.E.A.K. with the Team Registration Contest award (a cookie cake) for having 25 registrations!!!  A.C.S.P.E.A.K. is a class at Angelina College, each semester their teacher requires them to do a community service project and they chose the Driving Jacks 5K!  When I told their teacher Sabrina about the registration contest she was so excited!  She got all of her students to sign up and even some family members.  25 registrations is awesome!  A.C.S.P.E.A.K. also had a bake sale on Tuesday and Wednesday to raise extra money for Driving Jacks.  They presented us with $200!  I am sooooo proud of them!!  Sabrina and I had been talking for the past month (she is super sweet) and I was very excited to meet her.  I introduced myself to her, but it was in the middle of all of the craziness of getting everything together so I couldn’t talk as long as I would have liked (sorry Sabrina!  Congrats on winning your age group though!).  A huge thank you goes out to them for choosing us as their community service project (we hope you had fun and will do it next year!) J

Enterprise Holdings (Enterprise Rent-A-Car) also presented Driving Jacks with a check for $2,500 to go towards operations.  My friend Amber (same Amber that I stayed at her house that night to take a nap!) is the assistant manager at the Nacogdoches location and had told me they received it and that they wanted to present it to them at the 5K.  I had told the Alumni committee about it, but Garrett (the current DJ pres) didn’t know anything about it except that a surprise was to be announced at the 5K.  When Amber was presenting the award and said the amount, you should have seen Garrett’s face!  He looked so happy and like he was about to cry. LOL.  It was a great surprise.  He had kept bugging me to tell him what the surprise was but I wouldn’t, he told me thank you for keeping it a surprise.  I <3 surprises (except when they are played on me so don’t surprise me!).

Awards:

Baker Sign Co. donated all of the arrow signs for the event, as well as a big DJ5K banner.  When we announced the winner we had them take a picture next to the sign.  We had 6 age groups and the top two male/female in each age category won a medal and the overall male and female won a trophy. We only had women finishers in the 60+ category so we had extra medals (I took one home and it’s hanging in my medal holder at home!).  My friend Laura (who registered for the race and decided to volunteer instead at the finish line (did ya’ll see her?! She was a great volunteer) her husband won 2^nd place in his age group and got a medal!  Sabrina from A.C.S.P.E.A.K. also got a medal (along with a few of her students).My friend Angie’s son Dylan was the 3^rd place male in the under 18 age group and he was only 1 minute behind the 2^nd place finisher.  I can only imagine what he could do if he was to train hard and go for it at the next race.  Dylan, I can’t wait to see you at next’s years race, we want to give you a medal!!

5 out of 7 past Driving Jacks Presidents took a photo, and then we added the rest of the committee members, then all of the volunteers.  Photo filled day (and I will delete any that I do not look my best) J

After the awards ceremony was over we cleaned everything up, got the tables and signs picked up, and headed to the office.  It was about 9:45 am (it felt sooo much later…from the lack of sleep?!) My friends Erika, Oscar, and Lili were at Chick Fil-A so I stopped by and said hi to them for a few minutes and left.  I stopped at Starbucks to get a latte (Grande Caramel Iced Latte with an extra shot of espresso please) and went up to the office.  Everyone was jealous of my coffee (I didn’t tell them I was going because it would have taken forever to get all of their orders and I wanted coffee, haha!).

Courtney said that we got around 10-15 more registrations on race day and we had a total of around $700 in cash.  We totaled everything up and the preliminary numbers based on expenses we already know about (hopefully there aren’t too many surprises) were projected to be around $3,000!  One of our regular donors (who wants to be anonymous) had spoken with me earlier that morning and had agreed to match however much money we raised.  So we raised $6,000 for Driving Jacks! The $3,000 we raised will go in the endowment fund account, and the matched amount will go to Driving Jacks operations.

Around 11:30 a group of us went to eat at the Fredonia Hotel and talked about any and everything.  I was so sleepy at this point and Carberry offered to drive my car back.  We said goodbye to everyone and headed out (I ended up driving though). I dropped Carberry off and got home around 4 pm.  I fell asleep and did not get out of bed until 8 am the next morning (I need my sleep!).  It was a long, but amazing two days and I wouldn't trade it for the world.  My goal was to raise $5K from the 5k, but God exceeded my imagination and we raised $6K.  To God be the glory. :)

Thank you goes out to all of the DJ5K committee members, volunteers, participants, sponsors, and A.C.SPEAK for making this event a huge success!!!!!!!  We couldn’t have done it without all of you and we will forever be grateful for your support.  See you next year!

Who’s ready to start planning next year? Haha.  Let’s give it a few months. ;)

Driving Jacks 5K

Oh my gosh!  Yesterday was the Driving Jacks 5K and it turned out so much better than I could have ever imagined.  God blessed us in a huge way!!

My original goal was $5,000 (250 participants ish), but I am very proud to say that after expenses we are estimating the total amount raised to be just over $3,000 and with an generous match the total should be just over $6,000!!!


"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us." Ephesians 3:20 NIV


I will post a recap of everything (hopefully people will  post pics since I didn't get ANY!) that happened since Friday morning probably later today.  I am off to church on this beautiful Sunday morning.  Praise God!

Get out the popcorn, it’s movie time!

#19 on my 30 under 30 list is to watch 5 classic movies I have never seen.  When I wrote this item on my list I didn’t know what movies I wanted to add, I just knew that people were always talking about this movie or that movie and I had no idea what they were talking about.  I knew pretty early on that I wanted Shawshank Redemption and Urban Cowboy, but the other three I wasn’t so sure about.  I enlisted the help of my Facebook friends and also a little guy named Google.  Between the two of them I came up with this list:

1.        Shawshank Redemption

2.        Urban Cowboy

3.        An Affair to Remember

4.        Saving Private Ryan

5.       The Passion of the Christ

I think it’s a pretty good list!  Some of you wouldn’t believe I haven’t seen some of these movies.  What? I live in Texas and I haven’t seen Urban Cowboy?! LOL, NOPE! 

Well, here is my review of these 5 movies.

Shawshank Redemption-5 stars!!!!!!!  Loved, loved, loved this movie.  I bought it in the $5 bin at Wal-mart, the rest I rented from Blockbuster.  The story is about a prison called Shawshank where a young banker goes after he is wrongly accused of murdering his wife and her lover.  You see his story has he is in prison for years and his trials and tribulations of what happens to him.  I don’t want to give away any details in case you haven’t seen it.  A few WOW and favorite moments: The part about his young friend and the warden (OMG I do not like it when people pretend to be ‘Christian’ and act like that).  The old guy when he was let go and what happened after!  The corruption!  The end of the movie! 

Please, please, please rent this movie!!!

Urban Cowboy-Ugh.  I really didn’t like this movie.  Well, it wasn’t BAD, but it wasn’t great.  I didn’t like John Trvolta’s character because he treated his wife like crap-granted, she was not the brightest and the best wife, but he didn’t have to treat her like that.  Urban Cowboy is a story that is based in Pasadena, TX (close to where I live now) and the bar in the story was called Gilley’s (which used to be a famous bar that I think burned down many years ago).  The main character moved to Pasadena to work at the plants and goes out dancing at Gilley’s one night. He meets a girl and they fall in ‘love’ and get married.  The rest of the story is about them fighting and him trying to win her back by being a great mechanical bull rider.  What is classic about this?  I’m not sure, but it wasn’t great.  I now can say that I have seen it though. :/ 

An Affair to Remember-Eh, this movie was just OK.  It was a sweet story, but it was sort of lame!  The story is about two people who are engaged to someone else, go on a cruise and fall in love with someone else.  They agree to meet at the top of the Empire State Building 6 months from that day.  They both tell their fiancés’ that they are leaving them, and get real jobs (neither had worked before).  They go to meet and XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.  Did you REALLY think I was going to tell you what happened?!  The movie was old (I’m not really a fan of old movies) and the way they acted was annoying.  I like movies set in present day because I can relate to the characters.  I did love her clothes though!  Super cute outfits.

Saving Private Ryan-This movie was good!  I typically don’t like gory movies with lots of blood and death, but this one I didn’t mind because I  know that our veterans really did suffer like that many years ago (and many are still suffering today).  SPR is set in WWII and it follows a team of about 8 men who are on a mission to find 1 soldier that was dropped somewhere but they don’t know exactly where.  The soldier that they were looking for was being sent home based on the Sole Survivor Policy. He was the youngest of 4 boys and all 3 of his older brothers were drafted in the war and had died forcing him to be sent home.  There was a lot of drama in this film and a lot of death.  The first 30 minutes of the movie was a horrific battle scene where tons of men die trying to get on an island.

The Passion of the Christ-This moving was very interesting and I learned so much from it.  I knew the basic story of how Jesus was crucified, but now I know a lot more details!  I am so glad I watched this movie alone.  Why?  Well, #1 I cried!  Yes, you all know me very well and know that I cry at the drop of a hat anyway, but this movie hurt my heart a lot.  I had heard that he was nailed to the cross, and a cross of thorns placed on his head…but beat up like a dog?  NO!  They kept beating and beating and beating him.  I don’t understand how they could think that was fun?!  Jesus kept saying ‘Your will God, not Mine’ and each time he saw his mother his resolve got stronger and he was able to take everything they gave him.  I kept thinking how hard that must have been for Mary to see her son being beaten over and over and not being able to stop it. As a mother to Jabba it hurts my heart when he looks sad or scared, but if he was to ever be hurt I would go crazy!  Mary couldn’t hold Jesus and tell him it was ok, because she didn’t know if it would and she couldn’t get to him.  I cried for both of them.  #2.  I stopped the movie about 20 times!  I saw something and I googled it to read about who that was or what just happened.  I didn’t know Judas hung himself!  I didn’t know why Mary and Mary Magdalene wiped up Jesus’ blood.  I didn’t know one of Jesus’ disciples was his half brother. I didn’t know that the Governor of the city was told by his wife not to let anything happen to Jesus, but he turned his back on him, even when he knew that Jesus was innocent.  The list goes on and on, but I am glad I watched it alone because it would be annoying to someone else if I had kept pressing pause.

Turns out, not all Opera singers are fat

#14 on my 30 before 30 list is ‘go to the opera’.  I had been to Broadway and the ballet, but never to an opera so I was super excited to have it on my list.  I need culture in my life you see.

My friend Nicki had taken me to the ballet months ago so I thought I would invite him to be my opera buddy.  Nicky suggested we go see La Traviata at the Houston Grand Opera.  As the event got closer I couldn’t decide what to wear.  About a week before the opera I texted Nicky and asked him what to wear.  He said operas were usually formal attire.  YIKES!  I had some shopping to do. 

Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a formal dress at the last minute?!  Well, let me tell you that it’s not easy!  I didn’t want to spend too much on a dress because I don’t go to things where I have to wear long formals.  My first stop was Burlington Coat Factory ßI have gotten some really cute clothes there, you should check it out.  I found two dresses that were OK, but were a last resort.  A few days later I went to Macy’s and found another dress that I thought I would end up wearing, but THEN I went to Dilliards and fell in love with a short black cocktail dress with sequins (who doesn’t love sequins!).  My neighbor Carol helped me get into my dress and I curled my hair.  Oops! I was running soooo late (as usual though J )

Nicky and I drove together and got to the Wortham center about 30 minutes before the performance.  We had just enough time to have a drink (Moscato wine please!) and people watch for a bit.  There was a really cool dress hanging from the ceiling that was on exhibit.

 

We got to our seats and the opera started.  It turns out that it was the same opera that Julia Roberts cried for in Pretty Woman.  I don’t really understand why she cried though?!  Maybe it was because I had to keep reading the subtitles since the play wasn’t in English.  I’m not sure, but I didn’t even tear up.

The story was about a woman that was a prostitute and she fell in love with a man.  She had been on the verge of death and had fought her way back to life.  She sold all of her possessions so she could live with him in the country but then his dad came to speak with her and told her that his other child could not get married if they were together (since she was a prostitute) and she left him.  Then she got sick again.  It was sad, but I still didn’t cry.  Maybe there is something wrong with me?  (That’s a story for a different day!)

That’s the story of my opera experience.  Would I go see another one?  Probably, as long as it was in English (but I think those are hard to come by).  I was not NOT a fan, but I was not a fan.  Make sense?  Maybe I should just pick another one and make sure I read the plot before I go?  Who knows. 

Have you ever been to the opera?  What did you see?  How did you like it?

Message in a bottle

This weekend I sent a message in a bottle, it was #29 on my 30 under 30 list.

On Friday I headed to Corpus Christi, TX to have a fun visit and hang out by the beach.  Corpus is about 4 hours from Houston so I got their around 8:30 pm.

My friend Nicky gave me this message in a bottle set when we went to the opera. Thanks Nicky!! 

It comes with a bottle, wax, candle, cork, and two notes to add to the bottle.

I wrote a note telling whoever finds it about my 30 under 30 list and how to contact me when they find it.

I rolled it up and stuck it inside the tube. My nephew also wrote a note to stick inside.  I don't know what exactly his said, but it was something about he likes video games.  Then he asked me how to spell pirate, so it must be about pirates also. LOL.

The kit came with two pre-written notes, but I decided to write my own.

Then added the wax (then you heat it up to melt it).

We headed out on the boat on Saturday morning to throw it out. This is my nephew Hunter and my Bro-in-Law Beau getting ready to go fishing/throw the bottle.

It's in the water!!! You can't really see it, but this is where we threw it and it's floating.

Hopefully it will make it's way to a person far, far away. When we threw it (Hunter actually threw it out) I was hoping that no one would see it in the area and pick it up. LOL. That would be just my luck. :/

If anyone finds it I will be sure to let everyone know!!

Homeless in Houston

#20 on my 30 under 30 list is to take a homeless person out to lunch or dinner.  Now, my original plan was to actually take a homeless person out, but my family said that was a bad idea and I compromised and decided to volunteer at a homeless shelter and serve them lunch. J

I searched several places and found one that I really liked called The Beacon.  It is really close to Minute Maid Park in downtown Houston.  I called and made an appointment to volunteer last Sunday.  I didn’t take pictures because I didn’t think they would appreciate having their pictures taken, so you just get the story. :/  Hope you like it anyway.

My shift was from 9 am-12 pm in the food service department.  It was pouring down raining when I left my house that morning but I didn’t want to cancel on them (they said a lot of people do cancel if it’s bad weather).  I got there around 8:45 am and signed in.  They assigned me to the cream, sugar, sweet n’ low section as what I like to call the “Sweetener Nazi”.  I technically wasn’t serving them lunch…but it’s the serving part that matters. J

Apparently people like to horde sweetener at this place because you can only have one creamer, and three total of the sugar or sweet n’ low (per drink) and they aren’t allowed to grab it out of the bucket, you have to get it for them.   At my station there was also an older lady giving it out also (they really only needed one person, but I guess they knew that they would take advantage of me being there for my first time).  The older woman was definitely a pro at being the Sweetener Nazi.  She gave me the run down on who is who and what you can and can’t do. I heard multiple times ‘it’s the rules’.  Okie dokie.

They let the homeless come in around 9:15 a few at a time.  They can take a shower, drink coffee/tea, do their laundry, and at lunch time they eat lunch.  They came in slowly at first and started getting their drinks.  Some of them tried to get more than what they were allowed and we had to point to the sign a few times.  One lady said, “who do they think they are telling us how much sweetener we can have in our coffee’’.  Really?  It’s free!  You aren’t paying for it (I really wanted to tell her that, but I didn’t).  Then another guy wanted 10 sugar packets and I told him no (I was getting into my Sweetener Nazi role) and he said that he wanted it and that he didn’t have to listen to women in his country.  I did tell him that those are the rules and that he is in America so he does have to listen to them here.

At 11 am the other Sweetener Nazi had to leave and I was left manning the fort by myself.  After she left they started serving lunch so I added salt and pepper packets to my list of things ot pass out (three salt, three pepper each).  I then thought of myself as the Condiment Nazi.  The rule was that they had to have their tray with them (because people tried to come up multiple times).  I understand that the rules are there because the salt/pepper/sugar/sweetner/creamer can get expensive.  I understand both sides of the argument that that stuff is expensive, but on the other hand these people don’t get much in life and they should have some sugar.  I don’t know.  I’m not on the budget cut committee.

So, I know I shouldn’t admit this but there was a guy there that was hot (and homeless), but in my defense he didn’t look like he should be there or that he was homeless. Maybe he was just wearing his Sunday best?  He had on khaki’s and a really nice button down shirt.  I don’t know, but he did look like my ex (the Chef) and I think that’s probably why I noticed him (and he actually had the same name as him! Weird!).  Ok, feel free to judge me for checkin’ out a homeless dude.  I am judging myself.  :/

Would I volunteer again?  Not sure.  Maybe in a different section, but I don’t think I would want to be the Sweetener Nazi again.  Honestly (and I might be a bad person for saying this), I don’t think they were very grateful for the services they were given (that is a generalization, some people were very polite and said thank you and you could tell they were grateful). It’s a free service that the Beacon is providing and they seemed to take it for advantage like we (society) owed them something.   I know some of them have mental illnesses, but a majority of them that I saw were just fine (but it could be hidden). 

Overall, it was an interesting experience and I’m glad I did it.  Have you ever volunteered at a homeless shelter?  What was your experience?

Dave Ramsey Budgeting

My work is sponsoring those of us that want to do it, a course called Financial Peace University.  When they offered it to us so many of us wanted to sign up that we have two classes.  My new company is so awesome that instead of putting a cap on the number of people that are able to participate, they just bought more kits.  They want all of us to be secure with money and know how to live life to our fullest with the money we make.  The class is more than $200 per person so it says a lot that they are paying for about 40 of to take it.  My friend Krista and her husband Tyler have been doing the Dave Ramsey system and are already making huge progress!  I know I have been sent a few messages when they paid off their car and also a college access loan (I know they have paid off a lot more than that though!).  It works when you do!  The program says that getting out of debt and building financial wealth is 20% head knowledge, and 80% change in behavior.

 Dave Ramsey (DR) is awesome, awesome, awesome!  I have read his book before, the Total Money Makeover, but I have never taken his course.  There are 13 weeks total in the program and each week we learn about a new topic.  Have you ever seen the movie ‘What about Bob?” well Bob is taking ‘baby steps’ to get over his phobias.  Our ‘baby steps’ in the program are to help us get out of debt, and become financially secure.  They go from saving $1,000 in the bank for an emergency fund, then using the debt snowball to get out of debt, after you get out of debt then you can go to the next steps like saving for retirement and college.

Just an FYI, I am in debt for student loans and not credit cards. K? Thanks!My favorite part so far (we are on week 2) is creating a cash system instead of using your debit card all of the time.  D.R. says that you aren’t attached to money on your debit card as you are with cash.  You are less likely to go out to eat every week if you can physically see and hand out your money to a waiter. 

I really think this will help me because I will tell you a story about me when I was in high school (long time ago).  When I was in highschool I worked for a childcare center making minimum wage (I think it was $5.15 an hour) and I could only work about 15 hours a week.  My checks were around $150 every two weeks (what a HUGE difference now!) and I would put $75 in my savings account, and the other $75 I would spend on whatever I wanted. I was sooooo good about saving money that when I graduated I had a lot of money (for a highschooler).  Then. I. Got. A. Debit. Card. And. My. Savings. And. Spending. Habits. Went. South. :/

I know that you can only spend what you have on a debit card, but it was a disconnect for me.  I couldn’t touch the money so it didn’t feel ‘real’.  Does that make since?  I had nothing to show (and still don’t) for all of the money I spent.  One month I looked and I spent $600 on going out to eat.  $600?!  WTF!    I am hoping that when I start using cash again that I will get back to being good at saving.  I realized that this is my money.  MINE!  I control it.  I shouldn’t give it away freely.  When I wake up early every morning to get out of bed to go to work I should have something to show for it. 

Moral of this post?  I am on a budget.  Yes, me Queen of Shoe Shopping and needless spending. I am going to try and post some of the tips I learned in class and some of my (hopefully) success stories.

My goal is to buy myself a house within the next few years.  I want to be debt free when I do that though so I can pay for it and not worry about paying for it and also the debt. 

Rice and Beans meals?  Yummy! 

I will be probably posting several things about Dave Ramsey over the next few months so get ready!