{so be it}

feeling stressed... stress brings a lot upon my body: body aches, muscle pains, migraines, feeling like vomiting at all moments... THE FUN STUFF.

here is some encouragement to give me when I feel I don't have any more to give:

Habakkuk 3:17-19 -- Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,  yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.
 

James 1:2-4 -- Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Jeremiah 17:7,8 -- “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

 

Matthew 11:28-30 -- Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Psalms 103:1-5 -- Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Psalms 55:22 -- Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

 

 

1 Peter 5:7   -- Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

 

 

and lastly, my favorite on this:

 

 

Philippians 4:6-7    Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

friday's lettters: 1/25/13

dear friday, you have been good to me. thank you!!

dear phone, I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU. I am so glad that you die every 5 minutes and don't really work. I cannot wait until my upgrade.

dear hair, I think you are growing on me. (speaking of which, I NEED TO SHARE!!)

dear houses that are for sale online one day and then not the next, you guys suck. getting my hopes up and everything and then BAM.

dear house-hunting, oi. headaches.

dear God, thank you for your many blessings you have been giving to us. I thank you for all the good things you are bringing our way.

dear new job, I AM SO EXCITED TO START YOU!! (oh man, I still have to share THAT too!)

dear current job, I won't miss you, per say.. I will miss the people, my boss. My boss is seriously the best boss. It will be hard leaving, but I am excited for a new adventure.

dear frozen apartment, i can't move my fingers very well to type this. WARM UP, DUDE.

dear husband, I am so proud of you for finishing your second class for your master's degree! You are awesome!!! I LOVE YOU :)

dear pinterest, you need to stop tempting me. I think we need a break.. some separation. it's not you, it's.. ah, who am I kidding, it IS you!

dear readers, thank you for all your sweet comments! Life has been quite a whirlwind and I hope to be able to comment back soon :)

dear weekend, be kind to us. last weekend was FULL of moving people and never resting... I hope we can get recharged this weekend.


have a good weekend :)

this is gonna be so stupid. OH WELL

okayyyyyyy

listen people. This isn't noteworthy.. or really worth a post, but here goes... I am at a hair-crossroads. I am literally getting sick of my hair. BUT, I don't want to chop it all off because.. heck.. it has taken a while to get to where it is. It seriously hasn't been this long for over 5 years. YIKES.

Perhaps I have just run out of hairstyles? Perhaps I am just getting sick of trying to blow dry it. Also- I have noticed my hair getting more oily. UH. WHAT THE HECK. it needs to stop that. oh, and it's winter which means, my hair decides to hate me. It's what it does in the winter.

I can't find a good dry shampoo I like.. plus, with dark hair, it gets hard to use it repeatedly. Okay, maybe I should suck it up and wash it.. whatever.

I recently died by hair a slight auburn and even THAT hasn't made a difference.. in fact, I am almost hating it more since my stupid water makes the color fade. UGHHH. (whine much?)

anyway. I don't really get all girly and such on here, but come on.. what's a girl to do?

It's like this: I could either 1)let it grow reaaalllyy long, and grow my bangs and totally try to rock the semi-middle part. 2) put some color in it, 3) go chop my bangs off in the bathroom right now, 4)go really short, 5) shave my head. so...

these are some styles I am liking right now. take it away pinterest board.....

1: the grow it out waayyy long and try to be cool with the middle part
 

Source: ashley-greene-wallpapers.blogspot.com via Joanna on Pinterest

2: the cut the bang by yoselffff in the bathroom right this moment

Source: google.com via Joanna on Pinterest

3:color anyone?

Source: weheartit.com via Joanna on Pinterest

4: different color anyone??

Source: veronabrit.blogspot.com via Joanna on Pinterest

 
5: zooey bangs and dark color

Source: allthatglittersisgirly.tumblr.com via Joanna on Pinterest

6: orrrrrrr maybe I should just cut it all off:

Source: fabsugar.com via Joanna on Pinterest

decisions, decisions.

see ya, 2012

I wish I had more pictures from 2012 to be able to reminisce with.. but alas, I sucked at taking any real photos of 2012, which is sad to me. 

So here goes, me trying to recap my year from memory, which I seemed to have lost somewhere in 2012.. (these are based off of status updates from facebook because.. seriously, I don't remember anything anymore)

 be warned: this is very long and VERY uninteresting. maybe 2013 will bring more FUN! :)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

January:

• lots of boring weather in Ohio
• winter.
• work
• nothing much..
• tried to start to drink more water. Realized this caused you to pee.. A LOT
• I discovered Mumford and Sons
• January was a really tough month for me personally in regards to many things.. MOVING ON.
• house hunted..

February:

• I was reading Sacred Marriage
• watched Food, Inc. and decided that the world and all food was disgusting
• I had a dream much like an episode of The Walking Dead
• My stupid power steering fluid leaked a bunch and I had to fill it with about 6 bottles of fluid before I could get it fixed... nice.
• 1st married Valentine's Day
• house hunted some more..

March:

• Had a lovely morning with a lovely friend, Melissa. *note to self: hang out with her more!!
• spring break at work (2 days, wooo)
• painted our living room.. I think?? or maybe that was later in the summer.....
• OHHH looking back, gave up facebook and internet for Lent. It was refreshing.
• stopped looking at houses..

April:

• worked, A LOT
• Saw Tim Tebow in person at my work. 
• Jaw dropped as Mr. Tebow walked right by me...
• Husband met Mr. Tebow. Still mad at him for that one....
• Saw West Side Story at the Ohio Theatre with my aunts and grandma, loved it!!
• Saw a high school put on the musical Legally Blonde with my girls!
• I got pretty sick in April.. like, so sick, I only remember bits and pieces of one week ahhh
• Started our garden!
• found a house we liked..

May:

• Started my blog!!!!
• Grandma's 63rd bday
• Learned how to make Puppy Chow. oh gosshhh
• Youngest sister went to Prom!
• Youngest sister graduated high school!!
• Camping with our youth group
• dime a dog night at Clippers game
• started a "who's having a baby/had a baby list"
• looked more at houses!

June:

• Aaron's 24th birthday spent in Cbus! 
• Youngest sister's 19th birthday!
• made some homemade chocolate chip cookies and they were the bomb dot com
• took the youth group to Kings Island, fell in love with Family Force Five
• We liked a house..

July:

• 1 year anniversary in Hilton Head!!!!!!!!!
• our dryer died.. again. 
• our dryer was fixed AGAIN!!
• ate a lot of froyo
• saw The Dark Knight Rises at midnight in a theatre in Hilton Head with Hilton Head's finest youth..*shakes head* 
• the skating rink and bowling alley I went to in my younger days and had my only real big birthday party at was BURNED down. All those memories of after-proms and birthday parties burned away.. I for real CRIED.
• house we liked didn't work out.

August:

• helped youngest sister figure out finances for college. UGH.
• sang at the annual Bell Tower Dinner for our church
• Olympics.  and.. I barely watched. whoops!
• Watched our niece and nephews for the weekend and didn't kill them.
• updated my who's having a baby list A LOT.
• worked on deciding on a master's program! Whoop whoop!
• my aunt and uncle renewed their vows: 25 years, y'all!
• looked for houses, but not as much..

September:

•  watched a lot of football.. because of Aaron
• went to a bonfire at one of my best friend's house
• SMASHED THE HECK OUT OF LACEY'S CRAPPY PHONE WHEN SHE GOT AN IPHONE!!!!
• work was really hard
• Put an offer in on THE house we loved. aannnddd didn't get it.

October:

• FAVORITE MONTH
• PUMPKIN SHOW!
• HALF A WEEK OFF OF WORK FOR PUMPKIN SHOW!
• finally put up some decorations in our house because we realized we will probably forever be in this apartment....
• election commercials and wanting to shoot my eyes out.
• worked on my personal statement for grad school!!! WHATTTT
• decided to do School Counseling as my masters :)
• MORE meth labs busted in town. KEEPIN' IT CLASSY.

November:

• Aaron and I were huddle leaders at an FCA Retreat. loved it!
• ELECTION.
• celebrate a sister's birthday... was the last time we saw her :/ hope she is doing okay.

December:

• MY 24TH BIRTHDAY: went to a japanese steak house for dinner the weekend before
• got our 2nd LIVE Christmas tree! :)
• Went to LOTS of Christmas parties
• ....4 WISDOM TEETH OUT. sick.
• lots of pain meds and NOT lots of food I love.
• time off of work
• CHRISTMAS!!!!!!
• helping youngest sister out with finances and life decisions for college again.. LIFE WAAHHH
• annndddd lots of tv watching.

 annndd that was it for our year basically. I mean, we went on dates, and some fun stuff, but.. alas, I forgot and clearly quit posting anything on facebook. so, yeah. I should maybe put "document real life better" as a new year's goal for myself.

peace out, 2012. I am ready for you to leave to be real honest.

monday oh monday.

Source: someecards.com via Joanna on Pinterest

I firmly believe that Monday's are out to get me. I won't go into details to save myself from regret, but... let's just say, it is only 10am on Monday morning and I already want to pull my hair out and shove it in someone's face as I scream at them for their stupidity. AND if one more person asks me to do one more thing, I may cry. 

Maybe I just need a poptart? 

yeah, that's probably it. So, I will probably go get one of those. Then come back to my desk and try to get some JUNK done for the day. 

Also- let's hear it for the fact that this time NEXT WEEK it will be Christmas Eve, people. :)

wisdom and other things

It has been a while, hasn't it?

Currently:

+ I am on "recovery" from getting my wisdom teeth out. It's funny, I don't feel less wise without them??? (ha see? I got jokes, man.) Can I just say, this sucks... ? Between eating like a squirrel (Aaron's words) to cleaning my mouth what seems every hour and downing tons of meds, I just feel BLAH.

+ We got our tree and I would love to share some pics of that soon! This has been our second married Christmas. Verrryy different from last year, but nonetheless, lovely :) We cut down our tree last year as well as this year as a sort of "thing-to-do-on-or-for-Joanna's-birthday". So, that was fun. It's all decorated. Nothing too fancy, and it's probably only pretty to me, but I love sitting and looking at it twinkle at night. It's so calming.

+ My birthday has come and gone. For a second there I had to think about how old I am now. 24. wow. That feels and sounds so much older for some reason. We had a great time celebrating it. I have never been to Ikea (CRAZY, I KNOW), so I asked Aaron to take me. Now, that is a post for another day, which I hopes comes soon because I don't want to forget the insanity that WAS our trip to Ikea. haha We lucked out and got a bed frame I had my eye on as well as some other items.

+ Pumpkin and I have just been chilling these last few days while I recover. She is the best.

+ Things have been put on hold in regard to a house. We were eligible for a "first time homebuyers grant" but, due to hub's little promotion, though he is only making a small amount more, it's just enough to send us over the limit of being eligible.. so, here we are, saving our pennies for a down payment. Oh well. The Lord will provide, He always always always does.

+ Other things are happening around these parts. Some things that I am a little "bitter/sweet" about. But let's save that for another day, shall we?

annnddd.. that's been life lately. not too much. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a snack pack calling my name and then I have to begin the grueling task of brushing my teeth and cleaning my mouth which takes about 10 - 15 minutes (if I'm lucky!)

rocky road and relaxation

 

This week has already been SO busy. I keep forgetting that I only work 3 days this week.

Today was pretty busy, but went very smoothly.

I am pretty grateful for that. 

Tonight has consisted of nothing more than... 

the internet

rocky road ice cream

ice cold water

being warm and cozy

wearing 2 different socks

sinfeld and other shows

and...

R E L A X I N G.

ahhhhh 

the relaxing. I can't forget about that. 

I am OH SO thankful for the relaxing. 

I know so many people who don't seem to have that luxury these days with work

and school and life and marriage and friends taking priority. So,

I am being grateful for this chance to relax.

Yeah, sure. my house is A MESS. there are tons of dishes in the kitchen

needing to be cleaned.

There are baskets full of clothes in my living room needing to be put away.

There is tons of laundry needing to be washed in the laundry room...

you name it, it needs cleaned. 

But, that can wait. 

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