2014.

Do you remember New Year’s Eve 1999?   I do.  I was in high school and I spent the night with some other girls at a friend’s house.  I remember using the phrase ‘that was so last millennium.’  And everyone being a little unnerved with the whole Y2K thing.  And as I also remember nothing happen when the clock struck midnight and it was the year 2000.

In a couple of days that New Year’s Eve will be 15 years ago.  That’s half of my life.  I know.  Whoa.

I think because it’s the time of year of reflection I’ve been thinking about some stuff. 2014 was kinda rough.  But on the flip side I am oh so thankful that it happened.  For instance I got laid off for the very first time.  I don’t think it was because I got laid off, I think it was because of the way that it happened.  I got to work one morning and the first email I read was from my supervisor telling me the details.  She didn’t tell me in person, she didn’t give me any warning, she just dropped the bomb.  That was rough considering other than interns, I was the only full time employee she supervised.  When things like that happen it makes you question how you got there.  Did God really open the door for me to have this job?  Was this really part of his plan?  And you know what, He did open the door for me to get that job.  And yeah, that was really part of the plan.  And once I swallowed that I realized that not working at this place that I thought was fantastic, opened the door for me to make a huge life change move and work at a job that I really like.  And for that, I could not be more thankful.

I also moved back in with my parents.  That really deflates you.  It’s not that I don’t like my parents, it’s that I am grown and want to establish my own home.  I was working on it but, things happen.  My family is probably too close.  I don’t really mind it, we have some fantastic times.  We even have a family group text on our iPhones happening.  I’ve had friends who want to be apart of that group text, it’s a thing.  What’s hard to handle when moving back in with your parent’s is when your friends are having babies.

Babies. I am beyond thrilled and excited and in love with those babies.  Now most of these babies were born in 2013.  But the end of the year, and this has been the first full year of learning and growing with those babies.  It’s a weird place, because on one hand I can go off and do whatever I want, when I want, at what time I want.  This from the girl who’s single as a piece of craft cheese (who if you remember turned 30 this year, which brought it’s own freak out). And those babies remind me how single I am. On the flip side, I also want to have a family and establish a home and have babies. I like the stability in it. It’s a strange balance.  But do you know what?  On this side of the babies, I have watched my two close friends turn into wonderful mothers.  Mothers who love those babies with something fierce.  Mothers who have changed their whole worlds to bring up beautiful, smart, caring, and God-loving babies.  And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I also started a new job.  A job that has nothing to do with what I took years learning in school.  And I like it.  It’s a physical job.  It’s hard dealing with public and their groceries.  But its a fantastic company that’s allowing me to make a huge life change move and keep a job.  So I will sling groceries until I can’t do it anymore.  Also that same company (Trader Joe’s) just came out with a bacon jerky in siracha sauce that makes me want to shout from therooftops.  I LOVE BACON.  I know this was a total side note, but you needed to know that.

So even though 2014 was not my favorite.  And there is absolutely no way I want to do this year again (Ok maybe the trip to Hawaii) if this is what I’m calling a sucky year.  I’m totally fine.  My family and friends are in good health.  My bills are still paid.  And I still have a roof over my head.  I’m ok.

2015 is going to be a great year.  I’m moving across the country for at least half the year, I am hoping the whole year.  It’s taken a while but I’ve finally gotten to the point where I am ready to go wherever God wants me.  There’s not much for me in my home state any more, and I am ok with that.  It will be exciting and scary and fun and hard, but I am so ready.  I will miss my friends and family but we have phones and face time abilities.  And you never know, this single as craft cheese girl might meet a single as craft cheese guy.  I am also ok with that.  So, whatever you might think of 2014 it was totally what God had planned for you.  And me.  And I for one, am thankful for 2014 and am anticipating with joy the year 2015.

Psalm 139:16

 

Light on a Hill.

I’ve got some thoughts today on this verse: “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16.  I am sure at some point if you grew up in church you have heard this verse.  I decided to re-read the book of Matthew and stumbled upon it.

Have you ever been on an airplane at night?  Sometimes when you go over big cities you can see the lights of the city or town below sort of twinkle.  Kinda like the picture below. That’s the bright lights of Dallas from 30,000 feet.

Imagine if you will that all the lights in the picture are homes and businesses of Christians.  And the dark parts, well those are the areas where Christ’s light hasn’t reached yet.  Some parts of course are darker than others, but those lights, those homes and businesses, are lighting the way for others to reach Jesus.  Some of the areas are so bright they are blinding.  This whole concept of light and dark is much more than a picture I took out of an airplane window.

What I mean is those lights in that picture can be turned off.  That’s just the truth of it.  Jesus is the light inside of us and it can’t be turned off.  I think maybe it can be dimmed but never turned off.  Which means that we are set apart.  We walk around this Earth with an internal light that shines on the darkness even when we don’t realize it.  Darkness will always try to diminish the light, but it can’t. It’s like vs 15 says: “Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket…” it’s not meant to be put out.

So much turmoil is happening in the world around us, this last week alone in my home state gay marriage was made legal.  That’s a big deal.  I think it’s more important than ever for us to make sure the light inside of us is blinding to the darkness.  I’m not talking about holier than thou towards others, I’m talking about the internal lightness shining forth so that the only thing people see when you interact with them is Christ’s love.  Trust me I hear what I am saying and this is just as much for me as it is for you.  Until next time…

MySpace.

I have heard more people mention MySpace this week than I have heard in a long time.  Some of you might be too young to remember when everybody thought they were a web page designer.  Gone are the days when people would hit up your MySpace page to read the surveys you completed about yourself or see the glittering flashing icons that said ‘awesome’ and ‘county girl’.

My memory may be failing me but I am pretty sure I wasn’t allowed to have a MySpace page until I was 15.  Not that my parents were fully aware of what MySpace was but they knew enough to not let me put my whole life on the internet.  I would spend hours perfecting the code for the right background, and making sure all the information boxes were in the right spot, that it didn’t look too busy, etc.  Oh come on now, don’t act like you don’t know what I am talking about.  Using the right picture in your profile came long before the days of Facebook.  This was you telling the world “Look at me, I am fabulous (and if you want to know if I prefer Pepsi or Coke just read my 2,649,248 surveys I have completed.)”

Never mind it took a gazillion years to load someone’s profile you were going to hear the song they chose to describe themselves if it was the last thing you did.  I’ll never forget getting on my brother’s MySpace page around 2007.  That was the year Colbie Caillat gave the world the song “Bubbly.”  Before I contine, though I think you know where I am going with this, you need to understand my brother is a manly man.  Even in his teens he was a guy’s guy.  These days he’s an Army Ranger.  So, the level of testosterone is high.  That year he chose “Bubbly” as his MySpace song.  I get it, it’s catchy. No worries I still love him and enjoy giving him a hard time.

You would be appalled at the level of responses you get on Google for MySpace surveys.  I found one called The Best MySpace Survey.  You are welcome:

Can you fill this out without lying? Probably

What’s the last thing your put in your mouth?  Detox Tea. Thank you Jillian Micheals.

Have you ever kissed anyone named Matthew? Not that I recall…but…

Where was your default picture taken? In Hawaii on the North Shore.

Who was the last person you rode in a car with under the age of 20? I don’t know.

Can you play guitar hero? Don’t mess with a legend.  Ha ha ha, kidding.

Last time you walked further than a block? Everyday at work.

Name someone that made you laugh today? Joseph – he’s 2 1/2.

How late did you stay up last night and why? 2:30am. I work a lot of nights.

If you could move somewhere else, would you? yeah.  California.

Ever been kissed under fireworks? Nope.

Do you believe ex’s can be friends? Maybe, but it could be weird.

How do you feel about Diet Dr. Pepper? It’s not Diet Coke.

When was the last time you cried really hard? I don’t know.

Where is biological father right now? Painting.

Where are you right now? On the porch at home.

What bed did you sleep in last night? My own.

What was the last thing someone bought for you? My mom bought me some food.

Who took your profile picture? Murray family selfie.

Who was the last person you took a picture of? My parents – they need some photos for some relief i.d.’s.

Was yesterday better than today? Today was fine, I am sure today will be too.

Can you live a day without tv? Yup.

Are you mad about anything? Not that I can recall.

Do you think relationships are ever really worth it? We all learn something from them.

When was the last time you were extremely disappointed? A couple days ago.

Are you a bad influence? I’m going with no.

Night out or Night in? I work most nights.

Are you more introverted or an outgoing person? This girl is a big ole’ introvert.

What items could you not go without during the day? Chapstick and water.

Can you share a drink with a stranger? For the right amount of money.

Who was the last person you visited in the hospital? An elderly man from my parent’s church.

Do you think it’s right for straight guys to get their tongue pierced? No. No man.

Have you ever thrown shoes on a telephone wire? No, I don’t really know what that means.

What does the last text message in your inbox say? It’s my bank balance.

How do you feel about your life right now? Not bad.

How many times have you been pulled over by the police? If you take away that whole bear thing….twice.

Do you hate anyone? Hate is a strong word, but no.

Do you talk dirty to people? Nope.

If we were to look in your inbox what would we find? Communication.  That’s what.

Did you have a valentine this year? I did not.

Last person you talked to on the phone? I think my mom.

Can you easily tell if someone’s fake? I can get a hunch now and then.

How’s your heart? Pretty good.

Has anyone called you perfect before? Jesus.

What song is stuck in your head? Nothing right now.

Someone knocks on your window at 2am, who do you want it to be? Someone I know .

Wanna have kids before your 30? I am 30.

What do you have to do this week? Work.

Can you whistle? Not my strong suit.

Do you sleep on your side, stomach or back? stomach.

What keeps you up when your trying to sleep? My brain has a tendency to not turn off.

Are your eye’s the same color as your mom’s or dad’s? We all have the same color.

Has anyone ever told you you have pretty eyes? Yes they have.

Do you think too much or too little? Too little about important things, too much about non-important things.

Do you smile a lot? I guess.

Who was the last missed call on your cell phone? Daddy.

Are you happy with your life? These questions are redundant.

Can you handle the truth? Yes, please just tell me the truth.  I’m a big girl.

Do you get 8 hours of sleep everyday? Yeah, I like sleep.

What was the last book you read? Pride and Prejudice for the 65th time.

Is there something you always wear? Underwear.

What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Listening to Joseph tell me about the telephone man.

Honestly, who was the last person to tell you that they love you? My mama.

Did you have an exciting last weekend? I worked.

 

I might have deleted about 20 questions because I forgot how long these took.  And frankly, I am real over it.  Anyway.  Enjoy your Wednesday.

 

 

 

 

Basic.

“She’s so basic.”  Now if you are like me you had absolutely no idea what this phrase even meant 24 hours ago.  Yes, this is yet another reminder that I am 30.  But anyway, after I was introduced to this phrase I was directed to an online quiz to find out how basic I am.  Come to find out I am only seasonally basic.  No worries.

When I opened the quiz the first question asked was what pumpkin spice product I prefer.  Already I am set up for disaster.  I am one of the few people in this world that doesn’t like pumpkin flavor.  The only good thing about the Pumpkin Spice Latte coming back to Starbucks every year is that fall is coming and that’s the part of the Latte I can handle.  But back to the quiz…I chose the Pumpkin Spice Candle.  Some of my other options included Pumpkin Spice Oreos, Pumpkin Cream Cheese, or Pumpkin Spice condoms (What?!  Why?).  I was already limited on my choices.

On to question number 2.  Choose a #hashtag.  Seriously, that’s how the question was written.  Now, I have an Instagram account so the hashtag thing isn’t entirely out in left field.  But phrases like #blessed, #cray, and #notbasic are not the ones I use.  And I don’t even know what #notbasic even means.  I went with #workflow.  Not that I would even put a picture of me at work on my Instagram but it’s seemed the most fitting.

Question 3, choose your favorite social media platform.  This one was not crazy, options included Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook.  All social media apps that people actually use, so this one wasn’t hard I went with Instagram.  Question 4 had me choose a Disney Princess.  At this point you are probably thinking what is this girl even talking about.  This is the crazy thing: I don’t know.  I don’t know what the word basic has to do with Disney Princesses.  Any who, between the options of Elsa, Ariel, Mulan, Rapunzel, Jasmine, and Belle, I went with the safe answer of Belle.  I figured she was closest to my growing up age group and let’s be honest Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty weren’t available.

Question 5 had me choose a basic phrase.  Let me introduced you to basic phrases:

• ‘Literally’
• ‘OMG’
• ‘Chipots’
• ‘Awk’
• ‘Totes’
• ‘Adorbs’

What do half of these words even mean?!  Chipotes is something I’ve never even heard before and when I googled it Chipolte (you know the restaurant) is the only thing that came up.  I realize I am screaming ‘I am 30’ when I google a new trendy word, but it was ‘totes’ ok.  I went with ‘literally’ on this one because I have said that before.

Question 6 was all about a beverage choice.  Nothing was too crazy here, oh sorry, I mean ‘cray.’  I chose the safe bet of Diet Coke.  On to question 7 and choosing a fashion item.  I feel like I should share all of the clothing choices with you because you can’t appreciate my decision without seeing what I had to choose from.  We have riding boots, yoga pants, high waisted shorts, infinity scarfs, norts (I think these are work out shorts) and puffy vests.  I just re-read my paragraph and literally rolled my eyes at the ridiculousness of what I am writing.  It’s all in the name of basic so we carry on.  I chose riding boots.

And for my results I am seasonally basic.  This is what it means: ‘When the seasons shift, so do your basic behaviors.  I mean, who doesn’t like scarves in the fall, and flower selfies in the spring?  Basic is a great look for you when it’s seasonal. ‘  Maybe I’m too old to follow what this means, but according to urban dictionary (I know, an excellent source of intelligence to add to the world) basic is used to describe a white girl that wears Uggs and yoga pants, drinks Pumpkin Spice Latte’s, uses the terms ‘totes’ and ‘awk’ in complete sentences, straightens her hair even though it’s straight, and takes lots of selfies.

I am just going to let that sink in for a hot minute.

So the next time you hear “she’s so basic” you’ll know what the 411 is.  And if you don’t know what the 411 is your probably too young for this blog.