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Last week my mom and I walked into a local brick supplier store. I needed to pick out brick to redo the hearth of my fireplace. I expected it to be a fairly simple decision. Right? I mean, how different can brick be?
Turns out VERY. Just like everything else in this remodeling process - the choices are endless.
I've come to realize me and remodeling don't mix. I've only had acid reflux three times in my life - the last semester of my senior year in college, after my dad's brain aneurysm and in the past few weeks. There's a constant tightness in my chest.
I'm spending tons of money.
I have to prioritize and decide how all the money is spent.
There are endless choices and each decision involves an intense learning curve.
I have to live with the ramifications of my choices for many years to come.
There are a gazillion moving parts that have to be managed and thought through.
And I'm doing all of the above alone.
I know I should be having fun with the process but I'm kind of ready to be done. My mom says I don't deal well with change. She's probably right.
So we're in the brick store staring at the wall of brick and I'm trying to envision what will look best in my family room. The man behind the counter tried his best to be helpful. He talked about thin brick verses full brick, showed me the different brands and talked through endless ways of laying out the brick in a pattern on my fireplace. All the while I was staring at the wall of brick as my chest tightened further. TOO MUCH TO THINK ABOUT. TOO MANY CHOICES.
I'm guessing that if the salesman had listened a little to what I was saying about what I liked and didn't like, he could have helped narrow down and simplify my choice. Instead he continued to pile on the options and the confusion.
My mom and I left that day without having made a decision on the brick.
Since then I've been thinking there are an awful lot of parallels between the experience of remodeling and that of planning a wedding. Besides the doing it alone part, all of these descriptors definitely apply to wedding planning:
I'm spending tons of money.
I have to prioritize and decide how all the money is spent.
There are endless choices and each decision involves an intense learning curve.
I have to live with the ramifications of my choices for many years to come.
There are a gazillion moving parts that have to be managed and thought through.
And I'm doing all of the above alone.
My experience in the brick store has reinforced a valuable lesson for me. As Harry Beckwith says in his amazing book, Selling the Invisible, "Your prospect does not want more to think about; your prospect wants less." It has helped me to relate to what an engaged couple must be feeling when they step into my office to talk about their wedding photography. If I give them a ton of information and choices, I will only be complicating their decision. They will leave my office more confused and frustrated than when they came. But if I keep things simple and help guide them to a choice, they will leave feeling confident in their decision.
I went back to the brick store a few days ago having researched images of finished brick projects online and paying attention to every brick building I drove by in hopes of figuring out what I liked and didn't like. And I made the decision in 10 minutes. Today this brick is being installed on my fireplace hearth: |
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| The decision is made and one more thing is done. Regardless of whether it was the perfect choice, I have determined to be happy with it as long as my new house and I shall live. |
On Friday I took my 10 year old nephew, Noah, to the circus. I have been planning this for awhile. When I found out the circus was coming to town I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for a nephew-aunt date. I love that Noah is old enough to do this type of thing now. He has autism and only in the last year or so has he had an attention span that would allow him to enjoy a sit-down show like this.
Noah had never been to the circus. And all he knew about it was that there were going to be elephants. Ugh - it's so fun to experience something like this with a child for the first time!
I picked him up in the morning and he was SO excited. One of his favorite things to do is email. He had been emailing me for a few days leading up to Friday about the circus. It was super cute. When I showed up, he was all ready with his little digital camera in hand: |
| We had so much fun! Our seats were amazing! I was able to bring my Canon 5D mark II with my 50mm 1.2 and got some great shots! |
| I couldn't believe some of the acrobatics: |
| And the steel ball with the motocycles was UNBELIEVABLE! There were 7 riding around in there at once! |
| The elephants were of course beautiful. Noah's favorite part was when one of them pooped. |
| At intermission I let Noah pick out a snack. He was so cute and excited - I was tempted to eat HIM as a snack. |
And the whole show he was sitting next to me shooting away on his little plastic camera. I can't believe that images come out of that thing. They're only 640 pixels wide but it takes decent photos! Most of them were blurry but he got a few good ones -- even one with flare!
Watch out photographers - I think we may have some more competition in a few years: |
| So much fun! All in all it was one of the best dates I've been on in a long time! |
We got a haircut this weekend.
There are so many things Dixie loves in life -- walks, treats, belly rubs, playing with her doggie friends, snuggles. But haircuts are NOT one of them. I do feel for her. My mom grooms her, which is such a HUGE blessing. But the whole ordeal takes an hour. Parts of her are shaved, parts are trimmed and parts are plucked. And getting her nails cut is the absolute worst. She fears for her life every time. BUT fortunately she made it through alive yet again.
I still can't decide if I think she's cuter shaggy or all trimmed up. Above is a before photo. And here is a side by side comparison: |
Pretty stinkin' cute both ways. But what do you think?
And I feel like a broken record but I have to say it or I'll get comments -- I don't put fake eyelashes on my dog. They really are that long and if you look closely, you can see that we even trim them each time cause they just keep growing!
And one last shot just for fun. Awww.....stretch: |
Alright blog friends -- who watches Survivor, LOST and The Biggest Loser? These are some of my favorite shows of all time and all of the Season finales are happening in the next week or so. And the SERIES finale of LOST is in one week. I CAN'T HANDLE IT!! I don't know how I'm going to live without my friends Sawyer, Kate and Hurley. Just wanted to talk predictions and any thoughts you guys have on these shows as they come to an end.
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The Survivor finale is tomorrow night. Overall I'm just excited that I won't have to watch Russell anymore. For goodness sakes he's been on for two seasons in a row and I just can't stand watching his head grow any bigger. He's intolerable. He thinks he's the best player to ever be on the show but all he thinks about is making it to the end. He doesn't give a single thought to actually getting votes from the jury. He just thinks everyone should hand him a check for a million dollars for controlling everything along the way. He doesn't get the social part of the game at all. I also think it's completely unfair that none of the other players got to see how he played on his first season. If they did, I'm convinced that he would have been ousted long ago. Could his, I'm-going-to-show-you-the-immunity-idol-so-that-you-trust-me routine be any more over-done?
I don't love any of the players left but I think Sandra and Parvati have the best chances of winning. I'm predicting Sandra. Interesting that both of them have won in the past. I give them both props for standing up to Russell and not being intimidated by him. Russell doesn't have a chance of winning because everyone on the jury hates him. Colby won't make it into the final 3 because he has too many friends on the jury (I also don't think he's very smart) and Jerri is just a weak-minded follower who hasn't made any good decisions the whole game (besides not taking Russell to the reward last week). |
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| It's hard to believe that there are only 3 hours of LOST left. How are they going to wrap everything up? I don't even know what to say by way of predicting how the whole thing is going to end but I am in love with the brilliance of this show. I'm so in awe of the writing that I almost don't care how it ends. Brilliance. I kinda think that the crew that is on the island will all somehow overcome or contain "smokey" and whatever they do (probably dying in the process) will make the time line where the plane didn't crash the actual reality. They seem to all end up running into and knowing each other anyhow. I can't wait to re-watch the series with the knowledge of what happens in the end -- I know, I'm a total dork like that. |
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The Biggest Loser. Seems like less people watch this show than the others but I have no idea why that is. IT'S SO GOOD. And uplifting. It makes me want to go to the gym and eat right. This season has been a good one. Everyone has been generally really kind and supportive of each other. All of the final four are good guys and any of them could win. Koli has gotten a little on my nerves of late with his arrogance, but he's still a good guy. I have a crush on Daris. He is so stinkin' sweet and cute. I would LOVE for him to win but I'm not sure he has enough weight left to lose. Michael would be my next choice and then Ashley. Although I'm thinking Ashley might struggle being motivated at home. We'll see.
What are your thoughts? Let's hear them! |
Have you ever read something that pierces you to the soul -- that makes you feel like the author somehow found out your inner weaknesses and then wrote specifically to you?
I was recently reading a daily devotional called "Jesus Calling" that a friend recently turned me on to. It's a compilation of journal entries written by a woman named Sarah as she meditated on God's words to her through Scripture. So it's written as if Jesus were speaking to us. Sounds kinda weird but it's totally based on what he says in the Bible. Anyhow, I wanted to share with you a recent entry that really convicted me because I feel like it's something many of you may relate to as well:
"...You tend to make mental checklists of things you need to do in order to gain control of your life. If only you could check everything off your list, you could relax and be at peace. But the more you work to accomplish that goal, the more things crop up on your list. The harder you try, the more frustrated you become."
Hello! Can I get an Amen! from anyone who can relate to this!? Total story of my life. Guilty as charged.
It goes on to say:
"There is a better way to find security in this life. Instead of scrutinizing your checklist, focus your attention on My Presence with you. This continual contact with Me will keep you in My Peace. Moreover, I will help you sort out what is important and what is not, what needs to be done now and what does not. Fix your eyes not on what is seen (your circumstances), but on what is unseen (My Presence)."
Another friend recently sent me a devotional excerpt written by Elisabeth Elliot, a woman I absolutely adore. I have read most of her books and feel that she has mentored me through them. I can't find the devotional but I will paraphrase. She wrote, "If you have more things on your to-do list for today than you can possibly complete then some of them are not from God. He knows how long each thing will take and only gives you what you can manage."
SO often I try to achieve a sense of peace or control through frantically working to check things off my list. But I'm like a rabbit hopping after a carrot. Just as fast as I check things off the list, more things are piled on. There will never be a time in this life where my to-do list will be blank. There just won't. Eek! That gives me waves of anxiety just thinking about it. If I base my sense of peace and well being on this illusive goal of accomplishing everything on my list, I will never have it. So instead of believing that achieving peace is a product of working frantically to produce and accomplish, I need to remind myself to stop and shift my focus. SO much easier said than done. But if I want to have peace in the midst of the "perpetual to-do" it's necessary.
I am SOOO preaching to myself in this post. This is one of those things that I need to be reminded of every 10 seconds or so.
What kinds of things do you do or focus on to find peace? |
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