It's time for another addition of my favorite things!


#1 - Samoa Girl Scout Cookies
I'm so excited that it's Girl Scout Cookie season again! Yay! The other day I was running into a grocery store and saw the cute little scouts camped outside the exit doors with their moms and my heart skipped with glee. When I exited the little girls could hardly get the question out before I answered, "One box of Samoas please!" One of the moms replied with, "Now that's a girl who knows what she wants!" Yep. Sure do. And since this box is nearly half gone, I'm fairly certain another is in my future.



#2 - The Biggest Loser
The truth is, I love so many reality TV shows. The ones I'm currently watching: Amazing Race, The Bachelor (got sucked in just a couple episodes ago), American Idol, Top Chef, Survivor and The Biggest Loser. Most of the time I'm sitting on the sofa, snuggling Dixie, happily fast-forwarding through the commercials thanks to Tivo, and I have the desperate need to critique a horrible American Idol performance or analyze who the Bachelor should pick but I HAVE NO ONE TO DEBRIEF WITH. If you ,follow me on Twitter or are friends with me on Facebook, you'll notice I sometimes vent my opinions there. And now you know why. MUST debrief with someone. If you watch any of these shows, please feel free to chat with me any time. I have many pent-up thoughts and opinions needing to be heard.

I love all the shows but the best, most uplifting one has got to be The Biggest Loser. More people should watch this show. It's truly amazing to witness so many normal people going through a huge life transformation. And it's not just people getting skinnier - they change on the inside to. I love cheering them on and seeing the transformation from beginning to end. In addition, it really encourages me on a weekly basis to make healthy eating choices and get off my butt and exercise. If four people who were previously over 200-400 pounds can run a MARATHON, I should be able to run a mile or two. Yep, I should.


#3 - Time with God
This year I have a goal of exercising every weekday and spending time with God every day. With my business it's so easy to jump out of bed in the morning, check my emails and get sucked into work mode. But exercising and spending time with God are huge priorities for me, so I'm trying to change my thinking about what a productive day consists of. I love being productive so sometimes it's easy to put off these two priorities because they don't necessarily come with instant results. So I've decided that for me, I can call a day productive if I'm able to accomplish these two goals. They go on my to do list every day and every day I get the satisfaction of checking them off.

Lately I've been enjoying spending my time with God sitting out on my back porch in my new orange chair. A friend recommended this devotional Jesus Calling by Sarah Young to me a year ago and I've been reading it ever since. It's amazing how it addresses so many of the issues I struggle with - fear, worry, trusting God, learning to listen to his voice. I also have been working on journaling. Journaling as a way of casting all my anxieties on God - vomiting them onto paper and then just leaving them there. And I've also been reading a little out of the Psalms and John lately. It's amazing how spending time with God, fixing my eyes on Him in the morning, allows me to be so much more productive (because I'm relying on God to direct my steps) throughout the rest of the day.


#4 - My new plant challenge
About three weeks ago I was at La Grande Orange meeting another photographer for coffee (I drank water) and they had the cutest display of little plants in colorful pots. This one spoke to me and I bought it, promising it I would do my very best to keep it alive. I don't have a good track record with plants. The plant came with a little tag and a website for the florist shop it originally came from. I looked on the site and read the instructions for caring for the plant: bright, indirect light & watering. It said that most plants are killed by over-watering which causes the plants to suffocate. It said to water it once a week with the amount of water it would take to fill up a fourth of the pot the plant is in. Finally! Specific instructions. I can do this. I've been watering my little plant every Monday faithfully for three weeks and so far so good. It's looking pretty strong. I have high hopes for this one.
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