Review of my goals: January

1. Read (and record and reflect on the books i read)

I've actually done pretty well with this one thanks to the Book Lust Journal that i got for Christmas. I've always kept track of the books i've read, but i like that this encourages me to include the date i finished them and my thoughts on the book.

2. Read the Bible. That's right. The WHOLE thing.

So far i've made it to Genesis 22, which i've been stuck at for about a week because i haven't taken the time to read any further. I am going to make myself keep going, but i was thinking i could at least make it to Exodus or Leviticus before getting stuck...

3. Write letters.

I've been writing to my pen pal once a week, which has been great. I think my next step is going to be writing birthday cards to people. We'll see how that goes.

4. Spend ten minutes a day moving my body.

I managed to psych myself out with this one by buying the 30 Day Shred. Nothing against the 30 Day Shred because it works. When i did it, i was working really hard and it only took twenty minutes. But somewhere between buying it to try it and trying to fulfill this goal, i managed to substitute this goal with doing the twenty minutes of 30 Day Shred. And that did not work out well. So for now, i'm going back to my original goal of ten minutes a day in whatever way i feel like. And then i'll work my way up to doing the 30 Day Shred on a more regular basis.

5. Commit to following my bliss, meaning that i'm going to stop doing things because i feel like i should but because i want to.

Honestly, this one isn't, as we say in education, a measurable goal, but i have been doing the things i want to do. I feel like i've stopped worrying so much about things. Andrew and i have done some things that have been

My values

I was reading blogs today and i read a post from Carmen discussing blogging about her values. Even though I know what my values are, I love the opportunity to learn more about myself so of course I was excited when her blog directed me to this to help determine your values more concretely. (If you're wondering what to do when you follow the link, pick 15 values and then push the "play on" button. You'll have directions to follow from there.)

Here are my values according to that site:

My most important value is:
Religion/Spirituality (strong religious/spiritual beliefs)
For me this means the belief that God has a plan for my life that is bigger than anything I can imagine.

Another value is Family Happiness
For me this means maintaining a close relationship with my family and loving and supporting them no matter what.

Another value is Friendship (Close relationship with others)
For me this means having people in my life who really know, understand, and appreciate me for who I am.

Another value is Integrity (honest, sincerity, standing up for oneself)
For me this means having the ability to know that I am making decisions and acting in a way that I am proud of.

Another value is Creativity (being imaginitive, innovative)
And this means allowing myself time to express my thoughts however I want and taking time to explore the creativity of others.

Giveaway time

I would give anything to win this giveaway on one of my favorite blogs!

I've grown up, i guess my furniture should too

So since it's now the new year, Andrew and I made the decision to start buying furniture. When

we moved in together we combined our various furniture that came from:

• the rummage sale (the couch, coffee table, and end table)
• Craigslist (the table and chairs, the overstuffed chair and ottoman, and the bed and vanity in the guest room)
• Goodwill (the side table)
• Target (the bookshelf that holds the gaming systems and DVDs)
• various other stores (Andrew's desk and the other two bookshelves)
• and of course our parent's houses (my dresser, the other side table, the chair, and the really big bookshelf)

We have been looking for a king size bed frame (that we both like) ever since Andrew moved to Indiana. The entire time we've been searching, his (now our) mattress and boxsprings have been on the floor. We haven't found anything that we could both agree on until yesterday. That was when we saw this beautiful bed!

We both loved it, which for us is amazing because that's never happened before. I love the color and the fact that it doesn't look completely massive, which is hard to find in a king size let me tell you!

Before we found the bed, we were looking at another store and found a couch we loved. It's a soft chocolate brown with tons of pillows and it's huge! There's enough room for four people to sit comfortably or for two people to stretch out side by side. And while we didn't buy it yesterday, we ended up going back to the store to buy it today to replace the couch we already have, which has quite a bit of history. As my family likes to point out, my couch has done quite a bit of traveling. Let's track it's many moves:

1. I bought the couch at the church rummage sale (for $40 dollars!!!) and moved it into my parent's garage in Carmel.
2. The couch moved from there to Hope College for my sophomore year where it went up a flight of stairs and into our dorm room. When Barb and i were moving out, we managed to get my couch wedged in the doorway of our room and had to enlist help in order to get it out. After assuring him that we were fine to get the couch down the stairs, we then managed to run my finger into the door at the bottom of the stairs. My finger started bleeding and the injury later developed into a scar that still exists on my knuckle.
3. After that fiasco, the couch went on a detour to Ohio, and then back to Carmel.
4. The couch moved to Hope College for my junior year where it went in the elevator up three flights and into our dorm room. Sometime during that year, the fabric on the arm of the couch started ripping, so Barb and i repaired it with duct tape.
5. After that year, the couch went back to Carmel.
6. The couch moved to Hope College for my senior year where it went into our apartment that Barb and i were sharing with three other girls. The fabric on the arm of the couch continued to rip throughout the year, which Barb and i again repaired with more duct tape.
7. After that year, the couch went back to Carmel.
8. The couch moved to my first apartment in Lafayette, but it couldn't fit through the narrow hallway so we carried it around the building, by the lake, over the fence, and through the sliding glass door at the back of my apartment. It was during it's stay in Lafayette that i recovered the couch (in fabric bought at the rummage sale) because the rip in the arm had gotten too big to fix with duct tape.
9. After that year, the couch went back to Carmel.
10. The couch moved to my second apartment in Westfield.
11. The couch moved across the parking lot to my third apartment in Westfield where it now resides in our living room.

All in all, that's eleven moves and eight years with the couch. I'm going to give Barb a call later tonight to let her know that our beloved couch is being replaced. She always said that i had to call her and let her know because she would come out to Indy and drive the couch back to Portland, Oregon. We'll see if that actually ends up happening...