Crossing Bridges

One at a time, just get across them

Crossing Bridges - One at a time, just get across them

I Won a Liebster!

My friend Katie over at The Amateur Librarian nominated me for a Liebster award!

liebster_heart

How cool is that!?!

Now I get to answer some fun questions and pass the Liebster along to more of my bloggy friends (if I can find a couple that haven’t already gotten it!).  So here are the rules:

1. Provide a link and thank the blogger who nominated you for this award.
2. Answer 10 questions.
3. Choose 10-12 blogs that you find a joy to read.
4. Provide links to these blogs and kindly let the recipients know that they have been chosen.
5. Include the award logo within your blog post.

One–Thanks Katie!  Go check out The Amateur Librarian, where you’ll find lots of fun posts about her adventures in San Francisco with her husband Sam and their two wonderfully photogenic cats!

Two–

  1. What prompted you to start your blog?  I had a Xanga back in the day, then as I grew up, I started reading the “big girl” blogs and decided that I kind of wanted one of my own.  I enjoy writing for fun, and wanted a way to document our random life, and share it with friends and family.  It’s fun :)
  2. Do you have a favorite book from all that you have read?  Oh my goodness…of all that I have read??  You may not know this about me, but I have read a LOT of books in my time.  Between being an avid reader since I was about 3 years old and majoring in English in college, I don’t know if I can pick just one book.  Jane Eyre is definitely on the list, as is Mere Christianity…and The Giver…I could go on for a while, so I’ll stop there for now.  Maybe I’ll do a separate post on my favorite books one day.
  3. If someone would write a book upon your life, it would be named ______.  Why?  I have absolutely no idea.  Maybe Crossing Bridges?  I really don’t know!! What do you think?
  4. Who was the last person who made you laugh and what did they do?  That would be Charles; he tickled me when all I wanted was a hug!
  5. What is your favorite genre of music?  I don’t have a favorite genre, but I definitely don’t tend to like modern poppy stuff.  I’m a huge fan of old Motown and R&B hits, gospel, praise & worship music, jazz, showtunes…and I love some throwback 90′s hits every now and then!
  6. What are you presently writing?  My blog!  I’m also putting together a how-to manual for the children’s registration desk at church, so I guess that counts.
  7. What is your favorite thing to eat?  PASTA.  Pasta with tomato-based sauce, pasta with cream-based sauce, pasta with garlic-based sauce, pasta with cheese-based sauce, the list goes on!  Just give me all your pasta, and give it to me now!  (Note that this is not conducive to maintaining a narrow waist or small hips.)
  8. How many blogs do you read a day?  I like to skim random blogs all the time, but I only read 5 or 6 every single day.  And I don’t use a feed reader; I’ve just never gotten into them.  I like looking at the websites.
  9. Do you own a webcam? Um…does anyone actually own a separate webcam anymore?  I have one, but it’s built into my laptop.  Not that I’ve ever used it.  I did own one in college for a bit, when Charles & I were going to different schools; that was before Skype was popular, and we used to play Yahoo! Pool against each other and talk via the webcams.
  10. What is your favorite joke?  (don’t judge me–this is cheesy!)

Why did the chicken cross the road? [I dunno] To get to your house.

Knock knock.  [Who's there?] The chicken, of course!

Three–Ok, so 10-12 isn’t going to happen, especially since Katie and I read some of the same blogs!  How about this–how about you take a look at my blog roll up and to the right on the sidebar, click on a few of those links, and show them some love!

 

Well that was fun! Maybe you even learned something new about me.  If you have any blogs you’d suggest I read, leave me the link(s) in the comments!

 

 

P.S.  I’m going to be playing around with a couple of other themes for the blog, so don’t let any random changes disturb you.  I promise I’m not going anywhere!

New look! What do you think?

As you can see, I’m trying out a new look!

I want to know what you think.  (This particular header image is temporary, but isn’t it fun?)

Vote here, and I’ll share the results in a couple of days!

Do you like the new look?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

 

I’d also love to hear any feedback you may have–what do you want more of in 2013? Or what do you want to read about less? Talk to me–either in the comments or via email to mrsbridges [at] crossing-bridges.com!

Book Review: The Willpower Instinct

When I got an offer from BlogHer to review The Willpower Instinct, I have to admit…I had some pretty mixed feelings.  While it sounded interesting, a whole book on willpower could turn out to be awfully boring.  Lucky for me, this one is not boring!

The author, Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D., bases the book on a class she teaches at Stanford University called “The Science of Willpower.”  Since she’s been teaching this class for years, the book is full of awesome anecdotes and examples of what all sorts of people have done in order to overcome all sorts of willpower challenges.  While the book includes some “brain-speak” that didn’t appeal to me so much (the frontal what? amyg-huh?), it is just conversational enough that I was able to enjoy getting through it.

McGonigal explains that we have three powers–I will, I won’t, and I want.  Our individual willpower challenges happen when these three powers are at war with each other.  One of my favorite studies cited in the book is about a group of people who were given a free gym membership and encouraged to use it–though nothing was required of them–and their whole LIVES changed!  People started eating healthier, smoking less, being more productive at work…all from going to the gym once or twice a week by their own choosing!

Ultimately, willpower boils down to actually paying attention to whatever challenges you are having.  This was especially interesting to read about at this time of year, while setting goals for 2013 and participating in a fast with our church.  (Let me tell you, it takes some serious willpower to avoid eating a whole pizza when you’ve only eaten two light meals in four days!)  I’m definitely interested in trying a couple of the ideas she suggests, especially the ones related to simply breathing differently for short periods of time (apparently, extremely deep, slow breathing can increase focus and willpower in all areas of life!).

Overall, I enjoyed The Willpower Instinct.  Although it definitely got a little too brainy for my taste at some points, McGonigal made it easy to read and enjoyable throughout.  For more information about the book, and to participate in some awesome discussions on it, check out the BlogHer Book Club site:  https://www.blogher.com/bookclub/now-reading-willpower-instinct

 

*This is a compensated review for the BlogHer Book Club, but the opinions here are completely my own.*

We got a plan!

So last year around this same time, Charles and I sat down and wrote out an awesome list of our goals for the year (you can read about that here).  In regards to those goals…they were great, but many of them did not come to fruition.  We did some amazing things instead, though (buying a house, perhaps?)!

We are at a much different place in our lives (both individually and together) than we were at this time last year.  We have learned a LOT about ourselves and each other over the course of the past 52 weeks.  As a result, we are feeling much more prepared and much more optimistic about 2013!

Charles and I have spent a couple of weeks talking about what we realistically want to accomplish in 2013.  We talked about setting achievable, small goals.  We talked about where we want to be 52 weeks from now.  We talked about each other individually, and we talked about us together.  We acknowledged that our lives could take more crazy turns in the coming year.

Then we sat down, and we did it.  We wrote down our goals for 2013.

Then we broke them down into smaller, quarterly goals.  We had a meeting, y’all.  Over coffee & hot chocolate, we took our goals and we formulated a plan.

Before you laugh too hard at us, know that we realize plans change.  Life is unpredictable, and we are fully aware that we will likely have to make some modifications as the year progresses.  But we are feeling SO optimistic and excited!

Our goals as a couple are broken down into five categories:

  1. Physical Shape
  2. Relationship with God
  3. Financial Goals
  4. Home-related Goals
  5. Us Stuff

Each quarter, we have specific things we want to accomplish in those categories.  We also wrote out lists of personal goals that we each want to meet, and broke them down into quarterly chunks as well.  As these are personal, I’m not going to share all of them with you (sorry!), but a few categorical examples are…

Me:

  • Reading goals
  • Blogging goals (get excited!)
  • Relationship with God
  • Photography
  • Homey Stuff

Him:

  • Piano goals
  • Techie goals
  • Relationship with God
  • Investing/business goals
  • Website goals (he’s working on a site too!)

While our goals for the year are relatively general, our quarterly goals are much more specific.  They are broken down into two or three very achievable bits per quarter; for example, one of my homey goals for the first quarter is to hang pictures up in the hallway.  Mind you, these pictures that I’ll be hanging have been sitting together in a box, ready to be hung, since a couple of weeks after we moved into the house last April.

At the end of each quarter, we plan to have another “meeting” to go over our progress and make sure we are on track for the next quarter.  If we need to make adjustments to our quarterly goals, we will.  In fact, most of our Q4 goals say “TBD,” because we really aren’t sure where we will be in October.

So there you have it; our plan for 2013.  Hopefully it will be more successful than 2012′s plan!  Our biggest mistake in 2012 was failing to revisit our goals after we purchased and moved into our house.  We learned from the mistake though, and have awesome plans for this year as a result.

I will be sharing more about some of my personal goals here in the coming days, and I think you’ll be excited about some of them!

Thanks for sticking with me for almost two years now (my blogiversary is coming up on the 12th!)!  2013 is bringing some amazing things to my life!

Lasting effects?

2012 was a big year for us.  We…

–set some awesome goals

–joined the most amazing church EVER

–bought a beautiful house and made it our home

–survived our first hurricane as homeowners

–sang with Foreigner–again! (Well…Charles’ choir did, at least)

–got a promotion! (Well…Olivia did, at least)

But when I look back at 2012, I honestly have trouble remembering what we did.  With the exception of buying our house and joining our church, what did we really DO?  What’s really going to last?  What will we still remember in two or three years?

That’s the attitude with which we are approaching our 2013 goals (not resolutions).  I’ll be sharing some of them in the next couple of days, but for now, I want to leave you with this thought that’s been in my mind for the past few weeks:

If you die tomorrow, what will people say about you, and for how long?  After the initial shock that comes with every death, and after your funeral passes…what lasting effect will you really have on the world?

 

 

And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”  –Revelation 14:13 (ESV)

 

 

The Flu

We’ve had it.

It is no fun.  I highly recommend you try to avoid it.

As a result, I have not felt like doing ANYTHING.  Not blogging, not working (though I’ve been trying, as I don’t want to give up my PTO time before I get to use it for Christmas!), not cleaning, not doing laundry, not cooking…nothing.

I am very pouty and demanding when I’m sick.  Lucky for me, I married a man with the patience of a saint.

Charles is a big, stubborn baby when he’s sick.  Think of the baby that’s too sleepy to let himself fall asleep–he even said at one point, “I’m not sick–I just have the flu!”

We have both recovered now, finally, for the most part.  I am still stuffy (I had a sinus infection too), and I had a horrific headache yesterday, but Charles seems to be fully recovered.  That Tamiflu is the stuff!

It helped that we both caught it EARLY.  So here’s my advice for you–if you start feeling funky at all, do not wait.  We both had the same early symptoms: chills, aches, and general sluggishness.  We both had 101++ fevers.  Tamiflu made a world of difference, and cut the duration of our viruses way down!  I’ve had the flu before, and this time–while still miserable–was nowhere near as bad as before.

The doctor did tell us that the flu breakout has gone from a normal level to near-epidemic recently.  If you didn’t get a flu shot, watch out!

 

**Tamiflu has no idea who I am, and did not ask me to share my opinion.  I’m just a fan!**