Conquering those fears....

What are fears? Are they reality or are they things our mind uses to play tricks on us? Maybe little ways we happen to let Satan into our lives. Tricks or not some fears can be totally paralyzing to us. I'm dealing with the fear of not being good enough. I don't need a ton of e mails telling me how good I am because I know what God says about fears. I'm just being real. I think we allow some fears into our lives so that we have an excuse to fail. Do we want to fail? Mostly no but we use that to get ourselves down from the start so that when/if our "fear of failure" really does happen we can say "see...I told you so!". But what if we give those fears to God from the start? Why is it we try to sabotage our future before it even happens? If we believed that God would improve things for us would that improve our motivation? Our outlook? Our drive for success? I would think so!!! How about we Pray Pray Pray! Isn't that what it's all about anyway? So what fears do you deal with? Let's try to put those in the Father's hands and find success from the start without the worry and fear getting to our core.

I know what you did last night!

GIRLFRIENDS!

This didn't take a lot of planning, invitations or phone calls to get a group together. Some times the best times are the spontaneous moments when you can call/text or facebook people and get a group of gal pals together for a night out!

I have not, in a very long time, laughed as much as I did last night! We ended up having about 13 of us at the movie Bride Wars. It was pretty funny and I thought it was also an interesting view of how women can be so mean to each other but in the end we realize how important our friends really are to us. It doesn't matter if we're hurting, happy or sad, it's the bond that holds us together. What bond is that you ask? For everyone it may be different. It may be because you've known each other for a long time, you've experienced the friendship of that person because of something traumatic in one of your lives or it might be a new relationship. Whatever the bond the friendship is there and that's the whole point!

I have been blessed with a great group of gal pals. Some who could make it last night and some who will have to come to the next movie night. With so much going on in my family right now this night out was just what the doctor ordered. I was able to meet one of my friends for dinner before the movie and it was great to catch up with her. One of the things I love most about her is that we can go for weeks without seeing one another and nothing is ever "weird" when we do spend time together.

After the movie a group of 5 of us....you know who you are....went out for a snack. I laughed so hard I had tears running down my face. The best comment was about potato chips and family meetings! The conversation was great and the company even better! Thanks Gals!

So let me just encourage you...if you don't have many gal pals in your life right now, try reaching out to someone you don't get to spend a lot of time with. One of my favorite things about inviting people to go out last night was the comment I got, "thanks for thinking of me". Who cares if you're married or single, you have 1 kid or 10, time isn't always convenient or there are dishes in the sink! Make time to go out, accept the invitation, enjoy people, and remember to Laugh! After all, laughter is the best medicine!

Next girls movie night is February 13th! Let me know if you want to come!

PS Names have been left out intentionally to protect the embarrassed!

Things aren't always what they seem...

The beginning of the year usually starts with people saying..."Can you believe it's 2009? Where did last year go?". Well, lets just say that I'm not one of those people! Of course you can believe it's a new year! It happens ever year at about this time. The true cause of the disbelief is the fact you still have things you weren't able to complete the year prior and perhaps a to do list a mile long that doesn't magically disappear at the start of the new year. We don't suddenly get a new beginning, a new body, changed habits, or money in the bank but perhaps more of a fresh start in our own mind. Maybe this is part of the trick we play on ourselves in order to get some motivation back. How about we make a resolution to stay the same? Continue on with the things we need to get done, the people we want to see and the tasks around the house that still need to be completed. We can do all of this while improving what we look like, what we wear, how we act, what we eat and habits we want to break. So follow me as we stay the same this year! Perhaps by the end of this year we will have made some positive changes that we can say at the start of next year that surprised us!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

What a time this Christmas was. Taylor and I shared stockings at our house before heading over to my mom and sisters house for "Christmas". At their house "Christmas" consists of 5 kids, 3 adults, 2 dogs, 2 cats and one big surprise! So lets get back to stockings for Taylor and I. I found this adorable nose warmer for her and it was even in her college colors....

How cute is she!!!

So after Taylor and I got dressed we headed over to the Meyer/Clark household for some good ol' fashioned chaos! I of course, had camera in hand but just enjoyed being with my family and watching expressions, listening to conversations and just being entertained by all arround.

With Taylor, I also brought Shane who came as a surprise to the family! The gift he is opening is from his newes neice...Taylor. Some might quesiton her gift buying abilities! You be the judge for yourself!

The Ultimate Bail Out!

So I just realized how long it's been since I've blogged last! I can't believe it actually. For something that is so addicting how can I have neglected it for so long??? I thought I'd post a quick one since I'm hopefully headed out the door soon. I just had to tell you about one of the nicest guys I know! This is Justin...

Family man, married and has 5 adorable children yet he still came to help Taylor and I bail out of the driveway. After our first sonw on Sunday I was driving my new jeep and slid down the hill into our culdesac. Strange thing is I have 4 wheel drive and jeeps are made for this kind of weather! Well needless to say I was a little gun shy to drive my car so we are now driving the Mountaineer which is handling beautifully! We wouldn't be driving this car if it hadn't been for Justin coming over on Wednesday and helping us get it un-stuck from where I had managed to get it!

Yep....right out the driveway! STUCK! Justin bought us a snow shovel and brought over a regular shovel to help get the car out. After that he followed me to the storage location where we had the snow tires, followed us to Les Schwab (which by the way they were swamped - go figure!) and then made sure we were set! So a huge shout out goes to Justin for all his kindness! Who knows, if he hadn't helped us Taylor and I would probably still be stranded!

Here are a few more photos from this last week.

What kind of a pet mom would I be if I didn't include some adorable pics of Bear?

Ok, so obviously that isn't Bear but it is Doug and I at my moms house! We were taking Abbie and Taylor out sledding at the school! Loads of fun but boy was it freezing!!!

Christmas Presents that keep giving!

Taylor and I were blessed with a special gift from her Aunt Nancy and Uncle Harry from Arkansas. The gave us a cooking class at Sur La Table. Taylor and I headed out to downtown Portland to see if they could teach us anything about cooking! ;) Taylor loves to cook and when she's home from college I get completly spoiled. The menu you ask?

Christmas Dinner for the busy cook:

Apple and Chestnut Soup

Parsley and Thyme Crusted Roast Beef with Shallot Jus

Roasted Baby Carrots with Caraway, Fennel and Mustard Seeds

Potato and Parsnip Gratin with Parmesan

Orange Mousse Trifle with Dark Chocolate Topping

Sounds difficult but it was sooo yummy!

Do I have something in my teeth?

So last night my sis (above on left) and I went to our real estate class (by the way I'm going to get my real estate license in case you hadn't heard yet). She and I haven't really been in a class together since high school; we were in the same Biology class together almost 20 years ago! Boy I sound so old!

Anyway...the teacher kept staring at me! Why???? Not sure! I even leaned over and asked her why he was doing that...neither one of us could figure it out. The material was a bit over my head and I didn't fully understand it so perhaps I was staring at him with a blank look on my face.

Who knows how to read a map let alone break it down by sections and townships? Who knew what all of the lines are on a...hmmm can't remember what it's called....see how much it stuck. I do remember that north and south are the meridian and the east and west are a baseline but can't remember what it's called as a whole. Anyway its the directional thing on a map that shows where North is. I've never taken a geography class so let me just say in my defense, because I'm sounding very stupid at this moment, that I really am a sharp cookie! So the last part of the class was all about that and how to break things down and I realized...wow this IS kind of interesting! On the east coast they have townships and now I know why!

My sis and I sat in the back of the room trying not to get distracted! Let me just say that it was tough because the instructor kept making all these funny faces! I HATE doing things by myself sometimes so it's nice that Cass and I can take these classes together. This is more of a refresher to her but for me all the material is new! Now if I could just get the instructor to stop staring at me! Maybe I had something in my teeth!

~Tamara~