December Dose 3

Dec. 3
Moment. Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year.

I cannot believe it took me taking more than a second to actually reflect on this one!
For anyone who knows me well, you know that God chose me to be the lucky young lady whose parents get divorced...no big deal it seems these days-seems to be the trend. However, I was chosen to endure the divorce from hell. My parents got divorced around 13 years ago and they still seem to find reasons to argue and go to court. I am not getting into any details or blaming anyone, in the grand scheme I guess we are all to blame for letting Satan control our actions rather Trusting that God will handle it. Afterall, He is the Supreme Judge, not some man on earth in a black robe! Ok so, now that you kind of know where I am coming from, you can kind of understand why this moment I am going to reflect on was the one moment this year that I felt the most alive!

Dealing with two parents who do not speak-you can imagine how difficult that can make things...this is simply the reason I have banned ever having a wedding-I will def have a destination wedding with just me and the lucky man, I have only had them together at one birthday party since I was 16 (and that was just long enough for my daddy to give me his present- a trip to NYC-awesome gift!), I don't have a picture of just us three from my high school graduation, I am still trying to figure out how to handle the day I have a child and then what about the child's birthday parties....and so on....probably all of the things I would have taken for granted had my parents stayed married or even stayed friends after the divorce.All of that to again help you understand why this is the moment for me or actually the entire day of feeling alive.

May 29, 2010. Me,my little sister, my mama, her husband Mark, my daddy, and his wife Cindy....all sat down in the same building, on the same row, only inches apart from one another and watched my little brother walk across the stage at his high school graduation!! Sounds silly to some I am sure but if you knew our history you would have chills and tears as I do now! I did see some Valium being popped but whatever it takes it was worth it!!

But wait....it gets better! After graduation we all (except for Mark - this was all too much for him so he left - his loss-I saw God this day - I hate he missed it!) met up outside to hug brother and take pictures--this is my favorite part, even though it doesn't directly effect me but just knowing that at least one of us three kids actually got to experience this makes me smile--my mama, daddy, and little brother took a picture together! Wow! I was just as envious as I was happy! I will never forget that moment for as long as I live, even though it only lasted as long as it takes the shutter on the camera to click it will last in my heart forever!

Believe it or not there is actually one more part! This is why I said more of an entire day rather than just a moment...after we took the pictures we all went and had lunch together! Of course it was a little weird but everyone was cordial and we had many laughs...I waited for daddy to foot the entire bill but thank God he didn't or I would not have been here to write about this moment because I would have died from a heart attack at the moment he or mama offered to pay for one another haha!
So that is it! The entire day was amazing but the moment of the picture is the moment that I felt the most alive this year.

Unfortunately, the very next day, a new situation arises and our parents are back to as much dissension as ever but at least we had these few hours on May 29, 2010 that now mean so much to me and otherwise probably would not have had I not had to miss out on them in my life to truly understood what these moments really are all about-never take anything for granted--not even the "small" things!!


Pictures never change,
 Even when the people in them do.






















xoxo,
Faith

December Dose 1 & 2

I am so excited! My friend Katie (Check blog out here!) sent me this great idea that she thought I would enjoy using in my post for the next few weeks and she was correct! The idea behind these posts are to spend the next month reflecting on the past year, and manifesting what is next. So this is how it works...each day Reverb 10 will give a daily prompt, I will then respond to the prompt and then hopefully you will read it!
I will do Dec 1 and Dec 2 today in order to keep on track for the rest of the month.
Soooooooooooo.....here it goes................

Dec. 1, 2010
Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?

2010 in one word...Challenge

If you follow my blog I would think you could agree with me here that this is a word that seems to suit 2010 in my life! For beginners we can start with this blog....Thoughts Uncorked all came about from a challenge-me challenging myself to stay off of Facebook for one month in order to have more time to focus on myself instead of everyone else's business that I barely even speak to! Thoughts Uncorked became my outlet of getting out what I needed to get out!

Challenge is also my word of choice because of having to watch my grandfather and uncle take on a challenge each day of staying alive - they did both pass away this year so now I am still facing the challenge of dealing with them no longer being here.

School has been a challenge - It always is with trying to balance work, family, and social life but the Spring semester and the Fall semester have both consisted of Stats classes...I made it through the first with a B and will be completing the next one and last one in a few weeks, hopefully with a passing grade as well!

The old love life has had a few ups and downs as well this year! Since my break up last year I have not really been in a zone to want to take on the challenge of a new relationship. I have dated a few people here and there but nothing that really could ever go anywhere. For a while this frustrated me to no end then I realized this was a time in life I needed to focus on me and my life 100% rather than bringing in someone else and I can honestly say I feel that I am succeeding in this challenge! I do find myself being more open to the idea of a boyfriend now more than I have been....until of course I get that sweaty palm, my throat closes up, nauseated - room is spinning feeling---then I change my mind! ;)

Those are just a few of the reasons that I choose the word challenge. Like I said, if you keep up with this blog then you have seen some of the crazy challenges I have faced and still are facing this year among family, relationships, friends, and myself...I know that 2011 will hold its challenges as well but as Caroll Burnett said, “I have always grown from my problems and challenges, from the things that don't work out, that's when I've really learned.”
I am looking forward to more growing!

Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?
Organized.
Organized: Functioning within a formal structure, as in the coordination and direction of activities.-Webster

Is this even feasible for the idea of life? Maybe not since we cannot predict what is coming next but I can make sure whatever comes my way I have everything in place and am as organized as possible to be prepared for it!

Dec. 2
What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it?
It’s taken me a little longer than normal to wrap my brain around this question today. Quite honestly I cannot come up with one thing in my daily life that does not contribute to my writing/blogging.

Yes, I could eliminate Facebook and Twitter but these are outlets in which I share my writings and both of these sites are actually places that give me insights and ideas on what to write about.
I don't sleep very often and when I do it seems like most of the time when I wake up that is when my mind is the freshest and I start writing so in a way even sleeping contributes. I could stay at home more often instead of being such a social butterfly or going out and spending money but once again most of my topics involve discussions I have had with those around me and spending money creates stress which we all know leads to needing to vent!

So I guess the things that do not contribute to my writing and may be considered by some to get in my way really cannot be eliminated at all because they are all a part of my writing process!
So thank you all very much "distractions"!!

xoxo,
Faith

Just what we needed....

Hola! Wow....I have been so busy playing catch up from Thanksgiving vacation I have not had a chance to sit down and write but I am back! :) I have missed this more than I probably should!
I had an absolutely AMAZING Thanksgiving week/end! Me, my mom, brother and sister went to Florida!! We went to visit my brother at his school in Daytona but decided to keep driving a few more miles and went to Orlando so we could visit Universal Studios and Disney World!! So, needless to say we did not have a very traditional Thanksgiving this year....instead we were busy going in loops on roller coasters, meeting Spiderman, Cinderella, and many others! We went to a Miami Heat/Orlando Magic basketball game and enjoyed our Thanksgiving meal which consisted of a turkey leg all of this with more smiles and laughs than I ever thought possible! :) It was so awesome how much each of enjoyed this trip we have taken numerous times before now that we are all older and understand how precious time is and are learning not to take things for granted! This week I have set back a few times and remembered certain moments from the trip and I just start laughing out loud! If you laugh when you are alone then you know some good memories were made!!
If you read my previous post you will remember me saying that this year I choose to be extra thankful for Memories when asked to name one thing I am thankful for....well, that was definitely the right choice for me and I am so thrilled that I got the chance to make so many wonderful new memories with 3 of my favorite people in the entire world!!
Of course I cannot stop without mentioning another awesome event over the last week was the USC Gamecocks beating Clemson....29-7....another great memory!! This weekend I will head to Atlanta to watch USC play in the SEC Championship for their first time---I am so busy soaking up so many new memories and I LOVE it!!


Thanksgiving Dinner 2010

xoxo,
Faith