So, this morning at work, the company newsletter was passed out to everyone and I found a short section of myself under new employees. This included a head shot, which I remember taking although I should have approved first because I almost died when I saw it. I looked terrible. I have a very round face and it is the first place to show when I fluctuate in my weight at all. I know the winter months for me usually involve very little physical activity and this was a wake up call!

So right then and there I began scheming what I was going to do so that I never looked bad like that again. The result was a pledge to myself that is below with some easy changes in diet and exercise.

Pledge To Self:

1. No fast food, sorry Wendy’s!

2. No more ice tea, drink lots of water – I don’t drink sodas but ice tea is my weakness

3. Always choose grilled over fried food~ You will feel better afterwards!

4. Eat vegis with every meal

5. Have a good breakfast: oatmeal or cereal and fruit

6. Do not eat anything past 9pm

7. Do some sort of exercise 3 times a week

~

I don’t want to have too many rules and restrictions but I believe these should be easy enough to start with. Wish me luck!

XOXO,

L

I am sporting my festive heart tights and red and white at work today. My co-workers may think I am goofy, but I am here to spread some holiday cheer! I am also eating some yummy heart cookies my roommate made and enjoying any excuse to celebrate.

It doesn’t have to stressful or negative, just filled with fun and happiness! Hope friends, that you too can enjoy today. And if you are feeling down, here is a song to lift your spirits!

XOXO,

L

Jeremiah 29:11

Happy Friday Friends! Enjoy the weekend. I will be spending time with several of my sorority sisters who are in DC this weekend. So happy to catch up with them, it has been tooo long!!

XOXO,

L

My friend felt that a lot of dissatisfaction related to a sense of entitlement from our generation, that we feel entitled to be happy at our jobs and that everything should be great for us. How is it that our parents’ generation found a job after college, and for so many, work there for most of their life? But I got to thinking, is it really a sense of entitlement or is it something else?

How is it that I have been out of college for three year now and just started my forth job. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think this is normal, there is a lot more shuffling around in politics than other industries. And I would not have changed or taken back any of it. A new job always resulted in a step forward, but always had me questioning what I was doing and where I am trying to go.

Maybe it is Washington. I am sure that is part of it, but I don’t think the blame can fall fully on this city. Why am I so confused about my future? Why am I afraid of making commitment to this city or any job? Why am I always looking for the next thing?

Then I came to the conclusion that all these things were not just a sense of entitlement and lack of commitment, but also a lack of contentment.

How is it that I can be this way when I was given everything in life to excel and do whatever I wanted. I was blessed to be well taken care growing up by my loving parents who gave me everything I ever wanted. They sacrificed so much so that I could go wherever I wanted and do whatever I wanted. And what have a done with it all? I have been anxious in the confusion of it all and remain very unsettled.

It’s not that I am unhappy with my life, I am enjoying life and DC. I have great friends and am having so much fun. But I do hope that I reach a point where I am no longer anxious in my career. Will that day come?

Until then, happy Friday friends!

xoxo,

L

January 2011 (The order they appear)

1. “Cooler Than Me” Mike Posner

2. “Dynamite” Taio Cruz

3. “Somewhere With You” Kenny Chesney

4. “Felt Good On My Lips” Tim McGraw

5. “Just a Dream” Nelly

6. “Words I Couldn’t Say” Leighton Meester

7. “Mrs. Robinson” Simon and Garfunkel

8. “F**K You” Cee Lo Green

9. “If I Die Young” The Band Perry

10. “Forever Young” Rod Stewart

11. “Rock and Roll” Eric Hutchinson

12. “American Pie” Don McLean

13. “Here Comes The Sun” The Bornagen Beatles

14. ”Country Strong” Gwyneth Paltrow

I seek comfort from He who comforts, so that I may be able to comfort others.

1 John 4:19

“We love because HE first loved us.”

Spending great time with my family only makes it all the more difficult to say goodbye to them, even after extending my stay several days longer than originally planned. Sometimes I wonder what I am doing living so far from home. Why DC and why politics? Will I regret it years down the road that didn’t spend as much time with them as possible? Am I chasing something that is futile? Where do I even want to be in five years? I don’t know. I just don’t know and that scares me a little. I turn 25 next month, and I feel my quarter life crisis coming on a bit early. Well this is just great.

Bakersfield is a humble place, nothing glamorous and nothing more than a middle class town in the Central Valley. I was born there and spend 18 years of life there. I left over seven years ago and since then haven’t spent more than a few weeks there at a time. When I do come home I tend to look around and think this isn’t the beautiful California most people think of. But then I remind myself that this is where I grew up and I don’t regret that. It may not have the best scenery but there are some really great people there and it is because I grew up there that I turned out the way I did. I wouldn’t change that for the world.

Sometimes I ponder going back to my roots but as quickly as that thought comes it is dismissed again because most jobs center around oil and agriculture. So I keep trekking along in DC the only way I know how. And when these emotions of anxiety and fear come over me I have to remind myself that I need to take one day at a time and rely not on my own strength but He who gives me strength.

Signing off for now.

XOXO,

L