Excitement and Adventure

The last blog discussed how important writing and logging our lives can be. (A decision was made to blog, as long as blogging doesn't enslave me.)

Anyways, a couple things have happened since then, helping remind me of my passions.

1. First client as a Personal Fitness Trainer.

Last Friday I decided to take on one of my co-workers as a client. Over a year after graduation from Purdue, cobwebs have formed - the brain is certainly a little dusty. The night before my client's Fitness Assessment, I stayed up late into the night (late for Zach and I anyways) to brush up and get organized. Four o'clock in the morning came too soon. Everything, however, went as well as it could have.

2. We found information about Adventure Racing in our area.

Zach and I share a passion for the outdoors, climbing, mountain biking, hiking, rock climbing, etc. Living in the middle of a flat state filled with cornfields makes it extremely difficult to get outside and release our passion! While in college, Zach completed four adventure races (thank you POCAR) and we've been talking about doing one since we began dating. We were excited to find information on adventure races nearby at the gym today! If you don't know what orienteering and adventure racing are, please, please do me a favor.

Stop reading RIGHT NOW and go find out!

3. Deciding to memorize Ephesians.

Today at work, I stumbled upon a friend's blog, where she was talking about memorizing the book of James. Lately, my time spent reading has been tough and dry. My friend wrote how the act of memorizing scripture awakens her soul. I was captured. In the depths of my being I knew that I need to start memorizing; not memorizing to puff out my chest or to be the idilic Christian, but memorizing to remind myself of my weakness, my reliance on Christ and to apply scripture to my life. The last time I tried to memorize anything was with my friend Sarah. We met once a week and had a new verse from the chapter each week. We were memorizing Romans 12. We got half way through. Based on the fact that we did not actually complete the chapter, we failed. But man, it didn't feel like failure. Those verses are engraved upon my heart. The act of memorizing them did something in me I can't explain. Prayers please for this new adventure...Ephesians is a book comprised of six chapters.

4. The FINALE!

As my husband would attest to, tonight I served the WORST dish that I've cooked since we've been married....EEEEEK.

Tonight an attempt was made to recreate a dish from Giada's Kitchen... the attempt went over like a lead balloon. Surely, the problem was on my end, not Giada's. Certainly, my use of sub-par ingredients such as canned green beans (all we had in the pantry) and lack of some others like tomatoes (ooooops, I didn't think they would be missed) is to blame. Whatever the problem, wow was it bad! The awful dish was magnified, however by the Open Pit BBQ sauce which my hub used earlier today. Gosh, the smell of Open Pit is gut wrenching to me. He still claims that I'm being dramatic and that is just isn't that bad....

ANYWAYS. The adventure here comes from the fact that I love to cook. Whether cooking for just Zach and I or for a crowd, I love it! Cooking gives me a sense of fulfillment, clarity and artistry. So putting something awful on the table just won't do. The adventure - cook well and NEVER have the same mishap as tonight.

Adventure...the sweet, sweet smell of adventure.

Beginning...Again

Ashamed, I sit and type this. Unfortunately, I've written about beginning to blog before. As a result of some silly idea springing from agonizing New Year's traditions, I've vowed to begin writing again, no matter what it takes.

Honestly, the world of Blog has me quite distraught. Despite my feeling that blogging is another way that our society allows us to be faceless, deceiving us into believing that we can really connect with other faceless human beings this way, writing is real and raw and constructive. Despite wondering if this strange world of words, fonts, page views and hyperlinks is a trap that snaps us from reality and from living life, writing is encouraging and liberating. So, here I sit struggling to survive in this world, but believing there is good here...somewhere. Most of life ends up being about balance; you know, living in the tension. I would assume the same holds true with this as well. With this truth in mind, I will start writing again. Who's to tell what about or when.....

Anyways.

Recently, a discovery has been made.

Somehow there is something missing concerning who I am and who I want to be.

Intervention: a bittersweet adventure of rediscovery.

I believe that our experiences influence who we are and who we become, but they do not have to define us. Learning from our experiences and working through them becomes unbelievably important. Assessing where I am and where I've been, that is the adventure.

Let it begin.