For 2011

A friend sent this article to me today and I thought it was the perfect finish for 2011.  Bring on 2012!

30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself

As Maria Robinson once said, “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” Nothing could be closer to the truth. But before you can begin this process of transformation you have to stop doing the things that have been holding you back.
Here are some ideas to get you started:

1. Stop spending time with the wrong people. – Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you. If someone wants you in their life, they’ll make room for you. You shouldn’t have to fight for a spot. Never, ever insist yourself to someone who continuously overlooks your worth. And remember, it’s not the people that stand by your side when you’re at your best, but the ones who stand beside you when you’re at your worst that are your true friends.

2. Stop running from your problems. – Face them head on. No, it won’t be easy. There is no person in the world capable of flawlessly handling every punch thrown at them. We aren’t supposed to be able to instantly solve problems. That’s not how we’re made. In fact, we’re made to get upset, sad, hurt, stumble and fall. Because that’s the whole purpose of living – to face problems, learn, adapt, and solve them over the course of time. This is what ultimately molds us into the person we become.

3. Stop lying to yourself. – You can lie to anyone else in the world, but you can’t lie to yourself. Our lives improve only when we take chances, and the first and most difficult chance we can take is to be honest with ourselves. Read The Road Less Traveled .

4. Stop putting your own needs on the back burner. – The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much, and forgetting that you are special too. Yes, help others; but help yourself too. If there was ever a moment to follow your passion and do something that matters to you, that moment is now.

5. Stop trying to be someone you’re not. – One of the greatest challenges in life is being yourself in a world that’s trying to make you likeeveryone else. Someone will always be prettier, someone will always be smarter, someone will always be younger, but they will never be you. Don’t change so people will like you. Be yourself and the right people will love the real you.

6. Stop trying to hold onto the past. – You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading your last one.

7. Stop being scared to make a mistake. – Doing something and getting it wrong is at least ten times more productive than doing nothing. Every success has a trail of failures behind it, and every failure is leading towards success. You end up regretting the things you did NOT do far more than the things you did.

8. Stop berating yourself for old mistakes. – We may love the wrong person and cry about the wrong things, but no matter how things go wrong, one thing is for sure, mistakes help us find the person and things that are right for us. We all make mistakes, have struggles, and even regret things in our past. But you are not your mistakes, you are not your struggles, and you are here NOW with the power to shape your day and your future. Every single thing that has ever happened in your life is preparing you for a moment that is yet to come.

9. Stop trying to buy happiness. – Many of the things we desire are expensive. But the truth is, the things that really satisfy us are totally free – love, laughter and working on our passions.

10. Stop exclusively looking to others for happiness. – If you’re not happy with who you are on the inside, you won’t be happy in a long-term relationship with anyone else either. You have to create stability in your own life first before you can share it with someone else. Read Stumbling on Happiness .

11. Stop being idle. – Don’t think too much or you’ll create a problem that wasn’t even there in the first place. Evaluate situations and take decisive action. You cannot change what you refuse to confront. Making progress involves risk. Period! You can’t make it to second base with your foot on first.

12. Stop thinking you’re not ready. – Nobody ever feels 100% ready when an opportunity arises. Because most great opportunities in life force us to grow beyond our comfort zones, which means we won’t feel totally comfortable at first.

13. Stop getting involved in relationships for the wrong reasons. – Relationships must be chosen wisely. It’s better to be alone than to be in bad company. There’s no need to rush. If something is meant to be, it will happen – in the right time, with the right person, and for the best reason. Fall in love when you’re ready, not when you’re lonely.

14. Stop rejecting new relationships just because old ones didn’t work. – In life you’ll realize that there is a purpose for everyone you meet. Some will test you, some will use you and some will teach you. But most importantly, some will bring out the best in you.

15. Stop trying to compete against everyone else. – Don’t worry about what others doing better than you. Concentrate on beating your own records every day. Success is a battle between YOU and YOURSELF only.

16. Stop being jealous of others. – Jealousy is the art of counting someone else’s blessings instead of your own. Ask yourself this: “What’s something I have that everyone wants?”

17. Stop complaining and feeling sorry for yourself. – Life’s curveballs are thrown for a reason – to shift your path in a direction that is meant for you. You may not see or understand everything the moment it happens, and it may be tough. But reflect back on those negative curveballs thrown at you in the past. You’ll often see that eventually they led you to a better place, person, state of mind, or situation. So smile! Let everyone know that today you are a lot stronger than you were yesterday, and you will be.

18. Stop holding grudges. – Don’t live your life with hate in your heart. You will end up hurting yourself more than the people you hate. Forgiveness is not saying, “What you did to me is okay.” It is saying, “I’m not going to let what you did to me ruin my happiness forever.” Forgiveness is the answer… let go, find peace, liberate yourself! And remember, forgiveness is not just for other people, it’s for you too. If you must, forgive yourself, move on and try to do better next time.

19. Stop letting others bring you down to their level. – Refuse to lower your standards to accommodate those who refuse to raise theirs.

20. Stop wasting time explaining yourself to others. – Your friends don’t need it and your enemies won’t believe it anyway. Just do what you know in your heart is right.

21. Stop doing the same things over and over without taking a break. – The time to take a deep breath is when you don’t have time for it. If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting. Sometimes you need to distance yourself to see things clearly.

22. Stop overlooking the beauty of small moments. – Enjoy the little things, because one day you may look back and discover they were the big things. The best portion of your life will be the small, nameless moments you spend smiling with someone who matters to you.

23. Stop trying to make things perfect. – The real world doesn’t reward perfectionists, it rewards people who get things done. Read Getting Things Done .

24. Stop following the path of least resistance. – Life is not easy, especially when you plan on achieving something worthwhile. Don’t take the easy way out. Do something extraordinary.

25. Stop acting like everything is fine if it isn’t. – It’s okay to fall apart for a little while. You don’t always have to pretend to be strong, and there is no need to constantly prove that everything is going well. You shouldn’t be concerned with what other people are thinking either – cry if you need to – it’s healthy to shed your tears. The sooner you do, the sooner you will be able to smile again.

26. Stop blaming others for your troubles. – The extent to which you can achieve your dreams depends on the extent to which you take responsibility for your life. When you blame others for what you’re going through, you deny responsibility – you give others power over that part of your life.

27. Stop trying to be everything to everyone. – Doing so is impossible, and trying will only burn you out. But making one person smile CAN change the world. Maybe not the whole world, but their world. So narrow your focus.

28. Stop worrying so much. – Worry will not strip tomorrow of its burdens, it will strip today of its joy. One way to check if something is worth mulling over is to ask yourself this question: “Will this matter in one year’s time? Three years? Five years?” If not, then it’s not worth worrying about.

29. Stop focusing on what you don’t want to happen. – Focus on what you do want to happen. Positive thinking is at the forefront of every great success story. If you awake every morning with the thought that something wonderful will happen in your life today, and you pay close attention, you’ll often find that you’re right.

30. Stop being ungrateful. – No matter how good or bad you have it, wake up each day thankful for your life. Someone somewhere else is desperately fighting for theirs. Instead of thinking about what you’re missing, try thinking about what you have that everyone else is missing.

Song Lyrics of the Day

Jamming to DMB today...

My wish

Five Fact Friday

1.  I love to drive with my shoes off, especially on long drives.  I know it's illegal, but I guess I'm just a beach girl at heart and I would prefer to be barefoot my entire life.  I have noticed though that I tend to drive with only my big toe when I do this.  Yeah, I know...I'm weird.

2.  I hate carrying coins in my wallet or purse.  I try to keep them in the center console in my car because I am obsessed with paying with correct change when I go through a drive-thru.  OBSESSED.

3. I find it next to impossible to drink frozen drinks.  This includes margaritas, milkshakes, daiquiris, you name it.  They don't give me brain freezes, but they make my throat freeze up and it's so painful it makes me cry.  This problem hasn't stopped me from trying to drink them though.

4.  I rearrange the furniture in my house multiple times a year.  My office is completely torn apart right now because I am reorganizing my file drawers and desk.  I have already moved around all of the furniture in my living room and the boys' rooms are next.

5.  I am fluent in movie quotes.  It drives some people crazy, but I love it when someone says one back to me.  LOVE it!

Ode to a cupcake

Goodbye to you
Goodbye to everything I thought I knew
You were the one I loved
The one thing that I tried to hold on to

- "Goodbye"  Michelle Branch

True story

For KG today

Praying for comfort for you and your family.  Hang in there, buddy.

Or not so secretly

Good grammar is key

Philosophizing T Rex says...

Wonderwall

I know I've written about this before, but it happened again this morning.  There are moments of my life frozen in time that the memories only resurface when I hear a certain song.  This morning I was listening to my iPod on shuffle and Oasis's Wonderwall came on.  Now the song in itself isn't that significant, the lyrics don't hold any true meaning, but every time I hear that song it takes me back to being in college again.  My roommate and I had the cassette single (geez, am I dating myself or what?!) and we used to play the hell out of it.  We'd listen while we were getting ready for class, we'd listen while we were studying, we'd listen before we went to bed that night.  I loved this song. 

And just for a moment I let myself go back to being 18 again - to not knowing what the future held, to not having a care in the world.  The nostalgia is almost too much to handle today.  There are so many days I wish I could go back to that time in my life and do things differently.  To choose a different major.  To remember to go to class.  To get better grades.  To take a moment and enjoy where I was in my life and where I was headed.  To take that job offer.  To go to grad school.  To move to that other state and have faith it would work out...

And all the roads we have to walk are winding
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding
There are many things that I
Would like to say to you but I don't know how

Thought for the day

Picture of the day

Hello, my name is Carrie...

... and I have serious OCD. 

I just dropped $85 at Target buying small organizer boxes for my office and the boys playroom closet.  I can't take the clutter anymore!  A place for everything and everything in its place.

I think Hoarders is finally getting to me!

Photo of the day

I feel like this should have the caption "Reach for the sky..."

Photo of the day

For AJH, because he didn't think this was funny.  :)

GPOYW

These are my favorite shoes.  I know this is supposed to be a picture of me, but hey, this is close enough.

WOW, I'm old.

All throughout the year, there are little hints and clues that I am getting older.  The most recent reminder was yesterday when I chose to forgo my annual subscription to US Weekly and instead signed up for Time and Newsweek.  Yeah.  Dammit, I'm old.

Song lyrics of the day

-"You found me" the Fray

Reading

I haven't had the chance to read for fun lately because of all the chapters I've had to read for my MBA classes, so imagine how happy I was to get the chance to start reading whatever I wanted to this past week.  In the last 7 days, I have finished Happy Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Happy Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.  I know what you're thinking - those are kids books.  Um no, they aren't.  If you have ever read any of them, they are not written for children.  I have loved the movies because I watched them with my 6 year old son, but I wanted to know the rest of the story.  What did the movies leave out?  And by the way, the movies left out A LOT. 

What books have you read lately?  Anything good you'd recommend??

Are you kidding me?

I just got charged a $35 late fee on a credit card that I'm trying to pay off for paying $1.56 less than what I should have.  I didn't read the bill correctly and sent the wrong amount, and the company charged me $35 because of it!!!!!!  Are you KIDDING me?!  And they refused to reverse the charge.

Well Sears, this is precisely why I refuse to do business with you anymore.  I don't shop in your stores, I don't use your credit card, and I refuse to buy another one of your products.  EVER.  I hope that $35 was worth it.  You're on my shit list now too. 

Mmmmm, cupcakes...

Thought for the day

Thank you Summer - love you!

FOR CASSIE!

...

a "senior" moment

My mom was present at my wedding 8 years ago, yet she continues to forget I changed my name...

:(

Seven years have passed by in a flash

Seriously?

I just spent the last 45 minutes on a conference call with our 401k administrator.  It consisted of a 24 year old kid reading a pdf document to my entire company.... which consists of incredibly smart individuals, three of which have PhDs in economics and finance.  What a waste of time!

Super!

I hereby swear that I will never sing the words to this song correctly again.

Song lyrics of the day

Wherever you go I'll be with you
Whatever you want I'll give it to you
Whenever you need someone
To lay your heart and head upon
Remember after the fire after all the rain
I will be the flame
I will be the flame

-"The Flame", Cheap Trick

(GASP?!?!?!)

There's actually a WORD for this? 

I love smart guys.   :)

Happy PO Thursday!

GPOYW

How big was my freaking hair in TJ's wedding?  WOW.

One day...

I don't care if it's 5 years from now or 25 years from now, I WILL have one of these... 

Plus the house to go along with it!!

Truth

Thought of the day

Love doesn’t die, people do
So when all that’s left of me is love
Give me away.

Why is it...

... that this week in particular I feel so incredibly cut off from my friends?  Maybe I'm reading into things too much but all I wanted to do was talk about it, and no one is available.  Everyone is busy.  I need a good cry on the other end of the phone line.  Or for someone to tell me a funny memory.  Or just... something.

Tuesday Check In - I'm a day late

***side note - I know I keep taking these ideas from Leah, but these posts are keeping my mind off other things***

 

 

Obsessing over: the state of my house right now.  A friend is coming to do some electrical work and I'm hoping there's no reason he has to go upstairs.  It looks like a bomb went off in the playroom alone.  And there's laundry EVERYWHERE.

 

Working on: This blog post.  Duh.

Thinking about: Things that I shouldn't be.  Dangit past - please stay where you belong!

Anticipating: The ONE HOUR foot massage I'm going to get at lunchtime tomorrow.  Thank you hubby!

Listening to: The dryer, every 5 minutes, beeping to remind me the clothes are dry.

Drinking:Nothing.  Oops - better get on that.

Wishing:  ..."still, for one more day with you..."

Thought of the day

God bless my husband

My husband is so cute.  I was complaining that I couldn't use the touch screen on my iPhone when I wore gloves, so he bought me these for my birthday...

Are they not the most hobo-fabulous things you've ever seen?  hahahahaha  Now, granted, the concept is great.  You can flip the little tops back over when you don't need to use your fingers but to be honest, they are incredibly uncomfortable.  It's like those toe socks... you know... it's just weird having things between your toes - these are the same way.  But bless his heart, he was actually listening to what I said and tried to solve a problem for me.  :)

My children are weird

I looked outside earlier and my kids were pretending to "nap" outside on the back patio.  Crazy kids!

So sweet

A friend sent me this today.  Boy, did it change my entire attitude.  :)  Thank you to my angels all across this country.  This time of year is so hard on me and things like this make such a big difference.  Love you, buddy!

Sisters

Sigh...

Don't do it

You don't decline Chuck Norris.  Seriously.

Confession

I've been listening to my 90s R&B playlist on my ipod today and I keep hitting 'repeat' for Regulate by Nate Dogg and Warren G.


..."sixteen in the clip and one in the hole, Nate Dogg is about to make some bodies turn cold..."

 I'm so gangster.

True story

My inaugural 5 Fact Friday

 

I'm stealing this from Leah because I love this concept...

1.  I'm still in my pajamas.  Yes I drove my son to school like this.  Don't judge.

2.  I have eaten nothing but creme de menthe Hershey kisses today.  And the bag MAY or MAY NOT be completely finished now.

3.    I completely embarrassed myself on a conference call this morning when I assumed that the person on the phone knew who I was because we had spoken before.  Um, what are the chances that there are two people in different cities (in the same role) with the exact same (completely uncommon) name??

4.  Even though I have seen all of the movies, I just bought the first two Harry Potter books.  For myself.  I'm dying to know all of the other stuff that they left out of the movie or that they just assumed people would pick up on.  The books are always better.

5.  I have 4 groupons that I've bought that I still haven't used yet.  For golf, carpet cleaning, hot yoga, and pole dancing.  Yes, pole dancing. 

Amidst the chaos...

...of the season, with all of the scrambling to get everyone's Christmas present, and rushing from one party to the next, it's hard to keep a smile on my face sometimes.  This time of the year truly sucks for me.  There's always a nagging sadness that I can't shake, always a memory that seems to pop through at the most unexpected times.  I found myself standing at the stove cooking dinner, weeping, on Monday.  Tuesday I was driving in the car and that stupid Kelly Clarkson song came on the radio again.  Thursday I was in hysterics laughing about a family incident that happened almost 20 years ago, and realizing the only other person who was there and lived it with me was my sister...  it's amazing how quickly laughter can turn to sobbing. 

For my children's sake, I can normally keep all of this under wraps, or at least sequestered to the privacy of the shower, when no one really can hear my breakdowns.  This has become a common occurrence for the last week or so and it's starting to bother me.  There's something incredibly freeing about crying in the shower though...

Today the offending situation was just listening to the Jingle Bell Rock on the radio.  In 5th grade, Heather had to do this choreographed dance to that song, along with every other kid who ever attended elementary school in Richlands.  It was like a rite of passage to learn that dance - a pretty big deal for a 10 year old - and I remember Heather being so excited to teach it to me when she got home from school that day.  We had only been living in Richlands for a few months and things that would normally have been shared with our parents she chose to share with me.  We laughed and laughed as she taught me the steps and to this day, whenever I hear the song on the radio, I do the steps too, wherever I may be.  And I did them this morning again, just like always. 

I wish I knew how long it would take for this to get easier.  It doesn't ever seem like it is going to get better.  I saw something online this morning that seemed fitting and I thought I would post it here.  I wish someone would tell me this on a daily basis.

Happy Birthday to ME!

 

That's very prophetic Dr. Seuss!  And in honor of the 34th anniversary of my birth, I hereby pledge to do things for myself all day long.  Starting with a massage, lunch with special people, an extra long shower, dinner with my loves, and going to bed early.  No work, no homework, and nothing that I "have" to do are allowed today!

Happy Birthday to me!

Lord, won't you give me strength to make it through somehow

In Christ, there are no goodbyes
And in Christ, there is no end
So I'll hold onto Jesus with all that I have
To see you again
To see you again

And I close my eyes and I see your face
If home's where my heart is then I'm out of place

Lord, won't you give me strength to make it through somehow
Won't you give me strength to make it through somehow
Won't you give me strength to make it through somehow
I've never been more homesick than now

-"Homesick", MercyMe

My addiction

Hello, my name is Carrie, and I am addicted to Hoarders.  I am shocked and appalled by what I see on this show, but it makes me feel totally normal and "ok" with my stack of papers to be filed in my office.  My "stack", singular.  The people on this show are freaking crazazy!

GPOYW

I'm having an amazing hair day.   Just thought I would share!

Dreams

 

I'd like to think this is why Heather shows up in my dreams so much...  could it be true?

11 days...

11 days, 11 days, 11 days.   I'd be lying if I said it gets any easier every year.  I'd be lying if I said I am hanging in there.  I'd be lying if I said I was ignoring the sadness that accompanies this time of year.  I'd be lying if I said each passing year makes me remember the good times and forget what happened that night.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't right on the cusp of a complete breakdown, and even I myself don't understand how I'm holding it together.


I'm not a very good liar.

Happy Birthday to ME!

I just bought this blanket for myself (in the light grey color) - how amazingly soft and squishy does this look?  I can't wait for it to get here!  Anyone want to cuddle?

Confession

Oh Calvin...

Seriously?

The shopping center down the street is trying to kill me.  As if it wasn't bad enough we have Fujisan and the italian place and lots of crazy sandwich shops etc, NOW we have a Gigi's Cupcakes AND a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

There goes the diet!

And for the record, these cupcakes are ENORMOUS.

And everywhere I went, I was runnnninnnnnnnnn

I ran a 5k on Saturday.  I didn't run it very fast, but I ran it!  After feeling like complete ass for a week and having the worst cold/cough of my life, I managed to get my butt out of bed and suit up in my pink ninja gear.  My friend Cassie and I ran the Jingle Bell Run in Raleigh, to benefit the American Arthritis Foundation.  It is always a fun race because of the costumes people wear and all of the antler and jingle bells and santa hats you see. 

I, however, defaulted to the ninja gear.  It was 40 degrees and chilly.

Guess who loves his Mommy?

 

How stinkin' cute is my rusty little guy?  LOVE him!

Rafiki says:

Shark week

 

These are eerily similar.  Or as one person said... "my period will now be known as Shark Week".

I want this

 

But not unless the heart is over blue heaven...