future me

i highly recommend using futureme.org to write yourself an email for the future. i just got one i wrote five years ago and it cracked me up. i decided that i like the way i used to write better than the way i write now. education, schmeducation. five years ago i had a wee bit of college and zero "expertise" from editors and guess what? i think i sounded fine.

here is an excerpt. because the whole thing would be embarrassing. (but not as embarrassing as the years of journals in my closet that i said i was going to throw out but lance insisted i should keep.) i love this part ...

i hope that you have traveled. i hope that you have visited alaska and the west coast. i hope that you have gone to mozambique, and if you haven't ... go now! screw the job. screw the american dream ... or it will screw you. am i not right??

aunt karen wrote that she hopes you continue to become more and more like the image of christ this year. did you? are you? are you studying the word of God (who must be in love with you) and soaking it up and being a walking joy? a breath of life to those around you? be an encourager. be a mystic. be all that you can be, be prophetic and bold and boldly prophetic. heal someone on the sidewalk if you feel that's what God is saying. live. go. dream. love yourself, cause you're beautiful.

progress on those summer goals

i set some random goals toward the beginning of summer and since it's labor day weekend, here is how i did ...

1. cook. get good at seven meals. make sangria. make peanut butter truffles.
i've been cooking and there have been no disasters, but i don't think i have seven "specialties" yet like i was envisioning. but i'm on my way. still need to make sangria and peanut butter truffles.

2. take more pictures. learn how to use my camera.
did not make much progress on this.

3. as much wedding planning as possible.
accomplished! now it's just waiting to find out when and praying the venue i'd like is open on that date. and all of those minor details that can't be completed until you have a date set - like mailing invitations. ;-)

4. read a book a week. read all of the books that i own and have not read yet before buying more.
i am succeeding at the book a week part, but still have not finished reading all of the books i own. (could be due to cheating and buying more books, whoops.) i'm going to keep this goal though, it's a good habit for sure. and a good way to keep me from wasting so much time online.

5. run/sign up for a half-marathon in sept.
i wasn't running much over the summer, except for the a five mile race on the fourth of july. frankly i am a diva runner - meaning that i don't like running when it's hot and humid. but the fall weather we're getting into is much more my style and i had a fantastic run last night, so maybe i will look for a half marathon to do in october or november. maybe.

6. try official Crossfit
i worked up the courage and went by myself and i loved it! so much that i joined. the workouts are so good and so fun. sometimes they are so ridiculous that i can't even work out for the next few days because i am hobbling around just trying to walk. lance is already a master "crossfitter" and does competitions, so my goal is to be at his level and beating him. JUST KIDDING. he is a beast of an athlete.

7. kayak or canoe
kinda need a truck for this, womp womp.

8. writing project. interview 10 people by labor day.
started this but i'm not even close to 10 people yet.

9. do at least one freelance piece.
i did four, woohoo!

10. bike with friends
it stormed the day we had this planned. hopefully we can squeeze it in this fall.

so i accomplished five out of 10, not bad. i am working on a monster list of goals for over lance's next deployment, and i think i will carry over #2 and #5 to that list. i love lists.

and i love this graphic. gotta admit i'm sick of how overplayed these "keep calm" images are right now ... but i love this one.

{source: pinterest}

summer goals

1. cook. get good at seven meals. make sangria. make peanut butter truffles.
2. take more pictures. learn how to use my camera.
3. as much wedding planning as possible.
4. read a book a week. this shouldn't feel ambitious but it does. (never mind, i counted and it's 12 weeks till labor day. 12 books i can do.) also, read all of the books that i own and have not read yet before buying more.
5. run/sign up for a half-marathon in sept.
6. try official Crossfit
7. kayak or canoe
8. writing project. interview 10 people by labor day.
9. do at least one freelance piece.
10. bike with friends