Two thousand and eleven.

The thought of a New Year's Eve post is a little terrifying. It has so much ground to cover and so much potential to reveal twords the coming year. I think my attempts would only turn up inadequate. I think the best way to go about this is to stay short and simple.

Was there pain in the last year? Of course, but was there joy? That's what I want to hear about. I don't think this life is about the darkness. It's about the light. The sun coming up each morning. But life is so much bigger than this world. I hope if you haven't found that in previous years, this year brings that to you. There's a season for all things in this lifetime. I hope through the next year you come to find understanding of all of the painful seasons of your past and learn that there's an up to every down, but even more importantly there's a bigger plan in motion that you or I can fathom.

This year's been so full for us. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. For the impressions you've left on us in the days of 2011. You have changed our lives. You have changed the world. Please don't forget the potenial you have. That life is about the choices you make.

Let 2012 be about living. About loving. Maybe instead of resolutions we should choose priorities. Does your life reflect the things that are important. Are you giving the things that matter, the things that are real the attention they deserve?

"For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again."

 --The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

      

We love you.

Happy New Year.

I found a quote today that I wanted to share:

Each morning, take time to imagine the person you want to be.

Beautiful, right?

I am understanding of the fact that I am so full of flaws. I think this quote is so inspiring and something I'd like to work on everyday. It changes everything about my day and everything about my life when I start each day spending time with Jesus. Crazy? Honest. We live in this world where we try something once and expect it to change out lives, how unrealistic are we? We give it one shot and then give up. You can change your life one baby step at a time but you aren't always going to notice a change after each baby step. Change takes time and it takes time for us to see change.

Let's try every morning to spend time in our bible. Maybe start one small verse at a time, one chapter at a time, whatever fits into your schedule, maybe just one pray at a time is where you're at. Take time each morning to imagine the person you want to be, what better way to do that than by studying the person we should be striving most to be like?

Dear Jesus, I'd like to say a prayer this morning for everyone whose eyes pass over this post. I pray that you will shake things up for them, that you will change their world. I pray that they choose to dedicate time each morning to you and I pray that they will be patient with the change about to take place and then that they will see the results. We know that you will fill those who hunger for you. Thank you for your promise. Thank you for your forgiveness. I love you. Amen.

Good luck lovers. Please share your goals and results. (:
Katie

Tangled Up In Me.

I'm about to pour my dreams out to you. I hope you're prepared to be supportive, encouraging and honest because I need you. I have real life plans to open a salon. I've been planning and hoping and waiting and stressing and most importantly praying. I've decided I will never be prepared mentally or financially for what I want to do with my life. I'm terrified. I'm ready to start.

Here's my crazy plan. I am going to open a non profit salon.

Ready for more? I'd like to offer all salon/spa services for free will donation.

Here are my thoughts. I first started doing hair because I like making people feel good about themselves. I think that's important and I think it's important for everyone to experience. I don't think people should have that taken away from them because they're unable to afford it. I understand that life can be a tangled mess.

I will collect information about what all of the other salons in town are charging and have the averages posted. I will have to charge for product on any chemical services (color, perm, etc.). But I'd like everything above that to be the clients call. I understand it's possible that people will take advantage of it but I think it's possible that just as many will not. I'd like to provide opportunities for those that can afford it to provide services for others. To help others untangle.

I have so many ideas that I'm not about to ramble about right now. I've been planning this for so long. I'm okay with it seeming ridiculous. I have faith in this.

My first step is to license my business. Before I can do that I have to decide on a name. So here are my two choices.

Tangled

OR

Tangled Grace [Because not all things start out Amazing.]

Please, vote it up! (:

More soon. Thank you.
Love you.

This our 50th post.

Erik and I are going to implement a no electronics night once a week. Or, we're going to give it a shot! Ha. Tonight will be our first night with no computer and no tv. Wish us luck and pray we both survive. ;)

We love you.

Silent Night.

Tonight I'm working on Christmas presents by light of my sewing maching and a night light. I have on my From the Inside Out (by Hillsong United) Pandora radio station. It's so majestic. I'm so at peace.

I'm so thankful for this sweet night.

I got a text today from someone that is so important to me that I haven't heard from in awhile.

Erik got word that he's going to have a phone conversation tonight that he's been waiting for.

Change is in the air for us. We're prepping for whatever it is that God has in store for us next.

This evening just feels so good and so right and I couldn't be more thankful.

We'll have news to share soon. I'm saying prayers that tonight will tug at your heart the way it has mine. I hope life's so sweet to you. I love you.

Forget skinny. Get healthy.

Wow! It's seriously already Friday? This week snuck away from me! I've been working on this post a little everday. It's kind of a tough and touchy subject so I wanted to get it right, but this morning I'm posting it imperfections and all! I'm sorry it took so long. I hope I get the right message across.

I am so heartbroken over the obsession with being thin. Seriously broken in half. Some people are so consumed by what they weigh, that they put all of their time and more importantly thought into losing weight, counting calories etc. On the contrary, I love that now more than ever our world is realizing that taking care of our bodies is important. It's becoming easier and easier to find inspiration to excercise or eat right. I had an instructor in cosmetology school who her whole life had been very thin and people would comment on that to her all of the time. "You're so skinny." "Do you ever eat?" You know the drill, and she would get upset about it and she explained to us, you would not walk up to someone and make comments on how fat they are. Which is true, you wouldn't. What makes it okay to comment on how skinny someone is?

It's funny that we don't see it that way, isn't it? Because so many people spend so much time wanting to lose weight, longing to be skinny. For the people that are born that way, it isn't their choice.

If you watch the biggest loser obviously the show is about losing weight, but do you see it's so much more than that? They're not starving themselves to lose weight. They're eating healthy, they're working out. They're getting strong. They're feeling good and they're dropping lbs.

Either way. So many people are focussing on what they weigh. I think health is so important. Not losing weight. Being healthy. Being healthy is so much more important than being thin. Being thin does not show that you're healthy or inshape. It's not about numbers on the scale. Muscles weighs more than fat. Working out isn't just going to make you look good. It's going to make you feel good. I think that's what it's about. Feeling good. Being healthy. Eating right. Exercise. I am not perfect at this by any means but trying is so worth it. I can really tell the difference in the way I look, in the way I feel when I eat right and work out.

My biggest pieces of healthy advice are going to sound a little crazy, but they make sense.

1. Drink water. Such a clique right? Do it! Some people that drink soda or coffee a lot don't realize that they don't drink water ever! This is a big step in getting healthy. If you need to start small start by adding one glass a day and work up. Water is SO important.
2. Look for whole grains. Pass on anything enriched or bleached. Whole grains. Nom, nom, nom. Noodles, breads, bagels, the works. It may not be the best tasting at first, but that is because you're used to the unhealthy. Once you get used to whole grains you won't go back. Nothing will satisfy you the way they do.
3. Avoid anything lite. I know you think, to be healthy you need to be fat free and lite everything. Wrong. Fat is what makes you feel satisfied. With out it you're going to continue to feel hungry. You want fat in your diet.
4. Avoid anything diet. Look for sugar on the label. In lite and diet they take out the fat and the sugar and replace them with substitutes. You want the real thing.

If you don't work out for whatever reason challenge yourself to something simple. Start with 10 push ups a day. You think I'm joking right? Try it! 10 push ups once a day. You will realize you can make a difference with something so little. I promise. At first it will start to get easier. You will feel a difference and then you will see a difference. When it's easier to do more, add on. It's as simple as that. Do something! Start somewhere!

I think that everyone has a weight that is right for their body. That your body is always going to take you to. I think eating healthy is about understanding what your body is telling you and listening to it. I think you should eat what you're craving, with in reason. I think your body will comunicate with you what it needs, listen to that. If you feel like your body is always telling you that you need dessert. Eliminate dessert from your diet for 10 days. That's it, 10 days will break you of the habit of eating sweets if you're doing it out of habit with out realizing it.

Please remember. It takes time to get unhealthy. It takes time to form bad habits. It's going to take time to get healthy. It's going to take time to form good habits. Don't give up on you. You're going to feel a difference before you see a difference. You're going to see a change before your friends do. Your friends are going to see your transformation before others notice. It will take time. Keep going.

We love you. Please love yourself. Be happy with yourself.