Sunday, January 11, 2009

BREAKING NEWS

Or, you can re-name this the NOBODY cares Blog. But I do!! I just realized that the text-book I need for the ONLY academic course I'm taking this semester ( the rest of my credits are going to be organ and piano lessons and 2 recitals). But anyways, I already own the book! And it's a really good one that I've been wanting to read for over a year! Some friends of mine baught it a while back for this same class and they thought I was sooooo weird for buying the book just for fun. I didn't realize this was the same class...It's on Johann Sebastian Bach.

That's it! I'm happy :)

End of the beginning

The title for this blog sounds deceivingly depressing. But it's not! Even I am surprised that there are no new pictures on my camera to share yet (aside from a couple of the dog getting blow dryed last night...which I guess could be entertaining for some :). So, I just wanted to give an update at the end of my first full week of the new year on how I'm coming along with some of my new years resolutions.

First, I managed to go almost 2 weeks without chewing my nails. They were looking gorgeous. Last night I had a weak moment and was chewing away on "a few". Today I decided to count how many a "few" was...I only have 3 nails NOT chewed on. Oh well, I'll start again. I'm doing better with this, and since my dad baught my mom and I nail pedicure kits for Christmas, they've been looking much more feminine. So, I'm NOT giving up.

Practicing, which was one of my most important new years resolutions is coming along MUCH better. I've already logged about 16 1/2 hours this week, and almost 22 hours for the year. So, already much improvement from last year!

Devotions have NOT been better yet. I've been busying myself and noticing that I'm long overdue for more quiet time. I did get in 1 good day this week, but that's really pathetic considering the other 6!

Worrying less...I've been doing better in this area I think. The apartment ALMOST got sold the other day, then at the last minute this girl backed out. So, instead of getting all upset about it, I decided God needed me to wait and trust a little longer. So, that's what I'm doing. And praying more.

Working out and dieting, definitely on the right track! The scale hasn't really budged but I'm not letting that get me down. I probably go to the gym 4 or 5 days a week and get a good 30 minutes of cardio + sometimes weights and then I usually get in the hot tub and sauna to warm-up. We've also been cooking more often and eating more salads and vegis.

I've been reading a LITTLE more. One way I'm trying to improve is this. Whenever someone is being loud or watching the news, or doing something that is distracting me from practicing. Instead of getting really frustrated, I'll take a break, go to my room, and read a few pages while they do what they need to, and then I'll come back when it's calmed down. This is good for my brain too. I sometimes push myself to go longer than I really can and end up playing something a million times over that could have been easy the FIRST time.

There hasn't been too much exciting going on around here lately. I went over all my finances, and have been pinching pennies, and really geared up to pay off some large chunks of debt this year. Every time I think of something extra I want to buy I remind myself that buying it won't feel nearly as good or good for as long as saving that money to pay off debt will feel. The other thing I noticed about this too the other day was this. We accumulate all these little things throughout just one year. But, when I look at what I use day in and day out, the clothes I wear, for example, it's usually comfy clothes I've had for years.

I heard a while back a very inspiring story. Two girls got together a year or two ago and set out to not spend A PENNY all year long. They must have had assistance from parents or something. I think I remember them being around college age. So, I guess aside from living and eating and going to school, they didn't spend money on a thing. And they did it! That story was really inspiring to me as I thought, how much of all this "stuff" can we just do without? And don't you hate it when you look at your house and realize you have to "unclutter" to relieve stress and that all the stuff you're "uncluttering" is stuff you REALLY REALLY wanted in the first place? Maybe that's just me. I have heard that women tend to be "gatherers" though. So, if I can just find HEALTHY things to gather, I'll be better off. Anyone got any ideas? How about gatherin....umm....acorns? Yup, no ideas yet :)

Mom and I are going to get pizza now! It's cold outside and I'm hungry from working out...and yes, I know, pizza is NOT diet food. But, we've been pretty good this week and it's Sunday...and those are my excuses, lame as they may be :)

Hope you all are doing well and to hear from some friends and family soon. Hopefully, I'll have some nice new pics on here soon.

Oh, and please pray for my competition this weekend! I'm competing for the WVU Young Artist's Concerto competition on Saturday the 17th at 11:48 a.m. I'm playing the 3rd mv. (finale) of Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto with my accompanist and friend Khe Sin. Thanks!!!

God Bless

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Off to a New Start...BRAND New

Happy New Years everyone! This is my post of new-years resolutions and, the past weeks' events. Also, hopefully, a little food for thought.

My mom and dad went to PA on New Years Eve, leaving me to the house alone (don't misunderstand..I WANTED to stay home this year...nothing against them :). I decided to spend new years with my friend and her family. It was also nice to have a few days of complete quiet solitude. It sure doesn't take long to start getting lonely when you're so used to company though! Still, I got some much needed rest, a start on the new year's practicing (and many upcoming performances) among other things that needed done (the least glamorous of which included cleaning the poo out of the kitty's litter box and spraying and cleaning out the whole thing.....the only good part of that (aside from that it doesn't stink downstairs anymore) is that tomorrow it will be one less thing to have to NOT look forward to!!

So, as anyone who knows me knows, I am a list FANATIC...making New Years resolutions one of my FAVORITE things to do!! The hard part of course for all of us is keeping them....at least a little!

Here are some of my 2009 New Years resolutions. Feel MORE than welcome to ask me about them now and then. Pray for me and help hold me accountable. We all need that.

1) Read the whole Bible. Now is the time to admit. In all my years I have NEVER read the entire Bible. I'm very ashamed of that. I'm sure I've read almost all of it at some point in my life, but to really sit down, memorize verses, be able to site scripture, that's something I've never been able to do and really WANT to be able to.

2) A more steady devotional and prayer life...as my pastor was saying today...the more you set out to pray whenever you worry, the faster the worry slips away!! And I am certainly the QUEEN of worry warts, so this would be a fantastic start for me :) (and yes I AM aware that there is a scripture passage that speaks about how worrying doesn't add any years to our lives...and how God takes care of all the other creatures..and not to worry about tomorrow...now by Jan. 4th, 2010 I'll be able to pop out the scripture that's in!

3)Stop chewing my nails...which I've actually not been doing since a day or two BEFORE New Years!! They are looking quite nice I must say :)

4) Lose about 50 pounds....yes that's right. FIFTY POUNDS.

5)Eat healthier and take more preventative steps towards healtier living (like more regular exercise...which I've also been doing much better at for about the past 2 weeks :) and taking multi-vitamins, drinking more water, stressing out less, sleeping more regularly, etc. etc.

6)Paying off a very large amount of debt this year...so, cutting back on all kinds of unnecessary spending, pinching pennies, and learning the true meaning of "necessities" vs. "wants" Yes, I will need MUCH prayer in this area.

7)Read at least 50 good books this year. God must be out to see me read more because yesterday someone gave me a book, a friend put a blog on about wanting lists of new books to read, my mom came home with a new book today for me to read, and then she told me there was another one I HAD to read before that one :) ...oh yeah, and I also had someone else mail me a book...so, yes, my reading is cut out for me :)

8)Give 3 recitals and at least 2 competitions before the year-end. 2 recitals will be this spring, and one in the Fall.

9)This is redundant to another resolution but I MUST say it...fit into ALL the pretty clothes sitting in my closet....waiting and waiting...some for YEARS to be worn!! No need for me to shop when the pounds drop...I've got about 4 different size wardrobes...yes, wardrobes, in my closet, droors, and basement storage!!!

10)Realizing this is TOTALLY in God's hands, I pray that this year will be the year I meet my future husband...and who knows...maybe even get married?! :) I would be willing to settle for at least meet and get to know though :)

I guess that's it! Ah, enlightening thought. Well, my pastor was speaking about new years resolutions today. And he was also saying out the place between our two ears (haha) is where the battle-ground lies for whether we do or don't do what we set out to. Either we PLAN to fail, or we PLAN to succeed...now that's not saying you can't try to win and still fail...which really wouldn't be failure anyways. But, what he said hit home for me. I know when I look back on certain moments in my life that I see spans of laziness, where I let the excuse of days, weeks, months, or even years passed by to weigh me down and discourage me not to change anything. Then, there are times I remember working so hard, focusing so much on the goal, and feeling so wonderful when I achieved it. The one thing that happened during those positive times was that I didn't really think too much about doing it. I just DID it....I guess Nike knew what they were talking about after all :)

God Bless each of you in the new year. Best wishes with your new years plans. Don't forget to include God, and He will help you not only meet those goals, but strengthen you as a disciple for Him...what more could we ask for than that?

Happy New YEARS!!!!!