Grab a shovel; We're digging.

The past days and weeks have been filled with chatter about New Years Resolutions. Towards the end of every year, we look back and decide what we were unhappy about in the past twelve months. We consider financial mishaps, relationships gone wrong, career moves that didn't work out.

While looking back at this year, I began to realize that was I virtually stagnant in intellectual, spiritual, and relational growth. I have made only a few real changes that have made a huge impact on my everyday life. In 2009, I did get a new job, move to a new apartment, make a few more friends, but I don't feel like I've grown significantly.

So my resolutions are as follows:

1.) Be More Punctual. 'Nuff said.

2.) Be More Independent. Too often, I end up missing out on things that could be fun or beneficial because I don't want to go alone or because there is no one to show me how. This year, I'd like to step outside of my safetyzone and see what happens. I'm sure I'll get burned a few times, but I'm also sure I'll find out some amazing things about myself and the people/world around me.

3.) Find Out a Little More About Alysha. To say that I want to find out who I am completely is unrealistic; it takes a lifetime to find out who you really are. Perhaps this year, though, I can find a little piece of me. Maybe I can answer the questions "What do I get when I cross my faith and the reality of the world around me?" "Where do I get the strength to leave bad friendships in the dust?" "What is the result of mixing who it is I am grateful my parents raised me to be and who it is I want to be?" and finally "Am I willing to possibly lose some of the people I consider dear to me while I change into the person I want to be?"


It's definitely possible that I won't be able to answer all of these questions in 365 days, but I'm going to do my best to fit it all in. These questions will inevitably spawn new questions, and lead me to new journeys. I am, naturally, both excited and nervous about digging so deep, but I'm ready. I'm tired of being restless and anxious, and feeling like I'm lacking motivation and drive in life.

What are your goals? What things did you decide you didn't want in your life anymore? What PEOPLE did you decide you didn't want in your life anymore? What is your plan of action for the moments when you feel like forgetting your resolutions because they, in the moment, feel unattainable and impossible? The only advice I can offer (and I can hope to take myself) is to remember that you are not the first person to feel the way you do, or to take the road you're taking. Reach out around you, and when the time is right, you'll find that the right people have been divinely placed on your path to help you.

Sorry, we don't have cookies.

I'm lucky enough to live about five minutes away from my parents, and I feel especially fortunate to have them so close around the holidays. I'm so thankful that I still get to carry out our holiday traditions. Since we don't have a lot of family around these parts, my family (okay, my mom) makes Thanksgiving dinner on a much smaller scale than is traditional. For Christmas, opposed to standard American tradition, we do not put up a Christmas tree. Instead, in acknowledgement of the religious significance, we set up a Nativity scene. We also adorn my parents' home with lights and garland and various ceramic holiday figurines. None of this can happen, or even commence, without cookies in the oven. And once that magical morning dawns (and after teeth are brushed), we all gather 'round and take communion. This helps my family remember why we are even gathered 'round in the first place.

What are your/your family's holiday traditions?

You know the feeling: mid-morning hunger. The need to snack on something tasty that hits smack-dab in between breakfasat and lunch. Today, when I felt this need I ventured down to vending machine on the ground floor in my building (because for whatever reason, that machine has all the best goodies). And I found something amazing, a new vending machine favorite! Chocolate filled wafer cookies! I know this treat is nothing to all you foodies out there, but it was the first time I'd seen them in vending machine.

So my question to you, dear readers, is:

Have you ever found something in a vending machine that became a fast favorite?

Thanks for reading!

Slow Down, America!

Today I realized just how quickly America jumps from holiday to holiday. Actually, I realized it last month when my co worker and I were shopping for our office Halloween party. We thought it would be a good idea to go to the dollar store two days before Halloween and pick up some prizes and decorations. We walked into the store to find exactly one aisle of Halloween items. The store had already "decked the halls" with Christmas paraphernalia. Two days BEFORE Halloween. That's when I started realizing that we can barely celebrate the holiday at hand before we start gearing up our minds for festivities and traditions months away.

What to do about it, I don't know. I do know that I miss being in grade school and dealing with the holidays as they come. Taking home flyers for the class Halloween party in October, tracing our hands to make pictures of turkeys in November, and making paper snowflakes in December. Maybe that's just one of the many changes in the transition from child to adult. Adults are responsible for planning ahead, while children only know how to live and think in the moment.

So, with less than a month until Christmas, my roommate and I are just now thinking about putting up the tree, even though I have seen dozens of families with lit Christmas trees and outdoor lights right after Halloween, a few even before! Maybe when I get to be a little older, and add a kid or two in the mix, I'll join the masses. Until then, however, I will be okay with waiting to "deck my halls" until just weeks before the big day.