The Big Apple

Well, for the second time in my life, I visited the Big Apple - New York City.  And I have to say, this experience was definitely better than my first time when I was in high school.

First, let's go over the cruddy parts of the trip, and then I'll review the best parts!  Probably the cruddiest part of the trip was my flight out there - it was with American Airlines, and after arriving at the airport a whopping 4 hours before my flight, a huge storm apparently struck a bunch of planes with lightning, and all the flight schedules got thrown off.

So my 7:50 pm flight didn't end up taking off until 9:30 pm.  That was awful.

The second cruddiest part of the trip was the musical we saw on Friday night - Cats.  It was a definite let-down.  Did you know it's JUST songs & dancing?  There's no actual dialogue or distinguishable plot.

The costumes were pretty cool, though.

ANYWAY, on to the best parts of the trip!  My flight back to Orlando, I flew with Delta AND I got to volunteer to sit on the Emergency Exit row next to the window.  It was awesome!  Just look at all the foot room I had:

Aren't my shoes so attractive?  And I may or may not have drank (have drunk?) 2 mini-bottles of Bailey's Irish Cream with Ginger Ale on the plane.  So I was pretty happy when I got home.  haha

Second awesome thing - I saw a celebrity in New York in front of the Neil Simon theater!  I was just standing in line waiting to watch Cats, and I saw this woman walk by:

She obviously didn't look this celebrity-perfect when I saw her, but she looked pretty good!  Ten bonus points for you if you know what show she's from!  *Hint* It's on Netflix, and it has a woman's name in the title of the show.  It took me about 30 minutes to remember where I had seen her before, but I finally did.

And even though Cats wasn't the greatest, I still had fun sitting in between these two ladies:

On the left is Christina and on the right is Charesse.  They are two of my co-workers.  I had a blast getting to know them better during my time in New York.

Also, the few hours I had before I had to be at the airport on Saturday to fly home, I got to go hang out in Central park, because the hotel I stayed in - the Courtyard Marriott at Central Park, as pictured below - was only 6 blocks from Central Park!

Enjoy the pictures :)

The lobby of the hotel - isn't it swag-ilicious?

I totally wish I had taken this picture, but isn't it beautiful?!

I totally walked down this sidewalk, and I immediately recognized it from movies like "Maid in Manhattan" and that one movie with Ryan Reynolds where he tells his daughter how he met her mother.

I definitely stopped and watched some people playing volleyball.  It was so nice :)

Here I am, just chillin'. 

Anyway, so that's a little bit about my trip to NYC.  Have you ever been to New York?  What did you like about it?  What did you hate?  Would you go back again?  Let me know in the comments!

July New Year's Resolutions Recap

Well, hello there! It's been awhile, hasn't it? I have been going through a lot of changes in my life lately - specifically in the last 3 weeks. So obviously, I didn't post a May or June recap about my progress towards my New Year's Resolutions, and that's because in May and June, there weren't a lot of updates to address. I fell off the weight loss bandwagon, I stopped reading and blogging about it (obviously), and I've been working the same job as I have been for the last 3 1/2 years. Boring, right?

Except let me just get real for a second.  Because I just admitted I wasn't moving forward to any of my goals during the months of May and June.  Which means I was either a) stagnating in my current position or b) digressing (moving away from my goals).  And if I'm being honest, I'm gonna have to go with option number 2.  I hardcore got off the healthy eating/exercise train and gained about 7 lbs.  I started coming home and laying in bed watching Netflix by myself, because it's so much easier than trying to be productive in my life and my marriage.  I started falling back into the old habits that defined me around last October when I realized I needed to begin making changes in my life.

Why is it so easy to go back to the "bad places" in your life when you start to progress toward the "good places"?

And because I was digressing, I began to get depressed.  Something had to change.  I'm going to be 30 this year, and I can't keep "waiting around" for my life to change in the ways I want it to - I need to start acting now.

So my goals are changing from what they were in December.  Out with the old, in with the new.

1) Lose another 20 lbs by my birthday.
2) Finish paying off all debt (besides my student loans) by the end of this year.
3) Become more efficient at my new part-time job (more about that in an upcoming post).
4) Become more spiritually mature in my marriage (this is a very vague goal right now, because I'm not quite sure what this is going to look like, but I'll keep you posted).

So there are my new goals.  I know, I know, I didn't mention anything about being a faithful blogger or writer, but right now, those things are on the back burner.  I might dabble here and there (for fun), but I have so many other more important things to focus on.

Forward & progressing,

Yours Truly

March Update on New Year's Resolutions

Below are the New Year's Resolutions I made for 2017.  Can you believe 2017 is already A QUARTER OF THE WAY DONE?!  I can't believe it.  I'm turning 30 in less than 7 months, but I don't wanna talk about it.  Anyway, let's get a progress update on my resolution list, shall we?

1) Lose another 50 pounds - As of this past Sunday, March 26, I have completed one month of my 3-month weight loss challenge in which I've lost about 9 pounds in 4 weeks!  Between sickness and back pain, I haven't worked out as much lately, so my exercising has slacked off, but I must have built some muscle, because I can tell I'm still burning fat.  Well, it's at more of a simmer, but still...

2) Pay off all of our immediate debt - Still chugging along!  Even though we're down to about six bills (at least when it comes to paying off debt), they're still the largest chunks, so I'm having the mentality of "slow & steady wins the race" right now.

3) Rewrite Ravensboro - Still no more progress on this.  I'm ashamed to say between work (tax season is here and I work in a tax office), working out, and otherwise being married and being choir director at my church, I haven't had much time to do much else.  Including updating Ravensboro.

4) Finish Harkness - I really can't start on this until Ravensboro is done...  ='(

5) Journal/Blog more - I have SIX more book summaries waiting to be written and posted on my blog, which is awesome, but I've started slacking on the journaling front - unless you count the food journal I'm doing for my weight loss competition.

6) Find out where I should be career-wise - I just got a raise, so I'm sticking where I'm stuck right now.  Hopefully, God will continue to lead me in His will for my career, because I still don't know what to do.  I had lunch with a friend the other day, and we were talking about careers and finding jobs doing what we're good at and love to do.  Obviously, being a writer or working in a church would be preferable, but I have also considered guidance counseling or camp counseling before.  So maybe I'll look into that...


What about you?  Did you have any New Year's Resolutions going into 2017?  How are those working out?

February Update on New Year's Resolutions

Below are the New Year's Resolutions I made for 2017.  Let's get a progress update, shall we?


1) Lose another 50 pounds - As of Sunday, February 26, I have entered a 3-month-long weight-loss challenge.  I needed to do it, because I've been seriously slacking on the weight-loss front.  This past weekend, Mom and I took a little trip to St. Augustine (maybe if you ask nicely, I'll write a blog post about it).  I definitely gorged myself in order to have a high starting weight for the start of the competition (and to have several "last meals" to think back on fondly during the next three months).  Since my initial weigh-in for the competition, I've already gone down SIX POUNDS!  Also, I just started doing Jillian Michael's workout video called "Ripped in 30."  Guess we'll see how ripped I am in thirty days!

2) Pay off all of our immediate debt - We used part of our tax refund to pay off yet another bill, but then another $1,000 worth of unpaid debt surfaced.  So since then, I've taken a little break from thinking too much about our debt, because it hurts my head and my heart.

3) Rewrite Ravensboro - I'm ashamed to say between work (tax season is here and I work in a tax office), working out, and otherwise being married and being choir director at my church, I haven't had much time to do much else.  Including updating Ravensboro.

4) Finish Harkness - I really can't start on this until Ravensboro is done...  ='(

5) Journal/Blog more - I've written more than a few book summaries on my blog, AND I started a journal again last week.  Now to just discipline to write in it faithfully.

6) Find out where I should be career-wise - I just got a raise, so I'm sticking where I'm stuck right now.  Hopefully, God will continue to lead me in His will for my career, because I still don't know what to do.  I love writing, and I would love to work in a church, but I'm not finding any lucrative opportunities to do this  =/


What about you?  Did you have any New Year's Resolutions going into 2017?  How are those working out?

January Update on New Year's Resolutions

Below are the New Year's Resolutions I made for 2017.  Let's get a progress update, shall we?


1) Lose another 50 pounds - As of this morning, I have lost 8 pounds this month!  Wheeeee! And last week, I joined Gold's Gym, so hopefully, having to pay $30 a month will help me get my quickly-shrinking butt in gear! ;)

2) Pay off all of our immediate debt - Slowly but surely, this is happening.  We did have about $250 worth of unexpected car expenses come up this month, as well as us make about $200 less than we normally do, but God is providing, and we are trying really hard to be faithful to our budget!

3) Rewrite Ravensboro - So far, I've rewritten the Prologue and the first 2 chapters :)

4) Finish Harkness - I really can't start on this until Ravensboro is done, but I'm in the zone!

5) Journal/Blog more - I've written a few blog posts about the books I've read on my Book List for 2017, but I haven't journaled yet.  I really need to/want to get back in that habit.

6) Find out where I should be career-wise - Honestly, I'm not really sure how to measure this goal, or to even go about this goal, other than keeping my eye out for job openings that appeal to my talents & schooling.  I'm trusting in God to guide me and take care of my needs (which He is completely doing) during this time of dissatisfaction with my current career path.  I know He has a plan for me, and I'm willing to be faithful where I am until He moves me.


What about you?  Did you have any New Year's Resolutions going into 2017?  How are those working out?

New Year's Resolutions - 2017

By now, we all know how bad I am at making plans AND STICKING TO THEM.

But oh well.  Plans are still fun to make.  And then, when I ACTUALLY stick to them, it's AH-mazing!

So here are my resolutions for 2017:

1) Lose another 50 pounds (this will bring me down to my high school weight - which would be awesome!  I've already lost 25 pounds since mid-October!)

2) Pay off all of our immediate debt (by immediate, I mean everything that isn't my student loans - because that will take WAYYYY longer than just one year to pay off).

3) Rewrite Ravensboro (after stepping away from the book for a year, I've realized how haphazardly it was written.  I want to tighten up the storyline, simplify it a bit, and reduce the number of characters so I can really develop one or two.)

4) Finish Harkness (I'm about halfway done - WOOT!  But I'd really like to be ALL the way done, you know what I mean?)

5) Journal/Blog more.  It's been so long since I actually journaled my life, and that's definitely a way for me to reevaluate and emote about things.  Plus, I feel like it improves my writing ability.  So there ya go.

6) Find out where I should be career-wise.  I know I'm not working where I want to be for the rest of my life; I just don't know where my niche is.

Obviously, I have way more things that I would like to do, but these are my immediate focus.  Also, in the "Journal/Blog more" category, I would like to start keeping track of books I've read and recapping them.  My friend, Hannah, has a blog strictly dedicated to this at oldoriginalthoughts.blogspot.com - you should check it out.

ANYWAY, that's enough for now!  Do YOU have any resolutions?  What are they?  Do you feel like any of mine are unreasonable?  Would any of them be hard for you to do?  Lemme know in the comments! :)

An Exercise in Letting Go

I was sitting at my desk at work on Wednesday afternoon, and I was thinking, "How do people with kids live life?  Like, I'm married and have no kids, but I still feel overwhelmed with all of the demands I face JUST FROM work, church, bills, house, and marriage - how do people survive once kids are thrown in the mix?"

It seriously baffled me.

Since Tyler and I have been married, we left Faith Baptist (the church I pretty much grew up in) and started attending Life Church.  Right away, we got involved in their music ministry - Tyler, playing the bass guitar, and me, singing in the choir and on the mic.

We've been attending & serving regularly for a year and a half (I was even promoted to choir director), but during that time, I've only led two songs on the mic, and both of them were on Wednesday nights.  This has been a struggle for me, because ever since we started attending Life Church, I've wanted to lead songs on Sunday Mornings.  The longer we've been going to that church, and the more I've felt like I've had to fight to prove myself vocally, etc., the more stressed I became.

Long story short, about a month and a half ago, a part of me woke up.  "What is the big deal with leading songs at Life Church?" a voice in my head asked me.  (Not like the Schizophrenic kind of voice, but you know what I mean.)

Let me just say - Vanity, vanity, all is vanity.  It's true.  And I decided to find avenues to use my voice that aren't a constant fight or struggle and that don't have me second-guessing my ability/gift at every turn.  So I joined Lakeland Choral Society.  And I committed to singing in the Christmas cantata at Faith Baptist this December.  And my mom and I are singing in a choral performance at the end of September.

So just when one door was closed to singing Christian contemporary music in the way I wanted, another door has swung WIDE OPEN to get back into singing classical choral music - which is something I've sorely missed!  And I know I'll be so busy with these things, I won't even have a CHANCE to miss leading music at Life Church.  And why was I so bent on doing that anyway?  For external validation of my voice?  Man, what foolishness.

Anyway, God is good.  He provides for our needs and blesses us with things that we didn't even know we wanted until it's in our lives!

So back to my initial statement - my life is busy.  My life is full.  With:

1. All of the aforementioned musical endeavors (Lkld Choral Society, FBC Christmas Cantata, and the September Choral event)
2. Writing a sequel to the novel I wrote last November (I'm almost halfway done!)
3. Being a wife & caretaker of my amazing husband (this involves cleaning, laundry, cooking, budgeting, grocery shopping - all things I've never really had to do before being married)
4. My job - of course.  Full time.  It's a lot.
5. Being the choir director at Life Church

This list is not all-inclusive, but it highlights the main things.  How would kids fit in there anywhere?  I have no idea.  I'm not saying I never want kids.  I'm just saying, they would be a huge adjustment.  But I'm ready and willing to do what God's will is - if that's to have a child in the next year, I will do it with joy.  If it's to wait a few more years, I'll do that with joy as well.  And if it's not to have any children biologically - He is Sovereign God, and I will abide by His Will.

What about you?  What is God doing in your life?  What has He blessed you with that you didn't even know you wanted until you had it?

Grilling, DC & The Beach

Hello, faithful readers - AKA - Hannah.  Seriously, if you're name isn't Hannah and you read this blog, let me know by commenting, because I feel like I'm writing to an audience of one here ;)

ANYWAY, last week I had a beyond crazy week.  Obviously, Monday was Memorial Day, so my family and Tyler's family had a cookout at my mom's house.  I'm ashamed to say I didn't take any pictures, because my adorable niece, Lauren Priya, was there, and so were my other niece and nephew, Bella and Liam, and it was an awesomely crazy time!  Also, the food was phenomenal and I think I gained 5 lbs eating it all.  You think I'm kidding...but I'm not.  #fattiesunite

Tuesday was the only day last week I actually went to work, because Wednesday-Friday, my boss and I attended a financial conference in Washington DC.  So Tuesday was crazy busy with work, and then Wednesday-Friday was even crazier with the conference.  I went on a tour of DC Thursday afternoon, so I'd say that was the highlight.  (Favorite monuments from the tour - the White House, Washington Monument, and Lincoln Memorial - pictured below.)  Oh, and eating Maryland crabcakes.  Soooo good.  #seriouslyfatties,letsgetthisgoing

I'm so glad I got to see this.  Lincoln is my favorite president.

Cheryl and me in front of the White House! (or in back...all depending on how you look at it)

The Washington Monument (soooo good.)

Friday night I flew home, and Saturday morning, Tyler and I drove to Englewood beach with his family.  We stayed the night and drove home on Sunday afternoon.  Due to the crazy weather, I spent maybe 2 hours on the actual beach. lol

Me & my wonderful hubby at the beach!

So, as you can see, I had a crazy week.  Told ya!  In the midst of all the busyness, working, traveling, and packing and unpacking, I had a chance to meet 5 pretty incredible individuals.

The first individual is Cheryl.  I met her while I was waiting for the shuttle to come pick me up for my tour of DC.  I noticed she was standing by herself, so I quickly befriended her, and we hung out for the whole 4 hour tour.  Luckily, she had her phone and was able to take pictures, because I definitely forgot mine!  She's from the UK (my first friend from there!) and she was the sweetest!

Me & Cheryl after our tour of DC!

The other 4 people I met were 2 couples - the first couple I talked to while we were in the DC airport waiting for the plane to take us home.  The guy was covered in tattoos, and his girlfriend had the more moderate smattering of smaller tattoos (sounds like me and Tyler - though, hopefully, he won't end up COVERED in tattoos).  The next couple I met was on the plane.  It was definitely a God-thing.  I was listening to music on my phone and, sitting in the seat next to the aisle, I was able to see this couple to my right and one row back.  They looked about my age, and they were each reading a book.  The guy was reading a book on worship and the girl was reading one on personalities.  Needless to say, I was intrigued.  So I struck up a conversation.  Turns out they were newly married (less than one year!), and he was a former worship leader in NY who had moved to DC, where his wife was from, in order to serve in ministry there and hopefully find a job in the world of finances.  After a few minutes of getting to know each other, he leaned over and asked me point blank, "Christina, how can we pray for you?"  I was astounded.  That's not really a question I get asked a lot, unless I'm in a Bible study or Sunday School.  I was seriously touched by their kindness and apparent love for the Lord.

All that to say, I had a great week :)  And, on Monday, I got new glasses!  #selfiephotoshoot

This is the first time I've had sunglasses to wear since I got glasses in 11th grade!  Yay!!!!

So, what about you?  Ever been to Washington DC?  What was your favorite landmark?  Who is your favorite president?  Have you ever been asked by a virtual stranger how they can pray for you?

When in Dallas...

I've been in Dallas, Texas since Monday. Mostly inside due to lots of rain.

I've been attending a financial/investment conference with my boss. It's been awesome.

Why, you ask?

Because Eric Whitacre.

We're leaving tomorrow, and I just can't wait to get home to my hubby and two cats! :)