3 things...2012/2013

I heard of a great idea* & it totally inspired a blog post. Hooray!
{Can you tell I'm avoiding working from home?}

Here are 3 good things about 2012:

1. Alex & I got engaged! {DUH! You knew that was going to be #1... ten years is a long time, people!} No but really, I OFFICIALLY get to begin planning my future with my best friend & that was amazing news! 
2. All my grandparents ended the year in good health. 2012 was a hard year that included a lot of serious health scares. I want to thank the Lord that my grandparents are "home" and healthy. 
3. I made new friends & reunited with old ones. My girlfriends mean a great, great deal to me. I love how we can spend however long apart & when we're back together it's like no time passed. 

And 3 things I am looking forward to in 2013:

1. Being a bride! Marrying the love of my life and making him my roommate! ;) 
2. Having the summer off work. {Sorry, I'm not sorry!} My brain requires a light at the end of the tunnel, even if it's temporary, for me to somewhat function properly. I am so thankful my job is allowing me this opportunity! 
3. Seeing the benefits continue of my new low-carb diet. :) Christmas break reminded me why I need to remain focused & how multiple {and by multiple, I mean 12}cheat days in a row can backfire on you. But even after Christmas break, I was still 8 lbs lighter so I am just going to keep on keepin' on! I might even work out in 2013 ;) You never know....

Doesn't it feel great to reminisce? And doesn't it feel great to have something to look forward to?

♥,

Nicole

*I completely stole this idea from my friend, Winter.

My day. ... What if?

I had one of those days yesterday when nothing went right. To end the day, I broke my flashdrive. You know, the thing that held ALL my work-related everything and the thing I had NOT backed up since June. This has happened before. You'd think I'd learn. You'd think. Either way, I spent an entire day today in front of a computer, re-doing the notes I had done last week, that were due yesterday, and pulling any documentation I could recover via email. Let me tell you...it was a fun day. Oh, and I stapled my finger this morning. That was a first. I'm not gonna lie, it hurt and it bled. But I had a fuss fest nice lunch with three of my awesome co-workers today. That was the highlight of my twelve-hour-workday. That and telling Paul about the time I cried going down the slopes at App Ski Mountain. Good times, good times.

I really shouldn't complain about my day, but that's what I've been doing. I fit into a size smaller pair of jeans today that I must have bought last year on clearance {because I know I did not wear that size last year.} That's a definite plus! And I laughed the whole way to work listening to Wake Up With Taylor on COSMO Radio and the local Ace & TJ Show {my two favorite morning shows}. That's something to be thankful for, right? ...Right!

I saw this on Pinterest tonight while I was watching two hours an hour and 45 minutes {I wasn't super into The Mindy Project} of comedy TV on FOX tonight. I love me some New Girl and tonight was the season premiere of Raising Hope. I had been missing that show!! Ben and Kate got me LOLing too, so, I'm probably going to add that to my list for now. I totally just got side-tracked {ADHD brain}... What I was saying was I saw this on Pinterest tonight:

Wow! What if??

I just want to say- Thank you, God, for loving me no matter how thankless or thankful I am. Thank you, for all your blessings, even those I find annoying and inconvenient.

It really makes you think, doesn't it? What if?

10,000 viewers!!!

How did I miss this event??

I have been waiting on this event since my blog hit 1,000 viewers.

I took a glimpse and realized that sometime in the last week, my blog has hit

10,000

viewERS!!!!

This is a big deal to me...not quite sure why, but it is so I will do a little internal celebrating tonight! 

I started counting viewers in January 2010 but the website I use to count my statistics only shows me the past 52 weeks' information. Dumb. I don't know how many people viewed my blog before January 2010, but knowing that I started counting after I started my blog makes my heart smile knowing the number is even higher than it says! 

I selected the setting to count the number of individual people that visit my blog, not the number of times the public views my blog... that way I can say this many PEOPLE have seen it- and that just makes it a little more awesome!! 

Thank you, Blogger, for having a super convenient Pageviews link that gives you all kinds of stats on your blog.  I was curious, so I went to see which of my entries have gotten the most hits, and this is what I found:::

Thank you to all my friends and random people to have stumbled upon my blog! It's CRAZY to think that people from the USA, Russia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, the Philippines, Australia, Ukraine, and the Netherlands have viewed my blog!! 

Keep on comin' back y'all! And comment, comment, comment! I love to get random comments from people I didn't know knew my blog existed. If you're one of those people, click that FOLLOW button and stay connected!! ;) 

Snap back to reality....

Sometimes I'll admit, I wish I had more to blog about. I wish I read more. I wish I had more going on in my life....BUT I don't. So, I blog about TV shows and random crap. There's rarely any adventure going on in my life...certainly nothing anyone cares about. I talk about my job or my friends or tell y'all about some YouTube video that I like. And that's what I'll do until something better comes along- like, a ring on my finger, a wedding to plan, or a baby to show off. I honestly don't think that any of the above will happen in the next 234324234 years, so, I hope y'all like YouTube videos and wanna know what I do with my days.

But no matter how UNeventful my life is, I am thankful for it! I am thankful I am not fighting any diseases, or coping with the loss of a loved one, or having to worry about food or hot water. I am so incredibly lucky.

My friend Maggie posted this today on Facebook & I LOVE it:

I made this large so you can read it, so you WILL read it. :) It is so so true. We take so much for granted. I appreciate these wake-up calls snapping me back to reality. I hope you do too! ;)

it's the small things....

This wasn't a New Years resolution for me, although it may seem like one....but I am doing something I should have been doing for years. I am changing the way I look at certain situations and finding the small blessings that God provides me each day! Sounds simple, but at certain times it's hard to do- but don't worry...God has blessed me time and time again for it. I feel like I should journal these things each and every day so I can go back and look at what I usually would have gotten ill at, and then saw how God turned the situation into blessings in disguise! However, let's be realistic. I always start a journal & never continue it. Why? I don't know because I think the idea is awesome. Maybe I don't do it until I'm sleepy, or maybe I get to writing too  much then get overwhelmed, maybe I just forget about it, or maybe, just maybe, I am too lazy. Either way, I *think* about journaling, but since I don't actually journal, I am hoping I keep a good memory of God's daily mercies. And like I said....it's the small things!! For example, yesterday I was a little ill at a friend, but reminded myself to be empathetic. When I did that, I realized the blessing in things not going exactly my way and learned I will benefit more from this thing that made me ill in the first place. Thanking God for this thing was the right thing to do. He was behind it all. He is looking after me and my best interests and I must always remember that. And then, I went into Office Max to print my fabulous Mary Kay director, Dana Andrews, her planner and the guy behind the counter asked me if I had my Mary Kay discount card. Not having a clue what he was talking about, he told me that Mary Kay consultants get {pretty nice} discount at Office Max!! That is AWESOME news!! I am always loving a discount...and it comes in handy with my new planner business! ;) I feel like that was a {not so} random blessing!! It's not huge news, but it was happy news that  brightened my day! I am excited to see what this day will bring!!

happy happy joy joy

There is no simpler way to say it other than I am excited!

I am excited...

• Because I have officially turned in my last piece of work for the Fall semester. Just waiting on grades now...
• Because I am getting an elective course credit (3 actually, if that wasn't assumed) for a week-long class this week. If I can get the work done this week and/or shortly after, then I won't have any work to do over Christmas Break or coming into the Spring semester!
• I got permission to walk in May instead of having to wait until December!
• I joined Mary Kay and within the first week have not one, but two fabulous recruits!! Much love to my awesome girlfriends Becky and Melissa!! 
• I got some free jewelry for having a Premier Design jewelry party...loving all the new shiny jewelry in my collection! 
• Christmas break is just days away...
• I get to see some girl friends this weekend... Carolina, Kelly, & Bethany! We're having a triple date at the Cheesecake Factory....I can taste it now....

Things will always go wrong. I will probably always have some sort of family drama or stress from work or classes... But one thing is for sure... there are reasons to be happy!  I will remember that, thank God, and rejoice in my current happy thoughts! :)

Hickory Girlfriends

Last night I hosted a Mary Kay party for a friend, Dana. She's working towards her pink Cadillac. First let me say that I hate hosting parties. Not parties in general, that I would enjoy, but I dislike making people feel obligated to come and buy something. It's okay that I say this because I made that very clear to Dana multiple times. She's a trooper though and insisted I host a party anyways. Being so determined is how you become successful in the Mary Kay business I'm sure. I only invited about 9 or 10 girls & five showed up! I know the others would have came if they could have and I know everyone's got a million things going on. Which is why I was so thankful to have five girls show up! They didn't have to buy anything, but they did {probably because Mary Kay is so fabulous}. It's the fact that they took time out of their busy lives to join me at my party that made me so grateful for such great friends!

I am extremely grateful for the friends that I have made in Hickory. I love chatting, laughing, venting, MTV nights, walking around campus, & celebrating with them all! I really didn't know anyone when I moved to Hickory and now I feel so thankful that I have made girlfriends.

Girlfriends are vital to a girl's sanity.

I wish I had a pic with you all... We need a photo opp ASAP :) xoxo ♥

Things I am thankful for

My previous blog sparked this one. I needed a reality check of why I have it so good. I am thankful for so many things in my life. It'd be impossible to name everything, but, I'll begin my list. My hope is to think of something everyday I am thankful for because I am beyond blessed every day I am alive! The air in my lungs and the beating of my heart is too much of a blessing to begin with. So really, there's no way I could list everything... However, here's what's on my mind tonight that I am thankful for!

{in no particular order}

my Savior.
my grandparents.
my parents.
my brother.
MY EYESIGHT.
my loving boyfriend.
my family.
my dog(gies).
the money in my checking account.
my education.
my job.
my apartment.
tuition remission.
the people i work with.
my health.
the fact that I'm not naturally super pale.
my blackberry.
my girlfriends.
my church family.
my pastor.
air conditioning on the hot days and heat on the cold days.
my car.
leather, heated seats.
my blog followers.
members of ten minutes to get you through your day.
the little bit of metabolism i have left.
clear skin.
naturally {generally} straight teeth.
my hair straightener.
mello yello.
tile in my kitchen.
new carpet in my apartment.
bug spray/repellent.
umbrellas.
rainbows.
sweet dreams.
my new shoe rack.
pictures.
quality time.
loyalty.
undeserved love.
good memories with loved ones.
advice from my grandparents.
the relationship I have with my mom.
the fact I don't have more speeding tickets than I do.
curved grades in statistics.
multiple choice quizzes in psychopathology.
sweet sweet classmates.
my upcoming trip to Wilmington to see Lindsey. 
inspiration.
motivation.
determination.
the love and grace of Jesus Christ.

Ten Minutes To Get You Through Your Day

After enough reminders from "the man upstairs" I vowed to kick certain areas of my life back into high gear! One of those areas being ten minutes to get you through your day. I can't tell you what it means to me to see that 390 people have joined my Facebook group. It means even more to me to see people commenting on the discussion posts/devotions. Comments like "I love your group!" or "Your devotion you posted really spoke to me." REALLY make my heart smile! I don't ask for compliments, or validation- but just hearing such things really is an encouragement! So, I do want to say THANK YOU to those who have joined, and to those who comment! I hope you continue to be blessed!

I posted a new devotion today on ten minutes to get you through your day. Please join if you haven't already! I hope you get to check it out. :)