It's a New Day

I was thinking up a title for this post, and this song popped in my head. LOVE this song. (Yes, this is from a Gaither taping, but please make note it doesn't feature David. I know. Shocks to the soul.)






It is, indeed, a new day, and I am grateful. New day, new week, new year. Yes, please!

One of my favorite things about a new year...reorganizing the house! Oh I love it. Thought I'd show you my favorite new purchase for the reorganization of 2011. Well, first - please take note of the fabulous new coffee pot on the left. My sister Julie gave that to me this Christmas, and it has a timer, so my mornings are about to be so much happier. To celebrate the new coffee pot...I bought some new drink cannisters. One for coffee, one for sugar, one for chai mix, and one for hot chocolate. I'm also going to order some vinyl labels for them.

And now...something I want to try, at least for a while, to see how it works...a recap of the highlights of the week:
* Made it through the Christmas play at church last Sunday without completely messing up my lines.

* Spent all day Monday and Wednesday writing furiously in preparation for some upcoming projects God has laid on my heart. Both days were emotionally exhausting, but I'm thankful I had the time away from the office to work on it (and through it!).
* Received a h-e-a-v-e-n-l-y massage Wednesday night. Oh my goodness. Words cannot express.

* Spent three hours in the salon chair Tuesday treating myself to a professional color job. I haven't had that done in about two years (can't afford it on a regular basis!) but wanted to start out the new year with the non-bathroom-color-job. I even got highlights! Like with the foil and everything. Never ever had that done before. (Please ignore the piece of wood in my hair in this picture. NO idea where that came from.)

* Had my first experience with the self-checkout lane. This happened when I went grocery shopping far too late one night and apparently the store shut down all its regular lanes at some point in the night. I was very unamused by this. I don't believe in self-checkout lanes and had successfully avoided them entirely until this week.

* DID feel and did NOT recognize the great Hoosier earthquake of 2010. It happened Thursday morning at 7:55 and started out labeled as a 4.2 and was later downgraded to a 3.8. I was dead to the world (DEAD to the world, I tell you) at that hour and it woke me up. I remember grabbing onto the bed, because it was shaking badly, and thinking man, what kind of truck is THAT outside? As soon as it stopped shaking, I flopped over and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. About an hour and a half later, my Mom called, (I was still DEAD to the world) and said "Aren't you even going to ask if I'm okay?" Once she managed to get me to comprehend that there had been an EARTHQUAKE and told me the epicenter was near their house, I said, "Ohhhhhh! Is THAT what that was??"

* Managed to get my days and nights COMPLETELY mixed up. That is a perk of vacation. Also managed to squeeze in tons of talk shows. I didn't even care if I liked the topic. I watched them because I was home and I could. (I did, however, enjoy Oprah's Monday show that reunited the cast of The Sound of Music. That was cool.)

* Friday morning, I enjoyed a belated Christmas/birthday celebration with my sweet friend Olivia.

We camped out at Starbucks to catch up and open our gifts. Can you guess which drink was hers and which was mine? (Venti vs. kid size. Not kidding.)

* Had fun at the New Year's Eve party with my friends, the Hancocks. They have invited me to be part of their new year's fun for the past several years, and I so appreciate it. While I enjoy moments of solitude and reflection at the change of the year, I do love being able to spend that time with my friends, making memories and sharing smiles and laughs.
*Never would have fathomed this to be a possibility but it was warm enough to walk outside on New Year's Day for my exercise! (Granted it was far from warm. But it was warm enough.) Oh how I've missed that walking path and the great times of prayer I have there!
Favorite God Moment of the Whole Week: New Year's Eve, after spending time with Olivia, I went out on a "last drive of 2010" on my driving prayer path that came to be so dear to me this year. God met me in a special way during that drive - even breaking through the rain with a bit of sun for me!




Books I'm Reading This Week: Sparkling Gems from the Greek - my devo book; Left to Tell - reading this to review it for a reading course; In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day - started reading this last November on a prompt from the Lord; Believing God - studying this with Olivia
Goals for the Coming Week: To begin to settle into a healthy routine of eating, sleeping, exercising, writing, working, and socializing after so many months of - well, NOT healthy.