Reading List

So I love to read. I have always loved to read...well as long as it wasn't a book for school anyway. I read mostly fiction. I am a huge fan of Jane Green, Nicholas Sparks, Sophie Kinsella, Stephanie Meyer and many more. Once I start reading a book, I can't put it down and this often makes Scott aggravated. It gets pretty bad over Christmas break when I am off work for two weeks and have nothing better to do. I keep a list of books I want to read in an excel spreadsheet, which is no surprise due to my love of excel spreadsheets (but that's a whole other story). I have turned to the library to help fund my reading habit as it can get pretty expensive after a while. It has also caused me to read even more books, which as previously stated gets under Scott's skin after a while. So when I decided it was time to read the Bible in a year back in January, I also decided it would have to be time to take a break from my fiction books. I figured that if I would be more likely to fail at reading the Bible in a year if I was always tempted with another book laying around that I had gotten caught up with. I think I have actually only read one book other than my Bible this year, but that doesn't stop my reading list from growing.

One of my co-workers knows my love for the Twilight Saga and gave me "Dead Until Dark" for my birthday. I believe it is the 1st of the series of vampire books that True Blood is based off of. I have never seen True Blood as I am too much of a tight wad to pay for HBO, but I hear it is great.

My sister-in-law gave me 2 books for my birthday. This is our usual gift to one another since we both like to read and she said she only read one of the books this time before giving it to me. I can't blame her. I started the trend when I bought a book for her birthday while in Las Vegas a few years ago and read it on the plane ride home. Then leaving it wrapped up in the Mandalay Bay Bookstore bag, gave it to her for her birthday. I can't remember exactly how she found out I had read it, but needless to say it started a trend.

Lauren also brought 2 more books this past weekend. One was the book I gave her for her birthday last year. I bought it just before her birthday or I would have read it. The other was a book I gave her for Christmas a few years ago...Eat, Pray, Love. At the time, I didn't think I'd ever want to read it, but now that the movie is coming out, I thought I would read it before I eventually watch the movie on DVD. We don't go to the movies much...why when u can rent it for $1 a night on DVD.

Happy Reading! I have made it to November 11th on my journey of reading the Bible in a year! Not much longer to go!

Great Bible Verses

I came across these as I was reading other blogs today and thought I would share.

"Jesus replied: It is because you don't have enough faith! But I can promise you this. If you had faith no larger than a mustard seed, you could tell this mountain to move from here to there. And it would. Everything would be possible for you." ~ Matthew 17:20-21


"I will bless you with a future filled with hope - a future of success, not of suffering." ~ Jeremiah 29:11


"God's spirit doesn't make cowards out of us. The Spirit gives us power, love, and self-control." ~ 2 Timothy 1:7

Kim's Baby Shower

My friend and coworker Kim is about to have a baby so we showered her with gifts and chocolate cake at work on Thursday. She got lots of good stuff. Baby Graham is going to be very spoiled.

The cake was from Community Bakery and it was sooo good!!

Here is Kim with all the loot.

Me and the Momma-to-be.

I knew it was a rough day, but I didn't realize how rough I looked until I saw this picture. Oh well, the shower was a great way to end the day and the chocolate cake made the bad day feel much better.

Now we just have to wait on Graham to make his appearance.

Bible in a Year

So I have tried following a plan to read the Bible in a year before and it didn't work out so well. It started out really well, but then I started to fall behind and before I knew it I was about a month behind. I eventually stopped. Then around New Year's I started seeing tons of posts on Facebook about people who had just finished reading the Bible in a Year and I thought "I CAN DO THIS and actually finish this time!"

So on January 2, I decided that this was the year to accomplish that task. I found a great website that would let me choose why type of Bible I was reading and how I wanted to read the Bible (Beginning to End, Chronological, etc) and then even pick which month of the year I wanted to start. You can even click right on the links and read that days reading online. I chose chronological order and I have a Contemporary English Version Bible. I have had this Bible for many years and I love it because it puts everything in plain English and is very easy to understand.

My goal was to read the Bible in a year or less. I knew was going to have a problem making myself read EVERY day (even though I should). I decided that days where I had extra time I would read a couple of days worth to make up for the days I knew I would end up skipping. About a month ago I decided to set my alarm about 10 minutes early and spend that extra 10 minutes reading my daily scripture. This has worked out great and I am proud to report that this morning I completed the Old Testament!! According to the the guide I wasn't supposed to complete the Old Testament until September 30th. That means I am a little over 2 months ahead of schedule. I hope to keep this up and have the entire thing finished by the end of October. I make no promises and if something happens and I don't finish until December 31st, this will still have been an success.

Along the way, I have found a few chapters that I will go back and re-read once this is over. I have found a few new favorite Bible verses and I am sure I will find even more as I start reading the New Testament. I can't believe I was 28 years old (turned 29 in the middle of the process) before I actually read the Bible cover to cover. I'll post again when I actually finish and tell exactly how long it took me!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well today is my birthday....my 29th to be exact. I am saying it is my 25th as I don't want to admit that I am now only a year away from the big 3-0!

I actually worked today which should either be illegal or given to you as a holiday (some companies actually do this!).

Scott and I don't really exchange gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, etc. We usually just buy what we want or give each other money for our birthdays to buy what we want. This year we both bought our presents VERY early. Scott got an iPad which he believed he couldn't live without and I got a new camera. I had decided that it was time to upgrade our camera. We had a Kodak and it worked pretty good but I always have to remove red eye from the pictures. I decided it was time to get a good camera that can last us many years. So, after a little research, I decided on a Nikon D3000. It is a DSLR camera and is totally awesome. I have only had it about 2 weeks and am still trying to figure it all out, but I totally love it. It came with a 2nd lens which is awesome for zooming in on stuff.

Today is also my friend (and college roommate) Audra's birthday! She turned 30 today, so happy birthday Audra!! Hope you had a good one also!!

All in all today was a pretty good day. I received tons of birthday wishes from awesome friends and family!

Audra and I celebrating my 26th and her 27th birthday together!

I just realized most of my pictures are old! I guess I better get to using the new camera to solve that problem!

Let the countdown to 30 begin! BOOOO!!!

Favorite Bible Verses

It's Favorite Bible verses @ Kelly's Korner and what a great idea it is. I have had a great time reading everyone's favorite Bible verses and thought I would share a few of my own. I have a Contemporary English Version of the Bible called The Promise and I love it. It puts everything into plain English and makes it very easy to understand and read.

God will bless you when other hate you and won't have anything to do with you. God will bless you when people insult you and say cruel things about you, all because you are a follower of the Son of Man. Long ago you own people did these same things to the prophets. So when this happens to you, be happy and jump for joy! You will have a great reward in heaven. ~ Luke 6:22-23

This has been my favorite Bible verse for about 15 years. I am pretty sure it is responsible for getting me through high school.



It is better to trust the Lord for protection than to trust anyone else. ~ Psalms 118:8

This verse is the center verse in the Bible.



God makes everything happen at the right time. Yet none of us can ever fully understand all he has done, and he puts questions in our minds about the past and the future. ~ Ecclesiastes 3:11


I found this verse recently and I love it. I am a very impatient person and verses is a friendly reminder that God has a right time for all things big or small. There is a note in my Bible about this verse which says "Ecclesiastes records the writer's search for wisdom. He tells us more about his troubled search than about the lessons he learned. He does share a lesson with us here. He has learned that God has a "right time" for everything. It's more than a good idea to the ready for God's timing. To be caught "off guard" by events can be great sorrow. Find your peace knowing your life is in God's hands and that his timing will be perfect for you."

Lake-A-Palooza 2010

Last weekend we attended the 4th Annual Lake-A-Palooza. It is an annual weekend trip to the lake that our friends Vandy and Christy get together. The group seems to be getting bigger each year (we had 19 or 20 people this year). We rented a party platform for the day so no one had to drive a boat. This was probably the best idea we have had yet. The weekend was full of fun times, good food, and great weather (except for the thunderstorm late in the day).