Me, a name, I call myself!

This blog post started out because random terms that I would use to describe myself were floating through my head. I felt like I needed to write them down and get them out so I could concentrate on my work. And as I was writing, I realized that the majority of the terms were negative, negative, negative. They were not helping boost my mood at all.

And when I got to about my 30th term/phrase to describe me, I realized I was digging my own grave of sadness and negativity. I was wallowing in my self-pity. For what? Why would I even bother writing all that negativity out, and then publishing it for all to see? It just seemed to bring me down deeper into the dumps!

I know I’m in a little bit of a ‘rut’ and the winter blues are carrying on into summer, but I just need to get over it… Maybe if I can lift my mood, then I’ll stop seeing the everyday monotonous tasks of life as just something that you are required to do, and start seeing them as something to enjoy, to cherish, to remember…

So I have decided to “turn my frown upside down!” Instead of writing ANY ol’ term that comes to my head, I am going to purposefully think about and write only POSITIVE terms or phrases that describe me!

So, here are 50 POSITIVE/UPLIFTING terms and phrases that are me. Maybe you’ll learn something new!

1. I am female.
2. I am a daughter.
3. I am a sister.
4. I am a wife.
5. I am an aunt.
6. I am a cousin.
7. I am a friend.
8. I am a neighbor.
9. I am a listener.
10. I am shy.
11. I am good at math (when using a calculator).
12. I am an engineer.
13. I am a college graduate.
14. I am a home owner.
15. I am a reader.
16. I am an online shopper.
17. I am a volunteer.
18. I am the ‘Inspire Change’ Committee Director for the Grand Rapids AHA Start! Heart Walk.
19. I am the ‘Community’ Chair Person for the Herman Miller WIN Team.
20. I am quiet.
21. I am loyal.
22. I am easy-going.
23. I am a life-long learner.
24. I am thankful.
25. I am helpful.
26. I am a jewelry maker.
27. I am a recycler.
28. I am dependable.
29. I am passionate about the environment.
30. I am honest.
31. I am sensitive.
32. I am half-Filipino.
33. I am quirky.
34. I am silly.
35. I am Christian.
36. I am modest.
37. I am dedicated.
38. I am a dreamer.
39. I am a person who likes to celebrate holidays, birthdays, and other special occasions.
40. I am a newbie crafter.
41. I am cautious.
42. I am a fast typer.
43. I am an animal lover.
44. I am a newbie blogger! :-)
45. I am a planner.
46. I am goal-oriented.
47. I am an ice-cream lover.
48. I am a Diet Coke addict.
49. I am interested in a lot of different things, like history, traveling, crafts, and psychology.
50. I am in love with my husband.
Ok, that was actually pretty difficult to come up with 30 terms/phrases to describe myself. Does anyone else know something about me that I should add??? Could you come up with 50 positive terms to describe yourself? I’d love it if you’d share them here! :-)

Simple Joys

I’ve been feeling kind of down lately, so I decided to do some self-therapy by listing a bunch of things in my life that bring me joy!

1.First and foremost, my wonderful, loving husband Chaz. He is amazing! Whenever I am down, he is there to comfort me and make me laugh. Sometimes, he can just look at me and I start laughing. I also love the fact that he knows me better than I know myself sometimes. I know it’s cheesy, but he truly is my BEST FRIEND!

2.Second is my family! We are all CRAZY, we are all ALIKE, and we are all DIFFERENT at the same time! I know that makes ZERO sense, but that is seriously how we are. I can’t help but smile when I think of what an outsider must think looking in at our family. They probably have difficulty understanding us because we talk so fast, but they definitely wouldn’t have trouble hearing us because we talk LOUD! But no matter how crazy or unique we may be, we are always there for each other. And that is what makes my family awesome!

3.My friends also bring me a lot of happiness. I love how I can get together with my closest friends from high school that I haven’t seen or talked to for several months and we can chat like no time has passed. I also love that after I spend time with friends, my face usually hurts from smiling and laughing so much! Making new friends makes me happy as well, and I’ve been making lots of new friends lately! Yay!

4.Next would be my cat, Peanut. I know everyone thinks their pet is the cutest pet out there, but seriously, sometimes Peanut is so cute I can barely stand it! I love that he is so snuggly. He will come right up to me and plop down on my chest and he will sleep there until I move him (or Chaz pushes him down :-P). Plus, he chases his own tail. How cute is that? I wish I could capture it on video, but by the time I grab my camera, he is over it and on to something different. Snuggling with my cat can definitely lift my spirits!

5.Sunshine and blue skies! This is basically self explanatory. Every time I go outside and see the clear blue skies and the sun shining, I am reminded of how awesome God’s work is. It always reminds me of my favorite verse, Psalm 118:24 (NIV), “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

So that’s just a few Simple Joys that I decided to write down. I feel better already! Feel free to share some of your Simple Joys in life here and lift everyone’s spirits! Have a wonderful day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Since Mother’s Day is this weekend, Sunday, May 9, I’d like to say “Happy Mother’s Day” to all my friends who are Mommies! I love looking at the pictures you share of you kids! They are all so beautiful and you are all wonderful Mom’s! I also love reading random posts of the antics your kids get into. They sound hysterical! I can’t wait for it to be my turn to join the Mommy Club! I’ll make sure to share it all with you, and expect me to ask for lots of Mommy advice!

Next, I’d like to wish a very Happy Mother’s Day to my wonderful mother-in-law, Debi! Thank you for raising such a strong, caring, and hard-working son. Thank you for teaching him good morals. And thank you for letting him move to a different state!  You did a great job with him! Also, thank you for being such a great mother-in-law to me. Whenever I’m with you guys, I feel accepted as part of the family. I know a lot of people that complain about their mother-in-law or they don’t get along, but I have NOTHING to complain about with you. You are great!



Finally, I’d like to wish my own Mom a Happy Mother’s Day! There are no words to express how grateful I am to have you as my Mom. I wouldn’t trade you for anyone else! You have taught me how to be a good person and how to be strong during difficult times. Plus, you have given me a life that experiences a different culture, and I look forward to sharing it with my children someday! Thank you so much for working SO HARD for over 29 years to give me all my heart could desire! I’ve seen what it is like where you worked and I don’t know how you did it for so long. You are amazing! Lastly, thank you so much for making it “the law” to go to college. I wouldn’t be where I am at today without it. I love you, Mom!

Time Traveling Through Music

Distractions at work are inevitable! It could be hearing the people in the aisle next to you talking very loudly about what they did over the weekend. Or people arguing about some pointless issue that could be resolved quickly but they INSIST on dragging out. Or having tours go through because my cubicle is in a “working” showroom…

So, to avoid these distractions and attempt to get some work done, I put on my headphones and rock out!!! My method of streaming music has evolved since I began working. I began by listening to Launchcast Music through Yahoo.com. Launchcast was nice because I could rate different artists and songs and it would personalize my station if I was logged in.

But eventually Launchcast was discontinued and converted into CBS Radio. This was still through Yahoo.com. I did not like this as much because I could only choose pre-set stations, and I could personalize a station. This meant I did not get very much variety in what I listened to. I usually just chose the “Pop” or “Today’s Big Hits” stations.

As Chaz and I began to regularly attend church, I decided to try out some contemporary Christian music. So, I began streaming from the local stations WayFM (89.9) and JQ99 (99.3). This was a nice change and I realized that contemporary Christian music isn’t that bad! :-) It was uplifting and positive, and I could still rock out to it. Plus, I started learning the words to the songs they rock out to at church, so it was a nice change.

But I felt I needed more variety, so I began using Pandora.com. And I love it! I am able to personalize my station, and it is a lot easier that Launchcast ever was. I am able to just type in an artist and it is added to my station. And if I don’t like a song that is playing, I just give it a thumbs down, and it skips the song for me! And let me tell you, my station is VERY DIVERSE! I still have my contemporary Christian music like Casting Crowns and Newsboys, and then the next song could be Xzibit or Notorious B.I.G.

So anyways, let me get to my point. Now that I’m listening to Pandora and my diverse radio station, I am hearing songs that I haven’t heard in FOREVER! And I LOVE IT! Isn’t it crazy how you can hear just the first few beats of a song, and instantly be transported into some other time where that song had some meaning or was a part of some event? All the emotions of that time are stirred up and it just brings back SO MANY memories! It definitely makes work more interesting when I “time travel” to those different moments in my life.

For example, any time a Boys II Men song comes on, I am back in 6th or 7th grade! I was obsessed with them during that time. It makes me think of those Junior High dances and first crushes and boyfriends. I get the same feeling from Mariah Carey’s song, “Always Be My Baby.” The emotions that come up from those songs always bring a smile to my face. Oh, to be young again!

I am brought back to fun times in high school with Jen Miller any time I hear an Nsync song, of course! We love our teeny-bopper music together! I also time travel back to high school when I hear DMX’s “Up in Here” or Jagged Edge’s “Let’s Get Married.” And then there are just way too many songs to name that being me back to the college years! But I’ll try to name a few anyways: “In Da Club” by 50 Cent, “Suga Suga” by Baby Bash and Frankie J, “Dance with the Devil” by Immortal Technique, and “Ignition” by R. Kelly.

I seriously love how music is such a memory trigger! And for me, those emotions that get stirred up can be so strong! Am I the only one that feels this way???

And this leads me into shamelessly plugging my new little Etsy shop that I started – www.AccessoryLove.etsy.com ! :-) I’m not sure how many people read my blog, since I’m new to it and I haven’t been regularly blogging, but I thought I’d give my readers (if there are any other there :-P) an opportunity to get ONE of my fun jewelry designs at 50% off!!! All you need to do is comment here with the name of a song and when/where it makes you “time travel” to. Then visit my shop and pick out an item that you want! Add it to your cart, fill in the information, and in the “Notes to Seller” section, put BLOG READER. Then hit the “Commit to buy” button. I will send you an invoice with the 50% off sale price. And remember, all my items have FREE SHIPPING within the United States! :-)

I look forward to reading about your songs and “time travels!” :-)