So Long Insecurity!

This past Saturday I met up with some sweet girlfriends and we all went to see Beth Moore at FBC Woodstock. I have been trying to get through the book for a few months, but I'll be honest...I've struggled with 'putting on my new self.' I learned this past Saturday that I'm being silly and I've been holding on to my pride. I still haven't finished the book yet, but I WILL FINISH THE BOOK. If I know you in real life I have probably thought about you at least once since I've been reading this book (seriously, Mom, Amanda, Ashley, are you reading this? You can borrow my book once I'm finished) and it's not a bad thing at all. I just want to share with the people I love how to deal with some of the same things I'm struggling with too :)


I am in the midst of reading the book and I wanted to note a few things that I have been able to relate to, in one way or another.

• Insecurity can make you act like an idiot in female relationships. Is it horrible that I've been so insecure that I've been afraid to introduce two girl friends because I was afraid that they would like hanging out with each other more than they would like to hang out with me? Geez, just typing this I sound like a high schooler. Ugh, so embarrassing.


• Insecurity can make a Mom to be overcontrolling or just generally out of control. I'd like to tweek this to say Wife, since I'm not a Mom yet. There have been so many times that I have been so insecure while Mike was out of town for work. I've had those crazy, "I'm not with him, I can't control what he's doing or who he's talking to or who he's looking at." Clearly, this is NOT Mike's problem. This is a Michelle problem. Again, as I am typing this out, I feel like an idiot.


• Insecurity can turn a gifted person into the competition. Hello, old job. The way I was 'evaluated' at my last job was based on how you 'stack up' to your peers. Talk about being competitive...every one is busting their butt to get "exceeds". I often felt like I couldn't or shouldn't ask for help because I didn't want the 'gifted' one to know I didn't know the answer.


• Insecurity weighs heavily in weight issues. Not so much the weight issue for me, but I have definitely struggled with being comfortable in my own skin. I'm going to try to let that all go and BUY that running skirt even if I don't have 'runner legs'...yet. ;)


• Insecurity can talk us into doing things we don't even want to do. Hello, high school and college days. I think everyone falls to peer pressure at some point in their life. Heck, there are a lot of things I've done in my life that I'm not necessarily proud of, but I think everyone has. So, its time for me to let those things go too.


• Insecurity can make us give an entirely wrong impression. Wow. This one is absolutely me. I'm a shy person. Reserved. And I've been told more than once that this tends to send out 'snobby' vibes. I'm making an effort to be more out going and to not be so shy. In fact, I really came out of my comfort zone at Beth Moore when I ran into a bunch of blog friends (strangers) and I hugged their neck and introduced myself. That is definitely NOT me. And, I'm armed with the proof:

I'd just like to add that I was NOT having a great hair day because it was rainy and humid and gross outside...but....back to letting go of those pesky insecurities!

And from Chapter 8...Insecurity can roar it's ugly head when....

• Your boss calls you into their office to speak to you.
• Somebody give a presentation in class right before yours...and it's fabulous.
• You met someone you really admire and said something stupid.
• You have a new haircut. And it's hideous. (Oh yes, I've had a bad hair cut - I wrote about it here)
• Your husband's on a business trip, and you can't get ahold of him. (see 2nd bullet point above)
• You poured your heart to someone and they didn't get it.

I hope to add to my 'favorites' after I finish the book. But until then, please be patient with me. I'm a work in progess. And, I'm on nobody's time, but HIS time. :)

Unexpected Attack!

I have a blackberry. Every time I send or receive an email - it comes to my blackberry. Sometimes, its nice and other times, not so nice. This afternoon - around 5pm my phone lit up with 80 emails. All 80 of these emails were a copy of a sent email being sent from my email account. Not only was someone/something sending emails to EVERY person I have EVER emailed...they were sorely inappropriate emails. Things regarding erectile dysfunction, sex positions, and all kinds of embarrassing things. GRREEEEEEAT.

If you know me - then you know that this is absolutely NOT anything that I would ever do. Therefore, I am completely embarrassed by the fact that my family and friends got these crazy and offensive emails from me. So...if you received one of those emails....please delete it and don't click on any of the links.

Fortunately, I was aware of what was happening almost immediately because my phone notified me - however, if I didn't have this I probably never would have known. So, I guess the annoying flashing red light on the blackberry was a good thing today at 5pm. I also quickly learned that a friend had the same exact thing happen to her around the same time today. So...if you have a gmail account you might want to check the sent box just to make sure you weren't a victim too.

Until next time - I'll be changing every.single.password to everything.

I am an R-Tee-st

Monday night I met Mauri for a fun girls night at Sips N Strokes. I was VERY nervous about going because I can NOT draw anything other than a stick figure and snoopy laying on his dog house (my Dad taught me how to draw Snoopy when I was young and I guess it just stuck with me). But, after I started mixing up colors I had soooooooooo much fun! I definitely will be going back. Here are a few pictures from our fun night....

This is the original picture.

I asked Mauri if I could paint a mustache on her face and she said yes. So, I thought I should practice...we got carried away and ended up painting this guy on the table. (And, no, I never did paint facial hair on Mauri)

So - what do you think? I think we did pretty darn good! It was a great night. Great friend. Great wine. Lots of laughs. Lots of smiles. And two alright pictures. I can't wait to do it all over again!

Rewind to Easter

I started a post earlier this week so just pretend that this is coming errr...a few days ago.

This Easter was the first holiday we have spent as our little family of two. I'll admit, it was kinda nice to just do a holiday on our own. Most holidays we are in the car traveling from house to house.

We decided to go to the EARLY Easter Mass. You know, the time when only the grey hairs are up. Mass started at 7:15 and we were in the car headed home by 8:15. We had the whole day left! So, we came home and changed and then we went our separate ways. I took off to the park for a run and Mike headed to the driving range to hit some golf balls. We met back at the house and did our Easter brunch. We had Belgian waffles, Paula Dean's hashbrown casserole, bacon and scrambled eggs! It wasn't a traditional Easter lunch...but it was our lunch. It was perfect. AND, we ate at our new dining room table!

I hope everyone had a great Easter!

Single Lady Life

I have been a lady of leisure this weekend, and it has been such a treat. Mike headed off to "Man's Weekend" on Friday so I got in some good 'me' time these past few days.

Friday after work, I headed over to Wal-Mart and picked up these three movies.

And this book.

On my way home, I called and ordered a LARGE cheese pizza.

Saturday morning, I had my first 'date' with a new friend. I got in a 4 mile run with Rebecca and little Zoe Jane. We have so much in common and we just talked and talked and talked. It was so much fun. I really look forward to more dates with these sweet girls. I'm sure we will grow to be great friends.

After my morning date, I came home and finished our taxes. I am REALLY looking forward to that return hitting our checking account.

I did some laundry and then headed out to pick up a paper to clip my coupons for the week. I figured it would be nice to get the grocery shopping out of the way so I went ahead and did that too. By the way...Publix had a TON of by one get one free sales. I think we are set for mayo for the next 4 months. I saved over $30 this week by shopping their items on sale and using coupons.

I ended my day by coming home and watching New Moon and eating pizza.

Today I've done a little more laundry, researched Mexico vacations and ate more pizza. My large pizza is officially gone.

I've enjoyed my relaxing weekend and I might be looking forward to the next "Man's Weekend".

New Stuff

I'm a terrible blogger. I don't update as often as I should.

I really try to update with pictures...because sometimes I think words are just too boring. But then, my pictures are too blah, so then I just don't update.

I've promised a few people some pictures of our new furniture. We recently got new bedroom furniture AND new dining room furniture. But, like I said, my pictures just aren't very good...maybe I'll see if Brittney can come visit and snap a few pics with her nifty camera. Speaking of...a nifty camera - I'm going to get one. I'm sure it will take amazing pictures which will in turn make me blog more often. :)

Let's see...so much has happened since March 7th. We got furniture --- I just covered that. I ran the Silver Comet 10K --- I did alright I guess. And just this past weekend we visited our friends down in Statesboro, a welcome home gathering for Bryan (he's been in Taliban land for the past year).

Oh yeah - and today after work I went by Fleet Feet and picked up some inserts for my running shoes. I'm hoping they can help me overcome my killer shin splints I've been getting the past few long runs. I hope I get to test them out tomorrow with Rebecca.

Now, it's Monday night and I'm exhausted. So, that's all for now.

Last Saturday

I'm a week behind in posting about my trip with Lisa to go visit our good friend Brittney. I met up with Lisa early on Saturday morning with Starbucks in hand and giddy with excitement. You see, I used to see these girls on a daily basis (we used to all work together)...we would talk about our weekends, complain about things, laugh, get advice and a slew of other things - so you can imagine how exciting it is to get together with good girlfriends that you rarely get to see.

During our day trip, we also got to go visit Amy and see little miss McCoy Kate, who was just a doll! She was just precious. I didn't get any pictures because I was too busy either holding the baby or waiting for another opportunity to come up so that I could hold her again (I wouldn't want a silly camera getting in the way of that!). Anyways, the rest of our day was spent having lunch, catching up, and a little shopping. Towards the end of the day we took turns getting big hugs from sweet Myles (B's stepson). :)

It was a perfect day. We laughed and smiled - A LOT - and I can't wait for the next girls trip! These are two of my favorite good girlfriends! :)