The Power of a Positive Attitude

School has been killing me lately.  It has been insane.  One thing that God has shown me lately, through my text books and class discussions (that's the great thing about being a counseling student, the majority of what you learn can easily be applied to your daily life, what math or business student can say that?) is that:

ALTHOUGH OFTEN YOU CAN'T CONTROL THE SITUATION, YOUR ATTITUDE HAS THE POWER TO INFLUENCE THE SITUATION

I love this and have been applying to my life and.... IT WORKS!

One example - this woman who works down the hall from me is a real debbie downer, and one of my biggest pet peeves is when people automatically see the negative in everything, because I am exactly the opposite.  I had begun to kind of just focus on my work and not say much to her when she would be in our office, because her negativity would frustrate me.  I decided to try out my new found approach on her one day.  When she came in, before she even had a chance to say anything, in a real upbeat tone of voice I gave her a complement and smiled at her real big.  She sat down in our office and did not say one negative thing the whole time she was there.  Her entire attitude was different.  It works!

I am now on the lookout to see what other situations I can influence with a good attitude, so watch out!

Tea Time

One thing I really love is tea.  I have always loved tea in the form of sweet tea. Around middle school I started drinking this one particular type of hot tea.  After I started college I started trying a few other hot teas, and now I am totally in love with all tea and have at least one cup of tea a day.  I love black tea, red tea, green tea, white tea.... all tea! haha.

In Fredricksburg, VA, there is this amazing tea store called Teavana.  It's a chain, so there are more than just this one, but this is the one nearest me.  It has looseleaf teas, and these have become my all-time favorite!  They take a little more work than bagged tea, but it's so worth it.  You can check out their website here. I HIGHLY recommend the Peach Cran-Tango looseleaf black tea. It's amazing! Here is what it looks like:

Tea is a fun hobby. It can be simple or extravagant, yet it is always yummy, whether hot or cold, green or black, looseleaf or bagged. It's a great drink to enjoy, and has great health benefits as well, unlike other drinks like coffee. This is making me thirsty, I'm going to go make myself a cup of tea! 

Change of Face

So tonight Rob told me that he might start his own blog, so that means that this blog is all mine now.  So, time for a change.

I named MY blog Ruby Red Perspective because I feel that I have a unique perspective to offer.  Red is my favorite color because it is bright, vibrant, and cheerful.  The Chinese view red as a sign of good fortune and many paint their front doors red as a way of wishing wellness on all who enter.  The Zen philosophy considers red a sign of positive energy and happiness.  I'm not a follower of the Zen religion, but some of their concepts are kind of neat.

I get told a lot that it seems like I am always happy, and yes, there are very few days where I don't have a smile on my face.  I can have joy through Christ and I truly desire to love people for who they are, not what they should be.  I have a very positive yet realistic view on life and love to share the joy God has given to me with others who need a breath of fresh year every now and then.

"Going green" is a big trend right now, and I'm all for it and want to do my part, but along with going green, I want to "live red." Studies show that positivity, laughing and smiling are therapeutic and are healthy for the body and mind.  Through Christ we are new creations, and even though life may send us through storms, Christ always guides us through them.  For that reason, we can smile freely without guilt!  I am excited to take this blog in a new direction and see where we go.  Yay for a change of face.

Bekah

February - Month of Love

Wow, January flew by, as did Christmas break. My Christmas break was actually cut short due to an intensive that I took the week before actual semester classes began. My relationship with intensives is one of love/hate. I love getting a class knocked out in 1 week, and I love how close I get with other intensive students in just a week, but I also hate the insane amount of pre-work and post-work that comes with the intensive. I also hate that most of the people I get close with are online students and live outside of Lynchburg, so once the week is over, they go home, and the closeness we have gained goes with them. But, all in all, it was a good intensive, in 2 weeks I'll be done with all the post-work, which will make it even better!

I've done a lot of Girl Scout stuff in January. Last week I had the girls become architects and we had a "Challenge" (like the ones on food network that I deeply love) where all they could use was marshmallows and toothpicks. The girls got so into it and had a ton of fun. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera, so no pics were taken. I'm doing the same activity with another group I lead this next week, so I'll try to take pics with them.

Speaking of camera's, Rob and I have taken on yet another hobby together: photography. It's something we have been talking about doing since we were dating, we just never had the money to buy a nice camera. With Christmas money and money I was blessed with from an outside medium apart from my regular work, we had just enough money to buy the camera we've been looking at for the past couple years, and she's a beauty! We are now taking a weekly photography class and are looking into other workshops and events to learn how take quality photos. There are endless possibilities with newer SLR Digital cameras.

We still love decorating cakes together and are going to take a more advanced decorating class in March to continue developing our skills. With school and work, we don't get a lot of time to decorate for fun, but hopefully we'll get a handful of chances as time goes along. I'm taking a couple of candy/chocolate classes this month and next month to learn about making chocolate sculptures. It will be fun to incorporate chocolate with cake. Everyone loves chocolate.

Well, that's a quick update on us for now. The first month of 2010 has been a busy one, but a great one. God has taught me so much lately and I can't wait to see what the remainder 11 months of 2010 has in store.

AH! It's December!

So, today on the phone my mom told me that I need to update my blog. So this is for her! :)

I can't believe it is already December. Time flies. I don't feel like it's December though because the grass is still green, and yesterday it was in the 50's. Being from northern MN, this is still spring weather, not winter. One thing that cracks me up is seeing people's yard decorations... like those huge blow up snowmen...ON GREEN GRASS. Looks kinda funny. I also think it's funny to hear southerners complain about the "cold." One girl I know from SC has been wearing a winter coat, scarf, and boots for months now, because it's so cold out! haha. I have yet to wear my winter coat. A light fleece is suffice, and even warm at times. I've worn my gloves once, and that was just because I think they are cute and felt like wearing them.

This semester has been crazy! The workload has not been too bad...only bad at times. This semester has been one of growth though. It has been hard, because it has really brought me out of preconceptions I've had. It's increased the depth of my knowledge about and passion for God, but has taken some work to get there and I'm still working through a lot of things. It's not really anything I can describe with words in a blog. But, I have made some amazing new friends this semester and grown closer to friends I had already and am so thankful for them!

Through a long chain of events happening, this year I run two different girl scout groups in youth centers in downtown Lynchburg. I was never in girl scouts and really know little about it. It's not your normal girl scouts, it's more just me going into these places and having crafts and activities for the girls to do. I really enjoy it because I love these kids and have a real heart for them. This past week, while at one site, I brought in mini gingerbread houses for them to make... they came in a kit. You would think that 3 inch tall gingerbread houses would be easy as pie to make....but this is not the case! There were 5 styles of houses, and 2 of the styles were impossible to make with the materials they gave, so after working for a long time with the girls trying to make the houses look like the do on the box, I resorted to telling them that it is their house and they can make it however they like! haha. Here are some of the results:

Some girls were way more interested in eating the houses than actually making them, so I told them they could eat them after they made them, but I think most of them ate them while making them. They are so fun to work with!

Well, today is Friday, which is my day off, so I'm going to go try to be productive! Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Monday

Tomorrow, which is Monday, is a big day. First, Rob has an interview for a new job which would be quite a significant promotion for him. We are really praying for him to get this new job. He would no longer be working in student accounts which is something that he doesn't enjoy all too much. It comes with great amounts of stress, which would be reduced if he got this new job. As a wife, I am praying so hard that God would give this job to him, because I hate that nearly every day he comes home from work frustrated.

Tomorrow my brother Matt leaves for Taiwan where he will be for about three weeks. I am excited for him. I think that he and his ministry team will have a wonderful experience there. I'm just praying for their safety as Taiwan has been receiving a lot of large typhoons lately. They will be living in downtown Taipei and performing there. I can't wait to see his pictures and hear about his trip! I am so proud of my brother. I'm so happy that he loves what he is doing and that he is serving God with his talents.

It's been a while since I've posted. My life has increased immensely in intensity in the past month. My summer was very relaxed and low-key, but since starting the Fall semester, my life is nowhere close to the same. It has been sooo busy! But I must admit that I am enjoying it quite a bit! I've become much more disciplined and productive. I started a new job in the Sport Management office at school. I work about 20 hours a week, which has gone well so far. I'm also taking more grad classes residentially. I have already been so blessed through my classes and it's only week 5. God has really been teaching me about three things lately: Himself, myself, and our relationship together. He's been showing me how to think of Himself outside of the small box that Christians and churches often put Him in. He's revealed to me a lot of things that I've been taught that limits Himself, and it has made me realize how much I really need to examine why I hold to the beliefs and views of God that I do. This is definitely going to be a semester of growth.

Today is Wednesday, and Rob has been out of town since Sunday morning. I've never been home alone overnight, so I was not excited to be home alone for three nights. But, it's hasn't been bad at all, thanks to friends who hung out with me on Sunday and Tuesday, and being so busy that I haven't even had time to breathe. But I have realized that I could never be single and live alone for more than 3 days. haha. I love being with people, and living home alone with noone to talk to or do things with every day would drive me crazy!

Anothing thing we've taken on in September is this cake decorating class every week. It's been a lot of fun. Tomorrow is our last class. I would post pictures, but I'm actually making cakes right now for our class tomorrow, so I'm going to go finish that. Just wanted to give a quick update since I haven't posted in a while. :)

Bekah