Happy New Year!!!

Happy 2010.

Yes, it is the new year. I can hear fireworks going off as I type this.

You might think I'm having a boring 'celebration'. I'm listening to Glenn Miller, doing things on Facebook, and have been watching season 4 of The West Wing. That's all on top of celebrating my Dad's birthday, watching God's fireworks (lightning), and enjoying the smell of rain.

But that suits me just fine. We don't make a big deal of the new year in my family. It's just a marker of the passing of time.

But as I think of what the future will be I have to wonder, what would you (or I) do if we got a glimpse of what would happen in this new year now? Would you freak out, be pleased, be scared ...
I don't know what I would do, I think it would depend on what I saw.

Right now I'm looking for direction as to what I should be doing with my life. Starting a new year when you have no idea what you should be doing is scary. I don't want to waste this year. I want my life to count for something. I want to give myself over to God's leading.

I don't say that lightly. I really do want to do exactly what God wants me to. And that thought is scary too. I don't know what He has planned. All I know is that I'm not happy with some areas of my life and I want that to change.

I'm trusting God to do what's best in my life. Yes, some days this year I will struggle with this.

There's a poem that keeps coming to mind - or at least part of it. Hmm ... how did it go and where did I read it? Oh, now I remember, it was a quote used in Mavis Areta Winder's book 'Safe Than A Known Way'

"And I said to the man who stood at the Gate of Year:

'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown'.

" And He replied: 'Go out into the darkness and put thine hand into the hand of God. That shall be to thee better than light and safer than a known way'."

~ M. Louise Haskins

"Git" list

I hope you can see what this says, because it completely describes the trouble at Christmas time these days. The majority of people are out to GET all they can rather than GIVE all they can.

So, my plea to you (and myself) for this Christmas is to think about the things you can give, rather the things you may get.

Been listening to ...

Watch Video:

3 Minute Song (Josh Wilson)

Video Code provided by MusicRemedy.Com

Christmas Spirit

more animals

I have to say that I'm struggling a bit to get into the Christmas Spirit.
Things a wrapping up for the year, and that means I'm very tired, so maybe that's part of my problem.

We don't actually have our tree up yet, although it has now been brought in to the house from the shed (we have an artificail tree). Of course one of the issues there is what our cat will do once it is up. Like the kitty above, Rosie likes to get the tree ornaments, and there are some that she likes more than others.

I also need to get organised and do the Christmas cards, mostly for people at work (I received one today).

It was different when we were kids. There was that extra anticipation. What is it when we get older?
Are we disillusioned by the commercialism? Or have we just lost that joy of childhood?

The designer in me ...

... has been begging to be let out over the past few months, however I have some major road blocks in the way.

1. I live in a rented house and we are not even allowed to put any extra picture hooks up without permission
2. I live with my parents and share a bedroom with my sister (no living space just for me)
3. I am trying to finish my CPA and have to study for my final exam.

I have been interested in interior decoration and design since I was a teen and planned the layout for a couple of rooms in the house my parents used to own, using scale drawings of the room and furniture.

I planned to follow that career path until I discovered that most designers were rather 'strange' in an arty way and I quit studying art at school. Even then I kept looking at books and magazines until I was just too busy with work and study.

While at uni I worked as a bookkeeper/office manager/receptionist/personal assistant (Girl Friday) for an interior designer and loved it when she asked for my input (small as it was) on some of the jobs that she was doing.

But now that I'm nearly through my CPA studies the designer in me is pushing forward and begging to be noticed.

The extent of my designer out-pouring has been working on some solutions for my constantly increasing library of books, DVDs and CDs; and trying to find storage solutions for the stuff that I have been accumulating in relation to craft and general life.

It's probably also why I have been inspired by sites such as Ikea Hacker (I'm so glad I found them through Blogs of Note or I may never have found them). Not that I've done any Ikea Hacks myself, but the inspiration is there.

And then I recently spent a Saturday actually at Ikea in Melbourne and I also went to the Melbourne At Home expo. My poor sisterchick was dragged to both of these (Ikea was no problem, but I did practically drag her around the expo when I could get her away from the Nintendo stand).

And so the creative juices have started flowing once again, and the local library (not my personal one) has been getting a lot of business as I start to read about things once more and get some ideas.

Oh, and just for the record, I think there is too much in the brown range of colours being used in current trends. Come on, it's the colour of dirt, tree trunks and ... . Whatever happened to green, yellow, red, blue, etc.

In case you are wondering, as far as my books go, I now have a small DIY bookshelf ($25 at the Reject Shop) sitting on one corner of my desk at home because that's the only place it would fit. My other bookshelf is not overflowing as much as it was, and the new one is filling up fast.

Just around the bend ...

Where do you think this road leads? What is around the bend?

Don't you just want to follow it and find out?

I know I do.

It reminds me of a line from Anne of Green Gables the sequel, where Anne says to Catherine Brooke, "There's always a bend in the road."

Catherine didn't think so, and said "There's no bend in my road. I can see it streching straight out to the skyline."

It may seem like there's no bend, but I think that's just because we aren't taking the time to dream.

Start dreaming a little, you'll find there's a bend.

It can seem to take a long time to reach the bend. I know I haven't got to one of mine yet, and right now it seems so far away that maybe there isn't one.

But that's when I have to remember that God has plans for me. He has a bend in my road somewhere. If He didn't I'd be able to see all that He has planned for my future.

I can't, so I know there is at least one bend, probably a lot more.

Keep moving toward your bend.

Soon you'll be going around it!

What will you find futher down the road, around the bend?