All You Need to Know About Dating is Found in Disney's The Little Mermaid

I watched The Little Mermaid Sunday afternoon and was inspired and encouraged (haha Nicole) to write a blog regarding dating and The Little Mermaid. It's funny how some of life's most complex subjects are demonstrated and explained so simply if you would just take the time to watch a Disney DVD.

Without further ado, I give you a simple list of dating wisdom as laid out in the Little Mermaid:

1. Go where your parents forbid you to meet the man of your dreams. Ariel constantly went to the ocean's surface out of curiosity of the human world even though her dad forbid it. But one day, she sneaks aways and in doing so, literally meets Prince Charming...or in this particular movie Prince Eric...so handsome and perfect and rich...not to mention, a Prince. So yes girls, go hang out where your parents tell you not to...Prince Charming, Eric, Mr. Right may just be waiting there for you and you don't wanna miss out!

2. Have a good singing voice and use it after rescuing the said Prince while he is still unconscious. Ariel left a lasting impression on Prince Eric, after rescuing him from a near drowning experience in the ocean. So much so that Prince Eric returned to the beach and played the tune Ariel sang to him on his little lute.

3. This is where it gets good. Tip numero three is girls don't talk. Prince Eric has taught me that guys aren't into girls who don't have anything to say AT ALL. Prince Eric finds beautiful Ariel half dressed in a ragged sail and recognizes her as the songstress/rescuer but when she tells him that she can't speak, he's at first disappointed gets over it pretty quickly. Furthermore, she seems to secure him in the lagoon while the wildlife sing a song and he almost kisses her. Mind you, they have not had ONE conversation. Let this be a lesson to all of you. Forget having to read the newspaper and being up-to-date on politics, pop culture and all that. Forget The Rules in how to get and keep your man...the best rule of all as successfully demonstrated by Ariel is DON'T TALK, don't say a word and you will have him wrapped around your pinky in less than 24 hours.

4. Be idiotic. Ariel used a fork to comb her hair...she didn't know better but Prince Eric was still into her. I don't know about you, but if I saw someone using a fork at the dinner table to do something other than eat, they would immediately be eliminated from my potential man list. Maybe I'm picky because Prince Eric made plans in that next moment to take her around town -- a date -- the very next day.

5. Be idiotic AND easily amused. Ariel ran around town square with a silly grin on her face the entire day. Watch The Little Mermaid again guys...I'm not joking. And Prince Eric was smitten. She grabbed the hand puppets off of hands, bought bread, boots, and her highlight was sitting upside down on the carriage, and watching the horse's feet go clippity clop. Prince Eric dug all this! Forget being intellectual...that's NOT what guys want at all.

I wanted to just share these few insights for all you gals out there on how to snag and keep that guy of your dreams within 24 hours. Ariel has made it SO plain for us. I can't wait to try some of her tips out! LOL! On that note, I'm off to the gym!

Not Willing to Settle!

I am not willing to settle for less than God's perfect plan in any area of my life. I will not settle for less when it comes to my relationship with God. I will not settle for less when it comes to my job. I will not settle for less when it comes to relationships. I will not settle for less when it comes to my health. These are four of the most important areas of my life.

Tonight I am fired up! I will not settle! Some people think I should lay down my standards and settle for something. "Isn't something better than nothing?" Nope. Something is equal to nothing if it does not involve God and isn't planned by God. One of the most simple truths of the Bible rings true for me yet again. "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you." My time is as precious as money. And I desire to be a good steward of my finances. And likewise, I will be a wise steward of my time. I will invest my time into my career, relationships, and my health as God leads and guides me.

My goal is to glorify Him alone. My desire isn't even to make myself happy. I rejoice because the Lord is my exceedingly great reward (Gen 15:1). I rejoice in the Lord for it is written "Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice! (Philippians 4:4). I rejoice because God's plans for my life are for good and not evil, to give me a hope and a future (Jer. 29:11). By having peace in the nature of God and how He feels toward me, I don't have to worry about the other areas of my life.

Now that doesn't mean that I don't worry. I have my days, weeks and moments...but I consistently have to lift my eyes to the hills from where my help comes from. Sometimes I get frustrated and I take my problems out of God's hands and try to work them out myself...as if I'm smarter than God...that's funny. But I get impatient with Him because He doesn't work according to my timeline. I mean to get real honest I never thought I'd be 30, unemployed, single and living in a city where I don't know anyone. But I have to remember that His ways and his plans are so much higher and so much better than mine.

So my resolve tonight is to not settle. I choose not to worry. I choose to rejoice in the Lord and not to blame Him.

There's so much behind this blog...more to come.

Toot, Toot!

"I talk like this cuz I can back it up...I walk like this cuz I can back it up..."

I love this song...it's on Beyonce's latest I Am...Sasha Fierce album. It may sound like Beyonce is just tooting her horn but I think it's an anthem that all women should sing before they leave the house in the morning. I really don't think it's that bad to toot your own horn every once in awhile. I listen to this song while I'm getting dressed and it reminds me that I'm created for purpose, I'm beautiful and that it's ok for me to say so.

Grant it, there's a balance. I don't go around chanting "I'm all that and a bag of Doritos." And whether or not I believe that is irrelevant in this conversation but my point is to say you can have an ego (I mean, we all do) and be humble all at the same time. You may not be playing the song "Ego" in the morning when you're getting dressed but everyone plays a song whether or not in the literal sense. Some people play the "I wish I were skinnier" tune, or may that hit song "If I had more money I'd be happy" tune or even "I hate my job" tune. See...I told you...we all have a tune that we play everyday. And the tune you play sets the tone of your day...and I came up with that one all by myself...lol.

So what are the benefits of tooting your own horn?

1. If you don't toot it, no one is going to do it for you.
Everyone wants their horned squeezed and therefore everyone is out there wanting to be affirmed. But honestly you can't look to other people to build you up. It's nice when it happens and I actually take joy in building people up but you can wait and expect that to happen for yourself.

2. When you have made a decision and said you are "the stuff" it shows in all that you do.
That glow that women have, that strut in their walk all comes from self-confidence and simply from tooting their own horn.

3. When you believe in you, others will too. Enough said. When you second guess yourself, others will too. Insecurity is one of the easiest things to detect about someone and it is not attractive. But when you are secure in you, people automatically gravitate toward such an individual.

I know that everything I am, have and will be and will have is only to the glory of God. But the last thing I willingfully choose to do is complain and criticize about me...the handiwork of God. By all means sing, "I gotta huge ego!" Sing it loud and proud. Even if it is in faith...because it's true and soon if you keep singing it, you'll believe it.

I Can Feel A Change Coming...

Today was my first day of reading the Bible through in 90 days. I'm expecting for God to speak to me, reveal His will to me, and transform me in the process of these next three months. I have found myself in a season I never expected.

I moved to Austin, TX from Seattle, WA almost 6 months ago. FedSource, the company I was employed with for 4 years closed down for reasons beyond my understanding. So anyway, in the course of figuring out what I was going to do beyond June 30th, I prayerfully decided to move to Austin. I felt like God was asking me to go out on a limb and live closer to my family (I'd moved to Seattle to kinda separate myself from my family and grow as an individual). I looked forward to moving to Austin because I felt a fresh start in my life was what I needed. My friend Crissie put it the best way. She told me "You've outgrown Seattle." And that's exactly what happened. My life was GREAT in Seattle and I miss it, but I sensed a shift. And I believe this shift was needed in order for God to continue to mold and change me so that I can do and be all He has planned.

That being said, this has been one of the TOUGHEST seasons of my life. I've had to trust God in ways I've never had to. My patience has been tested to the point where I wanted to give up. The promiseland of my new beginning was far from a land flowing with milk and honey. I've even asked God, "Do you even know what you are doing?" And of course He does. I had to repent for that one...lol. I have found myself jobless, friendless, broke and broken, and many times alone. All I can say is that it really stinks when your plan isn't God's plan. But what I can rejoice in is that God's plan is BETTER than my plan. And His plans are to prosper me and not harm me. Amen!

In the meantime, I feel God calling me (and His church) to spend more time with Him. How can I know what His plan to prosper me is if I don't spend the time with Him, listening and speaking? How can I have a stronger relationship with God if I continue to have drive-by meetings with Him? How can I lay hold of all He's laid hold of me for, if I don't lie down and surrender? I feel the winds of change ablowing in my life and they are refreshing. These winds are coming straight from heaven. My encouragement to you is that you, too, would allow God's refreshing winds of change come and blow in your life. Spend time with Him, read His love letter to you and yield to His good, pleasing and perfect will.

The Scale

I can empathize with the woman in this cartoon. As funny as it may seem, the scale and I have a hate/hate relationship. There is no love involved whatsoever. Have you ever dieted, worked out, went to bed feeling hunger pangs and just knew you were going to lose weight just to step on the scale and find that you gained 3 pounds? No? Well lucky you. This has happened to me pretty often during 2008. And it's SO infuriating. Makes you wanna leave that scale and eat a burger (which I did do a few times) because you feel like all your efforts just don't matter at all. So frustrating...and then I have a sister who works out with me twice a week, still eats fried chicken and loses weight like it's no big deal. But here I am working out 4-5 times a week and nothing budges and I don't even eat fried chicken!! Oh, the frustration.

One of my determinations for 2009 is to figure out what works best for my body and get this weight off. I've been on this journey since I was in 1st grade and I've definitely had my shortcomings but I am determined to continue this year. You would think after 24 years of living, I would've discovered the issue and lost this weight but unfortunately, it just hasn't been that easy for me.

I do thank God that I've never been a hermit because of my weight or had any extreme eating disorders. In fact, I think I always refused to be that typical "fat girl" who is bound by insecurity and fear and ends up being a loner and inactive. I've been determined to never be that. I have, however, battled those thoughts of not being pretty or attractive, feeling like I was always being judged, and I've always hated not being to wear all the things I want to wear. But a lot of that has been dealt with and I've rooted my identity in Christ as opposed to what the scale or the tag in my jeans says.

So I make a resolve to live healthfully. I have eliminated certain foods from my diet to do this. I will continue to work out 4-6 times a week. I am doing this to be healthy. I believe in time, the weight will come off (it better!). But I only have this one body and in order to do the Lord's will, I've got to take care of it. After all this is also the temple of the Holy Spirit and I want it to be a clean home -- spirit, soul and body.

And because weight and body issues have been a prevalent issue in my life, I'll probably be blogging more about this to come...in segments of my life and what was going on with that at the time. I think it'll give you all a deeper glimpse into who I am, how I've dealt with these issues, and how I'm being healed (in Jesus Name). I love y'all...thanks for reading.

Fear...an enemy

Fear. I have them. I have fears that I don't even realize are there. Most often, we don't sit around making lists of what are are afraid of. Instead, they often come out in conversation, in how we live our lives, things we choose to abstain from or do habitually over and over, etc.

I know that I have my fears...I will spare you the list but today is a new day and I choose not to fear. Fear is a hindrance. Fear will keep you from getting what you want, will make you detour past the promises of God, and cause you to feel contained. This is not God's will at all.

I was rambling to a friend recently and they called me out on the fearful declarations I was making over my life by just BEING HONEST. But as a faith person, I'm not supposed to just spout off at the mouth what I see for the Bible says that "the just shall live by faith." Not only that but "God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of love, power and of a sound mind."

My friend told me, if your thoughts have fear attached, those thoughts are NOT from God. It's one thing to use wisdom and be cautious, but if they are of fear, they are NOT from God. It was kind of huge wake-up call for me.

Loving Life in My 30's

It is the second day of 2009 and I have made resolutions. Mind you I made one resolution a few years ago. And that resolution was to NEVER make a New Year's resolution ever again. But I am a firm believer of the New Year providing a new beginning and a fresh start for everyone. I believe that when the clock strikes midnight of Jan 1st, all the problems, dilemmas, and stresses from Dec 31st and prior magically disappear and a blank slate is provided. (Boy I just wish that debt would magically disappear too...since that's the cause of most of my stress.)

But instead of listing resolutions (that I know will fall off my March) I have begun to make goals for each year. Example: "I will workout everyday for two hours and eat nothing but vegetables and oatmeal" instead would be "Be more physically active and make better food choices." You may think the first statement is extreme, but dear readers, I am extreme. I'm an all or nothing kind of a girl which is why resolutions don't work for me. I give my all to the resolution for about a month and once it gets too hard, I give up and give nothing. But goals, visions, desires that are broad and open work for me. Gives me room to still be me and improve on that me. So without further ado, I give you my 2009 goals.

1. Continue to cultivate and nurture my relationship with God. He's my everything!

2. Make more friends in Austin...be more bold in putting myself out there.

3. Love my family more and more everyday...sometimes not the easiest for me...it's me though...not them.

4. Write a complete manuscript. Whether or not it will be published I WILL complete my first book THIS year. I'm so excited!

5. Be more physically active and make better food choices. (Heehee...like how I just slid that one in?)

6. Get married. (LOL...just kidding...but Lord if it's your will, LET IT BE! haha...you have not cuz you dream not. Can I get an amen??)