Inward Thoughts: Outward Expression

1Corinthians 6:19

"Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? (20) For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."

About two years ago, I (along with Austin) decided to start Crossfit. Little did I know that it would change my entire life!

It was LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT! I felt like throwing up after the first workout, but oddly enough… I wanted to go back the next day. I can honestly say that the feelings have not changed even two years later!

Austin and I were on the “Honeymoon” phase with Crossfit! Anything that other crossfitters said to do… We did! So, we decided to become Paleo.

I remember that when I began my Paleo diet, people thought that I was CRAZY.

I don’t blame them. (If you are unfamiliar with the Paleo diet then click the link!)

I was constantly asked, “Why are you going on a diet?... You don’t need to lose weight.”

I would simply reply, “It’s not about losing weight… It’s about becoming healthy.”

Now before you think that I am this perfect healthy eater… Let’s get real.. I was Paleo for about a good 6 months. Then, it became too hard on my body.

I noticed I was constantly drained at the end of the day. My body wasn’t getting enough carbohydrates for the lifestyle that I led. So, I added more grains...

At that point, I told everyone that I was going to just EAT CLEAN!

Since then, I have noticed myself slowly, but surely, falling back into the unhealthy lifestyle that surrounds our nation.

My body was more confused than ever.

So, I stopped working out so much and tried to start over. Only problem was that I didn’t know how to start over.

I would sit down and write out my diet.. I would try to find the perfect mix of providing my body of the good nutrition along with making sure that I never felt like I was being restricted.

Honestly… that didn’t work either.

The bible verse at the top says that your body is a temple. Yet, every day someone suffers from an eating disorder. Yes… Anorexia, Sports Anorexia, bulimia, and even binging.

I’m sure you are looking at your lifestyle differently now that I said your body is a temple. We are all guilty of tearing ourselves down, physically and mentally. It’s in our nature, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try to protect and keep our temple as clean as possible.

My Dreams for 2014

I say this often, but God has a timing and purpose for everything.

I whole heartedly believe that everything that has happened in my life has brought me to the place I stand today. I thank him every day for leading my path even when I am reluctant or want to give up.

The Lord has placed a ton of special people into my life in the past couple of months. I really have never been so blessed to know such wonderful people!

I have met friends, co-workers, family, and leaders. All who look out for me and encourage me to go! To go and get that dream I want! 

Through radiology school (read my first post) I constantly was reaching for something. I had no clue what it was. I yearned to have a passion. Unfortunately, Radiology was not my passion. God has a sense of humor, though!

I graduated, I sat down, and said “What now?”

I worked at a boutique and I absolutely loved styling ladies and socializing with them… but, once again. My heart wasn’t fulfilled.

“What now?”

I interviewed for my dream job.- A job for a wholesale interior design company- I literally drooled over it!! After waiting impatiently, I finally got an email back saying that I did not get the job. HEARTBROKEN was an understatement. I cried. A lot!

“What now?”

My fiance’, Austin Hudson, lifted me up. He told me to stop worrying about money and just follow my heart. So, I did… and I prayed a lot.

That same week… I was working at the boutique and one of my favorite customers came in. I began helping her as I always did… and I felt a tug on my heart! Talk to this girl! I did and we began talking about teaching because she had told me before that she was a teacher. (I suddenly knew what I was going to do!) Once again, I see now how mysterious the Lord is. This customer, Kori, later asked me over to a party she was having at her home and I’ve loved becoming such great friends with such a great person!

So, I felt the tug on my heart… The Lord was leading me to teaching. That night I signed up for my praxis and the next day, I took my resume’ to every single school I could think of.

After knocking on every school door and never getting anywhere… I finally heard back from a school! I interviewed that week and received the Perfect Position. It would allow me to work 8-12. I thought to myself , “This is great, then I can work on paintings or other crafty things!”

Well, the Lord had other plans for me.

A tutoring position opened up for me. It was perfect.

Tutoring has become a passion of mine. I absolutely enjoy working with student and seeing them succeed. It’s so much fun to hang out with our youth. They definitely keep me on my toes!

So, I loved the way God had made me find myself with teaching… but, I missed my fashion artsy side.

I was invited to, my customer friend, Kori’s home one evening and who would have thought that I would reconnect with a wonderful friend that I had met through Crossfit about a year ago. We had lost contact because of different schedules. The evening went great! I knew I had met some wonderful people.

My crossfit friend, Hope, opened up My Stella and Dot adventure. I have absolutely loved starting this business! It feeds my addiction to fashion. And, I don’t have to overwork myself because everything is done from home! I only work a couple of hours with this company.

Hope has helped me grow tremendously! Especially since she is constantly encouraging me to paint and get my stuff out to the public!

So, this is me now. I genuinely believe that he constantly keeps bringing people in my life so that I’m able to fulfill all of my dreams. What are my dreams you ask?

                My dream is to be successful. Successful in:

                                Starting a family with Austin Hudson

                                Pursuing my passion of styling ladies and making them feel and look beautiful

                                Pursuing my passion of painting

                                Pursuing my passion of making sure my family and friends are healthy

                                Always succeeding in helping students and our youth succeed in school

The Way I Am

So, for years now I've wrote chapters based loosely on the everyday events of my life. After much thought, I figured it was time to start posting some of it. Maybe y'all will get a little pleasure in reading about how crazy my life can be. I guess this is where I need to give a little background info on myself. In three days I will be turning the rifle age of 22. (I'm terrified!) I remember when I was 15 and started my "diary" and thought that I had life all put together! Wooh... Boy, was I wrong?! I'm almost 22 and I'm still learning everyday. I will never again be as náive as to think that my life is all put together... Because its far from it! Enough about age... I'm currently in radiological technologists school (shoot me now!) I will finally have a degree in May of 2013.. These four years of college have been the slowest, yet fastest time of my life! I know that makes no sense to some but surely someone feels my pain! I have learned so much these past 4 years... About school, life, love, fashion, creativity, and most importantly... who I am. A year ago I started the RT program. It was my escape.. After a year and a half of taking classes without a major(courses that varied from biology and chemistry to interior design and drawing...), my parents decided that maybe they should point me in a direction. To say I was confused was and is an understatement! Yes, I said IS! This goes along with the part from up top where I said my life is far from put together! I took my parents advice and applied for RT school because #1 I really wanted to move home! (I love my parents :-/ and being two and a half hours away was miserable!) #2 I figured "hey, there's a degree and it pays well." #3 I'm really indecisive and school just doesn't appeal to me! (I'd rather be creating!) So, here I am a year later and I almost have a degree.. Yay me! My parents are finally happy.. Me: not so much. I learned immediately that this program just wasn't for me! Im extremely too artsy to just push a button all day.. I probably just offended everyone that is already a tech because we do a lot more than that and it is really hard work, but that's how I feel when I'm in clinicals. I love drawing, painting, photography, basically anything that creates! I love using my imagination and lately, my imagination has been used on conjuring up ways of how I'd really love to drop kick basically every rude patient that comes through! (I swear I'm not violent; only recently have these thoughts popped into my head!) I can never see myself going to work in this field everyday.. It's just not me! What I'll do about it I'm not sure.. I guess that's the fun in life... I never know where God is going to lead me! So, now let's get to the fun stuff! I recently found the love of my life. He's an absolute blessing. I generally take his love and compassion for granted. He's beautiful. I knew from the moment I saw him that he was the man of my dreams... Cheesy right? But seriously, after a long hard road to finding love... I finally found the man that the Lord has made for me! I'm sure you,ll hear more about him later! I mentioned earlier that art is my passion! I'm sure you're wondering why I did not choose to major in it.. Well, I tried it. The constant deadlines were too much for me.. I'm a perfectionist and perfection takes time :-P I couldn't stand the "all nighters" to finish my work. I grew to hate it... It's only recent that I've gotten inspired again.. So, there's your answer! I'll post my artwork from time to time... Now, about my family... My family consists of a wonderful mom and dad who have been married for 30 years! My mom was 18 when she met my dad who was 25 at the time! It was love at first sight and they were married a year later! They had my older sister 4 years later.. And then 3 1/2 years after that they had another baby girl and named her Alexandra Jordan! When I was about 9 we had another addition (thanks to me) and that was a Boston terrier named pug! He has become my little brother and the son my dad never had! My family is anything but normal, but I thanks God for them everyday.. I'm sure there's a lot more that you want to know about me, but I hope I will answer those questions through each post. “This life is what you make it. No matter what, you're going to mess up sometimes, it's a universal truth. But the good part is you get to decide how you're going to mess it up. Girls will be your friends - they'll act like it anyway. But just remember, some come, some go. The ones that stay with you through everything - they're your true best friends. Don't let go of them. Also remember, sisters make the best friends in the world. As for lovers, well, they'll come and go too. And babe, I hate to say it, most of them - actually pretty much all of them are going to break your heart, but you can't give up because if you give up, you'll never find your soul mate. You'll never find that half who makes you whole and that goes for everything. Just because you fail once, doesn't mean you're gonna fail at everything. Keep trying, hold on, and always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don't, then who will, sweetie? So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life's a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about.” ― Marilyn Monroe