Relentless Preparation

This Friday I'm set to meet with the folks at one of our local Farrell's Extreme Bodyshaping gyms.  I'm 99.9% sure I'm going to sign up for the next 10 week challenge (starts January 7, 2012 through March 17, 2012).  I've never been to this location before, so I want to check it out and ask some final questions.  I'm struggling with which time of day would work best for my workouts.  Ideally I'd be in either the 5:00 a.m. or 6:00 a.m. class, but apparently these two class times are already sold out.  I'm in court so often that I'll have to take an educated guess on which time is least likely to have a hearing scheduled.  I'm excited to get started (assuming everything goes well Friday).  

Ho, Ho, Ho

Santa was feeling pretty crafty tonight:

We're doing Christmas at the parents' house this year (as usual), but I wanted Isla to have some unwrapped presents from Santa at our house when she wakes up.  I know she won't really appreciate the gesture at her age, but I figure I should get in the habit.  She's growing so fast!

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!

I'm Where I'm Meant To Be

As most people know, I'm generally fairly sarcastic and extremly a tad bit pessimistic.  What can I say, I'm a work in progress.  Anyhoo, I've been actively trying to be content and happy - especially when it comes to unexpected delays, traffic jams, etc.  I know that every unexpected delay, long line or wrong turn is just the means of putting me where I need to be at a particular moment in time.  Today was one of the coolest examples of that.  This morning I stopped on my way to work and picked up a large coffee.  Yum.  I parked in the parking lot in the back row as is my habit and walked the long walk through the cold parking lot into my office building and up to my office.  I was about ten steps from my office door when I realized I'd left my nice warm coffee in my car.  I do this twice a week on average.  In the past, I've been annoyed and pissed off at myself as I grumpily turn around and stomp my way back to my cold car to retrieve the forgotten stimulant.  Today, however, I shook my head, smiled and sighed as I turned around and headed to the elevators.  I thought to myself, here is a perfect time to try to be happy and content where I am because God has decided I need to be here.  I made the long walk to my cold car a little more cheerily than usual, picked up my coffee and headed back to the building.  On the way I thought "Man, it's cold outside! But, maybe I forgot my coffee in the cold so I could be reminded that I'm fortunate enough to have a car to walk to and a warm cup of coffee waiting for me when I get there."

But that's not the end of the story.

When I got to the elevator bank, I saw another attorney, let's call him Attorney Tom, trying to get in the building from the back door.  That entrance is for tenants only and requires a magnetic key card (I usually skip this door and take the longer route to the front of the building).  I heard the beep of Attorney Tom's key card and thought nothing of it.  However, just as the elevators doors opened for me to step inside, I heard Attorney Tom's key card beep again.  It was beeping, but it wasn't unlocking the door for him to enter.  I walked the 20 steps or so to the back door and opened it up for a very cold and very grateful Attorney Tom.  If I hadn't forgotten my coffee and retraced my steps out to my car, Attorney Tom would have been waiting a while in the cold for someone to open the door, or he would have had to walk all the way around the building to get in through the front entrance.  I don't believe this morning's events were a coincidence.  I believe it was God saying, "See?  I told you working on being content and happy would have its rewards."  It put a smile on my face anyway :)

Book recommendation

I was shopping yesterday afternoon for a much wanted needed black coat and saw this book near the check out area:

It's a marvelous book for children that emphasizes to the reader that there is no one else in the world like them.  I bought it for my daughter; although, at one year old, she won't appreciate the message until later.  I read it to my nieces yesterday afternoon and they were very pleased to learn they were entirely unique creatures.  Big thumbs up from me :)