So I read about a book every 2-3 days, well let me clarify that. I listen to about a book every 2-3 days. I have a slight obsession with audible.com (just more proof that Amazon is taking over the world!). I love using the audiobook apps that the Tulsa library provides too, they don't have quite the selection, but I still manage to come across some great finds from time to time! I thought I would go ahead and share some of the outstanding books I've recently read! I will make more posts like this one if you guys are interested, let me know in the comments! So here are my favorite five recently read titles! Enjoy!
1. Red War: A Mitch Rapp Novel - By Kyle Mills, Vince Flynn - The entire series is outstanding, and I'm already anxiously awaiting the next one to hurry up and come! 2. Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss - By Kim Scott - Awesome book on leadership and a peek behind the curtain from someone who worked at Google. 3. Braving the Wilderness - By Brene Brown - Enough said, Brene Brown is my spirit animal, and I adore every book she has written! 4. Bare Bones - By Bobby Bones - He is funny and refreshing. He speaks his truth, and I could listen to him for days! What a great journey he has had. 5. Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble - By Dan Lyons - I have never laughed so hard, this guy is hilarious! His epic journey through unemployment and then going to work for a Start-Up in his mid-40s. He also had a blog he wrote as the fake Steve Jobs! The entire book is a roller coaster ride that I didn't want to end! Dictionary.com has 28 different definitions to support that strength comes in many forms. For the longest time, I thought that being strong meant persevering, standing tall, doing the right thing no matter who's watching. Now, I believe there is more to it than that. Being strong is hard. It's persevering and living, standing tall and kneeling, doing the right thing no matter who's watching and no matter what other people think. No one knows your life, the decisions you are faced with making, the lengths you go to live to fight another day. Life is short; it is precious. We only get one shot at living, and I don't know about you, but I'm living it!
I am so grateful for the people in my life, having a great job that I love, and all the adventures I get to go on! I am strong. I am stronger than I thought. I am stronger than I ever thought possible in fact. Faced with situations, I never thought I would be in charge of, making decisions I don't know that I was even qualified to make. There was a period when I was unsteady when I didn't trust myself, and I didn't trust others with what I considered flaws. The biggest lesson I think I've learned in the last few years is learning to be vulnerable, and that is no small feat. The only way I've found to be vulnerable requires having people in your life who truly love you unconditionally. People who are not competing with you, using you, benefiting from your misfortune, throwing you under the bus, criticizing your every move so that they don't have to assess themselves. The people who do those things are toxic, and they have no place in my life, not anymore that is. At the end of the day when I have to look myself in the mirror, I know that I did everything that I could do to the best of my ability with the information I had at the time and that is good enough for me. Being strong means going to bed knowing all of those things, not questioning yourself. I haven't slept this well in a long time, and man is it amazing to get a good nights rest! I'm strong like Hulk! From a speech that Teddy Roosevelt gave in 1910. This is my favorite part of what he said:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.” What a powerful message, also the inspiration behind my new facebook cover photo! My mom was super crafty, and for the longest time, I just thought the gene pool skipped me in that area, but as I've gotten older, I've found that I am creative and crafty too, just in a different way. I don't know how to sew or quilt, I can't paint (not without stencils at least), I can't draw, and I'm not a huge fan of power tools.
I do love making things. For me, there is no better feeling than creating something by hand and giving it to someone you care about. The look on their face is motivation enough to keep me going. I just started getting into the DIY crafts and gifts in the last couple of years though so I haven't really mastered anything. My lack of experience has also left me spending more time trying to decide what to make than it actually takes to make it. That is until now! For my birthday this year, Andrew (my fabulous significant other) managed to pick out the very best gift anyone could've ever given me! Now, I don't know how I managed without it for so long! It has opened my eyes to a whole new world of possibilities (cue up the song from Aladdin). What is it you ask? Well, it's called a Cricut Explorer Air 2, and it is a smart cutting machine that you can use to cut a 100 different materials. It cuts the most intricate shapes to perfection with its versatile, fine point blades. But wait, there's more. Not only is it a cutting machine but it is also a writing machine! It will write whatever you want it to, just pick out the font you like and what you want it to write on (paper, cardstock, envelopes, or one of many other materials). Because of my new Cricuit obsession, I think I will do a series and show some of the cool things I've been making as well as what tools, programs, etc. I have been learning to use so that I can create my own designs. Click here to see how the Cricuit works! |
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