Holy Everything

A few news and non-news highlights:

-Shaun White is a very amazing snow boarder!  USA is doing an amazing job at the Olympics.  NBC link.  

-John Mayer continues to disappoint my heart.  Please just sing and stop doing interviews, John.  Why on earth were you doing an interview with Playboy?  And why on earth would you talk about your sex life with ex-girlfriends?  Why, why, why, John?  You're making me feel embarrassed for being such a huge fan of yours!  I'm inclined to avoid my "John Mayer" Pandora station!  And that station has been the key to my sanity on many a day!  So, like I said, please stick to making music and stop making the entertainment headlines!  ABC News Story.

-King Tut might have died of malaria.  BBC story.

-Shutter Island was released!  I really want to see it!  Shutter Island Promo.  

-I love Diane Sawyer. ABC Primetime.  

In other non-news: here's a brief summary of how my BNL (Brand New Life) is going.  Well, it's going pretty swell but I've been doing some reevaluating.  This past week most nights I got home just a bit before bed time (this will be the case for most of the exciting coming weeks of Lent), so that didn't leave enough time to get through my daily goals of:

30 minutes of exercise

20 minutes of Spanish

20 minutes of blogging

20 minutes of writing

So, instead, I'm going to try to add in some flexibility:

30 minutes of exercise every day (I can usually get this one done at church because we have the walking group going)

20 minutes of Spanish 2 times per week

20 minutes of blogging most days (but sometimes it's okay to pre-write entries for busy days)

20 minutes of writing 2 times per week

20 minutes of guitar 2 times per week

20 minutes of "fun reading" at LEAST 2 times per week (I really wish this number was higher, but lately I'm not doing any fun reading at all, so this will be an improvement)

I got a special calendar where I can mark it all down and keep track.  I'll reevaluate next week and see how things are going.  Thanks for your encouragement this past week; it's really helping me stay accountable to my goals.  

I hope you're all finding balance and peace in your days.  It can be a challenge.  We all lead busy and full lives.  Busy and full is a great thing - but not when it means sacrificing our real selves and personalities.  So be sure to make time to be renewed and recharged when it's possible!

Have a wonderful first weekend of Lent.  Thank you for reading.  Here's a final quote to start off your Saturday:

"Often people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want."  

~Margaret Young