Out with the Old and In with the New

Lately I have really wanted to flush un-nesscary things out of my life. A little re-purposing, a little "Out with the Old and In with the New". Life needs to be more than what I wear, or the number of friends I have on Facebook or the amount of time I sit watching tv. It should be more about quality than quantity.

Quality in things or clothes, quality in friendships and quality in time.

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First // Closet Clean Up

I started with going through my wardrobe and discarding clothing that I have not worn in over a year. A majority of those clothes were given to me, freebies that I gladly accepted.

• New Rule :: Do not accept everything that is free. Those things just pile up. Free does now mean you need it. Free is usually because a person or company is trying to sell you something more or it is junk they are discarding.

Unfortunately they are still sitting in a large garbage bag in our spare room waiting to be donated.

• To Do List :: Donate Items!

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Second // Facebook Purging

I have or should I say had over 800 facebook friends. A good chunk of those people I either, talked to once, do not talk to anymore or have never met. (They added me because I was a friend of a friend's.) This all really got to me when I received a friend request from a customer at work that I had never met but had worked with on a project. My first reaction "Umm.. We are not friends."

* Friend (Defined by Dictionary.com) " a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard."

• New Rule :: Only accept friend requests from REAL friends. Ignore everything else!!

• To Do List :: Still need to filter through the people I have left. There's got to be more "friends" to delete.

Let the friend-deleting being. I am not at 552. (I added a couple after purging.

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Third // Reading My Heart Out

This third one goes along with my new year's resolution. Read, read and read. So far I am almost done with book one and have a billion more to go. Not to mention since I am starting grad school next week I am also adding 7 books to my reading list. These ones not only have to be read but I will need to write a book report on them as well.
No worries. Slowly and surely I will get there.

• New Rule :: When bored, read. Don't turn on the tv and let it's mindlessness consume you. Some of the shows that I end up watching tidbits of are ridiculous. (Example: Toddlers and Tiaras)

• To Do List :: Just read.

I think the words of Elizabeth Barrett Browning describe reading very well.
"No man can be called friendless who has God and the companionship of good books. ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning"

New Year's Resolution

My New Year's Resolution :: Read all the books I own.
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This resolution sounds pretty simple and in the span of a year it shouldn't be hard. Unfortunately I have been stuck on the same book for about four months. Break that up in a year and it is about three books a year. Not good, especially since I received nine more books for Christmas to add to the number of books I own that have still not been read. So here goes. Can't hurt to try.

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This is the year :: I can feel it.

2010

It's 2011! Oh how time flies. It seems like it wasn't too long ago that we were entering the new millennium and here we are a decade into it.

A number of the blogs I read have a "Year in Review" post, just looking back on 2010. I figure I'd take a look back as well.

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Highlights // 2010 had a lot of blessings in store for us. Here are a few of the highlights.

:: New Apartment :: We found a better deal on an apartment closer to both our work places. I really hope we don't move again for awhile. It seems the older I get the more stuff I accumulate and moving is not fun.

:: Parents in CA :: My parents took a mini-furlough from the mission field so that my dad could write a couple books. I have been so used to not having my parents in the same country as me that I forgot how nice it is to have them close.

:: Grad School :: I got accepted into grad school at Biola. Higher Learning here I come!

:: Two Year Anniversay :: I can hardly believe that Oli and I have been married for 2 years, which means we've been together for 8 years! We celebrated by going to Pantages Theater and seeing the musical "Phantom of the Opera". It was beautiful. What a blessing it is to be utterly in love with your husband after so many years! I love you Oli.

:: Church Membership :: We officially became members of our church, Grace Presbyterian in Yorba Linda. It has taken us a few years to find a church that we really feel comfortable with and that also shares the same doctrinal values. We are very blessed to say the least.

:: Birthdays :: Oli turned 26 in December, I turned 24. We feel like we are getting old but we are just getting to the prime of our lives! There is so much ahead of us!

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Travels // We love to travel. Unfortunately this year we didn't get to travel outside of the country, except for shore excursions on our cruise to Mexico. But that doesn't really count.

:: Indiana :: My dear friend, Hannah and Ki young, from high school recently moved from California to Indianapolis area. Oli and I went to visit them for a week where we went camping and fishing. It was definately nice to enjoy the slower pace of life.

:: Catalina :: We took advantage of having my parents here so along with my parents, my brother, Oli and I trekked over to the beautiful island of Catalina. Definitely want to go back sometime.

:: Mexico :: We went on a Malabuyo family reunion cruise to Mexico. Oli and I had never been on a cruise before. We definitely have converted to cruise vacationers! It's the best way to relax.

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Events // Oli and I decided to dive into each opportunity we get. Needless to say we were able to do numerous fun things this year.

:: Galaxy Games :: While my parents were here we went to a Real Madrid - Galaxy game. Oli was not able to come but we did end up going to another MLS game this year. Viva la Football!

:: Lakers Game :: We went to a Lakers home game with some friends. It was really fun and even though our dear Lakers lost we still love them very much! Go Lakers!

:: 49ers Game :: Through his work, Lem was able to get us tickets to San Francisco 49ers game. This was our first NFL game and it was a good one. 49ers have a losing record this year but we were able to go to one of the few games they actually won.

:: Barnum and Bailey Circus :: My family went to see the Barnum and Bailey circus show. It was spectacular! Definitely worh seeing, even if you don't like animals like me.

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As we enter 2011, Oli and I have so much to be thankful for. We both have amazing loving families, steady jobs and a great community of friends.

Thank you 2010!