Category Archive

Normally, I wouldn’t expect to draw any wisdom or advice from “Cougar Town”, but this quote I definitely appreciated:

“You can’t hear the world laughing at you if you’re laughing harder”.

I love laughing at myself.  Guess it’s healthy!

I’ve never blogged resolutions before and I’m not entirely sure I’ve even made them in recent years.  Over the last week or two I’ve come up with a handful of them.  Here they are in no particular (or maybe a wee bit particular):

1.  Grow in my relationship with Christ through daily prayer, studying the Bible and finding a church community in Austin.

2.  Pass the last two parts of the CPA exam.  Side note:  Taking the Regulation section on 2/26/11.  In the meantime, I am asking for prayers and coffee gift cards.

3. Get back into “Emily circa 2005″ shape.  Archon and studying have taken a little toll on me.

4.  Join a new organization and do some volunteering.

5.  Let my hair grow.  It’s bordering on long for me (shoulder length) and I’m curious as to what it would look like on me.  No serious cutting before June.  Or July because I have bridesmaid duties on the 23rd!

6.  Run into Sandra Bullock and baby Louis somewhere around town.  Double bonus if Ryan Reynolds is visiting at the time.   

There you have it…. BRING IT ON, 2011!

Bad news bears… didn’t pass the last CPA exam I took.  By 4 points.  Technically, I feel like I DID pass because I got a 71, but by CPA standards that is a fail.  Boo hiss.

Each time I get the email that my score has been received, my heart beats and pounds harder and faster than the time when I sprinted from the train station to the ticket counter at Gatwick with my ginormous backpack bouncing from side to side, in an attempt to talk the ticket agent into letting us make our flights home from London.  The email tells me I can log on to the state board’s website to see my score.  Last time, the good news caused my heart to race even faster.  This time, the bad news made it sink to the floor.  I spent about 30 minutes being bummed out to the point of wanting to quit before I snapped out of it and got back on the horse.

Which is where I am now.  I’m horseback riding for the next two weeks plus one day.  My apologies from here on out if you do not see me (maybe with the exception of a birthday dinner or something) or hear from me.  It’s going to be stress city from here on out.  The me you may encounter is not the real me.  Please know that.

I’ve stocked my fridge with iced tea to get me through the nights.  Coffee just doesn’t sound good and I really don’t want to reactivate my Diet Coke habit.  I also grabbed a bar of chocolate coffered espresso.  I tell myself it helps.  I might need to start a donation fund for counselling sessions for Rocky.  He’s going to be pretty depressed with the lack of attention.

Oh and to make matters worse, I won’t even be able to watch the Texas-OU game.  This Saturday, I’ll be sitting in a final review course from 8:30am to 8:30pm.  Pray for my sanity and that I can live to see Sunday.

Aside from going on the Daniel Fast and doing a total body cleanse, I really didn’t start 2010 with any resolutions.  And since the cleanse ends tomorrow (PTL) and the fast ends next Friday (PTL times 2), I think I have come up a good year-round resolution.  I didn’t brainstorm it, it sorta just happened and I thought about it for a while.

During my daily lunch break internet perusing, I caught up on the devastation of the Haiti earthquake.  It’s pretty hard to wrap your head around something that massive which has killed and injured hundreds of thousands of people.  It’s incredibly sad and humbling to think about.  I know in the last week I’ve complained about having to work late, being tired, and losing sleep (over a knocking sound coming from neighbor below because he can’t move his bed at least a foot away from the wall… ahem).  When here are thousands and thousands of people who have lost relatives, who are hurt and can’t get help, and who won’t be eating or sleeping for days on end. I have no reason to complain.

Since the logistics of me physically helping the victims are not realistic (and how could an accountant help anyways), I donated money to UNICEF.  I recently discovered that Goldman has a gift matching program (dollar for dollar), so I utilized it and doubled my donation.  Better take advantage of that while I can.

Today, during my daily iPhone Facebook perusing, I saw a post from my friend, Christen, about her and her sisters blog on their Avon Walk for Breast Cancer team.  They are fundraising and I decided to help them out.  Christen’s mom recently beat her battle with breast cancer.  And Gamma had it and beat it twice.  It’s an extremely worthy cause.

My point in all this is not to gain points for being a great person.  Because y’all should already know that, right?  My point is that my New Year’s resolution is to give more.  Because it’s something I have always enjoyed, yet often neglect to do.  My goal is to donate my time or money twice a month.  (I’m not limiting myself to only volunteering twice, I just like numbers, particularly even ones).  Right now my schedule doesn’t permit me to volunteer my time, I’m going to donate monetarily until I can.  I used to get scammed donate money as a kid, and I’m definitely more capable of it now, especially since I make more than $15 a month these days.  Although I did have free food and rent them… hmm. (Funny how I used the same blog title today as that post a year and a half ago without realizing I was double dipping).

If I’ve encouraged anyone to give, here’s a list of organizations to donate to for the Haiti victims.  I think giving time is much more meaningful that money, but in situations like these, money works wonders.  If you have any organizations that are in need of volunteers or want to go volunteer together, let’s make it happen!

Last night’s game was a big bummer.  Not because Texas lost, but because Texas didn’t get to play at their full capacity.  Which would have provided a much more fair and exciting game.  Not to say it wasn’t exciting, because it definitely was.  At least in the beginning and the end.  Not the very very end though.

I’ve realized there is a lot to be said for a person that is from the state of Texas, who didn’t go to UT, that can still cheer for the home team.  I made the mistake of checking Facebook too many times last night during the game, only to be frustrated at the abundance of (not to name any names) Tech, A&M and TCU fans (whoops) who were “roll tiding”, making fun of Colt and joking about how all the UT fans, who didn’t go to school at Texas, will be returning their burnt orange shirts to Walmart. 

I didn’t go to UT and I am not ashamed to admit I’m a fan, even after they lost last night.  I’m just as proud today as I would have been had we won.  I’m just not as giddy, because, well, we lost.  I will even admit I’m a bigger Longhorn fan that I am a TCU fan.  Sorry, it’s true.  I grew up on Longhorn football and so when I root for the Horns, I am in a way reminiscing my childhood.  For 18 years of my life (minus the brief stint I had being an Aggie… thanks relatives), I lived in Austin and was surrounded by the excitement and enthusiasm that is Texas Football.  All of the memories I have sitting in my parents seats, playing football with Kelley at halftime, and seeing the other fans in our section over the years… they all come back to me when I watch Texas play. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love TCU.  I had the opportunity to go to Texas, but I chose TCU because I thought it would be a better fit.  And it was a great fit, I had the best experience possible.   But, that doesn’t mean I can’t root for the Longhorns and not be taken seriously because I didn’t go to school there.  No one in the DFW area went to The University of Cowboys, but they can still be a fan of the home team.  So, why is it such a big deal to be from Austin and be a fan of Texas? 

I do think Texas would have won last night had Colt not been injured so early.  However, it’s our own fault for not playing Gilbert more all season that we did.  I can’t imagine the pressure he felt last night and after seeing him in the second half, I’m even more excited for next year.

Hook ‘em and Go Frogs.

“The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part”

For some reason, I had this song in my head all day yesterday. And all night. Yes, I can sleep with songs in my head. And no, it’s not that enjoyable. I can’t tell you whether or not Tom Petty is a religious fellow, but I do believe this song connects pretty closely with yesterday’s sermon at church. Although TP might be singing about chasing girls around, the message is still the same.

It was about waiting, the period between God’s promise and his deliverance of that promise. We are all waiting on different things, and at different points in our waiting, but regardless of where we are, it’s important not to let doubt and despair steal our focus from God. He will deliver. It’s just a matter of time.

My advice in the meantime is to rock out to Tom Petty.

EDIT:  Talk about timing, Suz forwarded me an article she received today regarding waiting on God.  How beautifully stated…

“His timing is perfect. He is never early, but he is never late. He redeems all he allows, and never makes a mistake. When I’m waiting on God, it usually turns out that he was waiting on me.”