Beyond Thankful For My Sweet Momma!

This is my sweet, beautiful, wonderful, amazing Momma!  Today we were blessed enough to have lunch together at the Fabulous Plaza Hotel, in New York City, and we had such a nice time!  The food was delicious and the company was even better! My mom is my best friend and someone who has always been there for me.  She has truly taught me what unconditional love is, as she loves me more than anything in this whole world.  I am so lucky to know that and to be able to say that.  She has sacrificed countless hours to help me in any endeavor and she always makes me smile!  I am forever grateful to her and I I only hope that one day I will become half the woman that she is.  My mom is the perfect example of LOVE!  

Thing To Be Thankful For: My Mom! 

Thankful For A weekend Full of Wonderful Friends!

This weekend I had the joy and pleasure of getting to see some of my best friends from high school!! We graduated 8 years ago, and its just incredible to think about how we've all kept in contact over the years, and how when we're together its like absolutely no time has passed at all.  These people are pure joy in human beings! They inspire me, teach me how to live life and most importantly how to love those around me every day! 

This is a picture of all of us from 2003:

And here are some pictures of the glorious faces I got to see this weekend:

This is Evan aka RIFF.  We were in West Side Story together when we were seniors.  Evan is one of the most loving, talented, and creative people you will ever meet.  He is going to save the world, one day!

And this is Kevin aka Tony (also from West side story) : He is now an Opera singer and I couldn't be more proud!


Here are Michelle, Laura, and Jess:  This picture was actually taken a few summers ago when we all went to Boston to visit Laura! They are all such beautiful and talented women and I am so blessed to have them in my life!

 Last but definitely not the least...

Here are Steve and Mike: My Fake Brothers! We went to Pre School Together, and we've been best friends since we were three years old!  I know I drive these two crazy but somehow they manage to love me anyway!  I don't know what I'd do with out either of them!



"You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." (John 13:7)

About two weeks ago I was given this incredible opportunity to start at a christian radio station, Star99.1 FM!  I was so thrilled to start, but also overwhelmed, as I had already taken on three jobs, and this was to be the fourth.  Then came the questions: How will I get from NYC to where the radio station is?  Where will I park my car at night?  How will I pay for gas and tolls?  But, a radio job is what I had been searching for ever since I moved back to New York in 2009, and the possibility to work for a christian radio station, and serve people and God, couldn't have been more perfect... so I hoped and prayed that God would provide for me, and I said "YES!"

My normal schedule was to be on Saturdays from 10a- 3p, and Sundays from 12p-4p.  However, this week they asked me to fill in from 7pm-10pm...and work my normal weekend shift. I was so excited to have more hours, but also a little bit worried about how I was going to balance out all of my jobs.  So, I took a deep breath and I called out of my restaurant job, I called out of my job doing promotions, and I asked my office if I could leave a little bit early every day to make the hour and a half drive to the radio station- haha!  And somehow, by the grace of God, all of my employers were extremely generous, and even beyond that, excited to help me fill in these extra shifts at the radio station!

Monday came, and so began my new schedule... office from 9:30a-4:00p, take a subway to the west side, pick up my car, drive from nyc to the radio station, work at the radio station from 7:00p- 10:00p, and then drive back to nyc and find parking! wow.... you'd better believe that by Tuesday morning I was already wondering how I was going to make it through the week.  But then something funny happened....

Last night while I was at the radio station I came across this quote in my daily devotional book, and I read it to the listeners:  " You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." (John 13:7)  

I just sat back, kind of floored for a minute.  I had been so consumed and worried about making it through this week, and then I read that verse.  I thought about how incredible it was, and how true.  The passage went on to give an example of the type set to a typewriter.  About how, when we look at the type set to a typewriter, the letters are all backwards and they don't seem to make any sense... however after they are printed on a page, they make perfect, and wonderful sense! And so maybe that's how our lives are.  Maybe... some things happen in our lives, and they are tough, and we struggle through them, and we wonder how we are going to keep going, and if these things are making a difference in our lives, or the lives of the people around us.  But as these events unfold, and as we keep pressing on and walking forward, with our heads held high, this beautiful story unfolds behind us.... And one day, when we look back... it will all make perfect sense!

So for today, I leave you with the same quote... and I hope it makes you smile when you think about your life.  No matter what stage of life you are in, or what sort of struggles you are going through... one day, you will look back and realize that it all made sense!

"You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." (John 13:7)

I tip my hat to professional bloggers...

So yesterday I was very excited about my glorious commute to work, and how smoothly it all went, and I wrote, what I thought was a lovely entry about it, and included a trifold "Thing To Be Thankful For," and I was quite proud.  And then this morning I came on to write my third "Thing To Be Thankful For" for the week... and I was very humbled.  I realized that yesterday's entry had somehow been deleted or maybe never even posted at all.  Sigh... haha I think I have some work to do, to get this whole "blogging thing" down.

But all of that to say, my "Thing To Be Thankful for" is people that are successful bloggers!  I am so impressed at the dedication people have to their blogging and the incredible new blogs that they come up with each and every day or week!  It's going to take me a while to work  up to that, but in the mean time I am very lucky to have GREAT bloggers to look up to!

Thing To Be Thankful For: Friday, May 13: Successful Bloggers

1. Mike's sister, Julia, whom I finally had the pleasure of meeting! She lives in Seattle, and writes a great blog about her adventures in the world of acting.  Anyone who's ever had to audition for anything will appreciate her fun blog :
 http://shesabadactress.blogspot.com/

2. My friend Katherine, who is the most fantastic photographer in New York City.  She has written this beautiful blog with posts of some of her most recent photos, and they are sure to make you smile:
http://www.katherinemilesjones.com/?p=659

3. My cousin, Allison, writes this amazing blog about food, how to make it, and where to eat it! She is always on top of the biggest food crazes, and has the best cooking tips!  Warning: this blog will make you hungry! =)  :
http://spaghettibettyblog.wordpress.com/

4. Hyperbole and  Half: Okay, so I don't actually know this person, but her blog makes me laugh hysterically at my desk, day after day, and I couldn't ask for anything more than that!  If you need a good laugh, be sure to check this out:
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/10/god-of-cake.html

A Beautiful Morning Commute!

First of all can I just say, wow.  What a joy and a blessing it is to be back and finding all sorts of things to be thankful for!  I am so glad to be doing this again!

As some of you may know, I live in New York City.  And while, New York City, is one of the greatest cities in the world, it is not necessarily one of the easiest cities to live in.  There are days you wake up, and your morning bus doesn’t show up, the subway doesn’t run, the atm eats your pay check, your ipod dies in the middle of your favorite song, you spill your coffee all over yourself, you trip in the middle of the sidewalk, a cab drives too close to a pot hole and sprays muddy water all over you, or maybe you even step off of the sidewalk and into a puddle that looked like it should have been about an inch deep, but actually turned out to be about a foot deep- haha (oh yes, all of those have happened to me)-- SO... all of this to say, that New York City can definitely get you down.  HOWEVER, after starting this blog again, I am so excited to post my "Thing To Be Thankful For" each day, that I now see things to be thankful for EVERYWHERE!  Maybe it's just because it's a sunny day, and I started off my morning with a cup of coffee... but somehow I think it's something more than that. It's sort of amazing how spreading joy, brings joy.  And, as a result of that, today, my "Thing To Be Thankful For" is trifold! Woah.

Thing To Be Thankful For: Thursday May 12th: A Beautiful Morning Commute!

1. A Bus that shows up on time!

2. An Ipod that plays all of your favorite songs in a row, without you having to skip songs! 

3. After such a long cold winter,... a BEAUTIFUL, SUNNY, New York, Day!

Good Morning World! I'm Back!

Good Morning World!

I'M BACK!

As some of you know, back in November, I posted a series of pictures on my facebook wall (and some on Spreading Sunshine too) for "Things To Be Thankful For."  I thought it was perfectly fitting for the month of Thanksgiving to list 30 things to be thankful for (1 thing each day).  I posted pictures of friends, of family, of pets, of cupcakes, of coffee, and all of the big and little things that make me smile each day.  It was such a joy! However once I reached the end of November, I thought, 'I did it, I listed 30 things to be thankful for all month long, wow! Now I can take a break.' At the time I was living with a friend, and working two jobs full time, so it was a feat in and of itself to just find the time to post each day.  


But after a few days went by... something strange inside me happened... I missed taking note of all of the things that I was thankful for!  I missed tagging photos of my family, or friends and watching as they would post their comments about the joy and happiness toward the specific memory or item, too!


So what have I decided to do!? Use Spreading Sunshine as my way to continue on with "Things To Be Thankful For!" I'm embarrassed to say that it has taken me SO long to come to this realization... BUT, here I am and beyond eager, to share "Things To Be Thankful For" again with you!


Thanks for bearing with me! I hope your day is blessed by reading this!

THING TO BE THANKFUL FOR: Wednesday May 11th 

A Bright Sunny Day and Coffee in my Heidelberg, Starbucks Mug!