I Must be Crazy

So, I decided yesterday that starting February 1st and continuing through Lent I am giving up fast food!  For me, this is actually a pretty major decision, because A) I love fast food.  2) I eat fast food, like, all the time.  And D)….well, I don’t have a D.  I’m sure right now you’re saying to yourself “What a random decision, Shannon.”  Well, it is and it isn’t.  See, my best good friend, Laura Gayle, and I are planning an epic road trip to California this summer.  It’ll be the stuff that dreams are made of…or maybe not, but it’s gonna be pretty freakin’ rad.  Now, when I go on this trip, I would like two things to already be in place:  I’d like to be at my goal weight of around 125-130 lbs and I’d like to have moolah to spend.  On the weight front, since I started Weight Watchers last year, I’ve lost a total of around 30 pounds.  But over the past few months, I haven’t really been being as diligent as I should about trying to shed some more poundage.  I’ve stayed at around 146, which is an excellent weight, but I know that I can lose more…and I have a closet full of clothes waiting for me to do so.   Where the money is concerned, I actually have a good chunk of change saved.  I have enough money saved for our planned hotels and most of the estimated gas.  This is really major for me, because I am not good at saving money.  And the thing that most of my money usually goes to…fast food.  So, my hope is that cutting out fast food for the next two months will help re-kick start my weight loss and get me off of this self-imposed plateau.  Also, that money that I’m not spending on fast food can be saved for my road trip.  Another bonus is that this will force me to not allow myself to be so lazy and to cook more.  I do not anticipate this to be an easy task, but I think it will be so worth it in the end.

And since I know your curiosity has been piqued about the details of this awesome road trip, allow me to elaborate for your reading pleasure.  As some of you may remember, Laura and I took a fantastical road trip 3 years ago along Route 66 through Texas, New Mexico, and a large part of Arizona.  For those of you who don’t know about it, you can read about it here http://roadtrippinphotogs.blogspot.com/2009/07/and-so-it-begins.html

We’ve been wanting to plan another road trip since then, but lack of finances kept getting in the way…you know, that whole thing about me not being a good saver; IT got in the way.  The plan is to leave Austin on July 8^th and drive all the way to Phoenix, AZ.  The next day, we’ll head to L.A., where we’ll be until the 13^th.  A few of the things we’ll be doing while in L.A.: going to the Santa Monica Pier, going to Venice Beach, seeing Hollywood, visiting a couple of cemeteries to see celebrity graves (yeah, we’re weird), and a bunch of other touristy stuff.  From there we’ll make our way (partly) up the Pacific coast on Hwy 1 to San Francisco.  We’ll be seeing the sights there for a couple of days; gallivanting around the Golden Gate Bridge, hangin’ with the hippies around Haight-Ashbury, lollygagging down Lombard…and other alliterative things.  On the 16^th we will begin our journey back home.  We’ll stop for the night in Las Vegas, then the next in Albuquerque, stay in Dallas to pick up Lucy and Steve McQueen (Laura’s car; we’re trading with her daddy for the trip), and finally arrive back home in Austin!  I am beyond excited…you’ll probably be hearing and/or seeing that a lot in the upcoming months.  So, there you have it.  Try not to be too jealous. ;^P

Shannon 2.0: The cliched New Year’s post.

Hidy-ho boys and girls.  Well, it has been almost exactly 1 year since I have blogged…so obviously all did not go as planned.  I mean, it’s not as if I HAVE to blog; it’s a choice.  But, I thought it might be fun and a good way to keep people informed on the goings on in my life.  So, 2011, all in all, was not a bad year.  There were ups and downs, as I think there always are.  The church that I had attended for the last few years, and where I had become the worship leader, closed it’s doors.  It was one of those bittersweet things.  For me personally, I was sad to leave my position as a worship leader, but also excited for the new opportunity it would provide for me as a single person.  My roommate/best friend (Laura Gayle) and I, were two of the very few singles; it was a small church.  But, we had recently started attending a singles ministry called Forefront at Grace Covenant Church.  When Legacy closed we started attending Grace, and I absolutely love it.  It was nice to meet single people my own age, in the same stage of life that I’m in; and it’s been wonderful making new friends.  Also, another up, I became an aunt for the 4th time…a niece, Haven Elyana.  I’m sure a lot more stuff happened in between, but those were the highlights.

And now, for 2012…  I think everyone always begins the new year with grand ideas about how they’re going to completely overhaul their life.  “I’m going to lose x number of pounds.”  “I’m going to break all of my bad habits.”  “I’m going to do this and that, etc.”  I think that’s all well and good; it’s good to have goals and to take steps to achieve those goals, but I think we often times set the bar too high for ourselves.  We set ourselves up for failure, and then are all depressed and disappointed when December rolls around and we haven’t done all we set out to do.  I still have set some of those goals for myself this year; I do plan to continue losing weight and to try and break some bad habits, but most importantly my goal is to live my life and enjoy it!  Now, I am a major home-body; I don’t normally like to step outside my comfort zone, which makes it difficult to make and sustain relationships.  I’ll be honest with you, I am TERRIBLE about staying in touch/connected with people.  I let relationships fizzle because I’m not willing to put in the effort it takes to make them work; I am lazy.  This is not a good thing, people.  I am not proud of this.  So, don’t ask me why 2012 is suddenly the magic year, but I am ready to change that.  I think that was part of my problem before, I knew all this about myself, but I didn’t care to change it.  I had to be ready and I am.  I want to be a better friend, a better daughter, a better sister, a better aunt, a better Shannon.  I want to make lasting friendships and rekindle some that I’ve let die.  I want to be more open and available to people, to go out and do more, to experience all that this life has to offer.  I need help though.  I need people to push me…lol, not too much, but enough.  I’m not saying that I want to do stuff every single day, because, honestly, that stresses me out.  I need some alone time and time to decompress; it’s part of how we introverts work.  So people, I’m asking you to hold me accountable.  Help a girl out here.

Okay, ramble done!  I pray that this year is blessed for all of you; that it is full of joy and laughter.

The heart of a worship leader

So, I haven’t been on this blog in FOREVER!  And, when I initially started it, I meant it to simply be for photography.  I think I had a blog that I wrote on for like a week once, so we’ll see how well I keep this up!  I thought it might be fun to have a space to write my thoughts on…well, life, I guess.  I still plan on using this for photography as well(I have tons of pictures I need to post), but why not use it to multi-task; photos, music, writing.

For my first official “writing blog post” I thought I would talk about something I think about off and on.  As you may have guessed from the title of this post, I am a worship leader.  I became worship leader at Legacy Fellowship nine months ago.  There are so many times when I feel totally inadequate to be in this position.  I think “Why me?”  “Is this really where God wants me?”  “I’m not confident enough.”  “I don’t know what I’m doing.”  “I”m too young.”  And so on and so forth.  Ultimately, it’s not about how I feel.  The bottom line is, even though I question it sometimes, I know this is exactly where God wants me.  So many moments in my life have led me to this point.  I trust that God knows exactly what He’s doing.  I know that I’m not worthy; there are probably people more qualified, better equipped, etc.  But, God chose me.  This is a journey.  There will be ups and downs; I’m not always going to have the answers; I won’t always say or do the right thing…I am flawed.  And that’s okay.  Worship shouldn’t be about glorifying self, it’s about glorifying God.  All He wants is for us to just come as we are.

So, there you have it…a small insight into the mind of Shannon.

One of my favorites

I took this picture a couple of years ago and it’s one of my favorites.  I’m not really sure why.  Maybe it’s the simplicity.

Doors

I am fascinated with doors…as  you can see.  I’m not really sure why; I just think they can be beautiful and interesting.  I think part of it is the wondering what’s behind the doors…deep, I know. 

Chillocothe, TX…Happening Place

The sights around Chillocothe.

I’ve got to be honest, I don’t have any idea what these things were. I just like repetition.

Not the city in Ohio.

Light Art

Having some fun with my camera at the Trail of Lights in Austin, Texas (obviously at Christmas), and around Tucumcari, New Mexico.