by Laura Beth

Getting Personal #36: The 44 For Bill Movement

Dr. B. holds a special place in my heart. I only took one class with him during my time at Longwood. Sadly, he passed away at the age of 44 on September 9, 2012.

Every year, on September 9th, the #44forBill movement takes hold. The idea is to spread random acts of kindness throughout our communities, neighborhoods, and even our world.

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From the 44 For Bill event page on Facebook:

“We are honoring Bill Stuart’s life by performing random acts of kindness to help others. September 9, 2016. Please join us.

Random acts of kindness are great because they can be anything, big or small, anonymous or credited, for someone you know or a stranger … the possibilities are endless.”

For me, I was at a loss this year. I wasn’t sure what to do for 2016.

In the past few years, this is a few of the things I’ve done on September 9th:

Paid it forward in the Starbucks drive-thru
Handed out individual candies with little notes of love and encouragement to strangers during the day
Written notes of encouragement to my co-workers and others in my office
Supported local school supply drives
Donated to a local diaper bank

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So, in frustration and desperation, I turned to the good old Internet.

I was flooded with ideas – Literal information overload.

I really enjoyed writing notes of love and encouragement in the past, so I focused on that idea.

Here’s what I found:

Wonderful Mail – Write uplifting notes to strangers and mail them to people in the phone book.
Give A Stranger A Gift – Find a public wish list on Amazon.com and send a gift to a stranger.
Love For The Elderly – Founded by an amazing 13-year-old, this nonprofit sends love, gifts, and sunshine to seniors and the elderly.
Operation Gratitude – Writing letters and cards to our troops and soldiers.
22 Ways to Support Our Troops – Brad Aronson created this amazing list to help our troops!

After mulling my research, I decided to give to two organizations.

Throughout the day today:

I planned out 22 “Letters of Love” for Love For The Elderly
I planned out 22 letters for Operation Gratitude
I wrote 12 out of 44 letters in a span of a few hours tonight – My hand gave out!

This was the best $10.00 I ever spent – Markers and colorful paper!

The six of 22 letters for Operation Gratitude.

The six of 22 letters for Love for the Elderly.

I’m so excited about this!

As soon as the rest of the letters are finished, I’ll be sending these to their destinations!

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

09.05.16

by Laura Beth

Getting Personal #35: Back to School

Image Credit: pinterest.com

Thinking about the first day of school tomorrow for kids, parents, and teachers in southeastern Virginia, I wanted to share a comment that I made, in response to the Back to School post on Ellis Nelson Books:

I loved almost everything about school, with the exception of math. However, that attitude started to change in my freshman year of high school. I had an amazing teacher, Mrs. Zwemer, for Geometry. Almost immediately, she could tell that I was struggling and offered to stay after school with me every single day, if I needed it. She quickly became one of my favorite teachers and a confidant of sorts, since I had just started the still-fresh International Baccalaureate (IB) program at a high school that was 15 miles from home. She helped me learn to appreciate math. I didn’t have her in 10th grade for Algebra II, but I was thrilled when I was able to have her again for both junior and senior years. I still remember how proud she was of the effort and dedication I put into the Internal Assessment (IA), where I had devised a student survey of their favorite roller coasters at the Busch Gardens and Kings Dominion theme parks and then used math concepts to analyze the data.

She taught math with a fervent passion, raised a beautiful family, and fought cancer valiantly. She beat breast cancer, had an eight-year remission, and then she was diagnosed with metastatic disease the year after I graduated from high school. This diagnosis caused her early retirement in 2012, and everyone mourned, after teaching for just 18 years. I have a greater appreciation for Buzz Lightyear because of her – Anything and everything Buzz-related decorated her classroom.

She died, peacefully, on January 2, 2015. She was 56 years old. My mom and my now-husband went to her funeral with me, and both of them were lucky enough to have met her several times before the cancer took her away. I think of her every day. She lives on in all of us. To infinity and beyond!

Image Credit: wundur.co.uk

I hope everyone has a great start to the new school year!

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

09.01.16

by Laura Beth

Getting Personal #33: September Goals

Here are my goals for the month of September!

Complete my first full 30-day blogging challenge!
Enjoy my six-year dating anniversary with Al.
See Emily G. before she jets off to London!
Keep on track with my Trial Prep & Discovery Practice assignments.
Attend the Chambers Family Reunion.
Work on an exciting wedding anniversary surprise for Al!
Join the Portsmouth Public Library.
Play catch-up with my 2016 Reading Challenge.
Read the September book and attend my first book club meeting with Sarah H.
Make at least three new recipes.
Sign up for a pen pal through Geek Girl Pen Pals.

Here’s the breakdown:

Complete my first full 30-day blogging challenge!

This will be explained in another post that will be published later today. I stumbled upon it through a WordPress blog, and I’m super excited about it!

Enjoy my six-year dating anniversary with Al.

We are celebrating six years together on September 4th. Wow! Time flies when you’re having fun. We have tickets to see The NeverEnding Story 30th Anniversary release in theaters for Sunday afternoon!

See Emily G. before she jets off to London!

One of our dearest friends is headed across the pond for grad school! We’re so excited for her. We want to meet up with her before she leaves!

Keep on track with my Trial Prep & Discovery Practice class assignments.

After reading the syllabus for my class, I know that I have to hunker down and block off time every weekend to complete my assignments. Even though the two projects, the Homework Folder and Trial Notebook, aren’t due until the very end of the semester, I want to get ahead and stay that way! Plus, doing these assignments in an orderly fashion will get me into a solid routine, and help me prepare for my midterm exam!

Attend the Chambers Family Reunion.

My mother-in-law’s side of the family always has a reunion in the middle of September, and this weekend has become one of the highlights of my entire year. It’s a huge potluck at the United Methodist Church in Keysville, Virginia. It’s a great way to get together, share stories, catch up, and enjoy each other. I requested to have Friday, September 16th off from work, and it was approved! My in-laws are so excited that Al and I staying at the farm for the weekend, and so are we!

Work on an exciting wedding anniversary surprise for Al!

I can’t say much about this goal, but I’m very excited, and everything is starting to come together. Look for a post about this one some time in November!

Join the Portsmouth Public Library.

Hopefully this weekend! There’s a branch of the library literally two miles from our house. I’m so excited to check it out, and bring home several books that I’ve been itching to read.

Play catch-up with my 2016 Reading Challenge.

Here’s the link to my original post: Commentary #14: “2016 Reading Challenge”
It’s already September, which means I’m woefully behind on this list! But, I own several of these books – I just need to get them from my parents’ house and bring them to ours! The others that I don’t own, well, that’s where joining the library comes in!

Read the September book and attend my first book club meeting with Sarah H.

I had a lovely dinner with my friend Sarah last month. She was one of my career advisers when I was a student at Longwood, and we kept in touch after I graduated. Now, she’s working at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, and bought a house that’s close to my office! She told me about this book club that meets once a month in cities like Portsmouth and Suffolk. I’m so excited!
The September book is titled The First 1,000 Days: A Crucial Time for Mothers and Children – And The World by Roger Thurow. It looks really interesting!

Make at least three new recipes.

I’m determined to find healthier recipes to cook for Al and I. One of the recent steps I took to achieve this was buy my friend Megan’s cookbook – The Big 15 Paleo Cookbook: 15 Fundamental Ingredients, 150 Paleo Diet Recipes, 450 Variations.
With that said, neither Al nor I exclusively follow the Paleo diet, but I’ve admired Megan’s commitment to it for years. I’m excited to leaf through the book and find new things to try!
Check out her blog, Freckled Italian, for more!
My mom also sent me an email the other day with some drool-worth Pinterest recipes! Yum!

Sign up for a pen pal through Geek Girl Pen Pals.

I’m committed to explore more of their site this month, and then actually sign up for a pen pal!
The sign-up process opens on the 15th of every month, so you’d better believe I’ll be ready in two weeks!

Well, that’s all for my September goals!

Thank you so much to those who read and commented on my August goals and goals recap posts! Your encouragement and kind words have motivated me to do this every month! Thank you, all!

Do you have any for this month?

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

08.31.16

by Laura Beth

Getting Personal #32: August Goals Recap

Image Credit: quotesgram.com

Hi, everybody!

This post is a recap or review of my August goals! I cannot believe that September starts tomorrow!!

Here’s the link to my August Goals post:

Getting Personal #25: August Goals

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Ready?

Here we go!

Build up some cash – Accomplished!
Thoroughly enjoy my birthday! – Accomplished!
See Star Trek: Beyond, Jason Bourne, and maybe one other movie with my husband – Semi-achieved.
Prepare for the start of my Trial Prep & Discovery class at the end of the month – Accomplished!
Finalize our first wedding anniversary getaway for November – Did not accomplish.
Read Harry Potter and The Cursed Child – Accomplished!
Keep blogging! – Accomplished!
Paint as much of the house as possible – Accomplished!
Hopefully move my furniture! – Did not accomplish.
Find at least five new recipes – Semi-achieved.
Start tracking our monthly expenses via spreadsheet – Semi-achieved.
Check out geekgirlpenpals.com – Accomplished!

Here’s the breakdown:

Build up some cash – Accomplished!

I took a hard look at my credit card statements from July and almost fell on the floor. Plus, my main credit card was hacked in the beginning of the month, so that sobered me up too.
I hardly spent any money on personal items this month, with the exception of some American Girl books that were deeply discounted on Amazon! Currently halfway through one of the new Mysteries, and I love it so far!

Thoroughly enjoy my birthday! – Accomplished!

On my actual birthday, Al made cinnamon rolls for breakfast! Yum! I was also treated to an amazing dinner at Olive Garden, celebrating with Al, my parents, Mom’s best friend Debbie D., and our friends Kathy and Perry. Debbie D. gave me this amazing no-bake pie-making kit that came in Mason jars! I’m so excited!
I took off work on Monday, August 8th, and enjoyed myself immensely. I didn’t go see a movie solo, but I did purchase Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, stocked up on LUSH items (I love the Ocean Salt scrub!), and went to lunch with Al and his co-worker, Kathryn. We went to this amazing Thai place near where they work. I had their orange chicken that made Al salivate!
Then, the big birthday surprise came later in the week – Al bought me my third American Girl doll, Kit Kittredge. She’s the historical doll from the 1930s. I couldn’t believe it! I’m over the moon, and I’m so excited to de-clutter my future office space and make a home for my desk, files, future window seat / reading nook, and permanent haven for Stephanie, Molly, and Kit!

See Star Trek: Beyond, Jason Bourne, and maybe one other movie with my husband – Semi-achieved.

We did see Star Trek Beyond on a Tuesday night with Al’s dad. It was an awesome movie! I won’t post any spoilers, but if you’re a fan of the newer movies, this one is a must-see.
We decided to wait for Jason Bourne to come out for rent or on the streaming services.
We saw Suicide Squad during the Thursday night release. It was good!

Prepare for the start of my Trial Prep & Discovery class at the end of the month – Accomplished!

I ordered my textbook as an e-book for my phone and iPad. I got my paper workbook too, through Amazon, well in advance.
I’m really enjoying the class so far. The second class of the semester was last night, and I’m actually excited to dive head-first into the Homework Folder and Trial Notebook assignments this weekend. I have to do Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 before the next class. My professor is awesome!

Finalize our first wedding anniversary getaway for November – Did not accomplish.

This didn’t happen this month, for multiple reasons. We’ve been so busy with the house, that our weekends just slip away. However, I love the idea of going to Key West, Florida for a few days, so hopefully we’ll book everything very soon!

Read Harry Potter and The Cursed Child – Accomplished!

I bought the book on Monday, August 8th. I flew through it within a couple of days the next week!
Here’s my review (Warning: Some spoilers!): Book Review #17: “Harry Potter and The Cursed Child”
My overall take: I’m glad I bought it and read it!

Keep blogging! – Accomplished!

I’m super proud of myself. I published a post almost every day in August. I did have a five-day break between the 24th and 29th, but I needed it. I was stressed and overwhelmed. I’m happy to be back at it!
I’m currently working on posts containing house updates and book reviews, plus a 30-day challenge series!

Paint as much of the house as possible – Accomplished!

This could not have happened without Nick and Savy. They came over on Saturday and we powered through two of the bedrooms! It looks amazing. I’m so happy with the color – Monorail Silver – and it looks different than the gray that’s throughout the house. We bought the paint for Al’s office and our master bedroom – Storm Cloud – but we’re going to wait until the weather cools off a little, so we can open the windows and properly ventilate the house!

Hopefully move my furniture! – Did not accomplish.

This didn’t happen this month, mainly because the weather has been so stinking hot! Ugh!

Find at least five new recipes – Semi-achieved.

I found about three new recipes to make, but not five.
I made Honey Balsamic Chicken and Veggies earlier this week, and it was amazing! Thanks to Tony for sharing the link – Perfect timing! I definitely want to make this again, especially for a potluck gathering! So yummy. I’m excited and proud that I prepped everything on Sunday, and I baked it in the oven on Monday night. Lesson learned: I’m definitely marinating meats for at least 24 hours now, if at all possible – So juicy!

Start tracking our monthly expenses via spreadsheet – Semi-achieved.

We started this spreadsheet very early on Tuesday morning. We’ll be refining it this weekend, figuring out and tying up all the loose ends. It feels good to see it on paper, but it’s also absolutely terrifying.

Check out geekgirlpenpals.com – Accomplished!

I registered for the site, and looked at it a little bit over the course of one weekend in the middle of the month. I haven’t signed up for a pen pal yet – The site is a bit complicated and overwhelming (So many amazing things!), so I hope to do that soon.

Final Thoughts

I was thrilled to be able to put Accomplished next to so many things! 7 out of 12. Yay!
The three goals that were Semi-Achieved: I’m happy with the progress!
The two goals that were Not Accomplished: That’s okay, too! There were certain circumstances that made these goals nearly impossible to achieve this month.

Did you have any goals for August?

If so, how did you do?

Come back tomorrow to see my September goals!

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

08.30.16

by Laura Beth

Getting Personal #31: An Open Letter To My Anxiety

Image Credit: healthyplace.com

Dear Anxiety,

Today was one of those days where I felt like you had won.

I was so overwhelmed, stressed, defeated, and just utterly exhausted.

I’ve shed so many tears over the last few days, in every place imaginable. The smallest things made me start to sniffle and tears come to my eyes.

You’ve robbed me of hours of sleep recently. Tossing and turning, over and over, never truly getting comfortable in my bed next to my husband. Feeling so restless, my mind unable to shut down completely and let me sleep peacefully. The best sleep I’ve had in the past two weeks was on Sunday morning, when I was feeling sick from the paint fumes and passed out cold in bed for two solid hours.

But, I have so many people in my corner. I have God in my corner. I lean on my husband, my family, and my faith so much these days.

Waves of relief washed over me as I read a Facebook message from Diana this morning, as I was starting to emerge from your blinding fog, Anxiety. Seeing her words of concern and comfort made me even more determined to keep you at bay, put you behind me.

Immediately after reading that message, I prayed, tears in my eyes. Right at my desk at work. I’m not afraid to pray anymore. I used to be. But, now, I find myself praying everywhere. I know that God is always listening.

As much as I would like to totally get rid of you, Anxiety, I’ve accepted that you will always be with me.

However, I won’t let you control me. I can’t do that. I’ve been controlled before, and I won’t let that happen, not again. I’m not a puppet.

I’m taking back control.

Recently, I’ve realized some things, and that has helped diminish your presence, albeit slowly. Example: I won’t let lingering guilty feelings get in the way of finally realizing that / coming to terms with I was involved in a very toxic relationship with J. over the last year and a half. 18 months is a long time. Too long.

I won’t go back there. I can’t go back there. I’m pushing the guilt aside, feeling stronger with each day, and holding my head up high as I attempt to be the bigger person.

This morning, after watching me break down crying, my manager made me laugh and then said something to the effect of, “Don’t let your past interfere with your present.”

You better believe I’m holding on to that.

Anxiety, you may have claimed a small victory over me recently. But, I’m tired of the stress, overwhelm, sadness, and guilt that you’ve churned inside me. I’m letting go. I’m releasing all of that – It’s been a drag, literally!

I’m devoting every ounce of my energy, henceforth, into my beautiful house, my amazing marriage, my work, and my faith in God.

Thanks for playing, but you can’t win every time. I’m too stubborn and too much of a competitor to let that happen.

Love always, Laura Beth

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Image Credit: picturequotes.com

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

08.07.16

by Laura Beth

Getting Personal #27: Reflections, On My Birthday

Image Credit: quotesgram.com

There’s no significant holiday in August, so my birthday has always felt like one.

My parents have a beautiful frame that holds two of my footprints and my birth announcement. Around the age of 10, I remember reading it, trying to understand it, and then carefully taking the frame it to my mom, asking her what it meant.

There’s a reason why there are two footprints in that frame.

The first one, very tiny, has the following caption:

1 lb., 15 oz.

The second one, a little bigger, has the following caption:

5 lbs., 10 oz.

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I came into this world 15 weeks too soon.

I was given a 50/50 chance of survival.

I am a survivor.

My birth announcement indicates that I came home from Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City on my actual due date – November 18th.

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Through pictures and stories, I learned I was on oxygen for the first full year of my life. I was hospitalized twice within that first year for the common cold.

My favorite baby picture is the one where my dad’s wedding ring fit through my whole hand, hanging off my tiny wrist like a bracelet.

I first flew on an airplane when I was six months old, oxygen and all.

My parents put me in every kind of therapy program imaginable – Speech, occupational, physical. You name it, I was probably in it.

As I grew older, I simply marveled at, and was humbled by, my beginnings.

I was placed in a class called “Developmental First” at my elementary school, in between kindergarten and first grade. It technically held me back for a year, but it was a wonderful class that helped me immensely. There were about 10 other kids in the class with me, who all needed an extra boost, so to speak. My mom and my teacher, Mrs. Mansell, are still close friends to this day.

I was in occupational therapy until third grade, working on my motor skills.

I was in speech therapy until fourth grade. I still remember the day that I was pulled out of Mrs. Hartis’s class and told that I had “graduated” from speech.

Towards the end of elementary school, I discovered my passion for writing. The “Young Authors” program / contest was held every year, and each student created their own story, writing and illustrating it. Once finished, it was bound with spiral-looking plastic and sent off to be reviewed. My little book, titled “Electro Girl,” was chosen for recognition, and my parents and I were invited to an awards ceremony. That ceremony is also where I also met my best friend, Melissa.

Since then, I haven’t been illustrating any more books, but I’ve been trying to write them. I’ve kept a blue binder, covered in stickers, that’s full of stories that I wrote from age 10, all the way through the end of high school. I want to dig it out at some point and look through it again.

Reflecting on my time so far on this Earth, I feel immensely humbled and blessed. There were so many people who bent over backwards for me – My parents, my family, our friends, the doctors and nurses, teachers, and so many others. There were thousands of prayers, kind words, and constant encouragement – Then, and now.

Before I leave you on this gorgeous Sunday morning, I want to share my favorite Bible verse with you.

Jeremiah 29:11

Image Credit: lilyandval.com

Image Credit: embeddedfaith.org

I think I was in sixth grade when I was first introduced to this passage. I clearly remember the first time I read this passage in my own Bible – I immediately grabbed a pen and underlined it.

For those who know me, I almost NEVER make marks / highlights / notes in any books, at all, unless it’s super important or significant.

It’s stuck with me ever since.

On tough days, I know that I can look at this verse, and I feel peace.

God has a plan.

He always does.

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Thanks for reading.

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

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Getting Personal #35: Back to School