Priester's Peace: Glass Half Full

Showing posts with label Glass Half Full. Show all posts

January 10, 2011

Glass Half Full: 10 January, 2011

Happy Monday, everyone!

It's time again for Glass Half Full!!! I'm hoping that I can stay on the ball this semester. Don't get your hopes up too high, but I'm going to do my best for you! :) You know the drill (and if not, you can hop over here to read all about it!

Here's my story for the week:

After Christmas, I posted this. Do you remember (if not, I still love you -promise!)? I said goodbye to my "year of judgment." I really did. This is how I know.

I started back to school today, and I had all of those "first day of school" excited feelings without all of those "first day of school" expectations. I'm not sure I understand exactly why this is, but it is, and I'm happy about it. I also had no desire to do my normal nervous eating, like I usually do on the first day of school.

Along a completely different, but relevant line (I promise...), a long Christmas break is hard because we get off schedule, but this break has been good for me. It's allowed me to determine what's truly important to me and what's not. What type of relationships I want to have with everyone/thing in my life, and the types I want to avoid. I truly came back from break renewed, which isn't something I can say about ANY of the other breaks so far in my life.

So by now you're probably asking yourself why this matters -what makes this story a "glass half full Monday" post, right? I don't blame you.

Here's the point: Mind over matter. I've started playing this positive -"live life, no expectations" tape in my head, and it's working. Working REALLY well.

I hope you all have had a great Monday! :) If you did, share it with me, and then hop over to My Thoughts and Treasures for

and share your story with my friend Chantel!

Keep on keepin' on!

January 2, 2011

Glass Half Full, 2011

I realize that I haven't posted this linky party in AGES, so I'm just going to tell you a story with no expectations! My hopes are to start this up again for uplifting tales for me AND for you, but for today, just enjoy my story, okay? ;)

My husband and I are living the college life. *cough cough* The MARRIED...broke...college student life. He's been having every sort of imaginable trouble with his program, and is handling it with such amazing Grace and Faith. I however...have not. I've been angry, justifiably so, and have been telling him how I feel about the whole thing. "SOMEONE needs to cut you a break!" "They OWE you a meeting...you're PAYING them to HELP you...." Etc. Get the picture? There's SO much more to this story, but it's rubbish, and there's no point in flaying that fish right now. The point is, I've been adamant about SOMEONE giving my husband some bloody help!

All this time, he's been working for every orchestra in the state of Indiana trying to make money for us to pay bills, while also traveling three months out of the year to Pittsburgh to play in the pit for their opera orchestra. He's been a long term sub there, and very recently someone raised a fuss about him not being on contract. Our immediate fear was that he was going to lose the job and what those ramifications would be for the rest of his career -teaching AND playing. A true nail-biter, let me tell ya'.

We were there for New Years Eve. The Opera has a gala, and so they hired him to play for it. It was wonderful -singing, dancing, and desserts! We even got to witness a marriage proposal!!! So romantic. This whole time, I'm worrying about his contract and job. At the end of the gala he tells us (we're with some new friends!!!) that they've offered him a contract, and he'll become a full section player!!!!!! YAYYYYY!!! *insert all sorts of happy dances*

It was in this moment that I realized my dear, patient, respectful husband had received his break; and from the least likely place. His unyielding faith and personal responsibility allowed him to persevere and win himself a job. A REAL job. I also realized that I wanted him to have some sort of forward progression so that I could move forward too. That his door could open my door so we could move forward together. The good news is that this is now possible. The bad news is that I need to make peace with all of the bad things that have happened to him on his journey. The second peace of good news is that this happened to HIM instead of me for a reason. I'm not sure what that is yet, but I have faith that I'll figure it out. That's the good thing about believing -you know you don't have the answer...YET.

Happy Glass Half Full, friends! I hope you have a Monday full of wonderful things!

Keep on Keepin' on~

October 19, 2010

Once a Month....Glass Half Full!!!

When I started school I honestly thought I'd be blogging MUCH more than this, but I'm totally failing at styaing in touch with you guys and mostly me! Once enough on my little piece of space isn't enough, and I'm starting to feel heavy again -too many thoughts, too many feelings, and not enough Joyful people in my life! SO! To counteract that, I'll post my Glass half full NEXT WEEK, so start getting your stories ready!

I have one for you. *Ahem* Are you ready?
I am now a full time student. I am exhausted and we are SO BROKE! :) We have lots of love, so that's okay. So I picked up a part time job to help Michael not feel so squeezed and obligated, thankful though I am. It's a job where I'm working with children who can't really help themselves and need extra care. In my interview, it was for a 1:1 position. Well, I got my job placement and I have THREE children I'm working with. Two are nonambulatory (Stuck in wheelchairs), all three are nonverbal (don't talk) AND incontinent (use diapers). So I hang out with them, change diapers, feed them through G-tubes, and shower them. It's WAY more stressful than I bargained for, but I like it -sort-of. It's physically exhausting and emotionally challenging working with these kids because they're going to die -soon, in a few years, who knows....but it's coming.
I was crying about it to my DH -he's really awesome, and you know what he said -"Babe -if you really can't handle it, it's okay. There's only so much you can do and money is just money. If you need to quit, that's okay by me. I just want you to be happy."

*SWOON*

He's so wonderful! :) Needless to say I'm not quitting, but I am thankful for an amazing husband. I hope everyone is having a stellar Tuesday!

I'm linking up to my long-lost friend Chantel's

Make sure you come back on Monday for Glass Half Full! :)

August 16, 2010

Glass Half Full {4}

Happy Monday, Y'all!

Did you have good weekends full of great weather? Bloomington was SO HOT -we basically stayed inside and were slugs. Hey -don't judge. It was really nice.

Well -it's Monday again, and while we ALL have mixed-feelings about them, it is time for the BEST part of Monday! My best part of Monday, anyway {it's because I like you guys!}. :)

New to Glass Half Full? No worries.... :)

Here are the rules (drum roll puh-lease!!!):
-Write a post in YOUR blog about a time when you realized that your glass was half full (read: your happy/funny/inspirational/mushy stories) This can be past or present, please -no posts pertaining to the future. :}
-Link your post to the Mr. Linky
-Put your name and the title of your post. {ex: Briana ~ Always the Bridesmaid...}
-Visit another's story, and just tell them, "Hey, read your story and am visiting or following...laughing or crying, etc."
-Feel free to take the "Glass Half Full" image.
*I'll make sure to visit everyone's post!!!*
{To see more on Glass Half Full -see my page on it!}

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This week's Glass Half Full Monday is brought to you by.....

The Art of Friendship

As most of you know, I've just finished being a participant in the FIRST SEASON of Win, Lose, or Blog.

I was the only contestant to actually GAIN weight in this weight loss competition, but that's not the point. *Cough* There were quite a few of us. Some of us really rocked it and well...actually, everyone did awesome {I have my own thoughts on my lack of rocking}. I had the opportunity to visit with these women, to learn that I'm NOT the only woman who avoids looking at her body in the mirror or eats when she's upset, and most importantly, to realize that friendship is not something that materializes out of thin air. Friendship is something that you work on -maybe not daily, but that you do out of a desire to seek things in others that you admire or aspire to.

With that being said, I had the opportunity to catch up with a good friend this weekend. It has been about a year since I've had the chance to sit down and visit between both of our busy lives. Last year I thought I was the friendship queen {really -I'm a HUGE social butterfly married to a bloke who's content to sit with a book and not talk for HOURS. I NEED female interaction on a regular basis}. I had folks over, was social, and gave making friends in Bloomington my A+ effort. Unfortunately when I lost my job and was unable to give my best A+ effort, I lost almost all of those friends {through no one's fault, I'm sure. That's just the way life is!}. Some made an effort, though, and that's made all of the difference. I've gone {in a year} from social to solitary, and am beginning to break out of that and back into my old social self.

It feels good to be the social me again, and I'm happy to say that all it takes is a good friend or two {and a Blogland full of friends and kind words!} to break ya' free.

Happy Glass Half Full, friends. Thanks for making the effort -it means more than you think.

xo.

I'm linking to: {this will be tomorrow!} :)

August 9, 2010

Glass Half Full Monday {3}

Hi Everyone! :) I hope that your weekends were restful and that your morning has been great so far. We're back to Monday {again...darn you Monday!} and back to the Glass Half Full linky party!

Want to participate? Here are the rules (drum roll puh-lease!!!):
-Write a post in YOUR blog about a time when you realized that your glass was half full (read: your happy/funny/inspirational/mushy stories). This can be past or present, please -no posts pertaining to the future. :}
-Link your post to the Mr. Linky
-Put your name and the title of your post. {ex: Briana ~ Always the Bridesmaid...}
-Visit anothers story, and just tell them, "Hey, read your story and am visiting or following...laughing or crying, etc."
-Feel free to take the "Glass Half Full" image.
*I'll make sure to visit everyone's post!!!*

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This week's story is brought to you by: Hope {the faithful feeling, not a lady...just sayin'}

It's also going to be short and sweet, seeing as I can't give you a lot of details. Lets just say that I'm making a HUGE change that greatly effects our lives {I mean -HUGE- and no, I'm not having a baby...}. Instead of telling me how much stress this choice will put on our lives {read: marriage, finances, free time, schedules, and anything else you can think of...} he tells me to stop trying to talk myself out of this choice and to just go with the flow. {Insert a gaping Briana-face here.....}

{this is an actual photo of me at breakfast yesterday morning}

He keeps telling me, "What's the worst that can happen? We'll not be any worse off than we are right now." And, "Why worry about it -there is nothing you can do. You can't control this situation, so you might as well just enjoy this exciting time." So in the spirit of my greatest supporter, I'm going to just enjoy the ride. Maybe the feeling will last for a day, an hour, a couple of minutes, or forever, but for now I'm just -"going with the flow."

I hope everyone has an awesome Monday!

I'm linking this to a new party over at My Thoughts and Treasures that happens every Tuesday! Chantel is a great lady, so hop on over!

August 5, 2010

Parties Galore!

I LOVE doing parties {remember last week when I posted about this}! I love hosting my own {teensy-weensy} party, and I loved linking up this week to some new ones besides my normal Friday link ups! I did one on Tuesday AND on Wednesday! {Check back tonight for additional pictures from my Creative Therapy project} Tomorrow I'll be doing my usual New Friend Friday AND linking up to The Thrifty Ba's new party. I'm not sure if it's the same topic every week, but this week it's on balls! Seriously -basket balls, marbles, foam balls, etc! I'm excited because there is a certain family member who LOVES balls! Nope -not my husband and not our dog. I guess you'll just have to come back to see! ;o)

I'm hoping to do a Monday and a Thursday party, so if you know of any, just leave me a comment!

Also -make sure you're getting your stories ready for Glass Half Full on Monday!

August 3, 2010

GHF Wrap Up

Today is a new day, and with new days come new explorations, right? Today I've explored how to make myself blog button-bars and am hoping to teach myself how to do other cool things. If you know how to do cool things, you can e-mail me!

I'd like to wrap up yesterday's linky party by thanking Jenny from Seedlings and Helena from Life in the Pitts. Jenny's a literary blogger (she's the one responsible for getting me into reading) and Helena is a crafty/funny/life blogger (the one responsible for the really cool GHF button!). Now that I've had some posts, you're not the first so make sure to write a quick little uplifting ditty and give it a link-up! I'm here every (day...) Monday, and would LOVE to read something funny/heartfelt/inspirational/exciting!

This is how happy I get when people visit, leave a comment, and link up! {This is NOT me...this person is WAY too thin and dressed up to be me...just sayin'.}

{from}

I hope everyone has an awesome day!!! Tomorrow's Wednesday and that means we're half way through the week! Happy Blogging, everyone!

xo.

August 2, 2010

Glass Half Full 2 -Takin' Care of Business

Welcome back to the second Glass Half Full! I'm excited to be hosting this, even if it's just me that posts a story. It helps keep everything in perspective, right? ;} So -before I tell you my weekly tale, here's the deal!

Here are the rules (drum roll puh-lease!!!):
-Write a post in YOUR blog about a time when you realized that your glass was half full (read: your happy/funny/inspirational/mushy stories). This can be past or present, please -no posts pertaining to the future. :}
-Link your post to the Mr. Linky
-Put your name and the title of your post. {ex: Briana ~ Always the Bridesmaid...}
-Visit anothers story, and just tell them, "Hey, read your story and am visiting or following...laughing or crying, etc."
-Feel free to take the "Glass Half Full" image.
*I'll make sure to visit everyone's post!!!*

Thanks for linking up!!!

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Now, on to my story! :}

Once upon a time, there was this girl {lets just say her name was Briana *gasp!* That's your name! -Why yes, yes it is!}. She was a pain -always wanting to have everything done in a very specific way, within a certain time frame. Usually, this worked out and she was satisfied with the results. Until the day she met this boy {lets just say his name was Michael. *gasp!* That's your husband's name -why yes, yes it is!}. This boy is a thinker. He likes to think about his options, deliberate with himself, and once he's decided, he likes to re-think everything to ensure his choice is truly the one he wants.

Lets just say that girl considers boy to sometimes be impossible. Things need to get done here, people! Let's shake a leg, get a move on, hop to it! But no matter what she says, everything boy does takes time. Not surprisingly, everything he does turns out wonderfully and seems to work out. Girl, however, likes to do things -get them done, and often this results in her needing to redo, reassess, and reframe. Not that this is wrong, it's just different.

In all of girl's ramblings, whinings, and complaints, she knows that no matter how tough things get, this boy -this thinker, will take care of it. He will get it done, and get it done right. Maybe things are slow and hectic, stressful and well....REALLY stressful, but that's not importnat. The important thing is that boy does it, does it for girl with a smile on his face and the right decision on his mind.

Happy Glass Half Full Monday!

xoxo.

July 26, 2010

Glass Half Full Monday!!!

Welcome to the VERY FIRST EVER Glass Half Full Monday with me here at Priester's Peace! I can't tell you HOW excited I am that you're here to share a happy/funny/inspirational/mushy stories (happy-tear stories are allowed too!)! So want to link up? Here are the rules!

Rules (dun dun dun!!!):
-Write a post in YOUR blog about a time when you realized that your glass was half full (read: your happy/funny/inspirational/mushy stories)
-Link your post to the Mr. Linky below (hopefully it works...)
-Put your name and the title of your post. {ex: Briana ~ Always the Bridesmaid...}
-Visit another's story, and just tell them, "Hey, read your story and am visiting or following...laughing or crying, etc."
-Feel free to take the "Glass Half Full" image. I'm not sure if I can make a code for it...I'm pretty new at this so if I can't, just take it and you'll be forgiven!
*I'll make sure to visit everyone's post!!!*

This week's story.... Is brought to you by my husband.
Always the Bridesmaid, Never the Bride.
You may know, or not know, that I am a classical musician (*Gasp!* Yes -we are still in existence!) and against all odds I have married one too. He's more of a musician than I am, I'd say because he wakes up every morning wanting to do nothing but play his Double Bass and work at a college teaching students how to be musical and healthy {finger and arm health is a HUGE discussion point in our household. Read: he hates mowing the lawn because it makes his bow hand tired...*eye roll* Lucky I'm a brass player and LIKE mowing the lawn. The laundry...that's anyone's game. hehe}. He wants to make a musical difference. I love him for it.

He is active in the audition scene. This means that he takes auditions for orchestras like the Atlanta Symphony, Toronto Symphony {those are big ones...} and other ones like the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic {one of the many regional orchestras here in IN}. Sometimes it goes well, and then sometimes he crashes and burns. After the latter, our conversations are much more bleak, but he always shows great perseverance and a never-ending desire to accomplish his goal. He's quite inspiring because even in our most sad conversations {those where he is dismissed after only playing one or two things}, he tells me this: "I'm always the bridesmaid and never the bride." I usually say, "thank God you're not a bride!", obviously missing the point. My dear husband, even though he's been denied his ultimate goal and suffered through what feels like a personal attack on your musicality {since you're the ONLY one playing on the stage behind a screen that's how it feels} he always keeps his head up and recognizes the calm in his storms.

In our current phase of life {meaning the past 3 summers, since my graduation from college} we have: bought and cleaned up a house, gotten married, built a HUGE deck, I've gotten and lost and gotten a job, and he is a full time student in Bloomington, IN working for Pittsburgh Opera and whomever else {which is so THANKFULLY so many other regional orchestras} pays him. I've happily put my education on hold so that he can finish his, and he's so close! We can smell the rejoicing that will surely ensue! :) With all that's been going on, I've been struggling with the concept of "staying true" to myself {enter Priester's Peace!}. Who I am, and what I love have all kind of been put by the wayside. I'm not sure if that's by choice or just by happenstance and our situation, but it is what it is, and that's fine.

My husband has applied this saying to so many things in our married life that I give a chuckle when he says it {my new reply being, "Thankfully I've already been a bride!} knowing that the point is that, even though we may seem to be put second or third, or even though we feel pushed aside or not chosen, there will always be a time when you will move from behing the eternal bridesmaid to the bride, and that once you are there the moments will be SO worth your wait, the reward {in whichever way you want to take the word} will be exactly what you needed it to be {we are faithful and prayerful that our "reward" will also be what God intended for us}.

We realize that being today's bridesmaids that we will be tomorrow's brides. Thankfully I have been blessed with a partner with such great insight and wisdom for his age {a whopping 27} who can keep my feet on the ground and help me keep my eyes to the sky!

Thanks for visiting today! Please link up and share the love!!!

xoxo.

P.S. ~ To read more about this party, check back! I'm making a page for it! :o)

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