By Nicole

Here I am...  a hot mess.  Sitting on my couch, drinking Shocktop and eating chocolate chips.  I want to cry and scream and vent and hide and sleep for days.  Although, in the grand scheme of things (I use that reference a lot, I think), there really isn't anything that bad going on.  Work is more stressful and hurtful than usual.  I'm climbing out of a post-marathon running slump.  Recent decisions in our country have my head spinning, even though I usually don't keep up on politics and court matters.  My check engine light is on.  We are in the middle of logging part of our property.  My husband's grandpa has been sick, which has us worried and distracted.  I'm spending a lot of time worrying about how it all affects me... and my kids... and my marriage. I'm questioning a lot of things. Hating that I'm feeling like I'm bobbing aimlessly.  I slack on a lot of things.  I procrastinate.  But I'm not a quitter.  ...

That I did. It was unplanned, but here I am.... staring at a neglected blog.  Sarah Markley backed me up in her recent post...   And that's how it happens.  Life gets crazy.  Or, should I say, crazi-ER... and the things we think that we hope to do end up being the things we drop as we try to juggle the things we know we have to do.  This blog being one of the things I dropped. I also dropped cleaning my house, painting my toenails, and pulling super late nights... like the kind of super late that I choose to stay up and blog instead of sleep. There were things these last few months that contributed to blogging frustration and avoidance. My inability to keep up with all things social media, for one. I tweeted, instagramed, facebooked, blogged and juggled other weird sites to help me stay connected to other blogs and bloggers.  My Google took over my life and my phone and started making circles everywhere.  The next thing I knew I was trying to...

Whew!  It has been a while since I've posted. But this read was worth coming out of the woodwork for.  I'd never heard of Bekah Hamrick Martin before requesting to review her book as part of a Litfuse blog tour.  Then I realized that it's because this is her first book!  Yay!  Now I think I might have to keep her on my reading list .  Her and many of the women she spotlighted in her book. Bekah's book outlines the ten lies the world tells us about sex and waiting for marriage.  Every chapter has a spotlight or two (stories from another perspective/person), a quiz, and journal prompts.  While some of the stories and references are tied together across chapters, the topics or sections could easily be used as stand-alone conversation starters for a small group or discussion with a teen.  She ends with references and information about each spotlighted individual. It's not a secret to most of you who have read this blog for some time that I ...

When I saw this title come across in my Litfuse emails, I didn't even hesitate in applying to review. Chocolate is my weakness.  But that wasn't all.  I've personally dealt with issues of fear and finding ways to renew and strengthen my faith in order to overcome it.  Fistfuls of chocolate are a different story... What a great book!  If I had the time, I would have read it all in one sitting.  Of course, I don't recommend blazing through this book without taking the time to really stop and ponder the questions at the end of each chapter because they are well written and thought provoking.  Although this is a great read-alone kind of book, I think it would also be a perfect book for a women's group or Bible study to work through together.   Debora begins by identifying the main categories of fear.  She then sets the book up to spend a whole chapter on a specific type of fear and the ways we can grow our faith and seek God for help to o...

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news , world news , and news about the economy A few weeks ago a coworker forwarded this video and article to me.  I read the article and tonight I watched the video.  The video isn't exactly as "deep" as I thought it would be when discussing friendships and their influence, but it is a really interesting article. The last few days "friendship" has been on my mind.  My pattern of friendship is to have one or two super close friends at certain points in my life.  Once we are friends, we are always friends.  No matter how long we've known each other, whether we talk once a day or once a year, it's like we haven't been apart at all.  Some of my dearest friends aren't that type.  They are wildly social, making friends with everyone.  Charismatic and comfortable, they can bond with anyone and maintain a multitude of casual friends.  It doesn't make them nervous to introduce themselves or strike up conversatio...

Celebrate the release of Fear, Faith and a Fistful of Chocolate with Debora Coty by entering her Kindle Fire Giveaway and RSVPing to the March 7th Author Chat Party on Facebook! One "sweet" winner will receive: A Kindle Fire A Debora Coty Library ( Fear, Faith and a Fistful of Chocolate, More Beauty, Less Beast, Too Blessed To Be Stressed, and Everyday Hope ) Chocolate (Every good thing begins with chocolate!) Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends 3/6/13. Winner will be announced at Debora's "Fear, Faith and a Fistful of Chocolate" Facebook Party on 3/7 . Debora will be hosting an evening of chat, fun trivia, laughter, and encouragement - bring your friends! She'll also be giving away some GREAT prizes: gift certificates, books, and a book club prize pack! (Ten copies of the book for your small group or book club and a live chat with Debora via Skype.) So grab your copy of Fear, Faith and a Fistful of C...

Okay, I know it's technically "running season" all year round, but for me and my husband, it starts the end of January or middle of February when we begin officially signing up for the races we are going to run each month.  Through the holidays, I kind of slack and don't really have a big run coming up.  But March through October, we've got a schedule. Here's what we have planned so far: March 3 - Hot Chocolate 5k in Seattle !  This is my first Hot Chocolate run, and I am excited!  Mostly because we get chocolate at the end, but also because the sweatshirt is awesome. March 16 - St Paddy's Day 5k in Tacoma .  We ran this last year.  I had trained (half-heartedly) for a 5k and accidentally signed up for the 10k... so I ran it anyway.  Not smart.  I died.  And I wore an actual sweat shirt, which was also a bad idea.  It just soaked up the freezing rain and made me heavier and more miserable.  Hated that run.  Loved the shir...