Skit Guys - God's Chisel Remastered

Best Video ever created. I know I post it regularly on my facebook page, but I want to share it with you guys here to. if you haven't seen it yet WATCH IT NOW!!! Watch it every month!, Week, Day... don't ever forget... God Doesn't make Junk. Therefore you cannot possibly be junk. Whenever you don't think you can possibly be good... remember again... God made you Good. be good. I know that makes it sound easier than it is... but stop trying so hard to be perfect... I know we all feel like we have to be perfect to be worth anything... but you don't. you just have to keep trusting that your worth is defined by the one who created you, not by the ones who think its necessary to compete with you.

All I Ever Have To Be - Amy Grant

The Music of choice in my life at this time... :)



https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC802E6FFCA5DA7D3







One of my favourite songs from the album

Well Summer Sales Conference II is coming, which means a commitment of 40 Demos in 2 weeks... to make matters worse, It's the first week I've had commitments not related to work... Cousin's getting married... and don't get me wrong... thats not a bad thing at all!!! I'm sooo happy for her and I'm so excited to be a part of that. Shoot... I need to work on my speech for that... (No I'm not maid of honour thank goodness... but she wants me to say something... so alas... public speaking it must be... she's lucky she's my favouritest 3rd Cousin that Lives in Calgary and teaches... ;) ) Anyways... my point is that it's going to be a busy week... getting the dress altered, rehearsal, bachelorette party, Rehearsal, Getting my speech figured out... (I'm definitely attempting to plan it this time... None of my last minute speeches turn out very good... not at weddings...), helping with my part of the decorating, the wedding, have a couple friends I want to visit since it's my 1 week off, office work free... So I'm planning those trips around demos... It's going to be a week of busyness thats for sure... The week after??? Well... I head back, do more demos for 2 days, 3 days of running training, interviews, another day or 2 dedicated to demos... and hopefully I can squeeze 40 demos into those 2 weeks around interviews, training, wedding business, and still have time to see the people I need to see.
During the next couple weeks you might get alot more posts about goals, dreams, plans, work, etc... Thats what these next 2 weeks with Vector are all about. They're about making goals, dreaming big, expecting the unexpected. It's about growing to become a better you. It's funny, they tell you to reach for the stars... but if you don't reach it, they focus on what you've learned, who you've become. Reaching for the stars isn't about catching a star... it's not about missing and hitting the moon... It's about growing, never giving up and becoming a better version of yourself.

You know writing these blogs has probably been the best thing I could have done in these past couple weeks... I've been discouraged... barely making it through. Don't get me wrong, I'm not having a mental breakdown or anything, life is still pretty decent. But I've had a terrible run of bad luck. It seems no matter what I do everything just slowly falls apart. I'm a dreamer, and I won't lie, I'm not great at being the achiever. I dream big, I just haven't figured out how to reach those dreams. My faith in my dreams is slowly fading. It feels like I move 1 step forward and 10 steps back. I've asked myself... I've asked God countless times in the past few weeks/months what I need to do... Everyone around me has a million ideas of what I need to be doing. Some of them are pretty darn good plans. But more often I find myself listening to their suggestions and asking... "is this really it..." Sometimes I feel like Pocahontas, when she's talking to her father tell her what her destiny is... The song "Just around the River Bend" resonates pretty well... should I choose the smoothest course? Just fall in line and take the first option available? For the record,  there's nothing wrong with the smoothest course... and maybe thats the path I need to take, the one that leads to patience waiting for greatness to come... But then again I've never been very skilled in settling for good... I strive for perfection and greatness... Go big or go home... Right now I seem stuck at home... cause going big just isn't working.
But here's why the blogs have been helpful to me. Hopefully you guys are learning something, hopefully I'm giving you something to think about... but it's only good if you do something about it. I know I've been learning alot. Partly through spirit of Vector, growing individuals professionally, financially, and personally.  Partly through Ramit Sethi and his words of wisdom through a few of his programs that he runs. But I think no matter how much I read, how much I learn... unless I'm doing something about it it's not going to be any use. I'm still struggling with how exactly to put it into action, but I'm doing that in a couple ways.
1. Through writing... 1 post per week was about committing to something and following through, about building skills and building myself.  I've also discovered it's helping to keep me shut out from the world. Really I've been doing pretty good with that actually, but it gives me a moment to reflect on what I'm learning, and share it with the world.
2nd, I'm doing that through beading... strange thing to put my "dreams & goals" into action I know... but it's super relaxing. I have a goal in mind, my goal is that someday I'll have enough finished projects earrings, keychains, necklaces, etc, to have a table at a farmers market and sell it. This I'm doing while I veg out and take some much needed Kimmy time. But because I have a goal in mind, it's not just wasted TV time, it's not just wasted Chill time... it's something I rather enjoy doing and it's giving me some much needed me time, while still working towards a goal of becoming a crafting extraordinaire. I also have a friend or 2 that I'm going make join me at the farmer's market... my dearest friend who's recently started beading is becoming quite stellar... honestly she's finished 3 times as many... (well... I don't know if I actually finished any more than 1... so probably alot more than 3 times...) projects as I ever did with the bead loom anyways.
3. I'm just going to keep moving... Not going very quick... I just lack the inspiration, direction, and passion to put my heart and soul into anything at the moment... It's hard knowing that when I do it all falls apart... I'm still working on momentum... but it's coming. and this push week starting on the 6th is going to be a huge test of that motivation & momentum... My goals for the push week... 40 Demos, $30,000 Honestly it's an absolutely huge goal... but here's why I chose it... the general # of demos is 40 demos for push week... that is what we encourage everyone to do. and with my coming 2 weeks... thats plenty... but the usual goal for that is $10K, so I'm tripling my sales goal and sticking with the 40 Demos... I'm going for as many demos as I can, at this point I think 40  is good... we'll see if I can raise it by the end of week 1... Cross my fingers, say a huge prayer, etc... for the Sales goal... 10K only gets me 3K in profit, and I know... 3K in 2 weeks is amazing... more than I've made all summer... but it's not something I can look at and say Yes thats what I'm going to do... but if I can say my goal is 30K, thats something I can get behind... @ 30K in sales... I hit my next 2 promotions... I'm making alot more for every sale, and the best part... I move on debt free... So is it realistic??? well... a couple reps last year sold over 20K and the record currently stands at almost 50K... Yes, the 50K record is selling a couple Cutco kitchens and alot of our biggest knife sets with alot of gadgets...  I really just don't have the contacts for that many huge sales... but if 1 rep, with 2 busy part time jobs, can still figure out a way to sell 20K, and hit almost 40 Demos... I have a pretty decent shot @ 30K, but you know what... if I don't hit that goal. hopefully I've hit my 40 Demo goal... but here's the best part... if I don't hit either of those goals... but I did the best that I can... I've still put in alot of hard work, I've failed, and I get one more chance to figure out how to pick myself up, move forward, and never give up. I've had 1 more chance to prove to myself that I'm absolutely crazy, stupid, and driven. That I believe in amazing things, and it may not serve much at hitting any goals of where I want to be... But I've made the commitment and I'm going to see it through. I'm going to keep my priorities straight, I'm going to give it all I've got. and if I fail... then I fail, and I find my next thing to work towards, and I wait for my luck to change...

So do I choose the smoothest course???
Or do I keep pushing forward finding out whats waiting for me just around the river bend??? 

"The hardest thing about blogging is consistency"

So a few weeks ago I decided to motivate myself to keep up with this blog. As those reading my blogs may have realized, I'm not holding up to my goal of 3 blogs every week. Well I've let others suggest to me that 3 might be difficult to do. and their right, I honestly just can't come up with 3 clever things to share with you guys every week. I know I said I'd try for at least 1 good thought and maybe just a couple pictures or songs... but I have realized I just can't do those pictures or songs... I feel like I'm cheating... though I guess thats exactly what I said I'd do so maybe I just need to get over that.

but here's my point. How many of us have goals... plans... dreams... and how many of us pursue those goals and dreams with consistency??? It's so easy to go hard core after what we want... for short periods of time... for moments... but then we stop... we decide it's not worth it, maybe it's unrealistic. But the truth is, nothing is unrealistic. If Jesus could take Enoch to heaven, if Ezekial could see dry bones dancing... Why do we insist in believing things are impossible. You know there's not much said about Enoch in the bible... just that he walked with God... let me make sure you caught that... he WALKED with God... Do you think it was easy??? I doubt it, I know it was a different world back then... but murder existed, and just a few hundred years later (which at that point wasn't even 1 life time...) God was preparing humanity for the destruction of earth because sin had become such a common way of life.  I'm sure Enoch stumbled alot... so I guess it's a good thing he kept God close by.  He didn't run, he didn't jog... he just walked... he paced himself and he took his abilities seriously. With heaven as the goal he did what he could to keep walking towards that goal, and he didn't stop... He just kept walking.

Someone wise once said

"If you can't fly than run, if you can't run than walk, if you can't walk than crawl, But whatever you do you have to keep moving forward."

Martin Luther King Jr.

It doesn't matter how long it takes you too reach your goal or your destination... The thing that matters is that you don't stop... you keep moving forward. No matter how many rocks get in your way, no matter how many obstacles you face. Climb them, move them, go around them, but just keep moving forward and don't ever quit. Who knows, along the way you may discover that your original goal isn't what you want to do anymore... but along the way, you'll probably find a new path to somewhere you never thought of before. 

Time is an interesting concept isn't it??? Something so precious... Each moment is a gift. I was writing a letter to a friend the other day... I bought the perfect card, and I was waiting for the right time to send it... But you know... that was about a year or so ago... the "right time" hasn't come yet... But I finally wrote in it anyways... While I was writing... I realized there's no better time than now. Now is the most precious time you will ever have... Now, is the farthest you've made it on your journey thus far, Now is the beginning of the rest of your life. Now is the moment to take advantage of everything you have. Now is the right time to appreciate everything you have. I know life may seem rough right now... believe me life as it is "Now" may seem like the worst time of your entire life... but right Now... think about what you do have... If your reading this blog... You obviously have life... You probably have eyes which your using to see the words... Maybe you don't have eyes but you have a friend to read this to you... Maybe you have a computer that reads it to you... In that case... you've got something/someone that's around to help you... Hopefully you have family who loves you, friends that encourage you, a heart that still beats with every breath... Maybe the sun is shining, maybe the clouds are providing shade, perhaps you live in Canada and even in the middle of summer the snow keeps falling and you wish it would just stop. I guess that just means you have senses that have the ability to tell you when there's something unpleasant... Now is the time to appreciate it...
I'm not going to lie guys... my life as it is right Now... is kinda rough, I've lost alot, I've gained very little... I'm pretty much sitting in limbo trying to figure out what to do with my life... Living in a world broke and unappreciated... Not really worth anyone's time... And I'm having a hard time trying to figure out what on earth I've done right in the past few months... and it's so easy to find reasons to be miserable... I've pretty much had the short end of the straw... so much so I got kicked out of a country.... It really doesn't seem like there's alot to be thankful for, my life pretty much seems like a waste of time right now... I should just go to sleep for the next few months and wait for this losing streak to be over...
But you know what... I've got family who love me, I've got friends to stand beside me, I've got a past, and I've got a future... Now is the farthest I've come, and Now is the beginning of the rest of my life. Now is the time to be free from the past, Now is the time to dream of the future. My life exists right Now... It may be a rough Now... Now's my chance to do everything I've saved for the "right time" ... Because my Next Now... can only be better... and more special... because it'll be the next beginning of my whole life... and there'll always be better things to save for "the right time" Later never comes... because there's only Now's and future Now's... but each Now is it's own... Don't waste today's Now hoping for another one... cause tomorrow's now has it's own treasures...

http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?language=en

Well here's post #1 for the week. Thank you to those who haven't reminded me that I'm late, I've been traveling and since my laptop has no battery life these days and my phone is not a convenient way of typing up a blog, it's taken me an extra day to get enough time to type this out.

What great thoughts do I have for you today? alas... I have no idea :P I've been thinking about this post for the last couple days and frankly I haven't come to very many conclusions...

Has anyone else noticed how many highschool students are protesting the dress code these days??? One of my friends posted an article on facebook that I just came across... It's written by an individual protesting the protesters.

http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/kelly-mcparland-school-is-about-learning-and-that-includes-lessons-on-appropriate-clothing

I actually loved this article. Because it recognizes the responsibility teachers and principals have to educate and demonstrate to students  beyond what is simply mathematics or literature. I can recognize for a few of the students taking on these protests the teachers/principals may have been a little picky as far as the dress code goes. But the fact remains, that teacher/principal has a responsibility to uphold school dress code, and that includes helping students understand appropriate and inappropriate dress for their situation. Every school has a dress code, for some that may mean uniforms, others that may simply expect students to have shoulders covered or no skin showing above the knee... Once your off school property you are no longer under the school dress code. But your still within someone's dress code... that may be the mall which says no shirt, no shoes, no service... maybe the community you live in simply expects to be able to walk down the street and not see their neighbor in their birthday suit...

Whatever the case may be, if you step into a community of some sort there are certain guidelines that must be upheld. Coming from one of the more conservative communities I often hear complaints about not being allowed to wear jewelry, or  not allowed spaghetti straps on campus. I've had friends throw a fit because they left campus and had a party off campus where everyone came back drunk and got in trouble with the discipline community.
 In response to the on campus rules, I recognize that in the "real world" your allowed to wear "anything you want" but thats not the case... There's always rules at work, at home, at softball practice about what you may or may not wear... you might be allowed jewelry... but you may have to get rid of those ripped jeans.
As for the off campus discipline, you chose to go to the school, you knew the rules before you came. You probably came for the atmosphere, the friends, maybe you came because your family told you how great a school it was. As a student, especially of higher levels of education, you carry with you the ability to give your school a reputation. The authority at these schools have the responsibility to ensure that their students uphold the reputation that they strive to create. Just because you take a group of these students off campus... Doesn't give you the right to break every rule...

I find the younger generation forgets why certain expectations exist. With sex offenders on the rise, they still fight the system to be allowed to wear less clothing. Is it their fault if they get sexualized and/or raped??? no, it is definitely not their fault. but they didn't help matters either did they? We should be fighting the problem, not arguing that there shouldn't be a problem...

As far as students and teachers who may not agree with the dress code and feel a protest or blatant disregard is the answer... Remember... your in the system of education, the one that thrives on teachers and students. Students need to stop protesting their problems and address the real issue. If you feel the codes need to be updated from the stone age... then figure out an appropriate way to talk to the teachers and get the codes updated. I won't lie, I'm sure alot of school just copy and paste their manuals and who knows the last time the manual was actually looked through... if it was from back in your grandmother's day when ankles were super inappropriate... maybe you should get the teachers to update it. But if you just really like your dress and think everyone is ridiculous for thinking it's inappropriate... maybe you should rethink whether or not you have the right to complain. Not everything needs to be updated believe it or not... check out different businesses in your community and find out their dress code... is it the tacky shirt with a logo and khaki pants??? you may not want to use them as an example... but how about high class business professionals... banks, real-estate agents... alot of very well dressed individuals... who dress to impress and follow the code accordingly... maybe you need to go to a more casual counselor or gym to find out their codes... but where ever you go to check out dress codes... remember you can't go to a swimming pool and expect class rules to be the same... gym rules and professional rules aren't the same... But assess where on the scale your school/setting may be and remember to respect the authority who's been around awhile and kinda has an idea of what they are talking about.