Update: the long forgotten 30 day challenge

If it isn’t blatantly obvious I gave up on the 30 day challenge. I have too many irons in the fire right now and I bit off way more than I could chew with the day dream of posting new (and decent) content every day.

Instead, I’m going to try to post once a week, and if that’s too much, once every other week. Right now I’m in a transition period between jobs and I’m going back to school next week, so until things settle down my posts will be sparse.

To those of you who regularly read this blog, thank you. “Appreciated” isn’t a big enough word to describe how I feel about you.

I’m getting content together, but the planning process is slow going. Please be praying for me as I go forward, lots of exciting changes and lots of leaps of faith!

Talk to you all soon!

~K

Chipped Nails – Day 9: What’s in your Bag?

I love purses, and bags, and just about anything you can sling on your shoulder and back and put stuff in. They follow me home like lost puppies.

What I carry will depend on each bag. But what I have listed here is what follows me everywhere.

Tada!  For starters, I always have my inhaler. Yay asthma!

Second, I typically have a snack. I’ve been carrying around my favorite candy bar, saving it for a really bad day for a while now. (Ever want to make me immeasurably happy? Buy me one of these, we’ll be friends for life.)

Obviously I carry my wallet with my id and some cash, along with lip balm and hand lotion.

Something a little bit more odd, might be the super glue. My hands are constantly cracking open because of the type of work that I do, and I can usually dab a bit of glue on the cracks before it gets deep enough to bleed. Not the best method, but nonetheless effective.

Finally, I always carry my Bible, two journals, along with my “journaling survival kit.” These items go with me everywhere large bags are allowed. My two journals each serve a purpose. The little brown one is a prayer journal, it’s designed to write short prayers and requests in along with a place to record the date you started praying, and the day you saw God answer that request. My green journal is for sermon notes, longer prayers and personal letters that will never be sent and rambling thoughts.

And what good is carrying around this much weight if you can’t actually dig into it? So I’m the person that carries a small bag, within my larger bag. The little “cosmetic” type bags contain pens, sticky notes, flags, highlighters, etc. Anything I could possibly need to record my thoughts about a passage and be able to easily come back to it later.

At first, the Bible and all of the journals felt like added weight, but the more I carried them around, the more comforting it was to have them. Yeah, I could access the Bible App on my phone, but it just isn’t the same. I still use that app daily for devotionals, but it doesn’t replace the time and mental space it takes for me to read from my physical copy of the Bible.

Sorry about the delay in getting this post up, I’ll see you all tomorrow!

Chipped Nails – Day 8: 5 Current Goals

Annnnd we’re back!

I hope everyone had a joyfilled and safe Christmas!

 

Today I’m supposed to write about 5 current goals I have, and this is really tricky for me. I’m currently working a job that seems to get worse by the day, and right now my only really goal is to find a job that will allow me to wake up and not be physically ill that I have to go to work that day.

So I’m not really aiming for much more than that right now. But I guess you could count that as my #1 goal at the moment.

I suppose my second goal would be to become more satisfied with where my life is at. Job aside, I’m very happy with myself and I’m very thankful for the over flowing blessing in my life. But I’m still human, I still screw up more than I would like to ever admit. I criticize my body and the way clothing fits on it, I judge others, I get angry, I let my words fly before the weight of them sinks in. I know God’s working on me, but this goal could be summed up in saying that I want to see the ways God is working on me, on my sin patterns and how I interact with the world.

Goal number 3 is to keep writing. I find myself falling into lazy habits, and even though we aren’t even 1/3 of the way into this challenge and I’m already finding myself slacking on the days when I’m not in love with the prompt. I love writing, but writing everyday like this can be taxing, but when I start falling behind it becomes even harder to get back into the groove of it.

Goal number 4 is a pipe dream. I want to own my own business someday. Whether that be an Etsy store, or branding my blog. I want to be able to support myself with something I built. Heaven only knows if this will happen, but it’s something I’m looking for opportunities in and want to pursue.

My fifth and final goal for this post is to become woman that God wants me to be. I love the CS Lewis quote: “My prayer is that when I die, all of hell rejoices that I am out of the fight.” This is the kind of woman I want to become. I know I’m not there now, but God is working on and in me and it is something I strive for everyday.

See you all tomorrow!

Chipped Nails – Day 7: Your 5 Favorite Songs

As I mentioned a few days ago, I can’t carry a tune in a bucket, but I do thoroughly enjoy music. My top 5 favorite songs are:

5.) My first pick is one that I’ve been listening to a lot lately. I really enjoy Sara Bareilles and listen to her often, but She Used to Be Mine sticks with me and I catch myself humming it throughout the day.

4.) My next pick is my favorite “Christian” song. I love a lot of “Christian” music, but this song captures my heart and reminds me of truth that I often forget. It reflects the theme of my favorite passage, Psalm 139 and somehow this song lifts my spirits and humbles me all at the same time. If you want to listen to just the song you can find it here.

 

3.) I love to pretend I have musical ability. Especially when I’m driving by myself. I will shamelessly have a sing along while I’m stuck in traffic. Little Women is one of my favorite soundtracks to listen to, and it was difficult to pick a song between this production, Phantom of the Opera, Les Mis and Hamilton. But this song wins out because Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is one of my favorite novels, and Jo March is one of my inspirations to become a writer. Plus it makes me cry every time.

2.) If we’ve ever had a conversation about music most likely Lindsey Stirling has come up.

Favorite. Artist. Ever.

I love everything she has ever released (literally everything), but her rendition of Hallelujah last year struck me, and stuck with me. Her song Where do we Go takes an incredibly close second for me….along with her entire discography. Look her up on Youtube, you won’t be disappointed.

1.) Finally, my favorite song overall.

I love the sound, I love the lyrics, I love the feel. It’s the kind of romantic I like, and it’s a nice, happy study song. I often write to this on loop, where I can simply hear the sound and focus on what I’m typing.

Merry Christmas everyone!! See you tomorrow!

Chipped Nails – Day 6: What are You Afraid of?

 

The Awkward Yeti

There isn’t much that scares me. I don’t like being afraid so I actively avoid haunted houses and the like. Plus I often get nightmares if I see excessive amounts of blood which horror films seem to truck in like it’s going out of style. But I digress,

My biggest fear is being a failure. Yeah, I know that’s just as stereotypical as saying “I fear death.” But hear me out.

I’m not afraid of not reaching my dreams. If you’ve been following this you’ll know from day 4 that I don’t have a dream job, or anything like that. I’m afraid of failing at the little things around me. Things as simple as not meeting someone important’s expectations, or not getting an assignment done for my superior on time even though it wasn’t high priority.

I will literally run myself into the group to keep from falling into my own personal pit of failure. And you know what the worst part of all of it is? I’ve made my own standard for failure. I make the rules of my own worst fear, so if something is ok by it one day, I don’t care. But the next day, something incredibly trivial can feel like the end of the world. Most days I’m afraid I’ll fail other people, but I determine my success or lack there of, and rarely base it off of what the other person tells me (unless I did actually screw up, then they simply justify my observations about myself).

I’ve even hit the point of knowing I’m going to fail another person before I even begin, because “I’m human and I’m sinful.”

Scripture tells us that we need to cast all of our anxieties on Him, and that we have no reason to fear the world when God is on our side. And this makes my fear completely ridiculous and illogical. Yes, we’re all human, and we’re all sinful and we will all fail. But that’s ignoring half of the equation.

To say “I’m going to fail” is the flip side of saying “God’s not giving me a way to succeed.”

If someone told me this, I would probably call them blasphemous and have a good long prayer session with them….even though I tell myself this at least 50 times a day.

It isn’t our fears that define us, but what we do about them. If I doubt God’s ability to take care of me and use the situations that I may “fail” within 50 times a day. I need to ask for Him to strengthen me and show me who He is 51 times.

If we let our fears define us, they will be our captors, but if we let God handle our weaknesses, then we will always be safe within his grasp.

 

Chipped Nails – Day 5: Your Proudest Moment

I have a lot to be proud of. I have a college degree, I’m currently working on another one. I have a dependable car. I can paint and sew and sometimes cook. I’ve learned a job completely outside of my field, and while I still have a lot more to learn, I’m doing well at the bits that I know. But my absolutely proudest moment, is a brief flash of a second, that I had absolutely nothing to do with.

I have a godson – he was born in 2011, less than 6 months after I had experienced the death of a best friend. I held him when he was about an hour old, and I’ve never been so in love. But my proudest moment was when he was a few months old and he started smiling and laughing.

I would sing to him as he would go down for his nap, and being completely honest, I can’t carry a tune in a bucket. But when I would sing to my godson, he would smile like he was beholding the greatest thing on earth. When we would play, his laugh was completely contagious and full of joy. I’ve never been prouder of a child than when he started to walk, or when he learned every animal in his picture book.

Now that I’m done with college, and he’s in preschool I don’t get to see him very often. But he is the one that made me realize that even an infant can change the entire course of someone’s day.

If a child can do that much, with so little ability, how much can I do as a young adult with a laptop and a cell phone? I have all of my relations, friends and acquaintances at my finger tips. And it only takes moments to let someone know that I’m praying for them, or that I hope they have a great day. I fail at this daily, but it is a humbling reminder to think about.

I know babies and children don’t bring everyone overflowing joy, but interacting with them, seeing their innocence, and how simply they make the world a better place. Those moments are my proudest, because I know they give me a standard to live up to.

Chipped Nails – Day 4: Your Dream Job

It’s day 4! Today is about my dream job.

Funny enough, I really don’t have a dream job. I love writing, and I guess if I could blog for a living I’d be pretty happy with that. But I don’t think there is a job out there that could make me completely content for the rest of my life. I don’t really believe something that will pay my student loans back is going to make me happy.

For example, right now I’m working a job that I enjoy, in an environment that is less than pleasing. My paycheck covers my bills, plus enough that I can save some money for an emergency fund. But very little from the idea of working 7:30 to 5 five days a week makes me jump for joy.

But I’m convinced that the job itself isn’t what has the potential to make us happy – it’s the life we live around it. Our job can add to our happiness, but it will never be the center of it.

The one “dream job” I’ve had ever since I was little, was to be a mother. But I know that if I make that my only pursuit then I’m going to find it to be lacking if it ever happens. I’m human, there is no possible way that I will be 100% joyful at 4am when my child is screaming for the 5th time that night and I’m exhausted beyond comprehension. Thankful for the blessing, yes. Jumping out of bed like a super mom, cape and all, probably not so much.

But I know that if I ever have the chance at the blessing that is motherhood, I know that it will bring me joy. With every giggle, and tear, and first step, and first heart break. But there will still be a lot of heartache and frustration that goes along with it. Just like any other job. But you know what, that doesn’t make any job more or less important than the other. Our lives as a whole are filled with blessings, on the good days and the bad. That’s why I don’t have a dream job, because I might be chasing something that wouldn’t actually make me happy anyway. There are things I want to do in my lifetime, but I know that nothing is going to make me happier, or closer to the joy God has given me than waking up in the morning, dragging myself out of bed and saying: “God today is your day, do with it what you will. Let me see who you are, and where you are in everything I do today.”

And funny enough, those are the days when work may be hell, but I come home, or I talk with a friend and I can confidently tell them that I had a good day. Because no matter what my job is, God is still in control, He is still working things for good, and He is still ultimately good. Period.

My dream job: to find joy, even for a moment, everyday. Regardless of where I work.

 

 

Chipped Nails – Day 3: My Favorite Quote

It’s day three! And today is about my favorite quote:

I grew up reading fiction. Particularly the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling and The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis.

These are the authors that originally inspired me to write. I wanted to find magic in words and show it to others, just as these authors had done for me. That is the reason I love this quote from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It highlights the allegory of Aslan, and how Lewis’ character helped me initially understand some basic concepts about Christ. But this particular quote holds a special place in my heart because of how it encompasses both the magic I find in literature and an amazing illustration of the love of my Savior and his willingness to make himself accessible to humanity.

I have a multitude of quotes I love, and they’re compiled here. Enjoy!

Chipped Nails – Day 2: 20 Facts about Me

Hello again!

Day 2 is dedicated to me taking some time to give you 20 facts about myself, so without further ado:

1.) I was born in the summer

2.) According to Pottermore, I am a Hufflepuff. And I’m incredibly proud of it.

3.) I absolutely love hedgehogs and hope to own one someday.

4.) I collect tea cups

5.) I’m things that need extra attention or love. Ask me about my mentally challenged cat, or my overly aggressive fish sometime.

6.) My favorite book is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, my favorite author is Louisa May Alcott, and my favorite poet is Emily Dickinson

7.) I have a purse/bag addiction

8.) Thrift shopping is my favorite pass time.

9.) Because of thrift shopping, I own WAY too many fashion scarves

10.) My favorite fictional character from a book is Jo March from Little Women, my favorite character from a television show is Kaylee Fry from Firefly, and my favorite (unofficial) Disney Princess is Vanellope VonSweetz from Wreck it Ralph.

11.) If I had to pick a favorite Disney princess, I would have to say Anna from Frozen.

12.)I love musicals, but rarely go to see them.

13.) My greatest dream is to be a wife and mother. That hasn’t changed from when I was little, and while I want to do other things with my life, this is something I’ve wanted ever since I can remember.

14.) I struggle with anxiety in a variety of forms.

15.) God the best thing in my life.

16.) My favorite bird is a Chickadee

17.) I hate chickens. (Long story for another blog post)

18.) My second favorite color is teal.

19.) Poor Man’s Mocha is my favorite way to drink coffee. (Hot chocolate mix made with coffee instead of water or milk)

20.) My fourth favorite animal is Red Panda.

Chipped Nails – Blogging Challenge Day 1: Your Blog’s Name

Hello All!

In order to get myself back into the habit of blogging, I’m taking on a 30 day challenge.

I’ll be posting once every day for the next 30 days – you’re welcome to follow along, play along and enjoy this however you see fit. 🙂

 

Without further ado, day one: Explain my blog title.

This blog was originally an assignment from a professor. I fought with WordPress, and by the time the page was up and running I didn’t really care about the name. So I came up with the most obnoxious alteration I could get away with.

“Chipped Nails and a Novel” came from the idea that most writers have to work a day job and come home to work. At the time this blog was created I worked in a dining hall, and while we weren’t allow to wear nail polish, I noticed how chewed up and burnt my hands always were. Which gave me the idea that most writers have to get their hands a little dirty before they can achieve their personal goals. For me, all I want out of writing is to be published through a company. I’m not an incredibly transparent person, and my personal fiction is something I hold very closely to my chest. If I can get myself to the point where I’m confident in my work, and someone else gives me the opportunity to open it up to a wider audience, then I’ll know I’ve made it. Simple as that.

I’m fairly confident writing fiction will never be my full-time time job, nor do I want it to be. I like working, and I like working hard. Sitting in front of a blank screen all day doesn’t seem like something I’d love to do 40+ hours a week. I like having chipped nails while I work on my novel.

 

See you tomorrow!