upgrading the bathroom mirror.

I'm linking up to DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land.

When I first replaced this medicine cabinet, I remember standing in Home Depot in shock at just how expensive a replacement could be. I decided that I could surely buy the cheaper version and just slap a frame on it to dress it up.

And, though it took me at least a year, I did. I bought an unfinished frame from Michaels, painted it black, and it fit right on top of the old mirror. There was just one problem - I couldn't open the mirror without the frame running into the wall.

So here's my solution - and the first project I completed using the miter box I bought for my birthday. I bought a piece of moulding, cut it to size, and painted each piece black. Then, I attached the pieces using this power-grip-adhesive-stuff. Once that dried completely, I used wood filler to fill in the holes, then touched up the black paint where I needed to.

(Please ignore the ugly paint job on the door frame)

For the most part, I love it - except for one thing. I didn't paint the back side of the moulding, and you can see it in the mirror's reflection.


So please HELP! The power adhesive is doing its job - those pieces are good and attached to the mirror. So I need to find another way to hide that unfinished wood - any ideas?

watching the sun rise over the ocean.

If you know me at all, you know that I am not a morning person. And though it was really hard to do it, I got up early this past weekend to watch the sun rise over the ocean (and cross goal #19 off my list).

My friend Mary remembered this goal, so when her husband wanted to get up early to go surfing, she called me.


Oh, and it was beautiful. Not as much red as I expected, but still gorgeous.


I took Harvey with me (which brings me half-way to crossing #9 off my list). She wasn't crazy about the water, but she loved the sand, and loved being around other people. She also loved chasing the birds, which meant I got a work out walking her.

laid off.

I debated about sharing this. But since I want this blog to be a real reflection of my life, and since I often use it to process things a bit, or even just to note the things that I want to remember, I'm going to go ahead and say it.

I'm getting laid off. My last day with my company is just under two weeks away.

There are so many emotions that I'm still trying to sort through them. And, of course, the prevalent emotion changes from minute to minute. But at least right now, here's where I am.

The day I first got the heads up that this would likely happen (last week), that night as I was getting ready for bed and feeling about a million different things all at the same time, I heard the voice of God so clearly that it quite literally stopped me in my tracks.

"This is it, Kristy, this is the moment of truth," He said. "Do you really believe that I am who I say I am and that I will do what I say I will do? Because this is where what you really believe shows up in your life."

As I thought more about that, I realized something very clearly. There are only two possibilities here. Ether all of the promises of God are true - that He loves me, that He will take care of my needs, that He has a plan and a purpose for me, that He works all things for my good - either that is all true, or everything I've built my life on since I was five years old is utter crap and I might as well crawl into bed and give up.

I'm choosing the first.

unredeemed.

statistics.

This week Nick, Heather, and I went to http://www.newspring.cc/one/ in Anderson, South Carolina. Now that we're back, I'm fired up! I have so many ideas I want to implement at The Bridge. I'm been praying for fresh vision from God for where He wants this ministry to be, not just right now, but a year and more down the road, and He's showing me some pretty exciting things!

One thing I was thinking about today...our average attendance is probably somewhere around 50 people. Usually about 10 of those are kids, leaving about 40 adults. Currently, there are 22 volunteers in Bridge Kids, which means that more than half of our regular attenders are children's ministry volunteers! That's a huge percentage!

small victories.

I think success in weight loss is really all about celebrating small victories. Especially when you prefer to work like I do - work out, then just eat wisely (without actually counting calories or measuring portions).

I started running in May, using a Couch-to-5K plan, mostly as a means to cross goal number #5 off my list. Pretty quickly, though, it became more about proving to myself that I could do something that I never thought I would be able to do.

Then, in mid-June, I sprained my ankle and got sidelined for a while, and got a little off-track with any regular work-outs at all. But two weeks ago, after an okay from my doctor, I got back on track.

I'm working out 5 days a week (3 is my minimum). Three days a week, I do my current step in the running program, and the other two days I spend 20 minutes on the ellipitical. I follow all of that up with a weight-training program and ab work, using ActivTrax (a service available at my gym). I made a chart for my refrigerator, and I add a big checkmark every time I finish a workout. I'm actually thinking of picking up some gold stars.

And I'm celebrating the small victories - like when I realized that I could run easily without getting pains in my side, or when I push myself to do more reps than I thought I could. And yesterday, for the first time on the 45-degree leg press, I didn't have to remove all of the big, 45-pound weights before I could start loading the correct amount for me. I left two of them on there, because I lifted 90 pounds. That felt really good.