Rain, Rain, Rain.

Here was the plan: Get up at 5 am… meet Sarah Holley, my morning running buddy, and run 3 miles.

Here was the back-up plan: If it’s raining, we’ll text and decide if we should just meet at the gym.

Here’s what really happened: We got up, saw that it was raining, texted each other, and crawled back into bed. JUST KIDDING! We sucked it up, said… it’s not lightning, and ran 3 miles in the rain. It was surprisingly refreshing, actually. It was fun. It kept us cool… and it allowed us to jump in puddles like we did when we were three.

I took an “after running in the rain for thirty minutes, this is what I look like picture”… BUT, it was so scary that I screamed and decided that I was not going to subject people to that horrific mess. I mean, Palmer was even a little weary of coming over to me.

My run this morning made me so grateful – that I have friends that are willing to run with me at 5 am, that I have friends that will pray with me and for me while we’re running, that God has provided me with a new roommate who tells me how it is and who will hold me accountable, that God has made me healthy, that God has given me a family who supports me and loves me, that God has given me my dad and mom who have always provided everything I have needed, that I have two sisters that make me laugh, that God has given me new Nashville friends, that God challenges me with things I don’t think I can handle and then lets me see his glory and power overcome those challenges, that God has given me a REAL community in my church, that God has let me experience sorrow so that my times of happiness are so much greater, and that God is teaching me to rely on him for every little thing.

I’m not sure why running in the rain made me aware of all of those things… especially at 5 am – usually I’m unaware of anything that early… but, there you have it… sometimes you just need the quiet in order to listen, I guess.

Something to be said…

About Eric Wilson and the Empty Hearts…

So… I went to celebrate the end & beginning of new things for my friends Eric Wilson and the Empty Hearts on Saturday night. A few things:

1. They sounded great!

2. I had so much fun seeing everyone.

3. I am so so so proud of everyone involved… and I do mean everyone. Lots and lots of hard work – I may have shed a tear or two… haha!

4. There is so much talent contained within this project.

5. If you don’t have the album… or if you don’t know what I am talking about…. go listen here!

My one-year anniversary.

It’s official. I have now lived in Nashville for one year. Pretty exciting, huh? At this time one year ago, I was driving a BIG moving truck from Lexington, KY to Nashville, with all of my belongings in the back and my dog in the front seat. I know that sounds like a country song… but it’s literally what I did.

Some of my favorite… or “may not have been funny at the time but can look back and laugh moments/memories” of Nashville thus far:

• First night I was here – Ben’s car got towed from the Rutledge. Yep. And the tow-truck ride to follow… Bless his soul… I’m forever in debt for all of his help
• Next Big Nashville – a whirlwind with Tyler and Krista
• Family Dinners – lots of chili, fajitas, and Mallory Smith’s amazing pies
• My first “The Mix” event – Rosepepper in East Nashville
• Moving the Goodrich’s on quite possibly the hottest summer day of 2007
• Las Paletas trips with Elisa Goodrich
• Coming into the Holley’s house and crying (all of us) after bad days at work… then laughing because we’re all crying
• Morning workouts with Sarah Holley
• My time with Word Label Group – I miss everyone so much
• Job-searching with Paul Redel… lots of coffee shops and lunches at Fido’s
• Krista’s weekend visits
• The Fray concert with Kayla
• Kayla and I’s 4 of July “let’s paint our living room green” idea … and we did
• Agave with The Holley’s and The Wines – hilarious
• Driving til I’m lost, then suddenly realizing that I have found an amazing short cut
• Boutique browsing with Jes
• Lazy Sundays
• Dinners at PM
• Random trips to Murfreesboro
• One night not too long ago involving Wildhorse Saloon and McFadden’s…
• Finding Elvis with Adrienne, my fellow Memphis girl
• Lots of shows… lots and lots and lots…
• Buying a pair of cowboy boots… or three… with Jes
• Grilling out with Anna, Dinger, and Jes
• Using about 75 beach towels, dish towels, bath towels to soak up all of the water in the Goodrich’s flooded basement WHILE watching “Pride and Prejudice” after our pizza/beer night
• My fall while running at McCabe
• The “Everybody’s Pregnant” Staff Meeting
• Working on Saturdays with Shaun and Lisa
• Lots of new, really really funny friends
• Cross Point
• All of the not-so-fun dates that I have been on since I have lived here… I can honestly look back and laugh about all of them…
• Movie & Dinner with the Wilson boys – best date I’ve ever had
• Discovering how much I love sushi and edamame
• Easter Sunday
• Girls’ Weekend with Adrienne and Meghan Lee
• Brunches with Elisa at Star Bagel
• Bagels with Elisa Greene – my Panera-obsessed friend
• Best celebrity sighting: Travis Barker… today, actually. Sat right next to him at lunch. Weird… also weird that I have a strange crush on him. I can’t believe I just admitted that.

I have really enjoyed my first year… ups and even downs… and am so excited about what’s to come! I really do appreciate all of you that have made Nashville home!

It’s Friday.

Zephaniah 3:17

17 For the Lord your God is living among you.
He is a mighty savior.
He will take delight in you with gladness.
With his love, he will calm all your fears.
He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”

It is good.

Summer Summer Summer Summertime…

Do you want to start singing the song after reading that? I was singing it in my head. Sorry. Not the point.

I woke up today and tried to make it a point to be joyful and happy no matter what happened because I knew that work today would be stressful. I was right. It has been… BUT… having that attitude from the get-go has done wonders for my stress level, productivity, and irritability-meter. I have one of those… not really… but I bet sometimes people wish I did. Then, they would know when to email me instead of coming by my office. Again, not the point.

Things that I am so so so thankful for:

1. My family… every single member.

2. My community at Cross Point… and my small group… and our leaders.

3. My Jesus.

4. Everything that I’ve been given.

5. Laughter.

6. Sunny skies and Warm Breezes.

7. Thursdays being half-over with a three-day weekend waving at me in the near-distance.

8. Fun co-workers.

9. Jess Esch. Seriously. She has been through some rough-Rachel days, and she still loves me. Lord knows she’s amazing.

10. Ashlee and Krista. These two are troopers. REALLY. Ask anyone. We’ve been through a lot, and we’re still thick-as-thieves. We’ve been through lots and lots in 10+ years… wow!

11. Music.

12. Good books.

13. Late nights on patios with friends.

14. Macs… enough said.

15. Patience.

16. Grace.

17. Mercy.

18. Love without boundaries.

19. The smell of the ocean.

20. Complexity.

21. Snuggling with my puppy.

22. Coffee.

23. Photography.

24. My health.

25. The fact that there are fun places to run in Nashville.

26. My phone. I know it sounds cheesy… but, I am really thankful for it.

27. My grandfather’s Banana Pudding with Vanilla Wafers. Sometimes it’s the small things…

28. Traffic-less commutes.

29. Days at the lake with friends.

30. Good service anywhere. Seriously. I am thankful for this.

31. Days that my designers and I are thinking almost the exact same thing… and when the people that matter like it, too!

32. Times when I can laugh at myself.

33. Prayer.

34. Good blogs.

35. Art.

Lots and lots more. To be continued…

Wipeout at the Golf Course.

It’s only because I like making people laugh that I am going to tell this story, because, quite frankly, it’s embarrassing.

Once every other year or so, I make it a point to fall ridiculously while running. I did it last night. Yep. BIG FAT FALL. It hurt. It drew blood. It was really really REALLY embarrassing… here goes…

Running is nothing new for me. I usually run about 3 miles at a time… but when something is bothering me, or I’m frustrated, or really upset… I usually up it to 5 or 6. Running clears my mind, makes me a happier person, relieves stress, etc. Now that I live in Nashville, my six mile run covers Sylvan Park, and the trail running behind/through McCabe Golf Course. Last night… I had trucked it through Sylvan Park listening to Paramore… good angry/stress relief music. I passed a good friend driving by… so that was happy. The weather was gorgeous. I wasn’t tired. My legs weren’t achy. I was still breathing pretty normally. I was at about mile 3. I got on the trail… was admiring all of the pretty flowers and full trees and nice breeze. I was watching the golfers and passing dog-walkers. Everything was dandy. On this particular trail, there are three or four wooden bridges that cross the creek in different places. Yep. This is where everything starts to crumble around me. As I am watching a man get REALLY pissed off because he totally swung his club and missed the ball completely, I place one foot on the bridge and am about to take step two when, in slow motion, I realize that I didn’t lift my foot high enough and that the particular board that I am about to step on has warped and is creating a massive bump. Yep. You guessed it. Foot meets board. Wooden bridge meets my hand, knees, elbow, iPod… actually pretty much all of me because I was running full speed ahead… meaning, I went flying across the bridge full speed ahead… and BECAUSE it’s a bridge, and hollow underneath… my fall made a sound like an explosion. Yep. Everything froze. People stopped mid-swing, turned and looked at me in a heap, trying to fall off the bridge into the water before anyone noticed.

Did anyone stop and ask if I was ok? Nope. Did people laugh? Most likely. What did I do? Sat down, did a quick check to make sure blood wasn’t running down my legs/arms/face/side, stretched, held back tears because I was already mad… hence the 6 mile run… got up… and kept trucking. At about mile 5, I thought about it because my body felt like I had knocked it out of alignment, and started laughing. I mean, REALLY laughing. I laughed the whole way home, which brings me to another point… People driving along West End Avenue probably were calling local psychiatric hospitals wondering if they were missing a patient. I mean, really? What would you think if you saw a girl running down West End Ave by herself laughing so hard that she was crying? Yeah. Exactly.

Anyway… I hope that you can laugh at my expense. Remember, Wooden bridges over creeks are out to get you. Just swim across. Much safer.

Faith… in me?

The server is down at work. So… I blog.

So, lately, I struggle with insecurities. Last night, a friend made it pretty blatantly obvious that it’s something that I need to deal with right now. I think that it’s weird that I am just coming out and saying it, but I guess that’s a way to stop being insecure? I don’t know. It’s starting to make my head spin.

Here’s what I can only do: Pray that God takes those things away and puts them out of my mind. In our small group, we are studying about what it means to be a disciple of a rabbi. It’s really cool to me to know that if a rabbi asks you to be his disciple, then, it means he HAS FAITH that you can take over for him… that you can teach for him… that you are capable of GREAT THINGS. It dawned on me that I am that disciple. I know that it seems SO SIMPLE… but Jesus is my rabbi. He has faith in me. His frustration in me lies within my lack of faith in myself- my lack of confidence in the person HE MADE ME. Rob Bell says, “Notice how many places in the accounts of Jesus’ life that he gets frustrated with his disciples. Because they are incapable? NO, because of HOW CAPABLE they ARE. He sees what they could be and could do, and when they fall short, it provokes him to NO end. It isn’t their failure that’s the problem; it’s their greatness. They don’t realize what they’re capable of…”

I am not saying that I am going to pick up this massive ego-centric complex… but I am saying that I am going to remind myself that God says to me, “You did not choose me, but I chose you…” He chose ME. ME and all of my issues and insecurities, and imperfections.

So… I know that I’m not going to just lose the whole, “I’m not sure of myself” attitude overnight… but I am encouraged and take joy in knowing that no matter what else or who else thinks I can’t, God knows and believes and empowers me to know I can.

So, there is my Round 1 therapy session… a little weird to blog about it… but, here goes.

Totally.

So, I am not taking credit for anything Seth Godin writes in his blog: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/05/the-new-standar.html

BUT… I agree completely with what he is saying.

1. I know that all of you who read this don’t work in an office… so maybe you can’t relate. Trust me when I say that what he is saying makes complete sense.

2. I know that posting this is very business blah blah blah… but it’s a soapbox I tend to stand on quite often.

Have a good Monday.

Friday brings…

• Rain in Nashville.
• The end of a long, BUT very productive work-week.
• Rest.
• My one month anniversary at Journal Communications.
• Fun people in the office.
• Design day.
• Lots of writing.
• Sore shoulders… thanks Jess and Rob.
• Lunch at Jason’s Deli.
• Agave with the Holleys.
• An early night?

What does Friday bring for you?

Good timing.

God has good timing. Today, I have been struggling with some different issues with friends that I really care about, but am not sure how to go about dealing with bad situations gone worse. I have a really hard time leaving things unsettled… or making decisions to distance myself from people who are having an unhealthy influence on my life. I prayed about it, and then opened my devotional. The key verse:

A sweet friendship refreshes the soul.

Proverbs 27:9

I love when God literally speaks to me the second I need encouragement. It allows me to feel His presence, even when I think that I am the farthest thing from His mind. Does this ever happen to you?