New (interactive) book! Join the craziness!

Good weekend, everyone?

Quick recap: Friday night was spent hanging out with friends in Hollywood, including a quick excursion up the residential Hollywood Hills- past many "no access to the Hollywood sign" signs, to an amazingly close view of said landmark. I knew about the dog park (with very green grass- must be fertilized often.. teehee), but i didn't know there was a lake up there. It was fun- i'll post the pics next time I upload stuff from my camera.

Saturday and Sunday were quietly productive, with errand running and relaxation. I had my phone replaced- the enV quit recognizing my bluetooth, and it's now illegal to drive without it- and spent some of my Target gift card from the Shining Star award. I'm trying to be VERY frugal with money, because there is a possibility of vacation on the horizon!! Soph's mom and Chris said "thank you for the surprise birthday luau- please use our timeshare points to go somewhere". So i'm quite excited, because it's high time for a real vacation. And though i feel guilty vacationing while i'm still in the rent pickle, THEY are the ones suggesting we go, doesn't that make it ok? So we're working out the exact location of our trip... details pending.

Ok, so the book part. My current reading list still includes the book on screenwriting and the one about dreams by Tommy Barnett (they are daily snippets so it takes awhile), and new addition "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan and this interesting book called "Every Monday Matters".

The premise is to do something once a week to make a difference, and since Mondays are notoriously sucky, why not do the good thing then to bring something happy to the day?
Works for me. So here we go.... the first challenge is "What Matters Most". After giving a few facts on the things that suck up our time (commuting, working, television, sleeping), these action steps are listed:

- Make a list of what matters most to you- Create a list of how you currently spend time- Organize the list and decide what's important and what's wasteful- Rearrange the schedule to prioritize the truly important stuff

Well, good question. What matters most to me?
1.God- faith and service2. my family and friends3. living life to the fullest (this includes adventures, creativity, those amazing moments, you know. :) )4. growing into a more satisfying, purposeful career (also resulting in paying off my debt)

Step two... how i spend time...
Well, i get up between 5:45a and 6:15a, get ready for work, then drive to work, where I sit at this desk from 8:30a-5:30p (or sometimes later), then drive home, where my evening varies. Sometimes I play tennis, sometimes i have somewhere to go, sometimes i just hang out with the family. Weekends are sometimes crazy busy with activity, and other times unplanned productivity.... you guys read this blog, you know how unstable it can be (the only thing consistent is the insanity! ha!). I cram activity into every nook and cranny- even my lunch breaks are busy.

So where's the waste? Argh, this is where I get frustrated... because it's all important, really. I will probably have to give this thought through the week. The things that aren't important to me- commuting, answering the phone- you've heard this gripe before- are necessary to survival.
Unless i get a new job. But haven't we been down this road before? So instead of going into the anxious frustration that i've experienced oh-so-often in the recent past, my next action step is to be aware and analytical this week on how i spend my time, and to continue to pray for a job opportunity that is more conducive to a purposeful life without wasted time.

But i invite you to join me on this challenge. It's designed for a year with 52 challenges. i'll try to post on Mondays with each week's challenge- do whatever you can (test yourself, can you keep up with them all? You might be better for it this time next year). Leave comments with your results or thoughts, and we can even have a discussion or help each other out- let's do this as a team!

If you want a copy of the book (it's easy to read/reference, printed on recycled paper, and a portion of the proceeds are donated to charity ;) ), it's "Every Monday Matters" by Matthew Emerzian and Kelly Bozza. Let's go! :)