More blog love!

So thankful to Bicoastal Bride, Miss Pug, New Mexican Bride and NuFlaiir for recognizing me on their blogs with a lovely new award.  I hate to admit I received it a while ago and have not gotten around to posting it, but here goes.

Rules: list 10 things that make you happy. Then, pass it on to 10 bloggers that make your day a better one!

1.  My daughter, Jordan Kaylie. 

That is a horrible pic of me but a super cute one of her from when she competed in the National American Miss Pageant this past August.  She's 14, a freshmen in  high school (God help me) and super athletic and smart.  I am so blessed and so proud to have such a beautiful, fun and talented daughter who loves Jesus!

2.  My fiance, Mr Fix It.

I am so blessed to have this man in my life and am thrilled beyond belief that he has chosen to make me his wife just four short months from now!  It's so crazy to think that after 37 years, I have finally met someone who is everything I ever needed but never would have expected for myself.  :)  Funny how the Lord works in mysterious ways.  I can't imagine my life without him...the thought of that just makes me nauseous. 

3.  My family.

 

My mother and my baby sister are daily parts of my life.  If we do not see each other, we speak on the phone.  We live within 15 minutes of each other and are constantly together.  My sister keeps me laughing always and my mother makes me feel grounded and established.  The three of us 'Campbell' girls have been a strong unit for our entire lives and happiness just isn't the same without them contributing to it.

4.  My job (and my boss).

No pic for this one...just the recognition that I am truly blessed by an unbelievably amazing boss and a job I have been at for 7 1/2 years now.  This job came to me via some serious hardships but God was so good in how He worked everything out for the best for me.  Because of this job, I was able to finally gain financial independence as a single mom, pay for this wedding without going into debt, take family vacations for the first time each year, work only 4 1/2 days a week and have the freedom to leave when I need to so that I can be at my daughter's school and sporting events and just overall live a stress free life without the worry of overtime and anxiety.  This job is what allows me to blog and read all day long and to plan our wedding without the stress of not having enough time for everything.  :)

5.  Jesus and the Bible.

Ok, this one should be number one, but God knows that without Him, nothing would be possible in my life.  For all of my fears and failures and faults, Jesus has been right there through every one of them correcting me, encouraging me, loving me...I am by no means perfect but I am perfect in His eyes.  I thank Him daily for what I don't deserve but am blessed with and remind myself daily to live my life in a way that honors Him.  My biggest hope for our wedding is that it will overflow with the name and love of Jesus and that our guests will know Him more personally through the ceremony and elements of our marriage and vows.

6.  The blogosphere

When I found my way into the blogosphere just a few short months ago I never would have dreamed of having 74 fellow blogger friends following along with me as I spill out my thoughts and ideas.  I am so grateful for this new medium and how happy it makes me to know I have 'someone' out there who can relate to me on some level. 

7.  The internet.

What would I have done without the internet?  Thanks to my job, I am able to browse online all day long and have made almost every one of my bookings and purchases for the wedding based on web sites I found.  I do all my Christmas shopping online and have everything come to me!  I am able to keep track of everything with e-mail and come up with all kinds of inspiration and ideas just from typing in a few words into Google.  Love it!

8.  TV.

I hate to admit I am a tv addict in many respects.  The funny thing is, I don't really watch a ton of tv when I am at home.  I actually watch it mostly at work!  Isn't that bad?  But my job (my amazing dream job as I mentioned above) is not really a full time job even though as an executive assistant my boss requires me to be in the office for 4 1/2 days a week.  So most of the day, I am just sitting around by myself in an empty office without anything to do.  Therefore, I do most of my tv viewing from the internet thanks to the networks new web sites that offer full episodes online.  I admit that I watch shows online I would normally never watch at home.  Things like the City, the Hills, Desperate Housewives, etc. But my absolute faves that I *do* watch at home are probably Lost, the Colbert Report, How I Met Your Mother, anything wedding related, and Bones.

9.  Cooking.

I love to cook and am a self taught chef thanks to the Food Network!  With the internet and cable in today's day and age, just about anyone can learn just about anything and DIY.  Cooking included.  My fiance thinks I'm a great cook and my mom refers to me as a 'gourmet' cook...that's a little overboard.  She's just shocked because I cook with mostly fresh ingredients and not things out of a can like she did when we were growing up.  :)

10.  Sleep!

Sleep makes me SO happy...unfortunately, in my late 30's, my body has decided it doesn't need much sleep and I am usually not in bed until 11 pm or later and then I usually cannot sleep past 5 or 6 am regardless of whether or not I set an alarm! UGH!  How I miss the days of my twenties when I could sleep until 11 am!  That is until my daughter was born of course.

So there you have it...10 things that make me truly, utterly happy.  As far as passing this award on, I would like to give it to my 10 most recent followers as every single follower makes me so so happy!  I love finding new blogs to stalk and knowing there are some out there who find I have something worth reading as well.  :)