Jill Victoria

Life has been pretty good since I last wrote.

I had my first Mary Kay party in nearly a year this past Saturday. I had four guests come and sold just shy of $500. Yep. You CAN succeed at Mary Kay.

I’m excited that April is just a few weeks away. David and I will be going to the beach condo down at Fernandina, FL with Krista and Spencer. All I can think about is being able to spend time hanging at the condo, looking at the crashing waves, feeling the warm breeze on my face and shopping with Krista! Oh, and fresh seafood! Thank God!

Not only do I have the beach trip to look forward to, but my brother Matthew will be home in April from Iraq! I will breathe and sleep a lot easier once I know he’s back in the States and safe. I miss him so much, but I know that God has a bubble of protection around him and everyone around him. I pray for that at least 20 times a day. I figure whenever my brother comes to my thoughts, I need to pray for him.

Matt says it’s working like a charm.

I wish I had more interesting things to report, but life is just simply living pretty easy right now. Not sure if I mentioned before, but David did get promoted at work. He’s not Vice President in charge of Operations or something like that. I’m very proud of him

Hopefully I will get more motivated and clean out the rest of my stuff from the second guest bedroom. Maybe actually move in my old bedroom stuff soon. That would be a big accomplishment after five months of marriage!

To wrap it up: Enjoying getting back into Mary Kay, looking forward to the beach and Matthew being home and just living life.

What more could I do?

For my birthday I received an Amazon Kindle. For someone like me who is both an avid reader as well as a tech junkie, the Kindle was blending the best of both worlds to me!

After owning the Kindle second generation for nearly a month, I believe I can give a good review on the product.

I have nothing but good things to say about the Kindle. Right from the moment I turned it on, it has been nothing but easy to use and an item I can now not see myself without. The device is very easy to use. So much so that instructions are nearly needless. I just skimmed through the very short user guide before throwing it away.

The technology used in the Kindle is very cool. The screen on the device looks just like the page of a book, but better. The screen displays the words and pictures in greyscale and uses eInk technology to put the text on the screen without a backlight. I love this, because backlights just cause stress on the eyes after long reading. I believe this is why I (and others) can’t seem to read for long periods of time on a computer.

A quick sidenote on this. I’ve read reviews of people saying they’d like the Kindle better if it had a backlight so they could read in the dark. I believe these people are missing the point of this technology. My suggestion? Either buy a booklight that Amazon sells for the Kindle, or wait and get the iPad the Apple community is salivating over.

Back to my review:

Even being the avid reader I was all my life, I was still pretty slow at getting through a book. I believe now it was because it was hard to bring a book with me most of the time because of the weight and bulk. Not so with my Kindle. I’m not just bringing one book with me, but many. The Kindle has the capacity to hold up to 1,500 books! I’m not sure I have even ever owned that many books in my 26 years of life. For someone who wants her books at her fingertips, this is great! I’m looking forward to taking a whole collection of books with me on my next vacation and having it take up less room than my wardrobe.

One of my favorite things about my Kindle is that I can download a book instantly and begin reading, no matter where I am. I’m the type to read a book and want to read a sequel (if there is one) and then put off buying the book for months. With the Kindle, not only is the book ready when I am, it downloads in less than 60 seconds and is much cheaper than it’s paper equivalent.

There are some experimental features on the Kindle are experimental. It has the ability to browse the web, but most sites won’t display the way they would on a computer screen. It also is able to hold music, but the amount and quality are not going to be like your iPod. This is, after all, a reading device.

Overall, I give this product a big thumbs up/gold star/10 out of 10 rating. I love the Kindle and I love the ease of reading it gives me. I have read more in the few weeks I’ve owned the Kindle than I have in years. Already I’m on my sixth book this month. The Kindle is lightweight (lighter than most paperbacks) and very easy to hold. It comes with a built in dictionary as well as a way to make notes and highlight the context.

I also recently purchased a cover for the Kindle, and that helps me feel better about putting it in my purse. Amazon has many covers and other accessories for the Kindle.

I highly recommend this product to anyone who is a book lover. It may not be paper and leather, but it is just a enjoyable and delightful as a solid book.

Sometimes I feel like I have no real purpose in life. I’m 26-years-old and I have no career and no idea what I want to be when I “grow up”. In all honesty, I’ve never known. My attention span and my interest change faster than the temperature in Georgia. The few things that do hold me captive long enough are not exactly something to build a career on.

I am finally coming to realize and accept that maybe I’m not meant to have a career. Maybe I’m not cut out for college and then an office somewhere with a nameplate on the door. I could just be meant to be a wife, a homemaker and eventually a mother. In the mean time, I sell Mary Kay, write a blog, renovate and decorate my home and watch a couple of great kids in the afternoon.

I can truthfully say that I’m happy with these circumstances. I don’t have to try and force myself to have an interest in things that I know I won’t be happy with. It’s just hard to think that I’m not living up to my own thoughts of my adulthood.

I may not have a society deemed purpose in life, but I do have my own life filled with purposes for living it. My God, my husband, my family, my friends, my home, my passions, my pleasures and the pursuit of my happiness.

I can live with that.

David and I spent the weekend working on our master bedroom/bathroom. While the bath area isn’t quite finished, we’re 99% done with our bedroom.

I thought I’d share some before pictures as well as some steadily growing after pictures in different stages. Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures. I used my Blackberry camera because we couldn’t find David’s nice digital camera. The pictures really don’t do the whole room justice.

Back wall and windows

View from the bedroom door

Previous wall color

Back wall windows & closet doors after new paint

New bed comforter set

Chest of drawers made into a window seat

Back window and closet area

Closets

Close up of comforter and pillows

Close up of box shelves

We still have curtains to hang and pillows to buy for the back of the window seat. Other than that, we’re done with our bedroom! David and I are both really happy with it, as well as proud of what we’ve accomplished. I should also point out we did all this for under $250. Bargain shopping people, that’s where it’s at!

Please leave your thoughts in the comments!

ETA:

Curtians behind bed

Two years ago in Valentine’s Day of 2008, I was dumped by my then boyfriend. Even though it was not the most pleasant thing in the world to endure on a day I wasn’t already fond of, that day turned out to be one of the best things that could have happened to me.

I knew it was over with Thomas way before Valentine’s Day. In all honesty, I was pretty relieved when he broke up with me. Thomas was a nice guy, but definitely not the guy for me.

By that day, I had already met and gone on a blind date with David. I suppose it could be considered cheating, but the date I went on with David was chaperoned by Krista and Spencer, and nothing even close to romantic happened other than David opening the car door for me.

Its hard to believe that a break up on Valentine’s Day two years ago lead me to a marriage. But, I suppose that every break up eventually leads to a marriage. Or at least to a long-term relationship.

That breakup was just one of the stepping stones on the way to my husband and the love of my life. Not every ending destroys a happily ever after.

Though we did get a decent dusting back in January, the snow we got on February 12th was great! Right now there is about 2 to 2 1/2 inches in mine and David’s yard.

I love snow! Being a native Georgian, snow is a rare commodity. I can probably count on both hands how many times I remember it snowing (and I mean really snowing) in Georgia.

You’ve got to love a snow day! A beautiful transformation of everything that is so familiar. It makes me see my world in a new way… a more appreciative way. The world we live in is amazing and beautiful.

I have to say, I have had an excellent 26 years of life!

Despite the hardships and trials, I’ve experienced a fabulous life. This past year of my life was the most life changing ever, for obvious reasons. It’s hard to believe that David and I got engaged on my 25th birthday and by my 26th we are husband and wife.

I had a great birthday! Though nothing could top an engagement ring as a birthday present, my gift this year came close. I received a Kindle from my dear husband… and myself! I love it and as an avid reader and gadget girl, this was the best of both worlds!

For my birthday David made me a strawberry cheesecake and a Key Lime pie! Both were very delicious! I visited my grandfather, who is now in a nursing home here in Fayetteville. He is at one of the best places around, and my new family full of doctors are close by and operating the facility. I know he’s in good hands there.

I went with David, brother (in-law) John, Emily, Jonathan, Chrispy and Mandy up to Chow Baby for my birthday dinner. Having eaten there on New Year’s Eve, I knew this was the best place for everyone attending my party. We all had a great time together. Good friends, good food, good conversation and lots of laughter!

I really am blessed to have such a wonderful family and group of friends. I feel very loved and appreciated!

Today David and I went to lunch with my parents and GranMar at Olive Garden as a belated birthday meal. David and I then went shopping so I could spend the birthday money burning a hole in my pocket.

We ended the afternoon with a new mattress! I have never been more excited about going to bed before in my life!

Overall, this has been an excellent birthday! Another one for the memory books…. with more to come!

Bullying is not an uncommon thing to happen. I’m sure that everyone reading this was bullied at some point in their lives. We can relate to it, and we still deal with it even in adulthood. I found a whole group of bullies on a forum recently. There really is no escape from these people. But there is an escape from the affects bullies have on our lives.

At school, I was bullied mercilessly for years.

In fourth grade it was especially worse. I ended up in a class with a group of girls who must have made it their life’s ambition to kill me. Believe me, the thought crossed my mind. How many times did I have to hear that I was fat, ugly, a dog, stupid, and that no one wanted me there?

I went to the school councilor for help, but she never seemed to want to do anything for me. I had terribly low self-esteem and it affected who I was. My teacher eventually intervened and made the girls apologize, but it didn’t stop them from their torment of me.

When I entered middle school, things didn’t improve. My sixth grade year had me facing one of the worst bullies I’d ever have to deal with. That was the first time I ever heard the word “bitch”, let alone was called one. Her exact nickname for me was “Hepatitus C Bitch”. Why? Heck if I know! She probably didn’t even know. I did have a breakdown at lunch one day when she just sat there and called me it over and over again. I reached across the table and punched her in the face. Yep. I sure did. She tattled on me, and after I told my teacher everything that she had done to me since the beginning of the school year, I was not punished.

Seventh grade I dealt with rumors. I developed large breasts early on, and of course that meant I was talked about. I was accused of stuffing my bra, and even having sex or being pregnant as a result. The worst rumor I remember was that my dad was molesting me, and THAT was how I got big boobs.

One of the worst things about my bullying is losing two friends during it. My best friends became friends with some of the very girls who tormented me, meaning that at their birthday, I had to face them there. It didn’t take long till I was the outcast, and they were the popular girls.

The kids who tormented me probably to this day don’t know what I went through. In fact, when they left off with the name calling and abuse, I picked up and kept it going. Even now I have to stop myself from calling myself the things I was called in elementary school.

Am I ugly? A dog? Trash? Stupid? A freak? Unworthy of love? Unworthy of life? Am I not good enough? No, I am not any of those things, but the bullies beat it into me. That’s what I heard nearly every day from primary to middle school.

For a long time, I let people bully me. Even after high school I was bullied in the workplace or even at church. I finally started to value myself when I actually decided to not let others affect how I felt about myself.

Do the old wounds still fester? Oh yeah, and they run deep. But then, I have learned to value myself for who and what I really am. I am truly blessed in life. Facebook has helped me keep up with some of the people who made my childhood miserable, and I believe I’ve come out better than the majority of them. I have a husband who loves me, a wonderful family and the best friends anyone could ask for.

I let the bullies win for a very long time. Then I realized who I am and began to see that the bullies in life will never stop. I had to rise above it, tell myself the truth and win this war I fought with my attackers for so long.

They won the battles, but I win the war.

I am wonderfully me.

I win.

I was out and about the other day when I accidentally eavesdropped on a woman on her cell phone. She was talking rather loudly, so you can’t blame me for hearing her.

What she said kinda shocked me. Maybe it’s because I’m a newly wed still, or maybe it’s just because I was raised to and still do believe a marriage is a lifelong commitment… unless he/she is abusing the crap out of you.

What the loud talking woman said was: “I’m ready for the next one. This was just my starter marriage. It’s normal”.

I literally said out loud: “Really?”.

She didn’t hear me though. Could have been bad.

Is that the new trend? Marry someone, see how you like it and then “break up” with them? I know that the TV show “The Starter Wife” is/was pretty popular. Did that set off this new term and thinking?

I don’t get the concept of this “starter marriage” trend that I’m now aware of. From what I understand, the concept is that you should marry a first time to prepare you for the “real thing”. Um, did I miss something? Isn’t that what dating is? You date someone to see how you like the person and relationship. That was how I prepared for the “real thing” of this thing called marriage.

The “rules” of a starter marriage are the participants have to be in their 20s or early 30s, the marriage last one to three years, have no children and the split is amicable. When does any break up happen with no hard feelings?

I knew already the statistic of 50% of first marriages ending in divorce, then 67% of second marriages, and nearly 74% of third marriages. But seriously, a starter marriage? You needed practice first, so you married a dud while you waited for a stud?

The experts claim that romance coupled with unrealistic ideas of what marriage means is the culprit in a lot of these starter marriages. Couples enter into marriage with the romantic dream of soul mates and constant togetherness. Then reality sets in and no one wants to deal with it.

Sorry. But marriage isn’t something you just decide to do to see how it goes. It’s not like deciding to start yoga or a baking class. Try it on for size and then slip it off. It just doesn’t make sense!

Starter homes I can understand. Starter cars, starter careers, starter bras even. But a marriage? Something you invest your whole heart and life into? No. It doesn’t work that way.

My marriage: Till death do we part.

I don’t have the energy to get married again!

I’m getting sick. Sucks… a lot!

This will be the first time David will have had to deal with me sick on a 24/7 basis since we’ve known each other. It should be interesting, for him at least. When I run a fever I hallucinate big time. Not sure who I should ask you pray for more: me to recover, or David to not think he married a lunatic!

I have been absent from my blog for a while. My last blog about my weird wedding event was the last thing I did on my computer before a virus destroyed it. I had to reboot, and thank God got rid of the virus that way. I’ve been trying to recover lost files and get my computer back to “normal” since then. My plan now is to save up and get a Mac.

Other than me and my computer both coming down with something, life has been good. David and I are in our third month of marriage, and we still love each other. Always a good sign, I hear.

I’m still trying to figure out when life calms down after a wedding. We’ve had some down time, but not enough in my opinion. I’m really looking forward to our trip to the beach condo in April. Krista and Spencer will be going with us this time. Sort of an “old married people’s” retreat.

Overall, I’m happy. I still count my blessings every day. I am a very lucky woman!