We haven’t done anything fun around here for awhile, so let’s play a little game…
Fill in the blanks: If I were a ____________, I’d be __________.
I’ll go first:
If I were…
a queen, I’d be Queen Elizabeth I
a clothing store, I’d be Anthropologie
an actress, I’d be Gwenyth Paltrow
a restaurant, I’d be Serendipity 3
a holiday, I’d be Christmas
something sweet, I’d be dark chocolate
a fruit, I’d be a grapefruit
Your turn!
Fill in the blanks: If I were a ____________, I’d be __________.
This is me, somewhere around the age of 4 or 5 in my “fancy dress.” Truth is… this is nothing more than a nightgown that I somehow determined was my fancy dress. When I put my fancy dress on I believed it transformed me into this amazing entertainer, wowing the crowds with my vocal prowess… and my gorgeous dress (of course).
This was back in the day when I still dreamed… uninhibited. I wasn’t insecure, self-conscious or reserved. It never cross my mind that others would question whether I could achieve my dreams.
Continue reading over at Cultivate Her…
Cultivate Her, hobbies, reading, sports
Just some random stuff on my mind tonight…
What’s your randomness this weekend?
Today I officially started training for this year’s Country Music 1/2 Marathon. This will be my third year running the race.
Honestly my enthusiasm about doing it again was waning a bit when it came time to start thinking about training again.
The first year was an awesome experience. I had never run more than 5 miles before I began training. Rach, Shelby, Ash and I met weekly for training runs and we all had big smiles on our faces when we finished.
Last year I was really excited to tackle it again. But this time I was ready to document the experience, so I carried my little Kodak camera for 10 miles of the race. I had high aspirations to beat my time from the previous year, but alas the heat was miserable, I burned all my energy filming and finished less enthusiastically.
But this year I’m excited to change it up a bit. The first two years were really about accomplishing personal goals and experiencing it with great friends. This year (along with many Cross Point folks) I’ve teamed up with Powered by Hope to put a cause behind my steps.
Powered by Hope is a team on a mission to turn racial division, class segregation, and spiritual poverty into community, possibility, and vision. It all begins with a new Hope – our support of New Hope Academy.
New Hope Academy
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As part of my 2009 year-in-review & personal evaluation, I took some time to consider what I’ll be focusing on this year here at JenniCatron.tv. It’s easy to wander, get distracted, ramble and simply say very little if I’m not careful. So after some prayer, processing and reflection these are the five goals for my blog this year:
So that’s my blog plan for 2010.
Is there anything else you would like to see from JenniCatron.tv this year?
I’ve spent the majority of this week planning for 2010 but before we make the big leap into a new decade, I thought I would reflect on some of the highlights of 2009.
Here are my Top 9 Highlights of 2009: (in no particular order)
Celebrating 10 Years of Marriage – Merlyn and I celebrated 10 years in February – crazy how fast that has gone!
Sponsoring my Compassion Child, Venka – this precious 4 year old has whittled her way into my heart in just a few months time.
Trip to England & Ireland – Merlyn and I spent 10 days in England and Ireland celebrating our 10th anniversary. A once in a lifetime trip!
Leading Cross Point through the purchase of our first building – this year has been one of the busiest years for our church. My leadership was stretched in so many ways including the milestone of purchasing our Bellevue Campus location.
The launch of Cultivate Her - launching a leadership forum for women has been a dream of mine for years. I’m thankful for friends who pushed me to make it a reality.
Traveling with my sister – from road trips to Atlanta to our Christmas trip to NYC, we’ll conquer any city we set out for.
Speaking for The Nines Conference – it was a privilege to be included among the speakers for Leadership Network & Catalyst’s The Nines Conference.
Developing friendships old & new – the Golden Girls enjoyed several great times this year in spite of our incredibly busy lives and I was privileged to meet my new friend Lindsey.
Taking a Hot Air Balloon Ride – this was a “bucket list’ item that I was fortunate to do this year thanks to my friends at Drakes Creek Activity Center.
What was your biggest highlight of 2009?
Here is my Friday Fun in pictures.
Hilda and I are spending the weekend in New York City as our Christmas present to each other. I’ve never been to New York at Christmas… so beautiful.
I’ll admit though, it’s FREEZING!! We’ve been so cold, we haven’t taken a lot of pictures, but here are some places we’ve been so far!
Where is you favorite place to visit at Christmas time?
The Gift of Time…
That’s all I want for Christmas.
Time to celebrate with family and friends.
Time to enjoy the decorating, baking and holiday preparation.
Time to shop for the perfect gift for all those on my list.
Time to reflect.
Time to read a good book.
Time to cozy up by the fire and watch White Christmas.
Time to dream, plan, and strategize the New Year.
Time to blog, journal and write.
Time.
If you received the gift of time, how would you spend it?
Today and yesterday my sis and I have been baking our first batch of Christmas cookies. Don’t they look awesome?!!
They are!
These puppies are made from scratch from our grandmother’s recipe. And when I say scratch, I mean get out the flour, butter, sugar, rolling pin and a few secret ingredients, and spend an entire day making this magic. By the end of the day we are usually so tired of cookie dough and icing that we never want to see another cookie again! (That usually doesn’t last long, though.)
Our cookie baking tradition goes back a few generations. Our dad’s mom is the originator of the recipes as far as we know. (Unfortunately I don’t know if they were passed down from her mom or not.) Grandma Esch would invite her daughters and daughters-in-law over for a day of baking each Christmas season. My mom then passed the recipes along to her mom, my Nanny, and Nanny took over the tradition of baking with Jes and I each year. For years these cookies went unbaked once we grew up and left home. Three years ago when Jes moved to Nashville we decided to institute “sister baking day” the first Thursday of December. I can’t wait for the day Jes has kids and we pass the tradition on to them!
There is just something so precious about the memories created from holiday traditions. I think the beauty of family traditions is in relishing the memories of traditions past, adapting some traditions to a new day, new family and new circumstances and creating new traditions along the way.
I’ll never recapture the exact tradition of baking with Nanny when I was a little girl, but the tradition of baking with my sister each year now is just as special.
What is one of your favorite holiday traditions?
This post is coming a little late this weekend because my big Friday Fun carried over into the wee hours. Yes, the wee hours! I actually went to the 10:00 PM showing of “New Moon” last night. I know… call me crazy! 
I’m rarely still awake at 10 PM, let alone just going to see a movie.
So me and a few friends braved a theater full of giddy girls (and a few obnoxious ones) to see the movie we’ve been waiting for for months. They saved the very front row for us! 
All in all, we had a great night. I actually stayed awake for the entire movie. Bella saved Edward. Jacob was a believable rival. The special effects for the wolves were cool. And it ended with the proposal. Everything I expected the movie to be.
One of my business friends told me earlier in the week, “I’m proud of you for connecting with your inner teenager.” That’s exactly what I did. For an evening I forgot the pressures of my busy world, the looming deadlines, the budgets that don’t balance and the huge “to do” list that I need to accomplish before Thanksgiving company arrives. I just enjoyed a story.
I enjoyed the moment.
Sometimes I don’t do that enough.
When’s the last time you connected with your inner teenager?
Jenni Catron is the Executive Director of Cross Point Church, a multi-site church in the Nashville, TN area.
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