How To Wake Up In The Morning

I struggle to wake up in the morning, and that is because at night, I am wide awake typically and struggle to fall asleep. How about you?

Through trial and error (read: being late to work and class and sleeping through important meetings and learning how to be an adult) I have learned some helpful methods on:

 How To Wake Up In The Morning

1. Drink water before bed. A whole cup. A cup of tea. By morning you will need to wake up to use the bathroom- your body will let you know.

2. Use more than one alarm clock. I use three. My cell phone, a regular digital clock, and a psychotic clangy thing that I want to beat up every morning.

3. Place them around the room so you have to get out of bed to turn them off.

4. Depending on where your bedroom is located, maybe you can leave your door open to allow the noise of people moving around in the morning wake you up.

5. Get in the habit of going to bed at night. Crazy, right?

6. Leave the blinds open so the morning sun shines right on your face.

7. Have your roommate yell at you through the door, "Do you want to graduate in May or don't you?"

8. Have your mom call your cell phone until you answer it, and then not hang up until she can hear the sink running.

9. Sleep with your cell phone just out of arm's length from your pillow.

10. Make sure your alarm/ringtone is OBNOXIOUS. No quaint little tones in this game. I like to use PhoneZoo to find the best annoying ones.

11. Do not drink coffee, pop, or carbonated/alcoholic beverages 2 hours before bed.

12. Think about the paycheck you will get if you make it to work. And think about how you will be fired if you don't make it to work.

13. Pray to God.

14. Set your internal clock. Right before going to bed say to yourself: "I need to wake up at 6:00am." For some reason, this works.



How do you wake up in the morning? Are you a morning person or a night owl?

I have a hard time in the A.M.

Im laying here in my bed. And Im purely exhausted. My eyes are drooping, my body cant even control itself hardly. Ive been awake since 7am, and Ive worked 9+ hours today as well as having class. I need to be sleeping. I long to be sleeping. I seriously wish I could be sleeping right now. But Ive tried. A little while ago I tried to lay here and just fall into a peaceful deep comforting sleep, but I cant. My mind hates sleep. My mind is too excited for sleep. My mind is focused and exhilarated and emphatic about whats to come.

What is to come anyways? I dont exactly know, and for me to say that I know would be foolish, for whatever God brings my way is what will happen, Lord willing, and whatever happens He guides and directs. Thats the exciting thing. People think that being a Christian is just a list of what you can do and what you cant do. But I BEG to differ. Its all about freedom, adventure, excitement, liberty. Living fully and joyfully because I am excited and thankful.

This past year or so I have been seriously considering alot of options. Some of them include teaching ESL, other options combine that with international missions, and as I work my way through a degree in Global Tourism Management, I know that I dont want to work for expedia.com or behind a desk at an airport. I long to be in the trenches, getting to know people, learning new languages and cultures, even if that entails staying in Providence Rhode Island for the rest of my life teaching refugees how to speak English and general life skills.. or maybe it entails moving to Korea, China, South Africa, or Russia and immersing myself in their culture, teaching them english, and bringing the love of Christ to the lost.

I dont quite know yet. But thats why I am excited. God has blessed me with so many options, and I know that whatever I choose He will bless. As I seek wisdom and guidance, I know that God is speaking to me clearly. He has an exciting plan for my life, and for that, I am forever enthralled in Him.

So for now, I try to calm my mind down and take things step by step, thinking about how my choices now will affect whatever is to come. I need to trust in Him, that I will be able to be patient for His timing, not my own, and hoarding wisdom like the poor hoard SPAM. I also seek to look side to side, seeing who is keeping pace, running nearby, heading the same direction, so that we may encourage one another.

I encourage you to think about your life. Get excited about your life. Know that God truly does have an exciting plan for you and He wants you to see the awesome adventure laid out before you.

Sleep, it needs to come. Forcing the issue never works for me, but maybe I should try at this point. Its hard though, for someone with such wanderlust/ADD/insomnia. Blah. good night.
(this is a cool website: www.thetask.org i cant stop looking at it.)

1am and Guacamole

Hey there everyone! Just wanted to let you know that my sleep schedule is even more ridiculous now. I accidently fell asleep today around 6:30pm. And then woke up around.. oh.. midnight. So thats a fun time.

So, being all crazy and such, I decided to make some Guacamole! Yum! This morning I went grocery shopping with Melissa at Trader Joes! The most amazing place in the world. They sell these guacamole kits for mad cheap that come with avacados, tomatoes, garlic, lime, and hot peppers. You just meticulously craft it to your taste. 

Well! After meticulously crafting it to my taste, aka putting everything in a bowl and mushing it together (without reading any instructions..) I would say it came out pretty dandy for a first time attempt. I love it. Although something is still just a tad awry, and after reading some recipes online, I decided I might add some more tomatos, and a tadbit more lime juice. I might get a little crazy and add some cottage cheese as well and mushing it into a little smoother consistency. 

If you have the interest, please check out THIS link for a tasty recipe. 

All while taming the cat of doom. He knocked over a full water glass on the table and continued to lap it up furiously. Then I remembered that I hadnt given him any water in a while. oops.

Ok, sweet dreams. (hopefully for me too!)

-Alissa

Hey 5am, how are you?

the most awkward video ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnQ-q5NhZHQ&feature=fvw

Yes it is 4:50am right now. And yes I am eating cheerios. I am sitting on my bed right now, not really that tired, which is kind of disappointing. I might be spelling everything wrong right now, which is ok. 

Understand that friends come and go,
but with a precious few you should hold on.
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, 
because the older you get, 
the more you need the people who knew you 
when you were young.

I Laughed A Lot Today

I like to be home alone because for some reason I always find more things to laugh about, and I can laugh really loudly and obnoxiously for minutes at a time. Like I was talking to Casey today and we figured out that Oprah isnt married yet because she cant make a good sandwhich for her man Gelvin or whatever his name is. And its because she is rich and is always trying to loose weight. Also, I was reading excerpts from comedian Kerri Pomarelli's book, "If I'm Waiting on God, Then What Am I Doing in a Christian Chatroom?" Which is literally the funniest thing Ive ever read in my life. Maybe I will buy it.


Spanish was a disaster tonight, and I had to leave an hour and a half early because my body was like, "no way son, ya cant be here." I realized that if you havent eaten in 2.5 days, and then decide to drink any sort of Starbucks beverage, you are in for a disaster. hah. Soup is the better route here, so I made some Chicken Corn Chowder, and drank some water. Way better.


Since Sunday, I have slept more than someone should ever sleep. Sunday I went to bed around midnight, and woke up at 1, then called into work because of keys blah blah. So Monday I go to bed around 7, and wake up Tuesday for class around 8. Then Taylor sends me home from work around 130, and I end up getting into bed around 4, and not getting out until this morning around 10am. Lets calculate that. 13+11+18=42 hours. Thats insane. I was fevery and achey though. It was not a good time. I would get up and think.. hmm maybe Im better, but then go barf in the bathroom, or keel over with pain in the kitchen. Hah. In case you wondered. I dont know why. Im still headachey and nauseous. Weird.

 When you sleep that much and then try to do something more active, your body starts having a seizure. Atleast mine does. Its pretty weak and still partially sleeping. But Im trying my hardest to pop this mad skank of sickness, and OH MAN NAKED JUICE HELLO! I need to buy some, but havent been able to take those steps to 711 yet. To...Weak... dang son.

Im hittin the sack now.
Pray that I make the correct choices in the upcoming few days. Because I am faced with some intense choices that could push me back or lift me up. And while the choice seems pretty obvious.. its.. difficult to explain,
My hope is built, on nothing less, than Jesus blood and righteousness.
-Alissa-