It's about time...

So, I finally decided to start a blog. I never used to be into "the blog scene," but I've recently come to really appreciate the many benefits of the blog world. It all started when Jayma, my bff, created "When Grass Pierces Concrete." One of the highlights of my day is when I get to log on and catch up on her life. Her thoughts are always encouraging, inspiring and downright funny! It enables me to know what's going on in her life, even though we are miles and miles apart from each other.

So, after becoming a faithful reader of Jayma's blog, I started reading some of the blog's of people she follows. Even though I don't really know these people, some of their stories and thoughts encouraged me in the same way.

So, I decided to jump right in. While I don't really believe that anything I might make note of would be interesting to other people, I do think it will be a good way for me to sort through the many memories, thoughts, fears, fun moments, aspirations, and lessons that I learn on a daily basis. I hope that I can give something back in some way. We'll see...

So, after deciding to actually start this blog, I knew I needed to come up with a name. Well, let's just say that my creative side is lacking...a lot. For about two weeks I've been racking my brain trying to come up with a name. Between Jonathan and I, there were lots of laughable ideas that surfaced during this process. Some examples: Olive's mom (lol), blogging nanny (lol, even harder:) etc. Then, yesterday I had to drive to OKC to a dentist appointment. During the hour drive there, I was scrolling through my iPod listening to random songs. I came across a song ("Brand New Sidewalk") of one of my favorite artists - Nickel Creek. I liked the sound of it right away, so without actually listening to the song I started contemplating what it might mean.

So, after thinking about it for some time, I decided that this would be the perfect name. To me it brings up an image of a newly laid sidewalk, still wet with fresh cement. This image caused a memory to surface in my mind. During my middle school years, a builder came into my neighborhood and started filling it up with new houses. This presented lots of fun activities for my neighbor friends, my sister and I. Nightly adventures included exploring the insides of unfinished houses, dumpster diving for leftover building supplies, and using the treasures we discovered to build forts and such. One night we went exploring and found that there was some concrete that had just been poured to create the sidewalk to the front door of one of the houses. We couldn't resist. We found an inconspicuous place that was still soft and left our mark. For years afterwards I would smile, thinking about the fact that our prints were a permanent fixture in someone's sidewalk. I love the analogy that was created in my mind while recalling this story. We all have daily opportunities to leave our mark in some way by serving someone else. I know I'm terrible about taking these opportunities and making the most of them, and I'm constantly struggling to become better.

So, as I record the daily happenings and stories of life, I hope to be able to focus on seizing these moments of opportunity to serve and leave my mark in some way. I would love to hear about ways that others have left their marks on the world.

So, cheers! to my new blog.