Joy's 101

Bethany's 25th bday party

2011-05-27T05:48:00.000-07:00

So basically the main things you need to know about my sister to understand this party are:

1. She loves horses.
2. She (and the rest of my family and basically all of her fun, goofy friends) love to do weird dancing.
3. The age range for my sister's close friends goes from like 9 to 59.
4. She loves horses.
5. She's one of the most fun people EVER.
6. She really loves horses.

I decided to have a surprise party for her and to invite all of her random friends to celebrate with us in the awesome loft above the barn where she keeps her horses. (This made it a little tricky to get in and decorate and make sure everything was ready without her knowing- but we pulled it off!) The Manns family were so gracious to let us celebrate on their property- and I couldn't have found a more perfect place since 90% of the guests were "horse people" anyway :) And she definitely was surprised- she cried twice on the way over to the party because she couldn't understand what her husband, Craig, was doing and why he wouldn't take her to eat where he said he was going to haha :) But the tears were worth it once they got there!!

Pinterest was an almost overwhelming resource for some super cute party ideas. Here's a few pictures of my inspiration:

Fun stuff, right??? {To find the links for each of these party ideas, look here and you can see the website for each idea. I know- lazy.} My details definitely didn't all turn out exactly like these, but I'm still happy with how they came out.

So here was our party!!

Before the big party. Horse pinata and horse centerpieces in place- check!!

Sprinkles make everything better.

With her two bffs from childhood :)

Birthday cake batter bark- you actually put a few tsps of yellow cake mix into the chocolate- so good!

Cupcake flags, and behind all the food was the fabric garland and the banner I made out of poster board saying "happy birthday"- but didn't get a good picture of. (But it was similar to the image above from pinterest that says "Kelly and Chris"- just a giant version.)

The one thing I didn't completely finish- her blue ribbon birthday girl pin :( I ran out of time and forgot to glue the pin on the back!! Wish it had been the one made out of silky ribbon from pinterest, but this worked :)

This picture cracks me up!! Bethany had SOOO many Breyer horses that she collected growing up- so I asked mom to bring some of them for centerpieces on the tables.

Made the #25 out of pictures and tried to make sure to have at least 1 picture of everyone coming to the party.

Soulja Boy "Superman" :)

I did not get a full group picture, but here's a lot of the girls at least

How cute are they?? :)

Dad had a dance-off with Jazzy :)

A close-up of the garland- maybe my favorite detail :)

Someone found naked Barbie in the loft... and she was a hit!

Love this one of them all wearing some of the props :)

And, of course, we had to get one with our momma :)

Happy birthday, B!!!! I couldn't ask for a better sister. So thankful for the awesome family God chose to put me in.

I Am Second

2011-04-12T19:37:00.000-07:00

I don't really feel like writing right now, and I haven't had time to do much crafting lately, so I thought I'd share this. I love the website "I am second", but this woman is definitely my favorite. She is precious, and I hope her story touches you as much as it does me. Seconds - I Am Second

You're Beautiful

2011-04-02T09:06:00.000-07:00

So Nick and I got back from Spain Sunday, and the trip was fantastic :) I know everyone is not dying to read about it or see pictures (plus most have you already have heard about it haha), but I probably will write a little on here eventually for my own memories- I just don't feel like putting it into words yet.

I don't really have much to write about today. *(Sorry- I thought this would just be about 4 sentences, but I just kept going.) I just feel like God has sort of overwhelmed me lately in so many random ways- the good kind of overwhelming. I love when I go through these periods of just feeling His presence and being aware of Him constantly (except that then I'm even more overly emotional than usual.) I realize that it's always on my end that the pulling away or getting distracted occurs, but how incredible these "mountaintops" are. It makes me long for the day when I'll finally be refined, when His work in me is completed- and my fellowship with Him will be unwavering & untouchable {no matter how hard my "fleshy" self may try- it will win no more! :) } I know that all day, everyday the Cross has triumphed over death and evil and ignorance and selfishness and hatred and indifference. (Oh for the day I don't struggle with any of these anymore!!) But Easter is always the time I feel it the strongest. As Steven Curtis wrote so beautifully, "Oh what a precious promise." I cannot fathom what I would do without the hope of my Savior conquering this world by suffering through it. I know that the people were so disappointed that He didn't make a grand appearance and flip the world upside down the way they wanted Him to, and the way He had the power to. But, from where I am, able to look back and read the Gospels and know what He endured for me, it makes it so much more beautiful the way He chose to do it.

I wish the way I felt in this moment would weigh on my heart every second. It would make me approach life so drastically different. I heard an atheist once say something that makes me ache everytime I remember it (which is more often than I comfortably would like to.) It's one of the most profound things I've heard someone say on how Christians should be treating the message of Jesus. His name is Penn, and he said:
"If you believe that there's a heaven and hell and that people could be going to hell, and you think that it's not really worth telling someone this because it would make it socially awkward... How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible, and not tell them that? I mean if I believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you, and you didn't believe it- there's a certain point where I tackle you. And this (everlasting life) is more important than that truck." (If you want to watch the whole clip, look on youtube for "Penn Gillette gets a gift of a Bible")

I don't really have any appropriate words to follow that with. What a great understanding Penn has of how we Christians (not everyone- but definitely me) are messing up our job to go out and spread this message!Why do I let my fear of socially awkwardness trump my fear of people not hearing about Jesus? Not just for the eternal life part, but for how He changes every waking moment of my life in just knowing Him and His promises. Heaven is going to be great- but I can't even imagine how difficult everyday here on earth is without knowing Christ- why am I hesitant to share that with others? If someone happens to read this and wants to talk about what the Savior means to me and how He can change your life, I would love the honor of talking with you. I'll be glad to call, meet, whatever- just write me (I don't want to put all my info on here) at joyousvin@aol.com.

To conclude this random post that I didn't intend to be this long :), I just want to share this song that has meant so much to me. {Not to be morbid, but when I leave this world to go home, please make sure Nick has this at my funeral :)}

Spaghetti Squash

2011-03-11T14:25:00.000-08:00

I've been a terrible blogger lately- especially since Maggie introduced me to the amazing site of pinterest. If you haven't looked at it before, be prepared... it's completely addictive. There's so much eye candy on there I can barely handle it!! But it's so perfect for me to keep track of all my "someday I want to make this" crafts :) I can't tell you how many times I've emailed myself or sent facebook messages to myself (I'm such a loser) with web addresses for crafts I want to make. PLUS, I also have tons of random pictures on my phone and notes on scrap paper and pictures I've printed out of crafts that it's seriously overwhelming!!! So this is a great way to keep it more organized and all together :) OK, enough about that. {Sidenote: if you sign up to get a pinterest account, at first they'll send you this email that says "Sorry, we're too cool and don't have room for you". But then like a week or two later, they'll be like "Hey! You're the luckiest person ever! Come join the cool kids- you can get in now!"} {Sidenote part 2: In case any of B's friends see this and look at my pinterest, don't mention anything to Bethany about the category that's about her. And Bethany, if you read this, don't look at my pinterest. OK, I'm done.}

Onto what this post is actually about- spaghetti squash. Never did I know such a thing existed... until my sweet friend Ashley started eating that really weird paleo diet :) I still don't totally get it, and I definitely am not going to do the diet because I love sugar and carbs way too much, but she did share this amazing dinner with me. Had I not been there to see it and taste it for myself, I would never have tried it. But it was so delicious, that I went the next day to get the ingredients and made it this week. All you have to do is go get the squash (it's seriously labeled "spaghetti squash"), jab a knife in it like 20 times, stick it in the microwave for 11 minutes, let it cool, clean out the seeds, and it's ready!!! Here's a picture to give you an idea:

I may just be way behind and maybe everyone else has already tried this, but I was blown away with how easy and yummy it was!!! I just cooked up my Morningstar veggie crumbles, added the spaghetti sauce, then cleaned out the squash and poured the sauce on top! Such a simple dinner :) And, in case you are on the paleo or a low-carb diet, it's a great alternative to pasta. Give it a try!! I promise that I was skeptical at first too :)

And since I know everyone is dying to hear about my kindle experience thus far (haha), I will say that I LOVE it!!! It was so convenient to take on the trip to Coronado. I already finished my first book on it- so if anyone has a kindle and wants to borrow "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet", you're welcome to it!! Just instruct me on how exactly to lend out books to other users and you're free to have it. I obviously still have a lot to learn about it, but I'm pretty sure I can share books back and forth with other kindle users- so cool! Have a great weekend!! This is my last weekend being in my 20's, and I'm freaking out just a little :( I'm not ready to be in a new decade! Waaahhh... Who knew 30 would come so fast??

Sooo I'm a little slow on trends...

2011-02-25T13:34:00.000-08:00

I've been debating FOREVER about getting a kindle... and yesterday, I finally took the plunge and ordered one!! :) I cannot wait to get it next week!!! I realize I'm way behind on this "Kindles are cool!" trend, but I'm always that way with electronics. {I'm still trying to decide if I want to switch over from Sprint to AT&T so I can finally have an iphone hahaha}
Here are a few main reasons I'm pumped for my kindle:
1. Nick and I are going to California next weekend and then Spain in a few weeks, and I would much rather pack the tiny kindle than my big, bulky books I'm trying to finish right now.
2. I like to have about 3 books going at once, and I love that it'll be so easy to switch back and forth between books, all in the same little gadget! :)
3. Although I hate paying for books and prefer the library, at least there are a lot of books for free on kindle (most of the classics!), and books are usually cheaper if I buy the kindle version.
4. When I first got Copper, I had these wonderful visions of us going on brisk evening walks and enjoying nature together. But then I learned what it's like to have a beagle for a dog, and our walks consist more of walking 3 steps and stopping to sniff for 45 seconds, then walking 3 more steps and stopping to sniff, etc... So I've found that the perfect way for us to both enjoy our walks (and for me not to feel like yanking him down the street) is for me to read while we walk :) HOWEVER, I have had one too many embarrassing moments when I passed my neighbors and they saw this almost-30-year-old reading Harry Potter books. So I love that no one will know what I'm reading on the kindle :) And it'll be much easier to carry on my walks than big, awkward novels.

My other exciting purchase is the Ab Wheel hahaha :) I'm such a dork. One of my roommates had this back in college, and I loved it. Well, the other weekend, when we were visiting Steph at Elon, I noticed that she had one and so I thought I'd give it a try since I hadn't seen one in forever. Let's just say it was a great wake-up call to how little I've been doing for my abs lately!! I'm not expecting to get the perfect abs that I see on the front of Runner's World magazine. {Not that it would be a bad thing! It's just not very realistic :)} I just think I need to work more on strengthening my core, and I'd like to make my "softness" a little firmer. I usually try to do it when Nick's not around, because I'm still really awkward on it... but that probably won't change anyway.

Last, my bff Alli asked me to make a birthday hat for her baby boy Owen's 1st birthday party (Happy birthday, O!!!) This doesn't really have much to do with the rest of this post- except maybe that Nick and I are also really behind on the trend of having kids??? Whatev- we'll get there eventually :) Anyway, I had bought her little girl, Eliza, a fun birthday hat for her 1st birthday and Alli saw the boy version, but wanted to see if I could make it (which made me sooo excited!!!) So here's what the girl hat looked like:

Seriously, how cute is she??????

{There's a puff ball on top that matches the fluff around the rim}

And here's what I came up with for O (not-so-girly):

I would say that I hope he likes it- but I think at 1, he's probably not gonna care about anything except the cake. And then when he's old enough to have an opinion on it, I'm positive he's not gonna be OK with all the sparkly-ness happening here haha :) But it'll make for fun embarrassing pictures for his future wife to see! (Sorry, Alli if you're reading this- I know you're not ready to think about that yet!)

My Yummy Valentine

2011-02-11T13:14:00.000-08:00

OK, so apparently I have a thing for cupcakes right now. (And my expanding hips can testify to that. Dang.) I've seen a lot of "cupcakes in a jar" lately, and wanted to give it a try. So I figured Valentine's Day was the perfect excuse to whip up some of these and have the chance to remind my friends and family how much I love them and am grateful for them.

I didn't make any special recipe for the cupcakes- just a couple of boxes of strawberry cake mix :) And then I made some buttercream vanilla frosting and finally got to use my fun decorator squeezy-thing :) And, of course, no cupcake would be complete without tons of sprinkles!!!!

Here's my first batch :)

I love sprinkles!!!!

Since the jar was so tall, I stacked 2 cupcakes in it with icing in between. And then that way they can share with their Valentine... if they want to :)

Maggie's jar offered to be the model. She has a special thing for keys :)

I'm a little obsessed with burlap right now, so I used that to decorate the jar and then added some fun colorful accents. I put little gift tags on each one.
One said:
"2*14*11 Happy Day of Love!!"

The other said one of two Bible verses. Either:
"Let us not love with words or tongue, but with action and in truth."
1 John 3:18
or
"If we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us."
1 John 4:12
{I clearly am partial to that book of the Bible}
I think both of these verses are so amazing- I couldn't choose between them, so I used both! I love how the Word of God is always so refreshing and can breathe new life into me when I need it.

Then I just wrote a personal message to each person on the back of the red tag. Valentine's Day makes me so thankful and reminds me of how blessed I am to have so many amazing people who are so good at truly showing me love. Cupcakes may be a weird way of showing it, but I just had to let it out somehow!! :)

Ready to make some deliveries!

Here was another batch, before putting the cupcakes inside {the 3 on the left side were for men, so I tried to make them more "manly" by not adding the hearts on top :)}

***4 of these are in the mail right now- I can't wait to see what they look like when they arrive to their owners haha :) I'm going to have to send them a "before" picture, since I'm sure they will be a mess!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day! I'm not too big on the "cheesy-ness" associated with Valentine's Day or how commercialized it is, but I love any excuse to tell people how much they mean to me :)

World's Best Cupcake.

2011-02-10T14:33:00.000-08:00

I realize that this is a pretty big claim... but let me defend it by saying it's not my recipe :) AND, this cupcake is so amazing, that it even converted this non-lover of chocolate cake. That's right- I usually just pass on cake if chocolate is the only option- but this is seriously delicious!!!

I made these with my residents at the retirement home (so thankfully I didn't gobble down all 2 dozen by myself.) They're called chocolate and strawberry cupcakes, and here's the link.

I wish I could take credit for this picture, but I really can't :) This was from her website. My pictures never turn out this cute.

The strawberry filling is where it's at. I could have eaten it til I puked... and then I would've started eating it again, and been thankful that I had more room in my stomach. I mean heavy whipping cream, real strawberries, and sugar? REALLY? Doesn't get much better. It might change your life. (That might be going a bit far.)

MAKE THESE TODAY. I'm not kidding.

My inspiring friend

2011-02-08T05:17:00.000-08:00

I finally got to catch up tonight with my sweet friend, Jen :) She moved to Chattanooga this past May when her husband finished his first 4 years of med school at Marshall and now they're down south for his residency. Oh, how I miss her!! Jen was my very first real exposure into the world of crafting. I hope she doesn't kill me for this, but I need to show off some of her amazing creations (because she's too humble and would blow it off as if she's not incredibly talented). She's not just crafty though- she's a serious artist!!! I had to stalk facebook pictures to prove it :) I mean, really!!! Look how gorgeous her paintings are!!

This one is one of my favorites :) A Jen Fox original!

Look at that amazing picture over the mantel!!! I wish you could see the entire thing up close, because I truly can't describe how beautiful it is. I told you she was awesome! I love though that this picture shows off not only the painting, but also her cute home, her cute decorating (notice the fun festive ornaments dangling in front of us), and her cute self! (Well, some of her- she's the one in the middle with the streamer in front of her face).

Here's a picture showing why she had us all over to her house that day. She had a gingerbread house decorating party- too fun! She pre-made all the houses for us (notice the detailed shingles on the roofs!) and then provided us with tons of decorating candy!

One last one- this is when she made some of her paintings into cards and this is one of the first places that sold them!! {And for the record, I'm the one who made her pose like this and take a picture. I was so excited for her!!!}

So I think you can see how creative she is! I'm so sorry, Jen, if you're mortified by this!! I'm just in awe of your talent! :) So, that all being said, she mentioned a blog tonight that she's in love with- and I knew I had to check it out. It's called graphicsfairy.blogspot.com and it's FULL of so many great ideas!! And to make it even better, it's all free!!! Here are just a few of her ideas:

I love these DIY placemats.

And this flower bucket.

And I'm sort of obsessed with these luggage tags. One of her bloggy friends made this using an image from Graphics Fairy.

Those are just a few examples though. This website has over 1,700 images to choose from! I just need to go stock up on some transfer paper now!! Thanks for sharing, Jen! {And please don't kill me for bragging on you!}

These need to be shared...

2011-02-01T14:41:00.000-08:00

craftgawker.com is my new obsession. Maybe because it's the perfect description of me. I'm not so much the best at coming up with a new craft idea, or even at always finishing crafts that I get super excited to start- but I definitely gawk and love to admire other amazing crafters. One of my sweet youth girls, Joanna, sent me a link the other day and said it reminded her of me. It was from stumbleupon.com (which I also didn't know about until she introduced me to it and it's amazing!), and this is where it led me. (The exact link she sent me is here, and it has the all-time most favorited projects.) And now, my productivity in life is down 37% more than before, thanks to my gawking. I was gonna try to include a few of my favorite images, but I can't even decide... that's how awesome everything is (or how indecisive I am.)

Go here and vote for some really fun projects!! I almost am embarassed to even write this, but it's a contest called "Crafting with the Stars". I know- I'm dorking out. They seriously have super cute ideas though, and every week there's a new theme. Hurry and vote because the voting ends tomorrow I think.

I'm also a huge fan of Jones Design Company, and here's one of my favorite creations of hers:

I so need a print of this.

Nick may kill me for sharing this (but most of you already know), but he's working on writing a book. It's definitely far from finished, but I'm still excited about it :) He is seriously an incredible writer, and when I read or hear what he has to say, it makes me fall even more in love with my Savior. I'm tempted to keep going on and on about it, but I'll stop for now :) One of the quotes I just read in his writing the other day is by G.K. Chesterton, and I love it so much:

"If I found a key on the road, and discovered it fit and opened a particular lock at my house, I would assume most likely that the key was made by the lock maker. And if I find set of teachings set out in pre-modern oriental society that has proven itself of such universal validity that it has fascinated and satisfied millions of people in every century, including the best minds in history and the simplest hearts, that it has made itself at home in virtually every culture, inspired masterpieces of beauty in every field of art, continues to grow rapidly and spread and assert itself in lands where a century ago the name of Jesus Christ was not even heard; if such teaching so obviously fits the locks of so many human souls, in so many times and so many places, are they likely to be the work of a deceiver or a fool? In fact it is more likely that they were designed by the Heart Maker…"

Well said, G.K.

Wait... Christmas isn't in January?

2011-01-31T13:32:00.000-08:00

{First off, I have to brag on my friend Maggie, who is basically a celebrity now!!!! Mags is precious, hilarious, super smart and super creative, and she did a guest post for Tatertots and Jello!!!!! Only like THE coolest crafting blog!!! We've known for quite some time how crazy talented she is, but now the whole world knows!! :) So excited for her!! Now onto my lame post...}

I guess you could say I have trouble being "prompt" with my gift-giving. This year was especially bad because I not only decided to make our Christmas cards, but I also made several gifts (not my best decision). Next year we may just go the route of buying cards from Hallmark again- much simpler :) But the gifts have mostly been finished and given out now, so I'm happy about that! I just had my Christmas celebration with some fun girlfriends this past Thursday, and I loved that it sort of extended the holiday season :) Ashley even still had their Christmas tree up and there was snow outside, so it felt Christmas-y! Here are some of the projects (nothing impressive, mind you) I had fun creating this year:

-My friend, Kitty, made a bunch of these adorable headbands and gave them to us at a Christmas lunch. I loved the idea and since I already knew how to make the rosettes, I told her I was gonna steal the idea and I made a bunch for friends, cousins, and for the girls that Nick and I do Bible studies with at Barboursville school. {One of the younger boys even was insistent on getting a headband too, which cracked me up :) I'm not sure what he plans to do with it, but he said he wanted to send it to his sister, so whatever!}

Here's the one Kitty gave me. LOVE it!!!

And here are some of the ones I made. Awkard pose, I know.

-The memo board I made for my sister. When Mags and I were making our anthro-inspired mirrors, she had trouble with her mirror and so she turned it into a memo board. I think hers turned out even cuter than my mirror! Anyway, so I made one of these for Bethany for a Christmas gift.

-I made these letters for Cat and Steph, who are some of my ex-youth group girls who have become some of my best friends :) They're both still in college, and I thought they might like these.

(front)

(back)

*Jerica, I think I copied off of you for these! I loved the letters you made for Jaycie, and so I think when I saw these letters at HL, I decided to make some too! So thanks for the idea!

I also made some necklaces that Little Miss Momma (she's so cute) showed on her blog that were anthro-inspired. I didn't take pictures of mine (she's a way more adorable model anyway), but here's a picture of the first one:

And the second one (which I decided I like much better):

This next one is the color I made mine this color:

I'm still working on these though- I have 2 more to make- maybe in February :)

And last- here are a couple of yarn wreaths. For the record, I think I've had my fill of yarn wreaths for a while (except that I promised 2 to some friends, so I'll finish those.) It's a long story, but Maggie, Courtney and I decided to make several wreaths each for something, but then we didn't end up doing it haha :) I ended up giving a poinsettia wreath to one of Nick's sisters, Raegan. His parents were here over Thanksgiving, and so when we sent the Christmas gifts home with them, I sent Raegan the wreath so she could have it before Christmas.

Then I had this other random one that's on my door now, since we're in between holidays :)

I made a few other brooches and hair clips that I've shown on here before, and I'm still working on something for Maggie and Joy haha :) But I am getting started on a fun Valentine's day project that I'll hopefully have finished before Valentine's Day to give to some of my sweet friends (so I can't share it on here until it's finished since some of you might read this! Or maybe not- because it's dumb and boring.)

Finding love on Etsy

2011-01-14T09:49:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day is right around the corner!! :) I'm trying to start planning ahead this year, because I was so behind with all holiday stuff last year. {I may even still post pictures of our house decorated for Christmas-who knows?!? And maybe I'll do it in April. That's my style.} Anyway, I've been obsessively checking out etsy lately, and they have so many creative gift ideas for Valentine's Day!!

maybe cheesy- but I say romantic :)

This would also be such a cute wedding gift for friends! With the city they met in or if they're moving to a different city as newlyweds.

*the first three are all from palomasnest

This one I saw and couldn't help but think of my sweet friend, Anna. She's in the middle of planning her wedding, and this line is from her favorite poem (which I also love and I'm so glad she reminded me about!), and she's using it in different ways in her wedding. The poem is by e.e. cummings and is so beautiful.

*from TwigsandLace

*both from thecareerscrapper

*from MaisyandAlice

*from alexandraferguson

SO cute!! (And maybe a DIY project??)

*from hoganfe

*both from cutthecakedesigns

I'm obsessed with all the cute things in this girl's shop!!!! I especially like (and need) one of her address file boxes- but it didn't really go with the "love" theme :) This is such a cool alternative to a traditional guestbook!

*also from palomasnest
What a perfect gift for a bff- it says "You are loved"

*from SignatureBonz
Don't forget about our furry loved ones! Especially if they have as much of a passion for food as Copper does :)

*from theCopperPuppy
This specific item is already sold, but it was saved in my favorites for a long time- so I had to share it :) I'm sure they could make another one like it if anyone is interested though. I just LOVE this.

*from kikicomin
This one is definitely my favorite of all though! I love this phrase. Everyone else may read it differently, but to me, it's a great reminder that we make the choice each day to love our spouse, family, friends, enemies. I love that it's such a definite statement- not based on feelings that may be strong one day and weak the next. It's a decision and a commitment. What a beautiful thought :) I love knowing that even on my very worst days, Nick makes the choice to love me- very cool. Hope you all have a wonderful, love-filled day!!

Pay It Forward: Crafting style

2011-01-10T17:22:00.000-08:00

I noticed my friend Sarah's facebook status the other day (because I spend an embarassing amount of time on facebook some days), and I loved her idea. The status said something to the effect of: "2011 pay-it-forward challenge: The first 5 people who comment on this status, I will make something handmade for you. But then you have to turn around and post this status and make something handmade for 5 more people (tricky, right??) The only rules are that it must be handmade and it must be done before the end of 2011." I, of course, did not hesitate to sign up!!! Then I posted the status on my own facebook, and am now super excited about this project!!!

I feel like I often make crafts and then don't know what to do with them, or I find something adorably inspiring, and then realize I don't need it in my home. But now I have an excuse to do more crafting!!! {And Nick is, of course, thrilled!!! haha :)}

I knew exactly what I wanted to make for 1 of my friends, so I finished my first project this weekend for my co-worker, Debbie. Debbie is in charge of all the food stuff at Woodlands and I love talking to her about delicious new recipes one of us has tried. She's always giving me great ideas and answering my random questions, since I'm still very much a beginner level cook :) I had seen this idea a few weeks ago, and I was dying to make one!! I have one that I'm also making my friend Ashley (so I'm sorry if you're seeing this!) as a super-late Christmas gift, and I thought it would be perfect for Debbie too :) I'm not sure about anybody else, but I LOVE cute recipe cards. It bugs me to just yank out a page from a magazine or to have the recipe written on plain index cards or a scrap of paper. Somehow, it makes it more fun for me to cook when it's on a pretty recipe card :) However.... I also am a messy cook (seriously), so I almost always end up spilling something on my recipe cards. I love that this craft solves that problem!!
Here's that blogger's version:

{Love the houndstooth!!}

She gives a great step-by-step tutorial. But for a quick summary, I Mod Podged some pretty paper over an ugly plaque from Walmart. Then hot glued the paper clip on, made some fabrice roses and hot glued them on also. That's it!!
Here's how mine turned out:

I definitely recommend this for any friends who love cooking!!

{In unrelated but incredibly important news, Auburn plays for the nation title tonight!!!!!!! I'm so FREAKIN excited!!!! War Eagle!!!!}

Welcome 2011. It's good to have you :)

2011-01-07T15:09:00.000-08:00

We all have those crummy days... and yesterday just happened to be one of mine. A couple of different things happened that really made me sad. {One involved a barely-alive mouse who was suffering and needed to be put out of its misery. I know, I know- it's ridiculous. But being a former owner of numerous hamsters- my favorites being GusGus and Duncan- I have a soft spot in my heart for rodents. And he was a cute little thing. Plus, I cry sometimes just at the thought of an animal suffering- so this wasn't good.) The other "occurrence" was something I had to do that required me to dig up a lot of buried, unpleasant memories and feelings from years ago.

2005 was, without a doubt, the hardest, most painful year of my life. There's no need to go into any details- I know that everyone has had terrible things that they've gone through- many I'm sure that were much worse than mine. So I don't want to make this a pity party. But anytime I think back on that year, I can just feel the sadness, depression, betrayal, lonliness that I experienced. But in the same breath, I can also say that it was the most wonderful year of growing with my Savior. Even though I felt hopeless and worthless and disappointment in some of my relationships, I knew I was loved and being carried through it all by my Jesus. I remember thinking that I would never fully heal, and I would never be the same person that I had been before. But it's amazing how God can mend a broken heart and bring about His plans to be even better than what I had planned for myself.

Coming into 2011, it's almost like that time in my life is a bizarre dream- like I can't believe it really happened. The heaviness I felt has been completely lifted, and I truly feel like He's redeemed my whole "story". I know there will be more heartache to come in my future, but I also know He has countless blessings to come as well. I can't wait to see what 2011 has in store for Nick and me :)
*{And hopefully it will involve a lot more sewing, more frequently cooking, running more miles, being more organized, and being more deliberate about quiet time. Just in case you were expecting this to be about resolutions, I decided to slip those in :) Those are just a few of the things I'd like to work on in the coming year!}

Homemade Christmas Cards :)

2010-12-24T10:21:00.000-08:00

I have been a crappy blogger since Thanksgiving- and now I'm putting up 2 posts in 1 day. But hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things after Christmas! I think my time has mostly been taken up with making our Christmas cards this year haha :) I saw a cute idea on flickr and tried to make a similar version, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It was just a little more time-consuming than I expected though! I think I ended up making around 45 total. Here are the cards I found and LOVED:

And here's how mine turned out:

I hate how the pictures turned out so grainy, but I was pretty happy with how the actual cards looked :) Not as fancy as the ones I copied, but I still liked them. I'm gonna try to get some better pictures to post on here.

And here's what the backside said:

It just took me forever to decide on which quote to use on the cards! I probably could have started about a month earlier if I would've made up my mind sooner :) In case it's too hard to read, it says:

"The Son of God became a man, that men could become the sons of God. {C.S. Lewis}

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas and New Year!! Hoping that the peace and love of our

Savior will be a constant presence in your life in the coming year.

Much Love, Nick, Joy, and Copper Haser"

I do love C.S. Lewis :) Merry Christmas!!!!

Incredibly belated Thanksgiving post

2010-12-24T09:51:00.000-08:00

I finally finished paying off my student loan yesterday!!!! :) What a great feeling!! Take that, Sallie Mae!!! So I'm pumped to mark that off my 101 list.

{I wrote this 3 weeks ago, but am just now posting it- whoops.}
Thanksgiving was awesome. Nick's parents came in Wednesday night and left early on Sunday. That maybe would be stressful for most people, but I seriously have amazing in-laws, and the time went by way too fast. They took us to dinner on Wednesday, and then his mom was so helpful all day on Thursday while I was cooking. {Plus, she brought THE MOST amazing cornbread for dinner!!!!!! I like just about any cornbread and usually can't tell much of a difference- but this was incredible!!! One of her friends in Memphis got it from her nanny that raised her- so it's some true southern cornbread. I'll have to post the recipe on here. It really is worth it to make it from scratch!!}
Anyway, she cleaned up the dishes the whole time while I cooked, and then she and my mom took care of everyone's plates after dinner. Then we did some shopping on Friday and watched the Auburn game (War eagle!!) Saturday I got to see one of my bffs Lindsay and she went to lunch with Betty (Nick's mom) and me. Then we went to dinner on Saturday night to Frankie D's, and then said goodbye on Sunday morning.
Here are a few pictures from the Thanksgiving festivities:

{This is my attempt to recreate the garland I was crushing on here and that I mentioned on my last post}

{Please ignore the terrible looking kitchen chairs. I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with them- either stain them darker, or use this next picture as an inspiration}

{I believe this is a picture from Martha Stewart. I love that color for the chairs!! Hopefully I'll spruce ours up to look like that soon.}

Here's a picture of everyone together. Just wish my Poppi had been feeling better and made it.

And here's our little family :)

I wrote this post about 3 weeks ago, and just never published it. So it's much more fitting now to wish you a merry Christmas than to say that I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving :)

Thanksgiving inspiration

2010-11-15T13:08:00.000-08:00

Nick's parents are coming here for Thanksgiving, and I'm SOOO excited!!! His parents are really the most wonderful in-laws a girl could ever ask for. They've truly been nothing but a blessing from the beginning, and I'm so excited that we'll get to spend several days with them in just a week and a half!! :) That being said, I need to get my butt in gear and start buying all the food (because we're also hosting my parents, my Poppi, and my sister and brother-in-law, meaning 9 people total!), AND I need to start making the house look festive!! I know I don't "have" to do this- they'd be so sweet and appreciative even if the house was all cluttered up (as it usually is). But I would like to add some fun little touches to make it feel "home-y" and special. Here's one of my FAVORITE Thanksgiving ideas from Friday's child:

How adorable is that??? She used it for a fall baby shower :) I could never have come up with something so cute!

I also would like to paint our huge living room area before they come, and do some sort of painting or staining to our table before they get here next Wednesday... not to mention about a hundred other little projects I'd like to attempt before then :) So we'll see what actually gets done!! Oh, and I'm also working on homemade Christmas cards this year- about 50 of them. Geez louise. Why did I not start some of this back in July???

Modern twist on a message in a bottle

2010-11-10T08:39:00.000-08:00

I've been a terrible blogger this week (meaning a non-existent blogger), because things have been a bit hectic. I've been trying to get some crafts finished and things ready for Nick's parents to come in town for Thanksgiving (can't wait!)
But I did have 1 cute craft to share, that I first was inspired by here. A totally adorable website called Ruffled had a DIY contest, and there were some seriously creative and beautiful ideas that people entered. This one, called "Unraveling a Letter" I totally loved, and wanted to recreate. Here are pictures of theirs:

One of my sweet friends, Stephanie, is off at Elon for college, and her bday is coming up. Despite the fact that there are nearly 10 years between us, she's one of my best friends, and one of the most fun girls that ever lived. She used to be one of our youth group kids at First Pres, and she calls Nick and me "momma and poppa bear" :) I remember how much I loved getting care packages when I was off at college (and sadly I haven't been the best at sending them to Steph). But I wanted to put some things together to send her for her birthday, and I was trying to figure out one more cute thing to include. And this craft was it! :) I loved the idea, and I'm so glad they shared it on the website! Here's how mine turned out:
Just cut your fabric to fit the spool:

Stamp the letters of your message:

Glue it to the spool:

And wrap 'er up!

So simple!! I think it will be the perfect addition to her care package! :) I like to think of it as a cuter version of a message in a bottle :)

Yay for "hump day"!! And yay for Nick and me traveling to the Auburn game this weekend- aaahhh!! Can't wait!! :) Gooo Tigers!!!!

I whip my hair back and forth

2010-10-29T07:14:00.000-07:00

Since Amanda is my model for this accessory anyway, I figured I would dedicate this whole post to her by naming it after her favorite song :) I was attempting some new flowers to put on my yarn wreath the other day, and when she saw one of them, she tried it in her hair and asked if I could make her one. It looked seriously cute, plus I still owe her some birthday love, so I whipped this little number up. I love this fall color, and I love how it looks in her dark hair!!

{She was chatting on her phone :)}

I'll post the new wreaths with these flowers after I finish them! :)

{On a totally different subject, I'm going to my first NBA game tonight in Charlotte and I can't wait!! That means I can mark one more thing off my 101 list! Yesss!! :)}

Little Miss Momma

2010-10-28T12:23:00.000-07:00

No, this is not my way of announcing that we have a wee one on the way :) This is the title of the new blog crush that I found today, thanks to stalking Tatertots and Jello- one of my faves :) Her name is Ashley and her blog is Little Miss Momma. Here's the new project I'm now obsessed with:

How cool is this victorian cuff????

She gives a tutorial for how to make it, so I may have to give it a go :) If it doesn't work out though, she has them for sale in her etsy store- so at least I have that to fall back on! Maybe Christmas gifts? She has some other SUPER cute things in here store:

These pillows are some of my other favorites! They'd go with so many different colors and fabrics.

She has a ton of cute rings too- but this one is my favorite, and is sadly sold out. Hopefully she'll have some more like this one! I love all her stuff!!

Bye Bye, Miss American Pie

2010-10-25T05:04:00.000-07:00

OK, so I must admit that I never understood what this song was talking about. It was too long for me to pay attention to all the lyrics... but the chorus is mighty catchy :) I HAVE to share with everyone the most A-ma-zing apple pie recipe that we made during our Cooking activity last week at my work :) I've never been a huge apple pie fan even- but October is apparently "apple month" (although I would argue that it's more "pumpkin month"), so we thought a homemade apple pie would be a great recipe. I usually don't like all the cinnamon-y taste in apple pie, but this has zero cinnamon- and I love it!!

I've always been intimidated thinking about making fruit pies- and now I have no idea why!! The only thing remotely difficult about this recipe was peeling the apples- and that was only because it's time consuming, not actually challenging. Here's the recipe I got from allrecipes.com. It's called Grandma Ople's Apple Pie.
{I always check the ratings on websites before I waste my time making something, and this one had a full 5 stars from over 3,000 voters. Pretty impressive- and totally deserving!! You can go here if you want to check it out for yourself.}

Ingredients
1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored

Directions
*Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.

*Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work of crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.

*Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.

That's it!! My only pieces of advice would be:
a.) Place the pie pan on a cookie sheet, so it can catch all the gooey stuff that runs over the sides.
b.) It may be possible to make this just a regular pie crust topping, but I would recommend making it lattice. The picture on the website had a lattice work top, so that's what we did. And since you just drizzle all the deliciousness on top of the crust, it works best I'm sure if the gooey flavors can seep down through the cracks in the lattice strips. {Here's a simple step-by-step with helpful pictures that we used for how to do the lattice- since we were inexperienced :)}

Here's a picture of our masterpiece!

I told my family I'm going to have to make this for them this week! Grandma Ople, whoever you are, I'm so grateful that you shared this recipe with the world!! (I can now check #1 off my 101 list!)

floating flower vase

2010-10-22T11:17:00.000-07:00

So I saw this first on a website cupcakesandcashmere.com and NEEDED to make my own :)

It's time for me to branch out from all the wreath making, and this was another cute thing to take up some wall space. Not to mention a super cheap project! {Except that I now may feel like I constantly need to buy flowers to put in it...} Anyway, the only supplies I needed were:

*a small piece of wood (the guys at Lowe's seemed a little confused)
*some white paint and a paint brush
*some wire
*an empty glass jar (I used one that used to be home to some green olives- yum!)
*a drill

It's pretty self explanatory, but I just painted the wood, drilled 2 holes in the top and 2 next to the jar (Nick actually did this part- even though I was totally willing to do it), wrap some wire around the glass jar, wrap some wire at the top to hang it, and then add flowers! Couldn't be easier!! And I love walking in the front door to this! :)

I'm definitely jealous of the sweet peas and wish they were in season right now, but I love the purple and yellow together! :) Can't hardly wait for peonies and hydrangeas to be in season again- aaaahh!!

Party like it's 1970!

2010-10-21T12:35:00.000-07:00

My dad's 40th high school reunion was the first weekend in October (yay!!) Dad was one of the committee members, and about 2 months ago when he was talking about it, I somehow offered to do the catering for the casual sock hop on Friday night and then to do the decorating for the formal night... and even worse, I also volunteered the services of my sweet friend, Maggie!!!! (Mags, I still want to apologize for getting you mixed up in the craziness! I don't know what got into me!! Maybe because, deep down, I want us to be able to start our own business and call it "Oops I craft my pants" and for people to be lining up down the block to buy whatever random craft we feel like making that day! Whew- that was a long sentence!) Well, I somehow thought it was going to be super simple- and boy, was I wrong!!! I can't even say how many hours I actually spent on it- and the last 4 days before the actual event, I didn't have time for anything except work and then reunion planning.

Part of me wanted to do it because Huntington East High shut down in 1996 and consolidated with its rival school, Huntington High the next school year. So I got to go to HEHS for 1 year, my freshman year- the last year its doors were open. I thought it was a great idea that the reunion committee wanted to have a sock hop in the school's gym, just like they did when they were in school. The building is now used for the Board of Education, but the gym was in terrible condition just a few weeks ago. I really didn't think they were going to get it cleaned up in time- but it worked out :) There were still hundreds of boxes stacked up in the bleachers, but I couldn't even believe it was the same place that I had seen just 5 weeks before!

We didn't have much of a budget to work with ($700 total- for food and decorations), so we had to be a little creative. It was also a little tricky since their colors were maroon and gold- not easy colors to find decorations in! But we made it work. Thankfully, our sweet friend, Courtney, let us borrow the cute lanterns that she used at her wedding as centerpieces on the tables- which saved us a ton of money! So we just had to buy candles and then put a ribbon around each lantern for the formal dinner on Saturday. One of my residents at Woodlands Retirement home had been a teacher at HEHS {and actually had both my mom and dad in class :)}, and she mentioned that she had a bunch of the old yearbooks. So she let us borrow all the yearbooks that were the years my dad and his classmates were there for the memorabilia table. {sidenote: one of the committee members always had some especially interesting comments and input. He kept suggesting that we needed to put a chain through the middle of each of the yearbooks and bolt them down to the floor so they didn't get stolen. He also wore safety goggles to one of the committee meetings though.} We tried to find some of the old uniforms to put on display {and the committee really wanted Mags and me to wear some if we could find any cheerleading or majorette uniforms haha :)}, but didn't have much luck. They did find someone for Saturday night to play the bagpipes though- which I thought was so cool!! (Their mascot was a highlander.) I think, all things considered, that it went really well and was a success!! It was a fun experience, but I think it's a little too much on top of a full time job :)

The menu had to stay casual, because they had just advertised it as refreshments, not a full dinner. They requested that we have Stewart's Original Hot Dogs as one of the items, so that was easy enough! Stewart's is a local old-fashioned hot dog stand where several of the people had worked in high school, and everyone in that generation loves Stewart's. We just stuck with appetizers/finger food for the rest of the menu.

So here's what we served:
-fruit on a skewer
-veggies and dip
-guacamole salad
-ham and turkey spirals
-Stewart's hot dogs
-pumpkin brownie bites
-cinnamon bun popcorn

Here are a few pics!

{These first pictures are from the Friday informal night}

{The red cabbage wreath I made for the fruit skewers- thanks to Kim Wilson for this idea!}

{Love these letters!! I hate how everything looks with all the boxes in the background, but we couldn't really do much about that :)}

{Somebody else put up the lights- but I loved them!}

{My favorite details- thanks to Mags! She freestyle painted these. How cute are these??}

{Since we didn't have much money for decorations for the sock hop, we made a bunch of these baby pumpkins for the tables}

{Mags- hard at work. Drew- chowing down on popcorn :) Nick even helped carve the pumpkins- but didn't want to be associated with crafting}

{We made tissue puff balls with ribbons and used Chinese lanterns to hang from the ceiling for the Saturday night dinner and dance}

{I'm sad I didn't take any close ups of the cute puff balls! But here's what the room basically looked like}

{This last one one is a bit weird looking, so I should probably explain :) The tradition at East was that at the football games, girls would wear a big yellow mum with "HEHS" made out of pipe cleaners. So the committee wanted us to recreate that. I wish my crappy camera took better pictures and actually captured detail :/}

The great news is that Maggie and I thought this was just volunteering, but we ended up getting paid!! What a good surprise! :)

Perfect Autumn Wreath

2010-10-14T16:33:00.000-07:00

I finished my (187th) wreath!!! I realize I've gone a bit overboard with wreaths lately, but this one was too perfect for fall to not make it. Here are the 2 pictures I was going by:

{from marthastewart.com}

{from thenester.com}

I LOVE how both of these turned out- so I sort of mixed both of their methods to make my own. Martha (or a Martha staffer, I should say) used real cornhusks, and "the nester" used wide raffia paper to create a similar effect. I went with the raffia paper since it would be easier and may stay better in the long run. I loved the business of Martha's- it had 5 or 6 rows, and the other had 3 rows. So I cut my raffia in thinner strips, and did 5 rows around. I used U-pins for some of it, and hot glue for some of it. Both methods worked really well. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! :)

{I couldn't find raffia at any of the THREE craft stores I went to- so I had to order it in bulk (look how huge this roll is!!) I think I have enough for make about 237 wreaths! :)}

{After unrolling the raffia rope, this is what it looks like. And then you cut it into thirds, so it goes from this...}

{To these!}

{All done!}

All I need now is a ribbon (I'm thinking sage green?) to hang it, and a perfect place on the wall! :) I obviously haven't put it up yet, but I'll post a picture when I do!

Obsessed about reading

2010-10-05T06:58:00.000-07:00

I have a tendency in life to overcommit to things and to underestimate how long something is actually going to take :) {My husband would be happy to give about 2,000 examples of this I'm sure.} And even though I'm maybe the world's slowest reader (and am fully aware of this fact), I still try to read several books at once, while still adding more and more books on my "Hope to Read Soon" list. Sometimes I just wish I could call off of work (and all other activities for that matter) and just stay home and read all day! At the moment the list of books I'm reading includes:

{This one is quite an undertaking in itself with

970 pages. Oh, and it has a sequel too.}

{I understand if you want to make fun of this last one.

I, too, was skeptical, but then had a friend, Marla, from

church (who I totally respect/am in awe of her love for

reading and ability to analyze books) who convinced me

J.K. Rowlins' writing is worth reading. Marla is so cute-

she reads all 7 books each year, starting on Halloween :)

I'm only on book 3, but I'm loving them!!!}

Now for my "Future Readings" list (mostly so I don't forget these, and because I love making lists on post-it notes, but then I lose them):

{I've heard super cool things about this book and about

the preacher who wrote it. He's the real deal.}

And I don't have an image of this last one, but there's a book called "The Branches" by an amazing first-time author, Joy W. Callaway that I CANNOT wait to read!! I got a little sneak preview of it this weekend of the first 10-11 pages, and I can't wait until I get to read the whole thing!! Keep your eye out for the novel, because I'm sure it's going to be on the shelf of all the book stores SOON!! :)

And I'm sure next time I walk through Border's, I'll find about 5 or 6 more to add to this list. As you can see, I'm always open for new suggestions if anyone has any "must read" books!!

Pinecone wreath= not the success I was hoping for

2010-10-04T14:20:00.000-07:00

So, back a few months ago, I found an old Southern Living magazine (we're talking "so-old-I-have-no-idea-how-we-still-have-it"old... 2007). And while I was flipping through, I snapped a couple of pictures with my phone of pages that had decorating ideas that I loved. One of them was this pic from a Kirkland's ad that was a pinecone wreath:

As you can tell, when I was going back through my phone pictures and stumbled across this a couple of weeks ago, it was a little too blurry to see the details, and I couldn't really remember what it looked like. But I decided that since I loved it so much, and since I had the general idea of what I needed to do, I was going to make my own version of this wreath... and here it is.

I just cut out some cardboard in a square shape, and then cut a square out of the middle also. Then I painted the cardboard and hot glued the baby pinecones on. Super easy project.

Sadly, after I finished my wreath, I went back last week and searched for the Southern Living and found the ad again. I wanted to see how my wreath turned out in comparison to the original. Bad idea. I wasn't super thrilled with my pinecone wreath anyway, but I was fine with it. Then when I found the original picture and COULD see all the details (why didn't I try to do that earlier- before I made the dumb thing???), I realized that mine is not even close to the Kirkland's wreath :( Here's a more clear picture from my camera- of what my inspiration was. And you can actually see the details:

I love that they used different sizes and colors of cones and that they're all laying in different directions. Way cooler than my boring one! Oh well. I'm not gonna throw mine out... but it's made me realize how far I have to go before I'm at Martha Stewart's level :)

Finished Anthropologie-inspired mirror!

2010-09-17T05:33:00.000-07:00

Well, mine's still not as impressive as these little beauties by Anthropologie...

But the $498 price tag on the Anthro mirror (now on sale for $299) made that one a little unrealistic for me personally :) So here's my version thanks to this tutorial!!

{Btw, it's seriously difficult to take a good picture of a mirror. So these are the best I could do!}

Nick's a crafter too! Actually, he just had to help me get all the nails off my antique mirror.

Maggie showing off her mirror before we started! Sadly, this mirror was cracked a little while later :( We've since replaced the mirror part, but it still didn't respond quite right to the oven cleaner. But her frame looks fab, whether she ends up putting a mirror in the middle or not!!

Things got messy!

*If anyone tries this, be sure and cover all surface areas!! It just happens that I'm going to paint our table and chairs anyway, so it didn't matter too much if a little nastiness got on our table.

Here's Maggie ModPodging away! Loved her fabric!!

TA DA!!! :)

It really was not as challenging as I thought it would be! I picked up an older mirror at an antique store for $20, and it had a lot of age spots already that really added to what I was going for. Then I got my fabric for about $8, and a little bottle of ModPodge for $4 and, voila!! Here's my $32 mirror! This is my favorite project so far!!!

I also finished my yarn wreath to put on our front door and show some team spirit! War Eagle!!! I know I didn't go to Auburn, but Nick's love for the Tigers has majorly rubbed off on me, and I get so pumped every football season now. I still love my Herd, but the Tigers have grown on me too :)
Here's my finished wreath:

Now I have some new projects I'm obsessed with finishing :) Here's a few of them:

L.O.V.E. this fall wreath!!! {the whole mantel really}

These Valentino-inspired heels from madebylex.com are gorgeous!

Could these be any cuter??? And they're not even on the adorable baby's feet yet!!

AND... of course, you can never have enough wreaths!!! :)

Things I (selfishly) want right now...

2010-09-03T13:11:00.000-07:00

(For watermelon to be around all year long)

(These stinkin' adorable boots!! AND- they're under $22!)

(For our cute new home to unpack itself)

(I've been going CRAZY since the finale of GG when Serena wore this necklace... and I finally found out where it's from, and it's a one-of-a-kind, unimaginably-out-of-my-price-range necklace. So sad)

(I also would love this dress {which is over $900}... oh, and I wouldn't mind looking like this in the dress either.)

(Since I was googling "Gossip Girl Serena's necklace", I figured I may as well go ahead and include other pieces of her jewelry that I'd be willing to shove her down and punch her for. Seriously!! I love all the stuff she wears on this dumb show!)

(For a new, really nice camera... to use for future important moments)

(For a solution to the problem with moths and sweaters- and one that doesn't involve the smell of moth balls)

(This shirt that Kristen Bell wears in "When in Rome")

(For Michael Scott not to leave "the Office")

(For something meatless to taste as good as a Chick-fil-A sandwich)

(So I know I'm incredibly behind on this trend, but I didn't like it until now. As of last week, I love the thick belts around the waist)

(For Marshall to beat the crap out of WVU next week)

Now onto some crafts I want to make in the near future for our home...

(And I saved the best for last...)

(LOVE THIS!!! This girl at flamingotoes.com fell in love with a mirror from Anthropologie that cost an outrageous $498!!!! So she decided to make one herself, and it looks as good as the Anthropologie one!! This girl has a lot of great tutorials {and anthro-inspired crafts}- so check it out! I've become a semi-stalker for the last few weeks.)

Movin' On Up!

2010-09-01T13:28:00.000-07:00

Nick and I are finally moving into a house!!! We're so excited- the house has amazing porch space for grilling out and entertaining and a great side yard that Copper couldn't be happier about. The owners, Mandy and Stephen Balevic, lived in it while Stephen was doing his first 4 years of med school at MU. Now they're in Charleston, SC (I know- poor things, huh? haha) and it worked out perfect for us to start renting from them!! I can't wait to get in and make it our own place, which I didn't feel like we could do in the townhouse. {Mandy, if you read this, don't worry- I'm not going to do anything too crazy and decrease the value of your wonderful house! :) } I can't wait to just be able to pick out our own paint and plant some flowers and veggies!!

We're also in desperate need of some bedroom furniture. Notice I did not say "new" bedroom furniture- just bedroom furniture *period*!! We somehow have made it through 3 years of marriage WITHOUT buying any chests or actual bed frames for the master or guest bedroom!!! How, you may ask??? I'm not totally sure. We did have a huge closet at the townhouse...
{Exhibit A}

But I still couldn't figure out why our clothes were overflowing, and I even had most of Nick's clothing folded and put in our bathroom closet!! (I know- it sounds a little cruel- but he'd honestly prefer them just all over the floor anyway.) And then one day, I suddenly had a genius moment when I realized, "Wait a minute... all growing up I had drawers that I kept my clothes in, in addition to my closet!!" (Not my proudest moment.) So we've been looking around to find some bedroom furniture that we liked, and we just figured we'd wait til we moved so we didn't have to move it to the townhouse, and THEN to the house. We also need some actual bed frames and headboards... since I'm ashamed to say our guest bed actually sits on the floor. (I know, it's a shame- Nick and I are still working into the whole "adult" thing.) I'm sure we'll just get something normal and typical, but there are some headboards I've seen on tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com and flickr that I think are amazing!!! :) Here are several of my faves:

(This one's a bit much for me, but super fun and creative!)

My favorites are the first 3, but all of these are incredible!! The last one may not be very exciting, but the whole room looks so beautiful and just goes together so perfectly! I could never imagine the Hasers having a house like this, but it's fun to pretend!! :)

Does this make my thumb look green?

2010-08-24T06:13:00.000-07:00

Since I'm not gifted at all in the gardening department (although that's been a bit difficult since our townhouse has no room for gardening anyway), this is my version of how to make flowers grow :) I've already posted the picture on here, but my flower pin finally made its debut the other day and it went perfectly with one of my black dresses! I wasn't sure what exactly to do with it, but I thought it went great with this satin dress. So until I find my green thumb, this will have to do!! And at least it won't wilt! (Sorry it's blurry- it's from my phone. It's also a super awkward position to take the picture from- but I was too embarassed to ask anyone else at work to take it!)

"Baxter, you know I don't speak Spanish"

2010-08-19T14:11:00.000-07:00

I'm SUPER excited for several fun trips coming up in the next 6 months or so!! One thing I worry about when "baby time" comes is that our travel time will be no more. So I feel like I'm trying to cram in as much traveling as possible. That being said, here are some of the great trips already planned:

~In September, we're going with some friends white water rafting!! It's Nick's first time, and I haven't been since 11th grade- plus, the friends who are going are super fun :) (This isn't really much of a "trip" I realize since it's still WV- but exciting nonetheless!)
~In October, we have some great friends getting married in Atlanta, which will definitely be a great party. And it'll be my first time to stay in Atlanta for longer than a day.
~In November, we're going to a home Auburn game, and I CANNOT wait!!! I fell IN LOVE with Auburn football at my first game back in 2006, so I've been dying to get back there for another game. And to make it even better, it's the game against UGA and several of Nick's best friends are traveling to be there too :)
~Then in March, the NAPA rewards trip is sending us to Coronado in California- and I've wanted to go there for several years!! These trips are one of the main reasons I love NAPA Auto Parts :)
~And last, and most exciting: SPAIN!!!! Nick and I are going in March for our "last big trip before baby" to a few cities in Spain!! We're staying the first part of the trip on the island of Majorca (Mallorca), then coming back for the last half and hitting Madrid, Tarragona, and Barcelona, and Nick's going to fish the Ebro River (thanks to all the "River Monsters" episodes he's watched lately.) We originally planned on going to Greece, but for some reason decided on Spain instead. I should probably start studying up on the sites and learning a few words before we go!! I guess it would've been more beneficial for me to have taken 6 semesters of Spanish instead of French, huh? :)

Some highlights from day 1096

2010-08-13T10:22:00.000-07:00

Nick and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary on Wednesday :) So I had to share a few of my favorite pictures from August 11, 2007. It was the best day ever!!!

{For the record, these are good tears, not sad tears}

We had such a fun party :) Love these of all our friends celebrating!!

I know I already made a list of my favorite random things about Nick, but my very favorite thing hands down is his love and passion for his Savior. When I hear him talk about it, I'm inspired and I fall even more in love with my Lord. Even after almost 5 years of listening him talk with the youth group and Barboursville school kids, it still almost always brings me to tears when he does a lesson and tells them about Jesus. His understanding of the Gospel and his desire to share it with others is amazing and beautiful. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with the blessing that God chose to let me be the one by his side, to serve with him, for the rest of our lives.

I'm so thankful I get to be his wife. I know marriage takes work, but it hardly seems like it with Nick. He is so slow to anger, and quick to forgive. He's always ready to make life fun and reminds me to forget worrying about the little things. He's so gracious toward others, and is constantly filling me with encouragement and kind words and compliments. His disposition and personality make him so fun to be married to. I wish I was better with words- I feel like a 5-year-old wrote this :) Here's just a few of my favorite things about our anniversary:

~When I left for work in the morning (long after Nick had already gone), the inside of my car was full of red hearts he had cut out and taped all around :) I was wondering why the red Christmas wrapping paper was sitting on our dining room table... and this was the answer to my question.

~The card he gave me had a mermaid and lots of little sea creatures on it, and was for a little girl's 6th birthday. But he crossed out and added his own words, and (my favorite part) made conversation bubbles for all the cartoon animals :) I love getting cards from him that are not for the appropriate occasion.

~We ate at Rocco's (which I could write an entire blog about how amazing that was, but I'll just sum it up by saying UNBELIEVABLE), and Nick was feeling pretty good by the time we left. I'd like to point out that he only had ONE glass of wine, and I ended up having to drive home. Seriously, 1 glass of Lambrusco, and he was, what we might call, tipsy. Here's what he started talking about on the way to the car: "Things that I love: Joy, Jesus, my nose hair trimmer.." Really? Nose hair trimmer is #3 in things you love? :)

~On the drive home, still feeling the wine of course, we're riding with the windows down and he decides it's a good idea to take his shirt off for the rest of the trip. He explains by saying, "It's West Virginia. Isn't this what they do?" So I guess WV is known for driving around sans clothing. So for the 20-minute car ride home, I couldn't help smiling as he kept leaning out the car, loudly singing along with Fiona Apple's "Criminal" and Akon's "I wanna make up right now na na", among a few others :) I sure do love that man.

Even though we had some crazy storms that flooded many streets in Huntington and our power was out until the next day (don't worry- I showered and got ready at the Y), the power outage actually made it an even nicer evening- no distractions like the computer or TV and candles lit all over the house :) It was a perfect night!!

So cute!!

2010-08-06T13:37:00.000-07:00

My friend Maggie has been super inspiring on cute crafts lately!! Last Wednesday, we got together with another friend, Jess Poole, and made these adorable flower pins that we had seen on another blog- madebylex.com. (Let's just say that I ended up staying for 4 HOURS!!! With me being a super slowpoke crafter + being with really fun friends= not getting projects finished in a timely manner!!) Anyway, I'm seriously obsessed with this blogger's creations, fashion, and overall cuteness! Here's the original flower pin:

And here's how mine turned out (sadly, I didn't get a picture of Maggie's or Jess' pins- but theirs were even cuter!):

I do love these colors for fall!

The next project we want to tackle is a yarn wreath, which I think will be PERFECT for fall!! Maggie found some great example ones on etsy, and then a tutorial from this new blogger, who I now have a blog crush on.
Here's her tutorial and wreath:

And here's another cute wreath Mags found:

My wedding is definitely way past (3 years next week actually!), but I'm IN LOVE with these amazing invitations that this girl designed. Do you think maybe Nick and I should have a renewing of the vows this year- so I could use these? :)

One last future project I want to create- I think these would be such cute, personal wedding gifts :) And since we have 10 weddings this year (10 in '10!!), I'd have plenty of opportunity to give this a try!! If I ever get around to making one, I'll post it (sidenote: This seller is asking $60 a piece for these- crazy!!)

Happy Friday!!

Life at these (not-so-fast) speeds

2010-08-02T13:25:00.000-07:00

Back way too long ago, when I was a soph or jr. in college (around '01, folks- we're seriously going back far), I decided to go out and try to break 20 minutes in a 5k. I had just started getting back into running on my own, after taking a few months of due to injury. After running XC my freshman year at Covenant, I came back thinking I'd run for Marshall starting sophomore year. But after putting in way too many miles and overtraining that summer, I got injured and have basically battled injuries on and off ever since then. So I can't remember if this was right after coming back from my IT band injury or right after the summer I had a stress fracture in my shin, but I got back into my routine of running for several weeks and decided to try a sub-20-minute 5k... and I ran a 20:02. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it was heartbreaking. After that race, I got so discouraged (and I'm such a headcase about running anyway) that I didn't run a 5k race for a few years after that. I ran other distances, but stayed away from competing in a 5k. Stupid- I know. But I figured that by not putting myself out there and trying, then I was saving myself disappointment because then I couldn't fail again.

With that being said, I'm now far from being able to run a sub-20 minute 5k haha :) But I do have a new goal. Back in May a friend at work asked me to run a 5k for a charity she's involved with, so I agreed, even though I knew it wouldn't be pretty. I ran it in about 22:35 and wasn't too upset about that time since I hadn't been ready whatsoever for actually "racing". So the following weekend my favorite charity, Little Victories, put on their 5k, and I decided I wanted to break 22 minutes. I ran a 21:57- just barely made it!! The official clock said I ran a 21:27, and I wish I could say that was my true time! But something must have gotten screwed up with their timer because my personal watch did not agree, and I heard some other runners say the same. I realize these aren't at all record breaking times, but I was pleased- since I seriously never do speed workouts. Wait- maybe twice a year I do. But basically never.

So now I'm setting a goal to run in the low 21's. I'm definitely gonna have to get in better speed shape, but it's a time I think I'd be happy with at this point in my life. I wish I was still on a team where I didn't have a choice but to do the workouts that the coach made me do. But I'm apparently gonna have to find my own motivation and push myself :) I've been going to a spinning class at the Y the last several weeks- and man, that kicks my butt. It's a totally different workout than just going out and enjoying a run. I leave those classes a little woozy and sick, and my legs feel like jell-o. So I'm hoping maybe that will translate over and help improve my speed in running some too.

My 1 other goal is to either run a better marathon time, or run a good half marathon. Nick had planned on doing NYC this year and I thought about trying it again by entering to run for a charity. But with his knee surgery taking longer than expected to heal :(, he's decided to wait til 2011. So I was thinking about doing San Antonio on November 14- but now we're thinking about heading to the Auburn/Georgia game that weekend (yay!!!) So if that ends up the plan, then I'm gonna run the Marshall University half marathon right here in Huntington November 7 and try for a 1:45 time. They also have a full marathon that day- but since there are less than 500 people who do the full and maybe 50 people cheering along the way, then I feel like it's basically the same as if I'd go out and run 26.2 miles by myself one random day. I'd rather wait and do a big race with lots of people cheering you on for a full marathon. Anyway, so I may just wait til next November and do NYC again with Nick. It throws things off a little since we've been tossing around the idea of trying to get pregnant next spring/summer (I can't even talk about this)- but we may just need to bump it back a few more months :) I just need to improve on my sad time that I ran in my first full marathon. I'm just still bummed out that I had trained so hard and had trained to run a 3:45-3:50 and should have been able to do it, and then things just got a little screwed up with my leg 2 weeks before. And I think since I had wanted to run a marathon since I was 18, I had it in my head that it was going to be impossible. But now that I see I can do it, I feel like I'll be able to shave off a big chunk of time. I will admit that the thought of all those long runs by myself again depresses me a bit lol :) I LOVE to run, but after about the 2 hour mark, it's not very fun anymore and my body starts to hate me. I'd love it if there was a group here to train with, but that sadly is not the case. So I guess I'm just gonna have to get stronger mentally and get out there on my own!! Just wanted to write down the reasons for some of my recently added goals on my 101 list.

"All I do is win"- would not be on the soundtrack of my life this week

2010-07-23T14:21:00.000-07:00

This week I've had a few "Wow, I'm such a lame-o" moments :) But it's always fun to look back and laugh!!
1. I was making fried green tomatoes for the residents at work, and the oil got too hot and not only splattered up and burned my arm all over, but I set off the smoke alarm and the fire department had to come up. Oh- and this is the second year in a row this has happened. Awesome.
2. Checking out at Kroger, I dropped an entire container of blueberries on the floor. And not just one of the small containers- a huge one. (I blame it on USWeekly for having a picture of the Bachelorette, Ally, and Frank on the front, and telling about his girlfriend. I was so flustered!! I did not want to know that information! I've avoided all gossip magazines for the very reason that I did not want ANY surprises on the show to be ruined- and then they just bombarded me with that on their front cover!)
3. My sewing skills are disgraceful. I understand it takes some time and practice... but really? I can't even sew a straight line? If patterns were supposed to be zig zags, I'd be a natural. I'm trying to make an ADORABLE dress for one of my bffs Ashlea whose little girl is now a week past her due date. I really want to have something to send her when Adisyn (finally) gets here, but it may be a couple of weeks late sadly. If I ever complete it, you better believe I'm posting it on here because it'll be big friggin' accomplishment!!

On to happier topics!! One of my next projects is this lovely little piece:

It's a JCrew knock-off, which I've been wanting to recreate some of the great (and way overly priced) JCrew and Banana Republic necklaces anyway- so I loved this!!

One successful attempt this week was a recipe from the show "Bobby Flay's Throwdown". Nick, being the southern boy that he is, loves some shrimp n grits. A couple of weeks ago I tried a recipe, and it turned out really good, but it called for Rotel tomatoes with green chiles. I still loved it, but Nick would have preferred it a little less set-your-mouth-on-fire. So we were watching the Bobby Flay show where he challenges a man from Georgia (who was precious btw) to a cook-off for shrimp n grits. I think it's one of my all-time favorite recipes, and Nick said it's definitely his. Even if you don't like shrimp n grits very much, don't worry. I wasn't a big fan either- but this man's recipe is incredible!!! I'll warn you that the shrimp is super spicy, so you may want to leave out a little of the spices if you don't like that. Here it is if you're interested!

Joe Barnett's Shrimp N Grits (courtesy of foodnetwork.com)

{Shrimp}

1 1/2 lbs. shrimp (I only used 1 lb. since it was just Nick and me, and I just adjusted the seasoning measurements)

2 Tbsp Cajun seasoning

1 Tbsp paprika

1 Tbsp dried Italian seasoning

Freshly ground pepper

{Grits}

2 c. water

2 chicken buillon cubes

2 Tbsp butter/margarine

1 c. quick cook grits

1 Tbsp tomato paste

3/4 c. heavy whipping cream (I used half & half instead)

3 1/2 oz. extra-sharp cheddar cheese

{Sauce}

2 Tbsp butter/margarine

1 Tbsp minced garlic (yum!!!!)

3 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1 c. chicken stock

1/2 c. heavy whipping cream (again, I used half & half)

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp hot sauce

1 slice sugar-cured ham (I left this out altogether)

1. Combine all the shrimp seasoning in a bowl, and then toss the shrimp until well-coated. Set aside.

2. Next is the grits. In medium saucepan, bring water, chicken bouillon cubes, and butter to a boil. Slowly add the grits, whisking often with wire whisk for 5 minutes. Add tomato paste, cream, and cheese. Keep whisking for another 2 or 3 minutes until the grits become creamy.

3. Now saute the shrimp. In a large saute pan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Add minced garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Add in the spice-coated shrimp, and cook only until they're just done and tender. Don't overcook. Remove the shrimp from the saute pan and set them aside in a bowl.

4. The roux is next. With all those wonderful drippings from the shrimp in the saute pan, add 3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour and stir with a wooden spatula to make a roux. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes until roux reaches a medium-tan color, then slowly add the chicken stock and heavy whipping cream. Whisk together and cook for 2 minutes, then whisk in Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce. Set aside.

5. (I left this step out) And last, a little country ham. Cook 1 center slice of cured country ham in a saute pan, and cut into cubes.

6. Now it's ready!!! Spoon out the grits, then the shrimp, then cover in the sauce and if you made the ham, sprinkle it on top. Enjoy!!

I heart wreaths!!

2010-07-17T10:09:00.000-07:00

So, right now I'm a little obsessed with crafting. And especially when it comes to cute, unusual wreaths! Here's a project I saw months ago on one of my favorite crafting bloggers, and I FINALLY finished my copycat version:

Theirs:

Mine:

I wish my picture wasn't so fuzzy- but it's from my phone. And I should have put more circles into the center sides of the wreath- but I'm fine with how it turned out and didn't feel like doing anymore- haha :)
Now I just finished a Christmas card wreath (that's right- it's July and I'm starting on a Christmas project.) I always get all these fun ideas and have great intentions to make stuff right around November/December, but we all know it's just about impossible to add extra projects with all the craziness and festivities during the holidays. So I figured I'd get a little done now while I can :) I love this website and used their tutorial, which is really simple. They did 2 versions- 1 is for their bags of tea, and the other was for a baby shower to hold gift cards.
Here they both are:

Seriously- are these not so cute??? And I'm always trying to figure out how to display Christmas cards that we receive, and I thought this was a perfect way to do it. I finished mine last night, and here it is:

My friend Maggie is an insanely gifted crafter (don't let her lie to you- she's humble like that)- and here's a great wreath she just finished that she found on a website.
Here's her version, and I love it!!

And here's the original from younghouselove:

I figure that's enough wreaths for now! :)

Books Check 'Em Out!

2010-06-20T12:24:00.000-07:00

Not sure if anybody else remembers the commercial from when we were younger, but this song goes through my head at random times. And, apparently, the commercial's message worked on me. I LOVE libraries. I have no idea why exactly, but I seriously love them. Especially the big 4-story main library in downtown Huntington. I get some kind of weird, eerie feeling when I'm in them that I cannot explain. It might be that there are all these strangers all milling around and being so quiet- and for some reason I love it. And maybe I feel like I'm more intelligent- just for being at the library haha :) I realize this is ridiculous, but I still feel like an intellectual when I'm there. And then there's the fact that everything is FREE!!! I cannot understand why people go and spend tons of money on brand new books??? I never know what to do with them after I finish, and then they just add to the absurd amount of clutter Nick and I already have- so I usually end up giving the books away anyway. And then there's the hippie side of me that loves that by borrowing from the library instead of buying the book, I'm helping cut down on paper used for printing. But the main selling point for me is definitely the free price tag. I left the library a few weeks ago with 3 great books for 0 dollars, and I felt like I had discovered this great secret, and I almost wanted to tell shout it out and tell everyone on the street!!
To actually tie this back into my 101 List (since I haven't updated about my goals in months), I've read 2 of my 10 classics- both Jane Austen books (goal #52). I started with "Pride and Prejudice" and loved it, so then I moved on to "Sense and Sensibility". As much as I enjoyed both novels, I decided to take a little break from reading the classics to read a few random books I'd been really looking forward to. And it's amazing how much faster and easier I can read the books now compared to when I was reading Austen!! haha :) Some books I just finished are "The Weight of Silence" (GREAT book), "The Things They Carried", "Heroic Measures", and "The Art of Racing in the Rain". Right now I'm in the middle of "The Choice" (a Nicholas Sparks book someone gave me to read) and "The Sweet By and By" I just started this week. And I'm so so excited because the library has me on the list to get a book called "Little Bee" that I can't wait to read!! After that, I think I need to go back and read a few more classics... but I just needed a mini break :) It probably also helped that I was on vacation this past week, so I had more free time to read. But sometimes I felt like I had to read some of Austen's sentences 3 or 4 times to completely appreciate what she was saying.
While we were on vacation in Hilton Head, I also got to mark off #92 on my list because Nick and I went parasailing :) It was a good experience and really relaxing, but not as amazing as I think I'd expected. We also visited a new city that I'd never been to before (#11 on my list)- Savannah, GA. What a gorgeous place!! I loved all the cobblestone streets and the little parks throughout the city. We tried to eat at Paula Deen's restaurant, but at the time they were booked, and Nick was too hungry to wait :) So we walked down a few streets and found a restaurant called Belford's and it was INCREDIBLE!! I got their crab cakes w/spiced tomato jam and Nick got the shrimp, grits and greens and both were amazing!! Both dishes had won "Taste of Savannah" awards from Southern Living magazine. So I actually think it was better that we didn't go to Paula's restaurant- since I'm not a major fan of her cooking as much as I am of her adorable personality :) I do wish I could have met her for a quick second though! OK, that's all for today!

Victory for Cows Everywhere!!

2010-05-21T07:44:00.000-07:00

So a couple of months ago I saw the movie "Food Inc." which completely disturbed me, to say the least. There were so many things that were unsettling that I can't even begin to write it all down. But my main issue was seeing the sickening animal cruelty. I CANNOT HANDLE IT. Lots of other things were upsetting as well- like the hormones given to the animals, their terrible unnatural diets, the diseases and filth that can be passed on to the consumers. But nothing made me as ill or sad as the animal treatment. So since I watched the movie, I've been wrestling with how to be practical and really apply what I took away from the movie. Honestly, I felt like they basically were telling me to move to a farm, grow my own organic vegetables and fruits, raise and slaughter my own animals, never buy from grocery stores, and totally give up all processed food. But that's probably not going to happen :). So I've just tried to be much more conscious of what I'm buying- looking for organic produce and free range meat, and not ordering meat when I go to restaurants or fast food. It hasn't been too hard though- the number of times I've eaten meat (besides fish) since the movie I could definitely count on 1 hand, and that's usually just when I get in a tricky situation where I have no other choice or don't want to offend the cook :) I definitely don't think vegetarian is for everybody (and I'm not even going totally vegetarian anyway)- and I've had to be much more careful of getting protein from other sources, like beans and nuts (I've made a ridiculous amount of bean burritos and PB&Js lately.) But I just haven't felt right about eating much meat since the movie (except fish- I've been eating tuna, cod, salmon, mahi mahi, etc. like crazy!! I know that sounds doesn't make much sense, but I feel like fish get a pretty good life out there swimming around in lakes and oceans. Still weird- I know.)

Here's my request- just let the animals have a good, happy life before their time comes. That's it!! And I don't think that's too much to ask!! It's not that I'm against the idea of eating meat all together- I just hate the thought of the cows and chickens suffering for me. (I realize this isn't an issue for most people- and that's totally OK!! Nick is still definitely a fan of meat in any shape or form. This is just a personal dilemma I'm trying to wrestle with.)

So...... (I'm now stepping down from my soapbox- I apologize for all that) tonight I tried something new and I'm so excited for how it went over!!! I made taco soup for dinner for Nick and me tonight, and Craig, my brother-in-law, was over here too. So without saying anything, I used Morning Star's vegetable crumbles instead of hamburger meat- and both guys LOVED it!!!! I was so excited to tell them that it wasn't actually meat- yesss!! (I realize it may sound terrible that I tricked them, but I need to experiment!) So now, I have a great meal that me and my meat-lovin' husband can both enjoy- and I can feel free of guilt while we're eating it!!! I don't feel guilty for hurting the animals, AND I don't feel guilty that my husband is stuck with a weirdo, hippie wife who won't cook him something he likes :) Victory!!!! Nick is definitely not a fan otherMorning Star products that I eat, but at least we have 1!! :)

If you haven't seen "Food Inc.", I would totally recommend it. Not that I think everyone needs a guilt trip, but it's so eye-opening and exposes a lot of problems that we never hear about and need to be aware of. As the idea of kids has starting coming onto my radar, I feel like there's a few changes that need to be made. And if I just suddenly do that once a kid gets here, I'm afraid my body will go into shock :) So I figure I may as well start making adjustments now and be careful of the choices we're making so that it's just natural when that time comes to think about my child's nutrition.

These are a few of my favorite things... about Nick :)

2010-05-04T14:10:00.000-07:00

This is a super random list of some of the quirky things that make me have a crush on my husband :) Just wanted to write them down so I can always look at this and smile.
-He talks about how Jesus had "swagger".
-He gives Copper pep talks about how he needs to get a job and contribute to the family.
-Although he can spell "valentine" and "disciple" correctly, he still pronounces them "valentime" and "discifle". I will never understand this.
-He put our hamster in his shirt pocket for our family portrait for the church directory :)
-He makes THE BEST cartoon faces ever.
-He knows more about history than Stephen Ambrose. And he not only knows all the reasons he believes in Intelligent Design, but he studies evolution also- so that he knows both sides.
-He never gets me appropriate cards for holidays. He just gets a random card, and then adds conversation bubbles or his own animation to it to make it say whatever he wants.
-He has an amazing appreciation for people.
-He's overly optimistic :) His old boss, Terry, used to tell him, "I've stopped listening to your predictions for the month because they're always high" haha :) And he was known in high school for the quote, "Don't worry, it'll be alright"- even when things weren't alright.
-He makes grocery store trips 3 times faster when he goes with me. He asks me to tell him a few things we on the list, and then he literally will run around and get everything and hurry back to me to put them in the cart- then asks for more. He'd be great on Supermarket Sweep.
-I love that most nights are like a slumber party- like getting to stay up late and laugh really hard with my best friend.

I apologize if this made anyone gag from my lame-ness :)

Why I'll be a horrible mom

2010-03-11T20:35:00.000-08:00

So, the other night Nick and I came home to find that Copper had pushed open the lazy susan and had eaten 7 FIBER ONE BARS!!!!! His little belly was so tight- like a balloon about to burst. He was really happy to see us and still feeling on a high from all the deliciousness when we first got home... and then about 30 minutes later his tummy ache must have hit him, and he was completely miserable. So I called the emergency vet, did what they said, and then Nick and I kept taking turns walking him outside in the freezing weather so that we could be ready when the explosion happened. At about midnight we gave up, and I decided to sleep downstairs with him so I could run him outside whenever the time came. All night we kept going out, and all night long nothing happened except that he kept getting up to drink water. I let him out one last time in the morning with still no results, and then I had to go in to work. I didn't give him any food because I figured that was the last thing he needed, but I filled his water bowl up and thought it was a little strange how thirsty he was.
When I got to Woodlands, I was talking to one of the nurses about the situation and saying how I didn't understand how all that fiber was staying in his system. And then she explained that fiber will do the opposite and would clog him up unless he had enough water. UH.OH. I suddenly panicked and imagined what I was going to find when I got home. So several hours later when I got back to the townhouse, all I can say is that it was worse than I had imagined. I'm going to spare any details, but oh.my.gosh. Disgusting.
So I spent the afternoon alternating between cleaning up the dog's mess, and cleaning up my own vomit. No kidding- the whole thing made me so sick that I couldn't keep from throwing up on the floor. So then next time I felt the urge coming, I just did it in the plastic bag- but the smell from all the nasty paper towels that I'd used to clean Copper's mess made me even sicker. How am I ever going to be a good mom if I vomit everytime I have to change a diaper or clean up spit up?!?!?!? *Sigh* At least I still have plenty of time before this is a real concern. Let's just hope I'm not such a wuss when that time does come!!

Some things that have made me laugh lately...

2010-02-23T16:07:00.000-08:00

Wow, I've been really bad about blogging lately. But at least some of the time has been spent doing things that I can mark off of my blog 101 list :) Right now though I'm not in the mood to look back over the last year and evaluate my progress so far- I just wanted to document some of the good laughs I've had lately :)

1. Cosmo magazine has declared that "the thong is dead". Really, Cosmo? Really? Do you think that just because you decide that the thong is no longer "trendy", that men are going to suddenly decide they no longer like it? I'm fairly certain that a man must have invented the thong to begin with, and that even though you're finally deciding that boyshorts are a more comfortable option (which they always have been- so I'm not sure why you're acting like this is a revolutionary idea), men are still going to love a thong. I'm not really a thong lover or hater, but I'm just saying that I'm not sure if you can convince men to change their feelings on this one. If, however, I am wrong and this article does have the power to eradicate the thong and make it so that men become disgusted at the thought of immodest panties, then I'd really appreciate if your next persuasive articles could be "Cellulite is Sexy" and "Changing Diapers: More Fun Than Video Games". These would really help my life, now and in the future :)
2. During Old Testament trivia at Woodlands back a few months ago, one of the trivia questions was, "Who wrote the book of Psalms in the Bible?" A few guesses were thrown out, and then one resident (whose son is also a rabbi) said, "Hamlet!" :) A few minutes later, the question was something like,"Who brought the Ten Commandments down from Mt. Sinai?" Right after I asked the question, one of the CNAs named Dennis came into the room making a sarcastic comment, so I said "Dennis!" Well then one of the ladies totally misunderstood why I was saying that name, and she guessed "Dennis the Menace!", and I just happened to say something that made her think that was the right answer. So she happily laughed and said, "Wow, I just took a guess! I didn't think I'd get that right!" So then I couldn't be a Scrooge and take away her correct answer. So, in case you didn't know, Dennis the Menace was in charge of the Ten Commandments.
3. One more Woodlands story- one of my ladies loves to talk about her trip to NYC for her honeymoon and what a wonderful time they had. But she also has told us repeatedly that while they were staying in the New York hotel, Donald Trump was staying right down the hall from them. Now, I may not be a mathmatical genius, but for a woman who's 92 and got married around 30, I don't think ol' Donald was around for this. I've tried to say, "Are you sure it was him?" and "How do you know it was him?" But she's convinced that his "men" were out in the hallway everytime they walked out of their room (she didn't actually see him), and then says "I didn't know at the time that he was the richest man in the world." I hate to break her heart, so we'll just believe that Donald was an overachiever and started his empire from the womb.
4. Heidi Montag's new plastic surgery nightmare. I don't think I even need to say anything else besides that. Oh, Heidi. I didn't know it was possible to make a decision worse than marrying Spencer.
5. This will be my last one- SNL has been great lately. There's a lady named Kristen Wig who is pure GENIUS, and I love every character she plays. There are some other funny folks on there as well, but she's just amazing. So here's one of my favorite skits of hers:

Joyful and Triumphant

2009-12-25T11:40:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading a blog where the girl was talking about how she just can't seem to get into the Christmas spirit. She was saying how when she was little, it was so easy to get excited about every tiny detail and all the magic Christmas had back then. And I will admit, that as an adult, I have to make a conscious effort not to get overwhelmed with all the extra "to do's" and to set aside time to focus on my Savior. Her writing made me so sad by the end- because she really couldn't figure out why the ornaments and parties and music weren't making her feel in the "Christmas mood". I read this girl's blog from time to time, mostly b/c she's so different from me and she loves to be controversial. I feel like it's good for me to get a different perspective sometimes, and she can actually be pretty funny. But I remember reading on her site about a month ago where she definitely bashed conservative Christians- so I'm assuming she does not put herself in the Christian category. I don't mean to sound judgmental, but by her writing, it was pretty obvious that she was glad not to be in that category- so I think it's safe to say that I wouldn't offend her. Anyway, it just made my heart heavy for her. Why would we expect people to get excited about Christmas, if they don't believe in the purpose behind it? The shiny wrapping paper and cute gingerbread houses and Christmas carolers do give me a warm, cheesy feeling- but only because there's something so much bigger behind it.
Every year, it seems like there's a different Christmas song that really speaks to me. Although "O Holy Night" will always be my all-time favorite :) This year I've loved "O Come All Ye Faithful". The phrase "Joyful and triumphant" hit me the other day- as if I had never heard it before. I know we're supposed to be joyful- although I wouldn't say that we usually convey that to others very well. But triumphant- I love it. That His victory is our victory. It would make the daily grind easier to go through, if we lived triumphantly. Here are a few of my other favorite lyrics- that help me get into the Christmas mood :)

"Long lay the world, in sin and error pining,
Til He appeared, and the soul felt its Worth. (love that)
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn."
(O Holy Night)

"Oh what a precious promise,
Oh what a gift of love;
The waiting now is over and
The time has finally come.
For the God who made this world
To roll back the curtain
And unveil His passion for the heart of man.
Oh what a precious promise,
Lying in a manger in Bethlehem."
(Precious Promise- SCC)

(This next one is amazing- every lyric is so good so I couldn't help but put all the words. This song has blessed my heart so much this season.)
"In the first light of a new day, no one knew He had arrived.
Things continued as they had been,while a new born softly cried.

But the heavens wrapped in wonder,knew the meaning of His birth.
In the weakness of a baby,they knew God had come to earth.

As His mother held him closely,it was hard to understand.
That her baby not yet speaking, was the Word of God to man.

He would tell them of His kingdom,but their hearts would not believe.
They would hate Him and in anger,they would nail Him to a tree.

But the sadness would be broken,as the song of life arose.
And the First born of creation,would ascend and take His throne.

He has left it to redeem us,but before His life began.
He knew He´d come back not as a baby,but as The Lord of every man.

Hear the angels as they´re singing,on the morning of His birth.
But how much greater will their song be, when He comes again to Earth.

Hear the angels as they're singing,on the morning of His birth.
But how much greater will our song be, when He comes to rule the Earth."
("In the First Light")

And my favorite verse this year has been John 1:14
"And the Word became flesh, and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."
Full of grace and truth :) What a comfort that we can rest and know what grace and truth really are, in a world where that is such a rarity. Merry Christmas! What a beautiful Savior we have.

the Haser version of a Christmas letter

2009-12-13T08:23:00.000-08:00

I used to be really dedicated to writing down in my journal all my favorite strange stories that happen at Woodlands- at least for the first year or so that I worked here. I haven't done that lately, and it makes me sad b/c they're so fun to go back and look at :) So here's one I want to save so I can look back and laugh later :)

We had a bunny rabbit donated to the Activity Room (it only lasted a few days before someone else decided to take it home- but that's another story). Anyway, so we were introducing our sweet new long-earred friend to the residents, and it just happened to have the same name as one of the residents. After a while of sitting there quietly, this lady- who can get quite cranky and bossy at times- said,
"Joy, I don't appreciate you naming that cat after me."
I explained, "L, I did not name the animal. And besides, it's not a cat, it's a bunny."
"Well, what's the difference between a cat and a bunny?"
I didn't really know where to go from here.

OK, now onto the purpose of this blog. I reached my goal of finishing all of our almost 40 Christmas cards this year on December 1st!!! Not super impressive, but I do like to write a few sentences to each friend/family to personalize it- which is more time-consuming than just signing our names- so that makes my goal sound a little less lame :) At least, I thought I accomplished my goal, until we received a few cards from people that we didn't have a card for- and now we need to add a few more names to our list. And there were about 3 more people that I somehow had forgotten that we just added. But, as for the original list, I did finish on time and can therefore mark that off my list :) Next year I may even try to make some of our Christmas cards- like the adorable ones below.

It also made me start thinking about how fun it would be to write one of those Christmas update letters. You know the ones- from families who are incredible overachievers and outrageously motivated and accomplished- so they have a lot that happens throughout the year tell everyone else about. I am not in any of those categories for sure. I realize some people do live very far away from all their loved ones, and this is their only way of keeping everyone up on what's new in their lives. But it made me think, "What the heck would Nick and I write about?" And then it made me laugh. Here's a list of some things I think would be in our Christmas letter :)

Dear friends and family (most of which we see at least on a weekly basis since Huntington is so small),

2009 has been an exciting year at the Haser home!!
-We have attended enough weddings this year to almost average out to 1 per week.
-Joy racked up about $25 in fines at the library (at a rate of 10 cents per day, this is pretty impressive.) But thanks to free fine day in November, she got it all cleared for free!!!!
-Copper has only torn up 4 sets of window blinds this year.
-Nick has hardly received any speeding tickets in '09. And the points on his driver's license used to be in the double digits, and are now down to about 4!
-Joy has left her entire set of keys hanging overnight in the keyhole of the front door only twice this year.
-We've decided that when April 2011 comes around (after Nick's 30th bday), we'll start talking about the idea of having a baby. Maybe. Possibly. This does not mean we'll begin trying. Let me be clear- this is just when the discussions will start.
-Neither of us ran out of gas while driving this whole year- yes!!!

Maybe when we have kids or move away from Huntington, then we'll have more exciting stuff to write about and will understand this whole Christmas letter concept. But this is all I got for now :) Merry Christmas from the Hasers!!!

(One last note: I was getting ready to write my Christmas card to Oswaldo and Christine, when I found out that Christine is no longer one of my World Vision children :( WVision wrote and told me that her family moved out of the area that WVision works with, and they have no way of keeping in contact with her or supporting her anymore. I'm so sad that I will no longer be able to correspond with her or know how she's doing. But now they sent me a new child to sponsor in her place named Merete from Ethiopia- so I'll try to write him every 3 months since I can't contact Christine anymore. It still makes me a little sad that I won't know how she is- but I'll just rest in knowing that her heavenly Father loves her more than I could even begin to, and I know her future is in His hands.)

May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi

2009-12-01T16:59:00.000-08:00

I was just thinking how much I love not only reading about Jesus in the Gospels, but also about His disciples. How real and imperfect they are, and yet, God still chose them to be His followers and left them in charge of spreading His message to the world- of changing the course of history. This is such a random post, but I was just thinking about stuff and had to get it out of my head. I was thinking about faith today, and what it is that makes me so confident in my beliefs. And one of the main things that encourages me is the reaction of the disciples to Jesus' death and resurrection. The change that occurs from Friday to Sunday is incredible. After Jesus is crucified, every disciple is devastated, heartbroken, and left full of questions- wondering if this man they gave up their lives to follow is really who He said He was. These men hide out- and are frightened for their lives. Despite all Jesus had been trying to explain to them, they still didn't get it- they had no idea what had happened or what to do.

But after those 3 days, it's a completely different story- and it fires me up!!!! These men who, just days before, were cowardly, spineless, doubting- seriously go out ready to take on the world, ready for anything!! There is no other explanation for this- except if they truly encountered Jesus after His resurrection, and realized He meant what He'd been telling them everyday for 3 years. What else would cause such a 180 turnaround?? To the extent that they would all (except 1) be willing to die a horrible death? What would inspire such a reaction- unless they were completely convinced that Jesus is the Christ? These men spent every moment with Jesus the 3 years of His ministry. EVERY MOMENT. I can maybe fool people for a few hours that I've "got it together" or that I'm a "good person"- but what about every waking moment for 3 straight years? Had Jesus been a fraud, these men would have known. And why would they have been willing to die a martyr's death for a lie? Jesus was the real deal. And these men whose natural, human reaction is to first run away and hide- they realize what Jesus is calling them to. And they dive completely in. I try to just imagine it, and I'm overwhelmed.

I love Rob Bell's perspective of the disciples. That these men were what he calls the "not good enoughs". These men hadn't "cut it" to be rabbis- many of them were fishermen, just learning the family business. To become a rabbi back in the day, all Jewish boys started out memorizing the Torah. Then, only the best of the best went on to study and memorize the rest of the Old Testament. Seriously, that's insane. Then, the best of these, would approach a rabbi and ask to be his disciple. If they were chosen, they followed their rabbi around everywhere. They wanted not only to know what the rabbi knew, but to also to become like that rabbi. These young men would leave behind everything in their lives, to devote themselves to becoming like their rabbi. And, as you can imagine, after following around your rabbi for the entire day on dusty roads, the disciples are covered in the dust from their rabbi's feet. So there was a saying, "May you be covered in the dust of your rabbi."

Then Jesus comes into town, and He choses these B team guys to be His followers. These young men who hadn't been good enough to "make the cut" and to be a rabbi. And this is who Jesus chooses to be His followers- which is so cool :) Because His movement is for everyone!! He knows I'm not the smartest, that I don't have the best memory, that I'm overly emotional, and terrified of speaking in groups, and can be incredibly moody and selfish at times (the list could go on for a long time, but I'll stop)- and despite that, He still asks me to follow Him!!
Here's some awesome words from Rob Bell:

"The rabbi doesn't chose you unless the rabbi believes you can do what he does... What if we can actually be the kinds of people God created us to be? What if He believes that? What if He actually believes that we can be the kind of people who live like Jesus lived? The kinds of people who take action because we're aware of all these endless opportunities around us all the time for good, for beauty, for truth? Jesus has faith that you can follow Him and be like Him."

What an honor. He seeks us out, and asks us to come and follow Him. And He truly has faith that we can be like Him. May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi.

10,000 Villages- and other updates on the List :)

2009-11-14T11:48:00.000-08:00

I'm getting so excited/nervous about the 10,000 Villages festival sale this weekend!!! I went to one last year at 5th Ave. Baptist, and was so impressed with the pieces of art and with the organization itself that I asked Katherine (who hosted it last year) if she would care if I hosted one this year (because she couldn't do it). All the posters are up around town (Marshall, Starbucks, Empire Books, Pita Pit, the Y, churches), the press release was sent last week, the facebook invites were sent out- and today all the boxes arrived! I realize that I still have the majority of the work ahead of me, but I'm glad I haven't procrastinated everything as badly as I usually do :) I just found out that Marshall's fall break starts on Friday- which is a bummer because I was counting on MU students, and now they'll be leaving the day before the sale :/ But I'm not going to worry (which sort of is my forte.) Friends have been amazing to offer to volunteer their time and help work the festival- just another reminder of how blessed I am :) Anyway, the big event is this Saturday and Sunday, so we'll see how it goes!! (If you're interested in finding out more info, check out http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/. It's basically a nonprofit group that works with artisans in 38 3rd world countries and pays fair wages for the pieces.)
Other updates:
#5- I'll start with the one I'm doing poorly on :) Not only have I failed to add much to my savings, but I KEEP TAKING MORE OUT!!! No idea how this is happening... unless I have a drug habit that I'm unaware of. I really am baffled at why my money wants to run away from me so badly. Maybe the horribly messy state of the inside of my purse is scaring it away??

#10- I'm definitely not blazing a trail through the Bible, but I'm at the end of Exodus. Yes, I know- that's only the 2nd book of the Bible. But the OT is a little rough for me, and also, I did start with the New Testament, and read about 10 books in that first. But with Christmas coming, I'm now going to skip back to the NT and read some of the Gospels, to get me in the spirit of the season. The OT is hard for me to really embrace sometimes. The God in the OT seems so drastically different from the God in the NT- and I definitely prefer the loving, forgiving characteristics that are emphasized in the NT. But I have been surprised by how much I've learned, just by actually reading it through instead of skipping just to the parts that are my favorite.

#28- I tried my best to get the cool wine rack from St. James art show this year!!! The art festival is in Louisville the 1st weekend of October every year. I was so excited to finally purchase the wine rack that I've been regretting that I didn't buy 2 years ago- and the booth for that group was nowhere to be found!!! I was seriously bummed! I'm still determined to find it though- or at least one similar. It saved me $150 at least- but I'm such a penny pincher that it takes me a lot of consideration to part with that big of a chunk- and I was so ready and knew it would be worth it :/ All was not lost though- it was one of the most gorgeous days of the year, so I just walked around for a few hours and enjoyed hundreds of talented artists. And then I got to see my friend Jess, and meet her little baby Kate for the first time :) AND, I found a new project that I'm determined to make eventually. Here it is:

www.secondchanceart.net/item_147/His-Hers-Hers-towel-or-coat-rack.htm

#52- I'm only about 120 pages into Pride and Prejudice, and I can't figure out how I made it this long without reading it before. It's definitely more enjoyable than I was expecting- and I really love that Elizabeth is so fiesty :)

#55- Just wrote Oswaldo's Christmas card. But I got a letter last week informing me that Christine and her family moved out of the area that World Vision works in, so they have no way of providing her with care anymore :( They're going to assign me another child now, but I'm still sad that I'll no longer be able to keep in touch with Christine.

#56- Christmas cards!!!!! Started these about 2 weeks before Halloween :) Still only about 1/3 of the way through, but I'm gonna make it by my Dec. 1st deadline.

#61 & #62- Hosted 3rd family night last night, and Poppi came over also. I somehow always stress myself out in the process of getting ready, and then feel exhausted once dinner's on the table. And I hate that, because then it's hard for me to fully enjoy the evening.

#64- Had the 3rd friend night last Friday, and it was so fun :) We just ate goodies that are very autumn appropriate, and sat around and talked for hours, drinking apple cider and wine.

#69- My 3rd "just because" gift was Steph's care package that we sent to Elon a few weeks ago. I always loved getting care packages in college, so I thought she'd enjoy getting some random stuff :)

#70- Revising this one. I'm now going to count the movie if it was nominated for an Oscar, or if the lead actor/actress won an Oscar. I watched Revolutionary Road the other day, thinking Kate Winslet had won Best Actress for it- and later realized she won the Oscar for The Reader. So I spent 2 hours of my life watching a terribly depressing, dark, void-of-hope movie and then it didn't even count for why I was watching it lol :) I'll admit the acting was phenomenal, but the story was so depressing- and none of the characters were at all redeeming. I just kept thinking, "These people need some Jesus."

I've added a few new goals.
#89- After my 1st marathon is now accomplished, I now want to actually run it for a good time. I'm still frustrated that I didn't do what I trained to do, and it's my worst time of any race. So I want to run one in under 4 hours... unless a baby comes along (unexpectedly) and I have to wait a little while to accomplish this.
#90- Nick's parents' neighbor had advanced cancer about 2 years ago, and they asked Nick to do a buccal swab test to see if he might be a match and be able to donate bone marrow for the neighbor. It just brought to my attention something I hadn't really thought much about before. I know this is an extremely painful process, but to be able to save someone's life would be so worth it. And I know if it was my loved one, I'd really hope people would be willing to do it. Nick already did his test and is now in some national registry, so that they can keep him on file and call him if he's needed. The kit is about $50 and has simple instructions on how to do it, and then I just mail it in. So I'm adding this to my list.
#91- Go to the memorial service at the Marshall fountain. Nick and I already did this on Saturday. I've been wanting to go for a few years now, but am usually working during the service. Since November 14th fell on a Saturday this year, I got to attend the memorial service for the Marshall plane crash. I was impressed by how many people came to pay tribute to the 75 who lost their lives, and the speakers did a great job. It reminds me why Huntington is such a close-knit community, and what they had to help each other through during those difficult days.

That's it for now!

26.2

2009-11-08T10:27:00.001-08:00

November 1st finally came, and I can now say that I've run a full marathon :) It feels sort of weird, since it's been a dream of mine for about 10 years now. I almost feel like I place it way up on this pedistool of things that are impossible- and with all the times I've gotten injured in the past, I really wondered if I'd ever be able to do it. I definitely did not run the time I trained for and wanted to run, so I go back and forth between being thankful and glad I accomplished it, and then sometimes crying and getting frustrated that I didn't do better.

I haven't written about my running for a while, b/c during my last long run (about 2.5 weeks before the marathon), I went out to do a 20-miler and had some issues arise. I had just bought new running shoes and wanted to break them in before race day, and the shop owner had told me they'd be fine to jump in and run a long run. So I went out and was feeling fine, until mile 17- and my IT band suddenly locked up. I don't know how to explain it to people who haven't had issues with it, but it grinds on the outside of my knee and feels like it's going to snap. So I had to walk instead of run the rest of the way back, because I've learned after 9 years of struggling with this injury that I can't run through it unless I want to take 6-8 weeks off running. So I stretched, took Ibuprofen, and iced like crazy when I got home that night. The next morning it felt terrible still, which is a really bad sign :/ It hurt even just to walk, and usually it only hurts when I run- so I knew it could be serious. I cried that morning walking Copper, I cried on the way in to work, I cried with Nick after work- I cried A LOT. I really thought all my training was going to be a total waste. I considered backing out and saving my race number until next year, when I would hopefully not have any injury. I kept going back and forth on what to do. So for the next 5 days, I didn't run at all, and I just did tons of icing and stretching- and it definitely got better- about 80% healthy. I was able to run about 5 more times before the marathon- the longest being 8.5 miles b/c I was supposed to be tapering anyway before race day. My leg still hurt some, but I decided I was going to finish the marathon if it meant crawling.

Now on to NYC :) This marathon is the coolest thing I've ever done. Nick did it in 2001, and his dad did it in 1982 and 2002- and they've both talked about it so much that I had to experience it. There were so many people from so many countries- I didn't even know what most of the languages were that I heard when I was walking around before the race. The cool thing is that Natalie and Marshall (Nick's sister and brother-in-law) live on Staten Island- where the race starts. So everyone else has to get up at 4 or 5a.m. to catch transportation to get over to the start line from the main part of the City. But we were literally 1/4 of a mile from the start, and just waited til about 30 minutes before our start time to walk over.

Marshall decided he was going to just run it with Natalie at her pace, and his friend Ian said he'd run with me, and help pace me to the 3:50- which I totally should've been able to do. So we started with my 10:00 group, and they started with the 10:20- so we said goodbye and headed to our areas. I feel like there's no way to explain how incredible this experience is, and it almost cheapens it to put it into words. But running with 43,000 people and with almost 2 million people cheering you on the whole way is overwhelming. I think my favorite part was in Brooklyn. I had just warmed up, so I took off my long sleeve shirt, and so everyone could see my name on my jersey and where Nick had written it on my arms, and everyone started yelling my name. I would say 300-400 people yell specifically for me during that race, and it helped so much. I actually got a little emotional at one point, and had to pull myself together :) People are out there handing out bananas, orange slices, tissues, gum- anything you could want. And if you run on the side, everyone (especially the kids) wants to slap your hand- my favorite part :)

I told Ian pretty early on that my IT band had started getting irritated, but I kept popping in Ibuprofen to dull the pain as much as I could. About mile 9 it got really bad, but the medicine made it a little better by mile 12/13. Then we got on 1st Avenue (about mile 16) and I was so excited b/c I knew that Nick, my parents, and Nick's parents were going to be at mile 18. It still makes me sad, b/c I thought I was supposed to look for them on the left side, and they were on the right :( So I got to 88th Street (where they were) and looked so hard and never saw them. And with so many runners, they never saw me either. It was so disheartening, because that had kept me going when I had started feeling pretty crappy and my feet had started to charlie horse. The last 7 miles were rough- I think early on in the race I was compensating for my IT band problem and so I strained the inner part of my thighs, and they started to cramp and charlie horse in the last part of the race. Or it may have just been b/c I was running a marathon which I've never done before :) It was the weirdest feeling- I've never had anything like it!!! I could go about 5-6 minutes running, and then my legs would lock up and I'd have to try to walk and rub it out- and do that all over again. I had sent Ian on ahead around mile 17, so I made it the last part of the race on my own. And I can't even express how happy I was when Nick jumped in and ran with me for about 2-3 minutes right before mile 24 :) I had been so sad about missing them at mile 17, and that was such a help to get me to the end of the race. The last few miles go through Central Park, but you're so exhausted and ready to be done that it's difficult to enjoy. But I swear, except for 1 little tunnel, there are people lining the streets the ENTIRE race and encouraging you on. And that really was so helpful for those last few miles. I couldn't believe how long it felt to get from mile marker 26 to 26.2. I swear, it seemed like that 1/5th of a mile took forever. But I finished... and then the cramping really started. After the finish line, everyone is squished in- trying to get their medals, bags with drink and food, blankets, etc. and my feet wouldn't stop charlie horsing, but I had no room to even bend down and try to fix them! Then the chaos was overwhelming, with everyone trying to connect with their families. It took about 30 minutes for me to meet up with my parents and Nick and Brian (he's an NYU journalism student who needed to do a story on someone in the race, and since he went to Marshall for undergrad, he found and interviewed me). But during that time... I ran into ANNE HATHAWAY!!!!!! NO JOKE!!! I was walking around hoping to just run into my family, and she walked by in a peacoat and sunglasses, and I turned and asked the guy behind me, "DoyouknowwhoAnneHathawayis?Doyouthinkthatwasherjustnow???" He just stared at me- either because he didn't speak English, or because I seriously said it so fast that he couldn't understand. So I thought "I'm gonna be so mad if I don't find out and if I always just wonder if that was her!" So I went back, GRABBED HER ARM (seriously???), and when she turned around I said, "I'm so sorry, I'm totally dorking out right now, but I have to know if you're Anne Hathaway." She was so nice and smiled and said yes, and then she clapped for me and said "You just ran in the race- congratulations!" !!!!!!!!! Then the woman with her (maybe her mom?) said "Her brother just ran the race too". Anyway, that was the extent of our convo- I said thank you and sorry and goodbye :) But it was so cool!!! I later realized how terrible I looked and smelled and was a bit embarassed, but oh well :)

So in summary, I'm so glad I did it, and that now I know a marathon is not this unattainable goal. I definitely don't think I'll become an addict to marathon running like many are- I'll stick to my half marathons and shorter races mostly. But I am entering my name in the lottery again to try to get in the race for 2010- or I'm at least running 1 more marathon at some point to get my sub-4 hour time. I really think I could've done it had my injury not happened so close to the race :/ But no use pouting over it! I would recommend for everyone to run the NYC marathon at least once. Even hours later after the race was over, so many New Yorkers were congratulating me and saying such nice things. It's like the runners are celebrities for the day :) I will warn you: there is so much uphill!!!!! I know- it's NYC and it doesn't seem to have hills- I thought it was exaggerated too. But the hills aren't steep- they just go on forever and you wonder if they'll ever end. 1st Avenue is about 2-2.5 miles of steady, small uphill, and then between miles 22-23 is a mile long hill. Plus, the 1st whole mile on the Verazzano Bridge is uphill, in Brooklyn there's uphill, and the Queensborough Bridge is almost 1 mile of uphill- but those are early on in the race so they don't hurt so bad.

One last funny memory- a man ran up past me, and smelled rather strong. But I had been used to the foreign men smelling a bit like B.O. (I'm not being prejudice- it's just the truth), so at first I didn't think anything of it. UNTIL I noticed that there was brown stuff all down his legs coming out of his shorts. The man totally pooed on himself!!!! Really??? Really, sir- couldn't you make a quick pitstop at a porta-potty? They're like every 1/2 mile!!! And it's not like we're elite runners here- it's not like you were going to break a world record and didn't have time to stop! Hilariously disgusting :)

I apologize if anyone actually read all this rambling. I really just wrote this for myself, so I can look back and remember what this awesome experience was like :)

Adventures in the world of Activities

2009-10-23T13:18:00.000-07:00

I will admit that my job is a bit more exciting and unpredictable than the normal office job. Working with the elderly, many of whom have dementia or Alzheimer's, provides an endless supply of strange scenarios and awkward moments.
Monday was movie day. Once a month we take a small group of ladies (not because the men aren't invited, but I think they're intimidated by being stuck with all females) out to lunch and to see a movie. I feel like I'm pretty ready for the unexpected at this point since I've had almost 4 years of this job. But days like this make me realize I'm never quite prepared enough. For the sake of HIPAA laws, I'm going use fake names for my ladies :) On our way from Wendy's into the movie theater, a couple of the women needed to make a brief stop at the restroom. So Amanda headed with them for the pit stop, and I got the other residents seated in the movie and then made my way back to help in the restroom. After several minutes and a few times of asking, "Are you doing OK in there?", I realized things weren't going as well as expected behind the stall door. Finally "Becky" fessed up and told me she couldn't get up off the toilet- which also meant she clearly couldn't reach the lock on the door to let me in so I could help her get up. A little important background info- Becky, a few months back, was stuck in a doctor's office bathroom for about an hour for this same problem. She had locked the door behind her, and was then unable to get back up after finishing her business. So, with this story in the back of my mind, and me thinking "Oh no, oh no, oh no", I try to calmly devise a plan that would not include me crawling army-style under the door on the nasty floor. So I stand up on the toilet seat next to her and look over the stall and attempt to coach her at how to rock back and forth to get momentum, and to grab onto the toilet paper dispenser as leverage to pull up on. I quickly realize this is not going to be successful. I then get up on the back of the toilet- the flusher part- and hoist myself up gymnast-on-the-uneven-bars style, and try to evaluate what my next move is. I kick one foot over to her side so that I'm straddling the divider (so thankful at this point that no one else is in the bathroom), and on my stomach I shimmy my way down toward the door. I had originally envisioned just reaching down and unlocking the door so that Amanda, my co-worker, could get in and help her. But then I see, once I'm there, that there's no possible way for me to reach down and unhook the lock without falling and breaking my neck- the lock is on the opposite side of the door (clearly, I should have gotten up on the opposite side. Stupid, stupid.) So I finally just decide to slowly lower myself down into her stall, but the side of me that's still a teenager finds this hilarious, and my hysterical laughter makes this very tough. I'm hanging from the stall with one leg dangling, the other still stuck over the divider, and my arms getting very weak from all my laughing. I had considered using the toilet paper dispenser as my midway stop on the way to the floor, but realize it probably won't hold me, and end up just dropping to the floor. Thankfully, and surprisingly, I did not land on Becky, did not break an ankle, did not pull the stall down with me, and did not wet my pants from laughing. Becky then proceeded to tell everyone for the rest of the day that I saved her life :)
THEN, with about 30 minutes left of the movie, one of the theater employees comes in and says, "Um, I think there's a lady out here that is with your group." Sure enough, I look around and one of our ladies is gone!!!! Seriously, how the hell did she get out without anyone noticing?? So I hurry out, completely embarassed since this worker must think I'm a total moron or on drugs. We go out the hallway- she's not there. Then we get out to the lobby- not there. She had made it all the way outside of the mall and was walking around!!! OHMYGOSH. I seriously am not usually this incompetent at my job- although reading this, I myself wouldn't blame anyone for thinking that. So I turned "Dixie" back around and escorted her back into the theater, down the hall, back to her seat. At the end of the movie, we were talking to her about the incident, and I asked why she had left, and she said "Really? I left during the movie? I don't know where the hell I was going" and then just laughed it off. Wow. Only in the land of retirement homes :)

A little revision

2009-10-04T19:31:00.001-07:00

So, I've decided to make a quick change on #20: "Do something 5 times a year to meet a need for someone." I initially planned on just counting times that I helped somone meet a financial need, but then wanted it to be more than just that. Then the more I've tried to figure out how to measure or judge what qualifies as meeting someone's need, the more I've realized how ridiculous this goal is. Not in the sense that it's hard to do this 5 times a year- but just the opposite- if I'm only helping fill a need for someone every few months, there's something majorly wrong!! I started thinking about how often God places people in my life to meet my needs and help me through this journey, and I realized it's countless how many times a week, even a day, that others meet my needs! Whether it's letting me borrow something, fixing something I can't figure out, sending a message or calling to pass along encouragement, listening to me vent, giving me a hug- or even reprimanding me when I need it! There are millions of ways that friends, family, strangers touch my life everyday, and I realized that it's impossible to figure out a system to judge what constitutes meeting someone else's need.

A sweet friend sent me a book called "I'm Running to Win" that she found very encouraging and thought it would help me during my marathon training. I will say I've learned the lesson "Don't judge a book by it's cover" from this book b/c on the outside, it appears very cheesy and is definitely from the early '80's. But the woman is incredible. Basically, she's an author and inspirational speaker, and suddenly decides that she feels like she's been called to run a marathon and qualify for Boston- even though she's never run before. It's basically written in blog style and is totally random- but totally inspiring. The book goes back and forth between her daily spiritual and physical struggles she faces during her marathon training. She's definitely very over-the-top, and does things like singing Jesus songs to cab drivers, but her faith is so pure and genuine that you can't help but love her :) Here's one thing I read the other day that really struck me. It's not exactly an incredible epiphany, but I really enjoy how simply she writes:

"it is as important that i contribute to your life as it is that i let you add to mine.
the most beautiful part is that God provides me... you... with people to help us accomplish His will in our lives.
He finds them and puts them across our paths in the most unexpected needy moments.
He knows exactly what we need...
and who can supply it.
people are part of God's end of the bargain when we are faithful."

It may not be the most profound thought, but I love that last line. And how humbly and also affirming that He allows us to be used in His plan for others. That HE has faith in US- to help carry out His will. It amazes me when I look back on the times God has perfectly placed certain people in my life, in a time I needed Him and them so desperately.

So, to wrap this up, I'm changing #20 to "Organize a 10,000 Villages festival"- which I'm super excited about!!! I went to one of these festivals last year and it's an awesome organization that sells handmade things and then pays fair wages to the artisans in 3rd world countries. The festival is already scheduled for November 21-22 at First Presby, so I've got things started at least! That's it for now :)

Running makes me a headcase

2009-09-13T18:59:00.000-07:00

Today I ran the longest I've run in about 8 or 9 years, and it felt awesome. Actually, the run itself- especially the last 2 miles- felt painful, but the accomplishment felt awesome :) I did 16 miles and was determined to have a good run after last week's disaster (more on that later). I feel like I've just been basically waiting to get injured, and am finally thinking "Hey, I'm gonna do it this time!!" Such a cool feeling. I went out this morning ready to kick some butt b/c I was still pissed about last week's bad run and mentally I needed a good one today. I'm such a headcase when it comes to running- seriously, Nick confirms that all the time too. I just overthink things and get freaked out or doubt myself. But he rode his bike the 1st half of the run with me which majorly helped, so that I wasn't thinking the whole time "Crap, this is a long run. I'm probably gonna get tired. I'm probably not gonna make it. This is super boring." His company made a huge difference, and also that I ate something before I ran today. I know it's stupid to go out without anything in my stomach, but I NEVER eat before my morning runs. Not even before half marathons. But I'm seeing that's not an option with this long of distance. Also just got my convenient little 10-oz. bottle that wraps around my hand with velcro, so I don't even have to stop to get drinks. Super nifty, although I feel somewhat like a toolbag running with it.

So I'm 49 days away, and really thinking I'm finally gonna do my first marathon! I'm also excited b/c I can send out my World Vision letters now. I felt bad asking people to donate if I was maybe going to not be able to run the race, but I feel like I can finally send out letters for support. I have 2 really cool running books about marathons that I've been reading that keep me inspired- "I'm running to win" and "What I talk about when I talk about running". Just a little more and I'll stop with the running stuff. Last week I went out for 15 miles, and had my first not-so-successful long run. LOL it kind of makes me laugh :) I was at about 1:40 into the run, and I was getting physically worn out since I hadn't eaten, and I had mentally defeated myself. So I stopped to get a drink at a fountain, and then started walking instead of running :/ Nick had planned to come meet me and ride the last half hour with me, and he found me 2 minutes into my walking. So I started back up after about 2 more minutes, and still felt exhausted. Then at 1:54, I was basically shuffling my feet, and I got caught on a crack in the sidewalk and fell. Not just tripped, but hardcore fell. Scratched up my shoulder and the face of my watch. And I was so tired that the fall didn't even hurt or embarass me- that's how tired I was. I walked for a few minutes and ended up running the last 10 minutes, and so I got 14 miles instead of 15. But I was so mad at myself about how things went, that I needed some redemption this week.

Haven't done a whole lot else with my goals. But I did have my family over for dinner this week, and was so excited b/c Poppi stayed to visit with us til 10pm, which is super rare :) And, I made my first cheesecake! I like to think that was a huge accomplishment, but now realize that they're not that hard. I met with out financial guy about my 403B and tried understand what exactly happens, but that stuff is like a totally foreign concept to me. I really feel like a total moron when it comes to investment stuff. But things are better than they were before with my retirement, so that task is marked off. That's it for now!!! Tomorrow's Monday, and I'm gonna have to deal with a fight that broke out during Bingo between 2 sisters- one who's 80, the other 92. No joke- one was leaving mad and went up and apparently started punching on the other one. Not my normal issues as a healthcare activity director for the elderly.

Why does my body hate me?

2009-07-29T12:33:00.000-07:00

Nothing too exciting- just wanted to keep updating my progress on my "list" to keep myself focused and accountable. Here's how it's going:
#4: marathon- This is the biggie that I've really been focused on. And right now I've had quite a set back on the marathon training :/ I've had to majorly back off the last 4 weeks from running because of an old injury flaring up- my stupid hip flexor. I started noticing it about 6-7 weeks ago, but I've struggled with it before and so I was really good about icing, stretching, using my strengthening band, and downing TONS of Ibuprofen- thinking I could make it go away. Sadly though, it kept getting worse and more irritated. So I went to my physical therapist on Friday and have been doing what he told me, and I'm hoping that I can at least start aqua running in the next day or 2. I'm trying not to get discouraged, but I only have 95 days left and if it takes much longer, I won't have enough time to train properly and be ready by Nov. 1. Good news is that Nick said since I won my number in the lottery, I can call and tell them to save me a spot for next year instead- just in case I end up not getting to do it this year. He already had to call and put his number on hold until next year b/c of a knee injury :( This aren't going exactly as planned, but we'll see!!
#7: skydiving- We're on a bit of a temporary "budget lockdown" right now, so it probably won't be anytime too soon. But we were talking about going skydiving for our anniversary present and just doing it late :) I'm so worried I'm not actually going to jump out of the plane!! I seriously try to envision it all the time so I can prepare myself for when it actually comes :) When we were flying the other day, I looked out the window and thought, "Okay, just pretend someone could open the emergency door and let me jump out right now- could I do it?" I'm such a wuss. And a nerd.
#10: read the whole Bible- I'm on my way, but it's sure not at an impressive speed. And I started at a really random book in the New Testament- 2nd Timothy. So I read from 2nd Timothy on to the end (except Revelation- I'm saving that one) and now I'm in the middle of Genesis. I know that makes no sense, but I thought if I started in the NT it might jump start me to be more motivated than just starting in the OT. I will say that I LOVE the book of James, which I hadn't really read much before.
#11: 10 new cities- 2 more to add to this one: Blue Bell, Pennsylvania and Long Beach, California. We went to PA for Matt Scherrer's wedding, which was an awesome time. We hardly much of a chance to explore the area though, b/c our flight was delayed and we didn't get in until 2am on Friday night (and then we stayed up until after 5am talking with his high school friends- meaning we slept til noon on Saturday), and then we had to leave at 6am for the airport on Sunday morning. But it was still fun :) Then we went to visit Billy out in Cali. Los Angeles was just plain stressful and too busy to even enjoy, but we loved Long Beach and Huntington Beach. Billy lived 2 blocks from the beach, and 2 blocks down on the other side was this great street full of shops and restaurants that stretched for about a mile. And best of all, we finally got to meet Val, his girlfriend!!! She is super fun :) Billy had to work a lot which sucked, but we still got a good amount of time with him. I love seeing Nick with him- it's like Billy brings out this totally different side of Nick that only exists with Bill :) Billy's apartment is a suite, so it's just 1 main room and then a bathroom, closet, and kitchen. The only furniture Billy owns is 1 bed (with black silk sheets) and a giant plasma TV and TV stand. That's it. So it was really fun at night b/c Nick and I slept in the bed and Bill slept on an air mattress and it was like a slumber party :) The weather in CA was, of course, perfect and we're ready to move there whenever the opportunity presents itself :)
#40: improve my crappy swimming form- LOL This just makes me laugh thinking about it :) When my leg first started hurting, I met Nick at the Y and he was going to swim while I did my aqua running. After I finished, I asked him to "coach" me on my freestyle swimming form. Nick swam competitively in high school and is still a great swimmer- which then just frustrates me that I'm not good. So he attempted to help me, and gave great advice. But my stubborn-ness got in the way, and I was ready to quit after about 10 minutes :) I'm really not too horrible- I just need a little work so I'll enjoy swimming.
#48: volunteer with LV each month- I've been bad these past few months. But now that Bethany and Craig are back, I know Bethany will go out there with me and that'll make it easier to be motivated :) We went on Saturday out to the land and transported a sweet dog to the Hot Dog Festival where the LV tent was set up and trying to find homes for several dogs and cats. Then we finished our shift just in time to watch the weinie dog races- my favorite Huntington event :) I seriously realized halfway through the doggie costume parade that the amount of happiness I feel about dogs is bizarre and possibly unhealthy. My sister and I are basically opposite in every other way, but we both are ridiculous when it comes to animals in general, especially dogs.
#64: friend night every 2 months- Had another craft night a few weeks ago. However, I think only 3 of us actually brought something to work on, and the rest came just to hang out. So, needless to say, no one ended up crafting- just drinking wine and eating dessert :) Still a great night!
#67: 10 new crafts- Have begun my Christmas crafting!!! I know it's a bit early, but I figure since I usually procrastinate, I better get a jump on something for the Christmas season. I'm making some ornaments I saw in a Martha magazine last year.
#70: 20 movies that have won an Oscar- This is proving a bit tougher than I originally thought, since I'm only counting movies I haven't already watched. I didn't realize that I'd seen so many of the recent Oscar winners. So I may open this up and also watch some movies from the "Top 100 movies of all time" list. Nick and I watched "All Quiet on the Western Front" because I remembered really enjoying the book in high school. Other than that, I haven't made any progress on this task.
That's it for now!

In Like Flynn!!!

2009-06-10T18:33:00.000-07:00

We just found out this past week that Nick and I BOTH made it into the NYC marathon!!!! Can't even believe it :) The chances of getting into the marathon through the lottery is 1 in 4. So the fact that we both made it in is incredible!!! We had a couple of other options- either running for charity or making one of the time requirements. But to run for a charity, you have to guarantee that you'll raise $5,000 (obviously $10,000 if we both were running for World Vision) by putting it on your credit card up front- which is quite a large sum hanging over our heads if we couldn't raise all that. And to get in through time qualifications, I think I'd have to run a 1:37 half marathon- which is hard core. I could do around 1:40-1:42 if I trained, but I'm not sure about 1:37. So, this works out perfect!!! :) And now we can still raise money for World Vision too! Oh, plus, we found out the other day that World Vision's running team is already full- so we couldn't have done that anyway!

The running itself has been going well. I've been getting motivated and back into it for about 7 or 8 weeks now. I want to have a good base built up before the actual marathon training begins to help keep from getting injured. I've tried 2 other times to train for marathons, and had injuries get in the way :/ So, I'm trying to avoid that this time. We've done a couple of 5k races lately, which I haven't actually raced that distance in years! Not super pumped about my time since it's far from my PR, but I had a 22:31 which isn't too bad. It's just sad that I'm not as fast as I used to be :/ An added bonus from the running is that I've lost some of my "winter weight" that I seemed to pile on during the cold months. So I'm getting really close to my goal number- but I know the last few pounds always take the longest to shed.

Mom and Dad's 35th anniversary was Monday, and we had a nice surprise dinner with just a few of their closest friends. That wasn't really part of the original surprise plan, but it was a great evening :) I contacted lots of my parents' friends that have been involved in different phases of their lives, and asked them to send cards or letters and to share a fun story if they could think of one. There were a lot of people who sent cards for them- a few examples are some old neighbors, a girl my mom taught in Sunday school, my mom's friend who invited my mom to Campus crusade where she met my dad :) A fun mix of people from different stages in their relationship. So I'm happy with how it turned out!

One other part of "my list" I just finished was writing one of my letters to someone I admire. My freshman year at Covenant, I had an RA named Jana Werson who was one of the most precious, genuine, loving people I've ever met. She was killed a few years ago when she went out running and got hit by a car. I googled her name and read the story, and the quotes from her parents just made me cry. They were able to show that in the midst of their pain and this tragedy, that they still had a hope that was greater than their awful situation. I know this sounds horribly depressing, but I have no doubt that Jana's heavenly Father was so ready to welcome her with open arms and tell her how honored He was by how she lived her life for Him. I've been meaning to write her parents for a couple of years now, and just tell them how much I loved Jana and how sorry I am for their loss. So I finally did that tonight. I really look forward to the day I get to see Jana again and celebrate with her :)

Oh what a night

2009-05-27T07:10:00.000-07:00

Wow, Nick and I had the weirdest evening ever this past Friday. And I was super excited, thinking it was going to be a very chill evening with not much on the agenda except visiting with my grandfather. Not exactly how things turned out :)
Let me just give a little background info that is important to this story. Poppi is an athiest, and Nick is definitely a fan of Jesus. Nick is always wanting to bring up the topic and have debates with Poppi, which basically makes my mom and I almost have heart attacks at the thought. Poppi- and Nick also- are both very passionate about their beliefs and also very stubborn- which I worried could make for an ugly ending. Poppi isn't just the type who's never given religion a chance- he definitely attended church for a long time with his wife and kids, and saw some really awful things happen that left him incredibly disappointed in the church. He also LOVES to read and is super smart- loves studying Science and evolution and history. And he's come to the conclusion that religion is just a way to instill fear in kids at a young age so they'll "behave" and not want to go to hell, and he believes that religion is the cause of all war. Poppi feels like most religious people, especially Christians, are hypocrites and give no thought to science and that they hide behind their beliefs to "protect" them from what they don't understand. And sadly, I'd say that's a pretty good evaluation of how many Christians are.
Now- in walks my husband- to totally crush all my Poppi's incorrect assumptions :) I don't want to be the cheesy wife who brags on my hubby- but I'm going to do that just a little :) Nick LOVES to study evolution versus intelligent design. He knows evolution forward and backwards as well as anyone else. He feels that to be intellectually credible in his own arguments and beliefs, that he needs to also study the other side. And he's so ridiculously smart and retains anything he ever reads. So I see that Poppi is reading a book called "God is not great" by Hitchens, and I'm thinking "Oh no, oh no, oh no- I hope Nick doesn't see that" because I knew he'd use it as a conversation starter. And he definitely did see it- and did use it as a conversation starter. I was so nervous the whole time- plus that fact that I didn't have much to add to the debate between these 2 geniuses- that I just prayed the same thing over and over. After we left almost 3 hours later (only about 1 1/2 hours of religious debate though), I felt so encouraged and relieved about their talk. Neither side budged on their stance of course, but it also was the most civil and friendly conversation, and they both really enjoyed it! Nick is amazing when it comes to debating. He's so good at not only presenting his side and remembering facts so well, but he's so respectful and humble and just knows how to handle people. I feel like he completely broke the mold of what Poppi's idea of the "typical Christian" is. Nick isn't a Creationist- he doesn't believe the world is only 10,000 years old, but agrees with Poppi that it's millions of years old. There were a few other scientific points that Nick agreed with Poppi on, which probably really confused Poppi, and also won him some points toward Poppi actually listening to his side. Every argument that Poppi brought up for evolution, none of it surprised Nick at all. He already knew about each point and had his own answer b/c he's studied it so much. We also had a chance to address his frustration with the church, and we both agreed with him that the church CAN be incredibly disappointing and Christians do awful things sometimes in the name of Jesus. But that doesn't mean that's a true representation of Christ. This was about the only subject I was able to chime in on, since most of the science stuff is over my head :) But Nick and I both had examples of when people who were Christians really shocked us and let us down, but that their actions are thankfully not a representation of Christ's character. I told him that when a Christian sister really hurt me and I was devastated by her actions, the Bible was just a reminder that that's what I SHOULD expect from people. And it's only in Jesus that we can fully place our faith- not His followers. Because I sure know I've had my times of being a horrible representation of my Savior, and I would hate to think I've caused people to stumble by my actions. So I hope that's something he'll take away from the conversation and really consider. I hate that Christians are so often the reason that other people run away from following Jesus. I remember hearing a quote from Ghandi- "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." Ouch. Anyway, I'll stop rambling. It was a great talk- way better than I could ever have hoped for. I'm so thankful that God equipped Nick and led the conversation and I know He was there among us.
SO, after that I was an emotional wreck and fell apart. Not because the evening went badly- it was just an emotionally exhausting conversation for me to process since I pray so often for my Poppi to see the Truth about Christ. So we went to Jimmy John's and I sat outside talking and crying with my mom on the phone while Nick went in to get his food. Some advice: never eat outside Jimmy John's on a Friday night past 9pm. Our first strange encounter was a couple- both young and nicely dressed- who made up a big long story about her purse was robbed at a party, they were from Wayne and needed a bus ticket, they just wanted $4- etc, etc, etc. Well, I believed them at first and so I gave them some money- because I was too worn out to try to think of another solution or to feel like assessing if I believed their story or not. But then as they walked away, the girl turned around for the first time (she'd been sitting at the table with her back to us) and I realized she was high as a kite. Nick told me after they left that he didn't believe their story for one second- but they probably saw my puffy eyes from crying and pegged me as a sucker who they'd get some money from. Oh well.
So THEN Nick says that he'd rather people just be honest and say why they really want to bum money, and he'd be more likely to give it to them. Right on cue, not even 10 minutes later, a man walks up and tells us how he doesn't need any food or a ride, but he just wants some money to buy a drink for him and his lady at the club. Seriously?!? After Nick gave him money, he wanted to know if we're Christians and then grabs each of our hands and has us hold hands and says he hasn't done this in a while, but he wants to pray with us. We thought that part was great! He then proceeds to talk AT us (yes, we never had a chance to ever respond- he always interrupted) about who knows what for 30 minutes.
Finally, I'm ready to go, and Shawn asks Nick to give him a ride to a shady part of town. So while I'm following them, to make sure Nick doesn't get shot with this probable drug dealer, I end up getting pulled over b/c I'm driving my dad's car and the registration is 7 months expired. Again- seriously?! Wow, it was a long evening.

Life to the Fullest

2009-04-12T16:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I had some of the coolest God time that I've had in a while. I realize "God time" isn't a great technical term, but that's just what it is. There were so many things that came to my head and that I was thinking about- and for anyone who knows me, I don't have to explain that my thoughts tend to jump around a lot :) So this may not make much sense to anyone other than me and my Lord. It was strange to come away yesterday feeling full of shame, and yet, wonderfully redeemed at the same time.

I guess it started because I was talking to a friend the other day about suffering. He's going through an incredibly difficult time right now, and we were talking about the hard time I went through a few years ago, which was a similar situation. It's so hard to see someone else go through a time like this- knowing you can't "fix" it or take away the pain. So Nick and I have just been encouraging him and talking with him a lot, even though there's not much that can be done to heal this wound quickly. And then I told him the other night that now, looking back on what I went through, I'm so thankful for those terribly painful months I went through. I remember my mom's friend once said to her, "Wow, God must really love you to allow you to go through something that hard." And it's so true- it's such a privilege to go through those dark times. I had some indescribable moments with God as I was going through my pain. And I know I'm a different person as a result- although still a definite work in progress :) But it hit me, that looking back on it now, I feel so selfish about my suffering. I mean, Nick is obviously a huge blessing that came out of my whole situation- and I get overwhelmed when I realize how awesome God's plan was in preparing us for each other. But, what if something that great hadn't come out of my suffering? What if there had been no Nick at the end- no reward in this life to make it make sense? Would I not have been thankful for God leading me through that valley? Would the promise of eternity and God's grace and love not have been enough to satisfy me? I feel like I'm all the time saying to people, or thinking to myself, that God has a reason for the pain and rough times that people go through. But do I fully trust in that and live like I believe that? Am I truly comfortable in giving over my life to whatever brings Him glory- even if that means pain? It just frustrates me that I act like I deserve some reward or honor for the suffering I go through. Or that I deserve some earthly justice when I'm wronged. Is Christ's sacrifice and my eternity not enough? And was His life not full of suffering and injustice? I love thinking that one day, we're all going to look back and any pain and difficulties we faced will seem so trivial and so worth it. But it's so hard to stay focused on that in the midst of the hurting.

Then, my mind jumped, and I started thinking about how I probably screw up 99% of the time. And then in that 1% that I may actually act in a way pleasing to Him, I'm still so quick to want the credit and the glory for it, rather than for it to go to my King. My war with my flesh side is so frustrating- and I hate how I get distracted so easily from what is eternal and what my true purpose is!!! Why am I so willing to seek Him in the dark times and give Him my ugly stuff, but then be so selfish in the good times and with my talents?

And yet, despite all my failures and my sinful ways, it's impossible to ignore the Easter message and the great hope I have that's bigger than all my faults. It's our God's way of affirming us and reminding us of His amazing love. Here are some of the verses that really spoke to me:
Colossians 2:14: "He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross."
Isaiah 53:5: "He was pierced for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our sins,
The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him,
And by His wounds we are healed."
(***Totally cool song called "By His Wounds" on the Glory Revealed CD)
And one of my all time favorite verses:
John 12:25: "Anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you'll have it forever, real and eternal."-The Message

What a great reminder that only in dying to His purpose can I truly live life to the fullest. I hate to wonder how often I forfeit that awesome opportunity by simply getting distracted and sucked into the world's idea of living to the fullest. Thank you Jesus, for your incredible sacrifice. Forgive me when I'm so quick to forget the price you paid. And may I be willing to give you my glory as well as my sins.

I just want to end with some of my favorite lyrics ever, from Bebo Norman:
"Take my voice, and pour it out,
Let it sing the songs of mercies I have found.
For I have nothing, I have nothing, without you.
All my soul needs,
Is all your love to cover me.
So all the world can see that I have nothing, without you"

My 28th Birthday Skating Party :)

2009-04-01T07:40:00.000-07:00

This weekend, Nick had a surprise skating party at Skateland for me :) Which really makes me laugh to think that I had my 28th birthday party the same place I had my 8th birthday party. It was super fun, and I'm ashamed to admit that I was a little sore the next morning. There was also a delicious Dairy Queen cake involved (2 cakes actually- due to some miscommunication), which made the festivities even better. So I now can mark off my #82 "Host a roller skating party" from my list. Other updates for my list:

-#32 "Confront people who need to be confronted." I'm getting better at this one, and this past Saturday was my biggest one yet. I'll try to make this short. Nick's in charge of the church basketball league, and so I've seen lots of the games in the past few months. Our team was playing FAB's team, and I have some frustration with their coach. There's a guy on their team who LOVES basketball and is at every one if their games. I see him coming or going at the Y all the time to play basketball. However, the last time Nick played their team, I noticed that the guy never once got in to play. Not for a second!!! And the next time, I found out they had only put him in for about a minute at the beginning, and then I saw him go in for the last 15 seconds of the game- since they had already sealed the win. Needless to say, I was furious!!!! Of all places, the church should not be the place where someone feels left out or inadequate. It had seriously bothered me so much, and I'd even made sure that Nick had sent a message out saying that all players must get play time each game. I feel like it's also important to note that things are a little harder for this guy- that he's slightly mentally challenged- which makes me feel even more protective. So, this Saturday Nick was playing FAB again in the tournament, and the coach didn't put the guy in the entire first half of the game. I had told my friend Ashley about the situation, and had already warned her and Nick that I was going to give the coach a piece of my mind at the end of the game if he seriously left the guy out again. But at half-time, Ash pointed out that I should say something now instead of wait- since something could actually be done about it now, but not at the end. So I marched across the floor to his bench, and immediately I felt myself tearing up and my mouth started quivering. I hate that!! No matter how mad I am about something or how much I've "practiced" what I'm going to say- I always get emotional when the actual time comes to let it out. Anyway, so I basically just told him that I've seen this go on for several games and thought it was unfair what he was doing and that it just really upset me. He explained that the 1st half of the game was just so rough, but that he'd play him a lot the 2nd half. (Sidenote: I don't know much about basketball, but I do know that in any close game, the 2nd half is always rougher than the 1st! So I think that excuse was shenanigans.) Anyway, he did end up getting to play for about 3 minutes the 3rd quarter, and about 3-4 the last quarter- which was way more than usual. I have no idea if what I said made any difference, but I'm just glad I said something instead of always wishing I'd said something. That coach probably thinks I'm a bitch (especially since I started the conversation out, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be a bitch, but...")- but I still think he was wrong for what he'd been doing. Sorry- that was long.

#34- I just wrote an email today to someone at Marshall about leading Zumba classes. I heard a rumor that they're looking for new instructors, so I figured I should at least check into it!

#43- I'm a blood donating reject!!! I tried to go to the Red Cross and got myself all pumped up for it- only to get turned down :/ Apparently, my iron level was not high enough! Seriously, who gets turned down for giving blood??? So, I guess I'm just gonna have to work on getting my iron up. Clearly, my 2 weeks of being a vegetarian will have to be at a different time than my blood donating. I just hope I can get myself motivated to go again, b/c it seriously stresses me out to think of the needle!!!

#57- Erin just gave me a certificate for my bday to go to the culinary institute to make sushi! So excited!!!

#75- Have started working on this, but don't want to spoil anything in case my parents stumble onto this website.

#48- Got rejected AGAIN. Tried to go out to Little Victories to drop off supplies and do some work- and the lady basically said they didn't need anything done. I asked if I could exercise the dogs and play with them, and she said sure. But then she realized the building was locked, and I guess wasn't motivated enough to just get the key for me. Seriously, the building is less than a minute walk from her front door- but I still somehow left doing nothing except dropping stuff off.

#27- So today is my 36th day- almost there! However, I forgot that Lent is not just 40 days- it's like 46 b/c it doesn't count Sundays. I plan to go til Easter, but I have 1 thing I need to buy- a new zipper. I took a pair of my pants and a shirt b/c the zippers are broken- and I thought this would be fine since it's not buying anything, it's just fixing something I already have. But for the shirt, they need me to bring in a zipper to match it. So, I think what I'm gonna do is wait til the 40 days is up and buy the zipper. And then I'll still wait until Easter before I buy anything else. I realize this is a little OCD and legalistic, but I'd really like to make it all 40 days and not feel like I cheated.

That's the main stuff for right now. Hopefully I'll get a little more accomplished this next week! On a totally different subject, I had a great morning run this morning in the yucky drizzle :) It feels good to be getting back into it and to be motivated again. One teensy step closer to a marathon! :)

Oh Well

2009-03-17T09:30:00.000-07:00

So last night I was looking through the World Vision gift catalog, and realized I'd made a horrible error in one of my goals. I thought I could purchase a well through W.V. for $1,800- but I apparently overlooked one of the 0's at the end of the number, which was a very important 0. It completely changes the amount to $18,000 instead of $1,800!!!! So I sadly must admit that I'm probably not going to be able to buy a well now- at least not soon. However, they have so many other cool things in the catalog that I could do instead. One thing that really caught my eye was the mosquito nets, which are only $20. But I may set a goal of buying 50 of those and then something else cool too. We got a call a few months ago that one of Nick's World Vision kids died of malaria at age 14, and it seriously broke my heart. I was amazed at how much it affected me and saddened me over the next few days, considering I had never even met the boy. The woman said that his parents didn't realize how serious the illness was, and that he could have been treated if he'd gotten to a good hospital in time. It's just so hard I think for us to comprehend not just having a hospital right down the street, or not having access to incredible doctors and medical care. It's so unfair that what I spend on gum and soda each month could completely change the lives of people in another country. So I think my new goal will be mosquito nets.

This weekend, Nick and I were in Tucson for his company's rewards program which was amazing!!!! We stayed at Loew's Ventana Canyon Resort and I was blown away by the service we got. The weather was perfect, and I seriously just laid out, read, ran, golfed with Nick (meaning I drove the cart around the course), and got a facial and massage :) Sadly, I did not finish Twilight yet b/c I got so into a book called The Shack. But I'm only 100 pages away from finishing Twilight. We met some really fun other NAPA people at the dinners, which was nice since most of the people weren't even close to our age. I was seriously afraid no one was going to talk to us all weekend b/c we were the babies of the group. But it ended up to be a great time :)

The bad news is that I skipped eating a fruit or veggie for one day and broke my streak, so now I have to start over :/ I had been doing so well and just had like 11 days left. But it was my bday and we had been traveling all day long and when we got home I just wanted to go to bed. I even had an apple in my bag!!! And as I was climbing into my cozy bed ridiculously early at 9pm, I thought about it and considered going to eat the apple- but was just too pooped. So I now must start over- grrr.

This week I'm having friends over on 2 nights- tonight for FPC Soup Night, and on Friday the girls are coming for HSM night. Several of us are wanting to see High School Musical but feel dorky, so we're all watching it together :) It was also supposed to be the night I learned to bake an apple pie from scratch, but that's gonna have to be another night now. Meg is an award-winning apple pie maker (seriously- she's really won a contest) and I'll admit that I'm not usually a fan of apple pie but LOVE hers. But she has to come late, so we'll just save the baking for a later date. So I haven't gotten to mark off anything big on my list this week, but have gotten my massage for this year, gone to 1 new city, almost finished Twilight, and am hosting 1 of my get togethers. Not incredibly inspiring, but not too bad either :)

My Valentine's Day Goat

2009-03-01T14:00:00.000-08:00

Well, this week was semi-successful in getting started.
-I cooked 2 new dinners, so that's a good start for my #33.
-#27 and #54 I started on and have been able to stick with so far. It makes #27 much easier simply by not going anywhere like the mall where there are things to buy. Although, I may have 1 obstacle: my car. I got my sweet Alero for my 21st birthday. She was only a year old and had been totaled by the previous owner, and my dad had a friend who fixed her up and we got her for $6,000- mom and dad helped me and paid half. Well, she's not feeling quite as perky these days, and she quit on me 4 times while I was driving the other day. It's a miracle that we didn't get in a wreck since 2 of the times it happened right in the middle of driving and I had to come to a complete stop, put it in park, and start her back up (the other 2 times were at stop lights at least). So I'm either going to have to pay for new parts to get her fixed, or, as Nick is encouraging me to do- get a new car :/ But I guess this will still be okay since technically it would fall under "things I need". I'd just rather keep the Alero for a little longer and have no idea what kind of car I'd like to have.
-#48- Ashley and I went out to the Little Victories land to walk and play with some of the sweet dogs this weekend. I wanted to go back again and spend more time out there helping around the land, but it's so freakin' cold that I couldn't bring myself to do it.
-#55- I wrote Oswaldo a letter, but haven't sent it or his care package yet. And as most people close to me know, the mailing part is sadly sometimes the hardest part for me. I'm not really sure why it's such an issue for me to actually send mail. I love picking out cards and writing them or writing letters to people, and will even put the stamp on. But somewhere along the way to actually mailing it, something goes terribly wrong. And I'll find the piece of mail 8 months later in my house or car. I realize it's not serving its purpose and not doing anyone any good there, but it just happens. It's like I'm postally-challenged or something.
#3- Things went well with my student at our first meeting. And I'll meet with him every Monday at the library.
#14- I'm LOVING the Twilight book. I'm only about 150 pages in, and despite my resistance, I really am enjoying the book. Only problem is that I'm reading too much all at once: "Chasing Harry Winston", "The Reason for God", "Girl with the Pearl Earring", "Confessions of a Shopaholic", "Jesus Wants to Save Christians", and finally "Twilight". Wow. Have I mentioned I have issues over-committing??? I hope to finish 2 of the books in the next few days at least!

I guess that's about all I've done this week for my list. This weekend Nick and I are celebrating our Valentine's Day :) Nick's bff Billy has come to visit us the past 3 weekends (including Valentine's Day), so we've postponed our "celebration" until this week. Billy's in Columbus for a little bit while interviewing for new jobs, so he comes to Huntington on the weekends to play in the basketball games and hang out. It's been great since Nick and Bill usually live so far away, and life is definitely always entertaining with Billy around :) So anyway, we're just going away for Saturday to go to a nice restaurant and stay in a hotel about 2 hours away. He already gave me my Valentine's gift, and it's one of my favorite ever- a goat :) Not that we have a goat living in our apartment now- but he bought me a goat through World Vision. I just told him I didn't want him to spend a bunch of money on flowers or candy or the usual gifts, when it could go to something more lasting. Don't get me wrong- it's not that I don't like flowers or romantic gifts (I made sure Nick understood this point too lol) But I was just really convincted at the time that that money could go to something bigger instead of for me to look at some pretty flowers for a few days and then have them die soon after. I've never been a big fan of the media's version of Valentine's Day and love. Not to sound hateful or like an angry feminist. I just think it's such a predictable, cheapened, watered-down version of what love really looks like. And it means so much to think that Nick's gift went to changing a family's life and giving them hope. I'm sure that in the near future I'll get the itch and want some tulips or peonies, but for now I'm so thankful for a husband who thinks outside of the box for gifts :)

2 Down, 999 To Go :)

2009-02-22T14:05:00.000-08:00

I haven't gotten a huge jump on things as much as Ashley has :), but I'm on my way. Here's what I've started on to get me to my goal:
#2- Ashley, aka one of the most thoughtful and generous people I've ever met, bought me a kit to teach myself how to knit :)
#4- We registered for the NYC marathon today!!! We won't find out until June if we got in yet, but I did what I could! If I don't get into the lottery for that marathon and if we can't raise enough money to get in through the charity program, I think I may to the Chicago in October, or maybe do the San Diego or San Fran Rock N Roll marathon.
#14- I have the first Twilight book, but have only read 10 pages :) I'm sort of in the middle of 3 other books and didn't want to get into another one yet. But I finished one of the books today, so I'm getting closer!
#3- I meet my student tomorrow for the first time :/ I'm not gonna lie- I'm a little nervous!!
#27- I start this on Wednesday. Selfishly, I'm not really looking forward to this too much. But I know it'll be a great practice for me and will be a great reminder of how blessed I/we really are. The one thing I hate is that my birthday falls right in the middle of the 40 days, and also that we'll be out of town in Tucson during this time. So I know that since we have no shopping in Huntington, it'll be so tempting to shop while out of town!!! It's amazing that I/we are basically able to buy whatever we want, whenever we want- and to exercise some restraint in this area will definitely be good for me. It's sometimes shameful how we live compared to the majority of the world. Not only do I never lack for food or shelter or warmth, but sadly I often waste money on unnecessary things that are impulse purchases. OK, enough about that- I'll get off my soapbox.
#11- Nick and I are taking an amazing trip in 2 1/2 weeks to Tucson- and I'm so excited!!! :) I had never been to AZ in my life until this January when I went to Phoenix- and I LOVED it. And now we're going again, 2 months later. His company is sending us there Wed-Sun, and I basically will be lying around, reading, enjoying the sun, and running in the perfect weather all weekend :) And getting a wonderful Swedish massage, all on NAPA's tab! Thank you, car part buyers!!! So that will be the first of my 10 new cities to visit. And just to make it even better, it just happens to be the same weekend as my birthday!
My list is obviously not finished yet. But I figured I'd rather leave it how it is and add things as I go along, rather than rush my list. OK, we're getting ready to leave so I'll wrap up for now! I hope to update this weekly- to help keep myself focused and accountable to reach all my goals.

Here goes nothin'!

2009-02-17T18:32:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm just gonna be honest. I enjoy occasionally reading other people's blogs, but never thought I had enough interesting stuff to write about. At least, not enough to write outside of my journal where other people could read all my thoughts and dorky stories. It's not often that I have some great revelation to share, and Huntington sure doesn't have much exciting stuff that happens. But I'm doing this "101 things in 1,001 days", and I guess you're supposed to create a blog to go with it. So, here's mine :)
I'm not officially starting my 1,001 days until February 20th, so I still have a few days. Plus, I'm only on like #78 with my list- so I need to hurry my butt up and finish my goals. But I wanted to play around on here a little before starting the project. Tonight was pretty exciting b/c I finished my Literacy Tutor training, and I'm beyond excited to meet with my reader!!! I don't think I can write anything about him b/c I'm pretty sure the stuff is confidential, but I'm so excited for this opportunity :) And I can already tell this is going to be an awesome experience, even though I'm a little nervous. Seriously, I'm not sure that 6 hours of training makes me capable of teaching someone how to completely go from not being able to identify letters, to passing the GED. But I'm ready to give it my best! Anyway, this is enough for tonight. The tutoring will obviously be one of the first goals I work on accomplishing. And maybe I should add "Trying not to trip and fall after the age of 27" since I just about broke my wrist and face on my front porch a few minutes ago. Geez. I'm never going to escape my dorkiness.