Lent & Shopping

Growing up in a Baptist church, we didn't acknowledge Lent. It just isn't practiced. I think the first time I heard about it was in college. I worked for my mom, and her Hispanic employees asked me what I planned to give up for Lent. I was challenged. Although I still didn't know exactly what Lent was, I did understand the premise of sacrifice. I knew that if it was important to these girls that I needed to do it. I'm pretty sure I gave up chocolate. H.A.R.D., also known as sacrifice.

It's been about ten years since I first started practicing Lent. And I've learned so much more about it. Now, I work at an Episcopal school where we have weekly chapel. Truth be told, I didn't enjoy chapel the first few months. It was so different than my "normal." But now, I really like it; I even look forward to it. I love certain prayers. I love the Apostles' Creed (and get a little giddy each time it's said). I love Eucharist. I love the thought that each person participating in that service on Thursdays is saying the exact same prayer. And now it's time for Lent.

A month ago, I thought I'd give up Diet Coke for Lent. I seriously had a problem. That was resolved ahead of time. I thought I might do it anyway; it'd be easy. But since Lent involves preparation for Easter, including through self-denial, I figured I should do something that will benefit me. Guess what I picked? The thing that takes up WAY to much time in my life:

That's right. I won't be on facebook for 46 days. I even deleted the app from my iPhone to avoid  temptation. Day one hasn't been super-challenging in the disconnection aspect (although I have been shopping all day). But when I get onto my computer, it's automatic for me to type "fa", hit the down arrow once and arrive at facebook. (I had a conversation with some of my students about this. We all seemed to think it's a little strange to sit down at a computer and stare at facebook without any recollection of going to the site.)

So, if you need me, you can email me or call me or text me or comment here.

(Oh, I have one caveat. I plan to go onto my account and disable my wall on my upcoming birthday. It's a whole other issue, but I don't care for 200 "friends" to wish me a good day. With that many posts, the important wishes get lost. If you are my friend and want to offer birthday wishes, text me or call me. Or send a great gift.)

Today I went shopping with my mom and mother-in-law. We shopped until we dropped. Almost literally for me. I don't always wear appropriate footwear, so my little feet were tired. My mother-in-law is able to shop at Dallas Market Center--where retailers buy their merchandise. Guess what I picked out? Christmas stuff! I have absolutely NO MORE ROOM for Christmas decorations, but I'll worry about that in a few months when it's shipped.

After Market, we lunched (very late) at Taverna. Oh, it was so YUMMY. We each ordered something different and shared. I had little pasta "pillows" filled with Gorgonzola cheese and pears topped with a cream sauce, arugula and walnuts. The two other dishes were penne with tomatoes and basil and butternut squash tortellini with fried sage. They were all amazing. We splurged with dessert and coffee, and then headed for a little more shopping at Sur la Table and Pottery Barn. In order to balance the Christmas decorations bought earlier in the day, I practiced self-control and purchased only one thing. We've been talking about it for almost 1.5 years of marriage, every time we have a watery salad, so I finally bought a salad spinner. But not just any salad spinner, I found a collaspible salad spinner.

I'm thinking functional and easy to store. Husby will love this combo. Unlike our new Christmas decorations. He just doesn't understand cute, non-functional items. Luckily he has me, both cute and functional. Now, I can make even better salads. And have an even cuter house at Christmas.

Weekend Update

This weekend was so nice. I've had such a busy two weeks, especially in the evenings. Truth be told, I love staying home at night. We don't go out to dinner much, or at least we do take out. Especially on Friday nights. It's like we're retired folk. This weekend revolved around television and movies. We decided that we must see a movie or two since we didn't see any of those nominated for Academy awards. We hit up Blockbuster Express on Friday night before a quick trip to grab a burger. While we ate, we watched Top Chef All-Stars.

We're HUGE fans of Top Chef, and self-proclaimed foodies who love a drive-thru burger. After being extremely satisfied with the outcome of the episode, we popped in:

Oh, it's so good! Not like I have to announce that to my blog readers--or anyone else in the world--since we're a good year behind the curve. I admit that I cried a little, mostly at the end when Andy is playing with his toys again.

On Saturday, our plan was to see two movies, but the theater changed the times, so we were only able to see one:

It's definitely worth every award it won. I loved it. It doesn't hurt that I'd watch Colin Firth in anything; I think he's an amazing actor. I haven't seen The Fighter, but Christian Bale must have been more than fabulous to win the Academy award since Geoffrey Rush did an outstanding job in The King's Speech.

On our way home, we stopped by Blockbuster Express to return Toy Story 3, and I had a coupon code for Buy 2, Get 1 Free. So we rented three more movies. After dinner with my parents (my mom's first time for sushi, chopsticks and  martinis), Husby and I watched:

First of all, a couple of years ago I deleted Mark Zuckerburg as my facebook friend for unknown reasons except that I didn't know why he needed to be my friend. After watching this movie, I feel good about this decision. It was a good movie, but not nearly as good as The King's Speech. Oh, and this was the first time that I wanted to hit Justin Timberlake.

We watched Inception last night. Truth be told, I thought more in that 2.5 hours than I planned to think during Spring Break. Half the time, I didn't know if we were watching a dream OR a dream within a dream OR a dream within a dream within a dream without really thinking about it. Again, great movie, but I'm still glad The King's Speech won the Academy Award for Best Movie.

Confession: I love Will Ferrell. And Marky Mark. And funny movies. I can't wait to watch this.

Also, I was able to watch the premier of:

It's my guilty pleasure. I loved Bethenny Getting Married, so I'm super excited that she's on for another season.

Husby and I also watched this weeks:

If you don't watch this, you should. It is laugh out loud HILARIOUS. Every week. We laugh at it, and then look at each other and smile because the things that happen in this show are things that could (and have) happened to us.

Our goal of watching movies and TV this weekend was more than met. I think I wound up watching 11 hours total. Impressive, right? I have plans for Spring cleaning over my one week break, and maybe a couple of other movies.

Have a great Monday!

It's March...

I cannot believe that it's March! And praise the Lord that I only have one more day until Spring Break! I think this has been the longest week ever. It just won't end. Normally, I'm not one that lives for the weekend, but for some reason I haven't been able to wait for a break.

I know that I'm about 5 days late for an Oscar post, but let's pretend that you're still interested. I went to a party hosted by someone in our Sunday school class. It was just the girls, so we were able to critique dresses, jewelry and hairstyles to our hearts' desire. Included with our invites were ballots for Oscar predictions. We were supposed to complete them in time for the party. I waited until the day of the party before completing mine. I did a little Googling as research, looking at a few people who are known to be spot on with their predictions. Turns out, I'm good at choosing those that others predicted. One of the prizes given at our party was for Best Predictor, and I won. Here's my cute trophy:

I guessed 20 out of 23 categories. Not too shabby! Especially since I haven't seen ANY of the Best Picture nominees. That's right, none. In fact, off of the whole ballot, I've only seen three: How to Train Your Dragon, Alice in Wonderland and Iron Man 2. I'm not sure where me and Husby have been over the past year, but it's not been at the theatre. We decided that we'll see two movies this weekend: The King's Speech and Gnomeo & Juliet. Over Spring Break, I plan to rent Toy Story 3 and maybe one other.

On Tuesday night, I went with a group of girls, including my mom and college roommate to see Mamma Mia on stage. I'll admit that I really wasn't impressed with the movie. In fact, I hated wasting two hours of my life seeing it. But the musical is better. It's not Wicked or Les Mis, but it's cute and entertaining. And the music is good. I've been humming several tunes over the past couple of days.

Adriane & me

Front Row: Mom, Velda, Bonnie (my 2nd mom)

Back Row: Me, Adriane, Allison (like a sister)

You wouldn't know it from the pictures, but during the musical, Allison and I both got sick. I got a migraine, and let me tell you, that's tons of fun while in a musical! Especially one with a dance scene at the end with lights going everywhere. We headed back to our house for a quick supper when it was over. Except that I couldn't really eat more than ice cream. (Don't ask why, but when I have a migraine, I often want ice cream.) When Adriane and I were in college, we found the best Blue Bell ice cream EVER. And for some reason, they no longer make Good Heavens: chocolate and vanilla ice cream with sugar cookie dough and chocolate chip cookie dough. It was so good. Last week I found this at the store:

It's cake batter ice cream with sugar cookie dough pieces. Umm...yes, please! It didn't disappoint.

(As a side note: in college, we'd also go to the nearby gas station for pints of vanilla ice cream and a candy bar. We made our own marble slab creations. Except that it was on formica at our apartment. Oh, the memories.)

(Also, we both LOVE Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies. Although we both prefer the Little Debbie Valentine's Brownies. There may have been a box of these for decoration purposes at dinner this week.)

(One more thing...I could eat my weight in Little Debbie Fudge Rounds. I know they're not classy, but they're yummy!)

Adriane and I were able to finally exchange Christmas gifts! We gave each other books. When we went to hear Shauna Niequist speak a few months ago, she recommended a cookbook that's a fun read. I'd forgotten all about it, so I was super excited to open:

I plan to read it over Spring Break. For Adriane, I found a 60 year old book about composers. (Adriane is getting her Master's in ethnomusicology, so I know she'd appreciate it.) On the inside page was a note written from one friend to another wishing her a Merry Christmas. I was able to replicate it on the facing cover. I was so excited to give her this gift. And I found it way before Christmas, so I've told her all along about her super great present. It's a good thing she liked it! I have no shame in being proud of gifts. Ha!

I'm off to a birthday dinner. A sweet girl I used to babysit is turning TWENTY. I can't believe it. She used to get so excited making a craft from empty toilet paper rolls. Now she's in college. And I'm going to have two servings of her birthday cake to make myself feel better. :)

Valentine's Getaway

Two weeks between posts seems a tad ridiculous, right? Do you ever have seasons of feeling overwhelmed? I certainly do, and hopefully, I'm coming out of that season. Thankfully, this has also been a season sprinkled with quality time with friends and making new friends. I love that part. I do. I just looked through my camera and wouldn't you know that I pictures from September that I haven't shared?! Maybe this week, we'll take a visit to the past and look at a few fun things. I think I'll start with the most recent. That makes sense, right?

For Valentine's Day, Husby and I take turns planning. He does one year; I do the next. It makes it easier, and it's TONS less pressure. This year we headed to Fredericksburg, Texas.

We live southeast of Dallas, so it was a 5+ hour drive. But totally worth it. See, we spent New Years with our super good friends, Patti and Brent. Patti mentioned that she was planning a secret trip to Fredericksburg for Valentine's Day. What started as a trip for those two turned into a super secret mission for us to meet them in F-burg for the weekend. Husby didn't know where we were going until the night before, and then didn't know we'd meet up with them until breakfast on Saturday. The reaction we got was fabulous! We had the best weekend with our dear friends. Our husbands said that the next surprise trip could be out of the country since we did so well with this one. Ha!

I arranged for us to stay at a private bed and breakfast, Carriage House on the Creek. It was more like a mother-in-law suite with vouchers for breakfast at area restaurants. Perfect! It was so warm and cozy, and our inn keepers (whose house is just in front of the garage/carriage house) were so helpful and kind. We'll definitely stay here again.

We arrived on Friday, both of us having taken the day off work. After we checked into to our B&B, we headed to dinner at Cabernet Grill--a recommendation from our inn keeper, Mitch. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint! I had a fabulous meal that was half an eggplant, scooped out just a bit, breaded and fried; then it was filled with blue crab and shrimp in an asiago cheese sauce. Yum! Husby had the best pork tenderloin we've ever tasted, along with three cheese grits.

On Saturday once we met up with Patti and Brent, we used our vouchers for breakfast at Rather Sweet Bakery. I had a breakfast sandwich, and it was so yummy! When I ordered, I was amazed by all of the baked goods. I was so close to buying a macaroon, but thought that might be excessive for breakfast. Imagine my delight when Brent decided to buy one for an afternoon snack. It was the best macaroon I've EVER tasted.

After breakfast, we headed to Enchanted Rock, which is a huge pink granite boulder. Patti and I climbed just a bit, and then decided that we weren't properly dressed, so we sat and talked and soaked up the first non-winter weekend we've had in a couple of months. Our husbands climbed and jumped from boulder to boulder, across caverns. Let me just say that wearing a denim skirt with tights and cute little tennis shoes doesn't lend itself to jumping and climbing. I thought that a huge granite boulder meant that it would be like a super smooth hill. I was wrong.



After Enchanted Rock, we headed to the Texas Wine Trail. We visited a few wineries, but they were SO busy that we didn't taste at all of them. Our favorite was Grape Creek Winery. We came home with a Merlot and Riesling from Grape Creek. We also visited a fabulous chocolate shop, Chocolat. They have liqueur filled chocolates. Not a creamy center, but actual liqueur. My free taste was on an Amaretto filled chocolate. I could have eaten a dozen!

Food was obviously a theme for the weekend, as it often is while on vacation. (And by vacation, I mean anytime we're out of town or off work for more than the weekend. Ha!) After Enchanted Rocks and wineries, we took a little break before heading to dinner at Hilltop Cafe. It was an abandoned gas station that was converted to a restaurant. Again, we had great food. Here are a few pics of us at dinner:

 

Then for breakfast the next morning, we used our vouchers at Sunset Grill, which was amazing! They have a separate Sunday brunch menu, and it did not disappoint. I had a wonderful black forest ham and brie panini. I'll eat pretty much anything with brie on it! After a little shopping in downtown Fredericksburg, we headed home. Although the weekend wasn't super relaxing, it was super fun. I loved the quality time I spent with my sweet husband and friends.

Post Number 200: On a Snow Day

My goodness. This is my 200th post. I know to some bloggers, this number is hit every year, but not for me. I've only been blogging consistently-ish for about 1.5 years. Happy 200th post to me! And thanks to those of you who read my fantastic posts about things like super hot weather, crazy cold weather, wisdom tooth removal and our first anniversary celebration. Where else would you find such intriguing topics?

This week, I was a quite bitter about working. It seemed like most schools within 30 miles of us were either off or had late starts because of the snow/ice. Then word came that another snow storm would approach us from the south. (I don't quite understand how that happens since we're pretty far south in this area of Texas, but whatever.) The original predictions was that it wouldn't reach us. I mean, come on. How can Texas get two snowstorms in one week, and they both miss our little city?! But I held out hope since Texas weather is unpredictable, at best.

For some unknown reason, I woke up at 5am. I tossed and turned, trying to go back to sleep, but only wanted to know if I'd need to be up in an hour, or if I'd be able to sleep in. I decided to look out the window to see if there were any flakes coming down. Well, turns out the meteorologists were wrong. It SNOWED! I ran back to bed and woke Husby to let him know. I'm not sure he shared my enthusiasm. I turned to my trusty phone to look for cancellations. None. I listened to the road below for cars, indicating whether or not people thought it was safe to drive. I wrestled with sleep until 6am when my sweet mom called to tell me that she saw we were out for the day. Hallelu!

Husby was able to stay home, as well. We've had a nice, relaxing day so far. Yummy pancakes and lots of coffee for breakfast, a little The Big Bang Theory from last night, and now I'm snuggled down with Crickett in my makeshift sectional. (I pulled an arm chair up to the sofa. Think fort-making days in our younger days. It may not be classy, but it works!) I do hear cars driving up and down the brick streets below, so I feel that we would have been safe driving, but I'm so thankful for an extra day to rest! I plan to stay in my fleece pants, fleece pullover and wool boots for the majority of the day.

One of my goals for the first 6 weeks of the year is to cook one new recipe a week (or just a total of six new recipes). And I think I'll meet that goal! Right now, I really have a thing for Asian food. Usually, I can't go without Mexican food (Tex-Mex or authentic) for more than four days, so this is a change. I've made Asian Turkey Meatballs, Chicken Lettuce Wraps, and Beef and Green Bean Noodle Bowls. I've also done Spinach Meatballs (super yummy) and a blackberry cobbler. I'll post most of these recipes over the next week.

We have two Super Bowl parties on Sunday. I'm taking desserts to both of them. On the menu: Lemon Bars and Chocolate Scotcharoos. Along with our menu for the week, a trip to the grocery store is in order. I just hope they've recovered from the people who decided they must buy enough food to last for an ENTIRE SNOW DAY. The weather is forecast to warm up tomorrow. So I should be just fine changed out of my fleece attire and wool boots for a grocery shopping excursion.

Hope you have a great weekend! Stay warm!

My Turn to Complain About the Weather

Sweet mercy, it is COLD! I wish I had a picture of pretty snow to post, but we didn't get snow or ice or anything needed to cancel school/work. Dang it. Even the rolling black-outs don't count. I'm not exactly sure how electricity works, but I guess we don't have enough of it in the cold. Someone should really figure that out. Because it's a little hard to give a PowerPoint presentation without electricity, and I had to give three. I did pretty well considering I only had electricity for about 5 slides. If you need tips on writing a college admission essay, just let me know. We'll review expanding sentences, avoiding cliches and the reason you shouldn't write an essay about how football changed your life. Then I'll throw in an example about Seinfeld vs. Friends, and we'll wrap things up. Sounds fun, huh? Oh, and then you'll stress over what in the world you'll write about for your college admission essays. But I'll offer for you to come into my office to brainstorm ideas.

But if you'd rather not receive tips on said college admission essay, then I'd like for you to know HOW COLD IT IS. Let me tell you, this lady is not built for cold weather. Last night, the wind chill was 10 degrees; today the high is 27. This is a stark contrast from the 77 degree weather we had last weekend--weather that brought tears of JOY to my eyes. We let the cat-who-thinks-she's-ours, Persephone, stay inside last night. When I went to put her out this morning, she hesitated and tried running back in. I booted her out because I didn't have time to waste--I had to layer up. I tried to recall proper skiing attire, but in an office-acceptable fashion. Tricky! Especially since all I wanted to wear was my fleece outfit. I didn't, not just because it isn't appropriate, but also that it needs to be washed after wearing it the past four days when I'm at home.

Also tricky in this weather is working out. Not because I run or do any sort of thing outside. I just don't like changing into clothes that won't give me a heat stroke only to change back into my fleece outfit when I'm done. That's too much transition in our house that isn't super warm. I've voided a workout for three days, but MUST do it today.

I'm so glad Punxsutawney Phil predicts that spring is on its way. I can't wait. I want to sweat a little and wear a dress without leggings or tights. Until then, I'll continue wearing my fleece outfit and wondering why it's so cold in this Artctic circle we call Texas.

Picture Project

In keeping with the theme of January and resolutions and all, I need to add another. (You can read about my initial resolutions here.) Y'all, I am horrible at taking pictures! I realize that we're 24 days into January so I'm a tad behind on the list of 52. I'll catch up this week/weekend. Basically, I take a picture once a week all year long with the help of the prompts below (thanks to a list found here). My goal is:

a) Take more pictures.
b) Get used to having my camera with me and using it.
c) Downloading said pictures to my computer. (I tend to go months before downloading pictures!)

Week 1 - Black and White
Week 2 - Food
Week 3 - Self Portrait
Week 4 - Reflection
Week 5 - Ennui
Week 6 - Red
Week 7 - Time
Week 8 - Pink
Week 9 - Patterns
Week 10 - Morning
Week 11 - Round
Week 12 - Hands
Week 13 - Shine
Week 14 - Envy
Week 15 - Soft
Week 16 - Perspective
Week 17 - Love
Week 18 - Start
Week 19 - Free
Week 20 - Texture
Week 21 - Toys
Week 22 - Downtown
Week 23 - Summer
Week 24 - Heat
Week 25 - Fantasy
Week 26 - Water
Week 27 - Shadows
Week 28 - Light
Week 29 - Night
Week 30 - Macro
Week 31 - Nature
Week 32 - Clothes
Week 33 - Green
Week 34 - Map
Week 35 - Laughter
Week 36 - Child(ren)
Week 37 - Yellow
Week 38 - Candy
Week 39 - Pets
Week 40 - Never Ending
Week 41 - Sports
Week 42 - Books
Week 43 - Blue
Week 44 - Letter of the Alphabet
Week 45 - Innocence
Week 46 - Most Important Thing in Life
Week 47 - Heaps
Week 48 - Family
Week 49 - Favorite Spot
Week 50 - Metal
Week 51 - Three
Week 52 - Fun