Such a hard life

All they do is sleep. Seriously. All day. I guess thats a good thing when its rainy and dreary outside. Have a happy Saturday inside.

Friday Confessions: Attachment to shoes

Sometimes when I get an idea for the "Friday Confessions" series, I will jump on here and write a short sentence that gives me a sense of what the post might be about. Its not even a sentence necessarily, just a list of key words to help me remember all the details I want to convey. Here's what I wrote for this post:

slip on keds with holes two small ran away

So here's the real story...I have always had kind of an attachment to shoes. When I was 5 I had a pair of slip on tye dye keds. I wore them everywhere. I continued to wear them even though my feet were growing like weeds. It got to a point that I was wearing them after they had formed holes at the toes, but good thing they did because they probably wouldn't fit without my toes hanging out the ends. One day when I was at school they disappeared. I got home from school ( I am sure I wasn't allowed to wear them there any more due to their condition), and they were gone. I was worried, and my mom said they ran away. Really mom? They ran away? Well, I believed her. I have to admit, even today, I have a hard time throwing shoes away. 

Instead of a picture from the past, check out these toms...I really want them.

My favorite part about Thursdays...

...is eating spicy and sour soup. Every Wednesday and I mean EVERY Wednesday on the way home from volunteering at youth group Glen and I make the trip to Egg Roll Station which closes at 9 so sometimes it is a rush to get there. We share a meal. Glen gets an eggroll, and I get Spicy and Sour soup for lunch the next day. Why do I get lunch for the next day? Well, that one meal that we share on Wednesday night also makes enough for Glen the next day for lunch. So, it's only fair that I get chinese for lunch too! $8 and some change amounts to 2 dinners and 2 lunches. This is seriously the best chinese food in town. We don't go anywhere else. Once we did and I have regretted that decision for awhile. I might still be getting over it. Go try some. You will not regret it.

Don't let me forget to tell you, they only take cash. They might be located next to a chicken plant so not the best ambiance so plan on take out, and they might just have "Go Cocks, Go E'rolls" on the sign...my kind of place.

3 years

On this day 3 years ago I married my best friend. Let me just say- it was a good day, a really good day!

Answered prayer

Last week I wrote about missing service opportunities. I also said that I was praying that God would open more opportunity for me to serve. Last night on the way to a friend's house, I came upon 2 ladies on the side of the road. One of them was in a dress trying to flag people down. I wouldn't normally stop, but for whatever reason I had no conservations whatsoever about stopping. I asked if they need help and pulled my car to the side. All they needed was some help pushing the car off the road. The one lady's family was already on the way. I found out the lady in the dress flagging people down was another person who had stopped to see if the other lady needed help. She had pushed the car as far as she could by herself (in that dress). We pushed the car out of the road, and she was so thankful.

I didn't even recognize this situation as an answer to my prayers until it dawned on me much later- God provided me with that opportunity.

Multitude Monday, Week 14

157. Air conditioning
158. Forgotten about gift certificates
159. Sprinklers
160. Girls movie night
161. Almost 3 years with my best friend
162. New recipes
163. A husband who will do all the yard work
164. Not having to miss the sermon this week
165. Opportunity to serve (even if it was small)
166. Only one planned activity this week
167. Funny looking cupcakes

Week 13

Caprese Salad & BLTs

I know you all are dying to know what I did with my heirloom tomatos, mozzarella, and basil. Well I decided to make Caprese Salad. I had never had it before and it didn't sound that awesome. It is so simple, and that's what made it great and so delicious. It is now on my list of go to sides.

Caprese Salad

Tomato

Fresh Mozzarella

Fresh Basil

Olive Oil

Lemon Juice

Salt

Pepper

Slice tomatos and mozzarella and place on plate in an alternating fashion. Chop basil and sprinkle on top. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Drizzle with equal amounts olive oil and lemon juice immediately before serving.

The next day we still had some mozzarella and tomato left and decided to make BLT. We fused together Caprese Salad and a traditional BLT, and it made a fantastic sandwhich!

Caprese BLT

Tomato

Mozzarella

Basil

Bacon

Lettuce

Mayonaisse

Bread

Toast Bread. Thinly slice mozzarella. Place mozzarella on bread and place under broiler. Make sure you watch the bread closely so the edges don't burn. Heat until mozzarella is warm. Add bacon, lettuce, tomato, basil, and mayo. Enjoy!

Friday Confessions: The Wardrobe

Growing up, I wouldn't say that I was the most stylish kid, but its okay. I was just a kid. Not all of this was my fault. Although I did play a big part in it. Obviously my mom bought me clothes, but from a young age she let me pick out what I wanted to wear. I am pretty sure I wore a certain cotton short and t-shirt outfit every other day. It was neon pink and orange, and it had both stripes and polka dots. I blame the early 90's. I am sure my wardrobe choice didn't help the fact that I never brushed my hair. Really. I thought it was better that way.

But I was just a kid. So all that was okay. Then came junior high and highschool. I admit I had a white dress shirt/blouse that didn't have buttons. It had strips of velcro. Yes, thats right velcro. It was passed down to me from my sister Carrie. So I blame her even though she didn't make me wear it. I actually thought it was cool just like I thought those circle comb headbands that separated your hair were cool (I know you know what I am talking about). This shirt was a little dangerous. You had to be careful you didn't get caught on anything. Buttons=secure. Velcro=not so secure. I actually didn't realize how weird a thing my velcro dress shirt was until I told my Bible study girls. Apparently no one else ever had one nor had ever heard of a velcro dress shirt. Which brings me to another admission/question combo- did anyone else wear mock turtle necks besides me and my sisters? they had the turtle neck and then a circle of fabric that you tucked under your other shirt or if you were like me tucked under your dress. If anyone else has worn these or a velcro dress shirt, please let me know that I am not alone or feel free to mock if you were a stylish kid.

Passion.Intensity.Gladiators

On Wednesday nights in July the youth group that Glen and I volunteer with do a special events. Gladiators. It joins junior high and senior high together to play big group games. We break up into three teams and compete each week. The first week theme was mind games. The second was active outdoor/team building, and this past week's theme was water. I decided this was the week to take pictures. I had a blast because I caught facial expressions I had never seen before. I do believe these pictures embody Passion, Intensity, and Gladiators. Enjoy!

And my absolute favorite for last...

9 bucks left and I went to Earth Fare

I am a sucker...for good food, expecially when coupons are involved. I am on my last week of the 6 week budget cycle and have $9 left. I knew last week that I was running short but that didn't stop me from buying an overload of fruit and 30 rolls of double roll toilet paper (which equals 60 rolls).  The mass amount of fruit included a bunch of bananas (literally and figuratively), 10 peaches, a quart of strawberries, a pint of blueberries, and a whole pinapple. Thats a lot of fruit especially when its only for two people and only one of the two people really eats more than bananas unless the other person personally cuts the fruit herself and serves it with dinner.

So I have $9 left. Since I got some free milk at CVS this weekend, I figured I don't really need any other real grocercies. Right? I mean I have a pretty good stock at the house so I decided to take advantage of this deal at Earth Fare. I might buy over priced tomatoes but they are organic. Plus, I get free mozzarella and basil. I am not a health nut. I don't usually buy organic, but the other day they had organic lettuce on sale and it made the most delicious salads I have eaten in a really long time. So I am super excited to figure out what I am going to make with my fresh mozzerella, fresh basil, and organic tomatos!

On another note, I think that I am going to enter this contest. I just have to figure out a creative way to photograph my tomatos!

Missed Opportunities

Last week I encountered two people at Walmart. First, when I was walking in there was a girl sitting on the ground right outside of the store. She was dirty and very tired looking. She was sitting with a guy who looked quite a bit older than her. He also looked very dirty. It was close to 100 degrees. My heart hurt when I saw them. Then when I went inside I was waiting in the pharmacy line to pick up a perscription. I was standing behind a man who asked me if I minded if he sat down while he waited. He looked tired. He had bandages on his arms and looked like he was having a rough day. I noticed while he was sitting and waiting, tears started rolling down his cheeks. He was called up to the counter to pick up his medicine and continued to cry. The cashier ignored that he was upset.

While shopping, I began to regret not doing anything. My heart was hurting for these people yet I did not move to action. When I left the store the girl sitting outside was gone. I had missed both opportunities. I can't imagine how many people walked by the two people outside and said nothing, offered nothing, and saw them as nothing. I hate that I did nothing.

When I was in middle school I started volunteering for service projects. I even went on a middle school mission trip to Charlotte where we volunteered with several different ministries doing all sorts of service activities. That period of my life is when I believe that God gave me a heart and passion for service. He gave me a desire to help those in need and to have mercy and compassion. My best memories from highschool are the service days we had with our youth group. Once we cleaned and repaired an elderly woman's house in downtown Augusta. My job was cleaning the bathroom. I spent 2 hours with a paint scraper scraping out the thick layer of dirt and grime that had built up in her bath tub and I loved every moment of it. That can only come from God. I jump at any chance to be part of a service group with planned activities.

So what is the disconnect? Why do I have such a hard time reaching out to people in my everyday life? I feel concern and compassion, and my heart hurts when I see others hurting. Why do I have to wait on and depend on someone planning a service event? Is it my insecurity or a fear? I pray that God will change me, that He will show me what is keeping me from reaching out, and that He will give me more opportunities. To be completely honest it also scares me to pray this.

The Atlanta Braves

This past weekend Glen and I went to Atlanta to see a Braves game with our good friends Andrew and Elizabeth. It was supposed to be a surprise for both of the husbands. Glen found out first because I was doing some research for the trip at home, and Glen got home earlier than I had expected. There was a small piece of paper sitting on the couch and I wasn’t able to grab it in time, but me thinking that Glen wouldn’t be that observant thought he didn’t see it and later I told him that we were doing something the weekend of July17. Well he put it together. Andrew didn’t know for the longest time and Elizabeth broke down and told him 2 days before we went. Even though it wasn’t a surprise it was still a ton of fun!

We arrived in Atlanta for a late lunch. I had researched a lot of restaurants and found 3 possibilities. We decided on the Park Tavern, and I am so glad we did. After driving to the wrong park in a less than awesome part of town we made it to Piedmont Park (the biggest park in Atlanta). The restaurant sat right on the edge. We sat outside and had a great view of the park with the Atlanta skyline in the back ground. We all had burgers and they were great! The best thing about the park and restaurant was that there were dogs everywhere. It seemed like everyone had a dog. I really wish we could have brought Abby. We even saw two dogs that looked just like her.

Saturday night we went to the Braves game. This was my second baseball game ever. The only other one I have gone to see was the Augusta Green Jackets and that obviously wasn’t a big deal. We all had a lot of fun, and it was a terrific weekend away! The only thing I wish we would have done is take Monday off.

View of Piedmont Park from the Park Tavern

Waiting before the game

The field

I got the whole experience, even the giant $6 hotdog!

Chipper Jones

Multitude Monday, week 13

150. a weekend away

151. safe traveling

152. a husband who I knew in highschool

153. a husband who is my best friend

154. a husband who I learned to grow up with

155. having friends who are like family

156. my part time job that allows me to catch up after weekends away

Week 12

Some more sunflower pics

I had another sunflower bloom, and the biggest one is so close to blooming.

The buds before they bloom are pretty awesome.

I don't know what it is, but these really make me happy!

Recipes

So I may or may not have but probably definitely did spend a little too much time looking at a new food blog that I found.

Warning: If you like food or blogs or food blogs do not continue reading unless you have some spare time. You might end up like me and get hooked.

I now have the following recipes in my to-do list...

White Kiwi Apple Sangria

Vanilla Ricotta Donuts

Salted Caramel Chocolate Mousse

Olive Cheese Dip

Fried Green Tomato BLT

Croque-Madame

...and I may have spent some more time posting all the links on my blog, but I wanted to share them with you!

Friday Confessions: I am not a Public Speaker

I am naturally NOT a public speaker. I had several instances in my childhood that clearly proves that statement.
First, when I was in early elementary school I participated in thechurch choir. I never chose to participate. I just did. It was not an option. Although this is not technically public speaking it was my first instance of being in front of a large group of people. One service the music to the first song started, and I didn’t even sing the first word before I ran off of the stage, down the aisle, and out the back of the church.

The second instance was in seventh grade my class had to see who would represent our school in the geography bee. We would all stand up in front of the class and the teacher would ask each of us a geography question. The gist was if you got the question wrong you would sit down and you were out. Of course my question was the easiest and I froze. It was something like. What is the name of an ice house that people live in? Okay, so that is not the actual question, but it was certainly as easy. The answer if you didn’t catch it is igloo. IGLOO. Come on. I didn’t even get a real question like the name of some obscure country in South Asia. I got ice house, and I could not come up with igloo.

Thirdly, in highschool I had to read a paper I wrote in English class in front of the entire class. Needless to say, my voice shook and my eyes watered up so bad I could hardly read what I wrote.

So as you can see I do not have a good track record.

Even a year and a half ago I would have trembled at the possibility of being asked to speak in front of a group, but very recently that has been changing. I have been teaching some in the junior high Sunday school class and I have really been enjoying it. I don’t know if the junior higher have been enjoying it, but at least I know I have. This past weekend I even asked Glen, “what do you think about me being a teacher?- like for a job.” Never before have I even wondered something like this because of my inability to speak in front of groups, but I am not sure that I have found the job that God has planned for me. I love junior higher, but I guess teaching them is different than ministering to them. Of course I know that where I am now is God’s plan for me, but what about the future? It’s a question I have been pondering. I’ll let you know if it’s still a thought I have next week.

Note: I probably did not have a speaking part in whatever we are doing here.

Photo shoot

A few weeks ago, my friend Sara Parker took some pictures for me. It was a late birthday present for my two sisters. I thought it would be really fun to give them a photo shoot and I knew that Sara would get some really great pictures! Check it out!

Roasted Garlic Bowtie Pasta

I made the roasted garlic sauce that we used on the white pizza the other day and put it on pasta with mushrooms and sundried tomatos. The first day we ate it I made too much pasta and didn't have quite enough sauce. It was good but it could be better. The second time I made more sauce and made it into a cassarole and topped it with parmesan cheese. It was really good, if I do say so myself! So here is my kind of instructions for making it...quantities are not exact.

First, you have to roast your garlic. Cut top of an entire head of garlic. Drizzle with olive oil. Wrap in aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Then mash roasted garlic. Add to pan with about 2 Tbs. of butter. Add mushrooms and cook until browned. Add 1 Tbs of flour. Turn heat down to medium. This should create a thick paste. Add equal amounts heavy cream and chicken stock to make sauce. Bring to a boil. If it is too thick add more cream and stock. If it is too thin add more flour and wisk until fully incorporated. Add salt to taste. When sauce is at desired thickness add sundried tomatos. Add sauce to bowtie pasta. Toss, add to small cassarole pan, and top with parmesan cheese. Put in oven for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees or until cheese is melted.

Playing catch up

We have been so busy this summer. It’s kind of weird now that we are into our adult life (which we have been for a couple years but for some reason it hasn’t hit me till just this summer). we do not have summer breaks, yet we are still ridiculously busy in the summer. Jobs and responsibilities don’t change we just add on 5 million more activities... I exaggerate.


So here I am catching up on budget stuff after not looking at it an entire month! At least I can treat myself to a coffee at Immac and watch the rain in the front wall of glass windows and hope that I can concentrate enough to get the busy work done.

Have a happy Monday and drink some coffee!

Multitude Monday, Week 12

139. Dinner at other people's houses
140. My church
141. Getting to teach jr high Sunday School
142. Free food
143. People who will dress up with me
144. A husband who will watch sappy chick flicks with me
145. God's provision
146. Short work weeks
147. Seeing how the OT always points to Jesus in the NT
148. A husband who supports all my crazy ideas
149. Summer storms

Week 11

I appreciate cows

Yesterday was COW APPRECIATION DAY, and let me tell you I appreciate cows! I appreciate them so much that I might have definitely ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner at Chickfila! So here's the deal- you dress up like a cow and get a free combo meal. FREE!

Most of the group

We ran into the McFarland's at the church, and Sara Cate just had to put on a cow costume and get a picture with the big girls!

The whole group with the Chickfila Cow

Mmmm. Look at all our free food!

Only the hardcore people paint their face.

After eating at Chickfila for dinner we went to see Despicable Me! It was very cute. Then on my way home I got stopped at a police checkpoint, and I was still wearing my full cow costume (including facepaint). Awesome. Let me just say I gave the policemen quite a laugh!

White Pizza

Recently I found this recipe for White Pizza. I decided to make it and my own version of white pizza. The only difference is I made my own pizza dough recipe. The first one has garlic, italian seasoning, and olive oil in place of tomato sauce. It was alright. I would choose less italian seasoning. For the second pizza I made a roasted garlic cream sauce. It was great! I can't wait to make the sauce again to go with some pasta, sun dried tomatos, and mushrooms. Mmmm...I want some now.

I am beginning to think I need some round pizza pans. I am a little tired of mishapen pizza, but at least they taste good!

Friday Confessions: The Tempo

In highschool I drove a red Ford Tempo GL. It had already passed through my two older sisters and had a couple of accidents on the way. I am not a believer in brand new nice cars for teenagers. Maybe because I didn't have anything that slightly resembled new or nice or maybe because I know it created character in me. The following picture does not do justice to what my Ford Tempo actually looked like.

So let me explain. My Tempo was shiny on the front half and had a dull matte finish on the back. The front bumper was half way broken off in the front due to a run in with the mailbox. The trunk had to be propped up with a large stick, and nothing on the inside was up with technology. Imagine manual rolling windows and absence of anything that could play a CD or be adapted to play a CD. It didn't even have a tape player!

But, despite the Tempo's flaws my friends loved to ride in it. We even played games with the Tempo- seeing how long we could ride on neutral down hills. You know- the usual.

The Tempo eventually died after I had been driving it for about an hour at 10 mph because it would not shift out of 1st gear, and it died one mile from my house at 11 p.m. Awesome. I like to think that the Tempo built some sort of character in me. It taught me how to deal with car troubles (I had to jump it every other week). It taught me not to expect anything too nice, and it gave me some laughs.

I hope everyone has a character building car at some point!

This has nothing to do with this post but here's a pic from one of my highschool musicals...

Blooming Sunflower(s)

So even though the bag of sunflower seeds said Assorted 4 ft Variety, I only got a few 4 footers. It could have been that the bushes next to them were crowding them or maybe I planted a few too many in the small area that I had, but I think it was the seeds. But that's just me. Right now I have one bloom, but more are coming...

I can't wait for these two bigger ones to bloom!

Homemade Icecream Sandwhiches

Cookie recipe courtesy of Grandmother Myrt

Let's get our canoe on

Glen and I both got Monday off since the fourth of July was on Sunday. So we bought Abby her very own life jacket and headed to the river. Abby had a blast and was completely pooped by the end of our adventure.