what i'm loving wednesday (11.9)

i'm loving that i got to spend the weekend with two sweet boys, 4 and 2

(my standard "respecting privacy" explanation for the backs of heads and through mesh photography)


i'm loving that i'm HOME now


i'm loving that my husband joined us for part of the weekend...and i'm loving that he had the kitchen SPOTLESS when i walked in the house last night for the first time in 4 days.

said husband carrying one child into church while walking next to the oldest. p.r.e.c.i.o.u.s.

i'm loving that our team was the winner for most money raised at the hike for the homeless that i wrote about last week.  i'm SUCH a fan of this organization and i'm grateful that they exist to serve the families who desperately need them.


i'm loving our house, as it comes together slowly but surely.  hopefully i can take you guys on a virtual tour of it soon!


i'm loving "friend dates" that i get to have with my amazing girlfriends!


i'm loving that i have an appointment at the apple store tonight to pick up something else i'll soon be loving!


i'm loving that emi was so happy when i got home last night that she snuggled for a full 5 minutes :-)

it seems like a short list this week, but most assuredly, i'm loving my life and the rich blessings my Papa continues to pour out on us!

hey, it's ok (tuesday) .9

hey, it's ok

...to not get a fabulous time on a 5k when you (a) didn't run because your knee was bothering you and (b) hadn't actually DONE a 5k in months and months and months

...to already be looking for the next 5k.  because i totally have the bug again.

...to love ical because you get to color code *everything*

...to eat a cheeseburger (or quarter pounder) now and then

...to be completely overwhelmed by financial "stuff" all the while knowing and trusting that God will provide

...to need a (free or extremely cheap) getaway.  stat.

...to have way.too.many recipes in your "to try" folder

...to love twitter

...to feel accomplished because the dvr percentage is down to 50ish.  and all that was watched while getting other things done, so it's not like i've been a *complete* couch potato!

(amber is the one who started this and you should totally visit her)

hey, it's ok (tuesday) .7

visit amber for the original!

hey, it's ok

... to think the folgers commercials are a bit over the top. the latest one shows people drinking out of a ramekin and creamer cup because they can't spend the 2 extra minutes to locate the box marked "mugs" in the kitchen they just moved into.  i mean, really?

... to expect your phone and computer to communicate simply because they are both made by apple.  why is syncing such a nightmare?

... to think the spicy chicken deluxe combo from chick-fil-a is preferable to any other chicken meal EVER.
(but in all fairness, i don't love chicken.  i'm a beef girl)

... to have discovered and fallen in love with pinkberry.  this is not necessarily a good thing!

... to be excited about starting our registries this weekend.

...to not have a CLUE what we're going to register for.  it's overwhelming!

Thursday's Ten: thanksgiving '10

(you should all participate in this one. just sayin')

today i am thankful

- for the table we will gather at with anthony's family.  for them, their hospitality, and their immediate acceptance of me.  and that they asked me to bring something that's traditional in MY family today so i'm bringing green bean casserole and pumpkin pie.  and so incredibly grateful i didn't get a preparatory letter like this one with instructions. (read it.  you'll laugh)

- for the man i love and our time together so far...and for SO.MUCH to look forward to.  for future plans that excite me, for knowing that he loves God more than he loves me...so the balance is alllll gooooood.  and that he's a dork, just like me.

- for emi, who scrunches her face up into "her" chair, who sits on the piano bench more often than i do, who jumps up on the bed to be loved on as soon as i walk in the door, who runs to greet me when i arrive, who sometimes just runs around the house like a crazed animal, who is stingy (but rewarding) with her purrs, who loves to chase a laser light, and who most nights will cuddle with me at bedtime just for a little while.

- for life in the garden, in the herb planters.  and that i've managed to keep a cilantro plant alive for a whole month now.

-  for the fact that i just drove to anthony's apartment with my sunroof open.  on thanksgiving day, people.  it's in the 70s today :D

(and yes, it'll be cold tomorrow.  but i can be thankful for warm weather on thanksgiving!)

- for friends who get me.  and for those who don't, but accept that i'm a little crazy ;-)

- for the spiritual communities that have shaped my faith.  this journey has been a wild ride, for SURE  but i've told many people to buckle up and raise their hands because it's the ultimate thrill ride!

- for the privilege of being called to live this way.  so completely dependent on God for provision and strength that i pretty much live just like this quote:

"But God doesn't call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn't come through"

(Francis Chan)

- for my wii, dvr, laptop and iphone that serve as distractions when i need them, entertainment when i'm lacking, exercise when it's hot/cold/rainy, and connections with those i love. yes, all of them have their downsides, but using them for their intended purpose has been a blessing

- for so many countless things in addition: my dog magnet that has dogs of all shapes, sizes and breeds flocking to me and giving me affection.  for starbucks and my ridiculous collection of travel mugs.  for road trips with friends.  for snuggles on the couch.  for naps.  for worship.  for babies and the privilege of watching them grow.  for the families who have supported me and entrusted me with their most valuable possessions -- their children.  for learning about and beginning to operate more fully in my giftings.  for laughter.  for family.  for so.much.more.

and of course...for all of you.  who come here and read what i have to say, who humble me with the way you respond, who encourage me with your friendship.  i started blogging just for me, and i'm ever surprised and blessed that you hang out with me here in this small corner of the internet. so thankful that our lives (and blogs) have crossed paths.  :)

my experience with updating my iphone (3g) to OS 4.0

did not go exactly as planned.

which was frustrating, because you would think my macbook would communicate with it well.

i tried several times to run the "update" with no luck.

and by no luck i mean it would start a backup and after several hours would still be stuck backing the phone up.

so i did what any sensible girl would do.

i googled.

after reading several sites where people had similar issues, i lighted on an answer that seemed to be the most prevalent.

choosing "restore" instead of "update". according to them, this would automatically update your phone to the newest possible update.

sounded good to me.

i knew it would erase all my stuff, but i had faith in the "restore to backup" option.

so back up the phone i did :)

all in all, the process took about 2.5 hours from start to finish. here were the steps:

backing up my iphone (2 min)

restoring to factory settings (30 - 45 min)

waiting for it to restart (5 min)

freaking out that all my stuff was gone even though i had known it would be (5 - 20 min)

praying that the restore from backup would actually work (8 min)

and finally--with prayer--hitting the option to restore from backup and checking back every 30 seconds to see how close we were to fully backing up (1 excruciating hour)

oh, and then waiting for it to restart from THAT backup (5 min)

and waiting for it to sync, which basically meant putting all my music and stuff back on it (another 30 min)

having a momentary panic attack when i opened my text messages and saw they were blank...but only for a second. then the last one i had received came up, which made me smile--mostly because it was from my honey and said 'love you' :D (5 seconds)

i am happy to report that all is well...and those 2 hours spent doing all that were less stressful (even with my mild freakout) than the several hours (longest stretch being--i believe--approximately 8 hours with little to no movement on the task bar).

so why did i write this all out?

because there's probably other people out there who have run into similar problems and are unsure if this is the right solution.

so if you're not an iphone user, my apologies. will a cute picture of emi help?

Thursday's Ten: i don't get it

this week, in the category of things i don't understand...

1. appetizers for cats. really, fancy feast?

2. twilight teeth. for real, y'all?

3. people freaking out about facebook privacy settings again. most of them i understand, but worrying that your phone number is being published to your friends list? um...you put your phone number up. if you don't want your friends to see it, remove it. easy fix...

4. why no one in tennessee seems to use cages when growing tomatoes. they produce a much sturdier plant than staking them...just sayin'

5. disposable hand towels being marketed for everyday use. i definitely think they can be used in place of paper towels in some situations. but the marketing ploy is basically that your regular hand towels are filthy and this is the solution.

ok, i'm not sure about you, but i'm drying my CLEAN hands on my hand towel...so i don't buy it.

talk about NOT being eco-friendly!

6. little girls who say they deserve to continue on in competition because "we've just been working SO hard for SO long". um, even if you've been working 10 years (your whole life) and are immensely talented, i can point you to some adults who would laugh at that. a lot.

(thank you, america's got talent, for that particular gem)

7. why on earth it's taken me over 24 hours and two restore operations to try to update my iphone to OS.4. omgoodness.

8. why i haven't heard more about hot in cleveland. i mean, it's betty white for crying out loud--and it cracks.me.up.

9. why all the infomercials after midnight seem to be targeted to the older set. i mean, do they really think 60+ year olds are up at 1 or 2 am watching tv?!

10. mashed potatoes from a box. the real deal is the only way to go. end of story.

join me, won't you?

this blog brought to you by (an) appointment...

i walked in with my bag, starbucks double-insulated cup filled with iced coffee in hand.

spoke to the receptionist, handed over my keys

sat in a comfy chair and gave a cursory glance to the magazines splayed out on the table before simply reaching into the bag and pulling out my laptop

smiling as i noticed the girl sitting opposite me was also typing on a macbook.

her drink of choice is perrier water—with lime

trendy girls, we are

and then i begin to wonder:

am i being trendy for the sake of being trendy?

does that girl LIKE perrier water or is she drinking it because of a fancy name

or fancy bubbles

do i really prefer starbucks coffee?

yes, i brewed my own coffee for the iced coffee in the cup, but no one else knows that…

do we as girls REALLY enjoy wearing high heels?

do people sign up for graduate school because it’s the thing to do,

or do they truly have a passion for what they’re studying?

i suppose it’s different for everyone

i love apple products, so yes i have a macbook

(and an iphone)

and while i enjoy a good coffee anywhere

most of my coffee travel mugs come from starbucks

(i like their style, what can i say?)

and while i much prefer flip-flips

or bare feet

i do like that i feel sexy in a cute pair of heels

so there you go

i'm going to assume that the girl across from me also loves apple

and prefers her water “con gaso”

and now i'll stop thinking so deeply

and just wait for my oil change to be over.

Thursday's Ten: U-Pick 10

Hey all. Coming to you late today. I'm dealing with a lot today, so I'm not really "here"...and am a bit sleep-deprived, so I didn't come up with a fantastic topic like usual (yeah right!)



You know how Panera has the "U-Pick 2" deal? I always get french onion soup and half a sandwich...

Anyway, this is your own U-Pick list. Your topic, your ideas, your blog. I'm going to list 10 random things that are on my mind, but you go with whatever. Ok? :0)

1. I have a 30 before I'm 30 list. Hopefully I'll post it while I'm still 29.
2. I had dinner at 11:45 last night. Mmmm, healthy.
3. Easter is my favorite holiday of the year, candywise at least. (Christmas is really. But Easter has Cadbury mini eggs. And jelly beans. Ahhh)
4. Laffy Taffy has the WORST jokes on their packages. Do 5 year olds work there?
5. When I get a sinus infection my ear piercings get infected. How odd is that?
6. I love shows like "The Middle" and "Parks and Recreation". They did their research on rural Indiana...
7. I could do a 5K every week of the year. It's really hard to limit when there's so many I want to do...but the cost helps me there :-)
8. I did a bracket for the NCAA this year. First year in a long time. I may have caught the basketball bug again...uh-oh
9. I'm loving the Wii. I borrowed Mario Galaxy from a friend and I'm totally addicted (actually Anthony borrowed it, asked said friend if I could borrow it too...does that mean I borrowed it from Anthony or our friend or both?)
10. I've been craving a strawberry Italian cream soda for about a week. Must.find.strawberry.syrup to make one. World Market here I come!

Can I add a bonus? The Windows 7 commercials drive.me.crazy. Could it be because I've switched over to Mac or are they really that DANG ANNOYING?!

Ok. I can't really muster up more than that today. I love you all and still need your prayers and I work through some pretty major stuff.

Thursday's Ten: A Few of My Favorite Things (Home Edition)

Welcome to this week's Thursday's Ten! I'm excited about this one, although I must admit I had a bit harder time with this one than I thought I would! Because of that, I'm running a little late, so please feel free to make this a Friday's Ten :)



This week's theme is your 10 favorite things in your home. I would LOVE to see pictures, but if you can't take/upload/post them please just tell us about your favorites :)

Most of the things I've listed here aren't uber expensive or all that "special" from a monetary point of view. I'm very much a sentimental saver. Hence the movie stubs, football tickets, and playbills in my scrapbooking cabinet. So most of these things have more of a meaning to me than anything else!

Here's mine, in no particular order:

1. wall cross. I found this at Hobby Lobby a few years ago and LOVE it.

2. my antique rocking chair passed down from a great aunt to a grandma to me. I also have a vanity that matches it in my bedroom but it's so covered in crap er, hard to photograph because of the light...yeah...that I didn't get a picture of it this time around.

3. my prayer board. this hangs in the bedroom next to the vanity, and I made it myself (along with another memo board in my kitchen). sometime I'll explain the meaning--it looks a little bare right now because I'm in the process of changing it out...plus some of it's "confidential" enough not to put on my blog!

4. my laptop. where would I be without it?(answer: well...in the office upstairs on the dinosaur PC that wouldn't get me very far...)

5. the Madonna A gave me for our anniversary in August. Isn't she beautiful?!
and in the same picture
the picture I took of the Eiffel Tower when I was in Paris in 2002. It was WAY before I had a digital camera, so I was thrilled with how well it turned out!


6. the vintage jewelry tree LaJuana gave me for my birthday last year. It's *fantastic*

7. my recycling bins--my first ever purchase at IKEA, and so nice for organizing the recycling that often explodes in my house!

8. my iPod docking alarm clock station. This was a Christmas gift a few years ago, and now that I have my iPhone the only time my nano leaves it is for a run.


9. various dishes I've inherited...they're just special, ya know?

10. my bedding. it's Pottery Barn and I totally bought it brand new on ebay for under half the price. All except the shams. Which they double sent me from PB, and when I called to ask if I should mail the extras back or return to the store they told me to keep them. :)

(erm, sorry it's all wrinkly. guess I shouldn't sit on the bed right before I take a picture...)

What about you? I would love to see (or hear about) your favorite things...please link up or comment so I know to visit you, and grab my button if you don't mind!
(code for said button is right there to your right...under my followers!)





Next week's theme: favorite restaurants/recipes

Oink, Oink (maybe)

It began Sunday morning.

I was scheduled for praise team at church and woke up stuffy and sneezy. Somehow I still made it through rehearsal and two services. Then I led a 2-hour rehearsal with the youth choir.

Then I went home and took a nap. I took my temperature upon entering my house and it was 99.7, so no big deal. 2 degrees is nothing to worry about. (my normal temp is 97, not 98 like most people)

I went BACK to church a mere 3 hours after leaving, and helped the teens sort grocery bags full of Thanksgiving meals for families in this city who wouldn't have Thanksgiving any other way. It's a wonderful thing our church does each year.

I sneezed approximately 135 times during the 3 hours we were there. (I truly don't think that's an exaggeration...believe me, there are witnesses). At some point, one of our 7th graders started turning around and giving me a high-five after particularly impressive explosions.

We went from there to A's parents house to watch the Colts and Patriots play...ohmygosh what an amazing game...and I continued sniffling and sneezing. Not quite as much though, because I had stopped at Walgreens to get some meds to help. Unfortunately, the meth users have made it impossible to get the good stuff at 8:30 pm on a Sunday night...because the pharmacist is gone and it's unlawful for anyone but the pharmacist to give me my one box of hope. So I got the not-quite-as-good stuff and made my way.

When I got home I took more drugs and waited awhile to go to bed. I hate not being able to sleep because I can't breathe, so I thought if I got tired enough I'd be able to sleep.

So I went to bed around 1, and woke up at 5.

I was FREEZING. (and the heat was on full blast)

I was thirsty.

So I stumbled downstairs and poured a glass of sweet tea that I had made the night before.

It was at this point that I realized I was burning up (even though I was freezing) and that I was awfully achy...so I decided to take my temperature before taking a drink of the tea.

101.8

Yikes.

And you KNOW that with all the hype about swine flu I *knew* that's what it was.

I was too weak to do anything except text A and my friend Mattie (who works in the office I'm temporarily at) and tell them that I was running a fever and wouldn't be leaving the house today. Mattie's response was "I hope it's not the swine flu!"

(well, that wasn't her only response. she also brought me chicken soup and throat coat tea, both of which I am VERY grateful for!)

For the next 4-6 hours my fever fluctuated between 101 and 102 and I fluctuated between sleep and delirious texting. Finally around 9 or 10 am I googled "swine flu symptoms" and thankfully landed on a pretty informative site.

Note that it's a site from the UK. They apparently are a little less stressed out about piggy flu than we are around here. I'm glad. I scrolled down to the symptoms part and read them.

It said:

If you or a member of your family has a fever or high temperature (over 38°C/100.4°F) and two or more of the following symptoms, you may have swine flu:

• unusual tiredness,
• headache,
• runny nose,
• sore throat,
• shortness of breath or cough,
• loss of appetite,
• aching muscles,
• diarrhoea or vomiting.

unusual tiredness? check
headache? my head felt like it could roll off my body from the weight. check.
runny nose? do the 30 tissues in bed with me give a clue to this? check
sore throat? hell yes. check
shortness of breath or cough? eh, not more than usual
loss of appetite? check
aching muscles? oh my word yes. check
diarrhea or vomiting? thank goodness no.

Yeah, according to that list I might have the swine flu.

Thankfully the site also said that it's pretty mild for most people and gave this checklist of reasons to go to the doctor:

Call your GP directly if:

• you have a serious existing illness that weakens your immune system, such as cancer,
• you are pregnant,
• you have a sick child under one,
• your condition suddenly gets much worse, or
• your condition is still getting worse after seven days (five for a child).

So as long as I haven't gotten progressively worse by Saturday-ish, I'm good. None of that other stuff applies to me at all.

Thankfully my fever broke mid-afternoon and there have been no signs of it going sky-high again. I'm playing it safe and staying in again today, but it looks like this piggy flu (if that was indeed what it was) is not going to keep me down!

Plus, A brought and prepared dinner and then kept me company for awhile. TBS had a Family Guy marathon on, so between that and our two Macbooks we were set :)

However if I'm not back in the swing of things around the blog for awhile, you'll know there's a pig to blame.

Maybe when I get my appetite back I'll put some REAL sausage in one of my recipes. :P

We Really ARE Nerds

Once in awhile, Anthony accompanies me on a Monday night as I babysit for a friend's little girl. If you had been a fly on the wall, this is what you would have seen after Morgan went to bed.

2 nerds + 2 macbooks + 2 hands = awwwwww...I hope!

What a Weekend!

Hey all!

Here's today's wordle, a bit late:

Please visit Shannon to create your own!

And now for SWS:


Got my Mac...and lovin it!

I finally made my purchase and am typing to you all on my brand-new MacBook! There is a bit of a learning curve, but I'm doing all right. Today is a busy day of transferring files and photos...music...and doing the "real life" stuff like laundry and cleaning my kitchen.

Speaking of that real life stuff...I really should end this and go do some of it! Happy Saturday ya'll!