lessons from songs: that place you thought you'd be

on one of the cds i asked for (and received) on christmas, the ditty bops cheerfully sing about being
"in between the place you thought you'd be
and where you are"

might i just suggest that actually BEING in the in between spot they sing about
is not quite as cheerful as they make it?

because...the times i've felt that i'm not where i *thought* i would be
the moments i dwell on where i am in life
and compare it to where my expectations had placed me
the former loses.
every time.

but does that have to be the case?
after all, life experiences would be so few
if i was where i thought i would be.

i laugh at my younger self sometimes
when i think that at the age of 18, i thought by now
i'd be married with a couple of kids
and then at the age of 25
i was positive i would never marry and would just adopt
two very small examples of where i thought i'd be
and where i am
(by the way, where i am is SO much better than either of those scenarios)

but there are the other things
by now i thought i'd have lived in my house for almost 8 years
where i actually am is in a spot of ruined credit and a foreclosure to put the cherry on top
by now i thought i'd have landed a job back in the classroom
where i am is completely loving what i do
but without health insurance of any kind (which means that going on birth control in a few months is gonna be tricky...)

however
(and there's always one of those, right?)
i am so thankful for where i am!

some of it has been kicking and screaming
but most of it hasn't
especially once i learned
that my decisions
aren't going to screw up God's plan

they may screw up MINE
but mine isn't the one that ultimately matters, right?

might i (gently) remind you
that if you're not where you thought you should be
it may be because of choices you've made?


here's the thing i'm learning
slowly but surely

i am in the place i thought i should be

it's all about me

my hopes
my dreams
my wants
my supposed needs

but where i actually am?

God is here
and that
THAT
is what makes the place i am
so much better
than where i ever thought i would be.

it's a great day to take emi to the vet

poor emi has to go to the doctor today...she gave us quite a scare the other night and i just want to make sure she's ok!

after she gets a clean bill of health (ahem!) anthony and i are grabbing chinese for lunch and hanging out for a couple of hours.  he's having a guys night and i'm babysitting, so it'll be nice to steal a few moments together!

tonight is my favorite.  i hate, hate, hate "falling back" and even though springing forward means we "lose" an hour of precious sleep...i also don't have to drive home at 4:30 pm in the freakin' dark!  so YAY for getting back to the right time!

other than that, not a whole lot going on in my corner of the world...
have a great weekend and don't forget to change those clocks!

3 in 30: march checkin

quick checkin here!

• drink at least 3 glasses of water per day so far i'd say about 5 out of 7 days per week this is happening. i'm working on it!
• try at least 4 new recipes well, i'm gonna be doubling up one of these weeks because i have NOT been HOME for the last few nights...so it just hasn't happened.
• carve out at least 30 minutes of time per day for me.  this cannot include wedding planning or doing laundry... ;) this one, i'm happy to say, is happening.  perhaps 1 day in the last few that it hasn't!

thursday's ten: diy centerpieces

that's right, ladies and gentlemen. i hereby vow to NOT let this become a wedding blog (or a marriage blog...or a baby/kid blog when that time comes) BUT because this is the stage of life i'm currently in, expect at least one post per week about wedding planning!

so, we're on a pretty tight budget and i've been perusing the internet for ideas for beautiful and cool things to do. i'm a teacher, and our motto is pretty much "beg, steal or borrow" so i have no qualms about it!

i have found SO many cool ideas, just in the last week or two for DIY centerpieces. some of them are cool enough that i'll probably keep them in a file for future entertaining ideas. we plan to host people in our home quite often, so i am anticipating needing ideas for beautiful and inexpensive decor!

here are 10 of my current favorites (it was hard to limit the post, so there may be another post or 3 of these before october!)



(clicking on the picture will take you to the original site.)

harvest centerpiece -- definitely appropriate for our october date!

these candles are STAMPED.  genius.  another tutorial on the same site uses vellum paper

morrocan is not our theme, but these were too cool not to include (i would make sure to wrap wire at the top to hide the obvious lid grooves if i were doing it...but that would be easy to do with copper wiring and copper paint instead of gold!)

 

LOVE this "chandelier" made with varying heights and styles of taper holders.  gorgeous.

 we likely will not use flowers in our centerpieces, but if we DO, this would be a fun way to incorporate a few.

 

our reception site ceiling isn't low enough for this one, but how COOL is it?!  if i ever host a crafting party...

mmm-kay, this one is UBER cool and a great way to recycle your own wine bottles!

for a summer wedding?  perfection.  and honestly, for our fall wedding we're considering using apples and other appropriate "harvests", so this could be adapted.

another relatively inexpensive way to use florals

if we were having a winter wedding...but i can TOTALLY see myself making this for a dinner party in mid-january...

 

it's a little overwhelming to find so many GOOD ideas!  i definitely have some thoughts running through my head of what i envision on our tables, but i'll have to play around with it some before i announce it here :)

what did you do?  or what do you think you'll end up doing when that time rolls around?

ashes

Lent
every year i get to fat tuesday and i start wondering
"hmmm, what should i give up this year for Lent?"

this year, it was more of a pondering
with all that has been given up this year
both voluntarily and with me kicking and screaming
and with all that i've learned this year
about the Grace of God
about being a daughter instead of an orphan
about breaking off curses and welcoming in blessings

with all that charismatic and wonderful stuff
is it even appropriate to celebrate Lent?

still, the stirrings in my soul cry out
to follow a church calendar
to remember the heritage
of a Church more ancient than any worship style
than any living earthly being

to remember Sacrifice
that brought us that Grace
to remember the Son
who made it possible for me to be a daughter
to remember that He was the one who broke off all the curses
and brought all the blessings

there are so many things i'm learning about
about Papa
about Jesus
about Holy Spirit

but today i will begin by asking Holy Spirit for guidance
as to what my Lenten sacrifice will be
i will attend a mid-day Mass
grateful for a Catholic church that will place the ashes on my Protestant forehead
reminding me of the sacrifice of the Son
and i will end the day by attending a class that talks about Father's heart
in a church where i will likely be told more than once
that i "have something on my forehead"

and i will smile and explain
the reason for the ashes

Father, Son, Holy Spirit
all entertwined in this day
all entertwined in my life

this is how it should be

and for these 40 days of Lent
may i remember

hey, it's ok (tuesday) .6

hey! it's ok...

... that on your first day of "break" you did nothing of too much substance.  there's 4 other days to be productive, and enjoying some free time is not a bad thing!
... to think that one of the children on "sid the science kid" is the most annoying child EVER and that you're glad you don't know her in real life
... to be excited about the date we have set to set up our registries. 
... to have set a craaaaazy goal of minutes to work out this month.  i'll tell you at the end if i make it :D
... to have no idea what to give up for Lent this year
... to be a bit overwhelmed by wedding/honeymoon plans.  but it's a good overwhelmed.

3 in 30: march

so i started this in february, and am continuing on because it was kinda fun...and pretty effective :)

so here are this month's goals

• drink at least 3 glasses of water per day (i know that's pathetic, but my water intake of the moment is pretty pathetic too...)
• try at least 4 new recipes
• carve out at least 30 minutes of time per day for me.  this cannot include wedding planning or doing laundry... ;)

by the way, here's how i did last month:

* exercise at least 4 times each week...and stop using that "busy" excuse!
(i managed this at least 3 out of the 4 weeks, so that's not bad :D)
* eat at least 1 fruit and 1 veggie each day
(well, that was a small goal, but i'm not convinced the fruits always happened.  i'm just not a fruit girl.  however, i'm pretty sure i got in at least 3-4 servings of vegetables every day.)
* sleep. 6 - 7 hours at LEAST per night. this means when i have to get up at 5:15
(this didn't always happen, but steps toward the right direction.  i think i got between 5.5 and 7 hours most nights, which is MUCH better that what i was doing before.  so this is an ongoing goal for sure)

what are your month's goals?

thursday's ten: on my daily drives

today's ten is a photo journey...and unfortunately not all of them are mine.  as much as i find taking pictures from my car window fun, it's not always the safest thing ever...

photos obtained elsewhere are marked as such :)




please join me in this!  i'd love to see the strange and unusual things around where you call home!

1. batman building

photo from google images

it's the most recognized part of our city's skyline...and i still smile when i see it

2. traffic circle on music row

photo taken by me

natives have their own nicknames for it, but the official name is "musica"

3. "that awful mailbox"

photo by me

i discovered this mailbox years ago when driving to babysitting jobs. it's on a well-traveled street just off the interstate, and it's U-G-L-Y. i don't even know what it's supposed to be...a dead animal? a portion of one? any ideas?

4. krispy kreme

photo courtesy of google images

the original nashville krispy kreme was just down the street from my university (that's right. the ritzy universities got the starbucks and the eclectic shopping areas but WE had easy access to the "hot now" sign.)
clearly, i don't make it a daily stop, but it is nice to indulge every few months :D

5. front yard phonebooth

photo shakily taken by me

somewhere, on a residential street in our fair city, is a family who owns (and is quite proud of) a phonebooth from the UK. i played creepy stalker and took a night picture of it, but i didn't linger TOO long, so it's not a fantastic shot. sorry.

6. odd tours

photo courtesy of google images

photo taken (badly) by me

photo on company website

who wants to see nashville like a normal person? we have the nash trash tours as well as the redneck tours. i've seen both out and about, but only been able to snag a photo of the redneck bus--and in the rain at that! :)

7. walmart valet parking

photo taken by me

i have NO idea what the reason is, but there is a wal-mart in town that has valet service. hilarious...and i want to try it every time!

8. parthenon

photo courtesy of google images

complete with a huge statue of athena...it's a pretty impressive replica. it's also in one of my favorite parks!

9. casino style movie theater

photo courtesy of google image

i kid you not, it's a theater. it's obnoxious, but i don't think anyone in nashville would be able to handle it if it wasn't lit up like this every night :)

10. super secret target parking lot

photo by me

ok...i hesitate to post this. BUT there IS a target in town with a secret lot. i refuse to say which one, but it exists, and here's photo proof, kinda ;)

so...what's a bit different about where YOU live? :)

meal planning tuesday .4

tuesday (today)

breakfast: coffee
lunch: sonic (down the street from where we set the wedding date ;)
dinner: frozen pizza with a's mom (we were discussing wedding stuff)

wednesday
breakfast: bagel/cream cheese, coffee
lunch: leftover shepherd's pie
dinner: taquitos and rice (taking to church since i'm helping lead worship and THEN we're meeting with the minister we want to do our ceremony.  i think i'll have 30 min though to sneak in the kitchen ;))

thursday
breakfast: bagel/cream cheese, coffee
lunch: leftover poppyseed chicken
dinner: taco mac (my invention...i'll share it here one of these days ;)

friday
breakfast: bagel/cream cheese, coffee
lunch: chicken salad, hummus and veggies
dinner: on the road, meeting our friends angie and brian in evansville

saturday
breakfast: coffee
lunch: with my parents
dinner: hopefully at my favorite german place there

sunday
breakfast: coffee
lunch: with my parents
dinner: something quick, since we'll have traveled all afternoon...probably frozen pizza

monday
breakfast: coffee, bagel/cream cheese
lunch: at nanny gig
dinner: greek meatloaf, mashed potatoes