Easter fun!

Happy Easter to all!

Easter is a pretty busy season for us. Paul sang at a total of 4 services and had 2 rehearsals so he was busy all week long. He also had horrible allergies that week which I in turn had this week. At least we think they were allergies...ah well! His kids at school also put on a live Stations of the Cross (14 Stations where you meditate on the sufferings of Christ) which his kids were amazing in from what I heard.

My mom and Randal also came to town! It was great being able to see them and enjoy roaming around town. We went up to the top of the mountain last Saturday and despite dealing with 37 degree weather and winds had a wonderful time. Most of our time was spent indoors eating lunch and admiring the views.

That night was Easter Vigil Mass with Mom, Randal, Jeff, and July. Always love that Mass. Just the idea of being complete darkness in the beginning to coming into complete light after the readings really brings home the Easter message of Christ's salvation given to all of us. The service lasted until 11:30 so after a midnight meal at IHOP it was bedtime!!

The next day was mainly just relaxing. We took them out for some good New Mexican Food at El Pinto, played Ticket to Ride (an awesome board game kind of like Risk), and lazed around the house. They left Monday morning which was sad but the visit was great.

PS here's a blast from Easter past (I would show one of Paul's Easter past...but I can't find a single picture of him as a kid! Someday there will be an epic Paul as a kid post! lol):

On tap for today: Dawn, Jessica, and Paul's birthday barbecue. I have some surprises up my sleeves, which y'all will know about shortly. Yes it will be legendary as Barney would put it! :-D

Palm Sunday: How our view of media relates to the crowds

So today officially started Holy Week in the Protestant and Catholic faith. With Paul it means a weekend of singing and lots of services (he has 2 rehearsals and 3 services to sing at)! For me it is a celebration of joining the church two years ago. I always enjoy Easter Vigil Mass for that reason on Saturday night because seeing the candidates and catechumens going through the service reminds me of my continuing journey as 9 months is not nearly long enough to learn it all! It's kind of like being a baby: you don't come out of the womb reciting Shakespeare or doing algorithm (and some of us never do...math ugg! lol). My faith before converting was still evolving and I doubt this evolution in understanding Christ is anywhere near completion.

Here's a little chart I found that I thought was cool about Holy Week put out by Bible Gateway Blog (click on it to get a better view):

Palm Sunday always seems like such a juxtaposition to me: on one hand you have Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem being praise as the messiah and then just days later he is given up by those same crowds condemned to death. I mediated a lot on on the crowds' reactions to Jesus in both instances as we were preparing for Mass this morning. I relate a lot with the idea that even myself I am capable of being completely on fire for Christ (as the crowds were that Palm Sunday) and then in the same day completely ignoring my need for a Savior by my action or inaction (as the crowds condemned him to death). We went through the Passion today in Mass and as difficult as it is to say "Crucify him!" when it came time for the congregation to respond, I know I could very well have been in the crowd saying those very words.

I also think about when the soldiers mocked him by labeling him King of the Jews and placing the crown of thorns and robe on his back. I thought a lot about our media and how easily they mock Christ, the Catholic faith, our values, and Christianity as a whole. I also thought of how easily we dismiss it and continue on as if nothing has happened. We accept it as something that cannot be changed: the media will do what is popular and we are the minority unable to change it. The secular media continues on with destroying our values and our faith and we continue to support them with our time. You wouldn't be friends with someone that openly mocked you so why do we allow entertainment to do that to our faith? Why do we continue this friendship with secular media that attacks us?

We hum along to Lady Gaga on the radio even though some of her songs, such as Judas (lyrics attached if you want to examine further), and actions openly mock our faith. We watch programming and support artists that do not support our morals and are set out to destroy it (here's an article regarding a recent Glee episode and ties to Planned Parenthood through Gwenyth Paltrow. When someone questioned her for supporting sexual activity in teenagers she responded with "what are you the pope lady?"). But if  we contacted the advertisers for some of these shows in force it would be persuasive. Can you imagine what would happen if we boycotting any one of the advertisers for Glee (which in the spring according to this article is set to earn $373,014 per 30-second ad)? Money speaks. Not saying it doesn't have catchy tunes and some really great singers...but when do we stand up?

On the other hand we don't support enough the Christian media that struggles against a very secular leaning society. Programs like Catholic Answers, The Journey Home, Veggie Tales, and Adventures in Odyssey are in need of support. There are also some great movies coming out such as Of Gods and Men, Cristiada, and There Be Dragons. And as far as singers go Christian music has everything from Gospel to Christian Rock to Christian Screamo (which I've never got personally...but if that's your cup of tea go for it!). There are so many voices out there it is easy to go with the popular voice or the easiest to find, but what about absorbing programs and media that isn't trying to put our faith down? Am I saying curl up into a cave, never listen to another Glee song again, and defriend everyone you know who loves Lady Gaga? No. I don't have cable and PBS (despite some of their programing I disagree with) is still a fun station. I love History Detectives, some Nova programs, and American Experience. I also am an avid watcher of Grey's Anatomy still despite my disagreements with character choices and storyline.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is our choices in what and who we support can be closely related to the crowd on Palm Sunday: at church we praise Christ but what did we do with the rest of our day or for that matter Holy Week? Were are actions or inactions glorifying Christ? I myself am not perfect as I still get sucked into programming like Grey's Anatomy. It's called being human, but when we recognize our choices are not aligned with Christ shouldn't we make efforts to change them?

Day 11 - Your favorite book

Where do you start?! Books have been my livelihood from a young age. I still have fond memories of reading The Little House on the Prairie series, Babysitter Club, and of course Harry Potter.


Here's just a few of the memorable ones:


Three Weeks with my Brother by Nicholas Sparks - Wonderful book! I love Nicholas Sparks books in general, but this one felt more personal. It is part autobiography about Sparks and adventure around the world with his brother as a grown adult. His autobiography takes you from a broken childhood of poverty to his adult life struggling with helping his child with autism. Interestingly enough he took up writing after an injury in college made is dream of being a competitive runner impossible. Very few books make me cry but this is on my list.


Green Mile by Stephen King - Never saw the movie and don't really have a desire to. I have a huge fear that the wonderfully rich book will be ruined for me by Hollywood's creation. I read it all in one afternoon while visiting universities my junior year of high school. I cried at the end and then quickly reread it again! 


Harry Potter by J.K Rowling - No list for me is complete without Harry Potter! I have to say in the beginning I had no desire to read them. Becca and Emily were all about them starting in 6th grade when the 1st book was still very new in the United States. I picked up the 2nd book shortly after it had been released and fell in love with the characters. I've been to all of the midnight releases since then and was sad when the final book was released by Junior year of college. It kind of felt like an era had ended as the books got me through my teenage years.


Three Cups of Tea...One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson - This was a recommendation by a lady who I got to know rather well while working as a fitness center receptionist. She was a retired college professor and always had a plethora of reading advice. It's a true story about a man who is on a trek to climb K2 on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan. While on this trek he becomes violently ill and is taken care of for weeks after by a small village on the border of Pakistan. He is moved by their generosity and vows to return with the ability to educate the children in the area including women. He has since built over 50 schools in remote areas all over Pakistan and Afghanistan and has transformed their societies as a result.


Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson - To me the moral of this book was be true to yourself and life is never definitive. I read this originally in 4th grade and it's a story that has stuck with me ever since.


Rome Sweet Home by Scott Hahn - This book is a book Paul got for me as I started my conversion. It was great to hear his account as a previous Protestant minister converting to Catholicism. Seeing him in person this past January was nice as well. 




There's plenty more on my list of memorable books...but it would get boring after a while! ;-)

Day 10- A photo of our favorite place to eat.

Well if you click on the link there are photos! lol

I kind of asked Paul a little bit about what he considers his favorite place to eat just to see if our answers would be the same. I can't just pick one so I created  categories! :D


My answers:
- New Mexican: El Pinto (kind of like the Disneyworld of New Mexican food lol)
- Italian: Saggio's (Paul got me hooked on it due to the amazing calzones!)
- Steak: The Keg! Still haven't found a place in ABQ that beats it
- Asian: Kobe's Steakhouse in Dallas
- Fast food: Schlotzsky's (there are only 2 that I know of here...we happen to be less than 5 miles away from one!) or Twister's (New Mexican fast food with amazingly addicting Green Chile cheese fries!)
- Guilty Pleasure: Chipolte!!! (Is it bad one of my motives for going to Colorado Springs is because they have one? lol)

His answer:
- New Mexican: Little Anita's
- Italian: Il Vincio's
- Steak: The Keg!
- Asian: Kobe's Steakhouse
- Fast Food: Taco Bell
- Guilty Pleasure: Cinnabon (he could eat this for lunch or dinner alone! lol)

Day 9 - A photo of the item you last purchased.

Paul and I have a guilty pleasure with McDonald's fudge sundaes. It typically occurs when we decide there is nothing sweet in the house so we will die if we can't find chocolate. We used to be really bad about getting them during the summer but now we've cut it back to once a week. They're just big enough that you get that sweet kick you want. So here's a picture of the item I last purchased tonight with Pepe:

Aren't I bad catching the hubby while he eats? lol

This past week though I did experiment with another Martha Stewart: Food Everyday creation (not gonna lie kind of in love with that magazine). This test turned out much better I think we'll be making it again but throwing chicken into the spaghetti. It was classic spaghetti with puttanesca. Not knowing what Puttanesca meant I found on Wikipedia of all places it means "whore's style spaghetti" in Italian..weird right? But the sauce itself refers to any salty tomato-based sauce.

So here's the recipe! Paul and I found it really yummy and easy. A nice change from the normal sauce.

1/4 cup olive oil (or as much as you want..we only use enough for the bottom of the pan)
1 1/2 cups of grape (or cherry) tomatoes quartered lengthwise
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed, drained, and coarsely chopped (or as many as you want...I say the more the merrier!)
3 anchovy fillets, minced (left this out)
1/2 cup pitted Kalamata or other brimed olives, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves minced
1 1/2 cups tomato puree from 15 oz can (I accidentally picked up 8 oz reg. tomato sauce but it still worked great! I think it made for a more tomato sauce)

In a large skillet heat oil over medium-high heat. Combine grape tomatoes, olives, capers, anchovies, and garlic and cook until fragrant and tomatoes soften (about 5 minutes). Add tomato puree and season with salt and pepper as desired. Cook sauce for an additional 2 minutes. It says you can add pasta water if you need to thin the sauce out.


Great thing with this sauce is you can kind of tweak it to your likes. If you don't feel like making everything coarse you could probably skip that step. If you're crazy in love with anchovies for some weird reason...feel free to add all you want but I won't be eating it! lol I'm thinking about adding red pepper flakes to mine next time for some heat. I'm from Texas it isn't food without some kick! :-)

And in other news:

It rained! We haven't had rain in forever!

Day 8 - Visit to Trinity Site

So it skipped day 8 for some reason so I figure this will be my random day.

This past weekend we went to the Trinity Site south of us 2 hours. It is the site of the first atomic bomb test July 16, 1945. This particular test was a precursor to the Fat Man dropped on Nagasaki, Japan August 9, 1945. The site is only open to visitors the 1st Saturdays of April and October so, of course, it was crowded.

We arrive around 10 PM and it was amusing to see how some of the people reacted to the site. Some were very somber and nostalgic while others told their kids to go play in the radioactive rocks! lol

 

The rock in this picture is called trinitite left over after the explosion. Some people were collecting it and putting it on the ground for people to photograph. It is a federal offense to take any with you so, of course, we didn't take any. But who would want something radioactive in their home anyways...even if you do get more radiation from flying?

Paul with his big L-lens (I think!) photographing the crowd

The monument on the exact spot the 1st atomic bomb was detonated on

Afterwards we went to the Owl Cafe in San Antonio, NM for a good green chile cheeseburger. Yum! We got to eat on the historic Hilton Hotel bar from 1914. Supposively the first Hilton franchise hotel was built in San Antonio, NM and after the building burned down, Owl Cafe took over ownership of the historic bar for its restaurant. Whether this is true or not is still up for debate because as my Mom pointed out Cisco, TX (near Abilene, TX) also claims to have the first Hilton Hotel. Who know?

Day 7 - Your dream wedding.

So I know it would be incredibly corny to say but I was actually really happy with our wedding. Everything went off with very few glitches. I had a few mini-bridezilla moments....one in particular I was trying to find sage vests for the men and couldn't find them. Poor Paul was with me on this particular one and said "honey no one will care if you got the exact perfect vests". The it hit me how easy it is to become obsessed with the wedding and forget the marriage. In the end we went with sky blue and yellow which worked nicely. We didn't have the dream photographer that charged us $5,000, the designer cake at $600, or the crazy expensive "I'm wearing this once" dress for $2,000. We had a much more meaningful time with what we did have. More importantly we got through it with no debt, everyone's sanity mostly in tact, and each other!

Only thing that I really ever wanted in a "dream wedding was a "dream location". I've always thought destination weddings would be fun! Maybe Florida on the coast renting a vacation home to hold a very small wedding guest list (talking 20 max) and have the reception there. But this "dream wedding" would have never worked out 1) I wanted to get married in the church and 2) Getting everyone to Florida would have been a challenge.


But back to getting married in the Church. Many of you may know I converted to Catholicism but the sacrament of marriage to me was important even before this conversion. I don't like the idea of getting married on a random beach or in the middle of a field. Yes I know God is omnipresent, but a church to me is sacred and a good way of ushering husband and wife into this sacred union aware of the need for a relationship with God to see us through the good times and the bad.

I could go on and on about this...but it's sleepy time!

Day 6 - A photo of an animal you'd love to keep as a pet.

Day 5 will be coming...once I'm able to find a picture of me from two years ago that will copy onto blogger!

Animal I'd love to keep as a pet realistically of course is a cat. I love them they're cute, cuddly, purr, and sometimes moody. Dogs are great...but cats at least know when to be independent and do their own thing! All of you know by now I'm in love with Etsy. Best website! If I had a weaker sense of self-restraint I'd go crazy on it. In looking around I found the cutest cat who happens to be a short-haired kitty. I can't handle long haired cats...too much to vacuum!

 

Sassy Sangria Pet Sombrero

Best part about this PamperedWhiskers creations is a portion of the proceeds go to animal charities.

PaperedWhiskers even does hats that suit dogs or cats. Yes realistically I know no animal is going to keep this on for any length of time...but at least for halloween maybe? lol One of my other favorites is this number:

 

The Crown Jewels pet crown hat and collar

The cat looks like he's going to kill someone any minute. Goes perfectly with the crown in my opinion! 

If I could have any type of dog I would either go for a Shetland Sheep Dog or a Labrador retriever. But I lean more towards getting a cat at the moment. ;-)

Day 4 - Your favorite photograph of your best friend

I'd say the below photo kind of says it all:

Paul with his big white lens at Biopark Light display. It was 9 degrees that day...really cold!

When I think of Paul I think of his photography. He was just really getting into it when we met. If you were to look at our living room normally you'd see his mini-studio set up with the umbrella, flash stand, and tripod for camera ready for his latest project. I guess growing up with two sisters who are photographers I'm used to it. Luckily now I have my Nook so if he decides to take 20 minutes photographing flowers I can plop down and enjoy a good book! :D

This weekend we're going to the Trinity Site 2 hours south of here. They open it up to visitors on the 1st Saturday of April and the 1st Saturday of October. We keep saying we're going to go see it (because how often do you get to see the place where they exploded the first atomic bomb!) but last year Easter was that weekend, then in October we had balloon fiesta.

Also I promised pictures of our couch. It's darker and a little bigger than I remembered it but I think it goes well as we have a lot of black furniture with Paul's sound system and our TV.

I like the pillows with it...but I think a solid sunflower yellow might also look really cute. Only problem we've had is the couch is a static magnet! I already have a ton of hair all over it and whenever you sit on it you can hear the static. I'm hoping it will go away in a few days cause sitting on your couch should not be a shocking experience! lol

I also like these pillows I found on Etsy (Becca got me addicted to the site!) but Paul thinks they're silly:

 Cozy pillow cases

Aren't they adorable? :D

Day 3: Your idea of a perfect date

My idea of the perfect date...that's a tough one. Sadly our internet connection has been horrible these past 6 months and right now it's not letting me upload pictures...so I might post them later! :-D


I know one of my favorite dates Paul and I have been on actually happened when I was sick. Around Christmas I got the flu really bad and was at home for a good week. On day four of the week I was feeling somewhat better with major cabin fever so we decided to go to Outback Steakhouse and looking at Christmas lights at the Albuquerque biopark gardens. Very pretty at night and the temperature wasn't too bad out. I regretted the outing the next day, however, because I felt horrible again.

Another recent date we went on happened in February. We were bored and decided to drive through the Jemez Mountains. They hadn't had a lot of snow at all this winter so it was easy sailing. Bummer part was the snow they did have had turned to ice on the side of the road so I couldn't pelt Paul with snowballs...mwhahaha! We then stopped at Tomasita's in Santa Fe as we continue our loop back down I-25 to Albuquerque. Tomasita's has a limited menu but they do an amazing job at what they offer. I'm normally not a fan too much of red Chile but theirs was really good.

But if I could pick the perfect date I'd say seeing a musical and going out for a good steak/Italian food would be at the top of my list. Musicals on my list to see are:
- Fiddler on the Roof (coming to town April 15th - 17th)
- Grease (May 13th - 15th)
- Westside Story
- Wicked (it came in January but we didn't get to see it)
- The Lion King
- American Idiot (only out of curiosity I must admit I've never listened to Green Day much but the idea sounds fun)
- The Phantom of the Opera
- Spamalot