These are a few of my Favorite things....Summer edition

Since Oprah can get away with listing her favorite things I figured it was high time I put up a list of my own. These are my favorite things of the summer so far as I have been horrible at blogging about current happenings.

Visit from Dad, Sally, and Katie - They came in early June and we had a blast going around to Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Playing tourist is fun!

This is what we did all weekend. I swear Katie and Dad were never away from their phones!

2nd Anniversary! - June 20 was our 2nd Anniversary so to celebrate we went to Colorado Springs for the weekend. It rained a lot (which was nice because we never see rain here) and Paul got to re-explore his old stomping grounds (as he was 5 years old when they moved away).

Notice one of his newest t-shirts pays tribute to Angry Birds. We spent one Friday night playing the game for two hours...yes we were bored!

Weddings! - Okay so it was really only one wedding for Paul's friends Sean and Jen but it was nice. Weddings always make me smile.

Yummy new foods - We found a new Chile-Lime Fajita marinade that we love (recipe to come soon). We also have fallen in love with Crusher cabernet sauvignon wine. Who says $12.00 wines can't be awesome? One of our favorite meals while in Colorado Springs was just making our own cheese plate at the hotel. I also love that my sister-in-law July can cook and gives us random things sometimes like Chocolate Cherry Bread Pudding...oh yes be jealous! ;-)

With a name like that it has to be awesome! Very ominous...lol

New Apartment - We moved at the very beginning of the summer with the help of movers and friends to a great apartment. It's a very quiet community most of our neighbors are either retired or older families so we don't have much noise to deal with. Our view is also awesome we face a major street so Paul can practice panning cars and taking pictures of random lightning storms. 

If you look between the yellow flag NM flag and American flag you can just barely seen Barnes & Noble. If I tilt my Nook just right I can get into their internet (we have our own it's just fun!). The sight of the sign at night makes me happy!

Enjoying our hobbies - For me reading this summer has been great. I'm currently rereading Harry Potter (after 1 1/2 weeks of reading I'm on book 6...I just don't have the time I used to! lol) and decided to read the 1st book to Paul. It wasn't as exciting to him as it was to me, but to each their own. Our next adventure is to listen to all 52 hours of the Lord of the Rings series. It will be awesome and I suspect it will take most of the fall. Summer has done wonders for Paul's photography. He keeps busy on his forums on Flickr and reading new books. He finds out new techniques weekly, which go straight over my head at times. Who knew my college photography class and having two sisters for photographers would come in handy? lol

Lazy Saturday morning reading Harry Potter out on our balcony and watching Paul photograph cars driving by.

So that in a nutshell is our summer. Maybe when fall rolls around the blog will get more exciting? lol

All the boxes and smoke! AHHH!

So Paul and I are finally moved into our new place. I've never liked moving and find the hardest part getting started packing it all. We waited until the last minute to pack 90% of our things because we're such procrastinators. But there's something nice about unpacking a box in a new place. Getting everything situated and for even just one day having a clean house makes me feel like life is in order. Now knowing us the orderliness of the house will fade over time as life gets busy and we get more lax...but it's nice to look around and have everything in its place.

Here's a few pictures from our move:

Paul's stereo equipment was actually the first stuff in the apartment. We hired movers for the rest but we didn't want to chance having something happen to the entertainment equipment so with his friend Skye's help we moved it ourselves.

I am a master car packer. :D

Hopefully this apartment will be a place we call home for a while. It's right on the edge of some local farms not far from the Rio Grande so every morning we are greeted by the fragrance of animal "presents" wafting into the parking lot. A great way to awaken the mind without caffeine! LOL

We've had a lot of smoke in this area due to the Arizona fires this past week so much so that it looked like a large fog had come over the city. We were next to Pei Wei the other and it smelled like Chinese food mixed with a campfire. This week is only expected to be worse until they get an upper hand on the fires or our weather patterns change. Boo!

It looks like a rainy day...only it's not!

View from across a parking lot.

I just saw on the news the fire is as big as Chicago and New York City combined!!! Since there is 0% containment it's unlikely the smoke will leave any time soon.

Crazy month getting crazier!

So it's been a month! I can't believe it just started only to have it almost about to end. In some ways we're excited it is coming to a close (Paul is ready to be done with school) but in others we need more time (we move into our new apartment May 27 I have so much to pack)!!

To Bee or Not to Bee

The first week of May was very nice weather here. We hadn't put our swamp cooler on yet so we decided to keep the windows open. That first Sunday May 7th we noticed three bees in our bathroom. We thought little of it they must have climbed in through the screen somehow. Then after shooing them out 1 hour later we found 3 more. Then we found the nest.

Now this nest was on the second floor under a roof eave and not very well visible but you could see them swarming! Wish I had gotten pictures but the ones I took never came out very well. After calling a dozen places we finally found someone to take care of it and since then have not seen any bees.

Biopark gardens

Saturday after a month of trying to go we finally got to go to the gardens. I was happy because it gave me time to read my new book World Without End by Ken Follett while Paul got to photograph flowers to his heart content. I got about 75 pages read which is a successful morning if I say so myself. Here is one of my favorites from his photo shoot:

Dinner with Grandmama

Grandmama came to Albuquerque this last week with her senior citizen group. We decided to go out to dinner Friday night to El Pinto and took her on a driving tour of Corrales and Rio Rancho. I hadn't been to some of the locations in Corrales we went to so it was fun to see that side of the city.

Boxes are invading!

May 27 we get the keys to our new apartment. Yay! In preparation we have been slowly trying to pack. This is the scene in the hallway this afternoon!

Scary right? I am hoping from the boxes they can tell the kitchen things are fragile (maybe I should write it Spanish, French, and Chinese lol)! I already broke 3 glasses myself, but the good news is they were misfit glasses anyways. We have hired movers since we don't want to throw out our backs moving a washer and dryer to the second floor apartment! Those will come on Tuesday so we'll have Memorial Day weekend to pack odds and ends.

The good news is we have all of our wedding kitchen gifts that we've never been able to use and our books packed. I also went through my dresser and tossed a ton of clothes I have no intentions of wearing again. Goodwill will be very happy next week when I deliver the sack full of clothes and box of books. Moving is a great way to consolidate what you own and we are hoping to get rid of a lot!

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

Day 2 - A photo of something you ate today.

So I totally spaced and didn't take a photo of the lovely food July and I had at lunch yesterday. We went to Orchid Thai Cuisine (an awesome place good pick July!) near the UNM campus before dropping her off for class. Fun times and great lunch. I had the pinapple shrimp while she had the pinapple chicken. Both looked fantastic and I was glad we said medium spice because it was just enough kick (made up for the Martha Stewart Greek Salad the night before lol)!

Afterwards I continued on the apartment hunt...the ones we really want have a wait till July at the earliest so it's a no go for them. Found some other options and decided I needed an afternoon snack. In keeping with my tropical theme I got this:

It is a Tropical Tango smooth from Dairy Queen's Orange Julius. I'd never heard of this off branch of Dairy Queen till coming here so it was a welcome surprise to have Dairy Queen type treats here in New Mexico.

Tomorrow our couch gets delivered!!! I'll post pictures for sure when it is received! ;-)

Day 1 - A photo of yourself and a description of how your day was.

So since yesterday wasn't entirely finished I decided to post Day 1 today. I'll also do Day 2 since I'm going out to eat with July today. :-)

 At Geeks Who Drink from Right to Left counter clockwise: George, Jessica, Mark, Paul, and me.

Yesterday was the first day I've had off (other than being sick which doesn't count) since October so it was very nice. Paul was a tad loud getting ready so I didn't really sleep in as planned, but instead watched part of the Today Show before getting bored. I then started reviving my long dead blog and decided this challenge would be a good idea.

I read some more of a wonderful book I'm reading by Pope Benedict called Jesus of Nazareth where he is examining parts of the Gospels breaking them down bit by bit. Crazy thing is he says this is his first volume and hopes to live long enough to complete the rest! I'm thinking after only reading 100 pages excitedly there's more?! He's a wonderful author and I'd recommend the read for any Christian as a meaty dig into the life of Jesus especially during Lent as we prepare for Easter. One part he goes into is the temptation of Jesus in the desert for 40 days and how Satan at the second temptation says:

"For he will be given his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone" (from Psalms 91:11)

Jesus replied to this by saying:

"You shall not put the Lord your God to the test." (From Deuteronomy 6:16.)

Benedict goes on to explain our modern day lesson from this exchange to be the following:

"The issue, then, is the one we have already encountered: God has to submit to experiment. He is "tested," just as products are tested. He must submit to the conditions that we say are necessary if we are to reach certainty....We are dealing here with the vast question as to how we can and cannot know God, how we are related to God and how we can lose him. The arrogance that would make God and object and impose our laboratory conditions upon him is incapable of finding him. For it already implies that we deny God as God by placing ourselves above him, by discarding the whole dimension of love, of interior listening: by no longer acknowledging as real anything but what we can experimentally test and grasp. To think like that is to make oneself God and to do that is to abase not only God, but the world and oneself, too."

The beauty of how Benedict breaks down the Gospels makes you pause at moments otherwise cast aside. I don't believe in the above statement Benedict is saying doubt is wrong but rather he is challenging us that not everything can be grasped and tested.

I also cleaned a good deal of our house as it was in desperate need of it. We kind of got lazy this past week and didn't do much as far as cooking or cleaning so I planned out a menu. On tap for dinner was a Greek Salad with chicken and chickpeas. Sounded good in theory as I saw it on my new favorite magazine Martha Stewart: Everyday Food (who knew I'd get into Martha Stewart right? lol) but the chickpeas weren't all that good in the salad and it kind of lacked pizazz.

After dinner it was off to our weekly meeting with our two friends Jessica and Mark for Geeks Who Drink, a trivia game at a local pub. We split our favorite desert there a chocolate fudge brown with ice cream and walnuts while savoring Merlot for Paul and Strawberry beer for myself. The trivia night is composed of 8 rounds of 8 questions each where you work in groups of up to 6 to answer the obscure questions. Round One for example was all about Germany. Did you know Munich is not the second largest city in Germany? Bonus points to whoever can tell me the correct answer! lol ;-)

Our team ended up coming in 1st place which hasn't happened in the past 3 weeks (we've been missing our teammates due to work and writing papers). It was nice to have the Fab Five as we called ourselves together!


Now it's off to exchange pants we bought Saturday with a hole in them already, rent a good movie, eat lunch with July, play at the Apple Store, and get my toe nails done! :-)

Getting back into blogging

So it's been a while...more like over 6 months but who is counting lol! I could probably think of a lot of excuses as to why I haven't been blogging but truth be told life is crazy at times and I was too busy to compose a worthy blog.

Paul and I have been good in that time though. Not as much spontaneous traveling around as we'd like, but hopefully summer will change that. We're hoping to go to Colorado Springs some time this summer...although we currently only have 3 free weekends to do it in! It's only March and already our summer is booked!

I have a new job I start April 4th which will be nice for a lot of reasons. It was a good change to make. Paul commented to me last night he hasn't seen me this happy since before I took my now previous job (my last day was Friday March 25th). I guess I hadn't realize how much a toll some of the stresses of that job were taking. I'm excited for this new opportunity as it will be closer to home and with a more structured work environment. I'll be working as a dental receptionist...not what I went to school for but I enjoy working with children and I'm very comfortable with dental terminology.

I've kind of almost given up on finding the perfect teaching job. They just aren't out there and the ones that are have been taken by people making teaching a second career. Our life is about more than finding the perfect job and I've decided if I had stuck it out at my previous job waiting for that perfect teaching job it would have never happened.

I have a week's vacation thankfully. This morning I'm still in PJs (something I haven't done in months!) and taking it easy. So with this new job I hope to get better about several things including blogging. Sometimes it's the only way I can keep track of some of y'all. I'm starting a 30 day blog challenge which I think will help me with this goal.

Day 1 - A photo of yourself and a description of how your day was.
Day 2 - A photo of something you ate today.
Day 3 - Your idea of the perfect date.
Day 4 - Your favorite photograph of your best friend.
Day 5 - A photo of yourself two years ago.
Day 6 - A photo of an animal you'd love to keep as a pet.
Day 7 - Your dream wedding.
Day 9 - A photo of the item you last purchased.
Day 10- A photo of our favorite place to eat.
Day 11 - Your favorite book.

Day 12 – A photograph of the town you live in.

Day 13 – Your favorite musician and why?

Day 14 – A TV show you’re currently addicted to.

Day 15 – Something you don’t leave the house without.

Day 16 – Your celebrity crush.

Day 17 – A photo of you and your family.

Day 18 – Something you crave a lot.

Day 19 – Random Day!

Day 20 – The meaning behind your blog name.

Day 21 – A photo of something that makes you happy.

Day 22 – A letter to someone who has hurt you recently.

Day 23 – 15 facts about you.

Day 24 – A photo of something that means a lot to you.

Day 25 – What’s in your purse?

Day 26 – A photo of somewhere you’ve been to and somewhere you want to go.

Day 27 – A picture of you last year and now and how have you changed since then?

Day 28 – Your favorite movie.

Day 29 – Something you could never get tired of doing.

Day 30 – A photograph of yourself today + three good things that have happened in the past 30 days