Project365

New Blog!!

2009-07-20T09:07:00.003-05:00

118. Les blondes

2009-04-18T20:47:00.000-05:00

Especially after a long, t-t-t-tiring day, these girls make me smile. As do their hilarious girly stories (ahem). And their love for our friends. And their shared shock about last week's Oprah.

117. The phaaaaaaaaaaaaaan-tom-of-the-o-per-a-is-therrrrrre...

2009-04-17T21:08:00.001-05:00

...downtown at the Music Hall!!

Hooray! Spent a fabulous Friday night with Amy, celebrating our (seemingly rare in KC) love of music theater!! After seeing "Wicked" last year with my family, we were able to continue the tradition and see "Phantom" with her family this year! Needless to say, it was fantastic. :)

And, I'm super-excited to say, I had the honor of introducing Amy to Vietnamese food beforehand as well! Rare treat for me. Mmmmmmm...pho... :D

114. Blushing bride

2009-04-14T21:16:00.000-05:00

Cutie. :)

After a fun dinner at Grinder's with friends, headed up to Nebraska (the Northland) for some veil-making adventures with Sarah. Ha...and found a new career path in the process...clarifying terrible instructions on sewing patterns!! Goodness, even for two girls who love to sew, it took us a little awhile to figure out what in the world we're doing. But we emerged victorious. :)

112. After a weekend full of THREE Easter services at COR...

2009-04-12T08:18:00.003-05:00

I'd worked up an appetite! :D Thankfully the services all went incredibly well. I was so proud of all my singers -- they did such a fantastic job!

Anyway, afterwards I came home and tried out a recipe from my new How To Eat Supper cookbook -- "Hollow Pasta With Greek-Cinnamon Tomato Sauce". It ended up being fantastic! Very subtle flavors, but quite yummy and satisfying. And quite simple too! For anyone interested, here it is...

HOLLOW PASTA WITH GREEK-CINNAMON TOMATO SAUCE

-Serves 4 as a main dish.
-Sauce can be made several days ahead and kept in the refrigerator.
-5 quarts of salted water in a 6-quart pot

Sauce:
Good-tasting extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1/3 tightly packed cup of flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste
6 large garlic cloves, minced
1-1/4 teaspoons dried oregano (Greek oregano preferred)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon Aleppo chilie, or other medium-hot chilie, or 1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
1/2 cup dry white or red wine
2 pounds ripe summer tomatoes, or a 28-ounce can whole tomatoes
1-1/2 to 2 cups diced cooked roast chicken or lamb (optional) (organic if possible)

Pasta:
1 pound imported long hollow pasta like ziti, broken into more or less 2-inch pieces
1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) fresh goat cheese, crumbled (*Alison note - I used feta*)

Have the salted water boiling.

Generously film the bottom of a straight-sided 12-inch saute pan with olive oil and heat over medium-high heat. Stir in the onion, parsley and generous sprinklings of salt and pepper. Saute the onion to golden brown, then stir in the tomato paste, garlic, oregano, cinnamon, sugar and Aleppo pepper or other hot pepper. Turn heat down to medium and saute 1 minute. Add the wine and cook 1 minute.

If using fresh tomatoes, grate them on a grater over a bowl and add the pulp with its juices to the pan. For canned tomatoes, crush them as they go into the pot. Raise the heat to medium-high and cook the sauce for 8 minutes, or until thick. Taste for seasoning, remove the pan from the heat and, if using chicken or lamb, stir it in. Cover the pan.

Drop the pasta into the boiling water. Boil, stirring often, for 8 minutes or until the pasta is tender, but still has a little bite. As the pasta cooks, reheat the sauce over medium-high heat. Once the pasta is done, drain it in a colander and add to the sauce. Toss over heat for a minute or more to help the sauce permeate the noodles. Turn half of it into a serving bowl and dot with half the cheese. Add the rest of the pasta and top with the remaining cheese.

111. Improvising

2009-04-11T08:16:00.000-05:00

Accidentally left the pup's leash in Ta-Town, so did a little improvising with some yarn. :) Worked like a charm!

110. River walkin'

2009-04-10T08:04:00.001-05:00

After watching "The Boy In The Striped Pajamas" together (you should definitely check it out), the 'rents and I headed downtown to walk along the river to see the new Keeper of the Plains Plaza at night. Hard to describe if you're not a Wichitan, but basically we've had this enormous statue for years, and they recently moved it to a new location on the Arkansas (pronounced "Ar-KANSAS" in Wichita...true story) River, and surrounded it with an incredible walk bridge, and then this great area full of misting-sidewalks and huge firepots that flare up at night.

Then afterwards, we paid a visit to the chain that I'm still shocked has not come to KC, but TOTALLY should. (Would love for them to remind Ben & Jerrys, et al., that fantastic ice cream does NOT need to cost $5 a cone.)

Indeed...Braums. :)

109. Flower power

2009-04-09T22:05:00.000-05:00

After arriving home from our little afternoon jaunt down to Winfield for lunch with the Wilke's (for lunch at Neives' -- wahooooo!!!), Mom and I decided to try our hand at creating some little frosting flowers to go on some baked goods for Sarah's reception. Ha...suffice it to say, those little guys are NOT as easy to make as they may look!!! We found a few you-tube videos that gave some advice, but still had only limited success. I'm determined to conquer them, though, so have no fear that we will press on!! :)

118. Siesta-ing

2009-04-08T07:45:00.001-05:00

This was one of the rare moments during our three days in Wichita when the pup was NOT chasing/harrassing/biting/pouncing-on/sniffing my parents' dog, Lucky. Mmmmm....yeah. Turn out he was "that" dog.

Back to Cesar to find out what to do about this craziness...

107. Guess who else is taking an interest in "The Dog Whisperer"?

2009-04-07T09:35:00.001-05:00

Ha...thought this would be a fun way to pass the time on the 3-hr drive to Wichita. But it turns out, someone else was more fascinated by the episodes than me! :)

(And NO, I no longer watch dvds on my dash. This was conveniently in the passenger seat, where I could listen and occasionally steal a glance. :-))

106. Coming along...

2009-04-06T09:33:00.000-05:00

The bookcases are now installed! All that's left is the mantle. (And then...painting painting...)

105. Check it out!!

2009-04-05T08:16:00.000-05:00

Minutes after I arrived home from work tonight, Ryan pulled up with my NEW mantel and one of the new bookcases in tow!! And they look FANTASTIC!!!!! He did an incredible job - I'm so excited! He's returning with the other bookcase tomorrow, and is planning to finish installation in a few hours. Can't wait!!

104. A colorful trip to the City Market this morning

2009-04-04T08:13:00.000-05:00

I heart, heart, heart. :)

103. Celebrating the return of...

2009-04-03T08:10:00.000-05:00

...ice cream pie season!! :) Kicked things off this year with a yummy mint-chocolate-chip creation for our discussion group tonight. YUM!

102. Crash and burn...

2009-04-02T22:32:00.002-05:00

...down the stairs 15 minutes ago. Foot, ankle, knee still growing...ugh. Did that seriously just happen?!

101. "The lamest caesar salad EVER"

2009-04-01T22:36:00.001-05:00

On Monday morning, $5-off coupons for Bravo's mysteriously appeared on all of our desks at work. So today Janelle and I put them to use and buzzed over for lunch.

And while I ordered this utterly fantastic lobster bisque to come before my pasta, Janelle received this little creation. Apparently it tasted ok, but did they put an ounce of thought into presentation?! We think not. Odd for such a lovely place.

Thankfully our pasta that we ordered was also utterly fantastic. And our checks were only $5. Thank you random coupon fairy. :)

100. "It's a C, for Cass!"

2009-03-31T22:31:00.004-05:00

We made the drive tonight allllllll the way up north to Joe's for a night studying Hosea, and celebrating the incredible, edible egg. :) Made two yummy homemade quiches together, along with yummy biscuits and coffee, and then topped it all of with fresh-baked molasses cookies and spumoni (sp?) ice cream. Yum!

Then, while discussing Hosea (and home refinancing...and rollercoasters...and the wrath of God...and a few other zillion tangents), the group humored me and we totally dyed Easter eggs!! :) Now my little egg tree in the breakfast nook is adorned with egg-celent artwork.

99. Of all the places to curl up...?!?

2009-03-30T22:38:00.008-05:00

It seems my bathroom has quickly become Henry's favorite room of the house. Just a few weeks ago, he developed a serious fascination for my walk-in shower (and on one surprise occasion just strolled right on in while I was mid-shampoo - ahhh!). And tonight, found him napping here, dreaming I'm sure of someday growing big enough to reach down and lap up some of that toilet water he's been trying so desperately to reach lately.

Ah...el baño. :)

98. Double take!

2009-03-29T22:37:00.005-05:00

Allow me to introduce you to...Niko! Henry's brother! :)

Had a fun surprise today receiving an email (forwarded on by Henry's breeder) from the woman who adopted Henry's brother. Ha...I almost feel like the mom watching her adopted kid reconnect with his long-lost brother! It's been a fun trading back emails hearing about little Niko, and finding out that he and Henry share a bunch of the same quirks. And...of course, their stunningly good looks. ;)

97. A day of showers

2009-03-28T22:44:00.000-05:00

Kicked off my Saturday morning rising and shining at 6am finishing up all of the preparations for Sarah's bridal shower. And then drove on out to Blue Springs to meet up with Erin and my folks (who drove in a day early because of the snowstorm in Wichita!) at my aunt's house, and bake the coffeecake, quiche, monkey bread, muffins, and egg souflee that we had prepared. Yum!

The shower ended up being a lot of fun. A number of guests ended up not being able to make it because of the weather, but we had a great time spending the morning with lots of family and many of Sarah's friends and choir members, and sharing an abundance of great stories and laughs. :)

And then....the other shower began. Holy cow. As I was leaving the shower, the heavy rain had just turned to sleet and was coming down hard and fast. I think my drive down to work in my little lightweight Civic that has ZERO traction on ice/snow defined "white-knuckle" driving. I'm usually never one to let the weather worry me about driving or keep me home, but after passing by a ridiculous number of cars in the ditch, and watching the car behind me skid across the highway and wreck into a semi, I was definitely relieved to finally arrive safely back home at night. Whew...

96. Cupcakes, cupcakes, and more cupcakes...

2009-03-27T23:00:00.000-05:00

Beginning the bake-a-thon for Sarah's bridal shower. (Behold, her wedding colors...)

93. Brookside by sunset

2009-03-24T23:03:00.000-05:00

Ahhh, I'm spending just about every free second outside soaking up this beautiful weather, and am being reminded once again just how much I LOVE my neighborhood!! :)

Ended up leaving my car at home in favor of taking the 20-minute walk down Oak tonight to meet the small group crew at Governor Stumpy's - a fantastic little hole-in-the-wall restaurant down in Waldo - and was so glad I did! The evening could not have been more beautiful, and it was so fun greeting everyone who was out walking and enjoying the sunset together. Then had a great time just hanging out and catching up over some yummy food with the crew. Definitely my idea of a great night!!

92. When one has overripe bananas...

2009-03-23T23:14:00.001-05:00

...it's definitely time to make banana bread!! :)

Actually ended up tweaking one of my favorite recipes tonight, with great success!!! Instead of using regular vanilla yogrut, I ended up throwing in a little tub of the "banana cream pie" yogurt that caught my eye at the store....and I'm convinced it totally took these to the next level! Highly, highly recommend this easy little substitution to all of my banana bread bakers out there. Soooo yummy!

75. MORE fun with parchment!

2009-03-16T22:41:00.002-05:00

...and good friends. :)

Since I had the evening off from teaching music lessons (hallelujah for spring break!), ended up spontaneously having Andrew, Jeter, Steve over for dinner with Cass and I. And...once more, we had some fun playing with creating fish and chicken steamed with fresh veggies and seasonings in parchment. Everyone's creations were b-e-a-utiful! And then we wrapped up the night with some homemade blondie brownies, and this fantastic mango and strawberry sorbet that Andrew brought along.

As if the friends and food weren't delightful enough, we ended up enjoying the evening together in our dining room with the windows open....and the 70 degree breeze blowing through....watching the spring sunset out of our front window....

I'll say it for the 100th time.....I'M SO EXCITED FOR SPRING!!! :)

74. I can't believe it's...

2009-03-15T22:49:00.000-05:00

...really butter! :D

Ok, so I have to confess that this post is not coming on the correct day. But I have to share my little success story! My little butter experiment totally worked! I read on a blog the other day that all you have to do is put heavy whipping cream in a food processor, and set it on high for a few minutes. And then after it passes through the sloshy, then frothy, then whipped cream, then more sloshy stages...suddenly the glob of yellowish butter totally separates from the milky buttermilk...and voila! Butter! You then have to give it a quick "water bath" to help drain all of the buttermilk, and then add extra ingredients if you'd like. (I lightly salted half of mine, and then turned the other half into garlic-lime butter.)

Next time...honey butter. :) Too fun!!

73. "Whhhhhew, good workout!"

2009-03-14T23:02:00.000-05:00

LOVE that it's warm enough to start walking more outside...especially with my new exercise partner! ;)

71. All things new

2009-03-12T23:05:00.001-05:00

"But a certain sign of grace is this. From the broken earth, flowers come up. Pushing through the earth." -David Crowder, "Wholly Yours"

70. "En papillote"

2009-03-11T22:49:00.003-05:00

The fancy word for playing with parchment paper in the oven! :) Cass and I had a fun time tonight creating our own unique little packs for dinner. Mine had tilapia, asparagus, onions, mushrooms, lemon (yikes - we had a strong one tonight!), and lots of yummy seasonings. Super tasty, and super healthy! (I think Spark would approve!)

Ha...and then for old time's sake, we spontaneously pulled out an old "Friends" episode to watch during dinner. :) I was the lucky one to choose, so we had a grand time watching "The One With The Rumor", the Thanksgiving episode where Brad Pitt comes to dinner. Fantastic episode - still makes me laugh every time. :)

69. 40 days...

2009-03-10T22:39:00.004-05:00

of no soda and only water and tea was beginning to get a little boring. So thankfully (again, credit goes to Sarah Were), I rediscovered the joy of Crystal Light! Or...as the off-brands call it, "raspberry drink". :) Had completely forgotten how tasty this stuff is!

68. My favorite way to end a day

2009-03-09T23:15:00.005-05:00

Falling asleep to the sound of a spring thunderstorm. :) Yes, I'm declaring that it's spring. We're saving daylight, the water falling from the sky is not frozen, we're able to go on walks without five layers of clothing, and best of all...I'm sitting here snuggled up with an adorable puppy watching and listening to a glorious thunderstorm. (Love when Henry's little ears perk up when he's listening!)

Yes, without a doubt, my favorite way to end the day. :)

67. The "end result"

2009-03-08T23:31:00.000-05:00

Our dining room is now a-fluttering with butterflies. Feels fabulously like spring now. :)

66. Margaritas at...

2009-03-07T23:26:00.000-06:00

..."Margaritas"! :)

Went down to the Boulevard tonight after work with the girls for margaritas and chips and salsa. Apparently the five of us there missed the memo that it was "parents weekend", as literally SEVEN of the other friends we invited were away spending the evening/weekend with their folks. R-a-n-d-o-m! They missed out though... ;)

65. Some spring crafting fun! :)

2009-03-06T23:03:00.000-06:00

Something felt a little sacreligious about cutting up an old book ($0.99 thrift store special!) for an art project...but I'm excited for the results!

64. Another birthday in the houuuuse!

2009-03-05T16:08:00.001-06:00

Haha...literally. :) The crew all assembled tonight at our casa to celebrate our lovely Kelli on her actual b-day. Unfortunately, I had to work all evening, and arrived home just ten minutes after the last people left (sad!!). I hear it was a fantastic evening, though, so hooray for a great friend!!

63. A fun surprise!

2009-03-04T16:05:00.000-06:00

At the last moment, my parents ended up coming to town today to spend the afternoon helping address/assemble/etc. wedding invitations for these two lovebirds. :) So, we all went out to celebrate afterwards at the Cheesecake Factory! Very fun. And VERY yummy.

62. Birthday fun!

2009-03-03T15:49:00.000-06:00

Had a great time finally meeting with ALL of our small group members tonight! AND, we got to celebrate a certain someone's big 3-5 birthday! (Or, as he put it, "just 15 years away from 50!")

Happy birthday, Ryan!!

61. "Leave It!"

2009-03-02T15:33:00.001-06:00

Ok, the video's not the best (and...it's sideways), but I wanted to show off the new trick that I taught Henry today! Being that he seems to like to put just about anything and everything in his mouth, hopefully this will come in handy in the future! :)

60. For the first time in all my 25 years...

2009-03-01T22:03:00.005-06:00

...I made "homemade" popcorn on the stove tonight. And it was fantastic!! (And... even a little healthy, cooked in olive oil and sprayed with healthy butter afterwards.) :)

Thank you Sarah Were for the inspiration!!

59. Snow day!

2009-02-28T19:15:00.002-06:00

I think Henry was as surprised as we were to wake up and find INCHES of snow outside this morning! Ahhh, this crazy midwest weather...

58. I do not like green eggs and ham! I do not like them Sam I am!

2009-02-27T09:24:00.001-06:00

Ended up taking my Friday night this week to travel down to the OP (yes..."Oklahoma") to spend the evening with a zillion families and kids seeing Overland Trail Middle School's production of "Seussical: The Musical". Erica, one of my 8th grade voice/piano students, was cast as "Amayzing Mayzie". So went along with all of her extended family to see her in action!

For any of you theater-lovers who have never seen the show, I totally recommend it -- it's hilarious. Thoroughly enjoyed hearing all of the great songs again, and being reacquainted with Horton, Gertrude McFuzz ("who had the had the smallest plain tail feather ever was"), Amayzing Mayzie ("as feathered as feathered can be now"), The Cat In The Hat, Jojo, the Grinch, and so many more...

Bravo, Dr. Seuss. :)

57. The best tea in the entire world

2009-02-26T19:29:00.001-06:00

I've found it.

Harney & Sons "Hot Cinnamon Spice". All tea-lovers must try it. It's truly in a league of its own. :)

56. The best part of waking up...

2009-02-25T09:39:00.001-06:00

...is freshly-harvested-and-just-roasted-days-before-Guatemalan-coffee in my cup! :)

55. SPARK!

2009-02-24T19:19:00.000-06:00

So while I was in Guatemala, the entire staff at Rez kicked off our "REZSpark" competition -- one of our new initiatives to promote "healthy lifestyles" amongst our staff. We all signed up on the Spark website, and get "Sparkpoints" each day for doing a variety of healthy things, such as logging in your daily food and exercise, reading health/wellness/fitness articles, researching healthy recipes, posting on blogs, etc. And...you get an automatic 5 points each day for drinking 8 glasses of water. So...being that I'm planning to win (ha!)...my waterbottle is my new closest friend. :)

This whole competition may or may not be giving me feelings of "deja vu" to this year's season premiere of "The Office". (Thankfully, no group weigh-ins....)

54. Oh Mondays, how I've missed you...

2009-02-23T09:43:00.002-06:00

Returned back to teaching all of my Monday music lessons today, and was reminded how much I LOVE getting to play music and spend time with these kids. Even though nearly all of them (admittedly) took my absence as permission to skip practicing for two weeks, still had a great time getting back in the swing of things.

AND, I was very excited to bring along my cool new Guatemalan pen to teach with. Mmmm, why is that a big deal? Well, pretty sure any of my music lesson friends would attest to the fact that teachers lose SO many of pens at students' houses teaching each week. Slightly annoying - I feel like I'm always scavenging through my purse to try and find a new one. So now...mwahaha...I now have a super-cool one with my name on it. :) So no more pen-kidnapping!

53. Pizza pizza!

2009-02-22T21:29:00.002-06:00

Went with three of my lovely ensemble women to hang and catch up and have a carb-loading-fest at "Spin" tonight after worship at COR. Mmmm, mmmm, good. :)

52. Guess who got a new 'do?

2009-02-21T09:41:00.000-06:00

HA!

Apparently Dad thought the pup needed a haircut during his stay in Wichita. So he arrived back in KC today looking considerably leaner and much less shaggy! And...considerably grayer as well! Who knew? Already growing older and wiser... :)

51. Adios!

2009-02-20T11:17:00.001-06:00

After two amazing weeks, it was a sad moment to have to say goodbye to this incredible group and a country I'd fallen in love with. As I've told many, this trip truly just felt like such a gift to me -- one of those markers in life where I feel like the Lord completely caught me offguard by loving on me, and blessing and filling me in areas of life where I didn't even fully know I needed it. He's so good like that, and I'm just unspeakably grateful for the experience and the chance to walk through it all with this incredible group of people. :)

Les extranare!

50. Familia

2009-02-19T11:16:00.002-06:00

Probably the main reason I wanted to go on this trip was because my lovely mom and sister were going as well. :)
Especially with Sarah's wedding coming up here in just a few months, it was incredibly special to have this time together with just the three of us, to laugh, snuggle, (snore!), practice our espanol, walk, chat, salsa, and enjoy walking out daily life together for two weeks.
Love these women. :) Glad to call them family.

49. One of my favorite evenings of the trip

2009-02-18T11:15:00.001-06:00

Unfortunately I didn't take my camera along this night (and actually, I can't remember if it was Wednesday or some other day), but our evening out in the barrio will definitely be a memory I'll treasure for years to come.

In short, we really wanted to spend some time getting to meet and hear the stories of the people who lived in the fields around the orphanage. So we were thrilled when the local pastor and his wife agreed to take us around and introduce us to the "neighborhood" (which is the area they pastor). Being that these homes are located all over hills with no roads, we were extremely grateful for the pastors' guidance along the trails as well...especially when the sun set and we literally had the light of only one flashlight to find our way home!

In addition to wanting to meet these families, we also had a special surprise for all of the local children. It turns out that Peggy, a member of our team and the mother of my friend Stephanie (who passed away very unexpectedly when we were juniors in high school), had brought along 150 of the blankets made by her organization called "Stephanie's Small Comforts" to give out to everyone. (I forget the statistics, but they've now made and given away thousands of these blankets all over the world -- incredible story.)

So basically, we split up into two groups, and spent a few incredible hours walking all over the hills meeting the neighbors. At every single home, we were greeted with such smiles and kindness and hospitality. And we were blessed and humbled by the stories of their lives they so openly shared with us. Being that Carlos and Luis had already left by this point, I ended up being somewhat of a translator for my group, and had the chance to pray with a number of these families in both languages...which was so special. At nearly every house, things were shared that just made our hearts ache so, so deeply, but the pure faith that these people so tightly clung to was tremendously inspiring to see. I could talk about them for hours...

But of course, one of the great highlights of the day was getting to pass along the blankets to these precious children. We learned that there were definitely no "single family dwellings" in this neighborhood. Rather, probably 10-20 families all crammed together in a small area. So when one kid saw us coming along the path, a crowd had usually gathered by the time we reached the homes. Sometimes we would just meet with a huge group outside, and other times we would be invited into the homes of individual families. But each time, after we'd had a chance to chat for a bit and pray, we would open the bags full of blankets (and Beanie Babies, which Lisa's mom had also generously donated) and invite the kids to come and take their pick.

Words cannot describe what it was like to see the looks in their eyes -- the pure excitement, the shock in some of getting to be able to actually choose their favorite one, the profound humility in some of being the recipient of a gift -- it was extraordinary. And especially for some of the kids we found working out in the onion fields (thus the picture above) who were just covered in dirt and mud from head to toe, with no shoes on their feet...their gleeful gratitude to have something so beautiful to take home that evening brought me to tears.

I could go on and on about the power and beauty of those few hours... But overall, I'll just say that it defined the word "privilege" for me. To be able to meet and spend time with these people, and to get to share glimpses into each of our stories was such a privilege.

48. Another fun field trip

2009-02-17T11:15:00.002-06:00

On Tuesday, we got to go for another little "outing" to a local nature reserve near Lake Atitlan. Our teachers told us it was just "a short walk away" (which by then we knew translated to "pack your walking shoes!!"), but the journey was worth it when we arrived and were greeted by this sign:
Translation: "Food for the monkeys, pisotes, and raccoons!"
So of COURSE we did the tourist thing and loaded up with bananas! :) (This, by the way, is my favorite 81-yr-old, Herb, who had the most fantastic perspective on life. Loved getting to spend two weeks with him!)

The first furry friends we ran into were these pisotes. Still have no idea what they're called in English, but they were hilarious and went bananas over our bananas! :D This video doesn't really capture then in the feeding frenzy, but you get the idea...

A few minutes later, we ran into some monkeys along the path as well. They didn't seem to be as interested in coming near us, but we enjoyed watching them! :)
More than anything, I just absolutely enjoyed having the opportunity to walk in this beautiful, grandiose forest...in the middle of February! It was such a treat. :) The scenery was of course absolutely lovely......even though sometimes the loveliness was, mmmm..."edited.....
...but overall it was truly delightful. :) AND, we even got to take a ride back up to the highway in "took-tooks"!! We had been ooohing and ahhhing over them ever since we had arrived. So we splurged and paid our 10 quetzales ($1.20) to ride them back up to our bus stop.Definitely not safe, but DEFINITELY fun!! :) Hooray for adult field trips!

47. Of course I can't go too long...

2009-02-16T11:14:00.003-06:00

...without a food post! :)

Ha...as opposed to the mission trips I went on growing up with my home church (where our meals generally consisted of hamburger, hamburger and more hamburger), we were all thrilled to get to enjoy some terrific Guatemalan food this time! As expected in Central America, all sorts of fresh fruits and veggies were in abundance...and growing all around us! Our language school alone was overflowing with a variety of mango, orange, lemon, lime and papaya trees. Half of the time that my teacher thought I was "deep in thought" conjugating verbs, I was just enjoying the scenery. :) Sadly, due to poor water sanitation throughout the country, we were discouraged from trying the fruit-on-a-stick options sold by the street vendors everywhere we turned. (And instead, took all of our produce home and soaked and scrubbed it with a bleach solution before enjoying its yummyness.) But we did have fun supporting some of the local restaurants at lunch!Here's Mom trying out some yummy sopa de espinaca (spinach soup)...
And me enjoying pepian (the Guatemalan national dish - a yummy chicken and vegetable stew) and some fruit - YUM!

46. One more day with Miguel

2009-02-15T11:13:00.011-06:00

Was stoked to get to spend one more "unforgettable day" (as he loved saying) with Miguel on Sunday, taking a boat tour of a few of the towns surrounding Lake Atitlan. Beforehand, however, he gave a fascinating explanation of the all of the different (traditional clothing) that the Mayan women wore in nearby towns, so that we would be able to identify them as we traveled around. (Explaining what we learned about the "traditional dress" during our time there would take a few pages, but it was truly extraordinary!) He also gave us a quick preview of his sweet marimba skills before leaving Pana - yay! :DAs promised, it definitely ended up being an "unforgettable" day. Just having the chance -- in the middle of February -- to spend a warm day boating all around the lake admiring the incredible scenery was a gift in and of itself! But we all truly enjoyed the chance to visit these three towns, which could not have been more different, even thought they're literally spaced just miles apart.
Our first stop was San Antonio del Palopo, by far the most "isolated" village bordering the lake. Unfortunately, that also makes them one of the poorest villages around, as they have few opportunities for trade or the economic support that comes from tourism (the backbone of most of the local economies). We rode in the back of one of the (only) 4 trucks in the village up a number of STEEP hills to the town square, where we were invited into the home of a local woman for a tortilla-making lesson. While the first group of six huddled in her tiny 4'x6' kitchen, the rest of us chatted it up with some local kids nearby, who somehow had learned a little bit of Spanish (most of the community still only spoke a Mayan dialect) and found the concept of sticking tongues out for a photo absolutely hilarious. :)Eventually we took our turn in the kitchen, watching as this beautiful woman taught us (in Mayan, as she spoke no Spanish) how to form and cook these tortillas. After our clumsy attempts (and failures) at trying to create our own, we definitely had much more appreciation for all of the Guatemalan women who rise at 5am each day to create these for their family -- especially being that the average Guatemalan eats twenty tortillas each day. Ay, ay, ay!We also visited the local Cathedral, which once again was full of a mix of Catholic and Mayan icons.Afterwards we moved on to San Juan, by contrast a town that is rapidly improving on just about all levels. After just having heard heartbreaking stories about the abuse of women and children and the wide-reaching consequences of poverty in San Antonio, it was amazing to hear the stories and see the hope on the faces of the locals in San Juan. In short, their current mayor has done a phenomenal job helping to inspire and guide the community to "organize". From women's groups, to weavers' and farmers' and painters' coops, to tourism marketers, to a more healthy justice system, this town has seriously grown by leaps and bounds in just the past few years. It sounds like they still have a way to go before they meet their goals, but the sense of optimism and comraderie throughout the town was unmistakable.Last but not least, we visited Santiago -- a town that, by local standards, had "made it". It definitely felt a little too "touristy" to me, as the streets were lined with shops upon shops upon shops marketing the same local crafts. But it's apparently a success story in Guatemala, so we did the touristy thing and supported as we could. (Come summer, my new little blue wrap skirt will be my contribution. :D)

45. Out and about

2009-02-14T08:45:00.002-06:00

On Saturday, we wanted to take part of the morning and afternoon off to travel around and see some new sides of the country! So our guide, Miguel, took that request very literally and created a fantastic day for us!!
We began the day on a definite "high" -- bussing over to Santa Clara and hiking up the mountain to a phenomenal zipline course! Thank goodness for peer pressure, or I doubt any of us would have had the courage to try this on our own! Basically, rather than the normal tree-to-tree course (common in Costa Rica and other countries), these two passes were literally 1300 ft long, stretching 650 ft above an enormous canopy valley surrounded by six volcanoes and the always beautiful Lake Atitlan. WOW!

Everyone rode the first line "sitting down" in our harnesses and holding the handle bars above. But Miguel insisted that we ride the second line "Batman-style", flying through the air face-down! Needless to say, it was INCREDIBLE! And the view was absolutely phenomenal. Fantastic experience!Afterwards, we all loaded up on mountain bikes to go for a ride (sans-helmets) pedaling DOWN the mountain roads to reach the town. Actually, though, there was very little pedaling, as we basically just braked the entire way down!Once we reached the town, we took a quick tour through their weekly market......and then stopped by the house of a local family of weavers to see how the typical Guatemalan baskets were made. As with so many of the products of the country, it was a bittersweet moment to see what an incredible amount of work goes into making these baskets (growing and harvesting the bamboo, then shaving it down into manageable pieces to weave, and then seeing a bunch of teenaged boys moving their fingers at lightening speed to create these beautiful pieces of art)...but then learn what minimal profit they earn from them (around $3/each). Always difficult to take in.Then afterwards, we all crammed in the back of a pickup (one of our other main modes of transportation), and headed to lunch. And then boated back to Pana to catch our camioneta back to the orphanage. Definitely a great adventure of a day!

Unfortunately, we did have to bid adios to Carlos and Luis, who ended up having to take off early that day to return to Shela for their college courses. So sad to see them leave!

44. TFI-Viernes!

2009-02-13T08:17:00.001-06:00

Ah, new experiences. :) Today we ended up eating at a local restaurant in town for lunch, where Carlos and I each ordered pescado frito ("fried fish"). Mmmm....yeah. May or may not have forgotten that in most countries outside of the States, fish is not exactly served filet-style. Rather, an entire Nemo -- bones, fins, scales, head, AND eyes -- showed up on my plate. I was pretty proud to make it through the body, but couldn't bring myself to dig in (as Carlos did!) to this guy's head. Yikes!

We also had a fun "field trip" today with the school going to visit the local market in Solola. Mixed in amongst the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd of people, we saw......every kind of fruit and vegetable you can imagine...chickens galore...beautiful fresh flowers...fresh and dried fish...and MORE fish. And of course, so much more.

Then, to celebrate the arrival of the weekend (and a night off of studying!), Carlos and Luis agreed to give us all SALSA lessons! Ha...it was quite the time. Let's just say that they proved themselves to be wonderfully patient teachers, watching as a bunch of American women tried to shake their hips Guatemala-style. :)

43. Un día típico (a typical day)

2009-02-12T06:57:00.002-06:00

Most of our days followed this basic routine:

-Wake up and head down to breakfast by 6:30am. We were fortunate to have a wonderful woman named Talmi cook for us each morning, alternating between granola/cornflakes days, eggs/toast/black beans days, and (our favorite!) pankekes days -- pancakes! :) Her 4-yr-old son, Fausto, and puppy, Eskip ("Skip"), were always around hanging around nearby and providing plenty of entertainment and laughs as well.
For example...the day that Fausto painted Eskip's forehead green (you can see the faint remnants post-bath above). Or the day when Fausto and I were reviewing the names of animals in English. After covering elephant, rhino, and hippopotamus (his favorite), I pointed to the pup and told him that "en ingles, se llama DOG". To which he promptly informed me that "en espanol, se llama ESKIP". :)

-After breakfast, we would take a lovely scenic walk through the hills of the neighborhood (one of the zillion gorgeous views from the trail is pictured above) down to the hospital...
...where there we would wait for our camionetas, or as they fondly refer to them, the "chicken busses".-Without exception, these bus rides were always QUITE the experience. :) To begin with, I should mention that all of the buses in Central America are basically the "rejects" given to them by the States once they're deemed too old to drive by U.S. standards. Mmmm...yeah.

Once they arrive in Guatemala, the locals told us that the first order of business is to give each bus a beautiful women's name, completely repaint it with a variety of vivid colors, and then soup it up with a much more powerful engine that's able to wade the mountain roads each day. (We prayed for regular brake maintenance as well, but not so sure about that....)

Locals definitely defer to the bus drivers as the "kings of the road", which is probably wise given that these drivers travel at truly frightening speeds. They seem to take great delight in racing around a zillion curves, often passing on the left (often on curves!), and just generally intimidating anyone who dares to get in their way. Being that nearly the entire road into Panahatchel was carved out on the side of a mountain, with barrier-less enormous drop-offs 2 ft. off the road, I'm sure we offered more than a few prayers for safety!

The main intrigue of the camionetas was not the drive, however, but the "experience" inside. Their idea of "maximum capacity" was to try each day to cram in the MAXIMUM number of people (and occasionally on top of the bus - chickens) that would fit inside! It was a rare, lucky day when you were able to sit 2- or 3-to-a-seat. Generally we had to stand subway-style the entire way, but then always making room for the collector who had to pass through each trip to collect everyone's fares. These men had the unfortunate job of trying to pass through walls of people, often forced to either climb/pile on top of people, or force those standing to basically lay themselves on those seated! Once they reached the back of the bus, the younger ones would occasionally literally scale the sides of the bus (while it was MOVING!!!) to climb back around to the front, or more often, climb ON TOP until they reached the front door. Again....prayers. :)
-At about 8am, we arrived in Panahatchel, in time to begin our morning Spanish classes. This was the first workteam I'd ever been on to offer this option, and I ab-so-lut-ely LOVED it. Our entire team of twelve actually ended up participating, so we all spent each weekday morning together in a lovely garden with all of our 12 Spanish tutors (we each had private tutors -- incredible!). I was privileged to spend the two weeks with Florinda, a lovely 30-yr-old Mayan woman, who patiently helped bring me back up to speed in the worlds of indirect/direct pronouns, vocab, gerunds, and of course, the zillion verb tenses. My favorite part of lessons, though, was getting "off topic" and getting to hear the story of her life, and of the Guatemalan people (specifically the Mayans). It would take hours to share all of the fascinating things I learned...

-At noon, we would either eat a quick bite in town, or immediately bus back to Eagle's Nest and make our own lunch. Or actually, Carlos and Luis (the fabulous Guatemalan amigos we had staying with us), went to the market the first week and brought back a yummy selection of fruit......and tortillas (made from either white, yellow, blue or black corn) AND whipped up a batch of the freshest, tastiest guacamole for the group. I could definitely eat like that every day. :)-After lunch, we'd spend the rest of the afternoon helping out around the orphanage. Generally, they assign larger construction or VBS projects to groups who come down. But we offered instead to just help with some of the random needs they had with the facility. I helped paint the trim on a building the first day, but actually ended up in the "sewing room" for the majority of the time, helping piece together hundreds of little quilting squares that had been donated, into quilts for beds in the orphanage. I definitely learned that I am NOT a quilter -- too tedious! But had a wonderful time spending the afternoons with some of the lovely women in the group, and learning the ins and outs of a few sewing machines!-Around 6:30pm, we'd always regroup for dinner (again, cooked by Talmi). And then ended the evening with group devotions/discussion, and HOMEWORK time! Much to my surprise (I don't know why), everyone was very serious about getting their homework done! We'd sit around for hours, and help each other with the grammar or vocab questions that were thrown out every few minutes. Totally fun. :)

-And finally, we'd look out our windows at the phenomenal nighttime view of the mountains and valleys, and cozy up in our beds and SLEEP!

42. Miercoles

2009-02-11T23:03:00.004-06:00

During the weekdays, we spent a half hour each morning getting some serious exercise walking up and down a gravel mountain road (which eventually merged into this paved one) to reach our bus stop. As you can imagine, this was one of my favorite parts of the day, since I love-love-love to walk!! I couldn't help but think each day that this was how we were created to live -- not scheduling in hour-long workouts on a treadmill each day at the gym, but walking outside all throughout the day to get to your next destination! Absolutely loved it, and loved getting to exchange greetings and smiles with all of the friendly locals on the roads. And yes -- all of the women were pros at balancing and carrying all sorts of things on their heads as they made long journeys. Apparently the girls begin training at age five or six, helping steady with a hand or two until they can go "sin manos" (without hands). Whew.

I'll go into the story about the camionetas ("chicken buses") we rode into town each day in another post. Ay, ay, ay...

But on this Wednesday after school, we took a small break from work to eat lunch in Pana at a lovely restaurant. It not only had a phenomenal view of the lake...
...but had an garden full of incredible colorful flowers......as well as some of the biggest bouquets of cala lillies I'd ever seen! I'd always thought that Diego Rivera just imagined these sort of images!!After lunch, our school took us on a little mini field-trip down to visit a Mayan cave. Being that over half of the Guatemalan people are Mayan, we learned a ton about their culture and customs while we were there! It's fascinating to see how they've continued to hold on to so many of their roots into the twenty-first century. (And unfortunately, how they continue to be just terribly discriminated against by some of their "native" peers.)
This cave was an interesting study into how the Mayan religions and Catholic traditions have blended in some ways over the years. Hundreds make the slippery climb down the rocks daily to this cave hidden in the side of a mountain to offer their prayers and burnt offerings/sacrifices (of which we heard chickens were very popular). We found this one hanging out on the trail nearby. Lucky duck...err... ...chicken. :)
A number of local kids (who were in abundance wherever we went!) made the climb down with us, and enjoyed climbing on the huge rocks. And then graciously helped us along the tricky trail back to the road. :)

41. True "natural" beauty

2009-02-10T22:31:00.000-06:00

This short video doesn't even do it justice, but here is a glimpse of the view I awoke to of the gorgeous Guatemalan mountains and volcanoes as seen from the orphanage. Absolutely breathtaking. The far volcano on the left is actually still active, and delighted us each morning with its great puffs of smoke and fire.

For those who don't know, our group spend the trip staying at "Nido Del Aguilla" (Eagle's Nest) -- an orphanage founded by an American couple that is now located on top of a mountain near Solola. And I must say, it was absolutely phenomenal. I arrived totally ready to sweat it out in the typical mission-trip bunk bed dorms, with possible hopes of one or two warm showers. But was totally stunned to find just the opposite! It turns out that this facility, which was originally built as a timeshare but was abandoned and looted during the 30-yr civil war (which only recently ended in 1996), was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. We each had warm beds to sleep in, kitchens to cook in (and brew the fantastic freshly-harvested-and-roasted Guatemalan coffee each morning), living rooms for gatherings/studying, and we even had warm showers most nights! Hands down, I think all would agree though, that the best part were the floor to ceiling windows with balconies outside that looked out across this incredible view where we were able to see the sun rise and set each day. Phenomenal!!

As if the scenic views weren't enough, there was clearly an avid gardener on staff as well -- the landscaping was incredible! We got a great kick out of seeing how many of the small "household plants" we have in the States are super-sized in Guatemala, thanks to the great soil and climate. This was Sarah, upon discovering a fern (three-times the size of hers at home) growing outside of the dining room. In Guatemala, however, they refer to these as Quetzal-feather plants (that being the national bird, and a historic symbol for the Mayans).

40. Antigua and my token international ice cream pic

2009-02-09T22:11:00.002-06:00

Bienvenidos a Guatemala!! Thankfully all of the travel arrangements went smoothly, and I arrived in Guatemala City in the afternoon and taxied over to historic Antigua for a mini-layover waiting for my shuttle.

So my first order of business was, of course, to visit a local ice cream shop, located a few doors down from the bus stop (and next to this gorgeous ancient cathedral pictured above). But when I asked the store owner for her favorite flavor recommendation, though, was surprised when she instantly responded with queso y fresca ("cheese and strawberry"). Still not sure if the cheese was more of a true cheese or a cream-cheese sort of flavor, but regardless, it (thankfully) agreed with my stomach and was muy deliciosa.
And, it gave a much-needed burst of energy to make it through the last 3 hours of my final (solo) shuttle ride through the super-windy, super pot-hole-y, super-precipitous mountain roads to Solola. Thankfully, after quite the adventure, we made it there safely by dinnertime. And I was able to join and meet the wonderful group with whom I would spend the next two weeks!

39. Hospitality: Defined

2009-02-08T21:49:00.000-06:00

Somehow in my uber-procrastination in making plans for this trip, I kind of spaced off making arrangements for my overnight layover in Dallas this first night. Oops!

So two days beforehand, I hopped online to try and make some reservations, but ended up calling my Dallas friend Marynell because I couldn't find info about shuttles between Love Field and DFW. And....once again, I was reminded how amazing my friends are. :) She immediately asked if I had a place to stay, and even though she was going to be out of town that night, and even though my schedule was completely inconvenient (arriving at 10:30pm, and departing the next morning at 7:00am), Marynell totally offered and insisted that I stay over at her place with her roommate that evening. I was so humbled! It gets better though...

Turns out her roommate, Blair, was an absolutely incredible host. Not only did she insist on driving me to and from airports super-late and early in the morning, but she totally made me feel at home in their adorable little bungalow -- and baked me blueberry muffins and a yummy little bag of snacks for the day of traveling. Talk about some incredible "southern hospitality"! :)

So, so grateful!!

38. One of my favorite parts of our "cool" club

2009-02-07T23:58:00.000-06:00

So apparently Cari was texting a friend this morning, letting him know she was in the middle of "book club". And when she tried to type in the word "book", T9 first offered the word "cool". Thus, we may have a new name... :)

I must say that we had the most beautiful February morning ever to discuss our choice of the month - Jane Eyre. In the midst of such a chilly winter, it was such a gift to be able to sit in the sunlight and feel the warm 60 degree breeze drift through Cari's apartment as we chatted about the worlds of Jane and Mr. Rochester and Charlotte Bronte. Lovely day for a lovely book!

Once again we did, of course, revisit our beloved selection process for the next book. Ha...we get wayyyy to excited about this part of our time together. After much discussion about books we would like to consider, we each write down and submit our top two choices into the bowl (pictured above). And then one-by-one, we each blindly draw a paper until only one remains. Hilariously suspenseful, but we love it!! :)

Thus, we'll be spending this next month with Annie Dillard -- The Maytrees.

37. Mmmmm

2009-02-06T11:49:00.000-06:00

Ok, so this is actually the finished product from Saturday. :)

But I concluded up my pre-Guatemala bake-a-thon by whipping up this cheesecake on Friday for our girls night on Saturday. Yum!!

36. Over-under!

2009-02-05T21:47:00.007-06:00

"So...tell me again...just how do you do this?!?" :)

After a full rehearsal tonight with my ensemble, trying to get through the p-l-e-t-h-o-r-a of songs we currently have on our plate, we ended the night with some serious laughs.

To make a long story short, the upcoming digital tv transition is forcing us to abandon most of the wireless mics that our currently use, and revert back to....dum dum dum....CORDED. I don't fully understand it, but apparently the "white space" frequencies between tv channels that we, and most other churches, are currently using to run our wireless mics is now going to be taken up with the new digital devises. And with our tight budget this year, it doesn't sound like we'll be springing for the "acceptable" new mics (that apparently run around $2K/each) anytime soon!

So...tonight our audio guy, Mike, came in to give everyone a lesson on how to properly coil and stack all of the 19 cables that our group will soon be using. Ha...you probably had to be there, but let's just say that it totally made me smile watching them "over-under", and try to lasso, and "toss" the cable correctly (and subsequently adorn themselves with cable bracelets and necklaces) TOTALLY made me smile. :)

35. Sweet!

2009-02-04T21:30:00.004-06:00

So...upon realizing that I'm going to be away from my kitchen (and opportunities to bake and cook on Valentine's) for TWO WEEKS, I kind of went nuts and had a little bake-a-thon over the last 24 hours. :) Made these chocolate-chip meringues, some chocolate dipped pretzels, and then some of my favorite biscotti (to go with the fantastic coffee we're now making at home!!). Yum!!

Also, 2-4!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOLLIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For those of you who don't know my friend Mollie, she's the best. :) For many reasons -- one of which (that makes me profoundly grateful) is the grace upon grace she's shown me for years with my terrible memory. When I would forget an assignment in college, or lose my keys in our apartment for the zillionth time and get completely frustrated and beat myself up about it, she had the knack for turning it into a joke and making me laugh about it. It may have been a subtle kindness to anyone else, but in my world, it meant a ton. So...knowing that I struggled to remember even my family's birthdays, she offered a great tip for remembering her birthday - 2-4!! February 4th! I haven't forgotten since. :D Happy 26th, friend!!

34. My Christmas present :)

2009-02-03T22:26:00.004-06:00

Thanks to the creative and thoughtful generosity of my ensemble, my sis and I had tickets tonight to go and spend the evening down at the Sprint Center seeing Israel Houghton & The New Breed and Chris Tomlin on the "Hello Love" tour. It was pretty sweet!!

Especially loved hearing Israel and his crew do their thing live. Holy cow -- they are some BRILLIANT musicians! Totally loved all of the songs they previewed from their upcoming album, as well as a new hymn (that I need to track down on iTunes) that Chris Tomlin wrote. All in all, a great night of worship. Thanks again, Rezonate! :)

33. Jingle all the way!

2009-02-02T23:37:00.003-06:00

Picked up some jingle bells at the craft store this weekend to begin training Henry to "ring" when he needs to head outside. (Have had a few friends rave about this technique, so decided to give it a try!) But the moment I took them out of the bag, quickly realized that their sound was NOT music to this little guy's ears. Rather, anytime I ring them, he literally cowers in fear.

So....we're backing up the training, and giving treats now when he'll creep within five feet of them. Mmmmm, yeah.

B...a...b...y...s...t...e...p...s..... :)

32. I "heart" :)

2009-02-01T23:32:00.003-06:00

Some Valentine's decor fun. :)

(Revisited an old elementary school art project and melted a zillion shavings of those crayons between wax paper to make my own "stained glass". Way too much fun!)

31. Highlights of a splendid Saturday

2009-01-31T23:55:00.011-06:00

1. 63 degree weather. Flippin' fantastic in January!
2. A long, beautifully warm walk with Henry along the Trolley Trail, where he received more than his share of compliments on his good looks, and where we also ran into Justin (with Tallulah and Francie)! FUN!!
3. Marlies' 3rd Annual Beach-Themed PBR Party. Complete with a "beach room" (lawn chairs next to a kiddie pool filled with sand and nice ocean music in the background), lots of fun food and friends, and an abundance of cheap beer. :) Love it!

30. Craft time again!

2009-01-30T23:49:00.000-06:00

There's nothing like the smell of a new box of crayons. :)

29. No shame!

2009-01-29T23:34:00.001-06:00

Confession: I am anti-crust. On my toast. On my brownies. On just about all baked goods.

I've spent many years trying to reverse this preference. Initially, because my grandma told me that "girls who ate crust grew curly hair" (shockingly...after choking it down for awhile, my hair remained straight as could be). And later in life, to do the "polite" thing.

But by myself, in my own little kitchen, I return to what I love best with zero shame. Mmmm...my kind of toast. :)

28. I seemed to have joined a new community...

2009-01-28T22:36:00.007-06:00

The "people-who-brave-unthinkably-cold-weather-to-walk-their-dogs-at-night club."

It's true. If you venture through Brookside in the evening, you will find me (bundled up like the kid in A Christmas Story) and Henry (looking mighty fine in his sweater) strolling the streets with all of the other devoted pet owners from the neighborhood. The snowy sidewalks bear testament to our journeys, covered with a beautiful array of little paw and big boot prints.

As lovely as it is, though, I am more excited than ever for spring (and warmer weather) to arrive this year!! :)

27. Gone nutty!

2009-01-27T22:56:00.000-06:00

Mmmmm. Baked a big batch of spiced pecans tonight to go on my balsamic-apple-feta salad for small group. A-d-d-i-c-t-i-v-e!

26. Hands down 50 of the best cents I've ever spent

2009-01-26T23:01:00.002-06:00

Found these packages of adorable little waffle-bowls on clearance at Hy-Vee a few weeks ago for $0.50. And holy cow, are they fantastic. Definitely take the ice cream experience to an entirely new level. I don't know if I can ever go back...

Either Hy-Vee had no clue what a phenomenal bargain they were creating. Or...they were completely brilliant and knew they would forever hook unsuspecting ice-cream lovers like yours truly. :)

25. Très magnifique!

2009-01-25T23:13:00.005-06:00

Had fun this evening finally putting the French press (compliments of Santa) to work, brewing some of the Roasterie coffee that Cass brought home. Mmmmm. We totally agreed there is something so lovely about making coffee at home in the evening. Especially on a snowy, winter night. And especially when served with my favorite mint-chocolate-chip ice cream. :)

24. Some things are just better made from the box

2009-01-24T23:57:00.001-06:00

Case in point: Hershey's Peanut Butter Brownies. Holy cow, are these things fantastic.

Put to use all of my culinary skills to mix up all three ingredients to whip up a pan of these today. (And then, yes, promptly dug out a square straight from the middle, after which Cass followed by eating the adjacent "side" piece -- love it!) Then loaded up a plate of them tonight to take over to hang with the girls. And...even though they may or may not have taken a little "spill" off the seat of my car when we turned a corner on the way over, they were still gone IN THE FIRST 15 MINUTES! :) Now those are some stellar brownies.

Thank you, Hershey's.

23. TGIF!

2009-01-23T23:30:00.005-06:00

"Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one."
- Dr. Seuss

Ah...how I love Fridays. For all of the times I complain about having a job that requires me to work on Saturdays and Sundays, I was reminded once again today of how much I enjoy my Fridays off. With the rest of the world at work, I usually get some much-needed (for the introvert in me) time to myself during the day. But then always look forward to celebrating life and the end of the work week with everyone else in the evenings!

Thus was today. After a lovely morning and afternoon full of much simplicity and routine, met up with the crew at Vivino (down in the P&L) for a happy hour that Ally apparently "won" recently. So glad she did! Enjoyed catching up with everyone (and somehow getting on the wagon of sharing all of our not-so-pleasant experiences this month with the flu...ugh...). And definitely enjoyed the spread of fantastic appetizers they had for us.

Then drove back in the beautiful snow to the Record Bar to catch the Khrusty Bros' concert, and had a terrific time bumping into and chatting it up with people from all sorts of my random circles in KC. Love our small, small world. :)

22. And lead us not into tempation...

2009-01-22T14:35:00.001-06:00

Shnoozing beside the shoe that's oh-so-tempting to chew on. Hmmmm...not the wisest idea, puppy!

21. I heart

2009-01-21T14:39:00.000-06:00

Am SO thrilled that Jane Eyre is my book club's pick of the month! I am thoroughly enjoying getting reaquainted with Jane, Mr. Rochester, Helen Burns, and so many of these other classic characters that I've loved since I was young. Just like so many other classics, it's always fun to see what parts of the story and the prose stick out to me specifically in this season of life.

I'm also completely enjoying reading from this second-edition vintage copy I picked up awhile back for $1 at a thrit store, that has all sorts of unusual quirks and type-writer font. And...that neglects to translate any of the (abundant!) French dialogue spoken by Adele! Ah...one year of French sophomore year was not nearly enough... :)

20. In the bitter cold of winter...

2009-01-20T14:55:00.002-06:00

...we have a lovely touch of spring on our dining room table.

19. Mmmmmmm

2009-01-19T14:58:00.001-06:00

Dad's chocolate chip cookie recipe. Still my favorite!

18. He can't quite seem to fully catch on to housetraining yet, or remember that barking at the neighbors' HUGE dogs is not a great idea...

2009-01-18T23:09:00.001-06:00

...but by golly, this little guy can already play a stellar game of FETCH!! All the more hilarious on the kitchen floor, watching him slip and slide around. :)

17. Another board game (and another victory!!)

2009-01-17T23:03:00.000-06:00

(Picture coming soon from le phone de Ally - forgot mine tonight!)

Board games TWO nights in a row??? The stars are definitely shining on me this weekend. :)

Actually, had a lovely evening celebrating Ally's birthday with friends at her place. Some highlights of the night included...

-Sampling some spectacular blackberry honey wine from Westin (had no idea that honey could ferment!)
-Funny stories galore (that of course seem to grow funnier, and perhaps a BIT bigger, every year!)
-An impromptu game of Settlers (pronounced Sett-lers - two syllables, thank you) with Craig and Mark
-And most importantly, celebrating another wonderful year in the life of our friend. :) Happy birthday, Ally!!

16. Victory

2009-01-16T23:59:00.003-06:00

Oh board games -- how I've missed thee. :)

15. Humble Pie

2009-01-15T23:12:00.008-06:00

After rehearsal tonight, had a little "movie night" with my ensemble! I brought in popcorn, caffeine-free sodas (ahhh...new stage of life), and a projector, and we all cozied up in a conference room to watch some recent video clips of us leading worship.

Talk about a PRIDE CHECK! Ha...it's one thing to stand out there week after week, and present yourself as an artist and as someone vulnerably worshiping in front of thousands of people. But to sit there and watch it on tape was h-u-m-b-l-i-n-g!! (I completely understand why so many actors can't stand to watch their films...)

I think we all agreed, though, that it was a great discipline for our group. :) Always good to know what things we do are helpful in leading worship, and what things are unhelpful or distracting! And what fun quirks make all of us unique -- love it!!

14. Handsome

2009-01-14T23:48:00.002-06:00

Ok, so I swore I would never be "that pet owner" -- buying little outfits and ridiculously unnecessary accessories for a dog. But in this unthinkably cold winter, thought this shivering little guy could use some extra layers during our daily "power" walks (all the more speedy when the temperature's in the teens!!).

So....he's now warm. And stylin'. :)

13. Compliments to the chef

2009-01-13T23:48:00.001-06:00

Three words - RUSTIC SPINACH TART.

Steve hosted small group tonight, and totally treated us all by cooking dinner as well! And holy cow -- this thing definitely ranks up there now as one of my favorites. Fantastic flavor, and QUITE the lovely presentation to go along with! Also had some delicious queso and brownies to go along with the conversation and occasional KU/K-State-game-monitoring. :)

Yay Tuesdays.

12. Coming!

2009-01-12T23:48:00.000-06:00

11. They no longer cost a "penny"...

2009-01-11T23:49:00.002-06:00

...but these $11 little whistles are still by far the cheapest (and one of the favorite) instruments onstage at Rez. Bought a new one in the key of F this week (they were out of red, so this new one will be easy to pick out) to be able to play in Bb on the prelude. The unfortunate thing is that they only make pennywhistles in 5 of the 12 keys, so my little brain got a transposing workout tonight at church - whew!

10. Whenever I whistle a happy tune...

2009-01-10T23:49:00.001-06:00

...this little guy immediately stops whatever he's doing, and sits down to listen (while cocking his head in a new direction every few seconds in curiosity). Ridiculously entertaining....and adorable. Glad to have another music lover in the casa. :)

9. Stomach. Flu.

2009-01-09T23:49:00.000-06:00

Brutal.

8. The best quesadilla in KC

2009-01-08T23:53:00.002-06:00

No contest.

Used my persuasive powers (mwahaha) to persuade not 1, 2, 3, but 4 Rezonate women to order this fantastic "parmesan-crusted shrimp quesadilla" at Jose Pepper's tonight. Perfectly grilled shrimp, warm melted cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, soft avocados, and the fantastic parmesan atop the tortillas....it can't be beat. :)

7. Under da sea!

2009-01-07T21:36:00.003-06:00

Mmmmm. Tried cooking with mussels for the first time tonight, and it was a scrumptious success!! :) Had no idea how easy they were to work with too. Cooked them up with a white wine/garlic/tomato/herb sauce, and then served it all over linguine.

Fantastico.

6. A night of wonderful friends, fascinating conversations, great locales...

2009-01-06T23:26:00.005-06:00

...and of course, some YUMMY hot chocolate from Broadway! :)

Thanks Cass, Steve, Ryan, Sarah, Julius, and still-as-of-yet-unnamed-puppy for a lovely winter evening!!

5. Here comes the bride...

2009-01-05T23:50:00.003-06:00

...and her two maids of honor. :) Tonight over reverse-happy-hour sushi at Kona, Sarah officially asked us to be her little bridal party for the wedding in (now!) May. Here we go!

4. "Go outside...praise the God who mapped the stars out in the sky...gather round with those who love and sing...He is our king..."

2009-01-04T22:54:00.006-06:00

Just a little "gift" outside of my window on the drive in to work this afternoon. This picture doesn't come close to capturing the view. The clouds literally stretched over the ENTIRE sky -- incredible. I couldn't help but pull the car over just to step out into the moment and soak it in.

As long as I live, I know I'll forever be in awe of our Creator who just loves to keep creating and surprising his kiddos with masterpieces like this on random Sunday afternoons. Truly a gift. :)

3. Smiles, salads, and stocking caps...

2009-01-03T23:58:00.002-06:00

All part of a delightful, relaxing Saturday night with the girls and Jonah at Jeter's place.

2. Scrub-a-dub-dub

2009-01-02T23:50:00.002-06:00

There's a pup in the tub! Well...kitchen sink, that is. :)

After a long day of wedding dress shopping, the fam came over to the house and got to meet and cuddle with our new puppy! Very fun. And Dad, the expert canine-bather in the family, even volunteered to give him his first bath and "hair styling". He's definitely lookin' and smellin' good now!!

1. New year, new hopes, new dreams...

2009-01-01T23:36:00.001-06:00

...and new projects!

At the top of the 2009 project list, we have.....(drumroll).....refinishing my stairs. Ugh. Seemed like a fabulous new homeowner-learning-opportunity a few weeks ago when I randomly peeled back a corner of the carpet to reveal wooden stairs (which, 5 minutes later, were spontaneously carpet-free). But after spending an hour with the power-sander tonight, and seeing very little to show for it, I may have had a few second thoughts...

But alas, this is 200-Niner. If Tommy Boy can graduate, I can conquer stairs. :)

365. As the sun sets on 2008...

2008-12-31T23:59:00.006-06:00

...I feel blessed. I'm reminded of the words of Anne Lamott...

"I do not at all understand the mystery of grace - only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us."

Hallelujah.

This has certainly been a year marked by some significant changes, but I thank you so much for the grace and love and laughs and tears and faith and lessons and LIFE you all have shared with me along the way. You all are such a tremendous gift in my life, and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to venture forth into another year surrounded by such an incredible community.

Best wishes to all as you enter into all of the newness and hope and possibility that await you in '09, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

364. Meet my super adorable, super friendly, and SUPER cuddly new puppy!!!

2008-12-30T22:50:00.001-06:00

Words fail. I heart, heart, heart. :)

363. Scrabble-tastic!

2008-12-29T21:59:00.008-06:00

HOORAYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!! I finally found some friends to play games with me! :)

Had a fun time spontaneously busting out Sarah and Julius' new Scrabble board (with its high-tech Lazy Susan!) and playing a great game, with a smiley Jonah giggling and snorting and cheering us on. TOO cute!!

Absolutely adore their family.