What a Weekend

We had a super productive and super fun weekend!

Saturday morning we got up (without an alarm!) and got a few things done around the house.  Then, I got cleaned up and headed out to meet my good friend from Pratt for lunch.  We have been friends since I was like two or three and she was like four or five.  It is always so nice to catch up with her and it seems like we never have enough time.  Oh, did I mention that she just lives in Derby -- it is not like we love many miles away.  Yeah, we need to see each other way more often!!

After I stuffed myself at lunch, I ran a million errands.  I had to return a few things and then make my weekly trip to Target.  Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE going to Target all by myself??  It's a sickness, really.  I just browse and browse and browse.  On this particular trip, I picked up a couple of doormats and an interior rug to put at our front door.  One thing about a new house and learning all of the new "things" that occur in and around the new house, and one of those new things are these nasty, sticky little pods that fall from the trees and stick to EVERYTHING!!  Needless to say, the little pods have been drug all through our house so the doormats are meant to cut down on the pods making their way into our house.  We'll see...

Once I got home (and delivered my sweet husband a cherry limeade) we went to the garden store and to Menard's.  At the garden store, we picked up a nice fern for our front porch and a six-pack of impatients and then we got a few motion-activated lights for the back of our house at Menard's.  After we returned, we planted the fern and the impatients and Brandon worked on the lights.  I also played with Koby in the back yard and wore him out.  Would you look at that tongue?!?!

That evening, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and had dinner on our front porch.  Our house faces the east so it is pretty sunny and hot on our back porch, plus we have an awesome front porch!  We grilled burgers and just enjoyed the evening.  One thing Koby likes is that he is able to hang out with us in front of the house without his cord and so he hung out while we ate dinner.  That was until a couple walked by out house with a GIANT German Shepard that Koby thought he could take.  Ummm...can you say someone is suffering from "little man's" disease!!  We finished the day just hanging out watching TV and I'm pretty sure I fell asleep on the couch...oops!

This morning, we got up early - I had a volunteer event for church and Brandon had a makeup baseball game.  Our church partnered with Numana for a food packaging event.  If you don't know about Numana, I encourage you to take a look at their website.  It is a pretty amazing concept and I was excited that I got to volunteer with my small group gals (and really, my good friends) Ali and Christy.

Here are Ali and Christy hard at work!!  Yes, we all looked pretty awesome in our hair nets and aprons :)

And, here we are at the conclusion of our shift.  And, we were all very thankful that we do not do line work for a living...

Oh yeah!!  I also did not get the memo to wear a KSU shirt for the event.  Can you believe they didn't call me...ha ha!  Just kidding.

After I got home I made a menu and grocery list and waited for Brandon to get home from his game.  After he got home, we prepared to paint the kitchen.  Brandon started to cut in around the doorway and window and I realized I didn't really like the color!  It looked to me like it was the same color as the cabinets, which is why I was not comfortable with it.  So, he stopped painting and was very nice about having to go get a new paint color -- just another shade lighter -- while I went to the grocery store.  The new paint is much lighter and to some may look white, but I know that it is a super duper light shade of gray!  I put away dishes and made dinner while he painted (he did not want my help).  I made bbq beef sandwiches, waffle fries and fruit salad and it was yummy.

After dinner we settled in for the ACM awards and a little dessert :)  Edwards Key Lime pie is so good and they sell it in these little two-slice boxes.  Totally dangerous!!

I'd say this was a pretty "sweet" ending to a pretty awesome weekend!

A Day Without Media

Yesterday I went the entire day without checking my personal Twitter or Facebook accounts, reading blogs, browsing the internet, checking my personal email, watching TV, listening to the radio, and with limited cell phone use.  Why this "media fast"?  Well, as part of our new small group Bible study, as well as the devotionals I've been posting here (a coincidence that both required some sort of fasting??  I think not!), I was encouraged to take a one day break from media in an effort to create more space in my life for God, or at least the opportunity for me to focus on God.  Brandon also joined me in the effort.

Before I get into the things I learned yesterday, I do need to give one short disclaimer.  As part of my job, I am responsible for all communications in our office, along with overseeing and managing our website and social media channels.  So while I was fasting from personal social media and internet activities, I still had to use media at work. 

Okay, now on to my media-free observations (I jotted down a list throughout the day yesterday so I wouldn't forget anything):

• the drive to work was eerily quiet and I found myself humming and whistling
• my work day was a little more productive because I was not doing anything personal online
• realized I will survive without knowing all of the breaking news via Twitter
• the break provided me with more "thinking" time in the car sans the distraction of the radio
• Brandon and I actually had conversations when we got home from work instead of vegging in front of the TV
• we got more accomplished around the house last night since we were not distracted by TV
• realized how much time I do spend online or watching TV
• I actually read part of a book without falling asleep -- this is MAJOR!

So now that we have particpated in that little exercise and made these observations, we have decided that we need to refocus a little bit.  From now on, we are going to instill a no TV from the time we get home from work until after dinner.  This is a good opportunity for us to decompress and talk to each other about our days, and in all hoensty it was sort of nice to have some peace and quiet after a full work day.  I think we will also eventually limit our TV intake all together, or at least not feel like we have to watch our shows "live" since we do have a DVR and can watch them when we literally have nothing else to do.

One thing that I know I need to work on is my connection to social media.  I will be the first person to rattle off its benefits, and I do believe there are benefits, but it does not need to rule my life.  I can live without all of the tidbits of information I gather on Twitter and Facebook.  In reality, I do not need to check Twitter and FB right when I get up in the morning.  I watch the news and will find out any pertinent information that I need at that time.  And really, sometimes it is nice to be in the dark a bit -- for instance I did not know about the shooting in Ohio until this morning when we turned on the news.

So, all in all this was a good exercise for both Brandon and me.  I would encourage all of you (the few who do read this thing) to try a similar exercise in your own life and then re-evaluate how you've been doing things.  It really was refreshing.

Also, my faithful readers may have noticed that I had two posts yesterday but have no fear, they were both scheduled posts that I wrote on Sunday night :)

Friday Five

1.  This has been such a mood lifter for our community.  In the past, it was perceived that the families were not very deserving, but this family is nothing but deserving!!

 

2.  I made homemade mac and cheese last night and did not feel the least bit guilty!!

 

3.  I love reading Reality Steve and getting the inside scoop on all things Bachelor and Bachelorette!  Just  like yesterday when he announced who the next Bachelorette will be...  I'm sure the show producers are just seething that the information gets leaked.  (I know, there are more important things going on in the world like the power struggle in Libya and the earthquake in New Zealand, and I pay attention to those things too, but sometimes, I just have to indulge my guilty pleasurs and this is one of them!)

 

4.  We had a great small group lesson this week about being salt and light in the world.  I realized that I need to incorporate this concept into my every day life a little more.  We have so many opportunities to share Jesus with other people without even getting out of our comfort zones and it is a real shame when we don't seize those opportunities.  Some areas I need to work on are not participating in gossip, not holding back my thoughts on moral/social issues that arise in conversations, and not being afraid to talk openly about what God has done in my life. 

 

5.  When I left my house for work this morning I saw a For Sale sign in my rear view mirror and for a split second thought it was in the yard of our crazy neighbors, but unfortunately, it was their neighbors' yard.  Shucks! 

 

Bucket List

Last night we had our weekly small group get together.  We are currently in between studies, so we played a Jenga game that Brandon and I made up a couple of years ago.  Basically, its the usual Jenga game, but we wrote questions on each block, so when each person pulled a block from the tower they had to answer that particular question.  The questions ranged from favorite vacation to most embarassing moment to biggest fear.  One question that I had forgotten about was to list one item on your bucket list.  As we got to talking, we found out that one guy in our group has a goals sheet that he keeps in his wallet.  This goals sheet is quite worn and has several things crossed off and a few left to be crossed off.  I thought it was so sweet that he had even written "Marry Christy", which was obviously crossed off now.  Another friend in our group said she was cleaning out her storage room yesterday and found her bucket list that she had made several years ago and she was able to cross a few things off that she had forgotten about. 

After all of this discussion, I realized that I've never really made a "bucket list". I mean, I have set goals for myself, but never physically written them out and kept track of them.  So, starting today, I'm going to begin writing down items for my bucket list from this point on in my life.  Some may be obvious and some may be lofty, but that is the purpose of the list, right?

So, here it goes:

1. Have a family
2. Move to a bigger house
3. Visit Europe with Brandon
4. Own (or partially own) a flower shop

I'd be intersted to know what other people have on their lists.  I think you can learn a lot about a person by their lists!

S'Mores Anyone?

One thing we wanted to do over the weekend was put our new fire pit to use and make s'mores.  However, if you live in our area you will know that was nearly impossible since the wind was so strong all weekend.  So, tonight was the night and we even had the company of our small group (who are really our friends).

The boys got the fire started for us and then we all went to town with the marshmallows!  In my last issue of Food Network Magazine I found several different versions of s'mores.  We decided to try the Elvis (banana and peanut butter) and the Mint Chocolate (York Peppermint Patty) versions, along with the traditional versions.  I think the Elvis was a hit, along with our own version of peanut butter and chocolate.

Here is I am putting my peanut butter and chocolate s'more together.  I don't like to get my marshmallows too gooey!

And somehow, I'm the only one Brandon got a picture of stuffing my face.  But in an effort to keep things real here, I figured I should post the pic anyway...

The evening couldn't have been more perfect to be outside enjoying the fire.  We will definitely be putting the new fire pit to use a lot this fall.  I'm thinking wine around the fire sounds nice, too!  Anyone want to join me?