1. A bag of chocolate appearing in my candy dish at work
2. My frozen Healthy Choice lunch was surprisingly tasty
3. The drive to and from work with Brandon
4. Having a few minutes of "me" time to unwind before dinner
5. Koby and his funny little antics
Grace Day 1:
1. Uninterrupted time to work on our website
2. Leaving work an hour early
3. Brandon washing up a few dishes that were in the sink without being asked
4. Skipping PiYo and cooking dinner at home, and enjoying it
5. Going to bed knowing I could sleep in an extra hour (due to the work time I've been putting in at home
Now, I challenge all of you to follow me and remind yourself of at least five postive things throughout your day!
There is really no explanation for this one, other than we were taking a self-portrait and what is a self-portrait without silly faces??
Tonight was obviously a work event for me, so I was busy taking photos and then I realized that Brandon had disappeared. Once I found him, he informed me he was ditching me for better seats at the table with some of his coworkers, but I obliged - I'm sure he had more fun with them anyway.
Some of you may or may not know about my strong dislike of Walmart. It really began when I was in college at OBU. You see, that Walmart was disgusting and small and I got easily annoyed with the people inside of the store. Then, my luck followed me to K-State and it was the same story, just a different town. Thankfully, Manhattan had a Target and I didn't have to frequent the ol' Walmart too often. Once I moved to Wichita, I pretty much avoided Walmart for the same reasons - cramped, crazy people, etc. The only reasons I ever went to the store were for paint or an occasional visit to the lawn and garden department, which has an entirely seperate entrance.
However, over the past few months or weeks, I've been trying to give Walmart another chance. The store near my house did some renovations and opened it up a little bit and they've started carrying a few more housewares products that I like. We also purchased a television for our kitchen online and were pleasantly surprised with the ease of ordering and the prompt delivery. But, my real turn around occurred within the past week.
I was browsing around a couple of blogs and came across a blog of a girl (a girl I don't know) who I thought dressed pretty cute. She always had fun dresses or tops in her pictures, and one day she was discussing bargain shopping. As I got to the bottom of the blog, my mouth dropped - she shops at Walmart!!! So, being a curious person, I headed over to walmart.com and found a few dresses that I just had to have and to make it even better, they were like $11! So, last week, I made my way to the Site to Store section of our local Walmart to pick up my purchases and I am here to tell you, I'm a new fan! Behold, my newest Walmart purchases:
The weather hasn't been nice enough for me to wear either of these items yet, but I'm ready!
I've also purchased a couple of cute cardigans in recent days, that are affordable and cute. Unfortunately, they are sold out so I don't have a picture. But, here are a couple of things I've been eyeing and just might have to snag while they are on sale!
Seriously, none of these things are more than $10 online!
So, my lesson for today - give second chances! You may be pleasantly surprised!
Oh yeah, Megan - this post is dedicated to you :)
You will have to excuse my untanned legs, another sign of no sunshine these days.
It was a small (or smaller than usual) congregation this morning, so the service felt more intimate. As we walked in the door, the ushers handed each of us a stone. So, we took our stones and made our way to our seats. The service started with the choir and then we all sang a few songs. One of the songs especially moved me today. Here are the lyrics:
Everyone needs compassion, Love that's never failing; Let mercy fall on me.
Everyone needs forgiveness, The kindness of a Saviour; The Hope of nations.
Saviour, He can move the mountains, My God is Mighty to save, He is Mighty to save.
Forever, Author of salvation, He rose and conquered the grave, Jesus conquered the grave.
So take me as You find me, All my fears and failures, Fill my life again.
I give my life to follow Everything I believe in, Now I surrender.
My Saviour, He can move the mountains, My God is Mighty to save, He is Mighty to save. Forever, Author of salvation, He rose and conquered the grave, Jesus conquered the grave.
Shine your light and let the whole world see, We're singing for the glory of the risen King...Jesus
My Saviour, He can move the mountains, My God is Mighty to save, He is Mighty to save. Forever, Author of salvation, He rose and conquered the grave, Jesus conquered the grave.
My Saviour, you can move the mountains, You are mighty to save, You are mighty to save. Forever, Author of Salvation, You rose and conquered the grave, Yes you conquered the grave
I just love the lyrics and today, we were truly celebrating that Jesus conquered the grave! We also sang an old hymn that reminded me of my grandma. Maybe she was on my mind since my mom and I put flowers on their grave on Friday or maybe it was because we used to spend every Easter with them, but for some reason, I was brought to tears as we sang the words to "Crown Him with Many Crowns".
Then, we got to the sermon. Our preacher is a great preacher and as usual, his sermon rocked, literally ;) As I mentioned, we were handed stones when we walked in the doors and to the disbelief of some, we did not use the stones to flog the pastor - ha ha! He made that joke, so I don't feel bad using it. The sermon actually focused on the stone and the how it was rolled away for Jesus after he rose from the dead. While He could have come out of the grave on his own, the stone was removed for us so that we would believe He was truly alive. Our pastor then related that stone to stones in our own lives. He said people often wonder if God can still move the stones out of our lives today - stones such as fear, unforgiveness, guilt, addictions, work, etc. He asked us to write something on our stone that we need God to work on or roll out of our lives. Then, as we went forward to take communion, we were to wash our stones in the water and take the stones home as a reminder that God can move in our lives and He can roll away those things that keep us from living freely in Him. It was a great visual and an overall great message for today. I hope that we all have enough faith to let God work.
After church, we came home and got to work on an Easter lunch. We had my parents and Brandon's sister and her husband at our house. You can check out our Easter menu on my new blog. We had a great time relaxing and visiting. We even got in a few rounds of Rummikub. I've decided we need to purchase that game because I STINK and need some practice!
And now, we're relaxing and trying to wrap our brains around the fact that we have to go to work tomorrow. I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend and I hope you take the time to celebrate new life!
Instead, I'm going to think about and search for ideas for our living room. Tomorrow, my mom and I are going shopping for a living room chair or more specifically, fabric for a living room chair, and accessories. Yay!
I'm also thinking about the grocery store run I have to make in order to buy all of the ingredients for our Easter Dinner. And, a local chocolate store has the most adorable chocolate bunnies that I think I just may have to buy for our Easter guests!
Alright, my boss just told me we have to do some work...
First, I had these cookies sent to him at work. I think they were a big hit! Excuse the poor quality, Brandon took these with his phone.
Then, when he got home from work, I had a ball park spread waiting, complete with Cracker Jacks, peanuts and hot dogs!
It was fun to plan this and surprise him and I think he was truly surprised! Happy Opening Day!
Brandon and I got each of the little girls an Easter basket, complete with bunny ears!
We also raked and burned leaves, cleaned up flower beds, washed windows, picked up sticks, pulled out trees and much more!
(Keeping it real without makeup!)
Brother: "Hey, I'm just calling to tell you that we might be calling you in a few minutes, but you need to act like Cinderella."
Me: "Um, okay, why do I have to act like Cinderella?"
Brother: "We told Daughter if she goes pottie on the big girl pottie that she could call Cinderella."
Me chuckle: "Okay..."
Brother: "Okay, we'll call you in a few minutes."
So I wait a few minutes and my phone rings again.
Me: "Hello."
Brother: "Hi Cinderella, Daughter needs to talk to you."
(Brother gets "daughter" on the phone)
Brother (in the background): ""Daughter", say hi to Cinderella>"
Me: "Hi Daughter, it's Cinderella."
Daughter (with a little coaxing from her mom and dad): "Hi Cinderella, I went pottie in the big girl pottie and I get to wear Cinderella panties."
Me: "Daughter, I am so proud of you. You are such a big girl."
Sister-In-Law (in the background): "Daughter can you tell her what other princess panties you have?"
Daughter: "I have Snow White and Aerial."
Me: "Did you know that Snow White and Aerial are my friends?"
Daughter (to her mom): "Cinderella has friends?"
Me: "Daughter, do you get to have a jellybean for being a big girl?"
Sister-In-Law (in the background): "See, even Cinderella knows you get to have a jellybean for being a big girl."
Daughter: "Yes, I get to have a pink jellybean."
Sister-In-Law: "Okay, tell Cinderella you have to go so you can get your jellybean."
Me: "Bye Daughter, Cinderella is proud of you>"
Daughter: "Bye Cinderella."
Brother: "Thanks, Cinderella."
Oh the innocence of a child. Can it get any sweeter?
What are you thankful for today??
As I've mentioned, we're going to be launching a new website in four to six weeks, leaning more towards the six week mark ;) Anyways, we have approximately 120 pages that compromise our site and today, I got ONE page done! Yes, that is right, I'm excited about ONE page because it is a start! Now, I sort of feel addicted or that it is a big game because I want to accomplish more and more each day from here on out. I might be reflecting on this post in a few weeks and cursing myself, but for now, I'm going to consider it an accomplishment!
Tonight, I'll be trying out a new class at the Y called PiYo which is a combination of pilates and yoga. I figured I made it through the Yoga class last week, so I'm sure I'll make it through this too. The positive thing is that I'm getting out and exercising and I'm excercising with friends, which is even better! The negative part might be that I'll be really sore tomorrow, which to some exercise fanatics is positive, so I'll try to view it that way too, at least for today ;)
I got a new do last week. I decided to grow my hair out, but wanted some kind of "style" because I didn't like how it was just hanging in my face. So, my stylist decided to cut some bangs, and I absolutely love them! It is very easy to style and most importantly, it doesn't feel like I'm all hair. I'm not so sure Brandon likes the bangs, but I think they're growing on him.
And, here's Koby. He tells me he hasn't been felling the love on the blog lately, so he and Brandon had a little photo shoot yesterday.
Here are a few pictures from our house:
So, come on over and take a look!
1. My husband feels empowered while driving his truck in 4-wheel drive. Nothing is too big for him.
2. Turkey sausage just isn't the same as real sausage when making biscuits and gravy.
3. The neighbors pounding on their frozen car can indeed be heard from inside our house.
4. If you are unsure about the stupidity level of the movie "Paul Blart, Mall Cop", you should run with your intuition and avoid seeing the movie.
5. Time spent relaxing with nothing to do is quite refreshing!
By the end, I felt pretty good, but left knowing I was going to be a bit sore this morning and sure enough, my shoulders are tight. I'm not going to rule out Yoga in the future, but I think I'm going to try out a couple of other classes too.
As I sit here and type, that blizzard I mentioned yesterday is making its way into town.
I believe we have freezing rain now and it will eventually turn into the snow. I wouldn't mind the snow if we didn't have to have the ice first - YUCK! But, I know we are not going to get hit near as bad as those in Western Kansas, so I'm not going to complain too much ;)
Also, just an update on my "Day Off To Do List" - I slept in until 9:30 a.m.!!! Woo Hoo!!
1. Sleep in (Ha, it won't happen, but I like the thought of it)
2. Pick up the house (or I won't be able to focus on anything else)
3. Watch Food Network and HGTV
4. Plan and make a nice dinner and have it ready when Brandon comes home from work
5. Scour the internet for color schemes and ideas (since I can't do it in person)
6. Bake chocolate chip cookies - it just seems like the perfect time
7. Throw the ball countless times for Koby, who will be totally thrilled that I'm spending All. Day. Long. with him
8. Organize our closet
9. Make a menu plan and grocery list
10. Layout Brandon's sports "stuff" and devise a plan for where we'll hang some of the pieces in our basement
So, this will be my day tomorrow. What would you all do with a day off in the midst of a blizzard??
Have I ever mentioned that I love my job?!?! Well, just in case I haven't, "I LOVE my job!". When I started at the Chamber, I knew that we would be rolling out a new website (which is set to launch in about a month or so, fingers crossed), but what I didn't know (but probably should have assumed) was that we would be integrating social media into the site.
So, part of my job these days has been to familiarize myself with different social media applications - Facebook, blogs, YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn and Twitter. I already knew about most of these things, but I didn't know too much about Twitter. As I've been lurking on some local twitter sites, I've discovered the power of this little social media outlet. Yes, it is pretty much like texting (although you don't have to have a phone that is Twitter capable, it can be done from the computer), but it can reach audiences in ways that traditional media just can't and Thursday, I'll be attending a Twitter seminar over my lunch hour to learn even more. I'm very excited for this opportunity and while I'll be twittering on behalf of the Chamber, I've decided I will also Twitter for myself, too.
Now, I can just hear my mom saying "Tessa, you need to be careful with these things," because she told me that over the weekend regarding Facebook. But, I firmly believe social media is all about responsibility. Why would I put something out there that I wouldn't want my mom to know, let alone the entire world?!?!
So, if you have Twitter and would like to follow me, just follow the link to the right. And, if you don't have Twitter, then this blog can be your one-stop-shop and you can catch up with me here!
Tweet! Tweet!
My dad told me today it was slightly embarassing for a cattleman's daughter to enter a chicken recipe in the newspaper. He said he was thankful my last name isn't Bohn anymore.
So, I was flipping through the Wichita Eagle this morning (which is part of my job, by the way) reading about the new 13th Street bridge and then was intrigued by a pancake article in the Local and State section. As I was reading about the 30+ pancake topping options, my eyes glanced to the left-hand section of that page and suddenly, I noticed my name, printed, in the paper. I was taken by surprise for a moment until I realized what my name was in the paper for.
You see, I subscribe to the Eagle's food e-newsletter and several weeks ago, the food writer was asking for people to submit their "go-to" recipes - you know, the ones that are a safe bet for any crowd. I just happen to have a perfect recipe for that, so I thought "Heck, why not send it", and so I did. A few days later, the food writer replied to my email with something along the lines of "Mmm, that sounds really rich, but delicious". I thought he was probably just being nice (after all, he does sort of know me through my uncle Tom) and didn't think much of it after that. Then, low and behold, there it was today "Tessa Brungardt, who works for the Wichita Chamber of Commerce, says she modeled this dish on one she enjoyed at Bravo in Kansas City." - needless to say, the recipe was my Chicken Rigatoni.
So, there you have it, my 15 minutes of fame!
