A Newfound Love

I went to Grand Island this past Tuesday through Thursday to visit with Seth's family. We had lots of fun relaxing and chit-chatting. I also had fun drinking coffee with Julie. She made us an entire pot of coffee with cinnamon in it. She put the cinnamon in with the freshly ground coffee grounds before she brewed it. It ended up being a wonderful warm mix of coffee and sweet cinnamon. We each drank about three cups that night. I don't even drink coffee for the extra burst of alertness or energy; I simply love the taste-and adding cinnamon is my new favorite thing.

What new thing have you come to love?

Today was a very good day. It was not necessarily productive, but it was very good.

First, I ordered my wedding dress!! It was such an exciting moment. I even bought the veil and headpiece. It is all coming together, well kind of. And to top it all off, my mom bought her dress. She looks absolutely adorable in it-I cannot wait!

Second, I made homemade meatballs for dinner! I used my Barefoot Contessa cookbook my soon-t0-be mother-in-law gave me for Christmas. Seth came over and brought sauce and sparkling cider. Dinner was very delicious; I could only eat half and I am still absolutely stuffed.

Third, it is raining! The sound of rain is just so magnificent! It is so refreshing and sparkly! And the smell! So crisp and fresh! Wow, here I go again with the exclamation marks. Anyways, God gave me many things to smile about today. I consider that a successful day.

Why?!

Every Sunday night I work for an organization called City Impact. Their mission is to share the transforming hope and love of Jesus Christ in urban neighborhoods through holistic youth and family programming and community investment. Sunday night is the Impact Leadership Academy where junior high and high school children from the urban neighborhood are empowered to live out their faith and make a positive impact in their community and in the world. I have the meek job of feeding them. I get to plan menus, shop, cook, feed and cleanup for all fifty of them. It is an interesting job. It is like my own little Sunday-night-world. For two and a half hours each Sunday night I am immersed into a culture I am normally not involved in.

Anyways, that is not even what I am here to talk about. It is my job, but my wonderful mother and two sisters volunteer and help me. We borrow the Baptist church downtown that is right across from the capitol. Downtown makes me nervous at night. Call me a wimp, but, well yeah, I am a wimp. Tonight I had reason to be scared; my mother entered her car, ready to go home, to find that someone has literally ripped out her radio and cd player! I got goosebumps when I saw the gaping black hole on her dash with wires hanging out!

Then I got angry! Maybe it is because I have Jesus as my conscience, but I have never understood why people steal. My mom had locked her car so obviously the stealer had to be smart to get in ( Ha this made me think of Truman and his skills, Jordan will know what I'm talking about:)). And then the stealer had to know how to detach a stereo from a car. These are not skills everyone knows. I want to track this person down and rack through his or her brain for his or her motive. I just cannot understand why people do certain things. Isn't your conscience screaming at you? We were born with the knowledge of what is right and wrong; no one had to teach us that. Of course, we had to be taught to do what is right, but we still knew the difference.

I'll stop rambling, but that has always been a soft area for me. There are certain things I cannot fathom why people do them. And it annoys the piss out of me!

Is Ignorance Bliss?

Last night I watched, well started watching before I fell asleep, the documentary "tapped." It is about bottled water; the effects, the wastes, the lies, and more. As I watched I realized how much I do not know about issues this world has. I normally either ignore issues, thinking that it does not affect me or what I do is not a big deal in comparison to the entire world, or when I do hear about an issue I get appalled or disgusted, but my feelings is as involved as I get.

I think it is time to get to know this world a little bit better, and I have an idea in where I can start. My roommate Jordan is being a great example through my ignorance. She has opinions and she is trying to followup with actions. As you may already know she has a passion for sex-trafficking. She has some ideas and I am deciding now that I want to be involved. I do not want to steal her thunder so I will let her share when she wants to, but I think this is the perfect place to start.

Avocado and Kelly Ripa

The dinner last night was nothing special. I just made my regular garlic shrimp and avocado salad. It was yummy, but filled me up way too much! I also got to make my fiance his own shrimp salad minus the avocado of course. He does not know what he is missing.

Today for lunch I finished off the avocado. I smashed it with lime juice, garlic, onion powder and salt. I ate it with garlic pita chips. So delicious! I also tried some summer sausage with sharp cheddar cheese. Those two mixed together on a garlic triscuit are so tasty. Why do I get so excited about different foods and flavors?!

Anyways, I have a secret obsession-Hope & Faith. I watch them every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9:30 with Micah. I feel like a dork, but we cannot stop laughing! Kelly is absolutely adorable and hilarious; she makes me forget all my worries for half an hour.

Wishes

Today I realized more than ever how much I love the art of food. I was watching Everyday Italian with Giada de Laurentiis. She is my favorite cook on the foodnetwork. I was absolutely enthralled with her the entire 30 minutes. She knows how to put together flavors, develop flavors, and create the most wonderful dishes. I want so badly to know how to use and create flavors. I cannot wait until I am out of college and I can shop and cook whenever I want. I would love to drop all my responsibilities and experiment in the kitchen all day long. You might think I am ridiculous for loving this so much, but think about the one thing that awes you. It might sound crazy to others, but to you it is the best thing in the world.

On another note, I need new ideas for avocados. I love making guacamole, or adding half an avocado to my salad. I even enjoy eating slices with other vegetables or on a sandwich. But I want to try something new! After this I am going to explore foodnetwork.com and try a new recipe for dinner tonight. Wish me luck!

Decision

The wedding planning is in full swing, and the movies are wrong! Wedding planning is not all fun and dandy. It is super super stressful. Because of my short engagement I basically have to have everything planned this month, well actually a month ago. I have booked my venues for the ceremony and reception. I have plans to take our engagement pictures. I have mom researching caterers. I have family and friends researching a jazz band. I am still trying to find a photographer who will capture my style.

My biggest stress right now is deciding on the dress. I cannot decide between two dresses. One is online at jcrew.com so I have not been able to try it on yet. The other one is not the typical wedding dress, but I feel great in it. So I'm going to see if mom wants to take a road trip to Chicago to try on the jcrew dress. Otherwise I will probably go with the other one.

Despite all the hard decisions and disagreements, I really am having a lot of fun. Whenever I have been planning, brainstorming, discussing, thinking, and all the other things engagements involve, I always have this special moment. I always have my little moment of sheer excitement, where I cannot stop smiling. After being engaged for almost a month now, I still cannot believe this is all happening. I sound cliche, but just wait until it happens to you. All of the stress is one hundred percent worth it. What I have prayed for, wished for, and longed for for four entire years is finally happening this very moment.