cankle takes manhattan

you stir me

2012-02-02T12:15:00.000-08:00

i'm trying really hard to work during the next 45 days until the wedding. i really, really, really am. just not at the moment...

confession: there have been some "heated" moments between my fiancé and i over the past few weeks. i guess it's due to all the logistics and some uncertainties and planning... mostly i think it's a subconscious FREAK OUT over our two lives becoming one and just the reality of that. we've had 30 years to become who we are and now we have to find a way to make that work with someone else and i'm learning that that takes work. and sometimes that work creates conflict which sometimes translates into standoffs at the dinner table. but i'm happy to say that after finding this video on some random wedding blog, i think i'm done being annoyed with daniel for life.

now stop what you're doing and go hug your hubby.

xo, sem

s that d

2012-01-27T10:56:00.000-08:00

hello faithful readers. cankle has been MIA lately. let's just say the idea of planning a wedding in 3 months without it taking over my life has not come to fruition. but happy to report that all is well in new york city! maybe i'll post some updates this weekend. but until then, let me just leave you with this little ditty. she is my hero and no i am NOT over the sh*t ____ says phenomena. toodles poodles!

this is the day to be engaged

2011-11-12T19:11:00.001-08:00

...was the direct quote from my fiance after i'd had my ring on for .5 seconds and starting asking, "so WHEN can we get married?!?!"

that's right, folks. he popped the big question one week ago today, so settle in, it's story time.

last sunday morning i woke up, got especially chipper when i looked out the window and saw that it was sunny and not freezing, and headed uptown to meet daniel and our friend chorissa for brunch. i had set this brunch date a couple of weeks ago and had firmed it up with her a couple of days before and daniel was going to tag along, too. chorissa lives in the upper west side so it was decided that we would go to a place she'd always wanted to go right by columbus circle. this worked out perfectly, as it was the NY marathon, therefore we'd be close and could hopefully snag a spot by the street to cheer on the runners when we were finished stuffing our faces and not running a marathon.

when i came up out of the subway (glasses on, hair in ponytail, un-showered), i called daniel to see where to meet him and he said our reservations had been pushed back because of all the marathon traffic so we had 30 minutes to kill. perfect! i walked over to where he was, right at the entrance to the park where the finish line was and i couldn't believe our good fortune. we literally walked up and were standing at the finish line. as i was looking around, about to ask someone for a noise maker and start participating, he got kinda weird and said he wanted to go to the other side. this made no sense to me and i bit my tongue and muttered an "mmkay" as we gave up our prime spot and walked under a bridge and over to the other side of the biggest running race in all the land, to then have him say, "actually, i don't feel like doing this. let's just walk."

you must know that daniel never complains and is always up for anything, so i thought i'd better just go with it because he must really not want to do this. i still had no idea at this point... clearly our brunch was still happening in about 20 minutes. so we are walking around the park (away from the crowds) and i think i was asking him what he had on his plate for the week, trying to get a mental agenda lined up, and he started talking about college and how crazy it was that we had been apart of each other's lives for ten whole years. he said, "remember when we were at baylor and i broke up with you because i didn't think you were spiritual enough and and i didn't want a wife?" i was like, "uh yeah. i do remember tha....." and it all started to come together in my head what was happening. then he said something like, "well i'm ready for one now," and started going into all this stuff that i have no recollection of, and then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! i think then at one point he was trying to pick me up and ended up dropping the ring before he put it on, but it's honestly all a blur. i just remember needing to sit down, my eyes filling with tear,s and in complete shock.

daniel had asked two of his close friends to take pictures and video along the way, so they had been in stealth mode, hiding behind trees and snapping away the whole time, and they finally came out and we had a group hug and it was so great.

where does one go from here, you might ask?

welp... to the subway :) and then to brunch at my faaaaaavorite breakfast place (which does NOT do reservations, but my amazing husband-to-be emailed them and told them the story so they put our name on the list!), then on a gorgeous drive upstate to the most ridiculously delicious dinner either of us had ever had. the day was a fairytale and i actually don't think it's all even hit me yet. what all he did in advance... what all everyone of my family members and friends have been planning and spending time and effort on unbeknownst to be... what all this means for our future... instead, i'm just trying to breathe and take it a day at a time and let the waves of pure and utter gratitude wash over me as i think of the faithfulness of my God in bringing daniel grant onto this earth to be my mate for as long as we both shall live.

much more to come, but until then, here are some photos of exactly one week ago today :)

down on his knee...

the gang right after (thomas, me, d, jeff)

on the subway on the way to brunch. ny moment :)

biscuit bling daniel had some of our family and friends send him a video for me to watch after he proposed so i would feel like they were there. it was beyond thoughtful and i loooooooved each of them. melt.

after dinner at blue hill.

aaaaaaand the best picture i received the whole day. the gyllenhaals wishing us a congrats!

#FF

2011-10-21T12:59:00.000-07:00

i just learned that this post title means "friday follow" on twitter. who came up with that?

couldn't go another second without letting you know about this. don't ask me how/where i found it. searching to the end of the internet is a specialty of mine. i read through the whole thing this morning and am thinking about reading through it again this afternoon.

what is everyone doing this weekend? i'm counting down to quitting time where i will leave my office and proceed to bus it to here:

where i will then stuff my face with this:

next to him:

blue tooth blue tooth blue tooth

happiest of weekends to you... fall it up! xo, sem

get me to pay day

2011-10-12T09:23:00.000-07:00

here are some items i'm eyeballin' to spend my paycheck on this weekend...

this is the softest tee & they sell them at anthro every year & i'm freaking getting one. to put under my puffer.
lounge wear lounge wear lounge wear

i visit emerson made's website almost daily & this black turtleneck will be my first official purchase from their company. why you ask? well... i guess it's just because i'm a turtleneck kinda gal...

& won't this go nicely with it?

&i think this gem will go perfectly with said turtleneck as well. who is ready for fall in nyc?!

& finally, my roommate, who is a VARY established new york style icon, has recently introduced me to steven alan. these flannels are to die for & his dresses & bascially everything is adorable aaaaaaaaand a million $$$. so i'm going to his "outlet" on the UWS to see if i can get a bargain. fun!

happy b-day, z-baby

2011-09-20T12:23:00.000-07:00

at a loss for words is something i rarely if ever am. but as i sit here thinking about it being my sister's birthday and me not being there in person to tell her she's OLD to her face... i all of a sudden don't know what to say. all i can think about is how i accidentally turned her hair pink a few months ago in an at-home hair hi-lighting gone awry.

(still feel really badly about that one.)

or how i used to yank her around our house by her ponytail when we were little. or how i would steal her clothes every day in high school but would never let her touch mine. or about the one time she told the boy i had a crush on that i wrote about him in my diary and i pushed her into a hot tub fully clothed.

for some reason i'll never understand, somewhere along the way, lindsey jo forgave me for being a total monster to her. can you believe that? i can't. she shouldn't have. but that's just the kind of little lady she is.

being away from her today is no fun. but i hope she knows her heart is still in mine and my prayer for her is that she would continue living for something bigger than herself... she is such an example to me and i miss her so much.

happy happy happy birthday, sugar booger!

know you are LOVED and all our lives are better because you're in them.

summer in the city

2011-09-18T12:53:00.000-07:00

in honor of it being FRICKIN FREEZING in new york this weekend, i thought it would be fun to update you on how the last few weeks of my summer were spent. first full season in the northeast... or anywhere else other than texas for that matter. it's different for sure, but my favorite time of year still pulled through and left me begging for more. here are some pics to prove it happened.

i tried to run as much as i could. since the temps rarely went above 90, i really didn't have an excuse. once i huff and puff to this bridge i know i'm half way through.

the best best best best treat i discovered was rockaway beach! it's on the furthest tip of brooklyn and just a 40 minute subway ride away. does that blow anyone else's mind that i can get on a subway train in downtown manhattan and get off at a beach? d and i spent many a saturday here and i brought along a visitor or two as well. it was delightful.

rockaway taco stand probably had a thing or two with my obsession with this place as well.

d and i also began teaching in the kid's ministry at our church one sunday a month. couldn't get that guy off the play mat. pretty weird.

of course we have also happened upon some amazing places to eat. bar pitti is a pretty satisfying italian experience. and it's in the west village so i'm all in.

this is at birreria atop eataly in midtown. eataly is the brainchild of mario batali and is a must stop for anyone coming to the city.

and you'll be thrilled to know i've decided what my favorite flower is. white roses! my bf surprises me with them a lot. way more than he should. i'm so glad i moved here so he can buy me my favorite flowers all the time.

now would probably be a good time mention that i also survived my first hurricane this summer. for real. we spent a good day and a half sequestered in my apartment watching the news, checking twitter, taping windows, filling up bathtubs and the like. thank the lord ol irene did not pack the nasty punch she was supposed to. just some fallen tree limbs aaaaaaaaaand a lost baby croc.

labor day weekend... the swan song of summer... was one of the best weekends yet. some good friends of ours (also bu grads) had a big baylor/tcu watch party in their brooklyn backyard complete with projector screen and a cookout. made me feel like i wasn't so far away from home and in the most bizarre turn of events: baylor won! still waiting on my commemorative piece of the goal post.

the next morning d picked me up IN A CAR and drove us 15 minutes to harlem where i proceeded to jump up and down like a 10 year old school girl as we pulled up, got out, closed our own doors, and walked into...

target. this photo does not do it justice, but let's just say he and i both spent a small fortune and every single penny was worth it. d was patient as i meandered down every aisle, not really needing anything but also everything at the same time. what a trooper. would've stayed all day and night but we had to get back to get ready and kick it into wedding mode for a co-worker of his getting mawwied in new jersey. we got to drive there, too. magical.

then on actual labor day my roommate casey had an extra box seat to the us open and invited me to go! it was so nice of her and although i've never played or watched a game of tennis in my life, the experience was so fun and i even got to see serena strut her stuff.
(remind me never to run into her in a back ally.)

so that about rounds out the last few weeks. now it's getting dark earlier, i'm packing up my flip flop and ordering my first trench coat. it is very safe to say i'll never forget this summer and the beginning to the rest of my life.

server to the stars

2011-06-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

you didn't think i'd hostess at just any 'ol place now did you? i have begun my nyc career in the service industry at a restaurant that has fed the likes of beyonce... sjp... and i'm sure others. yesterday was my second day of training and guess who came in for lunch?

none other than jonathan cheban of course! you know... jonathan cheban? of "the spin crowd" fame? better know as...

the k sister's pr rep, dolls! for once my kardashian/jenner trivia knowledge works to my advantage! none of my other co-workers knew who he was so i just played along and acted like oh yeah, i'e never seen that guy on a kim kardashian-produced tv show on e!, either. so naturally i needed to blog about it because keeping it inside has been torture.

and just so you know, if at any point i see lam lam... i will believe with all my heart that my number is up.

xo, sem

better late than never

2011-06-22T13:00:00.000-07:00

mmmmkay. i am internet/picasa movie-making challenged. i finally got the pictures and captions working but the song wouldn't load. and that's the best part! so. follow these simple steps, if you will:

1) press play on this youtube directly below.

2) wait for the freaking intro commercial to finish.

3) once the song starts, press play on the video below the you tube

4) yay!

From Movies

bible: next picture montage will be more efficient. i mean, it's 2011, can somebody get me a user-friendly movie maker up in here??

accountability

2011-06-20T13:32:00.000-07:00

i have to stop drinking so many cokes. my apartment is directly across the street from this great little bodega and i've gotten into the habit of getting chicken salad and a coke from there almost every day during the week. didn't think much of it until i saw that 20 fl oz bottle packs a whopping 240 calories and i've got to give it up. at least no more until after the 4th of july.

so i'm putting this out into the blogosphere... SAWAH IS DONE WITH COCA-COLA. THE SUGAR OVERLOAD IS GOING TO GIVE ME DIABETES & THAT'S THE LAST THING ANYBODY NEEDS TO BE DEALING WITH RIGHT NOW, MY EARLY ON-SET DIABETIC LIFESTYLE.

ok, i feel good about this. new mantra...

xo, sem

my new normal

2011-06-14T14:25:00.001-07:00

maybe it's time to put some words to my experience in new york thus far. (warning: this post might not have any pictures.)

i have been here a month now and so there's definitely been enough that has taken place to comment on. basically i'm having the time of my life. daniel is here and i get to do crazy things like have dinner with him every day. when he says he's going into his office, i know where he's going because i've seen it and could get there in 20 minutes if i needed to. his friends are becoming my friends and i love them. we've even gotten over our witching hour that would come every weekday when we'd meet up around 6pm and come close to having a fist fight for no good reason. the lesson has been learned that he needs some time to "unwind" and i need to not expect a parade fanfare right off the bat. so expectations have been shifted and 6pm is now full of peace and delightfulness. (wine and or margaritas have also been of helpful assistance.)

the city in itself is amazing and getting around on foot, bus, subway or cab is becoming easier every day. the weather is nice, the things i'm exposed to are incredible (except that one time i stepped on the homeless man laying on the street) and everyday i wake up so excited about what the next 24 hours will hold. it's all so good and i'm so thankful. however...

i think it's worth noting that not all of it is exactly perfect. a lot of times when i look at blogs or facebook albums or 140-character tweets, i sometimes struggle, being led to believe that whomever i'm stalking at the moment has a flawless life and got to where they are with no hardship or effort. everything seems seamless for them and i feel like a big, fat failure. (note: this problem is my own, not the lovely people who post about the fun things going on in their lives. you feelin' me?)

so i just still haven't found a job. i interview all the time and nothing has come up. and in the spirit of boot strap pick up, i'm going to start hostessing at a resturant here until the right permanent position comes along. not exactly what i planned, but i can either pout about it or look at it as a blessing. you see, the thing that is hitting me is that there's always going to be something. before my move to new york, i was whining about not being able to find a guy that i connected to and or would ever want to commit to and where is MY knight in shining armor?! the Lord has now graciously provided that in an abundant way and the first thing i do is start complaining that i'm not working at the right place or living in the right neighborhood and i'm having to use all this PATIENCE crap again and why meeeee?? why isn't it all instantly working out like i thought it would in my head??? ughhhhhhhhhh!! spiral spiral spiral.

i hope i'm getting to the point of finally learning that my life will never play out like i think it will. and that's ok. in fact it's better because that's when i must rely on a little thing some like to call faith. and i always say i want a life of faith, so um, actually pursuing it in my day to day issues and decisions is the only way i'm going to get it. funny how that works. trying to make everything look the way i think it should or like how it's worked for someone else is taking away creative license from the Creator of all of it in the first place and don't you love the thought of being 80 years old, rocking on your porch, thinking back over your life with a huge grin on your face thinking "only He could have made all that up"?!

the best part about all of it is that i've been typing this entire post on my laptop... sipping hot tea... in the middle of the afternoon... at an east village coffee shop. are carrie bradshaw and i the same person yet? have to be getting close. and in other news: i have been working my fingers to the bone, trying to put together a picture montage of my first month here and it keeps freezing up! i have no clue what the deal is, but i will get this posted, if it puts me into an early grave or not. be looking forward to it...

until then, here's to faithful hearts, barista pranks and rocking in those rocking chairs... xo, sem

happy friday...

2011-05-27T14:29:00.001-07:00

from NYC!

hope everyone has a rockin good time planned for mem day. we are headed to boston tomorrow morn and i am pumped! and let the countdown begin for z's arrival next week! who needs a job when you have so many extracurriculars to keep you busy, am i right?

xo, sem

grace active

2011-05-24T11:57:00.001-07:00

Lord Jesus, Great High Priest,

thou has opened a new and living way

by which a fallen creature can approach thee with acceptance.

help me to contemplate

the dignity of thy Person,

the perfectness of thy sacrifice,

the effectiveness of thy intercession.

o what blessedness accompanies devotion,

when under all the trials that weary me,

the cares that corrode me,

the fears that disturb me,

the infirmities that oppress me,

i can come to thee in my need

and feel peace beyond understanding!

the grace that restores is necessary to preserve,

lead, guard, supply, help me.

and here thy saints encourage my hope;

they were once poor and are now rich,

bound and are now free,

tried and now are victorious.

every new duty calls for more grace than

i now possess,

but not more than is found in thee,

the divine Treasury in whom all fullness dwells.

to thee i repair for grace upon grace,

until every void made by sin be replenished

and i am filled with all thy fullness.

may my desires be enlarged and my hopes

emboldened,

that i may honour thee by my entire

dependency

and the greatness of my expectation.

do thou be with me, and prepare me for all

the smiles of prosperity, the frowns of adversity,

the losses of substance, the death of friends,

the days of darkness, the changes of life,

and the last great change of all.

may i find thy grace sufficient

for all my needs.

read this little gem this morning and thought i'd pass along. do you have valley of vision? if not, you must. and i took that pic this am whilst "running"... the bf ran 13.1 miles in less than 2 hours this past weekend and i've decided i'm going to need to start bringing my a game. xo, sem

monday morning love fest

2011-05-23T07:03:00.000-07:00

completely skeezing this off nat cat's blog. how does she find this stuff?

LUCK - NYC Wedding Proposal from Aria Melody DJ on Vimeo.

up from the grave she arose...

2011-05-19T14:04:00.000-07:00

well hello! greetings from the isle of manhattan! the 'ol blog has been on the back burner for the past couple of weeks as i have been focusing on things like... walking. eating pizza. going to see this at the met. eating dinner with my guy here and here. walking some more. purchasing metro cards. learning the city according to where the whole foods are located. and your run of the mill celeb stalking. spotted so far: him and her.

my first seven days were heavenly... sun and highs in the 70s. that was then followed by a week of rain that should hopefully be wrapping up soon. d bought me a little something i had been coveting since last season's gossip girl... he thinks they are dorky and refuses to walk directly beside me when i use it, but i love it and have found it to be extremely handy and efficient:

along the lines of nyc purchases, my first "must have" survival item i procured on day two (after walking in flippy floppies all day one) were these babies:

cliche! i know! and so ellen. but your feet need support here and they should be covered at all costs to prevent various city liquids from splashing up on them at any given point. so i bit the bullet and did it and have not regretted it once.

and one more thing to note. i'm trying really hard to not buy anything i don't absolutely need because 1) i am unemployed and 2) i have 0% place to put anything, but i am going to break down and get something this weekend. i've been going back and forth with it... not sure who i'm kidding and why i thought i should delay the inevitable. so first b&n i see, i'm headed in for this:

could you love her anymore right now? she is my life's inspiration and will now be fully incorporating meal times.

hate to blog and run, but that's how it goes these days. love to all... missin my atx peeps like a fat kid misses cake. huh? xoxo, sem

seasons of michael

2011-05-03T11:44:00.000-07:00

can't believe this guy is permanently leaving my thursday nights. again with the CHANGES!!! what is happening?!?! and for all wondering, the last scene of this clip sums it up in more ways than one.

michael scott, you will be missed.

i'd like to thank the academy

2011-05-02T07:55:00.000-07:00

AND sweet elizabeth dalton dains for giving me the "versitile blogger" award... aka "one of the best blogs on the internet" award! dalton's blog is precious and she's always posting the best recipes... how amahzing do these look?! THANK YOU for passing this honor onto me... what an absolute treat!

so once a blogger receives the award, they must...

- thank the person who awarded them (check)

- share seven facts about themselves (seems excessive but ok...)

- pass the award to seven new found blog friends (easy)

- let these friends know they have been awarded (too bad i have no idea how to get a hold of a courier pidgeon)

ok here goes... seven things about me...

one. i leave in six days for new york city to be in the same town as my muffin...

two. if i had to choose to eat one thing for the rest of my life it would be mission tortilla strips & clint's hot sauce.

three. i believe my friend's kids to be half mine & i love them sooooo much.

tripp & kate / maddie pie & coop

blakey girl & charlie mack!

four. the celebrity i most identify with is khloe kardashian.

five. i sponsor a little boy in rwanda. his name is george & i had the blessing of my lifetime when i was able to go there & meet him last november.

(ps: if you've ever thought about sponsoring, stop thinking & do it! more info here.)

six. my mother, father, brother, sister-in-law & sister are my greatest gift.

seven. sometimes i think cougar town is funny.

that was fun. now onto the seven blogs i would like to bestow this award to...

LIFE IS GLAMOROUS & FABULOUS. tiffany is a darling friend of mine who always has great things to say about life, love, faith, family... you name it. i think she has close to 1.2 bazillion followers, so join the club if you haven't already.

KRISTEN & CO. kristen is tiffany's sister of all things! she always knows the "latest" on fashion, style, tv shows, you know, the important stuff. i always want to know if kristen thinks something is cool before i give it my final decision.

EMILY'S MAKEUP BAG. clod pod has single-handedly gotten us all out of our beauty ruts & has rescued my sad make-up application on more than one occasion. this girl is legit when it comes to product knowledge & i'm not quite sure what i'd do without her!

THE LITTLE KITCHEN THAT COULD. i believe this to be the one that started my love affair with blogs so many moons ago. my sister and i have made 99.9% of her recipes & have yet to be let down. they are instant favorites & she makes them easy to complete with her pictures & very detailed instructions. i will keep up with little kitchen's blog until they take me out feet first.

A JOY-FILLED JOURNEY. liz is hysterical. whether it be about her precious baby boy charlie or nyc or the latest reality show cast off, she will crack you up & then send you out into the world just a little bit more in the know.

COMING HOME TO SUN. you could say stephanie is a lady jack of all trades. the girl literally knows how to do everything and she shares it all on her blog which makes us all the better. she is working, going to school, being an incredibly doting wife, running around boston, and about a million other things, so steph, you're off the hook for the stipulations listed above but my list wouldn't be complete without mentioning your inspiring writing and perspective.

MILE MARKERS. well i'm clearly not going to alert kristin armstrong that i believe her blog to be one of the "most versatile" (can you imagine?!) but she's my all time favorite & i'm not going to neglect her because she's big time & i'm just a little bit less than that. thanks for marking my miles, kiki!

wow. this is the most effort i have ever put into a blog post. you all better still be reading. feel free to leave me comment after comment after comment!

change it is a comin'

2011-05-01T18:36:00.001-07:00

couple things:

1) my blog was just recognized as one of the best on the internet and given a highly prestigious award, so i hope that makes you feel cool for reading me before i was a big deal.

2) in honor of my move to nyc, i've changed the title because things are about to get interesting...

3) uploaded a new design, too, which is fun and the best part is YOU CAN COMMENT AGAIN.

happy sunday, water bugs! xo, sem

snackeries

2011-04-29T07:51:00.000-07:00

as i was sitting down to my 10am snack break, it dawned on me i have yet to mention my metamorphosis to the blogosphere. z and i started this tracy anderson "body perfection is possible" journey a little over a month ago and while i have cheated here and there (and everywhere) there are some tid bits of the program i have actually fallen in love with.

one being that i feel as though a little bit of gwyneth is with me anywhere i go. she is the one who told me about tracy, afterall, and i am indebted forever.

i also love the 30 minute muscular structure workout dvd that changes every ten days. we threw the 30 minute cardio dvd out the window after about four days, but the muscular structure one works your arms, abs and legs and i honestly think i'm seeing results. (even though my measurements have indeed stayed the same so far... which defies all logic.)

last but certainly not least, the "dynamic diet component" left a liiiiitle to be desired. nothing but pureed parsnips for seven days was not cutting it. so again, z and i modified and i think that's fine. a couple of things she introduced have been total lifelines and i will absolutely carry them with me from this day forward. for instance: la croix sparking water. the lime flavored version is my favorite, especially because it reminds me of when i was sick as a kid and i'd wake up in the middle of the night and reach for the sprite my mom left me and all the ice was melted, so it was really watered down with only minimal carbonation left... that's what this stuff tastes like. sounds strange, sounds odd, but it works for me. next are these amazing GLUTEN FREE thinkthin bars. someone please make sure i'm buried with one (chunky peanut butter flavored).

and that does it for the nutritional and dietary goodness blog post for today, folks. the moral of the story is gwyneth is always right. bu-byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee....

girl's day

2011-04-16T14:52:00.000-07:00

sem * maddie pie * abby

gettin' our toe-nie nails did. nothing better.

love her

2011-04-15T14:17:00.000-07:00

a lot of people in my life are waiting for something right now. i feel like i've had more conversations surrounding this subject than at any time before. many of us are on the verge of something that hasn't quiiiiiite come to fruition and we're stressing... becoming impatient... and semi-spirialing.

keeks to the rescue. i might as well copy and paste her whole entry, but here's the jist...

When I was younger, I never thought about waiting, except to rush it along. But I am trying to cultivate a deeper level of patience in time for my 40th year. I have spent some time recently thinking and journaling about the Wait and I came to the conclusion that there are two ways to wait.

The first way is the path of Hurried Anxiety. This is a period of waiting characterized by fear and scatteredness. We push the reality of the wait to the outer edges of our consciousness and forge ahead with a spirit of busyness. We scramble and rush and do several things at once, none of them very well. We strive and dwell on the various things that could go wrong, giving our power and energy away to empty threats. It is a shallow way to wait. It is marked by the impatience of a child, minus the cuteness of youth.

The alternative way to wait is the Wait of Hopeful Expectation. This path is the peaceful, reflective version. It calls us to a higher level of consciousness, acutely aware of the discomfort of the wait while maintaining a willingness to be present in it. This kind of waiting creates an opportunity to seek clarity and focus and create a reservoir of stillness and intent. Whatever it is that we are waiting for is then blessed by the access to this reservoir, assuring that we will not run dry. Our usual nervous energy is collected and channeled into purposeful endeavors. Even if the endeavor is simply rest.

The most marked difference in the wait of hopeful expectation is the component of Trust. Whatever the challenge that lies ahead, be it of a personal nature, work related, or running related, the wait is the time to cultivate trust. Trust God, trust your training, trust your body (listen to it!), and trust your heart.

People who learn how to wait are ultimately the people who know when to make a move...we will only know how to go for it if we have truly learned how to wait for it.

complete blog can be read here. happy weekend of waiting in hopeful expectation!

xo, sem

that's just good tv

2011-04-13T11:15:00.000-07:00

haven't dared turn on TLC since college. those shows are mind sucks and if i didn't go cold turkey and ban myself from the channel, i was going to fail out of school and turn into one of those 850lb people who never leave their tvs and have to have a crane come and take them out of their house.

but i think after a near 10-year hiatus, i'm ready to cave and put the learning channel back on my tivo. why? two words. extreme couponing.

this is the best video i could find and it's not that great at depicting the suspense and genius of the show as a whole... but my favorite so far is this lady (j'aime) who owed upwards of THIRTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS at the register,but after coupons, paid $103! what?!?!?!!?

and in other television-related news... guess what starts this fridaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy?? (as if you needed a reminder)

"one of TV's greatest achievements"... couldn't have said it better myself. oh and you know i hate to brag...

**texas forever**

DIY Sawah

2011-04-08T13:57:00.000-07:00

there are a total of three shirts in my closet i currently do not wear because i do not know how to put a missing button back on them. i have asked the cleaners to do it but they never remember and so i'm stuck with these fully laundered articles of clothing that i love... just sitting there because cinderella's seamstress mice have yet to find my closet. i guess it's true. there really are no fairy princess happy endings.

or are there?

drying my hair this morning, wondering what i was going to wear, bummed out because i wanted to wear a certain cardi that is missing a button, i thought to my self... the Lord gave us youtube for situations exactly like this.

so. i'm going to learn a trade this weekend. i'm going to learn how to sew a button. and i'm going to do it by watching these quirky freaks do it over and over and over and over again.

i'm assuming target has "quality" needles and thread? watch out world... i'm starting to take bulls by the horn like never before. this is only the beginning.

sew excited to report back on monday... sem

a whole new world

2011-04-01T14:00:00.001-07:00

a few friends of mine have been mentioning this little thing called "google reader" for some time now. anytime they would suggest i look into it, i completely dismissed the idea. probably because it's something new that i didn't find first. so two weeks ago, in a moment of boredom?, i clicked on it and added a couple food blogs i've been interested in. you know, just to see what the hype was about. i was sure i would never log onto this "reader" again. except for i have. every day since. i'm pretty sure i have about 75 new blogs i'm following and i just can't stop. from cooking to travel to the best of NYC... there's just so much information! i'm overwhelmed by it in the very best of ways.

so i thought i'd pass on a little something from one of my new blog friends. her name is kristina and this made me laugh, as just yesterday i was walking into target in my own happy, little world and an elderly man told me to "wipe that sourpuss off my face."

have a great weekend, sourpusses!

today's lunch

2011-03-30T14:15:00.000-07:00

just your 'ol run of the mill, delicious apple/kale/spinach/beet juice concoction!

if i make it through one day of this "body reset" it will be a miracle of Jesuits.

light the streets

2011-03-10T09:49:00.000-08:00

Light the Streets from Africa New Life Ministries on Vimeo.

today africa new life is launching their street kids fundraising campaign: LIGHT THE STREETS. anlm currently feeds thousands of homeless boys twice a week, but they (we) must do more. the day i spent with these boys literally changed my life and the view i have of myself, my surroundings, and most definitely my God. it put everything into perspective regarding "to whom much is given, much is required."

athanase, the boy speaking on the video, spent quite a bit of time with our group while we were in rwanda. as we began to hear his story and listen to him speak of who he was before, i honestly had a hard time believing he was telling the truth. this boy who was feared by all the other boys and had grown up living in a dump, selling drugs and instilling hate in all those around him... he was now FULL of love- never stopped smiling or laughing- and did you hear what he said? my only hope was God, who changed my life.

that is how God uses ANLM. yes, they provide food for these boys, but along with that, there are Godly men and women specifically placed in this ministry to love on them, to know their name.

my day with the street kids blew me away the entire time i was there. from the minute i walked up to the field and was bombarded with hugs and smiles and soccer balls and singing and twelve hands at a time grasping for mine, i

don't think my eyes were ever not rimmed with tears. just a few hours before we had driven our air conditioned van through the dump... their home... the place they find food and shelter. we couldn't stand the smell for the five minutes we were there, so we rolled all the windows up and drove the rest of the time in silence. now the boys were surrounding me and i was unsure of how to help because their needs were so great and the most astonishing thing was that all they wanted in that moment was to be touched. because no one else does or ever has. it amazed me how most had not eaten in days, yet they patiently stood in long lines, waiting for their portion of food. and once they had their plate, not one of them looked at the one before them and complained about the size of their serving. they were just so happy and grateful for what they were given. and it wasn't like they just showed up for the meal... they had come hours before to play, sing praise songs, dance around, listen to rogers tell them a short bible message, wash up... it was like being able to eat was the last thing on their minds.

the other day i heard a pastor speak about how God's commands are laid out crystal clear for us. our task is to pray for His direction as to how to demonstrate our obedience to them in our lives. religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans in their distress... -james 1:27

visit www.lightthestreets.com, buy a greeting card or two, and get in on the action of what God is doing in and through these precious rwandan street kids. may He continue to be our only hope and change our very lives.

(the little boy who i latched onto that day and will never forget.)

save the nail color drama for your mama

2011-03-04T13:22:00.000-08:00

i usually leave everything beauty related to 'ol makeup maven, but i must share a little something. sadly, i can't take the credit... it's all z. my sister has an uncanny ability to be able to pick the hottest, now nail colors without ever trying them on or researching or putting any effort into it at all. she just knows. it is truly a gift.

the other night i noticed a color on her nails that i couldn't get over. it was neutral, yet snazzy. pinky-purple, yet flesh-toned. i never thought in a million years it would work on me, but she told me to trust her, so i did. i picked up my own bottle and have not regretted that $8 purchase once.

ladies and gentlemen (or maybe just ladies?)... i would like to introduce you to demure vix.

austin in springtime is downright revolting

2011-03-03T12:54:00.000-08:00

yuck. gross. nasty. vom dot com. i definitely gotta get out of here.

if i could dream up my perfect day, i'd probably start off with...

2011-02-09T08:43:00.000-08:00

this:

then i'd hop on underground mass transit & walk up to the surface to be greeted by this:

then i'd take a quick pic because i just couldn't stand it:

i would be getting pretty hungry at this point so i would stuff my face with this:

& this:

then i would need to burn 3,500 calories, so i would power walk to this:

& leisurely stroll though this:

my perfect day would need a perfect ending,

so naturally it would mean pre-game champagne here:

& a tiny table for two (complete with a liiiiitle more champagne & the best food i've ever eaten) here:

oh & i would be wearing this:

if i know myself like i think i do, i think i would really, really love this day.

in summary

2011-01-11T13:01:00.000-08:00

2010 was good to me.

in jan i completed my 2nd half marathon, which, as everyone knows, equals a full marathon. then not long after that triumph i turned the big 2-9 and began my last year as what i like to call "young." the spring found me with a tool belt around my waist and hammer in my hand as i followed teve around, trying to figure out what a ballast was and what exactly it takes to flip a house from meth lab to dream home. summer, sweet summer, was filled with pools and lakes... weddings... and a family beach trip that i didn't want to end. the heavens also decided to open up and hand petikei and i a group of friends that we had been praying for forever it seems... our wednesday night community group has been a crystal clear picture of God over-blessing me. nothing else to say beyond the fact that i. love. these. peeps. then i bit the bullet and bought a ticket to the big city where i spent a magical fall weekend frolicking in central park (and i rarely frolic), eating at fancy restaurants, and hailing cabs all by myself. oh and then i went to africa.

can i just say one thing? this will be a quick sidenote. in january of 2010 i wrote down five goals for the year (i have never done this, mind you. daddy yum yum might be rubbing off on me a little more than i'd care to admit?) and by december, they all were either actually completed or are making serious strides toward being completed. is that nuts? the craziest of all is that i wrote "be more involved in international missions -- africa?" as goal #5. africa was literally an afterthought that i put thinking maybe i should start moving towards getting that ball rolling. and, uh, eleven months later my feet were on rwandan soil. freaky. and pretty powerful.

to round out the year, i spent thanksgiving and christmas being overwhelmed and surrounded by my entire family. all of us under one roof playing michael jackson the experience on wii like it was a our job. does it get any better? and then i rang in the new year over the austin skyline with my muffin and i believe that to be the cherry on top of a year i never in a million years would have been able to dream up.

2010... when the world around me opened like it was brand new. friendships seemed to deepen and brighten. love seemed to swell and overflow. faith was tested and strengthened. hope became an actual face, not just a semi-deep church term to throw around.

i've been searching for the words to adequately describe my thankfulness for all of it. think i found some that will work...

i will extol you, my God and King,

and bless your name forever and ever.

everyday i will bless you

and praise your name forever and ever.

great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,

and his greatness is unsearchable.

one generation shall commend your works to another,

and shall declare your mighty acts.

on the glorious splendor of your majesty,

and on your wondrous works, i will meditate.

they shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,

and i will declare your greatness.

they shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness

and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

-psalm 145:1-7

it's that thing of when someone calls miss piggy fat...

2011-01-07T19:59:00.001-08:00

i spent my friday night eating gattis while holding a newborn & watching this on repeat:

what did you do?

new app alert

2010-12-27T12:30:00.000-08:00

1919's rwandan christmas tree

awwww...

mp giving us our christmas gifts

(who doesn't need a candy cane yard ornament?)

getting table ready for christmas dinner

midnight snack (pioneer woman cinnamon rolls. yes please.)

**all photos lovingly taken with the morelomo app during this lovely month of december**

ready-made holiday playlist

2010-12-09T13:41:00.000-08:00

guess where i'm going tonight? dave barnes christmas concert. where? else?

here's hoping all my faithful readers have already downloaded this gem:

it's so very baylor university circa 2003. trust me... you'll love it. and if you happen to be looking for another christmas ditty, allow me to introduce you to the song i have yet to take off repeat the last week:

i know, i know- we all have a love/hate relationship with coldplay, but doesn't this song immediately transport you to the south street seaport christmas tree? oh. just me? ok. that's fine.

last but certainly not least, you of course remember my christmas post last year regarding my favorite christmas song. i am happy to report that as a special wink to me, it has been re-done and is better than ever... available on itunes in its entirely, but this will wet your whistle for the time being...

merry, merry christmas to me.

first of many blogs on this subject, but let's start with this.

2010-11-23T13:06:00.000-08:00

Street Children Project from Africa New Life Ministries on Vimeo.

hurry boy, it's waiting there for you

2010-11-02T15:29:00.000-07:00

toto and i have tons in common. he blessed the rains down in africa and i'm flying out to see those rains first hand in nine days. he... um... well... i guess we just have the one thing in common at the moment, but you get my point.

everyone keeps asking me if i'm excited about this trip and i'm sure that's what i would be asking anyone i knew who was about to go to africa for the first time in their lives and realize a dream they didn't really expect would ever come to fruition... so, yes, to answer your question, i'm excited. but i don't have a whole lot of other things to say about it yet.

i'm not really nervous about getting sick or hurt or scared. i know it will be overwhelming to see the poverty, but i think it will be just as overwhelming to see how tightly the believers there cling to Jesus (especially as compared to myself). petikei will be in full force, so i'm definitely not worried about a shortage of laughter or things to talk about. people have come out of the woodworks to help support this endeavor, so i know our team will be covered in prayer and lifted up daily, which is such a comfort, i can't even tell you.

sounds like i'm in pretty good shape, right? i'd like to think so. i'd like to think that this will be 11 days out of my life i will look back on and be so grateful for, knowing i was able to see and do things i never thought i would in a land completely out of my comfort zone, and then return home and go on about my life, tucking those memories away and pulling them out on rainy days when i need perspective on this/that.

but then i remember the way i felt the first time (and every time since) i watched this:

#35 and #36 of 100 from The Austin Stone on Vimeo.

about a month ago matt carter preached on the importance of "going." it was a short sermon that focussed on the great commission and Jesus calling us his witnesses, responsible for going out into the world and making disciples. he painted a picture of Jesus conquering death and appearing to the disciples and the thought process those men must have gone through. they had been by His side constantly for three whole years... seeing all the crazy things they saw... listening to Him talk about death and life and heaven and hell and the Father and the Holy Spirit and i'm sure more than once they thought to themselves: "that's coconuts!" but the second He appeared to them, after they had all watched Him die the way that He did... it. all. clicked. everything He had said was true. it all made complete sense. and the last thing Jesus told them was to go... and so they went. what other response could they possibly give? matt said it all boils down to two questions: is He who He says He is? and if so, is He worthy of my everything? then he played the #35 and #36 video.

[that was a quick paraphrase of matt's sermon... you should really, really podcast it... austin stone audio sermon from october 3, 2010.]

as much as i'd like to think i'll go to rwanda and come back and be the same cankle i was before, i fully realize that will hardly be the case. this is much more than a mission trip. it's time for me to go. and i can't wait.

oh no i di'int

2010-09-14T12:48:00.000-07:00

much like the elusive white rhino of south africa, i have had an un-gettable get in my life for the past several years. and by that i mean a local celebrity sighting that has yet to be seen. oh sure... we've all been exercising at town lake and passed jake gyllenhaal a time or two... or bumped into matt mcconaughey downtown and wondered how in the world they make him look so tall in the movies. my friend babs hangs with some friday night lights cast member every other night it seems like. and these have made for great stories, water cooler talk, blahblahblah, but in all my comings and goings and stalkings, i have STILL never seen the one shining star of a lady that has mentored and guided me through my post-college adult life like no other.

i'm very clearly talking about kristin "kiki" armstrong. (keeks for short.)

if you aren't familiar, i encourage you to click on the right side of this page where it says "mile markers" and you can write me a thank you note later. i religiously read her runner's world blog before i could even huff around the block. it focuses on running, yes, but it's also about so much more. i promise you her words have gotten me through dozens of days at dead end jobs... hurt feelings... sheer dread at the thought of putting on running shoes... as well as any kind of thought that has entered my head of life having to be a certain way for it to be fulfilling and full of joy. wow. didn't really think i was going to get this deep with this, but it. is. so. true.

go read her blog. go get her books, devos, anything you can get your hands on. here is an article she wrote for glamour, um, four years ago... weird that i still remember some of it verbatim? let's go with no. and you better believe she was on oprah almost immediately after this article was published. the girl knows what she's talking about. not to mention she has a pretty amazing faith and that was on display this weekend when i...

turned a quick corner and almost flattened her in the starbucks parking lot.

it all happened so fast. petikei and i were in a hurry to get to church (but of course there's always time for venti iced black teas) and the parking lot is so cramped and i was turning wide to get into a tight spot and ERRRRRRRRRK. i slammed on my brakes and waved "ohiamsosorry" at this tiny, toned, precious looking lady, carrying a drink carrier full of beverages to her car as she gave me a somewhat stern look (she probably should've given me the finger, but she didn't and well, that's just the type of person she is!) and walked/glided in front of us and got into her car and handed out the drinks to her kiddies- all dressed in their sunday best.

a literal hush fell upon my car as we just watched her and finally said... um... that was kiki. i almost just ran over kiki. should we go talk to her and say sorry in person? should we go tell her how much she means to us? where do you think they are going to church? can you see the twins? she is so pretty! what does that bumper sticker mean on her car? do you think she knows how sorry i am for not paying more attention? can she see us staring?

we waited for them to pull off and then immediately made plans to get to starbucks 5 minutes earlier next week because can you IMAGINE if we would've just been FIVE MINUTES earlier?! but this is good... now we can be prepared. hope she's a hugger.

so as you can see i have finally spotted my unicorn, but i sure do wish it would have been under different circumstances. i like to think she felt the connection between us but had to get to the kids, otherwise we would probably still be at that starbucks, discussing life and love and SB (santa barbara... the bumper sticker).

It's the catch-22 of being a grownup, simultaneously wanting certain things but being scared to death of them at the same time. We have to own whatever is our thing in "orange shorts" and realize that until we are brave enough to acknowledge the desire (for love, for friendship, for a promotion, for a chance at adventure, for a shot at pursuing our dream) we will never, ever have the opportunity to see it blossom in our life. - from the "orange shorts" blog post... one of my faves.

current song on repeat

2010-09-01T09:12:00.000-07:00

i can't stop listening to this robbie seay band song right now. isn't it just so true?

baby, it is a new day......

i'm really good at raising & saving $

2010-08-20T11:40:00.000-07:00

in june i decided to sign up for something i have wanted to be apart of for a very long time... i signed the dotted line to go to rwanda for an 11-day mission trip in november. don't even get me started about the details and what all we'll be doing and seeing and experiencing. anytime i talk about it for more than a couple minutes it becomes increasingly harder to resist driving to the airport and leaving right this very second, so let's just leave it as i signed up, which gave me five months (uh oh, hello, five months! five months... not much) to raise some funds and all of a sudden i had penny pinching on the brain.

so naturally when i heard a radio commercial asking for paid volunteers to get their wisdom teeth out in exchange for a willingness to have experimental drugs tested on them following the procedure, i could not think of one reason not to call and make an appointment to go in and see if i was a match and possibly earn some extra cash for my trip.

very long and painful story short: i was a match. had the surgery at 7am on a friday morning. it took an hour. was supposed to take 20 minutes. the doctor had shortness of breath and beads of sweat dripping down the sides of his face while trying to push my two left-sided wisdom teeth out. an actual hammer was used on my stubborn upper tooth too many times to count. (this is when my crying started and the nurse caressed my legs, whispering it would be over soon.) got out of surgery and was given the placebo. cried some more. had to wait two hours to receive any sort of pain relief. got a vicodin at long last. went to my recliner and slept pain-free, but had to be there 4 more hours so they could measure my pain once an hour, every hour.

4:15pm finally came and my mom and sister's smiles and waves from the waiting room quickly turned into panic as they saw me, expressionless, limping towards them like a wounded soldier returning from the trenches. THANK YOU LORD FOR MY MOM AND SISTER. they rescued me and took me to the couch and nursed me back to a semblance of health in my darkest hour.

this is me two days after the surgery:

someone told me it didn't look like there was anything wrong with my face in this picture and i would like to slap that person. do they always think i resemble a chubby bunny?! maybe it's hard to tell, but i could not move any part of my lower face at this point. even though i only had the 2 lefties extracted, my right side was swollen as well from being pushed open so wide. i mean, i guess i'm not going to beg for pity here, but i feel like it should be given regardless.

it has now been four weeks and the pain has finally subsided and my swelling is no longer an issue. still hurts when i chew gum. and i just started flossing "back there" again. clearly the battle scars are still fresh. but you better believe i got that $225 check and deposited it directly into my africa fund like nobody's business. (ps i originally thought it was double that amount but didn't read the fine print. shoot.)

bet you thought that was the extent of my fund-raising projects, huh? nope.

the second brilliant idea came to me as i was budgeting on mint.com and realized i spend an embarrassingly large amount on my head of hair. embarrassing. i'm not sure when i decided i was really rich and it didn't matter how much i paid to get my hair trimmed and colored multiple times a year, but i saw the numbers for myself and wanted to throw up a little bit. so clearly this means i need to start coloring it myself! (and by that i mean my sister needs to start coloring it for me.) you do know there are aisles and aisles of $10 boxes of hair color in every grocery store, drugstore, big box store you frequent, right? genius.

of course, before all is said and done, yaya gets in on it, does the homework and finds out all the tricks of the trade, has all the girls over, makes a scrumptious dinner, and ends up pulling my ratty hair through a color cap for a couple hours on a thursday night. here is me towards the end of the "drying process" when i realize my hair is 10 shades lighter than i thought it would be:

it ended up totally working and i was really happy with it. big thanks to yaya for making it happen... as well as to my mother, sister, both abbys, maddie and blake for the moral support. i needed it. jury's out as to what we're going to do when the fall months are upon us and beach blonde barbie needs a root touch-up... but let's just burn that bridge when we get there.

cheers to me for stepping out and trying new things! except for i will never cheers myself for getting those #$%& wisdom teeth out execution-style. mistake. but you live you learn.

sawah's summer so far (hipstamatic style)

2010-06-30T14:04:00.001-07:00

hill country sunrises...

princess pops...

backyard hammock time...

hippos 'n ducks...

strawberry-rhubarb cobbler made just for me by my papa...

trying to capture life in photos is hard for me to remember to do! if only i had pictures of jennytorrey, petikei & i straddled on a jetski, watching the sun go down in the middle of the lake & jen pondering aloud how weird space must be... or of johnny noodlelegs... or of the face mp makes at the auto towel dispenser every time i see her & get to "ree-rah tee-tee potty"... or of my face when i got a call today from premiere research saying they do in fact want to take my wisdom teeth out for compensation. these are the times i wish i thought to grab my camera (slash phone slash hipstamatic app) & capture it to share with all my obsessive blog followers. all five of you. but, like i told my mom when she was insisting i post pictures on facebook of my dad wearing his father's day present... some memories are just for us. i love those kind. those that pop into your head out of no where when you're on the highway, or in the grocery store line, or drifting off to sleep at night. where you think of it and laugh out loud, alone, like a complete goober.

summer's already halfway over. whether it's DSLR, smart phone, disposable film, or mental... hope you're out there snapping some memories.

hbd, daddy yum yum

2010-06-30T13:57:00.000-07:00

well that sounds delicious

2010-06-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

this has been in my head all day. puck is hot.

now you've got me thinking about my favorite tv moment of the 2009-2010 season. to which there is only one choice.

with this being a close second...

a little inspiration?

2010-06-17T09:45:00.001-07:00

may was not a fitness month for me to be proud of. for one thing... glee was on. we also had lots of late-day rain. then i had a bout with scarlet fever. then i had a house guest that wouldn't leave. then it was june and i decided to get back up on the horse and start running like a champ again... how else will i continue to have an A+ blood pressure reading?

so for the last two weeks, my running routine has been in full effect and for the first time in recent memory, a very strange feeling has come over me. instead of dreading the sweaty suffocation around my neighborhood, i've actually been looking forward to it. dare i say i even missed it during the weeks i took off? as i was trying to get to the bottom of this phenomenon, i realized that my excitement over running was in direct correlation to my mounting itunes charges. coincidence?

my final scientific conclusion: if i have a playlist to look forward to, it doesn't matter what i'm actually doing while i listen to it. SO. in an effort to pass along this new piece of glorious motivation to all of my millions of followers, here is a list of some of the songs that are currently getting me all hyped up... some are old, some new, some more for sprinting intervals, some for your cool down. (p.s. i do not do sprint intervals. why do i even write stuff like that?)

i also just came across this picture that i will be adding to my vision board as soon as i get myself one. let's all go run in central park soon, kay?

editor's note: i misspelled phoenix in the song list. daaaaaang it. it's too hard for me to fix now, so we are all just going to have to find away to get over it. also- add to list- skyline (court yard hounds). the entire album is so very good and now that i think about it, just go ahead and add the whole thing to your portable musical player.

ode to jmm

2010-06-09T13:44:00.001-07:00

the only person who will be more excited than my mother when i find my permanent roommate is my brother.

4:30 on an intensely hot austin, texas afternoon and what else would happen but that i would have a blow out in the middle of the highway? enter josh. i kept begging him to let me put my yoga mat down so he wouldn't have to lay on the sizzling asphalt, but he declined.

thanks, brother, for being my knight in shining armor when disaster strikes! thanks also to petikei for the initial pick up... what would i do without you two? probably still be on hold with roadside assistance.

may music review

2010-05-05T08:08:00.000-07:00

what a week for the music lovers at c & p.

the court yard hounds finally released their brand new debut album on itunes yesterday...

lee dewyze KICKED IT on american idol, definitely perfecting his wheelhouse by performing a stellar rendition of "that's life" with his twinkie twin of a mentor, harry connick, junior (p.s. am i the only one who thinks hcj would make such a great judge next year and would help to ease the pain of that weird little hairy-chested sinatra lover at the end of the table being gone?!)...

and kind of along the same lines... how many of you know and have missed 'ol ryan cabrera? surely you remember the 2004 hit "on the way down"?? it's been a long six years of obscurity, but ryan is back on the radar and our televisions every tuesday night, as he is currently dating audrina patridge. this might not matter to you personally, but i know someone who is going to be veeeery happy to know his hair mentor is back for another 15 seconds.

moving on...

1919 W 40th's fave song so far this year "40 Dogs" by bobby schneider now has a music video! directed by robert rodriguez, the video was called "a love song to austin" by the austinist. i think it's just sweet as pie and can't get enough. it is not so sweet, however, that i can't embed it into this post, but if you click here you can watch it as many times as your little austin, texas-loving heart desires.

also, apparently no one can post on my blog anymore. i do not know how to fix this. but i'll sleep well at night knowing all the tens of tens of you readers would be commenting ninjas if it were possible. no hurt feelings here.

boring

2010-04-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

my sister sweetly informed me today that i need to blog because c&p is officially boring. when i told her i don't have anything to blog about right now, she said that usually didn't stop me and i'll use the direct quote from her: "remember the post about vitamin water?"

that was rude, z. that was rude.

so i will go ahead and blog today. i have a very important subject that poses a question that i would like feedback on:

the friday night lights situation.

i love friday night lights as much as my first born that has yet to be born. coach eric taylor and timothy riggins are two of the greatest characters to ever be portrayed and not only do i believe them to be real life people, but i also have this weird thought in the back of my head that i am meant to some day move to dillon and go to their football games and have bbq's with them on the weekends.

and of course i don't have direct tv, therefore have been forced to wait an entire year for this new season to start. sad, yes, but i've dealt with it and have been preparing for may 7th, where it will once again begin and i'll stay home to watch it real-time by myself on friday nights and then patiently/excruciatingly wait seven days until the next installment. it was the plan and i was sticking to it.

well leave it to teve to work his google magic and get himself the BOOTLEG VERSION OF THE ENTIRE SEASON FOUR. that's right. he has the whole stinking season on dvd... good quality with no commercials.

so here is the question: do i ignore this new acquisition and go ahead and watch it as previously arranged in my head? or do i bite the bullet and watch the whole season at one time, staying up extra late every night for who knows how long, like a crack addict that can't stop?

there are pros/cons for each argument, but i just can't make up my mind on the right decision for me. another factor is that i'm making the trek to sugarland next weekend and watching these forbidden dvds would be the perfect post-blakey bedtime activity. and also, griff and abby are probably the only two people i would publicly weep in front of... due to a tv show. so there's that.

what do you think? what would you do? be honest.

ps: z, hope you're happy with this post. you'd better at least comment.

black kids come to town

2010-03-17T11:29:00.000-07:00

you likey our new blog design? me, too.

let it be known that i do not understand st. patrick's day. furthermore, green washes me out. so this is not a blog about the "holiday" going on, but just to show you this video that i can't stop watching and or laughing over. poor tripp. he is going to want to off us one day.

Friday / Funko / Foprah

2010-03-12T13:09:00.000-08:00

the waiting is over. it has arrived. i thought it was just an urban myth, or some mean joke the american idol judges were playing on us with the "vitamin water zero" cups they used during auditions. could it be true that vitamin water is going to come out with a zero-calorie drink sweetened with none other than TRUVIA?!?!

for weeks i have been scouring the shelves at the grocery store, even asking a manager at randall's the other day when on earth i could expect it... he had not a clue what i was referring to. but isn't the saying so true: "you'll find it when you least expect it"? checking out and zoning out at target last night, i look to my right and there it was. so i drank it today and must say VITAMIN WATER ZERO is good! i have absolutely no idea what it does for you or what vitamin concoction is surged into this water, but it's something different and i am a solid supporter of anything with stevia in it. so, go get you some. if you need to know what it looks like, i placed it among my office decor today and took a photo just for you.

and guess what else. i played bunko for the first time last night and won a prize for rolling the most funkos! (don't even ask.) my prize was this really cute SUMMER SCARF from gap! look how happy i am about it:

this is what happens when you have too much alone time in the office. i'm pretty sure it's friday.

so i couldn't neglect to pass on a noteworthy quote from mama O herself. straight from the pages of march's O magazine... in the article "what i know for sure" by oprah winfrey:

"here we are in the spring of a brand new decade. i've heard so many people say they feel this will be their best year yet. i feel that way, too. there's something about 2010 that makes us hopeful. we sense an invitation to begin this next decade of the millennium with more conscious attention to our lives."

she goes onto say life is all about an energy exchange... clean out old shoes out of your closet... and eat foods that love you back. whatever. the most important thing to note is that oprah and i are like THIS when it comes to sensing the great things that are ahead for us this year. armed with our vitamin waters and summer scarfs this weekend... let's go make something happen.

much love!

sem

big news

2010-03-03T12:03:00.000-08:00

i just realized i never told my massive amounts of blog followers about my momentous occasion last week. for starters, i finally figured out twitter. still don't fully know how to use the "RTs" and "#s" and "@s" but i know how to follow fun, famous, sometimes influential people and i am addicted. i don't ever want to miss one, single tweet! so that means i lay awake for about 45 minutes every night going through all these 140-character updates, and i gotta tell ya... i'm sleepin like a baby afterwards.

but this is not my momentous occasion.

the day i decided to put my thinking cap on and dive into the world of tweets, i of course went straight on over to find and follow donald miller. you might have heard me talk about him. or maybe you've heard me detail out our wedding ceremony. either way, i looked at his twitter page and you are never going to believe me when i tell you: HE WAS IN AUSTIN AT THAT VERY MOMENT. yes. yes, friends, he was. so after frantic calls to babs and z, getting them to explain to me how to contact him to tell him he was in my city and that it was destiny that we meet, i finally got a "direct message" to him and told him how much i adored him and... get ready... he... tweeted me back :)

You have a new direct message:

donmilleris: Thanks so much!

that's what he said. directly back to me. no one else. isn't that just the BEST?!

what? did you think we would actually end up meeting each other and talking into the night about stories, and being who God created us to be, and when should i move to portland? no, i had a date to watch idol at the lea's and he, well, apparently he had to go to san antonio to meet max lucado for dinner. (at least that was what his next tweet said.)

so, baby steps. do not awaken love until it pleases, right? november: first sighting with what can only be described as intense eye contact held for 20 seconds at a book signing. march: first direct tweet. who knows what could be next during 2012!!!

all that leads me to say that yesterday my dear, close, personal friend don (i like to call him don) miller tweeted that he was listening to matt wertz's new cd for free on aol.com. what good, little baylor girl doesn't love matt wertz?? (and COULD don and i have more similar musical tastes?!?!) i clicked on over and listened through mister wertz's new stuff for a little while, which made me re-fall in love with this sweet singer/songwriter all over again. took me right back to bagby and bear trails and dr.pepper hour! and then naturally i created a matt wertz station on pandora and have been jamming to it all day and one of my favorites of his has been playing and i thought i'd share it with you all because it is just so SPRINGY outside today and after a long, dreary winter straight from the pits below, this song makes me want to go peruse target for some new pool floats. so, enjoy. i would love to give you the link to listen to his new cd, but they have already taken it down. sorry, charlie. maybe you should join twitter. you would know a lot more than you do now.

p.s. is that little lucas boto in some of the polaroid pictures?!?!? what in the what??

annie are you ok?

2010-03-01T09:50:00.000-08:00

many awards will be given out this sunday night. some deserved, some maybe not, but one thing is for sure... if i sat on the board of whatever movie makers of america society guild of all cinema, or whoever decides the oscars, my vote for every category would be the same:

have ya'll seen this?! i spent the weekend in dallas with jenny torrey, where she happens to have a movie room and i could think of no better movie to take full advantage of that huge screen and surround sound. for all wondering... yes- wacko jacko literally orbited around another planet full of jellybeans and tickle monsters. yes- his nose will freak you out the entire time. and no- we couldn't decide if he was creepier with or without his sunglasses on when he was out and about. but put all that aside and trust me... it was one of the most entertaining two hours of my life. honestly and truly. redbox it tonight!

and i couldn't not post this little nugget of tripp singing his new favorite song that is apparently played in the car on repeat. i taped it with jen's phone after we picked him up from school on friday. oh and when we got to his classroom, the teacher told us he had been telling everyone all day that his aunt say was coming to visit!! muffin! thanks for a fun (and slightly exhausting) weekend, jen... had so much fun with you and the kiddies!!!!

peace + love = me

2010-02-15T10:47:00.001-08:00

look who i got to spend v-day with :) :) :) :)

blakey girl is such a giggle box!!!

i love valentine's day. i love it because there are chocolate covered strawberries as far as the eye can see and buying a 4-pack to eat in the car on the way home from h-e-b isn't weird on that one, special day. and i love it because it is a reminder at how much love is around me. it doesn't have to be some cliche, red roses, only romantic couples need apply event. i went to sleep last night being overwhelmingly grateful because i know what love is. i feel it and see it every day. in my friends whose voluntary presence in my life humbles me and makes me who i am. and in my parents who show me what unconditional love means and what it does when it supports you in ways nothing else can. and in my brother and sister and new sister who know who i am at my very core and keep my feet on the ground with their love and friendship that is dearer to me than just about anything else. and in my church whose pastor just began a new sermon series on BIBLICAL MANHOOD that i'm pretty sure every man (especially single, from the ages of 25-35) needs to go ahead and d-load. i've provided the link right here just in case you wanted to go ahead and start listening now.

so here is to the hope of MORE LOVE from now to the next february 14th. MUAH!

guess i'll go on living afterall...

2010-01-28T14:35:00.000-08:00

NBC SET TO AIR "FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS" in April

By WSJ Staff

: Everett Collection

“Friday Night Lights” fans, rejoice.

The critically-acclaimed but low-rated sports drama currently airing on DirecTV will make its return to NBC on April 30 a couple months ahead of schedule. Originally slated to air on NBC during the summer, the show — which stars Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton and is based on the 2004 movie (itself based on a 1990 non-fiction book by Buzz Bissinger) — is currently in its fourth season.

The move was announced today, as NBC revealed its post-Winter Olympics line-up. Since the network announced it was canceling the ill-fated “Jay Leno Show,” sideliners have wondered how they would fill the additional five hours of primetime programming.

The solution? Pretty much as critics had predicted, with “Law & Order” episodes all over the new schedule. Plus, new drama “Parenthood,” which is based on the Ron Howard movie, will premiere at 10 p.m. on Tuesday, March 2, following “The Biggest Loser” and Jerry Seinfeld’s reality show “The Marriage Ref” will premiere at 10 p.m on Thursday, March 4.

NBC’s new line-up, as seen below, begins March 1.

top ten

2010-01-26T08:03:00.000-08:00

here are the top ten reasons why i should not, for any reason, run long distances or races of any kind:

10. i have heavy bones. not easy to carry around for miles on end.
9. the idea of a "runner's high" is completely lost on me. i have, however, experienced several water break highs and walking break highs.
8. these things typically start before the sun comes up.
7. i find gu disgusting. just seeing used packages laying on the ground makes my gag reflex set in.
6. the "optimal" running gear involves a LOT of spandex. no thanks.
5. hills make me break out.
4. there is a greater than 50% chance of my toenails turning black and falling off due to the constant pavement pounding.
3. summers are too hot; winters too cold.
2. i never know which side of the road is the correct side to be on and am so over "elite runners" snubbing my ignorance.

1. runner's trots. need i say more?

and the one and only reason i will continue to run and sign up for these events that push me physically, mentally, spiritually and in every other way possible...

let me just tell you... i love these crazy liz-adies. never ever ever ever would i ever think i would want to be apart of a freaking athleticly-based anything, but here i am, two halfsies in, and it is ALL because of them.

i love the fact that we HAVE to train and there's no way we're doing it alone, so we keep each other accountable, adjust schedules as needed, and make the time. we therefore find ourselves with hours on end to catch up and untangle the webs our lives get into simply by running and talking it out. training with these precious friends of mine makes me better. period paragraph.

so after an hour delay... wind... sweat... up hills, down hills... bright spots of PETIKEI and others waving along the route... a little tik tok and a lot of serious prayer... we ALL crossed that finish line on sunday morning. we did it and we did it together.

there were definitely some times over the past three months that i would have rather watched the food network from 9am saturday to 9pm sunday and skipped a few of those dreadful, never-ending town lake expeditions. or skip a run after work because i wanted to go to happy hour without being a sweaty, hot mess. or told the girls, "you go ahead and do it this time; i'll just be the loudest cheerleader for you at the finish line!" it would have been really easy to do that.

but i just flat would have missed out.

donald miller wrote a book last year called "a million miles in a thousand years." i would be shocked if i haven't mentioned it before now, because this book has changed how i view every aspect of my life. the book essentially tells us that our lives are supposed to look like movies that we'd like to sit down and watch, not a boring, monotonous, anti-climatic, waste of time. one of his major bullet points is to purposefully create "inciting incidences" to make your story what God designed it to be. he says "...humans naturally seek comfort and stability. without an inciting incident that disrupts their comfort, they won't enter into a story. they have to get fired from their job or be forced to sign up for a marathon. a ring has to be purchased. a home has to be sold. the character has to jump into the story, into the discomfort and the fear, otherwise the story will never happen."

the word picture of our lives being a series of stories, woven together with ups and downs and memorable situations and people we'd never know or places we'd never go if we hadn't been intentional in making sure we pushed ourselves gets me all kinds of warm and mushy inside.

so, in conclusion: i had a great 3M halfsie with my girls and can't wait to do it again next year. oh and i hate this but two of us didn't make the picture above and that would be amy "powerhouse" chapman and little kitchen! how we didn't get a full group pic, i'll never know. i also just came across this quote from the book that you must get (like now) and it was one of my favorites:

"if i have a hope, it's that God sat over the dark nothing and wrote you and me, specifically, into the story, and put us in with the sunset and the rainstorm as though to say, enjoy your place in my story. the beauty of it means you matter, and you can create within it even as i have created you."

preach it, donald. xoxo, sem

just because

2010-01-22T11:34:00.001-08:00

it is the most gorgeous of fridays and this weekend is going to be full of straining and grunting and possible lung collapsing (read: 3m halfsie on sunday)... so how nice to look at that sweet little flower telling us all to have a happy day.

signing off... but a full report to come on monday!

sem

no you're not, no you're not, no you're not

2010-01-22T11:09:00.000-08:00

it was a good run. i successfully dodged the incessant "you don't watch american idol?!?!?" ghats from friends, family, and strangers on the street for the past five years, but have finally given in and started watching again. don't get me wrong- i love the show and will always remember where i was the night kelly clarkson clinched victory and belted "a moment like this" with confetti fluttering around her, knowing the world would no longer be the same for any of us. then before i realized it, we were on to another season and it was no longer a fun, tuesday evening chuckle, but a freaking four-hour minimum weekly commitment. so being the trailblazer that i am, i bucked up against the fox's mind-melting, brain-hypnotizing, life-monopolizing powers-that-be and quit watching just to spite them.

but petikei and ellen have pulled me back in and i have got to say with utmost sincerity that i have missed simon cowell and life is better with him in it. he makes me laugh almost as much as tracy morgan. i love how he gets so annoyed and has no patience for any of this, even though he's getting paid $2,100 a second for sitting in a chair and drinking coke for days on end. he is the whole package and in honor of me re-joining society, i am posting my favorite moment with him so far. his british accent and out of control analogies could not be more spot on and hilarious and i love him.

i did it

2010-01-15T11:21:00.001-08:00

if you'll notice, i have a new little blog icon to the left of this post. i've fought it for months because i just didn't get the hype. but after taking some time to scroll through for myself, i am now a believer and will forever be.

i love the pioneer woman.

"ree" as some people refer to her (because i think that is her first name), is this really funny lady that has lots of hobbies, but i am mainly interested in her recipes.

so hop on over and take a look. it's 2010, why not?

sweet poison

2010-01-14T10:33:00.000-08:00

i think it's fun that a lot of people set new year's resolutions. i never really have, mainly because i know i'll make this huge deal out of it and when i decide i'm bored/tired/annoyed with the whole bit, i'll quit, then feel like a big, fat failure. soooooo, why not just not set yourself up for that beating? good idea.

however, 2010 is already chalked full of surprises. first and foremost being that i have a new year's resolution. sitting at santa rita the weekend after christmas, my overly-observant friends noticed that i had just ordered my fifth diet coke since we'd been there less than an hour. nbd, right? i mean, it wasn't my fifth,

say, shot of whisky, or my fifth large bowl of queso- get off my back. things could be way worse. then one of my friends, cheryl, started telling me about a lady who was diagnosed with throat cancer recently, after never smoking or being around a smoker or any of the suspect situations that would lead to that awful disease. apparently this lady's "thing" was diet coke. she drank it non-stop her whole life. now. clearly i cannot say for sure this lady got the big c strictly from, um, pounding one diet soda every 10 minutes when she's out eating mexican food, but it did get me thinking that maybe i need to take a look at exactly what diet drinks do to me.

the major culprit in these drinks is the aspartame. i've heard for years now that aspartame is this deadly chemical that is pumped into basically everything i eat/drink, but my main problem with quitting my consumption of it is 1) it's in everything i eat/drink and 2) is the government really going to know all this super secret intel regarding the fatal drug aspartame and just sweep it under the rug and watch people slowly slip away and DIE from it?! i just cannot imagine it being that dangerous and yet still being allowed to be used. naive? i choose to think it's more me being pure of heart.

essentially aspartame is a man-made, zero fat, zero calorie fake sugar that is put into things making it taste as though there is real sugar. anytime you see "sugar-free" anything, you can bet your new hunter rain boots there's aspartame in there. the biggie for me is clearly diet dp, but i also drink crystal lite peach tea like it's the nectar of the gods and that has aspertame in it, too. so does orbitz gum. most likely so does your light & fit yogurt. and your skinny cow ice cream sandwiches.

so i've done a little research, really just wanting to find out why it's so bad and what it does to us. from multiple sites, i discovered that when aspartame enters your body and gets into the small intestine, it converts into formaldehyde (remember science class, kids?), which then converts into formic acid, which is what ant sting venom is made up of. and then it wrecks havoc on everyone's systems differently. the laundry list of symptoms can be found here... quite a few, huh? there are so many and who knows if your struggles are due to aspartame consumption, but maybe it would be worth it to try not to put it in your system for the next month or two? see what happens?

i've been off the stuff for the past two weeks and i think and dream about diet dr. pepper every night, but guess what? i swear my skin texture is better. crazy, right? and i haven't had trouble with my contacts blurring up. and i'm not as bloated (tmi). and oh my gosh what if this cures my cankle?!?!?! only time will tell. but i swear i'm convinced it could happen.

the other thing to note is that a lot of us drink diet cokes because we don't want the calories. well one of the huge side effects of aspartame is a craving for sweets. so you end up drinking zero calories of toxins, but going and having a

dozen tiffwiches to make up for it. when they tested the chemical in rats, the ones with aspartame in their diet were heavier. go freaking figure.

i am no expert. and am not real sure about any of this. if you want to know more, i'm sure you can buy about a billion books with plenty of scientific details and facts pointing to how everything in our country is tarnished and poisoned by something and we're all going down together unless our meals start consisting of 75% raw, organic veggies. but i thought i'd share a little of what i'm doing to cut down on at least one thing i know isn't benefiting my health in the least. and, lucky you, i found just the graphic to really drive the point home...

good stuff

2010-01-01T20:12:00.000-08:00

"i discovered that if you really keep your eye peeled to it and your ears open, if you really pay attention to it, even such a limited and limiting life can open up into extraordinary vistas. taking your children to school and kissing your wife good-bye. eating lunch with a friend. trying to do a decent day's work. hearing the rain patter against the window. there is no event so commonplace but that God is present within it, always hiddenly, always leaving you room to recognize him or not to recognize him, but all the more fascinatingly because of that. all the more compellingly and hauntingly... if i were called upon to state in a few words the essence of everything i was trying to say... it would be something like this: listen to your life. see it for the fathomless mystery that it is. in the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace." -listening to your life, frederick buechner

i'm too dead dog tired to write anything else, so you'll just have to wait for my riveting entry about the hidden dangers of aspartame and why i'm giving it up in 2010. but i couldn't not post that quote. man, i'm not good at listening. funny thing is that it's really not that difficult of a task. i have a feeling we're staring a year for the record books in the face, so here's to listening and loving and not taking our moments for granted.

and also here's to humidifiers. please work your magic tonight by taking away my hacking cough so i can stop popping ricola cough suppresants like candy because i just saw they have aspartame in them and therefore i've already broken my resolution.

the big 5-0

2009-12-22T11:11:00.000-08:00

well guess what. jimbo is "fifty yeahs old!" today.

clearly there aren't words to describe my dad and who he is to me,

so instead, i've decided to post a couple of pictures i found the other day.

reading "frosty the snowman" to josh and i.

really excited to be hugging.

i made parenting super easy for my parents and

never gave them any reason to want to twist my neck in two.

(p.s. there was a family discount if you bought multiple pairs of glasses

in the same size.)

happy birthday, dad! here's to fifty more...

i love you so much,

sem

merry christmas (said in a whisper)

2009-12-09T12:56:00.000-08:00

what do you think it says about me that wham's classic holiday hit "last christmas" is my favorite song during the month of december?

regardless, it just occurred to me as i was driving around with it on repeat this morning that i have never seen the music video for this song. this is a shocking revelation because i get quite a thrill from music videos and pride myself on knowing what's going on in the world of video countdowns. (aka: my little ked-wearing feet couldn't run fast enough to my bff's house every day after school in 5th grade to watch "informer" get #1 video on mtv for six straight weeks and i still watch vh1 and cmt top 20 every weekend. how else are we supposed to stay informed, i ask you? my hobby did take a brief hiatus, however, during my high school years. my dad saw a snippet of some "inappropriate" snoop dogg drug-pumping, gang-busting something or other and put a parental block on mtv for four years. so naturally, one awesome, God-shining-down-on-me night when i was a freshman, my MASSIVE SENIOR CRUSH came over to, um, study and he immediately turned on the television to mtv and saw that you had to put in a code to watch it and his hysterical laughter still gives me nightmares to this day. thanks, dad.)

well. aren't i feeling chatty. without further ado, here is the official music video for "last christmas" released in 1984. pure genius. consider it my christmas gift to you and yours.

santa baby

2009-12-08T07:46:00.001-08:00

or should i say... 'lil kim baby?

one never knows what aunt lauren is going to pull out of her bag of tricks when maddie pie comes over!!!

moms

2009-12-01T15:17:00.001-08:00

they are so much, aren't they? i don't know one single woman who hasn't had a moment when they stop dead in their tracks and think...

oh my gosh. i am my mother.

like when i'm trying something on in a dressing room and absent-mindedly put my right foot out with pointed toe to get the "full effect"... or when i take on the accent of the person i'm talking to on the other end of the telephone... or everytime i fold and re-fold and re-fold until i get an extra straight hospital corner with my sheets while making my bed...

oh my gosh. i am my mother.

mother/daughter relationships are so complex, so fierce, so irrrational at times. it's like you're so intimately linked, sometimes you don't know what else to do but push each others buttons. the one word that comes to mind when i think about moms is unconditional. it doesn't matter what it is or who you're up against-- no one comes to bat for you like your mom. no one.

i think i've taken that fact for granted my whole life. it's one of those things where you don't know anything different, so you live in complete ignorance of the fact that not everyone has a built in cheering section for a mom. not everyone has a number they can call night or day, rain or shine, to laugh or cry, for any reason whatsoever and hear a voice on the other end that will go to any length possible to make things right; not expecting anything in return, just wanting to be whatever you need.

today's my mom's birthday. and it was a big one. it's one of those birthdays that you probably (whether you want to or not) will take a moment to think back over the years you've lived and take stock. i hope that as my mom looked back, she was filled with joy and happiness and such a sense of accomplishment... because the life she's lived so far has been one that has given her family a safe haven to love and laugh and grow and acheive and become anything they wanted to be because we knew she had our backs.

i love you, mom. happy, happy, happy birthday.

HUUUUUGH JACK.MAAAAAAANNNNN

2009-12-01T14:59:00.000-08:00

this video post is in honor of harper and mo-gan. but i'm most confident all will appreciate.

as always, thanks and happy BIRTHDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY (in oprah voice) to k-rog, who is always on top of all things oprah and thinks to send me these priceless jewels.

thankful tuesday

2009-11-24T23:55:00.000-08:00

well so i have a blog and it's thanksgiving and so it would probably be a good idea to come up with a what-i'm-most-thankful-for post this week. let me work on that. but today i am completely and utterly grateful for one thing. and that would be this picture i took at lunch and the darling angel in it.

look at her face. have you ever?

i've got a feelin...

2009-11-24T12:26:00.000-08:00

"i heard a lot of playwrights used to end their stories with a funeral if it was a tragedy and a wedding if it was a comedy. i think that's why we make such a big deal out of weddings, because a wedding means life, and because the bride and groom are old enough to write a thank-you note for the serving spoons you gave them. and perhaps because you get to drink and dance, no matter how old you are. i only dance at weddings. i practically only drink at weddings, too, mostly because that's where i do my dancing. one of the things that give me hope is that, even with all the tragedy that happens in the world, the Bible says that when we get to heaven, there will be a wedding and there will be drinking and there will be dancing...

the next day, when i was walking with my cousin carol, she asked me where i thought my uncle was. she knew he was in heaven, but she wanted me to tell her what i thought he might be doing, what heaven was like. i told her i thought heaven was outside time, and perhaps we were already there with her father. she seemed to think that was a nice idea, but i could tell she wasn't comforted. and later that night i pictured uncle art, and i could see him in heaven, and he was sitting at a table and there was a celebration. there was dancing and bottles of wine, and there was music. i could see him at a wedding, and i realized that's what i should have told carol, that her dad was at a wedding." -A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller

Josher & Katie

November 21, 2009

one home many hopes

2009-11-03T08:52:00.000-08:00

many of you guys probably received the email below, but i thought it couldn't hurt to put it out for all you bloggers out there!! this is an organization my friend ryan cabrerra got me involved in and i've got to say, it's turning out to be one of the most life-giving projects i've been apart of. if you've been looking for a way to support something that is actively changing lives for the better, look no further!

read below for more details...

so here's the deal. i never do this. fundraising is not my cup of tea and i have never been torn up by something so badly that it made me want to badger my friends and family for money. but then i was introduced to one home many hopes, completely fell in love with the idea, and now here i am on a team raising money for this sweet group of girls.

“one home many hopes” is a loving home for orphaned and abandoned girls in mtwapa, kenya. OHMH finds, rescues, houses, loves and educates former street children and equips them to be the future agents of change in their community. founded in 2007, OHMH will house and educate their children (currently 32 girls, ages 2 to 15) through college so they will one day be the women who will stop other children from suffering what they did.

the whole organization started when anthony mulongo, a kenyan man, came to mombosa (eastern kenya) to check up on a six year old girl and her ten month old brother whom he had met on a previous work assignment. they did not have a father, had lost their mother to AIDS, and were living on the streets. he eventually found the little girl... only to learn that days earlier her baby brother had died on her back while searching for food. anthony took the little girl in and one home many hopes began.

i heard that story and immediately thought- but by the grace of God, that could have been me. by His grace alone, i was born in the wealthiest country on the planet and into a family that has taken care of me from the moment i entered this earth and i never had to wonder about whether or not i had the newest name-brand jeans in my closet, much less where i would get food for myself and my baby brother at six years of age.

i know this isn't the greatest economy to ask for a donation and i completely get that not everyone can spare cash at the moment. but for those of you who would like the opportunity to give, just think about what it would be like if you had slept on a pile of trash as a child. or gone days without eating. or not taken advantage of the best education your parents could afford.

these little girls on the other side of the world don't need video monitors or polka-dotted shopping cart covers or high school musical dvds... they need the basic things you don't think twice about giving your own kids you have been blessed with. more specifically, they need us to help build them a home so they can continue to learn and love and develop and have a chance at life... just like we had.

so for the next TWO weeks, i am accepting donations on this website:

http://www.firstgiving.com/sarahmyers

i only have $400 more to go, so that means that anything helps, no matter how big or small. 100% of the money i raise goes to build the living room of the first new home the girls have ever had.

and if it helps to have a face with the cause you are supporting, let me introduce you to the little girl i spoke about earlier. this is Gift. (yes, that is her God-given name... pretty perfect, huh?)

thanks to OHMH, she is a thriving teenager who is now mentoring the younger girls and living her life, looking forward to what is to come, just like us.

"when someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required." -luke 12:48

i love ya'll & thanks in advance,

sarah

i didn't have enough room on the email to include more pictures of the girls that are making up OHMH at the moment, so thank goodness for blogs! here are some more of the precious ladybugs you are supporting...

Annette

Saomu & Riziki

Riziki

They are clearly darling. And you are darling for helping any way you can.

hurry up nov 1

2009-10-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

don't love halloween. don't love to be scared. not too big of a dresser-upper. ghosts, fake blood, fangs, plastic masks... i just don't see the appeal. candy... now candy i love. so sitting on my porch passing out treats to little neighbor friends (one for you, more than one for me) is a perfect way to spend a late october evening. except no one ever goes door to door anymore because that's the world we live in, so all the kiddies go to their schools or churches and all that is left are the 16 year old boys that look at you like, "give me the good stuff or i'll rob you." it's irritating and i'd just assume skip over this weight watchers nightmare of a holiday.

i'm pretty sure i'm the biggest all hallow's eve grinch in all the land and am completely fine with it, except recently three things have started to warm my heart up to the idea of giving this year's festivities one more chance.

#1: the pumpkin princess...

#2: the smiley grim reaper skeletor...

#3: LCT has promised to dress up as...

while we're on the subject of freaks, let me share with you a little something i learned this weekend:

ghosts apparently exist in real life.

and all you have to do is tell "them" you're not interested and they won't bother you again.

i know this because a fabulous peach of a person did my hair this past weekend and as we were sitting around talking, the subject of her being woken up by ghosts several times in her life came up. as nuts as it was to hear, there is no reason she should be making this information up. she has crystal clear memories of each time, along with more other-worldly tid bits i won't even go into right now. then- THEN- my friends (whose house we were sitting in at that very moment and whose names i will not state, except to say one of them loves oprah and dancing alone in his room) launch into the fact that there is a ghost in THEIR house as well! and if that's not bad enough- the reason they know they have one is because every time they leave the house, "something" uses their facilities and doesn't flush and there is no explanation for what else it could be. seriously. as i'm typing this out, i feel like ashton kutcher is about to come out of my screen and stamp "punk'd" on my forehead- but these normal, rational people really believe ghostly spirits are behind these weird unexplainables. is this for real? do lots of people think ghosts exist and are among us? i have said "i'm not interested" to the air more times then i care to share over the past two days and i'm not going to stop anytime soon. no one wants to know what will happen if i wake up from a sound sleep, only to find a set of red haired twins taunting me or an overflowing toilet.

ugh. now i'm annoyed at halloween again. bye.

wish you were here

2009-10-15T07:47:00.000-07:00

did i ever tell you i spent a glorious week in colorado this summer? what? i didn't? how did i leave that out? i am so very lucky to have been able to go up there and play pretty often throughout the years and i'm hard pressed to think about anything more heavenly than breckenridge in the summer. a few must stops: soup from mi zuppa, bike rides through the mountains, honey on pizza crusts at eric's, jayme's, and even though i am not what you would call pro nature walks, i still find myself huffing and puffing up some sort of hike trail at some point every time. oh and the weather is always perfectly sunny and the cool, dry air provides the most fantastic of all hair days you can only achieve 9,600 feet in the air.

i was thinking about that trip this morning when jim spencer told me it was going to be 90 degrees here in austin today.

so then that got me looking through pictures and reminiscing and i found a snapshot of this adorable church we stumbled on when i turned on a random side street leaving town one afternoon...

i wish you could walk up and get a whiff of those purple flowers by the door for yourself. and see the carvings around the windows with the hand-painted detail. how precious is this little jewel, tucked into this quaint mountain town, i ask you? yep. pretty precious. i'm just sayin.... precious.

and i realize i am a very late participant to this whole polaroid program bandwagon, but it is still so fun! k & co was kind enough to pass the link along, and while i was researching and trying to figure out how to do it, i ran across a thursday internet sussy for you all...

ahhhhhh. there you go. now don't say i never gave you anything.

hope you and yours have a fun texas river rivalry weekend!!!! i know i will... i'm headed out to see miss blakey girl, do 100% girly things with her mom, and hear yum yum preach on sunday am. i will of course bring back a full report.

i & love & you

2009-10-08T07:28:00.000-07:00

it all started when she picked me up in that blue explorer (as i was not old enough to even have a permit...) and we drove around all night, listening to "crossroads" with the windows down. close to fifteen years later not much has changed. except the explorer gave way to a 4-runner blaring some odd, alternative band (did our parents think we were nuts?), which then eventually turned into a land rover- windows still down- jamming to nelly's "ride wit me"... or then there was the tahoe constantly streaming justin. now there are different cars and different songs and we're busy, old ladies who don't have time to drive around aimlessly... which is sad. luckily she's still her and i'm still me and here we still are. so cheers to my freckly-faced, four-eyed friend who i love dearly.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU (& the ground)!!!!!!!!

testing, testing, 1-2-3

2009-10-01T09:46:00.000-07:00

i'm so bored of our blog look i could just crawl up on my desk and take a big, fat nap.

so we're testing out some new layouts to see what we like.

do. not. freak. out. no one has hacked into anything. just need something new.

speaking of, anyone know of any great free websites that offer fun blog layouts?

xoxo.

c&p

boo

2009-09-30T09:22:00.001-07:00

my brother is getting married in november and since wedding pictures last a lifetime, i decided to do weight watchers for a few weeks... just to get me back to neutral after a summer full of queso, gourmet river sandys, and cupcakes of any kind. so the whole point of the program is to... um... watch your weight by being mindful of what you put in your mouth at all times. judging by my actions at the grocery store yesterday, i'm pretty sure halloween is not going to be a stellar weight watching season for me. enter exhibit a:

i walked into h-e-b, immediately smelled the brach's marshmallow punkins from aisles away, made a bee-line to them, opened the bag right then and there, and proceeded to eat a countless amount while combing the place for my "healthful" snacks and meals for the week. i don't even know what to say to explain myself. other than i'm so glad i'm doing ww online and don't have to show up to one of those meetings where i'd have to confess to a roomful of people who know what the exact point value of a mess like this is. as my sister so eloquently pointed out while looking at the ingredients on the back of the brach's bag, "these are made out of... wax."

so i'm going to try to move onward and upward from this slip-up. but WHY do i live in this land of excess that pushes candy in my face from every angel all of the time, especially during this next stinking month?!?! what happened to the good old days of your only option for meals being cabbage soup and the occasional baked bread banquet (a la charlie's family pre-chocolate factory)?? a couple of days ago my grandpa told me that when he was growing up (very poor during the great depression), they couldn't afford cakes and cookies, but his mother would make them vinegar pie for special occasions. that is something i could get behind, simply because even though i have the sweetest sweet tooth this side of the mississippi, i would never under any circumstance stoop as low as to eat pie filled with a vinegar concoction. (sidenote: yesssssss, this is the grandpa who also saw a snake hiding in the tall grass beside my ankle when i was little and he swooped down, picked that poisonous six foot serpent up by its tail and swung it around his head several times, until he got it good and dizzy, then wacked it's head upside the tree next to us. saved my life. and i'll never forget it.)

all that to say, to make up for my non-existent self control, z and i made a very delicious and low pernt meal last night that i must pass on... this of course came off little kitchen's blog and what a treat it was. parm and herb encrusted chicken to make you sit up and slap your momma! oh, i guess i should also mention that if you buy three pounds of chicken breasts at central market this week, you get a free central market organic salad dressing AND bottle of bbq sauce. you also have to figure out what to do with three pounds of chicken breasts... so this is a great recipe to try out with the influx of chicks you may/may not have after falling for this in-store "coupon". (another sidenote: little kitchen is currently giving away a free crepe pan, so click over and take full advantage. we at c&p just love lk.)

well, so, cheers to brach's punkins, candy corn and the always elusive indian candy corn. you may have won out yesterday, but i know where you hide and will prevail............ oh, who am i kidding. i'll see you next week. aisle 5, left side, 2nd shelf down. miss you already.

sem

'Tis the Season...

2009-09-22T19:39:00.000-07:00

My post-work and weekend attire:

My "Fall" post-work and weekend attire (which I debuted today):

Happy Fall!

quarter of a century

2009-09-20T18:51:00.001-07:00

i'm a big fan of the movie in her shoes. it's about two sisters and their lives together... the ups, the downs, the good, the bad, the laughing, the crying, the history, the protectiveness, the eyerolling, the loving, the hating, the mind reading, the memories, the irritations, the similarities, the differences... the unbreakable bond shared between girls who- no matter how hard they might fight it- are connected in a way that is impossible to be connected to anyone else. if you have a sister, you know exactly what i mean when i say: you have her for life. it's more than a friendship, it's more than being related... it's... it's hard to define.

when i try to put into words what my little sister means to me, the last scene of in her shoes always comes to mind. the older sister (toni collette) is getting married and the younger sister (cameron diaz) does the special reading at the wedding... needless to say, 'ol waterworks myers has a hard time with this one. so in honor of z and her birthday today, i thought i'd share this poem with you...

i carry your heart with me

by E. E. Cummings
i carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart)

i am never without it (anywhere i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling)

i fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet)

i want no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)

and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

i love you, lindsey! and i carry your heart in my heart... whether you like it or not :)

i HEART ny

2009-09-16T08:37:00.000-07:00

i do. i do, i do, i do. which is kind of odd because i have only been there the one time. it was last december, right before christmas, and to say it was everything i had built it up to be in my head would be an understandment. it was MORE magical, MORE unbelievable and MORE than i dreamed. i love new york and cannot wait to go back.

my obsession with this city and all things big apple led me to almost run up and kiss the movie screen while z and i were at the arbor waiting for the september issue to begin last sunday afternoon. have you all seen the preview for this?!?!

viva nyc! i love you!

found

2009-09-10T10:48:00.000-07:00

i did not plan this, but my two favorite songs over the past couple months have the same theme of being "found." i sing them all the time... in the shower, driving around, when i'm running, before i go to bed... i freaking love these songs. it wasn't until the other day that i started to think about what the words actually mean. things like:

All my security, my destiny
What lies ahead is found in you
All my hopes and dreams, my thoughts unseen
All my wants are found in you
What I dread and fear, all that weighs me down
All my trust is found in You
You’re my sustaining breath, all that gives me strength
All life-giving is found in You ("found" by aaron ivey. d-load it!)

When the world has fallen out from under me
I'll be found in you, still standing
Every fear and accusation under my feet
when time and space are through
I'll be found in you ("shadowfeet" by brooke fraser)

what does that even mean to be "found"? i've never thought about it. other than the one time when i was little and got turned around playing in the ladies clothing racks at dillard's, i don't think i've felt utterly and truly lost too many times in my life, so the idea of being found is a little foreign to me personally. i know this isn't true for a lot of people, but by the grace of our Maker, i was raised in a family who has loved me and wanted me from the minute i was brought into this world. and as luck would have it, my father's profession was one that enabled me to be inside the doors of the church more than outside of them. so i've never not known where i came from or who my Savior was or felt like one of those wandering sheep painted in all those pictures that hung up on the walls at vbs.

except, actually, lost is exactly what i am. and who really isn't, for that matter? no one i know has gone through a whole life before and is now back for round two. no one- no matter if you're 5 or 55- is experiencing a day that they have already experienced. we might think we have a grasp on what we're doing and where we're headed, but in actuality we have no control over the majority of what falls out of the sky and into our laps on an hourly basis. at best, we work hard at being educated so we can make the wisest guesses we can when it comes to forks in the road, stances on deep issiues, attitudes in the middle of hard situations, or even whether or not to spend that extra $3 on 100% organic or just screw it and get the h-e-b brand.

i am so stinking lost. and i didn't even know it.

that thought could make one feel pretty down and out if you really sat on it and let it sink in. and who does depression hurt? right. the dog. who you never walk anymore. and the spouse. whose hand you won't hold anymore. we get it, cymbalta- give it a rest. but how absolutely, undeniably fantastic is it that we have hope and peace and the take-it-to-the-bank faithfulness of our Lord who is the ONLY one who HAS been through it all before and loves us so much that He'll do it again with us, for us, because of us. He's just right there. whatever i need to say or feel or do or work through... He's there. He's found me, therefore being lost is no longer on the table.

for a girl who didn't even know she lacked in this department until very recently, this reality brings me more comfort and relief and gratitude then i even know how to express.

i think sometimes God gives us little Winks in life as a way to show us his principles on our terms in ways we can understand. so while i have been belting out these "found" songs all summer and thinking about what that can mean in my life, i had an additional Wink that showed me in living color just how wonderful being found really is.

(bear with me. i don't think this is too much of a strech.)

do you have a friend in your life who just gets you? it doesn't matter how long it's been since you have seen them or what all has transpired in the in between time, anytime you are fortunate to be together for a face to face, you feel like you're home. you feel fully you. you feel like you could say anything or do anything and this person wouldn't blink an eye. they would laugh or cry with you through anything and always always accept and cherish you because they know you. do you have someone like that in your life? if not, email me and i will be your person. because really, it is the best.

and i know we all have our daily people... essential lifelines for all the ins and outs... your mate or your roommate or significant other or your bff. those people are clearly indespensible and maybe i'll be inspired to write a melodious blog of love to them someday. but this gets you person is different. maybe they live out of town and you don't get to see each other very often. or maybe they are just super busy and all over the place and can rarely be pinned down. but when you DO pin them down or when you ARE in the same town, in the same booth at a mexi resturaunt with them... it's exactly what you needed, isn't it? and you wouldn't rather be anywhere else in the world at that moment. so much to say, so much to go over, so much to laugh about, so much to bounce off one another. nothing awkward or forced or contrived. just pure friendship. a pure friendship that makes your belief in the God of the universe all the more real because something like this isn't a coinscidence. they are in your life on purpose because God knew that you needed to know what it tangibly feels like to be found. so He gave you this gift of your gets you person.

driving home last night after seeing my gets me person, all of this hit me and i became so overwhelmed with how awesome and personal God is when He wants to teach me something. when it boils down to it, HE is clearly the only person i must be found in... but my little tea cup just runneth over with these earthly extras that claim me as well.

so below is the video to the brooke fraser ditty that i love, for all those interested. and before you go thinking that i only listen to music with deep spiritual implications on my life, i will also post the video to the song i have had on repeat for the last week and a half. shameful.

Frozen Grapes: Zero Points

2009-08-28T07:33:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the day. Move in day. To reiterate, Petikei and I have shared almost everything in our 14 year friendship, but never the four walls of a house... so this should be something else.

We have been emailing back and forth this week about who has what, or what we need to buy/update and I thought instead of me trying to explain what I'm getting myself into, I thought I would give you direct quotes from LCT herself.

Regarding the shelving that is in both of our closets:

It's that container store elfa stuff that is all removable and adjustable.... I was freaking out originally and now am not nearly as worried...

Regarding bathroom etiquette:

Also, do you want me to quit brushing my teeth in the shower/bath- I developed this habit several months ago and can easily quit, but thought maybe you did this too?!

Regarding bathroom decor:

If you're cool with my shower curtain, let's roll with it... or I was even thinking about getting a simple one and getting "Cankels and Petikei" monogrammed- thoughts?

Regarding Move In Day:

I left some frozen grapes in the freezer for us as chill bites for saturday- how many points are they?! I like to think of them as flavored water?!

I know many of you have missed hearing from LCT lately, so hopefully this will give you a little something to hold you tight before her next blog entry. And if you're in the area tomorrow, come by for some chill bites!!

Love you, L!! :)

I is for Ikea...

2009-08-24T10:38:00.000-07:00

... and I should have been more prepared.

More prepared for this monstrosity that is closer to Six Flags than a home decor store. Do people go there on a regular basis or is this a place to weave your aerodynamic cart around for a special trip for a 99 cent potato peeler once every 10 years?

I is also for I was completely confused. From the store maps, to the custom granite, to the weird meatballs, to the warehouse at the end... my mind is still overwhelmed 24 hours later.

There was of course a slight issiue that made the whole trip just that much more challenging. While walking thru the VERY FIRST ROOM (there are about 500), I tripped and broke my flip flop, making it unwearable. Thankfully the floors are really slick, so I just drug my shoe underneath my foot the whole time, not being able to pick up my foot or else I'd lose my shoe and the herd of super saver shoppers would completely flatten me. YES, this did wreck havok on my cankle, thanks for asking. And YES, wagging this extremity behind me the entire time did have a very club-foot feel to it, which is always awesome.

The best part was after we went thru the entire store, got our $1 ice cream cones (only 1 weight watcher point!) and were headed out into the parking lot, I realized I couldn't scoot my foot along the pavement like I could inside, so I just walked barefoot... until I realized the ground was a LITERAL 128 degrees. So that wouldn't work. But this did:

Action Shot:

thanks for the lift, jay-bird. never dull moment on a lea family outing.

also- huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge highlight to my life last night. my mom and i had a date night to go see none other than...

oh it was just SO GOOD!!! who needs NYC... we like it when the stars come to us. the woman who played elphaba deserves an oscar, tony, grammy, dundie- you name it- she is THAT good. what a TREAT to get to hang with my mom and escape to emerald city for a few hours. thanks lutie & roxie :) seeing that makes me wonder if i completely missed my life's calling and should be on stage somewhere. surely i've mentioned i played molly in the vive les arts production of annie for the killeen community theater when i was 7? i was hoping the wicked cast would come out to meet and greet after the performance so i could tell them alllllll about my stage history. and then they'd immediately percieve my natural talent and ask me to fill in as elphie's understudy and then she'd mention she's bored and wanted to quit anyway, so she's just going to give the part to me and off i would go into the broadway sunset. too bad that cast didn't come out.......

Hmmm.

2009-08-21T12:48:00.000-07:00

At any given point this summer, I've been between at least three houses. I'm pretty good at being organized about it and keeping up with where I am and where this/that is located... But I think it all just caught up with me.

I was in line at the post office this morning and reached for my wallet and when I pulled it out, something fell on the floor.

Underwear.

A pair of my underwear fell out of my purse and onto the post office floor in front of God and everyone. When did those even get in there? So after picking them up, cramming them back in my bag, and walking out acting like that was completely normal, I got in my car and had to see for myself what else could possibly be in this treasure trove of mine.

The contents of my purse are as follows:
wallet
fil-o-fax
lip gloss
elle magazine
1 liter fiji water bottle
the infamous unmentionable
a kitchen knife
nail polish
mail from last 2 wks
one flip flop
hair conditioner
gum

It's not a carry on, it's a purse. How does all that even fit and how have I not had some sort of hernia for lugging this stuff around all day everyday? Not sure what the answers are, but for all those multi-taskers out there, this bag's for you:

Sorry to steal thunder from Fabulous Find Friday, T, but I had no idea how fabulous a find I had until right this very second. (Sidenote: I sell HOBO bags at a discount and that is exactly what the above bag is, but they have retired this style, can you believe it? So I unfortunately cannot order you one of these Mary Poppins catch-alls. But will you please take a look at this one? Love. Let me know if you ever want me to order you something from HOBO- they are the best!)

And have no fear, all of you out there who are worried about my nomadic lifestyle- I will be moving into my new HOME next Saturday!!! LCT and I are living together for the first time ever... Along with Uncle Rico, aka Jeffy. Oh the amount of eggs and laughter made under that rooftop will be too numerous to count!

Pics of our abode to come! Until then...

enjoying my hump day

2009-07-30T09:10:00.000-07:00

i woke up yesterday and was ready to give up. quit. evaporate. it's so damn hot i can't even think and i'm just done.

but as luck would have it, i ended up having the best day. since i'm pretty sure everyone else is getting as sick as i am of baking in this never-ending pre-heating oven, i will kindly pass along to you my plethora of activities yesterday. i highly recommend them all as things to do to get your mind off this:

1.) my brother and i work about 20 feet away from each other, so if i'm ever needing to feed my sweet tooth, i wander down to his office for a handful of marshmallow jelly bellys. yesterday the beans just weren't cutting it. we both needed more and we knew only one thing would do the trick. enter: my personal heaven.

2.) austin farmer's market! it has been so long since i have been to one and i just love the atmosphere of these little local nuggets. the only one during the week is on wednesdays from 4pm to 8pm at the triangle. after my hibiscus-mint tea lemonade (!!), i visited the 5 s ranch and farm booth and bought a pound of vegetables i didn't even know existed.

white squash. i got a great recipe on how to fry them in cornmeal and was also shown how to grill them. are you impressed, little kitchen?!

3.) chedd's! a new eatery in the triangle shopping center where all they serve are grilled cheeses. i'm not too big of a cheese person, but grilled cheese sandys, i can definitely do. the bread is awesome, the cheese flavors and "extras" are too numerous and yummy to count, the outcome is delicious. who would've thought.

4.) 500 days of summer. i think i would've seen g.i. joe: rise of the cobra at this point. anything to get me inside a dark, air-conditioned environment for an hour. but seeing as how g.i. joe doesn't come out until this weekend, i went to a mid-week showing of this cute, kinda corny, rom-com instead. the best part was that wednesdays are matinee-all-day prices at the arbor theater! what a Wink. i'm not going to say anything about the movie, so don't worry, babs. let's just say a VERY special surprise makes a cameo at the very end! and i love hall and oates.

sounds like a pretty fun day, right?! i think i've decided to go on living. and then, wouldn't you know it, it actually poured liquid from the sky this morning. things are looking up.

i have two words for you

2009-07-28T07:37:00.000-07:00

pear. shaped.

finally... some awareness!!!

2009-07-27T11:15:00.000-07:00

i hope that through this blog you have been enlightened on several different subjects. but no subject more than what the

video below is about. i have been praying for media attention on this matter for years now and am VERY relieved to know

this SERIOUS HEALTH CONCERN is getting proper light shed on it. i speak for myself and those who suffer with me when i

say- THANK YOU, NATALIE MORALES...

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

and here is an actual wall street jounal article about it!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124830850199074223.html

i mean, this is kind of funny, right? why didn't the producers do a google search for "cankle" and see this blog pop up?! or what if we did pop up and the nbc intern thought our site was dumb? this could be my strike #2 against nbc morning programming. (strike #1 being ann curry.) one more mis-step and i might have to switch it to saved by the bell re-runs on tbs... or worse... fox and friends. at least that would mean my grandpa and i would always have something to talk about.

soooo, anyhoo...

it just occured to me i have never shared my story of how i came to have:

...cankles.

i was a senior in college, working as a very serious sales girl at scribbles in waco, texas. scribbles, as i'm sure you can tell by the name, was a prestigious stationary company with demanding hours and a lot of responsibility. for instance, in the 2 days a week that i had to go in (for 4 hours), i had to make sure all the displays were dusted and the money added up correctly when we closed. luckily i had this lady to share the burden with me.

so one day, i got there a tad late, and i ran in and abby and i immediately started acting like we were working so our boss wouldn't glare at us, but we were really probably just going over the latest greek life scoop (awesome...) and all of a sudden, abby goes, "um, sarah? what's wrong with your ankle?"

i looked down and my left foot was twice the size as my right and was completely red and tingling!! we kept looking at it and blinking a lot, making sure we weren't just seeing things, and after careful consideration (and pressing our thumbs down on it, only to have the thumbprint STICK), we decided to call the baylor health clinic. i rushed in and surprisingly, they did not tell me it was mono (which was their diagnosis for anyone with any symptom whatsoever)... instead, they basically just said it was nothing and to get over myself.

thankfully, the redness subsided after a day or two, but the swelling did not. we also noticed a small red bump on the side of my ankle, which i then concluded must be a brown recluse spider bite. you see, the night before the revelation at scribbles, i had been traipsing around an open field looking for a rigor mortis corpse for my csi class and all of a sudden, it made sense that it was a bite and the venom would run its course through my bloodstream and my foot would be back to normal in no time.

that was six years ago.

i've been to umpteen different doctors and they all say, "yep. it's swollen alright." but that's it! so after reading the article above and watching the today show video... is my only hope getting cankle liposuction?!?! and the weird thing is that now my other ankle swells sometimes, too. especially after long days in heels. what is the problem here??? bad circulation? genetics? gluten sensitivity? has anyone had to deal with this and found a cure? oh i would just love you forever if you would pass on any helpful information.

so there you have it. you have now read the story of how sem got her cankle. that's five minutes of your life you'll never get back. but you are most welcome.

forever

2009-07-24T07:29:00.000-07:00

i heard bobby bones this morning talk about how he had huge "alligator tears" after watching this... i don't know if it's because i miss chris breezy so much or what, but i'm sitting here like a big ol' sobbing reptile now, too. so cute. love it when people are so in love.