Why Stop at 5 (or 6)... Another Christmas Song

In other words, this is my blog and I can make up the rules, so here's another Christmas song.  I'm just now discovering this, but wowsers.  The lyrics, the vocals.  I'm sold.  And you're welcome.

Top 5 Friday - Favorite Christmas Albums

I'm alive.  For those wondering, I got married and have now relocated across the United States.  Wedding pictures and details to come, you know, once I actually have wedding pictures.  Soon, hopefully.

Anywho, Christmas music.  I'm firmly in the camp that you don't start listening to it until the day after Thanksgiving.  I think it's a shame two such fabulous holidays are crammed in back to back months, but I have my rules and I follow them.  And when I bring out the Christmas music there are so tried and true classics that I can't make it through the holiday without.  In no particular order here are my top 5 favorites with a bonus honorable mention at the end.

1. Amy Grant - A Christmas Album -- Let's just say it starts off right with "Tennessee Christmas" and gets better from there.  I have so many memories of this being the go to Christmas cassette as a child and then being thrilled beyond words when my best friend in high school gifted me with a CD. 

2. Mariah Carey - Merry Christmas -- Girlfriend has pipes and she knows how to use them.  From the classic hymns "Silent Night" and "O Holy Night" which she so eloquently and powerfully sings to "All I Want For Christmas Is You" the album is perfectly done and never gets old.  

3. Charlie Daniels - Christmastime Down South -- If Tennessee isn't your thing, Charlie has you covered with a blanket song regarding the festive season in the South or you can hear him sing about Carolina and Mississippi.  Another classic from growing up and one I'm pretty sure my family owns multiple copies of because we all love it.  Not a song to be skipped.

4. Casting Crowns - Peace on Earth -- My newest Christmas album addition.  I said a few years ago I didn't need any more Christmas CDs, but this was worth 3 times what I paid for it.  If "While You Were Sleeping" doesn't make you think extra about the real meaning of this season, then listen again.

5. Steven Curtis Chapman - The Music of Christmas -- Suffice it to say I've been a fan of his since seeing him for $2 at Carson Newman College many many moons ago.  This was his first Christmas album and, like Amy Grant, I feel things just started off right.  "Christmas is all in the Heart" really resonates with me every time I listen to the song.  Starting 5 years ago I had to travel home for Christmas and realized it isn't about how much I decorate my house, though I try to do something, but it's about the attitude of the heart and what's in there that matters.

So there.  If someone said to me "You're only allowed to keep 5 CDs out of that Christmas CD box" these are the 5 I would grab and not second guess.  There are others that I enjoy, but these are my favorites and receive the most play time.  And whether I'm in the South, the Northwest, or overseas if I can hear these albums I don't need Christmas decorations to appreciate the beauty that is this sacred holiday.

Honorable Mention -- NeedToBreathe "Go Tell It On The Mountain".  Y'all, it's only a single, but they nailed it.  You can bet if they release a Christmas CD it will probably need to be the 6 CDs that I would need to grab because I don't think they can go wrong.  And because I love all 3 of you readers so much, here it is in all of its glory.

Why I Pinterest

2 posts ago I explained why I don't do Facebook.  Today I'll tell you why I do embrace Pinterest.  If you're looking for a blog entry to justify why you don't Pinterest, look no further than my dear friend More Lucy.  She explains why she stays away from this particular area of the interweb.  And she's a much better writer than I am.  Please don't leave me for her.  

Here's the deal.  I like to cook.  (I do not like to clean-up.)  I like to do crafty things.  (I don't always finish them.)  I like to look at pretty things.  Over and over again.  I have bookmarks, and folders, and folders within folders of things I've been saving.  And I look at them every so often.  And sometimes I feel inspired and I make them.  So Pinterest for me, seemed like a pretty way for me to organize all my bookmarks into boards that were easy to see and keep track of.  Like file folders in my home.  You see, my home is never Martha Stewart clean.  It never will be.  I'm a realist.  However, if you need to find something in my home paper related, I'm 99.9% sure you can open my file cabinet, find the appropriately labeled green hanging folder, then the related manila folder within that folder to find what you need.  On Pinterest, if I want to find a recipe that I've pinned (ie bookmarked to Pinterest), I just go to that board and find my recipe.  Makes me happy.

Now, do I have any aspiration that I will ever make 98% of the crafts I've pinned?  No.  Do I think I'll ever organize my house the way 98% of the organizational tips I've pinned would have me do it.  No.  But I will probably cook 50% of the recipes or some version of them.  Right now I am not too into doing these because I'm trying to eat food in my house rather than buying new food.  But I did take this recipe the other night as an inspirational starting point to use up some quinoa and carrots I had.  However, I was craving pizza so I dipped mine in pizza sauce.

Oh, and the best part...more boards!  Once I started making recipes, I created a board of things I've cooked and liked.  If I didn't like them they were deleted from the board.  Case in point, some shrimp marinade that everyone claimed was amazing and was so bland I felt bad for the shrimp that they met their maker soaking in it.  But if I did like them and would consider making them again, they get repinned to the board of winners!  Then I can easily find them again.  And I can make notes either in the pin or the comments on what I changed (if anything.)

So, that concludes why I Pinterest, even though my house will never look like this and I will never have this bathroom.  But still, a girl can dream, right?

P.S. If you want to follow me on Pinterest and see what crazy things I'm thinking of cooking or how I plan to remodel the house (haha) you can find me here.

Why the Internet Drives Me Crazy (Part 2)

For Part 1 you can read this post.  Again, my blog, my views, my right to rant.

Here's the deal.  I don't like people.  I mean, I do like people, but having to interact with people when I can do something online just seems stupid.  Case in point: all the national pizza places have apps.  Guess which app gets used the 3rd most on my phone?  Yep, you got it.  Why make a phone call when I can do it all on my phone and not have to a) listen to horrible music, b) be greeted with a "thank you for calling XYZ pizza, can you hold {click}" (um, maybe I can't?), and c) I don't have to repeat my order, make sure they got it right, blah,blah, blah, because I type it in and I get an email verifying what I have ordered.  Makes sense to me.

So, here's my current pet peeve.  I'm researching the best way to move me and my belongings across this great country we live in.  Movers,  booked.  Car moving.... I want to scream!  I have submitted my information through several services on the WWW and guess what?  They required me to give them my phone number.  And now they WILL NOT LEAVE ME ALONE.  Guess what!?!?!  This is why I don't like people.  This is why I could never be in sales.  You don't want my product.  Ok.  Someone else will.  That is my philosophy.  So companies, if you want me to do business with you, the reason I used the internet and not a phone is because I don't want to talk to you until we need to work out the nuts and bolts of this move.  So please, for the love of all that is good in this world, leave me alone.  I told you yesterday, I told you today, and I'll tell you again tomorrow.  When I'm ready to talk to you, you'll know it.

Why I Don't Facebook

One thing that really annoys my friends is that I'm not on Facebook.  Stop it friends, you know it annoys you because you have to email me photos.  Oh, and I expect personal updates on your lives.  Yep.  I make you email me, and call me, and text me when things are happening in your life.  So yeah, I'm that annoying person who doesn't let you just put in on your Timeline (what the heck is that anyways?) and let me read it in real time.  Oh, you don't want to be that type of friend who gives me actual updates on your life?  Well, then chances are you weren't really a "friend" to begin with.  

That is one of the top reasons I quit Facebook. Relationships felt too superficial. I was also tired of that onslaught of requests to friend people I went to high school with (did we ever talk?) or to friend people I met at a wedding/party/social event.  Work people, yeah I won't friend you.  There's a balance there that must be kept and if I have to spend all day with you, I don't need you reading my snark on the interweb after hours.  As I started deleting these so-called friends from my friend list, Facebook in their infinite wisdom would suggest to the person that we should be friends and they would resubmit a request (or 2 or 3) that I would decline.  Then Facebook made one of their brilliant security changes that ended up making one of my albums I had marked private to public.  I missed that one.  Then some less than stellar human being stole my pictures and put them on her own wall, claiming my niece as part of her family.  Yeah, that was my breaking point.  So I deactivated my account.  It was almost 2 years ago when I pulled the plug.  Have I missed it?  Occasionally because there are some people who fall into the real friend category who refuse to email me pictures.  I still love them, I just wouldn't recognize their children.  :-)  But I don't miss the drama, I don't miss the time it sucked out of my day, and I don't miss how everything revolved around it.  Because really, is Facebook what it is really about?  I don't think so.  I have friends who rely on Facebook because they have moved around a lot and have several good friends interspersed throughout the world they keep in touch with.  I don't judge you if it works for you and it is your lifeline to keep in contact with people who are special to you.  It just wasn't for me.  

Now that I am not on Facebook, I have scheduled phone calls with AW, she emails me pictures and monologues about her travels and inner thoughts (rather than  brief note on my wall or a truncated Facebook message.) SS and I talk regularly. My friend TH posts pictures of her newly adopted little one on Twitter or her blog so I can keep up with his progress.  She gives me more grief than others because I make her do this extra step, but she rolls with it.  DW, yeah, I email her annoying questions until she writes a blog update for me to read about her kiddos.  P.S. come October wait until you see her oldest in the most beautiful princess dress preceding me down the aisle!  All those other people (I think I was hovering around +/- 200 when I pulled the plug) just weren't that important.  

I've noticed a trend now where people are starting to question if Facebook is healthy for their lives as well.  The following two articles made it across my computer screen yesterday, and while I didn't delete Facebook for all the reasons they did, or go to the effort to make sure their account was wiped as clean as the one guy did, they put their reasons into a much more articulate form than I ever could.  So, if you want more articulated thoughts on why I say no to this online tool, you can check out these articles as well.

http://tentblogger.com/bye-facebook/

http://dsonsblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/why-im-logging-off-facebookfor-good.html

P.S. Occasionally I say I'm going to create a super-secret-no-one-can-find-me-I-have-to-find-you account, but let's face it.  It's probably not going to happen because Facebook will change a setting, then everyone will find me, and then what was the point.  I'm also not going to create one with my dog's name so I can have one people can't find.  I know a girl who did that.  Works for her, not for me.  Sorry, I don't want my identity tied to that of my canine.  

P.P.S. Proctor & Gamble, Nestle, Kimberly-Clark, etc....I don't "like" any of your products enough to need you stalking my life either just so I can have a coupon.  Sorry, go back to the old form of providing coupons and stay out of my personal life.  

Living in Harmony -- A Book Review

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Living in Harmony Harvest House Publishers (August 1, 2012) by Mary Ellis

Let me start off by saying I really enjoyed this book!  I have always enjoyed Amish fiction, but this book took a new twist on it that push it to the top of the list of my favorite Amish books.  I enjoyed how Mary Ellis made it very realistic to the current environment an Amish person might experience and placed a lot more emphasis on actual thoughts and inner battles that a young person would have rather than making it all sugar coated and predictable.  Not to say the book isn't predictable, but I enjoyed the various twists and turns more than the normal cookie cutter approach.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Living in Harmony is the first book in bestselling author Mary Ellis's New Beginnings series. It's about fresh starts and love...and how faith in God and His perfect plan for our lives provides us with the peace and joy we desire.

Amy King--young, engaged, and Amish--faces difficult challenges in her life when she suddenly loses both of her parents in a house fire. Her fiancé, John Detweiler, persuades her and her sister Nora to leave Lancaster County and make a new beginning with him in Harmony, Maine, where he has relatives who can help the women in their time of need.

John's brother Thomas and sister-in-law Sally readily open their home to the three newcomers. Wise beyond his years, Thomas, a minister in the district, refuses to marry Amy and John upon their arrival, suggesting instead a period of adjustment and counseling.

During this time Amy discovers an aunt who was shunned. She wishes to reconnect with her, but this puts a strain on her relationship with John.

Can John and Amy find a way to live in happily in Harmony before making a lifetime commitment to one another?

If you would like to read the first chapter of Living in Harmony, go HERE.

Mt. Rainier and the Gondola Ride

It's quite the big deal around these parts of the Pacific Northwest when the sky around Mount Rainier (14,411') is clear and she makes her grand debut.  Last week I told the future Mr. that if it were pretty on Saturday we should drive down to Crystal Mountain Resort and ride the gondola to the top to see the mountain even closer.  My dear friend Abi is visiting from the Charleston area and I thought it would be a fun day trip.  It turned out even  better than I could have imagined.  If you're ever in this area and the day is crystal clear, I suggest this for an outing.

Getting ready to board the gondola for the ride up.

 As you step off the gondola, this is the view you are greeted with.  They have chairs, but the gentleman in the lower right corner brought his own.  He sat there the whole time we were there.  Breathtaking views for an afternoon sit.

The view looking back down at Crystal Mountain Resort.  The gondola path is on the right.

 While there, you can dine at Summit House Restaurant.  We were lucky enough to score a table on the patio and this was our view.  This is the highest restaurant in Washington State.  The food was very good.  Abi got a homemade ginger-ale and it was amazing!

 After lunch we hiked to the top of Grubstake Point (6877') and I got this shot of Mt. Rainier peaking out between the trees.  P.S. and by hiked, I mean it was about a 30' hike up to this point, but is was a higher elevation than the Summit House (6872').

And if you're on top of a mountain looking over at another pretty mountain, you might as well have some fun with the 'rock' you wear every day.  :-)

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Take me out to the crowds. 

Seriously, it's one of the few times I like crowded places.

Buy me some take-out Chinese food and garlic fries.

Love me some bbq pork, duck, and fries topped with so much garlic the apple slices at the end are so refreshing.

Picture some yummy food here...I was too hungry to consider taking a picture.

I don't care if I never get back

Really, I could do this every day.  Except I'd need a more comfortable seat.

For it's root, root, root for the home team

The Mariners are the team to cheer for out here.  I'll always be a Braves fan at heart.

If they don't win it's a shame (They won!)

We missed the perfect game by a few days, but I'll always remember where I was when I heard the news.  Cake tasting...yum!

For it's 1, 2, 3 strikes you're out at the old ball game.

After the game, the kids (future nephews) got to run around the bases.  A highlight for them!

The Weather

So, yeah, it's come down to me having to talk about the weather to have blog material.  Just kidding!  However, I do want to address the weather I've experienced for the last week.  90 degrees.  Seattle (I mean Renton) what the heck?  I thought we had an agreement.  I love you in your upper 70s... and even into your lower 80s.  But twice this month you've been over 90.  Enough!  Let's just hang out in the upper 70s and lower 80s and be friends.  OK?  On a high note, at least the future Mr. put in air conditioning a couple of years ago so we have it better than some. 

Over the Edge - A Book Review

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Over The Edge Bethany House (August 1, 2012) by Mary Connealy

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:



Mary Connealy writes romantic comedy with cowboys. She is a Christy Award Finalist, a Carol Award Finalist and an IRCC Award finalist.

The Lassoed in Texas Series, Petticoat Ranch, Calico Canyon and Gingham Mountain. Petticoat Ranch was a Carol Award Finalist. Calico Canyon was a Christy Award Finalist and a Carol Award Finalist. These three books are now contained in one large volume called Lassoed in Texas Trilogy.

The Montana Marriages Series, Montana Rose, The Husband Tree and Wildflower Bride. Montana Rose was a Carol Award Finalist.

Cowboy Christmas—the 2010 Carol Award for Best Long Historical Romance, and an Inspirational Readers Choice Contest Finalist.

The Sophie's Daughters series. Doctor in Petticoats, Wrangler in Petticoats, Sharpshooter in Petticoats.

She is also the author of; Black Hills Blessing a 3-in-1 collection of sweet contemporary romances, Nosy in Nebraska, a 3-in-1 collection of cozy romantic mysteries and she's one of the three authors contributing to Alaska Brides with her Carol Award Winning historical romance Golden Days.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Seth Kincaid survived a fire in a cave, but he's never been the same. He was always a reckless youth, but now he's gone over the edge. He ran off to the Civil War and came back crazier than ever.

After the war, nearly dead from his injuries, it appears Seth got married. Oh, he's got a lot of excuses, but his wife isn't happy to find out Seth doesn't remember her. Callie has searched, prayed, and worried. Now she's come to the Kincaid family's ranch in Colorado to find her lost husband.

Callie isn't a long-suffering woman. Once she knows her husband is alive, she wants to kill him. She's not even close to forgiving him for abandoning her.

Then more trouble shows up in the form of a secret Seth's pa kept for years. The Kincaid brothers might lose their ranch if they can't sort things out. It's enough to drive a man insane--but somehow it's all making Seth see things more clearly. And now that he knows what he wants, no one better stand in his way.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Over The Edge, go HERE.

Conference Call: A True Story

If you work in corporate America and participate in conference calls ever, this will apply to you.

Brain Dump

• The Olympics.  I love them.  I loathe NBC's coverage, CNNs insistence on putting spoilers on the home page as breaking news, and the lack of attention to the actual games and more on jumping around and showing stupid commercials for Fall programming.

• However, I am looking forward to Fall shows coming back on.  Revenge, you are a dish best served in my living room on a weekly basis and not just during the regular season.  I miss you.

• I have been watching the new Dallas.  I remember watching the original Dallas at my babysitter's house.  I remember loving JR back then.  Some things never change.

• Amazon Prime instant movie and tv show viewing on my ipad.  Yes, Please, and Thank You!  I had just lamented to my friend Adam the other day that it was the thing I missed the most on the ipad versus an Android tablet.  Complain and Amazon delivers apparently.  I'll take it!  I highly recommend Downton Abbey and The West Wing.  Fine dramas at my fingertips.  Love!

• Speaking of my love of Amazon, a few weeks ago I realized all my socks were wearing out, the elastic wouldn't keep them above my shoes, and I now live in the country which means no specialty running stores.  Naturally I panicked and then tried some from Wal-Mart.  Yeah, not so much.  Then I remembered I have Amazon Prime so online I went.  New socks in two days.  Score!  

• Speaking of geek toys, I now own an iphone and a Droid.  I'm leaning toward loving the Droid more. It has a keyboard.  Call me old, but I like the keyboard.  Typing on a screen just leaves me frazzled and stressed and something that is supposed to help my life should not stress me out.  Oh and I'm still on unlimited data so I can create a wireless hotspot at any time and not worry about my bill.  Yeah, I kinda like that feature as well.  

• Two Thursday ago I was able to change my plane tickets and fly to Seattle a day early and surprise the future Mr.  It was fun.  Especially watching him try to figure out how I was texting him a picture of the event he was at real time.  Our whole relationship has been while dating long distance so surprises are hard since it's all planned around plane schedules.  Quite possibly one of my favorite moments of our relationship ever. 

• Moving...it's expensive.  Especially when it's cross country and involves transporting a vehicle.  Forget a registry, donations to U-Haul would be more appropriate.  Kidding.  Sort of.

• I miss my juicer.  Kind of wishing I had made room for it in my suitcase.  Or shipped it seperately.  Call me crazy, but I love juicing vegetables and fruits (beet + carrot + apple + spinach = really tasty) and drinking them for breakfast and lunch.  My waistline sure appreciated them too.

When Automation Is Annoying: A Tale of Toilets (and Sinks and Soap)

Here's the thing, I am a fan of modern conveniences, fun new trinkets, and the latest in technology.  I'm currently a little weirded out by the touch pad in my rental car this week, but that's a different post for a different day.  Today I want to talk about the bathroom.

Here's the thing, it's swell they figured out how to automatically flush a toilet.  It's not swell that they always seem to flush when you're still sitting on them, and yet either don't flush at all when you go to exit the stall or they flush too quickly and you're all "EW, this just spewed on the back of my clothes, backpack, purse, etc."

So you vacate the stall and walk to the sink, only to find the soap and water are also automatic.  And they don't work.  Or maybe the soap works at the sink you've approached, but the water won't spit out.  So you're walking around trying to find a sink that will give you water.  While balancing a backpack and a carry on.  And if you're really lucky in order to activate the sensor you have to practically touch the back of the sink to get the water to come.  UGH...not cool, automation people, not cool.

Finally you have clean hands...and now you have to wave them in front of a paper towel dispenser to get something to dry them with. And 99.9% of the time this actually works.  Thank you paper towel companies for being superior to toilet and sink companies.  Oh, and Dyson, your hand dryers are so futuristic and awesome, but I wonder if you aren't blowing dirty, germy, unclean air onto my just cleaned hands.  Please tell me you're using a filter and that it gets cleaned regularly, unlike the air filter in my house or at the laundromat.

Note: Props to O'hare for having automatic toilet seat covers.  I wave my hand, the seat cover spins around and my bum sits on a nice clean piece of plastic.  I hope.  

Friday Funny

Anyone who knows my family knows that my dad is the king of practical jokes, stories, and any such antic involving the above.  He and I have been known to scheme, but we rarely try to pull things over on him.  So this morning, Doodlebug had a friend over, and was playing a joke on her.  My parents recently made some changes to their cable and now have two remotes.  Doodlebug told her friend that if she talked to the TV it would turn on, change channels, etc.  However, there was a remote hidden under a blanket that Doodlebug was using to control everything.  My dad walked in while this practical joke was occurring and started saying channels as well and the TV went where he said.  Later, my mom walks into the living room and my dad is standing there saying "TV on."  And of course nothing happens.  He said "C, did you change anything on the TV?"  And she said "No, what are you doing."  So he replied "The voice commands aren't working now."  So they yell for Doodlebug to come downstairs and he asks her what she did to the TV to make the voice commands stop working.  I promise, if my parents had hidden cameras, I would pay them $50 a viewing to watch my dad standing in front of the TV commanding it to come on followed by Doodlebug explaining how she was playing a trick on her friend (which ended up making the friend mad.)  The best part is, she had no idea she was pulling one over on him too...just an innocent trick against a 10 year old friend ended up getting the best of a 63 year old man.  Made. My. Day.

Friday: A Good Day for a List

1.  I can't stop making (and eating) this dish by How Sweet Eats: Carmalized Chicken with Mushrooms and Onions.  So far my two favorites were with a nice Biltmore Pinot Grigio and a Barefoot Wines Chardonney that would not have made for good drinking, but made a delectable sauce.  I also made it for a family with a new baby and used chicken broth rather than wine, if you don't want to indulge.  Best part: it's done, start to finish in less than 15 minutes.   That includes me getting the ingredients out of the fridge and chopping the onion.

2. Tuesday night I was making the above and didn't feel like dredging the chicken in flour because a) I always feel guilty for wasting the flour and b) I didn't want to have to get a plate out of the china cabinet so I wasn't sure where to put the flour to even dredge the chicken if I wanted to.  So I got a small strainer out (maybe 3 inches wide) and put a bit of flour in and lightly dusted each side of the chicken.  Worked like a charm.  And that saved more flour for..

3. BISCUITS!  One of the top gifts I have ever been given (Thanks S!) was the book Southern Biscuits.  So far I have only made one recipe, but I've made it many times.  Last time I made it my dad said he had thought I used  Grands.  That was a compliment because he prefers my mom use grands as to make biscuits.

4. Wedding Planning.  Thankfully YOJ Events is handling a lot of the big stuff for me (Candice is a dear friend and a kick butt event (not just wedding) planner.)  However, I've done things like book venues, find dresses (eek, I'm in LOVE with mine), work on invitations, etc.

5. Here's the future Mr.  Well, I guess technically he's already a mister, but he's the Mr. half of the future Mr. &  Mrs.   Thankfully my future MIL took this picture because the above Mr., who is the official photographer of the two of us, failed to take any pictures when the actual event occurred.

6. I need to write a post on why I don't do Facebook.  MoreLucy wrote why she doesn't Pinterest which reminded me I need to write why I don't Facebook.

7. I do Pinterest.  It's where I store the link to the recipe for #1.  And where I store all the ideas I see for inspirations.  I think my favorite thing is storing the recipes.  And then having a place where I can store the ones I've tried that are keepers.  If they aren't a keeper, they just get deleted.  All I can say is I accomplish 5% of the crafts on my boards, I'll have a darn cute house for Christmas and a similarly spooky one for Halloween.  Also, my family will eat a nice balance of healthy and not so healthy food.

8. Today marks 99 days left of being a single girl.  I have not been counting down, but was updating a registry yesterday and they told me 100 days so I assume today would be 99.  Don't ask me 3 week from next Thursday how many days because I won't be able to tell you.  I'm excited, but I'm not obsessed.

9. Happy Friday and Happy Weekend!  May all 3 of you who read this have a great weekend full of wonderful Summer memories.

The Longest Day of my Life

Today is the longest daylight hours of the year.  I am in Canada.  The days are longer here than in the Southern United States.  Therefore today is the longest day of my life.  And the shortest night.

I have just confirmed for all my random readers exactly how much of a dork I am.  You are welcome.

Thursday Thankfulness

This morning I sent an email to my music BFF with the subject line "Food."  It has encompassed my craving for an amazing Mediterranean restaurant near her, bacon of the month clubs (Praise the LORD for the New Testament), and finally this recipe which is on repeat at my house.  I suggest a Pinot Grigio.

Really, what's not to love about an email chain related to food.  Unless you back up to yesterday where we had an email chain about "Les Miserables", actresses who do controversial roles to get Hollywood's attention, and our love of all things Broadway.

Of course then you could back up two days to our chat where her boss made her pack up her things, walked her to a coffee shop, bought her drink and told her to work there the rest of the day.

So, today I am thankful for gmail.  And friendship rooted in music, food, theater, and a deep love of our Lord.  And for the fact that this friendship was grown and strengthened through gchat when we were living half a world a way from each other and keeps us in contact now that we are in the same time zone.  

Quick Update & Intentional Giving #2

Yes, I'm alive.  Very much alive, very much ENGAGED, but more to come on that.  I promise not to bore you with details you don't care about, but I will give you some details.  Like I bet you want to see a picture of the Mr.  Am I right?  Yeah, I thought so.  You'd probably also like to know that I no longer live in the low country.  Yeah, updates, updates, updates.  However, it is more imperative that I do an intentional giving update first because you can participate and have a chance to win an ipad 2!

In my last post I talked about supporting my friends who were adopting internationally.  This time I want to focus on a couple who are adopting domestically.  I love that I have people in my life that God is guiding down the same road but through different paths.  It's always amazing to see Him work out who He wants to raise the baby in China and the baby down the street.  Like Peter & Tanya, I met Matt & Tricia through church.  Tricia is a rock star when it comes to helping with the children's ministry and she has now taken over my beloved job of scheduling the volunteers.  (Saying extra prayers for you Tricia!)  Even if you can't make a donation now, take the time to stop and pray for those families who are waiting on babies with paper pregnancies and even lift up those who have just brought new ones home as they acclimate themselves to a new environment and lifestyle.

So until the next post be thinking of ways you can pay it forward, with even the simplest thing like holding open a door for someone.  

Intentional Giving - #1

One of my goals for this year is to be more intentional with my giving.  I want to be able to share what I have with people and organizations I feel passionately about and believe in what they are doing.  I will be giving to organizations who use their money wisely and don't contribute the funds into other organizations in which I do not support.  In an effort to be accountable for this, I plan on blogging about 24 of these opportunities.  I want to share opportunities that may encourage you to give or make you think outside the box on options for helping out your neighbors near and far.  I realize that in the grand scheme of life in the United States and even more so in the grand scheme of life on planet Earth I am blessed.  I have the privilege of working in an industry that provides me with a paycheck that I feel should be shared.  My life goals are not to be a millionaire, but to be able to provide for myself and give above and beyond what the standard is.  So without further gibberish, here's the first of my 24 opportunities.

I love kids!  I don't have any of my own nor am I in a position in my life where I want or need a kid.  However, my friends are having them left and right and I LOVE IT!  But I also have friends who are adding to their families through adoption.  And let me tell you, knowing someone who is adopting will change your life.  The first intentional donation I am making for this year is to the Bring Will Home fund.  I met Peter and Tanya through my church and their passion for orphans and adoptions is almost contagious.  Spend any time around them and you will be changed: you may not want to adopt but you'll want to help someone adopt.  So I would challenge you to this: find someone you know who is adopting and help them out.  Whether it is through contributing items to a yard sale fundraiser they are having or just skipping that $5 latte and giving that money to them, you will be blessed, they will be blessed, and a family-less child will be blessed.  And if you don't know anyone who is adopting, but you want to help someone out in this way check out Peter and Tanya's journey here.  I'm sure once they are done fundraising they'll also know more families who are working their way toward adoption and every penny counts.