Things I'm thinking about right now
How badly I want to throw away/donate my scarf and hat because I am so tired of wearing them
How my gloves are basically a kleenex because as soon as I step outside my nasal passages open like a drain
How I'd rather the sun not come out when it's 9 degrees outside because that is just deceptive
How my coffee never stays warm in my "insulated" thermos because we live in the arctic, apparently
How much I hate, hate, hate dust bunnies and how they appear everywhere even when I try to stay on top of dusting
How Dan and I technically don't have a day to celebrate our 6 month anniversary because there is no February 30th. Grrr.
Things I'm looking forward to right now
The weekend. Because, always
Being able to throw away/donate my scarf and hat as soon as spring comes
Spring decorating
The arrival of some fabric I ordered to make some coordinates for my kitchen!
Going to Target on Friday night and stocking up on all the things
Things I wish I could improve
Getting out of bed 15 minutes earlier so I have time to do something nice with my hair
Meal planning. I still haven't gotten used to purchasing a weeks worth of food to serve 4 people
My attitude at work. Because, always.
February 26, 2015
February 24, 2015
Last bits of the weekend
This past weekend was quite busy and fun. We stayed at a hotel for a mini retreat and then indulged our inner child at the circus.
Sunday, in a word: exhausting.
After church I went to the store and spent the rest of the day in the kitchen. I was bringing over two meals to a church family that just had a baby and moved apartments. Since I was already in the kitchen I just decided to go all out.
I made dinner for us which was a yummy crock-pot soup with sausage, potatoes, and kale. Recipe here.
I also made a lasagna for the family to freeze for later, brownies to eat now, and cornbread muffins and chili for them to eat that night.
After Dan and I delivered it we had our supper while an epic crumb cake was in the oven.
Sunday was a whole lot of dishes and delicious and Dan was super helpful while simultaneously doing laundry while I cooked. We were both wiped by the end of the night.
Sunday, in a word: exhausting.
After church I went to the store and spent the rest of the day in the kitchen. I was bringing over two meals to a church family that just had a baby and moved apartments. Since I was already in the kitchen I just decided to go all out.
I made dinner for us which was a yummy crock-pot soup with sausage, potatoes, and kale. Recipe here.
I also made a lasagna for the family to freeze for later, brownies to eat now, and cornbread muffins and chili for them to eat that night.
After Dan and I delivered it we had our supper while an epic crumb cake was in the oven.
Sunday was a whole lot of dishes and delicious and Dan was super helpful while simultaneously doing laundry while I cooked. We were both wiped by the end of the night.
February 23, 2015
Weekending it: Circus Extreme!
So the main event for Saturday was the Ringling Bros. Circus. Dan and I went to the circus two years ago when we were dating and it was a fun time. This year I not-so-subtly hinted that I wanted to go again. So Dan got us tickets (it's actually a super affordable date if you don't get roped into all the stadium buys).
We walked from our hotel to the Barclay's center (stopping for shopping) and grabbed lunch at Subway. I was thirsty when we got there so we got sucked into spending $6 for a tiny cup of lemonade. At least the $8 box of popcorn was fresh.
When you arrive early there are a bunch of activities for kids in the ring so it was fun to watch a bunch of clowns and kids dancing to "Shake it Off."
Overall the show was great and everything was very fairly well coordinated. The theme of the show was "Extreme Adventure" and the Ring Master was supposedly trying to set-up the scene with this elaborate choreographed number about traveling the world and seeing all these wonders. So each act in the show was meant to signify a different location like the acrobats were meant to look like mermaids, the Mongolian strong men were obviously from Mongolia, the camels were from the Middle East, etc. etc.
Dan and I were talking about it later that
the whole theme was hard to follow as adults so all the kids probably
missed the point especially because they all had those light-up spinning
toys and wands and swords that were available for purchase for an
affordable $24. Oh and cotton candy and snow cones for $14.
Dan's favorite number was the elephants and I really like the guy that ran around on the spinning wheel. At one point he was jumping rope on the outside of the wheel and got his foot caught on the rope and nearly fell. It was so scary my heart was pounding. But he recovered like nothing happened. The trapeze people were good except they didn't do any catching which seemed weird. The tight-rope walkers stood on top of each other three high which was pretty awesome too. We also liked the poodles which were super cute and really good performers.
We both liked the slack-line performers the trampoline number was as good as we remembered. Basically there are two trampolines set-up on either side of a 20+ foot tall wall frame and they jump up and land on the top and fall over onto the other side to bounce back up on the other trampoline. It's hard to explain but looks awesome. The slack-line guys are bouncing up and down on these thin bouncy ropes and landing on what appeared to being their crotch and then bouncing back up onto their feet. It looked terribly painful.
This year there was a new number with camels which we both found quite boring. They basically ran around in a circle and acrobats did stunts between their humps. Also the Mongolian strong men were blah and their number was like 10 minutes too long. The tigers were boring too. We remembered that bit being much more entertaining the last time. All they did was roll over and stand on their hind legs. I guess it was impressive enough to see 15 tigers in one enclosed space with a trainer in the ring calling out orders in Spanish?
Anyways Dan was a bit tired from all the walking and shopping we did before and had a hard time staying awake. Gasp! During the intermission we watched a brawl unfold on the other side of the stadium between and mom and one of the guys selling lemonade. We have no idea what happened but the woman was yelling HARD and two security guards ended up sitting by them the rest of the show.
On our way out I spotted a cute cuddly stuffed animal elephant that I wanted. I was willing to walk out without it but Dan is a softy too and we picked-up the little guy to bring home.
He has a button on his hind-end so naturally we named him Tushie. He is SO soft and fits right in with Puddles, Philbin, Clover, and the rest of the bunch.
We walked from our hotel to the Barclay's center (stopping for shopping) and grabbed lunch at Subway. I was thirsty when we got there so we got sucked into spending $6 for a tiny cup of lemonade. At least the $8 box of popcorn was fresh.
When you arrive early there are a bunch of activities for kids in the ring so it was fun to watch a bunch of clowns and kids dancing to "Shake it Off."
Overall the show was great and everything was very fairly well coordinated. The theme of the show was "Extreme Adventure" and the Ring Master was supposedly trying to set-up the scene with this elaborate choreographed number about traveling the world and seeing all these wonders. So each act in the show was meant to signify a different location like the acrobats were meant to look like mermaids, the Mongolian strong men were obviously from Mongolia, the camels were from the Middle East, etc. etc.
 |
| Tightrope walkers |
 |
| Human cannon |
 |
| See her at the mouth of the cannon about to fly out? |
Dan's favorite number was the elephants and I really like the guy that ran around on the spinning wheel. At one point he was jumping rope on the outside of the wheel and got his foot caught on the rope and nearly fell. It was so scary my heart was pounding. But he recovered like nothing happened. The trapeze people were good except they didn't do any catching which seemed weird. The tight-rope walkers stood on top of each other three high which was pretty awesome too. We also liked the poodles which were super cute and really good performers.
 |
| Neon trapeze people |
 |
| Spinning wheel |
 |
| Slack line and trampoline |
 |
| Tigers |
On our way out I spotted a cute cuddly stuffed animal elephant that I wanted. I was willing to walk out without it but Dan is a softy too and we picked-up the little guy to bring home.
He has a button on his hind-end so naturally we named him Tushie. He is SO soft and fits right in with Puddles, Philbin, Clover, and the rest of the bunch.
Mini Retreat
This weekend was super fun and special. As my Valentine's gift Dan got us a room at the Marriott in downtown Brooklyn for Friday night. I was so excited all day at work just waiting for 6 o'clock to roll around and I could bust out on our mini vacation. Even though we were only about 20 minutes from our apartment it still felt like a retreat.
I met Dan at the Shake Shack in Brooklyn after work and we had most excellent burgers, fries, and a shared shake.
The hotel was just a short block away which was good considering it was like 2 degrees outside. We snuggled right in browsing the cable TV selections.
Later, we headed down to the pool to hopefully get some hot tub time but there were two adults and three toddlers in it despite the large sign that said "No children under the age of 12 are permitted in the hot tub." Humph. So we jumped in the pool for about 10 minutes until a gaggle of little kids took over. That was sort of a bummer but at least we took a dip. Also my cover-up pockets still had Cape May sand in them, which made me really happy.
The rest of the night we spent trying to find snacks. The vending machine on our floor was only beverages. The vending machine by the pool was a "healthy snacks" what??? Room service was charging $10 for one slice of cheesecake and what we really wanted was candy. So we suited up and headed out into the cold. The Rite Aid ended up being under construction so we hurried our frozen booties as fast as we could to the Duane Reade (I was wearing pjs) and returned to our room armed with snacks. We enjoyed our snacks while watching about 10 episodes of Flipping Vegas and then snuggled in our bed covered in about 8 pillows.
We didn't sleep-in too much since we had to check-out at 11 am but we still enjoyed the cable TV for a couple more shows. Then we headed down the block to Panera for breakfast and then shopping!
Near the hotel is a shopping district with a couple of my favorite stores: Gap Factory, TJMaxx, and they even had a new H&M. We stopped along while making our way to the destination of the day: The Circus!! Stay tuned for that.
Our little overnight was a really fun and sweet retreat that certainly won't be a regular occasion which made it all the more special.
I met Dan at the Shake Shack in Brooklyn after work and we had most excellent burgers, fries, and a shared shake.
The hotel was just a short block away which was good considering it was like 2 degrees outside. We snuggled right in browsing the cable TV selections.
Later, we headed down to the pool to hopefully get some hot tub time but there were two adults and three toddlers in it despite the large sign that said "No children under the age of 12 are permitted in the hot tub." Humph. So we jumped in the pool for about 10 minutes until a gaggle of little kids took over. That was sort of a bummer but at least we took a dip. Also my cover-up pockets still had Cape May sand in them, which made me really happy.
 |
| Kiss bomb! |
We didn't sleep-in too much since we had to check-out at 11 am but we still enjoyed the cable TV for a couple more shows. Then we headed down the block to Panera for breakfast and then shopping!
 |
| Our morning view |
Near the hotel is a shopping district with a couple of my favorite stores: Gap Factory, TJMaxx, and they even had a new H&M. We stopped along while making our way to the destination of the day: The Circus!! Stay tuned for that.
Our little overnight was a really fun and sweet retreat that certainly won't be a regular occasion which made it all the more special.
February 17, 2015
Show and Tell Tuesday: Our Story
Today's Show and Tell Tuesday link-up with Andrea is how you met your mate! All our most loyal followers know the story of our engagement. Read it again back here.
But most people don't know the background about how Dan and I met. I'm glad to have the opportunity to share that story now. Bonus! It includes select portions from my crazy girl journal. Here we go!
Back in January 2010 I made it my New Years Resolution to find a local church. I had moved to Brooklyn in September and had been so caught up in adjusting to the city and starting grad school that I put the whole church thing out of my mind. In January I decided to stop being lazy and do it. I Googled local churches in Bay Ridge and got two choices that were within walking distance from my apartment. Crossroads was the second church I visited and I haven't left since.
The first week I visited I got there early (of course) and I was sitting in the auditorium all alone (our church meets at a local high school). Once the service started a young cute blonde guy sat two rows in front of me with two teenage boys next to him. Now, I love me some blonde hair and so sitting behind this head was totally distracting and I have no clue what the sermon was about. He was wearing a t-shirt and KU Jayhawks pajama pants. I found that weird but then I determined that it was some sort of youth pajama day because the teens next to him were also wearing pjs.
Over the course of the next week I slowly pieced together that the cute blonde was the youth pastor and his name was Dan and he was the leader of a small group and he was from Kansas. I kind of internet stalked him. A few weeks later I was invited to a Taco Party with his small group. When I arrived at the party (early again) that was the first time I officially met him. We didn't really interact that night at all except the whole group played musical chairs and he sort of sat on my lap.
Guys, I'll spare you all the crazy crush details (I have an expansive and detailed memory and an excessively dramatic journal from this time: see above). Basically I was totally into the guy. Mandy (my twin sister) even repeatedly told me "don't get all fatal attraction." I couldn't help it I just liked everything about him and who he was an how nice and sweet and handsome he was (and still is). Over the next two years we became friends. He briefly dated another girl at church. Other girls at church had crushes on him. It was complicated. I started helping him in the youth group.
See that pathetic bit at the end? "I doubt it crossed his mind so I ate an entire bag of chips. Woot!" Ugh, the drama...
I fully admit all this sounds craaazzy! In my world I was painfully obvious. In Dan's world I was nothing. Even if you ask him today, at the time he perceived none of my actions as anything out of the ordinary. My journal and my mother can attest to the amount of frustration this caused me. In hindsight it all makes sense.
In October of 2011 Dan was at my apartment and we were doing lesson planning for the youth Sunday school class. At the end of the meeting he said he needed to ask me something and proceeded to say that people had told him that they felt like he was leading me on. He wanted to make sure I didn't have any expectations because he didn't like me as more than a friend. Then he asked me if I liked him as more than a friend. And I lied. Because why would I admit to my attraction after he had just told me he had none for me! What choice did I have?
I was entirely crushed, angry, and deeply hurt. I resolved that night to put it all away. Give up and move on. Every amount of self-convincing I had done to believe that God led me to NYC and to Bay Ridge and to Crossroads for the sole purpose of uniting me with my soul mate was gone. Apparently I had been wrong.
Between October of 2011 and the fall of 2012 I tried everything to get Dan out of my mind. I limited my efforts with the youth group to stop trying to impress him. I deleted emails. In my journal I cursed at myself for being so stupid. I thought about leaving small group. I even seriously considered looking for a new church because I couldn't bear to be around Dan. But Crossroads was so much more than just Dan for me and I didn't want to leave real friends or the community I felt a part of.
I picked at everything that annoyed me about Dan and I inflated it in my mind as reasons why he would be a terrible partner and why he was a worthless human being (harsh, I know, but what else could I do?). None of these ever truly convinced me but it was the only way I could try to get over him. He had definitely become an idol in my mind and I let my affection for him get in the way of what God wanted for me and ultimately for us.
Over Labor Day weekend in 2012 I went on a church retreat with other leaders (Dan was there). I made up my mind that weekend that I would somehow figure out how to quit the youth group and leave Dan's small group in order to distance myself from him as much as possible. If that didn't work I would leave Crossroads for good.
But, later that week Dan wanted to meet me for ice cream and to debrief
the youth camping trip from August. I was annoyed by this because
throughout the summer Dan had started doing subtle things that really
confused me and totally almost derailed my efforts to hate him.
Want to know what happened at the ice cream "date" ??? Read that way back here.
It was a long and hard journey for me but looking back the struggle was tough but so worth the wait. I treasure Dan so much more now than I think I would if our love story had been an easy and perfect tale.
But most people don't know the background about how Dan and I met. I'm glad to have the opportunity to share that story now. Bonus! It includes select portions from my crazy girl journal. Here we go!
Back in January 2010 I made it my New Years Resolution to find a local church. I had moved to Brooklyn in September and had been so caught up in adjusting to the city and starting grad school that I put the whole church thing out of my mind. In January I decided to stop being lazy and do it. I Googled local churches in Bay Ridge and got two choices that were within walking distance from my apartment. Crossroads was the second church I visited and I haven't left since.
The first week I visited I got there early (of course) and I was sitting in the auditorium all alone (our church meets at a local high school). Once the service started a young cute blonde guy sat two rows in front of me with two teenage boys next to him. Now, I love me some blonde hair and so sitting behind this head was totally distracting and I have no clue what the sermon was about. He was wearing a t-shirt and KU Jayhawks pajama pants. I found that weird but then I determined that it was some sort of youth pajama day because the teens next to him were also wearing pjs.
Over the course of the next week I slowly pieced together that the cute blonde was the youth pastor and his name was Dan and he was the leader of a small group and he was from Kansas. I kind of internet stalked him. A few weeks later I was invited to a Taco Party with his small group. When I arrived at the party (early again) that was the first time I officially met him. We didn't really interact that night at all except the whole group played musical chairs and he sort of sat on my lap.
Guys, I'll spare you all the crazy crush details (I have an expansive and detailed memory and an excessively dramatic journal from this time: see above). Basically I was totally into the guy. Mandy (my twin sister) even repeatedly told me "don't get all fatal attraction." I couldn't help it I just liked everything about him and who he was an how nice and sweet and handsome he was (and still is). Over the next two years we became friends. He briefly dated another girl at church. Other girls at church had crushes on him. It was complicated. I started helping him in the youth group.
 |
| Youth Group Halloween party |
 |
| Youth Group camping trip |
I joined his small group, I went to
every event he was likely to attend because I liked being around
him. In the end I made a lot of great friends that I wouldn't have if I hadn't been so interested.
I saved every email he ever sent. I sent him encouraging cards in the mail. I stored away every detail I observed of his likes and dislikes. I yelled about how annoyed I was that things were taking so long (see entry below) and mostly I begged and pleaded to God as I not-so-subtlety tried to seduce Dan.
 |
| Church picnic |
 |
| Small Group camping |
 |
| Small Group bowling |
I saved every email he ever sent. I sent him encouraging cards in the mail. I stored away every detail I observed of his likes and dislikes. I yelled about how annoyed I was that things were taking so long (see entry below) and mostly I begged and pleaded to God as I not-so-subtlety tried to seduce Dan.
See that pathetic bit at the end? "I doubt it crossed his mind so I ate an entire bag of chips. Woot!" Ugh, the drama...
I fully admit all this sounds craaazzy! In my world I was painfully obvious. In Dan's world I was nothing. Even if you ask him today, at the time he perceived none of my actions as anything out of the ordinary. My journal and my mother can attest to the amount of frustration this caused me. In hindsight it all makes sense.
In October of 2011 Dan was at my apartment and we were doing lesson planning for the youth Sunday school class. At the end of the meeting he said he needed to ask me something and proceeded to say that people had told him that they felt like he was leading me on. He wanted to make sure I didn't have any expectations because he didn't like me as more than a friend. Then he asked me if I liked him as more than a friend. And I lied. Because why would I admit to my attraction after he had just told me he had none for me! What choice did I have?
I was entirely crushed, angry, and deeply hurt. I resolved that night to put it all away. Give up and move on. Every amount of self-convincing I had done to believe that God led me to NYC and to Bay Ridge and to Crossroads for the sole purpose of uniting me with my soul mate was gone. Apparently I had been wrong.
Between October of 2011 and the fall of 2012 I tried everything to get Dan out of my mind. I limited my efforts with the youth group to stop trying to impress him. I deleted emails. In my journal I cursed at myself for being so stupid. I thought about leaving small group. I even seriously considered looking for a new church because I couldn't bear to be around Dan. But Crossroads was so much more than just Dan for me and I didn't want to leave real friends or the community I felt a part of.
I picked at everything that annoyed me about Dan and I inflated it in my mind as reasons why he would be a terrible partner and why he was a worthless human being (harsh, I know, but what else could I do?). None of these ever truly convinced me but it was the only way I could try to get over him. He had definitely become an idol in my mind and I let my affection for him get in the way of what God wanted for me and ultimately for us.
Over Labor Day weekend in 2012 I went on a church retreat with other leaders (Dan was there). I made up my mind that weekend that I would somehow figure out how to quit the youth group and leave Dan's small group in order to distance myself from him as much as possible. If that didn't work I would leave Crossroads for good.
 |
| This was at the retreat. Dan is sitting on the far right back row and I am in the middle row |
Want to know what happened at the ice cream "date" ??? Read that way back here.
It was a long and hard journey for me but looking back the struggle was tough but so worth the wait. I treasure Dan so much more now than I think I would if our love story had been an easy and perfect tale.
February 16, 2015
Weekending it - Valentine's style
We enjoyed our Valentine's weekend.
On Friday Dan took the day to help a family at church move. He worked so hard from 9 am to 7 pm and so Dan, Kourtney, and I went out for burgers and brought back tater tots for Kaleigh.
Saturday was super special. Dan and I woke up and exchanged love gifts. I got him a pair of hockey skates so we can go ice skating whenever we want - for free!!! He got me (us) a nights stay in a hotel in downtown Brooklyn for this coming Friday and tickets to the Ringling Bros. circus next Saturday. Squee!! Mini stay-cation. Woohoo!
After our gift exchange we made bacon and waffles and enjoyed a quiet breakfast together. We tired to make the waffles heart shaped but opted to just eat them as-is because that was the goal and it was yum.
That afternoon we went to a small theater and saw Imitation Game. SO GOOD. I love me some WWII history and we both loved it on many levels. Also the theater had reclining leather seats which was awesome.
That night we made lasagna and watched Fools Rush In and Along Came Polly. Shout out to Mandy for letting us use her Netflix! We had a yummy raspberry tart for the holiday.
Sunday was a treat at church because I got to be in the service with Dan and after church we went to Chipotle and The Gap. Dan got me a cute new dress and sweater.
On Friday Dan took the day to help a family at church move. He worked so hard from 9 am to 7 pm and so Dan, Kourtney, and I went out for burgers and brought back tater tots for Kaleigh.
Saturday was super special. Dan and I woke up and exchanged love gifts. I got him a pair of hockey skates so we can go ice skating whenever we want - for free!!! He got me (us) a nights stay in a hotel in downtown Brooklyn for this coming Friday and tickets to the Ringling Bros. circus next Saturday. Squee!! Mini stay-cation. Woohoo!
After our gift exchange we made bacon and waffles and enjoyed a quiet breakfast together. We tired to make the waffles heart shaped but opted to just eat them as-is because that was the goal and it was yum.
That afternoon we went to a small theater and saw Imitation Game. SO GOOD. I love me some WWII history and we both loved it on many levels. Also the theater had reclining leather seats which was awesome.
That night we made lasagna and watched Fools Rush In and Along Came Polly. Shout out to Mandy for letting us use her Netflix! We had a yummy raspberry tart for the holiday.
Sunday was a treat at church because I got to be in the service with Dan and after church we went to Chipotle and The Gap. Dan got me a cute new dress and sweater.
Sunday was the start of the deep freeze with brutal temperatures and horrific wind chill. So we stayed inside, made turkey pot pie, and got hooked on a mini series called "The Men Who Made America." Some more history for us buffs.
Today, Monday - President's Day, I had off from work but helped out a friend unpack their new house a bit and then helped her take the kids to NJ to meet up with her dad. We enjoyed IHOP for lunch and then returned back to Brooklyn.
With the rest of my day I popped a warm dinner into the crock-pot and tossed a load of laundry into the washer.
It is far too cold for dance class tonight so I'll snuggle with my Buddy and maybe we'll play some board games with Kaleigh and Kourtney?
Today, Monday - President's Day, I had off from work but helped out a friend unpack their new house a bit and then helped her take the kids to NJ to meet up with her dad. We enjoyed IHOP for lunch and then returned back to Brooklyn.
With the rest of my day I popped a warm dinner into the crock-pot and tossed a load of laundry into the washer.
It is far too cold for dance class tonight so I'll snuggle with my Buddy and maybe we'll play some board games with Kaleigh and Kourtney?
