A Little Bird

I am learning there are many great things about blogging. It's a great creative outlet, for one, which for me, is essential because, and you already know this because you spent a day with me at my office, my day job is boring, sans creativity, dull as a knife that's been sitting in a black hole for 15 years, lacking spark, no... well, you get the picture.

Blogs are also a great way to keep in touch, at least, in a one-way sort of way. As in, I tell you stories, I show you pictures, I vent my frustrations, I share my joys. It's all about me and things that relate to me. Which is great. For you. (At least if you like me. If you don't, well then why are you reading all about me??) But the question lies herein, how do I know what I'm writing about and telling you about is something you enjoy? Here I sit, everyday, ok, every other day, ok, ok, once in awhile, spilling my soul but then I don't even know if it really hits the mark, ya know? I need to knoooow. I'm the type that needs reassurance people. Because otherwise I just write when I need to release some creativity which isn't necessarily every day. So you have to tell me when you like what you are reading and perhaps, just maybe, I can find it in my heart to indulge you with more because right now, my only method of reassurance is a little bird that whispers in my ear that so and so said they want to read more blogging. Now how's that for reassurance? You know who you are. ahem Now, remember, I love you all. Feel the looove.

Now that business has been taken care of, I can share the most recent happenings around these parts. First of all, can I just say that I have a fantastic husband? Yes, I think I can.

Actually I can say whatever I want.

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers...ummm, I don't know the rest, but if I did I could say it. And I would. (Does anyone notice the effect that caffeine has on me?? Sugar also does this.)

Annnyways, back to the topic.

My husband is fantastic. We had the best weekend together because we actually got to spend more of it together than usual. Friday night, he got off early. We got ice cream. Correction, I got ice cream. DJ watched me eat it. Saturday, my magnificent man didn't have to be to work till 3:30 p.m. That's right, that's not a typo. 3:30 in the afternoon. So we made the most of it, got up early (ish), and went to the zoo (I will be posting some of these pictures later) and then ate lunch downtown at a very delicious grill and brewery. The day was gorgeous and we couldn't have planned it better. Sunday, a weird twilight zone sort of thing happened. We both slept till 10:45. We didn't get home till really late the night before because of the game (see pictures below) but we fully intended on still getting up bright and early to go to church. I should also state that I never sleep late. Usually I don't even want to sleep that late because that's half the day gone, but even if I did, Maia wakes me up 8 a.m., sharp. I guess DJ and I were both so out of it, Maia couldn't even wake the dead. So you can imagine my surprise when I finally awakened from my coma-like state, to find that we had missed not just the first church service but the second and third one also. It was weird. By that time, DJ had to hurry to work, which gave me time to get some stuff done. And then we had Cody over and had some delicious pot roast and veggies and those boys ate it all up and made me feel like I was a good little housewife. Then those men put together some furniture and watched some football and we had pie. Fun huh? It was. I wish every Sunday could be like that. Best weekend in a long time.

And now to end with some pictures of football, because this wouldn't be a Tennessee-inspired blog without some Tennessee football. I was particularly fascinated with the band and baton twirlers that night.

We had a beautiful full moon to watch rise over the side of the stadium.

I sort of wish I had taken a picture of the Auburn band to show you the enormity of their band but I felt like I would be betraying UT if I showed any awe of how cool the Auburn band was so you will see no pictures of their band. But now that I'm safe here in the bosom of my blog, I will say that the Auburn band was really cool and big and impressive. But they didn't have any fire so ours is still cooler.Your eyes do not fool you. Those baton twirlers are twirling batons of fire. It was so Miss Congeniality.

A New Blogger Program

When I first started my blog, I didn't know where to start so I started using Typepad. However that costs me a small amount each month and since I'm not making money on my blog as some people do, I have decided to change to Blogger, which is run by Google. Blogger is free and is used by one of my favorite bloggers (Clover Lane) whose blog I love. She is able to do so much with her blog and since she writes about it on her blog, I am able to learn from her and make my blog that much better! SO bear with me on this change and hopefully I can make it as smooth of a change as possible.

Blessings abound

I feel like that cup up there. Overflowing with delicious goodness. I often feel grateful and have to stop in wonder because I have so much good in my life and I often cannot understand or fathom why God has decided to bless me so abundantly. But especially now when everything is new and different, I am especially able to see the workings of an almighty and loving God in my life and I am finding it especially easy to count my blessings because they are coming so readily. It seems that every time I turn a corner God is opening my eyes more fully to what He can do. He keeps reminding me that He is in charge and the more I lose control of my own life, the more He is in charge and can make the world go'round. I think where I personally am it, God is showing me that I can trust Him 100% with my life and I don't need to have such a stronghold on those strings that I think are keeping my life together. In fact, when I have let loose those strings I actually find things running a lot smoother. It's not surprising, but it is scary initially because, for people like me that like to have control, it's crazy hard to lose control. But God is teaching me through my new Bible study, through this move, through DJ and through other things that it is great to lose control.

Imagine a coffee pot full of delicious coffee (blessings) and a cup (your life), I think of a chipped cup in my case. My cup has been dropped and nicked a few times but you can pick one out of the great Starbucks store in your head and make it all yours. Now imagine that you are holding the coffee pot and in control of pouring out the blessings inside. You decide to pour a little here and a little there but you're careful not to pour too much because this is all you've got. Once you've poured the last drop, it's gone. So you are very careful only to pour what you think you need, a little at a time and always careful not to spill a drop. Now imagine that you are given the opportunity to give this coffee pot away but you're hesitant because, well, it's very special to you. Sure, sure, your opportunity is to give it to the ultimate Barista of all time but still you hesitate. Because we have feeble human brains, we foolishly think that He may not do as good of a job at pouring our special coffee AND what if He doesn't give us how much we want or need? I mean, we've been doing the pouring for so long and we've figured out just how much can get us through the day so how could He know that? But you decide it's worth a shot (ha, ha, get it) so you give the pot over every once in a while and after awhile you notice, hey, He's not doing such a bad job. My cup is full! And you find out there's another perk (ha, ha, the puns are endless). Your burden is eased because you don't have to worry about your coffee fix all the time, and you realize it was actually kind of stressful making sure that you poured the pot ever so carefully and get this, you are actually getting more coffee now than you ever were before! You finally realize (it takes you awhile, you know, feeble brains and all) that when you were in control of the pot, you had a limited supply and you could only do so much with what you had. But now that the ultimate Barista has control, He's able to make more coffee and fill your cup to the point that it is literally overflowing everyday with more than you ever needed or imagined you could have. AND He adds caramel and chocolate and whip cream, things that you never knew existed or could be so good.

This is pretty much how I feel right now. Beyond blessed. In awe of the goodness of a mighty God that cares about little ol' me and my chipped cup. And I just had to share because it's overflowing.

Happy Anniversary to me...

I mean, happy anniversary to us.It was our second anniversary last month but since DJ and I were 1,400 miles apart, we thought it best to wait to celebrate. I'm noticing a recurring theme here... Last year I went kayaking on my anniversary. Without DJ. (Although I did actually get to have dinner with him that night which wasn't the plan originally because he was supposed to work.) This year, I wasn't even in the same state. Hopefully this is not a sign of future anniversaries but even if it is, I don't mind. Not really. I sort of signed up for this when I married my football-lovin, career-driven man and then married him during football season. So you could say I asked for it. And I'm glad I did.

DJ planned a whole surprise date for me on Sunday night. I was more excited than ever because one, we were in a brand new place so I didn't have any idea of where he would be taking me (normally I can venture a pretty accurate guess) so this would be a total surprise and two, because we were in a brand new place, it kind of felt like a vacation and anyone whose anyone knows that dinner out while on vacation is the best. I was full of anticipation.

I got all dressed up, hair properly corraled into an up-do, and face powdered and colored for an evening out. We started to the restaurant (which I knew at this point) and I started trying to guess which one. Because that's just how I am. Then I stopped guessing because the two places I knew about and thought he might be taking me to weren't it. We drove and drove and drove and ended up down by the river. I knew it had to be good because anything down by the river is both gorgeous and upscale. And I was right. We ended up at the Lakeside Tavern, a gorgeous riverside restaurant with a beautiful view. Also I should state that DJ planned it so we would be sitting down looking out on the river at sunset. 1,000 points for DJ. He also planned to have the champagne we had for our wedding there but that didn't actually work out because the liquor stores aren't open on Sundays. I will give him 550 points for that because it was a great idea and we'll do it another time.

Because it was a nice restaurant and it was getting dark and I have not gathered the nerve to take pictures in a dark, nice restaurant, these are the only pictures I have. Sorry. Maybe next time.

View from our booth. Due to the large table impeding your view of the river in this picture, you cannot see it. So you must imagine it.

I was shooting without a flash thus the fuzzy in the picture.

My very handsome romantic date.

Whose body decided to revolt and have a cold/allergy/asthma attack during our very romantic dinner.

And because of the mutiny, shaky hands resulted.

We stuffed ourselves. The food was good, not fantastic, but definitely averaged good. We started out with a spinach artichoke dip. Ok, this was not good. It was weird and not normal spinach artichoke dip and yet, I ate too much of it. But we didn't know that we would next be served the warmest, butteriest, most delicious bread in the world and could have just had that for an appetizer. So I ate that too. Next we had salad wedges. Now these, these were great. They had a white dressing that was maybe ranch but then it was covered in bacon, carmeled pecans, feta cheese, tomatoes and drizzled with balsamic vinegar. Absolutely divine. I may never be able to enjoy a salad again if it doesn't involve all of these flavors. Our entrees were served almost immediately after the salads came to the table (the food was served almost too quickly. I barely had time to enjoy each course before the next one came. Next time I will plan for this and allow the food to wait to the side so I can enjoy each course more thoroughly. Especially that salad.) DJ ordered a steak and I ordered salmon. We both agreed that our food was a little too salty for our liking but it still tasted quite delectable. The sides were great. I had a spinach casserole and we both had white cheddar mashed potatoes. Mmmm. At this point, we were so full that even the thought of dessert was unappetizing so we decided we would be coming back to sit on the patio outside, eat dessert and drink some wine. It was a great evening.

Oh, and I almost forgot, Maia's present to me that morning after we got home from church was just so...her...

Thanks Maia. How thoughtful.

A little something for the mama

That would be, a little something for the mama, of DJ. I know she will appreciate this. Maybe the rest of you will too but face it, how many pictures of DJ do you really want to see? You'll probably see more too so that's your warning. (If you haven't noticed by now, you will always be well-warned. I don't like to surprise my readers too much. Just a little here and there.)

By the way this picture was taken by an actual professional. Not from my camera phone. Bet you couldn't even tell. 

Glorious

I was having a conversation with my mom the other day and happened to look up. I was immediately in awe of what I saw.

 

I was so taken away by the beauty that I had to interrupt my conversation with my mom, hang up and take a picture. The contrasts between blue and white and the light that was shining from the sun were beautiful plus just the sheer enormity of the cloud magnified it that much more. I so wish my camera would have captured all of this better for you but given the quality my camera phone typically provides, this is pretty good and gives you an idea of how beautiful it really was. So, in your head, just picture this, times ten.

The clouds have just been amazing lately. I no longer curse the rain because although, yes it does make me look like a little girl who hasn't figured out how to comb her hair, and yes, it restricts activities outside, it does so much good too. It provides moisture for all the fuzzy, viney, leafy plants and trees that decorate the landscape and right now, most importantly, it is held in these clouds before it is dripped (or poured) on our heads. Absolutely breath-taking. These things remind me of what a great God we have and how good He is to give us more than we can even imagine!

Psalm 68:4  Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds — his name is the LORD— and rejoice before him.

Rain, rain, go away

So first of all, good news. Knoxville has had an abnormal amount of rain this year - 10 inches above average to be exact. Good news you ask? Well yes, because that means it doesn't typically rain this much so I can at least look forward to next year and the probability of less rain. But as for now, I would just like for it to go away. It's annoying me a little. It rains all the time. Yesterday the sun came out for a good part of the day and I found out what broccoli must feel like. At least my broccoli because I steam it. We all got steamed yesterday. Rain combined with heat produces steam, or some call it humidity. But this was more like steam.

You know what else you get when you have lots of rain? Mushrooms! I have seen more mushrooms in the past two weeks than in my entire life. There are big, bright, white ones like the ones you would see in cartoons. (Again, Dr. Seuss had to have been totally inspired by these mushrooms. I'm convinced.) There are little sprout-like 'shrooms that look like an ant's redwood forest. There are orange mushrooms that I think, I think, are where the Smurfs live. They have peaked tops. I will not be investigating this though as I do not wish to be labeled as the "weird eccentric neighbor". And then there are other mushrooms that probably get the cold shoulder from a lot of the other mean mushrooms cause they aren't too pretty. They look like they were supposed to be bright, white mushrooms but they were cursed and came up looking like a dirty distant cousin. Anyway, it seems like every time I take Maia on a walk, I see a new type of mushroom.

And one other observation I've made about Tennessee rain. It doesn't have a smell. You know how rain usually smells like something? Usually good (unless you live in Albuquerque where it smells rather trashy). But here, there is no smell. Another good reason for the rain to go away. What good is rain if it doesn't smell good! They even make perfumes that are "rain-scented" for heaven's sake. I think it has rained so much that it has washed its own smell away.

And now a video. This may either freak you out (as it did me a little) or make you laugh (which I also did). So enjoy...