Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Dating My Husband.

Today I need to share a blog that I absolutely adore. The writer is eloquent, talented and intriguing. I keep coming back to this one though… And I re-read it again this morning. It is resonating with me today. Although we don’t have kids yet, our lives are busy. Very busy in fact. We get caught up in the craziness and I need to take a step back and breathe. Romance – it comes in all different forms, but basically it comes down to making the other person happy. And we absolutely can find time every single day to do that. Dating my husband. Especially for us now with Basketball season in full swing… I love that this writer puts as much time and effort into making dinner as I do. Only a true foodie understands that this is how we show love. The thought and care we put into creating a meal that will be gone in the blink of an eye. Why not just buy buns? Why go through the trouble to make homemade chicken stock? Because it is the time and effort I put into planning and preparing that shows love, the end result is just a bonus. I’m happy to find a kindred spirit through this blog. Here’s the link or I have pasted it (Her site is better).

http://notwithoutsalt.com/2012/01/29/dating-my-husband-4/

If I could to speak to myself on the day of my wedding over eight years ago, this is what I would say…

I understand you’re a bit scared. You’re young and you are about to make a decision that will affect the rest of your life. You think it’s the right choice, you think you love him but what really is love? I know that’s what you are thinking because I am you.

For months leading up to the wedding day you’ve been asking everyone who would listen to help you understand what love really is. Sure he gives you butterflies and you can’t imagine not spending every day with this man. You’ve lost countless hours of sleep just clinging to his presence and not wanting to waste a moment with him. But is that really love? Is that enough to sustain a marriage that will survive moves across state lines, financial stress, young children, loss, and much more that we have yet to experience?

In case you do read this you should know that you made the right decision. But you didn’t really know love. The love you felt on the day you stared at him down the aisle, anxiously awaiting that glimmer in his eyes as he saw you for the first time in your wedding dress and the last time you weren’t his wife, that love was just the start.

At the time you thought love was how he made you feel. You questioned love the moment the butterflies didn’t flutter as rapidly as you thought they should. You resented him for shining light on parts of you that were selfish and gross. He didn’t complete you in the way you expected him to and surprisingly he didn’t completely understand you from the moment you both said, “I do.”

Love isn’t simply about how he makes you feel. I know that now. Love is a choice and love is action.

Now you realize that love is him warming up the espresso machine for you in the morning so it’s ready when you wander sleepily down the stairs. Love is how he saves the last scoop of ice cream for you, every time. Love is the way he wrestles with your sons (you have two and I can’t wait for you to meet them) after a long day of work. Love is the way he dances with your daughter (she’ll make you melt with each glance into her big brown eyes).

You slowly start to understand that when your dad told you, “Love is a choice”, he wasn’t being as unromantic as you first thought. You’ll realize that each day you have a choice. You can either choose to love Gabe and allow your feelings and actions reflect that or you can choose to allow the daily difficulties and his imperfections (yes, I know you can’t see it now, but he’s not perfect – and neither are you) to become a disease in the marriage.

Some days are better than others but over time you’ll realize that praying for and encouraging him is more useful than resenting him. You’ll start to see all the things he does for you and your family rather than focusing on what he doesn’t do. And you’ll realize that on the day you married him you really had no idea what love was and that eight years later you love him in way that you never thought possible.

It’s going to be hard. You’ll find out things about yourself that you really wish could have stayed hidden and yet, through it all you slowly become a better person. One that really knows and understands love – at least I hope that’s what happens, I’m not quite there yet.

What I do know is that no matter how tired you are, no matter how much you would just rather curl up on the couch and tune out the noise of the day, every once in awhile you need to put the kids to bed a bit earlier and ask your husband out on a date, even if that date happens at home.

You’ll plan the meal with great excitement and get inspired staring at the vibrant produce at the store while Ivy (that’s your daughter) tries her best to pull everything off the shelves and into the cart. You’ll spend the next 7 hours, on and off, preparing for a meal that you and your husband will devour in 10 minutes. He’ll appreciate every minute of your effort and you’ll love every chop of an onion and knead of the dough. You remind yourself of this moment and how many times before you’ve learned the same lesson – choosing him over your own selfish desires is what love is all about.

Monday, October 29, 2012

Costume?

This story is too funny not to post…

So there I was… at work on Friday and it was “Halloween” day where all the kids come and trick or treat. Keep in mind I work at the Church and there are about 1200 employees- so there were A LOT of kids haha.

They were giving out prizes at work for the best decorations and costume and all that. However, I sorta didn’t participate. I just can’t be THAT girl at the office. Call me lame, but I have my reasons. Anyway, I was enjoying seeing everyone else’s decorations! Some people went ALL out. Dry ice included.

While walking down the hall I ran into another girl (there are only 4) in our portfolio who was dressed to the nines as a witch. Boots, hat, face-painted, the whole she-bang. She brought costumes for all her team and decorated up the wazoo.

“You look great!! I love your costume!” I said to her as she is fixing her extra-long witch eyelashes.

“Thanks!” She said. “Now, let me guess------“ Then she points to me… “Katniss!!”

HAHAHAHA

“Umm… Actually I didn’t dress up today… (this is awkward)” hahahaha I was dying, “But maybe I will go braid my hair real quick and grab my bow and arrow!”

Hahaha Umm actually…..

OH my gosh. Seriously was SO funny. She is the nicest girl ever so I think she felt more awkward than I did, but it was just down right hilarious.

I had to tell my parents about it, so when I went over there I had them take a picture of my outfit that day… I mean I have to give it to her – she has a point!

katniss

Let me guess – Katniss!!

So dang funny.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Everything Pumpkin.

Pumpkin is the new bacon. Apparently.
pumpkin bacon
Thank heavens because I do not like the other! A fun little article for your culinary-reading pleasure. Here are a few fun tid-bits:
“This year is on track to be one of the most active years for seasonal pumpkin menuing” and could top the 2011 record, when more than 60 pumpkin-related dishes appeared on the menus of America’s top 250 chain restaurants.”
“The weird thing about pumpkin’s rise to baconlike ubiquity is that pumpkin, on its own, is not a very appetizing food at all. A dense and stringy fruit, it needs the accompaniment of a lot of sugar and spices before it becomes particularly palatable. As a marketing tool, however, pumpkin is perfectly pitched for today’s eaters. The fact that it needs that extra flavoring? That’s a bonus, not a bug, as far as the restaurant business is concerned.”
Well I’m happy to admit we’ve been adding to this pumpkin craze. Who doesn’t love pumpkin-y things?? I mean really.
1. Eating Pumpkin Pie – it’s just so dang good! (would you like some pie with that cream??)
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2. Carving Pumpkins – we were impressed by some of our friends’ carving skills!
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pumpkins
This is a fun group!!
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Brad’s was my favorite though – look how awesome it is! Plus the baby pac-man pumpkin, the whole head comes off! My pumpkin is pretty cool, however a little evil….
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3. Pumpkin Pancakes with buttermilk syrup! This put us into a conference-watching-pancake-coma. :)
pumpkin pancakes
The other pumpkin-y things I’ve concocted:
And no one has even complained that I’m over pumpkin-ing! And next up in my queue of pumpkin-y things:
Pumpkin doughnuts
In other sad news… Lance. One of my heros, one of the untouchables has been really brought down lately. As of this morning he has stepped down as chairman from the LiveStrong foundation so the company doesn’t suffer from the negative allegations against him. AND Nike has terminated their contract with him. This is devastating news. He is still one of the Greats in my mind and that will never change. Lance’s efforts are being tainted by these accusations. His company is doing amazing things and he as a person is incredibly inspiring. I hope that he will be able to keep his dignity and the cycling world will retain his legacy.
So in light of that- I’ll take one of everything in that Nike black and yellow before it is all gone!!

AND PS my little brother is awesome. Parkour!

Rob