Birthday Weekend!

Two weekends ago, Josh took me to Austin for my birthday. He took Friday off & we drove up, dropped Sage off with my parents, then went to have a fun time together! I documented our trip well with pictures, so here we go!

We drove to the mall & picked up our movie tickets to see When in Rome!

Then we ate in the food court - I got this South Philly Cheesesteak, which is the REAL kind mind you, just like we had in Philadelphia!

We walked around a bit & I got a nice calf massage by the iSqueeze - ahh.

We saw the movie, which was cute! Then went to get some cupcakes at Sugar Mama's Bakery in the South Congress area. They were super yummy! Mine was vanilla on vanilla, called the Marilyn of course!

I loved these hanging light things in there!

We checked in to our hotel downtown, the Intercontinental Stephen F. Austin (yay for getting deals on Priceline!) & I took a nice nap, then we headed to dinner at Sandra Bullock's restaurant, Bess Bistro. It was yummy & a cool atmosphere. I got chicken pot pie & Josh got fish & chips.

We got a taxi there & back so we wouldn't have to pay for parking, & what came to pick us up but the Land Yacht, party central! It was funny. Loud music, crazy colors, all wasted on us just wanting to get back to our hotel!

This was the view from the hotel balcony toward the Capitol. Pretty!

The next morning, we slept in, checked out of our hotel then headed to brunch at Magnolia Cafe. I got the guacamole omelette - guac, black beans, bacon, & jack cheese, with queso on top. SOOO GOOD!

Driving toward the Capitol to take a tour - pretty view!

After our tour of the Capitol, we went to the Domain & pretended like we could afford to be there, then went out to my parents house to ride with them to one of the best meals of my life...

THIS!! Crab, asparagus, & sweet potato fries, finished with French press coffee & a birthday dessert! My dad's birthday was last week, so we always get together to do a joint birthday dinner... this was a good one!!

Then we went back to get Sage & headed back to SA so we could be at church the next morning. It was a very fun birthday weekend!!

No time to blog!

Work got crazy this week & I'm helping throw a baby shower tomorrow night (YAY WHITNEY!) so I've been quite the busy bee!! But I've got a few blog ideas floating around in my head so stay tuned for when I get some free time!

"No time! There's never any time! I don't have time to study, I'll never get into Stanford!"

- anyone?? :-)

Homemade natural cleaner

I'm blogging because I don't want to clean the bathrooms.

That is my least favorite thing to clean, by far. Not necessarily the toilets, although it's not that fun, but the counters & the tub... blah! The tubs mainly because I can't get down on my knees for very long so I usually can't get a good scrubbing in. But, it's next on the list - so far I have cleaned the guest bedrooms & the living room.

You know what's a great all-purpose cleaner? Equal parts water & vinegar. I have a squirt bottle with the mixture that I use in the kitchen, tile floor, window sills, etc. It's cheap, & has no chemicals. Yes it stinks a bit, but not for long. I love it (as much as you can love a cleaning product).

All right, back to cleaning....

January cleaning

Somehow I decided this week I would clean the whole house. As in, even the things I don't clean on a normal basis - the top of the fans, the baseboards, etc. I really don't enjoy cleaning so I'm not quite sure how I decided this was a good idea. (I am great at tidying up - I so much prefer being neat & tidy to being meticulously clean!) It needs to be done, I suppose. Instead of breaking things into tasks, like spending one day just cleaning all of the windows & another day scrubbing all the cabinet fronts, I'm breaking it into rooms - bedrooms one day (since two of them are pretty easy), study another day, etc. I'm already behind... today I was supposed to clean the living room but had less time than anticipated. I guess since I created this crazy schedule, I could allow myself to stretch it into next week. I mean, who spends their BIRTHDAY week cleaning the house, right?!

The sinus infection still lingers in the form of a croaky voice & cough. I'm hoping in a couple days I'll be back to normal. I decided the worst part of not being able to talk (much) is not being able to sing - I sing all the time, & it's quite the bummer to not be able to.

I'm excited - Friday Josh is taking me to Austin to hang out for a couple days for my birthday! He's taking Friday off so we can have fun. I'll have to make a list of things I want to do. :-)

Have a great week!

Book Review: Safely Home by Randy Alcorn

The plot: A Chinese man comes to the US for college & several years later, he & his American roommate end up spending time together in China. Basically, the American has his perception of China, then as he spends time there with his roommate, he sees the real China behind the facade - the politics, the censorship, the persecution of Christians. (This book is fiction, based on real situations & information.)

What we talked about in book club: I hadn't read it yet by the time we met for book club because our library didn't have it, so I read it after we met. That being said, I wasn't very involved in the conversation & don't remember tons of it. I do remember everyone talking about one part of the book where the Chinese man's wife had saved the box that their Bible came in, simply because it carried the book that was so holy & precious to them (since unregistered Bibles are not allowed in China).

Recommendation: Read it, read it, read it. Period. Not only is the story a page-turner, it is SO eye-opening to the conditions in China, particularly for believers. We can be so unaware of what is going on in the world, & we need to be praying for our family there. God used this book to do a lot in my heart (you can read more about that in this post) so it was life-changing for me.

Check out this color!

This tree in our backyard is a gorgeous red! The leaves have just started falling (apparently this particular tree didn't get the memo that it is supposed to shed in the fall)... & it's a big tree... lots of raking, here we come! In the meantime, I am enjoying the beautiful color!

not breathing, food, laughs...

I'm sick. :-(

Josh was sick last week & we're pretty sure it was a sinus infection, & pretty sure that's what I have too. The weather has been making my allergies act up, & now my sinuses are pinched shut, my head is throbbing, & it hurts to swallow (which in turn makes my head hurt worse... fun). Even my scalp hurts.

I decided the worst part about having a sinus infection is the fact that it makes sleep miserable. When you're sick, sleep is great; you have an excuse to sleep in, take naps, & rest helps you feel better. When your head feels like it's going to explode every time you lay down, it makes sleep not all that fun. Poo. I wish I could at least enjoy the fact that I can't work out by sleeping in, but no such luck.

Done hearing me whine? Me too.

If you would like some new recipes to try out, go to our recipe blog; there have been several new recipes posted in the past couple of weeks, including the recipe for beef rice curry I made last night.

Dennis Quaid was on Ellen again today... I love that show. If you want a good laugh, see the last time he was on there... it's hilarious.