One Month!

Exactly one month from yesterday...we're getting married!!  Yay!

I've sort of gone into mild panic attack mode - to do lists are swarming through my head with details, details, more details!  But it's more than that...it's more than a wedding, it's more than flowers, it's even more than my absolutely beautiful dress. :)  It's about a union, that Jamie and I believe is blessed by God.  We are choosing to do the rest of this life together, to the finish line, good or bad, for His glory.  And I believe I can do that best with Jamie.  And he believes he can do that best with me.  

Thank you, Jesus, for that.  I'm a lucky girl. :)

When I put it all in that perspective my mild panic attacks don't go away.  They just happen with a little more perspective.  That this is a big deal.  And not because of the details of this event (although it's going to be fun!), but because of the choice that Jamie and I are making and the vows that we are choosing to take.  (And the fact that I'm about to live with a boy!)

So I'll probably be taking a blogging hiatus.  Only to return with some fabulous pictures of flowers and dresses and dancing and beaches (and co-workers enjoying the open bar :) - kidding!  sort of).  

- Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the whole church - a love marked by giving, not getting.  Christ's love makes the church whole.  His words evoke her beauty.  Everything he says or does is designed to bring the best out of her...This is a huge mystery, and I don't pretend to understand it all.  What is clearest to me is the way Christ treats the church.  And this provides a good picture of how each husband is to treat his wife, loving himself in loving her, and how each wife is to honor her husband. - Ephesians 5:25-33 The Message

Kiss me, I'm Irish!

...and I'm two days late.  :)  

Happy St. Patty's Day!  This was an especially special one for me because I just found out that we are part-Irish!  Wahoo!  I know that makes me sound like a ditz, but I have just never asked.  I knew that we were part-Indian (of the Hutt tribe) from my dad's side.  But I was talking to my brother the other day when I found out we were Irish.  Apparently Hadley (my grandmother's maiden name) is a very Irish name.  Who knew?!  Again, sounding like a ditz.  

Anyhow, I also just read this pretty interesting blog about the history of St. Patrick.  Did you know he wasn't even Irish?  Or a saint?  It's a pretty brief, informative story.  Sounds like we might have been friends had we been alive in the same lifetime.  Check it out here.  

The American Idol

I just finished downloading Kelly Clarkson's latest album - All I Ever Wanted - and it is the bomb!  American Idol might as well have ended after one season, as far as I'm concerned.  If there was any one voice I could have, it would be Kelly's (yes, we're on a first name basis).  

Ahh - go out an buy it!

Make that four meals this week

...maybe not all in a row (see earlier post), but four times in three days.   Tod and I went to lunch yesterday and I gave him a couple of restaurants as options, and Nikimotos happened to be one of them.  And it happened to be the one he picked.  So I ate sushi yesterday...again!  

Hope I don't turn out like this guy.  :)

Gracias

I promise I'm not talking about Mexican food again.  I'm talking about thank yous!  As I've mentioned before, Jamie and I have some amazing friends and have such an incredible group of people who have been wanting to throw us parties and celebrations leading up to the big day!  We are so grateful!  In an effort to show how much I appreciate these friends and their sweet gestures, I want to make sure that each one of them gets a thank you hostess gift.  Now, this is probably good etiquette any way (aha!  It is.  Check it out here, 4th bullet point under wh

o needs a note), but I also love showing my appreciation through a personal, thoughtful gift.  (And who doesn't love getting gifts?!)

My sister, Robin Anne, along with Kelly (Jamie's sister), and two of my best friends, Jessica & Shellie, threw us an amazing surprise fiesta for our engagement!!  As a thank you, I decided to go with the Mexican theme.  

I found these adorable miniature sombreros online.  My original idea was to find some super cute earrings to loop through the holes and have that tie together as their gift, but the sombreros were bigger than I thought and I couldn't find any earrings that I loved, so I decided to use the hats as toppers.  

I also went to Target and got some blank notecards so that I could customize some of my thank you notes.  (Sidenote:  I've realized that I am sending the same people countless thank you notes, because they are so amazing and

 they keep giving and giving and are a part of everything!  I was tired of sending them notes on the same formal stationary, so I decided I would find something I could customize.)  Notice that I wrote Gracias on the front (clever, I know, since it means thank you in Spanish), and drew a cute little Mexican man with a mustache.  I thought he was precious!  

The gifts themselves were these great margarita glasses from Crate & Barrel.  They were affordable and they are something that everyone (of my friends, at least) is going to use! 

Now I've got to get going on  Dawn and Courtney's gifts!  I've already been thinking....

Sushi - 3 meals in a row

I would have to say that Sushi is a current obsession.  However, it's always an obsession of mine (mmmmm!), but it gets bad when you eat it for three meals in a row.  

Yesterday lunch - was craving it so I ran out to Publix and got a fantastic rainbow roll (a California Roll topped with various sashimi).  

Yesterday dinner - enjoyed my lunch so much that I decided to go to Kroger Fresh Fare (find out more about this branch of Kroger here) and get some from their yummy sushi bar.  However, I decided to go with a little less sashimi and the brown rice option.  Not the best choice.  

Today lunch - Ashley's craving sushi and offers to run to Publix to pick some up (she owed me $7 anyway).  I needed to end my sushi run on a good note, so I went with the staple rainbow roll.  Needless to say, I'm sitting at my desk satisfactorily full and feeling like a champ.  Might just take a break for a few meals tho.  

Disney Princesses

Random #19 - I am a real Disney Princess - Belle.

When my niece, Hadley, turned 5, my sister wanted to throw a Princess Party for her and all of her friends.  But not only did she want a princess party, she also wanted real princesses there.  That's how we got involved.  I like to think of myself as the world's greatest aunt, but somehow I convinced my younger sister, Robin Anne, that she needed to do it with me.  So Jennifer (older sister) went to a local costume shop and got us these beauties.  

Funny thing - Hadley actually thought that the real Belle and Cinderella were coming to her party.  When we showed up, though, she knew who we were.  However, when all of her friends started freaking out thinking we were the real things, she just went along and convinced herself we were!  We even had story time, make-up, snacks, sing-a-longs.  Jennifer's got a lot of making up to do when her day comes :)

Yummy and fat-free

One of my latest obsessions is the selection of Yoplait Light yogurts.  These are two of my favorites so far - Key Lime Pie and Raspberry Cheesecake.  I also love the Blueberry and Raspberry flavors.  I don't like fruit in my yogurt (something to do with the consistency - the chunks interrupting the smooth), and these four flavors are definitely minimal in the fruit.  

The Petit Four

This one's for you, sis.  

This morning, Ashley and I were eating Petit Fours and she started asking what the petit four really was (she's quite the deep thinker).  I'm bored, so I thought I'd find out a little more about one of my current (and consistent) obsessions.  

A petit four is a small cake generally eaten at the end of a meal or served as a part of a large buffet.  The name is from the French petit four, meaning "small oven."

Modern petit fours usually consist of a geometrically cut piece of sponge cake, topped with fondant (a cream confection), often pastel in color and commonly decorated with piped icing flowers or other embellishments.  The term petit four may also, however, refer to any of a variety of small confections, especially in France.

Petit fours were traditionally made during the cooldown process of brick ovens fired by coal fuel in the 18th century.  Coal heat is hard to control as it burns so much hotter than wood, and at the time was much more expensive so waste of the heat generated was not an option.  

[Taken from Wikipedia.]

Fascinating, huh?  I think I'd rather eat them than read about them.

Some people drink coffee in the mornings...

...and I drink Bloody Mary's.  Ok, not every morning.  Just special occassions.  

We had a baby shower for Andrea this morning at work, and Dawn outdid herself again!  It was beautiful, not to mention a great distraction from work. :)

Once we get pictures of all of the decorations, I'll post them (I like to act like my co-workers aren't the only ones who read my blog).  But the food was amazing!  Breakfast casseroles, spinach quiche, potato casserole, muffins, fruit with granola and yogurt, and PETIT FOURs!!!  So yummy.  Kyle ordered some amazing ones from Henri's Bakery, with the most adorable tiny, pink baby shoes in icing on top.  Mmmm.  

And tomorrow we're ordering lunch from Nuevo Laredo and watching Darius Goes West!  What a way to end the week :)

The Role of a Wife

Random #18 - I want to be a great wife.

And there's a part of me that is scared that I won't be.  Exactly 52 days and approximately 0.5 hours from right now I am going to be Jamie's wife.  A role that I have never taken on before.  I've watched friends and families and mentors, and have taken notes.  I've talked with Jamie about his desires and expectations, and God and I have had many conversations about this topic.  But, the bottom line is that I know my selfish nature.  And it tends to rear its ugly head without me expecting it, usually resulting in my not-so-favorite version of Molly.

I'm not even sure what being a great wife will look like.  I'm sure a lot of it will be learned as we adjust to things like living together.  There is, however, one explanation of a great wife that I will gladly look to for guidance - 

 A wife of noble character who can find?

  She is worth far more than rubies.

Her husband has full confidence in her

  and lacks nothing of value.

She bring him good, not harm,

  all the days of her life.

She selects wool and flax 

  and works with eager hands.

She is like the merchant ships,

  bringing her food from afar.

She gets up while it is still dark;

  she provides food for her family 

  and portions for her servant girls.

She considers a field and buys it;

  out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

She sets about her work vigorously;

  her arms are strong for her tasks.

She sees that her trading is profitable,

  and her lamp does not go out at night.

In her hand she holds the distaff

  and grasps the spindle with her fingers.

She opens her arms to the poor

  and extends her hands to the needy.

When it snows, she has not fear for her household;

  for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

She makes coverings for her bed;

  she is clothed in fine linen and purple.

Her husband is respected at the city gate,

  where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.

She makes linen garments and sells them,

  and supplies merchants with sashes.

She is clothed with strength and dignity;

  she can laugh at the days to come.

She speaks with wisdom, 

  and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

She watches over the affairs of her household

  and does not eat the bread of the idleness.

Her children arise and call her blessed;

  her husband also, and he praises her:

"Many women do noble things,

  but you surpass them all."

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;

  but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

:Proverbs 31: 10-30:

Francine

Random #17 - Redeeming Love is my all-time favorite book.  

I love to read.  Especially fiction.  But not trashy fiction.  Historical fiction about real love and real truth.  That's why Francine Rivers is one of my favorite authors of all time.  She writes the most beautiful novels, having done enough research on the period of time that she's writing about that it seems to be a true story.  

Redeeming Love is my favorite.  If you haven't read it, go out and buy it.  Now.  It's the only book that I would give to anyone.  I used to ask for 10 copies a year at Christmas and give them out to people I had met.  The woman who cleaned the bathrooms at my gym.  The custodian at the school where I was an intern.  Friends.  Family.  I've already given it to two co-workers (and co-bloggers), Dawn and Devon.  

My very favorite trilogy is written by her as well, entitled The Mark of the Lion series.  Simply amazing.  

Of course, Harry Potter follows those.  But they even beat out him.  I'd recommend anything of hers.  The Last Sin Eater, The Scarlet Thread, The Atonement Child.  Ah!  I may go read them all again.  So good!