Living Blossoms

+ I love Publix not just for the deals they give me, but for their commitment to correct grammar and punctuation. They are the only grocery store I've ever seen that has a "Ten items or fewer" lane instead of "Ten items or less". I also love them for their restaurant, Crispers, who has a salad with fruit in it year-round (hear that, Panera?) and the best chowdah (slightly spicy crab & corn) I've ever had. *hugs Publix*

+ Anybody else in denial that we're already more than a week into 2010? Seriously. I feel like it should maybe be September 2009 right now.

+ We went to see my grandma at the hospital today. She officially has two good knees now! Woo-hoo! I can't WAIT for her to be totally recuperated, because she will be SO happy. She had horrible knees for a very long time. I expect to see her literally leaping for joy in a month or two.  ;o)  Tomorrow she moves to a rehab center. Pray for a quick recovery. I'm sure this one will be better because she already has a strong knee now.

+ Ange and I were planning to meet at the hospital way on the eastside and I was waiting for her to call me, so I killed time at The Thrift Store. There was one thing I really needed - a brown jacket, preferably long - and I found one! Its really nice, dark brown, double-breasted, slightly longer than mid-thigh, it has pockets, and it was only $6! Yay!  I'm wearing it already, without washing it, which probably grosses some people out, but when I said I needed it, I meant it. Hehe.

+ Yesterday got better when Isaac got home. He has that effect on me. =o) Plus, then we went across town for the mystery shop, which was great, as expected. When we returned home, I deleted at least 10GB of pictures off my camera's memory card. Normally I don't let it pile up like that, but I had barely deleted anything since the El Salvador trip in July. *sheepish grin*

+ Nala hasn't thrown up since before I wrote that entry yesterday, so I think she's feeling better. *cheers* We've had her for 3 months now, can you believe that? She's such a sweetie. I entered her in a contest, too. Go vote for her!

+ It's been one week since I said goodbye to my puppy. In some ways it feels like I can't believe it's already been a week without her, but mostly the sadness feels like it's been inside me for a long time. I haven't cried much lately; just a few things set me off. (Like, the last Project 365 pic I uploaded to Facebook was of her, three days before she died, and when I saw that I lost it. Could it have been that recently that she was with me, giving me that cute but annoyed, why-are-you-taking-my-picture-again look?) I miss her.

+ I had a photo shoot today! It was just a TFP shoot, but it was great. The photographer is fantastic; I swear there's not one picture on his website that, even if it's not my cup of tea, isn't excellent. The makeup artist made my eyes striking, melding lilac and black. First we did some more normal headshot pics, with normal hair and no adornment of any sort, and then we went nuts with the photographer's "vision". I had a feathery black collar/choker thing with clear beads that hung down and they used seemingly an entire can of hairspray on my hair as I stood with my hair upside down, so it was crazy. This hair was even weirder than the hair I had for the magazine shoot, I think. But from the side it looked awesome. Even from the front I think it worked. And they added this little black viney flower thing that went from my hair to my forehead that was just awesome. He showed me some of the pics and they're gorgeous. I can't wait to see the finished ones! This shoot was very good for my self esteem. I came in and he and the makeup artist looked at me and said, "Wow. You have an amazing face." And then they examined me closer and declared me "perfect" and decided my face "has no flaws". (Maybe they like scars?) All through the shoot he kept saying, "Gorgeous. Just gorgeous." I've never had a response like that before, LOL! I would say maybe he just knows praise is a good motivator, but I really think he meant it. Which is good - very good, in fact - because he has tons of contacts here, and in Atlanta and Miami. So here's hoping someone at a big city agency sees these pics and wants to hire me. Here is the sign of a good photographer though: he used one camera, the natural light from the window, and the wall of his apartment as the backdrop, and seriously, you would think we were in an expensive studio with professional lights everywhere. He did use a background light eventually, to highlight my hair, but still. Clearly he knows how to get fantastic results in any environment. Anyway - as soon as I get the pics, I'll show them to you. I'm sure I will make at least one of them into an LJ icon. Oh - and Isaac went with me because the photographer was a Scary Internet Man, and so he spent 3 hours this morning enjoying our beautiful 75º weather on a second story balcony overlooking the St. John's River, reading a school book and occasionally petting a sweet gray cat who was chillin' out there too.

+ Grandma will be here Saturday night! I'm so excited! Although I can't believe it's been 5-6 months since she left. Holy cow. Mom asked if I wanted to go up to MI with her (she flew up and then she will drive Grams down), and I almost said yes, but I decided I didn't really want to fly up just to spend the next two days driving. Plus, now I get to have the action movie night for Isaac's birthday and go to the Beatles Rock Band party at AAAC's house Saturday night. Oh - and the whole photo shoot today thing!

+ I think I set a personal couponing record last night. A bunch of coupons expired since it was the end of the month, and I wanted to get some free/cheap stuff. I figured since I was going two places, I might as well go to another. I went to CVS, Target, KMart, and then later I went to Winn-Dixie and Publix! AND I went to Walmart first, but for a prescription, not couponing. I haven't added up the W-D and P details yet, but for the CVS, T & KM trip I got $111 worth of stuff for $20. It was fantastic. Never before have I gone to 6 stores in one night though! It was tiring, but exhilarating. Saving money like that is always exhilarating. And now we have 10 bottles of juice in the cupboards. That should last Isaac, oh, about two weeks.  ;o)

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Went to Oregon, went sightseeing in Seattle, got put in charge of a business's financial stuff, got a modeling contract, voted in a presidential primary, met a presidential candidate, was in a nationally-released TV movie (sure, I filmed it in '07, but it aired this year), bought a new roof, started CVSing, Project 365, and more that I can't remember at the moment.

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I always make the same one (though it's not really a resolution), and always fail. PLEASE pray that this year I will actually do devotions consistently!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth or get pregnant?
Carol. =o) And I'm not really close to Melanie or Amy, but they are definitely my friends and I'm very happy for them about Amelia (already born) and Barrett (soon to be born). E.T.A.: Holy cow, I forgot my SIL Joy! Well. She's pregnant, and I'm happy to have another niece or nephew!

4. Did anyone close to you get married?
No one I'm really close to, but a lot of good friends did. Mandy, Amy, Erica, Laura, and probably more I'm forgetting (sorry!), as well as several friends from WOL. E.T.A.: As if forgetting Joy above wasn't enough, I forgot my brother Nathan's wedding. Heh.

5. Did anyone close to you die?
No - for which I am grateful. My mom's dad died in April, but we were never close.

6. Did you travel?
To Washington state, Oregon, Connecticut, northern NY, Washington D.C. (for all of an hour, hehe), Indiana (returning from there is how I started the year), El Salvador, Atlanta, and Charleston.

7. Did you move anywhere?
Nope!

8. What was the best month?
Oh, that's hard. Hmm. It was either May, June, July or November. May because we got to surprise Isaac's grandpa who had previously pretty much disowned us and have him greet us with open arms, as well as meet lots of his extended family who I had never met, including his awesome cousins, and we got to hang out with the regular CT family too. June because of my brother Nathan's wedding, which meant we got to spend more time with him, my new SIL Nicole, and my nephew James than ever before. Plus, I got to be their main photographer. July because of El Salvador. I absolutely love going there. November because that's when the whole modeling process started. I'm still so thrilled about it all. I can't choose. =o)

9. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
The usual - a consistent quiet time. Also? A child. Wow, that feels weird to say.

10. What date(s) from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
June 7 - Nathan's wedding. November 4 - when Obama got elected; otherwise known as the Day of Suck. Heh. November 20 - when I heard from the modeling agency. December 29 - our 5-year wedding anniversary.

( Read more... )

+ Ah, Monday. I actually like Mondays because I don't have to go to work till Tuesday. The only thing I don't like about Mondays is that Isaac has to work. Thus, I am momentarily husbandless.

+ I finally got to see Twilight on Saturday! I managed to convince Isaac to go with me since we had to go all the way across town anyway, and we have a gift card for a theater over there. (I'm sure the proximity to Steak 'n' Shake didn't hurt either.) I think he actually liked it. I liked it even more than I expected. All my friends have been saying a few parts are incredibly cheesy, but even those parts didn't make me roll my eyes. (I mean, if I'm going to a movie about vampires, I'm already suspending mucho disbelief.) I think I actually like the movie better than the book because in the movie you can pretend Bella & Edward's relationship is actually based on something tangible. Charlie cracked me up. Edward started out SO UGLY but got cuter as the movie went on - I think it's because they laid off the makeup? I loved all the Cullen casting, and although Bella is too pretty, I like that actress too. She was a believable Bella. I'm looking forward to New Moon though, because I love Jacob. I thought the kid they got to play him was a great choice.

It was fun watching it in a Jacksonville theater, since Jax is mentioned so often. I hadn't even thought about it until the first time Renee said, "You'll love Jacksonville, Honey." A bunch of people in the theater yelled, "Yeah!" and "Woo-hoo!" When Bella said, "I don't want to go to Jacksonville!" we all booed. LOL. Actually, the Cullens could do quite well here. Yes, it is sunny most of the time, but if they lived in Riverside or 5 Points, no one would think anything of the sparkling. They could just tell people they're living art, or flamboyantly gay, or something, and everyone would just accept it. And if they wanted to go to the beach and people asked why they were sparkling, they could just say that they live in 5 Points, and people would be like, "Ah, I see." LOL.

+ Saturday we also did a photo shoot at Isaac's office. I got some business-y pictures that I really think will work for a more commercial comp. card. I hope to get a shopping one and perhaps a working out one pretty soon.

+ We walked to church yesterday! That was pretty cool. It was pouring afterward though, so we hitched a ride with my parents. I also ended up singing with the worship team, spur-of-the-moment again. We sang the first song and they were vocally very quiet because they had NO sopranos and were down the loudest man too, so at the greeting time I asked the worship leader if he would like me to sing. He said that was probably a good idea, LOL. Isaac said it was much better after I went up there because you could actually hear the melody! Heh.

+ I'm going to Charleston, SC this week! My mom has business up there, so she, Grams and I are going up Thurs.-Sat. None of us have ever been there, so we're quite excited. We'll have just about 2 whole days there, so hopefully we can see quite a bit. I also hope it's not as FREEZING COLD as it was when we went to Savannah 2 years ago, but I'm bringing a scarf and gloves just in case.

+ I went to a MAC Cosmetics store Saturday to get some freckle-hiding foundation that actually matches my pale skin. They actually had one! I've never spent that much on makeup before though. Oy. To think some people do that all the time! I've now used some department store brands in this process of finding a foundation, and can officially attest that Mary Kay's is just as good as those are - at half the price. If only MK had a really thick-coverage foundation like MAC, I'd be using theirs and happily saving money.

+ I had just a short CVS run this week. I guess after giving away the whole store on Black Friday they decided to tone it down this week. I just got 4 cans of Febreze Air Effects for $1.29 total. And apparently I have more ECB than I thought, thanks to BF. I went into the store on BF (well, actually, we went on Thanksgiving) with 27 ECB, spent $4, and came out with 50.39 ECB, 2 Cover Girl makeup items, 1 Maybelline makeup item, 1 King Size Reese's, 3 Gatorade G2, 1 Philips ear buds, 1 Johnson's Softlotion, 2 Loreal lip gloss, 1 Sally Hansen nail polish, 2 Colgate Total, 2 Aussie conditioner, 1 Garnier facial scrub,1 Playtex tampons, 2 Altoids, and 1 Shick Quattro razor/trimmer! They basically paid me $20 to take all that stuff. I. LOVE. THAT. STORE.

+ We put up our Christmas stuff last night! That's always so exciting. Last year we didn't put it up till December 9th because we were too busy. November 30th is much more acceptable. I do so love the Christmas tree lights and the nativity scene. It's funny too because I always think I have more ornaments than I really do, so when they're all on the tree I feel like some are missing. It's because one of my family's Christmas traditions was that each year my bros and I would get a new ornament. When you have 4 kids with at least one ornament from each year they've been alive, plus all my parents' ornaments, that's a very full tree. Now it's just mine and the few that are Isaac's. Speaking of which, I need to order his for this year. I know just what I'm going to get him.

+ There was more I wanted to say, but I've forgotten. So, I'm off to make lunch. Have a great week!

Yay for a normal post!

+ Our Halloween night was fun, but felt nothing like Halloween. We had fun though.

+ Saturday morning we woke up early to go with Isaac's coworkers to the Florida Baptist Children's Home. We cooked a meal on the grill and then served it. Sadly, we didn't get to interact with the kids (some orphans, some temporarily there till a parent gets their act together) much. This was my first visit to an American orphanage. I felt bad for the kids there, of course, but it just reaffirmed my desire to adopt kids from other countries. To the orphans in El Salvador, the FBCH would be like heaven. The kids don't go hungry, and they have house parents so they get attention and affection, and they're taught the Truth, not the cult of Mary.

Saturday afternoon I slept for 4 hours on the couch! That was not expected, but much-needed. We watched Ghostbusters, which I hadn't seen since I was a teenager. That night Isaac went to play football with some friends, and I watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which I hadn't seen since it was in theaters last year. It is amazing that that movie is 2 hours long and there is SO MUCH left out of it.

+ Sunday was pretty much engulfed by our Olympian Fun Fall Festival. After lunch we set up for it, which took so long we only had about an hour and a half between it and the actual festival. We had 13 kids come, though, and 6 of them don't attend church anywhere; their only exposure to God is through our club. We had a ton of candy left over again, so that was great. Hehe. I did face painting, and tried a few new things this year that went over big.

+ Monday's activities have slipped my mind, save for watching SNL's Presidential Bash that evening. Very entertaining.

+ Tuesday I voted in the morning and did not have to wait in line at all. Bwaha. I then went out to lunch at Olive Garden with Grams, Ange, and the kids. It'd been ages since I'd been there. I do love their Five Cheese Ziti al Forno, breadsticks, and raspberry lemonade. *licks lips* As mentioned the other day, we went to AAAC's house that night for a small election party, which was a total blast and an excuse to use the chocolate fountain again. =oD I was up way too late that night though, and I've paid for it since.

+ Yesterday I spent the day cocooned in the house. I felt like crap for staying up so late without being able to sleep in, and I was still royally ticked about the election results, so I did not want to see any news or newspapers. I was able to take a bit of a nap in the late afternoon, and I convinced Isaac to join me. We skipped the gym in favor of something more fun, and then finally went to see Fireproof. (We've been saying we were going to see it ever since it came out.) We were both pleasantly surprised by it. I had no idea it was funny, and I was expecting nearly all the actors to be bad, like in Facing the Giants. Instead, only a few of them were really wooden, and the rest, while not likely to win an Academy Award, were quite good. It was well-made too - as good as any indie film I've seen. And of course I bawled my eyes out. Hehe. I also had fun spotting people who were in Facing the Giants. We went to the movie at 7, and still hadn't had dinner, but thankfully it was free small popcorn day for people in their Movie Watcher club, so we snacked on that and then went to Steak 'n Shake. We hadn't been there in months, and they have 4 meals under $4 now - and they're good ones - so that was awesome. It was a great little impromptu date night. =o)

Oh yeah, and when we were on the highway heading down to the theater, we kept seeing all these cops go by very quickly, some with lights on, some without. We got around the bend and saw the cops (now all with lights on) blocking the entire highway. We were right behind them. We still don't know what was going on, but we saw them arrest 3 girls in their late teens/20s who looked stoned. We're guessing they were driving recklessly and, to have so many policemen there, probably refusing to pull over at first. Isaac was pretty freaked out, because the cops had their guns drawn and we were so close to them, but I figured any bullets would've had to go through 3 cop cars to get to us. Anyway, it made us late for the movie, but it was pretty exciting.

+ Someone in Greece bought one of my Supernatural shirts! That is so cool. What will be even cooler is if when we're there in June, I see her wearing it. Yeah, yeah, Greece is a decent-sized country, blah, blah, blah. It would still be cool.

+ Off to watch Survivor and then Supernatural. Happy almost-Friday!

+ Work today was semi-exciting, because I sort of redid the bulletin. It didn't turn out quite as well as I'd hoped, because the copier made it look funny, but it's still better than the old one.

+ I had a blast with hominygrits on Wednesday! I basically met an entire side of her extended family (a set of grandparents and a few aunts and cousins, plus her parents and brother), and had a great time doing so. They are all a lot of fun and welcomed me right into their family vacation. Most of them were either currently or originally from Boston, too, so all the New England accents made me feel like I was with my in-laws. So great. I was a bit worried about meeting Emily since I don't know her as well as most of the LJ friends I've met in person, but there was still no conversation lag or anything. We just had fun. AND I found a sand dollar! Intact! I never have before. So that was a little extra bonus.

+ I have officially decided that Bones is the most disgusting show on television. CSI may have pushed the boundaries for showing gross things on TV, but Bones has taken it to a whole new level. I should've counted how many times they've shown bowels that are, uh, disemboweled. Nasty. But, I do love the show. Very much.

+ So I knew melyndie was cool, but I didn't know how cool. Then I found out she's a big Gilmore Girls fan. And then I found out she's a Logan girl all the way! We both see WAY too much angst and emo-ness in Jess and Dean. I think she's the only other Logan fan I know, unless some of you are hiding in the closet of Logan-love.

+ Isaac and I have mostly given up eating out until Seth gets home from WOLBI, 'cause we know that with him back home just for a few weeks, and with Melody coming to visit, we're going to be eating out extra. (We've gotta take them to Dave & Buster's, The Landing, Wasabi...) The only way we're allowed to eat out before they're here is if someone else goes too. Then we can use the excuse of fellowshipping. Hehe. Anyway, last night I made up a recipe for baked chicken that turned out really good, and paired it with some potato wedges that were amazing. I will definitely be making those again. We're really going to try to curb our eating out anyway, 'cause then we can save more money for Europe (and termites and the roof and - well, you know the list by now). We'll see how long it lasts though. Hehe.

+ Speaking of Pippy - er, Seth - he graduates a week from tomorrow! Anyone else think this year has gone by at warp speed? Yeah. If not, you do realize it's officially August now, right?

+ My icon makes me want to watch Newsies. Well, actually, I've been wanting to watch it again for quite a while. Who's up for a Newsies party at my house?

+ Last night neither Isaac nor I could fall asleep. That's really unusual; usually he's out 5 minutes after he gets in bed, and I'm usually up for quite a while wishing I was like him. After doing the usual thing married people do when they can't fall asleep (watch TV, duh. Get your mind out of the gutter. Okay, actually, leave it there... but we watched TV too. ;o) ), we talked about a lot of stuff. We were coming up with retorts for when rude strangers comment about our (future) kids, with varying skin colors, belonging to us whiteys. That was fun. Yesterday I searched for adoption stuff on CafePress, and found this awesome shirt for kids that says, "Don't tell my parents, but they don't look anything like me." LOL! I'm so going to buy that for our kids. I also really liked the one that said, "Superman was adopted." Hehe.

+ Oh yes, and six of you think I smell like pickles. I'm not really sure how to take that. I was not surprised at those of you who chose that option (I'm looking at you, pair of curly-haired sisters), though I was surprised that only six were unable to resist temptation. ;o) Oh yes, and the clear winner for Mandy pictures was this one. It had 23 votes. The next closest had only 5! I think I might enter two though, so now I can't decide whether the second should be this one or this one. (The picture(s) I submit is not the actual one that will be used on the calendar. They will take pro photos for that.) I like the one y'all chose because it shows her prettiness, but one of the other two shows her cuteness. And yes, I do love my dog a bit too much. Hehe. Any thoughts on which of those two photos I should use?

*My subject line references this hilarious video. Watch it if you haven't yet.

+ It's amazing how many more comments come to my inbox when I'm actually leaving comments on my friends page. Funny how that works. It's been great catching up on you guys. I've missed you!

+ I've been exhausted since we got back. I suppose that's to be expected since I didn't get enough sleep while we were gone, but I slept 11 hours last night and the night before and I'm still dragging. Of course, today's headache probably isn't helping. Oh well. I'm pretty much used to being tired all the time.

+ Yesterday it stormed most of the day. I got out of the shower to discover Mandy laying next to it. So adorable. It's actually stormed for at least an hour or two every day we've been home. I'm pretty sure it didn't rain at all while we were gone.

+ Speaking of Mandy, thanks so much for praying for her while we were gone. She seems to have survived quite well and, in fact, even ate some of her food while we were gone. I was ridiculously worried about her, but she was fine.

+ The other day when I was at Sam's Club, I saw a middle-aged mom, her late teens/early 20s son and daughter, and her 11-year-old daughter. Every single one of them - even the mom - had Heelys on and were rolling through Sam's Club. Coolest. Family. Ever.

+ I feel really cute today. I wore a top I haven't worn for a long time, and it looks nice.

+ I miss my family. We shared a hotel suite with Mom, Dad, Grams, and Seth for a few days, and saw AAAC and Nathan, Nicole & James for much of two days up there too, but since we've been home I've only seen Mom, and only once (tonight). I miss spending all that time with them.

+ Today, Ken asked if I would consider taking over the church treasurer position. The current treasurer got a job in New Orleans and has to move very soon. I'm considering it. I don't think I'd particularly enjoy it, but I know I could do it (especially with Isaac to help me if I need his mad accounting skillz), and it would be extra money. So, I'm thinking and praying about it.

+ Any E.L.F. Cosmetics fans out there? If so, go here to find out how to get products for 50% off AND get free shipping. Can't beat 50-cent lip glosses and nail polish!

+ As usual, there was definitely more I wanted to say, but I've forgotten. Such is life.

Throughout the day I think of so many things I want to tell you guys, but when I actually sit down to do so, they fly right out of my head. It's kind of annoying. Perhaps it's the scent of the Crock Pot Italian Roast Beef wafting through the house that's distracting me. It smells heavenly. I can't wait to taste it!

I bought the roast at the grocery store this morning and amused Isaac by calling him to ask him where one might find bay leaves. Having never heard of them until I read that recipe, I didn't know what they looked like, and I (wrongly) assumed that they were in the produce section. Heh. I then also had to hunt for a rump roast. I figured I was just not seeing it because I wasn't 100% sure what to look for (my mom has made roasts before, but I never saw them pre-cooking), but when I finally told an employee I couldn't find any, he responded, "That's because there aren't any out here right now." Now you tell me. But he brought me one from the back and told me to come back and tell him how dinner was. Hehe. And since I began cooking, the house has smelled fantastic. I'm sure it is a very unhealthy dinner, but it may well be worth it!

The Kutless concert on Thursday night was so good! We went with David and his girlfriend Jenna, which was a lot of fun. It was the least acoustic-sounding acoustic set I've ever heard though, LOL. Somehow they managed to make acoustic guitars sound more rock-like than ever before. It was at a small venue, so we had a great view even though we got there late. (I went up to the front for part of Kutless' set, though, in the extremely calm mosh pit.) It was cool to see them in a more intimate setting like this acoustic tour. They explained the reasons/stories behind a few songs, and interacted with the crowd more. I thought it was funny that the (very few) parts they yell/scream on the CD versions, they whispered on the acoustic tour. Screaming, unplugged. Hehe. Also, we were sitting near the sound booth and saw their playlist... including their "spontaneous" encore a few spaces below the rest. Ha!

The first opening act is much better on his MySpace songs than he was live. The second, though, was awesome! Their name is Esterlyn (named after one of the guys' nieces, who was adopted from China) and they're great. Similar to The Swift, Everyday Sunday, Switchfoot, etc. I bought their CD that night and have been listening to it in my car ever since. So, this is me recommending it to you. =o)

The LJ strike was fun because it made me feel like one of the Newsies. Hehe. It was funny though, how knowing I couldn't go on LJ that day made me think of going there more often than usual. Silly subconscious.

Did you have a good Easter? I hope so. Friday night we had a really nice Good Friday service at church. My Sunday didn't feel very Easter-like, apart from church. We were in a choir for a few songs, which was fun. I think that's the first time Isaac has sung up front at this church. Crazy. After that, we went to Mom & Dad's for lunch, but AAAC were still sick, so it was just us, Mom & Dad, and Seth and two of his friends who are on spring break. While we were at their house, I put some ringtones I had made for Mom on her phone. (They were the theme from her all-time favorite TV show, The Big Valley, and "My Girl" by The Temptations.) She was thrilled. =o) When we got home, we finished up watching the 2001 Word of Life Passion Play video, which is the one we were in and during which we became best friends. It'd been several years since we watched it, so it was really cool to remember that. Being in that show changed both of our spiritual lives as much as our physical ones.

Sunday afternoon I took one of the youth girls from church to what I think is the first thrift store she's ever been to. She ended up finding a cute J. Crew dress for her sister for $2. I think she's hooked on thrift stores now, hehe. When I got back from that, Isaac really wanted to go lay around at a park (sounds weird phrased like that, but we love to go down by the river, lay out a sheet, and just chill). Chill we did, though, as it was quite cold. We didn't stay very long, but it was pretty while we were there.

Yesterday we went to the Cheesecake Factory for the first time, because we had a gift card. It was really good! I got the Herb Salmon and Shrimp Scampi with steamed broccoli. The salmon was fantastic, but sadly, the shrimp was fried. I can't eat fried seafood. =o/ The broccoli rocked, because it was in the lemon juice from the salmon and the garlic sauce from the shrimp. Amazing. And I saved some to eat for lunch today. We also had to get cheesecake, since, hello--Cheesecake Factory! To see what kind, check out my latest Project 366 post. =o)

Isaac had a great idea for raising money for El Salvador. We're going to see about setting up a small photography gallery of pictures I've taken and those that another photography enthusiast in church has taken, print out 8x10s or 11x14s, mat them, and put them up in the foyer at church, and then sell them. Assuming people buy them, we could raise a lot of money that way. That would be great, since Isaac and I are hoping to raise all our money for this year's trip.

Our body fat scale has definitely bit the dust. Today it told me that I have gained 2% body fat since I started working out. Yeah. I'm doubting that.

Haha, I guess I managed to come up with plenty to write after all. Well, keep in mind I haven't written since Thursday afternoon, and you can forgive me. Right? *puppy dog eyes* ;o)