Living Blossoms

+ It's been a while since I confessed my love for Jimmy Needham. That's probably because I haven't really listened to his CDs for a while. I've been listening to them today as I work, and wow. Boy is good. He rocks a few different styles, and his lyrics are often quite convicting. I was reading the bio on his site and this sentence stuck out to me: "I’ve learned how easy it is to cry ‘hypocrite’ to people who are struggling with things you aren’t struggling with." Whoa. Twist the knife a little, will ya? Even though I was raised in a family that many of you would consider not very conservative (we were definitely conservative, but not hyper-conservative), I still have to consciously stop myself judging others for things they struggle with that I don't, while giving my sins a pass. But I don't wanna be a Pharisee, 'cause they're not fair, you see! (Ah, Esther, I miss you.) 

+ It's hard to believe that it's been a week now since I was with the girls in TN for the first day of our trip. I miss you all so much! Seriously. I was pretty close to some of you even before last weekend, but now I miss you even more! Maybe that trip wasn't a good idea after all. Or maybe I ought to actually test my phone's ability to make outgoing calls one of these days. *sheepish*

+ Angela and AJ weren't feeling so hot this morning, so they canceled going to Chuck E. Cheese's. I was/am so disappointed! I should probably be very embarrassed about that, but I'm not. And now I'm still craving their pizza and Cherry Coke + Coke Zero. *pouts*

+ We went to a friend's birthday party last night. The guests were basically just our 20s/30s fellowship group, so it was a lot of fun. We played Pictaphone (apparently Forrest & Shannon are in love with that game since we taught it to them on Halloween) and had some absolutely hilarious results. One sentence started as, "I love shopping for gourmet foods, like cheese, olives and wine." It didn't even make it to the second sentence without being hilariously messed up. The person between sentences communicated pretty well with their drawing, except for the olives. The second sentence was, "I love to eat cheese, eyeballs and wine." LOL!

+ We watched Inkheart yesterday. At first we had trouble getting into it, but I'm glad we stuck with it. I liked it a lot. It's sort of like Stardust, at least in my mind. I love Andy Serkis. I had to IMDB the guy who played the author, and it turns out he was the Professor on The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. That certainly explains why I couldn't place him, seeing as he looked like Mrs. Doubtfire in this movie. Hehe.

+ Those of you who are girls when it comes to shoes should head to 6pm.com for their Kenneth Cole shoe clearance. There are several styles for just $14.95 (+ $6.95 s&h. Still a great deal for Kenneth Cole shoes!). I got the very last pair of these in my size. They're kinda boring, but they're classic, and I may have need for a brown pump someday (especially with potential future modeling jobs *crosses fingers*). I don't actually have any brown nice dress shoes! And if you need some jeans, check out Amazon's Friday sale on Seven7 jeans, where several pairs are $9.99 or $14.99. (NOT 7 For All Mankind. We can only dream!) After some searching, it seems their inseams are usually 33" or 34", so perfect for me in flats and you normal girls in heels. And they have a lot of dark washes left. I'm thinking of grabbing some of the boot cut ones and using some of my Amazon GCs earned from searching on Swagbucks...

+ Yeah, I know - not nearly as cold as where you live. I ain't complainin'. The other night there was a very slim chance of "ocean-effect snow" flurries at the beaches. I do believe that is the first time in my 6½ years of living in Florida that there has been even a chance of any snow in Jacksonville. Global warming, my butt. (Pretty please? LOL.)

+ I feel rather chic and stylish today. On my way back from St. Augustine yesterday I stopped at the outlets to make myself a liar and buy a pair of skinny jeans. Sarah and I tried them on when we were there a few weeks ago, both left without them, and both regretted it later. Hehe. I'm wearing them today (they're a dark wash, and the only skinny jeans I have ever tried that actually look good) tucked into my comfy black mid-calf boots, with a teal shirt, the black satin blazer I just got from The Thrift Store, and some intricate and rather large black earrings. The skinny pants tucked into riding boots + ponytail + blazer make me feel a bit like I should be riding horses in the English countryside. (*wistful sigh*)

+ This morning I did two workout videos that I got from the library. One was a strength training one by that guy with the long, blond, curly hair and way-too-big-for-his-body muscles. I already knew all the moves, but it was still a good workout. The other was a cardio salsa DVD. I swear I have some sort of disorder where my brain gets way too confused by even simple dance moves so it can't get my body to do them like the examples. I have, like, physical dyslexia, or something like that which doesn't exist. Hehe. Finally I modified two moves and ended up doing okay and getting a good workout. And then I went to McDonald's for lunch. *smirk*

+ Oh! The other day while hunting for solid-colored dress shirts at Goodwill I found what is now my best thrift store find ever! Yes, my $5 Joe's Jeans and $7 7 For All Mankind jeans have been surpassed by a $260 cream leather Banana Republic tote for (drum roll, please) $4! I got it because it was nice and figured it retailed for, oh, $80 originally. Then I got online to check and they don't have one large leather tote under $260! I will probably try to sell it because I can't see myself ever needing a tote that large, except when I'm a mom, at which time I won't be wanting to carry diapers and Cheerios in a very expensive one in a light color. Hehe.

+ Isn't it weird to think of me as a mom? Well, it is to me anyway. But I've thought that a lot lately - "When I'm a mom..." I guess psyching yourself into wanting kids in the near future really does work, 'cause I have done it. I still feel too young to have kids though. Maybe that's something I need to keep working on myself for... or maybe we should just keep waiting. I don't know.

+ I have been very good lately about keeping the dishes done. Now that my dishwasher is out of commission, I really need to keep up on it so I don't have to spend half an hour hunching over the sink to eliminate the pile of dishes that will inevitably appear if I slack off. But so far, so good.

+ I adore this song. I listened to it probably 10 times yesterday, and 3 more today. So pretty. I just wish it was longer!

+ The copier is making a strange noise. I've never heard it make this particular noise before. Pleeease don't be a bad sign. *hopes*

+ I walked to work today. Well, actually, I walked to Chick-Fil-A, which is 1.5 miles from my house, and then to church, which is .4 miles from that. This morning we walked 1.5 miles to the mechanic to pick up Isaac's no-longer-a-death-trap car. Walking is not high impact, but it is cardio. The days have been so gorgeous lately, too - perfect walking weather. I like to think I'm saving on gas money too, but with gas at $1.79/gallon, I'm really not saving much. (But I am NOT complaining about gas being cheap again!) Still, it will hopefully help shrink my hips. (Chick-Fil-A, however, will not. LOL. Though I did barely manage to resist their new Peppermint Chocolate Milkshake...) I've walked about 7 miles in 3 days. Not bad.

+ How was your Thanksgiving? Mine was fantastic. Seriously - one of the best in many years. We woke up early (sad), and decided we wanted cinnamon rolls (happy). So, we walked to Winn-Dixie and got some Pillsbury ones. Seth's friend Justin is staying with us, and Seth spent the night that night, so we shared with them. *glares* Hehe. We went to AAAC's around noon for Thanksgiving dinner. This was the first time Ange has hosted it (and the first time they've had a house to do it in) and the girl seriously outdid herself. It was amazing. Absolutely fantastic. My whole family was there except NN&J (who live in Indiana), and so were Ange's half-sister, and her brother, his girlfriend, and their two kids. In all the years I've known Ange, I had not met her brother until yesterday.

After lunch we watched the Lions game till we couldn't take it anymore (for the non-football-inclined, the Lions are having the worst season ever. They have not won one game, and it looks like they will not be winning any at all. And who did they play yesterday? The team who's only lost one game! Oh, it was so sad. BUT - I thought they were only going to score 3 points, but instead they scored 10. The score was 47-10. That's not even as bad as a Gators game, so I didn't have to cry. LOL.), we went for a walk around a nearby reservoir, where we saw an alligator! I had never seen one in Jax before. There are lots of them in the lake at WOL FL, but I hadn't seen one since we moved from there. This was a little one - 4 feet at the most - but it was so cool!

After that we played a bit of Rock Band, and then Ange and I wanted to hit CVS for their amazing free stuff. Ashley and Tanya were curious how we get so much free stuff, so they came with us. CVSing with other people is so much fun! I had always done it alone. Though with 4 people, 2 of whom were n00bs, it took forever. They were so lost at first but quickly got it down. We had amazing cashiers, too, who were bored till we got there, and then they had 4 cute girls to entertain them. LOL. Ashley and Tanya were totally floored at how much they got for hardly more than their initial buy-in of $5.98 + tax. I got a ton of stuff, too. I had to pay $3.68 because I only had 27 ECBs, but I got 47 ECBs back, plus all my stuff, so it was worth it! What a great time!

When we finally finished cleaning up at CVS, we went back to AAAC's. We ate leftovers for dinner, played a few rounds of Pass the Pigs, and then Isaac and I went home to join Seth and Justin for a viewing of Hancock. I liked it, but I'm kinda glad now that we were never able to go see it in the theater. I tell ya though, there was a twist I totally did not see coming. Tonight we're going to watch Kung Fu Panda! It's nice having 3 Redboxes within a block away. Heh.

+ This morning we woke up early to go out for breakfast at a restaurant near our house (yep - we walked to that too) with most of Ange's family, and Mom and Grams. Then we hit the thrift store, where everyone found multiple things. Yes, we all did our Black Friday shopping at the thrift store. LOL. There was no one camped out there. Go figure. ;o)

+ Seth said he wants to see Twilight, so yay - maybe I won't have to see it alone after all! We may go tomorrow. I think it's hilarious that Seth - a teenage college guy - is willing to go see it with me, and Isaac - a long-married man - is not. Hehe.

+ Wow - apparently the days of Long Bethany Posts have returned. Oh, the memories. =o)

+ Happy birthday to Isaac! He is now only 12 years away from 40. Hehe. And he is the best husband ever!

+ I feel like I live at Home Depot and Walmart. I've been to each of them at least 4 times this week.

+ I'm trying to laugh at the fact that the first night this week that I finally got enough sleep preceded the one day I really could've used an extra few hours of awake time.

+ Ghirardelli chocolate chips being the same price as Walmart brand makes me very happy.

+ Apparently I've been lusting after cashmere sweaters all these years, when I could've just bought them; there are tons of them for great prices on Ebay! Oh, this is a bad, bad discovery for my budget.

+ 30% cash back on Ebay Buy It Now purchases is love.

+ Can any of you convince me that the quality of photos taken by a DSLR is worth it despite its heft when compared to a good digicam that has all manual options but an attached lens? I love the quality of DSLRs, but I also like having a camera that fits in my purse and doesn't weigh 3 lbs because of the lenses. So, yeah - convince me.

+ Hanging pictures is a lot easier than I thought it was. Therefore, I hate myself for waiting 3 years to do so.

+ I have an unhealthy obsession with soft blankets. And Cherry Coke.

+ 18 people have RSVPed for the party tonight. That is workable, assuming they don't all stay for the debate and want to sit in the living room. (Our dining room is basically just an extension of our living room though, so it'll be fine.)

+ I don't actually believe that it's October. Everyone is lying to me.