Molly A Nesseth

february weddings

2010-03-23T12:11:00.004-04:00

scott and i had two weddings to go to in february. two of my really good guy friends got married: neal and craig...not to each other. ;-) they both got married to awesome ladies and both weddings were a lot of fun! here are a few pictures from both of their weddings.

all dressed up at neal's wedding

craig and laura-just a week away from their wedding

the four of us

the venue-Historic Dubsdread. This venue was beautiful-the picture does not do it justice.

craig and laura's first dance-love this picture

old roomies!

how hot does scott look? i picked out his outfit and i must say it's one of my favorites!

me, michaela, and jen

our first picture with the newly married couple

love these cake toppers! :-)

paul

2010-03-19T13:40:00.004-04:00

those of you who have known me for a long time know that i lost my best friend paul many years ago. last sunday marked 18 years since he has been gone. seriously? how has it been 18 years already? sometimes it seems like it was just yesterday and i can still remember every detail of the day i found out and the days to follow. i always think of him when march 14th comes around, but for some reason or another, it hit me hard this year. i know it's just part of the healing process. i had a rough night a couple of days before his anniversary. i am sad that i can't really remember what his voice sounds like. and the selfish part of me just wishes that i could have him back. he was my first love and there will always be a special place in my heart for him. i am thankful that god allowed him to be in my life in such a huge way. and i am so lucky that god placed him in my life and i wouldn't take it back for anything. can't wait to see you paul!

this is one of my favorite pictures of him. he took it for me and said that he tried to look like a model for me. :-) enscribed on the back of it, it says, "To my one and only!"

reese witherspoon as june carter

2010-03-17T14:19:00.005-04:00

so each month, my dept does a "themed friday" on the 2nd friday of each month. this month it was a "hollywood" theme. so i thought about who i wanted to dress up as. i really like reese witherspoon and think she's adorable, but hello, i have black hair; a far cry from her blond locks. but then a brilliant idea popped into my head...i would dress up as her from walk the line! so i went to work in assembling my "june carter" look. my inspiration came from this picture that i found online.

(the pictures aren't the greatest-i took them with my p&s). i borrowed some cowboy boots from a friend and wore a silver "poofy" skirt with a purple shirt with some beading around the neck. i had to work with what i had on hand. and then i tried to replicate the makeup and hair. so what do you think? do i look like her?

i took a half day this day because scott's mom was in town and all three of us were going to go out to lunch and then shopping. i had changed my clothes, but still had the same hair and makeup. we went out to eat and at the end of our meal, our waitress proceeds to tell me that i look just like reese witherspoon from walk the line!!! hey, i guess it worked. :-)

10th monthiversary

2010-03-17T13:25:00.003-04:00

yesterday was 10 months for scott and i. whoot!! what a great 10 months it has been. it feels like we've been together forever, but at the same time it seems like we just started dating yesterday. so here are 10 things in no particular order that i love about mr. scott.

1. he's got the coolest eyes ever. they change from light green to light blue depending on what he's wearing. i'm thankful that they don't change to red when he wears red, but he sure looks good in red.
2. he's got the best smile in the world-makes my heart melt.
3. if you haven't noticed he's tall. if you didn't know, i LIKE that about him. he was born to stand out.
4. this might sound weird, but he smells soooo good. i don't know how he does it(he doesn't wear cologne) but he's just got the most amazing smell about him and it's so comforting to me.
5. he's got the greatest hands in the world. i could stare at them all day. and i love how they envelope my tiny hands. i feel like Belle from Beauty and the Beast when she puts her hand in the Beast's hand. considering that that movie is my favorite disney movie, it tells me that we are meant to be.
6. his laugh moves me. it lights me up and i'll do anything to get him to laugh.
7. his voice is quite and gentle, never angers or gets loud. i need that in my life.
8. he looks stinkin good with facial hair and without it. there are certain days that i tell him to be "lazy" and to not shave because i want another day with "facial hair scott". and then he looks great with a smooth face too. i'm lucky that he looks well both ways. variety is good folks.
9. he is the best thing to cuddle up to on the couch. there is nothing more warm or cuddley than him. he's got anyone beat in this area; i'm just sure of it.
10. and last but not least....we fit like a puzzle piece. i'm just sure we were made for each other.

thanks for making it a great 10 months baby!

what is it with people? or me for that matter....

2010-03-17T12:56:00.004-04:00

i've noticed it more this week, but lately it seems that whenever i ask someone how they are doing in passing or tell them "thanks" for holding the door, all i get is silence. seriously? did you not hear me? i know i spoke loud enough. what is your problem? is this the norm now? i would never just ignore someone and keep walking. is it because the majority of the people don't like me? do they just hate interacting with others? are they just being rude on purpose? i don't get it; they just go about on their merry way as if i never had said anything in the first place. i just don't get people these days.

on a lighter note, scott and i are headed to a little concert tomorrow night. a band called "gungor" is playing at the lovely plaza theatre in o-town. i just stumbled across them a couple of weeks ago (while i was blog stalking)and they sounded pretty cool. tickets were only $8, so i figured we'd check it out. have you ever heard of them?

and yes, i am a total blog stalker these days. it's so addicting and each blog leads from one to another and it never stops! i am majorly addicted here people!! i mostly follow photographers blogs and some crafty ones with diy projects. i never knew it could be so much fun looking at people's blogs from all over the country. there are some SERIOUSLY wicked talented people out there. i love getting inspiration and ideas from other people's creative minds. so a BIG thank you to those who are ridiculously creative and talented-you make my heart happy!

Disney with the Rents

2010-03-05T16:40:00.002-05:00

a couple of weeks ago scott and i went to epcot with my parents. while scott and i have annual passes, my parents do not. my friends, rob and melinda, have access to get anyone in at anytime and graciously let my parents in for FREE! we had a great day and the weather couldn't have been more perfect! here's a few pics from the day:

we spent some time in the norway store, since we are norwegian. it was pretty fun. here scott and my dad are trying on these ultra winter hats that cost $50!

posing with the troll with some viking hats. i think it looks better on scott than me.

my parents rockin it out with the troll

one last picture before we leave.

v-day

2010-02-24T16:14:00.002-05:00

scott knows that i love to be surprised, so he kept our plans a secret this year. all i knew was that i was suppposed to dress up and that he was taking me out to eat somewhere friday night. so i got all fancied up in a new black dress, some nice pearls, shiny black heals, and my red-hot tights! besides surprises, i also love getting dressed up. he took me to the Grand Floridian~simply beautiful! it was my first time there. we got there a little before our reservation for dinner, so we walked around and listened to a live band that was playing there. it was so fun! i didn't have my nikon with me, so some of these pictures look a little crapy. sat we went to disney for a few hours and then sunday night we went out for dinner and to see Valentine's Day. he surprised me with some really nice gifts too! it was a really fun weekend and a great 1st Valentine's Day.

here we are listening to the music

the band-they were really good!

the lobby at the Grand Floridian

me

a nice women offered to take our picture~thank you nice lady.

my handsome man-you could see the castle(at Magic Kingdom)from our seats. it was right behind scott!

it was a seriously nice restaurant-thanks babe!

enjoying some chocolate mousse and berries for dessert. yum!

hope you had a great v-day too!!

Lady Track Shack 5k

2010-02-24T16:04:00.002-05:00

my mom and dad are visting here for the winter and my mom decided she wanted to do a 5k. so i told her that i would do one with her and we decided on the Lady Track Shack 5k. my mom isn't a runner so we decided that we would walk, run, walk, run. i pushed her pretty hard :-) it was a lot of fun to do this event with my mom and she was so excited to accomplish her first one! thanks to my dad and scott for getting up early to come and support us! here are a few pictures...

before the race-it started out cold, but turned into a beautiful morning

they used these nifty things instead of timing chips

almost there!

crossing the finish line!

mod podge magnets

2010-02-06T14:53:00.003-05:00

i made my own magnets recently and it went successfully; not that it was really hard to begin with, but i'm kind of new at doing all these DIY projects. i really enjoy it and i went shopping last week to get all of my basic supplies. (more mod podge, paint, paint brushes, spray adhesive, hot glue gun, magnets, etc.) it was super fun walking through the aisles at JoAnn's. i could spend hours there. so here's what you need to make the magnets:

mod podge, magnets (they only had the adhesive kind), scraps of scrapbook paper, paint brush, coffee sleeves (from Panera or Starbucks), and a circular paper punch (i used 1 1/4 size)
punch out circles from the coffee sleeves and your scraps and then glue them with mod podge and paint over the top to seal it in.

here's the back of it after you glue it on

let them dry and then apply the magnet to the back and that's it!

i tested them out on my fridge with a picture of my niece. i love them!

homemade applesauce

2010-01-26T15:29:00.001-05:00

so i got a food processor for christmas and was thrilled to start using it. i decided my first project was to make some homemade applesauce. this was my first attempt at doing something like this. i got the idea from this fun blog that i follow and pretty much followed her recipe. if you have a food processor and enjoy applesauce then you should definitely try this recipe.

i used 10 granny smith apples and added two peaches

my new food processor :-)

i washed all the fruit

then peeled away

the finished product

it was so yummy and very fresh. you could also add cinnamon and/or red hots to give it a little flavor.

8 months of happiness

2010-01-18T11:45:00.002-05:00

so, this week marked our 8th *monthiversary*. yes, you heard me correctly. we like to celebrate our relationship each month and we call it our monthiversary. i think it should be a real word. so in honor of 8 months together, i will leave you with 8 wonderful things that i love about our relationship.

1. i've never been treated so well by anyone in my life

2. he not only lets me be crazy and silly, but he embraces that part about me

3. being with him is EASY

4. he supports and encourages me in everything i set out to achieve

5. we both love being next to one another and would pick that over anything else

6. i'm convinced that he would do absolutely anything in the world for me

7. he makes me feel like i'm the most beautiful person in the world

8. he loves me to pieces and isn't afraid to tell me

happy 8 months babe....thanks for making them the best ones yet!

thinking....

2010-01-15T16:31:00.004-05:00

lately it's seems that there is a lot going on with those that are close to me in one way or another. some good, some bad, and some great. it's got me thinking about my life and the fact if i'm truly content with where i'm at in life. and what is God up to in each of these individuals lives? from a friend getting engaged, to watching a friend lose his mother to cancer, my best friend finding out that she's getting a baby boy through adoption, two friends getting married this next month, watching a dear friend find out that she really doesn't have cancer, only to find out weeks later that she does and that she has to go through chemo. i feel like everywhere i turn, another person has cancer. i hate seeing people go through sickness and death, who doesn't? but i LOVE rejoicing in the good things and seeing my friends happiness. who doesn't love to see a new life enter into this world and to see a realationship develop into marriage?

i find myself at times wishing and hoping for the things that i DON'T have in my life instead of being truly happy with what i have. i love this quote from elisabeth elliot-"We accept and thank God for what is given, not allowing the not-given to spoil it." this is what i'm striving for these days. i have so much to be thankful for and i don't want to take away all the goodness because i don't have what i want...yet. how can i be dissatisfied with my life when i hear about my friend having to battle cancer? i have a healthy body that allows me to do so much. and why do i get mad at god for not giving me what i want (in my timing) when someone else is grieving over their loss of a family member? it definitely puts things into perspective and god politely slaps me in face and reminds me of all i have and all he has chosen to give to me. see, that's the thing-every single thing that i have or don't have has been chosen by god. he goes before me and knows best for my life. and i know that god is in all of these situations. he is a good and just god. he will bring goodness out of every situation if we allow him.

and how do i know this? well, lets just say that i've been there before. i've been through my own personal tradedies in the past and god has gotten me through each and every one of them. and by his grace he has turned me into this amazing, new creation that never existed before. he makes all things beautiful in his timing...and he will with each one of my friends too...i'm glad i can have hope in him.

frEEzing at Disney

2010-01-15T16:27:00.002-05:00

scott and i decided to use our disney annual passes last week (thanks again babe). and we figured with the "colder" temperatures, it would keep people away so we wouldn't have wait in long lines. well, our plan worked, but we pretty much froze our butts off. the high for the day was 33! despite the cold, we had a great time and i can't wait to go again! here are a few pics.....

waiting for the monorail to come and get us to take us to the magic kingdom

the castle at magic kingdom. makes me smile :-)

in front of the castle on our way out

part 2 of my favorite pictures from 2009

2010-01-06T16:31:00.002-05:00

a view of long beach in CA, on the Queen Mary

shadow kiss

visiting Dana Point in CA

so peaceful

i LOVE sail boats....one day, i'll get on one

at sea world with scott

celebrating our 6th monthiversary

this was taken at dragoncon in sept...what can i say, we take good pictures :-)

favorite pictures from 2009

2010-01-06T10:06:00.003-05:00

one of my favorite pictures of scott and i so far...

meeting my niece, savannah, for the first time...instant love

this was taken at my house when i went home in the winter. i love me a fresh snowfall

going shooting for the first time. i loved it more than i thought i would.

right after i crossed the finish line after my first full triathon, a proud moment-trying not to cry :-)

my sweet niece

making my niece laugh-at 6 months

the best blue eyes in the world and the best lip too :-)

one of my all time faves of her

sisters :-)

i love profile shots

in brasil with my baby

playing in the leaves, at IN in the fall

my back yard in IN

leafy kiss :-)

savannah in her christmas dress

gotta love this one :-)

savannah's first time at the beach

pictures i promised

2010-01-06T09:46:00.006-05:00

a new year, a better blog?

2010-01-05T16:14:00.017-05:00

so i think it's pretty clear that i stink at blogging. i mean, i haven't blogged in over 6 months! how lame is that! so, i'm thinking...it's a new year, maybe i should try to blog on a more frequent basis. it is my goal to do better at this for 2010. we'll see... i mean it's not that big of a deal since i only have like 2 followers ;-) so i'll leave you with a few pictures from Christmas 2009. i went to CA with my boyfriend, Scott to spend Christmas with his family. it was an amazing trip!

ok, having trouble uploading pics...will try tomorrow. sorry, blogs are no fun without pictures :-(

some of my new fav pics...

2009-06-11T14:55:00.005-04:00

Savannah 2009

2009-06-11T13:36:00.003-04:00

here is a video of my niece from the year so far....

finish strong

2009-05-11T14:50:00.015-04:00

well....i did it! i finished my first full tri and i beat my goal by 1 minute! i must have had a lot of people praying for me because i didn't get nervous at all. i was more excited than anything. it was so amazing to work so hard for something and then see it all pay off. the tri actually ended up being easier than what i thought it would be. i was able to do the whole thing without stopping or walking once. for those of you who aren't familiar with how tri's work, the order is swim, bike, run. we had to swim for 1/2 a mile, run to the transition area, put your socks, shoes, helmet, etc. on and then head off on a 12 mile bike jaunt, then rack your bike at the transition area and finish with a 3 mile run. my exact times in each area were: 00:19:42 for the swim, 00:47:26 for the bike, and 00:30:39 for the run. and the total for my transition times were 00:06:10. so the total for my tri including everything was exactly 01:44:00!!! my goal was to do it under 2 hours so i was more than pleased:-) it was awesome too because my parents got to be there for the race. when i crossed the finish line i started bawling like a baby:-) there's just something so neat about accomplishing something like that. i can't wait for my next one!! enjoy the pics!

just minutes before my "wave" left

mom and i-our first mother's day together in 7 years!

next in line to go

just finished swimming, running to the transition area to get on my bike

starting the bike portion

just crossed the finish line....trying not to cry :-)

hugging my tri coach, amy

team vortex rocks!

larissa, tammie, me and mom after the race-we are happy!!

danskin triathlon here i come!

2009-05-07T09:51:00.009-04:00

so i'm doing my first FULL tri this sunday on mother's day. i am super pumped about it. i started training in feb for this tri and then because of my unexpected surgery in march, i had to take about 5 weeks off. that threw me for a loop and i was really nervous about the fact that i might not be ready for when the tri came. well now it's almost here...only 3 more days until i see if i have what it takes. i have to admit that i've really pushed myself over the last 3 weeks and it's really paid off. i feel even better than i did before my surgery. i'll be back to post pics of the race (in my lovely spandex outfit) and give you the stats. say a prayer for me if you remember!! since no post is complete with out a picture, here's a picture from my first tri back in '07 kissing my medal :-)

easter

2009-04-23T13:54:00.011-04:00

for easter i had people over from church that didn't have family in the area and i hosted a big dinner for everyone. there ended up being 11 of us. i took care of the ham (my first time doing it all by myself) and the dessert. i had each person bring something else to add to the meal. everything ended up turning out great! thanks everyone :-)

glazing the ham

the "spread"

posing as "Martha Stewart"

after lunch i hid around 300 eggs in and outside of my house while everyone waited patiently outside in the front :-) this was my 2nd annual easter egg hunt and it was so fun to see adults turn into little kids as they scurried around every nook and cranny. michael and millie shipe swept the competition this year. millie found the most eggs...i believe her total count was 48! and michael found the large silver egg that got him a prize as well. afterwards we watched ironman. the whole day was a blast and i'm so thankful for all of my wonderful friends :-)

just moments before the egg hunt started

madness in the kitchen as they hunted for the large silver egg

the winners!! michael and millie did good!

everyone

looking forward to next year!!

cardboard testimony

2009-04-21T14:13:00.007-04:00

for our easter service at church, we did the cardboard testimonies and i was able to be a part of that, which i was excited about! click on the "cardboard testimonies" below...

cardboard testimonies

four wheeling and shooting

2009-04-21T11:05:00.007-04:00

christie, me, and jen

so i'm backtracking a little here, but that's ok. at least i am updating my blog two days in a row!! at the beginning of march a bunch of my friends got together and drove up to my friends grandparent's house in wildwood. they live out in the country and own thousands of acres. we were able to go four wheeling and shooting! yes, shooting. it was my first time shooting and can i just say that it's totally addicting and it was way more fun than what i thought. i shot an old 22 and a hand gun and was actually able to hit some targets that they had set up. and then we also did some skeet shooting and i even hit a couple of those!

the four wheeling was quite fun in that you had to dodge hundreds of piles of cow poo. and we even drove right next to the cows. although that kind of ticked them off a bit :-) we were celebrating jamie's 29th birthday and we had a blast! we all want to go back soon jamie!!

i never thought i'd hold one of these!

shooting with an old 22...couldn't get enough of it!

skeet shooting.......PULL.....

jamie and i doing some fast four wheeling

the girls....you better not mess with us

the gorgeous sunset

happy birthday jamie!

after eating the most amazing meal! thanks nana and pops!

recent pics of savannah

2009-04-20T14:47:00.009-04:00

ok...so i've been getting lots of requests to post some more recent pictures of my niece. so here they are....

savannah and daddy on easter

savannah wearing her easter dress
look at those blue eyes...she gets 'em from her mama

this is one of my favorites :-) she's so beautiful!!

march madness

2009-04-02T14:14:00.012-04:00

no, i'm not talking about the march madness basketball tournament. i'm talking about me here folks. the month of march was a crazy one indeed! it started out with me moving all of my stuff into the garage so someone could move in and take my spot in the house that i was living at. the home that i was supposed to move into was not quite ready yet, so i got to spend the month traveling from place to place like a homeless vagabond :-)

but it all worked out well enough. i stayed with some great friends from church, art and tammie and had planned to only stay one week with them until my appendix decided that it didn't want to be inside of me anymore so i had to go to the hospital one night and i found out that i had to have emergency surgery to remove the little guy that was causing me so much pain. there was a minor complication when they went in to remove it......because of all the inflammation, my appendix had "adheared" to my colon and they had to peel it off of it. (i know gross) they were worried about "leakage", but everything turned out just fine! i have the most amazing friends that came to visit me and bring me flowers and balloons. i am so blessed to have the friends that i do!

here is a picture of an appendix; not mine :-) although i did ask for it in a jar, but they wouldn't let me because they had to take it to pathology. i am feeling so much better than before and i only have three little scars to show for it. next monday marks a month since my surgery and i will finally be able to start my training back up for my triathlon.

so i ended up staying with my friends art and tammie for another week while i recooperated and then i was off to my friends brian and delia. they were out of the country and they graciously allowed me to stay at their place for a week. after that i moved all my stuff over to rob and melinda's place. i will be honest in saying it was a pain to live out of my car for a month, but i am so grateful for all of my wonderful friends that put me up :-) i am truly blessed!

last weekend i was finally able to move in my new house!! yay!! i am SO happy to be in a house by myself. i feel so content and happy to be living in this new house. my dad painted my bedroom and it turned out wonderful. i had several friends that helped me with the move. i am still unable to lift anything heavy so i had the luxury of telling people where to put things :-) not bad huh?

my bedroom :-) this is the accent wall and the others are a grayish color. i really liked how it turned out.

the living room...this is the furniture that my parents graciously brought down

my kitchen....i can't wait to start baking in it :-)

my screened in porch facing a "quaint" forest

yessss! i finally have my piano with me in fl. thanks to mom and dad:-)

i am settling in quite nicely in my new place. i still have a few things to organize and decorate, but it feels very much like home to me already and i am so happy :-)

a blanket with sleeves....my life is changed forever

2009-02-10T17:41:00.011-05:00

ok people...brace yourselves for this one ;-) if you haven't seen the infomercial for the snuggie please check it out before you read this. as a joke neal bought chris a snuggie for his birthday. we have been joking about how hilarious it would be to get some and wear them around orlando in public. so for chris' 30th birthday, we robed ourselves in two lovely blue snuggies and drove from place to place to see what kind of reactions we would get. first stop was publix, then starbucks, but the best was walmart. all i can say is comedy....

unexpected joy

2009-02-04T11:13:00.004-05:00

i love those mornings in which you wake up and you're filled with an abundance of joy. and there's no real reason for it. i mean nothing significant happened overnight in which i should wake up filled with joy. (well, i guess i did have a good dream :-))the only answer is god. he is the only thing that can give us true joy anyways. i haven't felt this much joy in awhile. i must admit, life has been hard for me over the last couple of months. i've been wrestling with god on life and why he does the things he does. i am learning that i can't wake up in the morning and ask god WHY? i have to look to god for WHO he is, not for WHAT he can do or give to me. it's been a slow process of changing my attitude towards god, but i am getting there!

i am filled with an exceeding amount of joy right now and the only explanation is god. he is showing me how blessed i truly am. he has given me much! i am thankful that i serve a god who help me change my attitude and my heart. without him i am hopeless!

here are just a few reasons why i am so thankful.....

savannah at 1 week

2009-01-22T20:31:00.008-05:00

so i went to visit my family and to meet my new niece, savannah. can i just say how amazing little babies are? it's amazing. the first time i laid eyes on her my heart completely melted and i fell in love with her immediately! i love being an aunt. and i'm her only aunt that she'll ever have, so i have no one to compete with :-) i had some great bonding time with my niece. she is doing so amazing. she's eating great and sleeping through the night. she's a great baby for sure. some of these pics are from the first day and then when she was a week old.

i am officially an auntie!!

2009-01-08T13:14:00.006-05:00

savannah elizabeth nesseth was born this morning at 2:45 weighing in at 7 lbs 15 oz, 20 3/4 inches long. i get to meet her in the morning!! both danelle and savannah are doing great! i'm proud of you danelle! congrats dave and danelle!

christmas eve

2008-12-26T19:32:00.005-05:00

so i'm back tracking a little bit here, but that's ok. i was able to spend christmas eve with some close friends of mine, brian, delia, and their son luca. i went to their christmas eve service with them and then we went back to their house and proceeded to make home made egg nog and glazed pecans. the egg nog turned out great! (nicely done brian) i made the glazed pecans with this nut roaster that brian got delia for christmas. the box "claims" that it takes 10 minutes....yeah right. 1 hour later and two burns on my fingers the pecans were finally done! were they worth it....? i think so. they were some of the best glazed nuts i've ever had. i had a great time having "girl talk" with delia while brian finished wraping gifts. then we watched "it's a wonderful life" while eating our nuts and drinking our nog :-) we stayed up entirely way too late, but we had a great time as always. thanks bri and del!

it's a wonderful life...is it???

2008-12-25T12:20:00.003-05:00

as i sit here this morning, i'm trying to pretend that it's any other day but christmas day. i mean, i would have never thought that i'd be spending christmas day alone. waking up to a big house on christmas morning by yourself is not what i dreamed for me. can i just say that being far away from your family stinks! as i sat watching "it's a wonderful life" last night with some friends, i couldn't help but relate to george bailey. everything he dreamed of and had set out to do, never happened. i feel that way sometimes. oh how i wish god would give each one of us a glimpse into our lives. what would things look like if i was never born? has my life really made an impact on other people around me? how would my life have turned out if i'd taken a different path? what kind of person would i be if things would have gone MY way? it's hard to know. we can only imagine and imagine away i do. i question god this morning as i sit alone. for those of you that know me well, know that i thrive on people. i get my energy from being around people, so being alone on christmas morning is torture for me. i don't know god's purpose in allowing me to be alone this morning. i'm sure it will make sense some day, years from now when i look back on this christmas in 2008. i'm sure i've offended someone in being so "negative" on christmas day, but i hate being fake. i'm all about being real. when it comes down to it, i have lots to be thankful for, but i'm still sitting here on the couch all alone and that just plain sucks. merry christmas!!

holiday baking

2008-12-22T18:44:00.008-05:00

so...most of you know that i LOVE to bake:-) i think i could do it every day! i've been a baking fiend over the last week. this is what i've made so far...pumpkin dip, peppermint bark, ginger snaps, christmas cutout sugar cookies w/icing, buckeyes, white chocolate covered pretzels w/sprinkles, and these peppermint brownie balls. i made the cutout cookies with my girls. we had a blast, although we were totally over the decorating by the end of the night. :-)

i love surprises!

2008-12-22T10:31:00.005-05:00

so a couple of weekends ago i flew up to indy to surprise my best friend allison. i had been talking with her husband and mom over the last two months in order to make sure that she would be surprised and have the whole weekend free. it worked out perfectly! she was in complete shock when she saw me and then she started to cry. oh how i love surprises!!! it had been over a year since we had seen each other and i was in some dire need of bonding time with my best friend. i had a blast hanging out with her and being able to see her whole family :-)
not only was i able to surprise her, but i was able to surprise my whole family as well. i didn't tell any of them that i was coming. my mom was throwing danelle, my sis-in-law, a baby shower that sunday so i drove up to my parents house and surprised everyone at the baby shower. it was so much fun!!! it was great to be there for the shower and to be with danelle :-)

song writers..

2008-12-14T22:46:00.002-05:00

i am amazed by song writers/singers. i love to sing and am grateful that i am able to use that talent that god has given me, but i am not a song writer. i wish i was, but i have to realize that, that is not one of my gifts. i so admire song writers. i wish i could write lyrics that inspire and move people as they do me. as most of you know, i am very passionate about music. music can have a way of moving and speaking to me so much. i love how it can make me laugh, bring tears to my eyes, pump me up, inspire me, but i love it most when i can relate to the lyrics and the artist that wrote them. there are times in which i feel like certain songs kind of sum up my life story. it's amazing to me how much music moves me. i cannot imagine a world with out music.

i went to a concert last night, "behold the lamb of god" by andrew peterson. it's one of my favorite concerts. this was my second time going to it. he always has a bunch of different artists help him with the concert. ie..bebo norman, sara groves, jill phillips, andy gullahorn, andrew osenga, etc. the first part of the concert, the artists sing a couple of songs each and it's a very chill and laid back atmosphere. they talk in between and they are so random and hilarious. then the second part of the concert is the christmas part. andrew peterson wrote "behold the lamb of god" about 10 years ago and it consists of 11 songs that tell the coming of christ. it's amazing to see him take the old testament stories and turn them into songs. the soundtrack is amazing! one of the reasons why i like this concert so much is that it is very humble. the concert is not about the artists, it's about sharing the coming of christ, the real reason for christmas. their hearts are so genuine. it's so refreshing to go to a concert like this.

jill phillips sang a song from her new album called "all the good things". i could totally relate to it. the song is basically looking at the big picture and seeing how everything in our life is good. even when we go through crap and hard times in our lives, it always turns out good. god always brings good out of hard times. that's one of the biggest things that god has been teaching me this year. i am trying to find the good things in every trial i go through and i KNOW that he will bring good out of every situation. it's hard to see it sometimes, but we are always able to look back after time and see the bigger picture and it becomes clear to us why god did it the way he did. i love getting to the place where you can look back on those hard times with joy in knowing that god knew what he was doing all along. he always does. even when things are crumbling and failing around us, god's plans never fail. i will leave you with the lyrics to "all the good things"....

Every once in a while the world stops spinning enoughThat I can take a step back and get the pictureI see the twists and the turns, I see the patterns they formI see how perfect they are and I remember
All the good thingsAll the good thingsAll the good things you’ve done for me
Though the feeling is real I know it’s fleeting to feelOne day I’ll forget you are here and start to wonderIn that season of doubt, You’ll still be showering meWith blessings I can’t see, that can’t be numbered
All the good thingsAll the good thingsAll the good things You’ve done for me
Forgive me for my shortsighted look at this worldWhere you keep proving that you know what you’re doing
If I could see like you do with your perspective viewThe fires I’m walking through would look much differentI’d see those difficult days for who they made me becomeAnd I would count them among
All the good thingsAll the good thingsAll the good things You’ve done for me

5k Reindeer Run

2008-12-14T22:03:00.005-05:00

so this weekend i did a 5k with one of my good friends jen. it was the reindeer run and it's for fun. there is christmas music and at the end of the race they have hot chocolate and cookies. they gave jingle bells for everyone to put on their shoes. and people dress up in christmas costumes and they have a contest. it was a really fun race and it was nice because it wasn't timed, so it was very laid back. it was 40 degrees so it kind of fit the theme of the race, but we were freezing our butts off.

halloween party

2008-12-09T21:10:00.003-05:00

so my friends jared and jocelyn and rob and kelly hosted the most amazing halloween party!! they sure do know how to throw a party; they didn't miss any detail and the food was amazing!! the theme was hollywood glamour. i decided to dress up as an actress from the 1920's. i had a blast getting all dressed up. i live for this kind of stuff. they actually had a red carpet leading up from the sidewalk to their front door and had hired someone to take pictures of everyone "walking" the red carpet. how fun!! here are some pics :-)

oh the retired life....

2008-12-09T20:50:00.003-05:00

so my parents were just here in fl with me for over a month! oh to be retired :-) someday....sigh
it was great to have them here and to have them get to know my life here in fl. it's hard being so far away from them because i feel like they miss out on so much of my life. it was great to have them go to church with me and meet so much of my spiritual family. they really enjoyed their time here and met a lot of people who became fast friends with them. i have recently got connected with some people in my church that i didn't know very well and people from pioneers and i just feel sooo blessed for all the wonderful people that god has placed in my life. i am so lucky!! i feel like fl is really home for me (sorry mom :-)) and i am so thankful that god has brought me here and placed me among so many wonderful friends! life is good...

some prego pics that i took of my sis in law at 7 1/2 months

2008-12-09T20:36:00.007-05:00

family vaca to the outer banks

2008-12-09T20:12:00.005-05:00

i really do love blogging...i'm just horrible at finding the time to update my blog :-) so back in oct my family got together in nc at the outer banks. it was my first time here and it was wonderful! my dad rented a house right on the ocean and it had 7 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms. there were 10 of us that met up from indiana, georgia, and florida. we just spent the week relaxing, shopping, and taking in the outer banks. it was great to see my sister-in-law and brother (it had almost been a year!) and it was the first time i was able to see my sis since she became pregnant. so that was fun to see her belly stick out:-) we were able to take some great family pictures on the deck of our house and they turned out great. here's a few from the trip!

Learning to say NO!

2008-10-11T19:20:00.002-04:00

so, lately god has been teaching me a lot about saying "no" to things. i have a tendency to over work myself and to commit to everything that i think i should do. i am slowly but surely starting to see the need for allowing myself to say no. so many times when i'm approached with opportunities, i always feel guilty if i say no, but i know that this is not what god wants for me. even if it is something "good", i can't do everything. it feels good to be in a place in where i'm saying "no" to things and not over doing it.

BSF (Bible Study Fellowship)

2008-10-09T19:31:00.002-04:00

so about a month ago, i started a new bible study called bsf. my mom did it for 7 years and i have a few friends that are in it right now. i've always heard great things about it and i finally felt like it was the right time in my life to start up. it basically runs the course of the school year and we meet every monday night. it is for men and women both, but they don't mix men and women together. it is very structured. we start at 6:55 and end right at 8:45. they don't waste your time and they keep attendance each week. if you don't do your study, you're not allowed to answers the questions in your discussion group. i've only been going for a month now and it is for sure my favorite bible study i've ever done in my life. i know that i tend to exaggerate sometimes (ok, a lot), but i promise i'm not exaggerating on this. one of the biggest reasons why i wanted to join is because i wanted to learn more about the bible. i've been a christian almost my entire life and my relationship with god has been way more relational than it has knowledgeable. i have really felt a desire for more knowledge in my life recently and i knew that this study would help in that area. it has been amazing! this year we are studying the life of moses. sometimes i feel like i'm hearing the story for the first time. i am learning so much history and god is teaching me SO much about himself. i have such a passion for this study right now and i'm so thankful that god has place me there. one of the things i really like is that they use what they call a "fourfold" approach. first you learn what you get out of the questions that you do daily on your own. then you learn from the others in your discussion group as you go through the questions. the third "layer" is the 45 teaching session (our teacher is amazing btw). and the fourth is the notes that you get after you meet on monday. i am so enjoying it and i know that i am in it for a purpose. SO much has happened since i've started doing this study; i have been spiritually attacked quite a bit. but god is helping me to persevere and the study has been really helpful and applicable to what i've been going through in my life lately. i am so thankful that god knows what we need even before we do :-)

Goodbye....

2008-09-26T22:40:00.002-04:00

so today was kind of rough. i lost a teammate this week that was sort of expected but not. cheryl kay henderson was diagnosed in her later years with muscular dystrophy. for 10 weeks now, she has been back and forth between the hospital and a rehab center. she was doing so much better that when she went into the hospital and we had such great hopes for her getting better, but god had different plans for cheryl. she went to be with the lord on wednesday, sept 24th. she is now rejoicing with her heavenly father with no wheelchair! it's wonderful to know that she is in heaven now, right where she wanted to be, but we miss our cheryl. this morning we gathered round our team table and we started sharing memories about cheryl and the funny things that she used to say to crack us up. it was a great time of laughing and crying as we looked back on her life. goodbye cheryl! we miss you but are happy that you are with god.

IT'S A GIRL!!!

2008-08-19T22:27:00.004-04:00

so i just found out that my brother and danelle are having a girl!!! i'm so excited to know what it is finally!! now i can go out and start buying clothes for her:-) i am going to be the only aunt this baby has, so i have to spoil her rotten! i can't wait to meet my niece! congrats dave and danelle! i'm SO happy for you both! i can't wait to have her join our family!

Finding the good in the bad

2008-08-13T14:10:00.002-04:00

this morning my team met up to do our bible study. we are doing a max lucado study on the gospel of john. the title of the lesson was called "the loss of a friend". the scripture for this lesson was john 11:17-44, the raising of lazarus from the dead. one of the opening questions max asked was to think of time in your life when a bad experience turned out for good. the first thing that came to mind was when my best friend paul died, 16 years ago. looking back on that tragedy, i can see good things that came out of it. the biggest thing is my best friend allison ringger. when paul died, she felt god telling her to reach out to me and to be a friend to me during that hard time. so she started to talk to me and invite me to do things with her. we became fast friends and before i knew it she had become my very best friend! we have been best friends for over 16 years now and even though we are 20 hours away from each other, we remain just as close as when we lived 5 minutes apart from each other in high school. i thank god often for how he has blessed me with her friendship. she is like a sister to me. we've been through pretty much everything you could think of and have created thousands of memories together:-) so allison, thanks for being obedient to god! you are the best thing that came out of paul's death. i am so thankful for how amazing you are and how special our friendship is! love you girl!!!

Global Xperience 2008 Brazil

2008-08-12T17:04:00.005-04:00

ok, ok, i'm a slacker. i'm sorry it's taken me to update you all on my missions trip in june, but i've been swamped! so this was my first missions trip in 11 years! 18 of us headed down june 8th for 9 days. it was a jam packed trip i must say. we experienced so much! we did vbs, fed the homeless, served at a women's outreach, ministered to women in prison, went to an orphanage, participated in a couple of church services, and led worship in portuguese. Here are my teammates below....
i must say that the brazilians are amazing people!! they are so warm hearted and giving and they love to serve. they blew me away. i was so amazed at how willing they were able to give up their time, gas, energy, sleep, to help with translation, transportation, serving alongside us... whatever the need was, they were right there to help us. and most of the people helping us were young men. i feel like there are so many men in america who fail to step up and serve in the church. i was very impressed needless to say. it really made me think about how selfish i am with my time here in america. so thanks to my new brazilian friends for knocking me upside on my head :-)

so...there were a couple of really cool things that happened on the trip for me. the first one was that i had an opportunity to lead worship in portuguese on three different occasions. the first time we led, we were at the women's ministry at barra church. do you remember, in my prayer letter, when i asked that god would take me out of my comfort zone? well, sure enough, he came through on that one :-) for those of you that know me real well, you know that i am very much a planner and organizer. normally when i lead worship at church each week, i have my nalgene bottle full of water, hot tea, cough drops, and i have about two hours of time to warm up my vocal cords, not to mention that i'm also singing in a language that i know:-) so that morning that jay and i lead worship, it was 8:30 in the morning, i hadn't gotten very much sleep, i had no water, no hot tea, no cough drops and i hadn't warmed up my voice. i was extremely nervous to stand up in front of 100 women and "attempt" to sing songs in their language. before i left for brazil, i had worked on some pronunciation on some of the words and i had written in notes on my music. well...it just so happened that i couldn't find my music with the notes of them anywhere that morning. i was freaking out inside, when god reminded me that he was in control and not me. i had to give it over to god and let the holy spirit work through us. it was amazing to see how god showed up!! once we started singing, a peace washed over me and i could feel the hold spirit singing through us. it was so cool to be able to worship with these women in their own language. my teammates were spread throughout the church singing in english and it was such a cool reminder that even though there were two languages being sung, it all sounds the same to god. how precious it was to worship one god with my sisters in christ all the way over in brazil. i am so thankful for god allowing me to be able to do this through his strength!
the other really cool thing that god allowed me to do was to share my testimony on the trip. i had actually been praying for more opportunities to share my testimony, so when jay asked me to share, i knew it was god answering my prayer and that i had to be obedient to it. i was scared to death! it was the first time for me to share my testimony in front of a large group. it was at a small church of about 100 people. it was tricky doing it with a translator too. i was super nervous to get up in front of everyone, but as soon as i got up in front of the microphone, a peace washed over me and god gave me every word that needed to come out of my mouth. it was amazing to see him get me through that experience. afterwards, people were coming up to me hugging me and crying with me and telling me how much it ministered to them. praise the lord! i am so excited that my testimony is able to be used to glorify god and to minister to others. i am truly grateful for this experience that god gave me on the trip :-) when god calls us to do something, he will give us EVERYTHING we need to complete it.

thanks to all of you who supported me on this trip financially and for all of your prayers! i cannot thank you enough for being a part of my trip in this capacity! thank you so much from the bottom of my heart! i'm looking forward to taking another missions trip in the future, hopefully to brazil again. the brazilians we came in contact with are so amazing and they hold such a special place in my heart...

Brazil 2008

2008-07-17T14:24:00.003-04:00

So here are just a few of the many pictures that were taken on my trip to Brazil in June. More to come on that.....enjoy!

what's the purpose of an armadillo?

2008-07-15T12:55:00.005-04:00

so I've kind of always wondered what the purpose is of an armadillo? i mean, they are the ugliest animal I've ever seen, so clearly they're not here for beauty. what do they do besides terrify people and make them scream? i must say, even though I am absolutely terrified of them, when I see an armadillo that has been hit by a car and looks like the picture above, it just cracks me up. some time, i would like to lay next to one that looks like this and imitate it :)

today was very revealing in the fact that i actually discovered ONE purpose to an armadillo (courtesy of my fellow co-worker, ben grames). did you know that they actually make roadkill guitars out of armadillos? gross, i know. they are called charangos and it's a popular folk instrument in South America that sounds a little bit like an ukulele. the armadillo's hollowed out body is used as a resonating chamber. here are some disgusting pictures of what it looks like. i can hardly even look at the pictures. apparently the armadillos in argentina are hairy. you can bet that you'll NEVER catch me playing one of these things. for those of you who don't live in florida, be glad that you don't have to face these ugly creatures on an almost daily basis.

i'm new at this, so give me a break

2008-07-09T17:38:00.002-04:00

ok...so this is my first post ever! how exciting:-) it doesn't take much to excite me. i've been wanting to start a blog for quite some time and here it finally is. i'm guessing it's going to be quite a work in progress, but i know that i'm going to enjoy it. i live about 20 hours away from my immediate family and friends, so i thought it would be nice to start up a blog so i can do a better job of keeping them updated on my life here in florida. i hate how much they miss out on my life and vice versa. so hopefully this will help! oh....it's my sister-in-law's birthday today! happy birthday sis! i love you:) AND....for those of you that i haven't told yet, i'm finally going to be an auntie!!! yes, my brother and sister-in-law are expecting. danelle is almost 15 weeks now and is due jan 3rd. i can't wait to find out what it is!