The madres

Every Friday I get to meet with a purdy cool lil amoeba of ladies.  I like to call them "The Mom Friends.".  Hope that's not offensive.  We meet bright and early (They have probably been up for hours) on Friday mornings.  I remember when Lisa (the Dr. mom friend) asked me to join.  I was rather perplexed when she asked me.  Several reasons here.  1- the obvious.  I'm 26.  Single.  No blood related ninos.  I was a little nervous due to the fact that I have significantly less life experience.  And that I haven't delivered any offspring.  2-they are smart.  I mean , they are.  No explanation needed.  I kinda feel smart after hanging with them.  It's a contagious thing.  3- Spiritually, I am like a little tadpole and I would have to say that they are more like a big tarpon... Sorry, bad analogy, but you can smell what I'm stepping in.  4- this was the most random group that I ever could have imagined.  Apparently they go back. I didn't know that.  I have just been laughing to myself because I probably would have never stumbled upon this pile of good Ole girls on my own.  I was thinking about that this morning.  When we were sitting there, talking about our selves and just being real, I kept thinking how cool it is that we are all really different, yet we can relate to the same situation.  Yeah, I work full time and volunteer to too many things and have no free time.  They have a zillion kidlets, volunteer, etc and have no time. (Plus they have to deal with a husband).  I just think its really cool that we can all bond, and share and talk about stuff.  I've always felt myself in that little time.  Plus, its always fun to hang out with people that you don't normally see.  They are all really cool in there own ways too.  I mean, I hope if I ever have to be a mom that I am like them.  They are really intentional about their kids and I think that's really cool.  (Now I have lots of cool mom friends and a cool mom, so nobody out there take offense.  I love you all 100%. At the same time:)  So, here's to the Mom Friends.  You the bomb.

Heavy on the Veggie?

Disclaimer: Claire, I am not writing this post to try and get free stuff.  However, who doesn't want,need, love somewhat like free stuff.  I am writing this post because you are beating me into submission teaching me a lot.

So, my friend, Claire, has a blog.  It's called Heavy on the Veggie.  You can have your world rocked learn all about it HERE.  Home girl knows what she's talking about.  I have already learned so much.  Keep in mind, I am a beginner.  Baby steps I tell her.  I'm more heavy on the veggie with a dollop of meat.  I've been reading veggie literature, listening to her advice and she's even gone to the store with me.  It's actually quite fun.  Once you realize that you are breaking up with your favorite bacon cheeseburger, fries and your favorite big gulp beer, its all rainbows and butterflies...  It's a process.  No need to go cold turkey right here and now.  Here deal- is not some big diet.  It's your life.  You want to be leaner?  Eat greener.  I'm about to trademark that shiz.  Now, I'm just beginning, but it's been very educational.  I have to text her questions almost on a daily basis.  She's so lucky:)  It's a tough transition to go from 100% carnivore to plant lover.  I'd be pretty happy with 75% plants and 20% meat and maybe 5% good beer...  I know- beer is going to have to love me and leave me, but I'm just not ready yet.  We have already moved mountains here. I no longer get my beloved Godfather sandwich at Mozzo.  Nope.  I go with a girly fusion or salad.  Hold the phones.  The Mozzo people seriously don't know what to do with themselves.  Now every time I'm anywhere there's food, I am constantly weighing the pros and cons.  I had no idea how many veggies we were supposed to get everyday.  I only ate them if they came on a sandwich or if they were sweet potato fries...  Don't judge... She also does restaurant reviews.  I like this part because she usually reviews a place that I either have never heard of or was too scared to go to.  Some of them are intimidating little places.  Now I know what to expect.  You can also find some recipes on there.   Thanks to HOTV I can now make a smoothie.  Like I said, baby steps.  What's even better is that I am 20% scared of Claire (even though I could totes taker her down:), so I try even harder.  So I thought I would throw it out there.  It's 2k12, and I am going for it.  Heavy on the Veggie here I come.  Slowly, but surely....   Who's in???

Sincerely,
meat lover

Kiss the purple ring

On Saturday, my neighbor, friend and pastor was named the new bishop of the Carolina's in the Anglican Church.  That's about as much as I know in that department.  I was excited because our worship team was singing in the choir and so on.  I really didn't realize just how big of a deal it was. Until go time. 

It is really hard to put into words how cool this situation was.  Being in the choir- we got to be up front, so we could look at all of the congregation.  Especially the Woods and all of the bishops.  From the get go I was emotional.  I've never heard Dwight and team sing so beautifully.  To see the bishops proceed in to the ministry center, in all of their robes was incredible.  Two by two they bowed toward the alter.  To see the Arch bishop and all of the bishop's wives was so cool.  Its just really cool to see something that has been talked about and talked about become real.  Basically, the Anglican church was sitting in Mt. Pleasant on Saturday and we got to witness it.  To see a vision become real is incredible.  To see clergy come from all over (Uganda) was so exciting.  It was really a historical day for the Anglican Church and for St. Andrews.  To be able to watch the Bishops pray for Steve was so cool.  Then to see the Bishop's wives pray over Jacqui was awesome.  To see the Wood boys sitting together and loving on their mom and dad was very sweet.  The sermon was one of the best that I've heard.  So cool to see our pastor be charged and encouraged.  Then when he was named Bishop- the whole church gave a standing ovation and it was very moving (at least for me).  At that moment I realized that I am so thankful to call St. Andrews my home.  I've never been more at peace.  I am so excited to be a part of it.  So if you see Steve the bish, go kiss his purple ring.  He loves when people do that....

Oh and if anyone is wondering..

Call me? Maybe?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaTOjuJmj8E

If anyone was curious as to who my future husband is... well here he is.  Call me? Maybe?

I mean he even likes the single ladies..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2V9p5_BTPI

I have one other future husband.  You can meet him tomorrow.  PS- these are just back ups for if Tim Riggins ends up back in the slammer.  Just thinking ahead. 

Clear eyes. Full hearts.

In case your day is sour

 

This one goes out to Hannah and Claire.

Your welcome.

What I wouldn't give

to be back here...

Doing this:

My Trail of Tears

Last week I traveled the trail of tears.  This one is slightly different than the one you learned about in school, but it was a hell of a hike if you ask me.  (Well, you didn't ask, but I'm telling you regardless.)  If you know me, then you know that I was once a crier, lost my mojo and then all of a sudden- the mojo was returned.  No problem letting the tears flow anymore.

Last Thursday, I returned from my Wild West Adventure.  It was a trip of a lifetime.  I will write more on that later this week.  Re-entry was a tough one for some reason.  I guess I was emotional or something.  I'm not sure.  But, I found myself tearing up a little easier than normal.  It started on Saturday when I got to hang with little awesome toddler of a man Henry Alexander.  We are basically besties.  Just ask him.  While hanging with him, we watched a little Babar.  Now, Babar was my favorite show when I was a tiny tot.  The very first episode came on.  The Babar's mom (who is an elephant) got sniped by a poacher right in front of him and died.  Excuse me- this is a little innocent kid's show and she gets dropped 100 yards out.  Not cool.  I found myself tearing up.  This should have been an immediate red flag....

Let's fast forward to Wednesday.  Before I left on my trip, I happened upon what is basically my dream house.  I loved it before I even went to see it.  I decided that if it was still available when I returned, then it was worthy of a looksy.  I went, I saw, I conquered.  Not so much.  But, I did fall in love.  Next, I took mom and dad.  They loved it.  It was time to get serious.  Remember my "American Dream" post?  Let me refresh your memory:  Some jackelope messed up my credit without my knowledge.  I fixed it under much stress.  And now I've been building credit for the past 4 months.  So I call the bank and get things rolling.  I literally had never been more excited in my life.  I was about to pull the trigger and put a real offer out there.  I played it in my head a thousand times.  All I needed was the go ahead.  A few hours later my office phone rings.  Turns out- there was no social security # attached to my account so my pristine new credit had no where to report to.  It was just hanging out there in the abyss. No worries though, all I had to do was contact all three credit bureaus and correct the situation.  Not as easy as one may think.  It's almost impossible to speak to a human and if you do lock one down- they don't exactly speak English.  I spent about 4 hours on the phone and got no where.  All of a sudden it hit me like a ton of bricks.  I began to ugly cry in my office.  I mean- UGLY cry.  I could hardly breathe.  I was so, so disappointed that I did not even know what to do.  I lost it.  I kept feeling like I just couldn't do anything right and that I had somehow failed.  Panic, frustration, disappointment and flat out pissed-offedness set in.  After about 30 minutes of straight crying I went to dad's office to let him know my situation.  I couldn't get 3 words of my sentence out before more tears and some nice snot came flying out.  He must have been terrified.  Finally, after about 5 tries I got it out.  Poor guy.  I was hysterical.  I don't know if I have ever freaked out like that before.  I had my hopes so high.  After assessing my situation, dad helped me do the fax machine because I literally could hardly function without crying. (This is very unlike me here:)  So we sent everything off and hoped for the best.  I won't know until sometime this week if they received anything.  So its a waiting game.  I will say- I spoke to a couple wise friends that put my mind at ease.  It all came down to the same problem that I seem to cross often-  Do I trust that God is in control?  Do I trust that things will work out the way hat they are supposed to?  Well, once again the answer is not so much.  NO.  I went from mountain top high to down in the dump in a split second and not once did I think to pray or to seek Him out.  Nope.  I immediately thought of every possible bad thing.  I thought about how I always follow the rules and nothing works out.  (I was getting a little dramatic at this point...) I thought about how no one would understand how upset I was about this.  About how let down I felt at the time.  I was so angry.  At the dangling that messed this whole thing up in 2004, about the automated messages at Equifax and about how I couldn't just talk to someone and get them to fix it without waiting 5 business days.  I had basically deemed my self a failure and had already predicted my future- house less, old maid living on the Wagner's 3rd floor.  Ha Ha.  It took two people to steer me back to where I should have gone first.  Things are a little better- 4 days later.  I've calmed down and I've been a little more at peace with waiting.  It's funny how when things are good- I don't have a care in the world.  I just coast along.  Thank God when I think of Him etc.  But as soon as it goes south- He's the last one I run to.  He should be my first stop.  Things have got to change.  I'm not sure how, but I am going to try a lot harder to try and rely on the Lord.  It's tough though.  But the rubber has got to meet the road somehow.  So there you have it.  If you interacted with me between Wednesday and today- I apologize.  I have been incredibly distracted and very much out of it.  Majorly sidetracked and extremely sarcastic.  Sometimes when I get incredibly stressed out- I hold it in and eventually it basically explodes out of me.  So- I apologize.

Here's to a new week.  It had better be better than the last one:)

Love ya long time,
SRS

The Bourbon

We ditched Indiana today and headed to Kentucky.  We hit up the M.A. Hadley Pottery shop and headed down to the Makers Mark Distillery.  It was pretty cool.  Home to Mt. Perfect tomorrow:)

Badlands

We are on our trek home.  We left Whitefish, MT on Sunday around 5 pm and today we rolled into Indiana around midnight...  We have had some action in between.  Yesterday we hit up Mt. Rushmore, which turned out to be part of some psycho motorcycle rally.  I'm talking thousands of bikers everywhere.  I couldn't help, but snap some shots..

Then we hit up the badlands which were incredibly weird and awesome at the same time..

Flathead

Yesterday dad and I got to fly fish the Flathead River.  It was awesome to be out on the water.  Plus we landed some beautiful cutthroat trout.  I'm hooked:)

GLACIER.

Everyone should come here at least once in their life.  Beautiful.

GO.