Motivation for Exercise: Beer

Steve & I have started frequenting Dexter's, local pub not to far from our house. It's only about a mile away so we walk there once or twice a week to get beer. The bartenders are really nice and there's a lot of folks from our neighborhood that hang out there as well.

Anyway...since last night was our first night without rain all week we decided we'd head over there after dinner and get a brew. We sat at the bar and struck up a conversation with the bartender and the folks sitting beside us and then found out that there would be a special beer tasting going on a little later that evening that we decided to hang around for.

We had good time drinking our Bud Lights (cause that's what you drink when you're on a budget) and then sampled the other 5 beers they were tasting that night.
Beer goes through me like nothing, but if you know me well you know that I absolutely HATE using public restrooms. Clean or not they gross me out. If we're out and I know we're going to be home within 2 hours and I have to use the restroom I'll almost always opt to hold it.

Anyway, so we started walking home and got barely a block away when both Steve & I realized that we REALLY had to get that beer out of our system. We decided to pick up our walking pace and looked like the speed walkers that I so enjoy making fun of (seriously, I think speed walkers look so funny and I can't help but laugh every time I see one of them out and about).

We passed another few blocks and decided to start jogging and then by the time we were 3 blocks away from our house we were in a full on sprint.
I'm sure we looked like complete idiots out running in our jeans and sweaters, but we didn't really care. The important fact is that we made it home just in time - sweaty, out of breath and with full bladders! We not only got a good workout in a but after we were safely home and had used the restroom we got a good laugh about it too!
Oh the things we'll do to avoid the things we hate!

Hello SPRING!

Happy Spring! I am so happy that Spring is finally here! The weather has been gorgeous here in Madison this past week (okay, maybe some wouldn't consider 30 degrees with lots of sun and no snow gorgeous, but after this winter I would) and it's really lifted my spirits.

Earlier this morning I was thinking about the changing of seasons from Winter to Spring and it gave me hope for my life. I've been so anxious for this season in our life to end. The season of lots of unknowns and a husband without a job. This morning though I was so happy the Spring has arrived and it reminded me that I couldn't really fully appreciate the arrival of Spring if it weren't for the gloomy Winter that we've just come out of. It somehow makes the wait even more beautiful and exciting.

All that to say that YES, I am ready for this Winter-like season in our life to end, but I know that I can't really fully appreciate all that God's been doing in us and see how His faithfulness truly has sustained us until I let this season take it's course and then finally enter into better days. I am in anticipation for our lives to enter into "Spring", but until they do I'm trying to learn to patiently wait and get everything that I can out of the season that we're in. You can bet there is going to be a party once those better days come around though!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

We've been really busy and I haven't had much time, motivation or energy to blog lately.
We had a fun weekend. We decided it was time to get involved in our neighborhood and went to the neighborhood association meeting on Saturday morning. It was good to meet some of the folks that are making decisions about what's happening in our neighborhood as well as find out how we can get involved.

The weather here was GORGEOUS so we decided that Saturday afternoon would be a good time to take flat Paige out for some fun. Who is flat Paige you may wonder? She's a new acquaintance of ours. We got her in the mail from our friends daughter back in St. Louis. Our little friend Paige is doing a school project that requires she mail a flat version of herself to an out of town friend and have them take pictures of her "flat self" out and about exploring the area. We then have to journal about the adventure that flat Paige is going on and send travel brochures and pictures back to her teacher so the class can learn about the area that flat Paige explored. Steve and I are having a lot of fun with this little project.

On Saturday we took flat Paige up to the capitol and down around State Street. Yesterday we handed her off to our friends Pat & Julie for the week as they're going to take her to Wisconsin Dells and Green Bay for some more adventures.
Steve and I needed to get out and have a little fun and this was just a perfect excuse! We want to make it a great school project for Paige so we're going all out!

Sunday afternoon was the St. Patty's day celebration here in Madison. Steve marched in the big parade with his hurling team and I met up with my friend Dayla to hang out down on the square and watch the parade.

It was such a perfect day! Our neighborhood is starting to come alive now the weather is nice and we love it! We love having a park right across the street and Steve & I have been playing lots of basketball in the park and taking lots of walks around the neighborhood. I really hope that spring is finally here! All this gross weather kind of had me down and its amazing how a little sunshine has completely lifted my spirits!

I'm really starting to like Wisconsin...

U2

Steve surprised me with the new U2 album when I got home from work last night. I've been so excited for this album to come and couldn't wait to listen to it. I've only listened to it once, but so far like it. Usually it takes awhile for any album to grow on me - U2 or not.
It has some kind of 60's sounding guitar tones and a nice sound. I did notice however that one of the songs had almost the exact same melody lines from the Christmas tune 'Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel" which was a little dissapointing.
Really though, it's U2, are they really even capable of putting out a bad album? I think not.

Life & Its Many Chapters....

I believe our lives are like a big story with many different chapters. Sometimes I find myself thinking back on the different chapters of my life and it's funny how with just a few words I could easily give each season a chapter title.

I remember when I was 19 and first moved to Texas, that chapter would have been "Naive & Ready To Take On The World", then just a few years later when I was 23 and first moved to St. Louis my chapter could be titled "Totally Depressed & Think I Made The Biggest Mistake Of My Life." A few years after that when I was 26 I had the "Aha, Now I See The Bigger Picture & Realize That Everything Happens For A Reason" chapter followed by the "I Can't Believe That Through All Of This God Was Preparing Me To Be A Wife To Steve." chapter.

Those are just a few chapter titles of the last decade of my life, but all of that leads me to this year. This past year has had a few chapters - some have been short and to the point and others more intriguing. Without a doubt though the last 5 months could be summed up in just a few words and would be entitled the "God, What Are You Doing?" chapter. Without a doubt that is the most asked question from my heart to Gods these past few months. Some of the answers I've received and many I'm still waiting for.
When I first came to Madison in September I thought it would be a matter of a few days or maybe at the at the most a few weeks that I've be living here on my own while I looked for a job. Weeks turned into months - 2 1/2 months to exact until I finally found a job and Steve was actually able to come up here and move into the house we had purchased. It was 3 months and 12 days ago that Steve was finally able to join me here and although I'm grateful that everything turned out beautifully for me to have a job that I enjoy, I feel like I'm still asking God the big "what are you doing" question while Steve struggles to find a job.
Although this chapter has been a total of just 5 short months, I feel like it's not only the never ending chapter, but in my heart I know it's the chapter that I'll also never forget. This has been a chapter that's been jam packed with character building experiences and lots of life's little lessons. It also has been a chapter that I'm hoping will finally end soon. I'm grateful for all that we've learned and how we've grown, but I am so ready for the "Now I See That It All Turned Out Beautifully" chapter to begin. I know eventually we'll get there, because God is predictable (aka faithful) like that, but some days I just can't help but wish that I could skip a few pages and see how beautifully it truly does all turn out just so that I could feel a little bit more hope while I continue to navigate through this current chapter that seems to be filled with lots of uncertainties.

Until then though, I guess all I can keep on doing is try to enjoy the ride as much as possible...

Weekend Update...

Steve's artwork on our kitchen table
We had such a busy weekend that I was almost happy for it to end.
Most of Saturday was spent grocery shopping and running errands. I have come to hate grocery shopping here in Madison. We have an employee owned grocery store here that is not only huge but really cheap as well. Needless to say we get most of our groceries there, but I always leave in a bad mood because I find myself getting so frustrated with the large amounts of people that always seem to be there. Not to mention that fact that it seems like only rude people shop there. It seems like without fail every single time I go there I end up getting run into with a cart a few times and feel like I'm the only person in the entire store that knows how to say "excuse me." I'd like to just stick with Copps when it comes to groceries, but I can't justify spending a lot more money just to say myself from an extra hour of frustration every week.
Enough of my ranting though, on Saturday night we have an X-Men movie marathon and had a pretty full house. I'll admit that by the time the first movie was finished I was already sick of being a couch potato, but everyone else seemed really into it and we had a good time.

I spent the majority of Sunday working on our taxes and then in the evening we went to the High Noon Saloon to volunteer to man the T-shirt and information booth for a concert that benefited The Literacy Network. We actually had a really good time and it was amazing how quickly the time passed and our shift was over.

Is it horrible that I'm already really excited for next weekend and it's only Monday morning? I'm really looking forward to hopefully sleeping in next Saturday and am already counting down the days until I can be lazy for just a few hours.