Change of plans...

Well, we didn't have the quiet weekend we had planned, nor did we get anything accomplished that we hoped to. But what we did get was a wonderful surprise....NATE!
We were so excited that he could surprise us for the weekend - it was so fun to have him here and so sad to see him leave.
Steve and I both have our separate friends that we tolerate for each other. Steve has a few friends that are somewhat obnoxious that it's kind of hard for me to be around, and I have a few friends that are challenging for him to be around for different reasons. One thing that both Steve and I have in common when it comes to friends though is that we both absolutely love Nate! Both Steve and I were close friends with Nate before we even started dating. Nate and Jamie got engaged the same week that Steve and I did. Nate was a groomsmen in our wedding and then six months after that Steve was a groomsmen in his.
Needless to say we were thrilled to have some quality time with our friend this weekend. We hung out at the Great Dane on Friday night, checked out the Zoo on Saturday and then Saturday evening drove over to New Glarus for their Octoberfest. It is so nice and refreshing to spend time with friends that are familiar and Nate is one of those people.

So, now the plan is to spend next weekend taking care of business around the house, putting time into our community group teachings, working on other church stuff and maybe have a little time for some fun (you hear that sweat pant Sarah?) mixed in there to.
For now though, it's back to the daily grind.

The Great American Dream....

Happy Friday! I'm so happy to see the weekend! Steve and I haven't really seen each other at all this week as every night one of us has been out with friends, so I've really been missing my husband.

I'm looking forward to hanging out with Steve tonight, even though our evening consists of planning for Sunday's worship set at our church our putting together our teaching for next week's community group. At least we'll be together.

It's been kind of a blah week for me. I'm not sure if its due to the rainy weather or what.

These are the things that have been on my mind this week:

1. How much I miss Missy and her kids

2. What I'm going to do about these seemingly endless uncomfortable situations/life drama that people seem to constantly feel the need to get us involved in that really should be none of our business or concern.

3. Trying to be positive and understand God's heart for fresh perspective about some of the above mentioned drama and what my reaction should be.

4. Trying to cope with the fact that our life will most likely never be "normal".


What is a normal life anyway, and does anyone really have that? I would venture to say no. I will say though, that I just feel really not normal compared to a lot of other people I know.

I'll be honest that sometimes I do wish for "The Great American Dream"...complete with a nice house, lots of kids to love on, and financial security. I know that most of this (besides the kid part) is just "stuff" and I feel selfish just because of the fact that I sometimes find myself wishing for this.

This lifestyle that I'm referring to all sounds to good to be true, and most likely it is, but sometimes I just can't help but wish that life were a little slower paced and we weren't always flying by the seat of our pants in every single area of life. Being the detailed person that I am, I've grown a lot in this area of learning to be flexible and not having it all together (as if I ever did), but still sometimes I wish that I wasn't always having to learn to be flexible. I know that our crazy life is our choice, but still sometimes I can't help but wish it wasn't quite as crazy as it is.

On the other hand though, I know I'm not made for normal and if I really did have that great American dream that I sometimes think I so badly want, then I probably wouldn't be happy. I guess it all comes down to a matter of perspective. For now though, I want to learn to savor every minute of every season of life that I have and learn as much as possible in the process about what life's really about and what truly is important. When I really think about it that way, a nice house definitely finds itself at the very bottom of my priority list.

Sounds like...

We live just down the street from the library, so while we've lived in Madison Steve has been spending a lot of time there. He's always bringing home new music for me to listen to and of course action movies for himself to watch (although normally he never gets a chance to watch any of them due to lack of time).

Anyway, now that he's become a "regular" (is that something I should really admit, that my husband is a "regular" at the library?) he's been able to strike up a friendship with one of the librarians there. The other day she instructed him to bring home a CD for me to listen to that she thought I'd like, (even though I've never even met her) and I did, in fact, like the band a lot! Unfortunately, they are forever lost in my memory as I can't remember the bands name.

What I DO remember though is that the lady's voice reminded me a lot of one of my favorite bands ever - Waterdeep. She sounded so much like Lori Chaffer that is was almost creepy. Anyway, so I made a copy of one of my Waterdeep CD's and told Steve to give it to the librarian lady.

Is it totally creepy that I'm so nervous that she might not like it? It would be one thing if it was just some old band that was "ok", but the fact that it's one of my favorite bands EVER puts a little pressure on. What if she hates it and thinks I'm a total loser?

I then had to laugh at myself a little when I realized how silly it is that I'm afraid that some girl that I've never even met might not agree with my musical tastes. So what if she thinks my taste in music is horrible? I will still show my face proudly at the library....that is, someday when I feel like reading, which could be years down the road.

Baby Shower Weekend!

We had a busy weekend! Friday night we hung out with some new friends and had a really great time. It was so refreshing to laugh and have fun! Saturday we worked on odds and ends around the house and then went to see a movie with Dale & Jacq.
Most of the weekend really consisted of baby shower extravaganza though and my husband was so great and helpful through it all. I'm one that likes to plan and prepare, but due to how busy the past few weeks have been I totally felt unprepared to host a baby shower this weekend. Luckily, it all came together and I think Sarah had a good time.Christina had the great idea to have a cupcake bar. It was a lot of fun to create your own cupcakes with all the different toppings and different frosting choices. I think everyone really enjoyed themselves!Baby Lily got some really cute things and I think Sarah is pretty well set now with most of the necessities. Nich & Sarah just moved into a new place and I'm so excited to see her nursery all set up! Most of all though, I just can't wait to meet baby Lily!

Thriving or just barely surviving?

I've been really struggling with finding balance in life. For pretty much my entire life I've had a hard time with this really, but lately it's just been more evident. We've got a lot on our plate and I think it's high time that I learn how to balance things better. I know there's a time and a season for everything and although I'm not sure how to balance everything that we've got going on right now I do feel like we've said "Yes" to the things we're supposed to and "No" to the things that we're not.

That being said, I'm sick of just barely surviving. Sick of feeling tired and wondering where the time is always going and most of all sick of feeling like there's not enough hours in the day.

I was reading in the Bible this evening about a story of John the Baptist rebuking people that had come to get baptized only because it was the "popular" thing to do. John told the people that it was their LIFE that had to change, not water on their skin. He then asked the people if their life was "green and blossoming" and it helped me evaluate my own life. Am I growing and thriving? In some areas I can give that a definite YES, but in others it seems like I just keep coming back to the same old hiccup time and time again. I want to be thriving in all areas, I just don't know how to get there.

There are so many areas in my life where I just feel comfortable. You know, those areas that we all have where we can't really say that we're growing and become better people, but we're also not digressing to become worse people.

For me, these are often the stagnant places of my heart that get little attention. For instance, I have little patience for arrogant attention seekers. I find myself getting annoyed with people that act out arrogantly simply to get attention. Most of the time though, I don't stop and think that really all of that arrogance just stems from insecurity. If I would just look at people and realize that they act the way they do for a deeper reason, rather than get annoyed and judge them, I would have a lot more of compassion to give out to people. This is just one (of the many) areas that I need to grow in. This is also a good example of one area where I have become comfortable and stagnant - because I'm so used to myself and don't challenge myself to grow in my love for others. When I'm really honest with myself and stop and evaluate ME, its then that I see the attitudes of my heart and the areas that I need to change.

Two questions help me with my self evaluation of growth and they're very simple questions:

1. Am I growing and becoming more like Jesus in my daily life? If not, why and in what areas?
2. Am I causing others to want to grow and become more like Jesus?

These questions usually pretty much sum it up for me. They're Yes/No questions with no gray area. Most of the time I find that I'm not where I should be and it's in those times that I'm so thankful for God's grace and mercy. I know that I will never in my lifetime be perfect, in fact I won't even come close. I know that I'm a constant work in progress and am learning to find joy in the journey - even though sometimes it sucks, it's really hard and most of the time it causes me to step outside of my comfort zone and be nice when I don't feel like it.

I do, however, want to be that person that can lay my head down on my pillow at night and know that I did the best I could and be proud of myself for that and look forward to tomorrow as a new opportunity to grow. Hopefully I will become more "green and blossoming" rather than stagnant and dying.

The Big Baking Extravaganza

I'm not one to enjoy hanging out in the kitchen, but last night I got my bake on! The company that I work for receives a lot of generosity - from both the community and also the United Way. The United Way is responsible for helping out so many great organizations. As a company we decided to give back, so for the entire month we've been trying to raise money for the United Way - specifically another organization that the United Way helps support - Operation Fresh Start. Operation Fresh Start is a wonderful organization here in Madison that helps young people ages 16-24 have a fresh start at life. Many of them have been in trouble with the law or just come from rough families. Operations Fresh Start helps give these young people job experience, mentors and also helps them obtain their GED. The primary means of obtaining job experience for these young people is through rehabbing houses! How cool is that? They learn the necessary skills and help give houses a fresh start - these houses are then sold at a discounted rate to low-income families in the community.

One of the things my company is doing to help raise money is a bake sale! Woo-Hoo....heat up the kitchen! I was slaving away over a hot oven last night making chocolate chip biscotti and chocolate chip cookies for one of our events.
I love this biscotti recipe - it actually comes from one of my Weight Watchers cookbooks and I've made it a few times and it's always a hit. I'll admit, the cookies are not made quite from scratch like the biscotti was, but hopefully nobody will ever know the different!
I actually had a good time hanging out in the kitchen and so enjoyed listening to Steve playing the guitar while I was baking away. Sometimes I forget just how talented my husband is. I have to say he really is my favorite musical entertainment of all time.
He didn't really look too thrilled here, but trust me, he was jamming up a storm just minutes earlier.
It was a good night and a good reminder that I really am so blessed. It truly is better to give then to receive. Hopefully we'll raise a bit of money today!

Crickets In My Coffee...

Sounds gross, huh? I remember when I first moved to Texas 11 years ago the crickets are what I immediately hated the most about the state. Ok, maybe it wasn't crickets actually IN my coffee, but I remember that there were crickets everywhere and it absolutely disgusted me.

Steve and I decided to spice things up a bit the other night with some studying and planning, so instead of sitting at home took our projects to one of our favorite little cafe's near our house..

I was sitting there minding my own business on my laptop when I thought that I saw a cricket out of the corner of my eye. Just like that the little guy disappeared and I then concluded that I was just crazy and seeing things. A few minutes later the Barista came over looking like he was ready to slug at my head with a broom for some batting practice. It was then that I realized the there indeed must be a cricket and he was undoubtedly very near to me. The barista pointed out the little (or not so much) guy down near my feet and it was all I could do to not let out a girlish scream. Instead, I composed myself and promptly told the Barista that had he not made his way over to warn me of the impending cricket danger I would have pooped my pants right there on his fancy cafe chairs. He must have beat the cricket to it's death (and beyond) for a good 45 seconds....I'm still not sure if he shared my fear of crickets or he was just afraid of me adding some spice to his fancy chairs due to my previous threat. I do believe, however, that I saw a little bit of cricket fear in his eyes and I also felt the mutual bond over such a hatred for something as he apologized profusely for almost literally scaring the SH!# out of me.

It all took me back to Texas. I truly love the great state, but I absolutely loathe some of the things the the state has to offer - crickets, humidity and really huge spiders to name a few. Steve and are both convinced that someday we really want to move to Austin, but all I needed this evening was a friendly reminder of some of the glories of the Lone Star State that I'm definitely not missing. It was then that I promptly decided that I'm perfectly content with being a Wisconsin Cheese Head if it means I can escape those dangerous crickets that will most likely give me nightmares this evening.

Tidbits from the weekend

It was so nice to have a weekend without entertaining anyone! We have loved having so many guests this summer, but we are completely worn out from it all. Although this weekend was a little exhausting, it was nice to have a little bit of time to ourselves!

- I made a pizza crust out of Bisquick for the first time and it was actually better than I expected! Definitely not my favorite ever, but it did the trick for a quick homemade pizza on a Saturday night!

- We got to enjoy lunch with my Aunt Sylvia on Saturday at the yummy Manna Cafe! She was on her way to Chicago and stopped in to see us and it was so nice to catch up with her.

- We were able to run a bunch of errands on Saturday and worked on some projects around the house that we have been neglecting for a very long time. It felt so good to feel like we were actually spending some time focusing on things that have been needing our attention for months. We even were able to totally clean our house - bedroom and all!

- We also got so snuggle on the couch and watch a movie on Saturday night - something else that we haven't had time to do in a very long time. Steve loves watching movies so it totally filled his love tank.

- We had a bunch of people over on Sunday night to watch the Packers home opening game. No, we're totally not Packers (or football) fans, but it was fun to watch all our friends that are fanatic about the Packers totally get into the game and enligthen us with all kinds of facts about every player that I'm sure we will never remember.

On to the bad part of the weekend......Babies R' Us.

We went into Babies R' Us on Saturday afternoon to pick up some gifts for a friend that I'm throwing a baby shower for next weekend. I went in excited to see all the cute stuff, knowing that it would most likely feed my desire for children. Instead, I left feeling totally discouraged.

I didn't know what HALF of the stuff in the store even was! On more than one occasion I found myself whining to Steve that I was selfish for even thinking about having kids because I was bound to be the worst mother ever. How could I care for a child when I didn't even know what half the stuff in the store was used for? Just looking at Sarah's registry completely overwhelmed me. So, needless to say we got our gifts and I was so happy to get out of that stupid store and left feeling so discouraged and deflated.

I felt a little better last night when Sarah and I were looking online at a brand new line of cloth diapers that Cotton Babies just came out with that are totally cute and economical! Sure, I may not know how to use a nasal aspirator, but I sure can hold my own with a stinky diaper!

It's been a year.....

...and oh how the time flies. I still can't believe that I've been in Madison for a year now. What a year it's been at that - filled with lots of ups and down. Last year at about this time I took the biggest leap of faith that I have ever taken in my entire life. I quit my job, moved to a city where I knew absolutely nobody and did it all by my lonesome. I had never been apart from my husband for more than 3 days and was forced to step out in faith, hoping that it wouldn't take me long to find a job so that we didn't have to be apart for very long.
Had I known then what I know now, I'm not so sure I would have been up for the challenge.
Two and a half months later, jobless, with a new mortgage and still alone I remember feeling completely hopeless. Those were some of the most difficult few months of my life, but looking back I see how God was taking care of me and had given me so much grace to endure. I know that if it wasn't for God's help I would have literally gone crazy...not even from the lack of job or unstable financial situation, but even more from missing my husband so very much.

Obviously I eventually found a job and Steve was able to quite his job back in St. Louis and join me here in Madison, but then we had new hurdles to cross. No health insurance, no friends, a 7 month job search for Steve and to top it off the quite weird fact that we were planting a church in a new city and the pastor's hadn't even moved here yet. Talk about ackward conversations when people asked us about what our church was like!

Alas, here we are a year later. Both employed, soon to have health insurance and finally we have our pastors here! Our little church is moving locations this Sunday again. For good reasons though! We have already (in just 2 months) outgrown our current location and have practically doubled in size!

All of the puzzle pieces still haven't quite come together and although we feel settled and love our new city, we still feel like we're trying to settle into life with learning how to live on practically nothing, but yet be generous in all things at the same time. Pretty soon it will be just the two of us in our house (for a few months at least) for the first time since we've bought it, and we'll start a new chapter of unpacking boxes that we haven't seen since May of '08, while we give our little place some much needed TLC for the first time. It almost feels like we'll be moving all over again, and now that I'm so used to living with other people, having a house to ourselves for the first time in two years will seem really strange and I'm not sure what I'll do with all the space and silence.

September has always been more a "New Year" for me than January 1st is, and in September I often times find myself reflecting on what I've learned in the last year that I want to change for the upcoming year. This year I have a lot to ponder, a lot to change, but most of all a lot to be thankful for. As I look back on this last year of our lives I am so aware of God's goodness to us. He has been faithful and I see Him working through each step of the way - both the hard steps and the easy ones, and I'm grateful for it all. Hopefully this next year will be a little less hectic as we continue to try and get back on our feet here. Regardless of what the future holds though, I am thankful that I have a God that already has it all in control.

Finding Old Friends....

So, I've been getting all of these crazy friend requests on Facebook lately.
The other day I was so excited when one of my most favorite customers in the whole world from back when I worked at Starbucks sent me a friend request. We've kept in touch via email off and on over the last few years, but I was so happy that he found me on Facebook so that now it will be easier to keep in touch.

Then, the day after that I got a friend request from another friend that I hadn't talked to in 10 years (literally, almost to the day). I actually met this guy when I was in Thailand. He was 19 at the time at his first year in university and he was one of the students that came to an english class I was a part of teaching. At the time he was a Buddhist, but while I was in Thailand he became a Christian. What is so crazy is that now he lives in CHICAGO! All the way from Chiang Mai, Thailand and he is now just 2 measly hours away from me! Plans are already in the works to get together sometime soon and I'm so excited to see him!

I just love getting reconnected with old friends. I love looking through their pictures to catch up on where they've been and what they've been doing through the years. I try really hard to keep in touch with everyone, but with life it sometimes gets tough.
Phone calls just don't happen with me (just ask my mom) so Facebook is my main means of communication these days. I wish things could be different and a little more personal, but for now this will do.

I would love it someday if all the people from all the seasons of my life could get together to have a big ol' party. Really, that would be a dream come true. Just having all of my closest girlfriends together in once place for my wedding was pretty spectactular, but how cool would it be to be able to hang out with all the friends that I've met in all these different places? I think it would quite literally be the best day of my entire life. Obviously that's never going to happen in my lifetime (except for maybe at my funeral, but I wouldn't really enjoy that too much), but just thinking about it makes me happy enough for now.

We had SUCH a busy weekend. It was fun having my mom here, but so exhausting! We were busy non-stop. When I woke up this morning to take her back to the airport (at 5:30 am) I felt like I was in a trance.
My mom was able to get a good feel the for the city while she was here and loved it. It helped that the weather has been absolutely perfect for the last 5 days.
Enjoying the Beer Garden at Capital Brewery on the last night it was open for the season.
We got out and went to a lot of Madison events while we were here. Saturday was a really busy day. We started out at the Farmer's Market and then took Mom for a tour of the Capitol. I had never been up to the observation deck and it has amazing views of the city, so that was kind of cool. We also ran into a friend of mine while we were at the Capitol. I didn't know it, but in his spare time he works part time at the Capitol as a security guard. He's lived in Wisconsin his entire life and thinks Madison is the greatest city ever, so he was thrilled to educate my mom about the city. He also took us on a secret tour up to the very top of the Capitol, which was very cool.
Up on the observation deck, mom was a little squished!
Sunday we took mom to church and then had lunch with some friends that were in town from St. Louis afterwards. We had Chris & Christina over for dinner so Mom could meet Liliana for the first time. Mom had a blast playing with her!

Monday rolled around and it was time to party! Some of our friends from Madison and our friends from St. Louis all met up at our house and then we headed to Milwaukee to see the Brewers take on the Cardinals. We went up early to tailgate and it was so much fun! We had about 14 in our group and only 3 were rooting for the Brewers!
Don't know what's up with the look on my face, I guess it was cause I was hanging out with the wrong fans (love you Nich & Sarah)!
I was so surprised to see how many other Cardinal's fans were at the game, literally probably about 1/3 of the people at the game were rooting for the good ol' Cards, which made me very happy! Check out Steve's HIDEOUS sunglasses! He refuses to get rid of these things!
All in all it was a great weekend, although it left me feeling exhausted and unprepared for the week ahead of me. My mom had a great time, so that's all that really mattered to me! We took lots of pictures that are all on my Flickr page for your viewing pleasure!
I've loved having so many visitors this summer, but I am ready for a little rest. Literally almost every weekend this summer we've either had someone here visiting us or been somewhere visiting them and it really is quite exhausting! As far as I know we won't have anyone coming to visit for at least another month, so hopefully that will give us some time to recuperate from our busy summer and get back into the swing of life a little bit.

Knocked Up and Joyful

Our little church has been growing, so now along with our Sunday services we will be adding three weekly community groups that meet during the week to share life together. Steve and I will be hosting and leading one of those community groups at our house starting up in a few weeks.

We love hosting groups and being hospitable, but this is the first time that we're actually leading a group as far as providing a teaching from the Bible is concerned. I'm a little nervous because I love learning, but don't feel like I'm a very adequate teacher. I have this fear that I'm going to steer people wrong, so it has caused me to pray a lot and know that I'm totally dependent on God.

Anyway, right now in church the sermon series has been called "Discovering Jesus". It's taking a more in depth look on the life of Jesus in the New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John that tell Jesus' story. They were all written by different disciples and although all the stories line up together, they're all told from the different perspectives of the particular author.

Our community groups will be studying more in-depth some of these books and Steve and I decided that we would like our group to study the book of Luke. Luke was an outsider and because of that loved reaching out to the outsiders and those who didn't necessarily fit in - such as common laborers, those who were racially different, the poor and those who were kind of just written off as weird.

Steve and I also really have a heart to reach those who would be considered common day outsiders, so we decided that Luke would be a good book for our group to study. I haven't even really started the in-depth study so much, but already feel like I'm learning a lot.

This morning I was reading in Luke 1 about Mary (Jesus' mother) and how the angel came to tell her that she was pregnant. I've always though about how overwhelming that must have been for her and how I would have reacted, but haven't really stopped to take the time to really think about how she actually handled the news.

What's crazy is that she had such a trust in God that she was joyful and willing to serve immediately after she got the news that she was pregnant. If I put myself in her shoes I know that I would most undoubtedly be freaking out and trying to figure how I was going to explain to everyone (especially my fiance) that even though I was pregnant I was still a virgin and haven't been messing around. Of course, I would be thinking about what everyone would be thinking about me, because for obvious reasons nobody would have believed my story. I would be afraid of becoming an outcast to my family and loved ones. Not Mary though, she just said, "I am the Lord's and I am here and ready to serve."

How crazy is that?!?! She didn't even take the time to stop and doubt and freak out because she trusted God that much, and not only did she trust Him, she trusted Him with a grateful heart! She was thankful that God had put her in this crazy situation.

What a lesson to me. This last year has been a year of having our faith tested and so many times being thankful was at the very bottom of my Spiritual "to-do" list. So many times I was too busy freaking out and asking God what he was going to do next, that many times I forgot to just be thankful for all the He was doing in me. I was so busy putting my trust in Him while trying to come up with a backup plan of my own in the meantime. I know realistically that's just not how trusting in God works, but fear and worry is often times a weakness of mine.

Mary's faith is such an example to me and when I look at all the obstacles that were in front of her as she had a blessing growing inside of her, I hope and pray that my life can resemble the attitude of faith, joy, gratefulness and a willingness to serve like she had.

More proof that I may just be going crazy (aka "jenny-ism's"), this morning after applying my makeup and getting dressed I was almost out the door when I realized that I hadn't fixed my hair. Just another reason why I am so lucky that I normally only spend about 5 minutes on my hair anyway. I hate it when my mind is so distracted with other things that I forget about the present.

Last night we hung out with some friends and grilled up some pizzas...SO good! I am so not a Betty Crocker, but whenever I'm around friends that are more creative in the kitchen (or on the grill) I feel inspired to improve on my culinary skills. Just another one of the many reasons that makes me miss Missy in my life so much.

My mom's flying in this afternoon. Hopefully we can show her a good time while she's here. We're both totally laid back and indecisive, so when it comes to going out and doing stuff we get kind of lost in the eternal circle of the "I'm fine with whatever you want to do" conversation (which totally annoys my husband). It's funny because sometimes I have such strong opinions on things, but when it comes to making decisions about where to go for lunch or what to do for fun I'm just lost.

I'm so ready for a long weekend...

The things we do....

Last night I went out with some ladies for work for dinner and drinks and somehow we got on the topic of the movie "My Big Fat Greek" wedding where Windex was used to solve all of lifes problems.

We started talking about the different products that we use that seem crazy to everyone else. I for example all keep some natural "Clean Well" hand sanitizer spray in my purse and found that it's great to use if I get a stain on my clothes while I'm out and about and it also eliminates my need for a Tide Stick (which don't work very good anyway, by the way).

And then Annette pipes in. To give you a little bit of background on Annette, the best way to describe her is crazy! She is a freelance interior designer. My company contracts her out quite frequently, so I work with her on an almost daily basis in some form or fashion. Annette is very well known in the community and lives in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Madison, just down the street from the governor. You would never guess if it you met her though. She has a zany personaltiy and is at least 30 minutes late to every appointment and recently go pulled over and mistaken for a drunk driver by the officer - even though she was completely sober and hadn't had a drink for days. I can kind of understand why he might think that though, because if you didn't know her well you would really think that she might be on a mind-altering substance upon your first impression of her. That being said she has such a kind, caring and compassionate heart to help others and give back to the community and is a wonderful person that I am proud to know.

Anyway, back to our topic of conversation. Annette is known for putting her makeup on in the car, after all she lives pretty haphazardly. On a lucky day she'll get her eye makeup on while stopped at a red light, but many times she takes her chances and has streaks across her face from trying to put on "her eyes" while she's zooming down the belt-line. I've always wondered why she doesn't clean the makeup off when such "streaking" incidents occur and so one time I asked her about it. Her response was "well it's too late now, it's already stuck on my skin." Knowing Annette as I do, I figured I'd let it be at that. As we were talking about multi-purposing household items last night I began to understand what she means. You see, Annette uses a Sharpie Marker as an eye-liner pencil. Yes, a SHARPIE is what her makeup collection consists of. Even knowing Annette as I do, I was shocked and couldn't help to laugh until it brought tears to my eyes.

I was then reminded that maybe I'm just a little bit more normal then I give myself credit for. ;)

Robert & Steve checking out the capitol
Another weekend bites the dust! It seems like they come and go so quickly. We had a house full this weekend, and it wasn't as stressful as I thought. We've had so many visitors come to Madison (many times in mass quantities) over the course of the last year that I'm starting to get the hang of hosting lots of guests. We now have an empty house (besides Dale & Jacqueline, but they're always there so they don't count cause they're family now) until Thursday when my mom comes.

It's hard to believe that pretty soon I'll have lived in Madison for a year. It just seems like yesterday that we were selling our house in St. Louis. The year has flown by so quickly and so much has changed. I've been forced out of my comfort zone in ways that I never thought possible, but I've learned a lot in the process. I'll save all the reflecting for another day though.

We're looking forward to showing my mom around Madison and I'm looking forward to two days off work! Yee haw! We don't have a whole lot on the agenda, but I'm sure our time will fill up quickly. Tim & Amanda are coming up to the Dells from St. Louis for the weekend, so on Monday we're going to all meet up in Milwaukee to go to the Brewers/Cardinals game. I'm so excited to see the Cardinals play. I may be a WI resident now, but I'm still a Cardinals fan. I'm also looking forward to tailgating, apparently the people in WI really get into it. I don't think I ever tailgated at any sporting event in St. Louis, so we're gonna head up a few hours early to see what all this hype is about!