Happy 1 Year, 4 Months and 12 Days Anniversary to us....

(Please excuse our bad self-timer camera skills and our perpetually-in-the-middle-of-moving-bedroom), but this weekend we went out to dinner and to see the lion king for our 1 year anniversary... just only a few months late. It was our present to each other back in august but we just had to wait a bit for it to come. Here we are getting ready to leave. sorry that i couldnt get one really good picture.... it's the best i could do.

ps. the show was great... and the company was pretty good too. :)

"i'm sorry... what did you say?"

i got called a cougar the other night by a 16 year old at youth group. I wasnt really sure how to take it.....


and more in the way of awkward comments.....


a client who comes in regularly told me i was "too pretty for black nailpolish".... at first i just said thanks... then i said "actually i'm not really sure how to take that"....

Silver Valley Serve

Just got home a few hours ago from our youth group service weekend in the Silver Valley (East of here, before Montana. little known fact: the town where dante's peak was filmed).

anyway, it was a great time with the kids. I've forgotten what it was like going on trips like this: forgot to pack my sleeping bag and pillow (which i forgot altogether) and towel in a plastic bag with my name on it, forgot flip flops for the shower, forgot the part about how hard it is to fall asleep with all the crazy all nighters running around the gym still playing basketball... etc.

But it was different going as a leader. It was cool to sit back and watch the kids in certain sitautions and how they were going to respond. It was so neat to see them so excited to serve people they didnt know in Jesus name. And it was fun getting to know more kids and more leaders just in general.

Well we got home around 4 and have just been sleeping since. Looks like stacking wood is harder on your bod than i thought it was going to be.

ps. i'm sure we'll be tagged in some pictures on facebook soon so you can see.
pps. also, Frank Peretti lead worship at our church plant out there. I was a bit starstruck while singing.

Guess it's been a while....

so yes... i'm sorry that you've had to read and re read my blog about peanut butter. If i had known that we'd be out of the internet for that long, i probably would have tried to leave you with something more interesting.

To apologize, I'll post some pictures of halloween with the ludwigs. and hopefully it wont be so long until i blog again.

our costume: awanas club leaders, our party prop: o'dules non alcoholic beer

Let me tell you about a little life saver that i've had in my life lately. It's Adams Peanut Butter. When you're moving, you have no food because everything is in boxes. especially when your move takes a week. One of the smartest things i've ever done was putting that peanut butter into my purse and lugging it around with me everywhere. It's been a pseudo-best friend in lots of situations. And it's absolutely delicious.

I think everyone should carry peanut butter in their purse. At least while you move.

3 new suggested gym rules

Lately while i have been at the gym i've been consistently annoyed by 3 things. Oddly enough, i've found they are usually done by only boys and only when lifting weights. But i've noticed myself complaining about them in my head for the last three days and thought if i blogged about them, maybe it'd be getting them off my chest.

so, if i had some say in the rules of the Kroc center, i'd institute 3 new ones:

I. You may not grunt, groan, or breathe super obnoxiously---i find it highly annoying when i can hear loud groaning through my ipod while people lift. If you're that intense, maybe get a universal for your basement, or go to a body builders gym.

II. Circuit training is not allowed----there is nothing more annoying than feeling pressured to finish your set of lifting because the guy who's circuit training, and just gotten off the machine, is standing next to you waiting for his next set of 10 reps. The only time this MIGHT be acceptable in a public gym would be if they instituted a circuit training hour or two where everyone had to go in the same order, for the same number of reps, all controlled with an air horn.

III. No men allowed on the thigh machines---do men really need to use the inner and outer thigh machines? really? when have you seen/heard a man complaining about their hips. I hate having to find something else to do, while my hips feel like they're growing wider by the second, while a boy is finishing up his last few reps on his outer thighs.

probably the worst day for me would involve a man cutting in front of me for the thigh machines, who groans the whole time on it, and then gets off, only to stand by me until i'm done so he can complete his circuit training.

history, dedication, and rivals

so i'm not sure you saw but tonight's phillies game was awesome. (my sincerest apologies to mark and carla and all the other rockies fans---they put up quite a fight). I dont get to watch many baseball games on TV, especially Phillies, since we dont have cable. Tonight however I was at the gym, and it has cable, so i inevitably found myself watching...and watching...and watching. (Poor adam, he beat me home and got a head start on moving while i "finished up" at the gym). Basically i ended up working out for an hour and fifteen minutes JUST so i could watch the game. Not only that, but i was wedged between two rockies fans...uncomfortable.
I was cheering, and putting my hands on my head, and covering my mouth, and shaking my head, i pretty much did everything but yell "da da da da da da....CHARGE!". but as soon as it was over... i was silent and walked out of the gym as fast as possible, ...and called everyone.