God's Favorite Color Is Probably Green

I've done it! I made my first green smoothie! I am as excited as a child on their first field trip! Here are the things I've learned:

• It's not as expensive as one may think.
• My blender sucks. I was so ignorant when I bought it. Does anyone know of any reasons I should not use a juicer instead of a blender for green smoothies?
• They taste just as yummy as the 4/5 dollar Odwalla or Naked ones do!
• My husband loves them! Yay for healthy husbands!
  
• A grapefruit spoon does a great job at getting a mango out of it's skin.
  
• Though I do not like the taste of mango, I still liked the smoothie.
• Though I do not like ice in anything I drink, the green smoothie is better cold.
  

In my green smoothie, I blended 4 huge leaves of Kale, 2 oranges and 1 mango. It was delic! I highly recommend giving it a try. These are some of the links that inspire and direct me in my green smoothie efforts.

On Basil

My dinner last night was scrumptious! And I have my fantastic friend, Liz, to thank for it. My friend, Liz, is irreplaceable. She is one of the most fun and real people I know. It's so relaxing/refreshing to be with people who are honest about themselves and always ready for a good time. I love it, value it, treasure it!

Anyhow...

As our husbands bonded over video games, she and I were sent on a mission (which we chose to accept) to find organic beer. After realizing, TJs was closed (sad day), we hopped down to Whole Foods (bless their souls for working on a holiday- Oh! Happy 4th BTdubs). As we walked into the store, Liz picked up a basil plant and handed it to me.

"You need to buy this." She says. "You can have a garden... you don't have to wish anymore. You can start small... if you feel badly spending the 5 dollars on it, I'll buy it for you..." And she preceded to introduce me to the ease of taking care of basil (and other herbs). She told me how much money I will save, had me dreaming of yummy smells, homemade pesto and pasta dishes... Girls, this is the type of peer pressure you need! I am so stoked about my new plant! I call it Liz. Liz needs water and sun; she is so low-maintenance. She helps me with dinner and saves me money. What more could a girl want?!

Last night, I came home with some veggies from the garden at work (yes, my boss has this amazing veggie garden here I may or may not be blogging while at work). As my wholewheat pasta boiled, I cut up and sauteed 2 squash and 1 bell pepper with some EVOO, gutted? 3 tomatoes, and chopped up some FRESH basil! Tossed it all together with some S & P, and voila! One of the most exciting meals I've made all year!

Say "Hi!" to Liz:
Ignore that decrepit leaf. I've torn it off since the photo. Low quality picture, sorry! This pic just doesn't do her justice. She is much more green than she appears here.

Since being introduced to my new favorite cooking buddy, I have learned some very funny things about basil...

"...to the ancient Greeks and Romans the herb was a symbol of malice and lunacy. They believed that to successfully grow basil, one had to yell and curse angrily while sowing the seeds. In French, semer le basilic, "sowing basil," means ranting..."

I love it! What a perfect gift for one hormonal woman to give to another?! Read more here, if you'd like.

Kendall Payne's Aslan

Aslan - Kendall Payne

Don't stop your crying on my account
A frightening lion, no doubt
He's not safe, no he's not safe
Are you tempted now to run away?
The King above all Kings is coming down
But He won't say the words you wish that he would
Oh, he don't do the deeds you know that He could
He won't think the thoughts you think He should
But He is good, He is good
I know you're thirsty, the water is free
But I should warn you, it costs everything
Well, He's not fair, no He's not fair
When He fixes what's beyond repair
And graces everyone that don't deserve
No one knows Him whom eyes never seen
No, I don't know Him but He knows me
He knows me, He knows me
Lay down your layers, shed off your skin
But without His incision, you can't enter in
He cuts deep, yeah He cuts deep
When the risk is great and the talk is cheap
But never leaves a wounded one behind


If you're like me, after reading all of The Chronicles of Narnia, you can't help but see what a great picture these books create of growing as you learn more about your Creator. Aslan is as scary as He is loving. As frustrating as that may be, we can rest in knowing He is good.

I Am Allergic To Running

Well, my attitude seems better today... but my body hates me. Remember that run I took? I'm thinking I don't know how to run. I don't think I ever learned the art of running. All these jokers who are addicted to running blow my mind. One of my most beloved friends is 50 years old and can't get enough of running! (S I C K !)

Perhaps it has something to do with how big my feet are... or how I haven't tied my tennis shoes since the day they were given to me (part of why I hate running is the trapped feet)... or the way I run (I'm flashing back to a Friends episode)... whatever the reason, I cannot go running without having horrible shin splints the next day week. It sucks! It sucks because it's like trying to cuddle a porcupine- no matter how good it may be for me (what?), it will always hurt me! You know what I mean. I can never grow to love something that makes me want to die.

Enough about the shins. I've got worse problems (shocker, I know).

A couple of years ago, I wrenched my neck really badly. So badly, I could barely move. It was as if my chin was sown to my left shoulder. I had to go to a chiropractor for a couple of months... once I could drive without being a danger to everyone else on the road, I stopped going (those ballars are expensive!)... well, since then, this neck of mine has never really been up to par. Sleeping on it wrong (or running- I should blame running) creates about a weeks worth of awkward positioning throughout my day-to-day life. It sucks. I seem to have jacked it up again... pray I don't kill anyone as I perform acrobatics to check my blind spot.

As much as I hate drugs, I'm going to have to down the ibuprofen for the upcoming holiday weekend. It appears muscles don't bounce back as quickly as my attitude.

Happy Independence Day weekend! Be grateful you aren't Canadian ;) (that's for you, Chris)

Today, I Pout...

Typically, I don't sweat the small stuff... but I'm in one of my I-want-to-be-alone-and-because-you-wont-leave-me-be-I'm-ridiculously-irritable moods... this usually happens to me when I continue to socialize past my mental socializing quota... if I don't have time alone to recharge, I don't know how to handle myself. And stuff that typically wouldn't bother me, grates on my last nerve. Everything annoying is magnified and shoved in my face. Simply asking me a question is translated as someone poking my arm for 15 minutes straight... I thought I needed drugs after I first went to college. I was thinking there was something wrong with my chemicals... but I've learned it's all a matter of me having clear social boundaries. As long as I have time alone to re-center, I'm stable. I have had no time alone since Memorial Day weekend... I've been running on fumes and last night, my adrenaline ran out. As you can tell, I've been blogging a lot more recently- it's a way to have time to think about what's been on my mind... I even went running last night- I HATE RUNNING WITH A BURNING PASSION... but it was a way to be alone... I wish I was a little hermit crab or a turtle... then, I could just crawl inside myself and take some time to breath deep, rid my mind of clutter, and re-center. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

Last night, my wonderful husband was just trying to help me out... typically, I'd think "no biggie"... but instead, last night, the fact that he loaded the dishwasher with dirty dishes when it was full of clean ones, just about ate at my soul. I need some time alone.
I figure, I'll go on a run to clear my brain of pollution. Excited to run with Coldplay's Lovers In Japan in my ears, I grab my ipod to find out, it's dead. WTF?!
I come back from my run- I hate running- and hop in the shower only to be reminded that our damn hot-water heater isn't working. I start crying as I'm doing a back bend to avoid the rush of cold water down my body. I start resenting having hair. I start thinking about taking clippers to it so I can wash it in the sink from now on... I hate showering to begin with... The cold water just pushed my tears over the edge. I need some time alone.

I am a mess and I wish it was raining to match my mood.

This morning, I figure I'll catch up on a few blogs I've missed over the weekend. I usually visit Mourning Into Dancing when I need perspective... Then, I get to this one and start crying just as she said she started crying. I am a mess!

So, today, I am comforting myself with prayer, my Pandora Enya station, Dunkin Donuts coffee (milk & sugar please) and an everything bagel toasted & with butter. I am stepping into my proverbial shell by avoiding Twitter and FB... and, in hopes of protecting my SIL (who is living with us for the summer), I will be spending the afternoon alone... we'll see how that goes...

Bobbing For Apples

Phone contracts suck. After 7 years of being with Alltel, they get bought out by Verizon. In the 7 years that Alltel provided my service, I never didn't have service. I could have gone spelunking and still had service (that might be a hyperbole, but you get the point). You'd think our service would get even better, merging all those towers. But, it wasn't until early this summer, when the conversion took place, that we started having shoddy service. This was very disappointing. We figured, our contract is up at the end of June, so would wait until then to do anything about it. Well, it's the end of June... and we don't know what to do!

My cute-little-green-phone died on me mid-may. My kind husband digressed to an old brick so I could have his phone... Now his brick is showing the same signs of near death that my cute-little-green-phone was showing... we have to do something quick! In a world without home-phones, as much as I beg, my husband insists that we cannot go without cell phones.

So, for what we are paying now, we can switch to AT&T and get the same family plan+unlimited data. Unlimited data!? Do you know what this means?! This means more blogging and gmail!!! This means never forgetting what I was going to google when I got home! This means expanding my vocabulary with thesaurus.com! This means never getting lost again! ... SO. MANY. GOOD. THINGS. ... Why couldn't I sign the contract with AT&T last night?!

Image via CrunchBase

I have a ridiculous aversion towards trends! And the cheapest phone ($99) that makes all of these things practical is the iPhone! And I'm being a punk about getting one. My husband would prefer a Blackberry. But we'd be paying almost twice as much for it. So, he feels like his hands are tied. I wish I liked the way the Blackberry worked, so I could try to cost-justify... but I don't. I know that the most practical use of our money in this situation is the iPhone. Especially because we don't have a dependable computer... and we'd be getting way more bang for the same buck we've been spending on our phones... and we'd save 5 bucks a month on our wireless Internet at home (because it is also AT&T)... I just don't like the announcement that is made when someone pulls out an iPhone. The iPhone is so ostentatious. It screams, "Apple makes me complete". I'm just being transparent- I hate trends... and I know I need to get over it. But these are just the thoughts that flood my head when I see things like apple stickers... and BMWs...or crocks...haha. No really. It's just weird for my logic to tell me that this is the best deal... and that it is trendy... that's usually not the case. Just think about how damn expensive Uggs are... aaaaggggggghhhhhhhh.

We don't know what to do...

Tokens From The Weekend

The weekend started with a 7 hour and 45 minute road trip that only felt like 3 hours. My little-sister-in-law is the best car company on the face of the planet. The more I get to know her, the more I love her. I highly recommend taking her with you if you have any long road trips coming up. Accompanied by the Dixie Chick's Wide Open Spaces album, that we pulled over to buy at "The Walmart", we appropriately drove straight through to West Virginia. Ye-haw! The weekend was packed with all sorts of celebrations, a baby shower for my big-sister-in-law, a wedding for a dear friend of ours, catching up, and making memories. I'll admit, I had too much fun.

You've heard me say before that I'm somewhat socially handicapped. My close friends, usually roll their eyes when I make this claim. But this weekend has confirmed my theory. My social anxiety is only present when I sense that others feel the need to entertain me, or host me. It makes me uncomfortable. (remind me sometime to post on my intolerance for uncomfortableness). My husband, had such a tight group of guy friends from high school. They have all kept in touch over the years, have traveled great distances to be in each other's weddings, and have made each other's girlfriends/wives feel like part of the family. I love these guys! No exaggeration- from day one, when I met these guys, they treated me like they had known me my whole life, like I was their sister, like they knew me and loved me. Every time I see them, I am part of the family. It is the most comfortable socializing I have ever done with people I hardly know. Knowing my husband, I am not surprised he would have such fantastic friends. It is so sweet to see these good ol' boys together. If this weekend had been a movie, country music would have been the soundtrack.

My mother-in-law shared that she was learning about "emotional integrity". What a great phrase! I'm going to have to use it more often. I would say, in relationships, nothing frustrates me more than not having emotional integrity. I do not respond well when I pick up on the feelings another isn't admitting... it drives me nuts. In addition to learning that phrase, this conversation with my MIL brought about the joy of realizing, no matter how old I get, there will always be more to learn. I love learning. I love uncovering things about myself and humankind in general.

Image by tim.perdue via Flickr

Has anyone else ever wondered why when ice melts in your cup, the water level doesn't rise? Like if you had a full to the brim cup of ice water, it wouldn't over flow when the ice melts? Well, I was on the verge of falling asleep when I realized, this has to be because the ice displaces the same amount of water solid as it will when it melts and adds to the water in the glass. I did not google this to verify it I am correct because it makes sense to me. And that's all I needed. I just needed it to make sense so I could fall asleep. I think of things like this often.

My little-sister-in-law, comfortable socializing, emotional integrity, the lure of learning, and physics- these are the tokens from my weekend. How was yours?