What I am loving Wednesday: DC Edition

(1) casual dining spots that are "Dave-friendly"

(2) Sangria at La Tasca

 

(3) Neighborhood exploration and window shopping

(4) A saturday morning at eastern market (this used to include brunch at Bread and Chocolate before it closed !!)

(5) a run on the National Mall
(6) Sunday Morning Brunches!

(7) attending Grace DC on Sunday nights and Dave and I actually joining a community group since he won't be working til 10 at night anymore! (atleast not regularly)

(8) Tangy Sweet

(9) knowing that I am a 4 hr bus ride from NYC and girls weekends with a dear friend there

(10) Learning to cook on a tight budget...strangely I am very excited about this. I love challenges.  Dave and I want to be able to enjoy a meal out on the weekends so the best way to do this is to eat cheaply during the week.  It won't be gourmet, but I am so excited about learning to cook fairly healthy cheaper dishes so we can use the leftover money for a sunday brunch :)

1/23/12 What I am Reading Wednesday

As I previously discussed, yesterday was the anniversary of Roe v. Wade.  40 years of legalized abortion.  Here are some good articles on the subject:

1. There's a Better Way to Fight Abortion.

"But it is not enough to say that the child in the womb is precious. Key in the abortion battle is not simply to affirm how precious the baby is to God, but to declare how precious is the mother (another child of God), whom God made and knows and touches."


2. And truthfully, we all know they are killing babies.

To me, this fact is very sad.  I think pro-lifers thought for so long that the problem was awareness, that we needed to proove when a baby becomes a baby.  And, for a few people, that may be true.  Our arguments on when life begins may actually change minds, but many people realize that life begins (in some form) early on.  Its hard to ignore science!  And even though they know a fetus is living, they decide to overlook that fact.

This makes me angry.  It is one thing to think that you are fighting for the rights of women to just rid themselves of excess cells, but when you know that you are fighting for rights to end life, it angers me.  One was ignorance which is much more tolerable than advocating murder.

I will give pro choice people credit for this point though: feminists often argue from the perspective of the women, wanting fairness for women.  (They FAIL to argue from the standpoint of the child) Christians need to have a little more concern for women.  Pro-Choice people want women to have no more reproductive consequences than men do.  We can't biologically make that true, but we can help make those consequences less lonely. 

AND ALSO, some non abortion articles...

3. BUT GOD

"we (I) use “but” to signal a tone of failure or despair – things not going the way we want. So true! I use “but” all the time to complain about my circumstances, marring something positive by connecting it to something negative.


However, here’s how God uses “but” in His Word:

• “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Joseph speaking to his brothers in Genesis 50:20)
• “You…put Him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised Him from the dead…because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him.” (Peter preaching to the crowds on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:23-24)
• “You were dead in your trespasses and sins…But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ.” (Ephesians 2:1-4)

When God uses “but,” it’s to highlight the hope and the victory that comes from His all-knowing, all-powerful, loving intervention in our seemingly hopeless situations. Amen. In each of these “but God” examples in Scripture, only a supernatural act of God could make what happened come to be.
“But” is a coordinating conjunction that signals a change or contrast. God is the change we need in our lives. God is the opposite of our fear, our worry, our loneliness. Those two words, “but God,” silence my negativity and doubt."

4. Also, sadly, one of my favorite law school professors passed away. Keep his family, students and other faculty in your prayers.  

What I'm loving Wednesday

1. This picture I stole from another blogger....

Isn't this so true? How just being with the right person or right people feels like paradise sometimes?  Whether its your family gathered for a baptism, holiday, tailgate, etc, a girls wine night on the front porch, or curling up with a special guy to eat spaghetti and watch tv, everyday life is just so exciting sometimes, even when it's not.

2. These wine glasses...perfect for the grove or any other outdoor event! (actually not perfect for the grove since everything has to be in solo cups, etc where you can't see the alcohol) I NEED ONE!

3. BELHAVEN SINGING CHRISTMAS TREE this weekend.  My house is right across from a small university that does an outdoor singing Christmas Tree. People bring blankets and cocoa and snacks and curl up on the soccer field and and listen to the tree. (It was my parent's first date 31 years ago!) We can see it from our front porch so every year we host a party.  Sadly, I rarely get to sit and listen to the tree because I am busy hosting, BUT I still love it because it's the first big party of the season and such a fun event with food, music and hot toddies! Plus I have an amazing skirt I plan on wearing :)

4. Our "poor girl" decorations.  Money is tight at our house, but gathered our decorations, accepted donations of old decorations from our parents and bought a few more.  Usually we go way out, but this year we decided decorations and the party would be lower key....I still think we did a decent job on our house.  Clearly this is not 'Southern Living' quality but it is pretty festive....



My mom's old stockings were hung by our chimney with care...



Our skinny Charlie Brown Christmas Tree... 15 prelit :)

5. CHRISTMAS MOVIES.  I have already watched 3.  Thank goodness for DVR. I set them to record a lot of movies then I watch as many as I can while cleaning, wrapping gifts, etc.  I hope I can see a good number of movies this year but with my weekend job, I may not.  Still glad to see a few.  Here are some links to the holiday movies: TV GUIDE  Holiday pages  25 days of Christmas and this one is the best: CHRISTMAS TV SCHEDULE

6. THIS BLOG: Single, Party of One.

7. Christmas shopping ahead of time.  I've gotten half of it done.  Trying to finish up in the next couple of months so I can not stress and enjoy the holidays.  Getting Dave' family done first because I don't know them as well as my own, obviously.  I can easilly find my sister something last minute but it takes more time to figure out what they want.  Luckilly I work at a store with great products and a discount so lots of my shopping will be done there :)

8. KRAFT FRESH TAKES.  Have yall tried these? They cost maybe 3 dollars, though I keep getting them when they are on sale. Its various cheese and breadcrumb mixes that you put on chicken, pork, etc.  I add the mix to chicken and its so simple, saves me from making a fancy meal but also saves me from eating plain chicken! 

9. SCANDAL. Seriously, watch this show. Its only on season 2 so between netflix, ABC and HULU, you can catch up!

10. ADVENT.  For those of you who have read my blog for awhile, you know I love advent.  I love Christmas and the holiday season in genereal (who doesn't?) but I LOVE advent.  I bought a mini advent devotional (1.00) and a book about advent (2.00) at Lifeway Bookstores on Black Friday. (TO READ MY ADVENT POSTS FROM LAST YEAR, CLICK ON THE ADVENT CATEGORY)

What I'm loving Weekend

Here's a little What I'm loving Wednesday on SATURDAY.

1. Crossing things off my "fall to do list."  Curl up to wear a scary movie with Dave (check, actually check a couple times!) Drink cocoa. Cook chili. Wear tights. Wear scarfs.

And, as of the time you read this on Saturday, I will be heading to the grove with pumpkin muffins for the tailgate. Check. Check.

1.Wear lots of scarfs!

2. Go to a college football game --- with a cute date!
3. tailgate in the grove
4. run in cooler weather
5. make a fall wreath
6. Cook Chili
7. Cook something pumpkin flavored
8. Buy a MUM
9. make a fall craft
10. go to a pumpkin patch
11. Drink Hot Cocoa or Cider with rum
12. Bake an apple pie
13. Halloween celebration
14. Carve a pumpkin
15. host a fall wine night on the Peachtree House Porch (we haven't had a wine night recently....or maybe a cider and rum night!)
17. Curling up with Dave to watch a scary movie
18. Riding the Ferris Wheel at the MS State Fair
19. Make Dave's 28th birthday special.
20. get my flu shot -- seriously this is on my fall to do list, I suggest you all get your shot too, I have no idea why people don't get their shots!
21. Take a cute date to the Jr League's Mistletoe Preview Party in November
22. Make Smores!
23.wear lots of tights
24. Be more thankful.
25. Donate to a food bank   SIDENOTE: On my fall checklist, I included Livingston Farmer's market. Turns out there were only two more Thursdays to go and neither worked, so I am crossing that out and adding "wear lots of tights" to my list. It's only fair since I didn't have all season to accomplish the farmer's market goal.  I'll go to Livingston in the spring!

2. I love this website of grooms' faces when they see their bride. Tell me it doesn't make your heart smile.

3. I love that "New Girl" and "How I met Your Mother" is back on tv.

4. I love the fact that I will finally be making it to the grove this weekend....with my two favorite men (Jack and Dave) -- okay, my five favorite men, Jack, Dave, Blaise, Daddy, and Bech! and marley and me.  Wow, in a family of mostly girls, its weird that the men will outnumber the women this weekend.  Dave has never tailgated in the grove so its important for me to share this with him.

5. I love that Christmas stuff is starting to go up in stores.  Hate me if you want, tell me I am ignoring Thanksgiving and Halloween and I will just laugh because I celebate these holidays very well!  However, Christmas trees and lights make me happy. During finals or other tough times, I would go to walmart or a local store with decorations and walk through it.  The other day I had a bad day and had to make a walmart trip. I noticed that a couple aisles of Christmas decorations were up.  I walked around, took a breath, and smiled.  It calmed me down a bit. WEIRD, I know.

6. Pinterest. I am addicted to pinterest. I try not to look up clothes because it leaves me feeling greedy. I look up recipes and crafts mostly.  And I try recipes from pinterest all the time. ADDICTED

What I am Loving Wednesday

Usually I tell you what I am reading on Wednesday, and maybe I still will, but today I am going to tell you a little bit about what I am currently loving (a few other bloggers do this so I am jumping on the bandwagon.

1. I am loving season 8 of How I Met Your Mother, or as I always type it (I think I picked that up from Chris maybe?) - HIMYM.  Dave and I have been eagerly awaiting this series' return to Monday Nights!! (which we missed last night because we are taking a community enrichment course on investing at the local college).  We decided we would watch it together Thursday when we next hang out but caved and decided to watch it separately last night and text eachother.

I love the show and I guess I also love that we LOVE the show....guys and gals often have different tastes in shows, etc. so I love that we have this in common.

Watch season premier at CBS.

2. I am loving SOUPS.  Yes, I know that its still in the 70s in Mississippi, sometimes even 80s, but we have had several chillier evenings and mornings, even in the 50s a couple nights.  I love soups and they feel you up.

My favorite is Mrs. Grass's Homestyle Beef Vegetable and Newks. (although dave likes basic chicken noodle soup out of a bag so we have been eating some of that.

*Cook beef (lean) and mix with the bag mix and water, delicious and fairly healthy!

You can find the Newks schedule here.  If you don't have a Newks in your area, I am VERY sorry.  If you do, I suggest the crab bisque, tomato soup and red beans and rice soup.  In law school, I had this calendar memorized.

3. LOVE LOVE LOVE ME SOME PAINTED OR GLITTER PUMPKINS. I am loving fall decorations.  As I mentioned in my fall to do list, I can't wait to go pumpkin shopping and decorate some pumpkins.  I LOVE painted pumpkins. I suppose they stay good longer and are less messy to make. Here are a few ideas... I even included one wrapped in yarn or twine!

 

 



AREN'T THESE FUN?? AND PRETTY ENOUGH TO BE INDOOR PUMPKINS!!

 

 

 

4.  I have loved having weekends at home.  This fall, I am going to less football games, due to my long runs on saturday, weddings and high school reunion, poverty, dating a boy who has to study on the wkds and having several busy friends who aren't going often (I will still likely go to a couple games without Dave or pals, but still, its better to split driving and gas money and just more fun with others!), and also my family has been busy with some stressful circumstances so they aren't even at all the games.  I though this would be horrible, and don't get me wrong, I miss my family's weekend traditions...BUT it has been nice to enjoy time at home. I go to dinner, get stuff done, go shopping, to brunch, spend time with friends, do laundry, cook for the week! Weekends away from football hopefully won't be my norm BUT I am enjoying this surprising blessing.

5. WEEKEND MOVIES. This is a result of less travel and less football.  I used to view going to the movies as a winter activity, and sometimes an option in spring or summer BUT NEVER in the fall. Literally I would see maybe one movie all fall....BUT dave loves the movies and luckilly so do I, so this has become a weekend event for us.  Also, with so many more friends in town and not in Oxford or Starkville, we have been able to do a couple girls movies, and hopefully we will have a couple more this fall.  Dave and I have discovered that the theater by his home does 5 dollar movies on sunday nights, so we can see a movie for cheap basically (2 for 1)!!

AM I BORING NOW? MY THINGS I LOVE HAVE TO DO WITH STAYING HOME AND MOVIES???? SHEESH.  WHAT CAN I SAY? I AM EXHAUSTED. I THINK I NEED A LOWKEY COUPLE OF MONTHS!

6. SCARFS. I recently bought the perfect scarf blouse.  If I wasn't so poor, I'd go buy the same shirt in a couple other colors....  I love it because its not heavy, its loose and flowy (over a camisole) and it puts the focus on the scarf.  Here, in God's Country, AKA the DEEP SOUTH, we mostly wear scarfs as accessories.  I have a few heavy scarfs to wear with my Jacket in dec-feb, but mainly scarfs are for fun...so its essential to have a couple pseudo-fall/winter shirts to wear your scarfs with!!

Here's the link....  I don't wear it tucked in. Just loose with my sleeves rolled up.  Looking for a couple other blouses --these due double duty (jeans and neclaces or scarfs and wear to work if dolled up!)

7. FUNNY ECARDS. If you are in my phone book, you probably get one of these texted to you once a week. Sorry but I love ecards and other funny pictures/memos.