How sweet it is to be loved by him...

Sorry to be gooey, but this is one of those times when I just want to gush about my husband a little. He is so good to me. He cheers me up when I'm sad, encourages me to keep striving, tells me I'm beautiful all the time...and he handles my crazy like no one else could. I'm crazy about him and some days I just wish I could snuggle and drink tea with him all day long.


He's cute. This is one of my favorite pictures of him. It's very Ben-like.

Speaking of tea...I want to try a this recipe. It's described as tasting like "a bite of buttered toast followed by a mouthful of milky tea”. Mmmm...

And I found these neat tea things on Etsy.


From here.


From here.


From here.

Nice Weekend.

This weekend started out with going to see my friend Sara who was visiting from St.Louis. I went to a lifegroup that she was going to on Friday, and I figured it was going to be kind of awkward, but it actually turned out to be really fun and refreshing. It was really nice to see Sara, and I got to sit and talk with some ladies, some of whom I didn't know very well. We talked about what happened in our week and prayed for each other. And I found out my friend Molly was pregnant. I got to talk a little bit about being a doula, and she asked me to be hers! It was so exciting. And it was nice to talk to people who thought having a doula sounded awesome. They said some things that I would have said to defend/explain the purpose and usefulness of a doula, and it was awesome to hear that from other people. It can be discouraging when people say, "why would you need that?" or "isn't that what a husband is for?" These ladies just got it.

Then on Saturday I went to a ladies tea, and it was also encouraging and refreshing, and a lot of fun! I made scones, citrus curd, and cucumber sandwiches. It was my first time to make all those things, and they all turned out great! All my sandwiches got eaten and a good dent was made in my scones. I always feel good when people eat my food :) It was kind of stressful before the tea, because I had a slight disaster with my citrus curd (apparently your eggs need to be at room temp, and my recipe failed to mention this), I ran shorter on time than I thought, and my friend/neighbor who was supposed to go with me got a nail in her tire and had to get it repaired. But once we got to the tea, things were a lot better. We ate a lot of delicious food, played a pretty hilarious game, and I even won a prize! The "theme" of the tea was shoes, and I got the second most votes for having the best shoes. I won this really cute teacup tea light holder that was on our table.





Corey and I had actually been admiring it when we sat down, so I was really happy I won it! One of my friends gave an encouraging devotion about not comparing your "shoes" with other people. Basically, it was about being content and even excited about being yourself, and not comparing yourself with or criticizing others.

The major bummer of the weekend is laundry. I don't really mind doing laundry, but I have to go to the laundromat to do it and I hate it. I hate having to get my tons of laundry there and back again (especially since our apartment has a lot of stairs), and most of time I have to do it by myself because it's hard to find a good time for Ben to go with me. And they allow smoking in the laundromat. This is something I will never understand. Why allow smoking in a place where people are trying to get their clothes clean? Granted, my clean laundry never ends up smelling like smoke, I guess because I just leave once they are clean and dry. But whatever I am wearing and pretty much my whole person does smell like smoke. Gross. I need to do it today, but I really, really don't want to!

But tonight dinner is going to be homemade broccoli and cheese soup, salad with grilled chicken and homemade croutons! Yum!

Meal Planning...Who does it? I try, but seriously, it's hard. I was surprised. If anyone has tips, I would like some. My ultimate goal is to plan for a whole month! I've started out by doing a couple of meals a week. It works out well because we eat dinner with our friends/neighbors every night, and so usually I cook (or at least plan. We all kind of join in the cooking. Except Ben :) He's not much of a cooker) a couple meals, and they plan a couple. It makes it an easy transition into meal planning, but I still kind of have trouble sometimes.

I've worked out twice this week. Success! I've been doing (fast paced) walking on a treadmill. I like it. I was surprised that I felt good right away from doing it. I didn't today because my apartment was a disaster, and I was going to lose it if I didn't get it cleaned. But I will be back at it tomorrow. I definitely want to work in strengthening exercises for my arms and abs. Jessie posted some on the Being True blog. Check them out if you are looking for some stuff that is easy to do at home. I own weights and an exercise ball, so there is a lot of stuff I can do! I remember some stuff from a class I took at the Y while I was still in college as well. It feels great to be accomplishing a goal, and taking care of myself.

I haven't been self-reflective very much in my life recently. I used to self reflect all the time. So, that being the case I thought I would think of some facts about me. Since I'm unsure about who I am at the moment, maybe they will help me out. I hope at least they might make for somewhat interesting reading.

1. I love puns. I think they are hilarious and will laugh pretty hard at them.
2. I really hate talking on the phone. I'm generally awkward and don't really feel like I have anything to say.
3. The music that I like tends to usually have a melancholy sound. I find that type of sound really pretty. I used to be pretty melancholy, so I also used to find solace in music that resonated with my feelings.
4. I don't think I would actually be classified as obsessive-compulsive, but I really like to organize and for things to be organized. My fridge has to be organized in a certain way, or it stresses me out when I open it. I have to straighten up our apartment, and usually have to do the dishes before I can sit and relax. I like the bed to be made. I. Hate. Clutter.
5. I love rearranging my furniture. I rearranged my bedroom when I lived with my parents, I rearranged my dorm rooms, and I've rearranged our apartment at least 4 times in the year and a half we've lived in it.
6. I have an odd sort of perfectionism that comes out in me not doing anything unless I can do it perfectly. It keeps me from trying to do new things, or just things that are difficult.
7. I am a counselor. It's not a job I have, it's just who I am. I love to talk to people and try to help them. It just comes out of me naturally. But not if I'm in an office trying to be an official counselor. In that situation I freeze up and go blank.
8. I took ballet from before kindergarten until I was a sophomore in high school. I still love ballet, and if I could I would be a professional. Alas, I know this will never be. But I would like to take a class again.
9. I love donuts. Or doughnuts. Mmmmm. I want to get a donut pan so I can make them.
10. I'm a cat person. I find this surprising. But I love my cat's independence and self-sufficiency. He's cuddly, but he doesn't have to be on me all the time. He doesn't bark or freak out when I leave. I don't have to take him out to go to the bathroom. And while cleaning the litter box isn't my favorite, if you get good litter it isn't that bad. And he never goes anywhere else in the house but his box. He's great!

I hate breakfast.

It seems a weird jump to go from my last post to the one I want to write right now, but I'm gonna make it anyway.

So, I kind of hate breakfast. Well...that's not strictly true. If I could just wake up whenever my body decided to and make myself some delicious steelcut oatmeal (which takes about half an hour to cook) with cinnamon and brown sugar, I would love breakfast. But when I have to wake up and don't really want to, I hate breakfast. Usually I just don't feel very hungry, and so eating sounds awful. And let's be serious, I'm not going to get up early enough to make the oatmeal. Browsing foodgawker the other day, I was inspired. Smoothies! This could be the answer! I found this recipe. I think I'll try it. Maybe with different fruit, and perhaps with yogurt instead of soy milk. But I'm not afraid to try spinach in a smoothie! So there. Honestly, this sounds like a great solution to me.