Sushi + Starbucks = awesome girls night!

Oh, I love my friends. I really do. We have SO much fun and, after tonight, I am more determined to make an effort to get together with my friends on a regular basis.

It started with Ami joining me after she got off of work to accompany an after school football pick-up of the oldest boy. She also got to witness the sacred vacuuming of the family van when she arrived. Lucky girl.

Anyway, we were joined by the charming Jess and headed to our first stop - sushi! We indulged in five sushi rolls. We actually kind of devoured them -- embarassingly so. They were SO good!

From there, on to Starbucks. We met up with Louise and sat outside and laughed, laughed, laughed. We marveled over many life-altering subjects such as, why do we call everything we order at Starbucks a "Starbucks"? Is it because we can't remember what we actually ordered by the time someone asks us? What's wrong with asking random strangers for their autograph? And my biggest question; why does every situation in life have to be tied to an episode of Friends?

If you don't have friends with whom you can just laugh and be stupid, I would highly recommend you find some right away.

I'm tired, BUT...

...I finally finished scrapping all of our New Orleans pics tonight and they look fabulous

and Paula was acting silly, which subsequently made me laugh

and it was Lynn's birthday so we had ice cream cake

and Amber came and helped me think straight (which was quite necessary this evening)



Yea, Scrappy Chicks!!

My life in bullets...

Life is...

Full. Busy. Good.

If you're interested, here's a glimpse, in no particular order, of what's been going on:

• I just got back from Ohio. We went to Sweet Adeline's Region 4 Winter Warmup. Though it was a bit overwhelming to not know anyone beside our quartet (my mom, her best friend and my sister) and a few faces from my mom's chorus, I feel like I really learned a lot about barbershop singing and even picked up some new warm ups and techniques for my voice students.
  

• I got very little sleep over said weekend so I feel like a bit of a zombie today

• Debbie Connelly is awesome. If you knew who she was, you'd be impressed that I had dinner with her. OK... I'll tell you. Debbie is the lead of "the BUZZ", the 2005 Queens of Harmony for Sweet Adelines International. They are hands down the best women's barbershop quartet ever. I already knew she had an incredible voice, but dinner with her allowed me to get to know her. She's a nut (like me) but an incredibly sweet and sensitive person at the same time. My sister and I had a wonderful time having dinner with her. Our quartet got to coach with her, too.

• We had about three inches of snow last Thursday. The boys and I had a blast. More on that later...

• I made a scrapbook for my sister for Christmas, but I just gave it to her this weekend. She LOVED it which subsequently made me happy because I worked really hard on it and it was kind of awesome.

• We're dog sitting for my BFF while she's out of town. Her dog is small and cute and I call her Claire Huxtable, though that is not her name.

• My husband leaves for New Orleans tomorrow to do some preliminary work on an event that's coming up in March. I will miss him, but will keep plenty busy while he is gone.

• I had a girls night out/MOPS reunion at my friend Heidi's house a couple of weeks ago. I got to see a lot of friends I haven't seen in awhile and it was wonderful We had so much fun.

That's it for now. I have to get ready for lessons. More later... I promise.

Thursday Thirteen #11

Sometimes I have lots of energy and creativity to put into my T13, sometimes I don't. SO in the spirit of the latter, I give you...

Thirteen reasons I'm tired tonight

1. Christmas was two days ago

2. I've eaten more in the last three days than I probably have in the last three months. Shame on me.

3. My parents are here and

4. My mom and I are avid, vigorous shoppers. So, therefore...

5. We've been to Walmart like three times in the past two days AND

6. Matt and I took them out for their 33rd wedding anniversary tonight.

7. Micah misplaced his DS and we spent WAAAY too much time and energy today looking for it.

8. I don't feel totally great. My nose is drippy.

9. The dog woke me up before the sun was up because he, apparently, had to pee or just had an overwhelming urge to chase squirrels

10. Matt and I drive to Shrewsbury, PA this morning to have breakfast with some friends we hadn't seen in awhile

11. Josh had a friend over today and it takes a lot of energy to be a cool mom (without looking like you're trying to be a cool mom)

12. Still a little salty about that darn DS being lost all day.

13. Is Christmas break over yet?

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Somebody PLEASE stop this train…

…so I can at least take a nap or something! OH MY GOODNESS, the past six weeks have been CRAZY busy. (Do you like my incessant use of caps?). I am so sorry I haven’t blogged. Thank you, oh faithful ones, who have continued to check up on here, though all you’ve been finding is the same blog about rain. Boring, I know.

I figured I’ll recap at least, so you won’t think I’m just slacking and making all this “busy” hosh posh up. Buckle up and please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times.

I’ll go backward which, for my little mind, is much easier!

As I type this, I’m sitting in the music room of Community Christian Fellowship (CCF) in Lowell, Massachusetts which is our home for the next week. We’re beginning week three of our summer missions tour. We’ve done a Chain Reaction (CR) week at CCF Lowell for the last two years, though this is fifth year of doing a CR week in this area – we did two years in Haverhill, MA previously. This time, CCF has taken it upon themselves to do the event and we were invited to come and be a part of it. They’re calling it Caleb’s Dream, which is also an honor. Matt was the first speaker last night and was able to share about Caleb’s life. It’s all another step in the healing process. We’re looking forward to being a part of this week.

We kicked off in Baltimore this year which is actually quite monumental. We’ve attempted to do a week in Baltimore for the last two years and have run against obstacles that have stopped the event both years. We had a great group from Howard County. There were about 20 of them and they already came with a servant attitude. They embraced the CR concept quickly and whole-heartedly and were a joy with which to work. We were also thrilled to be joined by Lee and Debra, Jeremy DelRio and Ramon – all good friends and fellow ministers. Our fun day was Wednesday which happened to be the 4th of July. We went downtown in the afternoon and attempted to see the fireworks. However, God thought it would be really funny to see us all soaking wet before the night was over. About 15 minutes before the fireworks were scheduled to start and after managing to stay dry through intermittent sprinkles throughout the day, the day completely opened up on us and we got SOAKED! I mean, we’re talking all the way down to the underwear soaked. We still managed to have fun, though. My BFF Jess and her roomie Ali came with us and they are the very definition of fun.

CR Baltimore actually ended being more tiring than I thought it would be. Micah, Jacob and I stayed at the house so it was early out the door, come home late every day and we even had a family from Ohio that came staying with us two of those nights. I did crowdbreakers/scripture songs each morning and worship with our intern/staff dude, Jesse, each evening. By then end of the week, I had NO voice left. It’s all good, but was exhausting all the same! (Click on Jeremy's link in the right column. He has lots of pics on his blog... and his blog is cool to boot. You really should be reading it anyway)

We have three interns this year; Josh, Jesse who is a young man that we’ve known for awhile and our nephew, Zak. They stayed at our house all last week training and preparing for the next month of ministry. OK. Come a little closer. I have to tell you a secret… the most awesome thing about the past week was that I didn’t have to grocery shop OR cook! Matt decided that part of their process included meal planning, preparation, etc. so Katy did NOT have to cook at all this week! Yea! Happy me.

OK. Before that, I flew to Ohio for a weekend. My mom and sister have been involved in an a capella (that means no instrumental accompaniment for my non-musical friends out there) women’s barbershop singing organization called Sweet Adelines for years – seriously, my mom has been singing with them like all my life. Anyway, Sweet Adelines has competitions for quartets (that’s four women for you math whizzes) and my mom and sister have competed in various quartets over the years. Well, we’ve always wanted to sing in a quartet together and have decided, with many factors under consideration, that with the addition of my mom’s friend, Pat, now is the time for us to do a quartet. Now the challenge comes with the fact that we have one in Baltimore, one in Nashville and two in Ohio. So we’re practicing hard on our own and getting together quarterly (roughly). I’ll keep you informed…

Before that, it was the last week of school. The boys were very glad to be done. They all did well this year. Actually, just a few days ago, we got Josh’s final report card. He did very well, especially for his first year back in public school after three years of being homeschooled and one year or Christian school. He got all A’s and B’s as his final grades. We are very proud!



This takes us back to the weekend of June 15-17. I like to refer to this weekend as my “Kamikazee” weekend! Thursday, my parents came in for a visit. My mom and I both had had birthdays leading up to that and wanted to celebrate, along with an overdue party for Jacob’s birthday on Saturday. What my mom didn’t know was that my sister was flying in Friday night to surprise her (and we pulled it off, too which is HUGE because my mom is suspicious and hard to surprise!). Saturday, we had Jacob’s party and then took Mom and Dad out to a nice dinner for her birthday and Father’s Day, respectively. The next day (Sunday), we went to church and then, since I didn’t have anything ELSE going on that weekend, I had a recital for 13 of my 29 students! It actually went very well and my sister was able to stick around and be featured as a guest artist. We even sang a duet together. How fun.



My birthday weekend was before that. We had our friend, Lee, who Matt was in DOC with many years ago, and his wife, Debra, and their two boys here. They did a concert Friday evening at Moravia Assembly of God (incidentally, where we had the Baltimore CR) and ministered at New Covenant Tabernacle on Sunday morning. In between, we did Ft. McHenry and Annapolis. The day of my birthday (Friday the 8th), my friend Lynn picked Debra and Jess and I up early and we went out to breakfast and then on to see Joyce Meyer. It was really wonderful and the perfect way to spend my 35th birthday (I know, I’m old).

Whew.

Well, I think that catches me up. If you read all of this, I’ll buy you a coffee or something sometime! I hope my blogging can get regular once we’re done with the next three weeks; this one in Lowell, next week in New York City and then back to Massachusetts to Haverhill for one more week. We are looking forward to company in August, along with returning to teaching piano part-time, football for Josh and of course, one more month before we return to the routine of school and full-time work.

I’ll get back to my Happiness is… Fridays and actually want to do the Thursday Thirteen as inspired my my dear friend, Ami.

Hope you’re all having a great summer so far. God is good.

(Thanks for reading. It means a lot to me ☺ )

Hey! I'm blogging again...

Wow.

I kind of missed the whole month of April, huh.

For those of you who have still been checking in and seeing the SAME DARN POSTS -- sorry.

I recently contacted a friend on myspace to ask him how he was doing and his respose was as follows:

Life is pretty good right now. I feel this tendency to say life is busy, but that's not it. Life is full. Which is a good thing. It's not overly exciting, but it's purposeful.

I decided that I really like that response. It sums up very well how I feel about our life lately. Things have been so busy that I feel like someone hit me on the head on New Years Day and I just now woke up and discovered that it's May! When did time get to galloping along so fast?

In the past month, we've celebrated Easter, dyed hard-boiled eggs and discovered our yard is perfect for an easter egg hunt, enjoyed a trip to Ohio to see family and friends over spring break, mourned the senseless death of 32 innocent people in the Virginia Tech shootings, lead worship twice at Emmanuel Christian Fellowship in York, PA, took on three new students, did four scrapbook pages, made another trip to Ohio (this time just me :-) for a Women of Faith conference and to see family and friends, met some great new friends, got the boys' 3rd quarter report cards and celebrated my husband's 38th birthday (he's old! hee hee).

No excuse not to blog, mind you, but busy all the same.

So I've got pictures and stories to share, but not tonight. I will leave you with a thought, though (and will get back to my Happiness is... Fridays tomorrow).

I flew out of BWI airport a week ago today. It was an overcast day. The half-filled plane took off in a fairly smooth manner and I began to settle into my window seat and enjoy the flight. I was tired, having gotten only about four and a half hours of sleep the night before in my preparation for leaving my boys for four days.

I must tell you that I'm the type of person whose mood is affected by the weather. On sunny days, I tend to be more productive and just in a beter mood overall. When it is rainy or overcast, I would be better off just going back to bed!

It wasn't raining, but the sky was gray. As the plane rose higher, I watched the houses, roads and cars get smaller. Soon, we were in the middle of a cloud, surrounded by it's white/gray fuzz. I got bored and considered closing my eyes and trying to get some sleep (not that I ever sleep well in airplanes).

Then, all of the sudden, it was sunny. As much as I hate to admit my stupidity, my first thought was, "I thought today was supposed to be overcast," but then I realized the sun was shining because we were over the clouds now. The day, or every day for that matter, was already sunny -- just covered by clouds.

My thought quickly turned to my life and some things I've walked through in the past few years. On my "cloudiest" days -- layers of grieving for my son, staying silent when lies were being told about me and my husband, even the intense pain of a kidney stone -- the sun was always shining. It just didn't feel sunny.

The thought literally brought tears to my eyes. I was brought to a realization that God is always there. I know that sounds really simple, but I think I forget that sometimes. It's so easy to focus on the fact that the sun isn't shining and forget that God is just on the other side of the clouds.

I hope you wake up and see the sun tomorrow -- whether it's behind the clouds or not!

(and thanks for sticking in there during my absence!)

Happiness is...

...scrapbooking with my friend, Lynn, while listening to '80s music.

Life seriously does not get much better.

Sunrise and other things

Every morning, our son, Joshua, has to get up at 6:30am for school.

Yuck.

I know a lot of people all over the world get up a heck of a lot earlier but that is not my preference. I am NOT a morning person, nor have I ever been, nor will I probably ever be. Fortunately, I married a compassionate man who I willing to share the parental load. We take turns getting up with the boy while the other gets an extra hour or so of sleep.

The couch in the front room has become the nesting place while we wait for Josh to get himself in gear. The coolest part is that God knew this set-up would be taking place and arranged for a beautiful view of the sunrise while we wait. How very sweet of him. Here are some shots of this morning's beauty:







Nothing terribly earth-shattering, but I enjoyed it.

So it's five days until Christmas. There's a lot going on for us, as I'm sure there is for you as well. This past Sunday was my students' recital. Out of the 16 students I teach, 13 of them were able to participate in the recital. Everyone did very well and the recital itself went off without any major hitches.


I've finally realized that recitals are not necessarily about performing your piece perfectly. It's more about gaining the experience of playing in front of others and showcasing the skills you've gained since the LAST recital. The highlight of the event for me was getting to sing a duet with one of my older students, Jennifer. She was with me until about two years ago and is back now, her voice more mature and beautiful then ever. We sang "Mary, Did You Know?" It was nice.

The first Friday of the month, we had the Loonies Pajama Cookie Bake at my friend, Lynn's, house; an event that we have decided to make an annual thing. We all taught together last year and build ourselves a reputation of being a little too silly at times and were told we were "looney". So we have taken on the identity proudly and, even though none of us work together anymore (though we all managed to end up at the same church), we try to have our gatherings as often as possible.

The whole cookie bake thing was Lynn's idea. We all brought the ingredients to make a favorite treat and we helped each other make them. True to my Ohio roots, I brought the makings for Buckeyes. Jess did black bottoms, which is a Maryland thing. Lynnie had made oatmeal cookies and Jen did sugar cookies. Everything was good and fun and I really thank God for such awesome friends.

That's about it for now, I guess. We are looking forward to a relatively quiet Christmas here at home. Mom, Dad and Jen are driving in on the 28th to celebrate not only Christmas, but Mom and Dad's 32nd wedding anniversary as well. After that, our nephew, David, who is in the military, will be here for a few days. We're hosting a New Year's Eve party this year, so if you're not doing anything already to ring in 2007, consider doing it with us and some of our friends.

In any event, I pray you are well, readers. Be at peace, stay safe, eat lots of cookies and enjoy God's blessings this season!