Real Simple pt. 2

If you haven't noticed yet I'm a pretty big fan of the magazine Real Simple.  Not only does it talk about EVERYTHING from recipes to fashion to organizing, but it provides wonderful things on their website to print out!  Such as this: the ultimate to do list.  I already have a copy in my planner.  I love organizing so anything that is cute and makes it easier for me is wonderful.

Also, I loved their "if you have five minutes . . ." article.  There are numerous times when I know I only have 5 minutes before I have to run out the door to do something, so I end up checking facebook one more time because I don't think that is enough time to accomplish anything.  What's ironic is that the tasks on their list are tasks I always say to myself "I really should do that" but feel like I never have enough time to do it.  The sense of accomplishment is far worth the 5 minutes well spent.

Here are my favorites:

1. Pitch 3 old items from the refrigerator
2. Untangle a necklace
3. Check your voicemail ( I am SO bad at not checking voicemails)
4. Move some random files on your computer desktop to correct folders
5. Test pens or makers and toss the dead ones
6. Pick up 5 things and put them where they belong
7. Clear off the top of the refrigerator
8. Remove gum wrappers, receipts, and ATM slips from your purse
9. Write a thank you note that you've been putting off
10. Throw out all expired coupons

I feel better already :)

Link updates!

These links below have been sparking my interest lately . . . .

This definitely made me think about how much I have been given.

I absolutely LOVED all of these ideas!!  Next year I really want to do the vase with the branches :)

The letters in that frame were adorable.  If we had more room in our small apt I would totally do something like that!

I really wish Daniel liked mushrooms.  These sound sooooo good.

This sermon got me thinking last week.

Happy Monday!!!  Christmas is almost here!

How cute is this?!

So I'll be the first to admit that I can be a pretty good Facebook stalker.  I guess my thinking is that if people make it public knowledge, then I don't feel so bad looking at it!

That being said, I found this video (don't worry- it's not completely random.  A friend of mine commented on it and it showed up in my newsfeed- so that's how I found it haha)  Anyway, I thought it was SUPER cute and it made me wish that we had a "videographer" (I don't know the official terminology!) at my wedding.  How fun would it be to look back at a video like this of your wedding day?  Pictures are great, but this is just so cute.  It makes me want to go hug Dan :)

Kitchen Table Counseling

I always get very drained from textbooks.  I truly believed in college that if I was reading about something (other than business) that I really enjoyed I would be able to stay more focused and not end up asleep after 3 pages.  But, now that I'm in seminary, I realized nothing has changed.  For some reason that academic writing that uses big words, long sentences, and philosophical ideas is VERY difficult for me to process. I wish that I could pick up any D.A. Carson book and plow through it like I did Bittersweet by Shauna Niequist but unfortunately I can't.  This was really difficult for me to swallow when I got to seminary.  I had lots of friends at Miami who were wonderful at debating Calvinism and Arminianism, and asked very deep questions about the existence of God, the problem of evil, and evolution, and I desperately wanted that.  It was more prideful than anything- not to know God deeper, but for people to view me as that smart-intellectual type.  Let's just say the Lord did a great work in my heart during my Apologetics class in the summer of '09 and I have come to realize that I was not created to be the next female Alvin Plantinga.  I've realized that I'm not as academic/ insightful as I desperately wanted to be, but that I'm gifted in other areas. 

Anyway, this is leading to my discussion of the recent book that I finished, Kitchen Table Counseling.  I have to admit, most of my counseling books aren't super philosophical, but they're still academic textbooks.  What I love about this book is that it is practical, useful, and tells lots of stories about Muriel and Shelly's experiences meeting with women going through various things in their life.  They break down what it looks like to counsel women, even if you're not a counselor.  We are going to have friends that approach us everyday needing guidance and I want to be prepared to give them Biblical, truth filled advice, which I know is life changing.  The authors give useful advice for how to talk with women going through depression, grief, thoughts of divorce, singleness, and worth.  It's neat how God places books in your life at the right time- my brother, Jon, bought me this book in college and I never picked it up until a couple weeks ago, but it was something I really needed right now in my life.  I have a pretty big book list for Christmas (even though I know I won't get all of them) but Christmas break is when we do a lot of traveling and I have plenty of time to catch up on reading books that I really want to read even though I can't during classes.  I'll keep you updated about the next one :)

Christmas is in the air

This weekend it really started to "feel" like Christmas for me.  Not only does being home in Hudson remind me of Christmas (because that is where we spend every Christmas), but I started thinking on our long drive home today what really makes it feel like Christmas for me.  Why was it that a week ago when I put up our small tree in our apartment that it still didn't feel like Christmas for me?  I think it's so interesting that everyone has different things that remind them of Christmas.  Like the red Starbucks Christmas cup or their N'Sync Christmas CD (both favorites of mine :).  I always enjoy discovering what makes it feel like Christmas for other people.  Here are mine:

1. Snow.  To be exact- Lake Erie lake effect snow.  As you can see from my pictures below my hometown got blasted this past week and they expect to get 16 to 20 inches more by Wednesday!  I always joke with Dan that there is no way people in Florida know what Christmas is really about because they don't get snow (for those of you who don't know Dan used to live in Florida lol)
2. Amy Grant & Michael Bolton.  It's not Christmas until I hear at least one song from their Christmas albums!
3. Peppermint Mocha's.  Dan loves these and I try to save my favorite minty beverages for this time of the year.  I feel it is totally worth it to splurge on these while Christmas shopping!
4. Hudson Community Chapel's Christmas concert.  I don't get to see it every year, but this past weekend we did and it brought back so many memories of past Christmas'.
5. And lastly, finals.  Yep, since I work at a college and still take classes, that tension and stress in the air leading up to the week of finals reminds me that Christmas is so close.  I think that's what makes finishing them so satisfying- I can focus 100% on Christmas festivities when I am finally DONE. Which, as of 8:09 tonight I am officially done.  Woo hoo!

Below are some pictures that remind me of Christmas!

My favorite soup!

I have always LOVED Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana soup, and this past Fall when we went to Pymatuning, Dan's cousin's wife, Elisha, brought some with her! I swear I get the best recipes from these family reunions (the other one being the Buffalo Dip!).  So I asked her for the recipe and made it, and absolutely love it- and Dan likes it, too!!  (But soup doesn't really fill him up- so it doesn't count for dinner lol)    If you're interested- here's the recipe!  I'm no chef by any means, so basically what I'm trying to say is it is pretty easy to make :)

Zuppa Toscana Soup

1 pkg of bulk sausage (I used hot and loved it, but the recipe calls for mild)
4 slices of bacon cut into pieces (I used "real" bacon bit pieces and that worked, too)
1 1/4 teaspoons of crushed red pepper
1 large onion
1 tablespoon of minced garlic

5 cans (13.75 oz) of chicken broth

6 potatoes, thinly sliced

1 cup of heavy cream

A bunch of Kale

1.  Cook the sausage, red pepper flakes, onion, garlic, and bacon until crumbly, browned and no longer pink.  Drain. (Be sure to use a bigger pot for this)
2.  Pour the chicken broth in the bacon/ sausage mixture and bring to a boil over high heat.  Add the potatoes, and boil until fork tender (about 20 min).  Reduce the heat to medium and stir in the cream and heat through.  Mix the Kale in before serving.

Yet another reality check

It shouldn't startle me when I come across a verse that meets me exactly where I am.  After all the Word is living and active, a double edged sword that pierces our soul and discerns the thoughts and intentions of our heart (Hebrews 4)- that in and of itself is something worth blogging about, but that's another day.  So remember a couple days ago when I said I was stressed about Christmas and even bitter that other people had their Christmas decorations up?  Well the Lord since then has been using His Word to convict me about my ranting and raving- getting so caught up in the non essentials of Christmas and making those a priority over Him.  I mean, even on our Christmas cards we put "our hope is that this Christmas would be about Him and not about the gifts, parties, and decorating!"

In my Tuesday Bible study we have come to Luke 10 with the famous Mary and Martha passage. It reads:

 ³⁸Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. ³⁹And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. ⁴⁰But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." ⁴¹But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.  Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her."

So when Dan had to get his tires fixed this weekend, I sat in the car and memorized this verse.  It's amazing how when you memorize something new things stand out:

• Martha was so distracted with serving that she missed an opportunity to spend time with Jesus.
• Martha had Jesus' character wrong- she went up to Him expecting Him to be upset that her sister wasn't helping her and expecting Him to tell Mary to help her.
• Martha was so caught up in her little world- she was alone and doing ALL the work.  Can't you just see Martha muttering under her breath how there was so much to do and Mary was just sitting doing nothing?  Maybe because I've been there that her attitude resonates so much with me....
• Mary chose to sit at Jesus' feet.
• Martha was anxious and troubled about many things- but one thing was necessary (Definition of necessary: absolutely essential).

I feel like the Christmas season is very similar to Jesus' visit to Mary and Martha.  There are a lot of things to do, yet Jesus is so close to us- everywhere we hear Christmas songs proclaiming His glory: "Be near me Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay close by me forever and love me I pray" "Come and behold Him," and so many more.  Jesus is right here and we have a choice- to busy ourselves and get distracted with the many things that come with this time of the year, or we can choose to do what is absolutely essential this Christmas: sitting at Jesus' feet and listening to Him.  Let's learn from Martha and Mary and make it a priority to choose the better portion.

Snow!

It's the first day of the season that it has really snowed in Chicago!  Remember a couple weeks ago we hit an awful snow storm in South Bend and I was disappointed because I was hoping that the first time I saw snow was when I woke up on a Saturday morning and downtown A Heights would be covered? Well, I got my wish today!

Dan and I went shopping yesterday and after watching this video I couldn't help but think how great it would have been to see this in person!

Top 10 moments of Thanksgiving Break!

1. Hitting NO traffic in Chicago!! We left around 8 on Tuesday and got in eaaarrrllly in the morning, but didn't hit any traffic on Sunday either! Woo hoo!
2. Staying up until 2 and 3 a.m. every night, and not having to wake up for anything
3. A new running route. It is amazing how a fresh running route, even in 30 degree weather makes running enjoyable!  (even if it is on streets I've ran on before!)
4. Getting to skype with Doug! Even though he couldn't be with us it was nice to "see" him!
5. Playing games with my family. You know you have a lot of free time when you bust out the board games. Love it.
6. Having time to finish my "Kitchen Table Counselors" book! I loved that I had plenty of time to read!
7. We got to see BOTH sides of the family in PA on Thanksgiving. It was wonderful :)
8. Playing Wii Dance! Definitely entertaining for those of us who are NOT natural dancers.
9. Getting to spend time with my old Youth Pastor Heidi and her husband, AND getting to see my old Bible Study leader Jenny! I was so encouraged by them!
10. Lastly, it was so great to spend time with my high school friends!  I miss them so much and forgot how hard they make me laugh lol

Here are some pics from the week:




Me and Gram!

 

My mom and dad





Jon and Jay

  

Dan playing Wii dance!

 

More Wii dance

  

My cousin Becky and mom rockin in out lol

 

Crazy pic!

  

Cousins



Celebrating Lucine's birthday!




Thankful

So I feel utterly behind the bandwagon in everything holiday related this year.  Not only is this typical Thanksgiving blog post about Thankfulness late, but instead of being excited as I looked at everyone else's apartment (because you can literally see into almost 25 apartments from our balcony) and seeing Christmas trees and lights up, I felt stressed.  Stressed to get our tree out of our storage in the basement, stressed about money and buying all our Christmas gifts, stressed about sending out Christmas cards, and stressed about all the things that needed to get done when you're gone for 5 days!  Isn't it odd how a couple days before Thanksgiving Christmas seems so far away, and then all of the sudden, BAM Thanksgiving comes and you feel like everyone is counting down the days?  Maybe its the commercials and concerts on t.v., or the decorations and cold weather, but my stress level increased just a little when we got home on Sunday.

Nonetheless, this year the Lord is definitely doing a work in my heart on being content, and I think a large part of contentedness is thankfulness.  I found this great quote by Melody Beattie (we're related lol) on this blog here:

How much do we measure gratitude by what others have and not by what we have?  I think that facebook has unlocked a whole new world of ungratefulness- at least for me.  In a given day, my thoughts go from "Wow their first home is huge- I don't know if we will ever own a home that nice" to "I wish we spent more money on engagement pictures, their pictures are SO great."  I know- aren't those SUCH superficial thoughts?  Well, those exact thoughts have crossed my mind on more than one occasion.  It seems pathetic when I write them down and confess them, but in the moment, I believe with all my heart that having that house or nice engagement pictures will make my life so much more complete than it is right now.  In this quote Melody hits it right on the nail when she says "gratefulness turns what we have into enough, and more ...  it brings peace for today..." 

 Paul advises Timothy that: ^"Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, ⁷for  we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world." 1 Timothy 6:6-7

What if we viewed ourselves for how we really are: sinners deserving of nothing but hell.  How is that for a reality check?  We deserve nothing and don't even have the ability to do good outside of Christ.  But, God in His perfect love gives us all that we need: Christ.  Does he bless us with more sometimes?  Yes, but do we need those "extra blessings" to be content?  No.  I can't imagine the sadness it brings God when His children get more excited for His gifts and forget about Him. Our contentment and gratitude comes from the fact that we have a Savior who gives us eternal life and purpose in this life.  When I leave this world I won't be taking my house or engagement pictures.  Those things won't bring contentment then and they won't bring contentment now.   All that matters is Him.  How I pray I can believe that everyday and be thankful for what I do have without getting caught up in wanting things that don't satisfy anyway.

Worth checking out

I know on my last blog post I said Happy Thanksgiving, but I read a couple things early this morning that I want to share with you :)

First, check out this song.  As always - K Love is starting to over play it so jump on the band wagon lol

I read this great post about personal holiness this morning.  This past Sunday morning at 7a.m. Dan and I went to pray over the prayer requests at our church, and can I tell you how many people are just plain hurting?  Husbands have left wives, diseases are winning the battle, kids are making poor decisions, but mostly everyone wants a renewed heart for the Lord- to know Him deeper and come to a point where they desire nothing but Him.  This world is plagued with temptations that continually draw us to search for our purpose in things other than the Lord- Who ultimately is the only One who will satisfy our deepest desire.  We know it- yet we continue to run in the complete opposite direction.  I hope this encourages you a little today :)

On a complete opposite note, how cute is this party?

In light of the holidays coming up, I watched The Holiday this weekend while writing our return address on our Christmas Cards.  I remembered back in the day when I used to just wish that my Christmas would turn out exactly like that- ending up with the perfect guy, the perfect outfit, and perfectly happy.  Lina gives us a much more realistic picture of the holidays in her blog post.

Lastly, speaking of the holidays, I just can't get over this really great hairstyle.  Maybe it's the beautiful red hair, but it is just really classy :)

Happy Tuesday!

Office Space

When I changed positions to the Coordinator of Events and Guest Services at Trinity, I had to move out of my office because we hired Jordan, a new admissions counselor, in my place!  We have a large room in the back of the admissions department, so we set up my desk in the corner of that room.  Well, just this past week we sectioned off part of that room to be my own office, and they literally moved a door, tore down part of a wall, created two new walls, and painted my own office all in less than a week! It all happened so fast that it was hard for me to come to the reality that I would have my own office! I wish I took pictures before they put the dry wall in because before this experience I never knew how to build a wall.  Now I do! Not saying I could do it myself, but I get the gist of it :)  Here are some before and after pictures:




This is my office before in the corner of our "back room"

 


I can't really complain about my view, though!

 



The moving begins! Here is where my desk used to be!

 


This is the outside of my new office! You can see it's still under construction

 


This is the inside of my new office!

 



It's done!! 

 


Where I will spend a lot of my time

 



The view from my desk

 




I feel so blessed by my job:)

Have a great Thanksgiving!!

Our Saturday

Random Thoughts of the Day

So I really love my co workers.  We have a ton of fun and I honestly couldn't imagine a better job or group of people to work with.  I will be very sad if/ when I get another job!  We take great trips together, always have each other's back, and we are constantly sending out emails that just crack me up.  Which leads me to today's blog post.  Ashley sent this around last week and there were a lot more random thoughts on there, but I consolidated to the ones I could relate to/ thought were the funniest.  Enjoy :)  Oh, and here's some pictures of my wonderful office mates :)

1. There is a great need for sarcasm font.

2. I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

3. How the heck are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

4. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

5. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

8. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent someone from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

9.  While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

10. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

12. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'

15. While watching the Olympics, I find myself cheering equally for China and USA. No, I am not of Chinese descent, but I am fairly certain that when Chinese athletes don't win, they are executed.

16. Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...

17. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

18. I wonder if cops ever get annoyed at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit?

Happy Thursday!

Murder Mystery!

So recently we have been invited to TWO murder mystery parties!  For those of you who have never been to one, what happens is everyone is assigned a character and they come to the party dressed up and acting as this person.  Each one is different- sometimes the murder is planned, other times it isn't.  Either way, it's always fun getting dressed up and watching people who are really good at acting (not myself) really get into their character! I forgot my camera to the other one :(  But my co worker put it on and it was set during the flapper era.  This recent one was about a bunch of people coming together for a costume party!  (hence the toga / crazy outfits lol)  Dan unfortunately was the guy that everyone hated (there seems to be a theme with his characters here . . . lol) but he definitely played the part well- being obnoxious and making fun of everyone!  In the end, Tony was the killer with the bread knife haha.  It was fun to get together and do something different than our usual hang out- and when there's Becca's guacamole there, I'm always happy :)  Here are some pictures from the night:

  

haha Mindy was not happy at Dan!

Loved Mindy's hair!

Dan was great at pretending to be "dead" lol

Group shot!

Good night :)

Then, on Sunday night Dan took me out for my B day :) Since we go out with our friends so much, it has been a while since Dan and I spent a night out at a nice restaurant together! It was tough deciding on where to go because there are SO many great restaurants around the area, but in the end I went with the Cheesecake Factory because of their Chipotle pasta.  It was definitely a great ending to our Sunday filled with reading and homework!!

Pymatuning 2010

So every year Dan's extended family gets together and we go to Pymatuning- a camp ground right on the border of Ohio and Pennsylvania.  It's definitely a drive for us- and I ALWAYS have an event that Friday so I can't take off work or leave early, so it's quite the adventure driving 8 hours into the late hours of the night.  Thankfully, Dan drove the first 3 hours getting us out of the state of Illinois.  Chicago rush hour traffic on a Friday afternoon is awful.  Just awful.  Then, I took over the wheel in South Bend, Indiana.  I should have taken the fact that there was a salt truck on the side of the road a few miles back as a warning, but I just brushed it off because it is the first week of November.  Snow?  Please.  By the time we had stopped at the next rest stop to get dinner, we were in a full out blizzard.  Huge snow flakes.  Icy, slippery conditions on the road.  25 miles per hour. New car that I'd never driven in the snow = not fun drive.  I probably only drove in it about 30 minutes and then it died down and thankfully in Ohio there was no snow, but it felt like FOREVER.  The sad thing about this was that I was actually looking forward to the first snow of the year!  Mainly because I thought it would consist of me waking up on a Saturday morning and peering out our apt window and joyfully watching the snow flakes softly falling to the ground.  God likes to make me laugh lol

Overall though, once we made it to Pymatuning around 2 a.m. we got some rest and had a good time hanging out with the family :)  Dan's cousin Bill, has two adorable kids that we always love seeing (Sara and Michael), and it was good to catch up with everyone else!  They are all SO fun to be around- there is seriously NEVER a dull moment during Pymatuning- even though we just sit around eating, watching football, and hanging out around the fire!  And, it is basically a tradition to take a walk to the lake, and this year Jeff decided to scare everyone by bringing out his creepy homeless mask.  He actually did a great job of wandering off into the woods and breaking a bottle to get everyone jumpy- and it worked.  Everyone started RUNNING full speed back to the cabins.  Not what he expected, but he had a good time running to catch everyone.  Always good times :)  Sad that Pymatuning 2010 is over, but already looking forward to next year!

Jeff in his creepy mask!!

The Cinadr family :)  So sad that Dan's dad couldn't make it!

First time seeing Sara.  Beth and I were all over that.  She's super cute :)

Pretty woods!

They surprised me and celebrated my B day!  So sweet!

Michael LOVED those cupcakes!

Real Simple

For a while now I have had this "editor's note" from Real Simple ripped out and stuck in my pink organizer and have been really wanting to share it with you!  I rarely read the editor's notes in any magazine, but for some reason the word "to do list" caught my eye in this past November's issue.  The editor, Kristin, discusses how around the holidays our to-do list gets bigger and bigger and we find ourselves creating more and more lists because it keeps us organized and makes us feel in control, which isn't at all what life is all about, but it can feel like it holds much greater meaning this time of year!

She makes the recommendation of adding to our to do list something to help someone rather than something we do (buy this, clean that)- yet while she says to do it so someone will thank you, I couldn't help but think how God in His Word has set a much bigger standard- to do something for others without expecting a "thank you," and He calls us to do it not just around the holidays but every day. This may seem difficult, but it shouldn't be, because He has given me SO much already- unconditional love, grace, eternal salvation, acceptance no matter what, a relationship with Him, and so much more. 

If you've read any part of this blog before you would know that I am a list person.  I love to be organized because then I feel like my life is in control (pretty superficial right?).  Needless to say, I have embraced the fact that the Lord has given me this strength for a reason and He can use it to bring Him glory.  At work we just went over our Strengths Finder again and in my top 5 is Discipline which means I like to make lists, keep things organized, and I have a particular way of doing things.  While I know people can take this to the extreme- I try not to because very easily my life can be about lists.  But, what the Lord has shown me is that I can still make lists and organize my life but I need to make sure I remember that my Master is not my list, it's God.  I have a tendency to get so caught up in my list that I don't leave time for God to move unexpectedly in my life and perhaps even add something to my list that wasn't originally there (gasp!).

So, my prayer for myself (and you too if you can relate :)  is that my lists this holiday wouldn't be all about myself and what I need to get done, but filled with things I can do for other people and ways I can serve and glorify God.

Have a great Friday!!

Halloween and other adventures

So the busy season kicks into full gear!  Dan and I find ourselves amidst traveling, birthdays, midterms, working late, and prepping for Christmas.  It's all fun and thankfully hasn't gotten to the point of "overwhelming" yet which I am very thankful for because it allows us to actually enjoy the busyness!

For Halloween, we weren't invited to any cool parties, and since we live in an apartment building we don't get any trick or treaters, so we walk around downtown Arlington Heights where the stores pass out candy to kids.  Seriously, this is the one day I find myself really wanting a baby because I really want to dress them up in a cute little pumpkin outfit lol  Here are some pictures of downtown Arlington Heights and some kids- and yes I did take pictures of other people's children.

Our friend Brian works in downtown A heights so we tapped on the window :)

I made Dan pose with this guy

Best costume award goes to this kid dressed as the guy from "Up"

Cutest costume goes to this little tiger- he was adorable

So on November 7th Doug and I turned 25!  Birthdays are fun for me because it reminds me that I'm a twin - it doesn't mean I forget about him (Don't worry Doug :) )  But, because my other brother is so close in age to us I don't really think of myself as a twin- even though I think about Doug often :)  It's always fun when we're all three the same age, and while I know it made our younger years stressful for my mom, I really enjoyed having siblings so close in age.  I got to see my brothers walking through the hallways in high school, be on the track team with them and cheer them on, and just do life together.  While I don't think I would ever want kids those close together, I'm thankful that it turned out that way with us :)  Oh, and my grandpa shares the same birthday with us as well!  So Happy Birthday to Pap, too!

Also, our friends celebrated my birthday by making/ buying me my favorite foods!  It was so sweet of them :)  We almost watched Man on Fire (one of my favorites for those of you that don't know!) but I decided to spare them the 2 hours with Denzel since most of them had seen the movie lol  Here are some pictures from the night!!

mmmm Guacamole (left the dusk mode on when I took this picture.. that's why it's yellow!)

BWW!

mmm Candy Apple from Marianos

Amazing ice cream dessert Rachael made!