And I will call them, "Cantaloupes."

1. MY ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Pepper Ford
2. MY GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Vanilla Snickerdoodle. Haha. That's real gangsta.
3. MY “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) K-Tus
4. MY DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Red Kitten.
5. MY SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Megan Edmonds
6. MY STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Tus-Ke
7. MY SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) The Kelly Green Double Tall Nonfat Extra Hot Almond Latte.
8. MY NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) William Philip...s
9. MY WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Lee Field
10. MY TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) How about my third grade teacher instead: Powell Poughkeepsie. That's more fun to say.
11. MY SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) Autumn Tiger Lily
12. MY CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) APPLE PANTY. APPLE PANTY!
13. MY HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) California Breakfast Croissant Dogwood Tree. Or as the natives called me, "Runs fast and laughs at her own jokes."
14. MY ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour") The Sleeping Heavy Rain Tour

And thus, the sad end of this beautiful survey. Or, the beautiful end of this sad survey. Tomato Tomato.

Our Good Friend

Trader Joe, that is. He moved to town and opened his store TODAY! The store was PACKED full of people... so was the parking lot. We parked in "Deals Only" across the street and j-walked. Anyway, I used my gift card from Deena, and only used HALF of it! So excited to go again... and again...

Aaron "smiling." He was supposed to be back at work baking for Saturday. :) Good thing I made him go, or I would have been there for HOURS looking at EVERYTHING.

Yeah, really lame pictures. That's what you get for only being there 20 minutes. "How did you do it?" you ask. Well, I made Aaron stand in line once he had picked out his 3 Buck Chuck and kept shopping!

I treated myself to some Chocolatey Coated Chocolate Chip Dunkers (cookies). Couldn't help myself. Wonder why.

Nine to Five.

"I enjoy having breakfast in bed. I like waking up to the smell of bacon- sue me- and since I don’t have a butler, I have to do it myself. So most nights before I go to bed I will lay six strips of bacon out on my George Foreman Grill. Then I go to sleep. When I wake up, I plug in the grill. I go back to sleep again. Then I wake up to the smell of crackling bacon. It is delicious. It’s good for me. It’s the perfect way to start the day. Today I got up, I stepped onto the grill and it clamped down on my foot. That’s it. I don’t see what’s so hard to believe about that."

THE OFFICE PREMIERS TONIGHT!!!!

And visions of Kirkland Brand items danced in their heads.

I had to do the Costco trip for our coffeeshop yesterday. I ended up with a cart overflowing with Costco goodness, plus one priceless item as you'll see below (and Marla in the background):

Ian had fallen asleep in the car on the way to Bellingham, and when I got him out of the car, he put his head on my shoulder and continued to sleep! As we walked through Costco, all 25 pounds of Ian got heavier and heavier. I had barely made it to the down comforters and socks when I realized there was no way I was shopping like this. So Marla took off her jacket, and I laid Ian down in the cart. Kind of like a manger.

He BARELY fussed, then peacefully slept. All the way to the checkout line, where he immediately sat up, very confused.

To all of you who say I have a dream baby... yes. I agree with you.

Belief.

I'm a strong believer. And I don't just mean in God, and in salvation. I mean a believer in a lot of things.

I believe in people, and their ability to be good.
I believe in my own capability to always do the right thing, the best thing, the good thing.
I believe in my husband and how hard he works to support our family.
I believe my son will always walk with the Lord.
I believe ice cream is by far the best dessert EVER.
I believe people are honest with me, unless I find out otherwise.
I believe I'll be famous for something someday.

I guess I believe that whatever bad happens, there is good to counteract it.

Eternal Perspective.

26 years really isn't long if you think about eternity.

I picture a little rubber duckie on a football field (bear with me), who can only see the 5 yard line. Only the football field doesn't stop at 100 yards... its goes on forever.

Its really pretty humbling when you think about it, but we seem to make a big fuss over birthdays.

Still doesn't take away from the fact that I want to be spoiled today.

Blank.

You know, I have started writing then erased everything about 5 times. I think I've developed a little bit of a fear of being too transparent, especially on a blog where anyone and everyone can read my thoughts!

How do you do it? I love my family's and friend's posts, but I feel like if I have something to say, I should write it in my diary, and not online!

I was told once that I was very transparent, apparently as a compliment... but I can't help but revert back to my turtle shell. :)

A Cause and a Challenge

I found a short essay I wrote about a year ago, that I never actually shared with many people. Only a few. And it matters a lot to me. Well, here it is.

Excess

Poor people in Ethiopia, China, New York, and thousands of other cities and countries...
Homeless people across God's earth...
Orphans moving from family to family, shelter to shelter...
Single moms and dads struggling to raise enough money to feed their families...

Almost a year ago, we downsized from a 1200 square foot home to an 800 square foot apartment. We had a garage sale in hopes of getting rid of most of our excess, our possessions. That so-called downsizing still landed us with a home and possessions still bigger than any house in any third world country.

My husband Aaron's family had 23 people over for Thanksgiving, and my family had 17 at theirs. Most people there over-indulged in food that could have gone to someone who needed it. Every year, someone makes a comment about how stuffed they are, and how much weight they'll probably gain. All due to our inability to control our hedonistic appetite. All this, while some child lays on the floor or ground, ribs and pelvis protruding through his delicate skin. The child aches, wondering when his next meal will come.

Is it worth changing a holiday, a tradition people have practiced for hundreds of years? We indulge in turkey and gravy on Thanksgiving because we want our children to experience the love of our famlies and be thankful for how blessed we are. We shower everyone with gifts on Christmas, apparently because of the way God gave us an Eternal Gift.

"Excess" is the word I struggled over. Do we need to eat so much on holidays? Do we need so many possessions, so many gifts? Or can we teach each other and teach our families that life can have more meaning?

... the goal of this life is not excess! Holidays, as wonderful as they are, don't need to be exessive. Yes... celebrate! Enjoy the holidays, decorate, sing, and love your family. We are called to do that, to celebrate! But remember that so many people in the world don't get the same privilege you do. Do something about it!

I guess I signed up for a little transparency when I started my blog. This is a part of my core. I just need to figure out how, in my life and my situation, I can carry out this challenge.

Blending in.

Strength

So, for a while, my personal theme has been "God is My Strength." Its true. I think of the weak person I am (aside from when I'm knocking players over on the soccer field), and thank God every day that I was walking with Him through middle school and high school, and through my relationship with Aaron, through my pregnancy with Ian... there are so many potential battles in life that, whatever the outcome, its so much easier to deal with and see the bigger picture when you are solid in your personal faith in Christ.

What isn't strong is my chocolate addicti....

Mmm.

College Graduate Illiteracy.

I'm waiting for myself to tell me what my first thought on my squeaky clean blog will be. I have basically had writer's block from the moment I graduated college, aside from a few cheesy songs and really random poems. Like this one:

The hallway filled this broken
teetering journey
some say he waited too long
for the banjo
but i know his moment
of porous melodies
would only last as long
as his belch.

I think I was writing about Aaron. I'm not really sure.

Sheep.

Following in the footsteps of so many friends who have caved in to blogging,
I have chosen to be one of the sheep.