Tomorrow is October...

Where in the world did September go? Tomorrow is the first of October, and before I know it, I'm going to be writing the blog that says "Merry Christmas."

With October comes lots of things! First, it's my absolute favorite month of the year. It's, for the most part always in the 50's and 60's and that puts a smile on my face. We have our fall banquet for the mission, which is a great time! There is apple cider, hay rides, bonfires. There is also Halloween, in which I am planning on spending with my cousin and her beautiful baby boy, I can't wait to see him dressed up. OH and of course, October is my birthday month...I'm celebrating my...27th birthday this year, and it is also my "golden" birthday, as my birthday is on the 27th.

Also with October it starts our holiday season officially, I really feel like we are in full swing after the banquet and we can take a breath about the middle of January.

I've been looking through lots of different magazines and cookbooks for some new ideas on food to make. I'm really in a cooking mood lately, and just love it! I wish that we had food network, although if we had that I would be in front of the t.v. with all of my spare time!

I'm very excited to be part of the Women's Ministries Board at church, and I feel that after the short time I have been on, that there are some good changes coming Women's Ministries way! :)

Tomorrow is a night out with the girls at the Rockford/Muskegon game (go big reds) and I am really looking forward to it! Tomorrow is also Friday and that makes me really happy!

Have a good friday everyone!

27

I'm turning 27 this year, on the 27th of October...It's my golden birthday! I never thought this day would come, it's not like I think I'm old.  Its just that when I was a little girl I was so jealous all of my friends that had 1-10 dates for their birthday were able to celebrate something special, and I couldn't wait for mine.  I always thought that is FOREVER away and it will take so long, I'm pretty sure I just said that a few months ago.  That's how fast time is blinking before my eyes.

So with that "27 by my 27th on my 27th" that's my goal! :) (and if I surpass I am A-OK with that!)

Some days

Some days, I take for granted my job.  I get up, I get ready, I work 8:30-4:30 (or around there, most days longer) and I just do the normal routine.  Today as I was opening mail, one of my daily tasks, something just hit me.  We have a program where I work that women (and men, at the men's building) go through to change their lives, find Jesus (if that haven't or go back to him) and it was one of those things that I just assumed worked.

One of the ladies was down in the front office today, said hello to me and asked me if I was looking forward to fall.  When I first met this lady she was out in far left field and I could hardly hold a conversation without her dazing off on me.  After she left the front office area, I realized that she had initiated a conversation and was engaging. I got chills inside thinking of the visible change I have seen in her.  That made me realize that I shouldn't take my job for granted and just go on with the day to day.  No, I don't make the most money, and I "donate" a lot of my time, but what I am doing is helping to run an organization that is changing lives.  This isn't just a job, it is a ministry. And that is enough for me today.  It was definitely food for the soul.

The next time that you are getting down about your job and everything that goes on.  Stop, look around and see whose life you might be impacting in some way.  When you realize that you are in fact impacting some one's life, your view will change.

I'm grateful for the job I have and what it is teaching me, especially in my walk with the Lord.

Me, Myself and I

I decided that since I missed my 530 am swim this morning ( and if I don't get to bed soon, I'm going to miss tomorrow's too!) that I would make up for it and walk around some of Lake Michigan tonight.  So I drove down to Beachwood Park and there is this path that goes through the woods that I always wondered where it lead to.  I put my Ipod in and away I went, it was so peaceful and calm, not many people on the trail.  Just me, my thoughts and God's beauty around me.  It was a perfect night for a walk, overcast so the sun wasn't beating down on you, and a nice breeze so you didn't come out look like you had sat in a sauna all day.  I was able to see a Momma doe and her two fawns while walking, and was just able to think and pray with God.  I need to take more alone time opportunities with him and talk with him.  He has helped me tremendously in my life and I need to cry out to him more.  Even when there isn't a gorgeous sunset to be had over Lake Michigan, I still find it beautiful.  It is beautiful in its own way, every day, no matter what the sky looks like.  I am so blessed to be able to drive 5 minutes to the lake and have a path where I can walk.  I'm very excited to swim tomorrow morning, and then go to the dr. and see what my results of my hard work have been! I'm sensing tomorrow is going to be a great day, and I'm hoping that I am not disappointed! :)

Typekit

All I want to do is put a cool font or "real" font as Typekit likes to label them.  Well, I can get them on there but it is the size of pepper and have to zoom in my page to like 200 percent, to get to be able to read it.  So I googled how to change the font size and followed the directions and nothing! :( Of course I am running into this problem, because I don't want to pay for any of this, but why do they offer fonts that when put on the website are so tiny?!  Help?! Anyone?! How can I get the font size bigger without zooming in on my screen or paying for the site?

Yum Yum

I absolutely love Sundays! They are my favorite day of the week. I get to see my church family, who I adore, and it's a relatively relaxed day. After church, lunch, and the Bridal Shower for Kate, I decided I was again going to do some baking/cooking! :) It's a passion of mine. Coincidentally, Jan gave me a recipe I had been waiting on for a while and was able to make "Taco Dip" tonight, and it was YUMMY! Then I went on to make "Crisscross Apple Crowns" for desert....They went from these unbaked goodies...
to....these delicious things! Don't worry they were just as yummy as they looked, only being they were a little tough, and will cook them for a few minutes less next time!

In other news, I LOVE my new shoes. I wore them all day and my feet did not swell hardly at all, and I was on my feet a lot of the day today! That makes me very happy, and hopeful that if I invest the proper money into shoes, that I won't be as miserable as before.

I know this makes me sound as if I sit around and watch TV all the time, but so not the case. I am just really excited for premiere week of all the TV Shows, I'm VERY excited for the Biggest Loser, Dancing with the Stars, COMMUNITY, The Office, and Amazing Race!! I'm also going to check Outsourced and see what that is about, last year I did that with Community and fell in love. There are other random shows that I might try and catch, but with the lack of DVR, I can only watch so many at a time! :)

I'm off to get some sleep before my 5:30 am swim! Then the work week begins. I'm going to try at least one new recipe this week, we will see there's always a possibility for more!

How was your Sunday?

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Rainy Saturday

Today was a rainy Saturday, but a good one.

All the men in the family have ventured to the Northern Country, so that left Mom, the dog and I at home.

So we started out at Sam's then to Drummonds to get some meet. Then we went on up to Kooistra's to pick apples...
Apple Picking is one of my favorite fall activities to do. It's just so much fun and trying to reach for the biggest, best apple at the top of the tree is the best. (Although my family tends to take advantage of me and my height for this!) Of course one of my favorite reasons for apple picking is, it doesn't take long to fill up the basket, unlike blueberries...:)

After the orchard we venture on to Fremont, where I was able to find, not 1 but 2 PAIRS of shoes! Finding shoes are soo hard and when I find them I get really excited and I LOVE both pairs that I got! :)

We finally made it home where mom put some chicken in the oven and I made yummy potato wedges, courtesy of Rachael Ray, three ingredients, potatoes, olive oil and grill seasoning! And they were made with homegrown michigan red potatoes (from grandpa's garden! :))

And I'm not a state fan, but that call at the end of the game was a great call! I know that East Lansing is going C-R-A-Z-Y right now!

Broccoli Pesto Pasta, not so perfecto...

Thursday night. I had nothing going on, I decided to try this recipe that I found in Good Housekeeping. It was for "Broccoli Pesto Pasta", when I read the recipe, it sounded great! I was really excited because I LOVE pesto and this was a healthier version. Well, the recipe called for Mint Leaves and this made me nervous from the get-go, but decided I would try it just as writted and see what I got. So I had my ingredients all lined up, Broccoli, Pasta, lemon, Mint Leaves, Olive Oil, Water, Parmesan Cheese, Salt and Pepper. I followed the recipe as directed and got this
Looks good, right? Well it didn't taste good at all!! The Mint was so overwhelming that, and the Broccoli was a weird texture (the mint and broccoli were mixed in a food processor) that I could hardly choke it down. My dad was brave and tried it, took the first bite and he said, "that's gross." My dog was the only one who ate, and that isn't saying much because this is the dog that eats raw onions, any vegetables and fruit.

So my attempt on this certain recipe failed. That's ok, I've got a lot more to try. And continue to look for good healthy recipes...I'm going to be a very frequent visitor to foodnetwork.com :)

Thursday night. I had nothing going on, I decided to try this recipe that I found in Good Housekeeping. It was for "Broccoli Pesto Pasta", when I read the recipe, it sounded great! I was really excited because I LOVE pesto and this was a healthier version. Well, the recipe called for Mint Leaves and this made me nervous from the get-go, but decided I would try it just as writted and see what I got. So I had my ingredients all lined up, Broccoli, Pasta, lemon, Mint Leaves, Olive Oil, Water, Parmesan Cheese, Salt and Pepper. I followed the recipe as directed and got this
Looks good, right? Well it didn't taste good at all!! The Mint was so overwhelming that, and the Broccoli was a weird texture (the mint and broccoli were mixed in a food processor) that I could hardly choke it down. My dad was brave and tried it, took the first bite and he said, "that's gross." My dog was the only one who ate, and that isn't saying much because this is the dog that eats raw onions, any vegetables and fruit.

So my attempt on this certain recipe failed. That's ok, I've got a lot more to try. And continue to look for good healthy recipes...I'm going to be a very frequent visitor to foodnetwork.com :)

Welcome

I'm just a girl, going through the daily motions! Mainly, I want a place to put my thoughts, dreams, creations, and anything else that comes to mind. I don't know how well this will be maintained, my hope is a daily glimpse in my life. I'll be sharing my recipes, coupon savings, "journals", things I'm learning, or possibly struggling with. Since I'm in Muskegon, I'm on a mission to try and explore this city to its best potential, there's alot here that I know I'm missing out on, because I take the straight and narrow and do what's comfortable and what I know!

So I hope that you enjoy reading my life as I go, feel free to comment, to ask questions, or to just enjoy what I'm writing. There will be grammatical errors, and there will be run on sentences, but you know what, it is what it is!