Promotion Day, Polka Dots & Po'Boys

Once again, my weekend did not disappoint. I wish I could have more of them actually! But then again, who wouldn't wish for more weekends and fun time with family, friends and loved ones??

The weekend started off with our 1 year anniversary date on Friday night! We tried out a new restaurant, and it was incredible. (This is 1 of 6 new restaurants for my 25 Before 25 list!) We went to 101 Restaurant, and were quite impressed by this place. We had heard mixed reviews about it before-hand, but we left there with only good things to say about it, and would like to visit again in the future. 

We had heard the portions sizes were teeny, so we got lettuce wraps as an appetizer. They weren't the best I've ever had (um, hello P.F. Chang's), but they were decent enough. For our main meals, I had Lemon-Basil chicken and it was soooo delicious, and so much food - two whole chicken breasts in fact! (I took one home in a box because I was way too full.) Jeff got Salmon Florentine, and it was also so yummy, and such a huge portion. So whoever told us the portions were small was way wrong. They were huge! 

It's definitely a fancy place, so we'll have to wait to go again until another special occasion, but it was so nice to splurge a bit for our anniversary date night! :) 

Oh, and look at how cute he decorated the front of my card! He's the sweetest :)

Saturday I went to lunch with my good friend Callie (who is also one of Meg's bridesmaids), before we went bridesmaid dress shopping for Meg's wedding. Such a fun time, and shopping was actually fun too. Then I hung out with my parents at home, had nap time before going to church for another great night at our Awaken service. After the service, my friend Sara invited our little group over to her house for dessert and movie night. There were lots of baked yummies, and I brought some ice cream, and we watched "The Game." And whoa man was that a crazy movie. There were so many twists and turns and unexpected events in that movie, and overall I think I liked it. It's a bit confusing, and definitely a thriller, but it's most certainly entertaining! Check it out if you're into psychological thriller kind of stuff.

Sunday morning was promotion Sunday for all the children and youth, and it was so much fun! We had a big breakfast buffet for all the youth, which was delicious, and all the youth just spent time together as one big group. We had our Senior students go down to pick up the rising 6th graders and we all cheered for them as they entered the youth hallway/3rd floor. Then we had some food and fellowship, followed by a quick game and a challenge from Chad, our interim student pastor.

Such a blessing to have so many youth for promotion Sunday!!

Sunday after church, our Sunday School class all went out to lunch together, and lots of laughs and good times. Then Jeff and I went to the cheap theater to see The Hunger Games again once more on the big screen. It was still incredible, and I was still so emotional watching parts like the reaping and parts of the actual games. Can't wait for the others to come out in theaters as well!! Then we went to the mall together and walked around for a couple of hours and did some "window shopping," because even though I tried on a couple of shirts and dresses, I didn't end up buying anything. But check out how cute this polka dot dress was at Macy's. Too bad it was still $80 on sale! I am not that rich... so unfortunately I didn't get to bring it home :(

Then we had dinner at one of our favorite places, Po'Boys Creole Cafe, and had some pretty yummy Buffalo Blues Burgers. It was really good, however we both decided buffalo and blue cheese sandwiches were better with chicken rather than beef, so next time I'll stick with my usual and order a delicious Buffalo Chicken Po'Boy. Because that baby is sooo good.

Then finally we went back to his house to both show each other some random stuff around the interwebs, and watch Men In Black 2. With the completion of this movie, we've now completed the trilogy, just a little out of order since we watched 1 & 2 after seeing 3 in the cheap theater just a few weeks ago. But they're still good movies, and I actually enjoyed all three of them much more than I had anticipated I would.

Now I'm back to work and a week filled with both fun and not-so-fun things to look forward to. But one good thing for today is the finalization of Rock the Universe plans, which happens in less than just three short weeks! Yay! It's always sooo much fun, no matter how exhausting. I can't wait!

I hope everyone else had good weekends too, and your Monday isn't too horrible! :)

Much love to all.

Paired Together

I have now *officially* been dating my wonderful boyfriend for a full year now. We became real "boyfriend/girlfriend" on August 10, 2011, and it's been a great year since then. Last Friday, we "celebrated" our first year anniversary of dating. Well, we didn't really get to celebrate because I was out of town and the boys were still here with him, so we just exchanged sweet, mushy texts all day, with the anticipation of getting to celebrate our anniversary later. So tonight we will be going out (a mere week late) for a little celebration of our one year anniversary. And in honor of this milestone, I thought I would share a little bit of our story.

When we first started dating, we got asked ALL THE TIME how we met. And at first, I was always a little weirded out telling people, and tried to avoid it when possible. Because guess what?! We met through an online dating website. It's not like we kept it a secret or anything. But when people asked, we would kind of smile shyly, and giggle a little when we responded. But now it seems totally normal for me, and for us...

In May 2011, I got a severe case of strep throat. I was out for a full week and a half, so I had some time on my hands. Tuesday of that week, (at the prodding of some others and the recent success of a friend), I decided to create profile for a dating site. A short four days later, I woke up Saturday morning to a cute message from "Timbuckto." He seemed genuinely interested in me and learning more about me. Plus, he had a pretty cute profile picture. :) Over the next week or so, we exchanged a lot of online messages and emails back and forth, and I was always so excited to get each new message.

And then he gave me his number, so I nervously  texted him. It was late, but he was surprisingly still awake, and we exchanged a few short, but sweet texts. Then we texted all day, every day for a few days before we finally had our first phone call. It was while I was at work (I had an issue with my laptop, and he does IT), so it was brief. But I knew already I liked him a lot and was so nervous and giggly at the first sound of his voice.

A couple of days later we happened to both be at the movie theater. My movie was ending about five minutes before his was starting, but we met really quickly for the first time in real life. I didn't know how to actually greet him, so I was surprised and relieved when he went in for a hug. I won't lie, It was an awkward first meeting, but looking back, it was also good. It took away the pressure of a our first meeting being for a "real date," and it relaxed me for our next meeting. That night after his movie got out, we had our first real phone call, and we talked for over three hours!

We continued like this for five long days over Memorial Day Weekend. Then we finally had our first lunch date only three weeks after I first signed up for the site. We went to Zaxby's together in the middle of our work day. Romantic right? Actually I was totally fine with it, because again, it took away the pressure of having such a serious first date. It was casual and felt normal, and we had a good time together. It was so easy to have a conversation with this cute, freckly man. We had three lunch dates that week! (Jeff would later tell me that he planned these casual meetings on purpose so as to ease the tension and stress. So thoughtful.) Then that next weekend I left for a week for family vacation. And that's when I realized how much I really liked him. I mean, I was seriously missing this man who I'd just barely known. I was thinking about him constantly and was excited to get to see him again after only a few days.

Throughout June and July of last summer, dating him was so fun and so easy. We did fun things like beach trips, and movie date nights, and game nights with friends. But we did the most simple things together as well, and I think that's what bonded us. (Much later on I found out that he was taking me on "simple" dates to places like book stores and Target, in order to see that we could just "live life" together. He said anyone can fall in love with the fancy dates and the excitement of a new relationship - but we fell in love in the most simple ways of just living life together.) One day, I was also able to meet his adorable little twin boys, and I instantly loved them as well.

Then one August day, I went up to his office to meet him for lunch, and he took me around his floor to meet friends and co-workers. He casually introduced me (like 3 separate times!!) as his "girlfriend," and I silently freaked out with excitement each time. We hadn't officially decided upon the titles yet, and so I was surprised and excited when it just happened so naturally. Again, our relationship was simple and easy, and becoming "official BF/GF" was done the same way.

This past year has been so amazing, and of course I could write sooo much more about everything, but I guess I'll save that for another post, for another time, because this one is already way too long, (just like I anticipated it would be though).

I'll end with this now though... I love this man with all my heart, and I am so so very thankful that God has paired us together. I really do think that God must have obviously had his hand in this, for a random online dating site to have paired us together so well. It wasn't the dating site that did that, it was most definitely our amazing God. And I'm so glad it worked out so dang well!

To Jeffrey - I love you so very much Baby! Thank you for this year and everything we have done and experienced and been through together. You are an amazing man, and I'm so glad you're in my life now! Looking forward to our date night tonight! I love you, my Cupcake :)

P.S. - I tried to edit and cut this down a little bit, and I was mildly successful. But I still ended up with a very long post. Oh well. I'm a writer and a communicator, what can I say?!

Praying This Daily

This is just  preview of what's still to come from my Global Leadership Summit conference post, but I wanted to share this one quick thing...

At the very end of the conference, all 160,000 participants around the globe signed cards as a commitment to pray a prayer daily, for the next 30 days. What an amazing thing that so many people, all over the world, are all praying the exact same thing every day?! It's really hard to imagine actually.

Here's the deal: The Pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, up in Chicago, believes very strongly that,

"The local church is the hope of the world."

That's an incredibly bold statement, but I believe he's so very right. If local churches aren't the ones showing Jesus to the rest of this world, then who is going to do it? It's our job. Our mission. Our purpose in order to show the glory of God to a world that desperately needs him. 

We're all praying this every morning through September 10. But I'm pretty sure we'll continue to let this prayer guide our daily lives even after that. Here's the prayer, feel free to pray this with us as well.

"God, this is a new day. I freshly commit myself to the role you have invited me to play, as you are building your church in this world. I am awestruck again today that you include me in this grand life-giving, world-transforming endeavor. So today I joyfully offer you:

My Love, My Heart, My Talents, My Energy

My Creativity, My Faithfulness, My Resources

and My Gratitude

I commit all of myself to the role you have assigned me in the building of your church so that it may thrive in this world. And I will "bring it" today. I will bring my best. You deserve it. You church deserves it. It is the Hope of the World."

It's a big commitment, but it's one that is definitely worthy of our time and devotion. Think about it. Think about making this prayer part of your daily routine for 30 days, and see how your attitude and ideas change. Pray this daily prayer with us.

 The local church is the Hope of the World.

Pizzazz'd My Pledge

I finally got my little list of 25 Before 25 lookin' all cute and pretty, and it's on display in my bathroom! It was a very simple project too. One "professional" photo mat, an 11x14 piece of poster board for some stability, my list, and a pretty piece of scrapbook paper. I knew I was going to put it in my bathroom, so I chose colors that would match/compliment that color scheme. I cut the scrapbook paper to fit inside the frame, and used the extra strip for some extra pizzazz! I love it. Simple, cute, effective. And it will be a lovely little reminder to actually be working towards accomplishing all these goals in the next 5 1/2 months! So check it out....

So that's that. Super simple, but super cute. Or at least I think so. I'm still so very excited about this list of stuff. I'm thinking about  how to accomplish things, and the time frame in which to do so. It's coming along so far so good, and I just can't wait until I actually get to physically cross one of the things off the list! 

Happy crafting, and happy Wednesday. Much love!

Pollo, Shrimp, Beef & Lobster

This past weekend, I went with my parents, aunt, uncle and cousin over to Jacksonville for a leadership conference, along with another man from our church as well. I will be sharing all about the conference later this week (it was amazing and it deserves some well-thought-through time and writing), but for now I just want to share all the crazy amounts of delicious food we consumed in the three days...

I ate soooo much during this trip, and didn't even regret one single calorie. I think it's because it felt a little bit like a vacation, and calories definitely don't count when you're on vacation. So, here are just the most yummiest things from our trip to Jacksonville.

Whenever we go on trips together as a family, we always make it a point to eat at places we don't have at home. Tallahassee has a decent amount of chain restaurants, and so we avoid those whenever possible while we're away. Even if we eat at a chain restaurant while out of town, we make sure it's one we don't have back at home.

Warning though, there are lots of delicious looking pictures below. Don't continue if you're a little hungry... :)

Pollo Tropical: This was my first time ever eating at Pollo Tropical, and I stinking loved it. So much so that I didn't even have time to take a picture of my actual food before I scarfed it all down. The only thing left was the empty plate and this paper cup refilled full of delicious mango tea.

Seven Bridges: great place, great food. Definitely try this one if you get a chance. Mama and I both ordered different things, then split them equally since we couldn't decide just one thing we wanted. So we shared Blue Crab Stuffed Chicken, and Mac-&-Chicken pasta. Both were amazing, but the crab stuffed chicken was definitely my favorite.

Tapestry Cafe: we went to this cute little cafe for breakfast Friday morning. It was only like half a mile from our hotel and very convenient. It's a little Euro-style cafe, owned by a very sweet little Greek lady. She makes all the coffee and food herself, and we all loved it. Everyone but me got breakfast sandwiches, but I got that amazing looking Belgian waffle, and added strawberries and chocolate on top, accompanied by a white chocolate mocha latte. Whoa, that baby was amazing and I ate every bite and drank every sip.

Cruisers Grill: So this can't actually be considered a new place, because I've eaten here manyyy times. BUT, we don't have one in Tallahassee, so it's still fair game while away from home. The one I'm most familiar with is in St. Augustine (where I went to college) on St. George Street. It's delicious and not expensive, and the food is always super fresh. They don't even have heat lamps, so everything is brought out when it's ordered and made. So good. And once again I was too busy stuffing my face to take any pictures of the actual food... oopsie.

Ragtime: This restaurant is kind of a "tradition" during this conference weekend, being that we've done it two years in a row now. Well, I wasn't there last year, but my family went. It's a really neat place on Atlantic Beach in Jax. Apparently it's a very popular place, because it was packed and the atmosphere was thriving. I enjoyed my meal, and the restaurant in general, and would definitely go back here again next year! I had shrimp & lobster tacos, with parmesean cheese grits. Holy crap those tacos were soooo good.

 

CamiCakes Cupcakes: The Friday we were there was my Aunt Suzanne's birthday, so we found this adorable little cupcake shop to treat everyone for her birthday. And we got lucky! They give you a free cupcake if you come in on your birthday! So yay for her! And my dad's was Sunday, so they were super nice and gave us his for free too, since we wouldn't be able to come in on Sunday since we were from out of town. Such good cupcakes, such very nice people.

One of those delish-looking raspberry ones was mine. Sooo good.

Mimi's Cafe: So I've actually been here before too, but only once, and not for breakfast, and  we don't have one at home - so again, it still counts. It's a little bit of a French restaurant, but not one of those fancy-schmancy kinds. It's a bit more low-key than that. I had the cinnamon brioche roll, and man that thing was full of carbs, and fully of yummyness. It tasted like a combination of soft cinnamon toast crunch cereal, and a pecan spin. Remember those things?! Yum.

 

Bono's BBQ: Saturday lunch time didn't come until around 2 pm, after that huge breakfast at Mimi's, but we still managed to squeeze in one more meal. I hardly ate any of my food here, but what I did have was yummy. I mainly only ate the po'boy bbq sandwich (because I was still too full for the beans and corn), but I enjoyed it and would eat it again for sure.

And then on our way home, we just had some "snacks" instead of eating a real meal. Megan and I both got a soft pretzel from Auntie Anne's from the Avenues Mall before leaving Jacksonville, and I smothered that baby with a couple packets of mustard. Pretzels are one of my favorite snacks, and big ole soft pretzels are just as delicious in my book. Also, we stopped in Live Oak on the way home, and I tried Krystal burgers again for the second time in my life, and I actually liked it this time around! I didn't like it the first time for whatever reason, but I guess my taste buds changed, because I ate two on the way home, and actually wished I had one more!

So there's all our crazy amounts of foods and yummies that we ate over the last weekend. Whoa, that's a lot. And that's actually not even all, because I tried a bite of at least a couple other people's meals every time. So I sampled just as many meals as I ate. But every single bite of it was so tasty and delicious, and we had a good time together around the table.

Happy eating and much love!