Weekend Update

Monday morning ... mmmmmm. Even with two cups of coffee, I'm having trouble getting started with this week. So in the meantime, would you like the Weekend Update? (If not, I'd suggest you stop reading. Now.)

Friday night I went to a Wii/Karaoke party. It seems that I have God-given gift for Wii baseball. And now my shoulders are all kinds of sore. Pathetic, huh? And did you know that people assume that if you supply the karaoke machine, that you'll also be the one leading the singing? Go figure.

On Saturday I had some friends over for breakfast and then went hiking with my new neighbor. Poor Havana has not had much time outdoors so she was bouncing off the walls. No, literally. She was running around so hard she kept running into walls. Anyway, we went to Red Rock Open Space. I've been wanting to go there for a long time. It was SWEET!!! Especially all the climbers ... apparently it's a very popular place for rock climbing. Unfortunately I left my camera in the trunk of my car so I have no pictures to show for it but I'll definitely be back. And soon. And I DO have a nice sunburn on my shoulders as as result.

So now I have sore, sunburned shoulders.

Yesterday my new roommate moved in. Well, she moved her stuff in. And by stuff, I mean STUFF. She had a lot! (Hey Julisa!) Good thing I have a huge basement. But it meant many trips down and up the stairs which means sore legs today.

So. Because I'm one big mass of sore muscles, I don't really feely bad that I ended the weekend sitting on the couch, crying over Extreme Home Makeover. That show seriously has me in tears every week.

What was your weekend like? Did you do something fun?

Two More Ways to Procrastinate

Happy Friday! We made it. In the words of the great poet, R. Kelly, it's the freakin' weekend and I'm about the have me some fun.

Today I refer you all to a couple links that you will not want to miss:

Thanks to a post from my co-worker Brian, I have found the most deliciously sarcastic blog. It's called Stuff Christians Like. Basically every post is a short feature on stuff that makes up Christian culture - "a tongue in cheek exploration of all the silly things Christians like." Here's my favorite:

Famous Christians
(Skip and Carolyn, this one made me think of a conversation we had once.)

A couple others that made me laugh out loud are:

Occasionally Swearing
Rob Bell

You should totally check it out. I love Jesus, but I can also laugh at the silly-ness we call Christianity.

The other link I'd suggest you all check out is one I've been waiting for anxiously since I heard it was happening. (Actually, unless you have an interest in photography, it probably won't be nearly as exciting to you. But since you love me, you can be excited FOR me.) The Pioneer Woman, a fantastic blogger and photographer, has finally added a section for Photoshop Techniques. Woot WOOT!

Hmmm ... on second thought, I might cancel all my wild weekend plans and become a Photoshop geek.

Worst Book Title Ever

Oh yes.
This is a real book.

Art

Art is the grandchild of God.
~Dante, Inferno, Canto XI

CHEESE!

A few months ago I was watching my friends' kids while they had a night out. We found the camera and decided to leave their mom and dad a little surprise ...

The photos were discovered today.


(The second picture of Ani makes me laugh SO hard.)

Oysters from the Land-Locked State

First off, I'd just like to say how much you guys all rock! Seriously, you're the best family/friends/acquaintances/total strangers a girl could ever ask for. I'm blessed.

Just had to get that out there. Okay ... moving on.

I joined the Photography Fellowship at my church. ("Fellowship" is Christianese for "Club.") Anywho, I've been looking for ways to get more involved at church and even though this isn't serving the church, per se, I like photography so I decided to check it out.

Now this group is just getting started. They meet once a month to share photography techniques, good shooting locations, and give photo critiques. Also at this meeting they decide where the monthly field trip will be. Today was my first field trip.

I convinced my friend Melissa (who also happens to like photography) to come along, despite the early departure time. We were going to Paint Mines Park. Now I've lived here in Southern Colorado for most of my life and never heard of Paint Mines Park. It is apparently located just east of Calhan. (That fact alone should have tipped us off right there as to what type of field trip we were in for.) Calhan = Cowtown

After driving for an hour, we arrived at the park entrance. Here's a picture.
Yeah, that's what we thought too.

So we set off on the trail in the icy cold wind, hoping that something cool and picture-worthy would magically appear. We walked. And walked. And walked. And froze. And walked some more. Finally, we arrived at the Paint Mines. (This picture does no justice to how cold it was.)

Melissa was too cold to take pictures. I took a few. But every picture we took very closely resembled the one before, so we decided to leave early. Figuring as Calhan is an authentic western small town, it had to have a diner, right? We were picturing a cute little place named Margie's with checkered curtains, decorations straight out of the 1950's and Margie serving us never-ending coffee and a home-cooked breakfast.

What we found was Taste Buds.

Although it lacked the nostalgic diner feel, it was warm and the food was good. We ate breakfast and defrosted.

As we were leaving, I noticed the sign of daily specials. Notice Saturday's special.
Melissa, not being from the west, had never heard of Rocky Mountain Oysters. I very eloquently described it to her as "bull's balls." Mmmmmmmm ... All-U-Can-Eat.

Gross.

On that note, Happy Resurrection Day!

P.S. If anyone has actually eaten Rocky Mountain Oysters, I'm curious what they are like. Do share.

Single

Can I be real with you for a few minutes? Thanks. I just need to bare my soul. It doesn't happen too often, at least not in public forums like this.

A disclaimer: I'm writing this post mainly for my single friends. I decided to share it specifically for others that might be weathering a similar storm in the same boat. If you're married and interested in the woes of a single girl, then by all means, read on. Just wanted to give you fair warning.

Dating sucks. I have had more false starts than I care to count. Here's a little glimpse into my journal from a few days ago.

I've not been doing well with the whole single thing lately. I fear I'm becoming "that girl." You know the one ... lonely and desperate to be with someone. Especially during the last couple weeks, it seems like my single status has been on my mind constantly. I feel very single everywhere I go. And very alone. It's been hard ... a HUGE mental, emotional, spiritual battle. I fight against a new wave of depression and discouragement every day. I fight to find my worth in the truth about who God says I am. Satan tells me lies consistently about how I'm not attractive to men and how I'll never have anyone. I feel like I'm on a roller coaster and my emotions change by the hour. I struggle not to doubt the Lord and his timing. I get angry and frustrated and impatient with him. I try to figure out what he's waiting for - what I can change or do to make the timing finally "right." I put on a happy, content face and encourage my other single friends while inside I'm filled with oceans of fear and doubt and insecurities.

So there ya go. My soul, bared. Bleh. Not very pretty, is it? I'm not sure why this has hit me so hard these past couple weeks. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that 30 is just a couple months away ... I don't know. This whole "struggling with a birthday" thing is brand new to me. But this valley is a deep one.

And yet.

God still sits on the throne. He hears my prayers - my words of frustration and discouragement - and he says, "I love you, Becky. Will you trust me in this?"

So on I go, trusting that he'll bring an amazing husband to me - one who will be more than worth the wait.

A Quick Pop Culture Review

I know you're supposed to do stuff like this at the end of the year, but I was just thinking about this last night, so I thought I'd share ...

Top 3 Movies I've Seen in the Last Year:

Once
The Kite Runner
Bella

Top 3 Books I Read in the Last Year:

Marley and Me by John Grogan
The Shack by William P. Young
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Top 3 CD's I've Listened to in the Last Year:

Ray LaMontagne - Closer
Alicia Keys - As I Am
Lynden - The Act of Becoming

What do you think? Do you agree? What were your favorites?

Crooked Creek, Take 2

I have no idea what happened, but let's try this again ...

I spent last weekend (well, two weekends ago, now) volunteering at a camp up near Winter Park. There was bloads of snow and so I had some fun with the camera.

I've also tried out a few things I learned in Photoshop.
(That program is flippin' sweet!)

Here are the steps going up to the cabin we stayed in.


I'm not sure why, but I love this picture for some reason.


I thought the snow on the roof looked kind of Salvador Dali-ish.


Here I am with my friend Anne during one of our short breaks.

Fun times, but I can't wait until halter tops and flip flops weather!

Horton, St. Patty and other random things...

Blogger is wigging out on me today. I had posted some pictures from the weekend yesterday, but today they were little red x's.

GRRR.

So instead of viewing the beautiful pictures you kiddies will have to use your imaginations.

Anyway, I'm lookin' forward to the weekend! I have quite ambitious plans:

I'm going to try to finish up a couple books.

Maybe I'll go see Horton Hears a Who. (It got a good review on CNN.com today.)

I'm going to attempt to replace the wood moulding that my dog destoyed. (Becky will be using tools. Take cover! Brother, prepare yourself for my call.)

I'm going to attend an early St. Patrick's Day party. (Incidentally, did you know that we're officially supposed to celebrate the holiday on Saturday since Monday is the start of Holy Week? Yeah ... the things I learn at a 5:30am spin class.)

I'm going to cook a couple new dishes. (I'm sure you're all VERY excited.)

And hopefully I'll get to bust out my bike for the first time this year. (If the snow stops. Cross all your fingers and toes.)

That's pretty much it. Oh, one more thing. You should all tune in to American Idol on Tuesday nights and vote for Jason Castro.

Why? you ask me. Because my friend Nate says so.

Plus, he rocks.
Deal? Sweet. I'm out.

Boulder Crime Alert

Okay now this is just straight up wacked.

First of all, that anyone would do this to their dog is a joke.
And then that there would be a law in place by which to prosecute?!
Finally the fact that they would actually issue the ticket is ridiculous.

I can think of many people who are more deserving of a ticket for pet humiliation ... what about those people who dress their dogs in little fur coats? Or put their dog's hair into a ponytail? Or make them wear t-shirts and booties? Or shave them into artistic creations?

Seriously, Law Enforcement of Boulder, Colorado. It seems to me there might be other things more worthy of your attention. Just a hunch.

Not totally related, but this reminds me of a funny experience my sister had once. I reprint it again, for your reading enjoyment:

I had an unpleasant encounter with a woman at the park today. While I didn’t say anything clever at the time, I spent the rest of the evening thinking of possible retorts. Here is the story written with all potential responses. You choose your favorite, but be assured that I picked the not-wittiest one each time:

I was playing frisbee with Donkey like I do every night when this woman in a pink shirt walked by with two hideous things on the end of two leashes. Donkey, being the friendly lab that she is, went over to say hello. There was a little bit of sniffing from both parties, and perhaps a yip or two, but nothing hostile – nothing more than natural doggie interaction. Pink, however, was getting unnecessarily flustered over the meeting, and her face was rapidly darkening to match her shirt.

“Ma’am,” she said to me, tangled in leashes and beginning to panic. “Could you please get your dog?”

“Oh, they’re fine,” I replied nonchalantly, failing to see the apparent urgency of the situation. “Donkey’s friendly.”

She looked at me, appalled. “Ma’am,” she said again, condescendingly, “my dogs are five pounds.”

I looked at her and responded:
A) Are you jealous?
B) Congratulations.
C) You call those dogs?
D) Ummm . . . okay.

The dogs continued their interaction, and Pink continued her panic, now bordering on rage.

“Alright, Ma’am,” she said. “That’s it. Either you get your dog or I call the police and tell them it’s not on a leash.”

I looked at her, a bit amused, and said:

A) Yeah, well either you stop being a jerk or I tell my mom on you.
B) Teenagers are getting shot in Wal-Mart and you’re going to call the cops on my pet?
C) Hey, maybe while they’re down here they could help you get that thing out of your butt.
D) nothing. I took Donkey’s collar and walked away in silence.

Of course, being the on-my-feet thinker that I am, I chose D each time. But if I had it to do over again, perhaps things would have turned out a little bit differently.

I will never be shaken.

Hey blog friends. After a weekend in the mountains, I've been trying to catch up at work and home and new posts have gotten pushed to the back burner. So, in the absence of a new post today, I leave with you my favorite passage of the Bible ...

My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

That's Psalm 62: 1-2. What's your favorite?

Hey Jude

Oh my gosh I almost peed my pants.

A Love Story

Being a big sister is hard. I know. I've been one for 28 years.

When I was in college my brother was dating a girl that I didn't like. He had been dating her for several years and in my outspoken-pushy-big-sister sort of way, I had made it very clear to him that I didn't like her. Although I had some legitimate reasons for my concern, I did not express it in love [not even anything close to love] and it almost destroyed our relationship.

Thankfully, in God's infinite wisdom, after years of fighting, he allowed me to get to the point where I had to give up trying to control my brother's choices about whom to date, and just leave him in the Lord's hands. I stopped telling him what I thought he should do with his life. But I prayed for him constantly.

A few years later he met Valeen ...


When I read his blog post yesterday, I started crying. To hear him talk about his wife this way is what I had prayed for for so many years.

I knew that I'd do anything to fix the mess that I was in order to be the man she deserves. I knew she was much more than I deserved.

My dream is to feel that way about my husband. And have him think of me like that. I hope the Lord fulfills that dream. But it's so obvious to me now that God's plan is the best one. And his timing truly IS perfect. And when I think of stories like Chris and Valeen's, my impatience and doubt seems so silly.


When I grow up and get married, I want to be just like my little brother.

Nightmare

I was woken up last night by a horrible, HORRIBLE dream. I don't want to go into details but basically it was about physical torture and people I love dearly.

I very rarely remember my dreams so to actually remember a nightmare like this is very disturbing. I can't stop thinking about it.

I don't think I should watch 24 anymore.

Mt. Herman Trail

Saturday was 72 degrees! Yes, that's right people, seventy-two. Record high.

So we gathered the dogs (5 of them) and gathered the people (5 of them) and off we went ...

We had one lab of each color (black, brown, yellow, tan and white) but it was hard to get them all in one photo.

Havana learned to swim.

Swimmers, take your marks ...

Overall yesterday was a GREAT day. Good time with some friends and fam.
As I write this, there's currently a Blizzard Warning for our area.

Colorado is so weird.