A New Leaf

Today is the last day of June, so what better to talk about than the past and the future? Does that make sense to anyone but me? Well, either way - tomorrow is a big day for me.

Tomorrow I begin a new diet/exercise/Bible study plan. After my little Emergency Room scare last week, I have decided that I need to stop being so lackadaisical about my health, and I'm attacking it from a few directions.

First - Bible study - I'm going to kick my self in the spiritual butt. Although my relationship with God is always changing, I'm going to do what I can to keep growing. So I'm going to start reading the Bible more, and I'm excited to get going. Not quite sure where I'm going to begin yet though. Recommendations are welcome!

Secondly, food. Oh, how I love good food. This means a lot of different things for me. Sometimes it means I love roasted vegetables and a fish fillet. Other times it means I love cheeseburgers and fried mushrooms. Not always great choices...BUT, tomorrow I will start making wise food decisions and not just tasty food decisions. A good friend who is very health-informed is going to help me talk through some of this and help me figure out what I need to eat to lower my cholesterol (which, at a high, was a whopping 304! - if you don't know what that means, check out this fact sheet) and get into great shape.

And speaking of great shape - here comes the exercise. I am the type of person who despises exercise. I'd rather curl up on the couch with an old movie or ride around in a car (that has air conditioning, of course). I'm just not big on strenous activity. Hence my ridiculous state of health currently. So, that's on my list of things to change. I'm starting off slowly because I'm just flat-out out of shape.

Today is the last day of my unhealthyness! I'll try to keep you posted on the journey. And hopefully I'll be able to have some before and after pics.

Fiesta

In the 4 years that Dave and I have been married, we've gone the last two and a half without a kitchen table. We do a lot of coffee table dinners. When we went home for vacation last month, we were able to pick up our table and bring it to the new house! I was thrilled, and decided to celebrate with a big Mexican fiesta - all homemade!

The menu:

Fish Tacos

Guacamole

Mango Salsa

Cilantro Lime Rice

and a Key-Limeish dessert thing (only kind of homemade, because I improvised with the recipe on the box)

Here's the recipe for my guacamole:

3 avocados

1 tbsp of minced garlic (I love garlic, so I use quite a bit)

about 2 tsp of cilantro (this is for dried, use less if your cilantro is fresh)

about a tsp each of garlic salt and onion powder

salt and pepper to taste

a sprinkle of cayenne pepper

zest and juice of one lime

Mix it all up and enjoy! You can also add chopped tomatoes and onions, if you like that kind of thing - but I prefer it without.

Twenty-three, so far

Monday, I turned 23.  Since Monday morning, I've done the following:

• been to the chiropractor - about whose unfathomable power I am waning in passion, I must add
• had a very, very wonderful birthday party with some very, very wonderful friends
• lost power at my house, during said birthday party, for about 2 hours
• been to Louisville and back for a convention through work
• had a false alarm heart attack, as I've been calling it
• and a subsequent trip to the Emergency Room to get an EKG, a chest x-ray, a sonogram to check for gall stones, and ended up with a non-diagnosis          
  
• researched esophageal spasms (which the ER thinks is the likely cause of my chest pain), gastroesophageal reflux disorder, acid reflux disorder, panic attacks, panic disorder, and depression
• called my family practice doctor to schedule a hopefully-more-productive-than-the-ER appointment
• bought a food processor with birthday money
• had an emotional breakdown
• got over it
• broke the A/C in my car
• ate 3 cups of jello and 3 slices of key lime pie (don't judge me... it was a false alarm heart attack)
• took a five and a half hour nap
• blogged

what have you done in the past 4 days?

Texture, Patterns, and Color

I don't have anything insightful to say today. The wind and storms have just kicked in around downtown Nashville, so the sky is dark and things are pretty quiet. It's just a normal day at work - my stack of things to do is pretty minimal, I can hear the chatter of those who cannot live without speaker phone, the elevator dinging every 2 minutes, and the squeak of too old office chairs. So, what am I doing with my time? Besides taking the phone calls coming in and out - I am making outfits based on room decor. "What?", you may ask. Well...here is an example.

This room is from the Design*Sponge website. So moody, so feminine, so sleek. Anyway...after cleaning up my drool, I made an outfit on Polyvore to mimic the fun vibe from the room. The gorgeous light fixture above the window bench inspired the necklace, the dark gray-teal of the walls inspired the shoes, etc. If you've ever seen the show "Dress My Nest" on the style network, it's kind of the same thing - but backwards. I think I have many more of these up my sleeve. But maybe not on days that I'm supposed to be working.

Vacation!

We are officially back from our summer vacation/family reunion. It was a wonderful time. Really - really wonderful. Dave's brother and his family have been in the Philippines for nearly 4 years, and they were able to come back home for a while. It was so great to catch up with all of them, and see all of our neices and nephews together for the first time.

We were sad to leave the family again, but we hope to see them several more times before they head back overseas next January. Here are a few pictures from vacation.

This picture of Dave and me was taken at a water show in Branson, MO...which is just really amazing fountains with lights and fire and stuff. Pretty neat, I thought.

The resort where we stayed had some really amazing outdoor activities. Paddle boating was definitely something the kiddos wanted to try.

This is the whole Hagen gang.

It was so great to get to see our neices and nephews again. Starting on the top left and going clockwise, these cuties are Zach, Mikayla, Ben (all three Dave's brother's kids), Sydney, and Abby (Dave's sister's girls).

The resort was beautiful. Lots of beautiful landscaping.

This was our last day at the resort. We had a blast with the Hagens.