The Community

Today I'm thankful for a job that allows me to blog (the baby naps for 3 hours). ;)

I have said in previous blogs that I would eventually blog about my roommates so here it goes...among other things.

I have truly been blessed with a few wonderful communities in Nashville, my families away from family.

For starters, my employers.  I can't even begin to say how thankful I am to work for the family I do.  They bless my life not only financially but as well as emotionally as they consider me part of their family just as much as I consider them family.  It's been refreshing to have this since my family is across the country.

My church family.  I love the servant hearts of my church family.  Without knowing it they have challenged me to go beyond myself and to live to serve God and to love well by doing good in the community and volunteering as much as I can.  They are quality people and I'm glad to be apart of a church where their main concern is others needs and to advance the kingdom by meeting these needs and building relationships. 

My small group and Nashville bests.  I have said this before but I feel like I have been friends with these people more than just 6 months.  I'm so happy to walk through like with such genuine, real, and loving people.  Not to mention we have some really great time from chatting in coffee shops for hours, going to awesome shows, and going to underground wrestling (yes that really happened).

The last community I want to share is probably the most important to me in Nashville.  Mostly, because they truly have become my family.  My roommates; Stephanie, Christy, and Amanda.  There are no words for how blessed I feel that we are living together during this season.  This is the community where you can't hide anything, you can't be fake, because they have seen your ups and downs.  We have all cried in front of each other, called each other out, and lifted each other up.  We hold each other accountable and pray for each other.  They truly have become my sisters, they know all my junk and  know theirs, no judgement just pure love.  I trust them and confide in them.  We are all so different and my relationship with each is different, which I love.  When we are all together it's non-stop laughing, joy, and encouragement.  I love them with my whole heart and am thankful for this season because we know it won't last forever (marriage, obviously ;)).

For example as I'm blogging we are all sitting at our dining room table talking and I was talking about myself in a negative way and Christy said "Alexis, you need to put that lie to rest!"...see why I love it ;)

Health and Fitness: As some of you know I did a master cleanse, the one with the lemon juice and cayenne pepper.  It was supposed to be for 10 days and I last 5.  Not because I was so hungry and needed to eat but it was not conducive with my lifestyle working with kids and being active all day.  I had no energy and was always tired.  It would have been a great idea if I would have done it during a vacation.  I just love working out too much!! ;)  Even the 5 days had an affect after the cleanse, all I crave are raw foods and no sugar so it's been really good ( I did make some red velvet cupcakes though..such a weakness).

My workouts have consisted of once before work and once after work.  I do spin 4 days a week, kickboxing twice a week, zumba twice a week and bodypump twice a week and run and strength training in between.  I have to be careful though because I used to really be obsessed with working out and I feel it was because I danced for most my life and would dance 3 hours a day and so I never really thought about working out or had to but when I started college I stopped dancing so I over compensated and worked out all the time and then started teaching aerobics, so it's something I do have to monitor so don't wear myself down. 

I'm running a half marathon in April and need a new training methods.  Any ideas?!?!

What's your favorite things about your community?

In honor of Stephanie's EP coming out here is a preview of one of her songs.  Check her out on iTunes :)

Blessings, xoxo



Today changed my life...Misunderstood

I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I accepted a subbing position this morning at 5 A.M...

If you have not read previous posts I'll fill you in on my career this year.  I'm a full time nanny to a 1 year old boy and any days I get off I sub in the Metro Nashville school district.  I do this to network so I can get a teaching job next school year. I also do it because teaching is my passion and I would have missed it for a year.

The school I subbed at this morning was an inter-city school near the projects.  It was a 2nd grade classroom.  At this age you expect the kids to adore you and instantly seek your approval.  Today the exact opposite happened...Not one student was respectful towards myself or any teacher that had to come into the classroom.  I had students saying the worst possible words you can think of, telling me they wished they were dead, and telling me they don't care about me or anyone else.  I had to break up two fist fights and had to chase 2 students down the hall because they ran out of my classroom telling me they hated me and didn't care.  By lunch time I felt like a drill Sargent.  All the other teachers would get up into the kids faces yelling at them.  I tried that, but it didn't come natural.  To them I was a door mat and one more person who just didn't believe in them.

As write this I'm crying...

When my students left my classroom for lunch, I cried and prayed "God please make these kids behave the last 4 hours of school, turn their attitudes around, I'm going to burst any minute, I need your help."  I heard God just say "They need you to be proud of them, change your mind-set, it's not about you."  I cried some more...the word that came to mind for these students at this school was "Misunderstood"...

This feeling of being misunderstood is something I'm familiar with in my own life.  I have always felt that people perceive me a different way then I know myself to be.  OR, I have felt that I need to be what people expect me to be and when I either fall short of that or don't live up to that, I feel I disappoint people all the time.  Which leads to feeling so ashamed, that no matter what I would do they would always have a certain perception of me.

I never knew how bad I struggled with this until today. 

After lunch my students came back and I wanted them to know that even though they were misbehaving so badly and not doing ANYTHING I asked of them that I still believed in them.  After talking to God about it I felt my whole perception of these students had changed.  Getting in there face and yelling at them was doing only more harm to their spirits or they were perhaps immune to it because it's what they get at home.  I wanted them to know that even though they had been so bad for me and disrespectful that I still loved them, that I knew they were smart and capable of anything.  I have to admit that I was even offended by these 7 year olds, but I had this supernatural grace for them. 

After lunch, their behaviors didn't change....mine did.

Isn't that true in life though?  We want so badly for people to change or to do what we want them to and that's when we will forgive them, and that's when we will be proud of them and love them.  God tells us it's easy to love the loveable so he calls us to love the unloveable. I understand love and grace in a whole other way today and I hope it doesn't stop there.

I hope that even though I was with them just one day that they have an ounce of belief in themselves.  They came into my classroom expecting to be nothing and do nothing and I hope and pray that along the paths in their lives someone else recognizes how much love they need to survive.  I truly mean survive.

I'll never be the same after a day like today.  I see these kids who have nothing, and I complain about not being able to get an outfit I want, that I hate my phone, or I need a new laptop...wow...today truly changed my life.

P.S.- Shout out to my Dad who also calmed me down at lunch on the phone today and encouraged me to write a book for 1st year teachers (we'll see ;)). Love you Dad.

Resolutions vs. Lifestyle

New Year means new blog post, or it just means I feel it's about that time since it's been over a month ;)

First things first my best friend/sister and her Husband are having a baby!!! 

and

My beautiful friend Brie Gilbreath got engaged to Beau Beaupre on New Years Eve and I'm so glad I was home to celebrate with them.

In honor of the New Year I decided to share my so called "resolutions"...when I think of resolutions I think of something that lasts hmmmm maybe a month or so.  That's not the way for everyone, but for myself I would succeed much better if I set up a lifestyle change that I can strive to live out forever and make more changes to grow off of it in the future.  All of these are idle words unless put into action, I realize this and therefore will do my best to let them become active in my life.

So here goes THE LIST....

Spiritual

- Be about the Gospel instead of religion
-Be transparent in my walk, my struggles, and challenges.
-Know my word and let it change me
-More grace
-Love and love well
-Disciple mind-set
-WALK IN COMPLETE HUMILITY

Financial

I got Dave Ramsey's Money Makeover for Christmas and I'm going to be doing that this year.  No more impulsive shopping, or spontaneous traveling unless it's saved up and planned for.  It's going to transform my bank account.  My parent's are so good with their money, I want them to now rub off on me. 1st step is always admitting (It's part of being transparent ;)).
I have A LOT to save for...mostly it's so I can travel, I have lots of traveling dreams this year and want to get it all in this year while I can and have the time.
I'll be filling y'all in on how that's going...Dave Ramsey is a financial genius

Fitness
I have always been a big fitness person and workout regularly.  So I don't really have a goal to increase my workouts because I do OK with challenging myself.  So my fitness lifestyle change will be to eliminate ALL sugar, not including natural sugars in fruit, yogurt, and honey.  Since I'm being real I'll say I don't have a goal weight because I don't really weigh myself because the number doesn't matter to me, what matters is the size of my jeans, dresses, and most of all how I feel.  The size I feel fits my body is a size 4, which I have been since college.  Right now I'm a 6 or 8 depending on the brand. I was a size 4 all through college so I know it's something I can do, and it's something I can keep. I recognize I have curves (have since junior year of high school) and can't eliminate my hips or butt, but I know I can make my hips look smaller and so since I already eat gluten-free and organic the conclusion I came to is SUGAR :).  I CAN DO IT...I think. For those of you who have fitness resolutions I think it's wonderful and I want to encourage you in any way I can!! Keep it up, it can change your lifestyle FOREVER!  On top of this I will be running my 2nd half marathon this year in April!! Training has begun... It's a struggle..not loving it...running...yuck!

Relationships
Become more intentional in my relationships.  I cannot tell you how much God has revealed to me this year in terms of how many WONDERFUL human beings God has blessed me with in my life.  Moving to Nashville, visiting Arizona, and traveling has really given me perspective of the friends that have been in my life for years and continue to pursue me.  I want to pursue people just like they have done for me.  This includes my family, in Arizona and across the county.  I want to intentionally build on these relationships and not take any for granted.  Less social networking and more one-on-one and phone calls.  I just want to the celebrate people in my life!!


The plan for 2012

1.) Go to Chicago, Florida X 2, Haiti, Home X 2.
2.) Start ballet again
3.) Sell my gluten-free banana bread to a cafe in town to sell (if you want the recipe let me know!)
4.) Start my Children's book
5.) Start my Master's degree
6.) Get re certified in aerobics and Zumba

The great things going on this year

-My best friend/sister will be having a baby, making me an Aunt.
-My neighbors and friends will also be having a baby
-1 cousin and 3 of my friends are getting married
- My roommate's EP comes out
- The Hunger Games movie comes out ;)
-Last but not least....It's another year we are ALIVE :)

Song on repeat at the moment :)

Blessings, Darlings :)

The confused heart

I know, I'm probably the world most inconsistant blogger.  I wish I was better because as I let time pass without blogging many things happen within that time it's hard to catch up on everything.  Therefore I'm going to have to take this particular post a different route.

I chose tonight to blog because my heart just feels full....full of thankfulness, joy, gratitude, but also saddness, and remorse.

I'm beyond thankful for God's hand in this adventure to Nashville and all the good people He has blessed me with here.  I cannot even say enough how good He is. I am definetly in a season of harvest.  I know these seasons are few and far between, as they should be, so I'm choosing to be joyful and celebrate during this season so I can carry a heart of praise throughout all my seasons of life.  My Nashville bests threw me my first surprise party ever and my friends and family back home made me feel so loved by their texts, calls, cards, and gifts. While have had some great Birthday celebrations in the past there was something so special about this one.  I don't know if it is because I truly see God's work in my life here in Nashville and in only 4 months I feel like I'm at home, but something felt different on my Birthday this year.  It made me want to celebrate each and every person in my life.  I love you all more than you know.

On the other end I have saddness and remore in my heart.  There have been some major things going on back home with my home church and I feel so sad for what's going on and can't even put into words yet the emotions I truly feel. Some days I feel angry about it, somedays I feel grief, and other days I really choose to listen and trust God with all my being because at the end of the day, that's all I can really do.  Pray, fast, listen, and seek him with diligence in this situation because it's completely out of my hands. 

I have also felt a degree of remorse.  Not your typical remore, I'm remorsing over my judgemental and prideful heart. So many things have been going on back home that truly have nothing to do with me but somehow I feel a sense of ownership over these things, things that are not mine to have or judge. I strive to be loyal, supportive, and non-judgemental, but I find my heart fails me in that area sometimes and leads to bitterness and resentment. These things bring me to my knees in tears wanting more of God and less of me.  Knowing my desperate need for a forgiving savior who does not favor anyone over another who loves EVERY person with such a deep passionate love, I recognize how my shortcomings are no different then anyone else, and I need to daily humble myself and realize without Him I am NOTHING!!!  Moral of the story...pray for me.

There are a few things coming up that I'm looking forward too

#1 My Grad School interview is this Friday.  I'm ready for this process to be done soI can't be set for Grad School in January.  I am going to school for ESL and ELL learners.  It's very needed right now and their are very few educators certified in these areas.  I prayed about how I could help fill in the gaps within education where there is need and God let me to this.

#2 This Sunday I'm making a day trip to Atlanta with my roommate Christy who is taking me to the Titans vs. Falcons game for my Birthday!  I squeal with excitement when I think about this!! She blesses me greatly. If youknow meyou would never in a million years guess I'm such a football fan because I really am such a girl...but I do love watching sports...especially football...little secret of mine ;)

#3 I'll be going to D.C. for Thanksgiving to visit my family.  I'm really looking forward to this and I love D.C.! 

#4 In a few weeks I'll be headed to Wheelwright Kentucky for a missions trip to distribute donations and to love on the impoversed town we will be going to.  I'm really looking forward to serving and getting to know these people in this community (prayer needed for this).

#5 I'll be making my way back home to AZ for two weekd for Christmas!!! I cannot wait to see everyone!  It will be so needed, I LOVE Christmas time and family traditions.

This post didn't recap all of the past month, it just touched on the major things...I'll try to be better..I may say this often...but really I'll try...

***Fitness***

I'm going on a sugar fast to try and reach my goal weight...the only sugar I can have is natural sweetners and a teaspoon on cream in my morning coffee.

I also have a new workout routine....

Spin 3 days a week
Kickboxing two days a week
5 curcuit weight training 5 days a week...this is what sheds pounds!!

I'll be posting my weight training moves here the next post for you.

Gluten-free recipe this month: Crock-pot vegetable soup

This was most definetly not the best I have ever made and turned out rather bland.  I will be changing it up next time now that I know.  

Here is the newer recipe I made changes too...I also used rice noodles (gluten-free option)

What You Need
6 Cups Water
1 ½ Cups Tomato Puree
1 Cel­ery Stalk chopped
3/4 Cup of Corn
3/4  Cup of Peas
3 Car­rots diced
2 Medium Pota­toes diced into small cubes
½ Red Onion, finely chopped
1 Tea­spoon Pepper
1 ½  Tea­spoon Salt
1  Table­spoon Ital­ian Seasoning
2–3 Gar­lic Cloves (minced)
1 Table­spoon of Olive Oil (for saute­ing the onions)
6 ounces of small shaped noo­dles (you must boil, drain, & add these to your fin­ished soup)
You will need to saute your onions in the Olive Oil just until they are translu­cent. Before adding them into the Crockpot.
Cook in your Crock­pot for 5–6 hours on high.
HOWEVER, wait until after you have cooked the soup for 5–6 hours on high before adding your already boiled noo­dles (we like to add ones that are dif­fer­ent shapes) to the soup.
You will want to cook this in a 6 quart size crock­pot or larger. It makes 12 serv­ings, so if you wanted you adjust the recipe to feed a smaller lot. With our gang here this feed us with leftovers.
After it is done cook­ing & you have added your noo­dles you can then add addi­tional sea­son­ing to taste as you please or keep it as!

Ok well because my heart has been confused  on what to feel lately I thought this video was perfect in telling me...maybe I just need to listen to Adele "Someone like you" and  have a good cry ;)

Gets me everytime ;)

Blessings, Darlings!

The UNproductive paid vacation

So I waited to do another post after my fall break and being off work for a week.  It was glorious let me tell you.  Especially since I do not get anymore time off until Thanksgiving.  I'll take all the time off I can get, being surrounded my kids day after day can wear a person out..no wonder teachers have so much vacation time!

So here were my plans for this week.  I went into thinking, 'wow I have all this time off I can really spend time on my room and studying for my grad school test etc.." welll that's not exactly what the week played out to be.

intention #1

Put together my new furniture for my room

What really happened:

The furniture sat in my living room waiting for me for the whole week.  I starred as it while I worked out everyday and watched Boy Meets World.

intention #2

Study for the MAT test

What really happened:

I decided working out, going to coffee, shopping, and baking was more fun and studied for maybe 1 hour out of the 5 days.

So since it wasn't as productive as wanted it to be, I did get the chance to be with the people I love and relax without time constrains.  This concept is foreign in my life so maybe this unproductive week was needed.

My friend Dara was in town for 3 of these days and was staying with us because she is on tour 4 out of the 7 days a week and has to leave from Nashville so she is here for a few months while she is touring.  I spent majority of my time with her working out and shopping the boutiques at Green Hills and scored these beauties at Posh.

Turquoise leaf earrings, I fell in love.

Not to mention this week provided some amazing talks about God's grace, mercy, and sin with Dara as well.  We had these talks in between our morning workouts with The 30-day shred and plyometrics.

We also discovered an awesome fitness app to motivate us to maintain healthy lifestyles and fitness goals...love it! Myfitnesspal..check it!

Besides spending my time with Dara, Amanda and I spent some time in coffee shops and boutiques.  We also had a bon fire by the creek in this amazing fall weather.

All in All I may have been sore this whole week from all my intense workouts but It was UNproductive and relaxing...I'm ok with that...next week I'll have time for being productive.

This weekend was nothing but more fun and relaxing.  I had a leisure Saturday with a devotional, workout and brunch with the girls at Marche' (which was delicious by the way).

Always satisfied with my coffee

Side note....see Footloose...AMAZING!

Today I was a church all morning serving in First Impressions for all 3 morning services and then went out to Owen Farm for a church picnic...it was a super fun day all around...what's better then being in church all morning surrounded by the body of Christ and then on a farm pumpkin tossing, getting lost in a corn maze, and hay rides.  You can get much better then being surrounded by Tennesee's fall beauty!

I'm always up for a tractor ride ;)

Now tomorrow it's back to reality (work) and tonight it's time to put my bedroom furniture together (Where's Dad when you need him?) ;)

Oh and I almost forgot...during this fall vacation I baked some gluten-free banana bread (it tasted just like real banana bread)..here's the recipe

2 cups of gluten-free al purpose baking flour (I make my own but it's avalible at whole foods)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

2 cups of mashed ripe bananas

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup unsweetend applesauce

1/3 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup chocolate chips or walnuts (optional)

Directions:

In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt.  .  In a seperate bown whisk eggs, sugar, applesauce, bananas, oil, and vanilla.  stir dry ingrediants in with moist.  slowly add chocolate chips.

Spray two bread pans and pour in evenly.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 min or untill toothpick comes out clean.

Finished bread! Great gift for the neighbors.

Since I spent my week mostly with Dara I'll add her song to the blog this time.  She is so talented and such an annointed woman of God with such a pure heart to change the world through this gift.  If you get a chance to see her on tour this fall and winter you should! :)

Blessings!





The Lame Blogger

Happy Fall!!

I am absolutly in love with fall and devoted to doing all things fall related.  That includes but is not limited to boots, clothes, pumpkin carving, corn maze, nature walks, bon fires, pumpkin recipes, apple butter, and halloween costumes. I need ideas for an original costume idea..I could use y'alls help! :)

Ok so onto the blog for real...the blog title tells it all really...I have indeed been a lame blogger.  My roomie and friend Stephanie pointed out that the way I talk in real life is funny and she thinks my life stories are hilarious and thinks I need to be real with my readers instead of "fluffy".  Apparently real and vulnerable is best ;).  That being said.  I will continue to give my readers some fitness ideas and gluten-free recipes but will be taking a different approach thats more true-to-self, as Stephanie would say.  She told me when she was reading my blog she was like "who is writing this? This is not how Alexis tells stories and her life is much more intersting then this." haha thnakful she pointed out my blog short-comings. ;)  She also inspired me to change the name of my blog to "My picture perfect life...I never would have thought", this title basically represents how my way I picture my life is much different than God's picture for it, so it represents his thoughts and ways are higher, better, and deeper.

Today I give you a list:

"Changes, lots of Changes"

1.) A year ago after visiting Nashville I planned what my life would look like like when I moved to Nashville.  It went something like this.  I would get a teaching job right away in the metro school district, teach aerobics in the evenings, find a church right away, live the life of a Southern Belle etc.... WELL..it didn't quite happen that way I didn't get a teaching job, I'm a nanny for a baby, I sub in the metro school district (sometimes teaching highschool Chinease), I baby-sit for 10000000 families, I also dog-sit often, and I'm with kids more then the average mother.  I'm also going to grad school in January.  NOT exactly how I had it planned, but God has blessed the path.  I now need to work on getting rid of one of my 17 jobs.  I came her 3 months ago with none and now have 17....thanks God for abundantly answering my prayer ( He has a sence of humor) :)
2.) I ate dog food...unintentionally..the family I work for makes their own...I thought it was soup and it looked gluten-free...didn't find out until the next day.
3.) I'm an organized person by nature and I sold all my furniture before moving here thinking it would be easy to consume what I sold when I got to Nashville...ummmm I lived without a dresser for almost 3 months and had clothes still in boxes, talk about driving an organized person CRAZY.  I was promised 3 different dressers and all fell through.  I finally have one, did I mention God has a sense on humor?  My closet is also half the size I'm used to and I relaize I have a ridiculous amount of clothes even though I gave away half my closet before I got to Nashville.  Fashion addiction at it's finest. 
4.) I never thought I would live in a hallway.  yep that's right my room was built where the hallway is supposed to be.  To get to the kitchen you have to go the long way through the living room to bypass my room.  Ridiculous...I was a priveledged girl growing up...if I didn't figure that out before, I know now...thanks mom and dad.
5.) My first breakfast in Nashville was at The Waffle House...it's all we could find while getting lost trying to find where I actually lived and ended up on a ghetto street in Nashville and it was the only restaurant around.  (Waffle houses are disgusting...never again).  Our waitress asked if I lived around there and I thoguht I did so I said Yes and she explained to my Dad the prostitute problem on that street.  My dad was ready to haul me back to Flagstaff at that point, but luckily we found my house and relaized it was not in that area. PRAISE THE LORD!
6.) My roommates discovered I am an extremely gullible person so they tried to convince me they were on drugs they got from a back alley.  I went in my room to pray for them and they were in the living room laughing...Good times
7.) Nashville fashion...first of all I love it, a very trendy and lovely community of clothing...what I don't like is that people actually follow the no white pants or dresses after Labor Day rule..I wanted to explain to them how it stays sunny in Flagstaff and I would wear white until November.  I no longer can do that...thanks Nashville.
8.) "I would never go to this church!" yep it's true this is what I said about the first church I tried when I was here and now I go to that very same church I said I never would...Thanks God...your plans are greater
9.) Never thought half of my workouts would consist of a jogging stroller and baby inside at this time in my life.
10.) Why do they make the new girl drive all the time? Yes I'm still the new girl and yes sometimes I drive.  Do you know how hard it is to drive in this big city with 4 girls in the car and not one of them is giving directions because everyone is talking and laughing and therefore the new girl gets lost because SHE HAS NO IDEA WHERE SHE IS GOING...sorry just had to get that off my chest ;)

While my Picture Perfect life is being torn apart...God is making it into something even better

To end this I would like to say I couldn't have gone through all the changes without the support of my family and friends back home and all my wonderful friends here in Nashville...glad to be in a transplant city where everyone had to go through these very same things when they moved here.

soon to come...a list of Arizona vs. Tenessee

Recipe for the week...I made these for Amanda's birthday last week, not gluten-free but I heard they were tastey...enjoy :)

Didn't look exaclty like this..but I tried ;)

Lemon Raspberry CupcakesPrintable Recipe

Cupcakes
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 teaspoons grated lemon zest
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups self-rising flour
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
12 teaspoons seedless raspberry jam (Confession: I didn't use seedless)

Frosting
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
3 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter, powdered sugar, and lemon zest in a large bowl until fluffy & well blended.  Add eggs, beating to blend. Beat in half the flour, then buttermilk and lemon juice, then the remaining flour.

Drop a spoonful of the cupcake batter into the bottom of each muffin cup.
Use the back of a spoon to spread it around to the edges of the tin, otherwise the jam will go right to the bottom.
Divide remaining batter among muffin cups to top the jam.

Bake for 18-22 minutes, until toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool cupcakes completely before frosting.

To make the frosting, in a large mixing bowl, beat butter and raspberry jam together until well mixed and smooth. Add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until you reach a consistency that you desire. Pipe onto cupcakes and decorate! (I used a Wilton #1M tip for these cupcakes.) \

Video for this week...It's a switchfoot week, that's for sure!

Blessings, Darlings!

Something Blue

It's has been like 100000000 years since I last blogged...I figured it was about time ;).

If I blogged about everything that has happened these past few weeks it may just turn into a novel so I'll just point out why I have not gotten around to blogging.

1.) Getting ready for my best friends wedding and going home to Flagstaff for the weekend
2.) MY BEST FRIEND IN THE WORLD GOT MARRIED!!!
3.) I got placed finally with a family for my nanny position
4.) I started subbing
5.) There have been too many fun things going on

I need to learn how to blog as it comes instead of wait a lifetime couple weeks.

Being home was so wonderful, since I went to school in Flagstaff I have never left so I never got that feeling my friends had when they went away for college and then came home, I finally felt that.  It made me just love Flagstaff so much and truly miss it!

While I'm loving my life in Nashville it's also so nice to go home and be with your family and lifelong friends.  I'm excited to visit again soon.  It was waaaay to short and I was not able to see everyone I wanted because my time was so limited.  I will be back soon though!!!!

Glad I got to squeeze in a couple bestie date nights ;)

The wedding was beautiful, of course!  It's still so weird my best friend since we were 6 years old is married.  This is a day we have talked about for years and years.  I cannot even tell you how happy I am for her and her husband Zack.  They are such an awesome powerhouse couple and God is already using them and their marriage.  I loved being a part of it!!  I stumbled on my Maid of Honor speech a few times, mostly because I was trying to hold it together and burst out in tears, but other then that the bachlorette party, rehearsal, ceremony, and reception went very smoothly.  The ceremony was short and sweet, it was perfect!

                                                         Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Belcher

BIG THANKS to my family for helping through this whole thing.  My mom was a rock star, my dad kept me calm when I was feeling overwhelmed, and my brother just was there for comic relief ;) just kidding!! I love them non-the-less!

all dressed in blue...do you think we got the memo?

Wanted to share with you what my mom and I cooked for our bachlorette party brunch.  Everything was gluten-free!!

The List

Chorizo egg casserole

Greek yogurt with honey and gluten-free granola

Fruit (strawberries, pineapple, grapes) shish-cabobs (sp?)

gluten-free vanilla cream cheese cupcakes

mimosas 

 Just part of the spread of goodness

 Recipe to come on that chorizo egg casserole

 After my wonderful time there I came back to Nashville to the REAL world.  I started my job the Wednesday I came back and it has been non-stop since then.  I nanny for a family all day M/W/F and then I sub in the school district Tues/Thurs to get my foot in the door.  I also am going to be a math tutor for 4th and 5th graders on Saturday mornings.  Last but not least I'm going to be studying for the GRE for grad school.

 Am I over-booking myself? I'll answer that, Yes I am! At lease I have a stable schedule now to plan workouts, ministry, and friends around. 

Before my busy life started up again I got invited to hear the new MuteMath CD at a listening party before it releases in October.  It's going to be so good!! Seriously check it out, they are very original and talented.  I'm going to their concert in Birmingham Alabama in October and I hear their shows are the best.  I can cross that off my bucket list :)

So anyways...this was a recap of the important things these past few weeks of life in the "Music City". :)

Here is the gluten-free recipe for the week that I made the first Sunday of football season :)

Crockpot Chicken Chili

• 1 1/4 lbs boneless skinless chicken
• 2 (15 ounce) cans great northern beans or 2 (15 ounce) cans navy beans For the cream of chicken soup I used my own gluten-free recipe.
• 1 (15 ounce) can hominy or 1 (15 ounce) can white corn
• 1 (1 1/4 ounce) envelope taco seasoning
• 1 (4 1/2 ounce) can of chopped green chilies
• 1 (10 3/4 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1 (14 ounce) can chicken broth
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• chopped green onion (optional)
• monterey jack cheese (optional)

1

Place chicken in a 4 quart slow cooker.

2

Top with beans and corn.

3

In a medium bowl, combine taco seasoning, chiles, condensed soup, and chicken broth. Pour over top of ingredients in the crock pot.

4

Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.

5

Before serving, stir gently to break up chicken, then stir in the sour cream.

6

Serve topped with green onions and jack cheese, if desired.

This was really easy and it can feed a lot of mouths, especially if you double the recipe.

Ending note (encouragementt for the week): Mostly for the ladies for today, but guys can read for sure ;)

This is based on things I have seen this week or what God has really been speaking to me about.  God has been showing me how sometimes when things don't go our way we are more proneto try and manipulate him and this week it has been in terms of relationships.  We try and change a situation based on emotions and not on God.  We wonder as women "Why did you bring this guy into my life and it was going great and now he doesn't talk to me", or "Well maybe if I just do this he will start pursuing me".  I have seen these things a lot lately.  It hurts when you get your hopes up, but then where is your hope placed?  We have all been here before, it's just not fun and it's confusing.  I hate to see when destructive and hurtful things happen to women when we don't let God lead, and in that leading we need to let guys pursue. Sometimes that looks different to us then it does to God and therefore we need to trust Him.  Sometimes I have to check myself at the end of the day, if I get overly emotional about a situation I ask God, will this really matter at the end of the day?  Is this what is important in my life?  Ladies, seeking a guy is not going to make your life any more fulfilled, let Him pursue you, until then keep your eyes focused on what matters...you and God.  That's it, when that time comes when you are being pursued, let it happen, don't play hard to get, but let that man lead you.  Men are designed for that.  Relationships and marriage is meant to glorify God and is to be pleasing to him, don't settle for less then God's best for you because of the emotions of needing someone.  It will be a beautiful thing. Patience.

On a lighter note here is your music for the week.  In dedication to MuteMath in this blog here is there single for their upcoming CD.

Blessings, Darlings!