Rough Sunday, rough week, Fabulous Saturday

This week didn't seem to go so well.

It all started on Sunday, when I was coming back to Ardmore after spending the weekend at my parents for my birthday. My car acted up again- I noticed it on the turnpike, but thank God, I managed to get to a Villanova parking lot before it completely stopped. I was upset because the car was doing the same thing that happened not even three weeks earlier- and I had supposedly gotten everything fixed. So I got my car towed to the same place, just to find out on Monday that the car was apparently acting fine- they couldn't find the problem because they couldn't get the car to "act up again." What? What? The car totally stopped dead at a red light on Rt 30- there is most definitely a problem here. So what happened? Did they not find a problem three weeks ago and just told me it was a vaccum hose when it really wasn't? Why did the car seem fine until 3 weeks later? Did they really find the problem this time or just told me some lie to appease me? The car seems to be ok for now, but I feel like I'm on borrowed time here- the car was fine for almost three weeks after the first incident, so what's to say that in another 2-3 weeks it won't happen again? It's frustrating and worrisome, to say the least.

That started the week off on a bad note for me, and just went downhill from there. I felt very blah this week, totally down and out, not myself. I took a week off from the gym, because I completely lacked motivation to go. I skipped community group on Monday (even though my car was still in the shop, I knew I could have called somebody to take me, but I just didn't feel like going) and I had to literally drag myself out of bed to go to work each morning. Plus, each day seemed like a year.... the time dragged on and on and on.

However, after taking time to just relax last night, I felt very much more myself. Mentally, I hated skipping the gym this week, especially because I wasn't being very nutritionally sound this week either. But physically, I think I really needed the break. I excercised again this morning and felt much better about it. Tomorrow I'm going to put together new workouts- I think I was getting bored with them, which probably accounted for a lot of my unmotivation. Plus, I mapped out some more fitness goals, which always helps!

I slept in this morning which was so lovely. I leisurely checked my email, excercised, ate breakfast, showered and got ready for the day, and then called my mom and made a date for a girls day with her! Yay! And it was just what I needed. She got to my apartment a little after noon, and we made sauteed veggies in tomato basil sauce (one of our new favorite recipes) for lunch. I really needed to go grocery shopping (another thing I neglected to do this week in my un-motivated, lazy state) so we went to Whole Foods and picked up a few things. Then we headed to the KOP mall for some shopping! We hit up NY&Co, one of our favorite stores. They didn't have a great selection today (it can be hit or miss for us) but mom tried on a pair of dress pants that looked AWESOME on her, which also showed off that she's been losing weight, which made her super happy. (Both she and my dad have been on Weight Watchers for about 5-6 weeks or so, and they're both doing so great, I'm so proud of them!) Then we went to Charlotte Russe, one of my favorite stores. We both bought these beautiful accessory scarves, and I also picked up three new shirts, and an AWESOME pair of earrings- big dangly ones that look like the eye on a peacock's feathers. Not so coincidently, they look awesome with every shirt I bought today, plus the one I was already wearing. Nice! :)

We stopped in a few more stores to browse a bit, and then went to Blue Pacific, this awesome sushi/chinese bistro in the mall. It feels like you're underwater, because it has soft blue lighting, lots of fishtanks in the walls, and sea decorations all over. They have such great food, I highly recommend it. Normally I get their sushi, but I tried the chinese today and got pad thai. Mom got a delicious seafood noodle dish that was the special. Yummy! Afterward we treated ourselves to dessert and had some frozen yogurt at TCBY.

Later, we went back to my apartment and watched some Bones episodes. Britt got us watching the show, and it's great. Booth and Brennan, the two main characters, have such great chemistry. Actually, I love all the characters on the show. They're a riot. :)

The perfect day ended when Mom had to head back home. :( But before she left, we made guacamole from the two avacadoes I picked up at Whole Foods. It's the first time I made homemade guacamole and it was DELICIOUS! Thank you Whole Foods, for putting the "RIPE" stickers on the avacadoes.... because I really don't think I'd ever be able to tell a ripe avacado from an un-ripe one without that sticker. They were PERFECT for making guacamole. Plus they were on sale. Yay! Which makes up for the ridiculously expensive goat cheese I bought because I read the wrong sign. That's the one thing I hate about Whole Foods..... they sometimes don't have prices listed at all, and often times, if they do, they're not clearly labeled, or the sign is not posted where it should be, so you read the wrong label. That's happened to me twice now, where I spent way more than I ever would have on a food product because their signs stink. Other than that though I like Whole Foods a lot.

Anyway, after having a slow, not so great week, it surely ended with a fabulous day today. I'm so glad and grateful I have such a wonderful, loving family, and that I can spend so much time with them. I really treasured the day I had with my mom today. It was such a blessing.

On that note, I'm heading to bed cause I have to wake up for Church tomorrow, so I'm praying hard that my car gets me to and from Church without any problems! I appreciate any prayers sent in my direction as well! :)

26 years

Saturday was my 26th birthday. It felt like just another day.... it was just another day. But I felt a little sad as I looked back on my life so far... I don't feel like I've done much with it. I want something more.... I need something more fulfilling. Well, is it that, or do I just need to be more thankful? I am thankful and grateful for my life so far. I've been blessed in so many ways- a loving wonderful family, good friends, good health, an able working body, a place to live, a car to drive, a great education, jobs.... the list goes on. I have so much to be thankful for, and I am extremely thankful for these blessings. God has been so good to me. But I want to get the most out of life that I can. I want to have selfless love and be giving and kind, a true servant to others. I don't want to compare myself to others. I want to help those in need in whatever way I can. I want the light of Jesus Christ in my life to shine through me in everything I do... I want to be a good witness for him. I don't want to be ashamed of Christ, I want people to see him when they look at me, interact with me. I want to be God's hands and feet.

I hope and pray that my 26th year brings me closer to these goals of mine.

Fall is in the air!

Oh, fall is just around the corner, I can feel it.... the shorter days, the cooler nights, the leaves hinting at changing color, kids going back to school, apple cider ready at County Line Orchard...(best fruit ever there, yum!) I love fall. I can't wait till we're fully immersed in it. Bring it on! :)

Upcoming events and God's blessings

So after coming to CFC, my social life has greatly expanded! There are so many fun events coming up that I'm really excited for. And as a member of two community groups (Monday night Newtown Square and Tuesday night Media) I have even more opportunities for fun events! Monday night group is my "home group".... it was the one I first attended. I started going to the Tuesday Media group to get to know more people. It's funny, both groups compliment each other very well. Some days I get more fellowship from the Monday group and more leadership/wisdom/mentorship from the Tuesday group, and other times it's reversed. I love it and I love all the people in both groups! They've been so awesome. :)

Upcoming events that I'm so excited for are as follows: this Saturday, we're going to a conference out in Lancaster called 1 single Day.... it's for singles aged 20 and up, and it's held at the farm of Crossway Church of Lancaster. I've never been there, but lots of my friends from CFC highly recommend it. I'm going to head to Jason's house (the leader of my Monday community group) for breakfast, and then we're carpooling to Lancaster. On Monday, the community group is meeting at Phil's house for pizza, and then going bowling, sweet! :) I haven't been bowling in so long but I love it! I can't wait!

Labor Day weekend will be upon us, and my family is packing it full of fun, since it will be the last hoorah before my grandparents head back to Florida, so I'm really looking forward to that. The weekend after is my birthday (26- don't know how I feel about that :P) and then the next day is the big chicken bbq at CFC. And Sunday Sept 20 is a special zills (finger cymbals) class for bellydance that I'm really looking forward to... oh which reminds me, I bought a sword! Now I can practice bellydancing with a sword on my head, it's so awesome! :)

Anyway, these are some of the fun events coming up for me.... I'll try to remember to keep updating as I go!

Onto the God's blessings part of the blog.... as I said before, I've been really trying to deepen my relationship with God, by reading my Bible and doing my devotions and praying more.... and I feel the changes in me already. It's been awesome. :) But life isn't always rainbows and kittens, and bad things happen too.... and last night, as I was headed to Tuesday night community group, my car sort of broke down. I say sort of because it didn't completely die, it was just really sputtering and lurching... it happened as I was idling at a red light... right at Rt 1. Thankfully, I safely crossed over Rt 1 and pulled my car into a convenience store lot. Thank God for keeping me safe! Breaking down in the middle of Rt 1 would have been a disaster... I don't even want to think about it. After calling triple A for a tow, I found out my membership expired. But they could renew it over the phone, thank God for that! Then the tow guy arrived (and I didn't have to wait too long, either) and was SO nice. He stopped at a Wawa to let me pull out cash to pay him, and then drove me home to my house so I didn't have to walk the 1.5 miles back to my house from the shop we took my car to. Thank God for that! THEN my roommate actually had to work morning shift (9-4) at Borders today, so he could take me to work and pick me up... Thank God for that! And the best part? I got a call at 11:20 am from the shop, saying my car was fixed, it was just a broken vaccum line, and the total was only $100.65. Thank God for that! God was so good to me. When everything first happened, I was so tempted to cry and get angry over my situation, but right away I decided to look at the bright side and blessings of things (I was in a safe location, my car hadn't completely died, that sort of thing) instead of crying the blues about the bad stuff. I also tried to remember that I should just be thankful I have a car- in my devotions I've been doing lately, I've been exposed to how blessed I am, and how little others have. So many are starving, have no place to live, are sick or dying, are forced into slavery either in workhouses or sex trade rings... the list goes on and on. How can I cry about my situation when there are so many others who are suffering so much more? They would love to have a car, broken down or not. They would love to have a broken car be their worst problem! I was put in my place right away, which made it so much easier to see the blessings in the midst of my small troubles. And look- God was so kind to me. I only pray that I would be able to sing of God's blessings had my situation turned out differently and hadn't been so good- that's the mark of a true believer. I pray that I can keep growing, that God keeps refining me, so that when real troubles come, when I'm in the midst of really bad storms, that I can still sing praises during those times, that I can still say "It is well with my soul."

Thank God for Covenant Fellowship Church

So thankful for Covenant Fellowship Church.

Really, words can't describe how thankful I am that I was lead to CFC. The people there are so wonderful and uplifting.... they've challenged me to spiritually grow just by leading by example. They literally shine for Jesus. I looked at them and thought, "I'm a Christian, but I don't have a relationship with God like they do. And I want that. I want what THEY have!"

And the past few weeks have been amazing. I'm loving my deeping relationship with God, I'm loving the fellowship and leadership I've been experiencing at CFC, I'm loving all the fun things I'm involved in now, I'm loving being loved by all the people at CFC. It's ironic... I was always afraid of going to a big Church because I thought I'd be lost and forgotten and left out.... just a nameless face in the crowd, and that at a small Church, I'd be known, loved, accepted.... but it's been the reverse for me. Not always- Lansdale was a much smaller Church than CFC, about 300 total members, but I loved it there... I just didn't get to be a part of it like I wanted to because I was going home so often. But in terms of the Church I grew up in, yeah, with about 250 total members, it's a smaller Church.... and I never felt more isolated, left out, rejected and beaten down than I ever had before or since. And not just me- it happened to my whole family, and I'd seen it happen to others in the Church too. It breaks my heart to see a Church so segregated and in such disarray. Unity has been absent at Grace for a long, long time.

Anyway, that was a long time ago, and I'm just thankful that God has led me to CFC. He has definitely led me here, it's where I am supposed to be... I can trace God's hand leading me all the way from 8th grade... it's amazing! His hand was always upon me, he was always near, through good times and bad, through times when I was close to him and when I rebelled and stepped away from him, even when I was in situations where I couldn't see him and couldn't understand his ways.... looking back, things are so much clearer now. I don't know exactly why God has led me to CFC.... but I'm so thankful he did, and I'm so excited to find out! :)

Wildwood beach day, breakfast, and baby showers

I realized that I forgot to post about my beach day last Saturday. My mom and sister and I did end up going, and we had a great time! Lovely weather for it. My mom and sister came up on Friday night to spend the night, since my house is a lot closer to the beach than either of theirs. We woke at 5:15 am, got ready, had some warm cinnamon buns for breakfast (yum!) and headed out by 6 am. We didn't hit any traffic and made great time, getting to my Aunt's hotel by a little after 8 am. My aunt and cousins were only just getting up, so we didn't get out till the beach till about 9:30 or so. But we got a great spot, the weather was wonderful, the water warm, and we had a great time and stayed out on the beach till 5 pm. Well, I went up at 4 so I could get a head start on showering. Considering it was my Aunt, my mom, my four cousins, Britt and I, two significant others, one friend, and two little kids (13 total) we needed some extra time! :) But we were eventually all ready for dinner. We ended up going to Kelly's Pub, which was only a block or so away from the hotel. It had great food and PHENOMENAL live music. The guy was from Philly but I don't remember his name, darn it! Usually I hate live music cause it's too loud and not that great, but this guy was fabulous. For dinner I ended up getting a taco wrap (basically it was a soft shell taco almost) but it was soooo good. :)

After much persuasion, my mom finally let us leave by around 9 pm. I really wanted to go to Church the next day, so I didn't want to get home too late. Leaving around 9 would have gotten us home around 11, 11:30 at the latest.... or so I thought. Just crossing over the Walt Whitman bridge, we were STOPPED. The phillies game just let out, so there was TONS of traffic, and then to top it all off, thanks to stupid Philly's ridiculous construction (to which I saw nothing happening when we finally drove by!) 5-6 lanes of traffic had to merge into ONE LANE. I was SO not happy, especially since I was driving and everyone else was miserable too. We sat there for over an hour to go not even 2 miles. We finally got home a tiny bit before 1 am. We still may have made it to Church the next day, except that we awoke to a HUGE downpour, and I know the roads around here flash flood pretty easily, and my Church is about 45 min away, so we ended up missing Church and going to breakfast at IHOP instead. Which was delicious, but I hated missing Church, so when we came home, my mom and I (Britt wasn't really paying attention :P) had a Bible study for ourselves. Overall, it was a great weekend and ended up being way too short!

This weekend should be nice too. Tomorrow I'm heading to Media to have breakfast with my community group (aka Bible study) girls, which I'm really looking forward to. Then in the early afternoon I'm going to my friend/co-worker Lauren's baby shower! I had such fun picking out the present. :) Even though I know it's a girl, I ended up getting all yellow stuff. I didn't want her to be overwhelmed with pink, and the yellow was precious. I got a soft yellow fleece blanket with chicks on it (Phoebe will be born at the end of October, so a warm blanket will be nice!) plus I got an adorable hoodie bath towel that's yellow and white with little ducks all over it. I did get a little pink stuff though... I bought pink and white bootie socks for her. They're so tiny and cute! :) I hope Lauren likes them!

Anyway, that's what's on the agenda for tomorrow... if I remember I'll try to check in and write about how everything went!

beach day?

Ooh, just found out my mom and sister and I may do a day at the beach on Saturday! Our Aunt and cousins will be there this weekend so we may head down to Wildwood, NJ for the day. It's supposed to be nice weather and I'd love to get to the beach once more before summer ends... keeping my fingers crossed that this works out! :)