Happy Thanksgiving

I am thankful for my husband, for family, for the farm, for tradition, and for delicious food. What are you thankful for?

Our Christmas Gift to Each Other

We've been saving to get this for ourselves this Christmas. I know it's a little early, but we found this great deal on Craigslist - and I want to be able to take family pictures at Thanksgiving this year. Now we just need to start practicing taking pictures. 

Georgi

As mentioned before - our incentive to ourselves for paying off the car was to get a doggy. SO we started looking at local adoption sites. We feel like, with our current schedules, it would be better to rescue an older dog (not a puppy) since neither of us are able to be home a lot. Plus, I really feel like there are so many dogs that need a home, we should take care of the a poor unloved puppy.

Meet Georgi.

We found this little guy online, and instantly fell in love. Only to found out he had been adopted a day earlier. Oh so sad... and yet so happy. We're glad he has a home, but a little heart broken that it wasn't ours.

Since we're still in mourning, we've decided to wait until after the holidays to look again. We just can't take another heartbreak... But you can expect that I will be introducing you to another furry four-legged friend in the near future.

Saturday Farm Party

This past Saturday night our youth ministry hosted a Farm Party at Mainstay Farm in Cleburne, TX. It was so much fun - roasting hot dogs, jumping on a giant jumping pillow, the big maze (in the dark), hay rides, big slide, and of course roasting smores. Such fun and such great students!

Beautiful Kitchen

This kitchen is gorgeous. I love the mix of modern and vintage. It's so warm and inviting...

via Decorology

If you need to laugh...

This is so funny - I hope it makes you laugh as much as I did (there may have been a few tears)

Irish Brown Bread Ice Cream

I love all things Irish. And Ice Cream for that matter... So this weekend (in honor of my dear college roommate's visit, Monica) I think I shall try this:

Doesn't it look delicious? I'll post my own learning and photos after I give it a whirl this weekend.

Courtesy of:
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2010/11/brown-bread-ice-cream-recipe/

Song for the Day

This song seems to fit my melancholy mood today. Plus her voice is pretty amazing.

P.S - thanks to my sweet sweet friend Sarah Wilkening for adding this to a mixed CD....
P.S.S - the video quality is a little wonky.

Ellie

So exciting news... We finally payed off Ellie. Ellie is David's blue Honda Element. After a year of sacrificing so we could make monster payments to her loan, we have finally payed her off. So exciting.

Bonus- our gift to ourselves (that we agreed upon when we first decided to pay Ellie off as quickly as possible) a new doggy :-) We think we're going to wait until after the holidays, since this time of year is so crazy... but I can't wait! Look how nicely pups work with an Element too.

Song in My Head - Mindy Gledhill, Anchor

I really like her voice and lyrics. She's been the soothing musician of the day - a calm voice in the midst of advertising insanity.

Here Comes the Cold

And our house is already shivering... Last year David and I would rock-paper-scissors for who had to get out of the bed first to turn on the rest of the heaters in the house. Oh I think it may have been colder inside than it was outside. Which kind of makes sense when you see our cute little house bundled in snow... plus the fact that the home was built in the 20's and has NO insulation.

Hoping for a little bit of a warmer winter this year!

I love these rustic country cottages...

(via My Black Book)

Verse for Memory

Galatians 3:24-26
So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

"Run, John, run the law commands,

But gives me neither feet nor hands;

Far better news the gospel brings:

It bids me fly; it gives me wings."

-John Bunyan

Lone Oak Winery

Saturday David and I visited the Lone Oak Winery in Burleson, TX. I've been eager to try some Texas wine and Saturday was so beautiful... so we just had to get outdoors. It was the perfect day to visit - they were hosting a little Fall Festival, with free tastings and pumpkin pie. Plus a live band and a scavenger hunt. You had clues that led you to different rows in the vineyard - then you wrote down the corresponding grape on that row. They drew a winner at the end of the event for a free bottle of wine. Sad to say we didn't win.

I think my favorite part was meeting the vineyard owner - he was so helpful and even let us taste wines as they were stabilizing in the vats. We tried a Viognier and a Chardonnay. The Chardonnay was my favorite! Which is really exciting because I have yet to discover a Chardonnay I really like - the sad part, is the wine isn't done yet. He said it will be ready around Christmas time. And boy I can't wait!

Check the vineyard out here - http://www.loneoakwinery.com/

Oh and thanks to my super cool college roommate, Monica, for introducing us to the vineyard and for giving us a free tour and tasting on my birthday (last year...) 

Happy Halloween

From the X-Men...

The 2nd Annual Great Pumpkin Chase

This year was our High School ministry's second Great Pumpkin Chase. All of our small groups get dressed up, meet at the church, and then go on a scavenger hunt taking photos, earning points, and chasing the pumpkin.

This year's pumpkin was Will - and he made a great pumpkin! Watch this promo video David made and you'll see what I mean.


The Great Pumpkin from CCBC HSM on Vimeo.

So my D-Team decided to dress up as nerdy super heroes. We had Reflector Girl, Denture Girl, Nerdy Cow Girl... and oh so much more. I was a nerdy ninja! It was a lot of fun. We came in second place, but were still so proud of our creativity and speedy scavenging.

Can't wait for Halloween - but still haven't picked out a costume yet... eek.

The Birthday Party

So Saturday was a great birthday. David and I spent the morning together, and he gave me my awesome and shiny new bday gift - a polaroid camera. yipee! Then we went to work at the local Sharefest festival in Como (a really poverty stricken area of Fort Worth) - my job... paint little girls' fingernails. So fun.

Afterwords we ran errands together, and then came home to prep for muh party! Due to the rain we had to set up some tables inside, but everyone fit perfectly! We had a long table and passed around food Thanksgiving-style. And boy did it feel like Thanksgiving - the food was awesome.

The Menu:

Momma's homemade fried chicken

Sweet corn on the cob

Mashed potatoes (courtesy of Caitlin)

Salad (courtesy of Danielle)

Green Been Casserole (courtesy of Ashley)

Corn Bread

Banana Pudding (Courtesy of Leslie)

The food was so good! And since the original plan had to alter due to weather (David had a projector and a sheet ready so we could watch a movie under the stars... rain check, literally), we all hung out indoors and played games. It was a great way to start the 24th year.

The 24th year has begun.

Birthday week was a success... In college my roommate Monica and I started the fabulous tradition of birthday week. There are no set rules to birthday week, except that said person's birth should be celebrated for an entire week. So naturally this tradition has carried over into married life.

Mr. Holland is particularly good at surprising me and making me feel loved, so birthday week is nothing out of the ordinary for him... but he does go to extra lengths to celebrate the next year of life together. For bday week this year, he surprised me by taking me to lunch on Monday, to a Dallas hotspot, Rusty's Tacos. Oh it was so delicious, and it was just a nice break from a hectic Monday.

Tuesday we celebrated with friends, the Barretts, by hanging out in the downtown Fort Worth pub, The Fox and the Hound, to celebrate another victorious win for the Rangers, who by the way, I am a big fan of now. I have always been a fan who roots for the underdog, so yes, I jumped on the band wagon...

Wednesday was pretty typical work, Junior Girl's small group, a leader dinner, sleep. Thursday was eventful - I over slept, was late to work (a big deal at The Richards Group), played catch up all day, and then began my drive home, only to stop for a flat tire. I was pretty down in the dumps, until Dave showed up to take care of me and then treat me to a sweet Italian meal in Dallas. Plus, we got to split some tiramisu with an old friend in town for work, from Orlando.

Friday, of course, was the big Ranger's win! A great way to end a long work week... And Saturday was the big day... more to come in the next post.

25 before I turn 25...

Tomorrow I will be turning 24 years old. And in celebration of another year of life, I have created a bucket list of the 25 things I want to do before I turn 25.

1.     Read the last 10 years of Booker Man prize winners
 http://www.themanbookerprize.com/prize/archive

2.     25 hours of community service (not including high school ministry)

http://www.ftworthnursingandrehab.com/default.asp?

3.     Run 25 miles (throughout the year)

4.     Visit and try new things in Fort Worth (see list of ideas)

a.     Fort Worth Science Museum

b.     Movie night at the Modern Museum

c.      Scatt Jazz Lounge

d.     Play at Casa Manana

e.     Billy Bobs

f.      See something at the Bass Performance Hall

g.     Tavernas

h.     Rahr Brewery

i.      Winery

j.       Train Ride to Granbury (mystery train ride)

k.     Concert

l.       May Fest

m.   Rodeo

n.     Dinosaur park

o.     Log cabin village

p.    Stock Show (Jan-Feb)

q.      Water Garden

r.      Nana Tatas

s.      Ammon Carter Museum

t.     Eat at Curlys

u.     Avoca Coffee

5.     Record our life in photos and blog entries (at least 25 before I turn 25)

6.     Memorize scripture (25 new verses)

7.     Hang pictures in our house

8.     Finish our wedding album

9.     Learn something new

10. Write a letter to an old friend

11. Support a friend in missions

12.  Plant a small garden

13.  Find the best Chardonnay under $20

14. Have our neighbors over to dinner

15.  Start a new family tradition

16.  Write an article and submit it to a publication

17.  Sinclair Ferguson’s class?

18.  Sponsor a refugee family

19.  Get a library card

20.  Go camping and rock climbing (again)

21.  Take a road trip to Kanakuk with friends

22. Spend a week in Paris with David

23. Paint a painting for our house

24. Take a Saturday sewing lesson

25. Learn how to cook Paad Thai

Who knows if I actually will accomplish all of this... but over the next year, I intend to write about it and see where I end up.