What I love about Sundays...

Today was such a great Sunday!  Here is a bit of what we've been up to!

John and I have felt the Lord releasing us to look for a new church home.  So, we started out our day trying out a new church.  We woke up early to make it to the early service.

Once we got home we made a wonderful breakfast!  Wishing I had a picture to show you...we made a black bean, egg, and avocado sandwich!  We are a family that loves black beans, thanks to my Costa Rican hubby!  So, if you love black beans as much as we do, then you would love this sandwich! 

I found a new app for my iphone that I absolutley love, called Lose It.  So this sandwich was definitely a low cal and filling meal to get our day started. 

After breakfast we finished up our tax refund (I know we barely made it!) and then headed to the bike store to get J's bike all fixed up for the MS 150 in 6 days! 

Then, the best thing happened!  It started to rain!  I love nothing more than being home, off from work, on a rainy day.  John and I snuggled up on the couch to watch a movie as I graded some papers.  Oh, and Beau and the kitties had to get in on the snuggling action!

My kittie-bitties

 Yes, that is Beau under the blanket with his feet hangin off the couch and an i-pad on him! 

 Gotta love it!

After all the snuggling, we were hungry.  So I made this...

Tilapia with Garlic-Plum Sauce, brown rice, and green beans. 

I'm not a big fish fan, but this turned out delish!

 Here is what you need:  (from left to right-all found at HEB) grape seed oil, garlic plum thai sauce (HEB), Teriyaki Ginger seasoning, and this amazing Lundberg brown rice.  This rice is the best brown rice I've found!  It's loaded with iron and fiber.  We love to make ours with onion, garlic, and chicken broth to add more flavor. 

 First, thaw out your tilapia filets.  Pat them dry and then add the teriyaki ginger rub on both sides of the filets.  Then fry them up in some grape seed oil for about 2-3 min. on each side.  Steam some green beans and put them on top while adding in some chicken broth for extra moisture.  Last, add the garlic plum thai sauce to the top and cover with the lid for a few minutes with the heat on low. 

 Cook the brown rice...I started mine early because this tends to take a while to cook. When the rice was almost done, I started to cook the tilapia since it doesn't take long.

 Here's a lil' cheezy picture taken by the hubby...

 Then, Wah-lah!  This dish is full of protein and very low cal. 

It is still pouring down rain, so I'm about to be back on the couch for some more snuggle time before my week begins!

P.S.  35 days left til summer!!! 

Shoulder-To-Shoulder Time

I first heard of this term, Shoulder-To-Shoulder Time, at a marrriage conference my husband and I attended a few years ago. 

 (please ignore the photo in which I have no make-up on...I just thought it was a good shoulder-to-shoulder pic!)



As soon as there were words put to this, it made perfect sense.  After all, my husband loves to share this with me, so it was not unfamiliar to say the least.  I was just glad to have words to describe it. 

~Shoulder-to-Shoulder Time~

Spending time with your loved one for the purpose of just being by his side.  Shoulder-to-shoulder.  No other agendas or plans.  Just spending time with him doing something he loves.

It doesn't even have to be anything big!  For us it has been as simple as me sitting out in the garage reading a book while he works on one of his projects he has up his sleeve.  It's drinking coffee together in our study while we have quiet time or we're both just reading.  It's sitting on our back porch sharing our favorite Saint Arnold beer.  Nothing fancy, but we both walk away feeling a little closer. 

Warning...this can be challenging at times!

It may stretch you to do things you wouldn't normally do. 

For me, it was finally stepping into a hobby (cycling) that my husband loves, but for the longest time I was scared to even try.  But, he was important enough to me, so I stepped out of my comfort zone to join in some shoulder-to-shoulder time with my man. 

I know he has felt blessed, loved, and important to me.  I'm filling up his love tank.  I'm investing in him. 

But let me tell you, this time has been such a gift to me too!  Now cycling is one of our favorite things to do together. 

It has been such a gift in our marriage. 

So, I encourage you today to spend some shoulder-to-shoulder time with your man.  I'm pretty sure you will walk away just as blessed!

And no, honey, just in case you are reading this...I'm not going to scuba dive!!!  You're on your own there buddy!

Hello!

Hello dear friends and family!  I've missed you!

Now that school is beginning to somewhat slow down (9 weeks left!) my desire & time for blogging is growing again.

The Lord has been doing so much in our lives and I can't wait to begin to share again. 

Forgive the look of my blog for the time being as it is under construction by my sweet husband. 

Hopefully we will get it fixed soon!  Stay tuned...

Healthy Start, Healthy Heart

Happy New Year!

We had fun welcoming the new year with all of John's family in Dallas.

Here are a few pics from Christmas at home...too bad most of the other pictures were so blurry!

As I begin this new year I've definitley been thinking of my New Year's resolutions. 

Along with many others, I want to have a healthy start to 2012. 

I'm excited to try the Advocare 24 Day Challenge kit that happens to be on sale right now for a limited time!  As I've mentioned before, I used Advocare in college and fell in love with their products.  John and I have recently started using their products again for our cycling and found that these products give us amazing energy for our rides.  I won't be taking this challenge on alone though.  My mom has decided to do it with me!  I look forward to sharing our results! 

Along with my healthy start, I plan on getting a healthy heart.  Thanks to my new gift from Santa, it should be pretty easy!  With just 30-60 minutes a day working out in my target heart rate training zone, the pounds should start to fall off!  I mean c'mon!  Who doesn't have an extra 30-60 minutes a day to work out??!?  In all seriousness, I truly hope I can get in at least 150 minutes of exercise a week...should be fun, especially when I start to see some results!

More importantly than any exercise or piece of workout equipment, I want to get my heart spiritually healthy. 

John and I have been going through a hard season in many areas of our life. 

It hasn't been easy.  In fact, it has been pretty ugly at times. 

Thank you for your GRACE, Jesus. 

Jesus never said it would be easy, but He did promise that He would never leave us or forsake us.  He has not forgotten us.  With Him we have HOPE.

 We have both heard clearly from the Lord that He is bringing us into a NEW & EXCITING season.  We don't know what that means or looks like.  But we are very excited.

After a phone date with my sweet friend last night, the Lord addressed my heart. 

He addressed my heart in it's deepest places. 

Friends, I am still in awe of what He told me. 

I pray that if you've been hurting, aching, longing, or hoping for anything in your life...that you would go to our Heavenly Father with your heart.

He will be FAITHFUL to address it.

The Big Apple

We had an amazing time in New York City!

I have Alicia Key's "New York" song running through my head.  You should listen to the song if you've never heard it.  J and I love that song and NYC!

Here are the words and pictures that tell about our trip:

wonderful

cold

busy

WALKING (a lot!)

FUN

quality time

pea coats

umbrellas, rain, and did I say cold??

anniversary, LOVE, gift...

Riding the subway

Buildings

9-11 Freedom Tower

getting lost

CHRISTMAS

For me, the highlight of the trip was getting to be on The Late Show with David Letterman!!!  I know!!  Can you beleive it?  We couldn't.  I'm still pinching myself - front row seats!! 

For John, the highlight of the trip was visiting the Brooklyn Bridge.  He LOVES architecture, engineering, and photography...so you can only imagine how special this was for him. 

This trip was FULL of gifts from the Lord.

6 Years

In just 12 days we will be here...

and here...

and here...

Here we are at the Central Park ice skating rink in December 2007!

This December we will be celebrating our 6th anniversary. 

 Thank you to my wonderful parents, we have been able to go to New York for our 2nd, 4th, and now our 6th wedding anniversary. 

Thank you Mom and Dad!!!

John has an upcoming birthday and I just celebrated my 30th, so this trip is also in celebration of our birthdays.  We are so excited to spend Thanksgiving break there this year for some much needed relaxation...actually I'm not too sure about how much relaxing we will do! 

 

More pictures to come when we get back!

Watch for us on TV at the Macy's Day Parade! 

30 years of LIFE

Today I turned 30!

30

THIRTY

3 Tens & 0 Ones

30 years of life

I've never thought twice or cared about turning another year older until today. 

A part of me wants to scream and tell time to STOP because there is so much more I've

 dreamed,

 planned,

 and imagined,

 for my life by the time I would be 30...

and yet it's different than what I thought. 

What a lesson I am learning from my Heavenly Father who

knows

me

better

than

I

know

myself.

He says, Cindy,

 "My plans are not your plans,

but if you

 seek me

 with

all

 of your

heart

 you will find

me."

"Only there will you find

peace

rest

joy

satisfaction

and

LIFE."

My response can only be, "Yes, Lord, I will seek you."

"There is no place I would rather be than in your will and presence."

So, as I enter into my 30's I will wait on the Lord and watch His beautiful plans unfold for my life. 

Thank you Jesus for how LOVED you have made me feel today. 

I have such a loving husband who has surprised me with gifts and a sweet lunch in my classroom.

My parents surprised me with a cake and flowers at school.  It was wonderful knowing they were reminiscing about what a "wonderful surprise" I was 30 years ago.

My wonderful team at school made me feel so special with a card and balloons.

A sweet co-worker left a cupcake on my desk.

A card from my family in Austin arrived in the mail and truly blessed me.

Texts and phone calls galore wishing me a happy birthday.

Thank you Lord for all these gifts today!

Cozy Fall Weekend

This weekend started out great!  I just finished up all of my Fall conferences with parents and was also recovering from a bad cold I fought all last week.  What a better way to celebrate than going out with great friends!  We had such a great time with our good friends as we ate at The Fish (a sushi restaurant) in Midtown. After dinner we walked around town a bit and then had delicious crepes for dessert!

By the end of the night my sweet hubby started to feel a bit under the weather.  The next day he woke up with the same cold I was just getting over.  By the way, he never gets sick!  So our Saturday was spent in pj's watching movies, while I caught up on laundry.  I know it sounds boring, but we love days like that ~ except the being sick part.  

So today, with a hubby still sick in bed, I decided to head out to the store to get some goodies to bring to our block party tonight ~ which I may very well be attending alone.  :-(  I also got all the ingredients for our Halloween night dinner with my parents tomorrow.  More to come on that in a later post!

~ Vanilla cupcakes with Fall colored sprinkles ~

~Corn Dip with Fritos Scoops~

3 cans Mexicorn (11oz drained)

1 can green chiles (4oz)

1 bag mexican cheese

1 cup mayo

1 cup sour cream

1 bundle green onions

1/4 cup jalapenos diced (less if too spicy)

1 tbs. garlic powder

Mmmm Mmmm Good!  

Random

Here are a few random things that I wanted to share with you!  I have been super swamped at school with parent/teacher conferences so I'm sitting down to "blog" and just relax.

1.  I got an i-phone.  Yes, I can't believe it either.  Ok, maybe I'm being just a bit dramatic, but if you know me well, you would know how opposed I have always been to anything "i".  After several dead batteries and failed internet connections I finally kissed my blackberry goodbye.  I'm SO GLAD I DID!!  My life hasn't changed this much since I came to know Jesus!  Ha!! 

2.  I park in the parking spots designated for "Parent with Child" at HEB.  Yep!  You heard me right.  I park there any chance I get.  What gives me the joy to park in this priviledged spot is that this is a courtesey, not a law.  I would never break the law.  Ever. 
 However, I do choose to park here for these reasons:
#1 - I do not have kids yet, and that is out of my control.  If it were up to me, I would have 2 by now, moving onto my 3rd! 
#2 - I too, along with mothers, am tired and not to thrilled about grocery shopping.  So, the closest spot is fair game and really helps me get in and out quickly after a long day at work.

Can you tell that I just got back from HEB, so this random thought was fresh on my mind!  To my friends with kiddos, please know that I would love you to park there too...you better just hope that I'm not in parking lot!  :-) 

3.  I am an official Advocare distributor.  Advocare is a line of nutritional products.  John and I have been using some of their products when we cycle and have loved them.  So now I sell them!  Please let me know if you are interested and I would love to tell you more about it.

4.  Last weekend John and I got to meet our best friends son for the first time!  We not only met him for the first time, but we also babysat him!  I cannot even tell you how much fun we had taking care of this little pumpkin.  He was adorable and such a CUTIE!!!  I think my favorite part was rocking him to sleep.  I can't wait for the day I have a child of my own to hold and cradle in my arms.  We are praying expectantly and have peace that surpasses all understanding because we know Jesus has plans better than we could ever imagine.  That is His PROMISE to us.

Hope you enjoyed reading this random blog post!  Don't forget to leave a comment below as I would love to hear from you.

Rest

That is what I am doing today...resting.  After a long 2 days/nights of throwing up, fever, endless sleeping, body aches, and chills the fog is finally lifting and I'm starting to feel back to my normal self.  Still tired and weak because I've only been able to eat a few sips of soup and some crackers yet my mind is so bored and ready to do anything but sleep!

So, I thought, there is no better time to try and catch up on my blogging while I'm at home in bed.  I will start with the latest event in our life ~ our trip to Denver!!

A few weeks ago, John was asked to go to Denver for work and I got to tag along!  Best weekend ever is all I can say!!

Here we are at the "Fin, Feather, and Fur" event that John had to work at.

Our morning routine ~ Starbucks!

As we drove up to Mt. Evans on our last morning there, we had to pull over to snap this picture! 

Can you believe the color of these aspen trees???  We were in awe of how beautiful they were! 

We've already started to plan our trip back next September!