it's beginning to feel like winter...

if you know me, you know my favorite thing about winter is mint. i love mint. mint m&ms, candy canes, peppermint mocha, peppermint icecream...
my fridge is officially ready for winter:

and, allison gave me a box of candy canes last night...YUM!

on thursday we had a record high of 60 degrees. apparently that is unheard of in new england in december. not that i'm complaining...

but, all that changed yesterday. last night we had our first real snow. i say real snow because it snowed in october but it wasn't all that much nor did it last too long. last night we got about two inches.

my flowers may not make it...

LESS THAN TWO WEEKS 'TIL TEXAS!!!!!!!!

Psalm 103

1 Praise the Lord, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

6 The Lord works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.

7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 He does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
14 For he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
16 The wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
17 But from everlasting to everlasting
the Lord's love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children's children-
18 with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts

19 The Lord has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.

20 Praise the Lord, you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.
21 Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.
22 Praise the Lord, all his works
everywhere in his dominion.

Praise the Lord, O my soul.

a thanksgiving poem worth sharing

Be Thankful

Be thankful you don't already have everything you desire.
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful you don't know everything,
For it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations,
Because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge,
Because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes.
They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you're tired and weary,
Because it means you've made a difference.

It is easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life full of rich fulfillment comes to those who
Are also thankful for the setbacks.

Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles,
And they can become your blessings.

~Author Unknown~

***HAPPY THANKSGIVING***

winterizing

it's fixin' to get COLD here in new england. if you know me, you know i have a SEVERE DISLIKE for cold. so, i'm trying to find things that will make winter more bearable. it has been suggested that i take up a winter sport; but, i haven't found a hockey class for adults yet...
anyway, i figured if i'm going to be indoors i might as well cycle, so today i bought myself a trainer:



speaking of cold... when my feet are cold i am miserable. as a kid if my feet were cold i couldn't sleep, so my mom would have me soak my feet in a warm bath then put on thick socks. tonight i had the "feet so cold i'm miserable" syndrome so i soaked them in a warm bath and thought of my mommy

although i did survive five weeks of cold last january, i'm a little worried about this winter. i have a feeling i'm going to be needing to buy more fuzzy socks and some flannel pajamas.

LESS THAN A MONTH 'TIL TEXAS!!!!!!!!!

i'm tired... my house is a mess... i've been working 16 hour days... i haven't ironed in weeks... i have ladies fellowship on saturday and i need to figure out something to cook... my job kind of sucks right now... i have Bible study to complete, Sunday School to prepare for....

just when i get completely overwhelmed i remember:

i have a paycheck, a roof over my head, food in my fridge, people who love me, a Savior who died for me

Lord, forgive me for my selfishness. You are so good to me and have blessed me beyond measure.
Thank you.

Psalm 103:2
Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits

Philippians 4:8
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things

delicious

today was a not so good day at work so i decided to make myself dinner. it was the one thing in my day that i didn't ruin.
ta-da:

acorn squash filled with jasmin brown rice with walnuts and cranberries. very fallish and perfect for the season.

i love this kid...

Mal borrowed my new running headband

shamelessly stolen from allison

proof that there was snow on the ground yesterday:
aren't they cute?

oops...

yes, i know i've been terrible at bloggin lately. but, i have been working A LOT. so, here is a quick summary of my life (yes, it will be in list format because i like organization... makes me feel a little more in control):

1. i started going to BSF on Monday nights... i like being back in a structured Bible study
2. my mom came to visit!!! unfortunately, i have no pictures. not too happy about that. BUT,
a. she brought me salsa verde chips, mexican rice, and coffee... i'm pretty sure she had more food in her suitcase than clothes.
b. she bought me by christmas present... much needed new running shoes
c. we had the perfect weather while she was here
d. we went to newport and saw the mansions... did the cliffwalk and toured a couple inside
e. we hiked the blue hills with allison, malarie, and allison's mom
f. we went grocery shopping at least twice and made some lasagna for me to freeze. i have more food in my apartment than i have ever had.
g. we did the tufts 10k for women with 7,000 other ladies
h. my mom successfully rode the subway by herself to the airport
3. i've found my weeks are much more tolerable when i don't work the weekends so i've taken the last couple of days and done some things for myself
a. yesterday i babysat mal and whitney, made chili and vegetable soup to freeze, and made an apple pie completely from scratch
b. today allison and i went to the ymca after church and played some pickup basketball with the boys. we dominated and it was awesome.
5. i bought my first snow shovel today. seriously snowing hard core outside right now. i may have to turn on the heater in the near future.
6. my small group for church was canceled for the third week in a row...this leaves a void in my week

this is my life

Health lesson of the day: I wrote a 20 page paper on the HPA axis (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal) the major part of the neuroendocrine system that deals with stress... but i'll spare you the details and give a short overview i stole off the internet

The physiological effects of stress:
Seventy-five to ninety percent of all doctors visits are due to stress-related ailments and stress-related disorders. Chronic acute stress leads to an out of balance biochemistry with elevated cortisol and suppressed serotonin. These biochemical markers of stress in turn lead to ill health and psychosocial disorders. Consequently, stress plays a major causative role in both physical and mental health.
--increased catecholamines
-- increased corticotropin
--increased cortisol
Chronic stress creates excessive levels of cortisol in the brain, impairing the function of the hippocampus, leading to neuronal atrophy and destruction of neurons, decreased short term and contextual memory, and poor regulation of the endocrine response to stress.
--neuoronal atrophy and destruction of neurons
--decreased short term memory
--decreased contextual memory
Chronic stress affects the immune system by increasing sympathetic activity and decreasing cellular immunity. Immune cells migrate to different parts of the body and can worsen autoimmune and allergic conditions. Over time, this creates a suppression of the natural positive acute mobilization of immune cells to the point of challenge.
--increased sympathetic activity decreases cellular immunity
The effects of chronic stress can create significant damage to the cardiovascular system by increasing the risk of coronary artery disease, elevating blood pressure, increasing atherosclerosis, increasing risk of myocardial infarction, increasing the risk of diabetes, and increasing the likelihood of obesity.

Basically, not only am i becoming incredibly unhealthy, i'm getting dumber as well. great.

speaking of dumb, i was doing a couple hill runs (jogs) in the parking lot tonight since it was pitch black when i got home from work (again). i had put hand weights at the top to do some bicep curls in between sets. about the fifth run up i realized i only had one hand weight at the top instead of the two i started with. i must have not put the weight back in the divet i was using to hold it in place and i guess it rolled away. only me.

side note, in case you don't get a newspaper or watch tv:
DELL ACQUIRES PEROT SYSTEMS FOR $3.9 BILLION

don't worry, we found out today they'll be paying cash. not really sure exactly what it means at this point. dell has said they aren't wanting to downsize us but every merger comes with some sort of reorganization. all i know is that by january dell will be paying my salary and my benefits. who knows, maybe i'll get a new laptop.

oh, whitney

this is a girl after my heart:

she was trying to block out the sounds of her mommy yelling at her to stop climbing on things:

obviously, this is not whitney, but i absolutely love this picture of nate and his boys:

day trippin'

on saturday, my friend, jennifer, and i went to new hampshire and hiked mt. monadnock. then, we went to the beach. we had perfect weather and beautiful scenery. all-in-all a great day.


nobody warned me you were supposed to be experienced

a clearing about 1/3 of the way up

apparently everybody in the north east decided to hike on saturday. the point of the picture is to see how straight up the "trail" is

from the top:

rocks:

seriously, straight up and slippery

token feet picture

dear God, thanks for making mountains

ugh. i thought i had these in order, but apprently not.

house on the beach. looks a little fairytaleish to me. i expect a carosel

feet

kind of looks like a picture in a magazine

rule for the beach: no nudity

seagull

sailboats

beach houses

rock that looks like a flower

august happenings

this is simply going to be a post of stolen pictures.

i'm heartbroken that i couldn't be at radhika's wedding; apparently it was amazing.

some of the henna on radhika for her wedding. check out the level of detail. normally it takes 8-10 hours, but radhika is small so it only took 5-6:

arms. her feet are just as detailed:

wedding day. technically, i think it was wedding day two, but this was at the ceremony. beautiful:

the happy couple:

Mr. and Mrs. Patel:

with trina at the reception:

whitney has started walking and is getting into everything. seriously, you can't leave her alone for two seconds or she has climbed onto something dangerous or destroyed everything in her path. but, she sure looks cute doing it.

she loves climbing onto the dining room chairs. this time eating mal's breakfast:

mal turned 5! she had a puppy/pool party and couldn't have been more excited. this kid is obsessed with puppies. allison did an amazing job making the party perfect.

puppy pinata (side note: allison and dave installed a new sliding door you can see in the background):

bone cake. there was also bone shaped watermelon and bone shaped jello jigglers:

puppy ears for the hair. a puppy collar. a puppy shirt:

since it is rainy/nasty i decided to make french onion soup last night. it was delicious!