My Week in Bullets

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Dust off that motivation, along with the keyboard, and get to work on those 5K Friday posts! Tomorrow is our first official week to post, link up, and share some encouraging words! Can't wait to see what y'all have been doing! For more information and instructions, click here!
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I've typed, deleted, and retyped the first sentence of this post 6 times now. There's just no easy way to lead in to a post that I know will be disjointed, wandering, and random. If you don't do random, bullet lists, and week-to-date recaps, then you should probably just skip this one and come back tomorrow for 5K Friday. Otherwise, proceed...but you have been warned!


Still with me? Off we go!

This Week
(in bullets)

• Monday/Monday Late-Afternoon: Another glorious day at the office followed by the last round of vaccinations for El Salvador. (I really do need to post again about my trip. For those of you that haven't been around GM long enough to know what I'm talking about, you can do some catching up here, here, and here.) I met Rachel at Target, carpooled downtown, where we met up with another team member going to El Salvador, Allen. We all three had immunizations left on our list, so we decided to make it a group effort. The last shot I had on my list was the Typhoid vaccine. I've been subjected to a myriad of shots in the past two weeks -- Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, MMR, and Tetanus -- and the Typhoid shot was by far the most painful. Once we were finished being pin cushions protected from creepy jungle viruses vaccinated, we decided it was time for dinner. Since Rachel and I were such troopers Allen offered to treat us to dinner at a downtown restaurant he's been wanting to try. Which brings us to....
• Monday Evening: We follow Allen to his mystery restaurant. We're surrounded by unassuming-looking office buildings, until we come to a white, wooden door. Allen, always the gentleman, opens the door for us and we find ourselves surrounded by this...and this...and this...You've got to be kidding me! Bear in mind that Rachel is sporting a dazzling pair of cut-off jean shorts, complete with frayed hems. She's accented the shorts with a delightful white t-shirt from her high school volleyball days. To set off the ensemble she chose to pair it with black flip-flops. I had personally done only slightly better for myself...wearing dark jeans, a cute summery top from Target, while pulling it all together with black, rubber, Old Navy flip-flops. Certainly nothing worthy of what we discovered Cafe Bel Ami to be. We did our very best to be exceedingly classy, polite, and cultured with our waitress (who looked ready to give us the boot, or make us wash dishes to pay for our meals at any moment) to make up for our fashion faux pas. The food was delicious, the atmosphere was beautiful, the company was fantastic, but I have never been so ready to leave a restaurant in my life! Allen was so good-natured about it...he just made us promise to leave the flip-flops at home the next time he offered dinner. Yeah...you think? Anyone else getting a very "Pretty Woman"-ish vibe off of that entire dining experience? Just call me Vivian! After surviving Monday it's on to...
• Tuesday: Tuesday evening was my date with Rachel, Sarah Jane, and Gavin DeGraw! The girls and I had been anxiously awaiting his concert for a week! Rachel is in love with the man, and while he's not my usual cup o' tea (see The Husband on my sidebar) he can sing, and he does have rather delightful biceps shoulder muscles eyes. We ducked out just after Gavin finished crooning and headed home. We're not as young as we used to be...bed was calling! After a not-nearly-long-enough night of sleep I find myself right in the middle of...
• Wednesday: If I live through work we'll be off to a night of fun and frivolity at the bowling alley. Normally Wednesday night is our small group bible study, but tonight we're taking the show on the road and having a Fun Night. I'm not just being humble when I tell you that I am, quite possibly, the world's worst bowler. My all-time-best score is a whopping 78 points. I'm "that girl" that tries to throw/pitch/lob/whatever the ball and ends up releasing it behind her into the other bowlers seated in the chairs. Should be a great time! (Maybe pray for my bowling partners? Their toes are going to need it!)

*phew*

How's that for exhausting? The rest of the week isn't much better! Tomorrow is my only day with nothing planned...other than laundry. Friday will find me boutique-ing with my girls, and then Saturday it's time for some fun...rodeo-style!

How about y'all? What's been going on this week? Anything fun? Fill me in on what's new!

With love, from the girl that wears flip-flops for an evening of fine dining,

¡Adios Las Cartas!

Once again, please allow me to set the mood of this post with the following video.

I'll wait while you start up Katrina & The Waves. Go ahead...click it and read on.


Katrina is definitely walkin' on sunshine. I was too. In fact, I'm fairly certain I busted out some dance moves at the post office that were very similar to what she's got going on in the video. (I'll wait a second to allow you to fully digest that mental image.)

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I am finished with my El Salvadorian support letters!

They're signed. They're folded. The SASEs (my fancy new acronym for "self-addressed-stamped-envelopes") are stamped. They're addressed. They're sealed (no licking involved!) They're prayed over and they're on their way.

It is about stinkin' time. Go letters! Be free! Go forth and multiply!

(And for those of you LUCKY enough to know me in real life...watch those mailboxes and practice your mail-getting dance moves a la Katrina & The Waves.)

Envelopes & Bagelfuls

Two things I've learned about myself today...all before 9:30am!

1. I will gladly pay $3.45 (plus tax) for 45 envelopes that are "strip & seal" (aka: no lick!) even when I have the option of paying $1.75 for 55 envelopes I would have to lick. I have standards.
2. I have a deep affection for "Bagelfuls." Seriously. If you haven't tried them, get out there and buy some. Mmmm!

I guess you really do learn something new every day! Stay tuned for more of what I promised you yesterday. The El Salvador letters are almost out the door and then I'm free again!

OHF - 03/30/09

It's time for a break from all this El Salvadorian fun. In case you've missed me today here is what I've been up to.

And this, too.

Be watching those mailboxes, folks! You too could be the proud recipient of a letter from little ol' me. El Salvador, here I come!

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And now, without further ado, this week's edition of...

Owning Hammy's Face!

A hush falls over the crowd as they wait, with baited breath, for the results of last week's competition.

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Lindsay: 7
Jason: 4
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That means a loss of 1 pound for me and a slight gain of 1/2 pound for Jason.

We now know that there are two factors that are not very complimentary to weight-loss.

1. Being snowed in with your mother's cooking for 2 days.
2. Being away on business in a town that only has a bar in the way of eating establishments.

Live and learn. On to the next week, and even more face-ownage!

Heading South for the Summer

I've never seen the ocean. I've never had a Passport. I've never gotten to use the 4 years of Spanish I took in high school. I've never been to a third world country. I've never been farther than 725 miles from home. I've never eaten Pupusas. I've never been anywhere you're not allowed to drink the water.

All of that will change between July 26th & August 2nd!

Last night was the first Team Meeting for the Pathways mission trip to Santa Ana, El Salvador! Fifteen of us will travel 9 hours by plane to serve the people of Santa Ana for a week. The stories that were shared by team members that have already made the trip to El Salvador were amazing! I expected to hear the women of the group share stories of their lives changing and finding a new world view, but what I didn't expect was to hear the same from nearly all of the men. I listened as even the "man's man" type of guys spoke of changed hearts, a deepened faith, friendships with the people of Santa Ana, and "just knowing" they had to go back again this summer. In fact, the only negative thing I heard was a 10-person groan at the mention of Pupusas for dinner that entire week!

God has been so gracious to open up doors for me to make this trip! I know He has big things planned for this team and the time we'll spend in Santa Ana. I want to see all of it! I want to help with everything! I want to go everywhere!

At this point, I am even looking forward to days on end of Pupusas!

¡Vamanos!

I just sent off my Passport application! El Salvador, here I come!

Tonight is our first Team Meeting for the trip this July. I can't wait to find out (for sure...not just predictions) who will be part of the missions team! All of this is rather thrilling to a girl from that's only been as far as Illinois. ¡Que bueno!