The Evolution of Re-La

Here is the moment of our engagement, captured forever in photographs (courtesy of my mother). We had traveled to see my sister, her family, and my mom. My twin brother and his wife were with us and my older brother also met us there...so the whole family was there. I found out later that they all knew about it. We had just gotten in from an intense game of whiffle ball with the kids outside. You will have to excuse me being in my grungy clothes, I had no idea I would be proposed to later that day! Also, just look past the beer and cash on the tables. This is Texas and occassionally we do drink some beer and play Texas Hold Em!!

Picture#1...Curt had stood behind me and given this lovely speech. He is such a goofball any way that I thought nothing of it. I thought he was just trying to make us all laugh. He stood up in front on my family and told them how much he loves me and how much he appreciates me loving him despite is prosthetic leg (which is NOT true). It wasn't until the end of his speech that I realized what was going on...and that was only because he got on one knee. **Disclaimer** The cash on the table is for our poker game, I DID NOT accept monetary compensation for agreeing to marry him.

Picture#2...I was so overwhelmed with joy and shock that I started the VERY GIRLY and VERY uncharacteristic thing of waving my hands and crying. Yes, for a moment I was prissy and I loved it. :)

Picture #3...The opening of the box. This was the exact ring that I wanted, and it was absolutely beautiful. Keep in mind that I still haven't said an official YES. I was too excited to remember to answer.

Picture #4...The ring is finally on my finger. I feel like a princess and can't believe the overwhelming happiness that is in my heart and in this room. What a special moment for my whole family to share with me. (STILL haven't given him an answer)

Picture #5...Curt finally had to ask me again and I said "YES YES YESS!!!". I just cried when I hugged him (no comments on the wedgie..ha ha ha). It was such a great moment.

That is the evolution of Re-La, as I am now known. First 2 letters of my first name and first 2 letters of my brand new beautiful last name. All is right with the world.

Oh, I just love great quotes and here is one that is so appropriate for the new year. "Why do you hasten to remove anything which hurts your eye, while if something affects your soul you postpone the cure until next year?” I love this quote because it is so me. I am such a procrastinator, I put things off until I am forced to confront and deal with them. Usually when I do this, my stress level goes through the roof. It is true, when something pains us physically we do all that we can to get rid of it. We remove whatever it is that is hurting us, or we go to a doctor that can give us the cure to get rid of our ailment. Should we not be doing this in our spirituality as well?? YES!! God equips us with all of the tools that we would ever need to get rid of spiritual pain. I have learned this and have practiced it for a while...do not keep company with the things (or people) that are causing your spiritual turmoil or that are affecting your witness. This is a hard step because it means separating yourself from what you think you need to have fun. The thing that causes most Christians so much pain is the constant battle of flesh vs. spirit. It is an eternal battle against yourself to make the right decisions, but once you make the right decisions in your day to day life, you realize it's not that hard at all.

God challenges us all to examine our lives carefully. Where are our priorities? Where are we investing our time and energy? Is it causing us spiritual pain? If things aren't lining up the way you would like, take them to God. He is the Great Healer, the Almighty Phyisician. Simply put, He IS.

O-U-C-H

You know, I love working out. I love being active and I love sweating. I can't help it, it is the way I am wired...so when my neighbor came over to my house and asked me if I wanted to go running with her, of course my answer was YES. I laced up my running shoes and prepared to JOG for maybe 1/2 mile. I explained to her that I haven't ran in a while and that we should not over do it. It is evident to me that she misunderstood. We live at the back of our neighborhood so I was thinking we would run up 3 or 4 blocks to the stop sign, make a turn and run back home. That would have been perfect. We get to the stop sign and I am thinking in my head that I could possibly pass out soon, but I was willing to suck it up because I assumed that we were heading for home. No. We weren't. She says, "How about we just take a right up here and run a while longer. " Ok, I can do this. Every step was hurting by then. My lungs were burning, my nose was running, my thighs were about to explode. I wanted to quit. I wanted to cry. BUT, I am so competitive that I HAD TO KEEP GOING. I couldn't admit defeat. 2 1/2 MILES later, we were back home. My face was the color of a stop sign and my legs were suddenly spaghetti. My sweet neighbor (who is just GLISTENING) smiles at me and says, "GREAT RUN!! Are you ready to go do abs?" In my head my answer was, "NOOOOOOOO, ARE YOU FREAKING CRAZY?????", but of course I could not say that. I some how get the word "sure" out and we head to her house to do workout session of abs, 25 minutes of pure torture.

So here I am 2 days later. I don't feel 28, I feel 78. Everything hurts and every second of the day is bringing me closer to 7:00 tonight when the crazy neighbor will be back at my house for another "great" run. I'm really scared.

One more

Just wanted to add one more thing today. Let's all take a second and be thankful we have our jobs. You may think you hate your job, but at least you're employed. My husband's company laid off 34% of their total workforce yesterday. Luckily, he wasn't one of them.

Just a thought.

DE-licious

I'm BACK! Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I haven't been too inspired to write (for various reasons). I wanted to post a recipe for Shrimp Scampi. YES, I am allergic to seafood...but, YES, I love my husband so much that I wanted to make him a gourmet meal instead of our usual tacos or spaghetti. I am venturing into the cooking world, and enjoying it thoroughly. Here it is:
1 lb medium shrip (peeled and deveined)
1/2 cup butter (melted)
1/2 cup white wine (make sure it's dry and not too fruity)
4 cloves minced garlic
salt/pepper to taste
Cook butter, wine and garlic over medium heat until garlic is tender.
Add shrimp and cook 3-5 minutes until shrimp is pink (do not overcook)
Add salt/pepper. I also added a tbsp of crushed red pepper to give it a zzzziiinggg.
Serve this over linguine tossed with a tiny bit of butter and parmesan cheese. MMMMM.

Of course, I have no idea if it was good, but it smelled SOOO good, and Curt ate most of it (almost 40 shrimp). We sat down to a nice dinner at around 7:30 and sat there and visited until almost 9:30. It was so nice.

OK, I know, this is a weak attempt at writing after being on a hiatus for 2 weeks but it's all I got. Deal with it. :)

Self Portrait Tuesday

I ran across this blog site that challenges photographers (or people like me who like to pretend to be one) on various themes of photographs. The idea is that you post one every Tuesday. This week's theme is Personal History. I shot this picture with two things that really stick out in my childhood. One of my school pictures in my super fly shirt (WITH my name in felt letters) and the bible. I hoped that I could shoot it close enough to show my favorite verse, Job 23:10. Here it is. I know it's not Tuesday, but this is just a practice run. We'll see how it goes.

Beautiful

I found this and was so moved by it that I had to share. It is an exerpt from a journal by Marianne Williamson. I was moved because I could relate. I could relate in so many areas of my life, but mostly in my spirituality. In theory, Christianity is easy. We have a God that loved us enough to send HIS SON to die for us, and all we have to do is recognize that we are sinners and accept the gift of Christ for our salvation. In return, God promises us a life of blessings beyond our wildest imaginations, His dreams become our own, His light is shed on us and on our lives for eternity. Easy huh? No, not for me. I am scared to follow 100%, because I know that will lead me from my comfort zone. Yes, I do believe in God and I accept Christ as my savior, but there has always been that little piece of me that is scared to follow where He may lead. As Marianne says, "Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure." WOW. I long for that, I really do, but my own fear of failure sabatoges my drive to go forward. After all, isn't it easier just to live our day to day lives, never really being challenged or confronted with change? It is easier, but not near as rewarding as it would be if we all just had faith and let God lead our lives. I can say that at least now I recognize what I need, and I will be more willing to take the necessary steps so that I (through God) can achieve my dreams. I challenge you all to do the same.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who are we to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.

There's nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

-Marianne Williamson
A Return To Love

More Christmas Pictures

Here are a few from Curt's side...told you we saw a lot of people over the break! The first one is at his grandfather's house with his mom and her brother and sister and all of the family that goes a long with that. The second is of me and Ashley, Curt's cousin and one of my best friend's. I got so lucky to inherit her...she's cooler than the other side of the pillow. She's my homey.

Happy New Year

WOW! What a week! I can't believe it is over...it was such a whirlwind of activities. On Friday we went to Lancaster to see Curt's side of the family...all 30 people! That is always such a good time...I will post the pictures when I get them. Saturday, Curt and I went to Lewisville to see my brother and sister in law and my mom...we ate WAY too much and then went to an AWESOME Candle light service. Sunday we got up and opened a few gifts from each other and then headed over to Curt's sisters' house for some time with their parents and kids. After we left there we headed to Arlington to see Curt's grandparents and other relatives. It was a blur of a day. We got home and Curt decided to go to a friends house and play Risk. I was looking forward to a night of chilling and watching TV, but instead I got a phone call from Curt's sister saying that she wanted her son to be able to see Connor before he had to go to Austin to see his dad...and that they would be at the house by 10 the next morning. Oh yeah, and the grandparents were coming by also...so I had less that 12 hours to clean the house from top to bottom and go to the store to find something to cook for 8 people. It turned out well though and Connor got to see Zack and every one had a great time. Later that day my sister in law brought my mom to the house and we spent the rest of the night just visiting. Tuesday we get up and take Connor to meet his cousin for a gift exchange, and then I decide to give Ashley a break...so I invited her boys to the house for the day to play with Connor. WHEW. 3 boys is a lot to deal with, but they were good. After she came by to get them, Mom and I rushed to the grocery store to stock up for the next wave of people coming in to town. We get home at 11:00, unload the groceries and pass out from exhaustion. We get up on Wednesday morning just in time for my older brother to get there. Later that day Curt's dad stopped by and brought Connor his gifts...they got to visit so that was really nice. Shortly after that my sister and her family got there and then my brother and his wife were there. That is when the fun began! We finally got a family picture!!!!!! It has been SOOO long. We ate dinner and played poker later that night...it was so much fun just to hang out and enjoy every one.

I think I found the culprit of my sickness though...all of that running around and no time to rest finally caught up to me. I am in the middle of it though, so I hope it runs its course by the end of this week. After all, this weekend is the great Fandango (another post for another time). No way can I be sick for that.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and may 2006 be your best year yet!