assorted thoughts

Am I the last one to realize that the name Flo Rida' ( the rapper/singer/whatever he is) spells "Florida?" Is that where he is from?

Turns out not logging into Facebook is easier than I thought it would be. The only time I was tempted was when I was at a restaurant waiting for a friend. I went through my phone and deleted old emails instead. I don't think I'm actually missing that much. (Or am I?!?!)

I've become very interested in coupons. I haven't gotten all crazy like the extreme coupon ladies or anything, but i can see how they get addicted. I refuse to buy something I wouldn't normally buy.... For example, we don't eat Trix cereal, so even if there is a really good coupon, I'm not going to use it. (I will, however, cut it out and place it near the cereal box in the grocery store aisle... spreading the love!) Im not very good at it yet, but I have started looking online for coupons before I go to the store. I make my list first to ensure that only things I need are included. Then I get online and search for coupons to print. Sometimes I only save like .75, but sometimes I save like $6.00! And whatever happened to double coupon days? Do any stores still do that?

I'm feeling the urge to purge. As in, I want to get rid of 90% of my clothes and shoes and start from scratch with just high quality, basic essential pieces. I might start looking into selling things on eBay. Anyone have any experience with that? I donate most of my stuff, but if I could get some money for shoes and dresses and shirts that have only been worn a couple times, I want to try that first!

Finally, I'm fighting my inner purse demons. I really want a new purse but am not going to throw down the money. Must. Stay. Strong.

if i do say so myself....

First and foremost, let me come clean and say I got this idea from pinterest.  (And if I'd planned ahead and had more time, I would have made mine much cuter to look more like hers!)

So - my St. Valentine's Day gift to Larry was pretty cute and clever.... even if I do say so myself.  I made him a "Food Passport."

 

(I google imaged "passport," then used text boxes to write what I wanted to.  You can see the bottom text box didn't blend as well as I would have wished, but oh well.)  I printed the picture in color (obviously) and then used a glue stick to cover up the chevron patterned mini-notebook.

 The inside cover is a picture of Larry eating fried chicken on Canal Street in New Orleans.  Because that is the kind of guy he is.  (Complete with random stamps I found by the printer at work.)

                                          

The inside of the passport is names of restaurants that we've either never tried, or have only been to a couple times but really enjoyed:

DISCLAIMER:  I know I could have made it *so* much cuter.  Keep in mind that I finished this at about 3pm on 2/14.  I would have preferred a journal with blank pages, but HEB had a limited selection. 

There are 80 restaurants in there, with the back 5 page open for random places we may go.  I bought an inkpad and date stamp so that we could stamp the date that we visited each place.  My thought was that we would just date stamp it when we got home.  But Larry had a much better idea.... he decided he would carry the passport with him anytime we go out, and ask the restaurant to stamp it for him.  You know... like, a real passport.  I was like, "they aren't going to have a stamp!"  But then I realized they  might - and even if it said "Invoiced" or "Paid" or "Received on" or something like that, it would still be pretty fun.

Well - tonight we took it out to get the first stamp.  We decided last minute that we didn't want to eat at home and didn't feel like braving Friday night traffic, so we ended up at our old standby - Johnny Carino's.  We go here at least twice a month and are on friendly terms with many of the staff members.  Byrd is our bartender and Sarah is the GM.  We decided that even though they weren't listed in the passport, we wanted to include them... because there really is something to be said for a place where everybody knows your name.  So say what you will about chain restaurants, but I'm so happy that Carino's was our first stamp.  (And yes!!!! They had a stamp!)  We had them sign and date it for posterity's sake - since they were the first.

 

(Blossom photo bombed!)

It will take awhile, but I look forward to getting that thing full of stamps.  Lots of calories to consume and memories to be made!

****Also, I learned that I could probably perfect and sell the food passport.   People were quite impressed with it.

patient trust

Sometimes I come across things that I don't want to forget about. This is one of those things:

Patient Trust

Above all, trust in the slow work of God.

We are quite naturally impatient in everything

to reach the end without delay.

We should like to skip the intermediate stages.

We are impatient of being on the way to something

unknown, something new.

And yet it is the law of all progress

that it is made by passing through

some stages of instability—

and that it may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you;

your ideas mature gradually—let them grow,

let them shape themselves, without undue haste.

Don’t try to force them on,

as though you could be today what time

(that is to say, grace and circumstances

acting on your own good will)

will make of you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit

gradually forming within you will be.

Give Our Lord the benefit of believing

that his hand is leading you,

and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself

in suspense and incomplete.

~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ