Tuesday, November 29, 2011

advent season

questions in my mind lately. am i just going through the motions? memorizing my way through life? do i know Him? do i understand Him? do i know what He loves? do i know what He hates? can i let go of control? approval? 

i've heard a couple of christmas songs lately and the lyrics have reminded me what the christmas season is all about. on my drive home today it was the last verse of silent night.

silent night, holy night
son of God, loves pure light
radiant beams from Thy holy face
with the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth

i often think about what life was like back then, when Jesus was born. God's people were expecting a king by the world's definition, one to rescue them and make all their problems go away. but God sent a baby, his Son. you see, the world is broken, humanity is broken, things aren't as they should be, we still have plenty of problems, we are sinful, and because of it, we can't stand in the presence of a holy God. but on that holy night, God sent his Son to redeem humanity to Himself. the dawn of redeeming grace. Jesus was born, He lived the perfect life we should've live, and died on the cross taking all God's wrath to pay for our sin, all of it, none of His wrath is left for us, and calls us to believe, to trust Him. have faith my child, you've been redeemed, reconciled to your Father.

advent. the four sundays leading up to christmas. it's a season to prepare our hearts to celebrate the coming of our savior at christmas and his promise to come again to bring it to completion.

'tis the season.




Tuesday, November 22, 2011

New York City 2011

i love traveling, and even though i'm partial to the mountains, spending some time in new york city last week with friends and family turned into an incredible and memorable vacation. of course, not a vacation that proved to be relaxing by any stretch of the imagination. it started off with a work conference followed by jam packed days of sight-seeing, walking countless miles through crowds of people, navigating through unknown territories (thank you google maps for all your assistances), getting as little sleep as possible, and bickering as all healthy married couples do, starting to sound like a great time, huh? well, it was. without further ado, here's our trip in a nut-shell of a blog post.

i flew in wednesday night and spent the next two days learning some valuable information about SEC filing requirements. the first night we ate at dos cominos, yes, mexican in the city, so delicious. great guac. the second night we ventured to a cute little italian restaurant in union square, i tre merli, also delicious.


at i tre merli


at mcsorley's old ale house est. 1854. two types of beer are sold, dark and light.

nic flew in friday night and saturday, november 12th, we began the sight-seeing, after a cup of coffee of course.



at the roasting plant in the green village. we then walked through the union square green market.


strolled through central park.


found apple store #1. yipee!!


met up with nic's sister for lunch at le pain (awesome food) near columbus circle, followed by walking/shopping/browsing. loved the shopping south of washington square park.


had to charge our phones from all the usage we put them through, so we found apple store #2. :)


after all the walking, the three of us decided to sit and eat dessert before dinner, best. choice. ever.


we then met back up with friends where we enjoyed dinner and wine in little italy. hm, can't remember the name of this restaurant. ;)

sunday we toured what we could see of the 9/11 memorial, took a subway to brooklyn, ate grimaldi's pizza, and then walked back to manhattan across the brooklyn bridge. we stopped for an afternoon coffee at 71 irving and people watched in washington square park. oh and had an amazing peanut butter sandwich at peanut butter and co. the evening line up was the Rockettes show at radio city music hall and dinner at rosa mexicana near lincoln center.


construction on the new building at the world trade center site.


grimaldi's pizza and a $2 can of coke.


the view from brooklyn bridge, a lot has happened in 10 years.


afternoon coffee at 71 irving place coffee and tea bar


heading to the show


setting up the tree at Rockefeller Center, which seemed to deserve a photo at the time.


at the Rockettes!




while not a clear shot, evidence of us at lincoln center.

monday we spent the morning with nic's sister, saw grand central station, ate at patsy's pizza, visited an AMAZING furniture store (abc carpet & home, incredible), ate thai food at republic (so satisfying), saw phantom of the opera (bonechilling), and capped the night with juniors cheesecake. my feet were officially swollen by end of day monday.





tuesday was our final day in the city and we packed it full.


morning coffee at the starbucks near our 34th and 9th st. apartment



toured the top of the empire state building


said good-bye to nic's sister


shopped the christmas section at macy's, did you spot santa?!?!

we grabbed a quick burger at shake shack in madison square park, and made a last minute decision to go to the patigonia store.


we bought matching jackets. :)

all in all a wonderful trip. happy thanksgiving!!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

A year in October

October 2010

And October 2011

busy bumblebees

this past weekend started off with an unexpected but much enjoyed visit from the my mom and dad. they witnessed the sad loss of the ksu vs. ou football game in manhattan and decided to take a long detour home through kc! we all got together at our place on saturday night, my brother and sister-in-law also came over and provided wonderful slices of cheesecake. we failed to get a family photo, but here's one my mom snapped of our little family. if you'll remember, it is kind of hard to get the dog unit still.


i then went to a baby shower sunday afternoon in honor of Samuel Levi (future nephew #3 on nic's side). however, little did we know that the little guy wanted to come early (6 weeks early!!). samuel graced us with his presence yesterday, 11.2.11, after an emergency c-section. he was born at 4lbs 7oz. and we thank the lord for a healthy mom and baby!! here's one of samuel's first baby photos.


and his two big brothers, who i am super excited to get to spend time with in the coming weeks as their mom continues to recover and nurse the newest miracle back to health. 



love those boys.

yesterday, we also went to the sporting kc game for the semi-championship game that put us in the mls conference championship!! (we are talking soccer here for those of you that don't know.) and if you didn't know sporting kc was the kc mls soccer team, you may not be living in kc right now, and if you're not living in kc right now, you may not realize that us being at the game last night is laughable. it's okay, you can laugh. yesterday was our first introduction to winter, the temperature dropped at least 30 degrees and rainy, sleety, grossness fell ALL night long. yep. he we love soccer that much. let's review my ensemble for the evening.

1. leggings, jeans, husband's snowboarding pants
2. 4 layers of shirts, including a fleece and rain coat shell
3. 2 hats, wait, 3 hats including the hood of my coat
4. wool socks and no rain boots 
5. gloves


if you are now thinking, wow, i've got to visit kc (which of course you do) and while i am there i must go see sporting (short for "sporting kc", see you're learning) play, then you must learn this chant, "i believe that we will win!!". that's all you need to know. oh, and don't forget your coat, the weather is chilly. :)