Give it up!

You know when you are waiting for something to happen and you know when it is due to happen so you can't really do anything to make it come sooner, all you can do is wait but the waiting is just getting ridiculous because you just want the day, time, moment, opportunity to arrive already. And you know that when it does finally come it could go in one of two ways but you wont know how it's going to turn out until it actually happens and you just want to know what the answer, result, conclusion is going to be but you have to be patient and wait? I hate that. Sometimes I am really bad at waiting. I know that I need to give these frustrations and feelings of impatience over to God because He is in control and everything is in His hands and timing. Sometimes I need to give them over to Him again and again.. because it's like I will lay them at His feet, I feel His peace and then later it's like I have taken them back onto myself and I am feeling restless and impatient all over again. I am so glad that HE is Patient and doesn't get fed up with me but instead He says to me again and again- give them to me, trust in me, I have plans for you and I know the future, I will give you rest.
Anybody else feel me on this? Am I even making any sense?

Autumn Tradition

It was an absolutely perfect day for apple picking. A group of about 15 of us headed out to New Jersey early Saturday morning. It's about an hour and a half drive and as we left the city behind us the colors got more and more beautiful! I love seeing the trees change colors. Looking at a hill from a distance where pockets of gold, orange and red stand out among the green. They almost look like they are on fire!

Our first stop was an apple orchard where we were in search of apples great for baking. We came away with Macintosh, Mutsu (my favorite) and Golden Delicious. Of course we had to sample some along the way to make sure they were what we wanted :) What else did we sample? Fresh apple cider and warm apple cider donuts. Oh my.. 
Next it was off to Ort Farm for the pumpkins. We took a hay ride to the pumpkin patch. Field? Anyway, remember our new friends Domi and Bini from Germany? They came along with us and I think really enjoyed this American tradition. Bini said that she waned the FULL experience so we got pumpkins to carve as well as a pumpkin to make into puree for my pie. They are going to come over sometime in the next week to carve our pumpkins together. More on that later :) Look at these cute little baby pumpkins we found! Crazy to think that they grow into those huge orange things right? God is so creative!

Speaking of creative.. check these out. Anybody know what the heck some of these are??

After getting some apples and pumpkins, and throwing the football around we went to a diner for some grub and then to make a perfect ending to a perfect day we went to Dairy Queen! For all you Minnesotans who read this and have Dairy Queens at your fingertips, take a moment right now to imagine life without Dairy Queen. You would be imagining our life. Granted we have New York pizza, italian ice, gelato and cannolis, but if we want a Blizzard we have to drive almost two hours into New Jersey and pay about $13 dollars in tolls just to get there. This is almost the same story if we want Perkins. And Panera. But that is a whole other woeful blog. It was delicious. I highly recommend that you go to Dairy Queen soon and get the pumpkin pie blizzard. That's right- pumpkin pie blizzard.

Signs of Fall

I LOVE FALL! And one of my favorite things to do in the fall is go apple picking. Since we have lived here in New York we have gone with some friends every year. It's something that we start looking forward to as soon as summer starts winding down. We drive into New Jersey and hit up an apple orchard and a pumpkin patch and make a day of it. I am really excited to get some apples and start baking my grandma's apple crisp. Ooh and apple and pumpkin pie! Last year I made pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving and this year I am even going to try and make my own pumpkin puree for it. We'll see how that turns out. Pumpkin pie is Chris' favorite as well as my fathers. My grandma would always let my dad have more than one piece of pie because she said it was a vegetable. Hmm.. I like her perspective! Well, I better go finish getting ready- we leave at 8am. Apple picking.. here we come!

Seeing Stars

Most people know that I like stars. They are one of my favorite things.
Another one of my favorite things? Photography. I have had a passion for it since I first took a class in high school. Those were the good old days when we learned how to take a picture on a SLR camera- how to set up the shutter speed and aperture ourselves. We even developed the film and make the prints in the dark room. I loved being creative with this medium and being able to do everything from start to finish. Now many school photography programs have gone totally digital. I feel they are losing a great art.

Now I can use that knowledge and apply it to my digital camera. Although it's digital, I still tend to use it in the manual mode most often. I will take pictures of anything and everything (as you will see in an upcoming post.. stay tuned). But when two or more of my favorite things can come together it really just makes my day. I have always loved photographing nature- what better way to capture beauty than in God's creation? And I really love getting in close with a macro lense so you can see the details. When Chris and I were dating we would go on 'photo dates'. We would go to the Zoo, downtown Minneapolis, the falls,or the stone arch bride and just be creative. We have done that a few times living here as well, but it's been a while. Last week I had a few days off of work (thank you Rosh Hashanah and for working in a school) so we decided to get out our cameras and be creative. Since most of the photos were on our SLR's we'll have to wait to get them printed to see how they turned out (the one draw back to not using digital). Until then, here are some pics from my digital camera.. check out the way the bark was peeling off the tree. I love finding shapes in nature!

Happy Monday

"There once was a girl, who had a curl....

...right in the middle of her forehead. 

And when she was good, she was very good.

And when she was bad, she was horrid."

My mom used to say that poem to me because I had curly hair. I mean, I HAVE curly hair. She also would tell me that if I ate the crusts of my sandwiches it would make my hair curly.. how does that work when you already have curly hair? When I got older I didn't want my curly hair, I wanted it to be straight. If it was straight it would be so much easier to manage. Then I discovered flat irons. Actually, my hair isn't as curly as it used to be. I had an unfortunate incident with a salon about a year and a half ago and came away with burnt hair. As in there were a few chunks that had actually burnt OFF. It was horrible. I will never get a cheap haircut again. "Why I spend $60.o0 on a haircut" could be a whole other post, but let me break it down for you: 

How many of you have spent $60.00, or more for that matter, on a piece of clothing? Or a pair of shoes? I'm sure most of us have. How often do you wear them? Once a week? Once every two weeks? Maybe you know where this is going..  How often do you wear your hair? EVERYDAY! I know there are some things where it doesn't matter if you buy the cheap, generic brand or if you buy the more expensive, popular label- you're getting the same thing. However, there are some things where if you buy the cheaper item, that's exactly what you get. Something cheap. The quality is cheap and it doesn't last. If you spent a little more money and got the better item, it is worth it because it lasts longer; it's better. If you were going to wear the same shirt every day for three months wouldn't you spend more money and get a good, quality shirt. A shirt that not only looks good but will last? Couldn't this be applied to your hair as well?

I have found this to be true with shoes. You can get a really cute pair of shoes at Payless or Target (especially us women). But in my experience with all the walking I do here in New York, a pair of heels from Payless will need to be repaired within a month or two. The little stopper thing at the base of the heel wears down with every step your foot takes on the sidewalk (and when I walk almost half a mile just to get to the train every morning, I need a good heel). To get this repaired at the shoemaker costs ten dollars. If the heels break twice that's costing me just about the same price as I paid for the shoes! However, my pair of Anne Klein shoes from DSW lasted almost 6 months before I had to replace the heel (and part of the reason was because the heel got caught in a crack that I stepped in so I had to pull it out.. ) Here are my heels from Payless. They look great... but the heels. I hate it when this happens. 

Anyway.. back to the hair. I don't know about you but I wear my hair everyday. In my experience, when I have paid less for a haircut it's not as good as when I pay more. Don't get me wrong- I love saving money, I love getting deals and finding great things on sale. But I also don't like going to get my hair cut and coming home my hair falling out when I run my fingers through it and finding chunks that are only 4 inches long. Or getting it cut and having the stylist ask me "who cut your hair last? It's crooked." Well Lady, hate to say it but the last time I had my hair cut was here. No no no..No more. I have found an Aveda salon here that I love as much as the one I went to back in MN (and I really loved this salon. I loved it so much that the first year I lived here I would wait to get my hair cut until I went back to MN for a visit). I finally found 'my' salon here, and even though it costs me $60.00 for a haircut- I trust my stylist, she knows me and my hair, and I know that my hair will look the way I want it to. 

When I started this post all I was going to write about was that I have embraced the side swoop bangs that are 'in' now and despite my curls, I have learned how to master them. And love them. 

Sorry about the rant. I couldn't stop. 

How do you feel about getting your hair cut? Anyone else sporting the side swoop bangs? Are there certain things that you spend more money on too? 

TAG!

I was tagged by my friend Shelly which means that I have to share 6 random facts about myself with you. At the end of the post I will be tagging 6 other people who also have to post about their own randomness.. beware, it could be YOU!

So here goes..

First, the rules: 

1. Post the rules on your blog. 

2. Write six random things about yourself.

3. Tag six people at the end of your post

4. If you're tagged, just do it, and pass the tag along!

1.  Green olives make me gag. I can't even stand the smell. ick spat ptuh!

2. When I was in second grade I had a hermit crab as a pet. His name was Sebastian. 

3. In high school I worked as a server at Embers. Part of our job was to roll silverware at the end of our shift. I was really good at it and could do it pretty fast. Sometimes I would imagine myself in some kind of weird restaurant duties contest. I would totally win! 

4. I am better at wii bowling than I am at actual bowling. Way better. 

5. Freshman year of college I stayed out all night the night before a very early final exam. I was not pulling an 'all nighter' studying. I literally arrived back to campus minutes before the exam was starting. I passed. 

6. Chris and I had our first kiss at the MN state fair the summer before I entered tenth grade, but we didn't actually start dating until college. (We have been married almost 3 1/2 years.)

Well, there you go. Now you know a little more about me!

Now it's your turn.. I am tagging: Sara, Julie, Dave (since Jessica has already been tagged), Ashley, Bini, and Rachel. 

Speaking of randomness..