Five Favorites Vol. 4

Linking up with Hallie for some #5faves:

1. Something Other Than God, by Jen Fulwiler (who I now feel is my close, personal friend as I have been with her each step of the way through her epic faith journey via her awesome memoir). I finished it this afternoon and have just been thinking about it since. I'll try to put a full review together soon, but it is definitely a favorite this week. 

2. Get Balanced by Prescribe Nutrition

Has anyone heard of this program before? I saw it come up on another blog this week, and I'm really interested in trying the course. They offer nutrition-based help for the following symptoms:

• You have the ability to feel tired yet wired at the same time.
• You hit the snooze button 6 times on your alarm.
• You have a ‘no speaking to me’ rule before your morning caffeine.
• You are eating well, exercising, and the scale will.not.budge.
• 4 pm strikes and you need sugar. And there is no stopping you.
• 10 pm strikes and you feel inexplicably motivated.
• 2 am strikes and you are wide eyed, yet exhausted

Most of which describe me pretty closely. Interesting stuff!

3. Maybelline Color Tattoo in Pomegranate Punk

I've mentioned these Color Tattoos before and they are SO good: they go on easily and don't budge. If you have green eyes, get yourself a Pomegranate Punk. Trust.

4. Bloglovin (would including the final "g" have killed them? Typing that word hurts me.)

I don't know the consensus on Bloglovin. Do people love it? Hate it? No clue. My Feedly feed was out of control so I moved over to Bloglovin to start fresh and... I like it. 

5.  Through the Dark by One Direction. 

I know. I KNOW! But I love this song and I can't hide it any longer!

Book Smart

I've never been what you might call mechanically inclined.  Just put that in your pocket while I tell you a little story.

I recently got into DoTerra oils due to the influence of a dear, crunchy friend. One of my very favorite oils is Slim and Sassy (I know. The name is not so good); not because I've noticed a difference in any aspect of my health, but because I love how it tastes. I put a few drops in my water and it's like I have a soda, but it's healthy.  Anyhoodle, I read that if you put it in a plastic bottle the oils will corrode the cup and you'll die (or something, it sounded bad). So I bought a glass cup (I know I'm behind the times on this, but I am klutzy. Glass seemed like a poor choice in the short term.). This cup:

I was a little disappointed that it was a screwtop, just due to ease of access, but otherwise, cute!

Fast forward a few weeks to today!

Juliana was playing with my bottle and pushing the "button" on it and asking Stephen to help her flip the lid. I said "sorry baby, this one doesn't have a button top" and she said "yes it does!" and sure enough:

She's three.

So, that's humbling.

Answer me this. First Attempt.

This has nothing to do with the post's content. I just love this series of her dancing at Disneyland more than life. 

Today I'm doing a new (to me, not in general) Sunday linkup with Kendra. Here we go!

1. Do you hate happy clappy church music?
The only kind of church music I hate with the fire of a thousand suns (too much?) is kumbaya 70's church music (is this the same category?). One of the parishes near us has a mass that is well known for its 70's mass (there is a tambourine) and I just cannot. 
I can really get behind some praise and worship from the 90s,/2000s though. It reminds me of the old days. It's not my preference, but I actually enjoy it on a nostalgic level. 

2. What is your priority: eating or sleeping?
Eating. I love sleep, but I gladly forgo it for any number of things. The same cannot be said for my favorite foods. I will list the first few I can think of (there are many, many more):
-homemade chocolate chip cookies
-pretzel bark (listen, if you didn't know about this already, maybe don't click on the link. For your own good.)
-popcorn
-this chicken salad on the Costco chia pockets (do people know about the chia pockets? I'm totally obsessed.)
-Waffle Cone ice cream
-White Cheddar Popcorners -A Dairy Queen blizzard with M&Ms
I think my health nut status is apparent to all at this point.
If there is an opportunity for one of those items, I am there with zero hesitation. 

3. What type of milk do you drink in your house?

This is a weirdly complicated question for our household. So, all the residents here prefer 1% (now that Sammy is out of the whole milk age), and all of the adults prefer the prices at Costco, but none of the Costcos around here carry 1% milk, so we usually buy 2% unless we go to the far Costco (the devotion to Costco is strong). 

4. What is a book that changed your perspective on something?

Love this question.  This could be a very long list, but I'll control myself. 

Four Three come immediately to mind:

-He Leadeth Me - Father Walter J. Ciszek - Jen recommended this many times before I finally purchased it, and then it sat on/in my bedside table for two years before I finally read it. It, quite literally,  completely changed my understanding of what following God's will means. I am still processing and praying over it, but it was a game-changer for me.

-Evangelical is Not Enough - Thomas Howard -  I read this book with a deep feeling of "uh oh."* It is one of the first books I read on Catholicism and it made me feel a bit like the earth was dropping from under my feet. It was, shall we say, quite instrumental in my conversion. He clarified some ideas that I had been poking around, but couldn't quite grasp until he articulated them. 

-The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis - I know I'm not alone in having my mind blown by this book. It is eye-opening in a way only great fiction can be. I love C.S. Lewis. 

5. Who is your favorite saint?

Two: 

St. Maximillian Kolbe. I can't remember where I first read his story, but it is an amazing gift of sacrificial, joyful love. Amazing man. 

St. Teresa of Avila.  She was just so. dang. awesome. 

6. Introvert or extrovert?

 Is it possible to be exactly on the line between them? Some days the idea of talking to new people sounds fun and easy. Some days it sounds like the worst idea in the world. I love quiet time, but I need to talk to people to really process my thoughts and emotions.  I think I probably would be considered an extrovert in the classical sense. 

*My expression may have been somewhat more colorful.

7QT Vol. 6

1. First post in a while... easing back in with some Quick Takes. It's almost midnight and I'm watching Hello, Dolly! for the first time, not grading like I should be (it's pretty universally acknowledged that teachers procrastinate as much as/more than their students, right? Great. I'm good then.), blog surfing, and generally engaging in behavior I will no doubt regret tomorrow morning.

2. Fact: the only reason I'm watching Hello, Dolly! is I love Wall-E. Since it's featured so prominently in Wall-E I've always wanted to see it. So far I love it (*note: that might be the residual Wall-E love and crazy over the top costuming talking). Question: was it standard for turn of the century New Yorkers to wear a 1960's cut crease eyeshadow?

It feels a teeny bit anachronistic.  Just a hair.

3. I've been spending too much of my late night procrastination time lately reading up on Will and Kate's visit to Australia/New Zealand. I just love them. I have an incredible weakness for all things British, and those two (three now with Prince Georgie Porgie chubby cheeks) are the best.  My dears Heather and Jessica (the Fug Girls; not actually my real friends) (though I wish they were) have been extensively covering the trip and their complete archive is here.

4. I took some shots of the kiddos recently and a few of them just devastated me. They look like teenagers. To wit:

I mean. I just. Did I not realize it was a GQ shoot?

Hi, we're here for high school orientation. Thanks. 

5. I've been using the Sleep Cycle app for about a month now, and it is very enlightening. I have never been a good sleeper and I'm a terrible night owl, so when it tells me I get bad sleep it's not shocking, but it's fun to compare the data night by night (turns out Thursday nights are my worst night of sleep; perhaps it has to do with the aforementioned late-night procrastination?).

6. Aw. I'm up to this part of Hello, Dolly!

7. I discovered these Google Virtual Field Trips today, and they seem like an awesome resource for homeschooling families. Just passing on the info, in case you haven't seen them!


Happy weekend to you!

Toddlers are Weird

Taking a page from Jen's obsession, I started using Evernote to record funny things Juliana says (Samuel only says things like "no!" and "pirate" and "plane!" so I haven't made a note for him yet).  The list was getting long, so I decided to share some highlights (a la Grace):

This morning as Stephen was leaving for work, Juliana asked to wave to him from the door.  As he got to his car door she called out "Have fun! I love you! Adios!"

After putting my sunglasses on top of her head (like I usually do): "Wook! I wook wike Wacey!"

We've been working on letters for a while now and I thought she had a pretty firm grasp on most of them until I put a foam letter H on the wall in the tub. "What letter is this baby?"

J: "I!"

Me: nope

J: "It's a puff!"

Me: That's not a letter

J: "oh, I know, it's an Elmo!"

Me: no, it's an H

J: "No, that's not an H"

So we have some reviewing to do.

In the car leaving my mom's house (whom we normally refer to as "Gaga"):

J: "bye Patti!"

J: (to me) "I say 'bye Patti!'"

Me: why do you say "bye Patti?"

J: "because I wuv her"

While eating scrambled eggs the other day:

"This wecipe is good! I wike this wecipe!"

Eating grits Stephen decided to try (they're less common in California):

"Oh, this a wittle bit doesn't taste good."

To Stephen, while we were driving home the other day:

"oh! I want to go home and play wike Mommy is gone!"

I need to practice my fun mom skills.

Alright and a Samuel video. I know all kids do this, but his expression cracks me up:

7 QT Vol. 5(?)

Some questions: Did they shoot this at Sears? What's with the crushed velvet backdrop? Also, is Chris holding a watch? Why? 

1.  (I'd love to link to the moment, but there are no decent Youtube vids available. What kind of fascist state are we living in??)
Listen, I know I'm supposed to be up in all kinds of arms about Mileygate, but I honestly couldn't get through 30 seconds of that awfulfest, so I skipped it. I've read some lovely essays and analyses of the cultural momentum we are riding that led to that, but mostly I'm just disgusted by the 50 year old executive(s) that undoubtedly agreed to and vetted the whole mess. The only reason I even knew the VMAs were happening was because in my heart I am still 16 and wearing sparkly blue capri pants and an ill-advised amount of glitter to my first NSYNC concert and that girl would smack 29 year old me for missing their (very short) comeback. I loved every bit of it and I may have done some Wade Robson choreography in my living room in a fit of joy.

2.  We are sort of not doing dessert right now and these are seeing us through. They are currently selling them at Costco and Stephen and I are totally obsessed. They come in little 100 calorie packs and are the best dessert if you're not really having dessert. SO delicious.

Disclaimer: not my work.

3. I've been trying to journal lately, and a combination of these fine point Sharpie Pens (in lots of colors!) and the awesome selection of journals at Target has me very motivated (I have these for little things and these for the journaling). I'm a terrible, terrible scrapbook/memory book person, but I thought I could manage a bit of a journal for each of my kids. We shall see.

4.I love and want these earrings. Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous.

5. Maybelline Color Tattoo in Barely Branded and L'oreal Infallible Eyeshadow in Bronzed Taupe
Together these two make a very easy, very pretty natural eye look that lasts a reasonable amount of time. I toss on some mascara and look reasonably polished, which is the most that I can ask for from my makeup on the regular.

6. Is it obvious this post started as a five favorites until I realized that not only is it not Wednesday, it's almost Friday (!) and I turned it into a 7QT?

7. We started "real" dance this week (Juliana was in a "Wiggles and Giggles" class last year, but this year she is in a real class with real leotards, tights, ballet shoes and buns) and it is the cutest darn thing in the whole wide world. I took way too much video of the first class, but I just couldn't help myself.

I told her to dance. This is what I got. Sammy wanted to join. 

Go see Jen for many, many more takes!

Seven Quick Takes

1. Might I be the least consistent blogger on the planet? Perhaps. Onward!

2. Grace requested a mascara recommendation, so I told her about my new favorite mascara (there is one every quarter or so, so don't get too excited until at least three months have elapsed and I'm still using it), Revlon Lash Potion. I like big lashes (not spidery, but emphatic, let's say), and this one delivers for me. It also stayed on through a pool session with my crazy water babies without running and -- get this-- it's not waterproof. Amazing! It also supposedly makes lashes healthier? Which I can't really speak to at this point, but sounds good.

3. Yesterday was crazy. We ran a million errands in the morning and I started dinner early (miracle!) because we teach the baptism class at our parish once every other month and last night was the night.  I put up the baby gate to keep the kids in the dining/play area so I could see them (is this good parenting? Shouldn't they obey obediently when I ask them to stay where mommy can see them for the 12th time?) while I cooked dinner, but! The gate was around corner down the hall about three feet, and in that nefarious, unseen three feet of hallway, Juliana managed to get a hold of a Costco-sized bottle of hand lotion and pump it all over Samuel's head. I'm going to guess at least 15 pumps of extra-rich moisturizing hand lotion. When I found him she had styled it into very fashionable spikes while he sat happily enjoying all the attention.

4. Oh, and this was her outfit yesterday. She doesn't like to wear clothes during and after naps (in the morning it's fine; we don't run into a problem until naptime when she strips herself naked every day). Sometimes we make compromises to get her into clothes. Any clothes:

Princess dress: check.

Crown and apron: check.

All taken within 10 seconds of each other.

Vamping while cooking.

5. We got a little vacation in before the madness of the school year descends, and it was wonderful. We spent two mornings at the zoo and two afternoons in the hotel pool. Both kids were in absolute heaven. I even managed to get one whole picture of the kids and me.

Sammy gets his deadpan from his daddy. 

6. In case anyone is keeping score, I'm still totally addicted to these (Costco size, obvs.). As far as I can tell, they're health food. Antioxidants, right?

7. Is anyone watching Project Runway anymore, or is it just me and Tom and Lorenzo (lots of salty language at that link!)? This Timothy kid, am I right? This week got gnarly and I'm not sure who came off looking worse: Tiny Tim, his crazy mean partner, or the Russian guy. I think probably the Russian guy. 

Go see Jen for lots more takes!