Laughing

Last Tuesday when I was in Fort Wayne, my friend Rach McF came and visited me. It was awesome because she drove up from the Indianapolis area just to see me. I'm special. ( :

We went and grabbed some dinner and then went for ice cream at Coldstone Creamery.

lite cake batter ice cream+brownies+fudge+sprinkles=mmMMMMMMmmmm

(Lite because I'm a health nut, obviously.)

 

chocolate ice cream+nestle crunch+caramel=yummy

We made faces and talked about past, present and future life. We talked about boys/men. We talked about work. We talked about what we want to do with our lives. We talked about me potentially moving out and being able to do this on the regular. We laughed. 

Then Rach did this.

I'm not quite sure why. I will tell you what, I was laughing so hard and so loud that the people who were ordering and the employee went silent and stared at us. Then we started laughing even more. Feel free to really examine the picture, check out her teeth, the crazy eyes, then start laughing, it's good for you.

Back when I was in college and eating with groups of people in the cafeteria we would do things to attempt to gross each other out. I'm not going to give you details. However, this apparently has stuck with me because for some reason any time I get my picture taken while eating anything chocolate I squeeze it through my teeth. I should probably move past that. It's kinda juvenile.

And yet another reason why I am single. Because I am gross.

Sometimes.

(Oh and I'm wearing the cardigan I embellished!)

For my Parents

Today, I signed up for health insurance.

You're welcome Mom, Dad and Grandpa Jim. The three people who have pestered me about my lack of health insurance since August 2008. Now you no longer have to worry about that one minor thing. You can worry about everything else! ( :

Oh, and I look pretty cute today.

(I'm trying to subtly take my own picture while in the coffee shop so people don't think I'm strange.)
(Please pronounce the word "Target" as "Tar-jay" for full amy-effect.)

dress: basic grey from Target 

cami: lacy green from Old Navy

leggings: black ankle length from Target

earrings: green iridescent shell from Spanish artisan

shoes: black flats from Target

I know you were interested in that information.

Something I thought was fascinating was the list of non-qualified professions to be insured. I don't even really think about people actually doing some of these jobs, but apparently people are doing them.
• Adult Entertainers/Dancers
• Air traffic controllers
• Armed Forces personnel
• Asbestos/toxic chemical workers
• Boxers and prize fighters
• Circus, carnival and amusement park performers/workers
• Commercial Fisherman/Crew going on overnight excursions
• Divers (professional skin or scuba and ocean rescue and recovery)
• Explosive workers
• Oil and natural gas workers both on-shore and off-shore operations
• Professional motor vehicle racers
• Professional athletes including but not limited to: ballet, baseball, basketball, football and wrestling
• Professional crop dusters
• Structural steel workers
• Stunt flyers/Stunt person
• Underground miners
• Unemployed due to disability

Some of them I think, really? is that dangerous? why no adult entertainers? is that a morality issue? adult entertainers have a propensity toward drug/alcohol use? what is it? Crop dusters? because they're working with chemicals? what about drug manufacturers? people who work in labs creating the chemicals the crop dusters are spreading?

I just think it's interesting, that's all.

OK, now I'm going to edit pictures for a real post, because this is not an interesting one.
Obviously.

Fascinating

Watch this:

NOW!
(please)

( :
Thanks to Jd. for introducing me to this via his tweets at macper4mers!

Walking

I went on a walk with my cousin Katie.

Isn't she the cutest?

Fall is amazing. Fall is beautiful. Fall is my favorite. Except when it's turning to winter then that's my favorite or when it's turning to spring then that's my favorite or when it's turning to summer than that's my 4th favorite. I love seasons.

Can we just sit for a moment and look at these colors?

I want to find yarn that has been perfectly dyed to this shade of yellow-orangy-ness.

This is Katie's dog Dot. She's a certifiable moron as far as dogs go, but quite a good listener. She loves her master, oh how she loves her mast---SQUIRREL.

She's that kind of dog.

Katie and I walked down to the rose garden at the park near her house. Guess what? Roses were still there, still beautiful and still blooming. A taste of summer in the fall.

We walked, we talked, we ignored it when the dog pooped. Yes, we were those people. It's a small dog though: small dog, small poop. I don't think you even have to pick up your dog poop in Fort Wayne, I didn't see any signs.

I love this girl and her kind, generous heart! The dog can go though.

Update

This an update on the update on the update on the Confession post of yore.

Yes, those are all links to different posts.

I thought I should share with you some dealbreakers. First let's define "dealbreaker" shall we?

Dealbreaker: Qualities or characteristics that make a man un-dateable to me. The things that I find 100%, no questions asked, I'm-not-compromising-on-this unappealing.

1. Not being a Christian: I know, I'm an open girl. I've got friends from all walks of life, but let's be real, I'm a Christian and he's gotta be one too. It's important to me.
2. Smoking: I mentioned it before. My mouth is not going anywhere near a smoker's mouth. The end.
3. Incorrect grammar: I can't handle the constant correcting in my head. And we all know it's gonna be flying out of my mouth soon and then neither one of us will be able to stand me.
4. No sense of humor? I don't think this is going anywhere.
5. Transitions lenses: PLEASE, if you are under the age of 58 just don't. If you're over 58 you probably shouldn't but I can accept it, mostly because I'm not going to date you. (Not that I'd really date anyone much older than their mid-thirties.) They're not cool, no one ever actually thinks that they're sunglasses and they age you significantly. I know they're for your eye health, but they still look tacky. Purchase some sunglasses please, then we can talk.

Oh, and no one has ever e-mailed me. I thought you people had my back. What's the deal? I put myself out there and nada, zip, zilch, nothing. Come on, really, no one?

Scenes from a Hospital Room

Greetings from Indiana! OK, so I've been here for a week, but I didn't say "hi" from here yet.

Just take my salutations and roll with it, OK?

I've been hanging out almost every morning since Monday this week with my aunt at Parkview Hospital. Let me just say a couple of things: 1. this hospital wing hasn't really been updated since 1954, 2. I just made up that date. I'm not going to show you all the stuff that hasn't been updated since 19whatever.

I'm going to show you what I happened to take pictures of, things like my crocheting.

Starbucks beverages, did you know that coffee counts as a clear liquid?

I have now left Starbucks for the delicious Pumpkin Chai at the Firefly Cafe. You know, I'm gonna choose the local place over the masses when the local place is serving up some good stuff.

Flowers abound. The flowers are coming from the older generation, cards from younger. What does that say? What does that mean? I'm just curious...would you send flowers? a card? an e-card? an email? a text message? a blog comment? The way we communicate intrigues me.

I love this bouquet with wheat and sunflowers.

Let's talk about feeding tubes. They suck. The end.

This one especially, it's clogged frequently. Daily. You know what they use to un-clog it? Diet Coke. That stuff eats through everything! Which is why you shouldn't be putting it in your stomach. You're welcome for my daily service announcement.

Soft foods at the hospital=dairy, dairy and dairy.

Apparently their custard from the cafeteria is quite delicious. I think I'll pass, thank you.

One pretty good thing about the hospital room? Great light. Seriously, did you see that light? The blinds are open, the sun is shining, we can look out upon the city of Fort Wayne and see the stunning trees all over the city. Lovely.

Except we want to leave the hospital. We're still waiting on a properly functioning poop-shooter though. Dang poop-shooter.

The Birds

I've never seen the movie "The Birds." I hear it's scary. I don't do scary. One time in college this guy (who shall remain nameless and faceless) tried to make me watch a scary movie. About 12 minutes in I made him change it because I'd built up the scary-ness so much in my mind, that I started to feel sick. Yes, I began to feel nauseated (nauseous?) while watching a scary movie with a boy after only twelve minutes. No, I didn't quite grasp the whole "you're supposed to cuddle when you're scared" thing. Also, I didn't want to cuddle with him. His pheromones were not appealing to me.

Yes, I just said that.

Pheromones are reason #57 that I'm still single, single, single.

Changing the topic: I always edit my pictures. I don't think I've put anything up on here that hasn't been cropped, straightened, texturized, darkened, lightened, increased contrast, etc. I guess I haven't been very clear on this because within the last month I've been asked about this a couple of times.  I use Photoshop Elements for my editing if you were wondering, which you probably weren't, so now I'm just going to go back to writing the rest of this post where the point is:
I EDIT EVERYTHING.

Except today, today you're going to see some straight out of the camera, through the window screen pictures of sweet birds on the grass.

These pictures are au naturel. Which I guess could be scary, but I think you can bear with me since you've seen plenty of my blurry, fuzzy cooking pictures and you're obviously still around. I think. Hello?  Helloooo? Heeeeelllloooooo? Are you around?

Here I go, delving into the scary world of un-edited pictures. I used my Nikon D50 with my Nikon 70-300mm lens, I'm still getting used to the lens, but I think I like it!

These last two are my favorites...I love the light in both of them, the way the setting sun catches the seed pods and almost makes them glow. *sigh* One of the great things about sunshine.

There you go, those are "the birds" out the window.
( :

Self-Discovery

These are the things I have learned and affirmed about myself in the past 24-hours. This in not an all-inclusive list.

1. I packed 3 pairs of ballet flats and no tennis shoes. Walking in the morning? Chacos flip-flops are supportive, right? (I bought those $50 thongs [yes, I am one of those people who call them thongs and not the kind that go up your butt] at 75% off. BAM!! Bargain shopper extraordinaire right here!)

2. I want a dog. A cute, cuddly, take her on walks in the morning dog. Kind of like this cutie patootie:

(This little black Schnauzer is Ebony, my grandma's dog.)

3. If I go to bed by 10:30 getting up at 7:00am is no big deal.

4. My blackberry storm is of the devil. It died on Saturday and refused to begin charging until 6:22am on Sunday. It was at 6:22am that I heard my alarm and realized this. I was supposed to be up at 5:30 to leave the house by 6:00am. Blast.

5. I love friends. I got to see Emily from Arizona when I went through Dayton, OH since she was in town for a wedding. Even 20 minutes was totally worth it. OK? So, next time you're on a layover at the Raleigh-Durham airport you give me a call! Got it!?! I want my stinkin' 20 minutes. (I don't know anyone who has ever had a layover at RDU.)

6. I love coffee. We met at a place called the Boston Stoker. Delicious, delicious perfectly prepared latte. If you're in the Dayton area, check it out. Do I have friends in the Dayton area?

7. I love FALL!!!! OH MY GOODNESS. Yesterday was the MOST BEAUTIFUL DRIVE EVER. Fall has exploded on the Blue Ridge Mountains across North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. I crown the winning state: Virginia though. Stunning. Orange, red, yellow, brown and green in their purest forms.

8. I was in a mad rush because of leaving my house an hour late, so I couldn't stop and take pictures of #7.

9. The soundtrack to Mama Mia makes me happy.

10. This song is my inspiration song for the next week and a half:

(Please ignore the pictures.)

11. I'm a maniac when I drive. Literally, I stopped for gas 3 times and peed 1. Oh and I did pick up some breakfast which is the only meal I'm willing to eat from a fast food restaurant. I convinced myself to get egg and cheese on an English muffin. Then I pulled up to Hardee's and they didn't have it, so I got a biscuit. Biscuits are full of buttery-fatty-high caloric delicious artery-clogging-ness. I devoured it. And a raisin biscuit thing covered in icing. Will you forgive me?

12. I think I only ate carbohydrates yesterday. Oh and an apple.

13. It's my parent's 30th anniversary!! YAY!! Happy anniversary!

It's now my goal in life to convince them that they have to do something to celebrate it. My dad thinks going to a country buffet in Canton-Galva, KS counts. My mom keeps trying out other excuses. I am not convinced and by next summer they will do something!!! I am making this statement. I am convinced.

14. I love tv. I know, I don't have tv, but really, I want it. I could watch Food Network all day, every day. And there's a new season of The Next Iron Chef. One episode and I decided who my crush on the show would be. (Last season was Seamus Mullen, in case you forgot this unimportant fact.) This season: Brian Caswell. I am ridiculous.

15. I'm off to the hospital, then starting with the kids schedules this afternoon!

Freedom

This is "Freedom Song" sung by Jason Mraz. I found the story behind it on the LA Weekly blog. They have a video and more information, but they included this summary:

"Freedom Song" was born in the midst of disaster. Written by Luc Reynaud and several children at a shelter in New Orleans, during Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts. "Freedom Song" was eventually recorded in a studio by the children and Luc and the Lovingtons. From there it caught the attention of many, including noted musician Jason Mraz, who introduced the song to an organization called Free the Slaves.

"Freedom Song" traversed the world, finding its way to a village in Ghana. There, former child slaves find a way to release themselves through song, from the mental bondage that remains, even after their rescue by Free the Slaves.

I picture something, it's beautiful
It's full of life, and it is all blue
I see a sunset on the beach, yeah
It makes me feel calm
When I'm calm, I feel good

And when I feel good, I sing
And the joy it brings makes me feel good
And when I feel good, I sing
And the joy it brings

Come on along
I know you really wanna feel our song 
We've got some light to bring
We've got some joy in this thing

I see birds fly across the sky
Everyone's heart flies to get there
Food is frying and people's smiling
Like there is no other way to feel good

And when I feel good, I sing
And the joy it brings makes me feel good
And when I feel good, I sing
And the joy it brings

Come on along
I know you really wanna feel our song 
We've got some light to bring
We've got some joy in this thing

Freedom
Got to give you some of that freedom
It's freedom 

Freedom
You deserve your own freedom
It's freedom

Freedom
It gets over you, over you, over you, over you
Freedom
Got to get you some of that freedom
It's a smile you can get when your heart beat

I love myself some Jason Mraz. He appeals to the crazy, hippie living in my soul. He has a spirit of activism, taking care of our Earth and taking care of all the people who live on it. He loves life; he loves people. I know these things because I read his blog. Does that make me a bit of a freak? Yes? OK, fine, I can embrace that.

Today, I'm giving away a copy of his new EP,  Life is Good, which came out on Tuesday.

Just reply to this post, let me know what makes your life good. Comments will be taken until 1:00pm tomorrow (Friday). The randomly selected winner will need to email me his or her email address, so I can send you the album via the interwebs and iTunes. You don't use iTunes? Do you live under a rock? ( :

My life is good because I am surrounded by love from family, friends and church.

Random.org selected winner #5!! 

EMILY, you are now a proud owner of 

Jason Mraz's, Life is Good! ( :

Praying

I'm going to Indiana this weekend. I'm looking forward to spending a little over a week with these peeps:

They're pretty rad. Why am I going?

Well...my Aunt Suze is having some surgery and is going to be in the hospital, so I volunteered to hang out with my cousins while she's in the hospital. Yes, she's going to be in the hospital for awhile. Like, 10 days awhile.

My Uncle Kelly is going to be stretched pretty thin and I'm there to be another person to support them and the kids.

Tomorrow is her surgery. She's got some stuff going on in her pancreas, so the doctors are going to remove it. The stuff, not her whole pancreas.

Vas ist das pancreas?

Well, I'm glad you asked.

The pancreas is a gland-organ nestled in by the stomach. It produces insulin and hormones (making it an endocrine gland) and also produces some digestive enzymes (making it an exocrine gland). All in all it's a pretty big deal.

And the procedure occurring tomorrow is the Whipple which the Mayo Clinic describes as this: The surgery involves removing the "head" of the pancreas — the wide part of the pancreas next to the duodenum, the first part of the small intestine. To do that, surgeons must remove the duodenum, the gallbladder, the end of the common bile duct and sometimes part of the stomach. The intestine, bile duct and remaining part of the pancreas are then reconnected.

So, what we're talking about are some major changes in digestion and waiting until all the bowels are functioning before Aunt Suze can go home. That's right, they're monitoring her poop-shooter. Wouldn't you love that job? (I'd like to take a moment to say how important this job is, so thank you poop-shooter monitoring people of this world!)

In the meantime, our family is asking for your prayers if you're the praying sort, your thoughts if you're the thinking sort, your hope if you're the hopeful sort, your love if you're the loving sort, your peace if you're the peaceful sort and your positivity if you're the positive sort. We're going to need all of those things to get through this, especially Suze, Kelly, Ben, Katie and Mackenzie.

I believe that God will handle this as only God can. The plan is not ours to know, but we can choose to believe and ask God to do what is best: to give the surgeons steady hands, to give the nurses restful preparation, to give the anesthesiologist an alert mind, to give us patience throughout the process and to give her body the resources to heal.

I love these people, God, please take good care of them.

I'll keep you posted, but if you want to know more about their family's journey it's here.

Love, peace, hope, positivity, thoughts and prayers to you and yours.

xo,
amy

Yes, this post is about coffee (and food)

On Wednesday morning at 10:49am I received this message. The beeping of receiving a text woke me up. Yes, I was in bed slumbering at 10:49am.

Happy national coffee day to some of 

my most favorite coffee gals! :) love ya

National Coffee Day? What is this you speak of? I have never heard of such a thing. Apparently it's kind of a big deal and lots of places were giving away free coffee. I just didn't know where any of them were, so I used it as an excuse to go get a cup. As if I needed an excuse. 

I had a massage, so I couldn't get away until later in the afternoon. Then I had to get lunch too....where to go? Where to go? OH---I know! Parker and Otis! You're shocked, I can tell. 

MG went with me. It was a lunch date wherein we ate delicious sandwiches, cupcakes, and drank some warm beverages. 

Tuna salad for MG. She's a good friend, she always waits for me to take pictures before eating. Isn't that nice?

Grilled Pimento Cheese for moi. 

And this Pesto Pasta Salad. It's the best; fresh, spring-like flavors. Amazing. 

Then MG went to get a chai and came back with these awesome coconut cupcakes. I love coconut. I need to cook with it more. 

And I had to have a Pumpkin Spice Latte...had to. There's a new barista at P&O and I've been skeptical, but she did a good job. ( :

Yummy. So much better than Starbucks, which isn't a bad Pumpkin Spice latte, but this one was just more naturally pumpkin-y. Yes, I know these things.

And that was the coffee I had for National Coffee Day. (Which doesn't have an official website that I could find anywhere.)