Emu, Antelope, Wild Boar and Kangaroo!

Yesterday I went to dinner at the Serbian Crown with Kristin, Joe and Paul. It was Paul's idea to try this restaurant because they have some rather unusual menu items. In the winter they actually serve lion. Yes, I said lion. Anyway, as it is not winter, we had to settle for some other interesting wild game. We made sure to each order something different so that we could all try each others. I ordered Emu with Green Peppercorn Sauce. Delightful. Paul had Antelope with Wild Mushrooms (that actually tasted "wild"). Joe chose the Wild Boar, which was very good. And Kristin picked Kangaroo in a Port Wine sauce. Awesome. All of the food was very good. Paul also treated us to some appetizers and a special dessert - Baked Alaska. Everything was amazing and we are definitely planning to go back in the winter to try some lion :)

A side note for Red Wings fans:
We were at dinner just before and during game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals. Joe ordered a bowl of Borscht 'Moscow Style' in an attempt to sap some of Malkin's secret power from him. I didn't see the game so I don't know how well he played, but it couldn't have been that good considering his team walked away with a big fat zero.

Treasure Hunting

One of the places that I love to visit on a lazy Saturday is the Book Nook. It is a small used book store in Glen Burnie that is literally stuffed to the brim with books.

Be warned that if you are in search of a particular book, this place can be frustrating since organization is minimal and the books are stacked in tall piles that are two or three rows deep.

If, however, you are simply in the mood to go treasure hunting, I think this place is perfect. A large portion of the old books that I have collected have come from the Book Nook.

A Mosaic About Me

The Rules:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search (http://www.flickr.com/).
b. Using ONLY the first page, pick an image to represent your answer.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?

2. What is your favorite food?

3. What is your favorite color?

4. Favorite drink?

5. Dream vacation?

6. Favorite hobby?

7. What you want to be when you grow up?

8. What do you love most in life?
9. One word to describe you?

Here are my answers:

One Year Anniversary

Today marks one year since Kristin and I snuck into the Prince Caspian premiere after party! Here are some pictures to celebrate!

Our hotel room in New York


We even had a "balcony"


The New York library where the after party was held :)


Outside the library we met Douglas Gresham (C.S. Lewis' stepson)


And Andrew Adamson (the director)

After we snuck inside, we met the cast :)

Ben Barnes (Prince Caspian)

William Moseley (Peter)

Anna Popplewell (Susan)

Skandar Keynes (Edmund)

Georgie Henley (Lucy)

Charlotte Capades

Here are some of Charlotte's not so uncommon escapades. Please forgive the poor picture quality - they were all taken on my cell phone and some were taken very quickly.

Climbing through her play seat to escape the living room and reach that power cord

Eating everything - including the handle on the wicker chest

Sneaking around the back of the chair to get the lamp cord

Climbing my computer bag to reach something on the rocking chair

Working on the computer

Climbing a very unstable bag of mega bloks to reach the lamp

Sneaking around the back of the table to reach the lamp worked better

Sweet success :)

A 5k, a pedicure and the swine flu

So I completed my first ever 5k on Saturday. Thankfully the weather (that was supposed to be rainy all day) stayed merely overcast and was a very pleasant temperature. I am satisfied with the time I finished the race in, not because it was fast, but because it was almost exactly the time I had set as my goal.

On Sunday, as a part of our Tres de Mayo celebration (May 5 wasn't as convenient a day for a party), some friends and I treated ourselves to a pedicure... it was glorious. And since I was already shaking things up this weekend (5k races and pedicures are not a normal part of my life), I decided to go with a spectacularly bold color nail polish.

I also saw my first masked person on Sunday. I had already seen pictures of people online wearing medical masks to protect themselves from the swine flu - but most of them were in Mexico. Sunday afternoon, however, I saw a masked person at Target in Glen Burnie. It was weird and a bit creepy.

And because I don't want to end my post with the swine flu, here is a picture of my fun, freshly pampered feet :)

Can it be true?!

If this is true, I am moving to Portland!

"Many cities and counties have outlawed polystyrene foam (i.e. Taiwan, Portland, OR, and Orange County, CA)." *

polystyrene foam is the fancy name for that heinous stuff we call styrofoam!


*http://www.earthresource.org/campaigns/capp/capp-styrofoam.html

"The Two Things At The Very Top Of My Things-I-Never-Want-To-Do List"

1. This morning I woke up at 5:15 am...

2. To go to the gym

Yes, it's true. I got up at an inhumane hour of the morning in order to sign up for a gym membership and exercise. I had promised myself that I would never throw my money away in that fashion, but last week I realized that without a gym membership (and without a safe neighborhood) there was no way I was going to get in a decent amount of preparation for the 5k that I am "running" in less than a month. So there you have it. People can change.

Magnificent Obsession

On Thursday night I went with Kristin Bond and Joe Raymond to see Steven Curtis Chapman and Michael W Smith in concert. I grew up listening to the music of both these artists and it was really fun when they pulled out a couple songs from when I was a kid. Geoff Moore even made a guest appearance. The whole concert was really awesome, but there is no question that Steven is my all time favorite. There is no way that I could ever pick one favorite Steven song, there are just so many that I love. One of my very favorites is "Magnificent Obsession". I just love the way he voices his desire for Jesus:

You are everything I want
You are everything I need
I want this to be my one consuming passion
Everything my heart desires
Lord, I want it all to be for You, Jesus
Be my magnificent obsession

Considering that Steven has hundreds of songs to chose from when deciding what to play in one short concert, I was so happy when he played this one on Thursday. I was also convicted.

I tend to be obsessive by nature. But instead of letting Jesus be my one magnificent obsession, I have a horde of very un-magnificent obsessions, some that are downright foolish actually. I have decided that I am going to change that. I want to be able to sing along with Steven and really mean it. This doesn't mean that I can't still enjoy the things I like. It just means that I don't want to be consumed with them in an unhealthy way anymore, a way that distracts me from my obsession with Jesus that I am working on building into a beautiful all-consuming passion.

New Shoes!

Ok, so the first pair are not fun or exciting, but they were very necessary. It's pretty pathetic when you don't even own shoes that you can exercise in. So last night I bought these:




On a much more exciting note, while I was out shopping I found these:




And of course I had to own them!

180

I recently decided to start doing a few new things. The list is not very long, but it basically amounts to a complete 180 from my current lifestyle. These things will require quite a bit of effort and self-discipline on my part as they are all things that I either don't like to do and/or things that I am just not particularly good at. So here they are:

1. Writing

This is one of those things that I am just not good at, which also makes me not like it. But I have a family and friends who would probably like to hear from me once in a while. Of course I also have a blog that I should make better use of. And finally, Mandy and I have decided to become an author and that clearly will involve some writing.

2. Exercising

I have a fairly severe aversion to exercise in general and running in particular, but as I am now participating in Joda's Twilight 5k Progressive Marathon challenge (try saying that 5 times fast) with the ultimate goal of actually "running" a 5k, now seems like a good time to start exercising at all. I am also supposed to be in the midst of a Biggest Loser competition. Exercising would probably help.

3. Becoming a morning person

This one may well be impossible. I am going to attempt to change something about myself that is probably innate. I don't know if I buy into the theory that you can train yourself to be a morning person. I have always loved sleep and I have never been a morning person. Case in point: less than a month after I was born, I slept for over 10 hours straight and scared my mom to death. So why am I even trying to attempt this? I just want to see if I can. I know that is not a very good reason, but since I am already making some other changes in my life, why not this one too.

Note: Mandy and I have also decided to become a modern artist, but that does not make the list because I don't foresee it requiring much effort and I expect that we will be great at it.

*This is not an April fool's joke :)

Update

I recently got bored of the way my blog looked even though I hardly ever visit it so I decided to try a new template for a while. I am not sold on it but I like it for now.

Seven Things

Marie (Spun by Me) tagged me and asked me to share seven things about myself so here they are:

1. I collect books (old ones are my favorite) and I would love to eventually have a library room so big that I need slidey ladders :)

2. I HATE the squeaky sound that styrofoam makes!

3. I have 38 first cousins and another one on the way.

4. One of my favorite TV shows ever is MacGyver.

5. I had to get stitches in my chin when I was about 5 years old because I stood up on a chair right after I was told not to and I fell off. I learned my lesson and was a perfect child from then on.

6. I used to wish that I lived in a tree house like the Swiss Family Robinson... okay maybe I still do.

7. I love craft stores even though I am not crafty (especially scrapbook stores).

Thanks for tagging me Marie!