April Update

Hello fans! Actually my family, a few friends and the random person that ends up here through the vast maze that is the internet. I am a busy bee so sometimes I need to throw in a bunch of stuff that happened recently in a single post. Let us begin on this wild adventure!

Dentistry and Pediatrics

Children are a blessing and I fully agree with that. Which is probably why I am pretty much bouncing off walls and ceilings with excitement over my new job. I finished my first week of working there and it was superb. Dr. Dance is absolutely fabulous and easy-going with one of the funnest offices I have ever been in. The kids are great and even the random tantrum thrower is not difficult to handle unless screaming 5 year olds send you running into a closet to hide in fetal position. Lucky for me I do  not take it personal and find working with children all day to be charming and easy in more way than one. Getting bit every once in a while is not an issue when you work with such amazing ladies and a great professional. I only wish I had such a dentist when I was small. I feel so blessed to have been given this amazing opportunity to exercise my skills and bring glory to my creator through them.

False: Because 99% of the time it is because you actually were not flossing. Your red, swollen gums and heavy plaque prove that each and every time.

Crossfit and Paleo
I am officially joining the crazy world that is Crossfit in less than 2 weeks. I am pretty much stoked because I am so darn impressed with the diligence and determination involved.

The plan is to pretty much become a beast. No big deal. 

I have been eating a fairly strict paleo diet the last month in order to prepare myself for a major lifestyle change. For anyone who does not know, paleo is casually referenced as the caveman diet and tends to go hand in hand with crossfitting. In a summary, paleo focuses on clean eating vegetables, fruits, berries, nuts and meat/seafood with no allowance for any grains, legumes or dairy products. If it grows on a tree, swims in the sea, walks on the ground or grows in the dirt on its own without human cultivation, you may eat it. The fish must be wild caught, the meat must be grass fed and free roaming, organic vegetables and no processed foods. None! That means no sugar! Oh vey! Americans eat over 200 lbs of sugar a year on average. So lets just say, my diet was less sweet in the past weeks. I can't eat sugar, milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, bread, soy products, peanuts or everything in between. It sounds insanely difficult but it has actually been incredibly simple. I feel better and sleep better and am prepping my body to use it's systems in the way they were designed. I am pretty excited for bootcamp to start and see what the gift that is my body is really capable of!

Fellowshipping
If anyone knows me well, you know I love the big man upstairs and his sovereignty in flesh through Christ Jesus. I have extremely conservative beliefs based on most people's opinions, which does not really fit well in our politically correct country of ours. And you know what? That is great because we are also a free nation that allows me to believe whatever I want. And let you believe whatever you want as well. Amazing concept right? Americuuuhhhhh!

Anyway, I am a huge Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church fan. You know, that really controversial church based out of Seattle where my pastor apparently is a huge woman hater and bigot and it is all a huge cult because he dresses like a normal person yet holds strict biblical view. Thanks for letting me know, your enlightenment astounds me. Yeah, that one. Well, every Wednesday night, a group of young adults in the CDA area meet at our house, watch a sermon, worship, pray and discuss together. It has been such an encouragement in my life as I move to a new area and grow as a woman into my own beliefs and desires. I like to bake and set out coffee for it and we all seem to have a fairly good time. It is glorious and I am so thankful for our new friends and the opportunity to fellowship together. (Big Christian dictionary word thats basically hanging out with a purpose of spiritual encouragement) Learn something new everyday!

    

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted!

I know 3 lines of that entire song but it felt appropriate at this moment. My hubs, my parents, sister, her friend and I are all leaving for the Bahamas in less than 24 hours!!! We are all departing from different locations from Spokane, Seattle and Elko but the goal is to arrive at the fabulous Atlantis resort on Friday. 

Not this atlantis....

Or the one Disney made.

But this beautiful place!

I have been to Jamaica and to Cancun but never to the Bahamas so we are expecting a grande new adventure, albeit a tidbit on the pricey side. But we love to travel and hopped on the sunshine train as  winter seems to linger on forever in the northern US.

I am frantically packing, cleaning and shutting things down in our home all by myself because that is what I do while hubs works, I delegate and take charge of my own to do list. This is no exception. 

I may go overboard on responsibility, like turning down our thermostats and unplugging everything in the house and eating nothing but Kale for 3 days so I can have a relatively empty fridge when I leave. But it is me, and if anyone knows me, this would not be suprising. At all. Not even a little. 

So bon voyage as we jet off to paradise for a week. We will tell you how it is when we return broke and probably fatter then we left!

Words to Pictures

I love books and I love movies.

I love literature and I love film.

I especially enjoy movies that are produced accurately off of a particular play, novel or fable.

This year there are a great number of films being produced which I am waiting anxiously to view.

One of these is Romeo and Juliet based on the world famous playwright of Shakespeare. I normally am not fond of retellings of this story unless it is the 1996 version which portrays Leonardo DiCaprio as a  gangsters in the Venice beach area wooing the daughter of a rival played by Claire Danes all while  speaking perfect lines from the origional play. It captures what is most beautiful about Shakespeare, his words.

This new version is using the same technique but setting it back into the renaissance period from whence it was staged originally. I am beyond excited.

The Great Gatsby is also soon to be released starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Casey Mulligan and Tobey MacGuire. It is easy to say just from the trailer that it will be incredible beautiful cinematography with accuracy to F. Scott Fitzgeralds origional novel of bootleggers, adultery and the roaring twenties.

But this new telling brings to my mind a particular issue I have with a lot of films that base off of novels.

INACCURACY IN THE CHARACTERS.

For example, twice in the Great Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan is described as having dark hair while Jordan Baker is a honey blonde. Yet in almost every film made of this novel, actresses with the opposite hair color are cast. Why is this? Is this because we as a society, see Daisy in her shallow, flirtatious way and instantly envision a blonde while her athletic, and independent counterpart in Jordan is seen as a smoldering brunette? It is a shame really that we deviate from the authors intent in order to fill a vision society places.

Another issue I always had was with the potrayal of a blue eyed Harry Potter in the series of films. Anyone who has EVER read the books knows automatically that Harry has green eyes which are the exact color of his late mothers. Hence the constant reference to "Lily's eyes".

Characters are always noting this physical description of him which later becomes a point when Professor Snape is killed and asks to look at Harry's eyes because they remind him of his mother, whom Snape loved his entire life. A torment that Harry, with his father's looks and mother's eyes, would be a daily reminder to Snape of the love that was lost to another. But, apparently, this was not an important issue to the directors because even later on, during a flashback scene, the red head who plays Lily as a child has dark brown eyes. So we, as an audience, are apparently supposed to overlook this? Maybe if you simply enjoy the movies as entertainment and don't care about the story or character development, this is no big deal. But for those of us who based their childhood waiting on another HP novel to be released and literally suffered emotional turmoil at the hands of these paperbacks, it is kind of a huge deal.

I mean come one, they did not even try at all. The above photo basically describes my feelings whenever I watch that scene.

For that matter, Narcissa Malfoy is a blonde with striking blue eyes. Not this weird dual color and chocolate eyes that was cast as Draco's mother. I can think of a number of actresses who would have fit the bill better. But apparently no one saw sticking to JK Rowling's work of genius as important enough.

THANK YOU!

It is a stupid rant but one that has always bothered me and probably will continue to bother me until film makers start taking an authors work seriously enough to stay accurate.

Rant over.

I just hope they do not screw up Ender's Game at least. Hoping but not counting on it.

One Year

Happy first anniversary to the hubs and I!

We officially beat out a depressing number of couples, particularly celebrity, who are unable to work out a marriage long enough to make it to celebrate a year.

We must be doing something right already.

One year ago on this date, in Snohomish, I donned my white wedding dress and prepared myself for the day that every little girl dreams of. We spend 5 months planning earnestly and the day finally arrived.

I did not know what I was supposed to feel. I knew happiness but I did not know if I would cry or laugh or simply stand in awe of the huge commitment I was making to one person. A commitment that was supposed to be given our all until we are reunited after death. It was a terrifying thought for most people.

But I never once wondered if I was making a mistake. I never thought about missing out on anything because I married young. I never questioned the direction  my life ultimately led, to the wedding alter at 20.

Our family and friends from all reaches of the US gathered on that beautiful and sunny day to witness this choice, this stand for fidelity and young love in a society that tells you divorce is okay and no one in their right mind would marry before 30.

We must have been absolutely insane. But I don't regret even a moment of it. If anything, I would have married him sooner. He is the most amazing of men and I know from the depths of my being that he was formed to fit me, and I to him.

We argue, we butt heads and get on each other's nerves. We have financial issues, career issues, decorating issues and issues of the heart.

Marriage is ridiculously hard work and anyone who tells you otherwise is a huge, fat liar with no freaking idea what they are rambling about. But, marriage is also not terrible, constricting or impossibly difficult. It is in the middle.

We rushed things. We went far quicker than most people would ever recommend two young adults to move. For most people I would probably still count as a child. But I saw was a healthy happy marriage was, all my life, and I knew that now was the time.

One year. 365 days. Most of which spent long distances apart. And I would not trade it for the world.

For I have found the one whom my soul loves. I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine.

And they lived happily ever after.