Book Review: "The Devil Wears Prada"

I know this is a little much -- three posts in one day -- but what the heck! I have gotten a lot of comments about my book list. So I wanted to share a little bit about the book I just finished. My friend, Annie, lent me her copy of "The Devil Wears Prada" and I just finished it yesterday. I have to say, I'm not usually one for light-hearted, somewhat silly fiction. But I LOVED this book! It was so enjoyable to sit back and listen to the main character, Andrea, rant and rave about her job and lunatic boss. It was funny and witty, and I didn't want it to end! I can't wait to see the movie this summer!

My Yoga Craze

At the end of January, my best friend and roomate from college, Ally, came to visit me. She looked AWESOME, and when I asked what she had been doing, she said yoga. Of course, as soon as she went upstairs to take a shower, I was on the internet looking for a yoga studio in my area. A week later, I was at a nearby studio, taking my first class, and LOVING it!! Jon bought me a membership for my birthday, and I have been going 4-5 times a week ever since. I keep telling him -- it's the best present he's ever gotten me!

I know this sounds completely cliche', but yoga has totally changed my life. I am stronger, more toned, more focused, more flexible (I couldn't even touch my toes prior to this!), and MUCH less stressed than I've ever been before! After years of lifting weights (even working with some fantastic trainers in college) I have decided that I will never lift again as long as I can do yoga. I have always had lots of muscle mass on my body, but my muscles were never very defined. Now I am doing something I actually enjoy, and I'm seeing results -- like you can actually see my arm muscles -- I love it! Not that I look perfect, of course, but it's so exciting when you notice a difference from where you started!

In all honesty, I had taken yoga classes before and didn't like them. I thought they were boring and just too challenging for people like me who aren't naturally very flexible. Little did I know that there were other types of yoga out there besides the popular hatha yoga. Now I practice power yoga. We practice in a heated room (@ 95 degrees) and do lots of core work, balancing, arm balances, and inversions -- like headstands, forearm stands, and handstands. It is a great workout and completely fun! The best part is when you accomplish something that you never thought you would be able to do.

Right now, I'm trying to master the forearm stand, and firefly. Of course, my instructors make both look so easy, but I have a feeling it might take a while yet before I can do them:

forearm stand

firefly

Today, I went to my first Hot Yoga class. (I know, like 95 degrees isn't hot enough!!) This is also known as Bikram Yoga, and the studio is heated to around 105 degrees. This type of yoga presented lots of new challenges -- like overcoming the feeling that I was going to pass out from being so hot!! :) I didn't like it as much as power yoga, but I think I'll try it a few more times just to mix things up a bit.

So anyways, this may all sound a bit boring to you, but it has been a passion of mine for the past three months. I really feel like it has been the positive thing in my life while Jon has been away. I look forward to class every day, and it keeps me busy so that I'm not spending every evening alone in an empty house. I would totally recommend this to anyone who is bored or burnt out with their workout routines and looking for a change. I have to warn you, though. Once you try it, you'll be hooked!

You've GOT to be kidding me ...

Who is this woman and WHAT is she thinking?? Have you ever wondered how someone can be so backward in their reasoning? This lady and her little "church" all belong in a nuthouse. Take a look ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G470rfJQCI&search=Shirley%20Roper

This might sound completely undemocratic of me, but why in the HELL are people allowed to protest at the funerals of soldiers anyways? 500ft away? How about 500 MILES away! I think it's completely and totally sick that people have such little respect for the families of our fallen soldiers.

I Miss You!

To My Amazing Husband: I miss you...

Thanks USA -- It's a Small World

Some of my favorite emails to read each day are the comments I get from my blog. I just find it so amazing that people actually read this thing and sometimes have something to say about it! Anyways, yesterday I got a comment from a man named Mike Hacker. The comment was to provide information about a great opportunity for military families from an organization called Thanks USA. This organization is offering 1000 scholarships of $5000 to the children and spouses of active duty members of the armed forces. How Cool! Wish I would have known that when I was still paying for my master's degree last year!

Anyways, the wierdest thing is that my family is very good friends with a Mike Hacker and I'm wondering if this is the same one? I have given my blog address out to lots of people, but I don't think my mom or dad would think to send it to the Hacker family. Is it possible that he just found it by surfing the web? If so, I think that's so great! It is such a small world! And Mr. Hacker, if you're reading this, I just want you to know that I would be HONORED to add a Thanks USA link to my list of websites. I will also be sure to pass this information on to my FRG and the school district that I work in.

TomKat and Their Kitten

So I read today in the paper that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes had their baby yesterday (named "Suri"??). And I can't seem to get it out of my mind. I know it is none of my business and I must have a pretty boring life to speculate about celebrities (I literally read People magazine cover to cover while sitting in my car as soon as I retrieve it from my mailbox each week. I know -- sad!) But anyway, more than anything, I've been wondering about Tom's other children, Connor and Isabella, whom he adopted with ex-wife Nicole Kidman. I mean seriously, what would it be like if Tom Cruise was your father, and Nicole Kidman was your mother? And who do they live with anyway? Tom or Nicole? You never hear or see anything about either of them. And every time you see Nicole, she is running around with Keith Urban, looking totally unattached to any children. Hmmmm...... I watched Primetime last weekend where Tom was being interviewed by Diane Sawyer. He sounded so genuinely excited for this baby to come. But really, how much time do you think he'll spend with it when all is said and done? Just random thoughts, of course, but the whole thing totally got me wondering ....

And for something completely ironic -- Brooke Shield's baby was born yesterday also. Wierd!

My Poker Girls

So tonight was the first weekend night in a while that I've actually had something fun to do. My friend, L, from Poker night had free tickets to the opening of a new Art Museum in Colorado Springs. The exhibit on display was centered around American music with photographs by Annie Leibovitz of famous musicians. It was very cool and the atmosphere was a little bit "Sex in the City." After walking through the exhibit, we were led into a bar area where we were served wine (for free!) and got to listen to a live jazz/blues band. I was so glad that I went. Most of our poker night group was there and we were all able to meet up for dinner beforehand. It was the perfect evening.

While we were at the Art Museum, I was talking to a friend's husbands about different places that we would consider moving if we decide to leave the Army next year. He asked me if I was okay with that -- would I be willing to leave a job that I really like? I answered yes, because I guess I always knew our stay here would be temporary. It is funny how you move to a place and have a certain mindset about it. When I moved here, I always knew that it wouldn't be forever, and so I think I've gone into everything a little bit hesitant -- my job, my friendships, getting involved in the community. My "poker night" girlfriends have always been wonderful, but I guess I always thought somehow they would be "temporary" friends, just like my house was temporary, my job is temporary, etc. But lately, I've come to realize that I really love these women. They are much more than just the girls I see once a week.

We started getting together in October of 2003 to watch "The Bachelor" every week. A different person would host each week and make a scruptious dinner for everyone. Then, we would watch the newest epsode together -- we called it our "Bachelorette Night." We made a game out of it and started voting on which girls we thought the bachelor would keep. We all brought small gifts -- like a bottle of nail polish, last week's People magazine, or a Starbuck's gift card. The person who guessed the most women correctly received all of the gifts at the end. It always helped to make things exciting! After several seasons of "The Bachelor" we just couldn't take it anymore. (It was starting to get a little bit cheesy!) So we decided to play poker instead -- Texas Hold 'Em. We still bring our little gifts and play for those instead of money. And we're totally noncompetitive -- clapping and cheering whenever someone wins a hand. Right now Tuesday nights are the best night of the week for me.

These women have supported and encouraged me through so much -- a new marraige, 2 deployments, my first years teaching, all of the times I feel "fat," -- basically anything that is going on in my life. I am so thankful for their friendships and hope that we all can keep in touch long after my time in Colorado Springs comes to an end. Who would have ever thought the Lord would bless me so much through poker?

The ABC's of Me

I saw this on Itzy Bitzy Me's Blog and had to do it. I love these things.

A is for your age: 26
B is for the book you're currently reading: The Devil Wears Prada
C is for career: Teacher
D is for your future dog: A Jack Russell named "Ace" (We totally need a yard first!)
E is for essential items to bring to a party: Wine
F is for your favorite song at the moment: "Held" by Natalie Grant
G is for your favorite game: Mancala
H is for your favorite holiday: Christmas
I is for the instrument you play: Piano and Flute
J is for jam or jelly you like: Radtke Farms Strawberry Peach Jam from home
K is for kids: Can't wait to have 'em
L is for last movie you watched: Far and Away
M is for your major in college: Elementary Education
N is for the name of your first crush: Pat Williams in 3rd Grade
O is for overnight hospital stays: Hopefully my first won't be until I have babies!
P is for phobias: I am always scared that someone is going to break into my house while I'm sleeping.
Q is for quote you like: Isaiah 40:31 "For those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not grow faint."
R is for the relationship you've had that's lasted the longest: My Handsome Husband -- almost 10 years!
S is for how you found out Santa wasn't real: I started to recognize my mom's handwriting on the gift tags.
T is for tasty desserts: Dump Cake or No-Bake Cookies
U is for underwear: I'm totally not saying -- what if one of my students read this?
V is for vegetables you love: corn on the cob grown on the farm down the street from where I grew up.
W is for weekend plans: Dinner and a photography exhibit at the Art Museum on Sat, and an Easter cookout on Sun
X is for x-rays you've had: my wrist in middle school
Y is for year you graduated from high school: 1998
Z is for Zodiac sign: Aquarius

Movies

I spent lots of time this past weekend watching movies -- one of my favorite things to do. I started on Friday night by putting on comfy clothes, fuzzy slippers, and relaxing on the couch underneath my heating blanket. I had an itch to watch Pearl Harbor, which is always so great! I always fast forward through the war stuff and just watch the love story part. I never can decide who I want Evelyn to end up with -- Ben Affleck or Josh Hartnett -- they are both so dreamy in that movie!

Last weekend, I rented Love Comes Softly from the video store. I totally loved it. I grew up watching Little House on the Prairie (my friend, Ally, is ALWAYS teasing me about this.) The Love Comes Sofly trilogy is very similar to this. It's about a woman whose husband dies just after they leave the wagon train and claim their land. Since it's close to winter, and no wagon trains will be leaving to take her back East, a Christian widower offers her a marraige of convenience -- to live with him until Spring and take care of his daughter. I don't want to write anything else about it, just in case anyone wants to watch it. But I really really enjoyed it -- it was just a good, wholesome, feel-good movie. My husband probably wouldn't have liked it one bit -- which is really the only good thing about him being gone -- I can watch as many chick flicks as my heart desires! Anyway, Love Comes Softly is a trilogy. I rented the last two parts of the trilogy this weekend -- Love's Enduring Promise and Love's Long Journey. Both were good, but not as great as the first.

On Saturday, I watched Supersize Me. I'm still not sure how I feel about this movie. Obviously, it was gross watching this guy eat McDonald's three times a day, knowing that his health was deteriorating so quickly. However, I have talked to some people that say they will never again eat fast food after watching that movie. I don't think I'm going to give up fast food for the rest of my life, but it definitely reaffirms my decision to stop at Panera instead of McDonald's after church on Sundays. Do I think that fast food is killing our nation by causing obesity ? -- not really. People choose what kind of restaurants they want to eat at along with how much they'll eat. A person who stops by a fast food restaurant once every week or so is not going to get fat just because of that one meal.

On the other hand -- there was a large segment of the movie that talked about school lunches. This part I totally agreed with! Working in a middle school, I see what my kids eat and it is TOTAL JUNK!! When I was in school, we could pick one of two regular menu choices, or salad bar -- that's it! Nowadays, my students can choose from two regular menu choices, salad, a deli sandwich, fries, burgers, pizza, breadsticks, chips, ice cream bars, sugary drinks -- it is mostly CRAP!! Almost every student in there eats cheese breadsticks and a candy bar for their lunch everyday. Yikes!

On Saturday night, I went to the movies to see Take the Lead. I hadn't been dying to see this or anything, I just wanted to get out of the house (and also have some of that fantastic movie popcorn). I was pleasantly surprised. It is the one with Antonio Banderas teaching kids balroom dancing during their detention. It was pretty entertaining and the crowd was really into it. I was glad that I went to see it.

So despite all the fun I had watching all these movies, I feel like it was a totally unproductive weekend! So next weekend, I've got to have some sort of project to keep me busy and make me feel like I actually accomplished something. I'm thinking of possibly starting my first quilt -- but I'm a little intimidated. I'll let you know what I decide ...

Spring Break

Isn't it amazing how God plans things? The day after receiving the bad news about Jon's orders, I was leaving to fly home to Michigan for Spring Break. He must have known that I would need a little cheering up!

I had been looking forward to Spring Break for a loooong time! As great as it would have been to go somewhere warm, like Mexico or Florida, going home to chilly Michigan was perfect for me! My little, sister, Lauren, flew in the same day as me and my dad picked us up from the airport. This blog will be way too long if I expand on every thing I did. So here are some of the highlights from my trip:

• Watching March Madness and talking a little trash to my 17 year old brother, Eric (See picture below).
• Going shopping at the outlet mall in Michigan City with my mom, my sister, and my mother-in-law.
• Going to church with my family.
• Spending time with my grandparents and my aunts in South Bend.
• Trying to teach my sister yoga in our living room.
• Going out to a fancy restaurant with my in-laws (they always spoil me rotten!)
• Getting to see my friend, Bethany, and her very very cute little boy, "Mr. G"! Bethany was one of my VERY good friends at Fort Carson before they moved. (See picture below)
• Shopping with my mom and sister.
• Going to "The Second City" with my family right before we left. It's an improv club in Chicago -- VERY funny!
• Getting a "Makeover" with my sister. (a.k.a. highlights) (See Before and After shots below).

Here are some photos:

This is a typical shot of my little brother, who usually wants nothing to do with his annoying sisters.

Eric and Lauren

Me and "Mr. G"

THE MAKEOVER

BEFORE: Lauren and I looking pretty ragged.

AFTER: Happy and blonde again!

What Does "WAIT" Mean?

Wow! It's been a while since my last entry. Lots has happened in the past two weeks!

I remember the four-month marker during the last deployment. I think that was right around the time my friend, Katie, and I read in the newspaper that our boys would be gone for a full year! Ouch! It was summertime and after reading the news, Katie and I just sat on the couch -- a little depressed, but assuring one another that we could do this and we'd be there for each other. We did, and we were, and everything turned out just fine.

This deployment's four-month marker was very similar! Let me back up a little. My husband received orders a few weeks ago to attend Special Forces selection. We had been looking forward to this for a while -- since he left in November, actually. For Jon it meant that he would get to try out for something he REALLY wants to do. For me, it meant that my husband would be coming home. For both of us, it meant a possible move this summer to a new post. Although I know better than to get my hopes up when the Army is making decisions about your life -- I did! However, to our disappointment, we found out a little over a week ago that Jon's unit refuses to release him and his orders are being delayed until October. Needless to say, I was very sad!

Over the past few months we have really been praying hard about this -- asking God to make clear what is the best thing for our future. I was certain that a "YES" would mean we were supposed to stay in the Army and a "NO" would mean it was time for us to move on. But what does "WAIT" mean?? I'll have to keep praying on that one. A few weeks ago at the retreat, I attended a workshop on listening to God. Hopefully, I can be a good listener. But just in case, God, could you make things loud and clear??

Despite the disappointment, it has been really exciting to consider some other options that we hadn't thought of before. My head is literally spinning and I am a little bit confused about everything! My husband has been fabulous throughout this -- very encouraging even though he's probably the one who could use the most encouragement. Jon has had a GREAT attitude -- I'm so proud of him! I have to admit that I was very angry with the Army in the beginning. But it's hard to stay mad at them when I know that they really aren't the ones in control -- God is.