Honeymoon, Part 1

This post has been far too long in the making! I'm breaking up the Honeymoon / R&R trip in sections by locations... we met in Barcelona, Spain so that's where today's adventure begins! 

Luke and I had the good fortune (blessing!) to meet at the BCN airport within an hour of each other! It was so good to see his handsome face again. It was even better that he hurried over to give me a BIG hug! It is so nice to feel loved and wanted isn't it?? We were too early to check in our hotel so we wandered the city. We were close to Sagrada Familia the church designed by Gaudi:

Look at the detail: 

This is our first picture together in 6 months!!! Not bad for two people who had been up for two days straight! I think it has a lot to do with genuinely liking each other.

The first day we walked a little and then slept... for almost 20 hours. Which was pure bliss in and of itself. It was so strange, in a wonderful way, to be able to talk to him whenever I wanted!! And it is always fun to share adventures with your best friend. 

The second day we wandered the city and ate a lot (since we slept most of this day away it was short - ha!)

Day three proved much more productive as we walked the length of the entire city up to Gaudi's park. Amazing architectural elements in one central location. If you ever get the chance to go - do it! We also ate lunch here and had the best time watching the panhandlers scatter when the police would show up. It was so entertaining to us! Also their methods for carrying their merchandise. We had both seen the rugs full of stuff that can be rolled up easily in other countries but these people took a step further... several had jewelry pinned to umbrellas... when it was open you could "shop" all the items easily but it could be quickly closed to conceal the items from the police. Ingenious! 

So, this is the entrance to the park: 

On our trek from one of the city to the other we passed Gaudi's apartment (admittedly by mistake): 

This is also another cool building Gaudi designed. Once again, a serendipitous discovery on our way for even more food and shopping at La Rambla. With that said it should be noted that in the entire two weeks we were in Europe we didn't purchase a single item. I didn't realize it until I got home. We were just SO happy to be together!! 

On the fourth day we checked out of our hotel and onto our cruise!! We were upgraded to a balcony room - blessings abound! This is the view of the harbor in Barcelona. I'll post more on the cruise in Part 2! 

Jelly

This blog is LONG over due! Around Christmas I asked my aunt, Fran, to teach me how to make jelly from start to finish. She was allllll too happy to help me. So I headed to Louisiana back in January. Where I was greeted by a bucket of frozen blackberries and a skeptical look from my grandmother. First I had to thaw the berries... then I had to clean the berries... then I had to boil the berries: 

Once the berries were so hot they were boiling you pour them into a chinois to have the deliciousness squished out of them (all technical terms here):

Once they bleed deliciousness into the pot... by the way did I mention you do some squeezing through a cheese cloth and the berries are boiling hot?? Because I could have done without blackberry shaped scald marks on my hand... either way, if the pioneers could do it, by George so can I.... so here we have the delicious juice of many berries:

...then you add a congealing powder and TONS of sugar... and you boil again... only you don't have to touch it this time, so it's ok...

While your sugar coma is coming to a boil you have to steam (or boil) the jars and lids to make them so hot they will seal (so your jelly doesn't ruin)...

If you're thinking to yourself, "Self, these look like they're boiling hot." You are correct! Other people might try to use tongs or something to work this out, but not us... which is why every single person involved in this process was burned no less than once. BUT at long last...

PERFECTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New Year, New You...

That seems to be the theme of every January doesn't it? I kinda like me already though. Don't get me wrong, I have lots of room to grow.

How? 

Oh it's so good of you to ask! My friend Bahar and I had a discussion about how it takes 3 weeks to break or establish a new habit. We're complaining less.

So, I'm going to blog the Haley Experiment... in which I will tell you if I complained and you will in turn agree to fine me $5.00**. I am extremely skeptical that it only requires 21 days to break a habit. I have read that it is easier to substitute one habit for another.

Example, please?

Oh gosh, you're good with the questions today, blog junkies! Suppose when you are under stress you typically eat junk food. Instead of just going "cold turkey" on junk food eating it is easier to replace it with exercise. Eventually you will train your body to associate stress with a desire to exercise instead of eat.

Today is day 1 of "Whine = no. Wine = yes" j/k... Whine = No. Wine = No. Which leads me to the following....

Do you know what this picture is of?

Now your gut reaction might be "a faucet" but if you look really closely you will notice it is a faucet without running water. Did I mention it's cold in Texas? Since I'm not whining I guess that means you know the pipes froze and burst in my apartment today, huh?

I'm just stating the facts, folks. Either way, I'm counting this as a whine-free day!


**for those who don't know Chris LeDoux actually wrote and sang a song titled Five Dollar Fine about whining. I will not pay you anything.

New Year!

I don't celebrate New Years Eve with a list of resolutions. Mostly because I know very few of us ever keep them. I recently read an encouraging article from ??? about a prayer list her family had when she was a child. Long story short they made a giant list and crossed them off one by one as God answered their prayers. I thought making a prayer list for 2011 and watching what God does with the year would be better than resolutions. Here are a few from the list:

1. That Luke and I may grow together in our relationship with God. Truly making it a chord of three strands (Eccl. 4:12)

2. That each of us (literally out there reading) would have the happiest and healthiest year of our lives thus far. 

Ok there are several more, but I don't think they are for public reading. I do sincerely hope that you all have a fantastic and blessed new year!!!

Moving on... Luke's aunt and uncle stopped by to visit this weekend. They are such wonderful people! Guess what Aunt Audrey brought to visit me? Her horse, Phantom. I love horses and Phantom is NO exception. Luke wasn't a huge fan of me kissing the horse, but we just won't tell him about how irresistible those little velvety muzzles are in the future!

Christmas Prep

It is almost Christmas time in my casa. Of course I haven't prepared at all... until today. Tomorrow is one of my favorite days of the entire year. It is the day the company I work for gives presents to the school we sponsor. The kids TOTALLY love it. Completely. This year I wanted to share the love, so I gave presents from Luke... so here you go, honey, these are the gifts you picked (the little boy requested puzzles, super heros, and/or a motorcycle).

and this is how pretty the turned out... I love wrapping:

Those are little reindeer with winter clothes... they're super cute and happy!

I also took this opportunity to throw a few decorations up. I wanted to put up my Christmas tree, but I haven't. Maybe I will this weekend. After all I live alone so I can leave it up as long as I want.

I think these little trees are the bees' knees:

This is the BEST Christmas present I've ever gotten. Seriously. Luke got for me in Europe last year. I've always wanted one and he didn't know it. BEST GIFT EVER....

I made this ornament for next year's Christmas tree. Exciting:

iLove

This is how I spent the last few hours of my evening... do you know why I love this? Obviously I love Coke, that's no secret. I haven't read a book for fun in ages and John Grisham is pretty much my favorite (half way through since I left for Cincinnati - yay!)... but the thing I love here that you can't really tell is...

iOS 4.2 for iPad... oh my goodness gracious. There are 2 things I really wanted for my iPad... the ability to connect to a 3G network (I have the WiFi only iPad) and multi-tasking... iOS 4.2 allows multi-tasking (in other words I can listen to Pandora AND play solitaire) and my new iPhone (a work upgrade) allows tethering (I can plug it into my iPad and use my 3G connection).

I can honestly say this is the most fun I've had without moving a muscle for 2.5 hours.

Life. Is. Good.

(Can't wait for Luke to come home, so it can go from Good to Great!)

So Exciting... Slumby!

A friend I made while at Baylor... well kinda, we were room mates on a study abroad program for part of the trip... just started a new business.

http://slumby.com/

She's an awesome Christian gal with great ideas and the cutest family. Check it out! You can also "like" Slumby on Facebook. =)