lazy saturday.

Hello October (: 

So far, I am not loving the weather you've opened with but crossing my fingers for better days. It has been so humid and hot lately despite the fact that it is now officially autumn. Hmm. 

Well, Nick purchased my "Christmas Gift" today and I can already say with confidence that I will not be waiting until Christmas to open and utilize the gift. It is a pair of chocolate brown suede boots that I have been wanting for several winters to replace the really worn out pair that I already owned. Yay! I can't wait for cooler fall weather so I can show off my fabulous new foot wear. 

Today was mostly a lazy day. It seems like every weekend there is some baby shower or wedding or party or family function that we must attend. To be honest, it adds up to exhaustion. Not that I don't enjoy spending time with friends and family, because I do. But every now and then, we need a lazy day to wake up late and watch saturday morning cartoons while eating cereal. Which is exactly what Nicholas and I did this morning (: It was blissfully fulfilling.

We should be resting up because at this time next week, we will be in San Antonio, Tex. with the rest of my siblings and parents for my nephew Cruz's 2nd birthday party. I am looking forward to the mini vacation. The weather over there promises to be in the 80s so I am stoked. Also, since I haven't seen either of my two older sisters since my wedding six months ago, it will be nice to catch up with them in person. Phone calls just aren't the same as face to face conversations. 

Anyway, Nicholas just scored a touchdown on his NCAA 2010 game so I am going to stop typing and cheer for him. Nothing too enlightening this week but thanks for reading anyway (: Happy October!

~Bethany.

learning lessons.

I learned something this week about friends. I learned that I expect people to treat me with the same loyalty, support and respect that I show them. But I've come to realize that my perception of what friendship ought to be is entirely different than reality. Some people are simply unreliable, not out of spite or cruelty but simply because they place their own needs first. On that same note, though, some friendships last simply because the friends choose to make time for each other. And regardless of my own circumstances, these are the friendships I will choose to cultivate in my own life.  

    "A friend loves at ALL times, and a [sister] is born to help in a time of need."

                                                                                                                                    -Prov. 17:17 

thoughts for Tuesday...

Well, after a long break, I have rejoined the blogging world. In my defense, I was deathly ill. Well not exactly but seasonal allergies really are no joking matter. 

The last week felt extremely long, probably due partly to the fact that I felt unwell and also partly because of dove hunting season which caused us to be in Madera much longer than can really be healthy. :) 

Either way, I am home now and ransacking my brain for blog ideas. So far though, any good ideas have yet to surface. I had all these brilliant epiphanies of how true happiness comes from within oneself and people with too much time on their hands resort to gossip as a pastime, which is ridiculously annoying. But then I decided that I am not Dr. Phil and really have no desire for comments to surface with the dreaded, "are you talking about me in this blog????" thread. 

So instead of getting into all of that, I will just reflect on myself and say that despite many recent frustrating and extremely trying instances, I have learned that the only thing I can control is my own attitude and my reaction, and the only way I obtain this sort of strength is through much prayer. Choosing anger or resentment only proves that my antagonizer has the power to bring destroy my happiness. The real strength comes through choosing to completely ignore negativity and completely ban it from my attitude. 

At The Well this Sunday, Brad talked about how every action in our lives can be an act of worship to God, not just the songs we sing in church on Sunday, but our lives and our actions and the way that we honor God in every aspect of life. I really believe that. Even in the way that I relate with people, regardless of whether we have anything in common or not, the way I treat them reflects what is in my heart. And if my actions show even a fraction of the love of the God I claim to follow, then they surely bring honor to Him and not me, and that denying of self to reflect Christ is worship. 

And that is what I have been thinking about lately, and working on in my own life. 

<3 Bethany.

And He said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

                                                                                                                                                                                         -Luke 9:23

a peek into my mind.

So it's 9:30 on a Saturday morning and for some reason I am wide awake. I want to go running but Nick won't wake up and go with me. He just keeps rolling over and mumbling strange things that don't really sound like English. Hmmm...

So I need to decide. Do I go running alone? Or wait for him to wake up, which could take a while.

I'm probably just going to wait...

Well, on that note, this has felt like a long week. I worked all week long and had to resort to some yoga stretches to help with my sore limbs. It actually helped though. I think I will be using yoga more often.

Tuesday, I visited with my cousins Jalisa and Isaac, and Jalisa's three month old daughter. She is huge! Well for being three months. But she is also cute and silly like most babies. She was so happy for a while until she decided to be grumpy and then we had to make her take a nap. The visit was quite fun though. I had not seen those two in at least five months so it was really nice to catch up. And it was my first meeting with baby Jocelyn.

I also shopped for my birthday gift on Wednesday. I spent nearly an hour and a half trying on jeans. I think the fitting room lady was sick of me because I kept coming in with five pairs and then I would leave four of them and keep one. Then I would change my mind and find five more pairs of jeans and start the process over. I think I did this at least three or four times. I finally settled on a super cute a extremely comfortable pair of Hudson jeans, which I love! Plus they were very on sale which was also a plus. But then I spent the rest of the day, as well as the next day, trying to decide if I should keep them or return them. In the end, Nick made the decision to keep them and I agreed.

Purchasing premium denim really is a huge deal though. There are so many factors that influence my choice: fit, quality, price, versatility, price, color, price, etc. They can't be too light of a color because then I won't actually ever where them. Also, if they don't fit my aura, I won't wear them either. And it is imperative that they fit properly because if they are even a little snug, after wearing them for any length of time, I will feel like they are killing me and have to unbutton them and then I just look pregnant which isn't good either. Also, I can't rationalize spending over $100 on a pair of jeans. On the other hand though, if I find a pair that were originally priced at $150 and have been marked down to $70, I still need to go through the process of determining whether this is a deal or not. Because as a general rule of thumb, I can find a super cute pair of jeans for under $20 any day of the week. So do I want to spend more than three times that amount on just one pair simply because they have a stupid seven on the pocket? Not necessarily. Do you see my dilemma? Needless to say, fitting room attendants and sales personnel cringe when I appear.

My Hudson jeans though, I rationalized because I used birthday money which really wasn't mine at all. Also, Hudson jeans are manufactured in the good ol' USA. Therefore, I am actually stimulating our  economy with my purchase. And I just feel like I'm getting better quality; this particular point is debatable but I'm just going to think it anyway and be happy with my beautiful new pair of jeans.

Well, that turned very long very fast so I will close now and try for the umpteenth time to wake my husband and convince him to go running. Have a great weekend!

<3 Bethany.

T.J. Maxx smiled upon me..

Nicholas & I found this bench Friday evening while browsing through T.J. Maxx in Clovis. Although originally priced at $199, it was earth-shatteringly marked down to just $38. What a steal! (: So I was forced to make Nick carry it to the cash register amid gasps from fellow shoppers noticing our amazing deal. Feast your eyes on our latest pride and joy....  (:

Domestication is bliss, i think. (:

August snuck up on me this year.

So did the length of my hair. I looked in the mirror today and noticed that it actually has grown quite a bit. I think perhaps the summer heat and my new relaxed attitude since graduating factor into this.

I'm starting to feel like a housewife. Well, aside from working extra hours at Spag. This morning I ate yogurt and cinnamon raisin toast for breakfast. I don't even like raisins, but it was strangely satisfying.

I'm also realizing that caffeine hides in way more than soda and energy drinks. I made Nick buy this awesome looking fruit juice from the grocery section in Target only to find out when I pulled it out of the fridge that it has "natural caffeine" from coffee beans. Gah! Bloody caffeine leave me alone. So I had to resort to something of my own creation which turned out to be peppermint ice tea with blueberries sans caffeine. Ah..lovely. (:

My birthday is in ten days. I heard on KLOVE yesterday that a recent survey showed that the age women feel most beautiful is something like 31. So basically, I should be getting more beautiful with age, right? So I'm welcoming this birthday (and many more, Lord willing) with open arms. I only hope that the majority of the women taking that survey were 31.

Love,

Bethany.

Adventures...

Friday we did indeed visit Chinatown. Despite a few wrong turns, paying for overpriced valet parking, and getting lost in the airport, the day turned out quite fabulously. I got some amazing paper lanterns and Reuben bought a knife. What a surprise there. I think the highlight of the day was when a few non-english speakers handed mom some fliers and tried to urge her to visit whatever it was the flier advertised in some foreign language. She just kept nodding and smiling and accepting fliers. We had to drag her away. lol.

I could spend all days describing the trip but of course, a picture is worth a thousand words. That being said, see for yourself....

<3 Nick's Wife.