V Day

Valentine's Day is coming soon. Can you believe I'm thinking about this? I starting thinking about it when Eddie told me this evening out of nowhere that "Valentine's Day is on a Saturday this year". This led to a conversation about what we'll do. Dinner and a movie it is. To my amazement, we have decided on The Melting Pot. Why am I amazed? I love to try new restaurants and food in general. My boyfriend, on the other hand, is a tad picky. He also has stopped eating beef and pork recently. He'll eat fish but no shrimp, crab, or lobster for him! Eddie is also not a fan of "pretty food." So, I am happy that he's stepping out and doing something different with me. Reservations will be made this weekend. I'm excited!

Vacation

I feel so bad that I have not blogged since November. Has life been that busy for me? Not really. It's not that hard to sit down for 5-10 minutes and write some thoughts down. It just hasn't been a priority. I must be pretty bored, because I started my vacation on Christmas Eve. I'm not even half way through it, and I'm blogging. I'll go back to work on January 5th, so I have a good amount of time to sleep in, read, shop, hang out with my retired parents, do laundry...stuff that I do not have much time to do when I'm working. So, I'm really thankful for this time I have off. Luckily, the policy at the company I work for is to use it or lose it [vacation] :)

Change

It is 10:14 PM (Central) on Tuesday, November 4th, and Barack Obama has been elected president of the United States. He is my president. He is your president. I am overwhelmed! How exciting!

My Kind of Town

I returned this week after a four-day conference sponsored by The American Dietetic Association, an organization of which I am a member. It was in one of the best cities in the U.S.-Chicago. I'm sharing some of the highlights with you.

I was fortunate to have a little bit of down time to visit with Amy and Joe. Amy moved to Chicago from Columbia, Missouri in July to join Joe right before their wedding. They are doing great, but Amy is not thrilled about the approaching cold weather:)

Seared Sea Scallops and Shrimp (the green stuff in the middle is a Granny Smith apple)

I admit it. I like pretty food. This is the beautiful dish that I had while at Vong's Thai Kitchen with Amy and Joe. The way a dish is presented can make it that much more enjoyable!

Another pretty dish courtesy of Hershey's Chocolate (the "bowl" is a cucumber cut lengthwise and the dressing is a vinaigrette made with chocolate although it tasted nothing like it

)

Me and Tony (He's grrrreat!)

The Expo Hall is the place to be at these ADA meetings. It's a huge room full of food companies convincing dietitians to recommend and use their products. They do this with plenty of free samples, and I got plenty of them including Frosted Flakes, which is not my favorite cereal, but it was free. I can also add that I won two cookbooks and box full of raisins and nuts from California Raisins. I love the Expo :)

Chris Gardner autographs his book

Did you see The Pursuit of Happyness starring Will Smith? Well Chris Gardner is the "real" person that he portrayed in that movie. He gave an inspiring motivational talk to kick off the conference. His main message is: Whatever happens, never stop, because you never know what great things are awaiting you if you keep moving and stay focused.

Labor Day Weekend

We decided to have our Labor Day festivities a day early. Here're a few shots from our Sunday dinner. We had a good time and lots of good food.

Dad and sis in the kithchem

Mom and Eddie

Dad Grillin'and Chillin'

Dylan and his "dog"

Done grillin'

Retreat and Devotion

Today was another day of retreating. I started my day with a classic massage. Next time I want to try the massage with the hot rocks. I hear it does wonders.

At 10 AM I spent two hours of an excellent devotion given by my church member Kim. The theme was "You Don't Know My Name". I think everyone got teary-eyed as Kim and the other ladies expressed how calling on God by His different names has helped them through difficult times in their lives. This devotion reminded me that God serves us in so many ways and that He is everything that we need, although it's hard to realize that sometimes with all that we have going on in our lives. In order to remind us Kim gave us an exercise. She gave us a sheet of paper with all the translations of God's name and a smooth rock. She asked us to think for a couple of minutes and write the translations of God's name that applies most to us. There were more than ten to choose from, but after thinking for a bit, I wrote on my rock El Shaddai and Jehovah-jireh. El Shaddai reminds me that God is sufficient for whatever is needed. Jehovah-jireh means that God will provide. I plan to keep the rock by my bedside and use it when I reflect from day to day. Very powerful.

The Ladies Participate in the Group Excercise

Well, after that emotional two hours, most of the ladies headed to the Zona Rosa Mall. It was time to eat, so a bunch of us headed to Mimi's Cafe. Great food. The highlight was their huge homemade muffins. If it's your first time at the cafe, they send you home with four of their signature muffins. How nice. The best is the carrot-raisin-nut. After lunch, I was there long enough to grab a decent swimsuit (yeah!!), get a cup of Cold Stone and head back to the bus. It was super-hot, so we did not want to stay out there long. After a nap, I went to the hot tub to soak. It was a full day.

Ahhh...relaxation!!

I've taken off a couple of days of work to take part in a ladies church retreat. We left the Ferguson Heights Church of Christ this morning at 9 AM and arrived in Excelsior Springs, Missouri around 2 pm. We were supposed to get here at 1 PM, but the bus driver's GPS threatened to take us down a closed road and into a river, so he had to do some re-routing, needless to say. Then, later in the day, the group decided that we needed to head to Super Wal-Mart to pick up some necessities-chips, chocolate, gum, water, swimsuits, etc. It must have taken us an hour to get there. Apparently, the driver was not too sure of where he was going. When he stopped to ask the locals, it became apparent that they were not sure either. Well, I think they knew, but "it's just down the road" means different things to different people. Anyway, we got our snacks and such and headed back to The Elms our hotel.

The lobby at The Elms, Excelsior Springs, MO

I never did find that swimsuit, but there's always the mall. By the time we finished our "outing"we were famished. Dinner at the hotel was great. We ate at Adega, which has a prime rib, seafood and pasta buffet on Fridays. Very tasty, especially the made-to-order pasta. Now, I've retired to the room for some much-needed rest. Tomorrow has in store a 9 Am massage, our devotional, a trip to the mall (another fun-filled bus adventure), and other activities which I hope will include water. Hope I find that swimsuit.