Mac & Cheese

So I went to Aldi's last night and was comparing prices. Cheese Club mac & cheese for .29 and Kraft mac & cheese for .89. Being the adventurous (and frugal) one that I often am, I opted for the the Cheese Club brand and much to my delight it tasted really good, well, as good as mac & cheese from a box can taste. Anyway, I was excited that I successfully saved .60 and will happily buy Cheese Club brand again! :-) It's the small joys that keep life happy.

C.H. Spurgeon

"He who grows in grace remembers that he is but dust, and he therefore does not expect his fellow Christians to be anything more. He overlooks ten thousand of their faults because he knows his God overlooks twenty thousand in his own case. He does not expect perfection in the creature and, therefore, he is not disappointed when he does not find it. When our virtues become more mature, we shall not be more tolerant of evil; but we shall be more tolerant of infirmity, more hopeful for the people of God and certainly less arrogant in our criticisms."

Backpacking

So a few friends and I did an overnight backpacking trip this weekend. It was really fun and we'll definitely do it again. Matt and I wanted to try it so we brought a few friends along who we also thought would be game. The hiking path in wasn't bad at all - it was, however, one the worst possible days we could have chosen to hike in, since it was in the upper 80s and super humid!! Needless to say it rained that night - as it usually does when one goes camping but it felt good..at least outside my tent. Inside was another story as most of the venting on my one-man is up top - where the rain fly had to be. I was sweating so badly because of the rain, humidity and lack of circulation. I've learned the lesson of bad tent venting and will be purchasing a better one-man for future backpacking trips, let me assure you! We left a little before 8 the next morning to hike out and made it back to the cars in record time. I drove home and threw my stuff in the laundry and promptly took a shower. I was telling my mom I felt like I needed to take a shower for every layer on me, sweat, bug repellent, sweat, wet wipes (supposedly to clean you) and sweat. I felt a world better afterwords, aired everything out on my teeny porch - I set up my tent at an angle and it looked funny but it worked! So we'll go again sometime, me definitely with a better tent. I must also say the ThermaRest I bought was a great investment!! So that's my story and I'm stickin' to it! :-)

Japanese creativity

So Amy just posted some pics from her trip to Japan to visit Willy Wonka and besides the fact that she looks utterly Californian, there were three decorating ideas that just caught my eye...

I believe we should have climbing metal beetles on our buildings too...

SpongeFeet SquarePants

I should have this art on my wall
Thanks for the amusement Gimpy!!

Gray Hair

So I noticed this weekend that I have 2 fully gray hairs and a few others that are starting to look a good deal lighter than my normal hair color. I showed the two hairs to one of my co-workers and she started laughing, a very encouraging response I must say. Anyway, just thought I'd share. Now to narrow who or what it is that could possibly be doing this to me...I'm only 28!!

5/15: a post script - my sister reminded me last night that gray hair is a crowning glory and no, I will not be dying my hair. :-)

Classical music

I have recently fallen back in love with classical music and have spent a good deal of my time just sitting on my couch, enjoying a few good symphonies and concertos. I was trying to relax one night and instead of watching a movie or reading I decided to just turn on some nice music and the next thing I knew I was conducting and remembering all those days at Hillsdale -all the hours spent analyzing, conducting, listening and composing. So now I listen to it on the way to work in the morning to get ready for the day and on the way home at night to decompress and reflect over the day. I'm quite happy and who knows? I might even get my cello back out...