jetsetter

My bags are packed again! Be back next week!

xoxo

pizza + sunset = a good summer night

Supper time is usually a dreadful part of my day. It requires that never ending dialogue of "What do you want to eat?" -- "I don't know. What do you want to eat." -- "I don't know. How about (insert name of food/restaurant here)?" -- "Eh, I'm not really in the mood for that tonight." And so the conversation continues until we end up having cereal for supper.

Thursday night began with this usual conversation, but rather than argue it out, we decided to grab our cameras and head to the ocean. There are numerous little beach towns in our area but we selected Dunedin for our impromptu photo shoot because it also happens to have a cute little downtown area with shops and restaurants (and one of our favorite ice cream shops, but I'm sure that had absolutely no impact whatsoever on our choice of location).

We enjoyed a lovely dinner at Pan y Vino, which consisted of crisp fresh salads and a fire oven pizza (topped with fig, goat cheese, prosciutto, basil, and mozzarella). It was seriously amazing and I cannot wait to eat there again. We decided to burn off all those calories by walking around town, along the shoreline, and finally out on the pier. We topped off the night with ice cream sodas (so maybe that ice cream shop influenced our choice more than I thought).

hands & feet

While in Guatemala, an amazing woman on our team gave a devotional that has been in my mind ever since. She spoke on Romans 12 and the importance of us not growing so accustomed to our world in the States that we forget about what we saw and accomplished in Guatemala. I cannot even begin to describe the poverty and suffering that we encountered there. She presented us with the question that haunts people everywhere, "How can God allow such suffering?" But then she reminded us that God doesn't allow suffering...it is OUR mission as the body of Christ to help. WE are the hands and feet of Jesus.

On my lunch break Monday, I got in my car to go to Jamba Juice ("Peanut butter moo-d" makes my Mondays tolerable). As I was driving, an old Audio Adrenaline song came on the radio that I seriously have not heard since I was in high school. I've heard the song countless times, but for some reason I listened to it with a fresh understanding. The name of the song is "Hands and Feet", and these lyrics could not be more perfect.

"I want to be your hands,

I want to be your feet.

I'll go where you send me,

go where you send me.

And I'll try, yes I'll try,

to touch the world,

like you've touched my life."

{Slums along the hillside in Guatemala City}

{A home in Guatemala before we began to rebuild it-- the little shed with the sheet was the family's bathroom}

{A common scene in Guatemala...my friend Karla spotted this little baby while evangelizing in a park in Zacapa. The entire family was homeless but eager to hear the Gospel.}

{After a hard day of construction, standing in front of the doorway leading down the steep steps to the home we were rebuilding. We hauled buckets of mud up out of the slum and hauled buckets of sand and gravel down. This work really taught me the meaning of being the hands and feet of Jesus. And it was far better than any workout I've ever done at the gym!}

hunting

Once I recovered from my time in Guatemala and had adjusted back to life in the States, I decided it was time to go hunting. For me, that means hunting for unique finds and vintage treasures. Hubby and I decided to check out a local flea market that boasts as being one of the largest in the Southeast. Although I found nothing on my list, hubby and I still had a great time exploring the rows and rows of booths. And we stocked up on fresh local produce, which always makes us happy and excited to get home and start cooking.

What do you like to hunt?

Viva Guatemala!!

Words cannot even begin to describe my time spent in Guatemala. I cannot remember a time in my life where I have been filled with such insurmountable joy. There were many times when I was totally out of my comfort zone...I was so worried about not being able to speak Spanish and the fact that we would be totally cut off from the outside world. Things that are commonplace in America became luxurious memories...we craved warm showers, cool drinking water, American plumbing, bug-free beds, and air conditioning. Yet we were all so very HAPPY because we were serving God and spreading the love of JESUS!! My life has literally been changed forever, and I am counting the days until I get to go back out into the mission field.

{Guatemalan ladies walking home from church}

{Sunscreen + bug spray = missionary essentials}

{I fell in love with this beautiful old church and volcano}

{I love Guatemala!!}

{Ladies making tortillas in the marketplace}

Bon Voyage

I apologize for my lack of posting and commenting this week -- I have been been running around like a crazy lady these past few days. The reason? I'm leaving at 3AM to go to the mission field for 8 days! I will be going to Guatemala, which leaves me feeling both nervous and super excited. My nervousness mostly stems from not being able to speak a lick of Spanish, which is very sad considering I just finished taking Medical Spanish. My brain has decided that being trilingual is really not that important, and it can't be bothered to make room for both French AND Spanish. I desperately tried to learn Spanish, but when I try to speak it, only the French words come out. But God's love is not restricted by language barriers, and I cannot wait to share Jesus with the people I meet.

If you don't mind, would you please say a little prayer for my mission team? Just that we have a safe trip and that God will use us to bring glory to Him. I am just in awe right now because I can't wait to see how God is going to use me. I know that when I return to the States next Saturday I will not be the same person, and I find that immensely exciting.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend and week ahead! I look forward to sharing the details of my trip with you when I return!

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perfection

I stumbled across this photo today, and I just think it is sheer perfection.

Wouldn't it be lovely to lounge on a picnic blanket with your closet friend, sharing a laugh and a cool drink? And those hats and dresses...be still my heart. This only reaffirms my love for picnics and lovely clothes.

{Photo credit: The Satorialist}

Obsessed

I've always had a love affair with pretty clothes. My style is distinctly feminine...98% of the time you will catch me wearing a dress or skirt. I am very wistful of the days when people always dressed up and ladies wore elegant hats and gloves. My favorite style decade is definitely the 1950's, and I am beyond thrilled to have my mom's collection of vintage patterns. All of this means that I am madly in love with the ladylike pieces that are dominating fall fashion. I have been obsessing over the Louis Vuitton Fall collection since Fall Fashion Week so many months ago. I'm already plotting how I will recreate these looks on my own using my patterns from the 50's.

Some of my favorites:

{Louis Vuitton Fall 2010 RTW}

{all images from Style.com}

What's your favorite style decade?

summertime teddy bear

As much as I complain about the summertime heat, I guess I should just be thankful that I'm not stuck wearing a black fur coat all the time. In the hopes of giving Heaven a little relief, we had the groomer give her a teddy bear cut. Honestly, I love it so much that we may keep it this way until the temps start to cool down in January. She is just left with her undercoat, which makes her the perfect snuggle buddy, just like a little bear.

{Heaven modeling her new haircut}

{"Thanks, Mom!" -- Heaven}

you want it...baby, you got it

Ask and you shall receive! Enjoy =)

BANANA SORBET

2 cups pureed overripe bananas

1 cup simple syrup**

1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Place bananas, simple syrup, and lemon juice in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until the mixture reaches 40 degrees, about 2 hours.

Transfer to an ice cream maker and proceed according to manufacturer's instructions.

**To make simple syrup, place 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water in a saucepan and cook over medium high heat until the sugar has completely dissolved, about 3 minutes. Set aside to cool. You can cover and refrigerate this mixture up to 1 month.

going bananas

I have decided that summer is making me fat. It's too hot to run or do any other strenuous activities outside, and all I want to do is cool down with ice cream cones, popsicles, and Cherry Limeades from Sonic (and if you haven't tried their Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade, you must get yourself to the closest Sonic immediately....ah-mazing). Since I've been consuming copious amounts of frozen treats, I decided to try making sorbet (because sorbet is basically just like eating fruit, right? And fruit is healthy!). Plus, it was a great excuse to use the soda fountain glasses I thrifted. I'm convinced that soda fountain glasses make everything taste better.

{Banana sorbet}

What are you doing to stay cool this summer?

A Recessionista's Guide to Date Night

I know that some media outlets claim that the recession is over, but here in the Southeast things are still pretty bleak. Not to mention the fact that doctorate students aren't exactly known for being loaded (except on the day that student loan disbursements come it...yippee!). As a result, hubby and I have to get creative for date night. To be honest, I thought I would miss the expensive steak dinners and pricey cocktails with friends. But it has actually been way more fun coming up with new thrifty ways to spend some quality time together.

One of our favorites dates has become known as Salsa Night. We consult to formulate our recipe, then work together to cut, chop, and process until we have a perfect, amazingly delicious, homemade salsa....which we promptly devour while catching up on our favorite TV shows or while watching a movie.

{Salsa in progress: Cilantro, mango, habanero, red onion, avocado, lime}

{Variation of first recipe with avocado, peach, lime, tomatillos, jalapeno, red onion, and habanero}

What are your favorite {thrifty} things to do on date night?

Obsessions

Do you ever eat something that is just so delicious that you crave it for months afterward? Well, I've felt that way about a particular Italian sandwich since October (see here). Silly how something so simple could linger in my mind for so long, but this was one amazing sandwich. So what's a girl to do? Drive 45 minutes to get the sandwich, of course. I decided to take my new Holga along to see what kind of modifications I might need to make to it. I was heartbroken when not a single picture came out...light leaks all over the place. Hubby, not to be bothered with things like toy cameras and film, downloaded some iPhone app that produces toy camera-like images. Naturally, all of his pictures turned out just fabulous. This must be my payback for beating him at miniature golf (here).

{I imagine that I'm thinking about what an amazing picture I'm taking with my purple Holga}

{One of my favorite pictures that Hubby shot with his iPhone}

{The object of my obsession}

{Happy at last}

What food are you obsessing over right now?

{Honestly, I still want another sandwich. I fear I may be addicted.}

Return to life

I am finally back! Hubby is still recovering, but doing much better. This week he was able to go back to work, so I'm finally starting to get back to my own life. I am massively behind on all of your blogs, so please bear with me as I try to get caught up.

We had a very low-key 4th of July weekend because it rained ALL weekend. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate rain? I know that technically the earth needs rain, but personally I'm not a fan. I decided to dress patriotically for church yesterday, and I was feeling pretty cute in my red dress, blue and white scarf, and bright blue pumps...until I walked out into a monsoon. It was still pouring when we arrived at church, and I stepped out of the car into soggy muddy grass...which made me say a bad word...which made me feel extra guilty because I'm pretty sure it counts double against you if you say a bad word at church.

It's raining again today, but I had a chocolate dipped ice cream cone at Dairy Queen, which seemed to make everything better for a little bit.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend!

{image credit}