Birthday Birthday

Wow, what a weekend. I am a happy girl right now.

I've just had blessings showered upon me for the last couple days and it has been amazing. I'm just going to start thanking people, so in your mind picture me making a speech, like at the Oscars.

I want to thank Jesus, who loves me so tenderly, understands my every thought and need, and orchestrates every blessing.

I want to thank my amazing family, who love God and trust him with every step. You showered me with fun gifts (a basket delivered to my work, new "cozies," running shoes, a purse from Erin, money -already spent!- from Grandpa and Grandma, and more) and glasses of red wine and amazing conversation. I received some fun gifts from the Brown side, too - shoes, Dance Dance Revolution for the Xbox 360 (I should really post pictures of that one sometime), and more spending money (also already spent!). Thank you, thank you. You made me feel so special.

I thank my co-workers at Z, who sang Happy Birthday to me, took me out for lunch (thanks again, Brenda!), and just stopped by my cube to say hi. It was so great to be back in the office for a day!

And I want to thank my friends. I had friends call and/or leave messages for me on Facebook. I shared sweet fellowship with Grace and Kathy (Saturday morning) and then Kara and Julie (Saturday afternoon). (Erika, we missed you!!!) I'm so thankful for friends to share life with... good times and tough times. No need to put up pretenses or make small talk. Just honest, encouraging, real conversation. I also loved seeing/kissing/snuggling little babies that I don't get to watch grow up as easily these days. Thank you for also for my gifts! Burts Bees products, a yummy candle, Chinese takeout, and a flower holder. I love them all.

And, last but not least, my sweet hubby, who couldn't be with me on my birthday (he was on a Wild At Heart-themed retreat with some guys from school) but gave me lots of calls, let me order a Timbuk2 bag last weekend, and had beautiful flowers (and a cleaned-up living room) here for me when I returned home. He knows knows what I like! And then a dinner out at our favorite pizza place when I got home. Perfect.

Such blessings. So thankful. So smiley right now.

Shoplifting Seagull in Scotland

I got an email about this from a friend at work. Hysterical.

Season Premier TOMORROW!

Anyone wonder what they did all summer?

Good for the Soul

Tonight was a "good for the soul" night.

I had a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice latte for supper. Picked out new scrapbook stuff at the cute little store down the street. Checked out Macy's for a new coat (didn't find one, but it was fun to look.) Turned on some Jeremy Camp/Derek Webb/Third Day. Scrapbooked for a couple of hours. Made a couple of cards. Took Riley on a walk.

And now I get to go pick up my hubby from school. Yay! I think the "good for the soul" night will continue with investigating the new samples (!) he'll bring home and then snuggling into bed.

A good night.

Great thoughts (but not mine!)

I've been thinking all evening about what I should/could blog about. Trying to come up with interesting or profound ideas and insights. But I didn't come up with anything. So I turned to John Baillie's A Diary Of Private Prayer, a place I often turn to for fresh thoughts, and found this prayer:

Now unto Thee, O heavenly Father, be all praise and glory that day by day Thou dost richly fill my life with various blessings:

A home to share, kindred to love, and friends to cherish;

A place to fill and work to do;

A green world to live in, blue skies above me, and pure air to breathe;

Healthy and simple pleasures;

My race's long history to remember and its great men to follow;

Good books to read and many arts and crafts to delight in;

So much that is worth knowing and the skill and science to know it;

Those high thougths that sometimes fill my mind and come I know not whence;

Many happy days, and that inward calm that Thou givest me in days of gloom;

The peace, passing understanding, that comes from Thine indwelling in my soul;

The faith that looks through death and the hope of a larger life beyond the grave.

I thank thee, O Lord God, that though with liberal hand Thou hast at all times showered Thy blessings upon our human kind, yet in Jesus Christ Thou has done greater things for us than Thou ever didst before:

Making home sweeter and friends dearer;

Turning sorrow into gladness and pain into the soul's victory;

Robbing death of its sting;

Robbing sin of its power;

Making peace more peaceful and joy more joyful and faith and hope more secure. Amen.

I feel like I have so many things jumping around in my head - blessings of a restored friendship, memories of a great weekend spent with friends, looking forward to a weekend in GR but sad Josh won't be with me. I feel all sorts of things tonight - happy, worried, excited, overwhelmed (mostly about chores/details I need to take care of but haven't yet), bored, blessed. All over the map. But this prayer spoke to me and reminded me of the wealth of blessings God has given me. I bolded the words and phrases that particularly stuck out to me.

A Diary of Private Prayer was given to me a few years back and never fails to remind, instruct, end encourage me through the simple prayers printed on each page. I love praying through them, and once I'm done wonder at myself for not praying more of them. Highly recommended.

Who Knew?

MANY conversations around the B-School (and the Partner's Club) revolve around asking where people want to end up after school. This subject is of great curiousity to me, the big planner that I am. Josh and I discuss it quite often (more than he'd like to, I'm sure!). Here was a recent conversation of ours:

Jessica: So where do you want to live after you're done with school?

Josh: Depends on where I get a job.

Jessica: But if you could choose?

Josh: I don't know... Minneapolis, Cleveland, Cincinnatti, Chicago, Indy... somewhere in the Midwest, probably. Or Kellogg's is in Battle Creek. Or Whirlpool in St. Joe. Don't want to live in L.A. or on the East Coast, but we'll see.

Jessica: What about the Pacific Northwest? Or Denver?

Josh: I could be up for that.

Jessica: I could never see us living south of the Mason-Dixon line, could you?

Josh: Honey, we now live south of the Mason-Dixon line.



Hm. Good to know.

I forget that we live so far south.

Free Samples

I don't know if I'm alone on this one (and I don't think I am) but I LOVE getting free samples. I love Saturday "Sample Day" at Sam's Club and getting the bag of goodies during Clinique bonus time. Actually it is the only time that I actually purchase Clinique products. Free samples have become a bigger part of my life these days for two reasons. First of all, we have less money than we used to, so products we can get for free are always welcomed. Second, Josh takes them home ALL THE TIME. Just a couple days ago he brought home a box filled with coffee creamer, a bag of dog food, dog treats, an insulated travel mug, and Sweetarts. We've also gotten stuff like Tide, Cheezits, and Post-It Notes. Yipee!! Why this stuff? Well, these days Josh often has to sit through presentations and network with recruiters from different consumer products companies in the evenings. He is already on the hunt for next summer's internship (which seems very early to me, but whatever) and some places won't even consider you if you didn't come to their sessions. It definitely keeps him busy, and can get a little stressful when combined with other school work, group meetings, and the like. But such is life. Would I trade my free samples for a hubby home in the evening? Definitely. Would he trade them for a little more relax time (or study time?) OH YES. But since he has to be gone it is at least nice to go through all of the treats with him when he returns. So what if I don't need 3 highlighters with tabs built in? Still very exciting. Too bad Toyota doesn't hand out cars. I think we got a pen from them.

... and as I was looking online for the highligher-with-tab graphic, i came across this way fun website. You can actually enter a sweepstakes to will a free Timbuk2 bag! AND - genius - if you interact with their site (basically click around a fake office and learn about Post-It products) you can get yourself more chances to win it. Some marketer somewhere was thinking!! I was very impressed. And, not surprisingly, more interested in Post-It products than I ever have been.