Let the Light In

Another weekend is over and another Monday has arrived, making me wish for more hours to the 2 days I have off!

This weekend was pretty productive.  Friday, I received a couple different packages in the mail with fun purchases I’ve made online lately.  I got my iPhone 5 armband (complete with screen cover, cleaning cloth and stylus for $10, including shipping/handling), my “A Confident Heart” book by Renee Swope, and an adorable tote bag with a hipster bunny in glasses – which was FREE from Zazzle.com!  I also spent some time perusing the health-food aisles of the local Kroger’s and have officially stocked my fridge for the week with all kinds of fruits and veggies.

Saturday morning, I rolled out of bed at 8:15 (Zumba was pushed back to 8:30) and tossed on my exercise gear and walked the couple blocks to the gym.  As always, I sweated like a pro and burned off over 800 calories before walking the few blocks home.  I saw this adorable chalk artwork made by some neighborhood kiddo and had to take a picture.  It’s a sun with a cross in the center.  I thought it was rather appropriate for my new approach to life, letting the light in (John 8:12) and letting your light shine (Matthew 5:16), so I took a picture, mid-stride.

I kept those strides going until I returned to my house, where I realized that I had locked myself out.  Luckily my mom is an amazing mother/landlord and was willing to run the extra set of keys up so I could let myself in.  Thanks momma!  After a quick replenishing of water and a couple spoonfuls of peanut butter, I headed out for some more strides, which lead me up to Pike-Island Dam and back.  It was mighty warm, but I challenged myself to see how fast I could walk through the sunny spots in order to reach the next shady areas.  It worked because I returned home, 4 miles later, in just 1 hour and 12 minutes!

Oh yea, and I’ve officially logged into MyFitnessPal (get the app) for 40 days!  It’s not quite as difficult as Jesus’ 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness, but it’s been a challenge nonetheless!

I also got to spend some time hanging out by my parents pool with my friends Erin and Scott and their little ones.  Kristin and I sat and watched as they splashed and played in the water, as we tried to keep ourselves cool.  Unfortunately a slight “hiccup” forced us to go inside, but we enjoyed hanging out in the A/C too!

Erin confessed that she has been following these posts (thanks that means a lot) so here’s a shout out to one of my greatest followers and friends!  Thanks for coming down and feel free to bring the cuties by whenever.  We love spending time with all of you!

Andy and I made a trip to the Highlands in the evening for some shopping.  While there, I got some new exercise pants because the ones I bought a few weeks ago are too big!!  If that’s not one of the greatest feelings in the world, I don’t know what is!

Sunday was Soccer Sunday at C3 – to celebrate the exciting week we had last week playing soccer and learning about Jesus with a bunch of local kids.

We got to sing & sign some of the songs from camp with the kids and then received a very interesting and intense message from Pastor Adam about who Jesus is.  Adam and I joked after the service that he enjoyed using a lot of adjectives and rapid-fire speaking during his message.  It was a bit tricky trying to keep up and so about 10 minutes into my 15 minute segment of signing the sermon, I called Bobby back up because I felt like I was drowning.  Unfortunately he wasn’t paying close attention so I think I totally caught him off guard.

After the service we had a cookout, where a lot of the Soccer Camp volunteers brought side dishes and desserts, and they cooked hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill in the parking lot.  I took our family’s world-famous Broccoli Salad.  Honestly, it’s been recreated as far as Spain!  There were all kinds of goodies, but it was a scorcher so Andy and I didn’t stay too long after we finished eating.

I managed to get a well-needed nap in on my parents incredibly comfortable couch in the afternoon and then headed up to the Highlands with them and my sister to find something for dinner, as Andy was hosting a “Music Listening” gathering.  We ended up getting Applebee’s Car-side to-go, where I effectively killed my calorie count in one meal, but it was delicious! We decided to take our to-go meals to Wheeling Park and eat them at of of the many picnic tables on the hill near the Band Stand shelter.  Our family used to have picnic dinners at Wheeling Park ages ago, when my siblings and I were little. We’d grab DiCarlo’s pizza and eat it at the picnic tables near the playground, so it was nice to have a to-go dinner picnic style, just like old times.

It turned into a pleasant evening with some nice breezes and the sun coming through the trees made for the perfect end to the weekend.