Rasika

I told Sweeting he needs to write a review for Open Table but I'll do my part here also. After debate, we agree Rasika at D St. NW between 6th and 7th gets 3.5 of 5 Elephants. Don't ask me how we came up with the elephant thing but... that's our rating system so "DEAL WITH IT!"

I couldn't figure out which waiter was ours so I waited for like ten minutes just to get some naan with our avacado appetizer thing. And then even when we got the naan it was like... a bites worth. Sweeting went ahead and ate it without the naan but believe me it was SO much better with. I got chicken tikka for my entree, Sweeting got some lamb babablahblah dish. We split a chocolate samosa for dessert which I thought was more like baklava.


Actually the food was all delicious, I just felt like the service wasn't great. And they poured my glass of wine shallow, which took them down half an elephant for me. Go, though. It was good. Better than Bombay Club. What Sweeting and I really need is to find ourselves a good hole-in-the-wall place that serves unlimited naan and has good Chicken Tikka Masala.

Wait

I am really good at telling other people to wait and really bad at trying it myself. (I can see Liz's eyes rolling haha). Seriously though... I'm struggling! I'm in a holding pattern right now. There are a few things on the verge of playing out and the waiting really is the hardest part.

Years ago Jono sang a song based on a verse in Isaiah that has always stuck with me...Isaiah 40:31 But those who wait on the Lord will find new strength. They will fly on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

I think the verse is probably talking more about finding strength in waiting on the Lord more than about waiting in general- but if we're waiting for decisions/action aren't we almost inherently waiting on the Lord? If we trust that God is evident in everything from details to the master plan, then doesn't the promise that we'll find new strength apply to us when we're in a holding pattern as He carries out His plan for our lives?

The question then for me becomes... what does it look like or feel like to have new strength? I'm waiting on it, I guess.

Moment with the Savior

I'm in Sarah Owen's New Testament Survey small group which meets on Monday nights in the NCC basement next to Ebs. This week we've been going through John. So different than the other gospels! John wanted to get to the core of the who, what, where, why questions about Jesus' life and mission. I appreciate that about him... his curiosity and depth.

I focused on John Chapter 10 today where Jesus is talking about being the Good Shepherd. John 10:14 "I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me."
I know God knows me. He made me! I'm learning this more as God reveals different little parts of my heart that I never even knew existed. He already knows the whole picture; I'm just discovering the pieces one at a time. What amazes me about verse 14 though is that I know God. It's easy to be confident that He knows me, but He is confident that I know Him!

John 10:27 "My sheep recognize my voice."
I think so often as Christians we struggle to hear God speak to us. The Upward Bound Retreat a few weekends ago was a perfect time to practice listening to God in our times of prayer and solitude. In the solitude exercise, we finally shut up long enough to listen to God. When we were downloading from that time of solitude, many of us shared the fear that when we thought we were hearing God, maybe we were actually just hearing ourselves! I'm sure this sometimes happens when we ask questions like "Will I be a millionare?" and a big bold YES pops into our heads haha. But really, can I be so bold to say that I DO know when it's actually God's voice speaking to me? I know His voice above mine... above satan's... above others. It sounds different, friends. It resounds. It brings immediate peace and casts away all doubts that "maybe it's not really God."

Let's today rest in the confidence that we know God and we can recognize His voice.

Martin Sexton in Baltimore!

Still on a happy high from Martin Sexton at Rams Head Live in Baltimore last night. I thought I was going to end up going alone AGAIN like when I saw him at House of Blues in New Orleans, but turns out Patrick is a MS fan too!!! So we got a car together-- David, Patrick, Me, and Patrick's mom Linda and aunt Flo. Went to the Rams Head Tavern for dinner then got to see Martin at the same venue. You guys. It was SO great. Martin's opening act cancelled on him so HE ended up doing his own opening act. I was SO excited because he played Glory Bound to finish it out. For me it's one of those songs that has been with me for awhile, and it was the song that introduced me to MS so it was exciting to finally see it played live. Bye Bye Blacksheep, Hallelujah, Happy, Failure, Angeline, and an unbelievable version of Gypsy Woman were in his setlist also.

Aunt Flo and Linda were an absolute JOY to hang out with these past few days. What a kick in the pants. From the awful taxi ride to the WW to naming Flo's fanny pack "Farrah" we were all laughs. I told them the only reason I was being nice to them was so they would show me a good time when i show up in Madison and demand fun out of them :)

Here's a pic of D and Patrick before going into the concert...

This is Halloween...

I moved two mountains on Friday night-- actually leaving my house despite ridiculous rain pouring down AND in costume no less. I hate Halloween. Crowded and cold, people. Crowded and cold.

Muffin and Sweeting's party went so fast! I literally felt like we had just gotten there when we were leaving, but between Shane not being able to keep his eyes open a moment longer and the boys sulking from their (once again) HUGE loss to the girls it was time to go. The highlight was Big Wiz Barbie getting this gross black glittery stuff on her back and us being in the bathroom trying to get it off- we broke the towel rack (sorry Muffin) and I laughed into the wall corner for about five minutes to the point of weezing.

I was legitimately speechless when Tom and Big P walked in my door... they love their costume wigs, that's for sure. Ew. Barbie looks cute though. As a sidenote, Barbie went literally nowhere without Ken for the whole night although Ken took some dunks in the punch and his hair got very gross and sticky, Barbie really er... stuck with him.


Ceasar and Egon... Except really Egon, where even WAS your GhostBuster gear all night? Pretty sure I didn't ever see it on. Way to not go all out and play the part. You did manage to expell Amy singlehandedly without it I guess.

Shane Zoolander sleeping on the couch. I seriously wish you could see how many people were in the room around him having a good time and being loud. By the way this was definitely not at the end of the night. Probably a good hour before we left.

Before the battle of the sexes began, obviously...

Muffin trying to beat the girls. Ha- I laugh.

Oh bah you guys are cute.

And THIS friends is my FAVORITE picture of the whole evening. It was taken about 10 seconds after Sean bopped Rachel on the head (on accident) and it was like a resounding "bop" when it happened. Notice how Sean is like kneeling in front of her asking for forgiveness haha. I just love the picture.


On Friday night it really hit me that it has been a YEAR since last Halloween at Ryan and Erika's old apartment. How weird is that? Callanan was here, Sean and Sha lived in Meridian (ha), there was no Tiff yet, Erika and Jamie hadn't moved in, had Joanne just met Brian??, I wasn't sure I even liked Muffin... it was just a big eye opener to realize we've all been together here for over a year of parties and holidays and family dinners and birthdays. Crazy. Speaking of, Callanan- we SERIOUSLY missed you. Come on Eileen was played a few times and moments of silence were had.

A great night... even if it WAS Halloween :)

Almost as cute as suburbia...

548 is ready for the Fall... Liz's mom Sue made us our door wreath and brought us the pretty flowers for the stoop. Inside has pumpkins literally everywhere. Perhaps an overkill on the pumpkins but the thing about them is they count for Halloween AND Thanksgiving so it's like a twofer. We're still holding onto summer with the sun chair though :)

Fafa Champ

After a few lackluster 2nd and 4th place finishes, my day has finally come after a lot of blood, sweat, and tears trolling through celebrity blogs to find my 1st place dream team. A special thanks to Britney's lawyers and speculation on her relationship with Mama Spears, Halle's pregnancy, Reese and Jake's moviemance, Orlando's criminal activity, Vanessa's digital camera, Kate's failing marriage, and David Beckham and Zac Efron's good looks. Couldn't have done it without you.

And of course, thank you to the other teams in the league. You guys tried really hard. And what a close race it was... well, if you consider 109 points between 1st place and 2nd place close, that is.

Nightmare Before Christmas 3D!

In an attempt to start rallying the troops for Project Runway Wednesdays, Eddie suggested we meet up for the California Tortilla/Chinatown Theatre movie deal tonight. We saw Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D. I am SO SAD we didn't have a camera to take a picture of us in our 3D glasses... so funny. 3D glasses, however, have evolved from the red and blue lensed Captain Nemo (is that the name?? haha) style glasses to more of a Risky Business look. Who knew?

Baptism

First "Blog" Prayer Request Alert

I've always known in my heart that I would someday decide to get baptized, but felt it was something I would do "when the time was right." Translation: When my spiritual life was where it should be.

Pastor Mark has talked about different benchmarks in our journey-- places we could stop and build an altar or a monument. I consider the Upward Bound 2005 weekend in Ocean City, Maryland one of those stops for me. It's where I first gave my heart to the Lord as an adult with an individual faith independent of my family and background. That same weekend, Pastor Mark baptized about five NCCers in the surprisingly-warm-for-October ocean. I remember standing witness on the shore for each of their baptisms and it has since become a personal goal of mine to take that step (or plunge!) myself.

I very much feel that the time is right and it's my turn now, which stings my eyes with joyful tears and my heart overflows with thanks as I write this and reflect on how far the Lord has taken me in two years! I'm not sure where or when yet, but am definitely more inclined to do it outside :). We're not really in "outside baptism season" going into winter here, but I am expectant for spring or summer of 2008... Keep that on your prayer radars for me!

Oh SNAP

Happy Wednesday! Props to Patrick for this flow chart.

Pumpkin Guts and Tacky-T's

Just got back from the Georgia Embassy's pumpkin carving party. I love those girls and the boys that love them! They're fun. We ended up with a cute little pumpkin patch if I do say so myself. Everyone elses pumpkins were great... mine, however, needs a little imagination :)

QB trying to perfect the horns


Lauren! You look so clean!


So ummm here is mine. Imagination, people. IMAGINATION!


The patch!

Bear Rock Cafe

I have gotten out of the office two days in a row for lunch this week. Yesterday was Potbelly's with Kathryn and QB. Today Bear Rock Cafe with Anne.

Kate got me pondering yesterday when she wondered aloud if we would have a different lunch culture here if there actually were good lunch places to go in the area. Probably true. DOE's "lunch culture" is defined by the people lining up at the little cafeteria before it even opens for lunch for a turkey wrap.

To be fair, they are delicious.

UpsideDownument

How cool is this picture?! Sweeting took it and calls it the "UpsideDownument"

Front Office Woes

I'm sitting in for Jeannie and Kate in the front office today. The view of the Capitol from the window is amazing and there is definitely more action up here (even with the boss on travel), but it is SO COLD! There are serious climate control issues up here. I'm freezing.

Fall is such a wonderfully busy time in Washington. The last few weekends have been crazy! Home for Mom's birthday to Brian and Joanne's wedding to Monticello to the Upward Bound Retreat. Tonight I'm looking forward to QB and Beth's "Pumpkin Carving Party" which requires a really tacky t-shirt for entry. I need to raid my closet to find the worst of the worst. I was thinking of just observing the goopiness, but I ended up getting a pumpkin from the store last night :).

So this is a blog...

Testing... Testing. Wow my very own Blog!

It is 5:03pm and I'm actually getting off work!! I think this is the earliest since August. The Boss is gone so we get to go home :)