Needing some good ideas from the ladies!?!?!

Hi friends!!

Ok some of you are working, others may be busy moms, you each have going on what you have going on ... etc. Here is my dilemma that I would LOVE ideas for!! MEAL IDEAS! I know this seems silly since there are SO many resources out there for recipes and ideas... however ... I am stillll struggling to find a breadth of creative meal ideas for Tim and I on week days post-work!? These ideas needed are not recipes with more than 3 or 4 ingredients. They need to be quick and HEALTHY ... ie FRESH! I have the same boring go-tos that I am just so tired of!! And when I look online or in my delicious cook books I find great recipes but they are what we have come to refer to as our "weekend" cooking! SO I need ideas.

ALSO, easy lunch ideas for work!! I have been doing frozen meals, soup, raw nuts, fruit, etc. but find myself starving by mid-afternoon. It is a frustration to find HEALTHY, LOW CALORIE options that still fill me up in a way that I dont get sick of the food the next day. Maybe I also need some really good afternoon snack ideas too!!


Thanks LADIES!! I know you will have really good ideas for me!!! XO
ME

PS an update: My dad is doing much better but we are continuing to monitor his health carefully. My cousins melanoma has been removed and preliminary tests say her cancer has not spread. My other cousin has another treatment coming up this week so please pray for that chemo treatment.

As an update to my previous posting on blonde hair ... my stylist did a "base" that was orange. It was terrible. I went back and made her fix it. Which she did but now there is just waaaay too much blonde. I am tired of the hair drama so I am seriously contemplating what it would look like to go "back to my roots" ... haha Stay tuned!

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend!
xo

Rally the Troops. Seize the Day.

Lessons I have been reminded of this week. Rallying. Believing. Hoping. Seizing.

A recap of the past 5 days:
an agressive melanoma diagnosis for my cousin (a mother of 6), yet another chemo treatment for my other cousin (yes, she has not just one but two life threatening auto-immune deficiencies), a hospital stay for heart related chest pains for my Dad and a number of other issues that will not be posted on a blog for the world to see (duh we all need to have some sort of private life, right?).

So "Rally the Troops": i am asking that if you pray to please please pray for my family! We are all experiencing in our own ways a lot of need and fear pressing in on us in many ways right now. How do I express with words what can only really be described as a deep heavy pressing and weight within my heart for the healing and restoration of so many people I love? Heart ache? Is that how you describe a desire that is so much bigger than just a "desire"? I am no philosopher but my heart is heavy and so I am just asking that if you pray to please pray for my family! I believe the Lord hears our prayers and answers them and so this week has reminded me of the importance in Believing in the Power of Prayer and Trusting in Him. That is all. Simply just want to ask for those who pray to genuinely pray for my extended and immediately family today.

"Seize the Day": All these situations this week have reminded me of the sweetness and blessing of life. And they have reminded me of how quickly life can change. In an instant! So Today, I came home, and drank a glass of wine out of a yet to be used crystal wine glass given to us for our wedding! It was my fun way of remembering that life could change tomorrow so today I am going to celebrate even something as small as drinking $5 wine out of a "fancy" glass. I must say, i Highly recommend it! A bubble bath is in the works as well!

Blessings and love! And Good night!

Just shy of 2 months! Oops!

Whoa ... I can't believe how much time has flown! I must say there is MUCH to catch up on and at the same time NOTHING to catch up on! Life is completely wonderful and at the same time so routine right now that there just isn't much to report... not to mention that long work hours make blogging a distant and unlikely task! However, tonight I have a moment to stop and mention several somethings I am enjoying on this almost Summer 2011 Friday night!

1) A thoroughly fresh and lusciously green compliment to all things salad and vegetables ... Flat Leaf Italian Parsley. Ok I know, as my blog title says I am Always SLOW TO CATCH ON but I am enjoying cooking with this lovely green so much (don't be confused, most nights these days Tim and I are way too tired to do any sort of "gourmet" cooking ... if something involves more than 3 ingredients it is probably not being prepared at the Bratton's until the weekend). Tonight we used it on our roasted veggies and potatoes and it was yummy! Thank you Barefoot Contessa for your simple yet tasty directives!

2) I am loving my Barefoot Contessa cookbooks. I decided I am going to make at least one fun and refreshingly new recipe by her once a week. Luckily she makes the "Joy of Cooking" a lot mroe simple than some other fabulously inspirational cookbook authors! :) My next goal is to make her snap pea and black sesame seed salad! I will let you know how it goes (next August ... haha just kidding).

3) I now have a mini-mini-garden where I am growing Basil, Thyme, Cilantro, and Rosemary. I will say we had a 90 degree day that I think killed our Rosemary (which is very sad because I love Rosemary on our salmon) and our cilantro had a brush with death but for the most part the others seem to be doing well. I think the woman who lives in the unit on the back of our cottage property has been watering our Basil though which from time to time is turning the leaves yellow. Tim and I discussed it and I think we might have to take drastic measures and leave a note asking for her to not water it ... since she primarily only speaks Spanish do you think we should write it both in Spanish and English?!?! Haha

4) there are surely other fun things to report but I am tired and gonna go veg on the couch for the first time in days ... again don't be confused and think we have a thriving Los Angeles social life... my sister graduated from college last weekend so this week has been a lot of catch up from being out of town. Might I say, Fort Worth, Texas just gets more and more fabulous every time I go there! When I am there it is like being home after a long trip and I just find myself breathing!! Sunny, warm (HOT), cozy, and fabulously busy with a million things to do! Renouned art museums, restuarants, LIVE music all over, and a rich Texas history. Not to mention a million memories and my passionate love for TCU makes it just like a weekend in Heaven (haha that might be a slight dramatization)! Did I mention sweet college girlfriends and a cost of living that is incomparable!?? One of my besties is living in a 1 BD 1 BA duplex that bigger and more recently updated than mine and Tim's and she is paying less than half what we are paying in LA!!?!?!?! I mean so AWESOME! For now I will have to just do the "if only's" until we get to find affordable housing someplace where we can also find work!

5) And for my final notes, I just need to brag on my sweet, smart, hard working and precious sister who was just selected for an elite, competitive, and full-ride scholarship for her graduate program the next two years. A Masters in Special Education ... a set of skills that would never play to my strengths that makes me admire her in a way that I cannot explain! I just love her so so much! And am SO PROUD!

Ok signing off!! Missing my ladies more than you know!

Do Blondes really have More Fun??

Ok, at the risk of coming across completely superficial (and probably a little boring) ... All I could think about writing about this afternoon is being BLONDE! For those of you who have dark hair I am sorry if this is totally uninteresting, but for those of you who are Blondes or like me you are "Blondes" you could probably write this post for me and predict everything I am about to say!!! Why is upkeeping Blonde hair so much work? Or I should say, why is finding a decent hair stylist so much work!?

I recently moved to Los Angeles ... Hello this is where Paris Hilton is from, not to mention the land of Marilyn Monroe and a bajillion other celebrity wannabes who all have "Blonde" hair. I have called salon after salon (ok just 4), stopped people on the street to ask them where they get their hair done, asked my co-workers, and even ventured into the ever fickle world of Yelp but almost all of them want to charge me $200+ simply to highlight my hair. Doesn't that seem a little silly?

Ok, admittedly I am Slowly Catching On to how difficult it is to give someone good Blonde highlights. The best look (in my opinion, for what it's worth) is natural and well placed on your head, not stripey but also not so blended that it is too uniform, and are the correct shade (ie not canary yellow, or orange, or silver, or white, or burned off at the root), and to find someone who understands what I, Amanda, mean when I say warm blonde highlights with No roots and placed so I can still wear a pony tail (ok ok ok I am probably a touch picky but I don't feel like I am a loon about it) is quite the challenge. BUT unless when I step out of your salon I am suddenly giving Heidi Klum a run for her money $220 + an additional $50 for a blow dry and + an additional $95 for a haircut? LOL unlikely! And that was the "reasonable" place.

So here it is... yesterday I FINALLY found a salon that seems to be a touch more reasonable (until I actually see the price at check out tho I will be skeptical as they always seem to squeak in those "add-ons") and I have an appointment Thursday! I talked to a very nice girl on the phone and pounded her with a LOT of questions ... we were both laughing at me! :) She told me the girl who will be doing my hair also does several celebrities (whatever that means, see previous posting ... Everyone in Los Angeles thinks they are a celebrity) So stay tuned Blondes ... I will let you know if I have found the Needle in the Haystack stylist or if my search will continue! :) If I get around to pulling out my computer cord I am going to post before and after pictures for all to see. Haha I just thought it might be fun! Ok, Happy Sunday!

OH... PS ... Anyone else have any good ways to define what they like in blonde highlights?!

One more thought ...

One last item I want to mention. This Monday I will be starting a new job. Some of you are aware and some of you are not but this is a Very. Big. Deal. This new job is not a contract position, it is not temporary, it is Full Time and Permanent. And THEY are excited to have ME. I don't even know how to process how surreal this is for me.

I was laid off in July of 2008 and have since had a very long list of many different employers in an attempt to make ends meet. I have had what feels like at least 100 interviews, and did I mention that the job I was laid off of was also a "contract" position so even it felt precarious even though I was there for quite awhile and most of us were "contract" (we all lost our jobs together). At one point, I had to move out of my apartment in Chicago and move back home with my parents.

Unless you have been unemployed you can barely imagine the depths of fear, sorrow/despair, self-doubt, desperation, and immense foundation shaking faith questions about what it means when the Lord says He is our Provider, that He Holds us Together (especially hard to believe when you are falling apart), that He is Near, that He cares and deeply loves us, that He is committed to our Good, that He protects us, that He fights for us. I believe in a God who has the Power to do all things, and yet job after job I came in second and they were held just beyond my reach. I still cannot pretend to understand the answers to all my questions (while unpacking yesterday I came across a list of them that I wrote out about a year and a half ago, still baffling) but this I am Deeply aware of Today: God is no LESS powerful today than He was before I unwillingly started on this journey. He has Not Changed and all those things I don't understand about Him are still TRUE, my understanding them or not understanding them does not change them. So yes, even today I will still tell you that I believe My God Provides. He Heals. He Protects. He Loves Unconditionally. He knows what is for my Good better than I do. He is Near, much Nearer than I comprehend or know. He has not and will not abandon His Children. And I will still move forward, klutzy, and learning very slowly (I am not proud of all the ways I handled unemployment) that My Lord is Captivating. and Beautiful. And For my Good. And I will continue to walk the road He has Lovingly laid out for me.

Gone West ... Be Back Soon.

For awhile there I was on a blogging roll and then things changed. I mean really changed. :)

Ironically, I had been working on a post about Hope (and still intend to finish it), but two days after I started it, and after 7 months of job hunting, my husband got a job offer and two hours after that so did I. Then my potential new employer found out about my husband's offer and changed their offer to a location just 5 minutes down the road from his new job. Thus began the insanity, because ... WE ACCEPTED!! That is right we are both Duly Employed and God is SO GOOD!

In a period of two weeks we had to find an apartment, move out of our home in Corona, CA, fly home to Minnesota, pack all our belongings and wedding gifts into a moving truck, "dash" across the country in a truck that gets 7 miles to the gallon, turn a 4-5 day trip into a 2 and a half day trip, staying at whatever hotel happens to be where we decide to stop (and agrees to allow Selah), arriving in LOS ANGELES to spend two long days unpacking so Tim could start his job "rested" and ready to go. Did I mention that we both picked up a cold along the way and our noses became leaky faucets? :) Hilarious! and certainly not a surprise.

Well, that was two weeks ago now that Tim started his job, and Monday is my first day at work (more on that in a moment). In the meantime, I have been unpacking boxes, having internet and cable set up, and attempting to make our two lives into one (which is truly so Funnnn!!! and new!!). I have discovered that we have three of many things (yes three... for ex. 1 iron belonged to me from high school graduation, 1 iron belonged to Tim from who knows when - it was leaky, and 1 iron was given to us for our wedding), I have also been doing many errands, exploring a new neighborhood (ie. sitting in stopped traffic), cleaning, tearing down boxes, helping Selah adjust to life in a new city, having our water heater fixed, organizing closets, cleaning out our desk, interviewing dog walkers, looking for furniture, selling things on Craigslist, attempting to work on our budget, and somehow in there trying to stay in touch with a few friends out there but not really succeeding.

Several HUGE blessings:

1) We found a tiny, 1940's built cottage with a fenced in yard, garden, picket fence, and only 20 minutes from work. And even tho it costs more per month than some of my friends' mortgages, and none of the doors or cupboards really close because the house is so old, and the power flickers Bright. Dim. Bright. Dim., and there is no dishwasher so I am doing more dishes than I have ever done in my life, I am literally in love with this sweet little Los Angeles "gem" because it is ours!

2) My brother has been able to spend a lot of time up here in the city with us and that has been so special (Selah is enamored with him).

3) Tim and I celebrated our first married Valentine's Day which was not exactly what I imagined it would be but for some reason all the boxes and a severely depleted bank account (job does not necessarily equal money, at least not at first) made it all the more romantic to me. Flowers and Thai food and a husband gone at work all day made the day Perfect! No frills just gratitude.

Anyways, just felt like sharing what is going on in our very little world. This post has started to get way toooooo loonnngggg but here is the main thing I wanted to process thru ... All Fall Tim and I spent a lot of time praying over where we should be job hunting. Location was a big question mark to us because we don't necessarily feel in love with living in Southern California forever and would love to be nearer to family at some point. Our hope would be to someday be back in the Midwest, but as you read above it seems like our prayers were very directly answered and it looks like this, Los Angeles, California of all places, is exactly where the Lord wants us right now. I have many, many moments that I experience culture shock (everyone here thinks they are a celebrity... it is so weird) and cannot believe how much my life has changed, but I feel so confidently that this is right for right now! I am surprised by it but praying that the Lord will give Tim and I opportunities to minister to and love on the people in our offices and in our neighborhood and in our new city, and we are also praying that we find a church community to get connected with. Right now Los Angeles couldn't feel less like home, but with every box I unpack and each sunny day it feels a tiny bit better. I must say the one thing I miss the most every day are my girlfriends!! That is a big hole in this whole plan! I am Trusting the Lord to provide new ones as well as the funds to go visit the old ones! :)

So for Now ...

Gone West... Be Back Soon.

Whoever said "winning doesn't matter" was wrong!

My beloved Horned Frogs played their hearts out Saturday and pulled out a 2011 ROSEBOWL WIN against the University of Wisconsin Badgers!! 21-19!! Yikes! What an amazing way to close out an awesome Christmas vacation! Not to mention that I got to cheer TCU on with my roomie from college (Myra Jane), her husband Harvard, and my other roomie post-college Ellen at Myra's home in Nashville, and in honor of the special day her son, Tucker, decided to take his first steps! So fun to see my friend's little ones growing up (are we seriously old enough to have little ones?)!! Life sure is sweet and an undefeated record and a BCS Bowl win sure don't hurt!! Hopefully in these next few weeks I will get back to some fun blogging but until then ... Enjoy the start of a fresh new year!!!