Friday Favorite Foto!

Fall colors, treats, & family time 

Friday Favorites!

LOTS o fresh cooking!

FALL smells!

Christmas Cheer?!

Friday Foto Favorite

Photo courtesy of Politico

People say that religion & politics shouldn't mix, but the reality is politics are from people & people are who make up religion.

This is a picture of hope.

May the God of peace & understanding give hope to the world in light of this weeks tragedies.

Friday Foto Favorite! (Yep, it's Saturday)

While I love living in the city, I'm a small town girl at heart. Last night I got to take Z to his first experience of Friday Night Pizza's on the Hawkins Family Farm. PJ Hawkins is my childhood pastor & now a colleague, but still my pastor. It's so great to be able to see where ministry has taken him & his family & to be able to share that as Z & I start our journey after seminary.

If you're ever in Northern Indiana during the Summer on a Friday night, be sure to stop & enjoy Friday Night Pizza's on the farm.

Friday Foto Favorite!

This is our present reality.

In the past three weeks we have helped with 3 separate moves. We have one more this weekend in the midst of our own moving early next week.

While it is exciting to move, it's not always so much fun.

The high of the week was visiting Grandma E yesterday & her sharing her love story with Grandpa L with Z & I  & her journey as a pastor's wife. Of course I forgot to take any photos!
What's your favorite photo of your week?

Friday Foto Favorite!

Sorry about the missing Tuesday Tea Time post, but I was without a computer that day & off enjoying some of this

If you live in the Columbus, OH area & have not tried Graeters, you are missing out! Even if you don't live near C-bus, you can order it online, just follow the link.

Mmmm, the tasty peanut-butter covered in chocolate treat mixed with ice cream, cannot be beat!

Friday Foto Favorites!

Hiya friends, here's a switch to my Friday Foto Fun. In attempt to always keep things lively, Friday Foto Fun is now fun because I am sharing my favorite thing of the week with yall.

This week's Friday Foto Favorite

photo courtesy of Airliners

Traveling over, to,  & through Lake Michigan. It's beautiful, fresh, & expansive.

What's your Friday Foto Favorite?

Friday Foto Fun!

photo courtesy of Kelsli 7/12/13

This summer I have missed having a piece of ground to call my patio. Living on the 3rd floor & without a balcony, it gets pretty small inside our apartment. Today we ventured to Lake Josephine for a little fun in the evening sun. We even made a new friend who really was more interested in our football than us. 

Here's to finding those perfect summer getaways not far from home!

Friday Foto Fun!

Friday Foto Fun!

Pulled out of the archives, here's a photo of Z & I at our wedding rehearsal dinner (yes, we were on a boat). 2 years ago Z & I were going crazy & having fun with our wedding week.

We had family come to MN as early as the Monday before (it was a Saturday wedding) & had events planned like worship & camp fires & relatives birthday celebrations the whole week long. It was CRAZY, but lots of FUN!

The actual day of was a beautiful 86 degrees out & of course the only people in direct sunlight were our groomsmen. Our friends & family did a wonderful job turning the outside lawn of Bockman Hall into a sanctuary with peacock feathers, bows, & a flower vase for our loved ones who couldn't join us. We danced to the Blues Brothers & Train's Marry Me song & enjoyed spending a little bit of time with all the people who had traveled to celebrate with us.        

In lieu of wedding season, remember the love you've witnessed, seen, felt, heard & know that you are loved.

Friday Foto Fun!

Here's a piece of vacation for you. It was a good time of getting lots of rest, over indulging on fun food, playing in the ocean, & going on adventures to local historical sites.

Now we're back in MN where the breeze is MN nice & living into whatever comes next!

Breathing deep in the unknown.

Friday Foto Fun!

T-4 days I'll be enjoying the Southwest FL heat with my best friend/husband & maybe something fun like these drinks on the beach. Even if Tropical Storm Andrea is still raging (which I really hope she's done), there will be warmer weather & fun drinks.

Close your eyes, take a deep breath, & enjoy a summer drink!

Tips about vacationing in Ft. Myers Beach, FL welcomed!

oh, & HAPPY NATIONAL DONUT DAY!

maple almond cake & cake with chocolate ganache & sprinkles from

Mojo Monkey Donuts in St. Paul

Friday Foto Fun!

Ever have a moment like this? Maybe you didn't catch your ice cream cake with your face & it fell all the way to the ground! Somewhere out there is another photo of me laying on the kitchen floor because a perfectly delicious marshmallow jello something (salad?) had fallen out of the refrigerator & upside down on the floor, while still in the bowl. I just laid there looking at it, wondering if there was anyway to scrape it off the floor & still be delectable.

Life is funny!

What's your funny oops moment of the week? We all have them, so share the joy!

Friday Foto Fun!

Congratulations to the Luther Seminary class of 2013 & their friends & families!

Believe it or not, I don't know every person in this photo, but I know at least most of their names. The two young men in the front are our friend's & classmate's boys who were present to receive an honorary diploma for their dad (see Dec. 2012 posts). You can barely see me standing behind & in-between the two of them. What you can see is celebration. 

I have no doubt that every person in this photo is going to do fantastic things through the Spirit and for the church each & every day of their tomorrows.

How are you celebrating graduation season?

Friday Foto Fun!

photo courtesy of Shutterstock 5/10/13

Have you ever been waiting & waiting for something & then it arrives?

I'm guessing we all have been here. Maybe you were waiting for a birthday, graduation, wedding, or vacation. I've been waiting for the green leaves to return. This morning, they're back! They're small, but they're there.

It's a little piece of promise for a changing tomorrow.

Sunday Snippits: Resuming Life

Sunday Snippts!

I missed Friday Foto Fun due to finishing up all my work for grad-school. But the good news is, I am done! I do have to attend class tomorrow & Tuesday, but my assignments are done.

So we'll resume with the Good, the Bad, & the Ugly to get us back on track.

GOOD: Last Sunday KJ got ordained as a pastor in the ELCA. It was quite the celebration! Monday I helped lead chapel with other Word & Service leaders of the ELCA. It was a great way to show our presence on campus. I was also awarded, along with 3 other classmates, a student leadership award. It was fun & made me feel like I had something to show mom. So I sent her a picture on her phone since we don't live even down the street from each other. Thursday I was the student host for The Evidence of Hope documentary at Luther Sem. It's a great documentary with some profound statements of how we should approach our lives. Definitely worth checking out. Saturday I was up bright & early to be ready to defend my thesis at 8am. Then I got to spend the whole day with my classmates & listen to their thesis defense. The week came to a close with a fun bachelorette outing for BLF to Shamrock's Irish Nook. We rocked out with the Brat Pack Radio Supershow. Check 'em out if you're into '80's cover music.

BAD: I missed the coffee shop open mic night that I was supposed to read a few pieces of my poetry at. Yes, I write poetry on occasion, but seriously, the Spirit has to move me. I got stuck in traffic going to get groceries & couldn't be everywhere I wanted to be. I also missed my Friday Foto blog.

UGLY: While hanging with WOK, he wiped out & got a big bloody lip. Thankfully he is alright & so is my shirt that he pressed his bloody lip against. This was all while it was snowing Friday morning, later that day it was sleeting, then it rained & melted all the snow. Crazy Spring weather!

Coming up: This week is busy with 2 more classes, some meetings, & some fun. Graduation is 2 weeks from today! Happy May!

Friday Foto Fun!

Photo courtesy of The Line Media

As we transition with life there are places that I realize I haven't gone to regularly while I've lived here, but I will miss once we're gone. The Finnish Bistro is one of these places. Tonight we were blessed to be able to spend time with a potential student & his family & have dinner at the Finnish Bistro. There's always good food, good baked goods, & it's attached to a Dunn Bro's Coffee - or the Dunn Bro's is attached to the bistro. Dunn Bro's isn't my favorite coffee shop as a non-coffee drinker, but from our good friend PMc, we hear that they have the best coffee around.

When I was in college the place I always visited (often with AJO, MB, or JMDT) was Cup O Joe.

Where's your missing bistro or coffee shop?

Wondering what my next place will be...

Friday Foto Fun!

Photo Courtesy of T0M & Jerry's Wordpress Blog

While everything seemed to be melting & letting Spring come up, the Ice Queen reared her ugly head (with awesome dreads) & graced us with more ice & snow. The only place I've seen flowers like this are in church or the grocery store. In Minnesnowda, they really haven't had a chance to start to bud yet.

No, not the most uplifting reality of Spring, but a piece of beauty in the gray winter weather.

Where do you find beauty amidst the gray?

Friday Foto Fun!

photo courtesy of Camp Watcha Wanna Do

Do you have a place that you can go & simply escape? 

When I was 7 years old I was the poster child (literally, the only bald kid who was willing to be on camera) for the new camp for kids with cancer in Northern Indiana. Camp Watcha Wanna-Do (Be Watcha Wanna-Be) is a memory of the past. A past part of me that is scary to look back on because it is easy to forget the scary things in life. A past part of me that is wonderful to be reminded of because I met one of my life-long best friends there & dealt with things in life that we didn't know how to talk about with other friends. I got to go up in a hot air balloon & try high ropes course challenges. One of my favorite memories is that I used to pack my clothes for camp up to two weeks early. I LOVED camp!

Where is your camp?

Friday Foto Fun...Jelly Beans & Jesus

 &

photos courtesy of Candy Warehouse & Prague Guide accessed 3/29/13

Jelly beans & Jesus ...  does this confuse anybody else? 

One memory that I left out of Tuesday Tea Time was eating green spiced jelly beans with my Mammaw. They're still my favorite, I just don't have traditional jelly beans around very often. Z really likes Jelly Bellies & there's nothing traditional about those!

So what's the connection between jelly beans & Jesus being hung on a cross (like dozens of other heretics of his time)? The only answer I got was a Jelly Bean Prayer that you can read here! It's pretty hoky, but could be a ministry tool for something.

Maundy-Thursday meals start with joy & end in confusion, so maybe that's what all this commercialized Easter stuff is about. We know how the story ends, we know what's coming in 3 days (or 2 depending on how you count it). It's pretty miraculously incredible & pretty mind blowing.

Is Holy Week supposed to be confusing?

Friday Foto Fun!

photo courtesy of LuLuSoSo 3/22/13

Did you ever loose something & just knew that it was magically taken from you? 

I have had this happen a few times in life & genrally it reappears within a year or two tops. The problem is, if it has a mate (like a sock) I move housing often enough (at least once a year since 2003) I have typically thrown the other half away. 

This morning I was in the trunk of our car, getting out my bag chair (aka camping chair for some) for a friend to borrow & lo & behold the individually wrapped piece of salmon that we thought we were shorted of back in at least November, was hiding under the bag chair at the very back of the trunk. In the last couple of months we have smelled something funny once or twice, but nothing so horrible that we had to investigate. SO THANKFUL we found this before it really warmed up outside!