Nat

I've included the best pic I have so far of my 4-week old niece, Natalie Renee. She's a cutie, no? :) I haven't seen her since her third day of live, but she'll be coming to visit me on Friday!!!! I'm very excited to hold her. I've had much more face time with the Tulsa babies, so I'm anxious to catch up on holding my niece. My 3-year old niece, Erin, will also be in town this weekend, and her birthday was last week. So, we may need to have a bit of a celebration when she gets here, since I wasn't able to make the party last weekend.

Well, I've been feeling kind of sickly today... nothing real particular... just not quite right. I stayed home as to make a quick recovery. So, I s'pose I should be in bed.

Have a good night, all!

Natalie 

Das bebes

Well, I had the babies (and parents) over tonight for dinner. I made my Grandpa Looney's "saucy chicken and rice." Mmmmmm. I haven't had it in ages, and it wasn't as good as I remember Grandpa's being. But, it was pretty good. I was hoping to make his hard rolls, too, but my lawn needed some serious attention, and it won out.

Luke & Seth are both pretty cute. I was hoping they would be a bit more lively, though. They just slept most of the time. It was good to get everyone together.

I'm anxious for my fam to come next weekend for Labor Day. I'm looking forward to seeing them all. But, I'm particularly looking forward to seeing my new niece, Natalie. :) I'm sure she's changed a ton in these past few weeks since she was born!

Claim to Fame

I just found out that one of my high school classmates is one of the cast members on the next Survivor - Survivor Guatemala. I guess I'll be watching. It looks like she's an early pick to win, too (based on the casino odds)! Good luck, Danielle!

Birthdays

Well, I turned another year older this week. Thirty-one seems quite a bit older than even thirty did. Oh well. I had fun celebrating with friends. Wednesday evening, my friend Matthew gathered several of my friends for dinner. We went to P.F. Chang's. It was the first outting with Tim & Laurel and baby Seth. So... I chuckled to myself during the dinner... as we struggled to find a place to put the baby. (I think he finally ended up under the table!) I just sat there and thought... "welcome to a new of life of friends with kids." But, we had a great time. Matthew paid for everyone's dinner, so that was a special treat! After dinner we went back to his house for cake and ice cream. It was a Chocolate Ganache cake that said, "Happy Birthday" in red lettering. It was yummy.

Thursday night (my actual birthday) was small group night, and I wasn't sure whether or not they were even aware of my birthday. I later discovered that they were WELL aware. We had Bible study at the regular time, but about 8:30 ten to fifteen more people came over to join the party! We had some good eats and fun games - including "Pin the Tail on the Donkey."

My notable gifts included... a bracelet, three tiered glass candle holders, a SNL video (best of Christopher Walken), Tuti-Fruity candles, soap from the Red Dirt Soap Company, the Beatles 1 CD and a small picture frame.

At some point this week, I tried to remember how I celebrated my Tulsa birthdays...

1999 - Went to Eskimo Joe's in Stillwater with the Mag 7
2000 - Ate with nine of my friends at Cardigan's
2001 - Moving Day (moved into a new apartment)
2002 - Celebrated August Birthdays over at Andra's house
2003 - Ate dinner at P.F. Chang's (with Matthew and Erin)
2004 - Semi-surprise party thrown by Matthew, and nearly slept through dinner with some friends on the day of my birthday (this one deserves a whole separate blog)!
2005 - Described above. :)

Coffee Cups, etc.

Hello good people of the blogging world! I haven't posted for nearly a week, and I've been missing it. I visited some friends the other night, and they were threatening to hunt down my blog. So... let me know J&B when you find it... :)

I had to get over to Pier 1 tonight, because I had a gift card that I thought would soon expire. (I realized after getting there that I have another year before it expires.) It's not that I don't like Pier 1 or can't find things there I like. The opposite is more the case. I like so many things that I can't decide on one thing to use the gift card on. I'll think... "oh, that's neat," but "I guess I really don't need that." So, I vascillate between liking things and vetoing them because of their impractical nature. But, I finally decided on something tonight - two somethings actually - twelve somethings, really. I bought a set of heavy ceramic mixing bowls (4 total) and eight coffee cups that look to be hand-painted - with brilliant colored vertical stripes on them. So, I ended up going over my gift card amount by $25. Figures. But, I think I'm happy with my selections.

So... I'm debating something recently... maybe you can help! I'm wondering if it's a terrible waste of money to hire someone to clean my house. Here lately I'm doing good just to get it picked up. It would make me feel much better to know it's getting a good thorough cleaning (dusting, moping, etc.) at least once a month. But, obviously it will cost me... probably between $30 and $50/month. I dunno. In some ways it seems like something I should be doing myself. But, I'm NOT doing it. And, I have a hard time truly relaxing when I there's cleaning yet to be done. So, I'd love for you to weigh in on the matter. Seriously, I want your opinion!

~Krista

Retrospect

We seem to be shaped and formed by so many things... some things we choose, others we do not. And often we do not know which things cause the most dramatic impact on our lives until we look back, many years later and see the path we left behind.

Curiosity

Why am I so afraid to know what would happen
If I stepped out of the boat?
In many ways I long to know
What it might be like
To feel the water beneath my feet -
For there to be a firm support
In the place I least expect it -
To step out, with my eyes firmly fixed

On He who can calm the storm
And bring unexpected change in every situation.
Why must I live so safely,
Surrounded by unwritten rules,
Which tell me that to step out is to risk my own life?
But then I'm reminded...
"Whoever wants to save his life will lose it,
But whoever loses his life for me will save it."

Baby-mania

Sorry for my delay in posting, but it's been a busy week. Here's the score...

Michelle & John - had Natalie Renee (my 2nd niece) on Monday (8/1)
Jim & Babs - had Luke Everett on Tuesday (8/2)
Tim & Laurel - had Seth Timothy on Friday (8/5)

How crazy is that?!?! My sister and my two dearest sets of married friends all had babies this week. I've seen all the babies, and they're all pretty adorable. I know each of these couples (as first time parents) are in for quite a radical change in their lives. But, I can't help but believe these radical changes may also affect MY life.

Ah, I feel a season of change coming on...