Birthday Fun

Last Thursday we celebrated a momentous birthday of one of my absolute favorite people. My dear friend Alisia was one of the first people I met at Texas A&M. She has been a true blessing--a gift from the Lord--in my life. She is a gorgeous person, both inside and out! And this past week, she entered a new decade of living life to the fullest.

All guests were requested to bring 30
things to give her for her 30th birthday.
Isn't that a cute idea? That was all Jessica!

Yum!


We dined at Lambert's, which wasn't nearly as important as the company, but I must say it was delicious. A must try for a fun night out.

Something Beautiful {a contradiction}

Last Wednesday, coming in the middle of one of the craziest weeks of my life, Brad and I had tickets to see Muse, an alterna-rock group (at least I guess that's what you call it) at the Fort Worth Convention Center. This is one of the loudest shows, volume-wise, that I have ever been to. Hearing did not return to normal until the next morning.

The show was electric. I think the light show was worth the price of admission, but the quality of the live performance vocally was wonderful. Lest you think I am some sort of rocker chick, I have to tell you that I'm not. But I am a fan of talent (whether that's country, Celine Dion, or else), and this band layers instrumental talent along with vocal talent in a manner that I dig.

As I listen to their music, I am reminded of something my piano teacher would say when I was learning to play Bach back in the day. She would have me practice the left hand separately from the right hand, then put them both together. Both hands would be doing something totally different, then come together in the most genius of ways. While I don't know that Muse compares to Bach, I guess I'm trying to articulate that there is multi-layering with piano, guitar, etc. there that just works and transcends the label "rock music."

Also, you probably know one of their songs "Supermassive Black Hole" from the Twilight movie. It's in the scene where the vampires play baseball.

Below is a video from a Chicago performance that Matt forwarded to us, so maybe you can get an idea of it. NOTE: Turn down the volume on your computer before playing this video. I'm not kidding around.

So there I was, meeting Beth Moore and all.

Thursday night I saw a post on the Living Proof Ministries blog that Beth would be doing a book signing with...wait for it...Francine Rivers!

Being a veteran of such book signings (okay, one book signing), I called ahead to see if they were distributing tickets or if I would have to wait it out in line. Yay for ticket distribution. Friday morning I ran by B&N to pick one up, and--blessed day--I managed to get Group A. So excited and no one to high five. That afternoon, I walked up at 3:35 PM and had met both ladies by 4 PM.

Beth was so kind and sweet. I told her how I felt I knew her from doing so many of her studies and reading her blog and what a pleasure it was to finally meet her in person {bet she never hears that one}. I must admit that I may or may not have repeated this two plus times. It was kind of a blur for me.

Beth and Me
Chatting with Beth's assistant who I knew from A&M and Camp Balcones Springs. Small world!

I also met Francine Rivers at the same time. She has a new book out titled Her Mother's Hope. Unfortunately I didn't get any pics, but she was so very kind. I very nearly compared how reading her page turner the Mark of the Lion series books kept me up as late as reading Twilight, but, praise God, the Lord helped me maintain my dignity.

I think book signings are one of my new favorite things.

Happy Monday!

How cute is this video? I want to dance in the library.

She & Him - In The Sun from Merge Records on Vimeo.

Fresh from the Weekend Files.

{Thanks for your response on the CereVe post. I've had several people e-mail me to say what a fab product it was. You simply must try it!}


This weekend was such a blessing from the Lord--full of rest and relaxing. I've been on call for work, and last weekend that turned into quite a bit of work, so it was nice to not have much of a schedule.

We started off the weekend at Buttons, a soul food restaurant in FW, because I wanted some chicken and waffles. Unfortunately I thought the Buttons C&W was WAY overpriced, although it was delicious. There is another chicken and waffles place on the east side that I will have to try very soon and report back here.

My parents came in for a quick overnight visit since we haven't made it home in a while. After they left and we did a few things around the house, we loaded up our bikes and headed to the river. It was a gorgeous day in this part of Texas!

Sunday found us at worship, napping, and me spring cleaning the DVR. After about 8 episodes of The Rachel Zoe Project I now find myself shopping for a spring wardrobe consisting of mostly sequins. That might be a little much for the IT department. We'll see.

Dry and Thirsty

That has been the state of my skin this entire winter. I don't know if it has to do with {ahem} getting older, or if it's just been a dry winter. Must be the dry winter. Anyway, I was complaining to my dermatologist's PA when I went in for something unrelated, and she sent me to the drug store to buy this miraculous elixir of moisturizing fabulousness.

It's called CereVe, and it has been absolutely worth the price tag for me. I haven't tried anything but the jar kind. It's not terribly thick, and it's absolutely not greasy. It moisturizes like a dream although now that I think of it, I don't ever really dream of moisturizer. But it's really good stuff.

I had to ask for help from the pharmacists at both Target and CVS to locate it on the two separate occasions I've bought a jar. Both stores had it, but it wasn't on the normal lotion aisle. At Target, they keep it behind the counter, and CVS places it near the Neutragena products.

{NB: I was not paid or given any incentives to review this product--but I would totally accept if they wanted to send me something.}

This Old House @ The Granada

So after D-Now concluded and I took a three and a half hour nap, we made our way over to see two bands I ♥--This Old House and Vetiver--playing at The Granada.

The guys did so great, and it was a fab show.

But it's a good tired.

This past weekend we hosted a group of 8th grade girls in our home for D-Now weekend. Considering that two adults who for the most part pick up after themselves reside here, I was not exactly sure how mi casa would wear. But ultimately I don't care because my house is full of things, and I'm more interested in eternity.

I seriously stayed up later Friday and Saturday night--or more accurately, Saturday and Sunday morning--than I have in a really long time.

What I saw this weekend was amazing: students worshiping and seeking the face of God. We heard about not being just Christians, but instead, being disciples. It was absolutely indescribable to see the way God moved among our students and adults, and both of us felt so privileged to be able to serve the Lord in this way.

And now I think my bed is calling my name.