Delicious!

I love good food. And I love good friends. On my trip to Fort Worth, Lacey and I made this delicious dinner.
We went to this cool market to get our fresh and yummy ingredients.

And we used these recipes:

Salad (well, no recipe, we made it up)
From fresh baby spring greens, diced apples, strawberries and grapes with a balsamic dressing

Baked Tilapia from Paula Deen on the Food Network
Pasta ai Quattro Formaggi
A super delicious and fast meal for those who want to make a good impression or just eat well :)

My Saturday Evening

Cheering on my Wildcats, embroidering a wedding project and making corn and black bean salsa for tomorrow. Love my weekends off!

(source: http://arizona.inetgiant.com/tucson/addetails/arizona-wildcat-basketball-season-tickets-tucson-1/11618840)

Observation Tuesday: Volume 13

Spring is officially here and I feel it in the air. The Fiance is almost done with his first year of teaching (!!!), I've been working for 6 months, and our wedding is in just 88 days!

Observations for today:

• I really, just, cannot do flying pigeon. I love going to a yoga class in which is am challenged by the poses, this morning I went to one such class. Check out this link to see the pose I will be practicing in my bedroom before I go to bed tonight...
  
• I've been loving this song (Marathon by Tennis) lately. More of her music is on my iTunes wish-list.
• Wedding planning would definitely be easier if you were in the same city, or state, as your event. Thank goodness for great moms, the internet and email!
• One day, watching the weather, I saw a curious thing. The weather report said "dusty" for Wednesday. I thought to myself, that is not weather... but I have now realized, in West Texas, it certainly is. The sky was brown and the winds were strong today.
• I really really have a love/hate relationship with the books I'm reading right now. The problem is that both of them I am reading right now are SO good!
  
• The Wildcats have made me proud! Sweet 16! Unfortunately I have to work this Thursday so I will be depending on the fiance for text updates...

Sorry for the lack of pictures. Our internet is feeling sluggish and doesn't want to upload any....

Holy Moly

In exactly 3 months today and about 15 hours, I'll be saying "I do" to the love of my life.

However, all I can think about is A) How long 3 months is and how awful life is currently because I'm living in a separate state from my fiance and B) how short 3 months is because in the midst of working (more than) full time, doing extra research on the side, living a normal life, I've still got wedding details to plan. In fact, as tired as I was 3 hours ago my mind is racing with all I have to do NOW and on top of it all I've got 3 nights of work ahead of me.

I'm going to be honest here, internet world, I'm finding it incredibly challenging to be positive and joyful. My job does not feel totally fulfilling to me, I don't yet have a community here, and its really hard being so far from the people I love most. There are moments where I feel incredibly happy and blessed, like when I get to spend a weekend with a friend, or catch up with a bridesmaid on the phone, or when I get to fly home for a weekend. But lately I've felt like these moments are only when I am escaping from where I currently am. I have not been living in the statement "wherever you are, be all there."

My brain keeps coming up with these brilliant, Godly statements like "you're in this place for a reason" and "count it all joy..." and "you really are blessed" and all of these are outrageously true. However, my heart does not listen to these statements. In fact, my heart feels sad a lot. I'm working (sometimes...) on seeing the positive and remembering that I'm only engaged for another 3 months and I really need to embrace this time and the lessons I am learning. Still, I'm anxious for the time when I get to look back and reflect on what I learned. In all this mess and thinking and busy-ness your advice is welcomed and prayers are coveted.

Anyways, this rambling is getting ridiculous. If you are one of the dear people that has been putting up with me and is supporting me, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. If you are a random person reading this, just know, my other posts are usually a less bleeding heart.

Fort Worth For The Win

I just came back from a very cozy weekend with one of my very best friends and fellow nursing school survivor. It is so comforting to be in the presence of someone you are totally comfortable with and can just chat about anything and everything with. We went to a fantastic dinner Friday (more below), and spent Saturday in really great yoga class, at a super cool market, by the pool eating frozen yogurt and finally eating a delicious home-cooked meal (which will be its own blog).

We had an incredible dinner at Tillman's Steak House. It was a phenomenal and trendy restaurant in a really cool area of Fort Worth. And because I love good food and reminiscing about said food I'll tell you about the menu:

• Prickly Pear Margarita
• Pork Tenderloin with a side of Mac & Cheese
• Honey, rosemary and lavender salmon with creamy asparagus and rice and sauteed field mushrooms

And the real kicker:

• S'mores for dessert, complete with a mini personal fire, homemade graham crackers, chocolate and flavored marshmallows

Libros

Lucky you, more book reviews today.

Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts
by Les & Leslie Parrott

First of all, can I just say it would be so weird to marry someone with the same name as you like the authors of the book? Okay, now I can move on.
Second, I've been reading this for about 9 months, since my best friend sent it to me as an engagement gift. Wait, Sarah, it was a gift right? Or do you want me to send it back? Let me know. Thankfully, it has no storyline so I didn't have to go back and reread the first half or so. But bottom line, it was really solid book about marraige and had some really important things for me to think about before June. It brought up issues like making sure you discuss your expectations and roles in the marriage, talking about your love languages, and making sure you pray together. Lots of basic things to consider before Seth and I get married. If you're engaged, I would recommend it.

The Zookeeper's Wife
By Diane Ackerman

First off, I thought this was a non-fiction book when I started reading it. Very quickly I realized this is a fiction book written about the wife of, you guessed it, a zookeeper, set in Warsaw, Poland during the German occupation in World War II. I am not that into zoology so the parts of the book talking about that were a little tough to get through. However, I love the Holocaust. In fact I even took a class on it in college, so once I pushed through the sections about the animals their story is fascinating. They house many many Jewish people in their home and the zoo throughout the war and had incredibly close calls. Her husband even works for the Underground resistance movement. Makes me think about if I would have been so brave and really done what was right in the face of such evil. Anyway, if you're into The Holocaust or zoos, its an incredible true story of a very incredible woman.

Observation Tuesday: Volume 12

Yet again, I am posting Observation Tuesday on Wednesday. Fail. We'll get over it together.

1) I would like to say thank you to my 10th Grade Spanish Teacher. I owe her my greatest debt of gratitude as I have now been able to use my Spanish with a number of patients I've had. Last week I served as a translator for a patient and a doctor for an informed consent! It's a little outrageous that I had to do that, but it's still fun to do.

2) This morning, after work, I went to Auto Zone to have them run the check engine diagnostic test on my car. The employee proceeded to tell me my car was weird, I should get the tinting fixed on my window because the tape job was not great and all about his car purchase history. All quite unnecessary, but entertaining I guess.

3) My check engine light is still on and I already tried tightening the gas cap like they told me. Any other ideas?

4) The best matron of honor in the world is currently booking the bachlorette party villa in Scottsdale, I thought I could not be more excited about my wedding week than I already was, but I am now!

5) 108 days til I get married :)