The Beauty and the Mess

Attention: Due to my extensive problems with Hotmail, I've changed my e-mail address. It is now monalisa816 at fastmail dot fm. Change your records. :)

This weekend was great. Really great. On Friday night I went to the Grizzlies game with my mom. After the game, Avalon gave a free concert. It was great- I like that Jody McBrayer. (I took pictures, but they came out badly.) On Saturday afternoon, I went back to the Pyramid for the Tigers game. Ryan and Myla came with me, and of course we had an excellent time. After the game we went to McAlister's, and Luke joined us for a snack. As has become our custom, we sat there for a couple of hours. We have a favorite cashier now who knows us and doesn't need me to give her my order. :) By then it was evening and Evan was off work. I went to his place and he sweetly cooked dinner for me. Then we watched Underworld and finished just in time to watch Clay on SNL. He was so great! I was swooning. Evan rolled his eyes, but after I left he watched the show to the end. :) I taped it. I'd really like a tape of all of Clay's appearances, but I never remember to set the VCR. Anyway, Evan is wonderful about taking interest in things that I like. He cheerfully watches American Idol and Friends and other things he formerly professed to hate. Love changes your preferences, I guess. I need to work on reciprocating...I'm not equally cheery when I go to Truck Night with him.

Yesterday we took Communion at church, which is always beneficial for me. We declared lunch to be at Applebee's since we had coupons. After lunch Evan and I did our usual lounging around, and in the evening went to IPC for Sunday night service. It was the last night of missions conference, and Steve Brown was speaking. He was great! (One of my co-workers is letting me borrow the CDs of his other talks.) Then our little group had dinner at Huey's, and then Myla came over for a planned time of girl talk. It was good and refreshing. Myla is one of my favorite people. If we weren't both so busy (she more so than me), I think she'd be as close a friend as Kathy is. As if that weren't enough, Kathy and I had a good talk after Myla left. I am so blessed in friends.

Okay, now I'm done posting for the day. :)

I thought I'd get online tonight (gasp) and catch up on LJ so I could make a nice relaxed post instead of an "I'm insanely busy and would lose my head if it wasn't fastened on, but surely I can think of something to say" post. :)

The long weekend has had its ups and downs so far. I've been struggling with the fact that Evan and I rarely have dates anymore because we are poor. So on Friday night, we had a candlelight picnic in the living room. Then we played Scrabble instead of watching TV. It was nice and free. I guess I have to practice making the simple things more special.

On Saturday I had lunch at Molly's with calypsobard. It was fun and the food was amazing. After lunch we came back to the apartment to visit with Gandalf and started looking through old yearbooks from our common high school. It seemed like we knew a lot of the same people. Finally she asked me what street I lived on in high school. It turns out that we lived on the same block for ten years and never met - until we did so on LJ through Shana. It's definitely one of the weirder things I've ever discovered.

That evening our group of once and current RUFers went to the school to hear Ravi Zacharias, the famous apologist. His free appearance had been advertised to every church in town. When we got to the doors of the theatre, there was a guy announcing that it was for students only, but they'd let the general public in later if any seats were left. The longer we waited around, the more amazing the crowd got. There were at least 200 people. Groups from Arkansas and Kentucky were turned away. I was strangely moved by the way the Christian community was making an appearance. :) Needless to say, we didn't get in, so we all went to Garibaldi's (some of the best pizza in town) and then back here to watch Wayne's World (the movie that never gets old). It was good fellowship. :)

Today was a special day for me. I joined my church! I interviewed last week, but didn't want to talk about it here in case something went awry. All went well, and this morning I took a happy walk down the aisle. My pastor said, "It's about time," when I arrived at the pulpit. Everyone came up and greeted me with surprise that I wasn't already a member. Evan hugged me a lot and said he was proud of me. I'm very happy. :) I feel complete, but in a way like I didn't know I was missing a piece. It's hard to explain. I feel like it's a step toward something. Many things. ;)

The rest of today was relaxing. Evan and I were invited, individually, to other activities, but decided our one full day together was more important. So we just rested and watched the Patriots game. Despite the fact that they beat my Titans and my Dolphins, I am rooting for them. (Sorry, Lori and Shelley.) I mean, everyone likes the Patriots, right? They're patriotic. Not liking them seems un-American. Besides, I'm an AFC girl. Speaking of which, doesn't it seem weird that the expansion teams have been the ones dominating the last few years? Jacksonville, Philadelphia, Carolina, Baltimore, etc. What's the deal with that?

Oh, and also, I love to watch the presentation of the trophies. It brings back happy memories of band victory. I get a little weepy.

I'm feeling rambly and could go on for some time, but I'll spare you. Tomorrow I'm off work. I plan to take care of some chores in the most relaxed way possible, and maybe visit my mom. Happy MLK day!

I have been aglow all afternoon from my R.C. Sproul luncheon. It was great. I heard his wonderful message on the meaning of salvation. I met some nice ladies at my table. I got to eat cheesecake. What more could I ask for?

Do any of you watch Letterman? Last night they had a great "Fun With Bullhorns" segment, where Biff wandered around, loudly harassing people. He went to a hot dog stand and yelled, "Hot dog. Hot dog. Hot dog." repeatedly through the bullhorn until they gave him a hot dog. LOL.

This file-sticker-ing project at work is really cranking up. A very cool girl from the records department has come up to help us, and we talk about Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter as we work. Which makes it more fun, but it's still an exhausting project. They're also going to hire some temps, for which I am very grateful.

I have other things I wanted to talk about, but now I don't have the energy to get into them. Tomorrow, I guess.

In half an hour I am leaving to go get my cat!

All is not lost! R.C. Sproul is speaking at a women's luncheon tomorrow. I didn't think I could go because it's an hour and a half, but I didn't go to lunch today and then asked my boss if I could go. She was okay with it. So I still get to hear him! Hooray! :)

I am in pain, and this exercise video is to blame. I've had the video for a long time, but I've only done the second workout because the first was too hard. Well, on Sunday night I got ambitious and tackled the first one. I will never make that mistake again. The next morning, I could hardly walk. Today, despite the stretches Kathy made me do, isn't much better. Getting Up and Sitting Down are currently very difficult. I just hope I'm better by Saturday, when I will accompany my mom and my visiting grandfather and great-aunt to Murfreesboro for Contest of Champions.

In cat news, the vet has recommended we wait another week before bringing Gandalf home. I feel guilty about taking him from his mother, and Kathy is trying to convince me that cats are not familial and he probably won't be upset. Still, I keep thinking of sad animal-separation stories such as An American Tail. I am a sappy cheeseball. (Further proof: I absolutely love Kelly Clarkson's A Moment Like This.)

Have I mentioned that R.C. Sproul is coming to town? He'll be speaking at IPC next Sunday! But as I said, I will be gone this weekend. It might be possible for me to make the Sunday evening service, but my mother wants to show my relatives around Nashville on Sunday, and I doubt she'd be willing to come back earlier for me. Over the years, she's often gotten mad at me for missing family things because of church and RUF things. I don't think I could make her understand what a big deal R.C. Sproul is, so I just have to deal with it. I can always get the tapes, I guess.

Did anyone watch CSI Miami last night? It was a very pro-life episode. I was impressed.

This is very cool.