Notes on a Breather

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...........

That is the sound of me exhaling a tad.
It is wonderful.

We finished Future Life, season 1 (not a tv series, but real life), and we finished well. Our last retreat was 4 days long, and that, for me equals a lot of leading worship. 6 full-blown sets to be exact. I am tired, but my voice is still intact, which means (hopefully) all those vocal warmups and practicing is really paying off!

Now, we are back to the pre-summer nothingness...except this time it's a little different. I still have no job, but I am at least more comfortable in my surroundings and therefore, am able to venture out and find things to amuse myself with. I still am in a little disbelief, that at 24 and a newlywed, I am able to have no job and live in California, and support my husband. It's a rare, but somewhat challenging treasure!

For the next few days the boys (the husbands of camp) are off debriefing the summer and fall seasons, so we wives shall play. I'll let you know what 'play' means after we've actually done it. Because right now I have no clue what we'll end up doing. Probably eating and watching movies. Those are pretty girly things to do, right? My toes are already pedicured, so that's out of the picture...we have coffee at home, so Starbucks might have to wait....so I dunno. But believe you me, it will be fun. And it will be playing.

Speaking of playing, did I tell you about Daniel's birthday last week? Talk about fun. He's 26 now, which means he's getting up there, so we had to do some things to make him still feel like a kid. I made breakfast (a casserole--recipe courtesy of Daniel's mom--thanks Paula!), and while it was in the oven I went and woke Daniel up with 2 presents, both of which were some of his favorite beverages. One was acai green tea (it's pronounced ah-sigh-ee), and the other was Oregon Chai. He chose the green tea. So, we ate breakfast and had tea, and then we went over the hill (to San Jose) where we shopped around and looked for him some birthday presents...we didn't find any.....why?
It seems that anything Daniel finds in person that he likes, he is determined not to pay full price for it because "I can find it somewhere online for half that price." Actually, even if it's on sale he will still go and look for it cheaper online.
The funny thing is...he ALWAYS finds it cheaper online.

Anyways, so we shop. We go to dinner at this place called the Loft. It's a really cool bistro. One of the things Daniel wanted to do on his day was go to a restaurant we've never been to (one of his fav. things). I took it upon myself to pick the restaurant, and I chose well. Funny story:

I order the "Panko Crusted Chicken Breast" with garlic mashed potatoes, vegetables, and honey mustard sauce.

When it arrives, I am in shock at the large portion. The chicken was HUGE!!! It had to lay across both the potatoes and the vegetables. Granted, it had been pounded really thin, but it was still quite large. So I've got a lot of food on my plate.

I eat maybe half the chicken, a little potatoes, and half the veggies. Daniel eats all of his plate as well as the rest of mine. So we're both sitting there with empty plates, when the waitress walks back up, takes a look at MY plate, and goes "wow, you stuffed?" WOW, YOU STUFFED?!

What on earth is that supposed to mean? Daniel and I laughed so hard, and then we started coming up with other ways she could have said that....none of which would have been any better:

"Geez, you sure put that away"
"You must not have eaten at ALL today"
"Gonna go for a run later, huh?"


We still gave her a generous tip. And had a laugh. But really, that is ridiculous.

Anyways, moving on. After dinner, we went to the Cheesecake Factory.
Hold on: you may be thinking "Cheesecake Factory AFTER dinner can only mean one thing: dessert. And aren't you guys boycotting dessert for a year?"

Yes, yes, yes......but remember, we make our own rules. And our own rules include a clause that says "on your birthday, you must eat birthday cake"And because we pigged out on my birthday, it was only fitting that we at least let the man have some cake!

We got Chris's Outrageous Chocolate Cake. See entry from June 14th.....same cake. In case you missed what is in this cake, let me tell you:

It is the size of a brick.
It is 8 layers:
2 chocolate cake
2 fudge brownie
1 coconut cheesecake
2 german chocolate ganache
1 fudge ganache
Then the whole thing is drenched in chocolate ganache, with more ganache, and more chocolate, then it's rolled in chocolate shavings. And topped with whipped cream.

When you haven't had any dessert in 3 1/2 months, Chris's Outrageous Chocolate Cake is heaven on earth.....we ate the whole thing and felt so sick...in a good way. We of course, didn't feel sick enough to not get birthday ice cream on the way home. Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough, and Moose Tracks. It was the little tiny cups. Don't freak out.

Our stomachs rumbled all day the next day. Not pretty, but TOTALLY worth it. I, however, do not want to think about dessert for about 8 more months. Which is fitting.

We rang in Daniels' 26th birthday with lots of style and pizzazz, and lots of food...how else should you ring in a birthday?

We head to Texas in 2 weeks! I cannot wait. I need it, big time. Til then you know I will keep you updated on the happenings in Cali.

Miss you all!!