Music...

I just need to vent my dance/musical frustrations for a second on this blog.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE songs with a great beat--that I can dance to, and I LOVE to dance!!!
When I need my dance fix (which is almost daily) I like to listen to songs that have at least a good or benign message (Aka its not about gettin drunk/high in the club and its not about sex)- garbage in, garbage out. So this post really is about all the songs that are not about that- which definitely narrows the category down a bit. But nonetheless, I must vent this.
The problem you might ask?
90% of all songs that have a good beat and not a bad message STILL CUSS! Really? REALLY?! Its SO NOT NECESSARY!!!!!
You can get your message out without the use of those like 15 words- we have thousands of words in our English language and you chose to use THAT WORD???? Congratulations to all those singers/songwriters who created some awesome beats and even a created a great message about helping the kids on the streets and the poor in 3rd world countries--YOU JUST RUINED THE SONG FOR ME WHEN YOU ADDED IN THOSE EXTRA UNNECESSARY CUSS WORDS. I know you're angry or sad or frustrated- I feel the same way about those kids and the poor, but you can certainly get your message across without cussing. It doesnt tell me how angry or serious you are by how much you cuss about something- its like nails on a chalk board, *RECORD SCRATCH* *EXCUSE ME?!?! WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY???*
I cant listen to you, and its not that I cant- its that I choose not to. So some of you reading this are thinking....well if you dont like it dont listen to it....AND I dont which brings me down to the point of this post:
WE NEED MORE SONGS WRITTEN WITH A GREAT BEAT, GOOD MESSAGE AND NOOOOOOO CUSSING!!!!!!! finding those songs is so few and far between-its a bit depressing. Some days I feel I've lost all my dancing ability from sheer lack of good music to dance to. Its a sad day in America if that truly happens. lol. but seriously.
Last thought: I do love a good Christian rap song that can be danced to! And Christians are really stepping up their game in the music department! Amen to that! But once again, there just arent a whole lot of them!
I will now post three songs that have a great beat, a great message and ABSOLUTELY NO CUSSING!!!!
Please enjoy.







"Just tryin to keep it real,"
Kate

Snow Day #547

I never thought that I would ever say the next few words I'm about to type out...but I CANNOT WAIT FOR WINTER TO BE OVER!!!!!!!! Just beyond the snow, the ice, and the frigid temperatures lies my wedding day, MY WEDDING DAY!!!! And that means, MY MAN AND HE WONT HAVE SUCH A CRAZY WORK SCHEDULE ANYMORE!!!! (my how the Lord provides for His children!!)
Until then, I will take yet another snow day to do homework, read, work on projects, and perhaps watch a movie.....oh and do a dance video- just to get the ole heart rate up for 30 minutes a day lol.
Sounds like a pretty good day......it certainly does beat school or work and etc, BUT the only thing that would make this day better you ask? PLAYING IN THE SNOW WITH MY MAN!!!!!....maybe next year or maybe tomorrow :)
Its weird to think that in less than two months I will be AT THE BEACH!...IN ANOTHER COUNTRY....MARRIED TO THE MOST INCREDIBLE HUSBAND!!!!!!!!!
Suddenly, I'm not so cold anymore :)
Just a few closing thoughts about snow: I used to imagine that snow was God's way of purifying the Earth. When someone talks about purity they talk about being "snow white." I love that about snow. Also, I used to see snow and get PUMPED, but now-a-days, I see the snow and a sense of loneliness settles over me. For one, its just so quiet, sometimes children get out and play in it, but not when its coming down this hard. Everything is silent, still.......oh wait, the mail man just went by?!?! WHAT?!!? hahahahahahahahhaha I LOVE GOD'S SENSE OF HUMOR!!!!!-AND RIGHT AS I'M TYPING THIS OUT!!!! hahahaha!!!! When I was beginning to miss my man, the Lord just intervened and made me laugh-out loud-that just happened!!!! :)) thanks Jesus!
Another thought about snow- ITS SO BRIGHT!!!!!! When you ski, you HAVE to wear sunglasses or goggles because otherwise you cant see because its so bright!!! Also, I love nighttime when it snows because its so bright! Its a pretty cool thing to look outside your window at midnight and see everything so clearly! And the last thought about snow? IT MAKES ME WANT TO GO SKIING!!!! I surely do miss those mountains!
Picture Time!:
One of my favorite places!!! Aspen, Colorado!!!!


Another View!- Oh love just walking around this beautiful little town!



Just looking at this next picture makes me excited!!! You know that adrenaline rush you get when you're about to do your first run down the mountain?!! :))


OH YA!


Now its really comin down and I think its about time for some lunch! And following in the steps of my friend Noel, I will now post a snowday receipe! Its actually what I'm about to eat for lunch and its SO easy and quick to make!

Cranberry-Almond Chicken Salad!
Ingredients:

2/3 cup slivered almonds
3 cups chopped cooked chicken (we use those Tyson Chicken packets of cook chicken in a bag, its cheating but quicker and quite good!)
3/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries (craisons)
2 celery ribs, diced finely
1/2 small sweet onion, diced finely
3/4 Helmans Mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. Greek seasoning
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. bake almonds in a single layer in a shallow pan 5 to 7 minutes or until lightly toasted and fragrant. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack (About 15 minutes)
2.) Stir together almonds, chicken, drie cranberries, and remaining ingredients; serve immediately or cover and chill up to 24 hours.

*We like to eat this chicken salad on wheat thins but it makes a great sandwich as well!!!

Kate

Procrastinating and Catching Up!

Ok Friends,
I've recently dropped the blog "ball." After stating that I would blog more....I haven't in almost a month, and for this, I am sorry.
January was a wild ride of ups and downs and back up again. Every life has its' season of craziness, I believe I am in the midst of my own- with no end in the near future. But that is blessing.
January was filled with wedding showers, snow, classes, crazy work schedules, 1 year anniversaries (YAY!), wedding stuff and scrap-booking..aka the project that I will NEVER finish. Needless to say, life is good.
I have been more blessed than I could of ever imagined this time last year and I Praise God, for every good and perfect gift surely does come from Him.
Currently, I should be working on the massive amount of homework I have (which I also fear I will never finish), but I decided to put it aside for the hour or so it will take me to redesign my blog for the Valentine's Season and write this quick little post. I do, oh-so-love to redesign my blog, and if not for every season, then just because I want to. But just like a house, I believe a blog should just as well be decorated in the according season's decor. -I get that from my mama.
Recently, I have been reading the Pioneer Woman blog- LOVE IT, and in older posts I have even declared myself a "Pioneer Woman in Training."-the same still rings true today and not just because of her fabulous recipes (which are indeed, quite fabulous), but also because she has impeccable design and photography taste! And she home schools her kids which I think is totally cool! I have yet to poke around in her gardening section but I'm sure that as soon as I begin "nesting" with my man I'll be soaking in every gardening tip she has to offer!
Speaking of my man, I CANNOT WAIT TO MARRY HIM!!!! WHOOOOO!!!!! Just had to throw that in there, I seriously cannot contain my excitement sometimes! I so want to be a good wife to my man, because he deserves it!!! (and it honors the Lord). Three people I am taking extensive notes from on how to be a good wife are: Jesus, the Pioneer Woman, and my mom.
Jesus is teaching me how to selflessly love and when and how to put others needs before my own. I have a long ways to go and I know He will be teaching me this for the rest of my life.- man I think I desire to just sit at Jesus' feet all day sometimes- His unconditional love and patience with me is seriously throwing me for a loop. I've experienced it daily-but there is something about this busy time where I have to fight for even just a few minutes of quiet a day to spend with Him without falling asleep sometimes that almost brings me to tears. There is so much more I can say about Jesus- but I just dont have the time to write it all down. Praise Him for hearing our prayers and speaking to us daily- and praise Him for opening my ears, my eyes and my heart to hear what He is trying to tell me.
The Pioneer Woman for obvious reasons: food- they say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach....well I want to make the way to my man's heart and well-worn path ;)
My mom has been teaching me- perhaps all my life- to keep my priorities straight. To keep the important things, important. My mom surely is a busy lady- but she has never missed an important thing in my life. I was/am important to her, and she lets nothing stand in the way of that, nothing. Thats a priceless gift of a lesson to learn. It has helped me stay grounded through this wedding planning thing. THE most important thing on our wedding day is that my man is at the opposite end of that aisle, smiling back at me. I care about nothing else.......except for maybe my dress and looking-hopefully- beautiful for him =). But my mom has surely taught me to never get caught up in the things in this life that dont matter, Jesus matters, family matters-people matter- and thats about it.
Finally, there are two things I have yet to learn from her and hopefully will before I get married! One I would like to learn sooner rather than later. The first is how to do taxes- that woman (my mama) can do taxes like nobody else can, step aside people Super Tax Mama is coming through! But that can wait to be learned in a few months to a year- whew! *Finger's crossed I learned that trait from her* but after my three battle with an accounting class in college, that I dropped, I'm afraid a I didnt....
The more pressing issue at hand relates back to food. I know I know- the Pioneer woman can cook, but if I was a betting woman, I would bet you all the tea in China that my mama can fry up chicken legs BETTER than that Pioneer woman. Now I know some you reading this might of just gasped, but I dont make jokes about the Pioneer Woman and I dont make jokes about fried-chicken.- I also dont make jokes about my mama, SO for real here people- Mama's fried chicken recipe comes straight from the heart of "small town Southern USA" and quite frankly-it doesnt get any better than that! Therefore, in order to keep my Southern sanity, i have requested per this blog, that my mom teach me to make her fried chicken. As she has said in the past- "frying chicken is a dying art form," (spoken like a true Southern woman). Well as I live and breathe-that sacred art-form will not die out with me!
With ALL that being said-thats about all I've got for today. My homework is practically taunting me from the table where its laying. Ugh, school.
But also staying true to my afore mentioned blog statement- I will leave you with this final picture:
These are the roses my man left on my doorstep around 5:30AM the day of our one year anniversary! He wanted me to have them the whole day! Its one of the sweetest and most caring things he or anyone has ever done for me! One of my love languages is definitely acts of service! =) And that act certainly did not go unnoticed, and was taken quite to heart! :)


PS. later that night, to celebrate our anniversary even more, he took me to a VERY fancy restaurant! :)
I surely do love my man with all of my heart!
Kate

snow, Snow, SNOW!

Friends, In light of the current weather outside all I have for you today is a youtube video from one of my favorite movies of all time. But in particular- the song clip you are about to see has been stuck in my head since about 2:30pm yesterday afternoon.
Please watch, enjoy, and then if you're anywhere in the South or Midwest- GO PLAY OUTSIDE!!!




And for what its worth: Whether you have no intention of venturing past your front door or you're rolling around making snowball angels till you think your ears might freeze off, snow is always a legitimate excuse to act like a little kid again.
Now....if only I had someone to play with me in the snow today.... <3
Kate

Marriage Year, Coach God, and no more New Year's Resolutions

So here we are, year 2011. WoW. Its finally here!
I think I've waited my whole life for this year because its the year I will get to marry the man of my dreams!!!!
No seriously, thats what I have called him from day one- except then he was "the man of my dreams who I'll never see again." That might sound funny, but I called him that because I met him and then didnt see him for awhile and it was kind of a joke because I had just met him- BUT the Holy Spirit told me that there was something different about him from the beginning. Anyways- long story short, he's now just the "Man of my dreams- WHO I GET TO MARRY THIS YEAR!!!" :))
Ya, and I thought last year was good- I think 2011 is going to blow me out of the water....Ive never been married before....but if its with my man, I KNOW its gonna be INCREDIBLE!!!


Okay okay, I will stop all the lovey-talk...even though I dont wanna! I gotta contain the gush as much as I can.
But seriously, I always like new years. Its the start of something fresh- the future is clearly before you and there is so much to look forward to. The best part about the future and this year 2011, is that God has already gone before each of His sons and daughters and has planned everything out. Every small detail. There is nothing in the path before each of us that wasent lovingly placed there by Jesus Christ. How cool is that?
I like to picture God running to the end of the race- mapping out every twist and turn, hill and valley, etc for us, and then turning right around, and meeting back up with us to coach us along all the way to the end. He knows what is coming next, and He is encouraging us, preparing us, and carrying us through it all, to the end-when as LeCrae puts it "we finish the race and fulfill the job the Lord Jesus gave us."

Thats just some Jesus-food-for-thought.

Lastly, I want to talk about New Years Resolutions. I didnt make any this year. I usually do, but a few days back, before New Years Eve, I was reading the Beth Moore Blog (www.blog.lproof.org)- which I read everyday- its awesome! But Beth talked about this year not making resolutions but instead, going to God in prayer and asking Him to change one thing in you over this year. You see, she says in her post that "One of the things God has taught me along the way is to try to hear from Him about one area at a time that He’s pinpointing for change. Much more than that is too overwhelming." I totally agree with her, and I honestly may never go back to "resolutions" again. Last year, I prayed that God would bring me my husband- and quite frankly HE DID- and I am ever so thankful and blessed that He did.
SO this year, I have asked Jesus to work on one specific area in my heart. I asked Him the very day I read that post to change my need to always have everything go my way, and to be more flexible with the side tracks, road bumps, interruptions and people He places in my life. ITS A PRAYER FOR THE BIG LEAGUES. But nothing is impossible for God- He holds the world in His hands. Resolutions are man's attempt to change themselves, which we all know isnt possible. Sometimes we can change little things for awhile- but we always go back to our old ways. But on the other hand, "the prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective." (James 5:16).
With that being said, I want to leave y'all with a song we sang at church today.
Healer by Kari Jobe
You hold my every moment
You calm my raging seas
You walk with me through fire
And heal all my disease
I trust in You
I trust in You
I believe You're my healer
I believe You are all I need
I believe You're my portion
I believe You're more than enough for me
Jesus, You're all I need
You hold my every moment
You calm my raging seas
You walk with me through fire
And heal all my disease
I trust in You
I trust in You
I believe You're my healer
I believe You are all I need
I believe You're my portion
I believe You're more than enough for me
Jesus, You're all I need
Nothing is impossible for You
Nothing is impossible for You
Nothing is impossible for You
Nothing is impossible for You

Praise Christ,
Kate

2010 RECAP

WOW- God has been exceedingly good to me over this past year! 2010- I certainly am a fan of you!!!! God seriously answers prayers. This time last year, I prayed for God to abundantly bless 2010....and let me just tell you- MY CUP IS OVERFLOWING!!!!!
Top 10 highlights of 2010 in chronological order:

1) One of my best friends got married!!
2) I met the man of my dreams!!!!
3) I graduated college!! WHew!
4) Went to my brother's high school graduation!
5) Strated a new job!
6) Started graduate school!
7) Went to my grandfather's 80th Birthday party!
8) GOT ENGAGED TO THE MAN OF MY DREAMS!!!!
9) Holidays and birthdays with my family and my fiance's family!
10) The COUNTLESS fun times that God has so strategically tucked into my life with family, friends, and my man!!!

Now to end this year off right, a blessing for whoever reads this:
"May the Lord bless and keep you, may His face shine upon you, and give you peace" this year in 2011!

And a little New Year's Ever Tradition: The Times Square New Year's Eve BALL!
"The actual notion of a ball "dropping" to signal the passage of time dates back long before New Year's Eve was ever celebrated in Times Square. The first "time-ball" was installed atop England's Royal Observatory at Greenwich in 1833. This ball would drop at one o'clock every afternoon, allowing the captains of nearby ships to precisely set their chronometers (a vital navigational instrument)." (From the official Times Square New Year's Eve Ball website).


The "ball" as it is seen now.




The "ball" in 2007- can you believe that was almost 4 years ago!?!? This ball was made by Waterford Crystal.




Back in 1978!



If you want to learn the history of the Times Square New Year's Eve Ball here is the official website:


Now I'm off on my last "HOO-RA" of 2010!
Kate

The Next Step

I heard a quote from one my best friends yesterday that I feel I must blog about in light of a current situation.
The quote is as follows "The most important thing God tells you is the next step."
Spoken by one of her family members, this quote has had some divine impact on my thought life since hearing it.
Life and death are two things we have no control over. God is the only one that can give life and take it away.
A friend of mine and her family recently lost their son/brother and his wife in a plane crash. Trying to make sense of this tragedy proves difficult, especially for the young and full of life. Such shocking news has sent me into much deep contemplation of my life. I must confess that my initial reaction sent me into a sort of panic and fear. Fear for their family and the hard times ahead of them and fear for my own loved ones. But the quote above made me realize something: No matter what occurs in life, the good and the bad- it all has to first pass through the Lord's hands. God is in control, each step of the way. End of story. He looks after those who love Him (Romans 8:28), and trials are given to us to bring us closer to Him (Romans 5:3-4, James 1:3-4).
So what I am getting at is the fact that I cannot worry about tomorrow, or weeks from now, etc. etc. I can only deal with the next step that God places before me. I can only work with what God deems sufficient for me to know right now. And I have to trust that that is enough. God specifically tells us that we cant handle knowing ahead of time what is going to happen to us and occur in our lifetime, both good and bad. (Habakkuk 1:5 “Look at the nations and watch and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.")
Therefore, my thoughts conclude in realizing that I will miss out on "the next step" God places in front of me if I keep worrying about things I have no control over in the unknown future. We are not meant to live our lives in fear. We are meant to follow the everlasting God as He leads us each step of the way. I resolve to whole heartedly follow the Lord and to not miss out on the abundant life He has given me and intended for each of us to live.
God is in control of both life and death. I figure He gave me life for a reason and I must do with it all that I can to honor, serve and love Him until He determines that its time to go home. Life is meant to be lived in light of eternity.
I must remember that Christ's love not only conquered death but my fears with it.

Be blessed as we prepare for a new year.
Jesus makes all things new.
Kate