Na na na na, Na na na na, Hey He_ey, Goodbye!

I gave up sugar for lent.

Yesterday was the first day of lent and I failed already.  My friend brought me the most delicious looking (and tasting) cupcake.  It was rasberry lemon, how could I resist?!?  If you know me, you know my two favorite things are  gifts and food.  So, a gift that is food?  Well, that’s enough to make me slip on a pact with God.  Yikes!

But, today is a new day.  I’ve decided that I am still going to give up sugar for 40 days and I’ll just have to wait until the Monday after Easter to indulge.  It’s perfect because that is the frist day of my in-laws visit to Cali.  It’ll be extra reason to celebrate!

You may be wondering how someone gives up sugar, exactly?  I know it’s vague, but I set some rules for myself to follow.

1. No grain sugar, agave, or syrup of any kind.  This means no sweetening my coffee and nothing fancy from Starbucks (Americanas are awesome and relatively cheap!).

2. No desserts, including but not limited to; pastries, cakes, chocolates, ice cream, pies (NONE!).

3. Fruit is okay despite having sugar in it, because it’s fruit.  It’s all natural.

4. No soft drinks (which I don’t drink anyway) or juices except all natural ones that have no added sugar.

5.  Finally, though I don’t eat these things anyway, nothing that is sweet tasting but claims to be “sugar-free.”  That just means they’ve added artificial sweetener and well, that stuff will kill you someday (ask me if you don’t know what I’m talking about!)

The hardest part, so far, is my morning coffee.  I’m admittedly addicted so to change my routine has been tough.  I will only be able to drink good coffee, since I can’t drown out any bitterness with sweetness.  It is day two of cream only coffee and really it has been fine.  I buy good coffee and make it in my french press, so it tastes awesome.  Like I said, I’m addicted, so pretty much I’ll take it how I can get it.

Dave is doing this thing with me.  I’ll have to let you know how it goes.

A Night to Remember

I told you a few posts back that Dave and I won couples game night.

Singing The Blues to Pull Ahead in Victory!

Here we are, the orange team, sporting our G-Force t-shirts.  I’m the one piercing her lips because I was so stinking nervous about singing in front of everyone.   We played the game they do on, ‘Whose Line is it Anyway?’ where each person in the row sings one line.  The second and fourth person had to rhyme.  So Dave, being last, had to rhyme whatever I sang last!  It was a stretch for the Greiders, but we were victorious!

Anyway, the point of this post is to talk about our prize!  We won a double date with our friends Nathan and Chyler (the hosts) at their favorite restaurant.  The date included a bottle of Halo, this phenomenal wine that the restaurant has been holding for them.

We went to the Saddlepeak lodge and the staff there love them.  We really felt like VIPs.  We ordered the eight course chef’s tasting menu. Head chef, Adam, came out to see us several times.  The manager, Ian, also stopped in a bunch and he paired our first few courses with incredible white wines and champagne.   By the time we got to course 5 or 6 we were onto red wine which meant we were ready for the Halo!

One of Dave and I’s favorite things to do is  go out for a nice meal.  We save up just to be able to splurge on a meal out.  This night takes the cake of anytime we’ve splurged on each other.  Oh, and I almost forgot about dessert, we tried their bignettes, which were awesome.  But, the most memorable, for me, was the Irish car bomb dessert.  Yes, you read correctly.  I have never had an Irish car bomb in real life, but the dessert was delicious!  It has a Jameson chocolate cake, with Guiness ice cream, and Bailey’s whip cream to top  it all off!  I was so full by the time it came out, but it was so good I ate anyway!

 

The End of the Night!

 

 

I love great food but still the best part of our evening was the company.  We had such great conversation and grew much closer as friends.  We shared stories of where we’ve come from, where we are now, and where we’re going.  We encouraged each other and we got real.  It is awesome to have friends you can be transparent with.  We love them as people and as a couple and for the example they are to us.  Dave and I are so grateful for the many blessing we have because of their generosity and friendship.  Love you guys!

p.s. Chyler is on the Ellen DeGeneres show, airing Wednesday, so watch if you can!

No Soup for You!

I have heard many people tell funny stories about times they’ve experimented with dinner and it just flopped!  It is one of those things you think will never happen to you.  Then it does and you realize it was bound to happen eventually, and will probably happen again.  Mine, is a story of failed soup.  I decided to try a blackbean soup recipe from one of my cookbooks, for the first time.  This was especially risky, though I didn’t realize it at the time, because it was my night to bring dinner for a friend whose mom is sick. 

I think everything was going fine, until the last ingredient.  It said,”cayenne pepper to taste.”  Well, I just sprinkled cayenne pepper ALL OVER the soup and stirred it in.  There were already a few spicy ingredients in there, and the pepper just shot it over the edge.  It was so spicy, Dave and I could only eat  a few bites before we could not feel our mouths.  Tthere was no way I could bring this soup to my friend, and her young son.  But, it did not end there.

I still had some sliver of hope that I could redeem my soup.  We started brainstorming . What else could we do?  Dave suggested making cornbread.  Maybe it would be like putting chili over cornbread.  Maybe it would soak up the spice.  I liked it!  As I mixed up to cornbread ingredients Dave and I got into deep conversation about, well who remembers, but we were focused.  Apparently, I was too focused because as I pulled the cornbread out of the oven I realized I had only put a teaspoon of baking powder in it, instead of a Tablespoon, ugh!  So I had super spicy soup and bricks for cornbread and we decided to pick up something ready made from Whole Foods and bring it over.  Lesson learned and here’s to a better experiement next time!

Someone Wrote a Book About Our Church

Check it out:

 

It Has Been Too Long

I am not sure where the last THREE weeks went, so I thought I would start back with an update.  Since we talked last:

• I attended two different trainings, for work, which I was “out of town” for (read:  It was just far enough away to warrant staying at a hotel to avoid Los Angeles traffic).  The first was all about people on the autism spectrum. It was about understanding things from their point of view and how to provide them effective services.  By the end I had increased empathy for people with Autism.  I may have some autistic tendencies myself, not the least of these being my deep desire to set and stick to a schedule.  I also. tend to take other people more literally then I should, it makes me very gullible.    Perhaps you don’t know anything about this disability and you don’t see how my tendencies relate.  Here is a scenario from a parent:  A mom drove by a large sign outside a building which read, “SELF STORAGE,”  Her son with autism asked, “why would you want to store yourself?”  You see, literal. 
• The second training was about starting small businesses for people with disabilities.  It was fascinating and I learned  A LOT about the world of small businesses, including money, business planning, and marketing.  It got me brainstorming about how I can put some of my skills to work to bring in a little extra cash.  I’ll keep you posted, if anything comes of that.
• We had a volunteer appreciation party at the Oasis and got all dressed up.  See facebook for pictures. 

 

• Dave and I attended a couples game night at our friends Nathan and Chyler’s house.  We wore homemade t-shirts which read, “G-Force” (look for pictures at a later date).  We won, of course, because that’s just how we roll.  The prize you ask?  A double date at the Saddlepeak Lodge, inluding their last bottle of Halo wine from ‘92, which they have been holding just for Nathan, and top the whole thing off with a limo ride their and back!  I know, Nathan and Chyler don’t mess around. 
• After the games they facilitated a “he said/she said” open forum on navigating the ups and downs of relationships.  We were able to ask couples, who have been married longer then us, how they maintain a happy and growing marriage.   The questions that came up were about fighting fair, different styles of conflict resolution, and pursuing God individually and together.
• Dave paid someone to style his hair!  He looks great!  You’ll just have to take my word for it right now. I’ll blog about it later with pictures.
• Our friend Daniel started working with Dave.  They work together really well and together they are getting things organized.  I’ll have to let Dave tell you more details about that, if he wants  I can say he is deffinitely lessed stressed about the production team and getting their many projects done for church and Godchicks.
• We have both been preparing for the first Godchicks unplugged, this Saturday, February 7th.  Dave has been making sure all the production needs are met through his team and will be running camera and I will be dancing.  This is a one night event of worship and teaching.  There will be one or two more before the Godchicks conference June 25th-27th.  See link on the left panel for more information.

We are excited about 2009 and feel like January has gotten us off to a great start!

Just Kidding

Apparently, I was just kidding when I wrote that blog about winter(?) in LA.  The weather is like this:

72°F

Current: Clear
Wind: W at 0 mph
Humidity: 45%

Wed

85°F | 47°F

Thu

83°F | 49°F

Fri

81°F | 47°F

Sat

81°F | 47°F

 

 

 

and it has been since the end of last week.  Sunny and 80 degrees.  Where I com from we call that summer.  Here it’s called life, AND I LOVE IT!

Seriously though, it is not supposed to be this way, not even is So Cal.  In the desert we don’t have four seasons, we have two,  rainy and dry.  This should be the rainy season.  And with the rain we should have cooler weather.  Since it is not raining, but rather HOT and windy, they have issued a red flag warning, which means we’re prime for fires.  Ugh.

Just last October I started working at my current office.  The second week I was here I was off for three days because the fires were so close to our office.  Growing up in New York, I had snow days, and when I lived in Alabama they talked about hurricane days, but fire days is a new one for me.

I’m off to enjoy the sun, but I’ll be wishing for rain.  Besides, I really was getting excited about my sweaters!

Duvets; The Give and Take of It All

I got a new duvet cover!

And, I am really excited about it. I don’t know if you can appreciate what a big deal this is, but I am going to try and explain. It all started on New Year’s Day when we went to Ikea to check out their “winter sale.” (At this point I should tell you that Dave and I do not fight about much, but decorating and organizing have proven to be a challenge in our marriage.) Our bedroom to this day is not decorated. It was such a triumph to complete the living room we needed to take a break, a year long break!

After a whole year of marriage (and a few months), we are back at it, and I have to say it is going so much better. At Ikea, we decided pretty quickly that we would purchase a filing cabinet and (unfortunately) put some time and energy to get our desk area in order. Then we decided to tempt fate. We decided to just walk by the bedroom sets, and see if we (by some miracle) could be mutually inspired on how to decorate our room.

That is when it all turned around. Dave said, “You can pick WHATEVER duvet cover you want, and we will use it to decorate the rest of the room.” As you can imagine, my heart leapt in my chest. I don’t know if Dave has ever looked so attractive to me! After some searching, and a little discussion I chose this…

Isn’t it beautiful!

I realize Dave is really the one who gave in for the sake of peace in our household.  But, I want you to know I have done some things for him too!  

Seriously, I helped with the insanely tedious and tiring task of re-organizing our files (which he was much more passionate about then I),

I thought this picture turned out cool!

I also reorganized my jewelery.  It has been living on top of my dresser for about two months, overflowing out of a tackle box.  For all the ladies out there, you can find an awesome hanging earing holder thingy at Target.com (no they are not paying me to say this, unfortunately.)  And, for my necklaces, I used a men’s neck tie hanger.

Brilliant!

So, here’s to a new year.  Trying new things, keeping organized, and working WITH my husband!

I Love Being Married!

Dave and I celebrated one year of marriage yesterday.  I cannot believe it has already been a year.  It went by so fast.  At the same time, so much has happened.  We spent sometime talking about what has happened this year and how we have changed. 

It’s funny, Dave is so positive about our marriage.  If you ask me, I say it has been a tough year.  If you ask Dave, he struggles to remember what was hard about it.  After some discussion, we realized we are both coming to the same conclusion, we just process things so differently.  I say that it has been hard because we had difficult living arrangements when we first moved out here, we struggled financially in the 4 months it took me to get a job, we had totally opposite schedules the first six months,  we officially had the worst Christmas of our lives (they can only get better), and then there are the normal newly married things like figuring out how to communicate etc…

The thing is, we are in such a good place together, I wouldn’t take back any bit of the past year.  And that is where Dave and I are on the same page.  He does not regret anything we’ve been through this year and I guess he concludes, it was all good.  I say it was not all good, but still I would go through it all again to be where we are right now.  It is the same conclusion, just different language and a different way of processing it.  That is what I love about my husband.  He is much faster to focus on the positive.  Though he drives me crazy sometimes, he is so good for me. 

We do have highlights from the year, and they are really good ones!  Dave started working for the Oasis, which has been challenging, rewarding, and overall, such a blessing.  We have both had promotion at work.  We have an amazing family of believers around us to live life with here in LA.  We have been able to pay every bill, on time, even though sometimes we shouldn’t have.   We have both learned so much about ourselves and each other and especially the Lord. 

 We are, officially, blessed!

The unexamined life…

I never really thought of myself as a blogger either, but the more I think about it, it really is an awesome way to 1) share life with our family and friends back home on the east coast and 2) articulate into written form a lot of what’s going on in our lives. I think its important to analyze how we grow and change as people. I think it was Socrates who said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” 

So we welcome you to join the Greider family as we share our stories, our insights, and our lives with you.

We’re Blogging?

So here “we” are blogging.  I say “we” because I haven’t told Dave we have a blog yet.  I think he’ll be all in though.  My boss is into blog’s and after reading hers, I thought, this sounds like fun, especially since we are so far away in California.  

I never considered myself a blogger…the whole thing seemed so foreign.  What should I say?  Am I a good writer?  The thing is, it doesn’t matter.  This is an outlet to share thoughts, feelings, and experiences with those who we don’t get to live life with regularly, but we wish we did.

So, stay tuned, for photos and mroe updates on the happenings of the Greiders in LA!