i will say it again: this blog is changing my life. not in a big way at all, but many many little ways. most dramatically in my perspective. our pastor gave a great sermon the other week on widening your scope/reframing your picture of life. he gave the example of the sun, talking about how enormous it is, however from here on earth, we can cover it with our thumb at the right angle. This, he said, should be our perspective toward life. not that our problems in life aren’t valid or real, or hard, but that God is infinitely bigger than my problems and loves me greatly. with this in mind i can choose to look at life with this perspective and choose to see the good and the blessings around me. God reframes everything. i’m not great at explaining this but if you want to hear the sermon you can find it here. it’s called reframing the sun.

so…today i chose to see life in terms of things that surprised me. such as:

a boy at school today asked me when i was going to get a ‘real job’ and stop working as a teacher. i was surprised by this and laughed and asked what he thought i should do instead…his reply? “i think you should open a dry cleaners and work at applebee’s on the weekends.” great idea. i’ll get right on that…i’d probably make more money, actually……

one of our best friends asked paul to be a groomsman in his wedding this august! then, as a thank you to us (?!) he booked a get-a-way night for paul and i here in minneapolis at the W hotel downtown for this saturday! just a little stay-cation for the plergs! what an incredible surprise…

my friend summer made a weight training program for me to try. tonight was the first night….it was chest and back exercises…and surprise! i didn’t die! i kinda want to now…. and my arms are shaking as i type this, but…still alive! best surprise yet.

a big surprise for pauly tonight…i actually made us dinner! not leftovers! tacos and rice. super easy and super delish. the recipe is on our food blog here. i used the nacho mix in tacos tonight, but the nachos are to die for too. try it.

also i was surprised by this funny poster i saw (below) while walking through the skyway last night with pauly. grumpy steve’s in honor of my NEVER grumpy daddy-o!

oh! also hoping for the best surprise yet-a snow day tomorrow!! please please please Jesus!!

happy monday

for valentines day pauly bought us wild hockey tickets for tonight! whoop! so today, after getting back from a completely relaxing weekend at the cabin, we continued to spoil ourselves with the game! we took quick showers, and decided to walk the skyway system from our place to the excel center for the game. it was really fun to explore downtown in the skyway..who knew there were so many yummy restaurants and cute little shops…all closed on this sunday night, of course, but still fun to see.

anyway. the game was great-we won! 4-2 against the edmonton oilers..it was so fun. we LOVE hockey…especially when we can see it live, so going tonight was a real treat.

….speaking of treats….we are always looking for ways to treat ourselves it seems…so after the game we walked to cosetta’s close by the arena…we love cosettas. ugh…yumm…however it was closed and we could only look longingly through the window…..so instead we made our way back through the skyway and decided to make ourselves alexis brand sweet potato fries…so so good….

oh! random funny note: paul thought it would be funny if i call my blog my ‘blerg’ because…well you know…berg + blog and we died laughing because that then spiraled into making up those hilarious meme’s on pinterest like: “er my gerd! blergs!” hahaha i may have to make a meme of my very own now… anyway..we thought it was funny….

okay, so here are the highlights from tonight!

happy sunday to me

we have spent this weekend eating, eating and more eating. lueckes made breakfast: waffles, eggs with peppers and onions, and fresh orange slices. morrows had lunch: panini sandwiches, and the amazing salad (below), and the plergs had dinner: homemade pizzas. they were incredible. all of it was amazing and we are at least 5 happy pounds heavier than when we arrived.

this was a great, relaxing time spent out on the ice rink, long walks in the snow, hot tubbing, eating, eating, eating, and lots of time on pinterest. can’t wait to do this again soon…

also: i need to give myself props. i have been off coffee and diet coke for 2, almost 3 weeks now. and being here is hard with a fridge full of diet coke and coffee at the ready. but i am strong. this is a big deal. a very big deal….

we are spending the weekend at our friends’ cabin in northern minnesota. their family has a BEAUTIFUL cabin on clearwater lake, and we are loving every minute of being here. i won’t blog about everything we have done; i’ll let the pictures do all the work. but needless to say, a good time was had by all.