meggrimm

I took this picture yesterday at the palace gardens while I was out, and I'm REALLY proud of the way it turned out.  Isnt it pretty?

I forgot to mention there is a good chance Randy and I will be together on the 5th anniversary of our first date! Isnt that sweet?! We'll be cutting it close - he may have to go back to Afghanistan a day or two before, but maybe we'll be together. It's nice since we'll miss our wedding anniversary this year. Wow, in just over a month we will have been together for 5 years. Interesting to think about how much we've both changed in that time. But what can you expect when you are only 15 when you start dating, right?

i'm so extremely excited. my husband is getting off soon for R&R Leave, and we're going home! i'll be in texas for two and half weeks. being that he is traveling from afghanistan i'll be there slightly longer than him, that way i'm there when he gets there. i'm so happy. i'm going to do all the things that we cant do in germany, like shop on a sunday, eat 35 cent tacos at Parkway Grill, i could go on and on. i already have my ticket so no stress there. travel is going to be crappy though - i have a lay-over to save $400 on the ticket. get this: an hour and a half to the airport by train (keep in mind you have to arrive AT LEAST two hours early for an international flight), 9 and a half hours by plane from Frankfurt to Detroit. hour and a half in detroit. back on a plane for the 2 hr 45 min flight from Detroit to Dallas. get luggage. then 2 and a half to 3 hours in the car from DFW to home. not to mention crossing 8 hours worth of time zones. that is going to suck. but i'm so very glad to go home. and you all know how happy i will be to see my husband again. :) YIPPY!

what a spoiled bitch am i?  hehe.  my dear sweet husband bought me this beautiful bracelet.  pretty, huh?  unfortunately it will take a while before i get it as red envelope does not ship to APOs (damn them, despite them being my FAVORITE gift catalogue) so he had to ship it to my mom's house and she'll ship it to me.  hopefully the whole process wont take too long - it's express to mom so that should be there tomorrow.  i'm just so thrilled - it's gorgeous, right?!  the xoxo pattern is just so sweet and girly and you add the fact that the pearls are pink - i'll appear to be so sweet and innocent.  hahaha

Copied from Bryce. By the way, I'm back from Amsterdam, officially the happiest place on earth (Disney is wrong), and pictures/comments about that will be added as soon as they are uploaded. I'm a little lazy about uploading my photos.

Take the quiz: "Which Victoria's Secret Angel are you?"

Heidi Klum
You are a girly girl and love pink!

 Next Monday is a holiday, and Randy and I are taking full advantage of a day off work.  Along with two friends, we will be leaving first thing tomorrow morning (if you call call a time so early, before sunrise morning) and going to Amsterdam.  Planned activities include: The Van Gogh Museum, The Heineken Experience, The Anne Frank House, of course a walk through the Red Light District, and anything and everything else we can squeeze in to our two and a half day journey.  Many photos to follow.

today is ash wednesday. the first day of lent. today marks the beginning of a period of reflection and sacrifice intended to bring us closer to God by imitating the 40 days of prayer and fasting of Jesus. i have chosen to discipline myself to follow the observance of lent this year. no, i'm not a jesus-groupy super-christian. i have temporarily abandoned organized religion (with a few exceptions when i crave communion and fellowship) for reasons that i do not have near the time to delve into today, but boils down to trying to figure out what i personally believe to be true and trying to get back to a personal faith rather than a weekly show. i have had some major faith struggles recently, none of which i am going to go into tonight but perhaps someday.

i have chosen to devote myself to reading "The Purpose Driven Life" during this time of reflection. my biggest inner-struggle for the last several months is trying to figure out what i'm supposed to do with my life. perhaps the guidance of this book will lead my in the right direction. i am rather skeptical though -- this book promises that through prayer, you will discover what God intends you to accomplish in your life. i have always questioned how healthy my prayer-life is. i have never understood how people pray aloud. prayer is supposed to be a conversation between you and God, and i believe that God is within you, so my prayer is more a meditation. an inner-monologue of sorts. i have never "heard God speak to me." i always felt that as you ponder things in your inner-monologue and you come to a certain peace, or a conclusion, that is God responding. so i am skeptical about how this book is going to assist me in 40 short daily readings to determine my life's purpose. i mean, right now i could rattle off a million things that i could do with my life - but which one is my true purpose? rather, how do i combine the best of them into one life? how do i balance my marriage with work that is valuable, meaningful, that leaves a mark on the world? i mean, i cant go off for 20 years to educate the people of africa about HIV prevention and leave my family at home. where is the balance? what can i do in a small community to impact the world - and still be home to do the laundry? maybe in these 40 days i can establish some new ideas, now that i've thrown out all previous career-aspirations in search for a new life meaning. i believe i have concluded that i am not meant to be a professional chef. i am not meant to be a nurse. we could go all the way back and say that i'm not meant to be a fireman, an astronaut, or the President of the United States either.

okay, maybe i wouldnt be a bad president.

before we get too serious with the issues flying through my mind, at least one of which i will release tonight, i figured i'd do a cheesy quiz.  i know, they are silly, but i am a sucker for quizes.  always have been.  feel free to copy.

*sidebar - how much more obvious could it be that i'm home alone tonight.  three posts in one evening - goodness.

 

FAVORITES:  answer spontaneously, dont over-analyze.  while you may have multiple favorites, record the one that first comes to mind.

a color you like to wear:  pink

regardless of size or circumstance, an animal you'd like to own as a pet:  monkey

a flower you'd like to grow in your garden:  tulips (ya, like i could ever grow something in a garden - HA!)

your lucky number: 8

a smell that makes you pause: mandarin orange

a taste that makes you melt: dark chocolate with raspberry

a hobby that occupies your time: singing

a sport you enjoy watching: hockey

a sport you enjoy playing: you must be joking

a city you like to visit: rome

a country you like to explore: italy

your favorite meal: sushi

a drink you often order: ginger ale

a delicious desert: pumpkin cake

a game you like to play: risk

a book you strongly recommend: me talk pretty one day - by david sedaris

an author who has affected you: nelson mandela (though he is much more than an author)

the magazine you read most frequently: cosmopolitan

the newspaper you prefer to read on sunday: dallas morning news

music you prefer to listen to when you're alone: ani difranco

singer or band you currently listen to the most: maroon5

the film you could watch over and over: love actually

director you admire: christopher nolan (director of momento)

an actress whose performances you admire: audrey hepburn

an actor whose performances you admire: kevin spacey

a tv show you watch regularly: american idol

an artist whose work you highly respect: andy warhol

a piece of clothing you love to wear: lacey black camisole

a monument you'd like to have a view of from your bedroom window: a zen garden.  not exactly a monument, but it's what i want to see

favorite time of day: bedtime

favorite place to sit at home: my new chaise lounge

what you most like to do on sunday: spend the day in bed (preferably not alone)

 

As promised -

this is my dear teddy, Pickles.  i promised bryce a picture of him in response to his entry "baby let me be your lovin' teddy bear. oh let me be your teddy bear" 

i will always have pickles - he is like a very close friend.  pickles has always had a special place in my heart - and in my room.  unfortunately marriage and adult life is not always teddy-friendly, so pickles' new home is in a trunk at the end of my bed, but i do let him out for air quite often. 

Welcome to Meg's Mind. Yes, I finally broke down and got a Live Journal. I started out with a blogger account, and it was really great, but it was going in a direction that I have chosen to move away from. Rather than destroy what I have, I decided to start fresh, with an entirely new page. After all, everybody deserves a fresh start occasionally.

I am not going to update constantly, and I will not be a slave to feeling the pressure of a daily update. I believe that was the beginning of the downfall of my blogger account. Though few people commented on the page, I had people emailing me if I didnt have an entry for a day or two. When I wasnt inspired to write something meaningful, I felt like I needed to write something, anything, and soon my blog built up to be nothing but crap, written simply to have a frequent post.

I intend to have a good mix of meaningful stories, pictures, stupid crap, quotes, random thoughts, and steam-blowing rants. Just so you know what to look forward to.

So hopefully this will go better. I look forward to the road ahead, not knowing where it will lead.