Thursday, October 21, 2010

Angels

"Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it." The Bible, New International Version, Hebrews 13:2

Lately I have been extremely grateful for the presence of God in my life. The other day, without ever expecting it, something totally cool happened that I can honestly say was completely the work of God, and I wanted to share it with you all! :)

As many of you know, I bought a car over the summer:



Now, love dear Agnes though I do, she's had her share of issues since I got her. The engine makes a strange shuddering when I accelerate, among other things, and even though she gets me from place to place without issue, she's no superstar in some ways. But, up until now I haven't had any real issues, for which I have been thankful. As a matter of fact, without Wednesday's chance encounter, I might not even have known I was having a problem!

Those of you who know cars will think I'm really dumb for not realizing this, but apparently I had a flat-ish tire. The roads in Champaign are really bumpy and my car isn't the smoothest ride to begin with, so if there was a feeling of the air getting low in a tire I never would have noticed. So I was on my way to work from class, and decided to stop for gas. Now normally I go to either the Meijer or Wal-Mart gas stations, as they usually have the cheapest gas, but that day for whatever reason a voice in my head was like "no, just go to the Freedom station, it's right on your way." This Freedom station is a little shady, but I'd been there before and it WAS on my way, so I went there.

I was the only person there besides a middle aged guy at the pump next to mine. He began a conversation about the weather, and then pointed out to me that my front/passenger tire was VERY low on air, basically flat. I had NO IDEA! So get this: not only does he tell me, but he went inside the gas station with a dollar to get change for me, helped me fill it with air, and told me to call him if I had any more problems because he owns an auto body shop. WHAT?!? He even offered to change/repair the tire for free if it didn't hold the air he put in it.

This, to me, was totally an angel. Now everyone reading this might not believe in God, and that's okay, I'm not trying to tell you what to think, just to share with you this cool thing that I know in my heart was totally from God. I seriously hadn't been to that gas station in MONTHS, and just by going there had a chance encounter with a Good Samaritan who helped me for no other reason than that I was there and clearly clueless about my car's flat. I guess it's just a reminder that no matter where we are in our lives, God is right there with us! :)

Monday, October 11, 2010

Confucius Say...

So I was looking up quotes by Confucius for my friend (inside joke, long story involving a Chinese dog...lol), and found this one:

"It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop."

I really like it! I think it's good to remember that even if you feel like you are making slow progress, or even no progress on a goal, that doesn't mean that you won't eventually get there. For example, many of you know about my goal to lose weight. I've kind of hit a plateau and lost some motivation, but just because I haven't been hitting the gym hard or eating exactly healthy at every single meal doesn't mean that the little things I do won't eventually add up, if that makes sense. So, in short, don't give up on your goals if you are not making progress, just remember that going slowly doesn't mean that you have stopped, or that you can't go faster eventually if you want to!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Reason I Go To The Gym

1. To watch television shows like Parenthood



Supernatural



and Glee



2. To be in an air-conditioned building :)

3. To work out, I guess. lol

Monday, October 4, 2010

Fall!

Ladies and gentlemen, I think it is safe to say that fall has arrived!! I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO excited! Fall is my favorite season for many reasons. First, it means the return of the most delicious thing ever to have graced my lips, the honeycrisp apple. Observe:



See how they tumble out of the basket, as though they are shouting TAKE ME! EAT ME! Okay, maybe I've gone overboard. But I LOOOOOOOVE honeycrisp apples, and you can only get them during the fall!

The return of fall also means the return of one of my recently-acquired fan-obsessions, football! Football to me means two things. Marching band (like the U of I band that I saw at the U of I/OSU game this past Saturday)...



And, of course, this guy.



This, dear readers, is Brian Urlacher, and he is what we like to call a bad ass. lol my mom met him once by accident, he held open the door for her when she was on her way out of a Chipotle, and she said that he's pretty much a beast. Hopefully we don't have a repeat of last year ***knockonwood*** where he got injured....this guy basically carries the Bears defensive line, as far as my opinion is concerned.

What else....I can't forget that fall means SCARVES and gloves and coats!! When you live somewhere that is cold for almost 3/4 of the year, you get really good at accessorizing with your outerwear. I'm mad because I can't find this:



No, not that I can't find Hermione, but that I can't find the scarf I have that looks like that!! I might have to make a new one. You best believe I will be wearing it to the premier of the 1st part of the last Harry Potter movie in November!! hehehe :)

And, last but not least, fall means Halloween, and Halloween means pumpkins! My friend and I decorated for Halloween last week and it was a lot of fun.



We are going to carve pumpkins soon, too! Hopefully we don't get a repeat of a few years ago when our pumpkins had a little too much fun without us....just kidding :) but you definitely don't want to see your pumpkins like this in the morning!



Finally, just because he's adorable, here is a picture of my brother and sister-in-law's new puppy!! His name is Taz, he is a corgi, and I am going to steal him. Watch yourselves. lol :)