letters

an oldie but a goodie from Summer 2005

Dear Michelle, So glad we've become closer friends and discovered so much in common. If we were next door neighbors, I sure would love being running partners, trading books, bringing you cookies I "accidentally" made too much of, and babysitting your (someday) kids so you and Jonathan can steal away for some alone time. You are one beautiful girl with an amazing heart. And isn't this picture I found just great?? Blessed by you, LB

Dear Snowpocalypse, So far you are just a cold and dreary day, but the weather man predicts that you could leave our world glowing white by tomorrow morning. Thank you for giving me the chance to have a great slumber party at my parents' house. You can stay a little while, but make sure you pave the way for a glorious spring, ok? With Shivering Timbers, LB


Dear 5K, I finally finished you in 30 minutes on the elliptical with high resistance, when I was trying really hard. Now I will be disappointed every single time I don't hit that time, but at least I've learned the secret to speed running (10-min miles are super fast for me! I am used to more like 12): listening to my dad's 70s and 80s power ballads. The Super Speed Demon, LB

Dear Tai Pei #44, It had been three years since I'd devoured the broccoli-beefy goodness I ate at least once a week in college. A perfect bite is dipping half of my egg roll in your perfect sauce. Even though I can't eat all of you like I used to, and I wasn't accustomed to eating that much salt in one sitting, you made my tummy smile and my taste buds sing just like you used to. Until Next Time, LB

Dear Coworkers, How are you so awesome? Have we really assembled the seemingly perfect team? Thank you for making coming to work so much fun. All of the baked goods I've been making you really can't express my gratitude for your hard work and how much you make me laugh. Glad to be your friend, LB

Dear Andrea, Thank you so so so so so so much for giving me The Pioneer Woman's cookbook for Christmas. That night after you left, JT sat awake for hours looking through the pages and bookmarking the once he wanted me to make. And the next morning, he couldn't wait to wake me up and show me his findings -- almost every recipe was bookmarked. Can I repay you by making your recipe of choice next time we do dinner? Still sleeping with it under my pillow, LB

Dear Sports Yoga Class, For my first yoga experience, they said I did pretty well. But do you know I am still sore three days later? I've never done a 45-minute push up or lunge before, but that's what it feels like I did. Even though you were a little weird for me, and I didn't know to say "Namaste" at the end, I might be back...maybe. If you're nice next time. Hurting so good, LB

Dear JT, This week, you brought me NY style pizza and emptied the dishwasher for me. Your random acts of service are humbling and inspire me to be a better wife. And do you really know how sexy you sound on the phone? So glad you are my Monday night TV partner for the rest of our lives. Bazinga, LB

things I need in my life

more handmade chunky knits

(teach me to knit, anyone?)

less sweets

(...)

more of my bff

(it's been months since

we've had a proper hug)

less facebook

(why do I NEED to check it

 more than once a day again?)

more outside air

(so good for my bones,

so please warm up!)

less spending on groceries =

more smart budgeting

more justforfun fotos

less excuses

More Daily Bread

letters

Dear Riverside Trail, I'm so excited to take full advantage of you today since the temperature is decent. My feet have missed running and especially run dancing with their old friend. Please tell your neighbor, The Jenks Bridge, to expect me at sunset just like the old days, and our regular dates should resume soon. Pumped Up and Raring to Go, LB

Dear Wheat and Gluten, You have been my friends my entire life, founding the basis for all of my favorite foods. I am thinking of giving you up though, not for me, but for my poor digestive system. Even though I love cookies, fresh-baked bread, and nutty whole wheat pasta, I would love living a normal life even more, and it may be worth the sacrifice. If I can ever be brave enough to give up our friendship, maybe it will just be for a little while. Yours Forever (even if only in my heart), LB


Dear Legs, I know I haven't run on you in awhile, but please don't give up on me now when I am just getting started. Left leg, whatever kept me from running for months in 2009 is not going to sideline me one sunny day in 2010. I will not allow it. Toes, do you need new shoes? I will start saving up for them and be extra nice to you in the meantime. Capiche? LB


Dear Izze Soda, Thank you for being an acceptable substitute for the chemicals in Diet Dr. Pepper, but why do you have to have so many calories? You are so delicious and natural that I want to be best friends, but please understand we can only see each other on special occasions. Regretfully, LB

Dear Traffic Driver, Please don't let five cars turn right in front of you when the light is green. I can understand if the light is red and you have nowhere to go, to let one or two cars in during traffic, but when you barely make the light as it's turning red, it's not really fair to the cars behind you who have places to be. Spoken in Love, LB


Dear JT, Thank you for inspiring me to be better but loving me just as I am. You're the best. Forever and Always, LB

stories

This week, we went for Thai with my lovely friend Laura Reese and her husband, Josh. They are just interesting. They met at my alma mater, got married, and now they live in an awesome old house with a big beautiful Akita named Adelaide.

Laura not the kind of girl you can label.  I can't call her my friend from Oregon because she's also my friend who's going to one day open a pie shop and my friend who plays the guitar and used to be a music teacher and my friend who has awesome red curls and my friend who works for the American Red Cross and dressed up in one of their authentic World War II nurse uniforms to perform at a work function.

But I think that's inspiring. If you ask me what I did last night, I either watched a marathon of Ace of Cakes or went out to eat. If I ask her what she did last night, she made her own wine or listened to the Portland Blazers on the radio or sewed a quilt or climbed a mountain in Colorado. Here's to doing things.

It's appropriate that I tried my first Thai with Laura and her husband. I had Pad Park and JT got the best fortune I've seen in awhile:

If you got it, flaunt it

---

We were watching our brand new House DVD, and I could only concentrate on one thing: Olivia Wilde's ponytail. I wear my hair in a ponytail more often than not, but mine never looks nearly as stylish.

"I want my ponytail to look like hers," I announced.

JT didn't really know what to say. "I think hers starts higher."

But no sooner had the words left his mouth that I pulled at my ponytail and tightened it in one swift motion, and my ponytail was magic.

"How did you do that?" JT said, tilting my head for a better look.

"How did I do what? I don't know!"

I've tried multiple times unsuccessfully to reproduce this trick to no avail. My ponytails will have to be boring until the Ponytail Fairy decides to sprinkle her magic dust in my hair again.

---

This week marked the one-year anniversary of one of my heroes, Jim Beals. He was my college roommate's dad, and called me his fourth daughter. Incredibly smart with a great smile and a warm heart, he pastored a small church in Oregon and his sermons were dynamite. He was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer and when doctors gave him months, he survived upwards of seven years, I think.

One of my fondest memories of him was when he drove us across the Hood River bridge just because we wanted to say we'd been in Washington state. He paid the toll, crossed the bridge, and drove us up this hill. He offered to knock on someone's door so we could get a proper view from a backyard, but we chose not to. We just got out on the street in a neighborhood and we could see all the lights of the quaint river town he called home. It was fun and beautiful! Then we got back in the car and turned around, and we'd been in Washington! What a man!

---

I went to Braum's to pick up a cherry pie JT was craving, and I couldn't find it at first. The guy who was working the convenience store counter was very helpful, and later I found out why. When I took off my glove to swipe my credit card, he asked how my day was going.

LB: "My day is going great. How is yours?"
Braum's Guy: "Good, except I wish you'd take off your other glove so I could see if you have a ring."

I was caught off guard but smiled and told him, yes, there was a ring. We laughed about it and when I told JT in the car that his wife was in high demand, he had a lot of fun making fun of me that night.

---

I just returned from Whole Foods (aka Whole Paycheck), and my bounty includes:

sparkling pink lemonade

pannetone we've wanted to try

cocoa meringue cookies I've been craving (100 calories for 14 cookies!)

a whole grain French baguette

stew beef

blackberry jam

It's going to be fun and creative cooking in my kitchen this week!

 

wordless wednesday

letters

 

Dear Monday, Today, we continued our love/hate relationship. If there's one day a week I hate, it's you. But let's not talk about insanely busy deadlines at work and the constant hours spent trying to talk my brain out of weekend mode. If I could do a four-day work week, let's just say I'd rather work Friday than you. Sorry. You do give me good TV, so thank you for that. Cordially, LB


Dear Work, I am grateful to have you, but please slow down? You've been making me sweat the last few months. It's a good thing that even though the economy is slowing down, you're still booming, but I'm having trouble keeping up with you without working overtime, and so is my staff. Can we work something out? Please? With Burning Legs from Treading Water, LB


Dear House Season 5, After a long bout of drama with a certain half.com user who is no longer a user, we finally got you in the mail and can't wait to get caught up on the cliffhanger you delivered at the end of season 4. Intrigued, LB (and JT)


Dear Mustard Yellow, I think you are my favorite color right now. Thrilled, LB


Dear CBS and NBC, Tonight you rocked it big. Big Bang Theory was as funny as ever, it finally looks like I will finally Meet Their Mother soon, and NBC, you made an excellent choice to bring Chuck back on the air. That nerdy spy is the best thing since flip phones. Laughing for Hours, LB

Dear Body, You're getting a little too soft for my liking. I'm going to kick your butt into shape, so you might as well just work with me here. Forever Yours, LB 

Dear Longhorns, I haven't been able to write about you yet, but I'll be ready soon. I'm SO incredibly proud of you for the amount of fight you showed, even when your leader went down. Colt, I don't understand why you went out during the fifth play of the game after working so hard all year, but I'm so grateful for your leadership even when you couldn't play. Your postgame interview moved me to tears. I want to be like you when I grow up. G-Gilb, what we've decided to call you, the only thing that matters to us is the two touchdowns you led us to in a close, near comeback that I'm sure had Bama fans shaking in their grits and boiled peanuts. So excited for next season, LB

last, but definitely not least (more likely MOST):

Dear JT, This morning, you started my car for me. The interior of my car was nice and toasty by the time I got in, and the seat warmer was prime condition for my hiney. Love you more than the first time I put in a new mix tape and shuffle all of the songs in anticipation. "As long as we both shall live" has been fun, challenging, and an adventure so far! Enchanted, LB

wishlist

perfect for winters around the house

(since I prefer cooking in my skivvies)

to keep my tootsies warm on my wood floors

modcloth.com - love everything about this store

love this color

perfect accessory for crisp fall driving

modcloth.com

super feminine hoody (since I wear these all the time)

+ leggings in midnight and sangria red

plus, I want some of her swagga

(am I allowed to say that term?)

Victoriassecret.com

Not! Monday!

In honor of my dear friend, Sarah, who is a fantastic stylist, spent many Monday night hours talking to me on the first floor of the science building in college, has a beautiful baby boy, Oliver, and is expecting her second baby, BabyGirlThompson, next month, here is the return of Not Me! Monday, the blog carnival/brain child of MckMama. This is for you, Sarah, because I like you a lot and I know/hope/pray we'd be thisclose if I still lived in OKC.

First of all, it is NOT me, who is doing this post on a NOT Monday. Certainly I NEVER do things two days late, even if it's better late than never.

It wasn't me who came down with a parasitic skin condition for a few weeks in December, and when I went to minor emergency, I did NOT accidentally tell the nurse I was taking "Cialis, oops, I mean Lialda."

It wasn't my husband whose wife was so busy multitasking, he burst out laughing because he found her doing dishes with her pants around her ankles because she'd gotten sidetracked changing out of her work clothes and didn't want to waste time pulling up pants that were coming off anyway!

Certainly Tulsa is NOT experiencing the coldest winter maybe ever, and it has NOT turned my skin into dry, cracked, bleeding sandpaper. When I bend my fingers, they DON'T bleed no matter how much lotion I apply to them.

And my hair is NOT super fluffy because of the cold, either. I have NOT worn my hair in a ponytail for 09230923 days straight.

And whose dinner dishes are those piled up? An overflowing hot chocolate mug? NOT in my kitchen!

I would NEVER convince my boss to let us wear whatever we want just because it's going to be 12 degrees. NOT Me!

It's NOT my college football team that's playing for the national championship tomorrow, and I'm certainly NOT invested way in the sport way more than I should be! I'll be able to sleep tonight for sure!

(I am full of them today! That's what happens when I go months without doing one!)

My first cook fail of the year HASN'T already happened less than a week in. The words cook and fail do NOT belong in the same sentence in regard to my cuisine. And when I was telling the story to my husband's best friend, who is also our pastor, he did NOT say, "Oh, you mean the thai chicken soup?" and then slap his hand over his mouth because he'd gotten my husband in trouble. That's NOT how bad it was. (Note: in JT's defense, he said it was bad after I said it was bad, and told his friend it's the only time he can remember not liking something I made.)

Last, but NOT least, JT and I did NOT attempt to polish off this massive cinnamon roll. There has to be at least 4000 calories in it, so we'd NEVER jeopardize our health, energy, and waistline for the same of calories so trivial.

Thanks for playing!

just an idea

Happy 2010! 

My first order of business was to revive Project LGN, which generally (and pathetically) goes untouched for a month after each post.

I have an idea though. Since several of my friends have expressed their desire to maintain more healthy lifestyles, especially around the New Year, would anyone be interested in making the Project LGN blog more of a community, where anyone can post to it?

This would probably help me be more accountable to post at least 1-2x a week! If anyone is interested, let me know!