1| 11 years ago last Saturday, I said I do. I have felt such immense gratitude for Bret this week. 11 years is not 50 but it’s 11 YEARS! And it has been the exact 11 years that was made for us. Good and hard and easy and painful. The best and worst and the best and the worst to come. It’s never all him and it’s never all me. What a great life I’ve been given.
2| A couple weeks ago, Bret and I had the opportunity to take a little vacay to Washington, DC. It was the week before our anniversary, and one of our best friends had moved there in January. So basically we just used it as an excuse to go visit him. A great excuse for sure. Happy 11th honey, love you. Anyway, we have a particular way of vacationing…we eat our way through it. It’s the same thing when people come visit us…we feed them at our favorite spots. Suffice it to say, you will not run out of delicious places to eat in D.C. I’m quite proud to say that I actually discovered and introduced the local friend to one of the best we tried while we were there. It’s called The Partisan and holy cow. They have an appetizer that is a bacon plate. Seriously. Four types of bacon. I could go on, but trust me, go there for brunch someday. It’s beyond worth the heart attack. 😉
But the real point to that is to share this new discovery we made there. They had this little dish of the most delicious hot sauce. Note to my Texas people, hot sauce like in the bottle, not salsa in a jar. Just don’t want to confuse anyone. I am NOT a hot sauce kind of gal, but this was fantastic. Not too spicy, almost a little sweet. We thought they made it homemade. Nope. You can get it at Wal-Mart, folks. I, of course, ordered it from Amazon here and it was a great price. I’ve already mixed it up with my homemade mayo and made quick deviled eggs. So good. Also, I never thought I’d write two lengthy paragraphs to set up a bottle of hot sauce. Ah well.
3| I finished this book a while ago, but I really wanted to share it with you. If you haven’t read The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead, you truly need to. It’s historical fiction and a Pulitzer Prize winner, along with the National Book Award Winner. It is a breathtakingly raw story of a runaway slave and it changed me and opened my eyes in many ways. I highly recommend it. Be prepared, the ending might be frustrating, but I felt it fitting. I also just got When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor…and Yourself, by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, to read with our small group. Just starting it so I’ll update you as I get further.
Any book recs? I’m open to all genres. Light summer reading or beyond!
4| Remember Pilates? I mentioned it here. I’m still in. I have a 10 class groupon. But so far I love the studio I’m at, and it’s not intimidating at all. One thing I really enjoy right now is that I’m going to the apparatus classes. The ones that look like Spanish Inquisition torture devices. What I like is that I feel like I’m getting a workout because there is a machine involved. I know it might be mental, but it helps me mentally. Also, I think I’m sitting straighter. And if that is a placebo effect, I’m great with that.
5| So. I bought a Fitbit a couple weeks ago. This is the one I got. I like it, I suppose. But I’m trying to decide why I need it and if I should return it. I got it on a decent sale at the time, but it is still really expensive to me. Can anyone weigh in? Do you have a fitness tracker? Do you like it? Why?
6| I’ve been thinking a lot about confession. Or maybe the word is actually vulnerability. I can call it a lot of things. But whatever the term, the older I get, the more I see the immense value and freedom in real confession of our stuff. And I’m defining confession here as the admitting of our junk with the intention of being set free from it. Freedom. As Jennie Allen, in Nothing to Prove, would say…”setting our backpacks down.” She uses it a little differently, but it has come to represent this picture of freedom to me.
I’ve had seasons where I desperately want to hold my sin close. To stick it in my pocket and hide it away. We all can relate to that. But I’m telling you, something is happening in me as I see how much power that gives it. And how weak it becomes when shared.
Just some thoughts. I’m working on a post about this idea and I have many more words. I wanted you know that you are not alone. We ALL have stuff we are carrying around. Be encouraged, I know that I know that I know, that when you share your burdens for real, it’s like dropping that darn backpack in the trash.
7| Not really a bullet point, but I was just wondering if you had anything you want to read about these days…a recipe, a review…I’m all ears. You can comment here or email me at Paige@madefrank.com
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Yippee for the weekend!!
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