Monthly Archives: May 2012

how i {photo} roll: installment 1

28 Monday May 2012

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I’ve tried really, really hard not to theme every day of the week. My love for instagram has grown into such a heated frenzy that it’s become impossible not to. So starting on this Memorial Day, I give you how i {photo} roll. On Mondays I’ll give you an instagram-full post of what’s been happening the previous week, without words, just photos. Now that I’ve managed to say too much, here’s my week in photos.

And for all those of you who are also involved with instagram, you can follow us at username jolesea105 to get a sneak peek into next weeks how i {photo} roll.

carnival at villa russo

25 Friday May 2012

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Birthday week ended (sort of) with a Carnival at Villa Russo. This is the carnival that I’ve been working on since Christmas. Seriously. As soon as all the presents were unwrapped I began brainstorming. By the time I got back to work I had a theme. And a theme is really all I needed. I can prove that I’ve been working on this for at least a couple of months by sending you to this post, with photographic evidence of carnivalishness.

Can you guess where I’ll start with this carnival recap? No? I’m surprised. By now you should know that of course, it’s the FOOD! (warning: recently I’ve been obsessed with Instagram. So some of these photos may look awesome. Consider yourself warned.)

Like I said, I have a new instagram obsession. I could easily just post a thousand pictures of the food, but in case you’re planning on throwing a carnival of your own (I know your wheels are spinning. You want one. Go ahead. Admit it.) I’ll talk about everything we munched on.

The “main dish” was a crock-pot full of hot dogs. My lover said they were good. I don’t really know, because I was too busy loving on the sweet babies who were there. I don’t know what’s happened. Last year at John’s birthday there were no babies. At this party, there were four. Egads!

Back to talking about the food, I also served up my life source soft mall-style pretzels. You can find the recipe for them here via pinterest. When I make them just for us at home I add lots of fun flavoring (like ranch) but for the party I just plain salted them and served with a side of honey mustard. Yummers. Next to pretzels I lined up caramel apples. You can click here for the link to my caramel apples. I tell you, I will never go back to buying caramel for apples again. This stuff was delicious and oh-so-easy to do. Made the actual dipping of the apples painless. Also on our main food table I had a metal bowl full of in-shell peanuts. Lover is enjoying those leftovers. He won’t have a bowel movement for a month, but hey, why worry about consequences when the peanuts are delicious.

Now I have a quick non-party related story to tell. John broke my cake stand. *sigh* In his defense, he was trying to help me out by putting it away for me. Somehow he managed to hit it in just the right place and chipped it (a big chip) on the edge. I went into hysterics. The story is long and includes cajun food, Wal-Mart, and Garden Ridge, but the end of the story means I have two cake stands. One of them in mint condition, a match for my cake dome, and the other the reject chipped plate. I’m holding onto the reject for occasions such as this. I simply turned the chipped side to the wall, and stacked the perfect plate on top. Voila! Double-decker cupcake stand. Like a boss. And the only thing that makes it better is delicious sweet cupcakes made to look like buttery popcorn.

I wish I had a link with detailed instructions on how to recreate these beauties. As it is, I don’t. A friend of mine actually found the idea and sent it to me. I looked at several versions, and just made up my own from all the tutorials I saw. It’s not that hard really. Just make cupcakes (from a box or use a favorite recipe) frost (from a can or again use a favorite recipe) and while the frosting is still wet press on a bunch of marshmallows in a random fashion. Spray with yellow food spray. It’s that simple.

To tell you how crazy my house gets at birthday party time, know that the day of the party these were still sitting inside a cardboard box. For safekeeping. I liked to stick my nose in the box and just inhale the sweet scent. From inside a cardboard box. Oh my gosh I might be losing my mind.

The same friend who clued me in on the cupcakes found the lollipops at Walgreens. I had to order online, but I ordered enough to get free shipping. I still have about 20 left. Looks like I might be getting to know my dentist a lot better. Because I will eat them all. It’s compulsive on my part. If it’s edible, I’ll eat it.

Now the actual popcorn I can tell you about.

I totally lucked out when I walked into Wally’s Party World and found these in the “movie party” section. They were perfect. I made popcorn just minutes before the party, so it was fresh and yummy. I make all our popcorn on the stove. It’s very easy. Set a deep stock pot on high heat, add about a tablespoon of oil, drop in one kernel, and cover with the lid. Wait until the oil is hot enough to pop the kernel, then add 1/3 cup of kernels. Shake frequently over heat, and when popping slows to about three seconds between pops remove from heat. Keep the lid on until all popping stops. Spritz with butter spray and salt. Toss. Repeat. I add flavorings to ours, like ranch and cheddar. Enjoy.

And I have to give a shout-out to my mother. Who got me this one year for Christmas:

Mom you’re a rock star when it comes to knowing just what a party-girl needs. :) I filled our dispenser with water, ice, lemons and limes. Thanks to another friend who showed up early to help me set up. And also brought me the citrus. You made my life so much easier. Bless you.

This post is approaching 1,000 words so I’ll get my booty movin’ right along and get down to the decor. Hours spent folding paper? Check. Photo op backdrop? Check. Big top tent? Big. Fat. Check.

This was my baby for the whole event. As easy as pie. Cheap as dirt. It dotted “i” and crossed “t” all by itself. Thanks to my lover and our very tall friend, she went up in all her grandeur with very little effort. Supplies needed:

1 dozen plastic tablecloths (the dollar tree. my rock.)

1 hula hoop

1 husband

2 friends, one of whom can actually reach the ceiling

Here’s the easy part. Attach table cloths to hula-hoop in alternating red and white. Attach hula hoop to the ceiling. We actually used thumb tacks to attach the tablecloths to the ceiling right where they met the hula hoop. Now, take the end opposite the hula hoop and stretch it out. We thumb tacked the ends to the ceiling. Step back and enjoy your new big top tent. Ooooh and aaahhh every morning until the day of the party. Impress the world.

Okay maybe not impress the world but it was perfect for our little carnival party. Once you’re done drooling over the magnificence of our big top, move on with me to our other decorations.

Paper straws make my heart happy. I bought these (along with some simple grey ones) on amazon. They serve a double purpose. Displayed in a truffle bowl like this they made an excellent contribution to the decor. Then they turned around and worked double duty as straws for our drinks. Which I guess goes without saying.

Now, on to the fun!

I am so thankful for his 27 years. And isn’t that obnoxious button just the best thing in the world? Yes. The answer to that question is yes.

Someday I’m going to come back and edit all the birthday photo op pictures to exclude duct tape. For now, I’m too lazy. So one day will become never. I’m okay with that. I just won’t think about it.

And since I’m working on making sure every post has at least one terribly awkward photo of me in it, I’ll leave you with this:

Thank you all for crashing our carnival party!

birthday week

24 Thursday May 2012

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Birthdays are a big deal at Villa Russo. Like, bigger than the release of The Hobbit this December a trip to my favorite frozen yogurt place. Which is kind of big deal guys. You have no idea how much I love frozen yogurt. And birthdays are more important than that.

This year ol’ lover boy turned the big 2-7. Which I affectionately tell him means he’s in his late 20s. Half way to 54. Basically one foot in the grave. :)

Pray for him. I am so very hard to live with.

Birthday week started on Sunday. You see, in our house you don’t get a birthDAY. You get a birthWEEK. Because one day is just not enough time for all the super fun things I want to do for him. You know his birthday is all about me and what I want to do. I just drag him along for the fun. So back to my story, birthday week started Sunday. With Cici’s Pizza.

I’m not even joking. That is where he wanted to go. Thankfully, we have really great friends who are willing to play along. So Cici’s it was. I must admit, it was delicious. I love their buffalo wing pizza. John loves their alfredo pizza. It was a win-win.

Monday John came out of the house like this:

And he’s making that face because of this:

Sadly, he didn’t get honked at. Was really hoping he would. Because that would have made my birthday week. I had to get up early (!) to get his car rolled, and he really appreciated my expression of love. I just know he did.

On Tuesday I let him pick his birthday dinner. I offered to make Cajun food, but he instead opted for stuffed pork chops and roasted potatoes. I’ll be honest, I made the potatoes up on the spot. He kept going on and on about these delicious potatoes I make, and how much he loves them. I had ZERO idea what potatoes he was talking about. I tried everything. Even asking a friend if we had ever talked about potatoes. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Therefore, I made something up. I did my best based on the description he gave me. They were good, but I’m still not sure they’re what he was looking for. Oh well. I made up for it with pork chops whose insides oozed with basil pesto and feta. Score one for the wifey.

Wednesday lover woke up to this:

27 balloons. I woke up (early again) and blew up 27 balloons, each one with a note inside that said something sweet. They ranged from “happy birthday” to “i love your blue eyes” to “you are such a man of God.” I asked him to pop each balloon to get to the lovey-dovey stuff inside.

Now I must stop for a moment. This is a friendly warning, one which I did not listen to myself. IF you ever want to do your own birthday week for someone you love, think really hard about what they would like. Also, don’t get attached to anything you do. Some things may not work out like you think. My lover didn’t outright tell me he hated the balloons, but I can tell he didn’t love them either. I thought for sure he would enjoy the sweet notes I left him. Fail. He just got annoyed with the balloons and all the popping and stuff. I had a hard time not getting my feelings hurt. He also chose that day to tell me he expected a massage to be part of birthday week. Which I did last year, and didn’t have planned for this year. Which sent me into hysterics. It was a long day. So take my advice, think long and hard before you take this on. It’s totally worth it, but you may have some rough days.

Okay depressing warning over. Let’s talk about Thursday. Actually, I’ll just show you this:

*sigh* Instagram you make my heart so happy. Like in that get emotional, daydreamy sort of way.

Now if you can’t tell, we went to Medieval Times, Dinner & Tournament. From our crowns you can see that we obviously had the black and white knight. We thought he was going to win. He was doing so well! When he fell, I was devastated. They do such a good job you really want your knight to win. I was impressed with the footwork the horses can do. I can’t even imagine the hours of work they put into training those horses to do all that fancy footwork.

Our waiter was fabulous. Very entertaining, he had a booming voice, long hair, and scraggly beard. Perfection. He even played a trick on John making him think he was spilling hot coffee all over John’s lap. I nearly died laughing. I had no idea my lover’s reflexes were THAT good.

The food was good too. There was a ton of it. Started with a tomato bisque that was to die for. Followed by half a chicken, potato wedges, and a spare rib. The verdict of the chicken: delicious. On the spare rib and potatoes? Well…you win some and lose some I guess. The last thing served was a yummy apple pastry thingamabob and coffee. I walked away satisfied. Lover was rolled out walked away engorged.

Friday was the big party. I can’t give away too many details, but I will whet your appetite with this:

I don’t usually post on the weekend unless I have a guest on Friday, but tomorrow may just be the one exception. I’ve already started the post about the carnival, and man, you just gotta see this.

Saturday rolled around with very little excitement. I gave John his card that I bought weeks before and forgot to give him on his birthday. We spent the evening celebrating a little bit more with sweet friends. I think girls rock at trivial pursuit. Argue with me if you must. The evening was wonderful, right up until John smashed a cupcake in my face. Dirty rat.

Lover milked his birthday out one last day on the following Sunday, and once again our precious friends obliged by making a lunch date out of Pancho’s. Apparently sopapillas are THE WAY to finish out birthday week in style. :)

Happy Birthday John! Hope it was a good one!

worship wednesday: he has a plan

23 Wednesday May 2012

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This week is birthday week.

Which is super fun in our house. I do a little something for John every day. Some things he knows about (like we always go somewhere fun for dinner one night) and some things are little surprises. I love doing this for him. Because one day is just not enough time to celebrate him being alive for another year. So we take a week.

Which is not what I want to talk about. Instead, I’d like to tell you a story.

This story started 6 years ago. A young girl got off a plane. Probably sobbing, after saying goodbye to family. It was a tiny little plane. Just big enough to get her from one airport to the next. It had been a grueling trip cross country.

Meanwhile a young man stood at the base of the escalator, talking with his group, waiting for a plane to arrive. It was a pretty sunshiny day outside. Not bad for a plane ride, but would have been better to be outside. Thankfully upstate New York has very few bad days during the summer, and this was just a taste of what was to come.

Plane wheels touch down. Girl exits plane. Rides escalator.

Little did I know, I had just met my husband.

Yep, the girl in the story is me. The man is my husband (I call him my lover on this blog. Just so there’s no confusion. Lover=husband. It’s just one man.)

Let’s back up a little in each of stories. I was just 17 at the time, and just finishing up my first year of college. I was stuck in this weird place between girlhood and womanhood. My mom had suggested that instead of wasting away my summer, I look into some ways to serve on the mission field.

Lover was also looking for ways to serve. He was closer to being finished with college, beginning to think about what the Lord may want for his future, and decided to spend the summer church planing in upstate New York.

Which brings us back to that escalator.

I could tell you so much of our story. What we thought about each other, how we got to know each other. I will tell you that I called my mom and asked her how she knew dad was the one. Because I was pretty sure I’d found him. Ole Johnny boy thought I was a summer fling.

BAHAHAHA! I win. We got married two years later. Now we’re following the Lord through this journey called life together. What a blessing it is.

In Jeremiah the Bible says:

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you were born I sanctified you;
I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

Then said I:

“Ah, Lord God!
Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”

But the Lord said to me:

“Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’
For you shall go to all to whom I send you,
And whatever I command you, you shall speak.
Do not be afraid of their faces,
For I am with you to deliver you,” says the Lord. Jeremiah 1:4-8

It encourages me to know that before I was every even a thought the Lord knew me. He had a plan for me. A plan that included the godly man I would marry. It even more encourages me in our situation in life. The Lord has called John to the ministry of the Gospel in a full-time capacity. It will be his “job” to proclaim the Word of the Lord. Now, I believe that God has called every Christian to be light to the world, to be ministers of the gospel in some way, but in our case that will be our “career path.” And here the Lord tells Jeremiah that He has planned for him to be a prophet to the nations. Sounds oddly familiar.

It helps to be reminded that the Lord has ordained my life for a specific purpose. Meeting (and then marrying) John fit into God’s perfect plan. The Lord can work in powerful ways to carry out His will. How else would and AZ girl and a born-and-raised Floridian ever meet in New York and get married? It was all God’s plan, and He made it happen.