Movies I am Excited About

In case you haven't heard, there are some pretty big movies coming out this year. Three of those movies are inspired from best-selling and must-read novels. I'm SO excited. Not only do I have three movies to look forward to, but three books to re-read before they come out!

The Hobbit

Movie Release Date: December 14, 2012

I had an absolutely insane English teacher in 7th grade who made us read this book. It was way beyond our reading level, but after she was able to walk us through it all, this is one of my very favorite books. The pre-cursor to The Lord of The Rings series, this book explains the back stort. I literally CANNOT wait for this one to be released!

Les Miserables

Movie Release Date: December 14, 2012

This is another book that I had to read during that same 7th grade year, but this book literally IS my favorite book of all time. If you haven't read this book, you HAVE to read this one before it comes out (subsequently on the same day as The Hobbit). If you decide to take on the task of Les Miserables, make sure you read the abridged version. It will save you a couple thousand pages of non-sense. Anyways, this movie will be starring some huge names: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway. I'm getting so excited about it already and I've already started re-reading this one. Worth the time it takes.

The Great Gatsby

Movie Release Date: December 25, 2012

Sadly, I did not read this one in 7th grade, but it was a book that I had to read for school. I remember liking this book, but unfortunately do not remember too much about this one. That's why I'm excited about reading this book again for the Christmas 2012 release date. This movie, starring Leo DiCapprio and Tobey Maguire, should not disappoint. 

Two New Blogs I'm Obsessed With

I have recently come across two new blogs that I am absolutely obsessed with.

 The Dating Divas should be a blog added to every girl's Google Reader. I know their slogan is "Strengthening Marriages One Date at a Time", but this website is full of blogs applicable to any woman.

If you're married, you'll see why I love this blog. It's all about being creative to keep the romance alive both in and out of the bedroom. They've got TONS of cheap date ideas that are perfect for those of us trying to survive by pinching pennies! Not to mention, if you're like me and like thinking out of the box, then their overflow of creative ideas will never stop to entertain you. I came across this blog late last week and cannot wait to start incorporating some of these ideas into the weekly date nights in the Foster Home.

If you're not married and either single, dating, or even engaged, their are still tons of good blogs for you to check out. While it's fun to read all about the "intimate moment" ideas that you can honor your future husband with, they have tons of posts about new make-up tricks, birthday gifts for guys, and even recipes to try. Enjoy!

Six Sisters' Stuff is another blog that I've found myself spending a lot of time on. With my love of food (both eating and cooking), crafts, and decorating, this blog has got it allllll covered. I can't wait to try some of these recipes, especially these Slow Cooker Scalloped Potatoes! Mmmmm, Yum! As you scroll through their posts, you'll find that I have this blog to credit for finding The Dating Divas blog above. Again, I love blogs that can point me to other blogs that I can fall in love with.

Both of these blogs have the  business models that I would someday love to copy. A bunch of friends (or sisters) all coming together to create a dynamic blog that has posts about food, crafts, dates, cool finds, helpful hints, reviews, etc. Maybe this is where life will take me eventually. Anyone want to join?! 

Hope you enjoy these as much as I do!

Book Review: The Hunger Games

Yep, I did it. After seeing the preview for this upcoming movie, I jumped on the bandwagon and read the first book of the trilogy. Being a youth fiction book, it was an extremely easy read, and I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN! I managed to leisurely pace myself and finish the book in roughly two weeks, whereas after much convincing, Greg picked up the book and finished it in under 24 hours. It's that good!

I'm not even sure how to really recap the book without A) giving it all away and B) making any sense of what's going on. So, watch the movie trailer and then decide for yourself. But for real... its going to be awesome.

A Season of Lent: Understanding the True Meaning

Image from thevillagechurch.net

Today marks Ash Wednesday, the marked beginning of Lent. Our current culture has decided that it is a period of 46 Days for a bunch of people to attempt to kick an unhealthy habit or try and go without something. Lent seems to be perfectly timed to re-try those New Year's Resolutions that didn't quite get resolved. While yes, it was intended as a time to "go without" certain things, it was more of a time for fasting, which is VASTLY different from just giving something up for a while.

Greg and I are not New Year's Resolution people. They never seem to work and I always seemed to try and come up with something to change because I was "supposed to".  I've given Lent a shot in the past, and have been semi-successful, mainly with my attempt to give up cokes. Yet, again, I was simply "giving up"
things and was totally missing the whole reasoning behind WHY I was giving these things up.

An excerpt from The Village's website gives an adequate description of Lent and why, we as Christians should take part:


The Season of Lent

Lent is about the gospel. It is a time to narrow the focus of the Church to the work of Christ, in particular His life and death, a season to turn from sin and trust in His atoning work.

It is easy to get lost in the cultural caricature of Easter and miss the meaning. Lent is a reminder that the resurrection only occurred after the crucifixion. Rather than skipping over the ministry and crucifixion of Christ, Lent is a season to prepare ourselves for the joy of Resurrection Sunday as we symbolically enter the sorrow and pain which preceded it.

This year, Greg and I have decided to do a little re-fining together and hone-in on the true meaning behind lent. We've committed to go through the Season of Lent study that The Village Church is doing corporately as a body. It's not the kind of study where you read and then show up on Sunday's and hear a sermon that reiterates what you've been studying. The study is designed to do individually, with a spouse or family, or even with a home group. It's a study that will guide us on reading, praying, meditating, and even fasting. Needless to say, I'm excited.

Since this is an individual study, hear me be the first to say that as a couple, we will need and want to be held accountable. We WANT to see this study through to completion and participate on all fronts. It WILL be difficult. We WILL be challenged and the devil will seek every way to distract us and tell us that we're too busy, too tired, in bad moods, etc. So, hold me accountable. Hold Greg Accountable. Hold us accountable together. Maybe that means that you too go through the Season of Lent guide alongside us. Up for the challenge?

It's Been a While

It has been a while…. A long while… And I apologize. Life has been pretty crazy with a lot of travelling and other oddities that have filled our time. But have no fear! We are back! I guess my first duty is to inform you of all the exciting (and subsequently, not so exciting) things we’ve been doing within the last month:

• Update: Due to schedule conflicts, we still have yet to make it to the Catfish Plantation for my birthday dinner celebration. Yet, we WILL be going soon. And when we do, expect a full report!
• Neely introduced me to crepes. And Nutella. And I’m in love.
• Greg and I have been able to spend some more time with our LifeHouse from the Exchange DFW and have absolutely loved getting to know this awesome group of people. There is nothing quite like getting to spend time with people who are in the same stage of life as you, specially some who have been married for a wee bit longer. Not to mention, everyone in our LifeHouse is hilarious so we spend a lot of our time laughing and enjoying each other’s company.

• My office (and my company for that matter) is very intentional about giving back to the community, which means so much to me. Instead of working one Friday morning, my office set-aside the hum-drums of Corporate America and we went and served at the North Texas Food Bank. Let me just say, my eyes were opened. After we arrived, we were instructed that we would be filling boxes of food that are taken to a local elementary school where children get to take these boxes home to their families. The boxes we were packing provide a family’s meals for the entire weekend. In 3 hours, we were able to pack over 700 boxes which resulted in over 14,000 meals! It was so much fun being able to serve with some of my teammates from The Hartford and I was impressed by the amount of meals we were able to provide by simply giving 3 hours of our time
• I successfully ran a 5k at a local elementary school. It was a successful run, but let me just say, that was the hilliest 3 miles that I think I have ever run. Or maybe I’m slightly dramatic. But it was hilly!
• In other news, I have officially decided not to run the Dallas White Rock Half.  It’s not that I didn’t want to, or that I don’t think I’m capable, but training was literally taking over my life, and therefore was becoming my life. And I didn’t like that part of it. This is how my day was during training: Get up, go to work, come home, cook dinner, clean up dinner, go running, shower, go to bed. The end. Boring. I felt like I was not getting to live life to the fullest because I was running. All. The. Time. Now, I still run, but I don’t have a strict agenda that I’m following and it allows me to have more free time to hang out with Greg and other friends.

• I finally graduated from training!! WOO HOO! After 18 weeks of learning all the ins and outs of the insurance world, I was able to travel to Hartford, Connecticut with the rest of my training class for a “Graduation Week”. We spent the week wrapping up everything we had learned and had a very nice“graduation” dinner where we were able to interact with a bunch of our top leadership. After approximately 12 tests, hundreds of hours on conference calls, several assignments, and lots and lots of reading, I am an official Underwriter for The Hartford. (Just in case you’re confused about what I do for a living, think Along Came Polly. The only difference is that I don’t do risk analysis on people, just businesses!)
• During homecoming weekend, we joined Greg’s family in Houston for his cousin’s wedding. We had so much fun getting to do some shopping, bowling, and not to mention getting one of the best pedicures I’ve ever had in my life (the boys sat out on this one though). I’ve been blessed with an amazing “in-law” family. They literally do feel like family to me and I couldn’t have asked for anything better! Can’t wait to spend some much needed time with both of our families over Thanksgiving!

• I’ve yet again put off reading Les Mis, and instead have started reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. After seeing the previews for the upcoming movie, and hearing rave reviews of the book, I knew that it was a book that I wanted to read before the movie came out. We’ll see how it turns out!

Well, that seems to be a pretty boring and mundane list. But, I am going to attempt to finish editing photos from Fiji and post them! Wishful thinking… after staring at computer screens all day, its definitely a struggle to go home and work on a computer some more. Keep your eyes peeled!

-K

Keeping Up with the Fosters

It’s Friday, and that is a fact to rejoice about because I am absolutely exhausted. As if getting married two and half months ago wasn’t a big enough life change, several things have been happening around the Foster household that have been keeping us more than busy. Here’s a little insight into what’s going on:

• I am ALMOST done with my training at work. Yes, I have been in training for four months, but at the end of October, I will officially be done! I’ve described the training process to several people as the equivalent of being in another semester of college, except for this in this particular semester, I study/do assignments/take tests/sit on learning conference calls for 40 hours a week. And it’s all about insurance. I have learned A TON, but if you knew me in college, especially my senior year, you knew that going to class and studying didn’t necessarily happen for a total of 40 hours a week. Ever. So, it’s definitely been difficult and mind-boggling, but it will definitely pay off.

• For the first two months of our marriage, Greg was the perfect house-husband. He ran all of our errands, cleaned the house, and went to town on decorating. He hated it. BUT! The tides have changed. We are so excited because Greg has been asked to be the Worship Pastor at The Exchange DFW in Keller, TX! Yes, we do have to drive about an hour anytime we go to church, but whoever said that God was going to provide in “convenient” ways? Oh wait, they didn’t, so we are more than blessed to be asked to come on board with this church. This is going to be quite the adventure for us because it is not only a job for Greg, but it’s a place for both of us to grow and serve. I could not be more excited to join with this body of believers and serve alongside Greg.

If you're in the area, come check The Exchange DFW out!

• I am currently training for the Dallas White Rock Lake Half Marathon. It’s difficult. I’m in the middle/end of week four. The training is 12 weeks long. My legs hurt. I’ve always wanted to run a half marathon and decided that it was time to finally commit. Not only to achieve my goal, but to keep myself in shape since I sit at a desk all day! Ugh! I’ve “attempted” to train for the Bear-a-thon at Baylor for the past two years, but always gave up because I never have had the time nor enough sleep to train appropriately. I also tend to develop tendonitis in my knees when I run longer distances or hills, so we’ll see if they behave and I can make it through the end. It’s iffy.

• What I’m currently reading:

• Les Miserables 
•  I read this book back in 7^th grade and it immediately became one of my favorite books. Now that several years have passed and I can’t quite remember what happened, I decided to read it again!

• The Pioneer Woman’s: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels 
•  My mother, after hearing me say that I wanted to read this book several times over the past year, bought this book for me for my birthday. I can barely put it down! Aka, I’ve put Les Mis on hold. For now anyways….

•  Greg and I have joined a Life House at The Exchange and it’s complete with 4 other young married couples with “no kids”. That was the rule for joining the group. NO BABIES ALLOWED. We are definitely the “youngest” couple of this crew, but really looking forward to doing life with these people.

• I am SO excited about this Saturday night! To celebrate my birthday (yes, the celebration still continues!), Greg and I are joining my family and going to the Haunted Catfish Plantation in Waxahachie! We saw a special on this old plantation a year ago and we’re finally getting to go experience it for ourselves. Update to come soon!

• The Moose is getting lazy. What a surprise? Now that he’s a city dog, his favorite pastime is sleeping and playing chase in the house. He’s a spoiled pooch.

• I’ve been crafting! We’ve been doing several decorating projects around our little humble abode and trying to spend as little money as we possibly can! Because I love to decorate, I had tons of good foundational stuff from college that I’ve been busy painting and “re-doing” to match our new little house. Here's a pic of one of the lamps that I re-did with my momma!

• I just spent way too much time on Pinterest looking at food, and now all I want to do is bake and cook and try tons of new recipes. It’s a wonder Greg and I are both not 400 pounds. Food is definitely one of our biggest expenses (even with me cooking at home almost every meal!) and it is definitely a shared hobby/loves in our house. The Fosters love to eat.

• Speaking of food, we were blessed by an elder from church the other night. He graciously funded a VERY nice date night for us in honor of Greg coming onboard at The Exchange. We couldn’t have been more thrilled! We ventured around the corner from our house and ate at Houston’s. Neither of us had been to a Houston’s before, but we both enjoyed some delicious steak (which we hadn’t had since our wedding) and glasses of delicious wine. It was a celebration indeed. I am so proud of my Gregory.

Other than all these oddities, Greg and I are just loving getting to spend time together and learning what it means to be honoring and loving spouses. Some days are great, others are not so great, but I’m definitely realizing more and more that the little things don’t matter, and it’s my biblical role to love and support my hubby ALWAYS.  I am far from perfect at this, or anything else for that matter, so it gives me even more of a reason to depend on the reality of God’s Grace and Mercy daily.

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Hebrews 4:15-16