Trinity Rawk Fest

Jake's band Letting Love played near Lapel, IN at the Trinity Rawk Fest on Saturday. I rarely have a whole day of catching up with my Anderson friends, so I welcomed the fact that we were there for over eight hours (my sun burn proves it). Here are some of my favorite shots from the day.

HOH w/ MM&TB

Jake and I journeyed to Wilmington College on Friday to see two of our very favorite bands: Mike Mains & the Branches and House of Heroes. I am so glad we made the trip! No surprise, it was a wonderful and fun show.
 We were surprised, however, to make a great new friend at the concert and to get to catch up with Mike and Nate from MM&TB for a bit. I feel incredibly blessed to be a part of this community of concert goers who have a similar outlook on faith and music. I have met so many quality individuals as a result.

HOH, with surprise special guest Stephanie Smith! She cameos on one of my favorite HOH songs.

Adventures

Miss Tessie and I both snagged this adorable poster from Urban Outfitters for our new pads. The quote reads "I Want to Have Adventures With You." I really like this idea. I think the sentiment of going on "adventures" with a spouse/friend/family is one of the best ways to create shared memories and feel closer to that person in your life. I have found that I create the most memories with Jake when we go on small "adventures." It doesn't have to be an elaborate trip anywhere special. It can be as simple as going to an interesting restaurant or having a picnic one night.

I now have a tab to the right here ----->

I'll be listing all of the "adventures" that I go on with Jake, friends, and family. Hopefully it will be inspiration to make some memories of your own!

My pretend housewife life

Sometimes I think I would have been perfectly content being a 1950s housewife.

 

Reading my pocket book of prayers as I cook a dinner consisting of meat and potatoes, all of which was soaked in butter...

I don't know, maybe it's because Mom and I started watching the first season of Mad Men. Or maybe it's because I'm getting married soon. Or all of those I Love Lucy episodes I know by heart (Joe, is it hot in here to you?!). But, I've always enjoyed the 50s. I love the clothes, the music, everything. 

Then again, I wouldn't be that keen on no cell phones, bomb shelters, prejudice against working women, and having to wear hose everywhere I go. Maybe I'll just be a housewife for Halloween this year and call it a day.

Jungle Jim's

Jake and I made a pilgrimage to Jungle Jim's today. It's an international food market that usually takes us around three hours to get through (we take our time, but it is HUGE).  It's one of our favorite day trips to make. Every time I go there I find something crazy interesting. Here's our trip, in stages:

Stage 1: Cheese

(Yes, that second picture is of packaged cheeses!)

Stage 2: fruit

 Dragonfruit

Tiny bananas that look like fat fingers

 Starfruit. Pretty, no?

Stage 3: Around the world food

Peppers

Red Bean and Green Tea ice cream. Yum?

Crap ton of rice!

And finally, our purchases!

 

Crazy cheeses, salted caramel chocolate, cranberry bread, 

mango-habañero marinade, and pumpkin butter.

Success!

Crafting Cousins

I am super blessed to have creative family members that donate their time to my wedding cause. Miss Hannah came over last night to help me with some banners I plan to put up at the reception. I'd hate to see what they would have become without her expertise. After about five hours of cutting and stenciling, we started to get quite slap happy. Luckily, all major design decisions were made at about the fourth hour, thus our decorations were saved!

Plus, Miss Hannah has the instagram app for iphone, so enjoy the coolness that are these pictures.

I smell like zucchini.

My student council kids have started a garden at school. We're growing all kinds of things to serve in the cafeteria, but we also decided to make zucchini bread later on in the year as a fundraiser. I knew we wouldn't get enough from our garden, so I asked parents for any extra they had. Um, ask and you shall receive! I ended up with three garbage bags full of zuch.

Luckily, I have a wonderful dad that is willing to learn how to work a food processor to help me. I think he secretly liked it...it's basically a kitchen version of a power tool, right?

Behold: Forty cups of blended zucchini.

In other news, a first grader tried to get my attention today by calling me "Mrs. ManDyke". That is most definitely one name I have never been called before, for sure. :)

Garden Update

Remember that little garden of ours? It's all grown up now.

I've had all kinds of cilantro and basil to season things. I've loved that. Our zucchini has also been doing fabulous...

You can't really tell from the picture, but this zucchini is HUGE. We've been munching on it for quite a few meals. Can't wait for all of the peppers to grow now!

Forgiveness-but I don't want to right now.

I really needed the song "Miracle" by Mike Mains and the Branches for this post.

"Don't we know that we were made miracles?

Don't we know that we were made

To keep our hands clean and our shoulders back?"

 

Something just happened to me that shook my belief in the good of people. I'm totally jaded, mad, and sad at the same time. I gave my all, and was slapped in the face for it. I didn't deserve it.

 

 "Father of mine,
I know I'm not really making You proud
We've all been lonely fruit with filthy branches
Looking down at the ground
We tell 'em "Oh, it's alright,
Come to my room, meet all my demands!"

But then like morning light the verdict's out
And truth walks in,
I didn't die for you to live like this.
I didn't die for you to live like this.
I didn't die for you to live like this.
Oh, I died for you to love!"

I'm feeling things that I know I shouldn't feel. I want to get back at them. I want them to pay. 

 

But then, when I've calmed down a bit, I know I slowly need to think about forgiveness. I've got the greatest example of forgiveness and grace right in front of me in Jesus. He didn't die for me to hold this in and ask for revenge, he died for me to love those that did me wrong.

This theme of grace and forgiveness keeps coming up in my life. I'm learning a lot.

 

My Friday with flowers

I spent the evening in Morristown helping Jake get ready for his big youth cookout on Sunday. We tried out the new grill for dinner and Jake showed me a few new friends that popped out through our weeds (glad the weed killer didn't work as well as it should have!).

 Well, the last two were from a few months ago, but they were pretty and I wanted to include them.

We also did something surprising tonight. Our little Morristown hosted a music festival to support the local high school marching band, so we thought we'd give it a go. Jake and I were surprised to find that is was really good! The Goodnight Fields had us as soon as they did a Mumford and Sons cover. I've got to head to a family gathering tomorrow or I'd be at the park enjoying the music and nice weather with Jake! Don't you love when your town surprises you like that?

Mrs. Brooks

Today was our first day back to school for the year. I was getting my school mail when I saw it...my new name plate: "Mrs. Brooks."

It is CRAZY to think that we're close enough to our wedding to even think about my name changing. I am so excited to marry Jake, but I won't lie, I will miss being "Ms. VanDyke" a little bit. But, changing my name mid year is hard to remember for the little guys, so I'm sure I'll hear it for a least a few months after the wedding!

Just another family gathering...

The Seevers clan gathered last night for a cookout/planning for Grandpa's 90th birthday party in October (I'm on the decorating committee). Believe it or not, even the Elvis appearance is fairly normal for us!