Truth #5: God will take me places I could never imagine.

Today I took the day off and it is just amazing. I decided it was a less extravagant "treat yo self" day.

Tom Haverford has taught me so many important things! Haha! No but seriously. Other than the fact that Parks and Rec is hilar and that today won’t include the purchase of any fine leather goods… I am taking a mental health day and it feels great! Some of the highlights so far have been 1) a salted caramel mocha from Starbucks and 2) some much needed morning reading time.

My friend Cameron and I are reading a book by Susanna Foth Aughtmon. It is called My Bangs Look Good & Other Lies I Tell Myself: The Tired Supergirl’s Search for Truth. You are probably thinking that this book sounds cray-zay. BUT it is wonderful. The author is downright HIGHlarious. I am constantly giggling while reading about ways to grow in my relationship with God. This is a rare find and I highly recommend it.

Her book is separated by short chapters. Each chapter is about a different lie and throughout the chapter she dispels the lie with truth! For example, I was on Lie 5: God will ask me to do things I don’t want to do. While I was reading I had to stop abruptly and share. I am sure we are all aware of what it means to trust God. Easier said than done… am I right!? Well, the way Susanna puts it inspired me to write this post.

One of my fears in following Christ is the idea that I will turn into my worst nightmare. The un-relatable “religious woman.” You know what I’m talking about right? The type who is not in touch with reality anymore (think Michelle Duggar). Well, Susanna pin points that perfectly as she continues on with some Bible truth to back it up. Not only that, but she is an awesome knowledgeable Christian woman, who also happens to be keepin’ it real.

The lie that I keep believing goes something like this: “Did you know that if you follow God, you will become the most boring, overly spiritual person in the universe? None of your friends will come to your birthday party. You will be that boring.” (Pg. 52) How ridiculous is that!? BUT it is seriously an issue I have. (Not so much the birthday part, but isn’t she a hilarious writer?) The question is this, why is my silly fear holding me back from trusting God? Probably because we only ever want to trust God’s will on our own terms. Yes friends, we all have personal agendas… and as a “planner”/ type A person; I am one of the worst offenders.

Susanna puts it like this:
“We will absolutely do his will, as long as it doesn’t involve public speaking or socially awkward situations. We are perfectly willing to follow God to the ends of the earth, as long as they have a salon specializing in therapeutic massage and a year’s supply of People magazine there. You know, as long as we can stay comfortable.” (Pg. 52) This is what gets us. This is where evil comes in and takes advantage of our fears and the lies.

In Mark 1:16-18 Simon and Andrew just up and leave their job! Jesus says “follow me” and they do! It is their job to fish. It is their living and they just leave. You hear that verse and it seems so simple, but somehow it becomes complicated. Can you imagine just walking away from something as huge as your livelihood? Well, people do it. People hear God calling them to something else and they obey. It shouldn’t be that big of a concept, but somehow it is.

Here is the truth: God promises that he will never leave us. He also promises that we will be changed forever. I know that the minute I step out and trust God is the same minute that I will be overcome with comfort and joy. So what is holding me back? Truth #5: God will take me places I could never imagine. That is what happens when we trust and follow. God gives us more and takes us to amazing places that we can’t even comprehend.

Well, that is my long drawn out thought of the day. I really recommend this book. It is enjoyable and sparks some great thought processes. On a completely opposite note, I also recommend that you watch Parks and Rec.

Have a fabulous Tuesday!

Ps. I know I cited everything incorrectly… MLA APA? Crap. How many years has it been since I graduated?

You’ve got mail… Not!

I am currently having snail mail issues. Or maybe it is apartment building issues… who knows.

My iPhone case has been broken for a while. Broken to the point of scratching my ear when I talk on the phone. Especially in the car when I am trying to hide the phone behind my hair. (Super sketch… I know. Don’t judge, my blue tooth is perpetually dead). I super-glued the case in three places, which extended its life for a couple months… but it has fallen apart again. There is a large chunk missing from the top right hand corner.

Clearly in need of a new case, I was stoked when Olga posted about these adorbs ones from soceity6!I ordered this one:

Cute new iPhone outfit! 

Cute right?! I think so too. Unfortunately, I have not received it. It was apparently shipped on 11/3 and has already arrived…

These are my current options:

Option one: Wait and see if it shows up at my door because someone else in my building got it in their mailbox. Unfortunately this is a common problem in our building. Apparently, USPS struggles with all of the mailboxes in one place like that. Our neighbor (literally one unit number different) has the same first name as my roommate. We frequently get her mail. Probably annoying for her, because we don’t check our mail that often and sometimes we have her Netflix envelopes… oops. For the past couple of weeks I have been checking the mail like a mad woman! The mail man probably thinks something is wrong.

Option two: Contact USPS and Soceity 6. I already emailed Soceity 6 when I was annoyed that it wasn’t here. Then I later checked my tracking number (probably did that in the wrong order) and it was apparently here! Lies! Now I need to contact USPS. But what would they really do? “Uh, we delivered it”… the end? What if I was a liar? What can they possibly do for me? I guess I will call anyway. But obvs not today… Veterans Day.

I could just take off the broken case in the mean time. I just really don’t want to take that risk and damage my phone while it is exposed to the elements like that. I guess I will just wait for the new one (even if it means re-ordering).

Thanks for talking me through this one guys. Haha! 

Brunch in Bridgetown: Salty’s on the Columbia

For Lauren’s birthday we went to Salty’s. Ahh Salty’s. How I love thee.

The thing about Salty’s is that you need a reason to go there. It is not only expensive, but if you ate that much for no reason it would feel wrong. Just wrong. I left there feeling so incredibly full. It wasn’t like holiday full. I don’t even go all out on Thanksgiving or Christmas like I do at Salty’s. I think it is because you are 1) consuming obscene amounts of champagne and 2) because you are acutely aware of the cost/ you are desperately trying to get your moneys worth.

Salty’s is SO GOOD. We went back at least 4 or 5 times. Our courses were as follows:

1. Mounding plates of crab legs

2. Mounding plates of crab legs, made to order crepes

3. Salmon, clams, Benedicts, prime rib

4. More crab legs, clams, mac and cheese, salads

5. Desserts

Don’t forget that there are bottomless mimosas/ champy during the entire meal. There was no better way to celebrate the kick-off of Lauren’s 24^th year!

Birthday Girl! 

In line for crepes

Check out that pile of crab meat! I am a long term investor when it comes to cracking crab. Everyone else was all about instant gratification. 

Pretty lady and a clean plate! 

Too hard to eat... but it looked good on Cam's plate! Plus the eyes freak me out. 

Our server kept clearing our spots and removing the shell bowl…. Until we came back and he would awkwardly say, “Oh, I guess I’ll get you another shell bowl.” This happened a few times. He was especially surprised when we continued to eat crab after he had already brought us our hot towels. Haha! When there are endless crab legs what are you supposed to do about it!? I am practically a pro when it comes to getting out claw meat. nbd.

Not only was the breakfast delish, but it was amazing to be with my people. There was a lot of laughter. The kind where you laugh until it hurts. I really love that. 

CRAB LEGS!

Very full! Nap time. 

Salty’s only serves brunch on Sunday and they fill up fast, so make sure to call for a reservation. (Make sure you call the right one… they are a chain) Also, buffet food isn’t that good no matter where you are. Really take advantage of the crab legs. It is the whole point. If you decide to go, just make sure you are really ready to eat! 

Portland on Dwellable

A Spooktacular Saturday.

So Saturday was the day we celebrated All Hallows Eve. We went to a par-tay that my friend Justin was a part of throwing. My only request was that I could do some dancing. My wish was granted. The party wasn’t the best part of the day though. I had a wonderful Saturday. I hung out with my mom during some gym time (we can’t get enough Zumba!) Then Marina and I wandered downtown for most of the afternoon. It was lovely. Somehow we ended up at Nordstrom… weird.

Below are some photos of the evening’s shenanigans. Guess who was in Portland on Saturday?

Ke$ha, Nicki Minaj, Leslie Knope, a human bumblebee, a lumberjack, Lt. Dangle (Reno 911) and pandas/ occupandas. (Did you know that 1% of pandas eat 99% of the bamboo on earth!?)

Ke$ha and Nicki

Nicki, Ke$ha and Panda

Leslie Knope was there! Straight from Pawnee! 

Logging is cool.

Vote Knope 2012. She befriends bees.

The law will win. Just ask Lindsay Lohan.

On the real Halloween I went to my parent’s house for our chili tradition. Every Halloween (as far as I can remember) we have had chili and cornbread. I know there were a few Halloweens when I was away at school. But still, without fail, I’m sure my parents had chili. Growing up, all of the parents and kids would come over for dinner. Then the Dads would take us out trick-or-treating. Wasn't it the worst when your Mom would make you wear tights with your costume? You know, due to her concern for your health in the cold… what was that!? OR even more horrific… she would make you wear a coat. Yuck! I mean, I understand why but it ruined the costume!

Anywho, Anne (our newest sibling), came over too. She is abandoning us in two weeks to move to Austin… so apparently she is just temporarily in our family. This makes me very sad. I am currently trying to confirm that our craziness didn't drive her to apply for a job in Austin.

Brandon, my brother in law, was in charge of passing out candy to the kiddos. He gave giant handfuls to every kid that came to the door. He claims that is was so there wouldn’t be candy left for us to eat. BUT I think he was subconsciously retrieving memories of his own chubby childhood by channeling the joy he would have felt with a giant handful from one house. I’m on to you Brandon.

Here are the photos from Monday!

My cute parents!!

Pumpkins and Sunflowers... and Brandon photo bombing.

Sister and Brandon

I hope you all had awesomely spooky Halloweens! 

Big news day!

So Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries are getting divorced after only 2 months of marriage. Well, I think I speak for many when I say that this is the most shocking news I have heard in a long time! Almost as shocking as the announcement that Jessica Simpson is expecting!... NOT. Really people. 

We knew that the divorce was inevitable and J-Simps is at least 5 months preggo. Word is that she was waiting for a big magazine payout to announce said bun (in oven), but there weren’t any takers. That was probably a may-hor ego blow for the Simps. I have always loved her though. How awesome was Newlyweds!? I loved and still love watching it. Remember when she wouldn't sleep with Nick Lachey... Well, now she is having a love child! How much do you love the term love child? Apparently is is the 1950s again. 

She announced her pregnancy via her Halloween costume. "I'm a mummy!" Get it? Mommy / mummy. Duh.

Libby put it so eloquently in her tweet today. “Kim Kardashian files for divorce & Jessica Simpson announces she's preg. Today is the day if announcements WE ALREADY KNEW. Thanks, Hollywood.”

Well, we didn’t technically know about the divorce… but we sure weren’t surprised!

Clearly I had to bump my Halloween and brunch posts for this breaking news. Tune in later this week! 

Daydream of Rainbows, Butterflies and a Music Box.

Those are all Mariah Carey album names. Why? Because I am SO into my Mariah Carey Pandora station! (Not holiday. Not yet.) Do me a favor and just test out the station. I swear you will love it! I take that back. You will only love it if you like awesome 90s R&B. If you can confidently say that you fit into this category then go for it.  

You may be asking yourself this: “Laura, why don’t you listen to Spotify or Grooveshark or something else cooler than Pandora? Quit living in 2007!”

Well, my answer to this is as follows:

I don’t want to put in the playlist making effort! Also, I don’t want my Facebook friends on Spotify to creep on my music and judge me for busting out the occasional song by ‘Nsync for a little middle school throwback. It is easier to admit these things in the controlled environment of my blog. I also think it is annoying that Spotify (via Facebook) tells people what you are listening to. No Facebook, I don’t care that Sabrina Jorcutt (names have been changed to protect privacy) is listening to Nicki Minaj. I mean good call with the Nicki, but really Facebook?

Moral of the story is this: Listen to Mariah Carey radio and don’t hate on me for listening to Pandora.

Currently Playing: Boys II Men, End of the Road

Happy Halloween to all!! Have fun-filled weekends. 

#RosenfieldSkaarWedding

Wedding Weekend! I know it is Wednesday… just get over it. I am behind with my blog posting.

I was in central Oregon for a long weekend to celebrate in the union of my lady friend Erika and her hunky fireman Kasey. It was such a wonderful weekend full of love!

We started the weekend out right (as a bridal party) going out to an awesome dinner where people bought us drinks etc. When I arrived, my gurl Chelsii was explaining what a hash-tag is to some of the bridal party. It was hilarious to hear Chelsii explain what a hash-tag is and how we use it incorrectly in our attempts to be funny. Erika was stoked that she had her own wedding day hash-tag.

There were many high points to the weekend. I have a couple that stick out beyond the actual wedding part. The trip ended up being a cultural experience of sorts. The first cultural experience was when my beer was opened with a can of chewing tobacco and the second was doing some country dancing. I have seriously not had that much fun dancing ever! SO FUN! I was flipped over! Multiple times!... And I am not a petite girl. I freak-yeah love country dancing. I had no idea what I was doing, but with a good lead there is really nothing to it! The bad new is this: Where the hay-diddle-diddle am I going to find a cute guy in PDX who truly knows how to dance like that!? The people at the country themed bars in Portland are just city dwellers being posers for the night. Such a shame.

Now back to the LOVE. Erika is one of my first friends to get married. I can still count my married girlfriends on one hand. Well… one and a half hands… Jeez! Today I found out a different friend is preggers... I am having trouble with this growing up stuff. Anywho, the wedding day was perfect. Erika was calm cool and collected. Her hair was flawlessly coiffed and the dress fit just right. I’m not saying there weren’t a couple stressful moments leading up. There may or may not have been an emergency late night trip to the store after the rehearsal dinner…

Photo op in the backyard before the rehearsal dinner

Emergency trip to Walmart. Don't worry, the crisis was handled. 

Erika's wedding day breakfast of champions. Now you know what the BM mix was for!

Beautiful bride getting ready! 

Erika was clearly beyond excited to be married to the love of her life! Kasey is the greatest guy and I couldn’t help but shed a few salty tears as he read his vows to my friend. It is comforting to know that he is going to be the one there for her from now on. 

Erika looked regal on her big day. Just beautiful! Take a gander: 

Pre husband and wife

Married!!

Ahhh Love. Maybe we will meet again someday. In the meantime I am happy to celebrate the love of others. Congrats Kasey and Erika!