Day 8

So today is Day 8 of our South Beach Diet (phase 1). A few thoughts to share:
- I have never eaten so many vegetables in one week in my life. While they may be tasty, vegetables do not fill you up like a nice plate of spaghetti...
- sugar free jello is y.u.m.m.y.! as one of the only dessert options we have for another week, jello has been critical as a 8pm snack to help take the edge off.
- cheese, meat, eggs and vegetables pretty much sums up our diet of the past week; I think I could go without any of those for this next week... especially eggs... but no, another casserole is in the over. we have to eat something for breakfast!
- Geoff's biggest craving has been for pizza, which I admit sounds pretty good but I have been mostly craving fruit, fruit juice, fruit salad, fruit snacks... you get the idea
- going through the grocery store when you can't eat 90% of it is basically torture
- I have avoided watching the Food Network, Rachael Ray, MVF, etc. Its just not worth it
- some recipes that you don't think sound all that good turn out really, really great (for example, last night's dinner: SB barbecue chicken, and roasted cauliflower= delish!)

here's to hoping this week flies by, cuz next week I get some of my fruit back and Geoff can have his homemade pizza. oh happy day :)

a Goodling Family Vacation

On the 10th of December, Geoff and I met my parents, brother and sister in Baltimore where we managed to get a few hours of excited sleep before boarding a plane for Cancun, Mexico! My parents have a time share at a resort called Fisherman’s Village in Playa del Carmen, about an hour bus ride south of Cancun. We all vacationed there 2 years ago, in August of 2008, and were excited to be going back, especially during a different season when Mexico would not be so oppressively hot, and we could escape the cold of the north for a week!

Some highlights from the trip:

• spending a week relaxing with the ones I love- laughing, exploring, and creating new memories
• stuffing ourselves with some delicious, authentic Mexican cuisine (for the most part, we escaped the restaurants along the main drag in Playa in favor of finding “where the locals eat,” which was sooo worth it- delicious tacos, fajitas, and queso fundido just to name a few)
• perfect weather almost every day! We were so blessed to have 70degree days that made laying on the beach enjoyable and just hot enough to entice us into the cold Caribbean water. The nights were cool, which was perfect for walking around the downtown area, but not too cool that you couldn’t still enjoy some tasty gelato :)
• exploring an ecological water park for a day! We went snorkeling in the cold, underground river… swimming through dark caves where you couldn’t see anything in the pitch black water but wondered what had just touched your leg… finally to reach a beautiful lagoon where bright blue and yellow schools of fish could be seen. We’re still deciding if it was worth it… but a memory for sure! We also enjoyed inner-tubing in a peaceful lagoon, watching people swim with dolphins and sharks, and the absolutely stunning beauty of our surroundings.
• Geoff and I enjoyed a date night of dinner and shopping. Walking along the main street in Playa, every shop and restaurant worker calls out to you “Hey honeymooners, we have what you want” or “where you from? your people love it here.” Its pretty comical for the first day or two, then it becomes a bit annoying, until finally you learn to avoid all eye contact and walk quickly with your head down. Anyway, back to our date- we eventually decided on a restaurant that offered mostly “authentic” Mexican dishes, was decently priced, and offered a nice view of the street. Well, the atmosphere was enjoyable, the food was delicious, and of course the company was delightful ;-) We even had a stray cat come and sit by me for much of the meal(escaping the dangers of a busy street I guess) until children passing by kept scaring him away. Oh well. The thing we will probably remember most about our date, though, are the 5 or 6 groups of singing children that stopped by our table to sing for money. Anyone stopped along the street for a length of time is a prime target for these children, as we had found out the previous night when we sat and ate our gelato outside the storefront. If you don’t pay them, they just kind of stand there and stare at you for awhile. Needless to say, we learned that by paying them right away you won’t have to endure the whole song… maybe next time we’ll eat somewhere with a second story…

stay tuned for more pictures to come!

Today

Today was pointless. Today was one of those days where you wonder why you bothered to get up and out of bed at all. Today was a day of sitting. Sitting and waiting. Waiting for a child to have a meltdown so that I would feel useful. C'z hey, I can at least offer them a crayon and a piece of paper to color "until they feel better" and have an excuse to color, too. I'm a bit afraid the teachers walking by may judge me if I was coloring all by myself...? Today was a day of struggling to look busy when the principal kept walking by (which is highly unusual), but then struggling to care because hey, it's not like I'm getting paid to be doing something I'm not. Is that wrong? Today was a day of being glad I brought something to microwave for lunch so I had an excuse to walk across the building. So today I decided to look for school counselor job openings. Bad idea. Unless I want to move to California or Massachusetts. Whats that, mom? too far away? yeah, I agree. So that was today. I have high hopes for tonight.

P.S. most times I try to be thoughtful and have a point to my blog posts. Today is not one of those days.

Bucket List

i.e. things to do before you "kick the bucket"

A few weeks ago, we were sitting in the basement of an Arts center at a church membership class. The topic was... well, truthfully I don't remember the topic; all I remember is a story our Pastor shared from the Gospel of John. Now I had heard this passage time and time before, but the point that he made has haunted me ever since and I feel responsible to pass it on.

The passage reads like this:
John 13:1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

The point: Jesus knew that He was going to be arrested and crucified within a matter of hours, yet one of His last acts on earth was to wash the feet of his disciples, to serve them in love and humility. As Christians, we are called to have the mind of Christ, to "put on Christ", and yet I wonder how different the last hours of our life would look compared to those of Jesus. Of course his very death is magnificently different from ours because it was the ultimate sacrifice of His life in order that we may be saved. We may not be able to do that, but we are certainly called to sacrifice. What if on our Bucket List were names of people to serve, rather than places to travel, or family members who need salvation rather than a list of accomplishments to strive for. What if, upon recognizing our human frailty and acknowledging that our life could end in the next instant, we were consumed with love and compassion for our neighbors, our coworkers, our family, our city... and compelled to serve as many as possible, to share the Gospel with as many as possible, to give away as much as possible in order that our last moments on earth would look more like those of Christ and less like a selfish, materialistic, lukewarm Christian? What if my real, actual, tangible goal in life was to live like Christ? What if someone could look at my life and say "wow, God is being glorified through her." What if my "bucket list" wasn't at all about ME, but all about GOD? I hope that I never think of "bucket list" the same way again.

We Camp. We’re Campers.

This past weekend we went camping for the first time (together). We drove out to the Shenandoah and camped at a site along Skyline Drive. We had beautiful weather and while we had some, uh, difficulties, it was a great time!

We borrowed a tent from some friends… which had no instructions… we needed help. Thankfully, a kind-hearted fellow camper helped us out- he assured us it was an “easy tent” to put together and it took all of 5 minutes. well, gee, thanks :)

We took a hike on the Frazier Douglas Trail, which intersected for a short time with the Appalachian trail. It was a moderate hike, which I was not prepared for and my back/knees did not much appreciate. See how excited I am to be at the top? We didn’t take any pictures of my expressions going up the mountain…

Enjoying God’s beautiful creation (or taking a rest…)

My man made a wonderful fire so we could have hot food. Yay. Hot dogs and s’mores, of course. The grate was not totally level so we did lose one hot dog in the fire…

Stopping along the way home at a few of the 75 beautiful overlooks in the park. There were informational signs at some, which Geoff appreciated :)

All in all, our first camping adventure was a success! We may even do it again.