to my baby sister

My beautiful little sister- you're officially graduating from high school this Sunday, holy crap. I feel like just last year I was 10 and you were 5 and we were sharing a day bed (or maybe I was 5 and you were zero and I dropped you on the floor, whoops :)...and it feels like just last week that I was an "adult" and you were in high school and I made you share your bed with me when I was married and Matt was in Tennessee working. (Oh wait, that really did happen last week :) (but it happened other times too in the past :)
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I hope that when we visit each other when we are old and gray that we still get to have sleep overs :)
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Okay, now I shouldn't have said that because I start getting all sentimental and you always tell me I'm not a crier and I have to pretend to uphold that reputation. So, instead, let's go with something hard core corny graduation style: Alyssa, you wore that red and black with like total pride, aced those multiple choice tests with both eyes closed and OMG, go CF Tigers Class of 2009. [Insert class motto here].
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The woman I've watched you become is amazing. And I feel completely blessed to have you as my sister. A place no one else will ever have in my heart.
I love you sister.

two years.

On Monday Matt & I will celebrate two years of wedded bliss. I'm posting this now because we'll be in Florida starting Saturday and vacation to me, in part, means as little computer time as possible. I can't believe it's already been two years since our wedding! In ways it seems like only yesterday and in other ways (good ways) it's been much longer. The main lesson I've learned: the amount you learn about another human being by marrying them is immeasurable. Here's a small recap of that learning process since May 25, 2007:
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Five years to the day of our first meeting, we were married in Mexico in front of 29 of our closest friends and family and then spent a week relaxing in Tulum on our honeymoon. It was an amazing way to start out married life and 2 weeks I'll never forget.
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We then returned home to Iowa where we moved into the upstairs of my Grandma's house for our first little "home." Grandma loved hearing us up in the morning blending our protein shakes like clock work.
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From then on, we spent time commuting between our Iowa "apartment" and the extra room at the "Ricky Court bachelor pad" in Tennessee for Matt's job. This was a very interesting transition time as we learned how to be married while living together and apart. This sort of psuedo married life wasn't exactly ideal so we decided something had to be done...
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Sooo, in November of 2008, we picked up the only life I had ever known and moved to the suburbs of Nashville, Tennessee. This was one of the most terrifying and one of the most rewarding things I have ever done in my life.
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So, in a sense, our married life didn't truly begin until 6 months ago when, for the first time, we actually began living with each other 24/7. And that changes everything.
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So, some things I've learned in the first 2 years (or 6 months) of marriage:
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1. Sleeping schedules must be synchronized for a peaceful household.
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2. Sometimes marital roles are reversed and the husband becomes the nagging anal housekeeper and the wife becomes the laid back hippy who has to be reminded to take the trash out. But she is learning how to cook!
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3. Husbands can be taught to put the toilet seat down with diligent training early on.
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4. Laughter cures almost anything.
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5. My husband is a very willing learner and is much more willing to admit wrong than myself. He is teaching me to be a better communicator.
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6. The forming of a family is a beautiful and crazy thing to participate in as we learn to create a life for ourselves as partners instead of individuals. Two years ago I would consider Matt as being at point A and me being at point Z. As we learn to share our life I suddenly find myself somewhere around G with my sweet, flexible husband working his way to C. Compromise is a good thing :)
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7. Eating and exercise habits must be synchronized for a peaceful household.
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8. Being able to pee, walk around naked and fart in front of someone is funny and freeing.
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9. I could stare at my husband's cheek bones 3 hours a day.
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10. With time and exposure, quirks become more annoying and things you love about someone become more intense.
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11. I love my husband (and want to choke him sometimes) immeasurably more than I did when we were writing undying love poetry to each other 8 years ago and intensely more than the day I married him. And I loved him a lot.

the president does stand-up?

thoughts?


personally, regardless of political affiliation (which i do not claim to have), i thought some of it was actually semi funny until the "rested on the 73rd day" came in. and then some of it i was just not political enough to even understand. regardless, i find his hollywood status increasingly intriguing. he is so likeable that it's almost scary.

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if you haven't seen this yet, it's worth checking out, if nothing else for the absolutely superb demonstration of photojournalism. and, on the other hand, the feeling that this administration is trying to make the administration as likeable as possible? the official white house photostream

frugal wife.

Many people have given me a hard time for being somewhat "cheap." It's true that I've never been a "spender" and have always looked for ways to save my money. Then I married my husband and when the forces of savers combine, you get...the Hogan household. Lately, my frugality has gone to a whole new level, to the extreme delight of my husband. My secret? I started frequenting "frugal mom" blogs. I know. Weird. Mostly because I'm not even a mom.
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So you may think this sounds completely boring but I'm bringing this up because I think it has some validity in life more than just saving a dollar on a box of cereal (Or $48). We have chosen to save our money in areas that aren't as important to us in order to allow us to splurge in areas that are important to us. For example, I'd much rather eat generic brand food and be able to afford a weekend getaway with the money we saved throughout the year not buying name brand everything. Overall, it allows me to live a more deliberate and simplistic lifestyle. Now I'm not saying you should skimp on everything and that some things aren't worth the money. Actually, the opposite, saving money on certain things frees me up to spend money on things that are worth the extra investment. Instead of simply spending money without thinking through what I'm doing.
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And just in case you really don't care about having that sort of lifestyle yourself, here are a few things I've gotten in the last 3 weeks.
*Free breakfast at Mimi's Cafe (I had Eggs Benedict, Matt had real French Toast and we both had one of their famous muffins & juice. Worth at least $25)
*Free lunch at Domino's (2 pasta bread bowls. Worth about $15)
*Free lunch at KFC (2 grilled chicken meals. Worth about $10)
*Every Sunday we get 2 blizzards at DQ for the price of 1 for dessert.
*Free stuff from CVS
*A few things I've gotten free in the mail over just the last few days: toothpaste, lotion, shampoo, tea & candy.
(Other things I have on the plate that I haven't used yet: free stuff from Starbucks, TCBY, Texas Roadhouse, Buffalo Wild Wings, Wal-Mart, Target, the list goes on...)
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In case any of this intrigues you, start out by taking a visit to www.moneysavingmom.com where you will find plenty of deals of your own. There are hundreds of other websites but you've got to start somewhere :) And if any of you have even read this far and actually care, I can give you more information.
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Somehow in the last 6 months I suddenly enjoy cooking, eating healthy, exercising, clipping coupons, putting money in an investment account, recipe hunting, DVRing HD movies instead of renting or going to the theatre, decorating my home, dreaming about sailboats & islands with my husband and reading frugal mom blogs. It's okay, I won't be offended if you call me cheap.

Listen. And Go.

A friend recently loaned me Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile by Rob Bell & Don Golden. It's a really quick read that basically sums up the message of the bible from the beginning of the world all the way through the promise of what is to come. I've recently been feeling a very strong burden to be DOING something about what I'm believing, studying, saying, etc. I was talking with my bible study group on Thursday about how we come to God and ask Him to reveal very in depth, difficult, complicated truths to us. We assume because we are actively pursuing learning and knowing more that we must be ready for it. Yet, somehow I feel like lately I've been asking Jesus to allow me into High School when I haven't even been practicing or truly understanding the lessons He taught me in kindergarten.
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What is that lesson? LOVE. At all costs. After Jesus appears to many after his resurrection He's trying to get the point across. "Love people more than yourself. Feed my sheep. Tend to my sheep. When people are hurting and want to know where I am to help them, I'm sending YOU to show them." Ultimately, I don't think He really cares that much if I am the smartest biblical scholar in the world or if I spend 24 hours of my day in church, reading the bible and praying. I think all of those things are great but really come second to being His hands and feet. Showing His love to the world. And I think we ignore this because it is, alot of times, much more difficult to live out than to study the bible until you've memorized it or understand much higher truths.
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So this had been on my mind the last couple weeks and yesterday I was finishing up "Jesus Wants to Save Christians" and the last few pages pretty much summed it up. I know this is kind of long but I really think it's worth taking a few minutes to read it and really think about what this means to our lives....

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Because when we hear the cry, we're with God. When God gets Moses' attention and lays out for him what liberation is going to look like for his people, he tells Moses to "GO."
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"LISTEN" and then, "GO."
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The going will take a multitude of forms. It will be movement, action, life. It will involve risk. It will mean conversations with people who are nothing like us, and it will probably involve questions and criticism and perhaps even rejection...
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It's about all of us taking the next step out of Egypt, doing the next right thing, being open to whatever it means for us to be a Eucharist, right here, right now, with what God has given us today.
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And whatever it is, it will not be boring. Tomorrow will not be like today. And it will cost something. ...
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Instead of standing at a distance and saying "someone else," it's stepping up and stepping into the invitation to the risk, to the suffering, to the joy...
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Jesus wants to save us from making the good news about another world and not this one.
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Jesus wants to save us from shrinking the gospel down to a transaction about the removal of sin and not about every single particle of creation being reconciled to its maker.
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On the night he was betrayed, Jesus led a Passover meal unlike any other, He took the bread and the cup and connected these symbols to himself. He told them to "do this in remembrance of me." The "do this" is understood to be the taking of the bread and the cup as the body and blood of Christ...But what if Jesus meant something else-something beyond the ritual? What if he was talking about our actually enacting what the ritual is about...What if the "do this" was his whole way of life...The "do this" part is our lives. Opening ourselves up to the mystery of resurrection, open for the liberation of others, allowing our bodies to be broken and our blood to be poured, discovering our Eucharist. Listening. And going.
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Excerpts from "Jesus Wants to Save Christians" pages 166-181