Also, I knew I always liked Sandra Bullock for a reason.  Last night during her Barbara Wa Wa interview, she was asked why she didn’t get married until she was 40.  Her response, “I hadn’t met anyone that was bigger than me”. Totally respect that.

Lastly, the John Hughes tribute was awesome.  He will always be my favorite director.  Hey hey hey hey, ooooooooooooo-ohh.

The last 6-8 months have been a growing and learning process.  God has been working in my heart and I finally understand what it feels like to be thirsty for Him.  With the help of amazing friends and the church, I’ve begun to understand what a relationship with Him is really like.  This afternoon I finished reading Tim Keller’s book, “The Prodigal God”, and I after I read this quote, I read it a couple of times because it exactly sums up these last few months for me.  It’s a quote by Jonathan Edwards.  And I’m guessing we aren’t talking about the ex presidential candidate.

“There is a difference between believing that God is holy and gracious, and having a new sense on the heart of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace.  The difference between believing that God is gracious and tasting that God is gracious is as different as having a rational belief that honey is sweet and having the actual sense of its sweetness”.

It’s taken me a while to get a sense of His sweetness, but I’m finally getting there.

Is it true that this is what I look like on the dance floor?

And here are the three of us dancing, yet not even looking at each other.  Notice the girl in front who is stealing my signature move.

The good news is, at least I don’t look like this guy…

I remember when Courtney and Jeff were leaving, I happened to be caught in the line of fire during the rice throwing.  Now I have proof it wasn’t an accident. 

And that’s all I have to say about that.

Wednesday, after Bible Study, we were congregating in the parking lot. Laurie zipped by in her car as she was leaving, and somewhere in the conversation she said she had to go because she was low on fuel and didn’t want to get gas until tomorrow in the day time. When I got in my car to leave I noticed that my gas light had come on. It said I had 50 miles left to go. I thought, surely I can make it to work tomorrow and then fill up for cheap at Kroger during lunch.

Thursday morning, I got up and went to Boot Camp as usual.  When I left for work, it said I had about 25-30 left. Since work is only 20ish miles away, I thought I’d have no problem, given that the majority of my commute is highway driving. Of course I didn’t factor in that it was a rainy morning and that traffic would be bad. But I did know where the designated gas stations were on my way just in case I needed to get a gallon or two to make it to work.

Traffic was good, then it was bad, then it was good, and then bad. When it was bad, my car would decrease in miles left and I would begin to sweat, but then when traffic picked up, things looked good and I got confident. When I was on the home stretch, there was no turning back. There were no stations left. I was feeling good  thinking I was gonna make it. I got to the stop light outside my building and the reader says 2 miles elft. Gulp. I took a right and coasted downhill to the parking garage. Then 1. Gulp. I pulled into the garage and eased into a spot and the reader says, “—-“. GULP. I turned the car off and went into work.

I figured I’d peruse around on some BMW forums to see if maybe there was a secret gallon that was there as a cushion for these instances. No such thing. In fact, some people have run out of gas when the reader says 20 miles left. I realize it’s a miracle I even got to work.

I had plans with Tiff for lunch and I warned her of an impending adventure if I drove. All morning long I was nervous and couldn’t stop thinking about how I would resolve this situation. We headed downstairs at noon and I turned the car on. It still said “—-“ and the car started shaking. I turned it off and Tiff agreed to drive. After lunch we stopped at a small gas station on the way back and I bought one of those red plastic one gallon gas cans. I fill her up and we headed back.

So, now I’ve spent 10 bucks, which is more than I would have spent had I just filled up at the expensive spot in Lakewood. We get back to the parking garage and I get out and assemble the spout. I start to pour it in and oh my goodness, we are leaking everywhere. I’m getting about half in the tank, half on the ground (and my shoes). And the pouring is a slow process. By this time, another coworker has walked up and joins Tiff in watching the spectacle. I hated to be spilling gas everywhere, but I needed to get that gas in the tank so I could stop worrying!  Tiff and Amanda have a heyday laughing at me and the whole time all I hear in my head is the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz saying, “Oil can, oil can”.

Finally, I think I’ve emptied my gallon. We go to turn the car on. I was just hoping for enough gas to get me to Kroger after work, which was about 2 miles away. And uphill. Yes, I thought about it. Bad news, the reader still said “—-“, but the good news was that the car stopped shaking. We decided to go upstairs and I attempted to take a bath in the sink. I get back to my desk and look up BMW roadside assistance. Well, what do you know… they offer free assistance if you run out of gas. I call them up and within 25 minutes, “Rick” has arrived to fill me up. He pulled in the front of the building and my car was in the back, so I asked to hop in and direct him. At first I was concerned about how badly I smelled of gasoline, but after getting in his car, I didn’t think he’d notice. There was an aroma of gas, oil, cigarettes, air freshener and Big Red that filled up his “DFW ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE” vehicle. Ick.

We pull around back and he writes a few things on his notepad and then puts $5 worth of gas in my tank. It takes him maybe a 30 seconds to fill it up, where I was stumbling around trying to avoid the gas spillage for a good 10-15 minutes. I told him about my unfortunate attempt with the gas can and he looked at it and says, “Oh, I don’t think you screwed it on all the way”. Of course not. I’ve already proven myself to be an idiot at least 2 or 3 times by that point.

I could have saved myself the time, the worry and stink by just calling roadside right when I got to work. But, of course we would have missed out on the adventure. And I also wouldn’t have lost 2 pounds. Because yes… I weighed myself this morning and I lost weight from yesterday.

The good news was that I got that $5 worth of gas for free. And with it I had 50 miles left in the tank. Which I figured was totally enough to get me home and then back to work again.

KIDDING. Lesson learned!

Why is it that extremely sarcastic people make me happy?  Because they do.  And you have no idea how happy they make me.

P.S.  Don’t worry New Jersey beach beauties… I’m still planning on a shark and chard rendezvous this summer!

We hit up an art gallery, Cafe Izmir, a cougar themed birthday party and then had a chocolate martini nightcap at the Balcony Club.  Talk about  a sweet joint.  They had a band that was jamming to some sweet jazz similar to what I used to hear waking up on a weekend morning at my Dad’s house.  Naturally, I was really into it.  So much so, that I think I could get a second job moonlighting as a jazz band interpreter.  No, I’m not talking about signing.  I’m talking about movin’ and groovin’, trying to convey the emotions of the music through facial expressions and body movements.  Crystal and I dabbled that a little a few years ago on a family vacation to San Diego.  We practiced our skills to the open credits of ER.  It was powerful.

On a related note, I took Rocky for a walk this evening when I got home.   It was dark out, but I chose well lit streets so my dentist wouldn’t worry.  There were some good jams on the radio and I realized that if I go walking when it’s dark, I can really rock out to the music, much like I would if I were a jazz interpreter.  It was definitely considered free style walking and I am glad no one could see it.  Cause if they did, they’d think I was a crazy person.  Which might not be too far off from the truth anyways.

Turtle Power Smoothie

1 cup baby spinach

1 cup Almond Milk (or milk of your choosing)

1 T ground flax seeds

1 or 2 blocks silken lite tofu*

1 frozen banana

1/3 tsp peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

1/3 tsp xanthan gum**

1 packet of stevia or sweetener of choice

Put all ingredients in a blender or Magic Bullet and let er rip!  Enjoy the smoothie as you admire its beautiful color.

*This tofu usually says “perfect for smoothies, sauces, etc” and is normally 45 cals a serving.  I use 1-2 servings based on my hunger factor.

**This stuff magically makes your smoothie thicker, it’s awesome.  I got the Bob’s Red Mill brand that was on the baking aisle.  Don’t use too much though, apparently it helps move your system along if you know what I mean.  And I hope that you do.

During my daily lunch break internet perusing, I caught up on the devastation of the Haiti earthquake.  It’s pretty hard to wrap your head around something that massive which has killed and injured hundreds of thousands of people.  It’s incredibly sad and humbling to think about.  I know in the last week I’ve complained about having to work late, being tired, and losing sleep (over a knocking sound coming from neighbor below because he can’t move his bed at least a foot away from the wall… ahem).  When here are thousands and thousands of people who have lost relatives, who are hurt and can’t get help, and who won’t be eating or sleeping for days on end. I have no reason to complain.

Since the logistics of me physically helping the victims are not realistic (and how could an accountant help anyways), I donated money to UNICEF.  I recently discovered that Goldman has a gift matching program (dollar for dollar), so I utilized it and doubled my donation.  Better take advantage of that while I can.

Today, during my daily iPhone Facebook perusing, I saw a post from my friend, Christen, about her and her sisters blog on their Avon Walk for Breast Cancer team.  They are fundraising and I decided to help them out.  Christen’s mom recently beat her battle with breast cancer.  And Gamma had it and beat it twice.  It’s an extremely worthy cause.

My point in all this is not to gain points for being a great person.  Because y’all should already know that, right?  My point is that my New Year’s resolution is to give more.  Because it’s something I have always enjoyed, yet often neglect to do.  My goal is to donate my time or money twice a month.  (I’m not limiting myself to only volunteering twice, I just like numbers, particularly even ones).  Right now my schedule doesn’t permit me to volunteer my time, I’m going to donate monetarily until I can.  I used to get scammed donate money as a kid, and I’m definitely more capable of it now, especially since I make more than $15 a month these days.  Although I did have free food and rent them… hmm. (Funny how I used the same blog title today as that post a year and a half ago without realizing I was double dipping).

If I’ve encouraged anyone to give, here’s a list of organizations to donate to for the Haiti victims.  I think giving time is much more meaningful that money, but in situations like these, money works wonders.  If you have any organizations that are in need of volunteers or want to go volunteer together, let’s make it happen!

Which means I didn’t have much time to mourn the passing on of my Passat.  I knew one day we would have to say goodbye, I just didn’t expect it so soon.  And I get all sentimental thinking about how my car will probably be shipped to Mexico and sold for parts.  In reality, it’s probably ready to kickback with a Corona and be lazy on the beach for a while.  It’s probably been waiting for the day I’d retire it so it wouldn’t have to put up with my crazy Dallas hands-in-the-air driving antics.  You were good to me, Passat, you really were. 

Luckily, I will never have to retire that fleece.  Now, onto the new (to me) wheels.  I test drove three cars.  This was the third one and when I got in the driver’s seat, my gut said, “Holla”!  Well, that was after I researched it to make sure I was getting a good deal.  You know me, I’m always happiest when I get something on sale. 

I love that it sits up so I can see better, I love that the steering is tight, I love that it’s sporty and can put up with said driving antics.  I hope it’s up for that kind of challenge!

Lastly, while we are on the topic of cars… let’s go ahead and pour one out for my first love, Elmo.

P.S.  When I went to google pictures of my car to put on here, this is one of the first I saw.  I hope it’s not an omen.  Yikes!