can't wait for that day

i had a wave of longing for home this Sunday.  bubba came to hang out with us for Resurrection day and we all took turns round the Sunday sup table saying what we missed about austin.  well, what foods we missed at least.  bubba misses mexican food, china misses the free trade crunchy granola coffee shops, and i? i miss the salt lick (and the grove obviously).  the salt lick is so exquisitely home and texas to me.  it weaves together the little details of texas that make it a glorious quilt of wide open spaces, endless skies, families gathering and chilluns playing in the glow of a golden texas sunset, casual (as in byob), family style dining on picnic tables, neighbors seeing you in dire need of a bottle opener to unleash the goodness of a frosty firemans 4 and readily offering you an unleasher, and of course, the best stinkin’ barbecue in the world.  don’t mess. with texas.  or the salt lick.  or my devotion to both.  

that being said, virginia has its’ pros.  and her name is sophia.  and china, bubba and li.  and real friends that are much less than a plane ride away.  

this weekend was a blockbuster of a good time.  not the store blockbuster, the original meaning. we all know that i, once employed by said movie rental establishment, am not very sympathetic to the block.  moving on, saturday brought with it cloudy and cool temperatures, Mass, brownies, laundry folding, slipper wearin’, coffee sippin goodness.  with a big heaping spoonful of an afternoon of friendship and pizza and walks to the safeway to do some damage in the candy aisle.  

i really really like these slippers

it is quite a treat to spend an afternoon with a kindred spirit such as lizzie.  she is down with frozen pizza and readily suggests indulging in a childhood activity that was never mine to relish in my youth because our home was never in walking distance to...anything.  but now i am and we indulged.  and she and i heartily abused the horrid movie that gave me such grief and turmoil last week. and finally, finally, fall has come to me in the shape of little tri-colored isosceles sugar composed wonders, thanks to my very generous friend.  and yes i had to look up the different kinds of triangles to make sure i was using the correct one. let’s just say math and i never so much as progressed beyond hostile acquaitenship.

friendship and frozen pizza a winning combo

lizzie making one of those pivotal life decisions : gummi bears or twizzlers?

enjoying the fruits of our arduous walk

but like i was sayin, candy corns are in folks.  and what was the very first thing i did with my newly acquired fall flavor, you may ask? (after i opened it on the walk home and ate a few of course) i grabbed one of my recycled salsa jars saved for just such occasions, and put on a little audition for the new hit show coming to you “craftelisa crafts with you”.  i finally put to good use the candy corn ribbon i scored and voila.

hello sugary orangey yollowy fally treats

saturday night was the main event.  china and i got to indulge in dress-up and hair-doing for a pro-life gala. 

fun girlish things

china and her sweet action mirror with those dressing room lights for the movie stars...and us

i was having some jewelry dilemmas so i did this instead

it is something, believe it or not, that i really enjoy doing.  i couldn’t do it everyday, but i really have a good time primping and being absurdly indecisive about wardrobe and eyelining with a mathematic precision (yeah right).  my sisters, suffice it to say, have endured much in these instances of indecision for me (they will both readily attest to the torture i have inflicted).  

the results

strike a pose

the gala was wonderful.  the boxed wine was not.  but they had yeunglings, so no serious damage done there.  

the talks were (for the most part) inspiring and beautiful.  there are very few things that can give me the chills and do a number on my tear-ducts faster than a good “baby being saved from abortion” story.

toward the end of his talk, the key-note speaker said something about the day when we meet Christ and hope to hear Him say “well done, good and faithful servant”.  i love that line from Scripture and i was having another wave of chills when china’s new friend, simone, sitting to my right said “i can’t wait for that day. i seriously can’t.”  it was lovely to be with people who really long to hear that more than anything.  for that is what true life and happiness is made of.  the longing to see Jesus and hear Him say to us those words.  amen? AMEN.  

after the prayers and the speeches and the coffee and dessert were spent, there was only one thing left to do.  

nothing closes the deal on a good gala like breaking it down on the dance floor.  it was such a delightful concoction of an evening.  a few pours of prayer, a shot or two of tears and laughter and chills, five or six cubes of good friends to meet, with that final twist of getting down. shake it all up, and you have our gala.  

christina and simone

we left the candy in favor of fancy dresses and accessories 

God bless 40 days for life and all those involved in any way in the pro-life movement.  so many lives (mother and baby lives) have been spared the horror of abortion.  we must keep praying and fighting to end it.  

we drove home by pearly moonlight 

Sunday was splendid.  it was gray, but not so gray and dreary that it hurt. it was just gray enough to call for cozy sweaters, another round of slipper wearing, and a good book to hibernate with. 

it's easier to see roses in the gray

on the way to the metro to get bubba

just having christina and sean in the same room on Sunday, not even talking or anything, just being with each other, is such a comfort to me.  especially on Sunday when family and home is easiest to miss.  i love Sunday at my home.  everything has a sweeter flavor, and being at mass with my family at St. John Neumann is such a gift. Sunday dinners together, the football game filling the living room and reverberating echoes of whistles, announcers, screaming fans and bubba and dad’s screams (of anger or joy depending on the cowboys performance that day), momma cooking and baking, the chaplet with mimi, a cold beer on the porch looking out on my street and my texas sky-all things i loved and looked forward to about Sunday. and i still get a good (though imperfect) dose of that here.

i took a warm-up for dinner stroll down west and saw the delights of a season teetering on the edge of the end and another on its’ way in. neither are in a hurry and it makes me feel grateful to both of them.

the leaves have waded a bit in fall colors but have not done the full submersion yet

play a little where's waldo and find the fall colors hidden in the summer green

summer purples still going for it

summer flowers and fall-bent trees marry one another

this rose was just laying there perfectly asleep between the sidewalk cracks and in my excitement of finding this treasure a photo or five had to result

these roses were made for me to love

we had a delightful (thanks to china) family (though missing a few) dinner.  bubba lingered longer than usual at our home working on some dreaded paper (thank Providence i am not writing papers anymore), eating candy corn and allowing that warm and cozy family feeling toast my insides a little while more.  

they love the dinner paparazzi

my napkin snail i know it's rude to play with your food but what's the verdict on napkin play?

it is time to step into a new week of promise and hope.  and we have hope and promise because the dear Lord is already there taking care of us.  Jesu, Joy of man’s desiring.  that was our recessional at mass today.  He is the Joy and fulfillment of our desiring.  all is well.  

peace be with you

itunes is on random and the little drummer boy just came on and is keeping time to the rhythm of a texas heart beating under a virginia sky and steadily getting more excited for Christmas.

have a holly jolly Monday.

"For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future" Jeremiah 29 : 11