Sunday, October 31, 2010

Halloween Delights

Well, the pumpkins are carved.


The pumpkin seeds are cooked and ready to eat.


The candy bowl is ready for little trick-or-treaters.


This only means one thing:

Happy Halloween!

Continuing the pumpkin carving tradition

Last night, we got together with our pumpkin carvers for a delightful night of church and Halloween-prep!

LOVE mark and katie :)


the finished products!




from left: J, me, Katie, Mark (they are the artists... we are the simplists) :)

It was so fun to carve pumpkins with you guys! Thanks for coming out to our town :)

Friday, October 29, 2010

Capture the moment


I sure want to be taking walks on the harbor with my husband like this couple when I'm old[er].
And some young whipper-snapper can snap random photos of us and be encouraged
just as these two encouraged me without even knowing it.

How do I love San Diego?

Let me count the ways.

1.

2. 

3. 

4. 


5. 

6. 

7. 

Although there are times I don't love the weather and want something new...
visiting Point Loma and the harbor, watching the seagulls nap, the boaters boat, and the sea be still
reminds me how blessed I am to live in such a beautiful place as this.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Dear Mr. Wetzel,

I have a question about your latest advertisement.


Is it forever?
Or for a limited time?

It sounds tasty... but I am curious how long I have to try this out.
Because knowing I have forever vs. only a limited time really changes things.

On another note, thanks for the amazing sinful cinnamon pretzel sample today. 
It gets me every time. It's definitely your best
Well, my favorite at least. :)
Although I do wish you would take the word "sin" out of the title.

Thanks,
Jordanna

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Welcome to the McGovern home, Fall

The day has come...
I acquired my first fall decorations!
[might I say, on amazing sale at old faithful]

Little by little, our house becomes a home.
Instead of wishing everything was perfect right now,
I'm trying to embrace the process.

It's actually kinda fun. :)


I assembled this basket. I'm rather proud. I baked the pinecones and everything.
It's a small feat. But a feat, none the less. 
[is feat even a word? it sounds kinda funny... oh well]



Thanks for my scarecrows, Grandma! :)

  
(please disregard the fact that half the shelves are empty... I opted for empty shelves instead of this)


Yay for fall!
Next up - pumpkin carving!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Capture the moment


I miss living under the Point Loma flight path.

Cupcakes for Jennifer

To celebrate Jen's birthday last Thursday, 
a few girls from church had a little surprise party for her this past Friday. 
I chauffeured her over to Sondra's house for a little 'girls' night' ...

She knew that part... but not about the other little surprises :)
[thank you Sondra for all the pictures!]


... like the cupcake tasting ...


... and her special friend, Kelly ...


... and the presents ...


We had so much fun celebrating our Bible study leader, prayer warrior, 
pastor's wife, encourager, mentor, and friend.


Michelle and Becky... both about to be new mommies in just a few days!

Michelle and Sondra - our amazing party planner and hostess

Candace and me - this girl is so genuinely sweet!

Leslie and Paige - love these girls

 Jaclyn and Jaclynn ;) - love these girls too!

It was so fun to celebrate with you, Jen.
Thank you for your example and great spirit. 
We love you!
Happy birthday!


Monday, October 25, 2010

Tis the season

Pumpkin... pumpkin... pumpkins everywhere!

I must confess something.
I've never been a big pumpkin-eater.

Oh, I like picking real pumpkins and carving them, and even eating the seeds.
But pumpkin bread... pumpkin pie... no thank you.

Until this year.
Something changed.

It started with my friend's amazing pumpkin cupcakes at Bible study one night...
followed by me making them...
then trying a pumpkin spice latte...
and then making pumpkin bread...
and ordering a pumpkin muffin (who AM i?)
and again, mini cupcakes.


I still don't think I can do the massive pumpkin-ness of pumpkin pie.
[although i may try it... a small piece.]

This season has definitely stretched me
to give pumpkin another chance.
Why would I write it off before I really know what it's like?

God has used this season to challenge me
to be bold, to try new things, and learn more about who He made me to be.
And part of that journey involves pumpkins.

A thoughtful gesture

I came home last week to find this little gift on my front door.


It was from my Tuesday night Bible study leader, pastor's wife, and friend.

A few weeks back, she let me in on the Sunday afternoon CVS sale racks... she's an incredible shopper.
This week, she brought me some fun finds :)

Thank you Jen! You made my day. Honestly. You are so so thoughtful.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Feels like home

A few weeks ago (sorry I'm so late to post this!) my mom made me breakfast. 

It was beautiful. And so so yummy.


It took me back to the daily sliced strawberries and bananas she used to make me before school. Oh how I love them. I try to make them myself, but it's just not the same.

Same with the coffee. Mom fixes it just right. 

And she knows how I like my orange juice. She strained it just for me.

And our time is always good, always special, and always comfortable.
Just like home.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Dear Grandma,

Thanks for our Mimi's date this morning. I had a super duper time.
I love talking to you about life and the Lord. 
Thank you for your wisdom and perspective. 

And for being so darn cute. :)


I love you!


and I love our dates!


Love,
your eldest and wisest granddaughter :)
Jordanna

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Overshadowed by blessings

Yesterday was a rather frustrating day in the job-world... or lack there-of.
It included standing in one line at a job fair for 40 minutes to hear "set up a job search agent online."
Because I haven't already done that. Oh wait - yes I have.
And "your file is not complete because you have not uploaded cover letters to our system" of another job location.
But I did! Apparently I didn't save them right.

This job search thing is a bit discouraging at times.
How in the world will a piece of paper... and I'm lucky if they will even accept a paper resume... separate me from all the other incredible new nurses? Because that's the truth - there are a lot of good nurses looking for jobs. So why aren't there job opportunities for us? I guess because there are 2500 new grad RNs in San Diego. And there are anywhere from 0-30 jobs. At most.

But I know that God is bigger than a little job, and that He is the Provider.
And so, I continue to trust that His plan is better than mine.
And then I move on.
Because really, what does worrying do? Nothing.

"Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" [Matthew 6:27]

Anyway. That's all I can say of the job search.

On the up side, I got to meet my good friend for dinner last night... at Costco. Love those hot dogs! I love her for meeting me at Costco. We went on a hunt for a few things in a rather twisted Costco, and then she gave me a tour of her newly acquired home. I'm so excited for them! Then we sat in the car in the Costco parking lot and chatted about life until it closed.

That's what I call a great friend. We can do the little things together. And it feels totally normal. Well, sort of. :)

I like Jessi for a lot of reasons. But one is because we get each other. Like when we were eating hot dogs. In the middle of the conversation, we both became antsy to photograph the sunset. Because we had to capture the moment! So this is how it looked through the Costco panels...


I'm so thankful that God gives us glimpses of His majestic and creative spirit.
And I'm thankful that He blesses us with good friends.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Days like today

Oh how I love love love love love the rain.

I'm especially thankful to be off on a day like today.


Although all weekend I pretended like we were having a rain storm (and it was cloudy!) 
and enjoyed hot tea, candles, a movie and music, and card making. 

Baker enjoyed sitting right in my card making area... but I couldn't really blame him... 
he had to have a good view of our movie :)


I made a few goodies for bible study tonight.


We trekked out in the rain... but not without the little ones' handy dandy jackets!


and cozied up on a blanket when we got back inside.


These were all documented by my iphone... and the pups' heads were typically in motion... 

[and this blog is not super perfect-sounding or even coherent... but work with me... 
I'm feeling a bit un-creative in the writing area].

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Camping Adventures: After Dark

We pretty much counted down until we could start the fire. Because really, the fire is the fun part :). 

In the meantime, we cleaned up shop...

and collected some firewood. With our mini ax. Which was quite amusing.

(no... unfortunately, we didn't chop this one)

matching lumber jacks!

 love her.
  
Mark got our fire started. He was our professional fire-maker and sustainer.

The doggies got to wear their new jackets for the first time. 


We had hot cocoa and s'mores. of course :)

We talked and enjoyed the night watching the fire and the stars.
Holy cow... there are a lot of stars in the sky we don't usually see in San Diego!

Then, bedtime :)

In the morning, the pups ran around a bit and 
poor Emma bear found a swarm of bees... and got stung... a few times.
Thank goodness for Benadryl! And her bed.

 Baker hung out with us while I packed up.

 It was truly the funnest trip. I had no idea camping could be so fun. 
Thank you, Mark and Katie, for helping create such a special experience for us.
Let's do it again next year!