Adventure--Found among the archives

 I found this post I wrote a few months back lost amongst the drafts of my blogger today. I don't know why I didn't post it, maybe I just wrote it for my own release of emotions and didn't feel the need to post it. But looking back on it is interesting. Some of those scary, unsure things have become less scary, and known. Others are still up in the air. But the last paragraph still, and always will, stand (coincidence the last two posts have had chayote in them. We really don't eat it that much ;)

"Sometimes I put on my happy face and think "this is all part of the ADVENTURE!!! (!!!) Caps and extra exclamation definitely needed.

But sometimes not knowing what will happen in the future is a tad scary. Right now I don't know how long we will stay in our beloved Boston, I don't know if my Jobito will be able to stay in the U.S. with me (sounds dramatic maybe but true. We are going through a green card renewal and anything could happen), I don't know when babies might come into our little family, I don't know what's for dinner tonight.

But I do know the gospel is true. I know my Heavenly Father loves me, and is with Job and I every step of the way on our ADVENTURE! ;) I know I love that man named Job immensely, and forever. I know I have a chayote in the fridge I should use for dinner. Those are all good things to know. Those things (even the last, it is nice to know we can eat :) give me so much peace through the major uncertainty I sometimes feel."

Be my guest

Hey! I got the great opportunity to guest post over here recently.
This is a very important topic for me and I loved being able to write about it :)
Check it out!

For Unto Us a Child is Born, Unto us a Son is Given

Our ward (church group) is doing an advent candle this year. Each day starting Dec. 1 we burn down a part of the candle while we read from the scriptures about the life of our Savior. This has been such a beautiful and special time for Job and I to reflect on Jesus Christ who's birth and life we celebrate this time of year. Reading these passages each night has really helped me focus more on Christ and less on fluffy, commercial things. I still love other Holiday traditions, don't get me wrong, but keeping the focus on Jesus brings a lot of peace. I thought I would include the references here in case anyone else wants to join in. It really brings the spirit into our home and lives. Enjoy!

          Day/Event                                  Reference          Jesus Christ...
Day 1-Raising the daughter of Jarius, Luke 8:41-56, was compassionate
Day 2-Forgiving a sinful woman         Luke 7:36-50, was forgiving
Day 3-Healing a nobleman's son         John 4:46-53, had power to heal
Day 4-Cleansing the temple                 John 2:13-17,was reverent and opposed evil
Day 5-Calming the storm                    Mark 4:35-41, had power over the elements
Day 6-Blessing the children                Mark 10: 13-16, loved children
Day 7-Dining with Mary and Martha, Luke 10:38-42, made people happy
Day 8-Suffering in the garden,            Luke 22:41-45,was submissive and sacrificed for others
Day 9-Washing the feet of the apostles, John 13:3-17, was humble
Day 10-Choosing his apostles,             Luke 6:12-13, was prayerful
Day 11-Advanced in learning,              Luke 2:51-52, obeyed his parents
Day 12-Was baptized,                           Matt. 3:13-17, was obedient to God's law
Day 13-Sermon on the Mount,             Matt. 5:2-16, gave counsel
Day 14-Christ in the temple,                 Luke 2:42-49, taught when he was twelve
Day 15-The Lord's Prayer,                    Matt. 6:9-13, taught how to pray
Day 16-The sower,                                Luke 8:5-16, taught with stories
Day 17-The lost sheep,                          Luke 15:4-7, helped sinners
Day 18-The Good Samaritan,               Luke 10:29-36, was kind
Day 19-The Comforter,                         John 14:26-27, promised the Holy Ghost
Day 20-Fishes and Loaves,                   Matt. 14:15-21, performed miracles
Day 21-Lazarus,                                    John 11:40-44, raised the dead
Day 22-Mary's visitation,                      Luke 1:26-33, is the Son of the Highest
Day 23-His birth,                                  Luke 2:1-11, fulfilled prophecy
Day 24-Shepherds visited and wise men brought gifts, Matt. 2:9-12, Luke 2:12-16, was worshiped.

Time for Rachael's Roundup

Weekend round-up that is. Guys, I live for weekends. Especially ones that go like this:

Friday: I didn't have to work so I lounged about part most of the day. Sweet.
Evening came and I wisked on downtown to pick up Job and meet some friends for dinner at 5 Napkin Burger. After dinner we went to the play/musical "Curtains". It was fabulous! I love seeing plays on stage, there is such a great energy and excitement! It kept us laughing and guessing the whole time.

Saturday: Welcome sleep! It was nice to have a day to sleep in. Those don't come all that often.
Later we hit a Food Truck Festival near our house that was hosted by Suffolk Downs racetrack so we got to try out a bunch of yummy food from local trucks while watching the horse races. Super fun for people like us who love food and local fun :) No betting for us though, we'd rather spend our money on food ;)
That night we rented a scary movie and got our cuddle on.

Sunday: dawned bright and early! I got my visiting teaching (visiting women in our church as friends and to talk about the gospel) done in the morning before church and then Job and I went to see a little bit of the Head of the Charles Regatta, a big crew competition here in Boston. I had packed a little picnic earlier that morning so we parked it on our little blanket along a quiet part of the river and munched while we watched the boats speed on by.
Church was uplifting, edifying, and just what we needed to start our week with. We talked about having humility, and living up to our potential and privileges. After church I did some more visiting teaching, and then we headed out to a Viola concert at Job's school (Helen Callus-lovely concert). After that Job did his Home Teaching and then finally we headed home. I got to skype my sister who I haven't talked to in ages, "meet" her current boyfriend, grill him a little, and see my mum's 2 kittens she just got.
I was definitely ready for bed that night, and ready to wake up this morning for work (after hitting snooze twice that is ;).

Bam. How's that for an update? I know, kind of long. But that's good from a journal perspective right? :D yeeaaah.

Today I love

• My nails (thanks Jess)
• Fresh Spring mix sprinkled right on top of my pizza-yum.
• The fact that General Conference is tomorrow!
• My new water bottle.
• Job (always :), and how he says "I love you" at the end of a phone conversation, no matter where he is.

 P.S. this picture was taken on Job's first day of school as a 2nd year grad student. CUTE! 

Do you make your significant other wait so you can take a "first day of school picture", even when they are in graduate school? I do. :)

Food, Food Glorious Food!

Because taking pictures of your food is like, in the bloggers handbook obvi.

I wanted to actually share a few recipes because they are delish. But how should I do that? Share the whole recipe(s) here and make a loonngg post? Just give you the link? Not just give you the link because I changed some things? Do one recipe at a time? Do many at a time?....Sheesh, blogging's hard.
My remedy is to share none recipes I guess (a billion points to whoever caught on to that obscure and altered movie line. A billion. That's a lot.) I'll share my recipes later. Just to keep all 6 of you who regularly read in suspense ;) ha.

We had friends over for General Conference on Sunday and Job and I cooked like we do occasionally. Or really I should say Job cooked and I just dabbled around the kitchen ;) Anyways, it was good stuff and made me long for two weeks in Mexico this summer where I can eat tacos every day (*sigh*, someday...)

I spy with my little eye--product placement.... ;)

Don't you wish you had my camera skillz? Yes they are skillz which = ghetto. I want to take a class sometime/get a really good camera. (*Sigh*, Someda...ok I'll stop. I seriously am just grateful I have a camera that works :) Thanks Jobito!) We like any excuse to make tacos but usually wait to do so for when we have people over so...come on over!! :)
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Now for story time.

Once upon a time Boj* and Rakel* went to the grocery store via bus because their car broke down (again! I know! Ahhhh!). They happily skipped into Stop and Shop to pick up a few needed items for dinner. Stopping at the deli counter there was a line but they disregarded taking a number and just smiled at the guy instead who assumed it was their turn. Nice. The deli man (we'll call him Alfredo) asked Boj what he would like. Provolone 1/4 lb, no prob. Then Boj asked for prosciutto. 

"Which kind?" asked Alfredo, "$12/lb or $18/lb?" 

"Uh, $18/lb." Said Boj. 

"WHY?!" asked Rakel. 

But it was busy and loud so their $18/lb prosciutto just got rang up. Luckily they didn't need even close to an lb but still (thought Rakel). So Boj and Rakel walked back to the bus and Rakel was being silly about how Boj asked for the expensive kind. Boj said he had slightly misunderstood the man because it was loud and busy, he didn't want to change it after Rakel told him what he had done because the amount they got only meant they spent an extra 50 cents or so, and that Rakel should have just been bossier and made him change it at the counter, and they had a coupon on top of all that. But Rakel was hungry and slightly grumpy and said she doesn't like to be bossy, she just likes to be annoying after the fact, and mostly it was the principle of the thing. So they rode home on the bus, still holding hands because they just can't help but love each other a lot, dinner fixings in hand (their other hands). Boj told Rakel to just relax while he made dinner. He made her this:

A fresh homemade pesto, prosciutto, and provolone sandwich (PPP!). Rakel loves sandwiches a lot. She suddenly was glad they got expensive prosciutto and gave Boj some serious props for a job well done. And they live happily ever after. Because how could you not after eating a sandwich like that?!

(*names have been changed to protect privacy ;)
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P.S. Make Falafel someday soon. Just do it. You'll thank me later.

 

I love this weekend!

I love settling in to watch General Conference each April and October. I love the spirit I feel, the inspiration I get, the testimonies I hear which strengthen my own, and the words that I know are coming from my Heavenly Father to guide and help me in my life. General Conference is this weekend and Job and I greatly enjoyed today's two sessions. Looking forward to two more tomorrow :)

Humility being thrust in my way. Stories of a Sunday

I gave a talk yesterday in church. Enough said?

Well, I'll elaborate a little. I guess it started at 10:30 Saturday when I finally finished my talk ;)

Then Job was gone all day on Sunday because he had to play in a concert at Sanders Theater on the Harvard Campus (beautiful concert hall!) He dropped me off about 45 minutes early to my Relief Society Presidency Meeting which gave me time to read through my talk. Then I had a meeting which ended up just being me and the RS president because for different reason the others couldn't come. Anyways, it was a wonderful meeting, and then I asked the president where the best place to catch the subway was outside her place. I was just going to the T to church, but she was way too sweet and said I could just stay there a little longer and she would take me to church. She already does so much and I wrestled with taking over her morning, but I finally decided to accept her offer and forgo waiting in the cold for the subway to come, sitting on the dirty subway for 45 minutes, and then walking in the cold for 10 more. I know, doesn't seem like a hard choice but I really don't like to bug people. But sometimes I have to be humble and accept help.  So I got to enjoy lunch with two great friends, her and her husband.

By the time we found parking and got to church we were a tad late and so I had to walk up to the font for my talk. I tried to do this sneakily, but there really is no way to do so. It was obvious, and the look of relief on our bishop's face to see the other half of the program walk in was pretty obvious too ;)

So then I calmed my nerves and listened to the other talk. Great talk. At least the first few minutes were. I quickly realized I desperately had to use the little ladies room and standing up in a state of extreme nervousness with a full bladder was just not going to work out well. But I really couldn't leave right in the middle. That would once again be too obvious. So I waited some more. And I just had to go more.  ooh boy. I just bit the bullet and did it. Walked right down there, and got a knowing smile from my friend who knew exactly where I was going since I mentioned my plight right before church started.

After I *ahem* relieved myself, I just waited out in the foyer until the intermediate hymn. A friend came to check on my to make sure I was ok. I didn't consider the fact that me walking out in the middle right before I was to speak looked like I had flown the coop, too nervous to even continue. Great. So half the people were snickering because they knew I had to pee, and the other half were feeling sorry for me because they thought I just couldn't handle the pressure.

I "snuck" back in obviously as the hymn was being sung. Then I stood up to give my talk, just to face the 1nd counselor announcing my talk. Oh, not quite my turn yet. I nonchalantly sat next to the 2nd counselor to ask him when I had to speak. Smooth, nobody noticed that one. I hope. ;)

All-in-all, when it came down the the actual talk, it went pretty well. I was certainly blessed that I got through it, could think quickly and finished exactly on time. I didn't just stare at the paper and read my talk, but really tried to speak from the heart. Though it wasn't perfect, it went better than I expected and my confidence grew. I heard speaking in public gets easier with experience. Let's hope ;)

After once again standing in front of a group to conduct the meeting in relief society I was finally on my way home with some friends. As suspected, they had a hunch my little leaving-in-the-middle stunt was the call of nature. Queen obvious here.

Phew, long day. But good for me.

Oh yeah, my talk was on Humility :) Ironic?.....

A true Boston date night :)

Job took me on a FABULOUS date on Saturday :) It started with a trip to the beautiful Boston Temple. We hadn't been to this one yet and it was a wonderful experience as the temple always is :) We live close by so plan on going back often :)



Later that evening we were able to attend a top-notch concert by Job's violin teacher Markus Placci and an amazing pianist Roxana Bajdechi. They are both absolutely fabulous musicians! The concert was at Steinway Hall here in Boston so was filled with gorgeous pianos! It was a Polish program which was really cool because I don't know much about Polish music and I really enjoyed it. Chopin was Polish and who doesn't love Chopin :)
After the concert there was a wine and cheese reception (minus the wine for us ;). We got to visit with the wonderful artists who are so gracious and kind, enjoy delicious cheeses and fruits, and oogle over the beautiful Steinway pianos.

After the concert we took a walk through Boston Common, a famous park here in Boston. It is so beautiful at night! Everything is lit up with old fashioned lamp posts, there are ducks and swans swimming around in the ponds, and bands playing along the bridge.

Trying to get a picture of us and George Washington. Fail.


That's a little better :) It is hard to get pictures at night ;)

Next we walked down Newbury street which is the Champs Elysées of Boston. Tons of high fashion shops and cool restaurants line the street. At the current time we are just observers of Newbury street ;)


Ahh fabulous Vera :)

Next we stopped at an old church square and listened to an awesome jazz/funk band playing. We think they were Berklee students because Berklee is famous for it's pop/jazz/rock type music.
Then we stopped in Copley Square to check out the beautiful trinity church there.
And to complete a wonderful night, delish late night pizza at Anthony's :)
Thanks for a fabulous date babe, you're the best :)



Side Note: If anyone comes to visit they too can experience wonderful dates like this ;) We are so excited to be able to show people around this beautiful and diverse city :)