Weekend Warrior

It is a beautiful Sunday morning. No, I am not blogging from the worship center or from Bible Study, although that it is an interesting thought and something that might be fun to do. Probably too distracting though. According to the weather people, this next week looks to be our first full week of fall. Daytime temps in the 70's and in the 50's at night.

This has been a great weekend. So, I will do a little recap complete with pictures.
Friday morning Lisa picked me up for a trip to the Woodlands for lunch at Jasper's. While we are wildly talking and catching up, I wondered out loud if we were close to Gulf Bank cause that is where Lisa had an pedicure adventure several years ago with Pam. Good timing cause we were one exit away. We were laughing hysterically. Why? If you haven't ever had Lisa tell you the story of Pam the Pedicurist...you have missed a wildly funny story. It doesn't translate well in the written word, you've got to hear it and watch Lisa go through all the actions and facial features of having a pedi by Pammy.

If you look closely, there are bars on the door and window. Not exactly a safe feeling. Lisa wanted us to go inside, but I was too nervous. You know Pam has a blade... and since I was wearing sandals, she might just like to whack off the two big callouses on my big toes. I need to get to The Nord for a pedicure sooner than later.

We got back onto the I-45 North and headed to the Woodlands. It was a wonderful day temp wise and it was perfect for walking around the outdoor mall. We headed straight to Jasper's to beat the lunch bunch. First ones there and we sat in a booth that looked out onto one of the streets. I took a few pictures but they do not do justice to the beauty and clean lines of the place.

The difficulty of making a choice from the menu is difficult. So many wonderful items. The ice tea is a nectarine/lavender combo. Outstanding! Lisa had the Grouper sandwich and I did the cheeseburger with jack cheese. The fries? Let's just say they are right up there with Nord fries. Great place, great friend, great conversation, great food and a great waiter make a GREAT DAY. But there is more to come. We asked to see the dessert menu, just, now mind you, just to see what they offered. WOW! They even have this mini trio where you can pick three of the desserts, full size, to try. Better deal than buying 3...we did not do that, but we were tempted. Both our waiter and the manager told us, get the vanilla toast and our waiter added, we would not be able to finish it. Now them there are some fighting words and we were going to spite him by finishing the whole thing. Well, he's right, it can't be done too much french toast infused with creme brulee, in a maple brown sugar sauce with candied pecans, a scoop of vanilla ice cream and candied bananas. Slap your mama good! It was slap yourself good. I didn't even realize I had begun rocking back and forth as I partook of paradise. Lisa was giving silent, fist pounding praise. Y'all...it was soooo good!!!

Our stride and gate was noticeably diminished as we left Jasper's. So we did a little walking, very little, and did a little shopping before making our trek back into Houston. We are making plans for a return jaunt to the Woodlands. It is so much more than a bunch of trees.

Friday evening, Dena and I went to The Nord for dinner and a little shopping. She had not been there since the menu change and we haven't had time to catch up with each other. What I love about dinner with Dena is we usually split several items. Roy is not a splitter and he can't understand why you would even want to do such a thing. Anyway, we each had the crab bisque, then split the lettuce cups with shrimp tempura and a margartia pizza.

Saturday morning bright and early at 8:30 am, I was back at The Nord for the Trend Show. Lots of trends to keep up with. One brand said do away with the eye brush curler, then told by another cosmetic company, to have a eye brush curler. Since Lisa and I are doing the Esther Bible Study on Tuesday nights, the theme of beauty treatments was a recurring one for us. I wish we would have counted how many times we heard that a product would change our lives. We would be transformed. I once heard someone say that if your faith is the substance of lotions, creams and ointments, it isn't faith, but merely hope. And nearly at everyone of these type of shows is the statement, it just takes minutes a day. Unfortunately, they are usually the first or last moments of the day and I can only think of waking up or going to sleep. Here are the trends, smokey eyes, that was a trend last year and matte foundation. Eyeliners and eyebrow gel is all the rage. My favorite part is then going down to the cosmetic area of the store with hundreds of my new best friends. I had prebought at Laura Mercier and I used my 15.00 off on Angel Innocent perfume set. Then I went clothes shopping and met back up with Lisa. We then went to Lupe's to meet CourtneyS and Moriah for lunch. After lunch, I came on home and rested from such an early morning.

When Roy got home later in the afternoon, we both conked out for a nap. Waking up refreshed, but not wanting to cook or eat out, we did the next best thing and got take out from Goode Company Bar B Que. We ate dinner and cheered on the LSU tigers to a close won victory over Auburn. OK, I can't sit that long and watch TV, so I changed out summer to winter clothes from deep storage in my closet. Cleaned out and made ready some blouses and t shirts I no longer wear for the Mission Training Center and hit the pillow around 11:00.

This morning was Capt. Wayne's last time on the radio. He is retiring to hunt and fish. You can read about him here. I slept through most of the program but I heard three things, Capt Benny won 100,00.00 this weekend at a fishing tournament, a woman called in and told Capt Wayne how much she enjoyed the program and she wasn't the least bit interested in fishing or hunting (I kind of thought maybe I was making the call in my sleep, but it wasn't me) and I heard Capt Wayne sign off for the last time.

So as you can see, I have had an outstanding weekend and tomorrow I am going back on my diet cause I was all over the place food wise. Each weekend I give myself little goals and my goal to clean off my desk was taken care of Thursday night. As good as the weekend has been, sometimes there is something that can try to rob me of my joy and I had that happen in a phone conversation with loved ones who would rather sit and worry over things that cannot be changed than to get out and do some living. They pride themselves on how they don't reveal a confidence or an opinion of situations, but they can't even see that they lie to themselves on this. It is their parenthesis comments that destroy and are so transparent. The need to control destroys most of their relationships and they are grasping for what little control they think maybe, just maybe, they can manuver. The opportunity is available for them to reconcile and rebuild with someone and they would rather complain and lament than to restore. They are like the invalid in John 5, when Jesus asked, "do you want to be well?" and the guy gave every excuse why he couldn't be well and they claim those same reasons. They probably think I am hard hearted and not caring over these situations where worry isn't going to do a thing or talking about it over and over and over, yet the end result never changes. It is frustrating to talk with them and see them finish out their days in frustration, mean spiritedness and without joy. There is still so much life left to be lived in God's love, peace and joy for them, He is waiting for them to partake.

My hope and trust is in the Lord and in Him do I put my confidence. I look to the Lord and am radiant, my face shall never be ashamed. I will bless the Lord at all times and His praise shall continually be on my lips.

Sorry this has been so long, but it all just had to be said.