weekend in instagrams + contentment

don't these photos just scream summer? they make me happy. these are all related to my new favorite place, to which i am already looking forward to going back to this saturday -- Eastern Market in Detroit. 

1 | beautiful flats being sold for dirt cheap 2 | a gorgeous bouquet my friend picked up. sadly, i had already ran out of cash at that point. maybe this weekend! 3 | a beautiful little succulent i picked up for only $1.25!! they had such a beautiful selection.. and a large pot of them for $7! i couldn't believe it, it was gorgeous. 4 | caprese salad i made upon my return with tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil and a garlic & herb olive oil dressing, all from the market!! 

i'm finding that my grocery list is dwindling thanks to this wonderful place. this weekend, i hope to pick up some fresh meat too. it feels so.good. to be supporting local farmers and businesses and getting the freshest produce possible (until my little garden starts growing edible things!). it aligns so perfectly with my new healthy ways, which i will be sharing more about soon. 

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hope you are all having a great start to the week! mine started off rough (as those who follow me on twitter may know), but thanks to your prayers, encouragement from my hubby and parents, and some time reflecting and talking to the One who gave me life, i am feeling 110% better. i am reminded that God is always in control (how do i so often forget his faithfulness) and that my contentment should never be controlled by my circumstances (i.e. finances in this case), but in my identity in Christ. can i get an amen?

Working from Home

So this is the very first time that I am updating my blog from home. Remember I used to keep up with this thing at work? Wellll, that's no longer possible. The company I worked for was dropped by Chrysler, and the following day, they closed their doors. There is a whole lot more to it then that and it all makes me rather upset, but I'll leave it at that. Sign of the times... So now I once again join the 10% of my fellow Michiganders who are without work. Yippee! I am praying that I find a job much, MUCH quicker than the last time around. Otherwise, Joel and I will be moving all of our stuff in to my parent's basement (and miss out on our $1,000 deposit). My eents-weentsy unemployment check is NOT going to cut it.

Right now I'm at peace with the situation and know that God has something better in store for me. Something that won't get me home after midnight and disallow me from spending dinnertime with my hubbs. I actually already had a semi-interview earlier this week at Campbell-Ewald, so right now I am banking on that because I have no other leads at the time (and I don't need to tell you there are very few jobs to choose from right now). I can foresee a total FREAK OUT if that job doesn't work out... So please pray for me/us!!

Joel's spring break was this week, and though we were both busy with our own things, him working on his PhD app, me applying for jobs, interviewing, babysitting and CLEANING like crazy, we still got to see a heck of a lot more of each other than we are used to and that was a wonderful thing. Goodnight House played a show in Toledo on Thursday night, which made for a very enjoyable time. It was quite exciting to have people in the crowd who had never heard us actually cheer for us. They made it very apparent that they enjoyed us :)

P.S. - If you haven't heard our music, you can check us out at myspace.com/goodnighthousemusic. You can also buy our music on itunes or cdbaby.com if you like what you hear :)

Sorry, just couldn't pass up a plug there.


In the meantime, during my short hiatus from full-time work, I need to start expanding my Etsy shop. I have yet to make any new earrings since my job went bye-bye, but that is going to change TODAY. Something else that is going to change today is my hairstyle. Bad hair day after bad hair day has led me to the decision to CHOP it. It's going to be transformed in just a few hours. Hopefully that will fix the bad hair day problem. I'll have to post a picture later today (as long as it's to my liking).

I'm going to leave you with a delicious, yet inexpensive recipe that has recently become a staple in our household. It is comforting and oh-so-delicious.


Baked Gnocchi
Adapted from Everyday Pasta by Giada de Laurentiis (my fave)
Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

1 package potato gnocchi
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups skim or low fat milk
1/2 cup reduced sodium chicken (or veggie) broth
1/8 cup all purpose flour (I used whole wheat as usual)
pinch of salt
freshly ground pepper
pinch of grated nutmeg
5 ounces baby spinach
1 1/2 ounces fresh goat cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place gnocchi in a lightly greased 8 x 8 inch baking dish and set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan, whisk together cream, milk, broth, and flour over medium heat. Continue whisking until the sauce is simmering and thickened, about 5 minutes.

3. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg, and stir to combine. Add spinach and toss to coat in the cream. Pour the cream and spinach mixture over the gnocchi evenly, spreading the spinach out to cover all the potato dumplings.

4. Crumble goat cheese over the spinach. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake until the top is golden in places, about 30 minutes.


It is creamy and rich. I leave out the spinach, not by choice, but because my picky hubby thinks it's gross (along with the majority of vegetables), but it is still exquisite. Normally, I'd have a pic for you, but I discovered my camera's battery was dead as I attempted to capture the deliciousness in photo. Next recipe will definitely include one.

blessings.

i seem to keep coming back to the same message in Scripture. the last time i wrote about it (post #1), it came out of Matthew. this time, it came out of Luke. Luke 11:9-10, to be precise:

”So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."

i knew it was by no accident that i stumbled upon this passage again, so i paused and pondered over it for a bit and asked God to reveal to me a specific area in my life that i need to be bringing to Him in prayer. and it was quickly apparent to me:

finances.

the terrifying 'f' word. something i often worry about and, moreover, feel completely helpless about. i realized that i have not at all been giving it to God. (Hellooooo.) i need to TRUST and have faith that God will provide for us, that he won't leave us hanging by a thread. this is no easy task, of course. it is SO hard to let go of financial worries. so i spent some time in prayer. this was just last week, and God has already responded in obvious ways. namely, i was asked today by my supervisor at work if i could work this thursday, which is typically my day off, because she is taking the day off, and there are only a few people in our department. heck yes, i'll work! adding to that, i have made four sales on Etsy in just the past few days :) i am reminded that God always responds to our needs, if we only ask Him. i am reminded of His faithfulness. i don't know how i forget these things, but i do. frequently. it is so easy to miss the ways God blesses us if we are not in tune with Him.


• • • • •

A quick glance at the past few days:

My wonderful mom-in-law, Connie, and bro-in-law, Gavin, stayed with us Friday and Saturday night :) I believe it was the first time Connie had been to our house since we got married. We had a fun, relaxing time. I made a special belated birthday dinner and dessert for Connie. It felt really good to serve her because she is always the one serving others. You could definitely tell she wasn't used to it. She kept asking if she could help and saying she felt bad for not helping. But I convinced her to remain seated and enjoy her book (for the most part. She couldn't quite keep herself from helping out with some post-dinner cleaning :))

Maggs is finally cone-free. And thanks to the warming temperatures, his daily walks have returned. And he is pumped. Realllly pumped. Pulling me on the leash, out-of-breath, sounds-like-he's-going-to-pass-out pumped. I realized that some serious leash training is in order. I'm hoping Joel is better equipped for this than I am. (I have no idea what I'm doing).

And, of course, I cannot end this post without a picture of food.



Chicken Tzimmers with Butternut Squash -- a meal traditionally served during the Jewish New Year :) Random, I know. I just love trying new recipes all the time. I don't imagine that I'll ever have a standard rotation of meals -- you know, meatloaf on Mondays, spaghetti on Tuesdays, hamburgers on Wednesdays, beef stroganoff () in Thursdays... Not gonna happen. I just gotta mix it up.

Space Cadet

So today was a pretty typical day in the life of Megan...

Just after I had locked and closed the door to my house, intending to make a trip to the grocery store, I looked down at my key chain to realize that my house key was not there NOR was my purse on my shoulder, which meant I was locked out of my house without a means of calling Joel to rescue me. I ran around to the back door (thank God I had my boots on) in hopes that it would be unlocked, but, alas, I always keep that door locked. In fact, I always keep both doors locked when I'm home alone. Now what? It certainly wasn't the kind of weather where I could go for a leisurely stroll around the neighborhood while awaiting my husband's return. I could still go shopping, but could only browse and that would be torturous.

So I should probably explain why I wouldn't have my house key with the rest of my keys. Well, basically it was my dear hubby Joel's fault :) (Isn't it great when you can place the blame elsewhere?) Yesterday when he left to work, he left his key in the house. He did not realize this until he returned home that evening, at which time I was still at work. So he drove to our friends Zack and Maggie's house, used their cell phone to call me, and we decided he would come pick me up and we'd go to dinner, and I would give him his key. Well we did the dinner part, but forgot about the key part. And neither of us realized this mishap until he once again returned home and once again was locked out. WOW. So he had to once again go to Zack & Maggie's house, call me, and come for the original intended reason, the freaking key.

So yea, you could say we are two of a kind.. at least in the area of absent-mindedness, which does not so much work to our advantage.

Anyway, back to my dilemma. I looked across the street to Martha's house and knew that she was the obvious answer to my dilemma. She is one of the only neighbors that I have any communication with and, being retired (she is probably in her early 70s), I knew there was a good chance she'd be home. I knocked on her door, heard her little Maltese Mariah start to bark if you can call it that, but heard no movement. Please, please, please be home... IT'S COLD OUT HERE!!! An instant later, there she was at the door. "Oh, hi Megan! Come on in!" She seemed so pleased to see me. She let me use her phone, and Joel said he'd head right home (he was helping out at the church), but it would be about 40 minutes. Great, I thought. And my mind ran through all of the things I was planning on accomplishing during that time span.

But instead I had a lovely talk with my neighbor whom I normally give a passing 'hello' to. She gushed about her kids and grandkids. We talked about our extravagant love for our doggies, and she told me she can even tell what Mariah is thinking by the looks she gives her... I only hope to achieve that level of communication with Maggs one day :) I really enjoyed spending time with her and learning a little more about her life. Before I knew it, Joel was pulling into our driveway and our house was now accessible. I thanked Martha for her kindness and returned home to my hubby.

Joel later informed me that he called my cell phone just before I called him from Martha's house -- which must have been just after I locked myself out of the house -- to tell me not to worry about making lunch because the church was going to order some food. THAT was the reason I was leaving in the first place -- to get a couple of things to make a yummy pizza that I'd promised Joel I'd make. What timing.

Now that I think about it, though, I sense this timing that seems just a little bit off to me was really right on. I think God knew that Martha could use some company. I am sure Mariah is great to have around, but as Martha had said, "If only she could talk.."

I am reminded that rather than being so obsessed/one-track-minded with my schedule and getting everything on my to-do list (which exists only in my mind - I am not that organized) done, I need to get outside of myself and allow room for the Holy Spirit to work in me to turn the focus away from myself and potentially brighten someone else's day. That is what gives life its sweetness :)


• • • •
Apparently, I write really long blogs. I must work on being more concise! But before I go, I just have to tell you about the delicious pizza I made (I think God also intended for this to happen): homemade pesto sauce, marinara sauce, mozzarella and asiago cheeses, prosciutto and fresh basil. Umm, yummm. You should try it ;)

Is this thing on?

Testing, 1, 2, 3. 

I think I'm on... It feels a bit weird to be doing this whole blogging thing again. It hasn't happened since the good-ole' Livejournal days, where my posts consisted mostly of song lyrics and "deep thoughts." But I have moved on from that pretentiousness, and will now be simply talking about every-day life happenings, at least that is my intention for now. Anyway, enough prefacing, let's get on with the damned thing.

I have always had in me an intense desire to CREATE, but have not been creating in any form for a very long time. Not even writing!! Perhaps this is why I have felt a little bit off, not quite myself. I'm determined to start now. I've already started setting up a shop on etsy, a fabulous, one-of-a-kind website where you can buy & sell all sorts of handmade goodies. I am starting off with earring-making, figured I can't go wrong with that. And, well, of course, I adore earrings. From there, I am thinking handmade felt creations of all types and sizes because I am really into felt lately. And who knows what else - the sky is the limit, as they say. Hopefully, my shop will be up and running within the next couple of weeks :)

That is what's on my mind most right now - I am really eager to start creating again. Other than that, I have been pretty frustrated lately with my funky work schedule and how it makes Joel and I's time together very minimal. On a typical week day, I just see him in passing and don't get any real time with him. We never get to have dinner together, go on dates or just relax together (with the exception of weekends, well, most) and this is very hard for me. I need a regular, consistent dose of Joel in my life.  To add to this crappy-ness, the insurance rates at my work just doubled, meaning I can't even afford insurance for myself, let alone Joel. Meaning the both of us will continue to go without health insurance. My intention wasn't to complain here, I swear... got a little carried away... what I was getting to is that I was reading Scripture last night (I'm FINALLY getting into the routine of reading regularly again & it feels SO good), and I came upon the following passage from Matthew 7:

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."

And I realized that rather than COMPLAINING and moping all the time about the situation, I should be asking God to change it!! Hello!! So now I need to work on having FAITH that God CAN send a new job my way despite the horrific economy, or improve our situation one way or another, keeping in mind that he wants what is best for me. All I have to do is ask!!

Well I fear that if this post gets any longer, I will lose readers. I should be back tomorrow :) This feels kinda nice.