Company Girl Coffee 3/26/2010- SockMonkey Invasion!

Olá!! Meninas da Companhia! (Portugese for Hello! Company Girls! Can I just say that whoever told me Portugese was just like Spanish was SORELY mistaken! Well, come on in...I am actually NOT running out the door this morning, so perhaps you can stay for some tea and...wait for it....Triple Chocolate Fat Pants Cake....got your "fat pants" on? You'll need them AND and adrenaline injection to drag you out of the sugar coma that follows.  

Oh, man is this gluten free, vegan, and processed sugar free (don't get me wrong...there is a LOT of evaporated cane juice up in that mama), but Erin McKenna really out did herself with this one! This recipe is featured in her book, BabyCakes....and oh, wow...yummmmmm....Anyway, I would love to share a bit with you!


Let's see, why don't I catch you up on all the craziness?


Last week was my sister's wedding. We were so excited because the week leading up to her big day, weather was stunning! We are talking sunshine and 70 degrees! I actually wore flip flops and capri pants on FRIDAY! On Saturday, IT SNOWED! Welcome to Arkansas my friends, this is how it is! It didn't just snow a little bit....it snowed 12 inches! Insanity! They say rain on your wedding day is good luck...what about snow? Thankfully, we had talked her out of an outdoor wedding and the ceremony itself was unaffected...and absolutely beautiful.  There were so many wonderful moments and my baby sis looked so beautiful....I was so happy to be a part of that special day.  Hopefully, soon, I will share some photos with you!


ANYWAY, so I'm not sure if it was a combo of the three inch heels, the massive stress I put on myself the week before, or holding her EXTREMELY heavy dress up as my mom steamed the tulle, but I threw my back out! Seriously? Wow, laid up by high heels...not good. So I was on my back Sunday and Monday and am just today recovering full range of motion....thank goodness for my chiropractor who restored any motion at all on Monday...Needless to say, this week of spring break has not at all been what I expected.


Sunday is my big book launch party and I am super excited about it! Which reminds me...if you would like a book...all you gotta do is click on the button over there in the sidebar...be sure to fill out who you would like me to sign it to.


I am in full on fundraising mode for Inspired Girls Life and Leadership Camp and looking forward to the blessings that trip will bring to me and the girls. I can't wait. I am blown away by the outpouring of my friends and family. As a family of teachers, education is such an important part of our lives, to think that there are girls whose only obstacle is a $20 set of uniforms.  We can be the difference for them...we can change their lives! You can too! Just click the Donate button in the sidebar. I am about half way to my goal of $3500...  Every little bit helps! 


My Girls, I covet your prayers...I am seriously struggling with a speech I am writing for an event next week. Please pray that God gives me the words...and helps me supernaturally prepare for this event. 


OH...and now for the Sockmonkey reference! I am so excited...my Improv group (we're a fledgling comedy group), Sockmonkey, is having it's first annual weekend intensive this weekend...We have an experienced player from The Roving Imp in Kansas City coming down to put us through our paces and get us ready for our big Comedy debut (May 1). I am so excited about it I can't hardly wait!  If any of you is looking for an activity that pushes you as a person, forces you out of any semblance of comfort zone, and makes you laugh til your face hurts...you should give Improv a whirl! I love it!


What about you guys?  What's up in your world?

Life is Like a Hard Chair

(Myrtle this one’s for you!)

Sometimes life is like a hard chair. I don’t mean a hard chair that looks like a hard chair. I mean one that looks soft and cushy- inviting, cozy and beautiful. One that you want to sit in. One that matches all your décor and you can just imagine yourself taking home and curling up in to read a good book by the fireplace. One that you dream about owning and stop to look at in the display window when you pass by.

One with the price tag that is so far out of reach that you don’t even bother to go in and try it on for a fit.

How’s that like life? How many of us watch others live the life we think we want for ourselves? Do we see others living seemingly extraordinary existences and somehow seem to belittle our own? We press our faces up against the display window of other’s lives and think “the price tag is too steep, we could never have what others have, but wouldn’t it be fabulous if we did?”

We want the chair badly, dream about the chair, talk about what it would be like to have the chair, hope that friends and family would buy the chair as a gift for us. All we can think about is how perfect that chair in the window would be if we had it. How comfortable, how pretty, how luxurious.

You know the problem with the chair in the window? IT’S HARD.

I’m not talking a little uncomfortable, either….I mean make your butt feel like your sitting on a 2 X 4 hard. I mean prickly splinters in the tushy hard. I mean achy legs and back hard. It is not the cushy comfort that we expect. Some would say perhaps not worth the price tag hard.

The sad thing is not that the chair is hard and uncomfortable, because many of the things in this world that are really worth having are such. The fact that it is not what you expected does not make it not worth having. The sad thing is that you spend so much time lusting after what you think is an easier, more comfortable, cozier existence, only to be disappointed by the reality when you get there. And even worse than that, you miss out on the fact that your “regular, ole average”, your “ordinary” chair with all its lumps and broken springs, is unique and individual and has character. It is comforting and warm and inviting….and maybe most important, accessible to the one’s you love. It is beautiful and timeless and far from ordinary.

When we focus on what other’s have it only leads us to ignore the beauty we have in our own lives. That’s not to say that you should ever stop reaching beyond your comfort zone….for beyond that edge is where real personal growth occurs. Just don’t spend your waking hours desiring a chair you’ve never sat in….at the very least, walk through the door and sit down, try it out…or take the leap and take it home with you….if you decide it is what God really wants for you life, then go get it…

However, in the meantime, grab a good book, light a fire in the fireplace, lovingly and thankfully pat that sturdy chair that you do have on the armrest…and….have a seat!