X is for X-Cellence!

With so many events in my future I was going to write about Xcellence in young men like Nick who will graduate in twelve days. He will run his final two track meets Saturday the 5th of May and Wedesday the 9th of May! He has been off his time a bit but in my opinion he is Xcellent! He runs in an x-cellent manner, his grades were x-cellent enough to get into a variety of colleges yet he chose a small two year school where he can run and not have to go into debt to do it! They are giving him an x-cellent scholarship! We will be sad, he will be eight hours away from us but we will use our airline miles by visiting him and watching him run as many times as we can during the 2012-13 season of cross country and track season!

I feel x-cellent! Today, May 3rd, is my twenty eighth wedding anniversary! I have passed through many wonderful years with my sweet hubby at my side. We have raised up some x-cellent kids!
I felt sad today too! My best feline pal Boots went to the Rainbow Bridge and left me lonely March 16, 2012. But had he lived I would have celebrated his x-cellent life! He would have been fourteen today! It was an x-cellent  present for my married life!

I wish I could share a photo with you of Vance! He is the sweetest four month old little fellow I met today. His mom is one of our vendors. She had Vance on Christmas Eve 2011. He was born with a non x-cellent leg! His left leg is a small thigh with his perfectly x-cellent foot and five sweet tiny toes attached! He has a club foot on his right foot and that will eventually be x-cellently corrected! If you met this sweet baby boy you would never know there was any problem with him. He is beautiful and I promised his mom I would give all of you an x-cellent idea to pray for this fellow. He is going to have a second opinion at the Shriner's Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Today is the National Day of Pray and I thought mentioning my new friend Vance to you would round out my x-cellence post!

Now share some of the x-cellent things in your life with me! Stop by Ms. Jenny's and join us at Alphabe Thursday. It will be an x-cellent time!

Blue Monday

I promised more fun so enjoy my blues today! My nephew Sean made his first holy communion last Sunday at his parish in Longmont, Colorado. The service was beautiful and the little ones looked so sweet. I am sharing Sean in his beautiful navy blue suit!

Here is the pretty cake his mom Holly had made especially for him:

See all the lovely blue trim? It was so D E L I C I O U S ! She had it made at a new bakery and the cake was wonderful and decorated so sweetly!

I still have my first communion prayer book. I made my first holy communion on April 29, 1962:

I do have a black and white photo too  with me being so pious and holy. I actually do remember this moment quite specifically. It was a wonderful moment to share with the Lord. I felt He was only watching over me at that moment. I remember my folks gave me a little faux fur wrap and I wore that thing everywhere. I still have my group photo too. It brings back lots of wonderful memories. I knew those kids my entire school life.  I will have to do a black and white photo day and share some childhood photos with you soon.

I hope you visit Sweet Smiling Sally and all the other blue participates this week. Have a beautiful blue Monday!

Love is....

I have written a few wellness posts this week so I wanted to change the pace and go with something fun! Although I am unsure if I would attempt this trick I think this Love is...points out the obvious. We all need to spend our lives with someone who will care for us, stay at our side in good times and bad and never let go of our heart! Please let Marydon know you love the love is...meme and come join us please! It is so mch fun to see what everyone posts!

I thought I would share a bit of fun today and tomorrow!

Last Sunday my nephew Sean made his first communion at his church in Longmont, Colorado. We drove up there to attend the Mass and my niece Holly had a nice dinner at their house afterwards. I was sitting the closest to the end of the pew. Holding seats (haha) for late comers including my oldest daughter Noelle and grandson Colton. They went around the other side and sat at the opposite end! Which left me with my nieces in-laws! They were like two little kids!Non stop talking in church! They are non believers and I had to pray that I would not lose my cool in church! LOL! I was thinking, if the two of you just sit still and be quiet you would hear what is going on! I personally like attending churches that have different services and I enjoy watching and listening what is going on! I am grateful the Lord kept whispering Shh....to me to sit still and listen. He really puts me in the most awkward situations. I think I am learning new lessons. The photo from the church website is a beautiful garden surrounding the church. John the Baptist, who was the cousin of Christ, is my second favorite biblical person next to the Lord Himself! John's faith never wavered. He let go and let God guide him!

I have not visited with the Spiritual Sunday crew for quite some time.  The blogger pest won't let me link but catch us on Facebook too at Spiritual Sunday's! Charlotte has been such a doll and she always accepts my prayer requests for the prayer blog.Today I want to share a favorite verse:

"I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13

PRETTY IN PINK

I was writing a wellness post earlier this week and I decided to checkout some work out clothing for the ultimate wellness program!

In honor of Pink Saturday I thought you would all like this "Love Pink" hoodie! So here is a google image to share along with lots of great pink images to add to my healthy workout collection:

Lots of pink styling here to add to a bunch of other colorful choices!

Even a pink exercise ball!

With a pink gym bag and those sweet Nike training shoes you will be ready to have your healthy workout and have some room for a perfect pink treat:

A strawberry pink protein shake!

Don't forget to visit Beverly and wish her well today and thank her for sharing "pink" with us each week! Please don't forget your pink water bottle!

"W" is for Wellness

I feel like a bear!

Hibernating all winter long! Now I need to get up and get outdoors and get lots of exercise!

Why can't any of these commercials show real people? They never show anyone who truly wants to lose a few lbs. They have super model and celebrity bodies showing you how to get rid of that unsightly fat! LOL!

I have to admit, Richard Simmons really worked out with "real" people! He inspired me but not as much as

Jack LaLanne! He was the ultimate "godfather" of fitness. His wellness techniques allowed him to live a very long life. He passed away at the age of 96!

Instead of wishing for a healthier lifestyle I am going to start on one this summer.. With Nick heading off to college in Kansas we will be  traveling a lot. So burning off a few pounds and feeling stronger will be a great benefit.

We juice a lot and we have, a Jack LaLanne juicer as well as a Montel Williams Living Well system. We have purple cabbage, carrots  and parsley once a week in juice form. There are lots of great benefits to juicing. Parsley has such a high concentration of vitamins you can not drink too much of it! We have no more than 2 tablespoons of it!

I hope you visit Ms. Jenny and share your favorite "W" today! All the Alphabe Thursday participates welcome your visits.

Love is.....

I always have loved Eskimo kissing! It is so sweet. I had to share this with you today.
Please stop by and visit Marydon so you can share your favorite Love is...too!

Here is a bit of Blue Monday

 

Baked Alaska Recipe

Ice cream is really a traditional Italian treat. Squeezed between homemade sponge cake and a fluffy meringue topping, it turns into a fantastic British dessert: Baked Alaska.
Sponge cake smothered with ice cream and topped with a layer of meringue – baked Alaska is 1 of those retro puddings that everyone loves, even if it’s not chic to say so. But now it’s coming back into fashion – even Michelin starred chef Heston Blumenthal has a recipe for baked Alaska, though he does serve his on dry ice for added drama. It is not the simplest dish to make, but is well worth the effort. This recipe, for a chocolate baked Alaska, which appears here with permission, comes from Masterchef presenter Gregg Wallace’s cookbook Gregg’s Favourite Puddings (Octopus £17.99). Gregg uses chocolate ice cream to give a twist to this traditional pudding – should you can get hold of some very good high quality Italian ice cream it will make the dish even a lot more delicious.
Ingredients (serves 10)
For the Sponge:
* 50g (2oz) unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
* 50g (2oz) caster sugar
* 1 egg
* 40g (1 ½ oz) self-raising flour
* 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
* 15g (½oz) cocoa powder
* 2 tablespoons coffee flavoured liqueur
For the Topping:
* 1 litre (1 ¾ pint) round tub chocolate ice cream
* 250g (8oz) plain chocolate, broken into pieces
* 75g (3oz) unsalted butter
* 4 egg whites
* 250g (8oz) caster sugar

I was thinking of this wonderful desert my mother use to serve when I was a kid. Then I found some perfect blues:

 A crisp blue shot of Alaska.

A map showing Alaska in pretty blue.

Now stop by the Blues today and share your favorites with us.

Special request: Please pray for Hannah (at jury duty). Juan who was unfairly treated and in a serious situation at school. Pray for the family of Tony, a sophomore at Nick's school. Unsure how his young life ended and  what happened. Pray for his family. Such a tremendous and very unbelievably sad situation. Thank you. Pass it on please.

A Sad Pink Saturday

 A sad share today. Yesterday was the 17th anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing.

I read that in 2004 the Oklahoma Rose was added to their state flower. I just hope we never forget. 168 lives cut short , their memory intact in the hearts and minds of those who loved them.

Today the 13th anniversary of  Columbine High School. Thirteen lives gone but not forgotten. Leaving loved ones without their smiles, their lives forever changed.

The white peace rose. A hopeful symbol to stop the bullying. Today a beautiful Spring day and then my son's high school sent an email. A young man's life cut short, possibly self inflicted. Kids saying he was quiet, he was bullied . I have seen no great change since Oklahoma City, since Columbine. A sad world we live in. Be politically correct. Don't pray, be hateful. Be cruel. Television endorses hateful behavior. Yet no one can ever stop the bullying.

If you are not being bullied all I would say - cause I like to talk about the other side of it as well - is you know, be someone that nurtures, and if there's someone in your class that maybe doesn't have a lot of friends, be the person that sits with them in the cafeteria sometimes; be the bigger person.
Lady Gaga

I really had to write this today. I hope none of you will ever forget. Let me thank Beverly because she does a wonderful job of keeping us in the pink loop each weekend. I hope you will visit some pinkies today.