I should take a second to praise my amazing husband for stepping up (even more than usual) as a great husband and a real gentleman this weekend.
We just got back from a wonderful weekend "staycation" in New Orleans with Michael's parents for my mother-in-law's birthday. We stayed in a hotel downtown and played all day (and part of the night) in the French Quarter. Cafe du Monde, Johnny's Poboys, Masperos, the French Market, Margaritaville, mass at St. Louis Cathedral... New Orleans really is a lot of fun to visit, even if you've grown up there! Feel free to notice that Bourbon Street did not make it on my list of happy memories from this trip. It's not that I feel uncomfortable walking down that street; it's that I feel so desperately sorry for so many "lost souls," figuratively (and sometimes technically) speaking.
So my praise begins. Michael absolutely blew me away with his thoughtfulness, attentiveness and protectiveness (if that's a word) all weekend. He constantly held my hand, steered me through crowds, and made sure I had a place to sit, something to drink, and as-often-as-needed bathroom stops. He even commented that I looked nice in a couple of my new maternity outfits. In short, he made me feel as comfortable, beloved and taken care of as I could possibly want. I never had to open a door or lift anything for myself. (He didn't even ask me to carry all kinds of things for him in my purse all day!)
Don't get me wrong, Michael is a rare gentleman and an attentive husband in general. However, something made him really step up his game this weekend in the chivalry department, and I loved it. I am guessing that my increasingly large and obviously pregnant body might have something to do with all of this...
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
New Fridge!
Miracles really do happen :)
When I opened the door to my new apartment this afternoon, I was quite immediately struck by the absence of a particular stench...Today, a new, stink-free refrigerator appeared in the apartment! Michael and I are pretty inordinantly excited about this new fridge (and me especially since we are due to have company for dinner tomorrow night).
You know, stinky fridges can be downright dangerous. In fact, one particularly gross fridge in California sickened no fewer than 28 people, and forced firefighters to evacuate the building.
May Michael and I always let such small joys make us feel so blessed.
When I opened the door to my new apartment this afternoon, I was quite immediately struck by the absence of a particular stench...Today, a new, stink-free refrigerator appeared in the apartment! Michael and I are pretty inordinantly excited about this new fridge (and me especially since we are due to have company for dinner tomorrow night).
You know, stinky fridges can be downright dangerous. In fact, one particularly gross fridge in California sickened no fewer than 28 people, and forced firefighters to evacuate the building.
May Michael and I always let such small joys make us feel so blessed.
Sacramento Diocese Asks Catholics to "Come Home"
If you didn't know this, I graduated from LSU in advertising, so I have a special interest in great advertising and marketing efforts.
I don't know how many of you have seen or heard of the "Catholics Come Home" TV campaign that ran in Phoenix, Ariz. last year, but it was and is truly phenomenal on many levels. The production and message are extremely well done, and nearly 900,000 Catholics returned to the Church in Phoenix by the end of this the campaign. Here is a link to one of the commercials.
Now, Sacramento is running the campaign in their diocese, and I am so excited to see what happens there!
For another example of a very good, very effective, positive message media campaign, check out what Majella did in Austin. I actually interviewed for a job with Majella when I first got to Houston, which is how I first heard of this group. A survey that followed the first 13-week media campaign Majella ran in Austin, Texas measured a five percentage point change towards a consistent pro-life position in a city where pro-choice has been the prevailing attitude. Calls to the 1-800 help number increased 93 percent following the first campaign there and rose to a 147 percent increase following the second campaign. The power of the media--put to good use!
Majella hopes to accomplish similar results in San Antonio, which happens to have the two counties with the highest abortion rates in the state of Texas. You can read more about what Majella is doing in San Antonio right now at http://www.satodayscatholic.com/062306_MajellaSociety.aspx.
I don't know how many of you have seen or heard of the "Catholics Come Home" TV campaign that ran in Phoenix, Ariz. last year, but it was and is truly phenomenal on many levels. The production and message are extremely well done, and nearly 900,000 Catholics returned to the Church in Phoenix by the end of this the campaign. Here is a link to one of the commercials.
Now, Sacramento is running the campaign in their diocese, and I am so excited to see what happens there!
For another example of a very good, very effective, positive message media campaign, check out what Majella did in Austin. I actually interviewed for a job with Majella when I first got to Houston, which is how I first heard of this group. A survey that followed the first 13-week media campaign Majella ran in Austin, Texas measured a five percentage point change towards a consistent pro-life position in a city where pro-choice has been the prevailing attitude. Calls to the 1-800 help number increased 93 percent following the first campaign there and rose to a 147 percent increase following the second campaign. The power of the media--put to good use!
Majella hopes to accomplish similar results in San Antonio, which happens to have the two counties with the highest abortion rates in the state of Texas. You can read more about what Majella is doing in San Antonio right now at http://www.satodayscatholic.com/062306_MajellaSociety.aspx.
Monday, August 24, 2009
New Homes, Stinky Refrigerators and Miracles
The new apartment is finally shaping up!
Michael and I spent Sunday evening finally getting things up on the walls, which, as any female knows, greatly helps matters when you are trying to make a home out of anything. The living room and the kitchen are starting to look downright cozy now!
Speaking of cozy, my new kitchen is excrutiatingly tiny rather than cozy. Without taking any measurements, I'd say it's a third the size of our previous apartment's kitchen, with maybe a fourth of the counter space. Well, thank you Dave Ramsey for helping us realize that a couple of poor newlyweds like us should really live a little more humbly for a little longer while we tackle our Debt Snowball with "gazelle intensity." :) OK, enough complaining.
Oh wait. Before I stop complaining, I have to mention the other trial we've endured in our new kitchen: the Stinky Fridge. We think that somebody left this refrigerator closed when they last unplugged it (that or they let something crawl in there and die a slow, chilly death). Michael has other descriptions for the smell with which I'd rather not grace the written word.
Since we moved in, I've gone to battle with this Stinky Fridge. And yes, I've tried baking soda, among other things. I've been on concoction #2 for a couple of days now, concoction #2 being a combination of 1/2 cup baking soda and 1-2 tablespoons of vanilla (multiplied per my addition to the recipe by about eight little open dishes of it all around the fridge), when a miracle actually happened today. My darling, darling husband happened to run into a visitor from our apartment's corporate office who was appalled to hear about our stinky fridge problem, especially once she heard that Michael's little wife was pregnant. "We're putting in another fridge for you tommorrow!" she and the leasing agent vowed.
I do hope we really get a new refrigerator tomorrow. I have complete faith that between the baking soda, charcoal, coffee ground and vinegar concoctions I had planned to try, something would have worked eventually, but having a stink-free refrigerator so soon really would help make this new apartment of ours a little more home-y.
Michael and I spent Sunday evening finally getting things up on the walls, which, as any female knows, greatly helps matters when you are trying to make a home out of anything. The living room and the kitchen are starting to look downright cozy now!
Speaking of cozy, my new kitchen is excrutiatingly tiny rather than cozy. Without taking any measurements, I'd say it's a third the size of our previous apartment's kitchen, with maybe a fourth of the counter space. Well, thank you Dave Ramsey for helping us realize that a couple of poor newlyweds like us should really live a little more humbly for a little longer while we tackle our Debt Snowball with "gazelle intensity." :) OK, enough complaining.
Oh wait. Before I stop complaining, I have to mention the other trial we've endured in our new kitchen: the Stinky Fridge. We think that somebody left this refrigerator closed when they last unplugged it (that or they let something crawl in there and die a slow, chilly death). Michael has other descriptions for the smell with which I'd rather not grace the written word.
Since we moved in, I've gone to battle with this Stinky Fridge. And yes, I've tried baking soda, among other things. I've been on concoction #2 for a couple of days now, concoction #2 being a combination of 1/2 cup baking soda and 1-2 tablespoons of vanilla (multiplied per my addition to the recipe by about eight little open dishes of it all around the fridge), when a miracle actually happened today. My darling, darling husband happened to run into a visitor from our apartment's corporate office who was appalled to hear about our stinky fridge problem, especially once she heard that Michael's little wife was pregnant. "We're putting in another fridge for you tommorrow!" she and the leasing agent vowed.
I do hope we really get a new refrigerator tomorrow. I have complete faith that between the baking soda, charcoal, coffee ground and vinegar concoctions I had planned to try, something would have worked eventually, but having a stink-free refrigerator so soon really would help make this new apartment of ours a little more home-y.
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