40 Days

My church is doing the 40 Days of Purpose right now. I have to say I was intrigued by it when they did it at the church I grew up at back when it was really popular, but I was in college at the time and when they actually started going through it I happened to be studying abroad in Norway. I did get really excited when I saw a 40 Days of Purpose poster outside a church in Hamar, though!

So I was excited to hear my church was going to do the series. I also thought this might serve as a good time to reign in my sweet tooth, so while we go through the series I'm not eating any desserts. I figured 40 days is a good amount of time to let my body get used to less sugar, and this is an easy way to keep track of how long 40 days is. I have to say, a week in and it's really tough! I know the first week is the hardest and then I'll get used to it, but it seems like all I want is chocolate, cake, chocolate cake, cookies...I think I already would've broken down if it wasn't for Matt holding me to it.

Despite the not eating desserts, I've been enjoying the series so far. We're even hosting a mid-week small group for it, which is exciting as well. I really enjoyed our first meeting this week. It was fun to hang out with a couple of friends we've known for a little while and get to know a couple of new friends, too. Plus, in addition to our small group, we're going through the study with the youth - so Matt and I are going to know the material well!

Anyway, I'm excited to see where the rest of the 40 days go. On that note, I'm going to go eat a pear.

Another Year Older

I just had a birthday! The whole getting older thing isn't really a big deal to me, but it's fun to celebrate. I loved all the gifts Matt got me this year. On top of delicious goodies and expandable animals, he splurged and got me Firefly on DVD:

The shark (Schroeder) and octopus (Olivia) are already soaking and growing - I'm having so much fun with them! I'm also trying to ration myself on the sweets, and have been successful so far.


We were able to celebrate over the past couple nights, too - last night at Brewery City Pizza with some local friends and tonight with cake at our Life Group. There were a few very generous friends that gave me unexpected gifts as well - gift cards, flowers, cookies, candy, etc. It was so fun to spend time with friends, and overall a very good birthday!


This year's photo a day project has continued to go well (we're now on day 9). Here are a few of my recent favorites:

September 6, 2010

September 7, 2010

September 9, 2010

And this one wasn't one of my official "photo of the day"s, but I liked the way it came out:

Applebee's vs. Domino's

A few years ago I discovered my love for Applebee's Chocolate Lava Cake. Warm chocolate cake with hot fudge pouring out of the center...I still don't understand how anyone could not like it. It seems like since then all sorts of other restaurant have realized how popular lava cake is, so they began selling their own versions - none of which were up to par with Applebee's (I try them everywhere I go).

It just so happens that a few days ago we saw a TV ad for Domino's free lava cake when you purchase an order of Domino's BreadBowl Pasta. Matt and I had been talking about ordering pizza for dinner, and although I'm not much of a pasta person, I wanted that cake. Needless to say, for dinner that night we ate pizza, a pasta breadbowl and two lava cakes (Matt knows I have a really hard time sharing dessert). I have to say, this lava cake greatly exceeded my expectations. It was amazing. The cake part was a bit more crunchy than I anticipated, but it had a really nice flavor and it turns out I ended up liking the outside a little crunchy (crunch like a cookie, not like a cracker). The chocolate on the inside of the cake was rich, milky, and warm - even though it'd been sitting in its box until we were done with the more substantial part of dinner.

Applebee's, you've met your match. Not only did Domino's lava cake taste better, but it's about a third of the price, and you don't need to leave a tip (unless it's delivered). Yes, it's much smaller, but that's good. The smaller serving was much more reasonable for a person to eat on their own, and it left me wanting more instead of feeling sick to my stomach. Applebee's cake has been demoted to second favorite and Domino's now gets the distinction of finest lava cake in all the land (at least according to Emily). I kind of want another one now...