Christmas Show

When Mom came to visit in November, it just happened to be the Southern Women's Christmas Show. We had a lot of fun. We got our tickets early & on sale (thank you Harris Teeter). We left my apartment and we were in line to park before 10am. We walked in a bit after 10am and it was CROWDED (and Friday). We worked our way backwards and had a great time. We sampled wine and wine-a-ritas, bought ornaments and I now have a subscription for the paper to be delivered Fri, Sat & Sun for less than the Sunday paper itself...SCORE!

Mother and I conquered the Christmas Show and rewarded ourselves with a delightful lunch at Chick fil A!

Non Thanksgiving Thanksgiving

In the beginning of November, my mom came to visit for a few days. Since I was unable to go home for Thanksgiving, we decided to have "It's Not Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Dinner"
It was a lot of fun and we laughed A LOT!
Here is Mom carving the turkey breast (because really, we did NOT need an entire turkey!)

You'll notice the BEAUTIFUL card table I borrowed from A & J in May 2010 that I'm still using as a table. Well, I don't really ever use the table but it's nice to have. Since mother and I were having a "real" dinner which should not be enjoyed on the couch, I used the "chair in a bag" chairs as table chairs. Great idea until ya sit down and the chair is way shorter than the table. :)

Part of our feast! As soon as we sat down we realized we forgot the broccoli (thanks to steamfresh bags it was ready in under 5 minutes!)

We also had this AWESOME cake for dessert! Oh my stars it was AMAZING! It's called William Tell Apple Cake and you MUST make it! The icing on the top is divine! But with ingredients of butter and brown sugar it has to be good, right?!?!?!

Overall, "it's not thanksgiving thanksgiving" was a lot of fun. I'm thankful my mom spent 18 hours in a car to come visit for a few days and create new memories!

*since I'm writing/posting this in December, I'll let ya know that Santa brought me a BEAUTIFUL table & chairs for Christmas so now I have a lovely place to eat meals!*

Code Orange Christmas

Readers-

It's no secret. I LOVE my church! I mean I think about moving and I realize "Megan, if you move, you won't have Elevation" and then I realize how much my life has changed and how truly blessed I am to be surrounded by such awesome people and I come back to my world. :)

Now, anyone that attends Elevation will most likely tell you they love it, they are proud of it and they are involved but it's not for everyone. And that is definitely ok!!!! However, I wanted to share the link below. I wish it was the entire Worship Experience from beginning to end so that you could fully grasp the energy and excitement and message, but it's a few snippets and Pastor Steven's sermon and it really is just powerful. Even sitting at the computer I am PUMPED!

Code Orange Christmas @ Elevation Church

www.elevationexperience.com

I can't watch without crying. I can't think of the service I attended without getting teary eyed. It was powerful. It was awesome. It was just amazing!

I mean the Global Choir! That was AWESOME!

Code Orange Christmas:

6 locations

30 services

2182 people stood to their feet to profess Jesus as their savior!

Merry Christmas!

God is. God was. God will be with you!

Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone had a VERY Merry Christmas!

Only in Delaware...

Would you see random trailers on the side of the road selling the following...

and yes...that van decided the random trailer was a cruz thru!

Do you share the road with a tractor and go roughly 5-10mph on a 55mph road because the tractor is either leading the way or taking up both lanes....
*yes, this is a tractor made of haybales and painted to look like a John Deere but it's cool!


No picture yet, but we also have numerous yard sales along stretches of main and country roads because if it's an open space or the edge of a field, why wouldn't you unload your house/attic/garage/closet and sell what you can to passerby's?



Crazy. But it's home!

Beach!

I LOVE the beach!

And I LOVE the beach in October when it's empty. So peaceful. So fun.

I also LOVE going to the beach with my favorite people.....

My Mom

and my Grandparents!

Budding Author?

Our Eeggs and Chiks

Today one of our eggs hatched. When the chick came out, it was wet. But in awhile it was dry and all of the yoke was gone.

The chick ran all over the place.

When we left all the other eggs hatched. The End

Kindergarten Megan was rather observant! Ha! Apparently our teacher typed what we wanted to explain through art.

Kathy or is it Cathy?!

Meet Kathy/Cathy...
She was one of my favorite dolls growing up. She's fairly large and may need to wash her dress and brush her hair, but she's had a rough life recently. Poor Kathy/Cathy lived on my bed. She'd keep watch over my room and really enjoyed her life. However, a few years ago (maybe even a decade) she was moved to a higher elevation.....the attic. Poor girl. Only she wouldn't fit in a box, so mother tied a piece of yarn around her neck and hung her from the rafters so that any critters that ended up in the attic would not eat her. The care was there, in a twisted way. :) Kathy/Cathy has since been moved back to the main house and is doing much better. I enrolled her in therapy and mother has apologized profusely for how she treated her in the attic. Kathy/Cathy is back on speaking terms with mother and is grateful to no longer be hanging around....ha ha.
As for her name. Apparently I used to name my dolls after the people who gave them to me. I asked mother how Kathy/Cathy came about and was told that Chuck who worked at the printing company, his wife gave me the doll. So, there ya have it!

Kickin it Old School...

OH MY GOSH! Get the girls together....it's time to play
Dream Phone--Guess who likes you in this talking telephone game! ("Hi, I know who it is!")
The Babysitters Club Mystery Game
Let's Go Shopping-Race Through The Mall In Search for the PERFECT Outfit
Mall Madness-Talking Shopping Spree...yes please!
Precious Places....only the best doll house around!

Old School Lite Brite.....

Did I mention Mother cleaned out the attic before I came home? Oh the piles of "treasures"!!!

*no company has asked me to post my Old School entertainment. In fact, this is a post for Antique Roadshow, not companies-that-probably-no-longer-exist endorsements! Ahh, childhood! :)

Happiness is....

One would think that as children age it would be easier to take a picture together......apparently these adorable almost 3, 4.5 and 6 year old didn't get the memo.... :)

Growing Up

My oh my how they grow.......

Being Held Hostage

I'm a horrible blogger.
I'm so bad at blogging that I just informed my Mom (who constantly sends me e-mails or texts or leaves me voicemails counting the days since my last post, putting August 23 in the subject line and/or talking about single cheese) that I was going to delete my blog. Oh the horror! If I had a camera at the exact moment I told her this, the photo would win awards cause wow did she look like a sweet puppy from those ASPCA commercials! :)
Really, the 5 followers that I have have most likely forgotten that Grace Like Rain even exists! However, I'm home for a few days and there are things I want to do, but I'm being forced to sit at this computer desk and update my blog before I am allowed to go out and play. My 26 year old self feels like a 6 year old again being told I can't go play with my friends until I finish my homework or clean my room. Goodness!
Anyway, I don't have a reason for not blogging. I'm pretty into Twitter these days. Falling off the whole Facebook thing. I'm not against change, but I usually just read the updates on my phone but sometimes even that is "confusing" and forget logging into Facebook on a 'real' computer...that's just crazy talk!
Well blog world, hope you enjoyed this hostage post. I'm off to go sort through some boxes of "used to be treasures but have most likely transitioned to trash" that mother has been collecting in the attic/my room so that I can go out and play.
Happy Sunday!

Sweet Single Samples

The other day I stumbled across this display in the grocery store:

I realize it looks like a bunch of cheese but it's not! Maybe if you click the picture it will enlarge and you"ll be able to see that the shredded cheese is about a cup, the slice package is 4 slices I think and the cube packages are mini too. How smart! Great for cooking with smaller quantities and great if you just want to sample something!*

*Kraft does not endorse this post nor did they ask me to write it. I don't even know anyone at Kraft. I'm just excited about their smaller portions!

Day of Fun!

About a month ago, ABC and I had a "Day of Fun".

It was approximately a bajillion degrees outside but that didn't stop us!

We were going to have a pool day but even the pool was a few degrees below a bajillion and there wasn't a breeze so it was pretty miserable. We had a to do list and we conquered it and took pictures along the way. You're welcome! :)

Our first stop was Hob Lob. Oh how I love it so! We found these funny (and overpriced, hello 40% off coupon) items that we posed with....because apparently some people need an artichoke decorating their counters?!

We left Hob Lob and headed to Costco. The samples were pretty good that day. We were pleased. The receipt checker laughed when we asked her to take our pic because we were documenting our day of fun. I like the expression on the lady's face that's standing behind us...
We rewarded ourselves with a delish lunch at Cantina 1511 complete with guac! Loving the brand marketing with the coaster placement :)

We forgot to take a picture of our long, goose poop filled walk through Freedom Park. It was blazing hot and we joked that we sweated (making it a word for the purpose of this post) out a whole lotta chips and salsa!

The ultimate destination of the day......

MENCHIES fro yo! They have RED VELVET fro yo that's outta this world! And the toppings! Oh my the topping selection. If you live anywhere near a Menchies....you must check it out. You'll thank me later!

ABC left a few days after our Day of Fun for an over the pond excursion. She finally returns to the states on Monday and I am so excited!!!

June 22

"BW,

Does June 22 mean anything to you? In case you didn't know, it's the last time you updated your blog. :) Would be nice to read what's been going on.

Love,

Yo Momma"

There ya have it folks. The e-mail from the mother unit that I need to buy a ticket for the blog train! I am making it a goal this week to blog what's been going on in my life as well as a few events in the future. Hope everyone is well!

Yum!

Liberty Steakhouse & Brewery's Tommy's Texas Cheese Fries.

They were a happy hour half price apps staple senior year of college.

A bit over a month ago, I was in W-S and met my college roomie at Liberty and this was the only thing we ordered. SO GOOD! SO bad for you but SO GOOD! And the Ranch dressing...oh my stars!

I miss you dawg!

My Mom came to visit a bit over a month ago. While she was here, we were doing something and ended up watching the first round of the NFL Draft. We found it humorous that the gentleman drafted 12th to play for the New Orleans Saints, after listening to a letter his father wrote him, began to cry and say "I miss you dawg!" We weren't really sure what that was all about, and really, where's the respect when you refer to your parent as "dawg" (yes, it must be spelled dawg because that's what it sounded like, not dog) but apparently the draft picks father wrote the letter from jail.

Moving on!

It was so nice to have my Mom here! We pretty much just hung out by the pool, did a little shopping, ate dinner outside while listening to a concert, walked to Chick fil a for ice dream cones, went to church and had a cookout with some friends from eGroup. It was great! And, mother proudly told everyone that she has a lot of vacation days so I'm sure she'll be back soon for more fun!!! :)

Thanks for the ceiling fan & lots of laughs!!!

I miss you dawg! :)

Christen & Jimmy's Wedding!

On Sunday, May 29, 2011 at 6:00pm I had the honor of attending Christen & Jimmy's gorgeous, amazingly HOT outdoor wedding! :) Despite the heat, it was a BEAUTIFUL wedding! I am SO HAPPY for these two amazing people to begin their life together as one!

I really liked the lanterns that were hanging in the huge "shade" tree!

The cutest flower girl enjoying some jelly beans after placing the flowers down the aisle!

It was a beautiful, very hot, ceremony that lead to a cocktail party in the backyard and then the reception in the tent....with a candy bar!

I LOVED the decorations! It was so simple yet fun and elegant and just awesome! This was the first outdoor wedding I've attended and it was stunning!

I kind of want a big tree branch in my apartment to hang pictures off of now!

The cakes! The cake was soooo yummy!!!!!!!!

The bridesmaids serenaded Christen with "It's raining men" it was cute! Oh and the father daughter dance was the best father daughter dance I've seen in person!!!!! This was such a fun wedding!

Congratulations you two! I am SO excited to watch you start your life together! You are such a blessing!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

I'm back!

Hello no longer devote readers of "...grace like rain..."! :)

It's been a long time...almost 2 months since we last exchanged stories regarding this thing called life. My Mom must be really bored because she keeps mentioning that I haven't updated the old blog...or if I tell her a story about something I did/something that happened she tends to say it would make a great post. So, where have I been you may or may not ask?! Grab a sweet tea and get comfy because it's quite the story!

My last post was April 17, 2011. You can find it here if you haven't already read it Sunday Snapshot

April 17 was an intense day. I went to church that morning to help with an Orientation event, went to work as I was scheduled, had a little break in between and was headed back to church to greet for the evening service. As I was headed to church, I received an e-mail that I no longer had a job. Yep, via e-mail. It was rather devastating and out of the blue and the first thing I did (as I was walking up the sidewalk to the church doors) was start to sob silently. I was so hurt and blindsided. So, you can only imagine how powerful that Sunday sermon was for me. But if your entire world is going to turn upside down, the best place to be is in church, right?!

However, I woke up Monday morning with a sense of freedom and new life! I knew it was going to be an adjustment but I knew that God had a much better plan and that everything would be ok. Though unemployment is never fun, I got to really focus on areas of my life that I neglected because I worked anywhere from 45-75 hours a week and only had 1 day off a week, that day being Sunday. I used Monday as a day to not wake up to an alarm, a bajillion emails/texts/phone calls or run around for others like a chicken with my head cut off. Though I still woke up at 6:00am, it was nice to lay in bed for 5 minutes, eat breakfast and get back in bed just because for the first time ever, I could. While Monday was the first day that I really had nothing to do, it was the start of something great. It was the first day of the rest of my life!

Rather than put you to sleep with all of the details, from April 17-May 17 I did the following:
interview with an awesome company
pray
clean and organize my apartment
pray
be a part of a words will not do it justice 3D Easter Experience @ Elevation (my favorite being the 6:00 Sunday service, but the entire day/weekend was just amazing!)
pray
go out with friends!-this includes lunch, dinner, nightlife, movies...everything I hadn't done!
pray
spend 5 full days with my Mom
pray
volunteer at the church office
pray
listen to podcasts from Pastors Steven Furtick & Andy Stanley
pray
get my life in order
pray
really get to know those in my eGroup and benefit from what a family an eGroup really is
participate in the Race for the Cure again
just enjoy life

It was a long month but it was a great break. I've started a job that I love and I know it's only going to get better! I am blessed to have a fantastic church family, Godly friends and overall blessed to have a supportive family. I concentrated on new and existing relationships with friends and really got to know people because I had the time and my mind wasn't in 1,000 different directions. It was so great to form this friendships and bonds that I know I'll have for quite some time. Most of all, I know how blessed I am to have only been unemployed for an entire month and to have started a new career journey with promise and opportunity!

I thank you for reading this far! Now that I've got somewhat of a hang of things at my new job, I strive to blog more! I did post all of the Sunday Snapshots that I missed during my random blogging hiatus, so be sure to read those!

Happy Monday!

Thanks for reading!