Holy Engagements Batman!

So we've had some good news over the last few weeks. Two of our friends have gotten engaged. Andre's friend Mike, and my friend Lindsay. Both have decided to take the leap with their respective mates and get married. Looks like we'll have two weddings over the next year or so, and both will be in the cooler weather.

Mike and his fiance Lisa have set a date for March 2009, and Lindsay and Greg have set a date for January 2010.

I think we were a little surprised to hear of Mike's engagement being his nickname in the group was "Hugh" (as in Hefner). Mike had a reputation as being quite the ladies man, so here's hoping that Lisa has managed to convert him into the dutiful husband. Then there's the matter of where they're going to live as he lives and works in Bermuda, and she works and lives in Australia. Should be interesting.

Lindsay and I got together just this past Thursday for dinner and I finally got to hear all the details of Lindsay and Greg's engagement and how their wedding planning had been going. Apparently her in laws to be have decided that they should in no way be responsible for any part of the wedding, and that it is the bride's families responsibility to pay for everything. And they made that opinion made by e-mailing their opinion to both Lindsay and Greg, as well as Lindsay's mother. Yeah, they're crazy. The best part is when they called Lindsay's mother to ask why her ex husband was only inviting 11 people because of budget constraints. Who does this?!!

I'm so thankful Andre and I avoided that problem all together by just paying for our wedding ourselves. Our parents contributed, but it was because they wanted to, not because we made them.

I had an awkward moment with Lindsay too when we went out for dinner just this past Thursday. The most fun moment when a friend gets engaged is when you get to see your girlfriend's engagement ring for the first time. Who doesn't love showing it off?! Well we sat down at the restaurant and then I asked for the hand so she could show off her bling.

Hmmm, well it was small, like really small. Not we opted for a flawless diamond, and this is what we ended up with, but just small. And it was yellow gold. She only wears white gold. It seemed like she had been trying to hide it while we were out, so I asked her about the setting to distract from the diamond. It was set with her birthstones on either side, so it was a nice setting.

Then she asked to see my rings. The first thing she says is "holy crap Jenna, your ring is huge!" (it's not) How do you respond to that? So I told her that it only looks big because I have six prongs so it makes it look bigger. (which is true). Then she asks me how big the stone is (kill me now). I tell her, and she's like "yeah, I think mine is what they call a diamond particle." I immediately changed the subject to something else.

I think I'm going to skip the whole looking at the engagement ring next time.

My Mission of Organization

I don't know why but I have been on a mission to organize this weekend. It all started with the pile of clothes on the chair in the bedroom. This is my pile during the week. The clothes that get taken off at the end of the day that aren't dirty usually get thrown on this chair until I get around to putting them away. This usually doesn't happen until the end of the week.

So on my break Thursday afternoon I decided they had to be put away. That inevitably lead to having to go through all the clothes in my drawers because I had not only most of my fall clothes out, but also all of my summer clothes. So after some ruthless purging all the summer stuff was in a pile to be put into storage for the winter and another pile was set aside to go to Goodwill.

I wasn't done there though. One of Andre's best qualities is that he is very organized (for the most part). This is also one of his biggest faults because he likes to keep all the packaging for everything that we buy! This drives me MENTAL! So while we were at Zellers picking up plastic storage bins I broke the news to him that we were going to go through all the boxes he had kept and the contents were being labelled and packed into a little storage bin and the boxes were going to be recycled.

(note: by saying "we" were going to do this, it really means me ;o)

So the end result was all of these boxes being sent into the recycling bin:

And the contents of all those boxes being packed up and put away for safe keeping in our handy dandy little tote:
Now whenever we have to look for a manual or need the software for something it is labelled and safely packed away.

Famous Cookies

I'm going to temporarily jump on the Food Blog Bandwagon and post the recipe for some cookies I just made today. It's the second time I have made them and they are so delish. The recipe is from: Company's Coming: Cookie Jar Classics.

Famous Cookies

3/4 cup Hard Margarine (or butter), softened

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup Granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups Quick-cooking rolled oats, processed in blender for 10-15 seconds

1 cup All purpose flour

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Salt

1 cup Semi-sweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup chopped pecans

2 Sweet chocolate baking squares (1 oz., 28g, each) grated

Cream first 3 ingredients in large bowl. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla. Beat until smooth.

Combine next 5 ingredients in medium bowl. Add to margarine mixture in 2 additions, mixing well after each addition until no dry flour remains.

Add remaining 3 ingredients. Mix well. Roll into 1 1/4 inch (3cm) balls. Arrange about 2 inches (5cm) apart on greased cookie sheets. Bake in 375 F oven for about 10 minutes until edges are golden. Let stand on cookie sheets for 5 minutes. Remove cookies from cookie sheets and place on wire racks to cool.

Makes about 60 cookies.

*Notes: Since Andre is allergic to all tree nuts, I substituted 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips instead of pecans.

For the grated chocolate I use 2 oz of Victorian Epicure chocolate (it comes already grated).

I don't know how they say this makes 60 cookies, I only end up with about 3 dozen. Maybe mine are bigger?

Let's talk about Faith

I have such interesting conversations with clients. I talk about sex, husbands, housework, stress, depression, you name it, I've probably talked about it with someone at one point in my career. Even the two taboo subjects (politics and religion) I have talked about with my clients. Now these are two of the subjects that I won't even talk about with some of my closest friends, well especially since my best friend is an agnostic.

I have the most amazing conversations about religion with my clients. Now I'm pretty open about my faith. I mean, someone would only have to look as far as the cross that hangs around my neck 99% of the time to know that I am a person of faith. If someone asks me about anything regarding religion or faith I will answer and speak openly. I will answer (just about) any question that someone asks, but I don't like to push my opinions and beliefs on others (although people have tried to do that to me).

Just yesterday I was talking to one of my clients about the owner of the chiropractic office that I work at. We were discussing how she is always happy, always has a smile, or hug for her patients, and just exudes enthusiasm the entire time at the office. We were joking about how we just don't know how she does it for 12 hours a day without the help of well alcohol, or pharmaceuticals! Then my clients mentioned that her (the chiro's) faith shows through in everything that she does.

Then we started talking about people that we've met, and how their faith just amazes us sometimes. How it's almost as if every word, every action that they do during the day is just a display of their faith, their thankfulness for everything God has given them. It makes me think of my own life, my own actions. Do I do the best I can everyday to live as a person of faith? How can I improve this?

"Faith is the light that guides you through the darkness."

~- M. Eckhart

Awkward Meeting

After practicing as long as I have (9 years). I've met a lot of people. Hundreds of people even. Occasionally while out and about I will run into them. Hell, while picking up a few things at the grocery store last Friday afternoon I ran into three! I've learned over the years to wait until the client makes eye contact in case they feel uncomfortable, whatever. People are strange sometimes. Usually people give a smile, the usual "hello, how are you?" sort of thing.

Just the other week I was weeding out some of my inactive files and I was wondering about a few of my clients that haven't been in for awhile. Wondering if they were okay, etc, etc. I was out grocery shopping with Andre on a break this afternoon and he was loading the groceries while I ran into Shoppers Drugmart for a few things. There in the nail care aisle was one of those clients.

She noticed me and smiled and asked how I was, but it was like she was trying to walk out of the aisle as fast as she could while still trying to be polite. The whole time trying to make small talk, she was walking backwards out of there. Now I'm not offended when people stop coming to see me. It happens.

I almost feel like wearing a sign while I'm out just in case I run into an old client. It would read: Don't worry, I'm not going to ask why you haven't been in, it's okay!