The awesomeness of piecing together all the edges and corners of a puzzle.
Cuddling under a blanket watching the rain fall outside your window.
Toast with Peanut butter and honey.
Watching babies giggle/laugh…nothing short of pure joy.
How about catching the eye of an elderly person and smiling?
Big breakfasts at home on lazy Saturday mornings.
Long runs when all feels right with your body and you’re thankful to be healthy enough to run and use every muscle given by God.
Smelling lilacs through the windows in April and May
Ice cold, refreshing water straight from the tap.
Kind people.
Happy children.
People with passion and fire inside of them.
Music for the mood of the day.
Books that make me laugh out loud.
Computers without viruses
Instant Messenger/Skype/face-time
Handwritten notes
So…What’s your bliss?

This spring, here I am thinking I really want to ride when suddenly out of the blue we get an unexpected chance to ride in Santa Fe. Well, what was supposed to be an easy 6 mile ride ended up being a 31 mile ride complete with hills, valleys, country roads, highway frontage roads and amazing views filled with lots of prayer(Dear God, please help me get up this hill and not die) and deep breathing.

Know what I learned about myself? I learned that I hate to give up and I hate feeling like a failure. I also learned that my expectations of myself are ridiculously high.  Oh and one other thing…I pray and I pray a lot when I am faced with difficult situations. Especially situations where I question the stuff  I’m made of.

Thankfully God answered my prayers that day and I didn’t die. I made it up the hill. I was probably going slower than any other human being has gone up that hill, but you know what? It didn’t matter because I was back on a bicycle and learning to ride it in a way that I never learned on my little yellow banana seat bicycle.

it was one of those days where I was so thankful for the gift of life, the opportunity to do something challenging for myself and the ability to learn something new…even if this new adventure is just getting going at the age of 30 something.  Oh and the fact that I could come back to my kids and say, “your mom re-learned how to ride a bike complete with shifting gears, clipping in shoes, wearing spandex and everything!” I’m sure they (the kids) were beaming with pride on the inside.

Not a bad start to the spring, I’d say.

I wanted to sleep in till 8.(my body clock went off at 5:30 and I couldn’t fall back asleep, so I laid in bed and read with my little kindle light. felt like I was a kid reading my book at night with my flashlight again.)

I wanted to get up and make breakfast for the kids. (I was too late and Alex came down and made pancakes for his friend and him.)

I wanted to juice. (Alex and his friend made my juice for me, so I made them bacon.

I wanted to get the house clean.(I didn’t have to because Alex vacuumed and Priya swept the floors.)

I wanted to have a peaceful morning.(The dog decided to run a stampede through the house, Priya’s practicing piano and Dirty Jobs is playing on TV)

I wanted to have a chill weekend.(This is as chill as it gets for me. One sleepover last night, 4 teens coming over to hang out later.)

What I want often doesn’t happen, but what does happen is so much better.

Christmas for me is the example of the greatest gift…God’s own son coming for me. I don’t deserve it, but he still gave him to me. Jesus, dying on the cross for me. I don’t deserve anybody dying for me. I’m not worthy of that kind of love, but I still got it.

The gift of being born into my family. The gift of life given to me in the form of two children whom I couldn’t imagine life without. The gifts of friendship, love, peace, joy. The gift of redemption and a new life, new home and a future with endless possibilities.

I love all of these gifts and people I’ve been given, but sometimes the gifts that leave me breathless are the unexpected ones that happen daily and come without strings attached…There were quite a few moments like that this past year where I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God was showering me with his love. Sometimes we take for granted gifts in nature, but this past year was a year where I was so aware of my surroundings and genuinely said “Thank you” out loud when i was presented with gifts like:

the amazing sunset in Long Beach California earlier this year

the cloud forest in Ecuador with all the butterflies and orchids

walking on the shore of Coronado beach with my new fiance’

Overnight trip to a lush and green Beaver Creek with Spence and the kids that was so perfectly timed

Gorgeous Buena Vista, CO with scenery only God could create

sailing on the ocean in Hawaii and seeing dolphins jump out of the water racing ahead of us.

seeing rainbows and double rainbows like I’ve never seen before…one even started in the ocean.

rainfalls that were perfectly timed with rainbows that followed…most specifically the one right after our wedding ceremony.

sunsets in Colorado with Pike’s Peak in the forefront

sunrises with the most vivid oranges and reds

I am a blessed girl and the recipient of many good gifts and I never want to take any of it for granted lest I seem like an ungrateful child.

How about you? What left you breathless in the past year?

I feel like I need to start off with a disclaimer and tell you that my wedding day would not have happened so perfectly without the help and work of so many of my amazing friends and family. Having said that, let me just restate that Spence and I had the most amazing day ever.If you want to know all about it, read on, if you want to wait for the next post…please do so.

Since our wedding was a morning affair, everything started early!  First thing was hair and make-up in the suite that a few of the bridesmaids and I shared. An amazingly talented friend of ours did hair for Priya and me. Jenny, our awesome photographer arrived at my hotel by 8:45 to do some pre-wedding shots. One of my brothers picked up the cakes for me by 9. Another brother ran some errands for me the night before. By 10 AM my cousins and brothers and sisters in law and some friends arrived at the Pines to get the tables decorated, ceremony area set up and everything in place for the guests who started arriving at 11 AM. All of us girls gathered our stuff, got out of the hotel room and arrived at the Pines around 10 and off we went to get some pictures taken. The time just seemed to fly past. Around 11:15 my wonderful, amazing bridesmaids gathered around me and prayed over the day and over everything that was about to take place. I need to state that I had so many people praying for us and I could feel every single prayer permeate through my spirit that day.

11:30 hit and the girls were headed up to the ceremony area. My wonderful babies and I waited behind for our wedding coordinator to tell us when to head up. As we were walking through the parking lot to the ceremony site, we could look up and see all of our guests seated and waiting. Wow! What an amazing feeling. Priya and Alex took hold of my arms and up we went. I feel like I had the craziest smile on my face all morning. We got to the top of the hill and saw everyone waiting for us to arrive…but best of all there was Spence waiting with the biggest smile on his face. Up we walked to Dan, our minister, who asked, “Who gives this woman to be married?” Priya and Alex answered, “we do,” at which point Spence came and took my hands from them and Priya whispered to Spence, “here’s our mommy, make sure you take good care of her and share with us.” The tears started then for me and really never stopped.  An hour passed (it literally seemed like 5 minutes) and we were pronounced husband and wife.

I won’t go into the details other than to say, we were blessed by the words that were spoken, we were blessed by the blessings that were said, we were blessed by the prayers that were prayed, we were blessed by the songs that were song, we were blessed by those who attended, we were witness to something so spiritual that we simply know it was God in our midst.

After the wedding off we went to a reception that was beyond words. The wedding was a perfect “10″, so how could the reception get any better right? Well, we all got our food and as soon as we started eating, the rain started outside. The meal was prayed over by an awesome Pastor.  The food was amazing, how do I know you ask? Well, we got to eat! Our cake was perfect…for us. Not a typical wedding cake, but something that had meaning and represented who we are at this point in our lives. The Master of Ceremonies, my 3rd brother Sunny was spectacular…remembering to talk about the details of the banana leaves and limes, but also honoring those who were present, those who were not and giving time to those who wanted to speak and offer us words of wisdom and insight. He threw in some stories of the past and honored us with his love.

There was a little dancing for the kids, there was some coloring pages for the little ones, there was fun for all…most of all we were surrounded by people we love and people who love us. Really, I can’t even explain how wonderful September 17th was. All the stress from the week before with the Appendix got swept away with the amount of love and joy we shared that day.

We have talked over and over again with friends and family about how amazing our wedding day was. Thank you to each of you who prayed.

Thank you God for making it perfect for us and letting us feel your presence and love so strongly.

wiping some tears

1. Knowing the truth that God loves me totally and unconditionally and calls me precious girl.
2. God’s timing is always perfect even when it makes things so inconvenient for me.
3. Thinking about my family and friends who love me enough to come celebrate Labor Day in a hospital room instead of outside next to a BBQ grill.
4. Bright vases filled with Asiatic lilies, gladiolas, roses, gerbera daisies, mums. Along with a big pink Hydrangea plant and a gorgeous orchid.
5. Doctors we call in the middle of the night and doctors who have excellent bedside manners and skilled hands.
6. Friends I’ve never met who’ve sent me DMs to say they’re praying for me along with every facebook message, text and email from friends I know and love dearly.
7. Knowing my children would do anything to help me recover.
8. A silly little pup who literally worships the ground I walk on.
9. Friends who have brought food, laughter, fellowship to my home.
10. Healing
11. A wonderful man who isn’t afraid to show emotion and loves big.
12. A Wedding day as the goal for recovery.
13. Knowing I have cousins and friends who will make my wedding day so pretty.
14. Masala chai chocolate truffles and pecan pralines
15. God’s word that always speaks to me better than any poetry book I’ve ever read.
16. Love sweet love.

So, how about you? What blessings do you have in your life that you can count and say thanks for?

I am in no way fast at this point in my running life. I’m a little out of shape and I’ve not been running very consistently, but still today’s run, made me realize how much God takes pleasure in us when we do what He’s created us for. Whatever our purpose is…maybe it’s to be kind to someone and make eye contact, smile, open a door or even offer a word of encouragement. Maybe it’s not even that philanthropic…maybe it’s simply to be thankful for the lives we’ve been given…or better yet maybe all we need to do is savor the sunshine, enjoy some ice cream and watch the clouds pass above.

Do you see that God takes pleasure in you?

enjoying the sunshine

I like strong flavors like:

Feta cheese, blue cheese, gorgonzola….yes they smell like feet at times, but c’mon, really they taste so good.

Photo by larryjh1234

smoked salmon-high in protein and omega 3, and the color is just so darn pretty.

avacado and mango and yes, my friend Hannah is allergic to both, but I wouldn’t be a real life Indian girl if I didn’t love my mango, please leave some flesh on the seed for me.

Peanut butter and banana and chocolate, preferably together at all times kinda like a Peanut Butter Moo’d from Jamba Juice

Scallops, Mussels, Oysters, Calamari, Shrimp, lobster, unagi…you get what I mean eh?

Raspberries and chocolate and often strawberries and chocolate as well.

Is that enough for now?

Photo by Ava Lowery

I’ve been cold all week…that’s what happens when the entire country is experiencing a winter storm. So after my post earlier this week about “Wishing” I started thinking about what alternates I want to the reality i’m in. So dream with me a minute.

My updated alternates are in Purple and yes, purple is my favorite color.

i wish i was anywhere but here.

If I could go anywhere, I’d want to go to the Island of Capri in Italy this week. Specifically this place. Il Giardino dell’Arte – Anacapri Capri

wish the weather was anything but cold.- I’d prefer temps in the 80′s today!

wish i could do anything but this. I want to take a boat tour of the Island, and go to La Grotta Azzurra then spend the rest of the day in the water.
wish i understood people better than i do. I’d understand a lot about people by sitting and watching them. People on beaches are fun to watch.
wish i knew what to know, but realize i don’t. I wouldn’t need to know much if I was hanging out in the sunshine, enjoying the fragrance of flowers in the breeze.

So…What would you do, where would you go, who would you see if you could go anywhere and do anything today?

So, here are a few of my favorites:

“If you want to kiss the sky, better learn how to kneel
On your knees, boy!”- U2- Mysterious Ways on Achtung Baby

“At the moment of surrender
Of vision of over visibility
I did not notice the passers-by
And they did not notice me”- U2-Moment of Surrender on No Line On The Horizon

“Somebody said they saw me, swinging the world by the tail
Bouncing over a white cloud, killing the blues.”-Robert Plant & Allison Krauss-Killing The Blues on Raising Sand

Okay that’s just a few. Don’t want to give them all away. Tell me some of your favorites!