Fast, Pray, Give

For Lent, I was considering giving up sweets and alcohol, until a friend of mine on Facebook posted a link to this great Lent calendar. Each day, there is a quote and then suggestions for the day's fast, prayer, and gift. For example, yesterday the quote was: “Easter is the demonstration of God that life is essentially spiritual and timeless.” — Charles M. Crowe And then the suggestions:

Fast from scheduling anything after work today.

Pray: Waste some time with God today. (Preferably not during work hours, i.e. don’t get fired!)

Give yourself a break today.

Some days, the Give portion suggests putting some money into a Fast-Pray-Give bowl, and at the end of Lent, you donate the money to a charity. On Sunday, the suggestion was to fast from lunch, pray for those in poverty, and give the money saved from fasting from lunch.

I like this calendar a lot because it has something new everyday, and they say to follow it, but if you don't stick with it on a particular day, just get back on track the next day. It provides a nice focus for me, rather than the general "I'm giving up sweets" which gets somewhat easy after a few days. If you're still thinking about your Lenten discipline and struggling to find a good way to be introspective, I would highly recommend checking out this calendar and following it with me!

Happy Valentime's!

Last year, just before Valentine's Day, Einar and I watched an old 30 Rock episode which featured a character that kept saying, "Happy Valentime's!" thoughout the episode. It was hilarious! So now, we wish each other a happy Valentime's instead of happy Valentine's.

I had to wait tables all weekend, and even though I'd rather not have to spend my weekend nights working, it's actually kind of fun to waitress on Valentine's day. You get mostly couples who are in a good mood, ready for a nice night out. And because it's a special occasion for them, they are usually quite generous with their tips, which is nice when you've given up your night to be at work.

Speaking of tips, I've noticed a difference in tipping amounts over the past year. It used to be that I'd average 18% tips on a typical night, which I was quite happy with. I'd get some people that would tip exactly 15%, the magic don't-tip-less-than-this percentage. But I'd get quite a few customers that would tip 20% or more. In the past year, those groups have flip-flopped. Now, I get quite a few diners that tip exactly (and I mean exactly) 15% and only a few that tip 20% or more. I'm sure it has to do with the economy. Business at the restaurant where I work is definitely down, despite what the owner tells you - not only in volume, but in what people are ordering. It's been kind of interesting to watch.

I'm hoping the economy, especially the job market, turns around soon. From what I keep reading, it has already starting to improve, but then, why is unemployment predicted to stay above 10% for 2010 and still be above 9% in 2011?

Jogging through Snow

I got up this morning to go on my usual Wednesday morning 30-minute run, knowing that it was going to be cold and snowy. And I was right. It seemed like most of the people had cleared their sidewalks last night but hadn't gone out again yet this morning. The snow had stopped falling, but the wind had kicked up overnight, leaving the unshoveled sidewalks with about 6 inches of snow. Bella and I did pretty well, but I kept thinking, "This must be what it's like to run on a sandy beach." Too bad I wasn't someplace warm, sunny, and ocean-side! Someplace like San Diego. Or Hawaii. I only made it 2.6 miles in 30 minutes, which is about 0.4 miles less than I do in half an hour. Oh, well. I still thought that was pretty good, considering the condition of the sidewalks. When I was almost home, a guy ran past Bella and me. He was running in the street. That's probably what I should've done, but I was running on some busy roads. Safety first!

This jog was part of my training for the Lake Monona 20K. My training is going really well so far. My only complaint is that my schedule is so tight with work that it's hard to stay motivated to get up before 6 on during the week. I keep telling myself skipping a training session is not an option. So far, that's working. I really need to get a new pair of running shoes - I'm going to have to start saving so I can get a new pair well in advance of the run. Does anyone know if the Shoe Box has good deals on running shoes? I don't need anything too fancy - I just want the best price possible. And I'm partial to New Balance and Mazuno.

Forgotten Suitcase

Last Thursday, I rushed home from work so Einar and I could make the drive to the U.P. to visit my sister and her family. We had decided to make pb&j sandwiches to take with us for supper to eliminate a stop. I got home, finished putting a few things into the suitcase and went to the kitchen to make our sandwiches. Einar added a couple last minute things to the suitcase and then came and talked with me while I finished up the sammies. And we hit the road.

The drive was going along just fine - clear roads and an awake driver and passenger. After being on the road for 5 (of the 5 and 1/2) hours, Einar said that we didn't have the suitcase. I thought he was joking. No joke!!

I had assumed he had taken the suitcase out to the car and so hadn't asked about it. He had put his stuff in the suitcase and then left it, figuring I wasn't done yet.

Anyway, we ended up going to ShopKo to buy some underwear, socks, and toothbrushes, and Goodwill for a couple shirts. Kind of an adventure. And by Friday morning, it was even funny!

We managed to have a great weekend, even without all of stuff. We got to watch our nephew play basketball Friday night. That was fun, even though they ended up losing. My sister went for a 6.5 mile run with me on Saturday morning, and then we got to see all the amazing snow sculptures that were part of the Michigan Tech Winter Carnival. It's incredible what they are able to do with snow!

$40 per ticket?!?!

$40. That was the price for a ticket to the Isthmus's first Beer and Cheese Fest this past weekend. That amount, even when we were both fully employed, is out of our budget. But we went! That's the beauty of volunteering. We volunteered for a 2-hour shift and in return, we got free entry. The nice thing, too, was that our shift was vendor check-in, which had to take place before the Fest (obviously). We "worked" from 10-noon, and the Fest started at 1.

They had about 23 beer makers and about the same number of cheese makers. They had the vendors set up alternating beer and cheese, too, so you could sample some beer and some cheese without having to go too far. For their first fest, I thought everything was really well done!

The best part of the day, though, was the 45-minute session we attended about Beer and Chocolate Pairing. I'm sure some of you are disgusted by that prospect, but I'm telling you, it was great!! Gail Ambrosius (from Gail Ambrosius Chocolates) and Aran (from Furthermore Brewery) discussed the pairings, leading us through what to notice with the flavors and why they chose to pair what they did. In my mind, there are few things better than beer or chocolate, so what's better than enjoying them together?

Nothing has changed on the job front. Einar has taken his bartending certification class, and he's just waiting for the city to process his license. That will allow him to be more available for shifts at The Malt House, since he will be able to be the only bartender on duty. Unfortunately, as I've seen over the past several months, there are not a lot of jobs being posted. We both continue to look for options. I've decided to get my WI teaching license. I'm still not sure I'm ready to give up on video, but at least I'll have my license if I decide I want to move in that direction.

If you're looking for a good video to see, I'd highly recommend Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. It's a sweet little movie. And we watched Roxanne the other night for the first time in a long time, and that's well worth a re-viewing. Steve Martin is fantastic!