Is GREEN even my color?

I have to admit I have been quite slow to jump on the "Go Green" bandwagon. Sometimes it's simply easier to ignore than to change. And frankly, sometimes I'm downright skeptical of the commercialism aspect of "green" goods. Do I really need to switch to reusable sea sponge tampons?!! You've got to be kidding me! But even without going to the extremes, there seems to be an organic version of just about everything on the market! And I don't even know where to start! If I change all the lightbulbs in my house to eco-friendly bulbs and buy organic milk, but I still use plastic grocery bags and I use plain old Colgate toothpaste instead of the all-natural brands, am I really making a difference? I know I shouldn't ever ever microwave in plastic (although I still sometimes forget) and surely all those cell phone waves can't be good for us, but how do you radically change your lifestyle enough to really make a difference? This Young House has an interesting and informative post here and there is tons of helpful information on GreenYour.com. When I think about the future for my children one day and even for the longevity and health of Mike and I, I definitely want to start making some changes... ignorance in this department is not necessarily bliss. I'd love to hear your thoughts or any ways that you and your family have "Gone Green" without going crazy or too crunchy-granola! :)

Out of Excuses...

Am I the only one who finds it soooo hard to start exercising regularly? I come up with every excuse imaginable:

• a gym membership costs too much
• it's raining
• it's hot
• it's humid
• i'm tired
• it's that time of the month
• i feel bad exercising inside when i really should take Shelby for a walk
• i don't have time
• getting up earlier before work is too early

But I SOOOOOOO need to do something! I have gained 15 lbs since I got engaged last April, and while I haven't gained anything in the last 6 months... I haven't lost anything either. Any tips?

So Pretty!!

I want this room.

Harbor Light

Well... we couldn't wait for suggestions... so we just went out on our own and picked a color: Harbor Light. It's great! It's quite a bit lighter than it looks here on the sample, but we like it. And it should work great with our furniture and black & white bedding. So 1 borrowed ladder, 2 gallons of paint and 3 coats later...the room is transformed for just $35! Now we just need the finishing touches!

Design Ideas

This is basically what our master bedroom looks like now (except with modern B&W lamps & a black framed B&W picture above the bed). We'd like to redecorate our room, but the things we have to keep are the furniture (which is a bit traditional for my taste, but workable) and we have three bedding options: Solid White, White with black floral pattern (like picture) or Black bold with large white graphic lily.

Since we're trying to keep the budget minimal... things we're looking to change are PAINT, ACCESSORIES (wall art) and ACCENT PILLOWS.

Any ideas?? We want something modern, chic, luxurious feeling...

Play on Words

I guess I'm easily entertained... but how cute is this?













You can go to Wordle and create one of your own!

Clean-out the Fridge Meal

I was trying to not waste some of the leftover food in our fridge, so I planned to just make up some concoction out of them last night... well, it turned out to be one of the best meals I've ever made!!

Things in my fridge that needed to go:
1/3 link keilbasa sausage
1 uncooked chicken breast
1 c. heavy cream
1/2 head of broccoli
1/2 block monterey jack cheese

Things I always have on hand:
parmesean cheese
butter
pasta
canned diced tomatoes
garlic
lots of spices

Things I bought at the store:
10 shrimp

So I decided to attempt making a spicy Creole Pasta dish. I was going to just make it up in my head, but then I found an Emeril recipe that I managed to modify (quite a bit) and man, was it yummy?!

If anyone wants to try it... you'll just have to come have a dinner date with us and let me make it for you!! :)

More FREE Food!

If you still haven't signed up for e-VIC at Harris Teeter, you're missing out! This week the special is FREE ice cream! No purchase necessary! (But your card has to be signed up for e-VIC.) And today through Saturday are Triple Coupon days... I guess that's where I'm headed on my lunch break :)

Almost 1 Year! :)

As hard as it is to believe, our first anniversary is in less than 7 weeks! To celebrate, we are going to spend a week at a resort in northern Vermont with a day in New York City on the way up! We are so excited and are looking forward to hiking, shopping, eating and all the other good stuff! :) If anyone has favorite places in Vermont that you think we should see... let me know! We know that samples at Ben & Jerry's and the Lake Champlain Chocolate factories are a must. And we're also going to check out Simon Pearce handblown glass store & restaurant and we have to find where they make these great Maple Cream Cookies!!

Oh yeah!

We have gotten some clarity and peace and direction with what to do with our house/ job/ family!!! We have decided that we will stay put at least until next summer! Mike will stay with the Red Cross and continue getting good experience there... and will feel better about being there at least 18 months instead of half that time. We'll have time to work out some of the issues that have recently arisen with leasing options for our condo, and if we decide to sell, we'll put it on the market late spring 2009 and hopefully the market at least won't be any worse than it is now, even if it's not better.

We've been saying for over a year that there just aren't jobs here for Mike... but we've realized the carnality in that statement. In his heart, a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps. We really need to just be where He leads us, and if He's not leading us to something new right now, we can rest that He has a plan, even if we don't know how it will unfold. Pretty exciting, actually!

The Best Deal Ever!

I am enrolled in E-VIC (Harris Teeter's weekly e-mail that tells me what's on sale with my VIC card). Wednesday, the e-mail said that with your VIC card, you could get a jar of H.T. Traders Salsa FREE - no purchase necessary! Mike got off work early and said he'd stop at the store to pick up Tilapia (which is also on sale at H.T. this week) so I told him about the free Salsa and he planned to pick one up. Well, when he went through the line, used the VIC card, it didn't ring up free. He explained to the cashier and she even said it rang up free for someone else earlier, but wasn't now. The manager came over and wouldn't honor it. So he left, and called me to tell me. Well, I read the email again, checked all the fine-print and we should have gotten it free, no question. So I printed the email and later that evening, we went back. I asked for a manager and explained the situation. They told me to go ahead and get a jar of salsa and they'd take care of it. Well... it's regularly priced $3.99. They had it on sale for $3.29. So they rang it up, it gave me a $3.99 discount, which meant the cashier owed me $.72!! And then, they gave us a $25 gift card for the trouble!!! We told them that wasn't necessary and they certainly didn't need to give us $.72 change on top of it all, but they insisted! So I spent $0 and got a jar of black bean salsa, $.72 plus a $25 gift card!!! That's some seriously productive shopping! :) If you're not signed up for E-VIC... you should be... apparently this was not advertised in the store, just online!

Needing Something New

I miss designing. Sadly, my current job neither requires nor allows for much creativity and I am realizing how much I miss that artistic outlet. So using my very limited resources, I felt the urge to do a quick redesign on my blog. What do you think? :)

I love opportunities to be creative, so I jump on them whenever I get the chance. My latest indulgences have been coming up with baby names for whenever that day comes, (yes, I admit it... I have narrowed it down to 5 that Mike likes too... I'm just praying none of my many pregnant friends beat me to them!) planning a baby shower for Suzanne, and hopefully soon, helping my mom pick paint colors, kitchen counters, and furniture for my their new house. (That's the best when I can help spend someone else's money!) :) Sometimes for me, the need to be creative can get expensive, so I'm sure Mike is glad I'm not redecorating any rooms in our house or redesigning my wardrobe!

I'm Back :)

I haven't updated this in a few weeks... partially because I have no new pictures to post, but also because I've had so many other things going on that weren't necessarily simple to blog about!

• My work hit a dramatic all-time low point a couple of weeks ago, but then God faithfully answered my prayer to work in His power in our midst. I know He has changed MY heart, and the last couple of weeks have been significantly better.
• Meanwhile, we were wrestling with whether or not we would really consider moving to Iowa if this job opportunity for Mike progressed. After much praying and discussing and thinking, Mike decided no, and I agreed. (What a relief!)
• Even so, we are still preparing for a move hopefully sometime this year. So the next big decision we've wrestled with for months is whether to sell our condo or to rent it out. Lots of pros & cons for both options... but I think we're going to go ahead and put it on the market this summer and see what happens.
• So now we have lots of work to do to de-clutter and do minor repairs, replace carpets and clean...it's rather overwhelming to think of all we need to do...and it's almost July already!
• And meanwhile, Mike's job hunt continues... we'd like to focus on Virginia, North Carolina & Maryland... but we're open to going further if need be. There's an ideal opening with a company he currently does work with in Denver that he applied for this week! He would LOVE the job & I would LOVE to live in Colorado... so would you pray with us for doors to open there! It's far, but this one would be worth it.
• I've been meeting with a woman from church every other week and we are doing Beth Moore's Believing God study... I'm excited about growing through that.

Other than that, my sister comes home tonight for about 10 days. We have a wedding to go to this Saturday and Shelby becomes an "it" on Tuesday. :)

What's new with everyone else?

God has been FAITHFUL

I can't help but be grateful when I consider how faithful our Father has been to us. It's amazing how He pulls together a family. 11 years ago, he gathered a bunch of teenagers from across Virginia: Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Fredericksburg, Roanoke and Fairfax and put a desire in us to go to Mary Washington College. He even led almost all of us to choose to live in an all-girls dorm. And then He drew us together and began to knit together this beautiful tapestry of friendship that grew both stronger and larger as our families expanded. When I think how much we have grown in the 7 years since we left Fredericksburg, I wonder what the next 7 years will bring. Certainly more children... but even more than that, hopefully more eternal fruit as we are each led by the Spirit to bring Him glory wherever we go...

Virginia
North Carolina
Maryland
D.C.
Georgia
New York
Germany
China
Iraq
Israel
Afghanistan
Peru...

I am thankful to be part of such a beautiful picture of the family of God.

I can't get no... sat-is-faction.

My child, never forget the things I have taught you. Store my commands in your heart. If you do this, you will live many years, and your life will be satisfying. Prov 3:1-2

I find it interesting and refreshing this morning that it is not a change in my circumstances that will make my life satisfying, but rather remembering all that the Lord has taught me and storing His commands in my heart. I had a particularly rough day at work yesterday, and for months I have found myself really frustrated with my job as a whole... it is certainly less than satisfying.

I often envision that when I am able to have children and focus my energy on raising them rather than on the stresses of the corporate world, I will find great satisfaction. I tend to long for the day when my circumstances will change and I won't have to deal with this job. And yet this morning, I have been gently reminded once again, that my satisfaction with life is the result of a different matter entirely. It is a matter of my heart. It is directly correlated to the Word of God. In His Word - particularly the Living Word: Jesus, I can find true satisfaction.

I'm looking forward to chewing on that today. What does it mean to find satisfying life in Jesus, regardless of my circumstances? How will that impact my circumstances? What an amazing Lord we have - that cares so much about our hearts and our souls. Apart from Him, there is no hope, no joy in the tough things of life. My heart is grieved to think that those who don't know Him are lacking that. I find peace just in knowing that I have a way to find satisfaction beyond my control/circumstances... the world doesn't have that. Its only solution is to change your situation... move on to something new, but the cycle continues.

I hope I can share this lesson learned with someone who has never even met this wonderful Jesus I know.

Fun in Austin...

We had a great trip to Austin to visit the Clements family. We enjoyed Julie's yummy cooking, Josh's crazy driving and Abby & Luke's cute entertainment! We drove around the city quite a bit (thanks to our personal policeman tour guide), saw some of the parks around Lake Austin, ate great Mexican food & Texas BBQ, watched the new Narnia movie & P.S. I Love You (both were great), shopped at the outlet mall when it was 98 degrees out and even checked out some model homes! Your money goes much further in Texas than it does here in Virginia! We found a huge beautiful new home that we loved for the same price as our condo! Too bad Texas is so far away! But anyway, it was a really fun trip and we enjoyed getting to spend time with such great friends.

Beautiful Day at the Park

Here are some pictures from Tuesday night. It was a beautiful day so we went down to our favorite park and had a picnic and a photo shoot :)

http://picasaweb.google.com/mrs.melissawellington/ABeautifulDay

A Rainy Day...

A couple of weeks ago, Mike and I were headed with my parents to the baby dedication of my cousin's little boy, John. It was looking like a nasty day for a 3 hour drive as it was dark and rainy. But then we spotted a rainbow. At first we just saw half of it, but then, as we were driving over the high-rise bridge on I-64, we drove right under the arch! It was awesome. We could see the entire thing, including the bottom of BOTH sides of the rainbow (and for those who are wondering...sadly, there was no pot of gold and no little green leprechauns). But it was a beautiful moment and a great reminder of the Lord's promise and His faithfulness.

No rainbow sightings yet today... just rain, rain, and more rain!

Redheads???

Justine & I have always said our poor children will surely inherit red hair, since my dad was one of 4 redheaded siblings and on my mom's side, there are lots of strawberry-blondes. It may have skipped our generation, but we've always known it'll surely surface again in our children. Justine is so afraid, she's determined to marry someone latino or dark-skinned in hopes to trump the redhead gene! Well sometime last year, we were looking into it, and thought we discovered that a blonde and a brown-haired couple had zero chance of producing redheads.... yipee! Mike & I would be in the clear! But then I was looking at my little cousin John... whose blonde hair is quickly turning red (or at least strawberry blonde) and I realized: his mom is a blonde and his dad has brown hair. Crap! There goes that theory! Oh well... I still think he's cute! And while normally I'm not a big fan of redheaded boys... so far the ones that have been born to my cousins have been super cute. :)
(This is my cousin in Florida's little boy, Sean.)

Last weekend...

Here is Shelby in our backyard...
And a few of the many plants we planted...
A beautiful day at the beach:
And... my cousin Amy's little boy, John (the one who was almost 12 lbs at birth!). He's 4 months old now and a very happy baby: