In Style

I just received my first ever In Style magazine in the mail from a mystery sender. My initial response was: "Wow what a fun surprise!! Who was the nice person who sent me this?" My five minute later response was: "Is someone trying to give me a hint that I may, in fact, be OUT of style?" Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that the latest trends have made their way to Glourie Drive...but I just started to wonder if someone was trying to send me a subtle message by way of a stylish subscription. Maybe it was In Style themselves who spotted me in my old school birkenstocks, sweatpants, and my plastic hair claw last week at Kroger and they are going to show up at my door tomorrow to give me a free makeover and new wardrobe!?!? Or maybe not...because apparently to get a makeover these days you have to gain 300 pounds and then decide you want to lose it and cry your way through crazy workouts with Jillian on The Biggest Loser-with the perk of being on a reality tv show and getting a makeover so that you can then become a motivational speaker. OR, I can have a bizarre-brassiere epiphany and realize that I've been wearing the wrong size bra for the last 12 years so now I need to go on the Oprah show "live my best bust now" or whatever Oprah would probably say about that before she paid for my makeover. Clearly neither one of those options seem feasible for me, so looks like I will be rockin the birkenstock/hair claw combo until I digest a little more In Style. Just wait until January's issue!

Mystery Mail:

break fast, break rules, break news...

Breaking the fast...

4 days into my "breakfast challenge"

Chrissy: "Ughhhh I really want cereal"
John: "Then eat cereal"
Chrissy: "But I said I wouldn't this week"
John: "Well that's a stupid rule."
Chrissy: "Its not a RULE. I HATE food rules"
John: "Well then eat cereal!"
Chrissy: "Ok...good point"

Why was I depriving myself of my favorite food in one of my most stressful weeks of my semester? I'm not sure...but SO glad I realized I was trying to get all "rule-ish" and busted back into my cereal boxes. I will say, it was fun eating other things for breakfast & I plan to do that when the mood strikes...I just think its extremely important to not label foods as "good" or "bad"...its all about balance. (and breaking my stupid food rules that have been the bane of my existence for way to too long)

Speaking of breaking rules...

If you want to experience instant joy I highly recommend you put down your homework/laundry/whatever you are doing asap and pop on Michael Buble's new album and dance in the kitchen in your favorite pajamas while making a chocolate-pumpkin bundt cake. My "must get as much homework done as possible while John is gone" rule was a beautiful one to break!

Now onto some breaking news,

Danny "won" the cereal guessing challenge (I'm trying to ignore the fact that he guessed twice)...its is an oldie but a goodie...drum roll please!....LIFE cereal happens to be the newest treasured treat in my cereal mix (that im allowed to eat whenever I want : )) ---both regular and maple brown sugar have made their way into my bowl & I highly recommend them both.

Life Lessons From a Dead Fat Cat

Meet Jingles.

Jingles was my morbidly obese first childhood pet who peed in the corner of my room for 14 years of my life. I wasn’t always “happy” with Jingles, and let’s just say that during the last half of her life, she wasn’t so much at her “best”. She really didn’t have it so easy… she had major anxieties and insecurities. She endured moving across the country as a young, spry, kitten. She had to put up with many cat half-siblings and cousins throughout her life. She would get freakish bumps on her skin if she ate fish, she was so fat that she had to eat sitting down, and when this little fellow came along….

I’m pretty confident Jingles from that point forward had at least 3 diagnosable disorders. Her favorite toy was one of my old mittens. While we called it a ‘mitten’, Jingles was convinced that ‘mitten’ was her ‘kitten’. We would often hear her up at night in the foyer meowing over her mitten-kitten. Well, when little puppy Omar came along, he wanted to play with mitten-kitten, and from that point on, Jingles wanted nothing to do with mittens or kittens…or puppies. Her favorite pastimes were eating, eating, eating, sleeping, and snorting and hissing at any moving creature.

So it’s clear, my little kitty turned into a big bumpy, furry monster who was too lazy to use her litter box. She got on everyone’s nerves, but she definitely has added some humor and perspective to my life. I will say, amidst all of the hairballs, there are, indeed, two aspects of Jingle’s life that I found particularly endearing.

1. No matter how terrible Jingles thought her life was, she always managed to find the sunniest patch on the carpet to relax her tummy and bask for a while. If only I could always find the sunny spot in my life and be completely content relaxing my tummy. : )

2. No matter what size box (tv box, game board box, shoe box…small or large), Jingles would always get in the box…even if she was busting through the sides and breaking the edges. She was never worried about being outside of whatever little box she claimed to be her own. Having had many major meltdowns and anxieties in the recent days, I have realized that I’m afraid of doing things that seem outside my norm or the norm. I just want to be comfortable in my cozy, perfect sized box, and I’m afraid to try the boxes that seem too big and scary or too narrow and constricting.

I think we were meant to bust outside the box, all the while smiling and resting the sunny spots. After all, how can we glorify God and enjoy him forever if we don’t stretch beyond ourselves to serve, relate, and grow, and take pleasure in who He is and what He has given us?

Take it or leave it…but that’s my fat-dead-cat inspiration for the day.

Mission: 'Get out of Cereal Rut'..and your recipe of the month

Studies show that children do better at school if they have eaten breakfast that morning. I know I could still be described as a school girl, so this for sure applies to me...but I'm just saying...you adults who skip breakfast, SHAME ON YOU!

As many of you know, I'm kind of obsessed with cereal. Well...don't get me wrong, I still am...and my current cereal combination is rockin. In fact, because it is always evolving and changing...it frequently has more kinds of cereal than I even realize. Who could resist a breakfast blend of




???
In fact, here is my breakfast challenge to you: If you can be the first one guess correctly the most recent addition to my cereal mix, I will send you some! This is partly because I'm nice, and partly because I'm trying to get rid of my cereal because I am indeed, on a little breakfast challenge of my own...its called "Mission Get Out of Cereal Rut".

Yes, I have been known to eat cereal twice a day...So whether its a combination of burn out or feeling like I'm going to turn into a toasted oatmeal square, my breakfast challenge this week is to eat a different breakfast every morning for an entire week (7 completely different meals). No more morning cereal for me! Don't worry, my blog is not about to become a diary food log of what I am consuming each morning (nor will it ever become that..). BUT, I think its important to change it up every now & then. I was inspired to do this on our birthday adventure at our bed & breakfast as we gobbled up a delicious breakfast. Which leads me to the recipe of the month:





Caramel Apple French Toast

It may take something this yummy to keep me from defaulting to the Chrissy cereal mix. Honestly though, I doubt you will be seeing me slave away in the kitchen making caramel apple french toast this week, but I totally think YOU should. : )

Birthday Adventure Part 2: My Buddy and Me

So I said to John yesterday, "You know that game where your older brother (aka Danny or Will) would twist your arm in two directions until you yelled 'mercy!' to make them stop?" John, with a hint of sarcasm, reminded me that the game is, in fact, called 'Mercy'. Ok...well I've sort of felt like my life has been a massive arm twist & I have just been yelling to make it stop. All that to say....I've been a teensy bit on the stressed side. And my teensy, I may or may not mean massively.
Reasons why I have wanted to do this:
1) My new computer is quite dysfunctional when it comes to getting on the internet in residential areas. This has made research papers, blogging, and e-mail returning a special treat as of late. Thus, I have wanted to hurt (bite?) my computer.

2) ummmmmm maybe biting my computer will bring some sense of bizarre relief to my already painful jaw and teeth. Have I mentioned lately that I love when my braces get tightened?

3). Maybe biting my computer is the new "my dog ate my homework" excuse I can give to my teachers....?

I think you get the picture. I will now proceed with part 2 of birthday adventure update 2009 (post-poned due to stress + lack of internet +day trip to nashville + 4 days of being a temporary mom of 3+absurd amounts of school work)

So.......to recap: Part 1

The rest of our birthday adventure had quite an emphasis moving in style.

My first rental car:


When we got sick of driving, we decided to fly!





So what did we see from our helicopter view?





THE GRAND CANYON!



Some other highlights from our adventure:





When we got tired of driving...and when my stomach had nearly exceeded its comfort level on the queasy-meter, we decided to deplane, leave the Canyon, and nestle into a cozy bed and breakfast in Sedona and handle the rest of our adventure by foot. Lots of hiking in Sedona.....
and lots of yummy food!





Oh, what a beautiful birthday adventure!!! : )

Birthday Adventure Part 1: Mi Familia

This year's birthday adventure took us to the beautiful state of Arizona. Oddly enough, it is my third visit to Arizona this year (out of four times my entire life). The kickoff to our adventure was a big surprise party for fellow a October birthday celebrator, Uncle Charley! He turned a significant 70 and the whole fam gathered to toast and roast him in the form of a surprise party! Below are some pictures of Friday night's fiesta for Charley.

The Birthday Boy
The other birthday boy...and girl

Saturday was my actually birthday and was spent gallivanting around Pheonix with Momawalt. You may imagine this included a yummy lunch (enjoyed only after cursing the Garmin---who was talking to us in Finnish, I might add--once or twice on the way to our lunch destination), a free Starbucks drink, and some shopping (Gretchen while we missed you in Arizona...had you been there, I would not have been able to purchase your Christmas present! So, lucky you!), and some laying out by the pool. Saturday night was a birthday party for John and me at a nice Italian restaurant. We were pleasantly showered with 'happy 50th birthday' cards from our family and enjoyed an unbeatable Italian Creme Cake with our fantastic family.

Ali & Lori

Looks like someone missed the memo...

Aside from lots of birthday happys for John and me, dinner was filled with all sorts of meaningful conversation! It must be noted that Dad definitely held a family meeting during dinner to coerce...uhhh I mean enthusiastically encourage.... everyone into committing to doing a fantasy baseball team in 2010 for a family league. On the other end of the table, Momawalt was lovin' the potential family book club idea that had been floating around. I'd make fun of these suggestions more if I didn't think they were both a really great idea to keep the family connected..you see, of the 14 people sitting around the dinner table, 6 states are represented. We are quite spread out, so it was a cross-country treat to get to enjoy some rare yet very welcomed family time.

Now...this was just the beginning of what was truly one of the my favorite weekends yet with my dear, sweet husband....who's real birthday is in less than 2 hours!!! Allow me to blog a sincere wish to Mr. John Trapp ..... HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my favorite buddy!!!

Birthday Adventure '09 to be continued...

The Trapp's Turn Fifty!

Born 5 days apart in October 1984, John and I are forever birthday buddies. Each year instead of giving gifts to each other, we go on a birthday adventure. Sometimes small...sometimes grand! Last year we kicked off our birthday adventure like this....

Last year's birthday cake...made for 2... by me

This year, however....life is no small deal. Thats right, John and I are turning 50. Lets just say that this cake's size represents just how big our birthday adventure is about to be....

This year's birthday cake: made for a bazillion ....not by me

Perhaps this is how we feel about turning 50?


Stay tuned for more updates on our biggest birthday adventure yet!