nom nom nom

nom nom nom, life is delicious.

especially when it involves fresh blueberries ... grilled caesar salad and kobe burgers at the belvedere ... grilled steak ... warm chocolate chip cookies ... chicken wrapped in bacon on the grill ... double dunker ice cream by turkey hill ...

or when it has carmen & david's anything ice cream. i personally loved the lemon chocolate chip + coffee heath bar crunch sampler i had in the company of my dear friend regina. she drove up for the fourth to hang out for the weekend and it was wonderful. we caught the lititz fireworks, which are synchronized to music and boy did i feel proud and thankful to be an american.

another time i felt that so fiercely was when i watched fireworks in nottingham - redneck country. they had spectacular fireworks that included a full-fledged american flag in red, white and blue fireworks, live big band music and special recognition of everyone in the military. then one of the military boys proposed to his girlfriend on stage and that topped the whole night off.

i LOVE good engagement stories. i've been telling my friend ashley's like it's my own.. as soon as she told me and i stopped squealing i told her i will be telling EVERYONE because i loved it so much. she said she wished i lived in her state and could do it for her because she was tired of telling it already ha!

i love proposals so much that whenever i take trips i often pray that i will see someone get proposed to. (that and run into famous people.) i love watching it that much! there is just so much happiness and yes, i will even get extreeemely excited for complete strangers!

but back to fireworks. watching them in redneck country will really stir up your american pride. i shouldn't say you, because most people might not appreciate rednecks like i do. (i mean do you listen to charlie daniels "what this world needs is a few more rednecks?" at the gym?) and i don't always appreciate them - like today this morbidly obese woman was in the store ... had a tshirt with a giant hole in front of her tshirt so her stomach was just hanging out. she was more white trash than redneck though, in my head there's a difference. as she was leaving she said to her son, "we gotta get out of here, i'm starving. let's go see how much that chinese buffet costs."

keep in mind that this lady also ranted to me that she couldn't find any clothes that fit. (as if this was in any way shape or form my fault? almost as irritating as people who can't fit in booths at red lobster and yell at me. again, my fault completely ...) mind you, we do have an ample plus size section. and in the next sentence she is jonesing for some chinese? my coworker laughed and looked up and said, "i'm sorry God, but daaang. and you know what, i mean God's gotta be laughing at that too - cause He knows she ain't hungry."

i'm always curious about what God laughs at. what do you think makes God laugh? it's something i can't figure out. sure everyone jokes about 'God has to be laughing at me right now ...' but is He really? and then there is the cliche about God laughing when we make plans. that feels true. (but feelings do not define truth, so that's still iffy.) and what must His laughter sound like?

it sure seems like God would get in a good chuckle at Americans with overly filled stomachs moaning about their hunger. maybe He actually doesn't chuckle, maybe He weeps (i guess God cries?) cause He is watching His children down the street and all around the world dig through the trash for food or die from a lack of it.

i'm a major foody. i enjoy food to the max. (even when i typed 'max' it reminded me of max brenner chocolate - something you need to try in philly or nyc or whatever city is closest to you!) i am as "guilty" as the lady with her gut hanging out of her ripped tshirt. i get bratty when i'm hungry and think i have it so rough.

and it's not just with food that i get bratty, selfish, greedy and ungrateful. my days can easily fill up with complaints. none of which please the Lord. none of which bring Him glory or do anything positive for me or anyone else.

but i know that gratefulness and thanksgiving do. choosing to be aware of every good thing God has given to me and the perfect plan that He has for my life. thankful for the people in my life - amazing people of all ages and all around the country and world that i absolutely love. i am so blessed. thankful for my country and freedom. for my health and youth. for all the places i have traveled. for a job and the chance to go to college and a great brain that doesn't have to work as hard as some people. for my own car and my own computer. and this list just scratches the surface - that's how blessed i am.

i can't wait to be a mom and have my kids list off things they're thankful for. kids are so good at that, and it's fun to hear what they come up with. i mean all it took to make me happy when i was little was a 50-cent doughnut at the grocery store or a 25-cent can of soda at the mall. once again you can see my overzealous relationship with food as it plays a part in almost all of life's memories for me. (don't worry - i also found joy in spinning around in circles, rolling down hills, climbing trees, dance routines, swimming for hours and running laps around my yard pretending it was a track. and a million other things.)

'nom nom nom' is just a sound effect for DELICIOUS. one of my little cousins used to hum the whole time when he ate his food. it was so cute, you knew that he liked what he was eating. so speak out about what you like and what you're thankful for. there is such power in words and in gratitude.

thankfulness reminds us of God's presence in our lives, in our very being - and that puts anything anything else that may be troubling us to shame.


p.s. i'm sorry my posts are so long! i think i need to take up preaching haha, i just get on such a roll sometimes when i think about the Lord. who am i kidding, i get on such a roll when it comes to lots of things, but still ...