40 days to repent, think on our sins, ponder and strive to do better. it’s a time to reflect on our relationship with God. to consider your journey with Him and challenge yourself to live a more fulfilling life that will give back to those around you.
giving up something for the season is always a big argument in my head. Jesus suffered, so what will i part with to remind me of Jesus’s sacrifices for us? how can i also better myself and become closer with God during this time?
you are dust, and to dust you shall return genesis 3:19
mass this morning was wonderful and a perfect start to the day. fr. ken presided over the service; it was a somber and thought provoking hour. i thoroughly enjoyed his homily about life and death…to look up from the grave and appreciate the world around you. don’t fret about the menial, petty things that can cause frustration within you but truly enjoy life in all it’s glory and positive aspects.
i’m excited for this season of lent..i’m looking forward to working on my commitments, the renewal of myself, and the renewal of all the things around me.
i hope your journey this season is a reflective and fulfiling one!
i was very excited for our first TOT session at st. clement! we had such a great time last year and i knew it was going to be even better this year! our first speaker of the series was timothy o’malley from notre dame. he was hilarious! his topic of the evening was ‘when life doesn’t go as planned: the hidden gift of disappointment’.
my disappointment of the evening was that hubby charming wasn’t able to participate with me this year! boo. i was sad but it is what it is!
i had such a good time reconnecting with friends and creating new ones! this was our biggest theology on tap ever!!! 329 attendees! wow!! the events prior never really exceeded 200! last year’s session drew in 275 folks and that was a record for us; it was awesome to see the crowd grow!
my duties this year was food and drinks. it was actually a lot of fun! we can’t believe we actually fed everyone! how crazy. we are so grateful for the local restaurants that donated all the food! we worked throughout the evening, bringing out the food, & cleaning up. we totally rocked it! our team was so fabulous!
the temperature was so ridiculous! it was over 100 degrees in front of the church!!! with over 300 peeps hanging out in close proximity, the temperature was bound to rise!
it was a long, good weekend indeed. lovely weather, lots o fun activities, and plenty of relaxing! woo!
we spent our fabulous sunday, first, by going to mass at st. clement, then had a sunny al fresco breakfast at frances [first time ever for me, eating sausage corn dogs for breakfast!], and fun trip to the science and industry museum. we love going there because it’s so interactive {what grace likes} and educational {what we like}!
it was fun exploring all the cool exhibits. it had a u-505 submarine exhibit, an awesome blip in history during world war II. it had realistic reenactments to show us how it all went down and how they overcame the enemy sub!
rich absolutely loved the art of the bicycle exhibit! grace and i left him there to explore the other parts of the museum. oy! he took forever! he spent at least five minutes on each bike (we had to ditch him 😉 ! the coolest part of that exhibit was the bicycle that was made out of cardboard and it sells for only $20!!!! we want one!
we wrapped up at you! the experience, a great dive into the human body, mind, and spirit. grace couldn’t wait to show me a 3d display of how big the baby looked at my current state!
[gracie + me going through a circus exhibit]
[cool little models on display]
[he’s so interested, non?!]
[can you spot grace?]
[stick your head far enough in the hole and you get to see a surprise]
[u-505 exhibit]
[make a shadow, hold still, and the butterflies will land on you!]
[grace at science storms]
[daddy daughter at the art of bicycles]
[more bicycles]
[a tandem made for us!]
[grace testing her power at you! the experience]
we explored so many more exhibits than that during our trip there! afterwards, we hit the museum shop, grace had to get freeze dried ice cream! it was, practically, her sole purpose of this trip! we were finally on our way home after a fun but exhausting day to relax some more! woo hoo!
this past saturday, we participated in service day at st. clement!
it was an all day event that turned out amazing!
we started out by heading out to st. clement, by 10:30 am. team captains were required to get there early so we could greet all our volunteers. we walked inside and found our sign and assigned pew. we waited, patiently, for all our teammates to arrive. one by one, we greeted everyone. it was great to chat and get to know one another before we started our prayer service.
fr. ken started our short prayer service and reinforced our thoughts for the day. how important it is to pray, serve, and give, st. clement’s mission statement.
after that, we headed on our way over to bishop conway residency. we piled ourselves into two cars, jaimie {who so graciously volunteered} was our second driver. the traffic down fullerton was obnoxious {as to be expected!}.
what felt like forever later, we finally arrived at our destination. we walked in and jaimie, kelly, and jen were already waiting for us. we received a cute little wooden box {painted and decorated} as a gift from the residences, which was so nice!
we headed downstairs and i found aixa, the head cook, and introduced myself to her. we needed to eat lunch, so she showed us a room we could sit down in and eat. after, lunch we headed back into the kitchen to start working! aixa had us clean up. we cleared plates, glasses, food. some of us did the dishes, a few swept and mopped. the boys took out garbage. we set the tables for dinner. we prepped food for later. after all the clean up and prep, we then played games with any of the residences in the game room.
there was uno, dominos, and rummy going on! kelly and i joined a group playing rummy. we watched, we learned, we asked a lot of questions. our group was so funny. especially robert and linda. oh, did they love to bicker! linda felt robert made up his own rules and robert was always eagle eyeing everyone to make sure they weren’t cheating! bernadette seemed to be sleeping the whole time {although she wasn’t and was funny and kind}. charlie was a serious player with a knack of not enunciating any of his words and rosita, who i sat next to as well, was so stinkin’ sweet! she constantly smiled at me and always included me in everything.
after several rounds, robert asked if i wanted to play. i was still confused because it seemed like they made rules up as they went! but i was biddable, so i agreed and here i went with my first game of rummy! it was great, rosita helped me out a lot. time really flew by and before we knew it, we had to leave and head back to st. clement for the 5 pm mass. it was sad to go, we had so much fun!
we then went upstairs and had our time for reflection. i led the prayer and provoked our thoughts. how did we feel? how did we see the lord’s goodness in today’s events? i quivered a bit while reading, it got a little emotional for me! as we left, the officer in the front handed out little handmade thank you cards from the residences! it was so cute!
our trip back was quicker and we got there with plenty of parking left {smallest parking lot for a really big parish!}. we all sat together for mass and the group volunteered me to walk in the procession! ha, no one wanted to, so of course, they said, ‘you’re the team captain, you do it!”. so i went to the vestibule, grabbed our sign {each sign had the location of the place we volunteered at} and waited for the procession into the church to start. all the little kids, who participated in service day, went first {they planted their ‘fans’ into the pots around the alter} and i led the group of sign holders into the procession.
after the wonderful mass, that was led by fr. manny, we heading into the school for dinner {beer, wine, pop, pizza, pasta, bread, salad, + dessert}! it was so great to mingle, see everyone, and really revel in the day’s activities.
[cinco de mayo decor]
[sweeping and mopping! kelly..rich..tammy..jen]
[allison + jaimie doing the dishes]
[allison, eric, + jen playing dominos]
[bridget + jaimie playing uno with perl // she was sassy!]
[kelly watching the rummy game // linda is to the left and bernadette to her right]
[rummy]
[handmade thank you cards from the residences]
[dinner at the school]
[rich + i are dead center, three rows down from the top!]
it was such a wonderful day. it was so fulfilling, fun, happy, joyous, and a very humbling time. the biggest service day to date, 400+ participated this year!
give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1thessalonians 5:18
tonight was his fabulous night to party like he is 4-0! well, almost! his birthday is on monday but we were ready to get festive! i was so excited to have this day finally come into fruition! after months of planning + creating, it was a complete welcome to have it all come together this very night!
it was a very relaxing day to start. hc dropped me off at st. clement for my meeting {as a team captain for our upcoming service day!}, after a short informative meeting on our upcoming duties, hc met up with me, again, and we walked to a favorite after mass brunch restaurant, frances!
we went home and relaxed {time well spent before we parrrrtayyyyyyed!}. i actually got ready for the night and hubby charming and i went on a little errand run! balloons, cake, decorate, oh my! we picked up a few goodies {hubby charming was not allowed to peep at the cake!} and he dropped me off at the party destination to get ready whilst he went home to get all gussied up himself!
there i was, cake in hand, balloons in hand, and ready to decorate. i’m sure the patrons inside the bar were eyeing me all funny…who’s this girl who came in with this party package in hand?! hehehe.
away i went, commencing all the details to add to the festive mood for the night. i was super excited and on track. then, in came our first guests of the night and away we goooo!
[the beginning of the end]
[menu + favors]
[the delicious meal]
[party favors]
[tassels + 4-0 balloons]
[laughter]
[kt + me]
[buttons celebrating hc]
[matt, johann, + travis]
[ken + pete]
[thuy, lan, + kim]
[sistas]
[kt + kar]
[posse // dan, pete, kim, + terry]
[wild things // o, dana, kt, matt, johann, + kar]
[don’t make faces you don’t want me to post! ha! heart you O}
[thuy, lan, leyla, + charlie]
[beautiful people // chaz, courtney, janice, + johnny]
[this was the riot table // ruth, dave, ken, pete, carrie, jody, + lisa]
[pabst beer cake!!!]
[happy birthday hc!]
[everyone loved the fondant beer can!]
[enjoying our beer]
[hc + kt comparing their height! yes, kt is a tall skinny lady!]
[token]
[getting creative]
[what’s left of the big 4-0]
there you have it! although the pictures definitely don’t encompass all the joy, laughter, silliness, deliciousness, happiness, fun, energy, and love that we experienced tonight!!! it was the best time ever with friends + family, and hubby charming was as happy as a kid in a candy store. he was so ecstatic!
thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate hc’s birthday!!!! we are all so very thankful for each and every single one of you!
i was soooo excited hubby charming was coming home for the evening! what a sweet surprise!
we talked, we hung out, and just enjoyed our time together {when i’m with him, the words i’ll use to describe my feelings are comfort and happiness!} before we headed out for our evening plans.
we went to mass and then headed on our way to dinner! we went to our favorite sushi place, coast. we love coast. i/we have been going there for years. what we love most about coast is the fact that it is consistent in quality and taste every single time. it’s delicious and fresh. the rolls are the perfect size {none of the fancy, large rolls most trendy restaurants try to do…yuck}. it’s byob, so we brought some tasty wine to imbibe. the appetizers, the soup {the fried tofu – i die}, and the rolls {hands down best? the white dragon, it’s so stinkin’ good} fulfilled our tantalizing tastebuds {my brain said ‘i’m full + satisfied’}.
[mood lighting // two of hearts // best sushi ever]
after spending a lovely evening together, we scooted our way home to get those loose, comfy pajamas on!
it was a rainy day. lots o’ rain in the forecast {humph, there goes the curls + twirls i put in my hair!}. i had dedicated myself for some volunteer work in the morning. the original plan was to attend the 11:15 mass and participate in the volunteer work right after. weeeelllllll, that didn’t go accordingly! i was all gung ho about springing my multitude of clocks forward {which i did}; my alarm went off this morning and the next thing i knew…i overslept! yikes! i rushed to get ready, knowing i would make it in time for the volunteer work but disappointed that i would be missing mass!
here’s the good news {a delightful surprise!}, hubby charming told me last night that he was able to come home for the night {yay!}. so, on my way to st. clement, i called him and we agreed to go to 7pm mass together {soooo what i would prefer better!}.
I got to st. clement in time and helped maggie set up the sign up table {it stopped raining!} for our upcoming service day. i meeted and greeted with the parishioners after mass to encourage them to sign up for service day. after all that, i helped maggie break everything down and store it away for the 7pm mass. it was also great to spend the time together and get to know her better! also, knowing that i would be attending that mass instead, i told maggie i would participate in the service day sign up again!
it was so nice to be able to attend mass with my hubby charming. i just love st. clement. it was a very moving service tonight {very enjoyable and relaxing} and it’s been awhile since we’ve been to a mass where fr. ken was the presider! the volunteer time after mass was a lot of fun too! i passed out a good amount of flyers & got some peeps signed up, but i know quite a few folks in this mass because of the volunteer work we did for theology on tap {so fun!} last summer…it’s dominated by 7pm parishioners. it was a swell time then and tonight.
yup, it sure was a great day.
give, and it will be given to you. good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. for with the measure you use it will be measured back to you. luke 6:38
we kicked off our day with a lovely start at church. for some reason, mass today just flew by…it was weird. it felt very ephemeral. like i was in fast forward. maybe it was because we didn’t sit in our usual ‘spot’?? it was quite packed by the time we got there {um, maybe it was because i was totally running late…causing us to be late, therefore causing hc a very difficult time in the parking lot because it was filled to the gills…oops!!}, most of the pews were full, so i was ushered all the way up to the front side rows. hubby charming almost didn’t find me! so, therefore {phew! am i longwinded??? nah!} mass was over before i felt it began!
anyhoo, after that, we did our usual run to starbucks & off we went, over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house we go [literally]! brunch, presents, cake, oh my!
our wedding day was so amazing {no seriously, i know everyone says that but this is a very, very true statement!!!!}. it was the best day. ever. we worked so hard on all the details; we put all our love into every nuance of that day for all our guests. when i say fairytale, it truly was a magical day.
it turned out exactly how i imagined and could not have asked for a better day/weekend! from our beautiful rehearsal dinner hosted by hubby charming’s parents [at the grill on the alley on michigan avenue], to our beautiful, 70+ degree sun, shiny wedding day at our gorgeous church [st. clement], to our wonderful reception venue [a new leaf…so amaze] to our delicious brunch hosted at our favorite restaurant [roy’s], such jovial moments! it was the most wonderful, perfect time with our friends + family.
the feelings and elated emotions that you experience on that day are indescribable, intangible; if you could bottle that euphoria and share it, the world would be a better place.
i love this video of us on our wedding day. kate headley {our fabulous photographer} did such a magnificent job capturing the magic of our day.
you are dust, and to dust you shall return genesis 3:19
happy lent! today marks our lenten journey and i am super excited for this {woo!}. a time to be more reflective on our relationship with God, repentance, and penitence. choosing what to fast from is an intimate decision. it is what is most important to you and what sacrifice(s) you are willing to bestow.
this time allows me to think about how i can be better. how i can change myself to have a more fulfilling life in terms of giving back, forgiving myself, others, and living my life as an extension of His teachings. definitely easier said than done. i try to do my best but i have my everyday mishaps.
st. clement church and it’s community is a place where i call home. father ken, who married us, is an amazing man. i adore him. he has inspired me to grow my faith, self reflect, and give back in so many ways. the sense of belonging is immense and there are so many outlets there to do something better for the surrounding communities.
i am thankful to have found this church, this parish, and the ignited self discovery path i have been on.
