my favorite things as of late

in no particular order:

1. yoga.

i know, i know. so yoga has been the "in-thing" for

girls in america for probably a decade but i never ever thought i would a. do it or b. enjoy it. but per our p90x schedule it is required, so i have succumbed. and a couple months into the process of doing it for an hour and a half a week i absolutely love it. it is hard. and it really makes my body hurt. but it is also relaxing. and my body is already moving back to being as flexible as it was 10 years ago. and that part feels good.

2. our porch.

the transition into spring weather has made this place jarred's and my little heaven on earth. as i write this, i am sitting at a little wicker table (thanks to stacy and karen a couple years ago) as max leans over the edge to see as much of the sidewalk 5 floors below as possible. and this pleasant little place faces the west, catching not only the afternoon sun beating down on it at 6,000 ft and raising the temp 10 degrees from the other side of the house, but also the sunset over the distant mountains creating a beautiful view (well, minus the gas station obstructing about 30 degrees of it). i love it and cannot even begin to guess the number of hours i am going to spend reading and working out on this little porch over the coming months.

3. fresh fruit.

i've never been the queen of eating fruit, but in an effort to eat fresh and healthy i have been following in the footsteps of my husband and eating a lot of it. and while normal apples and bananas aren't my favorite, i live in a place where the market ladies' tables are now filled with some pretty interesting and exotic fruits. today i put blackberries in yogurt and mango in some salsa i made. delicious. ironically, the only fruit imported from america to our little town is red delicious apples. i cannot fathom that they are such a luxury that anyone would pay the price they charge for that boring little fruit.

4. phil wickham.

jarred is much more on top of good new music and over the years has introduced me to multiple singers/bands that i had never heard of but now love. the latest is phil wickham. he is a british guy and is just really great. you should check him out.

5. pandora.com

continuing with the music theme. media outlets are pretty different in asia. tv, newspapers, and the radio aren't quite the same listening or reading shows, articles, and songs in a different language. luckily, we live in an age when the internet provides pretty much everything anyone could possibly need. cnn and wsj provide our newspapers, hulu provides our tv, and now pandora provides my radio if i ever want one. just enter an artist or song and it will continually play songs from similar artists. i, however, do laugh at this everytime i go to pandora: stations jarred has created- phil wickham, coldplay, pearl jam, brad paisley, ray lamontagne, derek webb, sandra mccracken. stations i then created to add to his repertiore (none of which he has joined me in listening too, well, minus the first one): tenth avenue north, black eyed peas, beyonce, sarah bareilles. (note: i also added john schmidt to bring in some classical style, and yes, i am telling you this just to show that i too have some culture.)

6. adopting.

jarred and i now know a number of friends and acquaintances that are in the process of adopting from america and around the world. and this is probably my favorite thing right now. last time i checked there were about 147MILLION orphans in the world. the number astounds me and i want it to change. i think it is absolutely amazing to see people commit to going to great lengths to adopt an orphan and give him or her parents and siblings forever. it not only changes the life of a child from growing up in an orphanage or simply being abandoned, but is also such a sweet picture of our own adoptions as sons and daughters by a loving and compassionate Father. i simply love watching people do this, looking ahead to the day they will be able to go get their child and hold him/her for the first time.

7.amy and grace.

these are 2 of my neighbors that live out here with me this year and i really love them and love getting to spend time with them. amy is a sweet friend, caring, compassionate, with a really great laugh. i get to ride with her on her scooter about once a week and i think we have our best conversations screaming back and forth as the wind rushes around us. grace is a ball of energy, full of quotes, always asking questions and having deep conversation, and constantly making all of us laugh through silly things she does.

8. the blind side.

this movie just came out over here (after i have spent the last 6 months looking for it). jarred and i watched it last night, and it is definitely one of my favorite movies now. i love the entire plot, the story of redemption, the fact that it is a true story, and even the cute little kid. that lady has a lot of courage, conviction, and guts, and i like that too. i highly recommend it if you haven't seen it.

9. unc.

ok, we have utterly failed at basketball this season. if i was making a least favorite things list march madness would definitely be on it. carolina isn't even in it and dook is doing well, gag me. for the first time in probably 10 or 12 years i didn't even make a bracket. not exactly out of protest, but simple lack of interest. despite all of that though, i have recently been reminded of how much i love unc. our neighbor josh's younger brother is here finishing out his senior year of high school for a couple months, and last week he found out he was accepted to carolina. we threw him a surprise "welcome to carolina" party complete with a tar heel tablecloth, tar heel plates and napkins (all 3 thanks to my mom), a tar heel cake by danielle, and, of course, the fight song. man, i hadn't sung that in awhile.

10. warm weather.

there is a period of time here after the winter fades away and our apartments begin to thaw, yet before the rainy season begins when buckets fall from the sky day after day. and that time has recently begun. and it is glorious. i am so grateful for mornings that i can walk out in jeans and a sweatshirt and spend the afternoon in jeans, a t-shirt, and rainbows. i've even worn a skirt the last 2 sundays! yay for spring!

Bachelor weekend

This past weekend, my friend Josh, and I left our wives in the town to take our friend Graham to our capital city to give him a taste of the real big city life in East Asia. We had a great time visiting some world renown places and eating at world renown restaurants (read Outback, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Subway, and McDonald's). We also shopped at world renown stores (can't go to a city with an H&M without returning with something for your wife) and purchased some world renown name brand knock-off clothing and pearls (even though Shelley didn't go, it was still a good weekend for her). Let me give you a sample conversation with a saleslady at these knock off clothing places:

saleslady: OK SIR YOU WANT SHOE I GIVE CHEAPER FOR YOU YOU COME LOOK OKAY?

me: Do you have this sweater in a medium?

saleslady: medium have. here you look. this medium.

me: this is an extra large. you see where it says XL on the tag?

saleslady: oh yes. this-a-extra large. You want extra large?

me: no, I want a medium

saleslady: ok medium have. here you look.

me: that's not the same color.

saleslady: ok this a color.

me: that's not the same sweater

saleslady: ok you wait here just-a-one moment. i bring you

wait for 2 minutes

saleslady: ok here how much?

me: you tell me how much.

saleslady: ok. Usual give this-a-price (types 500 into a calculator) but since you friend I only give this price (types in 240).

me: really. tell me how much this really is.

saleslady: ok. I give cheaper for you. Because you speak language I give you this-a-price (150 ... looks at blank stare on my face) ok how much you want. you tell me how much you will pay.

me: I will pay 40.

saleslady: YOU JOKE ME!? 40! Sir I tell you 40 I cannot give. How much?

me: you tell me how much

saleslady: first i give you price then give you lower now you give me higher

me: first you give me lower.

saleslady: ok because you live in East Asia I give you this-a-price (types in 90)

me: 50

saleslady: 85 final offer

me: 60 final offer

saleslady: ok I give you final price. I give you cheaper. I give you 82.

me: 65

saleslady: 80

me: 75 take it or leave it.

saleslady: SIR YOU JOKE ME? I NO GIVE YOU BAD PRICE! ok take.

With the exception of a bad chest cold, it was an awesome way to end the week with one of the greatest friends that I have. Long Han, it was so much fun showing you our life here, and we are so grateful for your friendship! You were a real trooper, not backing down from any food, language, or cultural challenges presented. We hope you had just as good of a time as we did hosting you!

One Year Ago Today

A year ago today, I made a covenant with Shelley before God and loved ones that I would be bound to her in marriage for the rest of my life. I vividly remember so much about the day- all my friends, family, the service, her dress, taking pictures at UNC, and I remember that I had never loved her more. That remained true until the next day when I loved her even more, and the next day, and so on. And I can honestly say one year later that on my wedding day I knew nothing about how much you can love someone. I love her more today than I ever thought possible. The most exciting part of today, our first anniversary, is that I can talk to many of you who have been married scores longer than we have and know that I still haven't scratched the surface of knowing how much you can love someone. She is a picture of God's grace in my life, that He doesn't just rescue us for rescue's sake, but He rescues us to allow His grace to touch every single aspect of our lives. I am so thankful for the next however many years we have together. Happy first anniversary Shel!

Graham is here!

Saturday night at 11pm Jarred's friend Graham landed in our city. Graham is one of the greatest guys in the world and getting to know him was a another perk that came with marrying Jarred. He was a groomsman in both Jarred's and Josh's wedding, so both of them are stoked to have their good friend here for the week. Jarred has been counting down for months, and then the other morning he got to say "Graham is on his way here!" And Graham, being incredibly selfless, brought all of us tons of goodies, which are always a welcome surprise! He is here for a week and Jarred and Josh have planned awesome things to do with him all week, including a guys' weekend to the capital here to see all the famous things that no one can come to East Asia without seeing. Welcome to Asia, Graham!

"you got his cheese"

that's me. with a whole lot of cheese. 5 kilos to be exact. that's 11 pounds of cheese! life in asia is never dull, particularly in the realm of food. we absolutely love the local food here. although one food group distinctly absent is dairy. i never realized how much dairy americans (and this one in particular) eat until moving to a place where everyone else isn't such a fan. the majority of people here are lactose intolerant and the rest just view milk as for kids. i, on the other hand, love milk. not so much here bc it tastes weird, but in america it is one of my favorite things to drink. my love of cheese, however, spans worldwide. as an aside, i would like to note that i blame my love of cheese 100% on my mother whose now empty-nester refrigerator contains an average of 5-10 different cheeses making up approximately 50% of her grocery bill. (numbers subject to my estimation.) and since it isn't a local fav, that means that it must be bought at an import store at an extremely high price. so some of the women in my city got really wise a couple years ago and found a hole-in-the-wall place where you can buy it in bulk making it much cheaper. so last weekend jarred and i made a cheese run and stocked up on cheese for the next 6 months! and despite the fact that we are working to eat less dairy (along with meat, processed food in general, and everything else that makes up the "western diet") (note: this is mostly a result of michael pollan author of In the Defense of Food, as well as a few articles i have read recently linking dairy in the western diet to breast cancer and even acne), all of this cheese will get used over time. and the kicker is that we paid $37 for this cheese, which is a savings of $52 over what it would cost to buy it a chunk at a time at the normal import store. let's just hope the power doesn't go out for an extended time at josh and danielle's where most of this cheese is in a big freezer.

the only bad thing is that most recipes call for shredded cheese, which requires this: