Naptown in the Summer!

So on Friday, we had some friends from work invite us down to Pussers in downtown Annapolis which is a great little Caribbean Resturant right on the water. To my suprise, we actually had numerous other friends show up later after last minute invitations from AJ. We enjoyed the entire evening from 5-1am on the outdoor patio!

The weather was nice, after a hefty, but short lived, thunder storm. Just being no the water around tons of sailboats, of every shape and size was breath taking! No noisey, smelly motor boats here!!

One of AJ's friends who is a Navel Academy grad got us excellent parking on the base too! Lucky us! AJ informed me that if we ever become rich someday that he would like to live in Annapolis. HA! I told him instead we can visit as often as he likes.

Spiritual Gift(s)

Anyone know what their spiritual gift is?? Some days I feel like I have a TON of them and I can't read where God wants to use me first because I feel like the Philippians 4:13 woman, "I can do ALL things, through Christ who gives me strength!" But then there are other days where I feel so insignificant in what I'm actually capable in doing for God. How can one little vote, or one letter to a political power, one stand for what's truely right in God's eyes, actually make a difference?!
Well, I'm going to admit that sometimes one person doesn't make a difference to the rest of the world. But I'm here to tell you the good news that one person does make a difference to the Creator of THIS world! What can be worth more than that?? Every action you make matters to God, your Father. If it's a huge protest on the front steps of the Washington Monument, or if it's an annomyous letter to your politcian about the true sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman. God sees the difference and God uses your actions, big or little, for His perfect plan.

God knows what you do in secret:
Matthew 6:6 "But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

God's perfect plan was laid out before the beginning of time, and you are apart of it, with no action or lots of action, your life was a part of God's script!

2 Timothy 1:9 "Who has saved us and called us to a holy life - not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us before the beginning of time."

Well, I'm hoping to hone in on which spiritual gift of mine that God wants to make a statement with. After doing many years in church activities and leadership, I feel God has trained me up for many years now and is telling me I'm ready to go outside the church and take his message from here to the nations!

Matthew 12:18 "Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations."

We can't reach the lost in a house of the saved. We are trained up in the house of the saved.

Mark 2:17 "On hearing this, Jesus said to them, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'"

So I hope you check back as I weigh my options on so many groups and organizations that need faithful servants to make and impact for Christ. The more people we reach the soon Christ will come back to take us to everlasting peace!

So Behind... last of San Fran

Here, to play catch up here is the remainder of our trip pics. I actually have other things to blog about this summer even if I don't have too many pictures to add. Enjoy!

I just fit!

I made AJ sit on this huge tire since I got into the big rope!

That's the Golden Gate bridge behind us. You can see closer up pictures from last years trip.

Lunch in the sun with a bottle of wonderful Calfornia Wine!

Where they make the best chocolate in the world! Also, notice I'm in tennis shoes with my skirt because after 5 days of wearing cute instyle shoes in a very hilly city... I learned my lesson and I was just going for comfort for our last day of walking city adventures! I pulled it off ok, didn't I?

Cheesecake dessert before our Dancing Broadway Show we saw on AJ's birthday!

At he top of Macy's at the cheesecake factory over looking union square on AJ's birthday!

Yes, that is a dog, with a cat on top and a mouse on top of it. Yes, they were all live and living. You can see this guy on Utube too!

AJ wanted fried shrimp for his birthday...

We both got sick from eatting so much fried food... that were not used to... blah.

We got hot chocolate, tea and coffee brought to our room for free every day with a wake up call! It was so nice being in an upscale hotel for a change! Bathrobes too! What fun!

This is me mad on the cable car ride on St. Patty's Day because AJ wouldn't stop taking stupid pictures in the dark of every car we saw while riding up the hill...

This is AJ super excited to be on the cable car and refused to sit down inside the car but hang on the outside like they do in the movies.... sigh.

San Fran #2

Here are some random monument shots around the city:

Union Square

Block Party in Financial District on St. Patty's Day,

,... yes, we got a "Boot of Beer."

Some weird sculpture on Embarcadero StreetFerry Building
Bay Bridge, not the Golden Gate Bridge, and a flying bird.

More Later...

San Francisco, We Miss You!

What a great trip we had! Sadly, AJ came down with a fever of 99.6 one hour before our alarms were supposed to go off to get to the airport at 4am. I popped him some ibeprofin so he could break his fever by the time we took off (which it did, Thank the Lord!). I packed extra medicine and tons of vitamins and off we went! In Detroit, we saw a train inside the airport just to get people from one end of the termanial to the other, neat!

This was our first time staying over night in the city and for a whole week too! We got to upgrade our hotel to a ritzy place with an amazing view to the bay bridge and Fishermans Warf! We were on the top of the hill of Union Square which was a bear to hike up just two blocks of steep incline! Here are some pictures of the street our hotel was on to show you how steep things are.

It was rainy the first day there so we stayed in and got some much needed rest. Which, is so OPPOSITE what AJ and I do on vacations as most of you know. But because AJ was sick, it was truely a blessing to rest. We saw some of China Town with tons of open markets and cheap merchandise too!

The first night there, I took AJ and our friend James (who picked us up from the airport) to a Brizilan Resturant (thanks to yelp reviews) where dancers came out to put on a show through out the dinner. THe food was very authentic and good!

Before our dinner we got to hangout in their basement which has cool lighting, some benches and a real waterfall, it felt like you were in a jungle and we ordered a fun drink that had a flame in the middle (hard to see in the picture) with two long straws!! AJ looks so tired and sick and all 3 pictures we took of this drink, so I posted the best one I could.

This is us with James! Thanks for the fun times!

Then I went to do some shopping for the next 3 days while AJ was in his conference. It wasn't too bad. I worked out in the morning and met AJ for lunch in their AMAZING food court at the Westfield Mall. Every food place in the mall was like really nice, with real plates and silverware and you could order some wine with your meal, and they had a Koren BBQ place, an amazing steak shop, Thai, Japaneese, sushi, a Crapes and Geloto place, seafoon too! Everything was so high class and amazing food, with big portions. We actually would split a meal for lunch that of course was around $9 anyway for one portion!

On top of that, this Mall was 6 stories high! And Nordstrom was the top 3 floors.

The original Vera Bradly store was in there, which I visited, since I now know who and what that is. I took some other pictures for my little sister to prove I was there, even though I didn't have a clue what any of the stores were,... and I've NEVER heard of this Dior thing... it was just a big wall with a word so I took a picture of it!
I was actually kind of embarressed to stand in front of this picture of a drag queen. Yuck.

More San Fran Adventures to come!

San Francisco, We're Comin' Back!

So to hold tradition of traveling on our birthdays (during spring break) every year, we're going to San Francisco for a whole week this time, only in one city! I don't know how we'll do staying in one place for a whole week! AJ got a confrence for work out there and so we're off to spend a day in wine country again, this time in Napa since we saw Sonoma last time. We're staying right in downtown Union Square in the city in an amazing Marriot hotel! I can't wait to see what their gym is like! Also, we'll get to see their St. Patrick's Day Parade coming down one block from our hotel! We fly out March 14th! Woohoo!

Here are some of our memories from San Francisco last March.

Missing the Holiday

So, I think we have to wait until Easter to get some family, food, and holiday spirit... which is on my little sisters birthday this year, April 12th! Super Bowl was kind of a holiday for the rest of America but... not really. Work is giving a 4 day weekend over Valentine's Day too! I can't wait! AJ will probably do our typical order in G&M crab cakes, dress up in a sexy little dress (AJ doesn't do that part... :o)), and have candle light! The rest of the world goes out on Valentine's Day,... but for 4 years now,... we don't!

I can't wait for the next sister fondue night over Easter! Everyone else out there... PRAY FOR SNOW!!!

Little sister, her hubby, Bob, me, and my hubby, AJ.

All the women in the Wise Family, notice lots of cookies close by!