Summer 2008

So the summer of 2008 was a busy one for the Smiths. Among weddings, anniversary, birthdays, family gatherings, etc. it was a blessed time. I think there were maybe like 3 weekends total all summer where Matt and I had NOTHING to do- which can be a good thing and a bad thing. Oh yeah did I mention a mock olympics? (Think adults covered in dish wash soap and a big water slide)No pictures of those unfortunately. God is so kind to us and even though I am struggling with a complaining heart these days, writing blogs like this help to remind me of His goodness and kindness.

So ready for a throw up of pictures? I have been pretty bad about taking my camera with me to places but this is what I have of summer 2008. I am trying to be better about the Fall. It starts with just a random pictures of some people from nyc coming down for a wedding/slash my birthday. Poor girlies just collapsed as soon as they arrived to MD!


My wonderful mom during my birthday dinner.
Emmm Kar bee- its a korean BBQ. Probably one of my favorite meals to eat besides sushi.

One of the events that I do at work is the annual Staff picnic. This year was so much fun! The greatest compliment that you can get as a event planner is that your event was the most fun they have ever had...by kids! One of my pastors came up to me and said that his son said "Dad it's impossible to have any more fun next year then I did this year!" (Be still my heart)
Katherine (my co-worker) and one of my other co-worker's son. Soo cute! Katherine is probably one of the most godliest women I know and have the honor of encountering with on a daily basis. When I grow up I want to be just like her! (Too bad she is younger than me-what does that say about me?)



Matt took me to a butterfly exhibition at Brookside gardens. It was sooo beautiful! There were HUNDREDS of butterflies everywhere and I absolutely loved it. Even Matt was entertained. We wished that we could've stayed in there for hours on end, but unfortunately it was a jungle-temperature in the exhibition so we only stayed for oh..one hour. =D


Please excuse Matt's clothing- we went right after his Brazilian Jujitsu class
Then on September 16th, we celebrated our two year anniversary! I can't believe how fast the time goes. God has been so kind to us and continues to bless us and our marriage. Its the best thing I have ever done with my life so far and I am so blessed to be married to this man! We celebrated by going to where else? One of our favorite sushi places in MD called Sushi Sono in Columbia. It was also where we had our first AND second date..hehe.


First thing, I suck at picture taking. Really I do if you don't know by now. Probably because my practice comes only through taking pictures of my husband or food. I really need lessons- so I apologize for the blurriness!

This past weekend we went up to nyc for a wedding, my wonderful friend Yvonne got married. She was probably one of the most elegant brides I have ever seen.
The happy couple. They came into the reception walking to "We are the champions song" while the groom held a WWF champion belt and the bride doing a motion of "bring it on" sort of attitude. I love them!! By the way, is there a correlation with a Taiwanese wedding and the color pink? This is yet another Taiwanese wedding that I went to where everything was pink. Just wondering...

Some girlies from Remnant Westside church. Man.. brings back goooooddd memories.

Our gracious hosts. James was kind enough to let us stay at his place (his building has some SNL celebrities living there plus US weekly Editor in chief) and Mizy kept buying us food! The cupcakes from Magnolia bakery was...INSANE. *droolllll Can't wait until their wedding!
Upcoming posts, once our jacuzzi comes in our contractor will start on our bathroom renovation! We are super excited, we are pretty much gutting everything and making it new. Finally one of our house projects are going to get done. I will DEFINITELY be taking pictures of before and after. But then again I might not be interested in posting up the before since its gross...

Getting old and the Great American Detox Diet

Hope everyone had a good weekend!
Matt, my sister Cindy and I went to Bethany Beach in Delaware this past weekend for a last, summer beach event and had a blast. Matt's company rented out a 7 bedroom beach house right on the beach, and it was wonderful. We went out to the beach, went Jet skiing and ate LOTS of food of course.

I am hoping that my sister will send some pictures so I could show you the pictures of the biggest crabs I have ever seen. Since last year I have been allergic to crabs and now i cannot eat them anymore. =(
Whenever I eat them I have the worst stomach cramps and some other unmentionable body functions. These crabs might have been worth the pain but we were planning to travel home that night so I figured it wouldn't be so wise to be that sick when planning to sit in the car for 3 hours.

Matt's boss has his own boat and 3 jet skiis that he allows his guests to use freely so my sister was out on the jet skii literally for like HOURS (glad to know that she had so much fun!)

Now after a month of HORRIBLE eating, and Matt starting to train again for Brazilian Jiujitsu, we have to start eating healthy again. I have been reading this book called the Great American Detox diet. Its written by Alex Jamieson, the wife of the guy who did SuperSize Me.

She is a vegan chef who apparently was able to get him back in shape within a matter of 8 weeks using her recipes. Before I have started to eat a little more like how she suggests and I could feel the difference in my body. I stopped craving nasty, oily foods and would even start to have reactions when I would eat them.
Now i start to get headaches if I eat something too salty and feel uncomfortable if I don't eat enough fruits and vegetables.

So with a little encouragement Matt have decided to not go Full blast vegan, but geared towards more vegetarian. So if anything we will have meat like probably 3 times a week, and then the rest of the protein will come from beans and tofu.

Ever since I turned 25 I feel like my body has been falling apart slowly. I really need to invest in taking care of it so I am in tip top shape when I am in my 50s. I would hate to retire and then physically be in a condition where I can't do anything!

Some recipes (at least the ones that we like) i will post to share.