to cook like a gourmet chef, to have a king size bed, to be a professional wedding photographer, to have 4 kids, to have the voice of an angel and sing in a gospel choir, to have beautiful, not chewed nails, and the list goes on. what are these? these are my dreams.
last night during small group we were told to shout out our dreams. no limits, no boundaries, and anything goes. have you never really dreamed? i know i hadn't. none of us had ever really thought about what we wanted. it was so fun to just be able to fantasize about life without having any limitations. what are some of your dreams?
this leads me into my favorite friday for this week. a HUGE dream of mine is to be able to travel the world and learn about all kinds of cultures, see fascinating sights, taste unusual and unique foods, and take amazing pictures!
my favorite for this friday is traveling. i'm not like johnny cash who's "been everywhere, man," but i have been very fortunate to have gone to some pretty awesome places. some of my favorite places i've been are these:
the broadmoor in colorado springs, colorado- such gorgeous mountains and that resort is amazing!
mizner place in weston, florida-such a great place to relax and see the Everglades and hold alligators!!
asheville, north carolina to see the biltmore estate- every time i look at it i'm speechless and the inside is just a gorgeous
germany/austria- such beautiful countries and so much to do! i would go back in a heartbeat
saranac lake, new york- it's seriously a piece of heaven on earth. cotton ball clouds, perfect blue skies, and picturesque mountains surrounding you...who wouldn't want to be there?!
not only is traveling a favorite of mine, but so is everything that comes with it! i'm weirdly obsessed with airports, hotels, and room keys. i think airports are awesome and i would live there if i could. the whole experience of flying just thrills me! hotels are also awesome. they almost make it or break it for me. some of my favorites are the waldorf= astoria (where we stayed during our recent nyc trip), the broadmoor, the hotel roanoke, the jefferson hotel and the georgetown inn. all of these places had so much character and made the trips even better. and lastly, room keys. i'm really weird in that i collect hotel room keys. i don't know if it's considered stealing or not, but i've always left without returning the room keys. my dad travels a lot and knows to always bring home his room keys. and for the past couple of years, even his co-workers and bosses give him the room keys to give to me. i know...it's weird. who knows what i'm going to do with all of them?!
some of the collection...
that's all for this friday, but if you have any favorite places you've been or any dreams you've been thinking about, i would love to hear them!!
happy friday/saturday!! i hope you've had a splendid week! because i adore Christmas and because sadly it's over, i've decided to dedicate this week's favorite friday to my top 15 favorite Christmas break memories.
1. The Bo-Ryder Christmas Caroling Party every year our friends and neighbors, the Bohlingers and Ryders, throw a caroling party to sing to our neighborhood. singing, eating, and friends are at the top of my favorites list so you can probably see why i love this party so much. plus, it's tradition. traditions can never be broken in my eyes. this year was especially fun because it was the first time i was able to see some of my best friends since being home from college. and not to mention the fondue at the end was to die for...
erin and i caroling
this is us on a good day...
2. Goat Farm have you ever been to a goat farm?! They are so neat! My cousins own a goat farm in Danville and we went to go visit it on Christmas Eve day. The baby goats were my favorite. There were also donkeys which were way awesome. The house was awesome too. My favorite part? Definitely the golf carts. I wish golf carts were the new cars. It might take ten times longer to get from one place to another, but it would for sure be ten times more fun than driving cars.
the farm house!
3. Christmas Eve Charades i have been in charge of Christmas Eve games for years. it's another tradition and I can't let it be broken. this year i chose to play Christmas charades. the game was great, but what was even greater was watching my grandma play it. i was lucky enough to have had my camera out while it was her turn and captured her sticking her middle finger out at us. you might not think its very funny, but if you knew my grandma you would die laughing like we did.
4. Christmas Morning santa never gets old. i still get butterflies in my stomach right before we run out to see our gifts because i am so excited. this year was no different. here's a video of a typical Duvall Christmas. it's pretty long, so i won't be offended if you don't watch the whole thing. things to ignore:
my outfit. i'm known for always having weird outfits for Christmas. let's just say the outfit doesn't get much better as the video progresses...
the blurriness. my mom took the video and she lacks technology skills (sorry mom!)
i sound like a man. it's reeeeal early
the pretty weird noises i tend to make
warning: we get pretty excited about our gifts...
5. Having a White Christmas! it's my favorite Christmas song and movie so to actually have one was so great! how often do you actually get snow on Christmas day?! hardly ever so that's why this was so fun.
snowwww!
see the snow behind us?!
6. Christmas in Winchester we left the snow and headed to the mountains where there was actually no snow. i always enjoy being with this side of the family. my granddad is the youngest of 16 so needless to say there is a lot of us Duvall's. Christmas there with grandmother and granddad, uncle mark and liz, and shane was great fun and everyone was way too generous as always.
don't ask why, but i really wanted a johnny cash cd for Christmas.
this was my expression when i opened it and saw walk the line and ring of fire were on it.
one of my favorite gifts!! thank you so much uncle mark and liz!
morgan with the grandmother and granddad
7. Phase 10 Playing
i have never played this game so much in my life. i love it so much though. the best game i played was with my grandparents. 1 game and 4 hours later Morgan was declared winner. i don't know how that happened considering she was on phase 2 when we were all on phase 5, but she made a tremendous comeback and took the title of phase 10 champion.
ledo's is sooo good and i miss ours at home!
they make the best chex mix
8. Trish's Richmond Hangout my friend, sarah, and i road tripped it to richmond to stay with our sweet friend, julie, in order to see all of our jmu friends. we had such a great time hanging out at trish's house, playing signs, listening to cd's made by daniel, and talking all about our breaks.
LOVE this.
9. Italian Dinner and Game Night on our way back from richmond sarah and i had the brilliant idea that we were going to cook dinner for our friends back at home. let's just say sarah + perrin + cooking = do not exist. no, i'm kidding. we survived and made a delicious (or at least i thought so) italian dinner. later we played an awesome game of Taboo for at least a couple of hours.
10. Ringing in the New Year new years eve was very low key this year, but it was also the perfect way to begin 2011. erin, sarah, kelsey, and i went to erin's to eat a scrumptious dinner and later made southern living's red velvet brownies with cream cheese icing (which i highly recommend you make) before going to rob and stacey's (Young Life/small group leader's) house to hang out. we got back to erin's house just in time to pop open some sparkling cider and watch the ball drop.
11. Sewing don't laugh because this actually happened. who knew i could actually sew?! my mom is a pro at sewing so i told her i was ready to learn because i wanted to make an apron (for all the cooking that doesn't take place in college). so we got a pattern, fabric, and dusted off the sewing machine so i could make my apron. it was great fun, but sadly i had to go back before it was finished. so when i do finish it i will surely post a picture of it :)
12. Spending Time with my Boyfriend i bet you just read that and thought, "what?! perrin has a boyfriend?!" i wish i could say it is false, but it simply isn't. trey and i have been dating for 3 years (as of January 7th) and our relationship is still going strong. he may only be 3 (as of January 7th), but our times together are so sweet. they consists of watching Cars, coloring in coloring books, and riding our tricycles together. we're getting married one day...he's just too young to realize it.
aren't we cute together?!
13. Small Group Hangout my small group from back home was able to get together at stacey's house one night over break and to just catch up on our crazy semesters. it was awesome to get to see everyone again. we also whipped out the taboo game (again) and played a great game.
this is us acting normal...
oh wait...this is us acting normal.
14. Tea Party they were fun as little girls, but they're even better as 18 and 19 year olds! we went to a tea room in a place in downtown norfolk called Rowena's. it's adorable. we sipped on our tea, ate our cucumber sandwiches, and enjoyed our last day together before heading back to school.
15. Angelina Jolie Movies why angelina jolie?! we did not plan this, but it seemed that every movie we watched over break starred her in it. my mom, dad, and i went to see The Tourist is theaters and i looooved it. italy, beautiful outfits, johnny depp, and a surprise ending made it amazing! then we happened to rent Salt one night which was just as amazing. she is great in action movies. how she jumps from car to car and still looks beautiful i can't seem to figure out?!
have a lovely weekend :) xoxo, erin with a p and a double r
i just started classes for my spring semester of my freshman year (so weird) last monday and i've hardly picked up my pen to do any work (don't tell my parents). i didn't know what to do with all this free time (and no tv) so lately i've had some really sweet times with the Lord which has been so great. i thought i'd share some of what i've been learning because i always learn, understand, and put into practice better myself when i share it with others. so here it goes...
first, i've learned that my way isn't always God's way. this seems like such a small concept to grasp, but it's huge if you get it. there are some things that i just know are what i want and when it doesn't work out how i want them to, i automatically assume that God just doesn't want me to have what i want. that's so not true! i've had to keep reminding myself lately that God has my best interest in mind and that His plan for me is ten times better than the plan i have for myself.
secondly, i know i say this a lot, but my all time favorite verses in the Bible are Philippians 4: 6-7. they are just so great in that they always give me a huge sigh of relief whenever i'm feeling stressed or overwhelmed (which is most of the time). there's such huge truth in just these 2 little verses. my favorite part is when Paul says, "...the peace of God, which transcends ALL understanding..." this verse reminds me to turn my worries to prayers and to trust Him to take away all my feelings of anxiousness. these verses have helped me feel a lot less stressed as i've began to do work again and figure out a whole new schedule and what i want to do with the rest of my life. it's all in God's hands, not mine...thank goodness!
lastly, i've been thinking a lot about the verse we had to memorize this week for YL leadership training. when i first read it i was sort of confused as to why we had to memorize it. so i decided to read the whole story and figure out why we had to know Acts 4:13. this is what i discovered... (might be helpful to read it here first) brief synopsis: -Peter and John "teaching the people" and proclaiming Jesus' resurrection from the dead. -Sadducees= members of small, but powerful, Jewish religious sect that did not believe in the resurrection of the dead and some helped carry out Jesus's death/plan it. - Sadducees heard Peter and John proclaiming Jesus' resurrection and so they were arrested and sent to the slammer for the night. - the next morning the Jewish council hears their case and asks them, "By what power or what name did you do this?" and they respond by showing them that Jesus, whom they had crucified, had risen again - then comes the verse I had to memorize... "When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus." (i'll come back to this in just a second) - the council discusses what to do with these men and decide that this needs to be stopped from spreading any further and that these men need to not speak to anyone in Jesus' name - then the best part comes...Peter and John come back in and the council tells them to stop talking/teaching in the name of Jesus and P & J say, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen or heard." BAM! take that Jewish council. i just love that part so much! - Peter and John end up being released because the council can't decide how to punish them because everyone was praising God for what had happened!
after studying these awesome verses here is what i think the Lord was trying to teach/remind me: 1. Peter and John took a huge risk when they started proclaiming Jesus' resurrection to people. i think in order to win our friends to Christ we must take risks. it may seem scary and a little intimidating, but i think the Lord will honor our willingness to share the gospel with others. in Peter and John's case 5,000 men came to know Jesus because of the risk they took that ended them up in jail. 5,000 men is a lot! but even if it was just one person they won over, do you think they would've been as willing to go to the slammer for a night? taking risks in my faith is something i want to really work on. my Bible says, "Whatever the risks, realize that nothing done for God is ever wasted." be risky this week :) 2. i mentioned i would come back to verse 13 later and this is why i believe i had to memorize it. i think that it's so important to realize that Peter and John were "unschooled, ordinary men" who were proclaiming the good news. unschooled and ordinary. no experience needed. no training needed. all that was needed was the Holy Spirit in them. i think that's awesome. sometimes your testimony is the best tool to share the gospel with others. 3. i want zeal for the Lord that's so strong that I can't keep quiet, even when threatened. i want to be bold, just like Peter and John. verse 20 says, "For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." that's exactly what i want. i want to be so on fire for the Lord that i just can't keep it in and have to share it with everyone!
i'm so sorry this post was extremely long. but hopefully you were able to relate to what God's been teaching me this week. remember to take risks, be unschooled and ordinary, and have zeal for the Lord that's so strong you can't keep quiet. hope you're having a fabulous week so far! :) xoxo, erin with a p and a double r
day 3 started with a breakfast at ellen’s stardust diner. this wasn’t just a regular ole diner, but a diner where the waiters and waitresses sang and danced for you. it was ummm…what’s the word i’m looking for…different?? yeah, i think that’s it. the singing was good, the food? not so much. here’s when a typical “me” moment kicks in. as we’re walking to macy’s my mom points out to me that i have a pretty large hole in my tights right in the thigh/butt area of the back of my leg. plus, i was wearing a skirt. i can’t believe i walked all the way to the restaurant like that! luckily there are lots of pharmacy stores between ellen’s and macy’s.
after getting new tights (thankfully) we finished walking to macy’s. it was huge, awesome, beautifully decorated, and very confusing. my favorite part about macy’s was the wooden escalators. i don’t know why, but they fascinated me. all around macy’s they had red ornaments hanging from red riboon on every spot of the ceiling. there were TONS of them and it made the store look so festive!
next we went to lunch at planet hollywood. our server, kyle, was great! i think we talked to him longer than he actually served us. i could pretty much tell you his whole life story. he lived in miami, but moved up NYC to become an actor and he’s done some work on general hospital. his parents are divorced. dad lives in alabama, mom lives in florida. see? i told you i knew his whole life story.
then we went to the plaza which was beyond gorgeous. guests were enjoying afternoon tea in the palm court when we were there. we went down to the eloise store which was adorable. pink was everywhere and little girls were walking around in awe begging their parents to buy them jewlry, look-a-like clothes, books, and much more! the Christmas decorations at the Plaza were also amazing. some pictures from the plaza:
a block over was none other than Tiffanys. the Tiffany & Co. shimmers and sparkles were up, down, and all around. on the engagement ring floor we got to watch 2 couples pick out the bride’s engagement ring. one bride was getting a 2 carat ring! isn’t that ridiculous?! we went up to the 6th floor and found some goodies all in the tiffany blue color. ooohhh i love that color so much!
walking back over a block we went to f.a.o. schwarz. there, we not only saw the big piano from the movie Big, but we also saw Jake Gyllenhaal. He was walking right in front of me and it took me a while to realize that normal people don’t just walk around a toy store with sunglasses on. my dad, trying to be funny, decided to whip his sunglasses out and put them on so people would think he was famous. how embarrassing! anyways, jake was there with his personal shopper picking out some stuffed animals and a few other toys. my guess is that they’re not for taylor swift.
we quickly went back to the hotel to freshen up and get ready for (drum roll please) the ROCKETTES!! this was probably my ultimate favorite part of the whole trip. the Radio City Christmas Spectacular was ah-mazing! it was the epitome of Christmas for me. walking back to our hotel after the show we passed through rockefeller center. as mom and I were walking we passed by a couple sitting on a bench by the Christmas tree and this is how their conversation went (remember we came in mid-way):
Boy: So is it a yes? (holding out a ring)
Girl: YES! (nods her head)
Boy: Really?!
Girl: Yes!
then they kissed and lived happily ever after. well i’m not sure they’re going to live happily ever after, but I do know that after it happened my mom stopped and turned around and asked me, “did they really just get engaged?!” and indeed they did.
after the show we headed back to the waldorf for some desserts and cappuccinos in a place called peacock alley. we drank and ate while listening to a norah jones wanna be. it was the perfect ending to a perfect last day.
on tuesday (day 4) we packed our things for the final time and got ready to go home. before we went home there was one final place i wanted to go. you may think this is funny, but the one store i wanted to go to was anthropologie! it’s my absolute favorite store and there are none around me in virginia beach so i just had to go! and it didn’t let me down. it was just as great as i was excpecting it to be. and then there was just one place my mom had to go before we left and that was st. patrick’s cathedral. and let me tell you…it was gorgeous. the details in that place were extraordinary!
and that was our final stop in our adventure to the big apple. it was a fabulous trip and i can’t wait to visit it again!
