I Love Strawberry Ice Cream

Celebrity Summer Update

2009-08-02T16:27:00.002-05:00

The Key To Beauty

2009-08-01T15:58:00.001-05:00

I enjoy this really great magazine called Real Simple. I suppose the reason why I enjoy the magazine so much is because it is my feeble attempt to make myself believe that I can live a simple life: a life of no stress, a life full of meditating, exercising and a really simple life of eating organic grass nuts. Anyway, I digress.:) My latest issue of Real Simple had an article titled, “What Makes You Feel Beautiful.” The writer of the article interviewed people of all different ages about what made them feel beautiful . The answers to the questions were so unique and varied. One interviewee said, “I feel beautiful when my husband says I make him happy,” and another lady wrote in, “I feel beautiful sitting down with a glass of wine with my husband after we have put our kids to bed and are reflecting about our day.” Someone else who was interviewed wrote, “my work makes me feel beautiful.” This simple question of “what makes me feel beautiful” got me thinking. What makes me feel beautiful? I mean, I am the first one to feel cute in a pair of fun new shoes or a stylish new shirt. But when in life do I truly feel beautiful? You know, that kind of beauty that starts in your soul and makes you feel like the world is yours to have. The kind of beauty that makes me feel that all is right in the world, the kind of beauty that reassures me that my children will grow up to be healthy, happy, giving people, that my marriage will continue to survive the trials that life brings, that trying relationships will be made right. So, here is my list of what makes me feel beautiful:

I feel beautiful when I am leaving church on Sunday mornings with my family in tow, and we are on our way to a restaurant for brunch.
I feel beautiful when my husband is laughing at one of my jokes.
I feel beautiful when I have finished a long walk with my two crazy “Marley and Me” like dogs.
I feel beautiful when I have been gracious, even if it almost killed me.

So here is your mission, if you chose to accept it:). What makes you feel beautiful? I will leave a quote with you from the famous and the beautiful Miss Julia Roberts, who has had all the opportunities in the world to feel beautiful and this is what she has to say about feeling beautiful. “The key to beauty is always to be looking at someone who loves you, really.”

Here’s to being beautiful!

Jon Gosselin Makes Me Vomit

2009-07-22T10:02:00.001-05:00

Letter to the Editor of People:
Please for the love of all that is good and kind take Jon Gosselin off the cover of your future magazines. He is NOT, I repeat not a celebrity or anyone, for that matter of interest. Jon Gosselin, with hair plugs intact, left his family of EIGHT to “find” himself. I guess he forget to check his resume, to confirm, if he was worth being “found”. The man has, a)has no job, b)has no moral ethics, c)is an extortionist, d) is an incredibly bad dresser, e) has zero personality and f) is a really bad dresser( it deserves to be mentioned twice). I splurge on my People purchase because I want to see a bit of glam and Hollywood drama. The last thing, I want to see is another, yes another, dead beat dad that has lost his way due to the “albatross” of fatherhood... blah, blah blah...cry me a river.... Funny, how that treacherous and self sucking path of fatherhood made Jon Gosselin a very, very rich man. So, to sum up this letter, I must borrow a quote from my insightful and delightful 12 year old middle school daughter... Jon Gosselin makes me vomit.

Still a huge People magazine fan,
Natalie Johnson

I Am Here To Help...

2009-07-17T13:25:00.001-05:00

Today, I decided to go to my 4:30pm yoga class. After coming to terms with the guilt I feel for leaving my family for 2 hours, I make my way down the Tollway. I enter the studio and am feeling somewhat...well, sassy. I mean, I have been going to this particular yoga class for 5 months. Sooo....I decide for the greater good of all the new yoga friends in class today, that I will be on the front row. I tell myself that I am here to help others through this class because I, well, I know what I am doing. I enter my class and find it strangely quiet and some weird music was playing in the background. I shrugged and confidently laid down my yoga mat and towel. I turn to the friend next to me and give a quick reassuring “you are going to be just fine” wink, right before class starts.

The instructor walks into the room and with a gentle voice says, “Welcome to Experienced Yoga Class for Those Students Who Have Found Their Calling to Be a Future Yoga Teacher.” Ok, ok... she didn’t exactly say that but you get the general idea. Drumroll...wait for it.... I WAS IN THE WRONG DARN CLASS!!!!! Are you kidding me? I am on the front row of a small mirrored room, with a small group of people, who can see every move I make or in this case every move I CAN’T MAKE!!!! We start out with some basic yoga moves and I am at least able to keep up with the pace of the class. It suddenly goes from bad to worse when I find myself sweating profusely and gasping for air. I nervously glance into the mirror, scared at what might be peering back at me and I find that I look like Jack Black in a sea of Gwenyth Paltrows doing yoga. Then, before I can say proud pigeon, we are instructed to do a small handstand with our feet out to the side of our bodies instead of our feet being straight up above our heads. I thought, finally, a position where I won’t be the only one that can’t get it right... I mean, c’mon, 12 other people couldn’t possible do some Cirque du Soleil mini-handstand. WRONG AGAIN...Everyone could do it...expect me. You might ask me how I know that everyone could perform this freakish circus act. Well, I had I nice bird’s eye view after, instead of a handstand, I did a complete forward roll...or in layman’s terms, a summersault and landed flat on my back peering up at the ceiling (grateful that I didn’t shatter the mirror when my feet flung over my body). I was told to take a small break and observe. Yep, I was there to help, there to help myself, right off my high horse and back onto solid ground, where I belong. :)

In Spite of Myself

2009-07-10T11:01:00.002-05:00

On Thursday, my daughter Caroline and I went with my sister-in-law and her daughter to serve in a soup kitchen in downtown Dallas(www.cornerstonedallas.org). Before we served lunch, we helped out with a weekly women’s bible study that included about 20 women that would be attending lunch at the soup kitchen. After the women hear a short Bible study, they receive a medium size shopping bag filled with items that they need. Each lady was to fill out an index card with specific needs as she came in. Caroline and I sorted through clothes(that had been donated) and fill the bags for each lady, according to the needs listed on the index card. We also would fill the bags with personal hygiene items. The items that each lady might need ranged from a shirt, shoes, toothpaste, tampons, make-up, bras and even towels.

Keep in mind, these women live on the streets or in a nearby shelter in downtown Dallas, going to a carpeted closet or a nicely stocked bathroom cabinet is not an option for them. I thought that it was pretty funny how my extreme love for fashion (see previous post) and a bit of a longing to serve came together today. I have noticed that God tends to do this for me from time to time. I think that it is a gentle reminder that He gets me :). I would read the little index card that was written in shaky child like handwriting that said something like.... shorts 2 pair size 12, 1 shirt - L, shoes - 10, panties - medium and lipstick.

Don’t you love that us women are really more alike than different? I mean, our whole world could be falling apart, and believe me, for these women their worlds had indeed fallen apart, but we still know that a nice tube of lipstick helps to keep things in perspective. I would match up pants with shirts, skirts with tops and try to find toothpaste and feminine products for each bag. I wasn’t a famous style-maker to the rich and famous, or personal shopper at Nordstrom, but my heart soared today. Somewhere tonight off Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in downtown Dallas, there is a lady wearing a killer Banana Republic skirt and a smoking-hot Gap t-shirt. Plus, she has a set of clean towels and nice smelling soap. You know for us ladies everywhere, it can be the little things that can really help us make it through the day.

There is a song by a band called Switchfoot that I adore. All during the day today I kept hearing this one verse in my head as I would watched my family stuff bags, pour tea, wipe tables, serve food and give a look of hope to others. I kept hearing the song as I saw the businessmen who had taken their lunch hour to come to the soup kitchen to pass out plates to the homeless or the college girls that rearranged their summer class schedule to play the guitar and sing to the homeless during meal time. The verse in the song says ” we were meant to live for so much more, have we lost our way...” The song makes me see that I do continually lose my way trying to fill a longing with “me” stuff. The song is saying that we were indeed made for so much more that just “me’ stuff. We were made to love our Lord, and to serve and love others. Today, in spite of myself, I got a glimpse of living for the “so much more.”

Shout Out To Peter

2009-07-07T14:11:00.004-05:00

My son is visiting his Nana and Pop for a week. He has been completely mesmerized by my blog and how I created it. When we dropped him off on Sunday, he made my husband bookmark my blog on his Pop's computer so he could check my post.:). Soooo, a big shout out and hug to my favorite (my only, but still favorite) son! Have fun with Nana and bee good! Love you a bunch! Mama

Clothes

2009-06-29T22:17:00.001-05:00

I love clothes... I love the way a new shirt or dress smells. I love the way my heart can be a bit sad and just the smallest purchase of clothing can lift my spirits. I love the smell of my favorite store and how no matter how much money I spend---5 dollars or 50 dollars they ALWAYS walk my shopping bag around the counter and smile and say, “Thank you for shopping with us today!” I love clothes! So...here for your viewing pleasure is a dress I want...but I am on a spending freeze until July 15th. I thought I would post a picture of this dress and maybe someone out there could give this delicious frock from Fossil a nice home. Happy Shopping! (the belt is not included):)

Saturday Evening

2009-06-27T20:04:00.004-05:00

Hmmm...It's Saturday evening and I am cooking our family dinner for tonight. My husband is quietly typing away on his laptop and my 9 year old son is outside trying out his new skateboard. The house is strangely quiet due to the fact that my 12 year old daughter is at a sleepover with her youth group. Having a 12 year old middle schooler has been a different kind of season for us as a family. We are now in the throes of 6th grade , cell phones, constant texting, facebook, sleepovers and name brand clothes. Not too mention the fact that every decision we make as parents is now questioned. I truly believe that it was so much easier when I could stuff her in a stroller and stick the big orange pacifier in her mouth and snuggle her with her favorite Hello Kitty blankie. I once heard a famous wife and mother say she raised her children on her knees (meaning she was in prayer ALL the time for her kiddos). I could not agree more. No longer can I bribe my 12 year old with a cookie for good behavior or threaten her with the time out chair. She is on her own now more than ever. I am in a constant quandary...will she make the right decisions, will she be kind, will she love others and remember her "raising":)? I gently snap back to reality and check on my fish that is cooking and hear the phone ringing. My 12 year old has called to check in and to say "love you!" My heart melts. The stinker pants called on her own , not because she got a cookie or an instant snuggle, she called because, well, I am thinking that maybe, just maybe, she really meant, "love you."