To explain the new title/URL, it's inspired by a couple things. 1. It's taken from Langston Hughes' beautiful poem "Wealth": Halos of kindness / Brighter shine / Than crowns of gold... I really love the message of the whole poem (nothing is worth more than love and kindness), and reading the poem always serves as a good reminder of what really matters most in life. 2. It ties in to my love the Angels baseball team. After every win, they light up the halo at the Big A. 3. I think it sounds pretty. :)
Here are the other life updates:
Wedding
The wedding was so so special. To marry my love and best friend in the church I grew up in, where at least three other couples attending the ceremony (including my parents) had gotten married, where my piano teacher (who also played at my parents' and sisters' weddings) played piano and organ... it was priceless. I couldn't have envisioned a more perfect day. The weather cooperated with a beautiful 70 degree, sunny day, the ceremony went very smoothly (we even got to kiss twice! once after the vows and once after we were introduced for the first time), and the reception was a lot of fun! We celebrated a month of marriage yesterday, and Aaron and I talked about how great of a month it had been. We're enjoying married life!
What a handsome groom!
School / workThe semester officially started last week. It's back in the swing of things with teaching two classes and working on my dissertation. I'm also helping with some free-lance publishing projects, which has been a fun challenge. I've also been starting to think about future jobs... there's a lot of unknown about where we could end up and what kind of job I could have. It's great to have many wonderful opportunities, so I'm just praying that it all works out in good time.
Health
Before the wedding, I definitely felt the urge to better my health by eating better and working out more. I tried to increase how much fruits and vegetables I ate. I found that one easy way to do that was by making a fruit smoothie for breakfast. It's a great way to combine at least three fruits in a tasty and satisfying way! I also stopped buying bagged salads and started buying spinach and a variety of veggies to go along with it. It started off with just carrots, but since I've added red and green peppers, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, and even kidney beans sometimes. Yum! The extra veggies usually help fill me up so I'm not craving as much dessert afterwards.
As far as exercise, I did a lot of Jillian Michaels' DVDs combined with occasional running (it would mostly be on the treadmill once summer hit due to the hot, humid weather). Now that I'm living with my husband, I can leave the apartment and have access to wonderful running paths, so I've been running more. I still can't run more than two miles without stopping (especially with hills), but I want to work my way up to 4 miles like I ran last fall. As the weather cools down, I'm hoping this will become more manageable. For now, I'm trying to stick with early morning runs on days I don't teach. So far, in the month of September, I've ran/walked 9 miles, so that's a great start!
Spirituality
As far as my faith life, I'm enjoying going to mass each week with Aaron. It's a little harder to find the quiet time to pray when things get busier, but I have been able to read before bed a few nights. I'm currently reading Fr. James Martin's "The Jesuit's Guide to Almost Everything." The chapter I'm on is about prayer and how we can encounter God in our daily lives (after all, the Jesuit way is to encounter God in all things). I'm going to try and bring out the book more often so that I can read it instead of relax to some silly TV show.
That about covers all the updates. Until next time!
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