favorite fridays. 1st edition!

so i was thinking... unless something more significant comes up on a Friday in the future, I want to give a small list of things each friday that I love. We'll see how this goes; the cool thing about blogging is that it's mine to change and make different if ever I feel like it's not a representation of me anymore. Here we go... In no particular order...

Number One:

Chocolate

I realize that my first picture is completely insignificant, but when I think about the silly things I love, I think about chocolate. Really though, I might have a slight obsession with it. When I think about chocolate, I think about these little guys. Mini Cadbury Eggs. If you feel like you might want to try some, you'll have to wait until around March/April. They only come out around Easter! It makes it that much harder to resist them! I can eat bags... seriously BAGS... of these in a week. They are the best thing ever. You can't just have one. Or a handful. Or a bag..........

Number Two:

When the ones I love are happy.

seriously?! is there anything better than this?

My daddy with one of his oldest friends. love!

this is completely mortifying! but i love this picture.

We both have a stink eye when we laugh. haha!

5th grade graduation... real, happy smiles!

some of my favorite memories of he and I have been times when we laugh uncontrollably together!

Adam in Jamaica... These elderly people were in a nursing home type situation. Adam and the others carried them into the water at the beach, and let them play in the sand. While I wasn't there, I know my brother, and I know this had to have brought him more happiness than I can imagine.

Number Three:

Sports

high school soccer

Wes and I finishing the last leg at our first Triathalon

Might I add that I am super competitive, and happen to think that I am God's gift to this world when it comes to anything athletic. :) What? Too honest?

Number Four:

When Pictures capture the perfect moment, and therefore the memory.

LOL- Nate had a brain scan and fell asleep with donuts in his mouth. He used to LOVE powdered donuts. He is such a funny kid anyway, but add some medication and a camera, and you have yourself a recipe for a sweet YouTube video.

Playing in Fountain Creek when we were younger. Never a dull moment in the Lozano household. This would be Adam teasing Nate, and me coming to the rescue. Totally our personalities all represented in one picture.

My dad's softheartedness. How incredibly sweet is this picture? He will swear up and down that he doesn't like animals, but he is always the first to nurture them. Babies and animals always love him.

This could be a favorite in itself... I love that Adam and Christian are so close. This is such a good picture of how their relationship really is... Making fun of each other, I'm sure.

Adam took this picture.. and then pointed this out to us later. My personality color is blue. Christian's is orange. It's almost like our Aura's were captured by camera.

I love how happy and natural my parents always look together. I really don't know how one could ever live without the other.

Number Five:

Macintosh Curly Lozano

Teehee. He is my favorite. 

Yet for better or worse we love things that bear the marks of grime, soot, and weather, and we love the colors and the sheen that call to mind the past that made them.

- Junichiro Tanizaki

Family.

Such a generic title... Such a hugely important word. Christian's mom and niece just left back to Colorado after spending the last two weeks with us in Chattanooga, and then his brother in St. Petersburg. This is going to be a long post, but I haven't posted in a week... there's so much to tell! It was so nice being able to take off and just spend time with them while they were here. Here are some pictures of their visit! 

I picked them up at the Atlanta Airport, and saw this little gem hanging from the ceiling. There were several men and women in uniform; how appropriate! The picture on the right is of Ruth and Maria playing Cornhole against us at Christian's work. That's right. He has a cornhole set at work... Oh! And a ping pong table, foosball table, airhockey, etc. He loves his job.

This is Christian's 'excited' face. His mom brought him all kinds of goodies from back home in CO. Notice the CU hat! The sweater he has on was a gift from my mom two Christmas' ago. His nephew stole it and finally surrendered it back to him. Doesn't he look like Mr. Rogers? Dinner & Sangrias with Ruth and Maria at Taco Mamacita (my fav) on the right.

We are some eatin' fools. The three amigos at Mama's Italian on the left. Maria and Ruth on the right at the Band Perry concert. We had VIP seating... they were awesome!

Goo Goo Dolls night! Maria and I on the bridge listenign to the concert. Obviously we needed a picture of our newly purchased shoes.

awmm.. Love them.

Maria driving the Duck Tour around Chattanooga. The tour was awesome! If you're ever in Chattanooga and want to spend an hour just learning about the history of this area, this is a must! You can find it here. Maria and C at a small gift shop on Lookout Mountain. 

Pretty view of the Tennessee River from Lookout Point! Mom & Son posing in the shade.

All of us on the roof of our loft to watch fireworks. So fun! Ruth was soooo scared! Excuse my makeup-less face. hot tranny mess.

Seriously the prettiest city ever. I love Chattanooga.

My first attempt at making Meringue Chocolate Chip Cookies. Not too bad! Maria and I on the way to the airport to head to St. Pete.

Oh hey there hanchum.

Maria and soon to be sis in law, Melinda! Cute girls. C and I shopping in Tampa.

Seems like that's been a trend. ;)

Jacques (Christian's oldest brother), and fiance Melinda. C and I with our yummy food at Ceviche in downtown St. Pete. We happen to head to FL during Hurricane Debbie, so we did lots of eating, shopping and swimming in the rain at night. We had a blast! We weren't there for the beach anyway. Christian's family seriously rocks. They're good people; i'm super blessed to be apart of their family.

On another, more solemn note, today is the 9th anniversary of my Grandaddy's passing in 2003.

It's a sad day for our family; mainly because so many changes have happened over the past decade. My mom finally got to move 'home' after being gone for the past 20+ years. My Nana remarried an amazing man.  My Mamaw passed away. I got married. The family that was once all located in one area, are now spread out and doing their own thing...

If I can be honest, the only reason I am aware of how huge these changes have been, is because they have really taken a toll on my mom. It's almost like she tried so hard to get out of this town, only to come back and nothing be the same. I think that's part of the reason why it's so hard for me to go back to Colorado. Growing older can be a really sad thing. Changes, while inevitable, can be unbearable.

Christian jokes that he can never take me more than 50 miles from home, for fear that I would run out of breast milk from my mom. Totally vulgar, I know. It's true though... While I have learned that I must leave my family and cleave to my husband, I ache for my family when they're not around.  I can only imagine what my mom must feel.

Here are some old family pics that I absolutely adore. Hope you will too...

Grandaddy

Papaw & Mamaw Trapp- Looking stylish!

Mamaw and the beginning of her great grandchildren.

Papaw Trapp & Chad. You will hear lots about Chad in this blog... He's one of our besties!

“Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.”

 Arnold Bennett

I live by a man's code, designed to fit a man's world, yet at the same time I never forget that a woman's first job is to choose the right shade of lipstick. -Carole Lombard

It's Friday! Today is exciting for 3 reasons:

• I bought some new red lipstick last night. It's drug store; I found it at Wal-Mart. I wanted to make sure I liked the red with the pink undertones, rather than the orange-red, enough to wear it often. I'm pretty happy with it so far.

•  I love the Goo Goo Dolls. I have since I was little! Favorite band of all time just happens to be in concert tonight. In Chattanooga. Only problem is that they're playing at Riverbend. Without a doubt, it will be a packed Friday night. Mixing heat, crowds, alcohol, and music, might just be a recipe for disaster. I have to go!  Favorite GGD song, you ask? Name. Hands down. 

• Today is my last day at work for a week. I don't know if i'm excited more about not working, or the fact that I get to sleep in, and spend the days with my MIL and niece. It's a pretty good deal either way! Also, Sunday is Father's Day. One of my most favorite holidays, because the man I first loved gets to be celebrated all day! 

On another note, a random one anyway, I really love to think about Heaven. I realize it is a futile task, but something about not being able to even comprehend something so beautiful and perfect is pretty dreamy. Have you ever looked at a picture and thought, "Oh, I bet that's what Heaven will be like..."? 

For example...

I really do think my take on what Heaven will be like stems from a longing to be somewhere I used to love. Somewhere that my soul longs for. What's better, some place I've never even been. I guess I can sum it up by sharing this C.S. Lewis quote:

“If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.” 

I've loved that quote since I was in High School. While I have been a Christian since I was 12 (June 1, 2000 to be exact), my faith and my love for the Lord has just continued to grow as I've gotten older. How do you picture Heaven? What is something that your soul longs for? It's a sweet thing to meditate on.

"Though my eyes have not seen Him, my heart knows Him well."