One Year Ago

Holy March Madness, Batman... a lot can happen in a year!

One year ago I was getting ready to board a plane for Texas (and writing vegetable poetry). I was flying to speak at a conference. I had been dating David for almost five months and had come to the conclusion that this was the man for me. I had spent some subsequent time lamenting to my sister that this boy had better get his "ducks in a row" sooner than later.

As far as I knew, he had yet to speak to my father and ask for permission.

As far as I knew, a ring had yet to be purchased.

I fell right into his plan. My family (sister especially) deceived me. I was blissfully unaware. On March 28, 2010 he walked out in the middle of the woods in Texas and asked me to be his wife.

The story gets better.

We planned and prepped and plotted and apparently did it all with much alliteration. October 17, 2010 we became husband and wife for always.

Two days later we boarded a plane, found our seats and connected with the flight attendant. She pointed out another honeymooning couple. The bride in a bright green sweater and perfectly polished nails turned, caught my gaze and asked pointedly, "Aren't you just so depressed that it's over?"

I was taken off-guard. Since roughly 11:00am on March 28th I had been expectantly waiting for life with my husband. I loved the wedding ceremony and had a blast at our reception, but I had been waiting for THIS. I was thrilled to be flying with someone. I was overjoyed to make a run to Home Depot with someone.

I turned to the young woman, smiled and said, "But it's not over. It's just beginning!"

My husband is private and introverted, although boisterous and energetic with his patients, family, and close friends. I just wanted to take a moment and say that this story gets better with time. In David I have found a partner, champion, and co-laborer for life. I am beyond blessed.

The night before I met David I wrote this in my journal:

This feels like something new. I started communicating with D 22 days ago. The moment I read his first message, I was hooked. I told Mom this week that he reminded me of Dad. So smart, funny, focused, driven... and for some reason he feels like he lucked out with me. Lord, I give you our date tomorrow. I give you our time together and ask that you would make it apparent if we are to venture forward together. Grant wisdom, guide conversation, guard hearts, and help me to just be myself. Thank you, Lord, for whatever you are doing.

I love this man more and more every minute... and I love that this is just the beginning.

Don't You Love

Don’t you love it when you get done with work and errands and all to-do list items, and you don’t have to do anything else but lie on the couch and watch parts of “Hercules” and the first half of "Can't Hardly Wait" from underneath a down comforter? Now I’m not saying that’s what happened this evening*, but it’s pretty great when it does.

Don’t you love it when you eat a granola bar at your desk at work, and then you leave and come back and see granola crumbs ALL OVER your office chair making it look like a gremlin was just there eating with his feet? (No, I haven’t actually seen “Gremlins,” why do you ask?)

Don’t you love it when you find a shirt you forgot you have in the back of your closet, and you can bust it out like you just got some new clothes, walking around like John Travolta in “Saturday Night Fever” with your new/old clothes attitude? (No, haven’t seen “Saturday Night Fever”- is that not what he was happy about?)

Don’t you love it when you’re at the grocery store and you spot something like THIS on the shelves of the dairy section? I love this country.

God bless America.

Don’t you love it when you come home to find that big red envelope in your mailbox? Netflix has arrived! And it contains “Pushing Daisies,” which is fun, but why on earth are there only THREE episodes to a disc?! Three? Really?

*Yes I am.

Xanga

It's true. Prior to blogger Val and I both spent a lot of time posting on Xanga. I liked Xanga. You know what I liked MOST about Xanga? Every post you could leave a little photo of books, music, and shows that youwerechecking out.Before you tell me to just add Facebook applications - I would like to take this moment and let you know that I am a Facebook purist. I don't WANT to add applications, games, quizzes, music, or bookshelves to my page. Perhaps I'm being stubborn.

Whatevs.

So... I'm going to do it anyways. I'm giving you a top list for the moment in hopes that you will also be generous and share any gems that you've discovered.

What I'm reading: Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges.

I mentioned this book last week and I'm going to mention it again. This book is challenging me so much. My Tuesday night group is walking through these chapters and so far it has taken us a month to finish talking about just three of them. A quote that has stayed with me since the first chapter: In one sense, Paul's letter could be summarized in this statement: "You are saints. Now act like saints!" Sometimes that idea is expressed more succinctly as, "Be what you are." That is, be in your behavior what you are in your state of being.

What I'm listening to: The Ladder by Andrew Belle

I love this album. Andrew has a lovely voice and a gentle way with lyrics. He tells story in songs that are both moving and soothing. If you want to see a beautiful use of the title song, then check out the Lingberries' wedding trailer. Gor. Geous.

Lyrics from another of my favorite

songs, "Oh My Stars"

oh my my
oh my stars
everything you see is ours
or it could be if you would try i wish you would
i wish you might
oh oh
if everything you've said to me has been true
then all my stars are leading me to you ooh ooh ooh ooh

What I'm (we're) watching: The Next Great American Restaurant

We really enjoy this show. The reason... my guess is that we love food. D and I are always trying to think up concepts for new restaurants or ways to improve dishes... and I really like Bobby Flay. So far this show has been low on drama and high on the American Dream. 10 contestants all vying to create America's next fast casual restaurant. The last idea standing gets the money to open three restaurants. I'm sure this show is imperfect, but we have enjoyed the first two episodes on our DVR.

What I'm (we're) really watching: Ohio State Basketball

I married into a scarlet and grey dynasty. I had no idea how deep the rabbit hole went... but I will say that I have enjoyed having a winning team in my bracket this year. This team is fun to watch and we have our fingers crossed to see them on the court when we head to...

Where I'm (we're) going: TEXAS

One giant road trip that includes the

Final Four(!), family, friends, and food. I cannot wait.

O-H... err... The eyes of Texas...

Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend, weekend

Each week when I make the agenda for our office "web team," I put a different meme at the bottom of the page, just to keep the group educated. After all, it is the web team, so I feel like everyone should be up to date on things they should.... well, let's be honest: things they should already know. We've already been over rickrolling, double rainbow, the lying down game, and women laughing alone with salad.

//Sidenote: I forgot that not everyone even knows what a "meme" is. My favorite explanation is that it's "an internet inside joke." Or you could think of it as any funny/weird video/joke/picture/anything that has gone viral across the internet. \\

Since tomorrow is Friday, and as long as I'm teaching a lesson on memes, I'll let you in on a meme that is currently taking the internet by terribly-autotuned storm: Rebecca Black's Friday.

This is a REAL SONG that was written/created/produced by a REAL RECORD COMPANY. It's not a parody video or something that this girl just did with her friends.

Is it EXTREMELY RIDICULOUSLY terrible? No. Does it include the lyrics Gotta have my bowl / Gotta have cere-al and Tomorrow is Saturday / And Sunday comes after...wards ? YES. Yes it does.

Now the internet is rife with covers, remixes, parodies and everything else you could possibly imagine. This song is EVERYWHERE- even my brother purchased it on iTunes so he could prank call me at the office with this song playing loudly from his end- without a word from him.

My brother is just one of many people who bought this song- and helped it to the top 100 iTunes songs. The video currently has over 14 million views and counting (fast).

The kicker? This has all happened in six days.

It’s Friday, Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend, weekend
Friday, Friday

Class dismissed.

I rite like fore an exaple.

In all fairness, this is what I looked like when I wrote the following. (Or at least this was my profile as interpreted on construction paper.)

Allow me to interpret the poetic essay, "My Family."

My dad comes home and says, "Honey is dinner ready yet? It had better be because I'm starving." My sister is a little brat on Saturdays and Sundays because she always hogs the T.V.! Now my mother... on school morning you can hear her across the street saying, "Get up or you're going to be late!" Whenever we go to a store, guess what happens to my brother? He always falls and busts his lip open. My fish are named Tiger and Goldy. My sister's fish is named Katie. Now me? I write, like for example this story I just wrote. That's all, so bye.

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If memory serves me, these descriptions might have all been slightly exaggerated. My sister was probably only a brat about the T.V. one of those two days. :)

Also - I am very thankful for spellcheck.

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And also... I'm thinking of signing my name with a heart from now on.

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And finally... your support has been amazing and wonderful - even the feedback with pointers. I can't say thank you enough!

If I'm being completely honest

I miss so many people right now. I miss my college roommates, who I haven't seen in OVER A YEAR now. I miss Amanda in Peru, who always feels SO FAR AWAY. I miss so many college friends and blog friends and family members and sisters. (Okay, just the one sister.)

The most recent season of "The Bachelor" ended last night, and I watched every. single. episode. And now I can't wait for "The Bachelorette" to start in May. Not cool to admit, but there you go.

I don't like my hair right now. At all. The color is so dull, and it kind of makes me feel sad. I know I sound RIDICULOUS right now, but it's true. I feel like I'm not "me," and I can't wait to go back to blonde.

I love this time change, even though it means it's dark when I wake up, because it means that SUMMER IS COMING! I know that not everyone enjoys the sun and heat as much as I do, but I can't wait. Summer is my season.

Males, I don't feel even a little bit sorry that I am taller than you. Even when I wear my tall brown clogs that I love. And that's the vibe I get sometimes- that I should apologize or not appreciate the fact that I get to be 5'8". But guess what? God gifted me with joy in my height, and not a spirit of guilt.

I've been dreading March Madness because it becomes ALL ANYONE TALKS ABOUT. For so long! I know I get caught up in the Oscars, and if you don't like it you probably get really sick of that event. I can sympathize- that probably gets really extremely lame. But that is just one night! March Madness goes on fooooooreeeeeeever. Or somewhere in that time frame. I don't know, I'm estimating.

Ginger and I have a "confession" tag that I decided to use for this post. I just clicked it and saw that I have never used it before- only Ginger.

I sat in my car in my apartment parking lot this evening for a good ten minutes after I arrived home just listening to my satellite radio. In the dark, like a creeper. BUT it's because they were playing Jeopardy on Rosie Radio, with categories like 'Movies,' 'Glee,' and 'Current Events.' I LOVE TRIVIA, and these questions were right up my alley. So I stayed in my car to listen. Like a creeper.

It's after 9:30 and I haven't had any dinner. On my way to fix that!

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Don't forget to check out Ginger's BRAND NEW WEBSITE here! Send it out to all the church contacts, youth pastors, and teenage girls you know. Pretty please. :)

Growing Up.

I've written this entry four or five times. I keep hitting delete. Delete, delete, delete. I've copied and pasted quotes from Lewis, Manning, L'Engle, Foster, and Spurgeon. My attempts have come to nothing.

I'm trying one more time.

When I grow up I want to write and speak and teach. When I grow up I want to teach young people to discover who they were made to be. When I grow up I want to challenge a generation to respect their bodies, embrace their dreams, and treasure the Word of God.

I'm ready to grow up.

I am humbly asking you, blog readers from Arizona to Senegal (and everywhere in between), if you will support my newest venture.

www.gingerciminello.com

Three ways you can help:

1. Share this site with anyone you know who might be interested in hiring a speaker for retreats, banquets, seminars, assemblies, and conferences. I have experience addressing children, jr. high, sr. high, college groups, and women. My comfort zone is teaching young women about finding contentment from their Creator.

2. Share this site with young women. The "Blog" and "Ask Ginger" sections are specifically designed to create a community of discussion for girls from 6th-12th grade.

3. "Like" the page on Facebook or follow me on Twitter - @gingercim).

I would love for you, blog readers, to be a part of this journey. It would be an honor for me if YOU would check out the site for yourself! Read the blog - I will be updating regularly and would love to have you jump in on the dialogue. While you're there, check out the audio and video files and hit me up with feedback or suggestions.

I will continue to be writing here with Val - but am also incredibly excited for this new venture.

Thank you for reading and thank you for following.

Special thanks to Valerie, Jon, Megan, Renea, Lauren and Carey for their help with the site and social media accounts. This would not be happening today without you.

A super special shout out to Carrie Fay Photography for all of the images you find on the site. She is an amazing photographer and a wonderful friend.

Lastly - thank you to my parents and my husband, David, who have all pushed me to do more and be more... all for our Heavenly Father.

Here goes everything.

“Remember what Bilbo used to say: It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.” - J.R. Tolkien