The Randomness

Hey there, all. I have been quite slack in my writings as of late. I apologize and shall break myself in with a synopsis of the events of the last couple of days. I start with a picture of Will and myself, for kicks, from our amazing Christ Mug Party, last Friday.


So, Thursday, I'm at the church working, hanging out with some people, and my friend, Jordan, says that he's gonna do a 10 day cleanse. Hmmm, interesting, I thought. Upon further investigation, I found out that several people were gonna do it. So, I was like, maybe Will and I should do this! I told him about it, and he was like, why not??


Here's how it works. You don't eat a thing for 10 days. Each day you must drink a half gallon of a mixture of the following; lemon juice, water, maple syrup and cayenne pepper. Due to the fact that you are getting no fiber and it is, after all, a cleanse, you also drink a laxative tea at night and do a salt water flush in the morning. Which is exactly what it sounds like. A quart of lukewarm water and 2 teaspoons of salt.



So, Will and I go to Harry's fresh market on Thursday night and get all of the stuff we needed. We were excited! I was having/still have a horrible time with my allergies, but I figured I'd do it anyway. We went out for a farewell to food dinner and woke Friday ready to start. I was feeling miserable already, but we took our containers of juice with us (which looked like urine) and began to drink throughout the day.

OH MY GOSH! That junk was super nasty. The cayenne was so hot but, we managed to get through Day 1 pretty well. Day 2, my allergies are murdering me, and just getting the juice down is like gag city. We do the salt water cleanse in the morning. It was like drinking the ocean, but it worked. Later in the day, my mom (a fasting/cleansing expert) calls, and I get advised from her that I shouldn't be doing this while sick. At that point (6PM) we were both pretty miserable and decided we should stop.

The thing is, the not eating was totally doable...it was that juice that killed us. I think there is a cleanse that is in pill form that doesn't require the intake of nasty juice.


I want to encourage Lauryn, Jordan and Bobo, who are still going strong! You can make it. I'm so proud of you, and so is this random man, who is giving you two thumbs up. Hallelujah!

Happy Sunday wishes, friends. It's been a busy but great week, which I need to blog about at some point, but I need to tell you all about my birthday weekend before it's too far past it.

My official birthday was Wed. the 29th of October, but Will and I celebrated on Sat, Nov. 1st. I knew ahead of time that he had surprises planned for me but had no clue what it all entailed. I only knew that a nice dinner would conclude the day. Will had various stops mapped out and in between each stop, I was blindfolded and totally shocked at each location. First was Starbucks drive through and my fav- a skinny vanilla latte. While sipping and blind, we headed to the next stop, which was Target. Of course I didn't know this. He allowed me to remove my blindfold, but I kept my eyes closed all the way through the store, and I was lead around like a blind woman. He was throwing me off the track with comments like, do you smell ham? We're in the deli. Or is it bologna. I was confused because I kept hearing music. Ahhhh.....we reach a moment where he allows me the gift of sight, and there before me is the docking station we've been wanting. He said, "It's time". So, surprise #2 was getting us well under way.


Next was on to lunch at this spot in downtown Alpharetta that I've so been wanting to go to. It is a fresh Mexican/California type spot. So incredibly yummy. I was so happy.

Blindfold on and onto our next surprise. We come to a stop, and I find myself outside of a spa. What?? Will, the amazing one, had scheduled a 1 hour deep tissue massage and pedicure! I was so happy and shocked that I wanted to cry or pee or something. I haven't had a massage in like 8 months. It was so good. Perfect. And, my toes are still looking great! It was then on to Bed Bath and Beyond where I picked out a new blanket for our couch. Our other one was falling apart. I think we made a wise choice.

Last stop is pamper to the max, but I haven't tanned since May or so and it was an expense that wasn't necessary. I accepted my ghostly pallor, but Will booked a little tanning session for me and set me up for a month's worth! I know. He is awesome. Really.

We chilled for a bit and then headed out for dinner in Crabapple, which is this quaint town near Alpharetta. They have an amazing southern cuisine restaurant called Milton's. It was the perfect way to end the day. Shrimp and grits for me and fried catfish and grits for my man.

The icing on the cake was coming home to watch the Gamecocks destroy the Tennessee Vol's. What a stupendous day! I feel like the richest woman on planet earth. And the thing is, I don't even require these things to know that I have the exact man that God picked out for me. Who loves you, Will Troutman??

Hey all! This is my first blog as a 27 year old woman. Yikes!! My birthday was yesterday, and I appreciate all of your warm wishes on my special day. I'll blog about birthday surprises after the weekend when I've loads to tell.

Well, if you recall, I wrote a bit about Foster's Grill not too long ago and the suckness of it's Asian chicken salad. Well, I ended up chatting with someone in corporate who was quite nice, and he promised me free food for my bad experience. Cool, I thought. He told me, though, that our local guy would want to do the honors and would be ticked if he wasn't involved, so Brad told me to expect a call that day with news of free goods. Well, that's been over 2 months ago and no call and no free food. I think I'm officially done with those guys.


But, last weekend a star was born. We were starving after working out and were like where do we want to eat. We decided on Longhorn. We never lose there. Mmmm....but the wait was a shocking 25 minutes, and we just couldn't do it. We noticed a place when we pulled in to the parking lot that at first glance looked like a mechanic shop or car place but upon closer inspection realized that it was a burger place, The Counter- Custom Built Burgers. Would they have something besides a beef burger?? Wow, we decided to give it a go, and it was simply amazing! You can do beef, turkey, chicken, veggie and they even had a lamb burger! 15-20 cheese options, ridiculously amazing topping choices as well as sauce options. They bring it out to you on this large white plate and there is your gourmet looking burger in all its glory. Sweet potato fries were pretty much to die for, as well. They even have burgers in a bowl. (pictured below)


We picked up on a huge California vibe and upon visiting the website, I confirmed our suspicions, but they are growing and could be coming to a city near you!! It is pricey for burgers, but Will and I were talking about the fact that quality costs more sometimes. It was totally worth it. Did I mention an apple pie milkshake? Yeah.

So, this will probably be the briefest blog ever written by me, but I just had to share with you what happened last Wednesday.

So, I was dropping by the school, after work, to pick Will up for a little hang out time before church responsibilities. There he is waiting and immediately I get excited, of course. There is also a kid waiting for her mom or dad to pick her up. Will is about to open the door when I hear, "That's Sarah?", in this completely shocked and border-line condescending voice. I'm thinking, "What"? Then he opens the door to get in, and she puts one hand on her hip and says dramatically, "What the heck?".

I am left stunned and feel like developing a complex over this 9 year old girl. Will then explains to me that she is a very strange kid, and he would completely expect her to say and do something weird like that. Oh, the power of children, though. She had me wondering what in the world was wrong with me. I mean, most of the kids adore all that is me.

Anyway, I thought that was comical, and I hope the feel of it and the humor of the moment was captured. Love you all and hope you are well!!

Hollywood has a great way of seeing human desire and fulfillment as supreme. These feelings/desires supersede all else, and they draw you into a story where you are expected to want the same for these characters, even if it means abandoning commitments or promises.

A perfect example of that was in the film that Will and I watched recently; "Spanglish". Every story has an antagonist and a protagonist. In a lot of stories the antagonist is perfect in their role. There is very little redeeming about them and their protagonist counterpart shines by comparison. I felt this story had a sea of antagonists of varying degrees.



This was obviously not what the writer wanted anyone to think. It's clear who the heroes and supposed victims of the story are intended to be.

Family breakdown; A chef husband who worked long hours, a neurotic wife who was obsessed with perfection, an overweight daughter, a son who garners no real description, and an alcoholic mother in law. Enter Spanish, single mother housekeeper. Her earthy and natural beauty plus good deeds toward the members of the house put her in the perfect spot to be adored.

Long story short, Sandler ends up having an emotional affair with the housekeeper which results in an evening of shared feelings, kissing and an admittance of love. All the while the wife is having an affair; a full fledged one. But, because she's been painted as not so likable and because her affair is full on affair style, it's meant that you pretty much loathe her.

With the love expressed between Sandler and housekeeper and the way these characters have been set up, it is intended that you sympathize with them, feel sorry for them and wish for them to be together. There was an obvious conscious there, but they bathed this affair in beauty instead of the destruction that it always is.



We saw the opposite of this yesterday in Fireproof. While the cast was all volunteer and at times that showed, there was an amazing richness and heart in the story, and the moments that were important were very well done. I encourage couples to go see it before it leaves the theaters, which will probably be soon.

Peace out! Love you all!

Happy Saturday! Well, we've caught another mouse since last post and are currently dealing with another. They just don't get it. They will perish! Silly mice.

Well, I would like to devote the next couple paragraphs to just how amazing my husband, Will Troutman is. Let me start by saying that the following would not have needed to be done for me to still consider him a great husband, but they were done, so they need to be referenced.

Let me start with last Sunday. I had had a rough Saturday emotionally, and I cried a lot. Well, that crying left me with a migraine on Sunday. I stayed at home, under the covers, while Will went to church. He stopped at the store on the way home for some things (including ginger ale for me) and as I was greeting him, I noticed a bouquet of flowers in his hand. He bought me flowers!! He bought me lilies. My 3rd favorite flower, because the didn't have my 2 favorites (peonies and tulips). I squealed. How sweet! Here's a pic of the beauties.



Secondly, Will's day off is Wednesday. I knew he was going to try to catch up on some rest and what not. Well, he totally cleaned the bathroom. Like, sparklingly clean. I love to take baths, so he especially worked on the tub. It glistened. There he was in his tired state after having cleaned the bathroom waiting for me when I got home. How amazing???

And, thirdly. Let me just say that I cannot stand titles, tags, DMV type offices. I or Will have been into our title place now 5 separate times and every time we've needed something more or different. Why they can't tell us all of that at once is beyond me. Well, I had just finished up 2 stops at the office and come out with nothing, feeling rather frustrated. Will knew of my irritation and upon my return home, he had some Ben and Jerry's yogurt out for me with spoon! Yeah, so I'm telling you, the title of my blog is not an exaggeration. It's the truth.


Marriage isn't bliss one day after the other and there is certainly work involved, but I love my husband beyond words and feel like the most blessed woman on planet earth. I have married my best friend. The hottest best friend ever!!!

Hello Friends! It's been a good 3 days preceded by a very interesting weekend. Will and I had a relaxing weekend planned with not too much going on.

Friday evening we made salads with grilled chicken and sat down to some House and relaxation. After House we switched to a little Fable, which by the way is a super awesome x-box game. Yes, I am a girl who enjoys her video games. Will happened to be playing at the moment and after slaying a group of bandits, I noticed that he was looking suspiciously around our apartment. "What's wrong?", I asked. "I thought I saw something", came his reply. My mind goes straight to a giant spider, roach, other horrible insect. He saw a mouse!

After getting out the flashlight and looking around, we thought it was his imagination until we heard scurrying in our pantry shelf. The shine of the light revealed a tail sticking out of one of our boxes of goods. Dang it! A mouse! Then came the debate. Was he still in the basket? If so, could we grab it off the shelf and haul it and it's contents onto our tiny deck? After much deliberation, we decided to go out and get mouse traps. 10:30 finds us at Kroger getting multiple sticky traps.

Our place looked like a mouse barricade. Didn't hear or see anymore of the mouse that night, and we went to bed tired and annoyed.

Saturday night around midnight, we are lying about to drift off to sleep when we hear a noise, a squeak, if you will. Up out of bed, we each searched the multiple traps until it was found on the last one. The tiny, little mouse was stuck to the pad, and I automatically got sad and my heart went out to the struggling vermin. I won't tell you how it was disposed of. After which, we went to sleep.

4 AM, jolted from slumber by the neighbor dogs barking their heads off. What in the world? After lying there, listening, we decided to get up and shine our light over to them. Unbelievably, there was a possum on the fence and their electric collars wouldn't allow them to get at it. So, they just sat there like morons barking. And the possum wouldn't freaking scurry away already.

So, Will tried to throw tennis balls at the possum to jolt it. He was like a stone possum. Then he went outside and tried to scare him off. The possum didn't leave, but maybe Will scared the two giant dogs, because they stopped barking.

Creatures were abundant this weekend. But,we still have traps, little mouses, so I'd advise not to return to the Troutman home!