{sweets & critiques} passports and boots

This past weekend Joe and I had an amazing time at Young Life's Windy Gap, up near Asheville. I spent the weekend dressed up 1) like a Yodeler from the French Alps and 2) like a Redneck, complete with blacked out teeth and a mullet. We, along with our friends Josh and Rachel, were the program for the weekend...AKA...make the kids laugh...hopefully AT us.

It was so fun and life-giving for us- and the easiest job at camp! The leaders have the real job of developing relationships with high school students and getting them there to Windy Gap! Although I am slightly embarrassed to post this photo- here is a picture of Josh and I on stage in the dining hall. Eh, who am I kidding, I always look ridiculous, even when I am not wearing a brown pig-tail wig, ruffled turtle-neck with embroidered vest, green skirt and apron, and little elf shoes. And don't forget the Yodel hat. I'll spare you the part where we sing off key to popular songs that Josh has rewritten the lyrics for to include memories of us from back in our home village in the French Alps.

It's now time for another installment of {sweets & critiques}!

This week's MAJOR Critiques go out to:

*Passport photos. Joe and I are planning a big anniversary/Christmas/Valentine's day trip in February, and since I got married I needed a new passport. Easy enough. Little did I know that the people at Walgreen's make it their life's job to make you look at bad as possible in the photo. Really. I wore my best color (black) with the cute red earrings for a pop of color, but somehow here it is just all wrong. Is there any need to get the camera approximately 3 inches from my face, making it seem awkwardly large, and then make meput my hair behind my ears. Apparently this is the new requirement, that you show your ears. I should have just worn a pony tail, that would look better than this! And, after much scrutiny of this picture, it has also become very apparant that I needed my roots done. There, I said it. Well, you may sit there and ask yourself, "Why didn't you just go back and get another one taken?" I was so afraid I wouldn't get the passport back in time for the trip that I decided that it didn't matter. I wish I would have been a little more vain because now I am stuck with this thing for 10 years. Let that be a lesson to you.

*Busy shopping malls. 'Nuff said.

Oh goodness! Time for the SWEETS!

*How Cute are These Boots?! If you have not seen this GAP commercial, please pause to watch it right now. This little song has been in my head for a week and I stop and watch this commercial anytime it is on! It just makes me happy! Not to mention that if any clients want to dress their little girls in this exact outfit and call me over to take their pics, that would be wonderful. Thanks.

*Microwavable Heating Pad. These things are AMAZING. This is just one I found online...mine is very similar but I don't know where it came from. Let me tell you, we can't survive a winter around here without it. All you do is heat it up in the microwave and it stays warm for hours. My current favorite thing to do is heat this up, get on the couch with a blanket, put the warmer on my feet and read Eclipse (the 3rd book of the Twilight series, please refer to last week's sweets). This would be a great gift for the person who has everything, or for a last minute gift. They even make little booties like this, which might have to be on my wish-list. Just image it, little heated footies....ahhhh!

*Pandora. I KNOW I am late on this bandwagon, but I love this website. It is a site where they play music with limited interruption in whatever genre you want. For example, if you like Madonna, you would type it in, and not only would Pandora play Madonna, but any other artist that is the same style of music as her. My two favorite stations right now are "Christmas" and "Patty Griffin". Try it out!

Here is a look at what is coming tomorrow!