Paddleboarding, Disc Golf, and Friends

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Did this weekend fly by for anyone else? Andrew and I had an action-packed couple of days–which is just how we prefer our weekends (usually).

On Friday our good friends Gabe and Jeff invited us over for dinner. We cooked a delicious and healthy meal of grilled chicken kebabs, rice, and stir-fried veggies:

After dinner we hung out, talked, and played a little Dance, Dance Revolution. It was my first time playing (I know…I’m way behind), and I was terrible. Notably bad. During one game, just as I said, “I am killing it right now!”, the word, “FAILED” crossed the screen. Oops. 😉

Andrew was slightly better than me…

We just love these guys 😀

On Saturday my church had a huge craft show + used book sale, with all proceeds going to the youth ministry (yay!) The event was a huge success–there were so many awesome vendors, food trucks, thousands of books, and pumpkins. So. Many. Pumpkins.

I am tremendously grateful to the group of moms and other women who coordinated this event for the benefit of our youth!

Early Sunday morning, Andrew cashed in on one of his Christmas presents from me: a guided Stand Up Paddleboard trip down the James River. We let the summer get away from us, so we decided to take advantage of the out-of-character-for-October hot weather we’ve been having. Unfortunately, we could not bring a camera, as it most definitely would have been ruined by the water, but the morning was beautiful, and the adventure was SO much fun.

The trip was through Riverside Outfitters, and because we were the only two people on this particular trip, we had a private tour guide. 😀 We started on flat water to get our bearings, then moved through a series of rapids. Andrew may or may not have fallen in the river a couple of times, but our guide did as well. Me? I think my low center of gravity (i.e. my general shortness) helped me keep my balance, so while I dropped to my knees a few times, I never actually went in the water. If you ever get the chance to do a downriver paddleboard trip, take it…It was such a blast! And my chest and arms are only slightly sore today from all the paddling :).

Looking awesome post-river 😉

Sunday afternoon we played disc golf with a group of friends from church at a local park. In spite of the freak 90-degree October day that was yesterday, we had a lot of fun. We also had a lot of back sweat.

We wrapped up the weekend with youth group, turkey tacos, and an episode of Once Upon a Time. It was a whirlwind weekend, with little time between each event, but we packed in a lot of good stuff. 🙂

Have a great Monday!

Have you ever tried stand up paddleboarding?

Goat-Feeding, Photo Shoots, and Pumpkins

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Andrew and I had a relaxing day off Monday. It was a beautiful day, so we decided to spend most of the afternoon at Maymont.

We fed the goats:

In case you don’t know, I really love goats and regularly ask Andrew if we can have one as a pet (“They’re just like funny little dogs!“) I think he takes me to Maymont somewhat often to satisfy that desire without actually getting a goat. (“Yeah, funny little dogs that have horns and eat everything.“) 😉

After feeding the goats, we looked at the other animals, walked around the park, and just enjoyed our time together.

Monday evening we did something that was long overdue and also a lot of fun. When we got married a year and a half ago, a good friend of ours, Katie, paid for me to have bridal portraits done with another good friend, Kate, as her wedding gift to us. It was an incredibly generous gift! Kate and I were relieved that, as good friends, we could schedule the photo shoot on our own time and not worry about being super professional. Well, to make a long story short, we finally took my bridal portraits Monday! To make it more fun though, I convinced Andrew to dress up so we could do some couple’s shots in addition to just bridal.

I put my wedding dress back on (it’s a little snugger than it was a year and a half ago, but it still fits! :-D) with my cowboy boots, Andrew put on a light blue shirt and khakis, and Kate drove us out to a random field in the country where we had the most beautiful photo shoot!

Kate is insanely talented (obviously); I have no idea how to pose for pictures like this (and neither does Andrew), but Kate was awesome and told us exactly what to do! I can’t wait to see the rest of the photos!

The week since Monday has been consumed by…. PUMPKINS! As a fundraiser for mission trips, my youth group has a pumpkin patch on the front lawn of our church during the month of October. The semi-truck full of pumpkins arrived early Tuesday morning:

In case you can’t tell by the photo, that’s a whole lot of pumpkins. It took a large group of us about three hours to unload them all; I did more directing than lifting, but I am still really sore! If you live in the Richmond area, consider buying your pumpkins from Trinity UMC… the money goes to a great cause!

Other than hauling pumpkins, I have been pretty lazy about working out in the last week. Andrew and I walked for an hour last night after dinner, and I’m going to do some lifting today (now that I’ve typed it I can’t back out :)).

Have a great Thursday!

-Goats: love them or fear them?
-Has anyone else taken bridal/wedding photos long after the wedding??
-When are you stopping by my church to buy your pumpkins? 😉

Sleep Deprivation and Why My Husband is the Best

Posted on September 30, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Good morning! The last week has been slightly hectic, and I apologize for my subsequent blogging hiatus. Every time I started a new post I thought, I got nothing. Don’t worry… I have returned :).

On Friday night our youth group had a lock-in at church–50+ people, all night, no sleep. The night was full of: manhunt (similar to hide-and-seek), dodge ball, movies, a ghost tour, duct tape games, and lots of food.

The object of the duct tape game was to tape someone so that they hang on the wall for the longest once the chair is pulled away. The winner (the girl on the right in the above photo) said her winning strategy was simple: wear pants. Great life advice as well.

Part of the “ghost tour”… it’s not everyday you get to wear a gorilla costume 😀

I had a blast, and I think all the youth did as well, but I spent the rest of the weekend recovering from the lack of sleep! Spoiler alert: when I don’t get enough sleep, I become helpless, and Andrew is a saint. I crawled into my bed around 8:45 AM and slept until 12:30 PM Saturday. When I finally shuffled myself downstairs to the kitchen, my sweet, sweet husband handed me a bowl of overnight oats. Before he’d gone to bed Friday night, Andrew prepared my breakfast knowing I’d be too exhausted to function Saturday morning. How sweet is that?

After very slowly eating breakfast, I was ready for a nap. (Yes, one hour and the process of eating oatmeal zapped all my energy.) I hobbled back upstairs, crawled back into bed, but could not seem to fall asleep. I started thinking about soup. It was a little chilly, and I was so tired, and soup sounded like just about the greatest thing in the world. But how can I get this soup? I’m upstairs in bed. Do we even have soup in the house? I decided my only option was to call Andrew’s cell phone (he was still all the way downstairs at this point). I called and sadly heard his phone vibrating on his bedside table. Dang.

I hobbled back downstairs and stood in the kitchen, where Andrew had pulled out the rubber gloves and was deep cleaning the sink and counters. After a minute he turned and looked at me.

“Hi honey. How are you doing?”

“I’m tired. Let’s make soup.”

“We can make soup, but I don’t think we have everything we need. Do you want me to go out and get you some soup?”

“I don’t know. I think I need a shower.”

Andrew went back to cleaning because he’s an awesome husband, and I made the trip upstairs to take a shower… where I fell asleep. When I finally got myself ready to leave the house (it took longer than you might think), Andrew walked upstairs to change clothes. He picked up his cell phone.

“Did you call me at 1:30?”

“Yeah.”

“Where were you?”

(I patted my side of the bed.)

“You called me from the bed?”

“Yeah. About the soup.”

“What about the soup?”

“That I wanted some.”

“I didn’t have my phone with me.”

“…I know.”

Sleep deprivation at its finest. God bless that man for being patient with me. 😀

We ran a few errands, acquired all the ingredients for this soup, and made my sleepy dreams come true:

Mmm. Soup. 🙂

Sleep was the theme of the rest of the weekend: fell asleep on the couch Saturday night, slept in Sunday morning, fell asleep on the couch again Sunday afternoon…

Andrew and I both took off work today because my lack of sleep stole our weekend, and we have some good things planned for the day (that’s not entirely true… we are planning to plan some good things for the day, but so far we haven’t made it past, “Sleep in and eat breakfast.” 😀

Have a great Monday!

Sleep deprivation: do you become as helpless as I do?
What did you do this weekend?
Have you ever worn a gorilla costume?

Fall Decorating + Weekend Recap

Posted on September 23, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Happy Monday, folks!

As fall officially arrived this weekend, I spent a little bit of time Saturday decorating for my favorite season. I gleaned a few ideas from Pinterest (which I find overwhelming, but I’ve decided this is the norm), made a trip to Hobby Lobby, and went to work with the hot glue gun. Here’s our newly decorated-for-fall mantle:

These vases were 50% off at Hobby Lobby, and I think they are the perfect link between our typical blue and green color scheme and the fall yellows.

As for the crafty part of the decorating process, I made these guys:

My original plan was to wrap all the glass vases with twine, but as it turns out, the process is very tedious, and even OCD has a limit on how much hot glue can be taken to the fingers. 😉

Other highlights from the weekend include:

-Bowling with friends Friday night and earning what’s probably my highest bowling score of all time:

128! And that was with two gutter balls in the last frame 🙂 I was on fire up until that point.

-Bowling again Saturday with some youth and a few of our friends from the Virginia Home–a residential facility for adults with disabilities.

They always make me smile. The man about to bowl in the photo is hilarious and ever-willing to give fist bumps and secret handshakes. I shook his hand when he arrived, and he looked down at my ring and said, “Married??” I laughed and said, “Yeah, I’m married.” And he threw his hands up in the air and said, “God D***IT!” 😀

-Football–we watched the Virginia Tech game Saturday, and Andrew drove to DC to see the Redskins game Sunday with his dad and friend. Despite the Redskins losing, they had a lot of fun!

-Youth Group–love these guys and girls 🙂

Overall, the weekend was low-key, but good.

What was the highlight of your weekend?
Do you decorate for fall?

Milkshakes, Vineyard Tour, and Youth Group (Weekend Recap)

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Happy Monday to all!

We had a full, yet relaxing weekend here at the Storey house. Friday we had one of those night that made me think, “27 and married is so, so different than 22 and single.” It started when we decided to go out to eat, and I said, “I need a few minutes to get ready,” which meant brushing my hair and reapplying eyeliner. Same clothes I’d been wearing all day? Why not? 😉 We went to a restaurant called the Silver Diner, which is a small chain in Virginia and Maryland. Although it’s a chain, each restaurant works with local farmers and creates seasonal menus with lots of gluten-free, vegetarian, and heart-healthy options. It’s pretty great.

While browsing the menu, Andrew noticed the dairy-free milkshake option and suggested we split one at the end of our meal. When the waitress asked us if we needed anything else, however, Andrew simply asked for the check. After she walked away I said, “Did you not want to get a milkshake?” He replied, with a little bit of crazy in his eyes, “Let’s go to Kroger and buy the ingredients, and then we can make LOTS of milkshakes!” Done and done.

After acquiring the necessary ingredients, driving home, and blending, we parked ourselves on the couch with our milkshakes and watched a few episodes of Once Upon A Time on Netflix. (Does anyone else watch this? We are hooked. [Pun intended, for those of you who are watching season 2.] Season 2 came out on Netflix about a week ago, and we finished it Friday. Oops…)

So that was Friday: dinner at a diner, homemade milkshakes, and Netflix on the couch. Yeah–27 definitely beats 22. 😀

I wrote about Saturday morning here, but the gist of it is: slept in, ran 6 miles, and ate brunch. After that we worked in the garden–we planted more kale, lettuce, and spinach–and watched most of the VT football game.

Later in the afternoon we made a trip to the New Kent Winery for a tour and wine tasting. Oddly enough this was Andrew’s idea, and I had to convince him to watch some of the football game (“I don’t need to watch every single game. Do you want to go wine-tasting?” Who are you, and what have you done with my husband?) It was my first time at a vineyard, and it was so cool!

As an engineer, Andrew always loves tours like this and learning how things are made. The wine we tasted was pretty good too 🙂 After one particular wine I said to Andrew, “Wow, this is unique. I’ve never had wine that tastes like this.” Andrew replied, “It’s not unique; we just don’t buy $25 wine.” Hah! True.

We sat on the porch for a while, then walked around the grounds and enjoyed the beautiful afternoon.

The highlight of Sunday was having our first youth group of the school year! Like last weekend at our kickoff picnic, we had quite a crowd, and it was so much fun (at least I thought so… but I planned the whole thing, so maybe my opinion is skewed ;-)). It was a great end to a great weekend.

And now… Monday.

What was the highlight of your weekend?
Have you ever been wine-tasting?

A 5K, a Wedding, and Two Picnics

Posted on September 9, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

Friday afternoon as I returned to work after my lunch break, I passed a friend in the parking lot who said, “I’m so glad it’s finally Friday!” Automatically I replied, “Oh yeah, me too!” Then I thought, Well, when you work at a church, Friday is often like Sunday: it’s the day before everything gets crazy! Now that it’s Monday morning, I can breathe and relax. 🙂

This weekend we kicked off the new school year in the life of the church with a bunch of awesome events that definitely kept me busy! Saturday morning our church, in partnership with another church down the road, hosted a 5K. We encouraged the youth group folks not only to run, but to dress up in costumes. I couldn’t find a great costume, but I did find these fantastic purple “skapris” (oh yes, “skapris” are a skirt/capri combo) plus a purple sequin headband in the kids section at Target. All I’m saying is that I looked pretty good. 😉

I ran with my sweet high school friend Gena, and we rocked it! I won my age group, and Gena placed second in hers (with a lot more competition.) We had over 200 participants and raised a lot of money that is being donated to a couple local charities!!

Saturday afternoon, on our way to a wedding in Virginia Beach, we made a stop to visit our good friend Allison. We ate lunch, watched the Virginia Tech football game, and so enjoyed catching up and laughing!

On Saturday evening we attended the wedding of my good friend and coworker Evan and his beautiful bride Kristina. The day was perfect, the decorations and details were adorable, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen two people so excited to get married! It was a sweet, joyful celebration.

Just bein’ us

It was close to 1 AM when we arrived home from the wedding, and I had to be up pretty early for church, er, later that morning. Rather than our usual three services (two traditional and one contemporary), we had one huge, blended service to bring everyone together as we kicked off the school year. Even though I was operating on insufficient sleep, the morning was awesome! I don’t know how many people were there, but the sanctuary was PACKED, and we had overflow in our Welcome Center. Some chose to sit on the floor with their kids. The atmosphere was just relaxed and genuine as everyone came together as one community to worship God!

After the service we had a picnic lunch, and people spread out all over the church grounds–inside and out–to share a meal with friends!

And because one picnic on a Sunday is never enough, that evening we had a youth ministry picnic at a local park to kick off the school year and welcome our new families. I was unable to do a headcount, but I estimate we had 150-175 people (youth, parents, and siblings). I felt a little bit overwhelmed…in a good way. 🙂

I am most definitely an introvert, so being in a crowd like this drains my energy. As soon as everyone had eaten, I’d finished speaking, and we started to clean up, I was ready to lie down on a picnic table and sleep. Hah! It was awesome, though, and I am so excited to see what’s in store this year!

As great as the weekend was, I’m so glad it’s finally Monday!! (…aren’t you? ;-))

What was the highlight of your weekend?

Gone to Carolina [in the Church Van]

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

In a few hours I will be on my way to North Carolina with a group of our middle school youth for a mission trip. We are spending the week repairing homes near the coast (low-income areas… not people’s beach houses, as my mom suspected :)), and I am so looking forward to it. Missions and local service projects are a key piece of our youth ministry, and here’s why:

In the book of James, chapter 2, James poses the question, “What good is it, brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith, but has no deeds? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead.”

In other words, if all we ever do is sit around reading the Bible, then go about our lives and ignore those who are hurting in the world, what’s the point? That type of faith is not sincere. In light of that, I am humbled and thrilled to have opportunities like this trip as part of my job. Plus, I get to hang out with all our crazy middle schoolers, whom I love dearly. 😀

I am not sure how much I will be able to blog while I’m there–maybe a few brief posts–but I plan to give it a try. If not, I’ll be back next weekend! In the meantime, please pray for our team, those we are helping, and Andrew, who has to hold down the fort by himself this week.

As the very talented James Taylor put it: “Yes, I’m gone to Carolina in [the church van.]” (Or something like that. ;-))

Youth Retreat Weekend + Yet Another Easy Dinner

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Catherine @ A Two Storey Home

In just a few short hours, Andrew and I will be on our way to North Carolina with a few van-fulls of teenagers. It’s spring retreat weekend for the youth group, and I am SO excited! We are going to the beautiful Camp Willow Run on Lake Gaston, where I was a camp counselor during my summers in college. CWR has a special place in my heart, and I am thankful for a job that takes me back there every year.

This morning I slept in as long as I could (7:15, then tossed and turned until 8… oh the joys of getting old 😉 ) in anticipation of the craziness that will be the next 48 hours. In previous years, I’ve arrived home Sunday feeling like I was hit by a bus due to all the running around we’d done. Here’s a quick flashback to last year:

Capture the flag in an excellent wooded arena (this photo doesn’t quite capture the intensity of the game, but it is always hardcore!)

Games I created ~~for the sole purpose of making myself laugh~~ 😉

High ropes course

Silly team-building activities

Throw in some good food, canoeing, a sunset over the lake, and great Bible studies, and it makes for a pretty epic weekend! This year we are doing the climbing wall and giant swing rather than the high ropes course; I can’t wait!

This week has been super busy in preparing for the weekend, so our dinners have been simple and easy, and workouts have been a bit shorter and lower-intensity as well: Short weight-lifting session Monday (like, 20 minutes in the living room with the TV on,) walk on Tuesday, yoga Wednesday, 30-minute easy run Thursday. I wrote about our easy Monday/Tuesday dinner here, and our Wednesday/Thursday dinner was this:

Baked chicken breasts (cut into smaller pieces to cook faster) marinated in Balsamic vinaigrette, leftover quinoa, roasted beets, and beet greens. I started to make a marinade for the chicken and then thought, “Nope. Not happening. Balsamic vinaigrette will taste great.” I told Andrew it was a secret family recipe. 😉

I’ve said this before, but when in doubt about cooking a vegetable, slice it, toss it with olive oil, add salt and pepper, and throw it in the oven at 400 degrees. Roasted beets? Two thumbs up from this girl. Andrew handled the greens, and they were pretty tasty too. Both the chicken and the beets were done in about 20 minutes. Can’t beet that (pun-intended…bahaha :-D)

Now I’m off to finish a few last-minute details for the retreat. I hope to give a quick post at some point during the weekend, but if not, I will be back Monday. Please pray with us for safe travel and no injuries, big or small!

What are your plans for the weekend? Any quick and easy dinner ideas for busy weeks?

A Two Storey Home

Where Marriage and Healthy Living Meet

Tag Archives: youth group