Nashville Jaunt/ Weekend Update & Purpose of Adversity

Sketchy looking person heading to WW

Saturday, Feb. 26: 
I confessed in my last post that I have gone back to WW.  I've been back on the program a week and this morning was weigh in time.




Look closely, this is the flat land around the Red River that flooded after this week's rains.

  




I know you all are wanting to know how I did.  Well, there's good news and bad news..................................................

Confession Time:  WW is based on a points system.  There has been a big change in the program, but I won't go into that right now.  (If you want to hear more about it, let me know, and I will commit a whole blog to it! )  Well, the good news is......I lost 2 pounds!  The bad news is...................................
I only lost 2 pounds.  LoL, I would have liked to have lost more, but I haven't been hungry this week and that's only about 10 lbs. from my goal weight.  I'm looking on the brightside!




Anyway, I save a lot of my points for Saturdays.  Hubby and I like to go out for breakfast and then have a late lunch/early supper.  (I think I've mentioned this before!)  For different reasons, we haven't done this since the Five Guys weekend.




The Buffalo Wild Wings is coming up fast!



Breakfast with Hubby:



My light choice: veggie omelette, I'm sorry that I didn't take the picture before I started eating it.






Good deal alert:   I think I mentioned this last weekend.  The schools sold these for $20.  I have already made that much back and more.  It is filled with coupons.  I don't know if you can still buy them.  Sadly, IHOP wasn't in there.

Killing time until Zumba:   I looked around at one of my favorite stores....Target!

I found this bargain (less than $20) and it was my size.  I tried it on and it fit.... barely.  I didn't think I would be able to sit down.  Fail, I didn't buy it!  :(

If you watch "What Not to Wear", you know that a women should emphasize there smallest part. (Right below the bosom)  The top on the right does that.  I thought they were a steal at $10.  I bought the light blue and the green!  Score!!

 

I even saved money because I used my cloth bag.  I'm always prepared!



 

I love these lightweight sweaters, but I didn't buy any.








I visited another one of my favorite stores in Clarksville:

I had a coupon from the above mentioned coupon booklet, so I bought some more workout pants.








Here's my logic:  I wear and wash my workout pants once a week, so I think it is important to buy workout gear that is comfortable, looks good and holds up in the wash!!



10:30  I had a date with a Zumba class!



I came home, showered and it was off to Nashville with the hubby.  It was a beautiful spring-like day.

On the way down, I caught up on my daily Bible reading.   Bingo, I read a profound commentary on Adversity.  I will share that at the end of the blog.

I have several daily Bibles, but I really like this one by Charles Stanley.  In the past, I have skipped over the commentary.  I don't with this one.  He puts just enough.

Maybe you have seen the commercials where the two ladies use their IPhone (I think) to randomly select a restaurant in NYC?  They write a blog about it.  Well, we decided to go to Brentwood and we tried to use hubby's car GPS to do the same thing.  We randomly selected:

It looked promising, but, alas, it didn't open until 5 pm.  We tried again and the next place seemed to be located in a hotel.  (That wasn't the experience we were looking for.)



The next pick was...............................

Qdobe

We both got the special.  We got two choose two things for $5.99!!  The food was fresh, and delicious and very reasonably priced!!!!

Since I wasn't going to eat dinner, we decided we wanted some yogurt for dessert.  My manicurist has told me about his brother's shop in Brentwood.  I remembered that there was a Menchies' Yogurt nearby.  I texted him to get the address.

 Menchies is located on Lenox Village Drive off of Nolansville Road.  It was delicious! If you aren't from Clarksville or Nashville, you may not have gone to one of these new yogurt places.  (Clarksville has at least three.)  There are  always several flavors.  Many are low-fat, non-fat or sugar-free.  You serve yourself and there are many toppings to choose from.  You pay by the ounce.

 The nail salon was a few doors down.  I don't really know how to describe this cool shopping/living area.   There were shops on the bottom and cool condos on top.  It was like a little community with a playground, parking garage and I don't know what else.  There was a cupcake place, a Blue Tortilla, and a Pie in the Sky.  We walked around and checked it out!  Nice!!







I talked the hubby into going to........................................

 Centennial Park

Crazy hair!  The wind was blowing!

We made the big loop around the park.  It was gorgeous.  There were tons of people there.  (dogs, Frisbee throwers, couples, people studying, joggers, even tightrope walkers!  See below!)



 Tightrope Walkers!




We had a nice time and we burned some calories on our walk.



We have always been intrigued by some unusual, modern- looking houses that we see when we are on I440.  We decided to take a closer look.

These homes sit up on a hill over I440.  Check out the view of Nashville in the background!

Saturday night:  We have rented the movie "Paranormal Activity 2"  from ITunes. We enjoyed the first one at the movie theater.  (Kind of creepy!)  Not quite as good when you are at home with the lights on and you are working on a blog!






Purpose of Adversity:  My Bible reading for today covered Mark 4:35-41 when Jesus and his disciples escaped the crowds by getting in a boat and crossing over the Sea of Galilee.  Jesus was asleep in the boat when a storm blew up.  The disciples were scared and awoke Jesus saying, "Teacher do You not care that we are perishing?" 



I know this event well, but Mr. Stanley brought a new light on it for me.  He said, "God sent this storm on the Sea of Galilee to teach Jesus' disciples a lesson on faith."




Jesus said to his men, "Let us cross over to the other side" and they should have taken His statement as a sure sign that He expected a safe trip. But when the terrible windstorm threatened the boat, they panicked." 

How many times do we panic when we face hardships and adversities???  Do we ever ask God, "Don't you care?  "Don't you love me?"  "Lord, can't you do something about this?"  When our faith is weak, we are afraid.  The fear can cause us to project the very worse thing that can happen.  God expects us to use our faith to overcome fear. 





Instead of fear, we need to use our faith.  According to Mr. Stanley, faith tells an opposite story.  "Faith says that God is in control and that all things work together for our good."  Romans 8:28  "Faith says that we will recover and that our final state will be better than anything we have experienced thus far."






Although it's hard, let adversity reveal your faith!!!


Sun., Feb. 27:

I'm ready for Sunday school.  Sadly, my left knee is hurting, so I'm going to skip Zumba and any other workout today!  :(

Interestly, the sermon today was based on Romans 8:23!!!! One of my favorite verses and it goes right along with the comments above about adversity.  I think I will have to discuss it further in a later post......hmmmmm.....maybe something on "God's Promises"!!

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

They are forecasting more bad weather.  I hope you and your loved ones stay safe!!!

I hope this picture doesn't traumatize you too much!!!

xoxo