indiana trip

here is the latest picture of dave and i, taken last sunday at his parent's house in Indiana just before we left to come home. i just noticed how tired i look...guess it was the anticipation of the 10 hour drive ahead of us. we had a good time. it was very relaxing and a much needed break. we left last wednesday night, drove all night and got there around 8:30 am. we had to stop a few times and sleep at the rest areas, but we made it! we just relaxed and slept alot and enjoyed the time spent with his family. jon, dave's older brother, was able to make it in from columbus, OH to spend the weekend with us. dave, bob (his dad), and jon taught me how to play monopoly. yes, i'm sorry to say, i've never played before!! but they taught me, and wouldn't you know, i killed them all! i was feeling pretty good about myself i have to say! i got my hair trimmed by deb, dave's younger sister, on saturday. she graduated from beauty school last year and has landed a very good job at a local salon called Clippers. of the 3 siblings, anna was the one who had the most time to spend with us. she and her husband josh just bought a puppy a month ago. millie is a beagle and german short haired pointer mix. very cute! anna and i are the two eligible grandchildren givers, so of course, all week we got the not so subtle hints from sandy (dave's mom)! she'd love a couple of grandbabies to play with, but so far, neither of us are seeing any soon! we left sunday afternoon for the long drive back and pulled in around 3 am. we were pooped! good thing we intentionally didn't plan anything for the morning, so we were able to sleep in and rest. this week has gone by pretty quick. nothing very exciting to report...just the daily grind again. waiting not so patiently for spring. soon enough i guess. well, have a great weekend all!

st. patrick's day

i know st. patrick's day isn't officially until this friday, but the parade in scranton, which hosts the nation's 4th largest st. patty's parade, was yesterday. which is also the busiest, most profitable day for us at the cafe, since the parade goes by our front door. apparently there was supposed to be about 8,000 people in the parade, and tens of thousands of spectators. i heard it was the busiest parade yet in scranton. so all that meant for me was a long tiring week of preparation making dozens and dozens of cookies. i think overall, i must've made about 25-30 dozen. lets just say i don't want to see or make another cookie in my entire life! i was exhausted, but i know the paycheck will be worth it! saturday was a good day. thankfully, this year i didn't have to work during the parade hours, but i did get stuck with the clean up at night! it wasn't that bad. since we were a bit short-staffed, my dad had to work as well, so that was nice to work with him. it was alot slower than we anticipated, and we only saw a couple of drunks (they opened the bars at 7:30 am!!!) so we were able to clean up pretty easily. i'm just glad it's over! this well we are looking forward to a surprise trip out to indiana. well, really only a surprise for dave's mom. she has no idea we're coming! we haven't been there since thanksgiving, so we thought we'd make a long weekend trip. we're going to leave wednesday night, drive all night and hopefully pull in around 6 or 7 in the morning. we kindof like driving through the night. it cuts the time alot and there's just not that much traffic. we'll be back next sunday night. i'll try and get a post on while we're there. hope you have a good week! gotta run...

latest siegrist news

i'm sorry that i haven't been very active in keeping this up to date. like i said in my last post, we've been having trouble with our computers, making my blogging difficult. but in an effort to keep in touch, here's the latest on the siegrist's.

david's still working 3-4 nights a week at staples, and friday and saturday nights at the texas roadhouse. he pretty much dislikes those jobs, but is just hanging on until the beginning of april when the scranton country club opens again and he can get his job back there, with $1 more per hour than last summer! when he is not working, he is hanging out with me, or at the cafe when i'm working, or at home, helping me with the dishes and other housework. we both are doing an informal internship with Grace Baptist Church along with 3 other newly married couples.

Pr. Colin Smith has meetings with us every sunday night where we discuss what's going on in the church, how to start the various ministries we've wanted to start, and learning basically what a pastor and a pastor's wife is and how they work in a church. we talk about theology and what it takes in starting a church. it has been a wonderful learning process so far and we are excited to see what God has for us through this church.

i am still working 2 days and 1 night a week at northern light. i love my job and love working so closely with my dad in this business. it is rewarding in many ways and really has helped shape who i am. when i'm not working, i am either at home trying to keep up on cleaning and organizing, or out doing errands. on monday nights when dave is working, i go over to sarah sespico's parents (the boyles) and hang out with sarah, chris, garrett, and her parents for dinner and watching 24. they've got me hooked! on wednesday night's we have prayer meeting, which has proved to be different than any other prayer meeting in any other church i've ever attended. it is the heart of our church, a vulnerable bonding time with the church body. we look forward to it every week! on friday nights i go to my parents while dave is working to do our weekly laundry! it is a time i look forward to because i know that we won't always be this close to them. saturday nights i work and sundays are our relaxing day!

other than that, i'm doing pretty well. i'm not sure if i told everyone about my thyroid. last august my doctor diagnosed me with hypothyroidism. basically means my thyroid doesn't produce enough thyroid hormone for my body. it has caused a large amount of fatigue and has made daily life a bit harder to deal with. we're still in the process of finding the right dosage of medicine that will compensate enough for my thyroid. but we haven't quite pinpointed it yet. it's a waiting game since you can't feel the effects of the medicine for a few weeks. so each time we adjust, it's 3-4 weeks before we know if we need to adjust again. i think it is something i'll be dealing with for the rest of my life, but it's not really that bad. just makes me want to sleep!

i think that about covers it! my time here on the computer is just about up, so i had better go! miss you all and wish you a wonderful week!

problems

this is just a quick post since i am using my lunch break here at work to write this. i am sorry i haven't been able to keep up too much lately. i probably won't be as on top of things for a while. it seems that our computer is kaput for a while. something happened to the keyboard and it won't type. every button you push prints something like this sd\:l weird, huh? yeah. so we tried everything. up to saving all our stuff and restoring it to the factory condition. didn't work. so unless we want to pay someone to fix it, we'll probably have to wait and see how much we get back in our tax returns and see if we can afford another laptop. so i'm back to using the cafe computer or my parents. not very much time to put a really nice post. so, sorry, and hope you all are well. i'll see what i can do!

picture of ash and la

this picture of ash and i was taken on the same week of vacation that i am going to write about in the post below. it's not the best picture because i had to scan it in (can't afford the digital camera yet). but we still look good!

this picture is just a little outdated, from our september beach vacation, but it is the best picture i have of us and we still look the same! so i figured i'd grace you with the good looks of the Siegrist's. actually, that vacation was the most needed one ever. our best friends, joe and ashley wittmer came out from Indiana to spend a week with us at the NJ shore. it was so nice to be with them. there are only 1 or 2 times a year that we see them, so any time is precious.
actually, it was that vacation that started ashley's battle with her health. the day that they got there, she started getting hives on her head. by the end of the week, it had spread to every part of her body, and she had gone through a whole box of benedryl and nothing was working. since then, she has had numerous tests and seen many doctors and they have not been able to nail down what she has. since that week, 5 months ago, she has suffered from many frustrating symptoms that have really worn her down and complicated daily life. so this week, she and her husband traveled the 6 hours up to Minnisota to go the Mayo Clinic www.mayoclinic.org. this is pretty much their last hope in diagnosing her problems. so i am asking that you would pray for them as it is a strain financially, emotionally, and physically on them. pray that the doctors (who are supposed to be the best in the world i think) would be able to pinpoint what she has and how to treat it. and pray that the LORD would provide for their needs. medical bills are not the easiest thing to deal with. ash doesn't put too much of this on her blog, and i understand that. but i want you to know what they are going through and how much this is affecting their lives. and since she IS my best friend and i love her dearly!

emma-claire and busy week

well, i suppose it's about time i put up some pictures of my beautiful niece Emma-Claire. the first one on the left is my favorite!! isn't that the most pitiful look ever? the second one is the best in terms of seeing what she really looks like. the third is her and her daddy, my brother sam, and the last one is her attempt to make friends with the cat. unfortunately, i don't have one with her and her mom, but that's on the roll that's still in the camera! Emma is about 14 months old now and they live in katy, tx, just outside of housten. a lllloooonnngggg way away. i miss them alot. they were here the week after christmas. my parents are flying down to see them over easter. i'm not sure when dave and i will be able to see them next. unless plane tickets get super cheap this summer, probably not until next thanksgiving or christmas. too long...but money doesn't grow on trees. anyway...on a different note, david and i have been house/babysitting for my parents this week while they are away on vacation. it's actually been pretty uneventful (although you'd think differently being with a 12-yr. old brother and a 15-yr. old sister!) but they've been great. i've been working extra this week for my dad. i've opened the shop early every morning and then worked mon. and wed. like normal. tues, today and tom. i just open, stay a few hours until enough staff get there, and then do whatever office stuff i need to do and then go home! it's been very busy and i'm exhausted. but, hey, any extra hours and extra money is worth it! speaking of working, i have to be up at 5 am tomorrow, so i need to go to bed. have a great week!

update and chocolate

it's been a while...and for that i apologize. our christmas and new year's were wonderfully relaxing! my brother, sister-in-law and niece were able to come up the week after christmas for 4 days, sam, ashley and emma-claire. emma is just over 1 year old...she is so cute! when i get my pictures back, i will post some. its was wonderful to see them since they live in housten, tx. it is rare that we are able to spend time with them. we had a few days off of work as well, so it ended up being a much needed vacation.
david has finally found a job! he started working at staples this week. he will be working in the copy center, which he is now finding out will probably be a difficult job. but he's training this week and really doesn't know how the job will treat him yet. this is his second day. he is thinking he'd still like to work at the country club again this summer as he knows the people, the job requirements, and will be getting $1/hr. more than last summer. so staples might just be the in-between job he needs until may.
i finally am getting around to taking our christmas things down. i was sick all last week, and just wasn't able to get to it sooner. the hilarious thing is that the tree is completely dead and every time you bump it, there is a shower (literally!) of needles! we have a green needle carpet now! we'll see how that turns out later tonight when we take the tree out! other than that, things here are as normal as normal can be. work is work...bills are bills...nothing new or exciting. except that i hit the bath and body works semi-annual sale yesterday and was able to stock up a little for the next 6 months!! always a good deal!
and about the picture...this is my new favorite chocolate bar. dagoba chocolate is organic and this is dark chocolate with lavender and blueberries. sounds weird, i know. but trust me!!! it is amazing! for those of you who live around here, you can get it at Everything Natural in clarks summit. and for those who don't, here is their website www.dagobachocolates.com i wholeheartedly recommend it.
well, i need to go so i hope you all have a wonderful day and enjoy the chocolate! go buy it!

Best Buy Dance and Christmas Lights

here's a great link! it cracked me up. hey ash, what makes this even funnier is that the guy kinda looks like your dad!!

Best Buy Dance

here's a good christmas one.

Christmas Lights

preparing for christmas and the chronicles of narnia

i decided to use a festive color tonight. it matches my picture! well, it has been a while since i have written. since my last post, david and i enjoyed a wonderful time with his family. we celebrated Christmas with them since we won't be able to make it out again this month. the past few weeks have been busy, and quite fun decorating our house for Christmas. although we had been married for 1 week last year at Christmastime, this year feels more like our first Christmas together. mainly because last year, when we should've been waking up and enjoying a holiday with presents and family, we were stuck in the Tampa airport, and then at the Philadelphia airport for hours and hours trying to get home from our honeymoon (which we spent in the blissful paradise in Key West). so it never did feel like Christmas last year. this year, we went to a local tree farm and went searching for that perfect tree. dave cut it down and we tied it atop my blazer. it was so fun! neither of us had ever cut down a tree before! well, we quickly realized we probably should've measured how much room we had, because our tree is very big! beautiful! but big! i had so much fun decorating it and putting up other Christmasy things around the house. i pulled out all of the pine tree smelling candles, and our house smells delicious! i love this time of year! it's so nostalgic and homey. warm and inviting. i think next year i will try to plan a Christmas party! doesn't that sound like fun? all the candles burning, the tree lit, Nat King Cole serenading in the background...coffee and pie. mmmm....definately going to do that next year!
other than that, we've been doing well. david is still looking for a full-time job. the country club officially closed once we got snow on the ground! he still works at the roadhouse, and put an application in at Home Depot. but their system is weird and he won't know about it until next week. so....until then...waiting, hoping, trusting that God will provide for our needs. of all the months in the year for dave to not have a job, december has got to be the worst!!! oh well, what can you do?
on top of that, i had a bit of a minor accident last week. if you want all the dramatic details, ask ashley, Aspirant Artistry, she was on the phone with me through the whole thing!! basically, i hit black ice, and by the time i saw it, i was already sliding my way around a curve and down a hill. i ended up in a ditch, hitting so hard that i got a flat tire and wrecked the alignment pretty good. through the kindness of the neighbors there, i had a warm house for 20 min. while i waited for the tow truck. to make a long story short, Kost Tire fixed my flat for no charge (probably b/c they wanted to make customers out of us) and the tow only cost $45, which dave will be able to make up in an extra shift at work. but now we have the dilemma...do we fix the car (which has become an annoying money pit) or do we just try to sell it and get another car, which we knew would happen sooner or later. not sure yet...especially with dave's job still up in the air. but it's drivable. dave takes it now though, as he feels safer with me driving his car. guess we'll just see what happens.
other than that, nothing too new and exciting. we celebrate our first anniversary in a week! 1 whole year!!! can you believe it??? i can't. i'll have to post some pictures from our wedding next week.
by the way, go see The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. it's phenomenol! but, you MUST read the book first! it's not that long...definately better. actually, if you read The Magician's Nephew first and then The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, it will make much more sense. it is the first one (chronologically, not in the order he wrote them though). The Magician's Nephew is to the rest of the books as The Hobbit is to the rest of the trilogy. it puts everything in perspective and explains things that otherwise could be confusing. they're relatively short books....please read them first!!!
well, this is getting a bit long...hope you all have a good weekend! bye for now.

thanksgiving trip

david and i are in Indiana this week. we were supposed to drive out yesterday, leave at 7 am and drive the 10 hrs. we've been planning on it for a while...well, things didn't exactly turn out the way we hoped. you see, i worked at the cafe monday, and dave worked at the country club. well, since weather is a very important factor at the golf club, they have a radar that shows weather and storm systems. on my way home from work and last minute shopping, around 4 pm, dave calls me and tells me there is a huge storm heading straight for us. he described it as a wall extending from Louisiana horizontally up to us. we were going to get hit with most likely snow sometime tues. morning. our solution? pack and leave that night. let me tell you...it's not the most pleasant thing to get up at 5:30 am, work 8 hrs., come home and do ALL of the packing, eat a quick dinner, do the dishes (since we'll be gone for 6 days) and then pack the car and be on the road at 9:30 pm with 10 hrs. of driving ahead of you!! but we felt there wasn't much option, according to the weather. we stopped at the cafe on the way out and stocked up on coffee (free coffee is always the best! just thought i'd gloat about that) and away we were! david is an amazing man. he drove the whole way! and we made it in 9 hrs! unfortunately, all of the panera bread's were closed so we couldn't refuel our coffee mugs, but somehow, the LORD kept us awake and energized the whole trip! i slept for about 1 1/2 hrs. around 4 am and we pulled in just before 7. we slept alot yesterday! today is much better...it's snowing here! the first snow we've seen! there's about 1-2 in. on the ground, enough to make it look beautifully white! david is out getting a hair cut from his sister, deb. she has a job at a local salon after working her way through beauty school. anna, his other sister, is here with sandy (dave's mom) baking lots of pies and cookies for tomorrow's feast! i suppose i should go help out...it's so wonderful to be here with family! i hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! enjoy your families and eat lots of turkey!

this week

this week has been a challenging one. david worked monday at the golf course, but because of the bad and cold weather, did not work tuesday, wednesday, thursday or today. in one sense, it's been really nice for him to have so much time off. i worked monday-wednesday, so tuesday and wednesday he came down to the cafe and spent the whole day there reading, studying and journaling. i must confess i've been a little jealous. on the other hand, when he doesn't work, he doesn't get a paycheck! on wednesday, he accidentally set the alarm for p.m. instead of a.m. i was supposed to be at work at 6:30 a.m. but was woken up at 7 by the phone! thankfully my dad wasn't upset. i was an hour late to work, but he knows that accidents happen and they are infrequent indeed! david was very sweet...he felt so bad that he brought me a beautiful red gerbera daisy to cheer me up! we have an awesome little florist's shop next door to us and we like to give each other business. the day ended up being a good one. anyway, back to the financial thing...david has been great with our budget, it's so nice to not have to worry about that. i trust his judgment and he handles our finances wonderfully! he's in the process of trying to find a new job, but that has been difficult since the country club hasn't officially closed. he can't get a new one if the old one isn't done. he still has the roadhouse job, but there is no garaunteed money, so how do set a budget on that?
anyway...God will provide, we feel very confident about that.

on an exciting note, we are going to IN for thanksgiving. we're leaving tuesday and staying until sunday. i can't wait!!! i love his family so much. it's such a wonderful relief to have in-laws that are so much fun to be with! it will be a good vacation for us.
i hope you are all having a good weekend! i miss you all and think of you often. until next time...

work and shopping

well, it's been a while. i figured out how to put links on my page,
although, as you can see, i still have some technical problems.
any advice would be welcomed!
life has been stop and go lately. i've been working monday-wednesday, then thursday and friday off, then work again saturday night. i guess it's been good. work is work.
my day consists of baking for the cafe, preparing the soups for the lunch rush, sometimes shopping at target, sam's club, or michael's for the cafe. i always enjoy getting paid to shop!

www.teaforte.com

today, november 11, marks the 3rd year of business for our cafe.
it's hard to believe it's been that long! now that the colder weather is setting in, we've been getting busier and busier. we've started carrying some unique retail items, such as organic chocolate, vegan bars, a specialty tea in pyramid shaped silk tea bags,
tea cups and saucers, and a couple of other things. we're hoping that the Christmas season will boost our retail sales.

other than work, david and i received a wonderful gift in the mail the other day. someone from IN that he knows sent us a very very
belated wedding card and gift. in it was a gift card to Bed Bath and
Beyond for $100!!!!!! talk about shopping spree! we went out last night and wandered around the store about 2 times before putting anything in the cart, then after trying out every single massage chair they had set out, started figuring out what we were going to get! i picked out a few kitchen items, a great-smelling yankee candle, some card games for our long Indiana trips, a canvas hanging sweater storage thing for the closet and a few other random things. the weird thing was that it was HARD trying to find $100 worth of stuff! you'd think it would be the complete opposite! i don't know what it was, but it was alot more difficult than it should've been! oh well, it was still a blast, and we enjoyed it, b/c we know that won't be happening anytime soon again!

well, i think it is about that time. gotta jet. hope you have a great weekend! love to you all.

a sick week

this week has been a bit of a difficult one. david and i were over at a friend's house monday evening playing knock rook and i started to feel a bit sickly. well...i got hit full blown with a bad sinus infection/head cold thing which made me miserably sick. i must've slept like a full day, all doped up on cold medicines (my husband pursuaded me to take a double dose one night...not the best idea in the world) and wrapped in 4 blankets. but the great part about it all was that my husband got to stay home with me for 2 days and take care of me! the reason for that was simply bad weather. he works at a country club and the golf course closed tues. and wed. due to that ugly wintery weather we had. so we had some quality time together...watched a couple of movies, slept alot. he did alot of cleaning for me and fed me soup. needless to say, i love my husband!!! i feel much much better now and will be back at work tomorrow.

well, the evening here at my parents has come to an end. friday nights i come over and do all our laundry while dave works at the texas roadhouse. but, laundry is done, and i have a half hour drive ahead of me, so i am going to go. hope you have a great weekend!

some friends

just wanted to put some of my friends' home pages up.
check them out. they are cool people.

www.myspace.com/abishagdarling

www.xanga.com/abishagdarling
http://captcool.tripod.com/
http://www.jadongood.com

photography and domestication

i'm not a photographer by any means, but i wish i was. i like to try my hand sometimes, and so here is a sample of what i've taken. this picture was shot in my front yard this spring. they are ferns that haven't opened yet. i think they are beautiful. someone once asked me what my dream job would be if i could do anything i wanted...i would be a traveling photographer for National Geographic. that is if i was a photographer, and if i wasn't married, and if i didn't want to have kids someday! i'd like to study it i think. learn more about angles and lighting and things like that. ash, i know you have an artist's eye for that...maybe you can give me some helpful hints. i never really asked you for that. but now i am! unfortunately, although autumn is my favorite season, and i had been looking forward to some fall hikes through the woods with my camera, the past 9 out of 10 days have been rain, almost non-stop! so at the peak of the season, i'm rained out. oh well...i made pumpkin pie instead. i like being domestic...i love the idea of making homemade pies and soups on cold rainy days. or making the house warm and cozy for my husband when he comes home from working outside. being a wife has been so fulfilling for me. i feel like i am living out the role designed for me. i have no desire to be a career woman. all i want is a husband and a family to raise. one down, one to go! i always joke with david whenever we hear of another friend who is pregnant, or see little babies looking so cute...i'm anxious to start our family, but david is a little more sensible and is helping me wait for the better timing.. david is the best husband i could have asked for. he is understanding and patient, loving and hilarious, gentle and strong. i was thinking today that i am more in love with him than i've ever been before. this tuesday the 18th will be the 10 month marker of our marriage. the best decision i've ever made!

well, on this cool cloudy sunday afternoon, i think i will curl up with my Chronicles of Narnia. i finished The Silver Chair the other day, only one more to go! i hope you have a relaxing rest of the day!

friends on the web

well, this is another quick post. i'm at Northern Light with my husband, having time with him. although being up in the office doing random email and blog stuff doesn't constitute good quality time. however, in an effort to stay in touch, here are 2 links to 2 of my good friends blogs.
ash is my best friend and we were the maid of honor in each other's weddings! what a wonderful privilege it is to know her!
http://ashleywittmer.blogspot.com/
meg and i have known each other for years now, dating back to the good ol' days in college. we have a history of having crazy friends, skydiving (ash was there too!) and lots of road trips!
http://megrothslife.blogspot.com/

well, have a great night!

picture

here is a picture of me and my hubby! his name is david, and he is my best friend. i don't have too much to say today. sunday's are just nice to bum around and relax. i have to say, that some of you may laugh at me, and some may truly understand. you know when you see a show on tv that you used to watch all the time when you were growing up? and how even if you normally wouldn't watch it except that it brings back good memories? well, there is an andy griffeth marathon on today, and i'm hooked. so sorry to make this short, but i'm going back to watch. have a great end of the day!

a day off

well my friends, i know that some of you would like to hear more from me. let me first put this disclaimer...we do not have internet access at our house, and so it creates a huge difficulty in keeping this blog up to date. please be patient with me. i do love this idea and want to keep it going, so i will try harder at it.
that said, let me tell you about my day. both david and i have off work today...well, at least until late afternoon. david works tonight at the texas roadhouse, and i will be off to my parents to catch up on our mountain of laundry. we were able to sleep in today, which was much needed. we are now spending a few hours at northern light having some coffee and reading time. i just finished Prince Caspian in The Chronicles of Narnia. what an exciting book! if you have not ever read the chronicles, like me, you should! they are excellent! i could read all day if i was able to. it reminds me of how wonderful being a kid was, with all our imaginations that could come so alive in our own secret playtimes. if i was still 9 or 10, i would be running through the woods with my brothers, acting out the battle scenes in Narnia, saving the country and exalting in Aslan. sometimes i miss being that small with no cares in the world.
well, my time is almost over here at the public computer. so i must go for now.
have a lovely day!
laura

today has been a busy one...i have been at work since 6:30 am. i enjoy work, but some days i feel like a chicken with my head cut off. so much to do, so little time to do it. however, the good news is that i don't have to work for a good 12 days! vacation next week with my husband and our best friends at the nj shore will be a well needed and wonderful time! my lunch break is just about over, so i will have to leave sooner than i'd like.