Things I Love - Taco Night

At Amigo's Mexican Restaurant, Monday nights are the best night of the week.  Hard shell beef tacos are a reduced price of 75 cents. (It used to be 59 cents.  Clearly, tacos have suffered from inflation.)  It is a tradition in Johnson City for many, many people to attend this weekly fiesta.  We used to go all the time in high school.  In fact, my very first date with Alex was at Amigo's.  Just Alex, me, tacos, chips and salsa, and his friend, Ben.  Somehow, I missed the "bring a wingman (woman)" memo.  But after that first night, we went every Monday night together for a while and it was ALWAYS delicious.

Tonight, I went with my best friend, Cari.  We talked about her exciting day in the Jonesborough DA's office.  She is the summer intern.  But her title should really be the summer wintern.  She has already served as an official court translator and put a child abuser behind bars.  She is practically a lawyer already...and we haven't even finished undergrad.


As we were leaving, a terrible tragedy occurred.  My Ray-Ban aviator sunglasses tumbled from atop my head and fell to the pavement next to Cari's car.  One of the lenses shattered.  I now resemble a pirate when I wear them.  Good thing Cari had a new iPhone app that makes pictures look cool to document the horrible incident. 

For the record, this is not staged.  This was my real face for approximately 2.37 minutes.

Well, my picture was clearly pathetic.  But the good news is that we did get a picture for Cari's album cover.  Glad we got that taken care of.  Photo - check.  Album - not check.

Channelling Matt Wertz.

So, long story short: Amigo's is the home of some of my very favorite memories.  My sunglasses are donezo.  Cari is ready for a record deal.  That is all.  The end.


"A loyal friend laughs at your jokes when they're not so good, and sympathizes with your problems when they're not so bad."  -Arnold H. Glasgow


Live with love,
-JD

Things I Love - Jokes

New Blog Topic - Things I Love.  Tonight's topic: JOKES.


Confessions time - I love love LOVE jokes.  Corny, goofy, childish - it doesn't matter.  Knock, Knock, riddle, one-liner - you name it, I'll laugh at it.  


Simple humor truly brings me great joy.  When jokes are being told, Alex (boyfriend) and my Mom (Caroline) tend to guess the punch line.  They have the uncanny ability to figure them out before they are told.  I, on the other hand, do not.  They are both very analytical people...they do that type of thing for a living.  Me?  I sing.  Different side of the brain.  So I NEVER figure out the punch line - but that is ok with me.  I am going to die laughing one way or the other.


My brother, Reed, is truly, without a doubt, the funniest person I have ever met in my entire life.  I mean, the kid is a genius.  I've been trying to convince him to do a stand-up routine for years.  Long story short,  I am surrounded by laughter on a regular basis. And it is AWESOME.


Some of my very favorite jokes are:


Why did the elephants have to leave the pool?
Because they couldn't keep their trunks up.
What kind of shoes to mice wear?
Squeakers.
Why did the chicken NOT cross the road?
Because he was chicken.
How do you wake up Lady Gaga?
Poke 'er face.
Where does George Washington keep his armies?
In his sleevies.


And my all time favorite...(drum roll, please)
There was a mommy tomato, a daddy tomato, and a baby tomato walking down the street.  The baby tomato stops to look at something, and the daddy tomato turns around and says, "Hey! Ketch-up!"


Oh, man.  Classics.  In my family, a day without laughing is like...actually, I don't know what it is like because there has never been such a day.  So, go out, tell a joke, and laugh a little.

Live with love (and laughter),
-JD

Sing to the King

This past weekend, I served on a Christian retreat known as the Journey.  It is always such a blessing to be a servant in such a real and tangible way.  I absolutely believe in the whole concept of "When you give, you receive."  One of the songs that was a theme of the weekend was "Sing to the King."  It is one of my ABSOLUTE favorites.  The words and so true and so powerful.  

Sing to the king who is coming to reign
Glory to Jesus the lamb that was slain
Life and salvation his empire shall bring
and joy to the nations when Jesus is king

Come let us sing a song
a song declaring we belong to Jesus
He is all we need
Lift up a heart of praise
sing now with voices raised to Jesus
Sing to the king.

For his returning we watch and we pray
we will be ready the dawn of that day
we'll join in singing with all the redeemed
Cause Satan is vanquished and Jesus is king!


Now, I am not one to buy into the "Satan" deal regularly.  I believe in the Almighty God, but I have a tendency to just skip over the Devil stuff.  Well, I have realized evil is real - that is what sin is.  You can't really ignore all of that business, because if it wasn't real, there wouldn't be a need for Christ's sacrifice.  The truth of the matter is that evil and sin are real.  And that makes that last line so much sweeter!  Satan (sin, evil, hate) is vanquished (conquered, crushed, triumphed over) and JESUS IS KING!


I think that is the most incredible story of all time.  Jesus came down from heaven and kicked Satan's behind.  Bye, sin.  See ya...NEVER.  It is almost unbelievable, and yet, it is the most important part of our existence.  It's funny how God does that.  Well, I may not completely understand it, but I will rejoice in it, with my voice raised - HE is all we need.


Live with love,
-JD