4th Street

If you live in Bloomington and love international food and experiences, 4th Street is the place to go.  You can literally walk along one block near downtown and "travel" to India, Tibet, Italy, Ethiopia, Turkey, Burma, Korea, and the list goes on.  Hank and I have made it our goal this summer to try out each restaurant, and so far it's been awesome!  The food is absoutely amazing.  Each place is very authentic being owned and operated by a family from the country it represents.  We know it's legitimate because most of the time we're the only Americans in the place.  We're normally surrounded by foreign languages and strange customs.  Last week I learned that the proper way to eat soup in Japan is by slurping it.  Really Loudly.  It was pretty funny sitting in there with everybody slurping all around us.  I was pretty shocked and slightly confused until Hank explained it to me.  (I mean, southern belles NEVER slurp;)  So it's been an adventure.  I'm really excited about getting to experience a different country every week right here at home.  Feeds my hunger for travel.  Next week is Turkey!


This was at Restaurant Ami, which is a Korean and Japanese restaurant.  It was amazing!

Couch Potato Syndrome

For many of you out there, you understand what this means.  You get to a point in your life when you don’t have a whole lot going on, you work 8-5, and you just don’t have the energy you used to.  Once you’ve sat at a desk for 40+ hrs/week, you understand that it zaps your energy.  Your heart rate slows down to a point where your body goes into “hibernation” mode.  This is why when you get off work, all you want to do is go home, prop your feet up, eat and watch a movie.  A few months ago, this is exactly what I was doing.  Then I got a wakeup call when a blood test showed abnormally high cholesterol for my size and age.  My doctor said I had to start exercising at least 30 min/day.  I started getting up 30 minutes earlier in the morning to do yoga or pilates.  I also had the opportunity to start taking ballet again, so I enrolled in a ballet class here at IU for credit so I HAD to go!  Then the school where I work started offering an aerobics class for the staff.  Before I knew it I was exercising twice a day and having an absolute blast.  I started having all this energy that I hadn’t had in a long time.  It made me really appreciate this time in my life when I don’t have a whole lot going on.  My prayer for each of you today is that you will find something that you can do exercise wise that you really enjoy.  It makes that 8-5 job a little more bearable, and it appeases your adventurous spirit in a healthy and more lasting way.  And it's all made possible by the ultimate source for a content and healthy life: 2 Timothy 1:9.  

Sorry for the “article out of a health magazine” feel to my post today.  I started brainstorming on what I could post about and realized that I haven’t had anything really fun or interesting happen lately.  Then I was reminded that the purpose of this blog is finding glory in the everyday, when no obvious adventures are presenting themselves.  However, I have high hopes for this summer!  The creative juices are bubbling, a couple of trips are in the works, and you never know what’s just around the corner.  So stay tuned…