Nothing big, nothing fancy. But altogether wonderful.

This weekend was great. In light of last year's Valentine's event, and our current financial status, I knew it would be a fairly low-key celebration. But I knew we'd have a blast, and it would be utterly relaxing.

Friday night we watched X Men 2. We're going through film and TV series again, and it's super fun. Saturday was a very slow and lovely day. We slept in, made brunch, watched X Men 3, and took a nap. At which point we had 15 minutes to get ready to "go out" for the evening. I managed, somehow, to not look like I'd just awakened from a nap and off we went. Olive Garden was our destination of choice and after an hour plus wait, we got our table. Our server, Seth, was awesome; super friendly and very real, none of this fake I-Want-A-Good-Tip stuff.

Example:
Kyle said, "Tonight must be really good for you..." [meaning for tips]
Seth said, "Yeah, it's not bad, but I'd much rather be sleeping right now."
We agreed with him, and could not fault his honesty.

The food was delicious: Chicken and Gnocchi in Veronese sauce for Kyle and Four-Cheese Mezzaluna with Sausage for me. I didn't think I liked sausage, but Kyle convinced me I did. Plus, I knew if I didn't like it, we'd switch dishes and it'd be fine. We ended up loving both, and thus going halvsies. A true marriage, right? Sharing everything?

Afterward, we headed to a tiny venue for the Griffin House concert. I'd been looking forward to it for nearly a month since Liz mentioned he'd be in town. Upon arriving, we discovered five of my Bible study friends and a few other friends from school. It was hilarious and awesome. Well-timed, since the week prior the Bible Study girls had begun to doubt if I'd really gotten married. None of them had met Kyle. Now I have proof he's real--and for those who weren't present at the concert, the ones there can attest to his existence.

Sunday brought a whole different kind of fun. We woke up early to drive home for a true Gottschalk party, with Leslie and Calli recently arrived from the West. Brian, Raendra, and Clayton were around as well as Emily and Evan. And although mom was not well enough to join us for church, lunch, or an afternoon of games, we did manage to have dinner and a game or two with her later. So much food. Wow. It was like Thanksgiving and Christmas all over again. Before getting home, we even squeezed in some time to be with Kyle's parents and discuss Lost. Which was awesome.

Thus, our first official Valentine's day was full of things we love: great food, music, friends, and family. Nothing could have been better!

Free Music

For anyone who knows how much I love music (which is hopefully anyone who knows anything about me, thus, most of you who read this), you probably know how much I adore artist JJ Heller.

I ran into her at my sister's church in Arizona a few years ago, just before JJ and her husband, Dave, moved to Tennessee to pursue music full-time. The two of them were leading worship and the songs they played haunted me (in the best way possible). I could not get her lyrics out of my head, so I decided to use my mad librarian skills and find out more about her.

You, too, can read more about her here: http://www.jjheller.com

I have gotten two of her CDs since I first heard her, and this past weekend while waiting for my small group to start, I realized I was hearing new JJ music from their stereo.

"What is this?" I asked Jenn. She said, "I think it's JJ Heller or something. I don't know ask Tower."

I immediately asked Tower and she alerted me to this





Until November 1st, you can download JJ's newest album and she encourages you to tell everyone about it.

I can't express to you just how much this woman's music has impacted my life, but she speaks Truth, her words are full of Grace, and her music is superb. I hope it can speak to you as it has me.

In other news

Friends have been introducing me to all kinds of new (to me) music in the past few months.

Most notably, I have morphed from a self-proclaimed John Mayer Hater to a ginormous fan of his newest work, Continuum.

Other artists that have joined the list of Lana's Fall Favorites include:
A Fine Frenzy (I love everything about this girl)
Gavin DeGraw (mostly his live music--check out his song Belief)
Mat Kearney (thanks to Sara's Thanksgiving Music mix, I know now how sweet Mat Kearny can be)
Jordin Sparks (last year's American Idol winner, she continues to be phenomenal and to open me up to the realm of R&B and Soul)
Over the Rhine (everything they've done...I love them)
Carrie Underwood (although I haven't listened to Country music since the 90's, Franz bought Carrie's latest venture and we all loved her vocals--and humor--during Thanksgiving break)

Separated at birth

Last night, I discovered this guy:

But I already know and love this guy:

How is it that they look, sound, and move the same?

Yay for good-looking, uber-talented, look-a-like musicians!