Favorites around here

I met some new people tonight that are new to our area. They're friends of a friend and they came to Rosaruck. In conversation this evening we brought up several cool things in our area that I'd like to pass on. There are a lot of local treasures around here!


Alleluia Catholic Store!!
This is a really great Catholic Store. Every time I go here I can't help but spend at least an hour parousing everything. They always have new and exciting stuff! I just found out recently that they also have Catholic DVD rentals!! Woohoo!

Spotted Cow
We go to the one at Mill Creek Town Center. This is my favorite local spot for gelato and ice cream. They make their own gelato and ice cream and they come up with really creative flavors! All very good. They have some great sandwiches and other stuff too. They have local art on their walls, local wines, a variety of local merchandise on the bookcase at the entrance, a great coffee house feel, a kid friendly play area, host local musicians, free wifi, it's just a great place to hang out. Oh yeah and they have coffee (I've become a Mystic Monk coffee snob, so I haven't tried the Spotted Cow Coffees yet).

Nirvana Kebab and Curry
This place is a couple of blocks from where we live. Great indian and mediterranean food and absolutely wonderful customer service. We often have to order take out because we don't want Clare to start whining, squirming, screaming while we're in the restaurant, but when we get there we're seated at the special take out waiting couch and coffe table, given complimentary chai and very well taken care of. This guy is also a very experienced chef. The service at this restaurant is really great.

San Miguel Grill
17917 Bothell Everett Hwy, Bothell, WA
(425) 481-7870‎
There's no website for it. It's attached to a Mexican Store called "El Paso". It's got a really homey feel and has great food. It tastes like it was made with love by a relative who loves cooking! Good variety and better prices than the chain Mexican restaurants. And hey, who doesn't like a restaurant that has St. Michael as it's patron!?

Everything Tea
I'm a huge tea drinker so I was really excited to find this place! Not only is it in the very cute historic town of Snohomish, but it's loaded with hundreds of types of tea and tea accessories!! They scored points because they had my favorite type, "Monks Blend". A few other good teas I've tried are the creme caramel and Canadian Ice Wine Tea. Make sure to spend some time wandering around Snohomish. There are a ton of antique shops and a huge antique mall that's fun to poke around.

Country Village
This village has a lot of really cute shops, a small park like area with a stage, chickens that roam around, a children's train, and is just a neat place. One of my favorite shops is
Toys that Teach
The Whitehouse Antique and Candy Shoppe is also lots of fun. They have all the candies you loved when you were little but may have forgotten about.

Trader Joe's!
I know Trader Joe's isn't really local, but there's one around here and it's great. I love getting organic produce, good specialty foods and wines at low prices. It's just a great store to have around.

Aca Las Tortas
This place used to be a taco truck, but now it's inside a convenience store on 164th street across from Martha Lake park. Cheap, good, real Mexican.....I think.

Mayuri Indian Cuisine
Great Indian Food. Nicer dining atmosphere. Great Samosas and homemade mango ice cream!!

Thai Bistro
I don't know if this is locally owned or a chain, but they have great thai food, great service, elegant decor, and reasonable prices. This is the best thai food around here in my opinion.

Himitsu Teriyaki
20806 Bothell Everett Hwy, Bothell, WA
(425) 483-2152‎
Again, I don't know if this is locally owned. They have great sushi, teriyaki, etc. Really nice lady who runs the shop. Everything tastes fresh and it's fast.


That's all I have at the moment. I'm sure we'll add more as time goes on. Enjoy!

For those of you who aren't in the facebook world - A Clare update

She's getting good at standing and is probably going to be walking very soon.

She's trying out new facial expressions. I call this "stink face".

Doesn't it look like she's smelled something nasty?

She's getting more cuddly. She fell asleep on Daddy a few weekends ago while we were in Canada.

She's developing a naughty streak. You can see it in her eyes. Ha ha!

And some things haven't changed. She's still loud.

She likes being tickled and she has a lot of teeth!

She is giving "speeches" full of facial expressions and hand gestures. I have videos for proof of both of those statements, but they won't load onto blogger. I think I'll have to load them on to youtube and post them another time.

Happy Feast day of St. Teresa of Avila!

St. Teresa of Avila is the first female doctor of the Church, reformer of the Carmelites, and my mom's patron saint. Happy Birthday Mom! Here's the Second Reading from the Office of Readings today.


Reading - St Teresa of Avila

Let us always be mindful of Christ's love

If Christ Jesus dwells in a man as his friend and noble leader, that man can endure all things, for Christ helps and strengthens us and never abandons us. He is a true friend. And I clearly see that if we expect to please him and receive an abundance of his graces, God desires that these graces must come to us from the hands of Christ, through his most sacred humanity, in which God takes delight.

Many, many times I have perceived this through experience. The Lord has told it to me. I have definitely seen that we must enter by this gate if we wish his Sovereign Majesty to reveal to us great and hidden mysteries. A person should desire no other path, even if he is at the summit of contemplation; on this road he walks safely. All blessings come to us through our Lord. He will teach us, for in beholding his life we find that he is the best example.

What more do we desire from such a good friend at our side? Unlike our friends in the world, he will never abandon us when we are troubled or distressed. Blessed is the one who truly loves him and always keeps him near. Let us consider the glorious Saint Paul: it seems that no other name fell from his lips than that of Jesus, because the name of Jesus was fixed and embedded in his heart. Once I had come to understand this truth, I carefully considered the lives of some of the saints, the great contemplatives, and found that they took no other path: Francis, Anthony of Padua, Bernard, Catherine of Siena. A person must walk along this path in freedom, placing himself in God’s hands. If God should desire to raise us to the position of one who is an intimate and shares his secrets, we ought to accept this gladly.

Whenever we think of Christ we should recall the love that led him to bestow on us so many graces and favours, and also the great love God showed in giving us in Christ a pledge of his love; for love calls for love in return. Let us strive to keep this always before our eyes and to rouse ourselves to love him. For if at some time the Lord should grant us the grace of impressing his love on our hearts, all will become easy for us and we shall accomplish great things quickly and without effort.

Rosaruck

So we've started a new mini-ministry at home. We're doing Rosary-Potlucks. Every week friends come over, we share a meal, write down our intentions, and pray the rosary together. It's only happened twice so far, but I'm hoping it continues and grows. For Jon and I, the rosary is something that has been really central to our marriage. It's nice to be able to share the devotion to this great prayer with friends.

If you want to join us come on over! We usually have it on Tuesdays at 6:30pm. Though this week we're either going to change the time or cancel because of the 40days for Life kick off.

Maybe in October we'll kick Rosaruck up a notch and read a paragraph out of Secret of the Rosary each week. Who knows, we're open to suggestions.

Anyone done anything like this before? What made the experience richer or more meaningful?

Seven Things I love

I was tagged by Carrie.

1. Watching my husband laugh really hard. Jon's face goes a bit red and his smile is so huge.

2. Waking up some mornings to Clare saying "mamamamamamama" and waving at me.

3. Going to Mass and recieving Christ. Bringing Clare to Mass. I love trying to face Clare towards the altar during consecration and whispering "that's Jesus" in her ear. She's distracted most of the time, but it's still cool.

4. When Jon and I have time to sit down and read together.

5. Cooking! I like trying new recipes. I like trying new recipes even more if I already have the ingredients. :)

6. Hosting parties, espeically ones that involve the Rosary.

7. Being with my whole family. It's so much fun having my parents, Joy and Peter, all the kids, the aunts and uncles, and cousins around. That's why the wedding reception was so much fun. The whole Ledesma family + Ramseyer family + all our friends!!! If we all get to heaven it's going to be awesome.

I tag...Jessica, Janet, Neil, Lauren Frisch, Jon, Colin and Brett

I know they don't all have blogs, but maybe they'll do it on facebook.

I had a dream of the Church Militant.

I had a dream on Saturday night that really struck me. It was quite vivid. I think it's worth sharing. When I have a dream it tends to be like watching a movie rather than being an actor in it. Though sometimes when I wake I can remember the emotions the dream-me felt. It's weird. Anyways, here's the story.

It began with me and a large group of my Catholic friends trying to find shelter. I had the sense that we were part of some military rebellion or something of the sort. We were trying to enter a large brick or stone building. My dream began with us standing at the door. When we entered the building it was quiet. We were in a long hallway with one door to the right. I had the impression that we would find shelter and safety on the other side of this door so I led everyone through it. The room it led to turned out to be an adoration chapel. We were to spend some time there preparing ourselves to meet CHrist the King face to face in his human form. He was the King we were fighting for.

After a few hours spent in adoration preparing ourselves, we went back into the hallway and we went down through it further. It was relatively dark, it looked like a castle. The hallway eventually opened up to an enormous Cathedral. Standing there in front of the altar was Christ himself. I can't describe what he looked like. I don't know if it's becaue I don't remember or because I just knew it was Jesus but didn't see his face or look at Him directly. Or maybe Christ just didn't let me take that away from my dream. I don't know, dreams can sometimes be hazy. In any case, CHrist celebrated mass for us and spoke to us about the battle we would be fighting in. He told us about how hard it would be. I got the impression that many would die. He told us that while we were not fighting, we should take shelter in the room we were in before. The adoration chapel. He told us that he would be waiting for us there.

After that we left Him. Some went to fight. I remember hearing the battle. Hearing people dying whilst siting in front of the Eucharist in the chapel. I knew some were dying in the battle. I remember hearing the battle go on in the great Cathedral where Christ said mass for us. I remember praying for Jon's safety, also knowing that I would soon be in battle.

I woke thinking, "The Church Militant".

I suppose it's some sort of wake up call. Possibly Christ telling us to go to adoration more. I can't get over how vivid it was. How much real meaning it has in life. Usually my dreams are completely random and have no sense whatsoever. But every now and then I have something like this. Something that makes me think twice and re-examine reality. I thought I'd share.

UIOGD

Happy Feast of St. Clare!

It's the Feast Day of St. Clare today.

An army of rough soldiers came to attack Assisi and they planned to raid the convent first. Although very sick, St. Clare had herself carried to the wall and right there, where the enemies could see it, she had the Blessed Sacrament placed. Then on her knees, she begged God to save the Sisters. "O Lord, protect these Sisters whom I cannot protect now," she prayed. A voice seemed to answer: "I will keep them always in My care."

"Totally love Him who gave Himself over totally for love of you."

"Ever since I have known the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ no suffering has been bothersome, no penance too severe, no infirmity has been hard."
"When You have loved Him, You are chaste; when you have touched Him, You become more pure; when you have accepted Him, You are a virgin."

-St. Clare of Assisi

Here's a little bit about her life.


Jon, Clare and I are hoping to get to the Cathedral for afternoon mass today for St. Clare's feast day. Early on, Jon and I discussed wanting to be a family that really celebrates Catholic feast days and the kid(s) namesake days. Hopefully we can keep this up! That's one of the cool things about being Catholic. There are so many reasons to celebrate!! So many people to celebrate! So many great examples that a life lived for Christ is possible in any age! St. Clare is also my Confirmation saint, so this feast day is special for me too!

I also learned something new today about her. Apparently her feast day used to be celebrated on August 12th (my sister's birthday!). I don't know why it was changed to the 11th. That'll take more investigation.
And....the first place Clare stayed before building her order was with...Benedictines! :D ha ha ha ha!! They always come through.

St. Clare is the patron saint of Television and is often prayed to for good weather because her name means Clear. :)

UIOGD