Back that Truck Up!

We're backing it all the way to Easter! My friend, Brooke, pointed out about 3 weeks ago that I haven't blogged since April 23rd. (I would like to point out that Brooke doesn't have a blog at all! And she just had a baby - if that's not blog worthy material, I don't know what is! And it's not like her life wasn't blog worthy before baby, with summers spent in Africa and/or Indonesia and life working at an elite private/boarding school....she's definitely got some stories)!

Anyway. Yikes - it really has been almost 2 months now...definitely the longest I've gone without posting during the 5+ years of this blog's life. Of course, I've gone through the internal debate all bloggers go through in this scenario...do you go back and catch-up or just start over with fresh/recent material? I've decided to go back and catch-up. I hate to skip over any good material! But, I probably will skip over some things and just hit some of the highlights. For now, let's take a look at Easter 2011!

So, I loved this Easter. I hesitate to call it my favorite in NYC only because I've had some really great ones here. This year, I hosted a couple of occasions during the weekend and I loved having people in my home! On Maundy Thursday, my CG got together to read some scripture, pray, and take communion. We usually meet at Sarah Beth's and Ema's apartment each week, but SB was hosting her family that weekend, so I offered to use my place instead. It was a small group, but a fruitful time with community reflecting on Jesus' sacrifice for us.

On Friday, I went to my church's Good Friday service and it was great. Our worship leader is doing a fantastic job every week, but these special services are amazing! It was just a small glimpse of what was to come on Sunday.

Saturday was my productive day of getting ready for Easter Brunch on Sunday. I spent Saturday evening with some friends eating Shake Shack in the park. My friends, the Watsons, were moving the next week back to Dallas. Shannon & Travis were wonderful ring-leaders for the Baylor Alumni in NYC and we will miss them!! Shannon also happened to work in the same building I work in so I also go to see her during the week sometimes and, on occasion, grab lunch.

I hosted a fabulous group of nine ladies at my apartment on Easter Sunday for brunch. It was a mix of friends from church and friends from elsewhere and a couple of my friends brought friends. The craziest thing was that Megan figured out that one of her co-workers lives in my building, so we invited her to come and she did! It was great! I had fun decorating and cooking to try to make it the fun and fancy celebration that Easter should be.

(Pardon the fuzziness of these pictures - my camera started freaking out on me around this time.  I purchased a new one before the big Spain trip and I love it!!)

I made some of my favorite brunch dishes, plus a new one!

To drink, I had Almond Tea, Water, and make-your-own Iced Chai

With Allison & Mindy

Stacy

Hillary

After we enjoyed a delicious meal, we got crafty together! I had some thank-you note-card printables from one of my favorite websites that were ready to be decorated. It included examples of things you could do to embellish the cards, but some ladies got super creative with theirs! Once they were decorated, we bundled them up with twine and they were ready to go - so cute! I have even used at least one of mine.

Christine & Megan

I sent the girl's home with Easter egg shaped sugar cookies

Christine brought Tulips - sweet!

Most of the girls had places to be by mid or late afternoon. Allison, Stacy and I went for a stroll in the park looking for cherry blossoms....we were about a week early so they weren't in full bloom yet.

That evening, most of us ended up at church. Oh, my! The service that night was possibly my favorite church service ever, anywhere! It was soooo good. My feelings were echoed by almost everyone I talked to about it and further confirmed the next Sunday when our pastor said it was possibly the highlight of our church's history. Wow - that's quite a statement! I wish I could describe it to you in enough detail so that you could experience it like I did, but I just cannot possibly do it justice. There was a choir, an amazing soloist, great sermon, and the undeniable presence of the Holy Spirit. It brought chills to my arms and tears to my eyes. I loved it and wish I could do it over again right now!

Until next year, I suppose!