7 Quick Takes: Complete With A Giveaway!

Joining Jen for this week's takings of quick!

1) My friend, Cari, wrote a book! (Yes! I'm THAT famous! I know an author!!) She wrote a fantastic account of her conversion to Catholicism. It's chockfull (that's a word, autocorrect?) of hilarious and beautiful stories of her journey to motherhood and Jesus. It's titled "Pope Awesome and Other Stories". But don't believe me when I say it's a must-read; go check out her many awesome reviews on Amazon! Or, better yet, just ask Kyle. He loved the book so much he read it right-side up, then upside-down.

2) What's that? I convinced you? You want a copy? Well, lemme hook you up, my brutha (or sistah)! I am giving away one copy of Cari's book for the price of one comment! Yes, that's right! I believe so much in Cari's story, that I'm willing to pay postage to send it to one lucky winner (you're welcome, Cari!). Just leave me a comment below and Sweet William will choose the winner on next Thursday (11/14)!

 Now, on to Life With The Dempseys! 

3) Maeve is in the process of choosing high schools to attend next year. Although we aren't newbies to this process, we haven't had to look at girls' schools until now. Due to a scheduling snafu, Joe had to attend one of the open houses with us last night and declared that, while the school "still smelled like tears and pencil shavings", it also smelled "a lot better --more colorful-- than a boys' school.".

 
Amen to that.

4) My running class was going really well! I even started running a solid 3 miles --albeit r e a l l y  s l o w l y-- without stopping! But this weird pain in my knee kept bothering me on non-running days.  Turned out, I have a bruised meniscus. This means that I had to stop running and walking immediately, rest the knee, ice it, and take ibuprofen. It also means that I will never again be able to run on cement or asphalt, only a cushioned track or dirt. Boo. But.....

5) Kyle to the rescue! Since my esteemed physician suggested swimming and cycling as safe alternatives, Kyle encouraged me to sign up for the Fall special at our local hospital's fitness center! They have 2 pools, recumbent bikes, the whole shebang! Now, I'm kickin' it with all the local grannies in the locker room as we prep for our aqua classes. 

6) Thanks to good ol' Jessica, I tried out this recipe for Brazilian Black Bean Soup this week. I thought, "2 different pork products in the same soup CANNOT be wrong", and I was not disappointed. Because I'm (obviously) in a generous mood today, I'm sharing the link with you.

 

7) Finally, this has been the best video I've seen all week. Takes me back to 8th grade gym class with Mrs. Barnish and her Jane Fonda workout videos: