7 Quick Takes Friday, #58

1. The Easter Vigil mass last weekend was fantastic! I was rather sweaty with nerves, but my dress was wonderfully constructed to not broadcast such an unsightly truth. I have no idea if my face was red. Probably it was, but I was just so happy and into it all that I didn't notice. And I may never know; my camera battery died the moment the mass began. So, although I have no photographic evidence of my conversion to the Catholic church to share, I'm not too upset about it.

It just means I can go on operating under the illusion that my face was serene and placid rather than pink and goofy.

(I'm not going to fill up this space with all my experiences and faithful revelations -- it's just not how I roll -- but if you have any questions or thoughts, please please send me an email! I'd love to talk with you. Be warned, though...I talk a lot. But I'm pretty sure you know that by now.)

2. While my camera battery was dead on Saturday night, it was all charged up for Sunday morning. I, however, was not. Charged up, that is.

I'd been looking forward to attending a sunrise service for weeks -- it's always meant the most to me of any Easter services -- but when sunrise rolled around, I was really sick. All nasty kinds of sick. I couldn't even make it through my entire shower without...getting sick. Despite not being healthy enough to go to the service, I went anyway, promising myself I wouldn't be sick again until I'd returned home. And it worked! But I laid in bed for the rest of the morning, too afraid to move for fear I'd awaken the nauseous monster who'd taken hold of my tummy.

Justin took the girls to an Easter breakfast and egg hunt, followed by a regular church service. Poor guy. I didn't have it in me to remind him to take pictures, so we didn't have any shots of the girls on Easter morning. (My wonderful friend, Jill, seeing that Justin was alone for the morning, snapped some cute shots of my girls for me so I wouldn't cry -- what a woman.)

3. By mid-afternoon, I'd successfully made it out of bed without being sick, so I started getting ready for my family's Easter party at my aunt's house. I found Justin, curled up on the couch, clutching his belly. "What did you give me?" he moaned.

So, our day was shot. Two sick parents don't make for a very fun Easter for the kiddos. We went to the party where Justin slept in an empty basement room, and I snuggled on the living room couch. I'm pretty sure someone was supervising my kids....they survived, anyway. I got outside to take some pictures of the egg hunt, though; I just couldn't miss it.

4. Lauren was a slow gatherer. She was too interested in opening each egg as she found it, and in trying to convince me that its contents should be immediately consumed. She was adorable at it, too.

5. At 4 years old, Mia's become quite a pro at egg hunting. Her basket was overflowing within minutes. She searched out all the glittery, sparkly eggs first, and cleverly eschewed the real, hard-boiled eggs. But it was okay -- I'd forgotten to bring our dyed eggs with us so I knew we had plenty of cooked eggs at home waiting for us.

6. One of the saddest parts? I didn't get to wear my new shoes on Easter morning:

I ordered them online a few months ago, and was SO excited about my purchase. Chocolate brown suede, tall and gorgeous, and discounted so deeply that I couldn't pass them up. When I got them and tried them on for the first time, I fell a little in love with them.

Until I moved. They killed me. Or, they killed the 4th toe on my left foot; everything else was fine. I vowed to wear them as long as I could stand -- each day, around the house -- until they were comfortable enough to wear for real. I was hoping for an Easter deadline. Then, on Wednesday of Holy week, they were perfect! I pranced and ogled for hours around the house. I took the above picture (along with several more) to celebrate and confirm what I already knew: they were gorgeous. I only took the shoes off to walk down our steep driveway to get the mail, but when I returned and slipped them back on, the magic had gone. They HURT again!

I had no idea what the difference was, but I determined that they'd surely work for my Easter morning dress. It was off-white with large and small chocolate brown spots, ending in a powdery blue trim, tied around with the same shade of blue in a ribboned belt, and topped with a matching cropped cardigan.

Of course, I didn't get to wear it. I'm counting on attending a May wedding to pull it all out again, though. The shoes WILL be worn. And they'd better be comfortable, darn it.

7. By the next day, both Justin and I were as good as new. Healthy and happy. And a few pounds lighter.

Have a fantastic weekend, my friends, and stop by Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes!