too much for prose...

So I must resort to a list.
1. Camp at Timber Wolf Lake with our middle school friends was incredible! They are fun, funny, thoughtful, mature, childish, entertaining and encouraging. God was so faithful throughout our week - we had great conversations, beautiful weather, and lots of opportunities to stretch and grow in faith!!! (pictures to come!)
2. Katie and Brian got married this weekend, and we made it back from camp in time to catch some of their reception (including their first dance - which was part lovely slow dance, and part hilarious "evolution of dance" choreography). They seemed SO happy and relaxed - I like that.
3. We ate pizza with Brian & Katie on Sunday night (the celebrities of the weekend had time to picnic on our living room floor!!), and our friend Kelsey joined us not only for pizza Sunday night, but pancakes that morning too (she crashed at our place after the wedding on Saturday). It was fun to see so many friends.
4. I went to the doctor this morning and got to hear Baby's heartbeat again - the fetal doppler is an incredibly tiny machine! For a few seconds, I could hear my heartbeat and the baby's together - it was so cool. The rest of the appointment took about 7 minutes - all is good! Tomorrow I start my 13th week... time already seems to be slipping right by!
5. Mark and I are still making progress through the 7th Harry Potter book. Since I read it out loud, it can take 30-45 minutes per chapter. Slow but steady.
6. I can no longer comfortably wear my normal pants. I think it may be time for an upgrade. People told me I wouldn't show until 4 months or so, especially since this is baby numero uno. I guess I'm a little ahead of the curve. It's okay by me - at this point, I'm excited to sport a "baby bump." Ask me again in 3 or 4 months. :)
7. My energy is back up, and I feel much more "normal." I'm gonna try to take advantage while it lasts.
8. God is good. I read James 2 this morning, and really appreciated the connection between faith and deeds. It's easy to see the parallel after a week at camp.

absences: past and future

Mark and I had the pleasure of watching our good friend Brooks commit his life to his now-wife Abbey, this weekend. We traveled to Columbus, OH for rehearsal dinner, bachelor party, wedding, reception, and brunch with the newlyweds. It was a big weekend - full of funny people, laughter, and emotions. It's awfully cool to watch two people promise to love each other - to know that they will not always succeed at keeping each and every promise... but that if they are both sincere, humble, and graceful - God will honor their commitment.
We drove from Columbus to Plymouth (Mark's brother's new home) and visited with his family there. I got to meet our new nephew, Brody (only 8 days old!) and be shocked at how big our other 2 nephews have gotten. They really do grow SO fast!
Mark and I were able to *finally* read a few chapters of the new Harry Potter book last night - but tomorrow we leave for camp with our middle school friends, and won't be able to finish the book until we get back. I'm okay with waiting - I'm just terrified that someone will give something away in the meantime. No spoilers, people!
We'll spend Tuesday through Saturday at camp (great fun!) and head straight to a wedding when we get back Saturday night (we'll be pretty late, but at least we can show up and give a little support and love!)
I think I might sleep all day Sunday.
Or read Harry Potter to Mark.

end of an era?

Tonight is the last night our friend Brooks will be living at our house. He moved in with us last July and spent the year student-teaching at a nearby high school (chemistry - yikes!). He's getting married this Saturday, heading off on his honeymoon, then moving to Atlanta, Georgia to become a big-time high school teacher and (football?baseball?both?) coach. It's going to be a pretty big, life-changing couple of weeks for our good friend.
Tonight, in honor of our last night together as a trio - we'll watch hours and hours of TV. Sometime during the fall, we got started watching Scrubs on DVD - and wound up buying the first 4 seasons (all that was out at the time). We always watch them together. It's the rule.
Last week, Brooks brought home the newly-released 5th season, and we absolutely MUST finish the season tonight.
So we'll probably share a meal, and spend the evening in good company, laughing at a pretty darn funny show. I think it will be a good "last night" for us.
But we're going to miss him.

journey into the unknown

I'd like to introduce you to the person that's currently growing inside me. I don't know much about this person yet - no idea if it's a boy or a girl (or even if it's just one person). I'm not sure what he/she will look like, or what kinds of hobbies will be pursued, or what funny things he/she will say someday to crack the daddy and I up.
I do know that this is a true blessing from God; the giver of all good and perfect gifts. I know that it humbles me to my very core to think that I'm being entrusted, along with Mark, to provide care, love, and godly instruction for this precious child of the King. I know that this baby will be ridiculously loved.
And I know I'm thrilled. Baby B is due to join us in the middle of February. I'm sure the next seven months will fly by and drag along, all at the same time!

burley bakery

I think I've developed a new hobby.
Tonight, Jayne (a co-worker and friend) is coming over to help bake some goodies for a party we're having at work tomorrow (another co-worker's wife just had a baby, and we want to welcome her to our clan!)
We're making an apple-blueberry pie, and chocolate cake from scratch. I'm excited - even though it means heating up the oven (and the house) - I'm really enjoying spending time in the kitchen. And making things from scratch.
Maybe I'm nesting.

bed and breakfast

Mark and I celebrated our 5th anniversary on Friday with a weekend trip up to Ludington. We stayed at a log cabin B&B that was beautifully decorated and made me want to gut my house and put logs on the walls. We ate a lot of good food, walked along the water and through the state park, saw a movie, picked cherries, went to bed early, and generally enjoyed ourselves very much. It was so nice to get away for a weekend and just be in each other's company. We've been very blessed these five years.
Yesterday I made two cherry pies with the cherries we hand-picked over the weekend, and Mark and Brooks were happy to help me taste-test them last night (with a little vanilla ice cream, of course). Brooks is getting married in less than two weeks, and moving to the Atlanta area shortly after. We'll miss him a lot - more than we realize right now, I think. He surprised us with the 5th season of Scrubs on DVD last night (we've watched the first 4 seasons together this year), and we spent a couple happy hours watching some very funny episodes; again - just enjoying the company.
It was a good weekend.

small towns and big projects

The town Mark and I live in is home to approximately 7000 people. It has a lovely downtown area, complete with ice cream parlor, hair salons, a book shop, little restaurants, the local bank... and in the center of the square - a courthouse, complete with bell/clock tower. We l-o-v-e it.
Last night, we sat on the curb at the corner of Jefferson and Ash Streets, and watched the 4th of July parade.
We were pelted with candy, sprayed with hoses from the fire engines (somehow doesn't seem quite legal to me....), and we tried (but failed) to count the tractors that went by. It was a fantastic, fun, small-town parade - full of pride and a sense of community.
The parade was followed with ice cream, laughs, and watching the fireworks with some of our soon-to-be-in-high-school friends. Very fun (although fireworks that start after 10:00pm make Katie sleepy the next morning).
As for big projects - we've started (and I use the term "we" pretty loosely here) to finish our basement. We'll be adding a bedroom and a half-bath, and leaving the other side of the basement open for storage and flex-space. Hard to believe our little house will be a daunting, 4-bedroom, 2.5 bath masterpiece soon (ha!) Anyway - some of the walls are framed in already, and lumber, nails and sawdust abound. I'm really excited to see the finished result.

yum?

Smokey Bones is one of our favorite places to go for dinner on date night. Why, you ask? Well, there are three fantastic reasons.
1. Pulled pork that makes my mouth water thinking about it.
2. We get gift cards from our Discover CashBack bonus that let us eat there for free.
3. Pulled pork that makes my mouth water thinking about it.

The last time Mark and I were there (which was FAR too long ago, by the way), there was a family a few tables over. Mom, dad, young son (maybe 4 years old). I saw the little boy surreptitiously spit into his palm, then offer his hand to his dad as he said, "Friends?"
Now, as a good dad, he is of course suspicious of this offer to shake his young son's hand. Plus, I don't think son was quite as sneaky about the spitting as he intended to be. Dad graciously declined. But it made me laugh (in my head - I try not to laugh out loud at strangers in public places, especially when they don't know I'm watching them). The innocence (and not-so-innocence) of youth - learning some new joke or trick that is incredibly funny, and longing to try it out on your "unsuspecting" parents.
At what point (if ever) do we realize that our parents aren't actually clueless and unsuspecting? At what point will I become that parent to my kid?

sister time

When I tell people that my sister is coming into town for the weekend, they always ask me things like, "Ooh, that'll be fun. Will you go shopping?" or "Do you have big 'going out' plans?"
Probably not.
What will happen:
We'll go to the grocery store and get some snacks and whatever we need to make a pizza with extra cheese and mushrooms.
We'll rent movies - sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes one of each.
We'll giggle uncontrollably about highly unladylike and childish things.
I'll paint her toenails, then paint my own. She's a very talented gal, but completely unable to paint the toenail without painting the whole toe.
We'll take walks, read books, go to Starbucks, pick up some Arby's.
And basically have a lovely, we-really-didn't-do-much-but-look-how-much-we-got-done weekend.
I love those weekends.

what a week!

Well, life got busy, and things got away from me. But it's Friday afternoon, and my sister is coming to town for the weekend, and right now - that's all I'm thinking about. :)
I'll let you know how much unbelievable fun the two of us have when I come back to bloggity-land on Monday!

whirlwinds and such

I just came off one of those weekends that is crazy-busy and at the same time accomplishing absolutely nothing. Well, not nothing. Here are the major things I did this weekend:

* Held onto my willpower and bought nothing at the Mary Kay party I went to on Friday (and my oh my were there some tempting deals). I did walk away with a new lipgloss, shower gel, hand cream, and a bag of chocolate. All for free. :)
* Crocheted many rows on the blanket for our new nephew-to-be (he's due to arrive on July 11). I'm almost done!
* Listened to SchoolHouse Rock and Leapster songs until my head began to explode. Just a little bit.
* Sat in bed with a 6-year-old, discussing all the stuffed animals that reside in his twin bed. He named one of the kittens Katie. It was cute.
* Played wiffle ball in the neighbor's backyard (we were staying at their house, watching their 3 boys this weekend).
* Had a couple nice (if a little short and interrupted) conversations with my hubby.
* Took "naps" on Saturday and Sunday - the kind where you're laying down, eyes closed, and pretty much out of it, but still listening to and aware of what's going on around you.

All in all - it was a pretty nice weekend. Not exactly refreshing - but there were distinct moments of unexpected sweetness that I really enjoyed.

Oh - and free chocolate.

dwarfed

When I was in high school, 6 of my girlfriends and I decided that we needed to assign ourselves nicknames from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I'm pretty sure the logic was infallible at 3:42am, surrounded by caffeine, chocolate, cake, and assorted chips/pretzels/cheetos - I just can't remember why right now.
At any rate - I was dubbed Happy (and was truly happy just to not be labeled Grumpy). I recall that Jackie was Doc (she was the valedictorian), Susan was Dopey(she had unfortunate -but darling- protruding ears), Stephanie was Bashful (not actually shy, but her face could turn an amazing shade of pink when embarrassed)... and I don't recall the rest.
Despite the fact that I have officially been "Happy" since the mid-90s... today (and for the past 2-3 days), I have been Sleepy. Constant yawning, fantasies of laying down with 4 or 5 (dozen) pillows... and I even went to bed at 9:15pm last night!!!
I should inform myself that I am actually not Sleepy, but Happy. I wonder if I would be awake and alert enough to listen...

mini-vacation

Every year, Mark and I try to take a mini-vacation for our anniversary. This year (the big number 5!), we are heading up to Ludington, MI to stay at a bed and breakfast and enjoy Michigan at its finest.
I'm looking forward to sleeping in, big breakfasts, walking around a quaint downtown area, enjoying Lake Michigan, and generally relaxing with the man I've been lucky enough to call my best friend for many years now.
We'll be embarking on our expedition on July 5th - so I still have to wait a little while... but days like today (sunny, 80s) make me think of vacations.

summer lovin'

Or, more accurately... lovin' summer. Here's why:
Watermelon
Sunny days
Windows flung wide open
The sun is up before I am
Long walks through downtown Mason
Dinner on the grill
Relaxed schedules
Cute skirts
Bare Feet
Painted toenails
Thunderstorms (once in awhile)
Ice cream
Fresh cut grass
Visiting the lake

What do you like about summer?

weakness

I allowed myself to be talked into buying a new skirt last night. I saw it, loved it, and was all set to resist it and endure the heartache of NOT walking away with the adorable, colorful, flowery wrap skirt... until the two other gals who were with me started in.

D: You should get it, it's so cute.
A: Yeah, I have one like it. I love it.
D: I have one too, because A talked me into it.
Both: Do it.

And since I wanted it anyway, I caved. I probably shouldn't have. But I'm a wimp, and it's lovely and I'll wear it a lot (and since it's a wrap, it will pretty much always fit me, which is a great quality to have in clothes).
No more spending for me. Done.
Until the next cute wrap skirt walks into my life and sweeps me away...

domesticity

Lately, motivations from a variety of sources have pushed me toward the land of the Modern Homemaker.
1. It's summertime, which means we aren't at meetings twice a week where dinner is provided for us.
2. Turns that it's not an absolute end-of-the-world-imposition to run the dishwasher daily.
3. We had two ripe (almost completely brown) bananas in our fruit dish... banana bread MUST follow.
4. Mark thought it would be fun to make a pie.
5. I have the cutest green apron from Crate & Barrel - I l.o.v.e. to wear it.
6. Someone told me somewhere down the line that it's cheaper to cook at home than it is to eat out every. single. night.

Anyway - In the past week, I've made broccoli & beef stir-fry, meatball subs, banana bread, an apple-blueberry pie (ALL from scratch), and a cheesy-chicken crock-pot dish. And it's been fun. I don't think I'm quite ready to be a 1950's poster-gal for homemaking... but we all have to have a goal.

ps. The apple-blueberry pie was SO. GOOD. I can say that, because ALL I did was follow the instructions. But if you ask nicely, I might make you one.

a time to learn

I'm back from my "vacation" - and it was incredibly refreshing to be away from work for 7 straight days. I'm a spoiled girl - but at least it's already Thursday!
Here are some things I learned during my time off:
1. If I stay at home by myself for too long, I eat. A lot. It's important for me to have errands, or company or some big project to work on.
2. It's surprisingly easy to leave all thoughts of work at the office. I missed the people I work with - but not actually being there. (I do enjoy my job - don't get me wrong).
3. You can get infinitely more done when you're not at work. I can sleep in, watch a half hour of TLC, go to Home Depot, Target, Meijer and JoAnn (and take my time at each place), eat lunch, watch another 30 minutes of TLC, plant and hang flowers... at it's not even 3:00pm.
4. The gym is easy to go to when I'm at work, and it's on my way home. If I'm already at home - it seems awfully far away.
5. The bullfroggies in our backyard don't stop gulping - all. night. long.
6. Sleeping with the windows wide open is one of my favorite things (even with croaky-frog noises).
7. Except when it starts to rain in the middle of the night, and you have to run around the house, half asleep, and close the windows.
8. I live a pretty charmed little life. God is good to me!

Vacation!

I'm not really going anywhere - but I won't be at work again until next Thursday. Right now - I have plans to hang out with my friend D on Friday, and I think we'll head up to Uncle Tom's Cabin (Mark has an Uncle Tom, and Uncle Tom has a cabin on Wixom Lake) for the weekend - but other than that, I have no plans. Just the kind that don't really count. Like:
-sleeping in
-getting the house cleaned/organized
-planting some flowers/pulling weeds
-working on my sister's birthday gift (I'm making a couple of throw pillows for her - she picked out the fabric and requested them, so it's not like I'm spilling the beans on my blog)
-going to the gym in the middle of the day
It should be fun - I had to use up some vacation days before they expired. I'll try to keep blogging, but there may be a dry spell in there. So, dear loyal reader (or two), hang on - I'll be back!

lessons from the park

On Saturday afternoon, Mark and I spent some time at Rayner Park with 4 of our middle school friends. We were playing Lava Freeze Tag most of the time (a game that involves a person to be "It" who chases everyone else around the playground - if you're tagged, you freeze, but the wood chips are "lava" so you can only take one step on it at a time. This means that you must leap, climb, and shimmy your way around the park, trying to simultaneously avoid being frozen and unfreeze your "chilly" peers. It's a fun game, but I was tired and wearing shoes ill-suited to the task at hand - hence, I spent much more time being frozen than actually leaping, climbing or shimmying around the park).
During one of my frozen sessions of solitude, I watched a man playing with his two sons. One appeared to be about 8 years old, the other was probably about a year old, and fairly new to walking. Older Son was hanging upside-down, jumping off things, and generally propelling himself around the park much as any young lad would. Dad was chasing Younger Son around, making sure he didn't toddle right off some steps, or inadvertently into the tornado-like path of Older Son. The conversation Dad had with Older Son while chasing Younger Son was kinda cool:

Older Son: Dad, check out what I can do! (does some sort of upside-down flip/leap thing off the parallel bars)
Dad: That's cool, buddy!
Older Son: I can do it every time! Watch! (does it again)
Dad: Great job - but you know, sometimes it's good to do things that are hard for us. If you can do it right every single time, then you're not learning. We get better when we're doing things that we can only do right about half the time.
Older Son: (is losing interest in Dad's motivational speech) Okay.
Dad: (watching Younger Son trying to climb up a slide, land on his rear end, get up, and try again) Toddlers are great at that. They're always trying things that are too hard for them. By the time we grow up, we're not very good at that anymore.

How true! I've always liked learning things - but as I've gotten older, I've grown distinctly more concerned with being "good" at those things immediately. Makes me wonder how much I'm missing out on by being worried I'll look "stupid."

wax on, wax off

I was at the salon Saturday morning, giving my hair some much needed love and attention, and it was lovely. I have just started going to see Jena, a fantastic gal with great big curls, a warm smile, and a really down-to-earth, open-and-honest personality that I enjoy. She actually scheduled my appointment for a half-hour before the salon opens, because she "likes to spend at least an hour with any new client, just to get a feel for what they want." Her salon just opened in November, and I know her daughter (an 8th grader) from WyldLife. I really love living in a small town sometimes!
We're in the back, shampooing my dreadfully split-ended hair, and chatting famously, when she pauses for a moment, looks at me, and says,

"Would you like me to wax your eyebrows for you while you're here?"

Now, to be fair - I've been wanting to get my eyebrows "done" for awhile now, and while I by no means have a unibrow or giant, fuzzy caterpillars sitting on my forehead... they are a little unruly and make me a bit self-conscious (in that crazy way girls get about things that no one else will ever really notice or care about.)
So I picked my pride up off the floor, and told her that yes, I would love to have my eyebrows done if she had the time. And I must say - she did a lovely job.
By the end of my hour, my split ends were no more AND my dream of having my eyebrows groomed by ripping hairs out of my face with hot wax had come true. And I couldn't be happier. Jena and I have started (what I hope will turn out to be) a long-term relationship.