Spring Fever

I think I've been experiencing a bit of spring fever today after spending some time with my friend, Trish, yesterday. We went to a knitting class together to learn how to knit, and then went to a nursery to look for seeds. She's somewhat of an expert gardener in my opinion, so I had her help me select things easy to grow, and things that were successful here. In the end, I spend $25 on seeds, and made a scarf.

 I planted all my little seeds into some planting things I had leftover from the fall, and set up a card table next to the brightest window in our house, where I'd had my other seedlings on a chair. I also planted some mesclun in my wheelbarrow outside next to the cilantro (and possibly some volunteer violets). So, I planted eggplant, coneflowers, delphinium, chamomile, cilantro, blackeyed susans, parisian carrots (they're round and can grow in pots), and radishes (also compatible with a pot, and should be ready to eat in 24 days!). When the weather is a little more of a sure thing, I'll start the cucumbers, sunflowers, stevia, basil, and more pumpkin seeds outside. If I had more planting things, I'd probably start the stevia and basil inside as well, but I'll have to look for more pots. It's very exciting! Trish also gave me some of her own Egyptian walking onions from her harvest last year, so I'll be excited to start those soon too. She said they'll grow pretty much no matter what. This summer, we've decided to learn how to can our vegatables too! We'll see how that goes. We have another knitting class next weekend too, we'll learn how to knit in the round. I think that'll be very handy, and I bet I'll be able to make many cute things for my future neice/nephew. The week after that we're to learn pearling. It's fun to do things like that with a friend. It's just nice to finally be able to call someone my friend that I know will likely stick around and not disappear after awhile. Also, a friend that I can relate to and not feel like the fish out of water I've felt like for so long here. I do find it strange I tend to find friends that are much older than I am, she's ten years my senior, but it doesn't worry me too much--most girls my age aren't like me.

Any way, as for now, I'll finish this up.

Awake, thou wintry earth -
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness!
~Thomas Blackburn, "An Easter Hymn"

Waking up in New York

This morning, just before I woke, I was in New York, on the street I grew up. The rest of the day carried a somewhat nostalgic feel, as yesterday's snows melted away in today's warmth. That used to happen, except in the opposite way, a random day of warmth amidst a winter long of cold, dark, and snow. We had one glorious day of beautiful white fluff, and a wet warmth today that made me smell and see visions from my youth when I wasn't paying close attention to the distinguishing things that surround me. Cracking the car windows, I drove down the streets and highways, with just tolerably cool gusty air bustling through the spaces to blow in my face and on my arms.




Snow coverted Rosemary and Eucalyptus




From my kitchen window


As my mind sat in the low wakefulness between alarms, my brain tried to grasp at the fleeting threads of a dream not quite pleasant but never the less on my childhood street, so as I often do, I visited what I remember instead in clarity that only comes when I'm in the hypnotic state between wakeful consciousness and dreaming. I tried to reason through the rest of the dream, to follow it through. I remember riding a rusted bike with a thin frame and tires, wobbling along down our street. I passed our neighbor in nostalgic anticipation since I hadn't been out and down the street in so long. Much had changed, and yet some things were familiar. I remember as I left the dream being pulled backward away from it, seeing the houses in a distance, and thinking it wouldn't be right to build another house in the big open field where the pear trees grew across the street---realizing I would never be there, there in the place of my youth as it was, time forever passing, never turning back. Being able to look back on our lives is probably one of the greatest gifts, and yet our greatest crux.





I am growing some seeds, recycling plastic egg cartons. I started four tomato plants, four pumpkin plants, and four pepper plants.

The tomatoes and pumpkins are already bursting from their fibrous cocoon, but the pepper seeds may have been too old. I also planted twelve shasta daisies, but they too have not sprouted into this world yet.



Reaching for the sun



They sit on the chair I've had since it was in my bedroom at my desk in Mount View, right next to the window and my suffering thyme plant. 

 



Winter thyme

My rosemary and eucalyptus already begged to be put outside to die (you can see them in the first picture above covered in snow), they were just dying slowly inside, but the thyme is hanging in there...as long as this human remembers she needs to be watered before her leaves are crispy critters.  





Three in a row



The fibrous cocoon



The pumpkin seeds I held onto from my harvest pumpkins I bought this year, and these may not make it to fruition, since they don't like transplantation a whole lot, but at least I know these seeds are fertile and will take to the ground quickly. I just need to determine a good place to plant them. They have a will to take over, so it needs to be somewhere I would want that to happen, and where they would be happy.





I guess since I started these seedlings in such small containers, they may outgrow them rather quickly, and may need another home before going outside. I hadn't thought of that when I chose to use the clear plastic egg cartons, only that they would act as a good greenhouse, which they have.

I've written this whole long blog and not mentioned Valentine's Day, but its not significant. It reminds me of all the things I used to get on Valentine's Day from boyfriends long past, and all the things I got them. I remember decorating shoe boxes with Rachael, and getting long stem roses delivered. I wouldn't have thought in my young mind then, that I would settle for anything less. Well, I have, and I'm happy with it. Not to say I wouldn't be happy if it were different, but life is a game of give and take, and I can't think of anything I would sacrifice for it to be different.

We will have a special dinner at home tonight, and go running together. We may not have the stuffed pork chops I had planned until tomorrow though...we had a heavy southern style lunch today. I was able to meet up with Zach and some of his friends from work for lunch at a buffeteria iconic to this area. Maybe just that spinach and fruit salad I was planning!

Ah, St. Valentine....how your day has changed.

A Small Orange Project

So, like I have done for so many years, I am inspired by my older sister, and though I am not naming my hamster Rina to mimic her hamster Tina, I have made a lunch bag. It is not nearly as nice or detailed...I'm lucky to sew in a straight line. It's fabric left over from my other project the other day, and until that fabric is used up, it will probably be seen again, and again, and again. Maybe I'll make grocery bags next. The problem there is remembering to bring them to the store. I have three I bought, but never remember, but maybe, just maybe I'd be too excited to use ones I make to forget them...at least at first. I did think a lunch bag would be nice since I used a brown paper bag or some hideous grey thing. It's not insulated, but for now, I don't think that is necessary...there are usually fridges if I must keep something cool. And besides...I usually just bring a PB&J sandwich and call it good. Here are two pictures I masterfully took with my iPhone.

The button I actually found in the old sewing shoe box that used to belong to Zach's Grandma Rosie before she passed. It's interesting to think she used to own an outfit that this button would have gone with.

I began a new rotation on Wednesday, and so far, it's great! I don't have to be there until nine, and I usually get out by five if not sooner. Therefore, as of today, I've begun to plan meditative times in the morning before I leave.

Also, I think as of tomorrow, I am going to eliminate processed sugar from my diet. If I do have a gene that predisposes me to diabetes, I'd rather get in good habits now and hopefully ward it off as long as possible. Plus, I just consume too much sugar. I am always way over on my calorie counter for the amount of sugar I am suppose to intake. So, no more sugar on cereal, no more chocolate chips, no more icecream, no more cookies, cakes, and candy. Granted, I understand that I should allow exceptions, but at least in the beginning, I'm going cold turkey...

On a related note, I guess the FDA is trying to make sugar regulated like nicotine and alcohol, which would increase the cost of sugar containing products because they can tax it extra and maybe put an age limiting factor on its sale. That would be interesting. I'm not sure how they think they're going to do that.

“The creatures that inhabit this earth--be they human beings or animals--are here to contribute, each in its own particular way, to the beauty and prosperity of the world.”

“Inner peace is the key: if you have inner peace, the external problems do not affect your deep sense of peace and tranquility...without this inner peace, no matter how comfortable your life is materially, you may still be worried, disturbed, or unhappy because of circumstances.”

“Because we all share this planet earth, we have to learn to live in harmony and peace with each other and with nature. This is not just a dream, but a necessity.”

-Dalai Lama XIV

Quotes copied from: http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/570218.Dalai_Lama_XIV

Another warm and sunny day

So, today was the last day of my January rotation, so after taking our exam we were allowed to go home. On my way home I stopped by the Hobby Lobby to pick up some fabrics for projects otherwise put off or suspended. Some brown canvas to finish the door and window jams, and some brightly colored orange and green duck cloth fabrics to match my kitchen for a much needed plastic bag holder. I worked on the plastic bag holder first, and designed it like my sister had told me she had done hers.  It's not perfect, there's definitely some fudging around there, but I think it turned out rather well. I have a lot of extra fabric left though...I never really know how much to get, so I had gotten about five yards of different fabrics for these two projects. Maybe I'll make an apron like the one my sister made me... :)

In any case, I have been thinking today, I submitted a police report the other day about the rude person at my door Friday, but I am still rather freaked out. Three times the doorbell has rung today, and only once did I actually open the door, for the mail man's package. That was the third bell ring, the first two were strange. I think I'm getting rather worked up about it all, but now that I am officially paranoid, random people coming by my house and ringing the doorbell is not helping. The first bell ring was two middle aged women with tuperware in their hands, hair in bun with clothing that reminisced the clothes the nuns used to wear at my high school. They had come out of a silver Prius, and after I saw them, and they unfortunately saw me, I just walked back up my stairs to the guest bedroom where I had been working on my projects. They didn't ring again, and they got in the back seats of their car. There were two other women, not like them it appeared driving them around. They didn't go to anyone else's house, just turned around in my neighbor's driveway and drove off. About an hour later, the second bell ringer came. It was a young guy, heavy set, light brown hair, brisley facial hair with a navy blue sweatshirt on that said some school's name on it. I didn't get a chance to read it, because as soon as I saw him, I thought for sure someone was casing my house for a home invasion. He only rang the bell once, I called the police. By the time they picked up they guy was walking away and they told me to call back if someone was actually trying to break in...they didn't even take down my name.

Now, who was this rude person Friday, and what happened? Well, it was seven o'clock in the evening, dark out since it's January, and the doorbell rang. I thought it weird, and my dogs were barking like the crazy munchkins that they are, and I walked out into the hallway from our family room. We have leaded glass on our front door, so he saw me, and since my outdoor lights were on, I saw him clearly. He was no one I new, no neighbor that I could recognize, and I saw no car at the end of the brick path up to our house. He was dark skinned with clean cut black curly hair, clean shaven and hazel eyes wearing a blue argyle sweater and collared shirt over blue jeans.He was over six feet tall, and lean with a wallet in hand. I peaked through the wreath on my door at him, looking him straight in the eyes and he waved at me as if I couldn't see him, gesturing for me to answer the door with both rude facial expressions and hand movements. My stomach was in my lap, I turned around and walked back down the hallway, making up my mind not to answer the door. I called Zach, and the dogs shortly stopped barking. When I poked my head back around the corner into the hallway, he was gone. I turned off all the lights downstairs to see if I could see him walking away, maybe to another house, but he was just gone. The next day, Zach and I realized someone had opened the latch to our backyard gate...it doesn't shut of its own accord, and Zach and I always shut it because of Max and Lana always taking advantage of escape routes.

Anyway, so maybe I'm being hyperparanoid, but anyone I've talked to tells me I was right to trust my gut and to never answer the door to someone I don't know, because they'll try all guises to get you to open your door. The latch to the gate is now locked, as are all the doors and windows. And, I'm jumpy. Other people tell us to get a gun, even specifying a shotgun...I guess it has a very distict sound that usually scares people off. Oh, the joys of a poor economy.

January Summers

Lately, the weather has been somewhat menopausal, with warm temperatures, followed quickly with biting ones. For me, a seventy degree day in January is a special sort of blessing that brings me home in such an odd fashion. It felt like summer to me. The wind even smelled the same. There aren't many times of the year where I live now that I can enjoy such days as that, and I'm cherishing every one. The summers are no good here, being so blastedly hot you can't breathe or you may go outside for want of a heat stroke.

Since Christmas, I've fallen out of my morning routine of meditation, which is disappointing and frustrating, but the first step to restarting is acceptance at failure. This month I cannot do morning meditation, I would have to do an afternoon meditation, which I haven't quite figured out yet...and the month is nearly out. I'm having to be downtown  by seven, meaning I must leave by six thirty...there's no way I can make time for a half an hour to an hour (since I'd probably be falling asleep) meditation session before I leave. I tried in vain for two weeks. I just kept sleeping in, but I think I wanted to sleep in, it just seemed so horrible to get up that early. So, I guess I will continue to mull over that one for another week until my next rotation begins. I'm beginning to fear it might be early too, but I can manage morning meditation with eight o'clock arrivals, and my next site is quite a bit closer.

I think I am going to learn how to knit in February by the way. My friend, Trish, asked me to go to some classes with her, so I'm hoping to make that work. I've always wanted to learn how to knit...I learned to do simple crochet work, but never knitting. My sister tried to teach me a long time ago, when I had a lot less patience for not being naturally inclined at doing something, so I don't believe the session lasted much longer than five minutes.

This spring is looking to be a sleepy one, full of routine, which I am hoping to find some solace in. I just need to find that routine and set it right. I may resort to scheduling my daily minutes like I used to do in high school in order to force myself into some sort of peaceable structure--at least for a few days. See what happens.

To more days of summer in January...

Christmas at last!

So, I've spent the last week cleaning like a fiend, I think I lost some weight...just kidding, but possibly. I also finally got around to getting the Christmas decorations down out of our garage attic. The hot summer months didn't bode well for my candles, as you'll see in one of the pictures below, but rest assured, I came down into my kitchen this morning to see my father in law placing them in boiling water with a mischeivious grin upon his face as if he were twelve again. They've all been erected to their original states thank in part to needle nose pliers. Also, I decorated with red and white roses. Poinsettas would have been nice, but I'm not at all certain my dogs wouldn't figure out how to eat some without my knowing until it was too late. Dead poochies are not on my christmas list. You'll see an adorable picture of them at the end too.

Hope you enjoyed these clips! I can't wait to leave for my parents' house on Wednesday!!! Coming up quickly! I'll have to get on top of packing for it here shortly:)

My kitchen nightmare...

It's always disheartening when you've finishing cooking and the dogs think you've left them a feast on the cupboards.....

First of December

It's still Autumn here. I can't believe I haven't posted since September! That's such a long long long time ago it seems, and yet it flew by so quickly. Tomorrow Zach and I leave for Costa Rica to vacation with my sisters and brother in law! Very excited, a bit nervous, but mostly just trying to concentrate on the moment to be sure it doesn't end up being like a bad dream where you never seem to get to the place you're dying to go to.

I have to tell a story. It actually kind of follows up from my last post...you know how I was talking about my savvyness  with candles? Well, this is me putting my foot in my mouth. I can actually do that I believe, but let's get to how I burnt a black hole in my living room carpet shall we? Well, that's the story really, I'd thought it a splendid idea to sit on the ground, instead of my couch, to meditate and pray this morning, so why not bring an entourage of candles with me to the floor. Set the mood you know, so I can shift consciousness and really make it worth my while. I'm not sure Zach is going to let me burn candles in the house after this. He mentioned something about possibly winning the Darwin award someday, but that he hoped he wasn't around to be the guy that happened to die too. Well, the end point, there was one pillar candle, an older one, nearly done with its life that I used. I should have listened when instinct told me it would melt and make a mess of things, but that wouldn't happen to me. So, there I am meditating along, when I hear Max, my dog with much better instincts than I, hides behind the couch. I open my eyes to see a black pool of plastic and wax forming where the base of the candle once was just fifteen minutes prior. It was like a cartoon probably, because I believe I jumped to my feet, eyes wide, mouth open from letting go a small gasp-scream (which caused Max to run upstairs and promptly hide under the bed), hands stretched wide in front of me while I was ready to fight or flight my way to safety. Now, it was only the size of the bottom of this pillar candle, but I could have sworn it was getting bigger fast, and though this all seemed to take forever, I do believe it happened rather quickly. I looked up onto the couch where my other dog, Lana, was lying luxuriously, just watching me unaware of the dire situation, my mind racing as to with what I would put out this small fire before it spread. I grabbed my handy dandy cotton pharmacy throw blanket and suffocated the flame right out of that fire I tell you. As I looked at what I had done, I half expected a flame to spontaneously reappear, so I placed a glass over the spot to ease my mind of that. I guess I need an area rug in there after all, as long as I don't burn a hole in that too. I will say, this is the first time I've actually done damage like this, so given all the candles I'm accustomed to burning, I'd say it was my due time to pay my respects to the great Fire lord. Anyway, it staaaank. Yuck. What a sad black hole it is.

Well, there's my story, it was a pretty big deal. It really messed up my calm meditative mood.

Today in a nutshell

A new framed print I got today, I think it's lovely and matches the color of the walls perfectly.

Got to love candles! It's probably a bit much, but I promise they're all blown out now, I won't burn the house down!

Now, this configuration did end in disaster. Somehow all the pillars on the right fused and melted into a large pool on the mantle--good thing it's marble!

The western sun through my living room window.

Okay, so I was bored...more pictures of me. I have some of my dogs from today, and another video, want to see those? :)

So, so tired

Today I went in at 9am and got home at 10pm. I had been home for a long lunch, thankfully, so I was able to let the dogs out then. In the morning I worked on some spreadsheet analysis and data entry. At lunch I came home, had some leftovers and worked on my homework. I was dismayed to find out I had lost the nine page document I wrote yesterday afternoon, I must be losing my mind, but my advisor is understanding and told me to turn it in within the next few days or so. It's just so aggravating and irksome to me. Hopefully, it will be easier to write it being the second time around. I went to the pharmacy buyout at 2pm and learned how to fill out 222 forms for C-II medications, took inventory of the medications, packed them up and brought them to the new pharmacy. Then for the last four hours or so I've worked on putting up all the medications on the shelves where they belong. I'm not sure I got them exactly in the right section, but at least I know they're in there alphabetically. There are usually multiple sections separating fast movers, general, reconstitutions, liquids, and unit of use. When all else fails, but it in alpha (general). One of the techs went and got us some dinner around 8:30 or so at Sonic, which was really nice of him. I was starved! I'd had a Sprite since lunch. Nothing else, not even water. I guess that's what happens when you're busy working! When we left, the other intern, Lance, drove me around the building to my car, since I had parked in the back and we weren't at the nicest of stores in the safest of areas. I managed to find my way home on the highways, which I consider a major feat. I actually remembered how to get home combining my previous journeys to different locations that had landed me on a particular location. It's a first in a very long while for me. I think I got somewhat out of practice living in smaller towns the last five or more years of life, never having to deal with more than one highway, let alone three of four crossing ones. Now, I'm home and I believe I am going to go enjoy a nice glass of wine and unwind reading a book. Then it's time for bed! Luckily, I got the day off tomorrow since I stayed so long tonight, so I won't have to get up early, and I'll have plenty of time to work on my paper. Me time!! Max just sighed a loud sigh, that's exactly how I feel. To sore knees and achy backs!! Goodnight.

Lazy Sundays

This weekend, I've done quite a bit--I went to the Scottish Festival, the Greek Festival, and the Shalom Festival. It's been a great weekend for it. Next weekend we'll go to the Harvest Beer Festival, and the weekend after that to the Great American Beer Festival in Denver.

Here is a video from the Scottish Festival that I took of the bagpipers there:

It was pretty neat. There were many groups of pipers roaming around the event.

I also learned how to toss a log...I'm sore today, who would have thought?

I also found out that my little bit (13%-25%?) of Scottish is from the Graham clan! They have a tartan similar to that in the video above, it just has a streak of white in it with the deep blue and green.

There was a real live wolf (according to its owner--it did have orange eyes):

If he really is a wolf, he looks an awful lot like my Max man, so now I call him Max Little Wolf, or Little Wolf Max with his side kick Lady Lana. Here is a clip of Max I got, it may just be me, but there were a lot of similarities. It's hard to tell since I didn't get a great picture of the wolf, but hopefully you'll be able to see it:



Anyway, today's weather has been strange. It rained and thundered with the sun shining.



Look at the bubbles the rain makes on the surface of the pool!




That's all for now folks!





A little glimpse of today--

Summer like I remember it.

These last few days have been cool, clear, and absolutely wonderful. Yesterday, I just sat on the balcony and read a book for hours. Today, I was able to take the laptop out there and work from there. It was just so refreshing to be outside and have the windows open. Tonight, Zach and I went on a long walk through our neighborhood with the dogs as the sun set and mosquitoes emerged. We're suppose to have a whole week of this weather too. I am looking forward to it.

Yesterday, when I was sitting on the balcony with Zach and the dogs, I couldn't help but remember the tree fort my sisters and I had on Mount View Drive. It occurred to me how cool it would have been as a kid to have that balcony and imagine the tree top fortress we could imagine existed there on rope bridges between the trees. I remembered singing every song we knew to the American flag, as part of our club and ship game. I remembered the long summer days, resting in the seveties and low eighties, just perfect. The smells were almost the same too. There was a fresh sort of earthy smell the world emits when it can finally rest.

Finally, refuge from the heat. To most Oklahomans, it's fall, to me it's the last long cool summer days I've missed all summer long. I haven't seen more beautiful days in what seems like forever.

Check off, one down, eight more to go!

Today was the last day of my very first rotation. It's been a long journey, but at the same time, I'm surprised it's already over. I am also surprised at how easy it was. It was hard emotionally in many ways, but with so much going on, one just needs to learn how to deal with it. For example, two days ago, I deep cleaned and rearranged the office. It's going to be great for studying, reading, and hanging out in now. It feels so nice to take control of some part of your life again, especially when there are aspects you have to accept to be out of control...like people being sick and dying on you all month long.

This month will be very different, I will be following around a pharmacy district manager all month. It's going to be quite an adventure I do think. Already the plans for day one have changed three times in two weeks. Seeing that I start tomorrow, I don't believe it will change again. My advisor has been trying to pin me down to have our September meeting, without much luck so far. I think the most stressful part will be not knowing what my schedule will be like. I'm hoping it will have some semblance of normalcy. We shall see.

So, on another topic, Max, my larger younger dog, has been doing wonderfully this week at being free in the house when we're not there! He loves it by the way, he's a completely different dog. I think he has a whole new level of respect for us since we have given him the respect of our trust in him that he will behave and not become master and destroyer while we're gone. I've only lost two high lighters so far. I told him I was disappointed in him while holding them and he just hung his head, put his ears back, and walked towards me slowly. It was so cute. So, I got him a plastic bone with an inlay of edible goodness and he chewed the end off of it today. It worked splendidly. He's my constant buddy now too, no more hiding under the bed. Lana does not seem thrilled. She's been rather grouchy today, after three days of not being able to escape her own kennel. She carries this massive bone I got for Max around that is as long as she is and she growls up a storm at both Max and me, but she knows better than to do that to me, so I grab her anyway.

Tonight I'm going out with a couple girls from my rotation to celebrate the end of the first with margaritas. It will be fun, I'm looking forward to it here shortly.

Anyway, this weekend we're having a Labor Day pool party on Sunday, so I'm excited to get the house ready and have all our friends over for the fun. I want to paint our other bathroom, but I may not have time to finish that project and clean house, so I will have to see about that, maybe next week. I need to get more small rollers anyway. I think that is what I will continue doing until I'm sick of it though...repainting the things unpainted so far. It's so stress relieving, and I look forward to the transformation!

Talking about painting, I'm trying to come up with a vertical two canvas idea for the wall space behind my television. I have the blank canvases hanging on the wall to help inspire me, but I'm not sure yet. Not to mention there's this huge hurdle of getting a space ready to oil paint in that I would have to figure out. It'd be great to do it outside if I could keep it clean and keep the bugs out of the oil paint on the canvas. It's such a messy ordeal...and complicated when it comes to waste materials.

I think starting tomorrow morning, I may start running in the mornings since I have some extra time  now with the new rotation an all. I need to, and I'm tired of waiting for it to cool off out there. Soon, soon, it will be cooler. This may be one of the last pool weekends this summer. It will probably be open until October, but I'm not sure how long we'll be swimming, hopefully awhile.

Well, that will be all for today, I need to go get ready for margaritas!

A New Paint Job

What do you do with some old paint and a drab bathroom? Paint it. Zach went to Montana Monday, so I decided it was about time I changed things up around here. It was a lot of work, but I treated myself to icecream and a hot candlelit bath. Our bedroom ceiling will be next, but here are the pictures of where I started, the progress, and the finished product.

Here, I had to take the photo with flash, because it was so overbearing and dark.

Being home alone and a bit down, I decided there needed to be some therapeutic house painting done.

It took my dark mood and started brightening it right up!!

Blurry, but you get the idea.

Almost done! Now, if only the trim would start looking like brand new (and this of course requires a new coat of paint).

The finished product!

Everything was scrubbed down and sparkling :)

Ahhh, between lightening things up, and working myself to the bone, I'd say this was a very successful mood elevating exercise!

It's so great, I love it. I'm letting the colors sink in, they're just so different from what was in there before, so it makes it hard to take it all in. It just makes me happy to be in there now! I really think my bedroom ceiling should be next, but that just seems like a project for another time and another day in the long away future. Maybe the next time Zach goes out of town? I think something is coming up in September, so we shall see. As for the rest of my week, Zach comes home tomorrow, and I don't have my rotation tomorrow, so I have the day off. I think I should get moving on getting the house ready for company this weekend though. We're having some friends over to swim in the pool, which looks absolutely crystal clear and wonderful.

I am hopefully going to keep blogging more regularly now, sorry for such a long hiatus. I'm changing my background pictures to some I took in Washington when we were there in July too, just so you know.

The Best Fourth of July

It all started with an idea, and then months later we were all enjoying beautiful sunny days on the shores of Lake Michigan. The place: Door County; the people: my family. All eight of us were there, and it didn't matter what we did, we were having a good time.

We went hiking in sandals and shorts...

Got out of hand, or just had a lot of fun--ask my Mom :)

 Ephraim was a dry town, so we made sure to have plenty before we went out for dinner, you can tell by our smiles we were only drinking the good stuff!

Silhouettes against the sunset...

The crew...

Yes, we are color coordinated...it just happened. Kristen started it! Fun times, at Door County, Wisconsin.

On the fourth, we sat outside and drank beer and wine until dusk when we walked down the street to the harbor. There were Adirondack chairs on a small boat dock out in the middle of the water. My sisters and I sat with our legs hanging over the side down towards the water, with our Momma right beside us (a little nervous), and the guys sprawled in the chairs. Then we watched private firework shows happening all across the shoreline. It was the best fourth of July I've ever had, a treasure for time.