Would you like a little wine with your cheese?

Mom's birthday has come and gone, but we still got to celebrate per her request at River Valley Bend Vineyard and Winery today. What a great afternoon. Just a few turns off the highway and you feel like you're in Napa Valley. Ok, I've never been, but this is what I imagine a part of it to look like (minus the hint of the silo on the horizon from the neighboring farm). Rows of grapes, a pergola perched over a patio with wicker-looking furniature. It was a beautiful September afternoon. Thanks, Mom for the suggestion of the winery!

Yep...going to Napa someday.

We did it!!

July 2, 2011



 It was a beautiful day. Beatiful ceremony. Great food. Amazing family and friends. Great celebration!

The countdown...67 days!

My mom sent me a text this morning (I still get a kick that my mom now texts) with a countdown until the wedding day. She asked, "time to start spazing yet?" Nope. No spazing here. We've been planning and preparing, but no spazing.

Brian's sister, Cindy threw us an awesome couples shower in Illinois a couple of weekends ago. Reality kind of hit that the wedding was getting closer!

Celia was our little present-opener!

DIY flowers. practice session. check.

oops! that wire had a mind of its own!

Lauren taking time to stop and smell the roses!

"Smell it, Grandma!"

We were a little worried that we had bitten off a bit too much trying to do our own bouquets, boutonnieres, corsages and centerpieces. After some YouTube tutorials, picture browsing for ideas and an afternoon practice session, no more worries. We SO got this!


Invitations. check.

They'll be out in the mail in the next couple of weeks!

Molly's pretty excited about the whole thing. really.

Now, off to address some more invitations!

Week 2

You know what feels good? Working on a goal to make yourself healthier. You know what feels better? Working on that goal with someone else, catching and up having fun all at the same time! Caryn and I are looking for some races to sign up for this summer and are currently training. I am so proud of her! She is not a runner (she'd tell you the same thing). But she is doing awesome! I'm not a runner either, but did this same program last spring/summer and was able to compete in 2 races last summer. We're following the Couch to 5K program (I'm sure there are several). Currently we just completed Day 2 of week 2. Yay us!

pesky

I took a shower this morning with a couple of those darn ladybugs, or lady beetles or whatever you are supposed to call them. And those persistant little buggers just wouldn't go down the drain. Pesky, stinky bugs. ick.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

"May you have the hindsight to know where you've been
the foresight to know where you're going
and the insight to know when you're going too far." --Irish Blessing

Note: I didn't take this picture. I wish that things were this green here! I borrowed this picture from the Internet. 

I'm not Irish at all, but doesn't everyone get to be a little bit Irish on St. Patty's Day? Actually, St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland wasn't even Irish.

St. Patrick's Day is commemorated on March 17th because that was the day of St. Patrick's death. As the story goes, St. Patrick (who was first a priest) used a shamrock to teach the Holy Trinity. Also as the story goes, he drove some snakes out of Ireland. Despite the fact that St. Patrick's Day fall during the religious and subdued season of Lent, partying people were given a one-day pass to celebrate this holiday. The Irish holiday as well as other traditions spread to other countries as Irish immigrants moved to other parts of the world.


click here to find out more about this spring holiday: http://www.theholidayspot.com/patrick/historyofpatrick.htm

"May God grant you always...
A sunbeam to warm you,
A moonbeam to charm you,
A sheltering angel, so nothing can harm you." --Irish Blessing

Kiddos

Back in January, we took a little drive to meet Krissy and the fam. It works well to meet halfway and  crash out in a hotel, taking advantage of the hotel pool and continental breakfast. What a fantastic whirlwind of a weekend! Got to see Krissy, Aaron and the kids and it was great. It made me smile to see all the kiddos playing, splashing and climbing all over Papa Howie in the pool. It's so fun to see my mom and dad as grandparents. I also got to play with my camera a little bit more....

Drew

Lauren

Miss Brooklynn

The pool. The chlorine so strong it stings your eyes when you walk in the room. The squeals of delight as the kids splash and jump. Brooklynn was practicing swimming the in deep pool and did great! They wore me out! I can't imagine how Papa Howie (aka human jungle gym felt)!

The ongoing cribbage games...I can't remember who was continually victorious...

Grandma Lori and her kiddos!

I just love this one of them in their jammies and robe. Ha! "I rock!"

Me: "Drew, show me your candy heart."

Drew: "you mean like this?"

sure. :)

Lauren was captivated by people unloading their luggage to check in for the weekend. (plus I thought it was a cute picture of her...the vases, the window, her boots...)

"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one." -- Jane Howard

pausing...

Finally it's Friday! This week flew by and I feel like I was swept away by a little whirlwind. But now, I am enjoying a morning filled with potential. I have a long "to-do" list, but none of it is a "must do right now." love it.  So now, I'm pausing to enjoy a couple of things this morning...

Love these cheery little things!!!

As a sign of spring they offer color following a gray winter. They offer reassurance that soon snow will melt, green grass will appear, flowers will bloom and we can soon breathe in that scent of spring. April showers are right around the corner!

The art of making bread

So, my quest to make a GREAT loaf of bread starts today. I have a bread machine, and haven't really had great luck with my loaves, but I've never attempted to make bread from scratch. I realize that it's most likely going to take a few times to get even an edible loaf, but one can hope! As I write this, I'm patiently waiting for my yeast and sugar water to double in size. I'm not quite sure how long...so I wait and write. Is it really going to double...we'll see!

There is an art to making bread. This art has been lost or looked over, I believe because of our fast-paced world, our need for convenience, our desire for instant gratification. It's often thought that baking bread from scratch is reserved for professional bakers, homemakers, or those with too much time on their hands. Why would anyone want to bake a loaf from scratch when a loaf a bread from the store is only a couple of dollars, or you can throw the ingredients into a bread machine and have the machine do all the work?

OH, my yeast and sugar water has doubled, I think. On to the next step. Adding flour, adding flour, adding flour. I can see this would have been good to do before I cleaned the floor...I have little puffs of flour everywhere! As I am doing this, my sister calls and asks what I am doing. Oh boy! Watching the dough climb up the motor of my kitchen aid mixer! yikes! She says to me, "can you imagine that Grandma sometimes made up to 20 loaves of bread a week!" wow. Going back to my earlier point...a lost art.

So, now that I've made a mess, er, I mean, some dough. I didn't let this large lump of climbing dough overtake my kitchen! Time for the first rise!

The suspense of waiting to see if each loaf will rise, the first slice, the smell. That aroma of fresh baked bread is like heaven! The first steamy slice with melted butter is a close second! Yum! Success!

"The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water is indescribable in its evocations of innocence and delight." -M.F.K. Fisher

Details, details...

5 months...until Brian and I are married. Yay!

5 months...until we celebrate with so many of our family and friends.

5 months...holy smokes! That's sneaking up on us! Lots left to do, prepare, plan and get ready for the big day. There's so many things that we can get caught up in...which napkins do we want, what kind of frosting, how many kegs of beer (ok, so that's not really hard to decide), what kind of toilet paper should we have in the portable toilets (ok, I'm really not deciding on that), but you get the point. There are so many things that may seem important right now, but in the end, we really just want to be married and celebrate with people that we love and who love us! Nothing easier!

5 months!!!!

Family...again....

Important things today:

*Sarah is cancer-free! Woohoo! awesome. simply awesome.

*I can't wait to see my family all together tomorrow...ok, so since we're getting there probably after everyone has already hit the sack...I can't wait to see everyone on Saturday!

*I'm stoked to learn more about my camera and take some (hopefully) great shots of the kiddos this weekend.

post and pictures to come after this weekend, I'm sure...

Family

Today is scary for my family. Today we wait and pray. Today Sarah has to have surgery because of the "c" word. cancer. Cancer is such a strong and ugly word. There are different reactions to hearing that ugly word: tears, anger, questions, fear.

There is fear: fear of the unknown as well as the known.

There are tears: our family is a pretty amazing group of people and when one of us is hurting, we all hurt. We joke at times that one person starts crying and that releases the waterworks for everyone else.

There is courage and faith: "Faith is the bird that sings when the dawn is still dark." - Rabindranath Tagore

As my cousin Jessica said, "Sarah has a gentle heart, a kind smile and a serious faith that will carry her far in life." She SO right. That serious faith is inspiring to so many.

“Promise me you will always remember – You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think” - Christopher Robin to Pooh

~ Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles. ~

Fillin' in some blanks

1.   My favorite quote is       I love quotes! I have many that I like, but here are some of my favs:  "A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle." -unknown

"People are just about as happy as they make their minds up to be." - Abraham Lincoln

"PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID, ~BUT~THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL. "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." -Winston Churchill
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance.

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.

2.  A bad habit I have is    fidgety feet. Brian laughs cause I am alway curling my toes up or tapping my feet on something. What else? um...laughing inappropriately. I laugh when I am happy. not a bad thing. But...I also laugh when I am embarrassed or in an uncomfortable situation. Not always a good thing.

3.  The first time I felt like a "grown up" was       I sometimes still don't feel like a grown up! Probably when I bought my first car or rented my first apartment. For some reason spending that much money makes you feel grown up pretty quickly!

 

4.  Weekends are   awesome. Even when I have to work weekends they don't seem as bad as the weekdays. Weekends provide time with family and friends, lazy days, movie nights, getting away, the opportunity to choose how you spend your days.

 

5.  When I was a child I wished my name was     Jennifer. I have no idea why. That is what I called my Barbie dolls. I thought that if I couldn't have that name, then somebody should!

6.  I wish        lots of things. I wish that Brian could go to school without having to work. I wish that people I loved didn't have to get sick. I wish there was more time each day to do the things we wanted instead of things we HAVE to do.

7.  A secret I have is       on my days off I sometimes stay in my pjs until early afternoon until I decide I should probably take a shower for the day. Sometimes on REALLY goofy days. I shower late and just put on clean pjs. ha!

"To thine own self be true" -- Shakespeare

Birthday sunrise. Beautiful.

My birthday post. Today I turned 32. Older, yes. Wiser, possibly. I don't feel any older than I did yesterday. My grandmother turned 100 years old last year. Amazing woman. Amazing family. Even during these last several years of being ridden with dementia, she has been a great source of wisdom. She once told me that at 98 she only felt she was in her 60s! Awesome! Being only as old as you feel makes getting older not so daunting.

32...today I feel like a teenager who got a snow day. I didn't have an agenda, didn't feel guilty for being lazy. I spent most of the day in my pjs, sipping coffee (only I didn't drink coffee in high school), watching bad daytime TV, playing on the Internet, ignoring my piles of laundry, snuggling with my dog...basically whatever I felt like doing. I find now, that I get more joy out of simple things. I don't need a big party with lots of friends and presents to have a good time. (although that sounds pretty fun! I'm always up for a good party!)

If I was half my age...16...what would I tell myself?  Enjoy the ride! You don't have to be perfect, just being you is enough. When you doubt yourself -- "to thine own self be true."  

awesome fluffy snowflakes today!

Be happy. Be real. Love deeply and greatly. Laugh a lot. Smile a lot. These last two things will give you wrinkles, but they are so worth it.

Who am I kidding...I'm in my thirties and still need to be reminded of these things. I think we all do sometimes.