June: Done

This month has been filled with the unexpected...the exciting...the hope-filled...the sad...endings...beginnings...my goodness!

* The biggest news of all was my God-led decision to resign from my job at Indiana Wesleyan and accept a job with WBCL Radio. I've never before resigned from a job, so this was a first for me. While I was (and still am) confident and at peace with the decision, it's a risky little feeling to put the words "my last day will be..." on a piece of paper and hand it to your boss!

* In the land of entertaining, I had my first cookout of the summer - with Jonathan and Ronda. I enjoyed having Jamie Bennett come to visit for part of a weekend; I don't often get guests that stay overnight! And while they may not have found it entertaining, I did cook dinner for my parents the night they came over to help with Habitat for Bekah. Miss Marie came over for a Bible study/movie night and we ate dinner while she was here! I took Pancakes with the Princess on the road this month and cooked for my entire office.

* Worked my last freshman registration at Indiana Wesleyan. What a gracious bunch of families! As I shared with them that they'd be working with another counselor in the future, many stopped to inquire about my future plans and shared genuine excitement for me. I really appreciated that.

* Began the great purge 'n pack of 2011. Though I have no idea when my house will sell, I figured I might as well start going through my stuff...throwing away things that should have been thrown away a while ago, setting aside other things for donation or sale, and leaving the rest to be packed when the time is right. I have a lot of stuff. A lot.

* Cleaned, cleaned, cleaned. You know - I might want to move into this place myself! While I'm not a slob (ever) by any stretch of the imagination, this place is pretty spiffy now! Lots of hard core cleaning inside and out, preparing it to be put on the market. The challenge is keeping it that way on a constant basis.

* Wrapped it up at work. One of my goals for my last few days at IWU was to finish well. I did begin to understand what people mean when they say "What are they going to do - fire me?" It definitely is tempting to coast to the end. But I tried hard to get as much done as I could while also cleaning everything out and writing down detailed instructions on tasks I do that others don't do...and saying goodbye to my work friends. It was a lot to pack in to the three weeks I had in the office after I resigned.

* Got my first ever smart phone. This will, in the words of Jonathan, replace the dumb one I had before. While this is all new territory for me, I kind of feel like a brand new person now that I have my new fancy pants phone.

*Tried a few new recipes. I made Ronda's strawberry shortcake - which is now my new favorite thing. Tastes ALMOST like what they serve at Ivanhoes. I tried my hand at making up a strawberry smoothie recipe, too...didn't turn out too bad! I also made Oreo cupcakes with Oreo cream cheese icing. They were very good!

* Took my first ever writing retreat. Rachel and I spent a week in southern Indiana, off the internet grid, writing...writing...writing. It was not only a great time to get a lot of writing done, but it was a much needed break from the mayhem that was the rest of my life this month!

* And then there was the other stuff...like attending two bridal showers for Olivia, going to Joe and Sarah's baby shower, finally getting the overheating issue with the car fixed, receiving the first hints of life at my new job (I'm gonna love it!), listing my house with a realtor, and spending many hours house hunting online.

Stone Altar: June

Day o Fun in Brown County

Thursday was a day of very little writing...but much other fun!!

Ronda came to visit - and I couldn't believe she'd never been to Brown County before! It's the very kind of place she loves and it floored me to find out she'd never been there!

When she first arrived, Rachel and I showed her around the cabin complex - including a trip to see the horses. One of the guys working on another cabin let Rachel help him take the horses out for the day. (They are the resident lawn mowers, so they move from yard to yard to tend to the grass.)
I even got to feed them some grass. (Grass for them...coffee for me...)

Romeo made an appearance while we were out. He was most interested in my coffee. No no, little doggie!!

He was really good at sitting - not too bad at shaking.

We ate a quick lunch at the cabin and then we went into Nashville to do a little shopping. This is one of my favorite stores...and here's one more reason why:

Rachel and Ronda - taking a break between stores.

Rachel inspired me to try on a hat. See, if I'd go this route, I could cut some SERIOUS time off my morning routine.

When we came back to the cabin, guess who came to visit?

Sit! Good dog!

Rachel "played" with Romeo. (She's much braver than I.)

Before Ronda had to go home, we roasted hot dogs and s'mores. I started a fire. Yep. Yours truly!! Without lighter fluid!

Some things were not meant to be kindling. Gasp!

Rachel fixed my fire.

Mama wasn't there to tell me not to play with matches...

Lots of matches.

Success! Rachel and Bekah's fire....complete with flames and smoke!

Hot dogs and potato salad - YUM.

And, of course, the s'more.

Someone burned her marshmallow.

Such a fun day! Loved it. Thanks, Ronda, for coming to visit us! We loved having you!

And that was pretty much our last vacation activity. We packed up the cabin that night and left the next morning. What a perfectly timed vacation. I came home ready to tackle my last week of work and then head into my brand new adventure!

Bekah Goes Hiking

The purpose of our trip to Brown County was to write. But we learned that you can't write every minute of every day - and stay sane. So...a couple of times, we ventured forth from the cabin to have a little fun.

Rachel LOVES being outside and she loves lakes and woods and trails and biking and such. Our cabin was just a couple of miles from Brown County State Park, so one day we took part of the afternoon to check out the park.
It was a beautiful sunny day but the heat index was nearing the 100 mark, I'm sure. We didn't wear shorts because we didn't want to get all scraped up by branches and poison ivy, but we definitely paid for that decision!

We hiked around Ogle Lake - which was about a mile and a half hike - but in the heat, it felt MUCH longer than that.

Stinks to be this tree!

Proof that I really was on the trails...because I know you didn't believe me.

Rachel checked out a little piece of another trail. I stayed on the one we were hiking. It was safer all around that way.

Isn't it just beautiful?

Despite the fact that I'm addicted to air conditioning, I really did enjoy our little excursion. Glad she wanted to go!

We found a dam. We're used to seeing ones made of concrete - not made by animals!

It has been a very rainy year here in Indiana, so there were some parts of this trail that were muddy and/or flooded that weren't supposed to be. Thought you might like to see me trying my hand at walking over a log. Heaven help us all.

Just call me Grace.

The Amish Chipmunk. (He didn't want his picture taken.)

This is the lake we hiked around. GORGEOUS.

And this is just what you see in Brown County. It's stunning - especially in the fall. (That's when I usually go - interesting to see the trees actually looking green!)

Thanks, Rachel, for taking me on my first hiking trip. It was much fun. Maybe sometime we can try it again. Sans the heat index.

Brown County Top Ten

I wanted to take a couple of days (okay...three) to share with you a little more about my writing retreat.

Several months ago, I came up with the idea to go on a writing retreat, and I had my eye on Maybelle’s cabin in Brown County. (I won’t post pictures of the cabin because you can go to their site to see the layout there – they just redecorated the whole thing and it’s adorable!)

A few weeks ago, I invited Rachel to go with me. Being a fellow writer, I knew she would love it and I wanted to share it with her as a graduation gift! Today I want to show you some of the fun we had around the cabin. I made a top ten list – but in no particular order.

1. HOT TUB! We had this hot tub on our back deck, and we spent about a half hour out there every night.
It is a secret dream of mine to one day have a hot tub at my house. I find them so relaxing. (And you get lots of friends who want to hang out with you if you have a hot tub.)
2. TV! You'll notice a lot of blankets and hoodies in these pictures. Rachel and I kept the temp in the cabin right at 65 degrees. Freezing - and perfect in every way. Anyway. We had satellite TV, so when our brains needed to take a break from the writing process, we kicked back and watched TV.

Rachel got me hooked on America's Got Talent while we were there. HILARIOUS show. Do you watch it? If not - you should start.

3. READING! An important thing for a writer is to fill up on reading! I kicked back in my big comfy bed with the pillow top mattress and down comforter...and read...and read...and read. No reason to feel guilty for it - wasn't like I had chores to do!

Rachel did some reading as well...little bit of advice from Stephen King.

4. WRITING! Obviously this is the reason we were there. This darling little desk was mine for the week - couldn't have been more perfect!

But you know...the writing is just as good anywhere!

5. COOKING! Rachel and I are both electric stove cooker girls - so this whole open flame thing was new for us.

But we didn't set anything (or anyone) on fire!

6. MORNING COFFEE! Oh. My. Goodness. This is how it should be every day. Coffee at 9 out in the sunshine with the little waterfall running to the side....

7. JOURNALING! In addition to the 27,305 words I wrote on the computer, I did a good amount of journaling. LOVED the time of reconnecting with the Lord while I was there. He can be heard well in a woods.

8. GAMES! Rachel answered questions from this game...

...and I answered questions from this one. Proud indeed.

9. VISITORS! We had lots of visitors at our cabin this week. Check this out. Mr. Froggie - on the window beside Rachel's bed:

Mr. Cardinal:

Mr. (or perhaps Mrs?) Butterfly:

The resident miniature horses...Rachel loved them.

And last but NOT least - Romeo. He knew how to let himself in and parked right next to the doggie treat jar.

10. BATHROOM! We were, after all, in the woods:

Okay, just kidding. THIS was our tub.

It was the perfect spot for a getaway. Just a mile from the little town of Nashville, so if we needed something (like a Polar Pop) - we could have it in about five minutes, but we felt like we were miles away from everything - all nestled at the top of a hill. Truly relaxing. We highly recommend this cabin (or the Robinwood right next to it...where I stayed a couple of years ago with Julie Crandall) if you're looking for a quiet spot to escape.