Bekah Meets the Golf Course

Last Saturday was another new adventure in Bekahland.

Golf.

Lynne's husband loves to golf and he was in charge of organizing a golf outing to raise scholarship money. He asked if I'd be willing to be the photographer for the day.

Let me think. A chance to hang out with Lynne all day, say I've been to a golf course, and play with my camera? OKAY!!!!!!!!!

And so it was that I made my way to an honest to goodness golf club. (I felt so official.)

Aren't they cute? All the little golf carts lined up in a row with labels on them for who would be in what cart. (I'm sure the guys would just die if they knew I called their carts "cute." So do me a favor and don't tell them.)

This outing was quite well orchestrated....the TV station showed up for an interview and everything! Even had little drink holders for it...

Y'all - it was HOT. HOT. This girl does NOT do heat, so I did everything I could to keep cool. I sported my new golf skirt (see, I told you I bought it for a reason!) and my ruffly little tank top. (And yes, I asked first if tank tops were allowed. I'm a golf idiot but I know there are dress code rules and I asked about my entire outfit before I wore it.) No jewelry (other than rings and earrings) so as not to get a weird tan line. Mom bought me a visor to complete my look, and I crammed my hair up in a ponytail to keep it out of my way!

I call this piece "Lynne and Bekah work the sign in table." My shirt was soaked from sweating just sitting there. That is 30 kinds of not right.

My one bit of relief: we were this close to a really big hospital. HA!

Did I mention this was an AFTERNOON golf outing?????? Oh my word. So hot. Anyway. Lynne and I were in charge of the drink cart. (Non-alcoholic beverages only, thankyouverymuch.) Isn't it the cutest cart in the whole world????

Ummmm. Yeah. About operating the cart. If I could have taken video footage of Lynne trying to get that thing going the first time, you'd absolutely DIE laughing. We were parked on a little porch outside the clubhouse and we looked like Steve Urkel trying to get that thing going. We almost took out a table, a massive potted plant and a couple of roof supports making our way to the road. By the time we got to the path for the carts, y'all, we lost the golfers. We were laughing so hard!!!!

We finally found them and then....we realized the operating instructions were buried under a piece of paper taped to the steering wheel!!

Just to prove I actually did take pictures of the event and not just goofy pictures of us....

Our cute little cart. We were GUZZLING iced tea and water. It was blistering hot. (Although on the cart, it wasn't so bad....we went fast enough to get a good little breeze generating.) (And then there was the one time we sideswept a set of bushes.) (On my side.)

I rode like this so as to work on wiping out the band-aid tan lines on my feet. This might be how I almost fell out when we took that one corner kinda fast....

I call this piece "caught in a sprinkler." It felt SO GOOD - but I (of course) didn't want to get the camera wet. So I shoved it under my shirt and stayed in the sprinkler!!

Such a fun day. I had taken about 100 pictures by the time it was half done, and since I still had to drive home and it was 100 degrees (not kidding) outside, Lynne said I could go. So I did. I smelled VILE. But I had a fun, fun day!! And I can say with much certainty that this is NOT the sport for me.

Invisible

A couple of weeks ago, our church sent a team of about 20 people to New Orleans to do some mission work. This past Sunday, they shared about their trip during the morning service, and I cried during THE ENTIRE THING. Good grief. I'm such a sap!

The very last person to speak was our pastor's wife, and what she said smacked my heart so hard and I've not been able to forget it.

She said so many people are invisible.

She went on to talk about some of the people she and the team met while they were gone and how they were invisible for different reasons and how grateful they were when someone from the team saw them. When someone dared to hug them or reached out with a meal.

And she said now that she's back home, her hope is to see the invisible around her and to let them know they're seen.

I literally scooted to the edge of my pew and leaned up to cling to her words because this topic is at the very front of my heart.

Because I was invisible.

There is another woman at my church who is married to a guy from my class in high school. For four years, his locker was three down from mine in the alphabetical list of 80 people.

He has no idea I was in his class.

She got out the yearbook and showed him my picture.

No idea.

I was invisible.

(And that's a significant feat when you factor in 90's hair.)

There were days in high school when I was actually secretly glad to be invisible. Sometimes it's better than being seen...because at least you're left alone.

But there's that part of all of us that doesn't want to be invisible. We want to be seen. Really seen. Seen for our hearts. Seen for our dreams. Seen for our potential.

Seen and accepted and chosen and loved. It's what we want.

And there are a lot of people out there who are walking around in full view...completely invisible.

There are days when I think back to Little Miss Chubby Poofy Bangs in high school and I would love to tell that girl it's okay. One day someone will see you. And life will be okay. You hang in there.

And whenever I'm seen for who I am...whenever I'm chosen as a friend...whenever I'm accepted for what I have to offer...whenever I'm loved...I do not for one second take that for granted.

Because some people never know that.

And I hope...oh my goodness, how I hope...I see the people around me.

Really see.

That no one in my path is invisible.

Random Catching Up

The down side to a vacation is that once I'm done blogging it, I'm completely behind on everything that has happened since then! That, combined with some blognonymous friends/outings makes it tough to do good posts on life in Bekahland!! So I'll just do a little potpourri post of what's been happening and we shall move forward.

Because my vacation to North Carolina ended earlier than planned, I ended up being able to go to the lake for a day, which broke my heart. (HA!)

Got to go out on the BOAT!!!!!!!

This sweet dog - darling, darling dog - which I would have loved to scoop up and bring home with me (but Braeya would never allow it) had THE MOST VILE GAS I HAVE EVER SMELLED IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. You think I'm exaggerating. I'm not. Think of the worst gas you've ever smelled. Multiply it by 100 and you've got this dog. How can something so tiny and darling smell so bad????

 In that first picture, did you see how far away from the tube I was sitting? The dog was in the FRONT of the boat, I was in the BACK of the boat, and the people on the tubes gagged at the gas smell. Vile.

And in honor of that, my dear friend Katy penned a song (Malott and Christina, you ready for this one? You should be so proud.) This is sung to the tune of "Welcome to Our World" by Chris Rice.

Tubes are floating, waves are tossing, boat is rocking to and fro
Folks are waving on the Dixie, welcome to our boat
But this is not our boat

Hope that you don't mind his gasing, Kona's had a bit too much
Chicken salad and some trail mix, sausages and such
Sausages and such

So bring your young and feel the magic, take a dip for goodness sake
We hope that you enjoy your time here, this is Webster Lake
This is Webster Lake

We cracked up over that.

Then I went over to the little beach with Ronda and the little guys. Much fun in the sand.

Sweetness.

 After being duly fried at the lake, I came home and spent another day in Indy with my college roommate and her little boy. He wanted to feed the ducks at the pond near their house, so here he is driving the bread to the pond....

 And playing fetch with the dog.

Two very fun days to wrap up my time off work!!! Loved it. Had fun the rest of the week too - with parties and game nights and all sorts of goodness!

It's the Weekly Recap!

* You know that whole thing about sometimes you have to come home from vacation to rest? That was my day last Sunday. I'd been going, going, going all week with my final days off work, my return to work, game night...so I spent the day resting. It was an amazing day...so good I forgot to take a picture!

* Monday went like this: get up and go to work. Get a text en route that the power is out. Call to get further direction. Go home. Get a text that power is back on. Go to work. Arrive to find that power is out again. Pack up car with enough material to work for two days. Drive home. Spend the day working in my home office, organizing the summer book giveaway. And this was actually SO FUN. (I'm such a nerd.)

* Tuesday I was allowed to work from home because we only had a half day, so I hunkered down in the fat chair with a pot of coffee and a stack of work. Spent the day also mourning the passing of Andy Griffith. How I love that show!!! I mowed my yard for the first time in a couple of months (not kidding). And then Mom and Dad invited me to meet them at Steak n Shake for dinner. Treats for Bekah!!!!

* Wednesday was my favorite stinkin' day of the whole year and it was TOO HOT to get out and enjoy it. So I stayed IN to enjoy it! Ahhhh the glory of Olympic trials on TV. I watched HOURS of them. I'm going to be in so much trouble when the Olympics start. I'll never leave my chair. But despite missing all festivities, I thoroughly enjoyed my day at home and....I did attempt festivity.

* Thursday evening I got together with Faith, which was much fun - we've not seen each other in way too long. It would have been fun to go mini golfing or something but oh wait. It was like 100 degrees outside. (ICK!!!!!!) So instead, I FINALLY went to JuJu Berry (frozen yogurt). How many times have I almost been there???? Happiness in a cup.

* Friday was just a beautiful day. I had a chance to be reaffirmed in why I love my job so much and why it's a good fit for me...I received THIS amazing treat from my co-worker Jeri as a "happy first anniversary of work" present....

...and I got to spend the night at Lynne's house! We watched episodes of Say Yes to the Dress and made chocolate chip cookies and did our nails. We're so junior high. I love it!! I love EVERY MINUTE!!!

* And then there was yesterday. Check this out:

Yep. That's me. On a golf course. ON A 100 DEGREE DAY, THANKYOUVERYMUCH. More on that later, but that was pretty much my yesterday! I helped Lynne with a golf outing. Bet you can't wait for the stories of Lynne and Bekah driving a golf cart. Good night nurse.

One Thousand Gifts. It's been 100 degrees every stinking day this week. AIR CONDITIONING IS A GIFT.

Pinterest Inspiration. This was a bit of a loose translation, but here was my inspiration piece:

Source: verybestbaking.com via Rebekah on Pinterest

I was much too lazy to do the whole star thing. HELLO. It's a holiday. But never mind...they were still good:

And We're Home!!

The end of my vacation did not go as planned. (Which kind of matched the BEGINNING of the vacation, come to think of it.)

I'd planned to break up my trip home by stopping in Kentucky to visit a friend of mine I've not seen since high school, but Saturday night, I found out that was not going to work. So.....no choice but to drive home the whole way on Sunday!

Lynnette and I got up early and went to church (an early service) and parted ways about 11 in the morning. Cal's little trip estimator SAID I'd get home at 7 pm. Yeah right. Obviously, despite our longstanding traveling relationship, he doesn't know me.

The day was gorgeous for travel, and in no time at all...I was in Tennessee!

Guess what Tennessee has???

Be still my beating heart. (Not too still. I do need to drive.)

And then...Kentucky!!!

At which point I needed some serious caffeine. I ordered a latte and the lady said, "You want that hot???" LOL!! I know it's 412 degrees outside, but I'm in a frigidly air conditioned Sammy, so yep! Make that a hot latte!

The most harrowing picture taking I did the entire time was getting this Ohio sign. Good night, nurse. Why does it have to be planted in the middle of five lanes of crazy traffic????

Back home agaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaain in Indiana!!!

Remember that birthday gift from Olivia where I do something every week to celebrate? Well this Sunday's instruction was to do something out of the ordinary for dinner. So....I treated myself to Skyline, baby!!!! (Impossible to eat hot dogs from there while driving, so I pulled over and ate in a parking lot.

THEN I drove the wrong way down a divided road. Indeed.

I was making pretty good time actually - not the predicted 7 pm arrival, but headed for a decent time, when ONE MILE FROM MY EXIT, I got caught in my first traffic tie-up of the day and went this fast.

SERIOUSLY!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Ended up getting home about 8:45 and found a cat very EAGER to see me!! And very eager for me to never leave again - as long as I live.

Want to guess who will win that one?

Birthday Bash!!

This almost concludes the vacation fun... thanks for hanging in there with me while I told you about my trip!!

After Lynnette and I went on our Blue Ridge Parkway drive, we spent the afternoon shopping in Biltmore Village and then...time for the birthday fun!!

I had this in the weekly recap a couple of weeks ago as my Pinterest inspiration, but here's more elaboration. I'd seen this idea to wrap up a bunch of gifts and have the recipient open one every hour. That was my plan, but since we were out and about all day, that was harder to do than I anticipated, so instead, I had her open them all at one time. Each gift was marked with a number so she could open them in a specific order.

As she unwrapped...she found everything she needed for a luau party!

Ta daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! Balloons, candles, decorations, outfits, and party supplies!!

We waited to have the actual party, because....look what we went to see!

She found (in her handy dandy research) that the Montford Park Players were doing a play in an outdoor amphitheater in Asheville! Shakespeare, no less. She loves Shakespeare, so she asked if that would be okay for us to do, and I said sure! (I always need some culture in my life.)

The amphitheater was REALLY cool. It was built into the side of a hill like this:

We could bring lawn chairs or blankets or whatever...and picnics, even!!! We brought a blanket and a picnic, which was SUPER exciting to me because you know...picnics were on my summer livin' list! CHECK!!!!

The people in front of us were hard core. They brought a table and everything!!  Here is Lynnette with the stage behind her.

Our picnic!! We just went to a grocery store and got little sammiches and took chips and no-bake cookies we brought with us from home. :)

The play??? Well it was none other than the story of my life: Much Ado About Nothing!

The play lasted about 3 hours and was REALLY well done. The actors were funny and engaging. (They even mingled in the audience some.) Here was the final bow....

Our fuzzy self-photogrpahy during intermission. (No flash allowed, so we couldn't do better.)

By the time we got back to our hotel, it was almost 11:00. We still had to pack so we could leave early Sunday morning. But no time for that....we had a party to attend!! I'd brought sparkling grape juice (which had been attempting to chill in the ice bucket) and I went out to buy iced brownies for our snack. We donned our matching flip flops and leis and grass skirts and decorated the room...minus lighting the candles because I LOST THE MATCHES I BROUGHT FROM 500 MILES AWAY - which we found about 10 minutes AFTER the party. Good grief.

She said it was an amazing birthday...and I'm so glad! I had so much fun with her and hope we can road trip again! FUN!!!!!!!

Blue Ridge Parkway Tour

The last full day of our vacation was Lynnette's birthday, so we spent the day celebrating her! After we visited the Farmer's Market, we went driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We started out at a Visitor's Center, so we could get an idea of where we were going. On our way into the center from the parking lot, we passed several tents set up...kind of a little information fair of different kinds park/hiking stuff. Lynnette casually said, "Oh look! A snake!!" And I was stupid enough to look.

One of the information booth people was indeed holding an honest to goodness snake. I about died.

So much so that on the way back OUT of the center, I was so mentally focused on ignoring that stupid snake, I got in the wrong car!!!!

Oh yes.

I did.

I quickly got out of the random stranger's car and INTO Lynnette's car where we began a very long trek up a gorgeous, winding NARROW two-lane wooded road....

...which was occasionally filled with rock walls....

...and little overlook places where we could pull to the side and get out to see the gorgeous sites. Please make note of the increase in elevation....

Interesting Bekah fact: I have a love/fear of heights. I love heights. I love being able to be up there and able to see what's going on. I am scared to death of the EDGE of heights. Like I love sitting in a balcony, but I'm petrified to walk the stairway of a balcony because I am afraid I'll trip and snowball my way down. So I LOVED this sight....but I was totally sweating to be standing this close to the edge.

And we're climbing!!!!

At this point I began having a (semi-honest) panic attack that I would run out of oxygen. No ceiling for little mask to fall out for me!! This sign says that this was the location of the last known buffalo in the area, which was killed in the late 1700s. I told Lynnette that we should be good to go on the winding road...no surprise buffalo.

I thought this said LAKE Pinnacle, so it took me a while to figure out why I didn't have a lake in my view. GOOD GRIEF.

And finally - our destination!! This was about the top of the line for this road. It was blissfully cool up at this elevation and though it was a sunny day, we were in the clouds!

This was 7/10ths of a mile away from us and we'd been told we could walk up (you can see people standing just above the brown spot on the picture) but um....we didn't realize it would be an honest to goodness hike...and guess who wore flip flops???

So rather than hiking it....we watched these people milling about at the top. (I would have passed right out that close to the edge, I'm sure of it.)

Here we are!!! (We were self-portraiting and some nice people offered to take our picture for us.)

The birthday girl and the spectacular Blue Ridge Mountain view....

Absolutely stunning.

On the way back down, we were passed by TWO vehicles. Stupid drivers. Who passes on a 2 lane curvy mountain???? Just because you drive a sports car doesn't mean you can put people's lives at risk. HELLO!!!!!!!

That, of course, made me wonder how in the world emergency crews got on any scene quickly that high up...I wonder what my blood pressure was by the time we got back on level ground? LOL!!!

Loved the drive (seriously!) and would 100% do it again - in regular shoes this time, so I could go up that last bit of the way!!! (And hold tightly to someone's hand - even if it's a perfect stranger - so I could get as near to the edge as possible!)