4th of July Weekend Fun

 

                Today we return to normal workdays after a lovely holiday weekend! I thought I’d give you a peek into our time off and the fun we enjoyed.

                Ryan and I both had the 4^th of July off work, which is something I still do not take for granted after the years (between his PTA days and our WillowBridge days) that one or both of us had to work on the 4^th. We slept in a tiny bit, but we hated to rest too long, because we had much to accomplish before our company arrived!

                Lexi helped me put away laundry. 😊

                Ryan set up the patio for a picnic and pulled out the lake toys for our family to enjoy.

                We actually finished all our chores early enough that we were able to sit outside and enjoy for a little bit before our guests arrived!

                We tried to keep the menu low-key. Ryan grilled burgers, hot dogs, and onions. We had all the toppings, and then his family brought chips, drinks, and dessert. I threw in some fresh veggies with dip and the fruit salad I made. It was perfect!

                Ryan’s dad, stepmom, and grandma came for the day, and this was the first time they’d come to the lake in warm weather. They’ve been here a handful of times before, but it always seems to fall in cold weather! Ryan’s two sisters and their families also came, and it was their first visit to see us.

                Everyone had fun eating together, and then they played in the water for a while.

                Ryan took most of them out for a pontoon ride, and I stayed back with his grandma, who wasn’t feeling up to a boat ride that day.

                Everyone stayed until late afternoon, and then they headed home for their evening festivities, and Ryan took me out on the boat for a sunset cruise! (Lexi, too. She stayed behind with me earlier in the day.)

                One of our lake neighbors provided a fireworks show that was really nice, so when it got dark, we headed back out on the boat to enjoy that!

                Lexi must have partied too hard, because on Saturday morning, she was tired!

                We balanced our day between doing some chores around the house and resting. It really was a lovely day.

                We had one graduation open house to squeeze in that evening, and then we went to small group! It was such fun. We enjoyed dinner with our friends, I got to hold a kitten, and Ryan went swimming!

                Yesterday, after church, it was all about rest. I was grateful for a day on the couch. 

                How was your weekend, friends?

Sunday Snapshots: Memorable Moments from the Week

 

This week was full of fun adventures!! It was good for the scrapbook and the soul, and I have a little sampling for you of our fun!

We started our week with a car wash date! Why are these so much fun? (I still don't want to be in the driver's seat, but I will sign up to be a passenger any old day!)

Some friends of mine from my IWU/WBCL days opened a food truck last summer, and they were not far from Swiss Village this week! Ryan and I hurried out for a quick lunch date, and the food was truly delicious. Tasted even better because my friends made it and they are some of the sweetest people on the whole planet, I’m convinced.

 July arrived with a gorgeous day and a beautiful sunset at the end of it. Firsts are meaningful to me, including the first days of new months, so I tried to appreciate each moment as I went along.

I loved riding on the bike trail for our monthiversary this week. It was nice and shaded, and I thoroughly enjoyed the chance to get away with Ryan for a little bit! Also thrilling? Realizing I still remember how to ride a bike! It’s true what they say, I guess. Never goes away!

Ryan and I hosted his family at our house on the 4^th, so leading up to the big day, I put together a cute little fruit bowl. The part that excited me the most? Buying a watermelon. Ryan doesn’t like any kind of melon, so I never buy them, because I would eat the whole thing all by myself. But about once a year, I get one, and this was the week. I may or may not have sampled a few pieces whilst putting together the bowl…

And then came the actual day of hosting Ryan's family...and we had a fun day together! It was the first time most of them had been to our house, and it was fun to get to introduce them to it! So thankful for a pretty day and safe travels for all of them. (More on this adventure tomorrow.)

We had small group last night, which involved: delicious dinner, Bekah cuddling with a sweet kitten, Ryan swimming in the pool, and excellent stories peppered with much laughter. It was good for the soul!

Saturday Suggestions: Inspirations for Your Weekend

 

Good morning, friends! Yesterday was a beautiful holiday, but I confess it felt like Saturday all day, so now I feel like I should be headed to church! I look forward to my bonus day off (this actual Saturday) and hope you have a great day ahead as well!

I often run across suggestion lists for slow or cozy living, and sometimes I like a few of them, but usually I feel like the bulk of the list isn’t practical for me (either time or budget constraints, usually). But I thought this list was pretty great! Most of the things on the list felt normal/budget-friendly/interesting. In this summer where I’m trying to find the balance between productivity and slow living, I appreciated finding these suggestions!  

I’m putting this one on the suggestion list more for a reminder for myself, but feel free to eavesdrop! Ryan, if you’re reading this, I know this DIY is labor-intensive, and I don’t think we would have to do THIS exact thing. But I love the idea of making some sort of pretty surround for the air conditioner unit. At our house, this is one of the first things you see if you drive up from one of the sides of the road. It’s a bit unsightly. We’ve never talked about covering it, but I think this would be a good project to file away for a future year!

Ryan and I grew up in an area where flavored Cokes were absolutely a thing. Vanilla Cokes, Marshmallow Cokes…you name it. I’ve noticed since moving to this county (under two hours from our original home) that people don’t seem to drink flavored Cokes. Well…until my mom moved in. She loves a chocolate Coke and always has. I remember getting them with her when I was a kiddo, and she’d sometimes make them at home, too. She’s now taught the entire dining staff at Swiss Village how to make them so she can have them with her dinners. I have pretty much given up soft drinks – something that I’m both proud of and simultaneously sad about. They say you get to the place where you don’t miss it. It’s been almost two years for me, and I still miss it. Now and then I have a sip of Ryan’s just to have a treat, but otherwise I’m out. But if you want to learn to make a chocolate coke, here’s a proper, old-fashioned recipe!

If you have kids at home (or visiting your home this summer) and you need some great book lists or educational ideas, check out this list of free homeschooling resources. There are some great things in here, but even if you aren’t homeschooling, you might find something that could help provide learning moments in fun ways! (BONUS: Here are some fun staycation ideas if you need some budget-friendly things to do with kiddos this summer. Some of them would work even if you don’t have kids!)

It is just really sad that I do not live close enough to the How Novel Co traveling bookstore! IT IS SO CUTE!!!!! This popped up on my feed this week, and I absolutely drooled all over it. It’s a 1973 horse trailer that has been given new life as a bookstore. It’s cute as a button, and I absolutely love the concept. In retirement, I’m thinking Ryan should open a coffee cart and I should open a bookstore trailer, and we could travel around together with our twin businesses. How cute would that be??!?! (BONUS: Speaking of trailers, check out this Airstream renovation. SO CUTE!!! I love all the colors in it! )

SIX. There were a handful of things in Kaitlyn’s post that stuck out to me. I am convicted to work hard to invest in the future for others, and I’m convicted to appreciate those who invested for my future. I’m also convicted to make room in my days – even the super busy ones – to see others and reach out to them. Great food for thought in here. I encourage you to read it!

Three Meals

 

How would you answer this? Name 3 people you would love to share a meal with.

                I found it delightfully intriguing, mostly because there were so few rules. Did they have to be alive today or could they be from any point in history? Should they be the top three people you could possibly consider, or just three random people?

                My answer, when it came, surprised me. They weren’t famous people (relatively speaking.) They weren’t from the past. The reasons I would love to share a meal with them were varied, but one thing was consistent: I’d want to have the meal at their homes!

                And all of them are people I discovered through social media.

                My first pick? Deborah Raney. She’s a fiction writer – and a good one! – but her books aren’t the reason I chose her. It’s true I’d love to talk writing with her, because I always enjoy learning how other authors come up with ideas and write their books. But I’d also love to hear her travel stories. She and her husband have an RV similar to our (former) Abby, and I just love reading about their adventures. She loves to go to garage sales and actually posts pictures of her finds every week. (I read every single caption and celebrate every fun find.) And her home. Oh, my friends. I just adore her style and her beautiful house. She has this amazing arched window in her office, a whole collection of globes AND mugs, and a sunroom filled with the most beautiful plants. (And the sunroom overlooks a scenic backyard that deer frequent.)

                I’d want to hear the stories. The stories of the treasure hunts in garages around the city, the parks and trails, the memories that fill the home. I can’t think of a more delightful way to spend a meal.

                My second pick? Dawn McVey. It was on Dawn’s Instagram account that I first learned about milling wheat. It is Dawn’s painting of the shield of faith that hangs in my office at the church. I don’t even remember now how I stumbled upon her account, but her posts are among my favorites.

                Dawn had a (rare) small intestine transplant several years ago and has quite a story of how God spared her life and has healed her body through the transplant. She works full time as an artist and creates beautiful paintings in her home studio. She also has gorgeous flowers in her yard, and she has mastered the art of baking bread. And nearly daily she posts the most encouraging videos, where she just sits in her studio and shares what she’s doing and learning.

                I’d want to hear those what-I’m-learning stories in person while eating some deliciousness that involves milled wheat. I’d want to hear the stories of those pieces of art around her studio and how she works her way through the painting process. I’d want to see the beautiful flowers in person and learn how she keeps them all looking so magazine-perfect every single season. It would be a meal that fills more than a cup on a table. Heart cups would overflow!

                My third pick? Sara Jo Floyd. I’ve written about her before. Her Instagram account, Bryarton Farm, is one of my favorites. She and her husband are restoring their old farmhouse to its original glory, and what they’ve been able to do (on a budget, no less) is absolutely inspiring. They have five children, and two are adopted from India. Sara is also an artist and creates the most beautiful watercolor illustrations for books!

                I’d want to see that beautiful farmhouse (and the whole farm) in person to appreciate the hard work they’ve put into restoring it. I’d want to meet the whole inspiring family who works hard to honor God through daily faithfulness to the smallest details. I’d want to see her art in person and marvel over the details that enter her mind and come out through her paintbrush.

                These are the people I would love to share a meal with. Not because they’re famous, though in the world of social media, some might consider them so. I’d want to share a meal with them to see in real life the things that encourage me through their accounts. The homes that are more than houses. The husbands and kids who invest in them and make it possible for them to invest in their followers. The beauty that has inspired me in my own life!

                Who would you pick?

Celebrating 151 Months!

 

Last month, Ryan and I celebrated 150 months of marriage, and we honored the day by scrubbing the pier and pontoon. Do we know how to throw a party or what?

                I wasn’t sure that this month would be much more exciting, because it was a workday for both of us. Ryan was busy with projects at work, and I had a handful of meetings to attend.

                We did start the day with a robust workout. The couple that works out together…right?

                After my meetings, I met up with Ryan to see him for a few minutes while he ate lunch. We hadn’t planned it, but it was one of my favorite moments.

                After work, we had dinner at home and then we pulled out the old bikes and headed out for a ride! I don’t think I’ve ridden a bike since our WillowBridge days. We bought them to ride on trails in Fort Wayne and to take with us when we went camping, and I really loved riding, but we just haven’t done it much here. Lexi can’t keep up with us running alongside, and we don’t think she would tolerate a chariot, so we’ve chosen not to ride in favor of taking her for walks.

                But oh, how glad I am we pulled them out of the garage for a ride! We enjoyed a local trail and even had ice cream along the way.

                We ended up riding about ten miles, and it was fun. I’m so glad we did it.

                Happy 151 months, Ryan! I love you and this life we’ve built over the last twelve and a half years. Thanks for celebrating with me!

Adventures in Journaling

 

I was fifteen years old when my parents gifted me a blank journal at Christmas. It was just a simple book with lined pages and a picture of a cat on the cover. I’d had diaries before…the little books with gold lined edges, a date designation at the top of each page, and a lock that matched every other lock of every other diary in the whole world. So much for keeping your thoughts protected, right?

                The diary years frustrated me because I always felt compelled to have enough news from the day to fill the pages. I couldn’t leave lines blank. But on the extra newsy days, the pages weren’t big enough to hold the goodness. The journal felt like the answer to the diary dilemma. The pages of the journal were all blank with no constraints. I could write half a page and pick up on the very next line the next day. I could write eight pages.

                And until about five years ago, I filled book after book after book of those lined pages. All the heartaches of the single years, the stories that would only happen to Bekah, the dreams and the dailiness, and the joys of finding Ryan and beginning our life together are captured in books of lined pages.

                Eventually I arrived at the point where my brain moved faster than my hands, and my handwriting deteriorated as I scrambled to keep up with my thoughts before they flew away.

                Something had to change.

                So I moved to journaling on my computer. I type really fast, so my fingers can keep up easily with my thoughts. The change was the grown-up answer to my journaling frustrations, just as the journal book had been the answer to my teenage diary drama. I can print them to keep with my handwritten versions

                Not long ago, I told Ryan that I was frustrated with my journaling again. He asked what was wrong, and I rolled my eyes as I answered. “It’s becoming a boring record of what I ate and a list of my activities for the day.” (To clarify: I know some people do journal their food intake for accountability purposes. There’s no shame in that! But that wasn’t why I was journaling it. I just literally ran out of interesting things to say about the day, so I said, “Well, I had some cobb salad for lunch and then I took a walk around the lake.”) It’s sad for a writer to stare at quarter-pages, typed, single-spaced that comprise nothing more than a laundry list of boring details that won’t matter in 50 years. Or 50 minutes, actually.

                I made a goal to do better starting in July. Yes, I realize I should probably have pursued this longer than one day before writing about it in this space, but perhaps I’m doing it now as an additional means of accountability to keep going. I’m also giving myself the grace and freedom to change it up if I find some part of it isn’t working.

                I’m still capturing my thoughts in a typed format. That remains a win. But I’m giving myself some prompts to guide my thoughts as I write:

                The best parts of my day: In this section I’m pushing myself to write stories, but I’m also pushing myself to think back over the day to the things that went well. Yesterday was easy, because yesterday was a nice day. I know there will be some days when I’ll have to reach to find the best hidden in the muck. But I want to start these journal entries by thinking about the good, and if that requires a push, then I have a built-in push.

                The hard parts of my day: I don’t want to call them bad, though they might feel that way. They might even actually be that way. Sometimes the hard parts have the best stories, and I don’t want to skip capturing those. And I want to create room to think the hard stuff through so I can learn from it.

                Today’s rhythms: This is the record-keeping section for accountability. How did I exercise? Did I go for a walk? Did I log a decent number of steps? How did I do with hydration? Did I cook something fun?

                I also added notes about what I studied in the Bible and what I read in whatever book I’m in that day.

                Along the way, I highlighted the words I want to come back and revisit later…brainstorms for another day.

                It was a thing of beauty to sit back and see real stories and words worth preserving…not just notes about cobb salad and lake strolls.

                I understand that journaling doesn’t make every heart sing like it does for me. I know some of you think sitting to capture thoughts sounds like the ultimate torture. But I’m a big believer in reflecting and preserving, and I look forward to doing so with renewed purpose.

Dreams and Goals for July

 

Welcome to a brand-new month…and to the second half of this year. I have been working on my scrapbook for April/May/June and am so grateful for all the good experiences and memories that have filled the first half of the year. I’m excited to see what the second half brings. But for today, I’m going to pull in tightly and just look at the month of July and the goals I have for this month.

             

Learn how to contour makeup (better). This is a reprise from June, since I didn’t manage to accomplish this one last month.

               

Start/finish our dining room project. Back in April, we purchased something new (okay, thrifted) for our dining room, but we just haven’t made time to complete the project. I am itching to get that done before school starts in the fall, so I’m putting it on the list for July to try to rustle up some personal accountability. I can’t wait to see if the vision in real life looks anything like the vision in my head!

                

Host some of our family at the lake. We have a couple of family groups coming to hang out at the lake, and we are looking forward to sharing our space with them when they come.

             

Lots of work projects. Last week I sat down and mapped out the rest of July and August at work, with the intention of being very, very productive so I can get the bulk of some big projects scooted out of the way before school starts in the fall! I’m excited to start marking things off this list.

              

 Start on my 50 Before 50 List. I am just going to leave this here for now, but in a few days, I’m going to write more about this project and share my ideas with you!

                I think this will keep me plenty busy for the month of July. How about you? Any big plans this month?