so we went to florida.

and it was absolutely lovely. the perfect little getaway to celebrate FINALLY being done studying for and taking the PE exam. we stayed at my Aunt's beautiful beach house in Panama City Beach, and thanks to how wonderful this trip was, "own a beach house" has now moved up a few places on my bucket list.

 5 days full of sunshiney, warm, fun, breeziness with only a little bit of thunderstormy, tornado-ish, floodedness at the end.

 
the beach was gorgeous and not at all crowded. the water was a pleasant temperature once  you got used to it, and the surf was calm at first, but picked up a bit as the days went on, so we got some good wave jumping in later in the week.

 

 we lounged, we played games, we swam in the gulf, we relaxed, we rode bikes, we ate ice cream, we got sunburnt, and there was at least one day we just didnt wear pants because we were sunburnt and it was thunderstormy and we had no real reason to leave the house because pizza delivery is a great invention.

 

 

i got my camera out of its case for the second time since February (seriously, zero pictures of March this year) and it was nice to excercise my shutter finger again. 

10 pictures of this bird. only one decently non-blurry one.

 i needed this. we needed this. this winter was cold and nasty and long and full of drudgery, so this little taste of early summer with the sunshine and the warmth and the chilling out was perfect.

a weird post for a weird week.

this week has been... kind of melancholy. mornings are foggy. evenings are rainy. everything is gray. including my mood. i fluctuate between feeling content and relaxed, and then suddenly and without warning collapsing into a sniveling puddle of feeling like a lazy bum of a failure at life.  

 

rain through my windshield 

last night i pulled into the driveway after jazzercise, and i just stayed in the car. for five minutes i sat there watching the thunderstorm blow rain in sheets across the windshield of the car and light up the sky with lightning. and it just made me inexplicably, weirdly happy. so i spent the next fifteen minutes trying to capture that moment; the feeling of it, the look of it, and the way it spoke to me in that place. and of course all of those things are ridiculously difficult to capture through the confines of a camera lens, no matter how many pictures you take.

 accidental flash - need to clean the windshield

it appeared as if the whole world (or at least my backyard) was an intricate chalk drawing, being washed away by the storm. running in little technicolor rivers down the driveway. just like Bert's marvelously magical chalk drawings in Mary Poppins, i expected the view outside my windshield to disappear, an innocent casualty of the unrelenting downpour.

playing with my camera effects

 

it was a surreal feeling: sitting in my car, watching the rain pour down, refreshing the earth and cooling the air to a more reasonable temperature, the running water disorting the typically crisp-edged world around me. but it never really washed away. the trees and the grass and that ridiculous basketball hoop continued to stand there under the deluge. the crispness was still there underneath it all; it was just my perception of it that was changed.

like chalk in the rain

i dont know that there is a point to any of this rambling. but it feels good to put it out there. to admit that everything isnt always sunshine and rainbows. but also to remind myself that eventually, every storm runs out of rain and (at least most of the time) everything will turn out A-OK on the other side.

meal plan monday: april 29.

allergies are the pits. my nose is stuffy, my eyes are itchy, and my throat is scratchy because i have survived the past three days by mouth-breathing almost exclusively. i usually have about one extra-bad allergy week every year, and apparently this is it.

i spent an entire day yesterday at Hershey Park with friends, and i have zero pictures of it because when i wasn't walking all around the park and riding as many of the coasters as many times as we could stand, i was stuck in a foggy blur of allergy pills and tissues and resisting the urge to scratch my own eyes out. there was no time for cameras. which is sad, because even with all of my allergic mess, it was still a really fun day.

weekends are never long enough.

Monday: soup from a can. perfect for a rainy day.
Tuesday: spaghetti with meatballs. (recipe)
Wednesday: fish, rice, and a veggie.
Thursday: chicken and veggie quesadillas.
Friday: burgers on the grill. (recipe)
Saturday: grilled chicken penne pesto pasta.
Sunday: breakfast for lunch.

ground zero(ish).

over the weekend, we kept chugging along towards our end goal of having pretty flowerbeds sometime this year. we had a few distractions, challenges, miscommunications, and setbacks along the way, but for what was maybe the first time EVER, we were able to roll with it without any major meltdowns (ok maybe just one minor one) and still turn out a pretty impressive weekend's worth of work.

 

just as a reminder: this is where we were coming from when it came to our front flower beds: pretty much just a giant monster bush and a bunch of weeds.

 

 

by early afternoon on Saturday, we had made it to this point: the monster bush had been cut down. a metric ton of river rocks had been picked out of the bed, along with probably 5 metric tons of small decorative boulders. trips had been made to the landfill, the mall, and Lowes, and i had wasted about 4 hours sitting waiting for mark's car to get its oil changed and brake pads replaced.

 

the rest of the day Saturday, Mark battled the monster stump of the monster bush, while i raked all the weeds out of the rest of the bed, mowed the grass, did some laundry, and made dinner.

in the end, with a lot of hard work and a little help from his dad's truck, Mark was victorious over the stump.

by the time we got the stump out, the hole filled, and everything cleaned up, it was time to go inside, eat dinner, chill out on the couch, and watch the O's game.

 

Sunday was mulch day. to steal the eloquent words of Ron Burgundy: mulch mulch mulch. i love mulch. we got a whole truckload from the landfill for a whopping $10. 

 

in an attempt to hopefully keep the weeds at bay, we used landscape fabric underneath the mulch. one roll covered both front beds with some extra to spare.

it took me a while to get a good handle on the best process for mulch spreading, but i finally settled on using the pitchfork to load the wheelbarrow, a shovel to distribute the mulch, and a garden rake to spread it evenly. and then in less time than i thought, we had mostly empty, freshly mulched front flower beds!

welcome to ground zero: there's nowhere to go but up from here.

 

surprisingly, that's not all we were able to squeeze into our weekend: we also took care of a couple other spaces that were not on our original to-do list.

 

bonus project #1: a bigger fire pit area in the backyard. while Mark was accidentally locked out of the shed while i had his car and the key to the shed at the shop on Saturday, he took the decorative boulders i had picked out of the flower beds and used them to spruce up our little fire pit.

 

its probably not the forever solution for this space, and obviously the rest of the backyard is still in need of a lot of love, but this little upgrade is a nice starting point for this area. hopefully it will also be enough of a kick-in-the-pants type of motivation to keep our outdoor upgrades going so we will hit this area sooner rather than later. i'm already looking forward to bonfires and cookouts and really enjoying our backyard this summer.

 

bonus project #2: a new front yard flower bed. after the front beds were done, we still had some landscape fabric and mulch leftover. so Mark took it upon himself to create a mulched area around the rosebush in the front yard.

 

we didnt have quite enough fabric to cover the whole area, so we opted to use what we had under the rosebush, to hopefully minimize the amount of weeding that will need to be done in under those thorny branches. (i took a thorn to the index finger on Sunday during the one part of the day i opted not to wear my gloves. not fun.)

we used every last bit of the mulch pile to fill this space - down to the very last half of a wheelbarrow-full. we couldnt have planned it more perfectly if we had tried, so i'm kind of glad we didnt waste any time trying to calculate just the right amount of mulch or just the right size of bed. Mark just eyeballed it to try and have it look decent and be easier to mow around. success!

oh, see that nasty looking tree in the background that is eating the OTHER front corner of the house? dont worry. its already on the list.

2013: the year of the outdoors.



one of my non-resolutions for this year (which is actually one that carried over from last year) is to have pretty flowerbeds. we have lived in our house for almost three years, and in those three years we have been so focused on inside projects that we have given hardly any thought or time or energy to the outside of the house. in fact, we just barely managed to keep the grass mowed. but no more! we are finally at a good place inside (aka no big painting or drywall or bathroom projects for a while) that we can focus our attention elsewhere. so this is the year of the outdoors. the year i will finally have pretty flowerbeds. or at least flowerbeds that are filled with something other than weeds and dead things.

 

as with any good project, we're starting with demo. there were a few bushes around our house that had to go, because they just weren't doing it for me. so i made a list. and then i gave that list to the hubs and spent the weekend chillin' in New York City.

 

i didn't have have a chance to take any updated before pictures, so i went back through my archives and found these from last year when i painted our front door and weeded that one time. i even went so far as to highlight the offending bushes for your viewing convenience.

 

two bushes by the front door



overgrown lavender bush in the backyard

 

giant angry bush that would eat the entire house if we let it

 

since i was out of town, i was at the mercy of the hubs for process pictures. i got one. and i was never so happy to see an empty hole in the ground.

 

 



when i got home on Sunday, i was THRILLED to see all of the progress that had been made, and all of the things that had been crossed off the list. in addition to a few smaller items like raking up some leftover leaves and picking up all the sticks in the yard, the bushes in the front of the house were gone! its kind of wild to see just how much visual space their removal has opened up on the front porch.

 

 

and i can practically hear my works-at-a-lavender-farm sister's heart breaking in two over this picture, but that bush in our backyard was in bad shape. in fact, it didnt really have any shape at all. AND there was giant ugly grass that grew up the middle of it that was impossible to pull. mark claims that he did not see the family of bunnies that in the past has been known to live in the lavender bush and scare the life out of me by bolting out from under it any time i got too close to it with the lawnmower. i do feel a little bad about evicting them, but i'm more excited about planning something new to plant in this spot and disguise the well.

 

mark didnt have time to deal with the giant angry bush on the corner while i was gone, or maybe he didnt want to take it on by himself, but man oh man do we have PLANS for this weekend! so exciting!!

outtakes in the park.

in which i forget how a slide works.

nailed it.

in my defense, that slide was really wet, and i was attempting to keep my butt as dry as possible for as long as possible. it got wet anyway. see? feel how wet.

pretty wet. but not as wet as Claire's.

 

thanks to my sister Abi for capturing these meaningful family moments

 

 

a weekend in NY with claire marie.

a sequel.

Sometimes the park can be a lonely place.

And then along comes a friend.
 The kind of friend who shares your sense of style.

You know. The one who gives you a push when you need it...

...But who will just hang by your side even when you don't.

The one who just listens when you need to talk.

The same friend who holds you tight when life takes a downward spiral.

The one friend who will do anything you suggest. Without hesitation.

That friend who knows exactly how to make you laugh.

It's a great day when that friend who thinks the world of you shows up in your world.
 

i love you Claire Marie. always have. always will.

do you know the muffler man?

Who (the heck am I talking about): The Muffler Man.
What (is in his hands): a welcome sign.
Where (is he located): the Anne Arundel County Fairgrounds.
When (did i find him): yesterday morning at a career fair.
Why (did i bother to take his picture): for my mom.

 

for more information on Muffler Men, check out Roadside America.

spring is at our door.

actually, a more accurate statement might be that spring WAS here. for about two and a half days this weekend before summer apparently could not wait any longer to grace us with her presence. temperatures around here have been in the mid- to high-80s all week, and today is forecasted to hit 90 degrees. driving with the windows down and the radio cranked? shorts and tanktops without a jacket? weeknight bonfires? sounds awesome. dont mind if i do. 

 

since i was not aware of the fleeting-ness of spring this year, instead of spending "springtime" working in my flowerbeds, i spent the weekend elbow-deep in spraypaint and hot glue. so without further ado, may i now present my second project of the weekend: featuring all of the joy of craftiness with none of the marital strife!

 

 

isnt it just so springy and bright and simple and fun!?!?!? i know i say this about pretty much all of my projects, but i'm in love. not bad for a cheap wreath form, some twine, and some discount embellishments. not bad at all.

 

i hung it with ribbon and some fishing line that is looped over a command hook on the inside of the door. i kept the top of the ribbon nice and flat and un-bunched with a little piece of a plastic straw. it hangs relatively straight on its own, so i havent had to resort to using any sticky tack to keep it in place like i did with my fall wreath.

 

we still have a long way to go before our house is really 'ready' for spring, (ive got plans for the flowerbeds, and for cutting down bushes, and the lawnmower is getting fixed, and the back yard has tons of room for improvement) but having this wreath on the front door makes me feel like we're heading in the right direction. even though there is still a reindeer on our welcome mat. don't judge me. he's adorable.

just a thought for this weekend.

"At that time Jesus declared, 'I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and i will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.'"

Matthew 11: 25-30

early morning light

 

this passage shows a beautiful picture of my Jesus: blessed with Almighty power and authority from his Almighty Father, yet at the same time gentle and lowly in heart. all-powerful arms stretched out to the weak, burdened, and lowly, saying 'come here, i've got this covered.' forever the supreme ruler and authority in this world regardless of what we do or say or think about it.

willing to take the fullness of his Father's wrath against sins that he never commited, dying an unimaginable death so that you and i and that guy down the street can have life. rising to life again three days later, displaying his absolute authority over all things: even death. he is the perfect blend of power and meekness, justice and grace, wrath and love.

Jesus is why i celebrate this weekend, and why i love it so much. Jesus is my hope and my salvation.

happy Easter weekend!