Midday Fail :(

Lately I have been trying to do my part in sticking to our budget. However, one of my favorite things to do is go to lunch with a girlfriends. It's like a special treat in the middle of the day. To remedy this potential dilemma, I've been "brown-bagging it" with my friends this summer. {Of course, it's not as fun as the experience of sitting down at a restaurant and enjoying someone else's cooking.} Folks, I gotta stick to my budget, and I believe that's a good thing.

So, yesterday, I had lunch with my good friend Shelby. It has been FOREVER since we've seen each other {okay, only a month, but it felt like a lifetime}. Shelby and I grew up together, but really became good friends when she moved here for grad school. Before I got married we were roommates for two years and saw each other almost everyday. Little did I know what a sweet time that was. It was just so good to share life with a good girlfriend on a daily basis.

Here's the sweet bag, Shelby brought lunch to share. I thought it was super fun and appropriate!

Anyway, Shelby's a teacher so we can only do lunch dates during the summer. She called me on Wednesday and said she would pick up a Martha's Salad plate from Marti's to share {let me please remind you that I was fully prepared to pack my own lunch, but she insisted}. This salad is the best in town! We were both SO excited. Here's the sad part...Marti's was closed! Every summer, Marti goes on vacation for a couple of weeks after the fourth. Well, once again, we tried to have lunch during Marti's vacation. It's at least the third year running we've done this.

Shelby picked up some chicken salad from another place in town, and it was good. It just wasn't Marti's. Regardless, we had a great time catching up. I loved hearing about her wedding plans and other fun things happening in life. Hooray for fun lunch dates! Thanks for the chicken salad, Shelby! :)

X-ing It!

For the past two months Mike and I have been doing the p90x workout. It's been an awesome run, but I have to admit it's been hard. Yes, hard because the work-outs are brutal, and when I think they'll start getting easier it just isn't so. They get tougher and more challenging because I'm stronger and can do more of the work-out. In the past 2 months, I have gained back 5 lbs. FIVE POUNDS!!! A WHOLE BAG OF SUGAR. Needless to say, I've been very discouraged by this recent addition. The workouts have been really hard, and I'm gaining instead of losing. It's counter-intuitive. {Now, so many of you will say (as I want to do) that it's muscle weight, but I can't let these little justifications creep into my thinking.} What's the truth? I have to realize that this summer has been the summer of mini-family vacations. Vacation. I've eaten the extra cookie and bought the frozen slushie on the beach. Ahhh, they've been good {both the cookies and the vacations}.

On Tuesday, my incredible husband reminded me of all the little "encouragements" I have been sharing with him the past six months. He helped me get my mind right. He said, "we're celebrating the little victories." He said, "today's going to be a good day." He said, "we only have to take one step at a time." He made me say these things with him. It helped shake the funk.

I have loved doing p90x {but not as much as running}. I can tell that we are both getting stronger and in better shape. It's been fun to do something that's this challenging with my hubs. In this last month, Mike as upped the ante for me. If I get to my ever elusive goal weight by the end of the program, he will give me a big prize. One thing that Tony Horton {the founder of the p90x program} says during just about every work-out is "Do you best and forget the rest"! In the next month, I plan to do my best and forget the rest. All I can do is my best and that has to be enough. Here's to reaching my goal!!

They say it's your Birthday...

Yesterday was my amazing husband's birthday. Birthdays are really important to me, and I do my best to extend the celebration as much as possible. So far, I've tried to extend his celebration. We started last weekend while at Blue Springs...we had cake and presents with my family. Then, on Wednesday night, we had cake with our small group.


I wanted to take the whole day off yesterday to celebrate with him, but, because we are leaving for vacation today, we didn't feel like I could take yesterday off of work. This weekend we will celebrate Mike with his family at Oak Island! It's such a treat that we get to celebrate with both of our families!

We started the day with a quick breakfast from Chic-Fil-A. {okay, so I'm not the awesomest wife because hubs had to go get breakfast and bring breakfast to me at work}. After work, we went to Outback for Mike's birthday dinner. We had a gift card {thanks Kim & Greg} that helped treat us to our meal! It was delish...I forgot how good Outback is {because we never go there...too many good local places}.

Mike opening his card from me. I gave him a pair of Rainbows! (A huge sigh of relief when he said he like them)

Mike's card from the Outback staff. In all of my randomness, I told the waitress that Mike was also known as Wally and Pedro.
Don't ask. I have no idea where that came from.

Did you know that they no longer sing their happy birthday song? Our waitress said it's because they received so many customer complaints. We were happy for it! Let me tell you, their complimentary birthday sundae is really, really, really good. We left super full and happy. :)

Happy 28th Birthday, love!

Blue Springs

This weekend we went to Blue Springs for the 4th where we met my parents, sister and some extended family. Blue Springs is a really small community on the Savannah River. It's just outside of Newington a really small town in South Georgia {between Augusta and Savannah}. For over three generations my family has spent time there. It was a niiiice time with my family: we spent time on the river; we searched for a different natural spring in the area; ate good food; celebrated the 4th with Mexican food and fireworks; and we did some major yard-work.

When I was a little girl, we spent several weeks each summer there. My mom, sister and I would stay during the week and Dad would drive up during the weekends. Each morning my sister and I had to make our bed and sweep out the cabin. It was our little chore, and we were motivated to get it done. As soon as we finished, we could spend the rest of the day swimming and playing outside. I learned to swim and how to ride my bike at the Springs. Seriously, the Springs is one of my favorite places in the entire world.

We would have these big family get-togethers there too. My mom is one of five kids. Somehow, we managed to fit LOTS of people in one tiny cabin: aunts, uncles, cousins, grandkids, grandparents, pets, parents, friends, etc. People slept on the porch, in tents, and two of my cousins had to sleep in my Aunt Geri's conversion van. I LOVED these times together as a little girl, even if I was too shy to speak to people. I loved how all the parents stayed up late to play Trivial Pursuit, how my Grandmama sat in the cabin all day memorizing the Trivial Pursuit answers {where she kept the air conditioner on sub-artic temperatures}, how the kids ate lunch on the porch {it's where my cousins taught me the to put chips on my sandwich}.

Last weekend was the third time this summer I've been to the Springs. One time was for one of the epic family get-togethers {over Memorial Day} and one time was to begin cleaning out the cabin. Unfortunately, after my Granddaddy passed away {nine years ago}, the family neglected the cabin. After all the yard work last weekend, it became obvious how badly the cabin needs to be painted.

In the next couple of months, I plan to document our clean-up of the place. I just wish I had before and after pictures from the last two clean-up weekends. I'll share more on those weekends in a post sometime next week--once we get the "after" picture from the yard work developed. {Yes, we are still using a Film SLR}.

The Summer Day

I've seem this poem in a couple of different places in the past couple of days and wanted to share with you.

The Summer Day

by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?


Who made the swan, and the black bear?


Who made the grasshopper?


This grasshopper, I mean-


the one who has flung herself out of the grass,


the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,


who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-


who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.


Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.


Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.


I don't know exactly what a prayer is.


I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down


into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,


how to be idle and blessed,

how to stroll through the fields,


which is what I have been doing all day.


Tell me, what else should I have done?


Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?


Tell me, what is it you plan to do


with your one wild and precious life?