Best days

National Ice Cream Day was celebrated...AND July is National Ice Cream MONTH! What a great month for a bday :)

I just had the best few days in a row. My favorite girlfriends from highschool and I spent a week in Florida together and didn't kill each other. You know how you're great friends but spending too much time together sometimes makes you forget ya like each other? Well, of course there were frustrations because we're all still pretty selfish with what we do, say, and how we act sometimes, but it was really fun! I learned a lot. I think I've grown up a lot over the years, and I had a fab time all together. I left the relaxing time in Florida with my friends to go to Iowa for family pictures. What a change. Sometimes it's like whiplash when you go from one setting of people to the other. Even just traveling by yourself to traveling with someone else is a big change. It's stressful when people aren't as flexible or fun as you're used to. A lot of little things went wrong in Iowa, but my dad kept my perspective straight. He said, "Sis, breathe. Things happen. Sometimes life is just...life." Thanks, Dad. I came home and did a LOT of statistics homework. Ewww. God did not create that part of my brain correctly. Tuesday we had Life Group; I know I've said before but it's nice to have made some friends here in Franklin. Friends are a huge deal to me and something that I really do value. I love people and love for them to like me back :) Wednesday was more homework and running errands. Squeezed in a longer run than I've had in a while. I will say, this run was probably one of the top three runs I've had all summer...the kind that takes your breath away and leaves you feeling really alive. Yeah, that kind. Today was the best day in a month or so because it was just so simple and fun. Went shopping by myself, got some school things, bought my first day of school dress, red capris (eek! I'm not sure about them but I can't wait to try them with leopard print flats! My guy friends will tease me...I will call them jerks...it all works) The drive home was the most enjoyable. Just taking in all the things around me, noticing the gardens, and gates, and fields....made my heart happy. Just the best kind of day that leaves you hungry for more. By the time I got home to supper by myself of hummus and wheat thins it was thundering and it was just one of those days that makes you love summer. I'm ready for school to start, but until then I'll sit here and work on organizing some football paperwork and catch up on some Sex in the City episodes. I've decided summer's not so bad...it's just what you make of it  <3

When all else fails

Saturday + Summer = Fab

What a week...of nothing. Yay! I finally feel like it's summer. I've actually made lunch and dinner this week, slept in, watched tv, siiiigh it's been great. I think if I did this forever it'd get boring, but this week was relaxing.

Current summer song obsession (be prepared to get hooked):

Went to see Peter Pan this week at the Performing Arts Center here in town; it was much more fun because a friend and I took her five year old. Experiencing things through the eyes of a child is refreshing and fun. It is honestly joyful! Here's a funny quote that made me laugh while we were at dinner with these friends and their five year old this week: "Renee, do you have children?" (which by the way, a five year old saying children instead of kids is kinda funny just in itself. My children will speak just as well...I hope!) I replied that I did not yet have children. She looked at me very confused and just said, "Then why do you have a husband?" Hummm good question! Then she said, "Well do you want children?" I said someday. And she looked very concerned and said, "Well, you can only have them one at a time. Don't wait too long! Then you'll be old!" And there you have it.

Today I spent my Saturday at a yard sale with my Life Group playing with babies, drinking coffee, seeing a few students from this past year, and rocking on the porch swing with a friend. Not a terrible way to spend a morning! When I came home I ate cookies, napped, and watched You've Got Mail and The Wedding Planner back to back. I've been on quite the movie kick lately! I especially like the old movies, well when I say old I can also include the 90s in there :) Every Saturday growing up I would watch super old musicals on PBS (because that's what you do when you don't have satellite TV growing up and you're waiting for Lawrence Welk to come on....that's embarrassing...only old people like Lawrence Welk haha but I LOVED that show) Anyway, all that to say that old tv shows and movies really make me happy. Here's a few of my favorites from the 90s movie marathon this weekend:
 
The Wedding Planner

Mary: I thought I could control everything, and I can't. Did you ever like somebody, but the timing was off? Way off? You feel things you should not be feeling? I'm not making any sense.
Massimo: You make much sense. You long for him the way I long for you. You need to learn patience. Love can't always be perfect. Love is just love.
Mary: My mom used to say that. 
Massimo: Your mother was a very wise woman. 
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Steve: Why you only eating the brown ones?
Mary: Because someone once said they have less artificial coloring because chocolate's already brown. And it kind of stayed with me.
Steve: You kind of stayed with me.

You've Got Mail

Joe: You know, sometimes I wonder...
Kathleen: What?
Joe: Well... if I hadn't been Fox Books and you hadn't been The Shop Around the Corner, and you and I had just, well, met...
Kathleen: I know.
Joe: Yeah. I would have asked for your number, and I wouldn't have been able to wait twenty-four hours before calling you and saying, "Hey, how about... oh, how about some coffee or, you know, drinks or dinner or a movie... for as long as we both shall live?"
Kathleen: Joe...
Joe: And you and I would have never been at war. And the only thing we'd fight about would be which video to rent on a Saturday night.
Kathleen: Well, who fights about that?
Joe: Well, some people. Not us.
Kathleen: We would never.
Joe: If only.
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Joe: Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.

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(ps: a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils sounds perfect, yeah? I mean, hellloooo, charming haha)

Happy Summer everyone!

Father's Day

After church I stopped at the mailbox to pick up everything from when we had been gone on vacation. In the stack of mail was a card-sized letter addressed just to me. For a minute I thought my parents had forgotten exactly when my birthday was and were sending a card early, or my mom found a newspaper clipping to send and my dad had just addressed the envelope. However, when I opened the envelope I was reminded of the many reasons I love and appreciate my dad that were held inside. I've never doubted my dad loved me and was proud of me, and that my dad loved my mom; after working with my students I realize what a blessing that actually is. Thanks, Dad. We don't always get along, and I know my dad has flaws, but I appreciate the sacrificial example he's been of always putting God and my family first in his life even if it meant giving up what a lot of others would see as success. My dad told me a few months ago, "When I looked at my life when I was your age, Sis, I didn't think I'd be here. I thought I'd be taking it a lot slower, relaxing a lot more, and not worrying as much about work and money and paying off some of you kids' college loans. But, I'll tell you that I'm glad I was there for dance competitions, baseball games, and the memories. The three of you and your mom are my life....and that's a much better life than I had imagined." Thanks for being you, Dad. I love you.

A comparison...comfortable...or so in love that you act insane? The Notebook clip

Saw this linked from Pinterest and thought it was really well done. Taylor Swift (I know, I know) "That's the Way I loved You" is the perfect fit for the comparison between Noah and Lon. Yes, I do like the Notebook. Typical, I know :)

I hadn't heard the song, so loved listening to the lyrics to see the difference between Lon and Noah (obviously a Noah fan...who wouldn't want a rollercoaster kinda rush and kissing in the rain!? Uh, yeah, swooning girls line up here) ;)  Watch the movie compilation - the person who made this is talented for sure!