Weekend of celebrating!

This was a weekend full of celebrating!

Friday

Celebration #1...VBS 2011 is done!

Celebration #2...Caren's going away party!

It ended up pouring rain but it cooled off a very warm evening!

Saturday

Celebration #3...Sarah's scarf party!

Celebration #4...Brooke's belated birthday dinner celebration!

Menu: Homemade meatloaf and mashed potatoes, green beans (I had just typed 'green means' and thought about keeping it), squash, a veggie bowl, and fruit parfaits for dessert. It was fun to finally celebrate her! Her birthday was the day that I left for Scotland, so I didn't get to participate in week-of festivities. I'm just glad I was able to celebrate with her in the same month. :)

Sunday

Celebration #5...Wedding shower!

Celebration #6...Baptisms at church!

So happy to have been able to celebrate so many fun and exciting things this weekend.

Here is a little gem of a conversation between the Brooke-let and I tonight...

Me, "I'm hungry."

Brooke, "Where do you want to go?"

Me, "Casa 456."

Brooke, "Where?"

Me, "Casa 456."

Brooke, "WherE?"

Me, "Casa 456. Say it out loud Brooke."

Brooke, "Casa. Home. 456."

Me, "Yes, do you get it?"

Brooke, "No...?"

Me, "Brooke, what's our address?"

Brooke, "425."

Me, "OMG. I give up."

Catch-up.

I had a series of a few really great weekends back in May. I'm thankful for any weekend and most all are good, but those were really great--people visiting, fun trips, etc. I believe that I was calling them "super-weekends!" and had full intentions of having them be their own posts. But then a couple things happened.

1. A wee trip to Scotland

2. V. B. S.

I coined a condition, I'm calling it 'VBS Brain'. Sounds like a real disease, no? Anyways, my "symptoms" of 'VBS Brain' include: excessive work pressure, little sleep, 10-12 hour days (14 in a row), extreme multi-tasking, exhaustion, forgetting anything past what was on my to-do list, neglecting all communication/house-care, thinking of nothing but 'what needstobedonerightnow and setupfortomorrow', and finally absence of normal routine. However, I'm healing of my condition and starting to get back to 'normal.' My house is clean, I have started looking through 500+ Scotland photos, and here I am blogging!

A quick recap (as I have photos) of those 'super-weekends...'

1. Katie (and Tony!) came to visit!

My friend Katie who is a book-maker came to town to show her wares at an Athens craft fair. You've probably heard me raving about her books and creativity. She's awesome! I loved hosting her and Tony and seeing them lots. On Saturday night after the craft-fair a few friends came over to see more of them and it was a great time of seeing everyone. Katie and Tony are moving to Nashville soon, which makes me super excited.

You can check out Katie's blog here and her etsy shop here.

2. Nutan came to town!

Basically the same thing happens whenever Nutan comes to town. We shop a bit, we eat a lot, repeat as necessary. We went strawberry picking (varying this trip up a bit); something we had done before with a lot of fondness. The novelty wore off though. We were offered a pre-picked bucket...with a bit of hesitancy we declined and set-off with our buckets. After we got started (like, 90 seconds after we started making our way down the row after I struggled with directions) we questioned calling it a day and going to get the pre-picked bucket but we endured. And then we ate at Last Resort and Cali-n-Titos (not back-to-back but in a span of a few hours).

The arms were there for support to not tip over onto the row of berries. Success.

3. Celebrating Grace's graduation! And a photo shoot!

"ed"

I just sent this line to 100+ people:

These items are still need to be signed-up for!

And that is why I'm choosing to not blog tonight.

125 biscuits

I woke up at 5:38 this morning. On my own. No alarm. And it made my heart so happy. And my equilibrium at the gym happy too, having had 40 minutes to adjust to being awake before exercising, instead of the usual 10 or so. It's now 8:59 and I'm wiped out. But since I don't want to wake up at 4 (which would not make my heart happy), blogging is a clear answer. :)

Today at work we had the monthly staff birthday lunch. While in line I noticed a co-workers skirt and in my head I said, "Oh, Courtney's skirt is from Gap." What came out of my mouth was "Oh, Skirtney's court is from Gap." I heard it come out. I paused. Received a strange look or two. Said it again, thinking still "Courtney's skirt is from Gap" and again what came out was "Skirtney's court is from Gap" still not computing what was wrong. Yeah, blaming THAT on that 5:38 a.m. magic.

Last week (per mentioned, maybe?) was a 4-day work-week, and how thankful I was for it. I did a lot of work at work on Sunday, and Saturday was filled with a project of sorts (more below), and Friday was really a great day of just fun. My friend Katie came to town for a bit--hooray! There was a multi-church Good Friday service--HOORAY! And pizza with excellent ladies afterwards--hooray!

Saturday was a quiet morning. Run, errands (including a trip to the bookstore; more on my selection below) time with a friend. Then, my Saturday project. I got to make breakfast for church on Sunday morning, and I choose recipes that I could do the day beforehand. The menu was biscuits and breakfast casserole. I have an awesome (and easy) homemade buiscuit recipe I used, and the casseroles were easy, just labor-heavy. Zakiya came over and helped me; thank God-I think she grated cheese for an hour and a half. When all was said and done, 125 biscuits were made and 5 casseroles were constructed. At one point I was worried there wasn't enough. Let's just say I sent half a casserole home with someone on Sunday. I took an ENTIRE casserole to work. And took an ENTIRE casserole home. Yes, that's almost 3 too many. I've been having it for dinner since Sunday. At least it tastes fantastic. If you live in Athens and want leftovers or some biscuits, call me. Seriously.

Sunday was Easter Sunday...happy, happy day. Excellent, excellent church service and fellowshipping. Quiet afternoon. Happy-happy.

Oh! Per mentioned, I got a new book. I was given a giftcard to Barnes and Noble, that I went to use it on Saturday. I was going to grab a couple of novels, but it put me in too bad of a mood to buy "beach books" with no scheduled beach time in my future, so I moved on. And a cookbook would be a far more practical choice (and I love practical uses for giftcards). So I spent almost an hour looking at books. I was going to get one by the founders of Baked, but I just wasn't in the mood for a sweets only cookbook (practical, remember)? I saw a few Food Network cookbooks, but I just wasn't impressed. I was thumbing a Rachel Ray when I saw it. The one I was missing. The Joy of Cooking. I'm in love. I used it for the breakfast casseroles. I read a chapter or two when I got home.

My current cookbook collection. Joy fits right in. (The Grit cookbook was absent for this photo-shoot, but definitely an important part).

I took this picture last night from my front door, thinking it was cool (it was at the top of the porch).

This morning at 6:30 I walked into the web.

Not cool.

cotton candy pink

On Wednesday night I realized that I had a four-day work week. Hip-hip-OH NO. It may be a 4-day work week, but I definitely still had a week full of 5 days worth of work to get to get done. This morning I got to work at 8:17 ready to tackle it all AND get health insurance...and at 12:56 when I was fried and decided to go to lunch, I realized I had crossed one, ONE, thing off of my to-do list (but I did have my application for health insurance in, score.). Rather than stress, I took myself to FarmCart (I forgot my lunch at home), and then wandered around in a few downtown stores (I love working DT). I came across a vintage dress in one store. Darling design. Lovely details. But the color...ugh. Pink. But not just pink. "Cotton candy" pink. It's on hold for me until tomorrow...

Oh! And when I got back to work almost EVERYTHING got done. Thanks, Lord.

I didn't share about my super weekend from last weekend. It wasn't entirely what I envisioned travel-wise, but it was still really-really good. Friday night my friend Kelli came over for dinner and a movie (and I lost my winning record of staying awake for a movie). Saturday I had had ideas of visiting friends in Kennesaw and visiting/running some errands with Nutan in Atlanta, but I got tripped up by my goal to squeeze as much as possible into every day. Two different city visits just were not in the works for me, so I ended up running to ATL, seeing Nutan, shopping, finishing some errands, and hurrying back to Athens. We did...well, I got some major deals. I don't know which one was my favorite...an $80 Banana Republic skirt for around $9, or a $128 Anthropology sweater for $19. On Sunday I had a mostly low-key morning and spent the afternoon cooking for church with one of the coolest people I know. Happy times.

So I'm about to embark on a three day weekend. That phrase alone sets it up for success. And what makes it assuredly awesome is that it is Easter weekend.

Praise the Lamb.

current love affair

I have a growing love affair.

I have lived in this sweet city for over six-years, and until this point, I never really went to the Botantical Gardens. I knew it was there, but I just never visited. How lost I was...

After being in the office for 8 hours, I think post-work outside time is of upmost importance. I've tried running trails at the Botans this week. Try is the word to highlight. The level of concentration that it takes to not, you know, DIE tripping over a root or something, is exhausting. My prayer life has gotten a boost during these times, as I'm frequently praying, "Lord, please don't let me break something." Seriously though, I'm loving it. It's quiet, still. I think (more than just not tripping over something treacherous). The Lord talks to me. It's good.

I'm really directionally challenged. On Tuesday, round one, I decided to try the white trail...a good three miles. I doubt I even did 1.5. Why? BECAUSE OF SIGNS LIKE THIS!

It was hopeless.

Today I went back and did the "Orange trail," and afterwards got some pics. Watch out walls, these may be coming your way! (PS...my favorites are at the bottom of this post)

I love this perspective!

Sweet little flowers!

Favorite #1:

Favorite #2. I think this is basically a week, golden-something, but I LOVED it with the golden sunshine coming in behind it.

P.P.S. Today when I was walking to my car after taking pictures, a couple of girls asked me how the white trail went. Hah, hah, hah.

super-weekend #1

I started this blog on Sunday night. And fell asleep while writing it. It's Thursday.

I'm glad for the automatic saves. Here we go...

Why that sort of title for the blog? Because I see a lot of awesome weekends in my future, and I'm calling them out for what they'll be--super.

P.S. Get ready. This post is picture heavy.

The weekend started early for me. I have been working a lot of overtime and I was given a day off. Friday started with gym time, quiet time, and then a zealous attack on my to-do list. For quite some time I've had a to-do list called "things I have to do that I don't want to do." It met its demise on Friday. I now have a new driver's license, car-tag, renters insurance, et cetera. I was eager to get out the door on Friday, so after I blow-dried my hair I didn't bother to straighten it, nor put on make-up. When the thought ran through my head of, "I may need a new picture on my drivers license" I thought no, surely not. I was wrong. New picture. It's bad. Real bad. I was going to take a picture of the crossed off list, but I'll just be satisfied with knowing its demolished. Friday finished with a great dinner with excellent company.

Oh. And then baking 107 cookies.

And then making Lorien's birthday present!

And making icing. (This picture will hopefully be framed in my kitchen. I love it.)

Saturday rolled around with a one-year old birthday party. I made the cookies for the party,

(fun!) and I was asked to take pictures during the party. LOVED IT. And the quality time with that sweet fam!

After the party I crafted with my friend Erika. She's awesome. And our paintings are awesome! Thanks, handy tutorial.

Success!

Sunday was Confirmation Sunday, (nearly) wrapping up a pretty sweet mentoring experience. I say nearly because we have a couple of meetings left to go.

And then post-Confirmation was one of my very favorite times of the week, church at Athens Link!

I also got some (a lot of) pics of my fave flowers on Sunday...

Looking forward to round two.