i miss my favorite 2 year old. and her momma.

los animales

so sue me. i am not especially fond of animals. i don't mistreat them, or hurt them or even really talk bad about them, i just don't choose to have any in my house and i don't really find joy from them (totally know others do, and I respect that). Just not for me.

that being said, i feel like God is trying to tell me something this last week about animals.

1.)

baby deer that is soooooo flipping cute has leg dangling from its joint. flops around when he tries to run :(. neighbors decide to stage an intervention and catch it in MY yard! ugh. the deer whisperer, aka the neighbor that feeds them comes over sobbing hysterically, standing in my yard. I offered a tissue.

2.)

every single evening when I go to water my garden and my flowers, I find peanut shells in the bird bath. I believe they come from said deer whisperer and what she feeds her flocks of animals, and an animal drags them over. either that or drew discards them there after watching baseball games?

3.)

i am on the hunt for a very specific piece of furniture for our guest room. my efforts at GoodWill are not yielding results, so I went with my mom to the ReStore, a very cool consignment furniture/building supply store in town. Of course, the ONE piece of furniture that I am interested in is the ONE with the store cat lounging in the drawer. I tell myself that the reason I didn't even investigate it any further is because Drew is allergic to cats and he would somehow suffer an asthma attack from cat hair on the guest dresser? really, i am just petrified of cats and was to scared to look at the price tag of the dresser :)

4.)

i cant remember if I have discussed the monster fish on here? ugh. there is a bass that is guarding its babies best under our floating dock. whenever you swim in a certain area (aka RIGHT off the dock where everyone swims) it will come on over to you and ram you :) it has drawn blood three times from the neighbor kids. :( I understand it wanting to guard its sweet fishy babies, but can't it move its nest away from where I like to float in my floating with my mikes hard lemonade? (yes, I am even scared of floating OVER the fish. I think it would like to nibble on my toesies ;))

anyways. we have recruited lots of our fisherman friends to try and catch it, but there has been no luck. it is a smart bugger. Ky came the closest and caught a DIFFERENT fish, but not the violent offender.


what do you think? i think this is the Lord telling me Drew needs to get me chickens ;)

"forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different. "




first world problem:
why must the neighbors trailer block  my view when no one is staying it. a little to the left, would ya? :)

real simple

read this article in August's issue of Real Simple and thought this was well put and a great reminder.

5 things you should never lie about

1.) your work history
well yeah. its okay if ice cream scooper becomes food customer service representative but don't say you majored in finance when it really was spanish.

 
2.) your health
yes. your default answer to "how are you?" is "fine". It's important to have a support system of your friends and families so next time, its alright to say, "It could be better. I'm going through a rough time right now."

3.) your free time
it's okay to set boundaries. if you don't want to do something, don't say you don't have time if you really do. They will be annoyed that you had time to make it to the gym four times that week, but not to volunteer. the same goes the opposite. it's okay to say, "no." "No" is a full sentence. :)

4.) your guilty pleasures
"I read celebrity magazines and enjoy store bought cookies frosted in colors not found in nature." love this line from the magazine. "with these kind of admissions, we can have deeper conversations about the things that really matter." -patty digh

5.) your struggles
"in this age of pinterest worthy toddler birthday parties and curated Facebook news feeds, we are trained to show others only our best sides. So I was genuinely shocked when a close friend admitted her marriage was in trouble. Listening to her speak candidly-and not try to sugar coat what was happening-pushed me to take a more honest look at my own relationship. Soon after that, my husband and I began counseling. If for no other reason, sharing your failures allows others to learn from your mistakes." -Robin O'Bryant

have a good weekend everyone, i am off to enjoy some cookies frosted in colors not found in nature :) mmmmmm, my guilty pleasure ;)

sunshine

i don't know if its global warming or God knows us Pacific Northwestern's needed some sunshine, but the weather has been downright beautiful.

we have been trying to live it up as best as possible.

in fact, a few nights ago Drew texted me at work and said, "I feel like summer is going too fast. We are bbqing tonight. I will get propane for the BBQ." Alright then. No arguments here :)

we celebrated birthdays

had some impromptu dinner parties

donut dates

some good ole fashioned badminton

relay for life -ing for papa!

outside dinner dates with hubby

 and celebrated anniversaries :)

i can't wait to see what the second half of summer holds :)

the gosh darn peonies

i threw mandy a bridal shower last month and headed to trader joe's to get some of their infamous peonies. 

perfect shades of cream, pinkish and I was scouting out which bouquet I wanted, when an older gentleman walked over to the flowers and starting studying them too. 

i smiled and he proceeds... "I grow these in my yard and these ones look like they are a week past their prime. They are dead! I can't believe they can even sell them. They should sell them for half off!"

I politely smiled, shrugged and kept on my way. My new "buddy" continued on his merry way, I was hoping he went to the icecream aisle or something. I think he needed a little pick me up. 

I had just about settled on which flowers I wanted when I saw a Trader Joe's employee (looking dapper in their Hawaiian shirt. JUST KIDDING! I hate that they wear those. i said it. sorrynotsorry.)

He says, "I hear you wanted to discuss getting a discount on the peonies..."

My face turned BEET red!

It wasn't ME. It was that random man!

I stammered out something like, "no its okay. i understand," when he proceeded to tell me that unfortunately they don't offer discounts on flowers.

that man had gone and asked for a discount for me! I suppose he was trying to be nice and helpful but I thought the peonies looked fine!

for some reason that really irritated me. I knew he was just trying to help, but I felt really annoyed. 

EARTH TO LINDSAY.

I mean, I suppose people would think I am bossy. Or whatever you want to call it. How many freaking times do I go through the week, speaking for people, not listening to their entire sentences before I butt in?

Drew starts to tell me about his day and I interrupt with my interpretation of what happened.

I even help when it is unsolicited. :) I know it's not BAD to be helpful and try to anticipate problems, but this dear man in Trader Joe's really was a great reminder to me. 

this is one of my july goals.

close my mouth and open my ears. :) 

and everyone commented on how pretty the peonies were, so sorry Trader Joe's for "asking" for a discount. 

did ya know the word "listen" is the same letters as the world "silent"? uhh weird. 

kinda like "stressed" and "desserts" :)

hippy yard

when i think about our backyard, i have to laugh.

we just got a croquet set as a belated wedding gift. i read the entire rule book.

we have a hammock...

the garden! i feel like a cute old lady when i set out to water all my plants. it takes a good 15 minutes to make the rounds. 

oh. and the badminton net :)

bored? come on over. :) i am trying to convince Drew that now we need some chickens ;)

wouldn't that be fun? and complete our crazy little backyard adventure?

first look

i still get goosebumps. 

kudos to photographer lindsay schuette

my heart is full

i finally tackled my updo, hairsprayed hair from the wedding on Friday. I pulled out 22 bobby pins. that plus 2 days of swimming in the lake and running around in the sun equals a very scary hair brushing session. I only had to have Drew attack two knots though, so that was good.

my baby sister did it. she is now a married woman.

it was the most beautiful day, she was the most beautiful bride and there love story is beautiful. i don't believe there was a dry eye in the entire wedding.

that may have been due to the fact that my sister burst into tears walking down the aisle when she saw T. the love and respect they have for each just radiates off.

i am now laying in bed with wet hair, a sunburnt face and a full heart.

i had so much fun with my sister last week getting our manicures.

i had fun with all her friends and the wedding party, being crazy and loud and probably drinking too many mimosas.

i had fun with Drew, remembering our wedding and our love story.

it was fun dancing with my grandparents, my little cousins, my great aunt to "we are family"

i had fun with my friends who came to support my baby sister, as they have also been a huge part of her life. we may have had too many bud light lime-a-ritas.

listening to my dad's speech, and hear him toast to my momma. so precious.

listenting to my own wavey, quivering voice give my speech. ugh.

the flower girl reminded me about what it really is all about. life is simple, if you let it.

so yeah. a whirlwind of a four day weekend behind us. i am tired and not really looking forward to a 5am alarm clock in the morning.

in the last 48 hours I have been sad, sobbing, laughing so hard i was going to pee my pants, proud, nervous and just so happy for mandy and tyson.

it was like a 4 day weekend of all the emotions you experience in life, just shortened.


my heart is full :)