Living the Adventure, Telling the Stories
To night
I met up with a college friend I hadn’t seen in over TEN years…so there was plenty to ch at
about!
We picked up right where we left off.
And it is totally almost one in the morning, so you get…um…a picture. (And maybe I’ll tell ya more tomorrow.)
What a great night.
Well, at least the last two weeks of life.
My birthday daisies from a sweet friend.
Aren’t they gorgeous?!
A visit with some of our favorite Indonesia friends…such good times.
Magnums…now available in the U.S.!!! Enough said.
Maelie tries to share her bottle with the sheep at the petting zoo. Haha!
Mae and Kris… I seriously smile when
I look at this.
What a fun memory.
Swinging with one of her favorite people… I just love this picture.
I know I’ ve been quiet for the last few days.
Two of my dear friends from Minnesota were visiting, and we were busy shopping
and cooking
and taking walks and watching movies and laughing together.
It was a great three days, and my heart is already feeling the ache of m
issing them.
Here’s a picture I love… and will keep forever.
It’ s definitely blog-worthy.
I rang in 33 today.
It was a day that started out a bit rough with some recurring s tomach issues, but thankfully, I have a fantastic hubby who was flexible with his morning and stayed home a few extra hours
to give me some time to recover.
By 10:00 I was better and even up for a short (but HOT!) walk with Maelie.
Mae and I got home around 10:45, and I put her down for a nap, which she protested, loudly, until noon.
Then I gave in, rescued her from the evil confines of her crib, fed her some lunch, played with her, and tried the nap thing again at 1:30.
This time, it worked.
She was still sleeping at 3:45 when Tobin c ame home
and I left to go get a coffee
and pedicure with my good friend, Kris.
Two chai frapuccinos, pretty toenails with flowers, and over an hour in massaging chairs later, we headed to dinner with friends at The Village Squire, and were lucky enough that my birthday landed on half price burger night.
Score.
Then it was back to the house for DQ cake…mmmm.
Just about an hour ago, I “officially” turned 33.
It’ s gonna be a great year.
And, oh yeah.
I’m about the most blessed girl on the planet.
Time is a funny thing.
Sometimes days stretch out, and the hours seem endless. Like those that are just long…when Maelie won’t nap, and it seems like 5:30 will never come so I can have a bit of relief.
Other times it flies. We blink and, suddenly, a year (or more) has passed, and we wonder things…like where our last year in Indonesia went or how our tiny little girl became an (almost) walking, talking toddler.
And no matter what happens with time, it seems like there’ s never enough of it.
We made a quick six hour trip to Janesville today
to visit some dear friends who are home for the summer and about to head back to Indo. We saw them a few weeks ago but wanted to see them again, and today was really the only day that worked for all of us. It was so good…to talk, laugh, process, and pick up a friendship where it left off.
It means so much that they still want to be part of our lives…even though we’re on opposite sides of the world.
Toward the end of the evening, Mae was hanging out with Tobin, Gregg, Noah, Jana, and Amie, and Janine and I were having coffee and talking on the patio, and we ended up having one of those deep, I-have-so-needed-this, conversations that happen very rarely. It was a moment I wanted to hang onto forever and prayed that God would multiply the minutes.
Of course, those minutes flew…and it was time to go.
So we hugged and said our goodbyes… and that was it.
Not enough time…that’s how I’ m feeling after today.
I didn’t really cry until we pulled away, but even now the tears brim and threaten to stream down my face.
I guess with friends who have walked a path so unknown to most of the people in our lives, there will never be enough time.
Just memories and experiences…and the Fa
ther who holds us all together.
And those things have to be enough.
I saw the moon.
Then I sang that little song to myself in the version that
I know.
(Actually, I belted it out for the neighborhood to hear; thankfully I don’t think anyone did.)
I see
the moon and the moon sees me,
The moon sees someone that I’ d like to see.
God bless the moon and God bless me,
And God bless the someone that I’ d like to see.
And that’s when the tears welled up in my eyes.
Because as I was staring up at the moon,
I realized something.
There’s a crazy time change and large amounts of daylight here right now, so the moon isn’t shining here at the same time it’s shining in Indo.
Sad.
I miss my Indo friends…and can’t wait to hug them.
Soon, I hope.
G’nite.
So today we’re gonna
go back to the randomness that used to make up my Saturday posts.
Today has definitely had some random moments, so it’s good.
First up…welcome back, sunshine! After several gloomy, cloudy, rainy days, it was so wonderful to wake up to the sun shining!
We tried to enjoy the gorgeous weather, too.
We had coffee on the back porch, tossed around the frisbee a bit, I attempted to blog outside but kept getting distracted by talking to people who walked by ;), and had (another) coffee with a friend in her backyard. Definitely some good sun, and the tan that was fading is revived a bit. Always good.
Mae is back to her two naps right now thanks to the lovely little fever/rash that she’s got. She is NOT happy about it, either, although the extra sleep is good for her. In between naps, though, we packed her up and headed to the farmer’s market in East Dundee.
We browsed a bit and then walked to DQ, which wasn’t very far.
(Yeah, now you know the REAL reason we went there! ;))
And somewhere during our excursion I got wind of some Cupcake Days goin’ on not too far from DQ and ditched the ice cream in favor of cake. (That’s a lingering effect of pregnancy…I LOVE CAKE!) I ate the most expensive cupcake of my life. (To date.) It was YUMMY! And I devoured it so quickly that there is no pic…sorry about that. But for those of you who are interested, it was Raspberry Key Lime and worth every calorie.
😀
Tonight we wanted to check out a freebie concert not too far from our house so we packed up Mae again and headed over there.
But we knew, just a few minutes from our house, that it was a bad idea. Our poor girl just wasn’t up for it…she was cranky, moody, still not feeling well…and we knew better than to try the concert.
We did, however, think that it was worth it…even in the midst of her crankiness…to make a quick run to Old Navy for $2 Tank Top Day.
Oh, how Mel learned her lesson. The lesson that goes something like this: If-you-want-a-deal-go-in-the-morning-not-at-night.
Bummer.
And we ended the night with the girl peacefully drifting into dreamland, Tobin and a friend moving our (new to us) freezer to the basement, and me and a friend making a run to Menards to pick up Mae’s new swimming pool while it was still on sale. 😉 Now we just have to make sure we can set it up without a fence…yeah, it’s on the big side for a first pool. She’ ll love it, though.
And I think?
That’s it for tonight.
Hope you are all having a wonderfully random weekend, just like me.
This is gonna be short and sweet.
Busy day = not much time for the blog. But that’s ok. 😉
This afternoon/evening some Indonesia friends came to see us.
I’m not sure what to call them…we were friends with them IN Indo, but they are
FROM Wisconsin. You decide.
Anyway, it was fun. We had some great laughs, and I was so thankful they
had the chance to meet Mae, even if she had a pretty rough day.
(Yeah, the fever she had a couple days ago turned into roseola, which the doctor had suspected, and
she woke up with a crazy rash today. Poor girl. At least it’s almost over.
:))
Anyway, back to the fun. We just had a great time catching up, telling stories, laughing, roasting marshmallows, eating too much, and just…picking up our friendship where it left off a year ago.
We have so missed them, and it did a lot for our hearts to reconnect and make some more memories.
As wonderful as this year has been, and as much as I have enjoyed the new friends I’ve made…I’m so thankful for people in my life
who understand where I’ve been and what the Indo part of my life looks like. No matter how many stories I tell, no matter how many Indonesian foods I (attempt to) cook and share with people here, they will never fully understand that part of my life.
I know that, I’ve accepted it…and I truly enjoy those friendships for what they are.
And sometimes it’s nice that not everyone knows what life was in Indo…because we share the good stuff.
I can’ t say I was always a
t my best there. True…Oh. So. True.
Today made me incredibly thankful for the people God has placed into my life for each step of the journey. Some are part of it for just a step, others remain part of it even when our steps part ways.
So if you’re reading this (unless you’re a random stranger stopping by) you’ve probably, at some point, been one of those friends…or still are.
And I’ m thankful for you!
Just my thoughts tonight.
Ok, so I’m kind of lacking creativity in the titling of this post. Therefore, you get exactly what’s happening. 😉
Today if you hopped over, you’d find a semi-clean house (yay, Mel!) and someone dying to chat with a human being who can speak words back.
It’s been kind of a rainy, blah week, and Mae and I haven’t been out of the house much other than for random walks and a bit of birthday shopping for my hubby, who turns (whisper) 34 on Tuesday! Anyway, so when today (aka: Park Day) rolled around, I was sure we’d get rained out. Thankfully we didn’t and Mae and I had some time this morning with friends. Ah, what social interaction will do for the heart and soul.
Tomorrow we are looking forward to a visit from some more of our Indonesia friends.
The Hegle’s are a family we’ve known since the summer before we went to Indo, and they’re back for the summer.
We love them, our fellow Packer friends, American Idol party hosts, and just cool people. So looking forward to seeing them tomorrow and introducing them to our girl!
This week I vowed that I would work out every day.
On Monday nights I get together with a group for a walk (a make-me-drip-with-sweat-up-and-down-hills walk, just to clarify ;)) and then some station training with a friend who I think could steal Jillian Michaels’ job. Speaking of Jillian, I bought her DVD, 30 Day Shred, and I have to admit that after three days, I can already tell a difference.
The workouts are TOUGH, but at least they’re short. (20ish minutes.)
I WILL make it through the 30 days!
I WILL MAKE IT through the 30 days!
I WILL MAKE IT THROUGH THE 30 DAYS!
Just sayin’. And then I will reward myself with some chocolate and shopping.
Tonight I had a culinary success that I HAVE to brag about. I made homemade pizza on the grill. I read about this on a friend’s blog, tweaked it, and gave it a try.
It was amazing…so amazing that I want to go attack the leftovers, but I’m practicing self control. I’m thinkin’ we might need to make it a few more times this summer, though. (Why is it that I seem to follow talking about working out with talking about food?)
We’re still tossing around vacation ideas but have pretty much settled on either St.
Louis or Southaven, since both would involve seeing some good friends we haven’ t seen for
two years.
Good stuff. Now that we have a semi-plan, I’m ready to get excited about actu ally
taking a vacation!
The three of us went on a family “date” tonight. First we headed to Menards to pick up my extremely late Mother’s Day gift…a fire pit. I am very excited about it.
😀 I can’t wait to roast marshmallows and strum my guitar and sing. YAY!!! Then we went to the grocery store to pick up a few things so we can actually feed our friends tomorrow.
We are tossing around the idea of getting a small(er) pool for Maelie since she already loves the water.
We’ve been looking at the 3′ Intex one and wondering if it’s worth it. I know a few people who have them. The way this girl splashes around, she’ll use it all the time. Just wondering if we want to wait another summer. I guess we’ll see what kind of deal we can get.
Ok, I’m just blabbing on and on when the truth is, I’ve got thank you’s to write and some doggies to love and an orange water bottle to refill.
G’nite! Love you all.
Follower of my Father. Wife to Tobin. Mama to my Mae and Mac. Friend. Writer. Dreamer. Lover of adventures. Throw in some coffee, chocolate, running, music, and that's me. I fill this space with the real of my heart and life as I dance through my days with one hand holding my daughter's (or my son's, if I can keep up with him!) and the other holding my coffee mug. Welcome! I hope you'll stay awhile.
