September 16 through September 21

Sept. 16

Happy Birthday Carolyn!

"Narrow Stairs" 

I promise it is on it's way! (: 

Sept. 17

Haley working on the cake for Melissa's bridal brunch

Sept. 18

Carolyn, Melissa (the bride) (:, Me &  Jenna

We go way back.

Sept. 19

the BEST smelling bar of soap ever. thanks mel!

Sept. 20

hmm..fro-yo again!?

Blueberry Frog (downtown Greenville) date with Mike, Mike & Kayla! 

Sept. 21

Flowers from Mimi 

September 9 through September 15

Sept. 9

Keys. 

Believe it or not, cutting keys at the hardware store was one of my favorite parts of the job.

Sept. 10

In Athens for my training cert. Bulldogs everywhere.

Sept. 11

Yoguri

i am obsessed with fro-yo.

(and mochi that you can get on it. try it, you'll love it too)

Sept. 12

my first day of spending the week at Honeys while Mike was in Canada

Sept. 13

a quilt she's working on

Sept. 14

painting the back porch!

Sept. 15

Lunch at Chipolte with Ashleigh

YUM! It was so good...but kind of expensive for Mexican.

September 1 through September 8

September 1

I saw this HUGE mushroom when I started out on a run. The group of them was glistening in the sun from the dew. When I got back from my run the dew was dried up, but it's beautiful just the same.

Sept. 2

One of my favorites. Beautiful (:

September 3

David. He's my favorite. 

Sept. 4

Labor Day Weekend Festivities at the Lake!

Family

Sept. 5

Dried hydrangeas at the lake. 

Sept. 6

I'm not even lying. This is absolutely the BIGGEST grub I've ever seen. He was beautiful! 

For all you science brains:

Common Name: Luna moth Scientific Name: Actias luna (Linnaeus)  Order: Lepidoptera Sept. 7

The beginning to homemade peanut logs. (Check out the previous post) The nougat filling was super simple! (and delicious!)

Sept. 8

The finished product! 

Yummmmm

Aug. 23 through Aug. 31

Aug. 23

Aug. 24

Aug. 25

As much as I hate spiders, this little guy was down by the mail box at my parents house. (you should be able to click on the picture and enlarge it...see the detail in his legs?! he was a wild little thing!)

Aug. 26

Oreo Balls for Melissa's bachelorette party!

(chilling before being covered with white chocolate!)

Aug. 27

Mike & Me at Melanie's Soccer game

PC vs Woffard

Aug. 28

My Best Friends Bachelorette Party!!!

After dinner at the Overlook Grille

Aug. 29

spontaneous motorcycle trip to Highlands

outside of Dutchmans

i love it there.

Aug. 30

mini "wedding cakes"

i don't really want to talk abou them, but i will. here is what they are supposed to look like:

  wedding cake pops

 my cookie cutters weren't the right shape or size

and, when we (mike helped) tried to dip them in the white chocolate ... they crumbled.

if at first you don't succeed, have a bad attitude and threaten to throw them in the trash (no matter how tasty they really were)

i'll be trying them again this week, trying to perfect them before Melbert's Bridal Brunch next weekend!

Aug. 31

My new running shoes!! (: 

Your Guide To Life

First, I know I haven't posted pictures in a very long time. These past two weeks have been a whirlwind with no down time. Between my class in Athens for my Personal Fitness Trainer cert. and Mike getting ready to leave for Canada last weekend we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off. I'll get my pictures in order and get down to business ASAP. (I also have limited time on my computer where all of my pictures are because I'm staying with Honey this week while Mike is in Canada..and therefore have no internet)

Anyway, onto "Your Guide To Life!" At the office we get all kinds of magazines (lucky for me, I don't have to buy them...ever!) We just received: Outside Magazine and it has an amazing list of things to do in your life. I am hooked. Here's my list (from the magazine list) of things that we are going to do:

1. Self-guide the Grand Canyon

2. Learn a constellation other than the Big Dipper (i LOVE the stars. I think they absolutely
reflect what a beautiful God we serve)

3. Master a second language - I'm hoping it will be Spanish. My desire is that I will learn it
while living in a Spanish speaking country.

4. Take 2 weeks off. Completely off. No phone. No computer. No watch.
We did this in Costa Rica (but only for a week) for our honeymoon. We are going back for our anniversary (and it's only a week again). Two weeks, whenever it happens will
be a treat.

5. Trek in the Himalayas

6. Win your age group in a race
Lauren's Hope 5K .. here I come! Oct. 2, 2010!! My goal is sub 24 min.

7. Watch the world cup. LIVE.
I don't really care about soccer, but I would love to experience this. Seeing it on TV is
one thing, but in person I bet it's thrilling! Mike and Carson both love soccer. Maybe I could give them a joint birthday present (if I win the lottery!) hah

8. Get in the best shape of your life.
I'm working on it. Highschool is going to be hard to beat

9. Trek Torres del Paine. Alone. (Or in my case, alone with Mike)
Torres del Paine is part of the Chilean national park

10. Go to New Zealand

11. Ski-bum for a winter. (or a life time) .. this is my dream job. i love skiing. and i wantto do it for a living.

12. Live abroad for a year. (or again..for a life time) Mike and I really both want to move away to a foreign country. for us there is so much more to it than it being on a list of things to do in a lifetime.

13. Raise $2500 for a cause - I already know it will be for Lauren's Hope Foundation.

14. Go on a walking safari

15. Volunteer after a disaster.
*I have done this, but I'd like to do it again. I went to Biloxi, MS after Hurricane Katrina. I hope to do it again, maybe even long term. Or maybe with the Peace Corp.

16. Climb the Grand Teton.

This is a list simply from the Outside Magazine. I have a lot of things I want to do and tons more places that I want to go and / or live. I better get started!

Wodensday

Happy Wodensday AKA Hump Day (: 

Today has been one of the busiest most productive days I've had in a long time. It started at 5:25AM..yes, that's AM people. I was up so early because I had a "2nd interview," if you will, at a gym fitness facility (it really isn't a gym like you're picturing) and got to train with one of the trainers there. He about killed me. There were 3 of us in the group and I was lucky enough to get to work out with a man who is training to go into the navy. ARE.YOU.KIDDING?! haha! I'm not going to lie, it was an awesome workout, and it was over by 7:10. (:

Since today was my day off, I came home and fixed breakfast for Mike & myself, then lazed about until around 9. I needed to run errands - with the purpose of getting a scrub brush to scrub our back porch. It's painted a shade of tan right now that matches the siding of the house so we are painting it a chocolaty brown - but it is pretty gross with mildew, so I set out to find a scrub brush. The little feed and seed store (shop local, right?) had nothing in the way of a scrub brush, so I detoured on my way to WalMart to Hobby Lobby. (hey, it was on the way..almost) I wanted something fallish to decorate with, but all I came home with was a wooden "M" to hang in the den. It's pretty plain and simple - I got it with the intentions of painting it - but I'm not sure what color (I'm thinking gold). I may leave it wooden though. However, I came home with a bag of loot from WalMart! 2 fall smelling candles, a spiral bound notebook (for my training course this weekend) and tons and tons of junk food for my dad, Carson & Mike for their Canada Trip this upcoming week.

Upon arrival back to the house, I promptly lit my new candles (who doesn't do that immediately?!) and started lunch so it'd be ready when Mike came home. While I was patiently waiting for Mike to get home I finished the peanut rolls that I've been making for my dad for the trip. They are YUMMY. I found the recipe on line and decided that since Mike & Carson put in requests I would surprise dad with something he loves. Plus, he'd never request anything anyway.

After lunch I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. Since I'll be gone this weekend to Athens for my "Personal Fitness Trainer" Certification and Mike is leaving for Canada..I figured it might as well get done now. Man, I forgot how much cleaning there is if you do it all at once! Oh well, it's alllll done! (well, all but one load of laundry that's still in the dryer) I also scrubbed about half of the back porch, but stopped since I was on my hands and knees using clorox and water. An hour of scrubbing was plenty. I'm pretty sure I breathed in my quota of clorox fumes for the year. And I was outside.

I think I hear "Flushed Away" starting without me. I.must.go.study. As much as I don't want to. I've obviously put if off all day. But, I must.

Aug. 20 through Aug. 22

Aug. 20

last reminents of summer. so long my sweet friend.

Aug. 21

a "luau" themed baby shower for Layla! she made her entrance into the world the following weekend.

Gram & Mike

Aug. 22

any ideas what this is?!