Content

I'm so content right now.  This past weekend was seriously just what the doctor ordered.  The only problem is that it went by too quickly!

Last week was rough in my "female" department - yeah TMI I know, but for real, I was super miserable all week long.  It finally eased up on me by the weekend so the timing was perfect.

Friday we had a fun double date with my parents, since we didn't have to rush off to a rehearsal or anything like that.  It was nice to go to dinner for a change!  After that we headed to the movie store and home to watch a movie.  So relaxing.

Saturday I got up early and walked to Caribou to meet my parents.  From there I went out on a little shopping excursion as several local groups I follow were having vintage sales on Saturday.  Even better, they were all within minutes of each other so I made a fun little loop around the south side of Minneapolis.  AND I stuck to my budget that I set for myself.  I was very proud.

Saturday afternoon Nate and I had a fun treat, we got to go to a Surly Brewing tour!  We've been wanting to do that tour for ages and finally got lucky enough to get in.  It was awesome.  Lots of free beer and it was fun to see where they make their beer.  After that we had a nice dinner out and headed home to watch another movie.

Sunday Nate took an all grain brewing class.  To put it in the very simplest terms, what he usually does is extract brewing, a simpler way of making a batch of beer, think of it like using a cake mix.  All grain brewing is more or less everything from scratch, like doing something completely homemade.  So he's ready to do all grain brewing and took a class to learn more about it.  Today he is off from work actually making the all grain brew.  It's going fairly well from what I've heard, he has learned a lot if nothing else.  I'm proud of him.

We've set a date for Oktoberfest already - I know, crazy.  But it gets bigger and bigger every year and we even have a couple of out of town friends who wanted to plan to come, so we set a date and are sending it out on Facebook already so hopefully that will help some with planning their schedules!

So I feel good right now.  I feel on top of things and in control and rested and happy.  And for this moment, that's enough!

Summer lovin'

You know, in my last post, I said we've been busy.  And that it's been hot.  But I'm sitting here thinking after reading a blog post from Jes - she quoted her husband John as saying "I love this summer" the other night.  And as I'm looking at the things we've already been able to do, heat and busy-ness and all, I kind of love this summer too.  It's been good so far.  

Beach days, patio nights, birthday celebrations for friends and family, pedicures, beer brewing, golfing, shopping sales.

How can you not love a summer that includes those things?  And there's more to come.  More time with friends, more beer brewing, vacations, making a CD with Praise Project, the State Fair, more golfing, hopefully more pool or beach time, eating out on patios, and yes, hopefully some work in the yard, can't all be super fun I suppose!

Maybe the biggest reason this summer is better so far is that Nate isn't as stressed at work.  I'm sure that is helping a lot actually.  But actually I think the more helpful thing is I'm not really putting any pressure on ourselves to make this a great summer.  We're taking things as they come, taking things one day at a time and are finding a balance even in the crazy busy times.  

I don't know, whatever it is, it's working.  I love this summer.

Catching my breath

We're just heading out of what was likely one of our busiest weeks of summer.  I think.  There was something going on just about every day for the last week and even though I had a couple of days off, it was a bit hectic at times.  The weekend ahead is still a little full, but then time will slow way down for the next two weeks and I plan to soak that up.

I've been doing pretty good at not getting overwhelmed by the busyness though. And I've enjoyed myself immensely over the last couple of weeks.  Beach days, pedicures, time with family, time with friends. That doesn't mean I'm not looking forward to catching my breath for a bit though.

As always when Nate and I have a jammed packed schedule I find myself starting to crave time with just him.  We need that couple time too.  We won't get much of it this weekend unfortunately, but next weekend we will.  I'm looking forward to that.

I'm pretty darn proud of myself for sticking to my "one day at a time" philosophy.  I credit much of that to She Reads Truth, though in full disclosure, I've fallen off of that a bit this week.  The new plan is good, but isn't gelling with me as much as the last one.  And maybe it's because I feel so kind of "good" right now that I don't want to dig into the depths of the trenches that this particular plan is encouraging.  I'm not saying it's bad, but it does ask you to look at your fears and your worries and at the moment I just don't want to go there.  It doesn't mean I do not have them, but right now they're buried away for a bit and I just want to leave them there and instead enjoy this moment a bit more.  So I've put a "pin" in it so to speak.  It's there when I need it and that's the important part.

Ooh and look, it took me up to five paragraphs before I mentioned the weather - now THAT is shocking.  It's kind of another one of those things I've just kind of let go though.  I can't control it.  If it's going to be hot, it's going to be hot.  Without getting crazy political I do believe we're starting to gradually see the effects of global warming and I guess instead of crabbing about it, I'm trying to adapt.  No I don't love hot weather.  I never will.  I just do my best to dress for it, stay hydrated and stay in the A/C if I need to.  And the good summer days I try to do my best to actually get outside and take advantage of.  It's the best we can do.  This too shall pass.

So that's me in a nutshell.  Now you're all caught up.

Happy 4th of July!

I don't recall a July 4th holiday being THIS hot in quite some time.

Thank God for AC!!!

Stay cool and hydrated my friends!  And have a wonderful celebration!