life as we know it

yes- i did buy a pink tutu & a motorcycle mama leather studded hat for my lil junebug.
long work days lead to snooze sessions on the couch. 
my boss surprised me with cherries on my desk the other day

stacey's birthday shindig

stacey wanted to celebrate her birthday at the beach & have a bonfire/cook out- it was the perfect night for it. 

found out the ocean is warming up...  exciting... discovered "funky flames" (stuff you throw in a fire & it makes colorful flames) i was so proud of my man- he would have made an excellent boy scout... the man can build a fire like nobodys business & he can even dig a pit with blisses (she's 3) beach shovel (impressive!) had fun with glow in the dark straws & s'mores... yuuum & we even got a taste of the embarrassment of children behaving badly.  johnny decided it would be ok to take a whiz on staceys bag... i felt so terrible.  (luckily i have the same one so we could give her mine!)

my mantra of late has been a verse in psalms 119:165.  it hit home when i read an email awhile back.

Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.

my patience has been tested so many times these past few months & i know the tests are far from over. i guess they never are until we take our last breath.  does that overwhelm anyone else like it does me?  anyway on an optimistic note, many battles have been won- many are still being fought right now, but progress is being made.  & as my mom always reminds me: "somedays it's one step forward & two steps back."   

every time i think on these words, i get the perspective i need when i'm feeling angry.  there is no peace to be found in getting frustrated & giving into my human nature.  peace comes when i rise above that.  i want to give my energy to that. 

today

i met stephanie down at the beach with the twins today. such fun to get to know each a little better.  they weren't too impressed with the man catching sand fleas=) lol.

our new guest rooms

so happy how they turned out. simple & homey

happy mothers day!

zane took me to the beach for some nachos & wings for a relaxing sunday evening together.  missed my mama!! 

hilton head island round 2

if you like pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain...

actually there were no pina coladas involved, just soda pop in mason jars. but we did get caught in some major rain=) we ate lunch at this place that i will forever thank for my fave new twist on nachos.  mozzarella cheese & black beans & bbq sauce.... yuuum-o! (don't knock it til you've tried it!) & johnny & junebug went for their first bike ride (with us anyway) they weren't too into it but they were troopers!  after lunch, ash shopped while the husband & kids & i napped, all snuggled up in fuzzy fleece blankets & listening to the pitter patter of rain against the car

more of tybee

a fun beachy town. it reminded me some of the area around shell beach in central california (the town more so than the actual beach itself)

the last song/tybee island

ash & i both loved the last song, as i've well covered. so we thought it would be fun to explore the locations where they filmed the movie.  we didn't know how much we'd actually be able to find... but were happy with our discoveries!  we found the church, the cottage, the pier/boardwalk & the "record shop" (actually a knick knack tourist shop) they used.

** we also got to see terra cotta the boutique i so wanted to see.  it was a cute store indeed, but i was disappointed because there weren't any vintage pieces like i'd anticipated.  my cam had died at this point in the day, so no pix either.

forever young, ok maybe not, but always kids at heart

it was a typical night. both of us were home from work, winding down from the day- zane much faster than i. nothing unusual there.  i incorporate things like scrubbing my face & taking vitamins- things that zane can't be bothered with.  this particular night, the messy apartment was particularly distracting.  so many undone things swirling around my head. 

take out the clothes i need to drop off at the dry cleaners/go thru my closet one more time to see if i missed anything i need to take to lucy the clothes alterer/see what bills are due (or overdue?)/go thru SKIRT! & cut out the articles i want to save/put away the dishes/make sure j&j don't need to go potty one more time (if i take them out late enough, will they sleep in later?)/make sure there aren't wet clothes in the washer/hang up my clean clothes/fold clean clothes in dryer/spray downey wrinkle releaser on outfit for tomorrow/sort out dirty laundry (perhaps see my carpet?)/wonder if the dishes are clean or dirty/secretly hope that the vet doesn't cost a fortune tomorrow/fret that junebug has fleas/take out garbage that is accumulating..... and on & on................ 

my to-do list gets to be so long from procrastinating & being tired from long work days that i just can't even get myself to do anything & then it keeps me awake at night because my brain feels as cluttered as my home.

so meanwhile zane was tucked into bed almost sleep, snuggled in with the pooches & i tapped him on the shoulder. i ask: "have you taken your sleepy pills yet?" he says no.  sweet!

sooo do you want to go out with me?

& just like that he got up like he'd just woken up, ready to take on another day.  he walked out the living room & turned up owl city on the stereo while i ate some fruity pebbles. then we grabbed the dogs & took them for a ride.  we decided to rent the princess & the frog.

it's times like these that i have to pinch myself.  we act like teenagers, yet, we get to be married & play house too.  it's sooooo rad.

today when i was walking into work, i instinctively reached for my phone to call zane & let him know i had made it to work.  something i haven't done in probably two years.  something i hadn't even consciously realized that we'd stopped doing. 

i can think back to multiple occassions where my heart would literally ache in my chest until i'd received that phone call from zane to let me know he'd made it safely to work, paranoid that surely something awful would happen to him between work & home.

& not that i still don't have fears of something happening to my love- i do.  & not that we still don't talk frequently during the day.  but i guess i'm just feeling thankful that we have relaxed a little more into our life together... if that even makes sense. 

sometimes i'm not even sure why i try to explain the thoughts that run thru my head.

downtown savannah

so we've been here before. but i think i could see it a dozen times & it would feel like the first time everytime.  have i ever mentioned how much i adore old things??