Words to live by...

"The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what we want most for what we want at the moment."

- Anonymous

a continuation of the previous post.  a quote i first read when my birth coach, colleen, who i will forever admire & be thankful for, shared it with me. thanks colleen!

wanderlust.

that word describes me to the core right now.  which... is incredibly selfish of me considering we just returned from an incredible adventure in new orleans.  but it is the truth.  it's a word i picked out of this month's email from anthro, which yes, i subscribe to.  call me obsessed, it would be true, but nonetheless i love to see inside the thoughts they share with me on my computer screen regularly.  this month was spot-on, like they could read the thoughts that consume my brain 24 hours a day.  this is a blurb from the email:

"...for months we've been dog-earring travel magazines and feverishly reading adventurist blogs with a twinge of envy particularly when descriptions and photos speak of lush palms, pulsating culture & icey cocktails..." 

i have been working a ton of hours these days- something like 51+ last week- all in the name of a particular vacation we are coveting in our future.

it's nice to put energy into saving money.

it's nice to know that i can.  it's a definite struggle of mine- this whole saying "no" to myself thing. 

it's nice to have goals! having goals- being able to pinpoint & know exactly what i want, is a real struggle for me.  i envy people that know exactly what they want to do with their life. & on the same note- watching people who know what they want & won't help themselves get from point A to point B is a huge pet peeve of mine- because i'd give so much to know what i want to do like they do.  i'm not one of those people that has a burning passion for this or that or someone that has been granted some kind of vision as to what i should do beyond what i'm doing currently.  not a clue. 

anyway a vacation might seem like a vain thing to have as a goal, but it's not like other goals we've set in the past. we're actually putting action into it & it's really satisfying. 

& if you catch me day-dreaming. you can bet i'm thinking of this place. 

He'll do anything to make me laugh

one reason that i love my husband dearly is the amount of time we spend laughing together. 
case in point: the other day at the pool. 
this is the scene: i'm on a lounge chair sunning myself- half-heartedly reading my book- people watching thru my shades- dipping my feet in the pool every few minutes to keep from feeling like a fried egg- mostly just killing time until zane gets off work & trying to get skin cancer.  i am a pretty skilled multi-tasker after all. 
zane finally grants me with his presence & i'm practically wilting from the heat at this point.  (my impatience is kicked into high gear when it comes to being in the hot sun by myself.  i think the art of sun-tanning requires a very large amount of self-discipline. i really do.) 
ANYHOO. i immediately jump into begging zane to take a dip in the pool with me.  i'd been thinking about how i'd convince him to do this for the past hour.  
he says: "no way hosea" & gave some lame excuse about being in his work jeans or something, i donno... 
but i was not deterred.  besides i had the advantage of the sun beating down on my husband who is getting hotter by the second as he is of course overdressed for sunbathing. 

so finally he asks, "whhhhhy in the world would i jump in the pool with you in my blue jeans?"

i said: "because it would make us giggle. duuuuh."

guess what?

we jumped.  & giggle we did. 

St. Augustine on a tuesday

We decided to spend the day in St. Augustine for my 23rd birthday.  (I hadn't been in about six-months.) 
There were a surprising number of changes. 
Fun to see & discover new things. 
-We walked hand-in-hand thru Olde Town. 
-Spooned delicious scoops of blueberry & chocolate gelato into our mouths. 
-Smelled essential oils at Bath Junkie until our heads started to ache. 
-Tested out hammocks. 
-Shared a wrap & acai berry lemonade with rooibos tea at a new cafe, next to our favorite coffee shop- it became a new must-stop location. 
-Browsed a fun vintage boutique, even tried on a wedding dress from the 30s. Barbarba- the shop owner was so fun & knowledgable about "the old days."  I imagined her being an awesome Grammy who delights her grandchildren with glamorous stories of days goneby in her deep raspy voice.  
-We dreamed of dressing up as pirates in a costume shop.
-We sat on the rocky ledge on the bay & just enjoyed the boats & the sunset.

It was such a low-key, relaxed day. That's what i'll remember most about this birthday.


 

I'd never noticed these before Anna pointed one out in Baton Rouge & then we spotted this one in St. Augustine.  So now we make a point to look for them. 

A fun concept: planting the leafy part of the pineapple.

check out these fun popsicle flavors.  no, we didn't try one. should have tho. next time.

isn't he stylish? i love the new shoes he just got.

wooden bricks. sweet.

i think he looks like a vampire here. maybe he's a secret Cullen...

the man thinks he's Usher here.

Taking it all in.

King of the world!

sweet treats

My friend Amy house/dog-sat for us when we went to Louisiana & we came home to these homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies on our counter. Delish! 

Flowers from my hubby.

(Deserving of a close-up!)

Zane hired his bosses wife to make these for me & surprised me at work for my birthday. Aww...

birthday mail love

my mama got me these awesome cards & the company hand wrote the address in beautiful writing. i was so tickled.

to know me, is to know how ridiculously happy mail makes me!

pieces of me these days

my favorite store.

what makes me smile.

my family on any given night (johnny is behind zane)

my food obsession: waffles with peanut butter & syrup.  i probably eat 3 a day, doesn't matter what time of day & i now take a jar of peanut butter with me if we go out to a restaurant for fear that i can't have my waffles with peanut butter. 

Crawdad cook-out

The kids & I got some sno-cones down the street.  Bubble gum, wedding cake & pink lemonade with gummi bears. 

Crawdads leaving their mark on the side of the road.

Mike prepared a proper Louisiana crawdad feast for us.  Tasty!

The evolution of a sleepy boy

...& now we're faking it because he can hear us remarking over his adorableness.

Mandeville

The word "quaint" was invented for this very town.  Anna, Aidan & I explored the town they live in one afternoon.  I found this gramma quilt for $16 (!!!!) at an antique shop.