Day 3

I find myself on a quest to find a restaurant that has a good dessert. On our anniversary night we were disappointed by a chocolate cake dessert that was cold and dry and served without ice cream. Tonight I gave it another try at a different restaurant, and it was again very dry, but at least had ice cream. Why is it so difficult to find good dessert?

This afternoon we went to a matinee showing of Salt, and then to Flat Branch to have dinner with folks from our meet-up group, but no one showed up.

Day 2 of Vacation

Slept in and then ran errands around town including getting a Rt. 44 sized cherry, vanilla, diet Dr. Pepper during Sonic's happy hour. When we got home, we had a message on our answering machine which gave us some very positive and uplifting news! We finished our day watching a movie and then Friday Night Lights.

Day 1 of Vacation

Day 1 of vacation I tried to sleep in, but didn't sleep in that late. When Paul came back to bed at 9 am, I got up because I couldn't sleep. However, I started feeling tired after watching "The View" and went back to bed to try and get Paul up, but ended up snuggling back in and fell back asleep from noon until 2 pm. I had a lazy afternoon following the nap which featured watching afternoon talk shows and then a movie this evening along with a "Raising Sextuplets" show. Getting ready to watch some of Leno before going to bed.

10 Year Wedding Anniversary

Today marks 10 years that Paul and I have been married! My "pic of the day" is of the anniversary cards we received from our parents, and of the roses that Paul bought me. He said he thought he bought a dozen as they were marked that way, but when he got home he noticed there were only 10. I said that I thought he had bought them that way on purpose with each rose symbolizing a year of our marriage, when in fact he hadn't thought about it that way. However, he was glad that the so called "mistake" of 10 roses turned out to work better than the dozen would have anyway.

Work vs. Vacation

At a time when I'm trying to wrap up my work in preparation for being out of the office, is exactly when work decides to rev up. I received more appointments, meetings and emails today than in the past week.

I can't believe that tomorrow is my 10 yr. anniversary and start of my time off, it doesn't feel that it should be that time at all. Everything has been so out of sorts and crazy this past month that my head is still spinning trying to digest it all.

Count Down

Only two more days until I get to start my vacation, although it would feel nice if I actually got to go somewhere for my vacation. I'm hoping for sunny skies for long days at the pool, lots of movies and time to sleep.

Also only one more day before our 10th wedding anniversary. I'm wondering what folks do for special wedding anniversaries who are on a limited budget?

The Blues

Talked to my friend in Britain who is a teacher and excited that school is out (as school just let out for the summer over there). While as here I'm watching "back to school" commercials as everyone goes back to school within the next month. As for me, it doesn't matter because I work year around.

Dealing with a case of the blues tonight, nothing that a good movie and some favorite food can't chase away.

Pool Time

A heat index of over 100 degrees baking us for 2.5 hours in the pool this afternoon resulted in us being very, very tired this evening. Maybe our heat wave has been broken by some thunderstorms that rolled through this evening.

Just a Blah Day

It was just a blah day for me plain and simple. All the news I talked about in previous posts that was exciting in my life has vanished and has left us deflated. Looking forward to some pizza as comfort food and one of our favorite shows: Friday Night Lights.

A Mixed Day

Was called in for jury duty today, but was not selected as a juror although the selection process took all morning. Returned to work and then worked out after work. Finally ended the day with a long talk with a good friend in a relaxing coffee house.

Exhaustion

What an insane day full of emotional roller coasters again! I would say that this was one of the worst days I've had in a long time and I'm still trying to make sense of it all. I'm just physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted, but can't sleep because of the thoughts swimming round and round in my mind.

An Exercise in Patience

A roller coaster kind of day filled with anticipation, ups& downs, unintended outcomes and an unexpected visit. It was a very strange day to say the least, with starts and stops that truly tested my patience. This evening was spent researching info and then I wasn't able to unwind by going for a walk or to the pool because of a thunderstorm, funny thing is that's how I started my morning. While I was in the shower this morning, the lights flickered on and off from a thunderstorm, I guess a precursor to how the day would go. I'm thankful this day is passing and am hoping for calmer days ahead.

News

Received very good news this evening! Will reveal more later.

Hot & Humid

We are in the middle of a very hot and humid stretch. A band of thunderstorms moved through at 7:30 a.m. waking us up, but that soon gave way to sunshine and heat this afternoon. I remained tired all day and had a nap after church and instant messaging my friend in Britain. The heat made for a nice time in the pool after 5:30 p.m., and we just heard that we may have a heat index of over 110 for tomorrow.

Weekend Mode

A slow day after a busy week. I slept in, went to the gym, balanced the checkbook, watched part of a t.v. movie, spent some time at the pool and now we are ready to watch the movie Leap Year. My "pic of the day" was inspired from the castle shown in the movie. My pic actually wasn't a castle, but rather the remains of a "castle" at Ha Ha Tonka State Park.

Waiting

Waiting for news is never fun and it made for a loooong day which did not end in receiving any news I was waiting for.

Recovery

Still recovering from yesterday. My "pic of the day" is of a Chinese area within the Botanical Gardens in St. Louis which emphasizes the need for rest and relaxation and mental focus. All of which I need.

Intense Day

An intense day of rapid fire questions!

Preparation

The ongoing theme of today was preparation. I felt like I prepped all day today for tomorrow and Wednesday. I chose this "pic of the day" because this pic reminded me of how my day was much like that of a squirrel preparing for winter by storing food, although I was storing information and documents.

Mission's Work

Today in church the message was related to a recent missions trip that the church had just completed in Jamaica. They showed pictures of the poverty of the people they helped and witnessed to, and it made me think of the poverty I had seen of the Mayan village people as our tour bus made its way to the Mayan ruins (pic of the day at left) in '07.

I remember being a tourist at that time and leaving our resort on a tour bus and making the 3 hour trip into Mexico, and how guilty I felt as we passed the shack-like housing that the Mayan people called home on our way to the Mayan ruins. I felt so bad that hundreds of tourists passed by these people and their poverty daily without doing anything about it, and how guilty I was of this same lack of action. After I got back to the U.S. I always said that I would not feel right going to Mexico again unless it was for some sort of missions related trip to help those people that I saw.

There were several good points brought up in today's church sermon:

1) Ever wonder why God has chosen to bless you? We've been blessed so we can be a blessing to others.
2) As great as people's physical needs are, their spiritual needs are greater.
3) "Death & destruction are never satisfied, and neither are the eyes of men." Proverbs 27:20

Summer Fun with Friends

We ended the day having fun with new and old friends from the 20's & 30's meet-up group. We played games in the park (as seen in my "pic of the day"), and then talked around the picnic table until it got too dark and the bug bites drove us inside. We wrapped up the evening playing pool and had a nice ending to a day that didn't start out so nice.

Half Way & Tips From Italy

I am officially half way to my goal of blogging with a pic of the day every day for one year. I have hit the half way mark with 178 days of blogs! Only 6 more months to go to reach my goal! I have to admit that there are days when I dread this commitment and days where I don't have any pics or words to post, but I have always found something.

Today I wanted to share a few things I found interesting that a student who studied abroad in Italy shared about the health habits of Italians:

1) Italians shop for their food daily and buy fresh food from the market. They do this each day because most of their food is fresh and does not have preservatives like our food. Shopping daily also eliminates stocking up on foods and snacks and reduces the amount they are tempted to eat.
2) They drink wine almost daily which has been shown to have a healthy effect when done in moderation...Thus my "pic of the day".
3) They walk almost everywhere they go, on average 8 miles/day! They do not have gyms and workout regimes as such because they integrate physical activity into their daily lives.
4) They eat slowly, eating slow allows time for the brain to receive the signal from the stomach that it is full. In turn, they tend to eat less.
5) They don't use a lot of sauces which pack in hidden calories, instead they use honey or olive oil with most foods as a sauce.
6) They don't have hardly any fast food restaurants, and what food is available is usually always fresh.

My student also said that they do in fact eat heavy meals such as lasagna, but they respect their food and their bodies and eat in moderation and burn it off with their physical activity. All of these healthy habits results in a healthier society overall with an apprx. 7% obesity rate.

Done

We are done with summer welcome advising, except for two remaining sessions in mid-August, and it feels good to have some time to get things ready before the rush of the fall semester. Had a happy hour after work to celebrate whacking out all those moles!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

We've had thunderstorms and heavy down pours most of the time for the past two days. We just heard from the weather forecast that tomorrow could be the wettest day yet. It has been the kind of day/week that only a fish could love.

Change

Received news today that may change our circumstances, but I can't elaborate on it right now. It was a slow day at work as we had a break in our summer welcome sessions, but we head back into a busy day for tomorrow and the next day and then that concludes summer welcome except for two last days in mid-August. It was also a very wet and humid day as we had heavy rains the night before and showers all day.

Sun & Rain

A warm and sunny afternoon at the pool gave way to thunderstorms this evening. I had the day off due to the 4th so I slept in, spent 2 hours in the pool and then we watched the movie, The Boys are Back. It was nice to have an easy and relaxed day.

4th of July

Happy 4th of July! My "pic of the day" is from the flag which was suspended between two fire truck ladders at the MU football stadium in Columbia for tonight's Fire in the Sky event. We met another couple there and watched the firework display with them.

Tired

Tired was a running theme for me all day. I slept in, decluttered and worked out using the Wii before we grabbed a bite to eat this evening. Now we're settling in to watch a movie at home. All the while I have been tired.

My "pic of the day" is one of my favorite squirrel pics.

Closet Cleaning

Tonight I finally got around to the fun task of switching out all the winter clothes from my closet and moving my summer clothes in. Actually, most of the summer clothes were already in there as I had slowly dug through my summer stuff beforehand as the weather got hot, so it was more a matter of weeding out the winter stuff at this point. My "pic of the day" is of the aforementioned closet. I know it still looks messy because I ran out of room to move all my winter stuff to.

As I sifted through all my clothes and tried to find places to store my cold weather sweaters, pants and tops, it made me think of how many "things" (tangible and intangible) that we store and stuff away. It's amazing how many extra things we accumulate from year to year, and how attached we grow to items and how hard it is to part with them. This closet cleaning process also made me think of how much stuff we store from within and how a good spring cleaning of our "inner emotional and spiritual closets" is needed but often neglected.

"Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin." Psalm 51:2

Change?

I know that the slower afternoon I had today will lead to a busy day tomorrow with dual morning and afternoon orientation sessions scheduled. I had some news this afternoon that may usher in some needed change in my life, but we'll see. My "pic of the day" represents the moles I hope I have "whacked" out in my life lately.