Holiday Weekend

Yesterday was Memorial Day, fka Decoration Day. Thank you to corporate America, the general public follows the traditions of barbecuing and searching for big sales at Sam's Club, instead of taking time to decorate the tombstones of fallen soldiers, remembering the sacrifice they all made for our country. Ashamedly, I am one of those citizens that shopped and failed to recognize the reason for the holiday. So, for that I am sorry.

So, with that confession said, I'll give a re cap of my 3-day weekend. Friday night Brad and I met up with some friends at Mars Hill Cafe for dinner. Thank you, Corky, for the amazing dinner and the mango tea. Saturday I don't remember the details. I really hate when that happens. I do remember that I slept in some, worked out at the gym and went to see the new Indiana Jones movie with Brad, Will met us there. Thanks Will, for saving us seats.
I really liked the film. It got rave reviews from tough Hollywood critics, but the general public is kinda "meh" about the whole thing. I thought it was great.

Sunday we went to the morning service at church, People of Mars Hill and then I did some grocery shopping. I also bought a jalapeno plant. That day Brad worked in the yard and I cleaned the house. We had our "small group" friends over for a grill-out that evening. We wanted to do one big get together to visit before Brad left for his long trip. Man, the food kept coming! I made baked beans (for the first time, my own recipe), roasted potatoes, queso dip, and a strawberry shortcake. It was a bring-your-own-meat deal, and I filled up the grill three times, I think. It was a great night. Brad was awesome, he did most of the clean up while I was still visiting with friends.

Monday we really took the day off. I meant to go for a run, but it didn't happen. We slept in, watched some Monster Quest on the History Channel, then decided to do some shopping. He needed electric guitar strings and I wanted some more herbs. So we went to Musical Walmart, I mean, Guitar Center, then to Lowe's. We bought a few hanging planters, a thyme plant, and a cucumber plant. So now, in the yard we are growing:
tomato
cucumber
jalapeno
thyme
sweet basil
rosemary

Over the weekend, we discovered we have 6 gladiolas plants! For the past 3 years we thought they were only tall decorative grass. This year they are budding in bold red flowers. I am ecstatic! We plan on laying a pallet of sod in July. Our backyard is shaping up beautifully.

I took a few pics of some things we are growing and I also got a few of the babies.
Here's Lucille looking like she wants to kill me.

Here's a pic of my sweet basil plant, and you can see Arwen in the back ground going to town on a rawhide.

Here's Batman with HIS rawhide, in his favorite "chew spot".

And last but not least, is our fearless feline, Robin.


I finished the 6th Harry Potter book last night. I wanted to re read it before the movie came out. It'll be released in November, so I'm kinda ahead of myself.
Now I will finish reading Echoes of His Presence. I should have that done by next week if I don't allow myself to get too busy and distracted. After that I'm going to dive into more C.S. Lewis. I'm not sure where to start. I began to read Mere Christianity this past fall, I may just start that one over and go from there.

Today is a weight lifting day. I'll do that after work, hopefully I'll have time to put in some good cardiovascular exercise afterward. I have already cleaned the house for small group tonight so I have no excuse.

I'm looking forward to our discussion tonight. Jack's teaching this past Sunday was really good. I need to listen to it again though.

Hummph... I'm having a hard time getting into the swing of things today.

A somewhat quick introduction...not really.

So, it's like this: I get up around 6am Monday thru Friday, get to work by 8am and I leave around 4:30pm. My morning schedule is very specific. I won't bore you with the details, but I am finding that I am, indeed, a creature of habit. After work, I mostly go to the gym, then home to shower, cook dinner and do whatever necessary work there is to be done around the house. I'll try to catch up on some tv shows if I can. I love Scrubs, Heroes, CSI, Good Eats and a few other shows, but that's mostly what I watch.
I eat the same thing every morning. Oatmeal. Yummm. I HAVE to put a banana and peanut butter in it. If I have raisins, then that's a plus. I cook a lot, so I usually have leftovers for the lunch the next day.
My husband, Brad, travels quite a bit with his band, Seraph. So, I try to fill my schedule with things to do. I visit my family quite a bit, going to the gym gives me something to do as well. I have a great group of friends, too. We mostly enjoy watching a movie or sporting event at someone's house or going to Callaghan's, this great Irish pub in downtown.
Brad and I enjoy working in the yard. Right now he's battling the dirt and our overzealous pups so we can have grass in the backyard. It's starting to grow now, it may take some time before it's lush like we want it. We've just planted some herbs and a tomato plant. Next I'd like to grow some peppers.
I love to cook. Mexican dishes are my favorite, Asian is my second favorite. I made some great fajitas for Sunday lunch yesterday. I love to bake, as well. Cakes are what I do the most. I made a killer orange angel food cake last week. I think I'll make it later this week and bring it to work so the coworkers can be impressed with my baking skills. Actually my skills in the kitchen are mediocre. But it's something I enjoy doing, it's sort of my release. Well, that and lifting really heavy weights. Which, I may talk about weights in my next entry... there's just some things I've been pondering lately. But I'll save it for later. Right now I'm writing about how exciting my life is.
I have two dogs, two cats and one ferocious fish.
Arwen - Golden Retriever, female, 5 years old. She's a cuddler and a genuine sweetheart. She likes to talk, too.
Batman - Black Labrador Retriever, Male, 3 years old. He's huge and very handsome. He's moreso the English style lab; tall, lean, and mild mannered. He's not high strung like most labs you hear of. He's obedient, but thick-headed. He loves me more than his own life, I believe.
Lucille - gray cat, half Himalayan, 5 years old. She's the kind of cat all my friends want to take home. She loves to be held and she doesn't know a stranger. She's the most lovable cat on this earth.
Robin - silver tabby, male, son of Lucille, 3 years old. He's the cat in the neighborhood which ALL squirrels, birds and other animals under a pound fear. I actually have arterial spray in my garage from a squirrel he dismembered last summer. I know that's gross, but it's amazing to watch him hunt.
Last but definitely not least is Rocky - Black Tiger Oscar - gender unknown, age uknown, he's big though. I named him/her/it Rocky because it's jaw hangs to one side. So, naturally we give him a Sly Stone accent. Don't put your fingers in the aquarium, he may come after it. We also have a baby algae eater but we never see it. It's hiding from Rocky.
Brad and I met in the summer of 2000 while at college at UM. (which is where I work now) We hit it off right from the start, I pursued, he didn't run, next thing you know we've been married 4 and a half years. He's an interesting character and I love him for it. He's a very talented musician and song writer. He also has a knack for woodworks, fly fishing and training pets. Our relationship has been an adventure and I'm sure it's going to get even better. Yeah, we have our moments where we don't agree, or someone has hurt the other's feelings, or said something wrong and the wrong time, and we've gone through stress filled times, but we try to keep each other in check. When he's down, I'm the positive thinker and vice versa.
We don't have children yet. It probably won't be too much longer until we get to that point though. But for now, we're satisfied with our pups. They really are the best dogs in the world.