Because sometimes breathing is necessary.

Oy, has it been a good week.

Take, for instance, my evening last night:

Loving my sunsets by the water!

Loving her evening workouts in the water!

Perfection, eh?

LOVE it. This week has been a nice breather for us. Moments like these pictures show abounded, which we needed. It has been a deep breath kind of week. Sleeping in in the mornings. Late night conversations with friends. Mid-day on Wednesday we were both home so we threw on our swimsuits and played in the water with Sophie; so fun!

We're both taking today off to just have a day away, unplugged, un-everything'd. The year is going to get crazy-busy for us beginning next week and we want to enter into it rested and restored. It'll be fun and I'm looking forward to all of it, but it'll be a pretty quick pace.

This has been a fairly chaotic summer. For me, for sure, but especially for Lane. He has been gone A TON, so even if I've been around, with him leaving and going and leaving and going it still just lends a sense of instability to our life.

I just looked at the calendar, and of the past 12 weeks, L has been home for only 2 of those weekends. We'll both be home this weekend, which has been so unheard of and rare this summer, and I can't wait! This will be only his 3rd time making it to church with me out of the last 12 Sundays! We might as well be living Active Duty Army Life again with that track record!

I'm excited for our weekend- We're doing our day away today: just going into the mountains for a day to read, relax, journal, think. Then tonight is over to a friends house for dinner. Saturday is cleaning out our garage. Saturday evening is over to another friends house for dinner. Sunday is showing up and sitting next to each other at church! So good.

We're just slowing down to catch our breath before the next sprint starts. Summer's are supposed to be relaxing, right? Ayiyi! It's a good life, though.

GREAT weekend!

Hey friends!

It is now officially Day 2 of August.

School starts in 2 weeks.

Summer is winding down. We've checked off pretty much every box that we wanted to accomplish this summer... except one. But more on that later. :) But we wanted to go to Costa Rica- Check. We wanted to go backpacking- Double Check. We wanted lots of time with our family and friends- Check It Up. We wanted to get rested and restored before we enter into another year of chaos- Absolutely Check. It has been good.

And. We wanted to climb a 14er. We got to check that one off this last Saturday.

Now. For any of my friends not from Colorado or not familiar with the glory of 14ers let me tell you- 14ers are mountains that are above 14,000 feet in elevation; there are 54 of them in Colorado and it is kind of a big thing here to try to climb as many 14ers as you can. I grew up climbing them, and this was the first one that Lane and I had done in awhile because our first years of marriage were way out in Georgia far away from anything close to a 14er.

This is our crew at the trailhead at 6:30 am about to begin our way up. Me and L on the right, with his sister and her hubby on the left.

We ran into 5 of these guys on our way up. True, wild mountain goats. So fun!

Capturing the boy as he summits. (And yes, if I was at the top taking his picture as he came up... that means that I SUMMITED BEFORE HIM. My tough Army Ranger is no match for me on the mountains. :) Just kidding. He really could have kicked my bootie if he wanted to, but still. I wear that badge with pride.)

Standing on top of my 11th 14er. SO AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL.

If you haven't been able to pick it up yet, we LOVE the outdoors. It's a way that we connect to each other, and absolutely a way that we connect with God. These pictures seriously don't do it justice... the view was INCREDIBLE. Being out in nature, and especially on top of a mountain you get such an appreciation with the CREATIVITY and GENEROSITY of our creator, and it makes me appreciate my body and what I have been given. I love being outside because it just shouts to me of a loving God. I love meeting him out there and love experiencing such neat moments and such accomplishment with Lane.

Yes, it was a good good weekend.

Won't you be my neighbor?

I love our neighborhood.

It was by total accident (and by accident I mean total, undisputed, so obviously Jesus, non-coincidental awesome set-up) that we landed in this place. We never could have afforded or had the chance to even make a decision to live here. But we stumbled (were sent) into this AMAZING neighborhood, and stumbled even deeper into a very cool cul-de-sac with very cool families.

And just recently, our neighborhood has taken on a new and even more amazing persona. Up till now, we'd all been the neighbors who wave hello when picking up the paper, etc, etc. But one night we all just ended up at one of our houses and started talking about how we need to be in better community with each other.

How it is so easy to just live our lives in our house, shut our garage door, and to just be closed out to neighbors but that there is a much better way.

There is such a higher potential to being neighbors. We could be in each others lives.

Ummmm, hello? Yes please.

So we've started doing Sunday night dinners together. It's so chill. And it is so fun! It's a total inter-generational thing too, which I love. It's intentional. It's life-giving. There's laughter. And wine. :)

For the first time, we are really getting to know our neighbors. And not only as friends, but as an intentional community.

It feels like that's how it is supposed to be.

Backpacking is Favorite

I'm sitting outside on our back porch, sipping some coffee, listening to people laughing on the lake, staring at the mountains while typing away on my laptop, and trying to be productive yet fighting the urge to dream my afternoon away.

Doesn't get much better than this.

Unless I had a slice of chocolate cake sitting next to me, but other than that.

And also unlimited spending money on clothes.

Anyway.

We had an AMAZING backpacking trip with our friends. Jena and I have been friends since we were in high school, then husbands came along and joined our crew and this was the first time the four of us have spent together. (Lane missed their wedding because he was deployed, then all of the following big events of friends weddings, etc. that we would have done together because he was deployed! Boo deployments!) This made up for any lost time and more though.

They're a phenomenal couple. They're just EASY to be around. Conversation flows, they share easily and ask questions back, laughter is abundant, hearts are shared, struggles talked about... we love them! Couldn't have picked a better couple to join us in exploring the Colorado mountains! It was an adventure to be sure.

As always, it was just GOOD to get away. I feel like L and I have done a good job of enjoying our summer together. Unplug. Appreciate each other. Enjoy creation. Sift through life. Check and re-check priorities. Nature speaks to both of us so loudly that it is hard to ignore what we hear out there.

Even Sophie got to join us on our outdoor adventure! This pic was just from a day-hike after we found our camp, but she had her own little backpack that she carried her own food in. Adorable!

We got hit by a MASSIVE hailstorm, but we all thought it was awesome. Wouldn't be a true Colorado adventure without a little fight from the elements.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Fourth. Fireworks. Fantastic.

This past weekend was a three-day-long celebration of the fourth for us. I loved every second.

Friday night: Lane and I got some great tickets from my parents to go to a Colorado Rockies game. Brats. Beer. Baseball. Fireworks. Lane. Perfection! (not necessarily in that order). The Rox won, then Coors Field put on one of the coolest fireworks shows either of us have seen. Such a fun date night!

Saturday: Fourth of July parade with the whole fam. Firetrucks, marching bands, politicians, churches, clowns. True small town fashion. Back to the parents house for some bbq, then home to hang out with some friends.

Sunday: Church- which was just incredible. I love our pastor, and he BROUGHT IT this weekend. Then up to Estes Park with friends. More fireworks! And just a little piece of S & L trivia- Estes Park is a super cute little mountain town in Colorado... important because it is where we met in October of our freshman year of college. And then where we spent the first few days of being married in an amazing Bed and Breakfast. Yay Estes Park!

Monday: Because of bad weather in some parts, there were a lot of fireworks shows canceled so we got to do a third show on the 5th! Our neighbors took us out on the lake in their boat and we watched 3 shows at once.

Lane reminded me that he had missed the last 2 fourth of Julys because he was overseas, so it was fitting this year to make it up in a big fashion and see 3 in one year! I agree. :)

I really wanted to get up pictures of our last weekend, but we are on our way out the door (as in- Lane is in the car waiting for me and is so annoyed that I am this addicted to blogging that I have to post one as he's busy packing, packing the car, getting supplies, gear... funny. I'll just let him do all the work!). We're going backpacking for the next few days with some dear friends of ours. Should be super fun!

Hope you guys have a great Tuesday!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I know it's not Christmas, but the 4th of July really is one of the most wonderful times of the year!!!

Growing up in small-town America with a parade that would rival any other, a grandpa that was born on the 4th of July and enjoying homemade vanilla ice cream with family on the lake, being a high school history teacher, and traditions of bbq's and fireworks in my heritage, LOVING Independence Day is in my blood. Add in a husband that has been overseas serving on the 4th and it adds up to a very patriotic gal. :)

I hope all of y'all are having a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

Ours has been wonderful- full of baseball, fireworks, parades, family, friends, and food. I couldn't ask for much more.

I'll be sure to post pictures soon, but for today I wanted to share a quick article with you guys about the beauty of our country. Many times I've talked about how much I like the CBS Sunday Morning News program, and this morning Ben Stein had a great commentary on Independence Day. If you have a free 3 minutes, read this and think about how great of a country we live in. One that speaks to the deepest desires of the human heart- freedom and individual dignity. It's good stuff. There's an actual video with him talking, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to embed this correctly; if you click the link it will take you to CBS' page with the article, and the video will be there too if you want to watch that instead.

Here's the link to the article

Happy 4th, friends!

Seriously, it was THAT good

Hi, friends! Happy Monday to ya. Hope y'all had a relaxing, restoring, and fun weekend!

Mine was wonderful.

I don't really have anything of much consequence to share with you, but there were a few highlights that were so unbelievably epic that I feel I would be doing a disservice to not share them.

My Saturday morning had to, of course, include Garage Saleing. Is that a word? My spellchecker says no, but Saling is so wrong as well. You know what I mean. Garage Saling speaks to my heart. The thrill of the hunt. Turning another man's trash into your treasure. For CHEAP! Not knowing what the day will hold... I'm getting carried away just thinking about it.

So we hit up our first one (which was labeled an ESTATE sale, so I was THRILLED, but they deceived me- it was just a normal sale and I was mad at them) and they had okay stuff, but they had doors. As in closet doors. I'm semi-addicted to doors. I'll show you a picture of what I've done with one of them- she's beautiful. I needed more. But they were asking for 5 bucks a door and that was just too much for me because I wanted two of them. I was thinking more like 2 dollars. I'm cheap that way.

So I bypassed them with a broken heart not knowing when I would find a garage sale selling TWO of my beloved doors.

THEN! Last night we were driving back home and I passed by this same overpricing, lying house and the doors hadn't sold so they had them out front with a FREE! sign next to them! The stars aligned, heaven opened up and GAVE ME MY DOORS! I am beyond excited. I made Lane go home, get our bigger car and stuff those two doors in the back like there was no tomorrow.

At first he got annoyed with my FREE! sign loving shenanigans, but now he just accepts it. Many-a-thing have we taken from someone else's Free/trash pile. I'm not afraid.

That was awesome thing number 1.

Awesome thing number 2 was waking up early this morning and going on a long bike ride towards the mountains next to the river in the not-too-hot-early-chill with my hubster. It was gorgeous. I am in love with Colorado deeply.

And church was awesome too. Way awesome.

THEN. I made these:

Yes, my friends. You saw that right. Those are homemade bagels. They are life-changing.

And just to back up that point, read the note that I left on them for L to read when he came home.

It is a true statement.

Never again am I buying bagels from a store.

I made different toppings: parm, onion, garlic, sea salt. Next time I might experiment with the dough more. YUM!

And, the best part is how super easy they are. If you have a bread machine it's best, but a KitchenAid does the trick too.

Here's the recipe of the yummyness if you so dare to click. This is my warning. It WILL change your life.

5 years!

Today is our 5 year anniversary!

Wow. What a fun, amazing, difficult, loaded, significant, adventurous, life-changing five years we have had together. It's been quite the journey!

In our still relatively young marriage, we have been through some major stuff. Looking at the marriage that we have today though, I am so thankful for the road that we have been on because of the strength that it has given us.

In honor of today, I am going to take you guys on a little picture tour of our relationship:

We met in October of our freshman year of college, almost 9 years ago. I was immediately in love but thought he was way out of my league, so it took 5 months of him chasing after to me to prove that it was me he wanted. Once we started dating, we were done for. Pretty much on our first date we told each other we wanted to marry each other- at 18 years old! We were crazy. It was really fun being able to share our college experience together; we had such an amazing community of friends, were Young Life leaders together, and did all sorts of fun Colorado stuff like tubing rivers, rock-climbing, back-packing, and camping together.

Here we are building our team work on a camping trip at the ripe ol' age of 19!

Fast-forward a couple years. The boy proposed.

He knelt on his knee and said he talked to my dad so I could go pick out a white dress. It's our love story so I just said yes.

I'm quoting T Swift for those of you not tracking... that is pretty much how it went though.

Engagement Pic:

The Big Day: June 3, 2005

After said Big Day, we enjoyed about 2 months of traveling and hanging out before Lane had to report for 5 months of training at Fort Sill, OK. Officer Basic Course is calling our name in this picture. Our entire life was packed into the back of his blazer, and we were hitting the road entering into Army Life. Oh man, I had NO IDEA what I was in for!

The youth. The innocence. The SKINNY people we were back then! So much has changed!

After OBC, we headed off to Fort Benning, in Columbus, GA. I taught high school social studies while Lane did his Army Thing and did it good.

Here's my man after graduating Ranger School. I'm pinning the coveted Ranger Tab on his shoulder. He lost nearly 30 pounds in his 12 weeks there. It was crazy.

Here we are enjoying an EXTRAVAGANT meal before Deployment #2. Maybe 1. Maybe 3? We definitely did not hold back on any of our final meals before deployments. They all blend together. That's what the Army does to ya.

And here we are in the backyard of our house in Georgia for our final day there. Moving to Colorado was the best decision we've ever made. We were very clearly called out of the Active Duty Army... but I do miss Georgia, the Army, our friends, our church, my work...

But... this new life together in Colorado has been good. In the deepest, most significant, fun, sacred sense of the word good.

These five years have held so much for us, it's hard to imagine what the next 5, 20, or 30 might hold! I wouldn't want to journey through any of it with anyone else in this world though- Happy Anniversary, Baby! :)

Best Invention Ever

This Wins.

Everyone, meet the Septacycle. Or, it is also known as the Conference Bike for the fact that everyone faces each other in a circle while biking through the streets. You sit in a circle, each person pedaling, but only one person drives the thing.

It was hilarity at its finest. We literally were stopped as we went along so people could take pictures of us and ask questions. It was the Most Fun Ever. It was quite the sight to behold because there were 14 of us so we rented 2 septacycles tearing up the streets of Fort Collins.

This is what I spent my day doing yesterday. Meeting up with a fun group of friends, simply because it was the last Tuesday in May. And we septacycled our little hearts out. All the way to New Belgium Brewing Company.

Then we took a beer tour. And drank free beer. Yum. And Fun.

This is our friend Landon. He's great. We all met each other freshman year of college before L and I were even dating, then he was a groomsman and sang in our wedding. Three Cheers to life long friends!

We have now officially declared the last Tuesday in May SEPTACYCLE DAY!

The best septacycle group a girl could ask for.

Glimpses

::: I've been wanting to put up some of the things I was thinking throughout our trip because writing things down helps me to process them. For now, I figured the easiest thing would be to just post some of my journal entries that I wrote while down in CR. So, here's a little glimpse into me. That's basically what blogs are anyway, right? :) :::

Beauty. Paradise. Natural. Blues. Greens. Rejuvenating. Restoring. Breathe. Create space. My soul sings. Rhythm. Laughter. Open. Birds. Monkeys. Conversations. Unplugged. Replenishing. Returning. Nature. Uncomfortable. Pleasant. Boundary. Free. Spirit. Truth. Destiny. Needed. Returning. Discovery. Wandering. Being present. Available. Searching. Quenching. Satisfying. Liberating.

Beautiful.

Finding comfort in the stillness. Being soothed by the ocean. Letting the rhythm of the waves dictate my day rather than the hum of my laptop. Learning lessons you can only learn through being immersed in a culture that is not your own. Uncomfortable situations become life lessons. Discovering the joy that comes from being open and available. Not checking the clock to see if we're late for the next meeting. Not caring if the bus driver says 15 minutes before we leave but it's really 1 hour. Not rushing through meals in order to accomplish the next task, and missing out on stories, laughter, and connection instead.

Beautiful.

Creating space.

This is good.

What if we lived like this all the time?

This trip has been good for my soul. It's hard for me to just be. I feel like I always need to be contributing, creating, producing. Multi-tasking. But none of that is possible here. There are no clocks. No computers. Just Lane, Jesus, my book, and the ocean.

So I've been daydreaming. About how great my marriage is. How good, gentle, wild, and loving God is. About how becoming an author is becoming more and more of a deep-seated desire of mine, not just something I do on the side. Who I want to be when we return from Costa Rica. These past five years of marriage and the next five. It's nice to just sit.

The rhythm is gonna get you

I heard someone recently mention the phrase 'the rhythm of life.' It was during an evening meeting that L and I were having with some close adult (I know I'm an adult, but they're really adults!) friends as we were explaining the state of our hearts as of late; overcommitments, feelings of being burnt out, not connected to each other, etc.

One of the women, a wise wise woman, mentioned that phrase and it has been brewing in my mind this whole week. She said that the rhythm of life that L and I had developed here was unsustainable. We were exhausted because in our attempts to carve out a life for ourselves here and to always create time for others here, something else had been lost.

Rather than having a melody, a rhythm that works together and moves with the ebbs and flows of our life, it had just become noise. We had lost the joy, the balance, the peace.

That is what has been simmering through my mind. I've been turning the words over, chewing on them, working them out.

It's so easy to just fill your life. To always say 'yes' to obligations, to always put others first before myself or my marriage, to do things for the sake of doing them. But that was a rhythm that wore me out, was unsustainable, and unrealistic.

And most times what fills our life isn't bad. It's even good, in fact. But there wasn't a balance within it. There wasn't a rhythm. L and I hadn't gotten time together (in the form of a date, significant conversations, etc) in a month. We both were neglecting ourselves and our relationships with God in order to spend time with others in helping to construct their own lives and faiths. We were addicted to our jobs, both of us work two. We weren't allowing ourselves grace, room to breathe, space to process the transition our life has gone through in these last 6 months.

We had lost sight of what is best. Of what is most precious. Things had been sacrificed without our even being aware of it. So it took us losing our rhythm of life to discover we wanted it back. It took us reaching boiling point, emotional exhaustion, to acknowledge that life was off kilter.

So I'm trying to rediscover my rhythm. To bring a pace, a balance, a beauty to my life that is restoring to me, life-giving to others, and loves my husband well. I'm trying to sift through what is worthwhile and what is simply noise. I'm trying to create space. To still give my life to others, but to give it to God and my husband more.

There is rhythm. There are ebbs and flows. There is beauty within it all... if we focus on not just 'getting through it', but living it and enjoying it.

The Room

The house that we're living in right now is incredible. It's also a bit retro-fabulous. I mean, throw-back 1974 stuff everywhere. There is wood. Oh my, the wood.

I wish you could transport yourself into this picture to be looking at this in real life. The picture doesn't do justice to the hue of blue that was this room. It hurt my eyes. Literally, neon blue.

So this weekend I decided to do something about it. It was a loooooong process- notice all of the wood detailing?

This room now makes my heart smile every time I walk into it.

I also don't know why this picture seems to be glowing. But that's neither here nor there.

Also, things of note in this picture: my beautiful black chest that I redid in this project. Seriously. Isn't she gawgeous!

And. And! The beautiful sheflara plant on the left side of the picture. I have now officially owned that plant for 3 1/2 months without killing it. It has even grown, and thrived under my care so much so that I had to repot it. Don't even get me started on how proud I am of myself for successfully repotting a plant. It's kind of a big deal. I'm making big strides in the journey toward parenthood- I can keep a live plant!

Favorites!

This week! My favorite things!

My discovery of this girl and this project. She is incredible. Hop on over. Meet her. Know her. Love her. She is super creative and crafty and I want to do what she does. I think I need to head over to my local ARC Store and buy all things old so that I can create some treasures.

Favorite thing #2 is simply the fact that I was able to turn in my 6th article for CinCHouse. This job fell in my lap with the greatest of ease (coincidence? I think not. Thanks, Jesus!) yet for some reason I still find it hard to believe that this is actually my life! I love writing. I love CinCHouse. I love writing for CinCHouse. I love the hope that my words are able to help others and bring life to dark places.

# 3 of the week is that my house has been filled with people nearly every day this week. We were given a gift in the house that we're able to live in right now, and I completely believe that if we were blessed with this much space, it's meant to be used. For us, that means people feeling like it's their own second home. For it to be a safe space that they can walk in the front door, open the fridge, and start chatting with us. And we're on the way to that. It's fun.

Favorite Thing #4 was this discovery. It was funny. This girl is not allowed on our couch. I have gotten home many times and had a sneaking suspicion that she had been on the couch, but have never caught her red-handed. Red-pawed? However, yesterday I got home and CAUGHT her! She was completely asleep, dead-to-the-world, so I had to get photographic evidence to prove her guilt.

It's that time again

So, remember my love of all things organized? Well, I love all things clean too. Not always do I love the cleaning process, but sometimes I get crazy and that happens. I love the finished product enough to keep me truckin through the chores I don't enjoy at least.

I am a clean person. However... imagine the cleanest person you know, multiply that times 1,876 and you will have my husband. He is a freak. He is OCD about it in the most loving sense of the word. It is not beyond him to, after I have already cleaned the kitchen, call me back in and show me the spots I did not get on the counter. If I don't fold his shirts the 'right way' when doing his laundry it is not beyond him to re-fold them. He is constantly teaching me the 'best' way to pour/fold/wipe/put away/get out.

So, it is with appreciation for my husband that I am going to be cleaning our house this week. Spring Break used to mean beaches, friends, and doing a whole lot of nothing in my college days. Now Spring Break means Spring Cleaning. Ugh. I feel like such an adult.

Just in case there's anyone else out there who is in spring cleaning mode, I'm putting up a list of what I'll be doing as well. It'll be fun- we'll be cleaning buddies!

Spring Cleaning Checklist 2010, baby!

* Clean out Fridge and Freezer. Take out contents (put in a cooler if needed) and wipe down with a solution of 2 Tbs baking soda per 1 quart hot water.

* Move fridge forward and clean underneath it

* Clean microwave. Put a microwave safe bowl with water and lemon juice and heat it to boiling (2-3 minutes) ; the steam will loosen particles and the citric acid will cut through the grease.

* Scrub kitchen appliances, cabinets, and backsplash

* Take cushions off of couch and vacuum each part

* Bring cushions outside and hit (is there a more technical term?) to freshen and loosen dust

* Dust bookshelves. Remove books and decorations from each shelf to get every space

* Wipe down walls and baseboards with a mild soap and warm water mixture (make sure wall paint can handle water)

* Vacuum or dust blinds and curtains, ceiling fans, and crannies to get rid of dust and cobwebs

* Replace cold-weather clothing in closets with warm weather wear

* Put any clothes you haven't worn in at least 1 year in a Goodwill pile

* Go through toiletries and make-up and toss anything too old

* Remove lint from clothes dryer hose

* Re-stock first aid kit

* Reseal grout

* Deodorize carpets: Sprinkle about 1 Cup of baking soda or cornstarch per room. Vacuum after 30 minutes

* Clean windows and window screens. Windex always works wonders, but here's another solution: 2 tablespoons cornstarch, 1 cup white vinegar, 1 gallon warm water; Mix the ingredients in a bucket and use to scrub windows.

* Organize files in home office. Make sure policies, contracts, etc. are in place and up to date.

* Scrub bathrooms

* Clean gutters

* Sweep/Dust/Mop floors

Okay, that's good for me. It's time to get cleaning!

Kitchen Philosophy

Isn't it interesting how much your home is a reflection of your life? Your heart, schedule, emotions, mood... everything? If you were to take one glance in your home today, what would it say?

Mine would probably say Chaotic. Jumbled. Imperfect. Maybe even a little unruly.

My kitchen as of late:

I wonder if this doesn't look that bad to you. But let me assure you, it was.

To prove my point, we'll play a game:

I spy a dog leash

I spy weights

I spy the newspaper

I spy glass cleaner

I spy Christmas lights

I spy grey (beautiful) shoes

It got bad. And really, I just let it happen. I let myself go, if you will. See, the problem lies in the fact that I have an All-or-Nothing personality. I can't half-way do anything. I either do it all out or I don't do it at all. If I commit to doing something, I am going to do it 110% of my very best ability. On the flip side, if I know I'm not going to be able to do something perfect basically, I don't even try. It's bad.

I am the most disciplined eater you will ever meet- it's all whole grains, veggies, fruits, and protein for me, Missy, and I can turn down a dessert when temptation is staring me right in the face like there's no tomorrow. But if I let myself have just that one innocent Oreo, count me out for the next two months because I will be gorging myself at all-you-can-eat bars with all of the senior citizens in town. It's a disease.

The All-Or-Nothing-Syndrome then overflows into my kitchen because I like neat & tidy. A place for everything and Everything in it's place.

But with this AONS, as I like to call it, the second that 3 ring binder was on my counter for longer than one hour, I knew I was done for. Pretty soon it got crazy in there and I was leaving dog leashes, back porch lights, passports, jackets, EVERYTHING on the counter.

WHAT in the world are my cute pink weights doing next to my stove? Camp flyers that should be in a folder? Glass cleaner that goes in my car? What? I count 3 bags, 2 jackets, and one signed contract. And SHOES where I eat; don't even get me started on the shoes.

You see, I love organization. I love neat and tidy. I love structure and matchiness and coordination.

Take me to The Container Store, let me pick out a polka-dot basket and an in-closet shoe organizer and I'm yours forever. Better yet, I'm currently dreaming of the ways in which a color-coded drawer filing system for our office would change my life.

Still my beating heart.

You're weird, Colorado

Let me take you on a little tour of our past few days.

Thursday: Return from our trip to BEAUTIFUL mid-60's greet-me-with-a-warm-smile-Springtime weather.

Friday: Realize that it was all just a tease. Colorado, quit playing games with my heart. BLIZZARD dumps 6 inches of snow.

Saturday, Sunday, Monday: Bright blue sky commences to warm my heart again with sunshine and perfect temperatures. Colorado and I are on talking terms once more as the snow is melted away. I have hope that Spring is here... hope enough to make me take the bold steps of reorganizing my closet- as in folded, boxed up, stored underneath my bed without any goodbye tears - and put away my winter sweaters. My closet now sings of color, Springtime, dresses, and my beautiful strappy sandals. I dance through the house.

Tuesday: Wake up early for work to a beautiful sunrise and think: Oh good! I'll go for a run when I get home from subbing; it'll be perfect weather. Place on my mental to-do list for the weekend: Spring Cleaning! Re-organize the garage and clean the house. Clean windows, scrub out cabinets, and tidy up the place to the tune of Giselle's 'Happy Little Working Song'.

Tuesday afternoon: On my drive home I notice the clouds forming. It starts to rain, then snain, then snow. By the time 5 pm hits it's a full-on blizzard. No running for me. 12 inches of snow later, a snow day for Wednesday called, our power out from the weight of the snow, and I must say goodbye to my long-lost friend Spring once again.

Wednesday morning: Beautiful. Not in the Spring-steal-my-heart kind of way, but in the beauty of fresh snow kind of way. I will not let my heart get teased in such a way again. Have resigned myself to the fact that this is Springtime in Colorado. March snow... April snow... May snow... sometimes even June snow.

Come back, I miss you!

I LOVE Colorado and will forever think that it will win the #1 Greatest State Ever Contest. And the Gold Medal goes to..... COLORADO!

However. Living in Georgia for 4 years basically made me a wuss. I can't handle the cold like I used to and I am BEYOND ready for it to warm up.

I have been waking up to scenes like this:

Let's play the Find Sophie Game. It's fun!

Can you find her? Hint: She's behind the fence to the right of the satellite dish.

Well, that wasn't so much the hint as it was the answer, but

I've always loved shortcuts anyway.

And this:

The Find Sophie Game is a bit easier in this one.

When all I have really wanted to do is wake up to this:

This is my backyard pre-Freezingness That Lasts Forever. Seriously; the view from my back porch. Be jealous.

(And, if you're on your toes and a smarty-pants and are thinking that the mountains in Colorado are to the west, thus making this the sunset and not the sunrise and I wouldn't technically be waking up to this, you would be correct. It's still purty though, huh?)

Come back to me Springtime! Bring with you your perfect-above-70-but-less-than-80-temperatures! Bring sundresses and sunblock. A jetski or two to play on the water would be a nice gift as well.

Like sands through an hourglass...

These are the days of our lives. Soap Opera TV, anyone? I grew up on that show, cheering for Hope and Beau to get together, hating Sammie...

Without any earth-shattering revelations of the week, I am posting some of the days of our lives here. One thing that struck me this week is that I should be banned from Crock-pot cooking FOREVER... you will understand soon.

Without any kiddos yet, our Golden has filled that role gloriously. We got her three years ago as we were preparing for Lane to head overseas for the first time. He wasn't too excited about owning a dog because he didn't want to be tied down to anything in case we ever wanted to go on a spontaneous weekend vacation (which has happened once in our 5 year marriage, so I don't quite know what he was thinking... just longing for freedom I suppose). I knew though, that I would not love living in an empty house all alone so we got Sophie to keep me company through the many months of separation that we knew would be headed our way. Soph and I have been through a lot together to say the least. She was allowed to sleep on my bed when it was only occupied on one side for a very sad reason and nuzzled up to me when she could sense I was sad... went on runs together... got hooked on American Idol and Biggest Loser together... and yes, she chewed through her share of couches and walls in our first house. Quite the girl.

Oh, sweet Sophie. How beautiful is she?!? She can be the most obnoxious, feisty, naughty dog, but I just simply adore her. She is waiting expectantly for me to play her favorite game that Lane and her play together all the time- lacrosse. She's actually pretty good.

My attempts at crafting included making this wreath. Not making as much as stuffing things together. I can claim originality on the bow though.

This is probably my husbands #1 biggest pet peeve for me... anyone else do this? I reuse plastic baggies over, and over, and over. This constant scene in our kitchen drives him CRAZY, but I refuse to submit to his demands and just throw them away. What is he thinking?

Okay, so here was the Crock-pot disaster. Originally meant to be Teriyaki Pork. I walked back inside the house with it smelling AMAZING and was so excited to lay eyes on the feast only to find this...

I created tar.

The funniest (saddest?) part of the whole fiasco was that Lane actually ate it. He put it on his plate, ate it, and said it was delicious. I threw up a little in my mouth.

Not a recent picture, but she's just too stinkin cute to not do two pics of her in one post. Oh geez, I'm turning into one of THOSE people aren't I. Who talk about their dogs like they're people... I refuse to dress her. Stop me before it gets to that point.

My afternoon will now be spent on some much-needed editing; here I go.