Lovely Gift

Since my grandma is in town this week, my family has been doing lots of fun things (and still plan to do lots as well). Yesterday my mom and grandma went to one of the Amish farms to their Auction they have. I was a tad disappointed when I found out because I have this strange fascination with the Amish, but I'm glad my grandma and mom got to enjoy it so much! I am definitely checking it out for myself soon!

Anyway, my mom posted a photo on Facebook of all their loot and included were so many sunflowers! Apparently they bought the "lot" for $1 a bundle. They got 6 bundles. And because my mom and grandma love me and know how much I love sunflowers, they brought me two bundles yesterday evening! I am so happy! They are beautiful!! I can't wait to go to the Amish Auction and buy a lot of sunflowers for $1 a bunch and give them away to people myself! =)

I hope you have a lovely Tuesday! We've got more beautiful weather here today! I'm so happy that so far the weather has been very nice and cooperative for Gramma Bonnie's visit!

Cindy

Storm Relief

During the month of June and so far in July we've had SO MUCH RAIN. It rained almost every day last week, and in June it rained at least a little bit practically every day it seemed! Kinda crazy, huh? It's currently pouring buckets outside. The field across from my window is flooded. In June we even had some pretty terrible storms. One actually produced a tornado (it was only an EF-0) that caused some damage in a nearby neighborhood. It also produced a water spout over the Patuxent River that I saw broadcast live on a TV station based in DC which is about an hour and a half away. This storm was bad, people. But despite all this rain, we have had some pretty sky scenes to make up for it!

I hope that the weather has been more fair to you than it has to us! I'm ready for a break from the rain. It's been really good for the crops though. The corn is so tall already this year! It's going to be great for corn mazes in the autumn!

Cindy

Back on the Grid

Hello blog world!! It's been over a month since I last posted! Whoa. That is so not like me. Sure, at times I would go days, maybe a week without posting, but a month!? Goodness! I suppose I've been sort of in a blog "slump". I just haven't felt compelled to write anything. And then after some time went by without posting I found it got harder to post because I felt bad that it had been so long. But a couple days ago Lynn left me an Instagram comment asking what happened to me. It made me think and realize, ya know what, it's not that hard to get back into blogging. I just gotta do it! So here I am!

Not a *whole* lot has happened in the past month. It's been pretty fun, and a bit busy, but nothing too terribly noteworthy has happened. We're in the pit for our local summer youth musical (cast is ages 10-21, the crew/pit can be any age) and that's taken up a chunk of our time. We have rehearsal for that twice a week and starting next week we have rehearsals Monday-Thursday and then 4 performances Friday-Sunday. Then we have the week days off and then 4 performances that next weekend. It's crazy busy! And to top off the end of those crazy two weeks, my mom's side of the family is having a family reunion on Friday and Saturday which we'll try to stop by in between performances on Saturday. AND my grandma is coming in from Chicago to spend 10 days with us that same Friday! Lots to look forward to.

Besides Summerstock, we have 4 weddings this summer and 1 in the autumn. Two have already happened, and two are THIS Saturday. Two weddings in one day. Good thing they're slightly spaced apart and sorta close together. =) The weddings we've already been to were great! The first one Collin and I did the music for the ceremony, and the second Collin was the DJ. It was so fun seeing my talented hubby at work!

Oh! A fun little thing we discovered... we have a bird feeder up on our porch filled with sunflower seeds. The birds LOVE it. A few weeks ago we noticed little sunflower sprouts popping up in the mulch off our porch. We got curious since we had the feeder at our old apartment, too. We walked over there and it was like a sunflower field! So many flowers, and tall too since they've been in the ground longer! We went back about a week later and they were actually flowered! We loved it! We can't wait for the ones outside our current apartment to flower!

Seabass has been keeping us thoroughly entertained lately. He's so crazy. He runs around like a maniac. Then he just flops over and falls asleep. He's so much fun though. I just love watching him with all his energy and his little personality. Stank is sick though and that's been really hard on us. We aren't sure what's wrong with him but he hasn't been eating. We've taken him to the vet and done a few different tests and the doctor said he's ruled out everything he thought it could be and it looks likely that it's cancer. =( We'd appreciate some prayers for us because this is really hard.

Stank before he started acting sick.

Seabass bird watching. I have so many pictures of this cutie to share!

So yeah... that's basically what's been going on. I mean, there have been little things here and there but that's the majority of how our June was. Hopefully I'll be back to blogging regularly! Not necessarily every day, but more often than once a month. =)

Cindy

Fill in the Blank Friday

Hello, Friday! I am so glad Friday finally came this week. It has been much too long of a week and I've been much too excited for this weekend and its events!

Because it's Friday, I am participating in Fill in the Blank Friday and linking up with Lauren.

1. My favorite thing to do on Friday is have a date night with my hubby. It doesn't really matter what we do just that we do something the two of us together and preferably out of the house.

2. This Friday I am having date night with my hubby! We are going to have dinner at Chick-Fil-A and then go to Target to purchase some things we've been making a list of throughout the week. I love it because this kind of date night brings me back to our first date!

3. The best thing about a weekend is relaxing! That and spending time with friends/family. And of course not having to work. For me anyway... poor hubby works 5 hours every Saturday. =/

4. Now that summer is almost over, I'm feeling excited and super anxious for autumn!

5. The best thing I did this summer was have lots of little fun adventures with Collin.

6. The thing I'm looking forward to about fall is everything! It's my favorite season and I can't wait for all the wonderful goodness.

7. If I had to be stuck in one season for the rest of my life, I would choose autumn. Though I like all the seasons for their own reasons I would choose autumn because of the colors, the smells, the cooler temperatures in the evening yet it can get semi-warm during the day. And all the wonderful things you get to do in autumn!

Happy weekend lovelies! I hope you have a glorious time and I'll see you back here next week!!

Cindy

(Semi) Wordless Wednesday

Happy Independence Day to all my American friends! And to those of you not in the USA, Happy Wednesday! =)

Cindy

A Tribute to Summer

Hello, summer! Summer has definitely arrived here in Southern Maryland! It is HOT! But I can't complain too much. We had almost a full week of gorgeous weather! Anyway.. I wanna do a top 20 list (since the first day was June 20th) of my favorite things of summer!

1. Being able to wear flip flops all the time.
2. Wearing dresses and not needing tights or leggings to stay warm.
3. Going to the carnival.
4. Going to the Solomon's Boardwalk just to stroll and/or to get ice cream!
5. Fireflies!
6. Growing sunflowers (and seeing them everywhere, too)!
7. The River Concert Series.
8. Fresh fruits and veggies.
9. Jet skiing.
10. Thunderstorms (this is a fairly new one).
11. Taking late evening walks around the neighborhood.
12. Going to the minor league ball games.
13. Long days with lots of sunshine.
14. Taking camping trips.
15. The generally relaxed feeling about everything.
16. Being at the water/on the water.
17. Watching firework shows.
18. Vacation Bible School
19. Making day trips to places close enough but also just far enough away.
20. Lots and lots of flowers and colors!

Summer is such a great season and I'm welcoming it with open arms! Here's to an easy, breezy summer filled with lots of good times and many, many blessings!

Cindy

Good Weekend Lovin'

This past weekend was quite a great one! We had a delightful time every day. It started out real well Friday evening because we got to go to the Solomon's Boardwalk and grab some soft serve ice cream with our friends Jeff and Jeannie. I love spending time with them. But what made it even better was the amazing sunset we got to see over the water. It had been a long while since I'd seen a sunset from the boardwalk and I was quite excited about it.



I think what made me the most excited (and this will sound silly because it's so obvious) was getting to see the sun get lower and lower within just a matter or minutes. I would take a picture, go back to talking, turn around two minutes later and it would be further under the bridge. It was so cool!
Saturday was fantastic! Collin had the whole day off and we did whatever we pleased. We woke up early and went yard saling! We got some pretty great stuff. A couple shirts for me, some miscellaneous cables and electronic things for him, a new driver (golf club) for him, and just some other random things. We had a delightful morning yard saling and it was the perfect temperature for it, too!

Then in the afternoon we got some groceries, took a nap, did some browsing around for patio furniture and I even got to make myself a delicious chocolate milkshake! Evening time came, Collin made DELICIOUS chicken fajitas for dinner and we got to play a game of Scrabble before bed. I just wish you could play proper nouns because I totally would have had a Bingo towards the end of the game. =)


Yesterday was Father's Day and Collin's dad wanted to go golfing together so the two of them did that while I spent the afternoon with my mom and dad. Their neighbor brought over their new baby kitty and I got to hold him for quite a while. It definitely made me want to get a little kitten sometime soon. Then later Collin met us at the wharf where the jet skis got put in and we spent some time at the water. While we were there we found a kitty that was very friendly but definitely a stray. She was so, so sweet and I wanted to take her home with us but Stanky-boy wouldn't like that very much. =/ After the water adventures we went back to my parent's house, had a DELICIOUS dinner, and enjoyed some family time.




So yeah, I'd say it was a pretty great weekend. =) I hope yours was just as delightful as ours! And I hope you had the same awesome temperatures that we've had!! It's been GLORIOUS!

Cindy

(Semi) Wordless Wednesday

I love sunflowers. They are gorgeous and I love growing them every year. Ours are still growing and haven't flowered yet but our neighbors are tall enough we can see them over the fence in the meantime! =D

Cindy

Fill in the Blank Friday

It's Friday!! It's my day off Friday! I'm looking forward to this weekend! Today is full of errands and chores and then tomorrow I get to attend the wedding of two very special friends and Collin is DJing the reception! Sunday we have church, an ASP final meeting before our trip and Collin and I are going to see The Music Man performed by our annual Summer Stock group! Anyway, since it is Friday I'm participating in Fill in the Blank Friday with Lauren at the little things we do...! Onto the blanks!

1. One of my happiest moments ever was Our wedding day. I know it's cliche but I seriously could not stop smiling. I was so, so happy that it was definitely one of the happiest moments of my life. I love thinking back on how much fun we had and how much love was evident in the room!

2. Summer is wedding season and weddings are great! I love love so I love weddings with people in love! I'm glad we've had a whole bunch to attend this past year. =)

3. This summer has been quite great! It's been hot, it's been cool, the weather has been perfect at times. Everything I'd expect of summer weather-wise. And I've enjoyed the thunderstorms we've had! And so much fun stuff has been going on so far! It's been great as of now!

4. My summer food of choice has been nothing in particular actually. I just enjoy eating lots of fresh produce.

5. My summer uniform has been lots of dresses and skirts. With flip flops of course! It's been the perfect temperature for them!

6. If I could spend the entire summer in one location I would choose probably here in St. Mary's County (Southern MD). I don't know of anywhere else that I'd want to spend summer. It gets warm but not as hot as some other places, we have water to play on, there's a boardwalk with soft serve ice cream, we have the summer River Concert series, and so much more! I love it here during summer.

7. My summer anthem is Dynamite by Taio Cruz. I love the song anyway but it has such a fun and catchy beat it's perfect for cranking up and jamming to! It makes for a fun road trip song.

So there you have some more blanks about summer via Lauren! This week I'm also participating in the Live Every Moment photo challenge and the theme this week is soft. Here's my submission below!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Enjoy the humidity and heat the best you can. Over half the nation is sweltering. I know it's not pleasant outside here. Try to stay inside and drink lots of liquids if you're in the midst of this! If you're not, enjoy nice weather for me. =)

Cindy

Fill in the Blank Thursday?

Hey guys I have a special treat for you today! Collin (my husband for those who may not know...) filled out the blanks from last week (see my answers here) about summer and I wanted to share them with you! He loves summer and so I wanted him to tell you all about it! I hope you enjoy hearing a little bit from the man in my life. I am hoping to include him on the blog every now and then in various ways! Now... onto Collin's blanks!

1. My plans this summer include Dj-ing a wedding reception in a couple of weeks, a considerable amount of frisbee golf, ASP, and hatin' on Netflix (for the split).

2. The best summer I ever had was 2001: A Summer Odyssey. That summer, I found a big VHS video camera and introduced myself to filmmaking. I made all kinds of stuff from pizza commercials to music videos to blair witch parodies. I also did what any teenager does with a camera... dumb stuff.

3. Summer is opportunity, theme parks, ASP, and the river concert series.

4. My favorite summer food is a cheeseburger fresh off the grill with garden fresh toppings.

5. The best way to quench a summer thirst is with a slightly frozen bottle of Fierce Grape Gatorade.

6. My summer uniform consists of flip flops and sunglasses. No that's not all I'm wearing. That's just what's consistent.

7. The best thing about summer is the night time thunderstorms. I wouldn't trade God's techno party for anything.

I hope you all have a delightful Thursday! We're leaving early in the morning to head to PA for the wedding festivities so I may or may not post my blanks tomorrow before we go.

Cindy (and Collin!)

Fill in the Blank Friday

It's Friday!! It's my day off Friday! I was so excited that this past week was only a 3 day week for me. Holiday on Monday and CWS day today! I'm looking forward to this weekend, not too much planned which is good because I want to relax! Anyway, since it is Friday I'm participating in Fill in the Blank Friday with Lauren at the little things we do...! Onto the blanks!

1. My plans this summer include two more weddings, a mission trip the first week of August, jet skiing, the River Concert series and lots of fresh veggies!

2. The best summer I ever had was probably the summer of '06. I got to go to Europe with my college choir for a 10 day tour, I spent the summer as a groupie for my now brother-in-laws Christian rock band and got to go to several fun concerts in the tri-state area, my family took a week-long vacation to Las Vegas where we visited with my aunt and uncle but also got to explore The Strip as if we were VIPs, we went to Lake Gaston for a 10 day vacation, and I spent lots and lots of time with my friends.

3. Summer is Sprinklers. Pools. The Beach. Sunscreen. Wearing Dresses Every Day. Fresh Fruits and Veggies. River Concert Series. Weddings. Picnics. Back Porch Lazy Evenings. Late Evening Neighborhood Walks. ASP. Jet Skiing. Sunflowers. Ice Cream on the Boardwalk. Fireworks. Vacation Bible School. Ball Games. Sitting Outside to Read. Fireflies. The Carnival. Thunderstorms. There is so much that I love about summer!

4. My favorite summer food is pretty much any fresh veggie. I love vegetables and they're even better fresh right from the garden or farm! I also really love freshly grilled cheeseburgers.

5. The best way to quench a summer thirst is with water. I'm boring like that. =)

6. My summer uniform consists of dresses! Lots and lots of fun summery dresses. And flip flops.

7. The best thing about summer is the carefree feeling you get because of the season it is. And the fact that it stays light so much later into the evening!

I'm so excited this summer! I think I have a newfound appreciation for it! I really enjoyed these blanks today!! And this summer has been and will continue to be a lot of fun! What fun things do you have planned for this summer or what have you already done?

This Friday I'm also participating in the Live Every Moment photo challenge and the theme for today is sunset. I adore this sunset picture that I took. It has the most incredible colors in it. But I pretty much love all sunsets. They make me stop in my tracks and just stare in awe at their beauty. I especially love them over the water as is the case with this picture!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and you can see beautiful sunsets like the one above!

Cindy

May the 4th Be With You!

I had a very fun Independence Day weekend! It all started Friday evening at the River Concert where we heard great music, spent time with fun friends, and watched beautiful fireworks! Then Saturday was a lazy day until Collin got off work and we went and had a game night with some friends. Sunday after church we ventured down to King's Dominion where it was ridiculously hot and crowded but we still had a good time. Then on Monday my mom's side of the family had a cookout/crab feast and I went while Collin worked. He was fortunately able to stop by on his lunch break and have lunch with us! I enjoyed spending time with my family and chatting with my cousins. Then in the evening once Collin got off work we had steaks, baked potatoes and corn on the cob with Collin's parents. Then we set off fireworks out in the street! So much fun!

Something really cool, we saw fireworks every night but Saturday night and the only night that God didn't show up the man-made fireworks was on Friday. Both on Sunday and Monday while the fireworks were going off there was lightning in the sky and slight rumblings of thunder. It was absolutely incredible. God's firework show was definitely better than all the man-made ones. I'm so glad I'm not scared of thunderstorms anymore (see this post) because I surely would not have enjoyed God's fireworks and I'm sooo glad I did!

Now onto the pictures from Friday night and two videos of the fireworks we set off ourselves. Here in Maryland it's illegal to have any fireworks other than ground-based ones. Not as fun as what some other states have but still fun and pretty nonetheless!

One of the songs called for random household appliances... There's a handheld vacuum, a giant vacuum, an edger, and a leaf blower.  They also had two people with muskets.

Dueling with feather dusters.  =)

We are serious listeners.

Alexis and Donna

Butch!

Kirsten

Collin and Devin were obsessed with Angry Birds during the second half of the concert.  lol

The grand finale!  It was very bright!

This one was just a short little firework that created very, very bright flashes of light.

This one was one of the last ones and the biggest/best. Notice how Collin throws in a little extra spinning one to left of the big one at about 25 seconds in!


I hope you had a great Independence Day weekend filled with lots of fun, family, good food, and fireworks!!

Cindy