(Semi) Wordless Wednesday

*Recipe for these amazing, delicious chocolate chip cookies to come tomorrow!*

Cindy

Surviving Irene

Picture of Irene radar found at Weather Nerd

We made it through Irene safe and sound! It was a pretty intense storm at parts but we were cozy and comfy inside our house. Collin and I even baked cookies! We had very minimal damage. We definitely fared better than most and we are so blessed. The roof lost a few shingles causing some minor water damage in one of the spare bedrooms and the Crape Myrtle out front is leaning a little from where the wind was beating it all day, but it held up. And that's all the damage we had. Praise God! And the amazing thing, we only lost power for less than 2 hours on Saturday night. And we had a generator to power the essentials in the house. And while the power was out we spent about half the time trying to figure out why the power wasn't working and the other half playing a really fun game called Words of Wizdom. It wasn't until we finished the game we realized power was back on. With using the generator we had to turn off the breakers to the house so we only knew power was back on because the neighbor's without generators had lights on. But we are so fortunate we have power. In Southern Maryland there are currently 43,097 people without power (including my parents) and 23,000 in my county without power. And at one point during the peak of the storm over 100,000 people were without power. It could be days though before some of the places get power again.

Anyway, yesterday was GORGEOUS. Simply beautiful. And today is shaping up to be the same. The temperature is perfect, there's a nice little breeze and the sun is shining! It's incredible to think that only two days ago there was so much rain and wind whipping all around. It just goes to show you the true power and majesty of God. Incredible!

I hope that if you were in the path of Irene that you made it through safe and sound yourself. I pray that there was minimal damage and your power is restored! I will definitely continue praying for those who didn't fair as well as we did. And I hope you will keep them in your prayers too. The Northeast got hit yesterday and though Irene wasn't as strong, she left some pretty bad flooding in her wake. They are not in the clear yet! Let's keep those who will be assessing damage and rebuilding and fixing things in the next several weeks whereever they may be in our prayers!

Cindy

Fill in the Blank Friday

Helloooo Friday! Hurray! It's Fill in the Blank Friday day! If you'd like to play along or see other's blanks visit Fill in the Blank Friday with Lauren at the little things we do...! Onto the blanks!

1. One of life's most simple pleasures is watching flowers grow and bloom.
2. Seeing a cop breaking the driving laws (s)he is supposed to be inforcing makes me want to punch someone.
3. I like planning parties because, the process is fun and the end result is something special that people enjoy!
4. Manila is a funny word.
5. If I had to choose one beauty product to use for the rest of eternity it would be mascara. I really don't use many beauty products and I'm not completely loyal to a brand.
6. I'm happy that I get to bake and cook this weekend!
7. I would never do anything intentionally to hurt another person.

Today's Live Every Moment photo challenge is bokeh! I know I posted this picture on my post on Tuesday but it was just too perfect not to enter into this contest. =)

So, this weekend should be interesting... Hurricane Irene is on it's way full force towards us. They evacuated Ocean City and we're only about 70 miles from there as the crow flies... We're definitely gonna get hammered. But, it's alright. It's not like living in Southern Maryland I've never experienced a bad hurricane before. And we're prepared. We've got lots of supplies and a generator in case power does go out. My only concern is that Collin is scheduled to work tomorrow and though I highly doubt anyone will be getting their oil changed or having things done to their tires in a hurricane, he still has to go in. I pray he makes it home safely. I've told him if it gets bad he has to just tell them he's going home.

It's definitely been an interesting week here in terms of natural disasters. Tuesday we had the 5.8 earthquake that originated in Mineral, VA which I'm sure you've all heard about by now. And that was a freaky experience. I had never been in an earthquake before and never thought I would living in MD, but oh well. I wasn't scared it was just really freaky. And then yesterday evening we had a HORRIBLE thunderstorm and a tornado warning. I'm not sure if a tornado ever touched down, but still... and now we've got this hurricane. Welp, that's just how it is. I figure, get them all done with at once and we won't have any more for a while. ; )

Anyway, just pray for safety for all those in the path of the hurricane! It's sure to be a doozy. If you're on the East Coast, stay safe and try to have a good weekend!

Cindy

Getting Over the Weekend

Hello blog friends! Can I just say that Mondays are hard? I hate going back to work on Monday after having a good weekend. It was cool because my weekend was full of relaxing like I wanted but it was GOOD. I got to spend time with Collin, I attended my first Stampin' Up workshop, and we finished watching The Office season 7 on Hulu+ and began watching Modern Family season 2. I've seen it but Collin has not and it's SO funny it's wonderful to watch again. Though I must admit, I think my favorite part of the weekend was Sunday afternoon when we sat out on the back porch for about an hour or so talking and watching/listening to the storm. It was so relaxing and so special to have that time together. Anyway, all that to say, yesterday was hard. It was really hard to come back to work. However, there were a few good things keeping my spirits up and getting me through the day.

My pretty blue toenails made me feel a little bit daring and excited because I don't normally wear blue polish.

My bright, yellow dress kept me happy and "sunny".

My Best Friend, aka My iPod, kept me company - most specifically my music and ANGRY BIRDS. I am obsessed.

The beautiful sunflowers we have growing kept me excited to get home to see their beauty.

Knowing I'd get to go home and play/snuggle with this cutie.

And last but certainly not least knowing I would get to spend some time with this handsome man snuggling on the couch.

So, Monday wasn't so bad after all. I had lots to keep me going! Now here's to getting through the rest of the week and enjoying another fun weekend!

Cindy