things I love 35 - museums! and it's my 100th post!

We had so much fun at the museum with Kate and the Sullivans on Sunday (yeah the 29th of March even though I'm finally finishing this up in April). After all the rainy days, we needed some time doing something away from the house. It was great fun at the Museum of Natural Science in Raleigh. I love Museums. Perhaps, it started when I was little and we lived near DC. I vaguely remember being in various buildings of the Smithsonian and every time we go, I have a twinge of familiraity. For me, we don't go enough to museums. Granted, Beca hasn't been quite old enough until recently so they haven't been fun for everyone but I would go most weekends if I could. I like reading everyhting about each exhibit and I love special exhibits. When we had a girls weekend in DC with my mom's family, they had the first lady dresses at the Smithsonian. I think everyone else was glad Stacy and I had a walkie-talkie with us otherwise we would have stayed in that exhibit for at least another hour. We just weren't ready to be done. Beca seems to really enjoy looking at things too. So there will be more museum visits in our future!

So, my 100th post. I guess I made it easy by this most every day thing for a while. But does it really mean anything? Hmmmm. I don't know the answer to that.

things I love 34 - Sweet Tea

I love Craven Melon's line "And on the Eighth Day, God made Sweet Tea!" The best thing ever in my mind. There have been times when I have wished I could mainline it but I have come to realize that part of the wonderment of sweet tea is the fantastic coolness gushing through my mouth and down my throat. I crave it. Unfortnuately, it's an every morning thing (damn you McDonald's with your $1 sweet tea and easy access drive through!). I suppose I'll have to figure out how to give it up one day but for now, I'm sucking it down one cool, delicious sip a ta time!

things I love 33 - Mexican food

We often have Mexican food. Probably once a week, at least. Chips and salsa has become a staple in our house. Beca's favorite is Torero's. I remember the Mexican food we used to get in New Mexico. Everything was so fresh and so good. And the grocery stores didn't have free cookies for kids. They had a free tortilla out of the big tortilla machine. I love fresh tortillas. But alas, no beautiful machines like that in grocery stores here. At least the Mexican restaurants drove out the awful chains with authentic, wonderful food. I love all the flavors together. Cilantro is a beautiful thing. And you can get really cheap or a little fancier around here now. Regardless, it's all good and all wonderful!

things I love 32 - wrapping presents

There isn't anything today particularly reminding me of this but I do love to wrap presents. I'll keep bags forever because I just like to wrap things. I enjoy creasing paper around something and taping it down only for the recipient to be able to pull it off and find a great suprise inside. Well, hopefully. I've stopped getting so many presents for people recently. Unless it is something I know is very useful to the person. Last week we wrapped up several frames for my boss's birthday in fun Monkey paper - the monkeys had on boxers and party hats. Inside, we had framed 2 of his desk pictures and then added one of our own. It was the 3 of us who work for him - Jesse, myself, and Cynthia. And here's the picture we took for him:

His own monkeys...

And I love a pile of wrapped presents too. I take so many pictures of the presentation of Christams morning! It's great fun for me. And the odder shape the present is, the more I want to wrap it!

things i love 30 & 31 - Details & consumable gifts

Double post - and I'm technically writing this days after but I am attempting to catch up.

I love details - I like minor things to be very much in place and while I can see the big picture, I can also see the often very long list of tasks that must be accompished. Sometimes, it's overwhelming. Usually I feel like this love of details is a blessing and a curse, really. I know everything that should be done but I also know that given whatever constraints, there won't be things done. You can either have it good and fast, good and cheap, or fast and cheap. All three are not achievable - either at home or at work. So, my house tends to get good and cheap. Work always wants all three but we pretty much always end up with fast and cheap and then can't figure out why customers are aggravated! Oh well. The details are what makes things for a customer, whether it is for a machine or for a hand-crafted card!

I love consumable gifts!! I am getting to the time of year where people ask me what I want for my birthday and with world peace and a cleaner earth (being that my birthday is Earth Day I love that one) being so difficult to find, I usually don't have a good answer. This year I do. I want iTunes! I want Shutterfly pictures! I want to go shopping at Ann Taylor and/or Loft and just buy stuff that works for me! I want to get more frames for my house (Michaels or AC Moore)! I have tons of scrapbooking supplies that I am trying to use up except for the CM items that are stacked up at Carrie's (and she is soooo kind to allow me to do this). I want to be able to eat out at restaurants and go to the movies on occasion and have a babysitter all set up. Oooh, that one can be tough because I'm usually the one setting it up. But consumables are the way to go for me! I know, I know - this post is completely self-absorbed and perchance a little rude but these are the things I want for my birthday. I truly enjoy shopping and picking stuff out for myself but paying the bill is a lot more difficult these days with the paycut from work and the wonderful cost of the ongoing master bath construction project.

things I love 29 - TEC

Ah, Teens Encounter Christ - or TEC for short. It's where I met Steve and so many of my friends. And these people were always real friends for me. At first, I didn't think it was really for me but over time it is one of the organizations that taught me that you get out of something what you put into it. I greatly enjoy watching youth realize how much God cares for them and that there are good people in the world and good things coming out of the world. Some don't get it right away. They take time and other experiences for this to sink in. Some embrace it quickly. Regardless, it has provided me with some amazing moments.
I have enjoyed being on weekends but I love working with the Board and being behind the scenes. Unfortunately, with my home life the way it is, I have to step back from this organization and allow some other adults to jump into the fray. I have really enjoyed working with my good friend Robin. We worked as youth together and have been able to bounce pieces of our position off each other. It's been a wonderful experience.
I'll always love TEC for what it gave me (especially Steve!).

things I love 25, 26, 27, & 28 - Emily, Anna, Mary & Jaclyn

Dang - I always miss Saturdays. And then I missed Monday. So while I had something else written (partially), I decided I could post it later and catch up with this one that I had meant to do for a while.

I've done one friend post and here's another - all bloggers. Their fault I started this blog thing in the first place!
I met Emily, Anna, Mary and Jaclyn all through TEC (Teens Encounter Christ). I spent as much time in Greensboro as I did in Raleigh/Cary my last year in high school and for parts of college. Part of that was to be in Emily's and Anna's (first) weddings. I had so much fun with Mary (emily's sister) at Emily's - foregoing most undergarments under the navy dress because of the temp (and I could go without a bra then). It was the 4th of July in NC - whew! And I remember spending quite a while under Emily's dress (which had been worn for several generations) trying to figure out the bustle. It was a great! And I had fun at Anna's too - making the garlands for the little girls' hair and someone actually getting mine in a french braid!! I also remember the gray day that the three of us gathered at Emily's close-to-Clayton house, ate a wonderful lentil soup, and then went and signed papers at Lowe's in front of a friend of Emily's who was a notary public for Anna to change her name after her divorce. I remember how tiny Taylor Anne (Emily's first) was for her whole first year. I've enjoyed several TEC weekends with Mary, who sat at the table over from me on my first weekend. We've always had fun together and I love her blog and how adorable her little girl is - it's so cool to me how much Emily's kids and Maddox look like they are definitely from the same family. Kind of how Beca looks a lot like my cousin. Jaclyn and I also worked several TEC weekends together and I remember meeting her and her husband when I joined the rest of their group in G'boro for a Small Group dinner. Everyone has always been so welcoming in that "family". And Jaclyn's daughter is only a few months older than Beca so we always have fun swapping little girl stories.
This is the group that every few months we try to get together. Sometimes life gets in the way but our visits, though brief are always fun and full of laughter. We've had some exciting adventures over the years - trips to JMU, Boone - and I've gotten to visit Anna in Minnesota when I extended a business trip last year. I love that they have each grown into amazing people with wonderful kids. I'm so proud of each of them for stepping out and being able to do things that I would have never dreamed of (especially Emily and her chickens, Mary and her ability to teach music, Anna and her ability to teach at an amazing college, and Jaclyn and her so cool job with the Girl Scouts!). hugs to you all!

things I love 24 - pictures in the house

So before I get in to what I love, I have to tell a very funny story that happened to my PT. If you've heard about the dog in Apex NC that ate $400 and then deposited it, that's my Physical therapist Kelley and her dog Augie. Any news site, you can search "dog ate money" and you'll probably find it! It's so funny. And I've met Augie. They are having a crazy brush with fame - lots of interviews - news, radio, internet, etc.

OK, so I love to decorate using photos (and a few select Disney items). And today, they are all down for the plumbing project so our house does not look like our house. Beca said this to me at the top of the steps - she is not thrilled with the current project either. Without them, it looks like a bunch of walls that aren't ours. But with it, the house is much more ours. I can live with other pieces not being finished when there are smiles and beautiful scenes on the walls. Oddly, I still don't have and pictures from my wedding hung up. I do have my bouquet, which was dried and mounted in a bubble. We have a great picture of Zoe, Cinderella's castle at Christmas 2007, and a Christmas Eve sunset off Steve grandmother's dock. Eventually, I'll get the large stack of pictures I've had printed framed and add all those to the photo gallery of our house. Oh and all the ones of Beca that we have too. Actually, my blank mantle is supposed to be a picture gallery. And eventually, it will be.

things I love 23 - my camellias and other flowers

My favorite plant day of the year is coming up in April. And I am so excited about it, as I am every year. It's the day of the plant sales at the NC State Fairgrounds! And Dad and I go every year on Friday (the first day of the sale) to pick out geraniums and maybe something else. The proceeds go towards the Raleigh Pilot Club and some of the 4H clubs. They also have a large assortment of azaleas. And sometimes, there are strawberries too! I got 3 camellia plants last year. And 2 are blooming this year! The Rose Dawn Camellia is my big one and I love the color. Here's some pictures of it.

And the other ones are white with a touch of pink. Only one is blooming but the other had a rough start last year and I really thought I was going to lose it - I think someone sprayed weed killer too close. But the plant has come back! Anyway, here's the whites. I thought they looked magical with the rain drops hanging from them.

I also love my geraniums int he spring and putting in pansies in the fall. That's about all the gardening I can handle. Maybe I'll eventually learn what will grow under the tree in my front yard and plant something in there.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Beca was told by her teachers to wear green so she really didn't fight much this morning, except asking for a dress and when she realized she didn't have a green one (or really mostly green), she gve in to the jeans and Tinkerbell shirt. And she let me put her hair up. Wow!

Apparently Ryan's daddy forgot about the green - at least that's what she told me. And they couldn't find Pete the Leprachaun or his gold. She said that with a very matter-of-fact tone, neither happy nor sad.

And this is how Beca was watching her "bednots and knobssticks" movie: