I adore…reading, and books with characters you can’t help but love. I’m in the middle of one of those series now.  It called the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich.  Check out her website here: http://www.evanovich.com/novels/novel .  Stephanie is a woman after my own heart. She’s the opposite of domesticated, she’s doing good if she can manage to feed herself and her pet hamster Rex at the end of the day. She lives in a no-thrills, one bedroom apartment. And she’s a walking disaster when it comes to staying out of trouble. Along with Stephanie you have her friend and part-time sidekick Lulu, her crazy but lovable Grandma Mazur, and then there’s constant silent competition between Ranger-Stephanie’s bounty hunter mentor and Joe Morelli-Stephanie’s sometimes, on again off again boyfriend.  I’m starting book 11 today after finishing 10 yesterday. I’m a little saddened by the fact that I’m only 5 novels and 3 novellas away from the last book in the series and then I’ll have to wait with the rest of the plum-crazy fans for the next book.  I do have one disclaimer on these in that they can get a little racy at times. Probably if it were a movie it’d be PG13. Probably it wouldn’t be R.

So what books are you reading? What books do you love? Any suggestions for beating the end of a series depression that awaits me in a couple weeks?

When I get home….I need to be crazy productive. I have no plans this weekend outside of the normal Sunday morning obligations. So why do I feel as though I have no weekend? I need to go into the office and work for a bit tomorrow morning. I want to get out and take photos. I want to go to the farmer’s market before its too cold to go anymore. I want to finish cleaning my apartment (just to have to do it again next week), I want to hang curtains and organize closets, I want to scrapbook and read, I want to clean up pots and start and harvest herbs. I want to cook and I want to bake. I want to watch movies and I want to sleep. There are so many things! Probably I should make a list. Prioritize for necessity and sanity. Probably I’ll just end up heading into the office in the morning and then reading the rest of the weekend. Probably, that’ll just be swell.

However, I do really want to get out and take some photos. I tried restarting my 365 project a couple weeks ago but dropped it when life got all sorts of crazy. I want to restart that this weekend. I want to find a routine for the week. One that doesn’t leave me feeling like I’m running from place to place. And for the sake of everything my mother ever taught me I have got to clean out my car.

Anyway, I’m off to make plans and lists and see what’s at the RedBox and I think I’m going to make chili tonight.

Also. Found this photo from the summer today. Thought I’d share.

You know those movies that just come out of no where and knock your socks off? The kind that not only has you laughing  more sincerly than you have in months but the ones where you can relate to the characters too. Julie and Julia was that movie.  I had wanted to see it but only because it looked funny and had Meryl Streep and Amy Adams in it, both actress that I adore.  I was pleasantly surpised by the movie though. Here are a couple websites about the movie, well the first one is about the movie, the second one is the blog that the movie is based off of.

http://www.julieandjulia.com/

http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/2002/08/25.html

Here’s to Tara and Nick. And for that matter here’s to all the wonderful couples in my life. I am insanely blessed to have the friends I do and this weekend I got to celebrate the marriage of two of them to each other.  The wedding was a lot of fun, the ceremony was beautiful, the reception was a blast and the whole things was incredible.  I was in the wedding party so the majority of my shots were taken before the wedding, and before my camera was taken away and replaced by a rose. Here are a few of my favs though:

All the girls had red shoes.

Tara's cousin doing her hair

Bride's Shoes

Everything here on out was shot by Lauren:

Me and the bride!

And I lowered the curves to black out the spectators on this one.

First dance as man and wife.

Well we made it back. no major injuries. no lost kids. and I think a good time was had by all. The Mission trip was a great week away from the buzz of busyness that life had become. A good time to step back and see the amazing things God was doing in Kadoka and Wanblee, SD and in my life and the lives of those around me. We all made new friends, spent time serving others and laughed a lot. Here are a couple of my fav photos from the trip.

Here’s the link to my youth ministry blog for more highlights and photos from the trip: http://sslcyouth.wordpress.com/2009/08/11/and-were-back/

In just a few hours I will be heading out on a mission trip with 9 amazing senior high kids and a great volunteer to spend a week in South Dakota serving the community of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.  While there we’re going to be doing various work projects as well as helping with a Day Camp that YouthWorks! runs during the summer months. It’ll be a great opportunity to connect with some of the senior high kids and for spiritual growth in all of us, not to mention the amazing chance we have to spread the amazing grace and love of Christ.

On a somewhat personal note I’m looking forward to a week away from phones and emails. A week to renew and recharge and refocus.  I’m feeling burnt out lately and it seems like its just been one thing after another what with my computer dying and my car breaking down, etc. I am just in need of some serious Me and God time, and I’m hoping that this week will provide some of that.  This song has been playing in my head a lot this week. I’m a big fan of the chorus and the last verse.

Alright, time to finish packing, double check that I have everything, do a few dishes and head to bed. Please keep us in your prayers this week. I’ll be sure to post an update and photos when we return! Blessings to all of you for a wonderful week!

Mighty to Save by Hillsong!

Everyone needs compassion
Love that’s never failing
Let mercy fall on me
Everyone needs forgiveness
The kindness of a Saviour
The hope of nations

Saviour
He can move the mountains
My God is mighty to save
He is mighty to save
Forever
Author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

So take me as You find me
All my fears and failures
Fill my life again
I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in
Now I surrender

Shine Your light and let the whole world see
We’re singing
For the glory of the risen King
Jesus
shine you light and let the whole world see
were singing
for the glory of the risen king

“It was by chance that we met, by choice that we became friends.”

Wednesday night a group of us got together for Harry Potter Night 2 {We’re on a mission to watch all 5 movies together before going to see the 6th movie on the 19th, I’m also trying to read HP 1-5 before then, I just got to four with a week to read both 4 and 5…yikes!} But it was also a chance to hang out with Mel before she headed back to Arizona next week.  Here are a couple photos from Wednesday.

the boys spent most of the night behind their laptops.

Roomies.

Storytelling = lots of movement, hence the blurs.

All of us girls. :]

This is the last photo of the four of us together that I could find. It’s from December 2004.  There are other photos of us with other people but I think this is the last one of just the four of us.

Blast to the Past.

“Don’t be dismayed at good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes is certain for those who are friends. ” ~Richard Bach.

I have no idea what I’m doing. Gardening-wise anyway. {Life-wise too these days }. I cut some flowers off the basil and cilantro recently. And used some lemon basil to replace the mint in this recipe. {Can’t find a link for the recipe so i’ll post that later} But here’s a pic of the final result.

Stone Fruit Bowl Salad.

Also here are some updated photos of the Garden. It seems to be coming along nicely, there are banana peppers, green beans and tomatoes all growing. And Spinach and Kale should be ready for a cutting soon, not to mention all the herbs that keep trying to bolt.  I’ve been thinking about getting a community garden plot next year in addition to the container garden.

Banana Peppers

Cherry Tomatoes.

Green Beans

Heartland Tomatoes

Radishes and two of the herb containers

Kale and Spinach

Lemon Balm-a new fav of mine!

Peppermint

Petunias and Vinca

Edible End

Sitting end of the Balcony

Back later with that recipe.

Summer is busy. Like crazy busy. Not just with work stuff but social stuff as well. Summer seems to be code for “Hey its still light out lets get together!” I’ve barely been at home since moving in.  I still have a pile of frames waiting to be put up on my walls and a to-do list that’s at least three feet long.  Life is crazy.  I need to simplify things. Find a routine. Make it easier. Some days I wish I could do nothing but take photos and read and play in the garden.

3 compilations coming tonight, but in the mean time here’s a photo I took a couple weekends ago at a friend’s family farm:

Finding Joy.

Sometimes I think we hide joy away behind all the boxes of our lives and to-do lists.  We need to let it out more often.  Here’s a quote I just adore by Nicole Johnson. “We don’t find joy; it finds us, often surprising us when it arrives–making us smile for no apparent reason, breaking into a tune when no one is around to hear it.”

Going to give this recipe a try tonight. http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=147519

I had a casualty with a lemon basil plant this weekend but was able to salvage some leaves and bought a replacement that needs to be cut back a little bit.  Hoping they turn out well!