Free Breakfast!!!

A few months ago I was listening to 93.7 WSTW at work and they said to go on their website to sign up for listener rewards. So being the good girl that I am, I obeyed and signed up.

Fast forward a few months and I totally forgot I did that until.... I got a phone call. I was still trying to figure out who Mike Yeager was and why he was calling me when I picked up my call. He said my name was picked in the drawing and they would be by tomorrow morning to drop off food and coffee from Brew Haha! Wow! He said something else, but the phone was crackling and I couldn't hear. I hope I don't have to say anything on the radio! Oh gosh that would be crazy!!! Well if anyone is near a radio tomorrow morning, listen and see if you hear me!

Cheap date

I've never been a girl with expensive taste, expecting to go to a high class restaurant so I can order the most expensive entree. Still going out to any typical restaurant would result in a bill at least $20. If you go once a week that's $80 a month and $960/year! Even just going out for coffee would be a minimum of $6/week and $312/year... and that'd be just coffee, no coffee house treats, and who can do that?

Once a week Kevin and I set aside a night for our date night. Lately they have consisted of staying home and just hanging out, playing games, or watching movies. While there's nothing wrong with that, and it saves money, it's nice to get out once in awhile. So tonight we head out to Barnes and Nobles, got a pumpkin spice latte, green tea latte, and a pumpkin cupcake and went home with 3 books for a grand total of... **drum roll please*... $2.07! Not bad for a cheap date night out! All thanks to the printable coupons for free drinks at BnN! And the books? We stopped by the library across from the mall :-) Gotta love that place!

Free Taco at Taco Bell!

Thanks to our good ole Phils don't forget to get your free taco today!!!!!
I've never eaten there, and don't plan to start now, but hey free is always good right?

Goodwill

So I posted a few weeks ago about how I had some fun finds at yard sales! Well yesterday we swung by Goodwill just for fun. I've heard some of the guys at work rave about the the one down 202, so we stopped by on our way home from Delaware. Here are my finds...for a total of $13!

I got 2 turtlenecks, one from The Limited, the other Ann Taylor, one was silk! I also bought a scarf just because it looked just fun. My last find was an uber cute Kate Spade purse. I figured since I cleaned out my closet getting rid of a total of 11 winter-ish shirts, I can 'splurge' and buy 2 new one :-)

All in the Family

I love learning new information about mi familiar! It's been common knowledge that my dad has enjoyed photography. He has an older SLR and ever since we were small he has been into taking lots of photos. On top of that, one could even say that he's borderline obsessed with editing old photos of the family and trying to preserve the history. Which I think is awesome. Maybe that's where I indirectly picked up...Ever since I've had a camera I've taken tons, and tons of pictures of anything and everything (just asks my girls sometime about our Miami trip!). Recently Kevin and I purchased a digital SLR so we can step up our photography! Well in light of that when we were at my parents house the other week my Dad showed me this:

Apparently my grandfather was the one who had a talent for photography. I guess I never put it together that we had tons of old photographs (and video) of my dad and his siblings and cousins and everyone actually back when they were young! I should have taken a picture of it all closed up since it has it's own 'built in box'. It compacts and is actually rather small for being how old it is. It is copyrighted 1928! It almost reminds me of the big professional cameras that you sometimes see on a movie based in the 1800's where the guy has to duck his head under the black sheet and squeeze the trigger. I think it looks like a more miniture version. Still very sweet! If you click on the image below to enlarge it, you can see all the little details, like the switch on the front that lets you change the apenture! Being a photographer back then must have been a lot more challenging than now. Not only do we have new technology and most use digital, so they have instant results, but when you look through the lens on one of these you have to remember that the actual picture will be lower! It's not what you see is what you get...it's what below what you see is what you get. Crazy! I just think it's awesome to have sometime (a hobby) that has been in the family for generations! I guess I really am a Crnkovich!

Me, us, or society?

Here's something I've wonder about for a long time. In the past week I've had my plans canceled by 3 different people on 3 different occasions! Normally I'm not that cool and make that many plans in a week, but hey sometimes that's just the way it works. Now I'm not blaming these girls, by any means and at least they had the descent to let me know ahead of time, and we've rescheduled. It's something that has happened to me more times than I can count in the past few years. Is it just me? Do people feel my friendship is disposable and they can just not show or back out any time something better comes up? Is it our age group and people just lack commitment? Or just society where we over book ourselves all the time and then realize that we just can't do it all?

Maybe I'm just over sensitive because I got spoiled living with my best friends in college and always having them there. Now that we all live close to an hour away from each other and are all married or in serious relationships it's def different. Maybe I just have high expectations for people. Or maybe it's just God reminding me that we can't put our trust in people, only in him :-)

High Society

These past few weekend Kev and I have be busy culturing ourselves :-) 2 weeks ago we attended the musical "Suessical" at the Swarthmore Players Club in Media. It was a blast to watch a childhood fave on the stage! The actors/actresses ranged in age from elementary school through retirees.
Obviously I can't use flash during the performance, so the pictures aren't nearly as clear as I'd like them to be.

All the who's were dressed in yellow:


And here's Jojo's crazy imagination bathtub/under the sea scene:


And a little bit of everyone!


Then this past weekend we traveled to my hometown of Lancaster to see my Aunt's art show. Pictures of course aren't allowed and I wish they were, because there was one painting in the gallery next to my aunt's that I absolutely loved for some crazy reason.

Here's a pic out the window of one of the gallery's at the oh-so-famous Fulton Opera House! Too bad the reflections showed in the window.


One of the corner's in my aunt's gallery:


My blacked out uncle, cousin, and friend. With more of my aunt's paintings in the background:


And the busiest I've ever seen the streets of Lancaster at night! Total blur though since I was walking the other way...but you get the point :-)

I've never been to a gallery opening and had a blast! Free food and wine are always a plus too! I love have Lancaster city has this thing called First Friday, the 1st Friday of every month were most of the galleries, and some restaurants and other places are opened to the public! I think I want to go back...even if I don't know anyone.
So let's see what learning/growing experience we can acquire this coming weekend!

Yard Saling!!!

So basically since the time I was born (well if you want to be technical, even before I was born) I've gone yard saling. Quick side note, I never realized that 'saling' isn't really a word because I've always said it, but never wrote it out...oh well. Anyways, prolly half my toys when I was little was from yard sales, and when I got my first apartment I load up on yard sale finds! It's so fun. The thrill of waking up early and heading out with mom in the often cool, gray morning, wondering what treasures we may find. With all the sweet things that I have found over the years, never had I ever been able to MAKE money off shopping at a yard sale...until today!


This weekend Kevin and I headed up to Lancaster Friday night to see an art show (more on that later) and my mom was talking to my youngest brother about some yard sales close to our house on Saturday since he was in need of some silverware and dishes for his cabin. I heard the word sale and was hooked! We didn't follow true yard sale fashion, but by 8:30 we were out the door and on our way! A few stops and some tough, and some not so tough, decisions later we were on our way home with a full car :-) One place we stopped had an awesome bishop bench that I really was in love with and if we had a house totally would have bought! My mom was close to buy a fuze ball table for like $10 but a quick call to my dad shot that down :-( We did make out very well, she bought a whole bag of silverware (at least 12 forks/knives/spoon each) for only $2 for my bro. And 15 never-been-used juice glasses for herself for only $1.50!

So here's what I found:


2 white crates for $.25 a piece, identical to a black one that we bought for $9 from Office Depot earlier week that we can now return :-)


A white fan for Kevin since we don't have ceiling fans for only $3

And my fave...
These totally adorable glass canisters for a total of $2! I love the antiqueish look with the labels!!!
That brings my total to $5.50...but when we return the black crate we just bought, we will have saved 4 bucks! Freakin awesome I know!

Boring?

So I've come to the realization that over the past few months my life has become rather, umm, dull. We don't have any pets, or kids to keep us busy. I don't have a fun job where things are always going on and different...I could blog about the crazy conversations that the warehouse boys had, but most wouldn't be appropriate for most readers! I no longer do Young Life, or The BACC... so I've decided need a new hobby/activity to keep me busy. I get rather ADD at times so we'll see how it works. The last time I had a bunch of time on my hands was Christmas break of my sophmore year of college and I learned to crochet. I even started this really cool afghan... key word is started! It's prolly only 1/2 way done...maybe I should work on that!

We were on an extremely tight bugdet for our wedding (we can proudly say we did the whole thing for under $10k) so to save money our photographer gave us a CD with all the pics and we had to edit and print them ourselves. Well once again another project I'd start and not finish. So I've been working little by little over the past year to clean them up. I think I finally have enough to start working on a scrapbook and I can't wait! I've only made one scrapbook before and it was of my life for my parents as their wedding gift.

Here's one of my fave before and after pics:



The sun was in our eyes, and that building in the background is an eyes soar so....

I decided to just take them out!


A little photoshopping and I ended up with this. I might say that I think it turned out rather well for being one of my first times messing with it!

New toy

So after almost a year of yearning for a real camera we finally caved! I'm a huge fan of canon, and have done tons of research and decide on a rebel. I wanted to get the XSi, but since it was the newest out I knew it wouldn't happen for a long, long time, so I was content with getting the older, and almost as good XTi. Well it just so happens that they were on sale this week for $200 off! Making the price very reasonable to splurge on. After some easy convince talk with the hubby (he's wanted one too) we were off on Saturday morning to become the new owners of one. It def wasn't the easiest process, but over an hour later we were on our way home :-) yay!!!
Here she is...just out of the box! Couldn't use her yet b/c her battery had to charge.
Here are some pictures from later that day trying to figure out how it works.



Joey eating dinner...

Christy wearing some of hers...


and Kevin wishing he didn't add hot sauce to his!

I can't wait to get out and take some more shots!!!

Blue

My company deals with a lot of banks for work, and because of that we end up with lots of bank pens. The one bank we don't have an account with (Commerce)my husband has an account with so I have a bunch of theirs too.
I noticed one thing about all of these pens though...

They are all BLUE!!! I'm not sure why? Is there some bank law that states any pens have to be blue? Has it been proven in a study that blue has a strong impact or something on people? You would think that since banks deal with money, and money is green that they would have green pens.

Any thoughts?

Be Careful What You Ask For

This is today's devotion from Greg Laurie. I thought it was a good one. It's easy to ask for what we want, but God, being the Father that he is can see the bigger picture and knows what's best for us. We may pout and get upset with him, but when we mature and look back we see how good it was. We just need to remember that the next time we don't receive exactly what we ask for, and check our motives and see if it really is in line with His greater plan.



"And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls."
~Psalms 106:15

I sometimes hear people say, "I have been wrestling with God in prayer!" My first thought always is, "I hope you lost."

If you have been trying to bend God your way, then that is a problem. Prayer is not trying to move God your way; it is moving yourself His way.

In fact, I'm glad that God hasn't said yes to every prayer I have ever prayed. When I look back on some things I've prayed for, I realize that if the Lord would have allowed them, they could have destroyed me. They were not the right things or the right situations. So God graciously and lovingly said no.

In John 15:7, Jesus gave an incredible promise regarding answered prayer. He said, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you." From the original language, this verse could be translated, "If you maintain a living communion with Me, and My word is at home with you, I command you to ask at once for yourself whatever your heart desires, and it will be yours."

When I read a promise like that, I gravitate immediately toward the part that says I can ask whatever my heart desires and it will be mine. But before that, Jesus said, "If you maintain a living communion with Me, and My word is at home with you. . . ."

If this is happening in your life, then you are going to want what God wants. If you maintain a living communion with God and His words are at home in your heart, then your outlook, your desires—and in time, your prayers—will change.

Moving 101

I have moved too many times to count, but I've always been with roommates, so only half the stuff, or less is mine. I have to say though for moving an entire apartment for the first time wasn't nearly as bad as I thought.

For those of you who hadn't been to our first home, this is what it looked like on Friday night before the move...crazy right?


Sorry I don't have any actual moving pictures, I had my camera safely stored away so it wouldn't get lost or broken. Plus who can take pictures when they are carrying boxes and couches and dressers and....
We asked our family and friends (10 of us in total) to show up at 9:30. In true Crnkovich fashion my parents didn't show up till 10 with the big box truck. On their defense my dad was sick and wasn't even suppose to be driving, let alone a huge truck, but he loves me :-)
By 11:15 I closed the door to our old place for the last time, and we heading to West Chester!
Let me tell you driving down 100 trying to keep a caravan of 8 cars together is definitely an challenge...especially with the construction and forcing everyone into one lane...but we did it and began unloading a little before noon.

By 1:15 we were starved and glad to be finished! Well those who helped us were finished...we had to do the unpacking. Here's Kev's dad grubbing down on the yummy food my mommy brought. See all the boxes!?!?


As soon as everyone left Kevin and I began the feat of tackling boxes. A few hours later and I was starving again, and we realized that we were a few lights short, we had thrown out one of our lights, during the move, and now we also had an extra room. So we mad a 'quick' run into Main St. and hit up Cosi's and Bed Bath and Beyond.
I decide to take some mid-finished pictures, while Kev hit up some lesson plans. Here's part of the living room with our new light in the front.Our bedroom...the room isn't really slanted, I was just tired and couldn't hold the camera straight.



And the dining room! Reconize it from the eating picture? It looks a lot better huh?


Now all we have to do is figure out how to cover up the plain jane walls without painting or putting too many holes in the wall. :-)

I learned the key to an easy move is being organized and having great help. I can be a little OCD at times, but this was the perfect time to be so.

1. I made sure we labeled every box what room, and what was in it, and each room had it's own color also.

2. I also designed floor plans for each room so people knew exactly where to put things to save us from rearranging.

3. I cleaned as we packed. Furniture and rooms. Who wants to care a dusty bookcase, let alone move old dust into a new, clean place? When I finished packing up the bathroom I cleaned it, same with the kitchen and other rooms. Then on moving day when the rooms completely empty you just have to run the vacuum quickly and your good to go.

It takes a lot of pre-move work, but to make it easier on your movers and yourself after words it is so worth it!

Pups

So Kevin and I spent the last week house/dog sitting for some friends. We didn't have internet, so hence the lack of blogging.
They have 2 totally cute, totally crazy, totally, totally mental labs. Zoe is a yellow lab and Scout's a black lab mix. Since they are adopted no one is sure of what has happen to them in the past, so little things will set them off. We slowly learned through the week what worked...and what didn't.

They quickly warmed up to me and would sit on the floor next to me, or beg me to pet them, but they were to crazy about Kevin. Since it absolutely poured all day on Saturday they were pretty content with staying inside with us, but when the sun came out on Sunday that wanted to sunbathe in the front yard. Well we had to head over to our apartment to being to tack packing since the move was only a week away. They were not to happy to be rounded up and put inside, even though I gave them a treat for being so good about it.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Scout has a submissive urination problem, so if you look at her in the eye she piddles a little. Yeah, I made that mistake when telling her she was such a good girl for coming in.

The next day Kevin comes home to find a nice little present waiting for him from one of them....
Well that didn't compare at all the presents I had at 6 am the following morning!
Kev normally feeds them in the morning since he's up early, and then I'll let them out until I have to leave. Well he was running late, so being the nice wife that I am :-) I said I'd feed them...it would take 2 seconds and then I could go back to bed...right?
WRONG!!!
I go down and turn on the light and all I see is poop! Labs aren't the smallest dogs, so their poop isn't the smallest thing either...and it seemed to span the entire basement! As I'm surveying the scene trying to figure out the best approach, Kevin so kindly points out that there's piddle in the one corner also. Great!

As I finished up I noticed that Zoe wasn't acting herself, and wondered what was wrong...well it wasn't long until she threw up, not once, but twice on my now clean floor!
What a way to start off a day!

Luckily we didn't have any more incidences with them after that. Other then the fact that Zoe is very stubborn, and was a huge pain to get to come inside at night. I'm sure the neighbors love the fact that I was yelling for her to get in the house NOW! at like 10pm every nights.

Oh well...it's over now...and it's funny cuz I miss them. Starting out I told Kev we are no where close to ready to have a dog...but now I'm double guessing myself.
We can't have pets in our new apartment, so it'll be at least a year until we'll get to think about that. Hopefully I'll be able to post about the move soon. We don't have our internet till Friday but sometimes I can snag someone elses...shhhh.

Motorcycles

So I've been on a motorcycle twice in my life, both times in parking lots going under 20mph, and I still freaked out. There's something about having nothing around you that just scares me. I hate driving around them because I'm always worried that something will happen to them whether it be someone hitting them, or wiping out or whatever.

Well my worry came true on my drive home tonight. I was coming up Burke Rd to the stop light at Boot as a bike made a left turn onto Burke. Well I'm not sure if he took it to sharp, or hit something but the next thing I know he's on the road with the bike on top of him. I quickly pulled into the parking lot and ran over. The lady in the car who was 1st at the light was already talking to him, so I called 911 and a few minutes later like 10 cops showed up followed by the ambulance a few minutes later. Thank goodness he was wearing his helmet and a leather jacket despite the heat. I can't image the scene if he wasn't.
I wish I knew his name or some way to check up on him. I think he may have had some bruised ribs since he had problems breathing and maybe a broken arm, but hopefully that's all.

Definitely an experience I wish I didn't have to have.
So if you ride a bike or know someone who does please, please, please be careful and most definitely wear a helmet!!!

Crossings

So growing up in Lancaster we had signs for cow crossings. There were always other random animal crossings too, but it was always a joke, that it was only in Lancaster. Well yesterday I dealt with 2 animal crossings within a quarter mile of our apartment! Granted they are as predictable as the cow crossing, but it's still funny.
On my way to Giant I had to wait for about 20 geese to cross before I turned.






Then I got home and had a deer run across the road in front of me. The mommy stayed in our yard just long enough to get her baby fawn to follow.



So I may not be in hickville Lancaster, but we def still have our wildlife in good ole Chester county!

Decorating

So I have been completely obsessed lately with decorating and desiring a house of my own that Kevin and I can destroy and rebuild to make it it ours. So with those desires I have been cruising the web coming up with fun ideas. I really want to play, but since I don't have my own home (heck I don't even know where we are going to be living in a month), all I can do right now is dream! So painting and buying items to fill a certain space is out of the question. Until then, I will just dream...unless anyone wants me to design something for them :-)

Since Kevin and I are both absolutely in love with blue, this is a room I am lusting after! I found it on Domino's website.

Moving

Wow! It's been like a month since I've been on...life has been crazy. Working for a college textbook company means pure craziness this time of year, and Kevin being a teacher hasn't been much calmer.
Amidst all that though we have been looking at new apartments, since living in Exton isn't going to work to well with Kevin commuting well into Delaware County. Paying for oil heat at $4.50 a gallon isn't looking to promising for our savings this winter either.
Yesterday we came across a super cute apartment in the heart of West Chester. I never thought I'd even think about living in town after my college days, but after seeing this place really has changed my mind. We are putting in our applications today, so pray that we get it!!! It seems like a people have been looking at it, but I think we have an in, since I know the couple who are renting there currently. :-)
So we may be having to pack up and move in month!!! Talk about craziness!!!

Identity

What is our identity? What makes up who we are? Is it our name? Our friends? Where we live? What we do? Our looks? Our personality? What?

I've been looking through old pictures and realizing how much things have changed in the past 10 years since I was high school, begging friends for rides, trying not to be seen with my parents, thinking that I was the ish because I was in HS and come one what high schooler doesn't think that they are IT.

Back then I was Renae - ae, not ee (we had another Renee, spelled the 'normal' way). I was the girl who could always be found working at the pool. I was the vegetarian. I was Jimmy's neighbor. I lived behind the Franks. I drove the 'hunk of junk', my pale blue VW gulf. I was the soccer player, and manager of the boys soccer and b-ball team. I could be found at Rick's place on Saturday nights, and the Lazer Dome on Sundays, dancing with my bestest. I was Nae.

Then I went to college. No one knew who I was, what my past looked like, just want they saw. I became one of the tripleship and the blonde bridgade. Everyone knew if they saw Kel, or Sarah, I was around too. I was a Price Street girl. I was a runner, the nutrition major. Workout-aholic. The bench press champ. I was Renae, you know, the girl with long blonde hair, crazy last name. I was Snar Bar, RaeNae, and I had my list of "I don't do..."

Then I got married. I cut my long hair, my crazy last name has changed. I don't drive a VW, I don't live in Lancaster, or West Chester. My girls have moved away. My life has changed.
As I meet new people I forget that they don't know any part of my past. It's a brand new slate, to make an impression of who I am.
Now I'm, Kevin's wife. Some sort of office manager something for a college textbook company. Providence church attender, net group leader. Always game for a walk. Facebook-aholic.

But who I AM, has never really changed. Matured and adapted maybe, but not changed. My identity is in Christ! It is never changing, sure it's growing and pruning and molding, but that relationship is always there. He knows who I am, and it's not based on my appearance, or what I do, or who I hang out with.

I think this will need major editting, but whatever, it's my thoughts.

Hiking

So this weekend we decided would be a good hiking weekend. Why not? Over 90 everyday, super high humidity...perfect! Well, it's def a good way to work up a sweat...not that you wouldn't anyways climbing Mt. Misery at VF.

So Saturday morning we headed up to French Creek to check up the Horseshoe trail. While doing so we came across the old iron mill and furnace. They were actually starting to build the base for the fire as we went by.
We explored the old mill, and some of the surrounding buildings and land. It was quite interesting...at least for us, but I guess we might be history dorks. Instead of having someone fan the fire, they used a big paddle wheel to produce the air.

We finished completely sweaty, hot and just plain gross, but we had fun :-)

And...we decided to hit up Valley Forge the next day! We made sure that we stayed near water though and played in it :-)

It is awesome to live with your best friend and be able just to up and go when ever you want :-)

Small Blessings

Many years ago my mom gave me the book Prayer of Jabez. It is quite a small book, yet I don't think that I have ever actually read all it. Bits and pieces here and there, but never all of it straight through. I have read the verse many, many times though. It's 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 and says:

"Jabez cried out to the God of Israel. He said, "I wish you would bless me. I wish you would give me more territory. Let your powerful hand be with me. Keep me from harm. Then I won't have any pain." God gave him what he asked for."

Often time in the morning I will find myself praying this prayer (or at least the first few lines as I remember them). And also more often than not I forget that I pray this, and get caught up in my normal routine, not looking for ways that God is trying to bless me.
Well as I drove into work yesterday I caught myself praying it yet again. Driving from Exton to West Chester typically isn't too bad in the morning, but sitting at the stop light on 202 to make a left onto Matlack can be a nightmare sometimes. It's sad that I have sat there so many times I know exactly how many cars SHOULD be able to turn with each arrow (9) and how many lights it will take depending where you end up in the lane. (It's sad I know, but if you spend 5 mins 5 days a week sitting there, you'd figure it out too). Well yesterday I was far back, and was looking at being the 1st or 2nd car to turn for the 3rd light. Well we get the arrow and as we start to ever so slowly creep forward I hear sirens! There is an ambulance behind me with the flashing lights going crazy. Since we have lights that are triggered by flashing lights, everyone else got red lights, but ours stayed green!
So...lucky me got to turn on the FIRST light instead of waiting for the THIRD light!!!

It's small I know, but it's the small things that He blesses us with, that if we're not paying attention we can totally miss it. So keep your eyes open to His blessings!!!

Oil change

So we went home this past weekend to visit my family and celebrate my birthday. My grandmother is staying with my parents this week, so it was great to see her also!!!

Well being miss independent, and a DIY kind of girl, I decided that it was time to change my oil. Well, actually my car decided since it had been almost 7 months! (yes I know that is like twice as long as I'm suppose to wait).

So after we got home from dinner I changed into some old clothes and got dirty. My daddy sat on the porch to supervise me. Well after finally finding everything I needed since my youngest bro blew up his engine and had the garage torn apart.

Everything went smoothly until I tried to put the new oil filter on. I have a splash guard, so I have reach under that and it's just a matter of feeling around to find the right spot, plus at this point I'm totally covered in oil. I finally get it, and I ask both my dad and Kevin to double check that I have everything on tightly, and they say that they have faith in me. So I add the oil, check my other fluids, and I seemed good to go.

So a few hours later we go to leave, and my mom had to grab the cat out of the driveway since he was behind my car. At the same time I ask Kevin why my oil light is on, my mom starts freaking out! I turned off my car and ran out to see my new, clean oil running out of my car and down the driveway!

Apparently the oil filter wasn't on straight, so even though it felt tight, it wasn't. Luckily I had 2 extra quarts in my trunk.

So my car got 2 oil changes in 1 day! :-)
Gotta love it!

Busy week

So this past we was not only our 1 year anniversary, but also my 25th birthday! Talk about excitement!
So Monday night we went out to the Dilworthtown Inn to celebrate our 1st year :-) It was great! We got there early, and so we had the room we were sitting in to ourselves!
Plus, when we order our desert, they decorated it for us!!!
Yeah, it was pretty sweet!
Tuesday I got to catch up with my bestest girls that I haven't seen in like 2 months!
Wednesday was my birthday! I woke up to my husband who put a musical card on my pillow :-) He also was sweet enough to pack my lunch, and packed something a little extra. I got super yummy cake at work, and came home to dinner that my hubby had made! And...chocolate cake with homemade peanut butter icing!!!! Yes, my hubby made icing!!!!
LOVE HIM!!!
We are heading home this weekend to celebrate with my family...I love when birthdays last for a week instead of just a day :-)

Parks

So those who know me, know that I'm worse than a puppy when it comes to walks. I absolutely love them! Well being day 3 of no work, rainy weather, and the holiday I def have been inside more than I'd like to be. Add that to Kev's new video game, and I'm going stir crazy! I was saved though by one of Kev's best friends who called to see if we wanted to go hiking with him somewhere off 162. OF COURSE! Question is, where off 162? Apparently there is some wildlife reserve on S. Creek road that I never knew about. Walking down stone paths, corn fields, clover fields, deer...oh yes it reminded me of my days back home in Lancaster.

I love finding new places to play and this place is plenty big to explore! So if anyone wants to walk, run, or just look around let me know!!!

Friends

Friends are like the greatest thing ever! But all too often it seems that we get caught up in our busy lives and can hardly make time for each other.
Recently a friend of mine took her life :-( It has really made me re-evaluate my priorities and to make more of an effort to hang out and catch up with people.
In the past week I walked around Marsh Creek and watched and incredible sunset with Rachel.I visited Julie and Phil and their new house to see their new daughter Keira. And I took an impromptu walk on Struble trail with Anna. They all were amazing and...they were all free!!!! So any time anyone wants to walk, hangout, or get ice cream or anything let me know!!!

Beach Life

Vacation is the best thing ever! My parents rented a beach house down in Lewes, DE this week, and we got to spend a few days down there. We had great weather, great company and it was very relaxing :-)

We've been going to that beach for almost as long as I can remember, but normally it's like my dad's side of the family, so there are tons of cousins and aunts and uncles everywhere. This time it was just my parents and brothers, my husband, my one bro's gf and my other bro's friend.

My mom and I got up and took a walk or played tennis every morning, then we met the boys on the beach and played beach volleyball and paddle ball.
This year there were a bunch of baby sand sharks swimming by the beach too! Alyssa was brave enough to catch one!


The one night my mom and I walked down to the yacht club and got to see a gorgeous sunset!I can't wait to go back to the beach!!!

Killing Time

As Kevin finished up his tennis tourney on Sunday, I decided to head to church early and walk around the Dub-C since it was a beautiful day. I've also been trying my hand lately at photography, so I figured it would be a perfect opportunity to see what I could find.


There are some beautiful flowers in West Chester...

I'm really hoping that I'll have more time to learn what my camera can do and practice, practice, practice!