Frozen Winter

We had a really cold and often frozen winter. Since it was so often snowing, icing, or raining it seemed to be overcast a large portion of time as well. I combated the depression that kept creeping up with getting out a lot and copious amounts of reading. My reading number is edging towards 200 right now. So I really read a lot. The weather also meant that not only was I not inspired to take pictures, but the weather wasn't conducive either. I do have a couple to share though.

I also baked a large amount of desserts. I figured I needed to work on all of the recipes I'd pinned on Pinterest. Now I need to work on a diet. :/

But spring is finally here. Which should mean more pictures and more time to work out. Hopefully!

Atlanta Date

Here are a few more pictures from the Atlanta weekend. We really had a good time and both needed the chance to get away and relax.

One of the places we went was the Atlanta Historical Museum that has several homes on the property and surrounding areas.

 

 

 My favorite was the library, of course. But it was darker in there and harder to get decent pictures.

 I love old architecture. And Atlanta is full of old buildings. So just wandering around taking pictures was fun.

I could fill up pages and pages with everything we saw at all of the places we visited. 

But I'll spare you. =)

My marathon trip Part 1

Jon and I decided to make a mini vacation out of my marathon trip. So we headed to St. Charles on Friday. It was one of the most relaxing weekends that I've had in a really long time. Our hotel room was perfect, the weather was gorgeous, and the food was superb. 

We ate lunch in downtown St. Charles at this local family owned Italian restaurant. I can't remember EVER eating a pizza that good.

And then the dessert came. Oh. My. Word!

I might have pigged out.

On a funny side note: I went downstairs to use the restroom and found this lovely hole in the door.

 When sitting on the seat you could see and hear everything going on outside the door. Thank goodness there weren't any people downstairs.

Somehow, despite all of the pictures I took, I failed to get any pictures of the downtown. The roads were the original brick. Consequently it was like riding a roller coaster to drive down the road or walk on the sidewalks. But it was so cool. Since Jon or I weren't really interested in shopping we drove down the road for the experience, ate at the local restaurant and then explored the countryside outside of town. 

These are some of the pictures I took.

 This lady wasn't being very cooperative. As soon as I'd put the camera up she'd put her head down or turn away. But she was so sweet and pretty that I forgive her.

 Just to give you a frame of reference - my dad is 6 foot tall.

 Love this man!

 And my 4'll foot mom. =)

s

I had so much fun that didn't even relate to the marathon. It was the perfect, relaxing vacation.

My birthday - late!

With the house and car repairs my birthday post has been postponed a bit. But I finally have a few seconds to write.

Despite everything, I had a lovely birthday. Children won't let you forget about such things. So dessert and celebrations are a must.

Jon and I went away the weekend after. My parents had been hinting rather strongly that they needed some grandchild time. We took the hint and dropped them off so we could spend the weekend in Nashville by ourselves. It worked out beautifully for everyone.

I had a whole list of touristy things I wanted to do. I live an hour away and yet never seem to find the time to play the tourist in my own area. But it started raining that first day and turned cold. So we rearranged things a bit and still had a ton of fun. It just wasn't in the places we'd anticipated.

I had been admiring this old run down factory building from the interstate every time I drove through. It was absolutely perfect for urban decay pictures. Turned out I wasn't the only one in love with it. By the time we got there it had been revitalized and turned into apartments upstairs and businesses downstairs. But it was still picture worthy, just no decay.

 

We had heard this was where the American Pickers guys had one of their stores so we thought we'd check it out. Turns out Mike was in the store signing autographs. I'm not into celebrity stuff. I live near Nashville and just can't muster up the enthusiasm when I see/hear about a "star". So we didn't go get his signature. But later I was trying to take pictures and saw him in the back hallway as he was trying to sneak away from the crowd. It was neat to see the person I watch on tv in real life. But I seriously don't get what the fuss is all about. He's a nice guy. But that is all - just a nice guy.

We drove around Nashville looking for things to take pictures of. It was raining so not the kind of picture weather I'd hoped for. But I still got some decent ones.

The next day we went to a foreign car museum. I found some cars I want Jon to get me. =) Somehow I don't think that was Jon's intention when he took me there.

The one in this first picture is a little Honda that I would LOVE to have. But they aren't made here in the States. So it would be a bit difficult to get one. We took the basement tour and that is where we found this little guy. Apparently they can only showcase about 150 cars upstairs in the museum. So they rotate them out periodically and store the rest in the basement.

 I've never been a fan of BMWs, but I wouldn't mind this one at all.

It was a great weekend. We relaxed, had quiet meals, slept in, talked without interruptions, and even did a little shopping. Definitely needed in the middle of our rather chaotic lives.

Cicadas

Jon found this little guy in our back yard a couple of weeks ago.

I wanted to see him completely unfold, but after the kids and dogs joined us I thought it best to leave the poor guy alone.

Insecurities

I've been part of a women's Bible study for several months now. The book we are currently studying from is called So Long Insecurity. There have been several times when I totally didn't get where the author was coming from. My family raised me with a decent self esteem. I am working on a few areas, but it doesn't feel crippling like so many examples in the book. But this week has shown me one of them in a very big way.

I recently signed on to review books with a company that is not like any other I've worked for before. The "hiring" process was more involved and included an interview and the submission of writing samples. I received pages and pages of instructions on how to write the reviews.

Through some unusual circumstances (on the companies end) I had already written fifteen reviews before they were critiqued. I received a letter on Monday that I would need to re-write all fifteen reviews. They were not up to the companies standard. In looking back, I can see plenty of mistakes and sub par writing. And it killed me. I'm well aware of my talents (or lack of them) in the writing department. But it hurt to hear that I wasn't good enough. The lady sending the email was super sweet and the criticism was constructive. My head tells me that I need to take this and grow from it. My heart hurts. I know I'm not the best or even that good, but man alive do I want to be.

So once my baby girl starts school you will probably find me adding a writing class to the already planned photography class.

Color Run Pictures

I already wrote on our family blog about the Color Run. 

But I wanted to share some pictures here as well.

From the spray park

We stayed at a nice historic hotel. It was built in the early 1920s and was almost like a museum.

 Race pictures

 Attractive huh? =)

Around Louisville

Thank you Louisville!