New Kids on the Block

My very favorite new hobby is to take my camera and husband on a walk around the block. Okay, maybe not new, seeing as I've posted about going on walks before.

But even in the summer heat, it's so refreshing to take a walk with the one I love and discover and re-discover the beauty in our simple neighborhood. It's stress-relieving and calming.

 

What do you do to relieve stress? 

In addition to taking walks, I also make oatmeal cookies... which, yes, is what I'm doing right now. :)

Oops, I almost forgot: I just started a little Facebook page for the blog! "Like" if you wish!

Oceanside

This last weekend my dad took me and my sisters on a little daddy daughter weekend trip to California. We visited family up there (who were so gracious to let us stay with them), which was a blast. And we hit the beach a few times, hence the photo dump:

It was so nice to go on a little summer vacation! The only thing that could have made it better would be if Scott could have come along, but unfortunately he needed to work. 

The ocean water was the perfect temperature and the most beautiful color. And experiencing all of it with my family? Bliss.

Also, I'm bummed that these pictures aren't as sharp and as great quality as my original pictures. I tried my best to make it work, but I had some difficulties. Any photo transferring tips would be appreciated!

How is your summer treating you?

Currently

 

                     

Watching: How I Met Your Mother! And for the first time. It's so great. It's my no-drama show. You don't have to really worry about what happened in the last episode. It's just for laughs!

Eating: Dr. Pepper. We're going through a bit of a DP phase right now, and it's becoming a situation.

Thinking about: Eating more healthy, haha. And how I feel like I've been slacking off in life lately. Time to kick it up a notch and work harder at being awesome in all aspects of life.

Anticipating: My trip to California this week! My family is taking me on a little vacation this week. I'm so excited to hit the beach for the first time this summer. It's been too long! I will miss husband, though.

Working on: My picture-taking skills! We had some fun with jumping pictures the other night and I realized that wearing a dress is definitely the worst idea I've ever had. And it's been really fun learning to play with the sunlight in a picture. Scott did a lot better than me, in this instance. Isn't he great?

Wishing: I lived somewhere where it rained and didn't flash flood. We drove in a scary storm the other night. I've never lived somewhere where a flood can literally happen in minutes. The ground is so hard here, the water doesn't seep in at all. It can be scary. I really miss snuggling inside while listening to the pouring rain outside. Maybe I need to take a vacation to Seattle.

Feeling: So grateful for my husband. And also, I feel a lot of disgust for the world hubby and hubberz. Ick! Just had to put that out there.

And a thanks to this lovely blogging idea from Dani at Sometimes Sweet! Or should I say, always sweet. :)

Keep Smiling

Oh blog post titles. It's hard to think of a clever title every time you post. IT'S TOO MUCH PRESSURE. :)

I'm back again, on this silly little blog thing. I hope no one minds too much that I've been gone (I feel so silly and proud when I say that). I'd rather write some decent posts every week or so, than come up with something trite every day. Sometimes, there isn't a lot to say.

 

Life has been stressful to say the least. Like I mentioned before, we're moving this month and still have yet to find a place. I'd be really grateful if you'd keep us in your thoughts and prayers; we could sure use them.

But enough of the not so fun part of life. Who wants to dwell on that? Not I. Here are some things that have been keeping me smiling during all of this:

 

Eating cookies on National Sugar Cookie day. Because why not make an ordinary day wonderful and full of cookies?

 

Trying to work on July goals, even though things have been cray.

 

And hanging out with this silly guy. He just got a smart phone, and it's hilarious watching him trying to figure the thing out. 

Also, sorry about some of these pictures. Gotta love that indoor lighting (not!).

Happy Wednesday, friends!

Keep smiling.

Our 4th of July

What a glorious 4th of July it was! A lot of our family was out of town, so we had our own little shin-dig.

We had our own little BBQ, which was awesome. I'm such a sucker for the cute holiday items they have at stores. So when we went into Target last week, I had to snag the cute baskets and napkins for our party for two.

We also got little flags to wave around (and were only slightly obsessed), sang at a church patriotic gathering, and saw Spiderman! It was... amazing. And you simply must see it.

What better way to end the night with some bright fireworks! A guy in our neighborhood gets a bunch of them, so we got an incredible seat, right in our cul-de-sac. Plus, it was only 80 degrees out this year, which was heaven! This was also my first time taking real pictures of the fireworks with my camera and tripod. Let me tell ya, it was super easy and a total blast!

I'm so grateful for our wonderful country and for this great day to celebrate it. Happy fourth!

Goodbye, little house.

This weekend was pretty crazy. We were told by our landlords that we need to move out in 30 days. Talk about stressful! Even as I type, we don't have any idea where we're going to live next month. But I'm excited for this new adventure in our life.

This little casita was the perfect first house for us. I'll miss the cute little stepping stones, the amazing deal on rent, and the seclusion. And I will not miss the lack of dishwasher, ugly carpet, and rip on the toilet seat (TMI?). But isn't that life? There will always be good and bad. And I will miss both aspects of our first house.

We'll miss you, first house. Thanks for the memories.