LOVE it.

This weather. It is AWESOME.

I am sitting in bed in a tank top and pajama pants with the ceiling fan whirling, and it is the ABSOLUTE perfect temperature right now. I love finding happiness in life's smallest pleasures.

Plus I just had a fantastic hot shower after a three mile run and a good forty minutes of raking leaves. There are exactly two trees in the backyard, but, somehow, there are about five hundred and fifty million leaves. Darn Maple. The leaves are pretty when they are brilliant green and on the branches. They're beautiful when they are glowing yellow, red, and orange, and still on the branches.

When they are a putrid, wet, disgusting brown mess to be cleaned up? Not so much.

I suppose it's my fault for procrastinating. I wouldn't have had so many to rake, but, um, I didn't own a rake. Nor did I bother to buy one last fall. Or winter. So I bought one last week, and began raking today, and will finish probably around the time Jesus shows back up.

But for now, it doesn't matter. Spring, I've decided, is a more comfortable season for raking leaves than fall or winter, anyway. Plus, my muscles are pulsing in a delightful way--how amazing is it to lay down in clean sheets, in the quiet, and still feel the adrenaline pumping through your legs? What an awesome feeling.

(I feel like Alec Baldwin's guest star character on this episode of Friends--die hard fans probably know what I'm talking about. He played Phoebe's ridiculously optimistic boyfriend, who kept finding happiness in all of the most insanely ordinary surroundings.)

Hopefully I'm not that annoying. But I am feeling quite blessed today. Life is so short--why not cling to the goodness in your everydays?

And seriously, if you've never run three miles, taken a hot shower, and then thrown yourself into bed during a perfect 79 degree evening...

You are missing OUT.

Disclaimer

The HTML has been screwed up in my last two posts. For the record, I do know how to compose multiple paragraphs. But I am neither computer savvy enough (nor, I suppose, do I care enough) to go back and play with blog settings I don't understand, lest I end up throwing my laptop out the window. I apologize for the inconvenience.

Celebrating the Sweet Life!

So one of my amazing friends had a lovely idea... she's hosting "Celebrate the Sweet Life!" at her house today. A girls only event ("Because chocolate can't get you pregnant!"), we plan on indulging with delicious desserts, delightful beverages, and, of course, incomparable company. I am especially excited because this is a childhood friend that I had all but lost touch with until she so generously reached out to me to contribute to my Peru missions trip. I can't wait to reconnect. First, though, the less lovely parts of my day. Packing. I am officially moving at the end of the month, (into my father's house... next door to where my Sweet Life host, Sarah, grew up... yes, we've literally been friends since diapers!) and have thus far packed (and transferred and unpacked) one box. Dad's house is about a forty minute drive from where I currently live, but luckily, I am in the area about once a week to wait tables at The Cottage Cafe. So, before I go into work, I'll be taking a few boxes each time, and hopefully between now and spring break, a majority of the move will already be completed. Today, I have about five boxes in my car I hope to fill and unload before showering and heading to the Sweet Life. I've also decided I have way too much stuff, and, therefore, will be holding a yardsale next Saturday, weather permitting. My preparations for this have included labeling a large box "Yard Sale" and throwing most of my DVD and VHS (yes, I still have tapes) collection into it. Probably no one will want this stuff, but EVERYTHING MUST GO. I am tired of lugging all this stuff around everytime I move! And since this will probably be the last move for a few years, it's time to clean up. So anything I can't sell, I'll probably just give away. Kaliah, funnily enough, has readily agreed to go through her toys, too-- Dad's house is way smaller than the four bedroom we currently rent, and besides, she has toys from before she could walk that simply sit in boxes in her playroom. I told her she could keep the money from the sale of her things, and she quite excitedly got to sorting. In fact, she has been asking me every morning before school if she can do "more sorting and organizing" when she comes home. I feel like we won the genetic lottery. How blessed I am to have my own flesh and blood actually ENJOY sorting and organizing! So I'll be doing some sorting and organizing, some packing and unpacking, before I am free to enjoy The Sweet Life. Maybe even some yardwork, too. I'll be forced to rake up last fall's leaves before I move--yes, you read that right. Last Fall. (In my defense, that maple tree in the backyard loses approximately one million leaves per season). And my grass is in dire need of cutting, which will be tricky, being as I don't own a lawnmower (the neighbor kid was doing it for me, but they moved a few months ago). My, landscaping my father's house is going to be a challenge! I'm certainly not someone with an aptitude for fixing things... I'm normally on the creation end of disasters. But I think a little at a time, with love, and excitement about restoring the home I grew up in, Kaliah and I will be able to make Dad's house into our home... But first, something I'm already good at: I will close by giving you all a taste of The Sweet Life: My World Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies! Making these bad boys is also on my "To Do" list for today: Awesome Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies From Ms. Jenny Meister (My daughter and I love making these together!) Ingredients 2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted 1 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1 egg 1 egg yolk 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips Directions 1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper. 2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. 3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets for gigantic cookies, or 1/8 cup at a time for slightly less gigantic cookies. J Cookies should be about 3 inches apart. 4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

I've Been a Bad, Bad Blogger...

Truly, I've been terrible at updating this thing. I think I need to figure out a way to get more traffic. Don't get me wrong, the followers that I have--all of four of you? LOL--are awesome, but I feel like if I knew I had an anxious audience awaiting my words of wisdom--or words of nonsense--I'd be inspired to write more often. Or maybe I just need for this dreaded school year to end. Perhaps "dreaded" is too strong of an adjective. But man, I love summer. Sunny beach days, laying on a towel smelling of citrusy sun tan lotion. A bedroom that doesn't look like it exploded because I had an hour to clean it. Open windows, summer evening breeze. And no. More. School. Plus, this summer, I am headed to Peru. That's right! Me, who never goes anywhere. Who, until last year, had only ventured into a state not bordering the Atlantic one time ever (and that for a flight change on the way home from college). I am going to Peru to show and tell of the love of Christ. I am so very excited. Now, I just need to get my camera fixed or buy a new one before I go. So that I may take pictures of all the awesome things God is going to use us to do down there. Also, I should probably brush up on (by which, in essence, I mean, learn) some Spanish. Hasta la vista! (Is it bad that the only Spanish I know is from Arnold Schwarzenagger movies, the kitchen of the Cottage Cafe Restaurant, and perhaps a maximum of three or four phrases from Spanish One back in high school?) Hasta Luego!