Five Things

I have about 10 other blog posts that I need to work on and finish up and post up here.  Lots of summer fun that I still haven't documented.  But, at the moment, that seems monumentally impossible.  And yet, I want to be sharing here at my blog.  So, inspired by Journey Mama, I'll be sharing thoughts/musings/observations in small snippets of Five Things.  This seems much more manageable....

Five Things Day One:
1.  Sadie officially started ballet class a couple weekends ago, and it's just the loveliest thing!  We've known she'd take to this for quite some time.  And it absolutely fills my heart with joy to see her there, listening intently to every word the teacher says, while standing still in first position. 

 

2.  My Dad's been really sick and it's certainly thrown my family for a loop.  After barely making it home from a solo camping trip, he came down with what appeared to be a really nasty flu or virus.  A few days later it was finally diagnosed as spinal meningitis, and he spent 9 long days in the hospital.  It was a scary time for all of us, since there were so many unknowns and he was so very sick.  The staff at the hospital took great care of him, and he was finally able to go home yesterday.  Now he needs to just rest and recover and will hopefully be back to himself before too long.  Just happy that both my parents are home where they belong, sleeping in their own bed and surrounded by the mountains and flowers and peace and quiet that they need.

3.  We've been home for a couple weekends now....and it's the most glorious thing ever.  Summer has been SO fun and SO busy, and has left me reeling in happiness and exhaustion.  But at this point, there are no little voices inside me telling me to squeeze in one final camping trip, to make it to one last festival, or to organize one more outing.  All I want is to be home.  I want to wake up on Saturday morning, take my girl to ballet class, wander through the farmer's market with my wagon, read and knit and cook, and visit with my neighbors in the middle of the street.  That's about it.  Bring on fall.  Maybe even throw some football in there for good measure!

4.  I've started running again!  This is huge and will be discussed at more length in another blog post.  Quick background...I'd been running pretty consistently (and doing other types of vigorous exercise) 5-6 days a week for the last couple years.  I felt and looked great.  I was thriving and chalked it up to all the exercise.  And then my back started bothering me.  Really bothering me.  And my first response was to stop exercising, especially running.  And I haven't run a step, really, since January.  And it broke my heart.  I would secretly cry when friends and relatives would casually go for a quick jog.  I've gained weight.  I'm not handling stress very well.  I seem to have no patience with my husband or my daughter.  My clothes don't fit me, my skin is bad, I'm not sleeping well, and I don't feel confident or comfortable in my own skin.  It's amazing how many things have gone downhill for me when I stopped exercising.  Well...I finally hit bottom and decided that I was going to try running again, slowly, and see how things went.  I've been reading a book called Back Sense that has started changing my perspective about chronic back pain.  And so last week, for the first time in months, after doing as many unhealthy things as possible to my body for last several months, I took some first tentative steps.  And I feel great!

5.  There's a new baby in the family!  Our dear neighbors and best friends welcomed a beautiful new baby girl to the world last week.  Welcome baby Caroline Mae!  Everyone is happy and healthy and recovering at home.  I'm trying to keep my distance and give them time as a family...but I can't wait to start snuggling on a regular basis with this sweet girl!

Summer Vacation Part 3: New Hampshire

Summer Vacation Part 3 started immediately after Haley and Greg's wedding festivities finished up.  The entire extended family (minus a couple important people, namely my husband and brother, and of course the newlyweds) drove a few hours north of Boston to Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire.  We settled in to the strangest house ever (and we've stayed in some weird places), and set about doing some of our very favorite things....

We're a family full of bookworms.  There was a lot of reading of course.

Playing in the lake.  The house had its own beach and despite the cool weather, we tried to take full advantage of the beautiful location.

Enjoying the youngest cousins

Boating!

Ice cream of course...

Celebrating a milestone birthday for my beautiful Aunt Barbara..

Magical walks to waterfalls

Touring the Castle in the Clouds

Stumbling upon a random princess party.....and my little girl was in heaven.

Packing as many people as possible into a small kitchen...

Lobsterfest 2013

And after it all...I was ready to be home.  A dreamy, meaningful, chaotic, tiring, beautiful vacation filled with my favorite things and favorite people in the whole world.  How nice to end a long day of travel with a love letter from my husband and a cold IPA.  Doesn't get much better than that. 

Home Improvements

 

I was going to post pictures and thoughts about the various home improvement projects we took on in March and April.  They included the painting of the entire upstairs of our house (we hired someone to do that part...), moving around of furniture, hanging pictures and artwork on the wall, and some other minor changes.

But really, none of that matters as much as these bookshelves.  This is what started it all, and this is what makes me the happiest.  I've wanted floor-to-ceiling, built-in type bookshelves ever since we bought this house.  It's been sad to have my entire book collection double stacked onto my old college bookshelves all this time.

My neighbor Chris wins the award for neighbor-of-the-year for all the help and support he offered us during this project.

We were inspired by this website, and followed the Billy Bookshelves Hack pretty closely.  Amazing how well that worked and how much money we saved!

 I LOVE these bookshelves.  They have transformed the entire upper floor of our house and the best part is that we find ourselves using this space for reading, playing, and making music more than we ever have.