Happenings

It's already August! It's pretty strange to hear about people I know preparing to go back to school. Every August for 21 years I was preparing to go back to school. And this August...I'm preparing to go on vacation! Now the vacation definitely sounds better than school, but it's a little strange to get used to. Once we get back, I'm probably going to see about volunteering in a school (most likely Notre Dame as it is affiliated with our church).

As for other happenings, we got new bedding! It's actually been on the bed for two months now, but we were gone for the first month of that. Matt loves it so much that he has an even harder time getting out of bed in the morning. We never actually got new bedding when we got married (we just used the stuff we already had), so this feels pretty plush.


P.S. Thanks to Lisa and Marcy for that down comforter. It is located snugly inside the duvet.

We also got a new desk a few weeks ago. We gave the old table-desk away to a friend, and now we have this new one with tons of storage...just what we needed. It's perfect (and actually the same desk we wanted to get when we got married, but couldn't afford)!



There's so much extra space in our bedroom (ahem, I mean office-section-of-the-bedroom) now because the new desk is close to half the width of the old table-desk.



I've been baking and cooking a lot. It has been so nice to be able to cook without being stressed out, and also to have time to make "from scratch" recipes - my favorite thing to do! These are Tracy Elgersma's awesome chocolate chip cookies. They turn out perfect every time! Not sure if I'm allowed to share the recipe...

This is a picture I took myself (uh, can you tell?) to show how happily suprised I was to learn I have lost over five pounds now! It feels so good, so natural. It's wonderful to be able to make fitness a priority now. And it's amazing what eating right and exercise can do!

Starting this week I'm making time for one of my favorite hobbies: jewelry making. It's been a long time since I've made something really good. Over the last couple years I've mostly made things that I "needed". I didn't have time to be very creative.

In the forefront is the Silpada jewelry catalog. Do you think it counts as plagiarism to copy jewelry designs? I sure hope not, because I'd love to take a cue from their work. They make amazing things, but I don't want to pay $100 plus everytime I want a new piece of jewelry!

I love the colors and textures of these beads.

If you ever want anything in particular, just let me know and I'll see what I can do. I can also repair jewelry if you have a favorite that is in need of that.

Now for a bike ride, sorry no way I can get a picture of myself doing that!