i did it...

i was productive almost all weekend. i'm so proud of myself! i was able to cross most of the things off of my list. i finished the recipe swap, shopped for mom, returned the shoes..got new ones! cleaned, scrapped for me! i didn't touch the landscaping. my martha skills need some serious help! i need to find fake flowers to put in front of the house. nothing grows there...too much darn sunlight! oh well, just gonna pull up my dead gerbers and leave the pots there until next spring! we didn't get to go to the perogi fest either. probably a good thing. we don't need to spend any more money. i'm seriously on a money kick again! we're talking about a 7 day carribean cruise in late november/early december with two of our best friends and i totally should be saving for that and paying off other bills. not creating new ones!
i know, easier said than done. i would love to save at least one of our paychecks a month. it's totally feasible. just a little intimidating. i'm not sure why. but it is. maybe i'll give it a whirl for a month or two. after i try it, it shouldn't be too hard to stay on track, right?! back to the perogi fest..we can watch it on the travel channel. it's supposed to be featured soon. kinda why i wish we could have fit it in. but i would much rather have a little down time rather than go, go, go!
i know nick feels the same way. we were able to hang out at mom and dad's today. i love laying out by the pool. reading a trashy magazine or fun book! getting some sun! so great. so relaxing! gonna miss summer! but then again, i'm sure i will find the good in every season...well, i hope so. i am in indiana. i don't have another option!
still have the productive vibes running thru me. they so need to fizzle out. i have to go to bed soon! back to the daily grind of the work week. yuck. still have to fold laundry and would love to straighten up my scrap area!
hope everyone had a fun and/or productive weekend! ;) i'll leave you with a picture of my recipe swap! the purples didn't scan right...but you get the point!

productivity

i'm in one of those moods. want to do so much. have so many thoughts and ideas running thru this little brain of mine and not nearly enough time to get it all out! i also have a ton of stuff i need to get done this weekend. birthday shopping, recipe swap for knk, some landscapping things (no i haven't learned after the wasp debacle!), miscellaneous errands, cleaning, organizing, scrapping just for me! there is so much i want to do! now it's rare for these moods to happen. usually, i just want to come home and crash after such an exhausting work week. but then i get home and run, run, run! i have a feeling that this bit of go in me might soon wear out.
i have gotten some stuff done so that is exciting. i should make a list. i get such a thrill out of crossing items off of it! i know. so very type a of me.
but back to my desire to accomplish and be productive. i have no idea why it only comes in spurts. i just have to be in the right mindset i guess. nick's already made a comment that he hopes i don't find stuff for him to do too! too late. i already had him putzing around! i really don't think there is much else....just laundry!
enough ramblings already, i'm off to be productive! ;)

i heart harry...

yes, i can admit it. i'm a harry potter freak. i totally never in a million years thought that i would be sucked in!! i had heard nothing but good things about the series but still had no desire. can i just say that i am so glad that i caved in and bought book one.
i know i have mentioned it before. but seriously, j.k. rowling rocks. these are so not children's books. all her twists and turns. i am constantly finding myself skipping ahead because i want to know now what is going on. i've reread all of the books at least once. it is mind-boggling all the tiny details that i miss due to my skimming habit. i still have to go back and reread six.
couldn't believe how different this one was. so good, yet sad. i am gonna have one heck of a time waiting for book 7. i wonder how big that one will be!
and i like my movies too. they definitely aren't as good as the book but they are entertaining nonetheless. can't wait for goblet of fire. i saw a sneak peak in the entertainment weekly (i think) at work. it was kinda sad...my coworkers were like, 'shan, harry potter is in this new magazine...i put it on your desk since we knew you would read it!' too funny... just wait. i am trying to convert them all! they will see. harry is addicting!
i was kinda bummed to have missed out on the midnight release of hbp. but was exhausted. so i'm sure i wouldn't have enjoyed it. i really must try to make it to the final release. i've never done anything like that before. nick has. he's a huge video dweeb. went to the midnight release of halo. i made fun of him. and now i want to do it. karma.... oh well, he's going with me! ;) we did make it to barnes n noble before they ran out of the goodies they were passing out. we snagged a poster, some bracelets, and some rockin glasses. nick might kill me if he knows i posted this here...i snapped this in the car right after we got our copy! maybe i should add mine too.. it's only fair right?! and yes, i know...we are dorks! :)

summer storms...

is this not the wickedest looking sunset? wednesday night, nick and i were watching so you think you can dance and he all of the sudden sat upright and bolted outside. after stopping to grab my camera i followed. it was amazing. the clouds, the colors. soo pretty. yet kinda eerie at the same time. nick snapped this picture as i was watching the lightning storm to the south. it was incredible. i have never seen anything like it. nick and i laid in the grass and watched. it was almost like fireworks all over again. many of our neighbors were outside watching too! every so often you would hear the oohs and ahhs. but the whole time it was very quite. almost no thunder at all. and the lightning almost never went vertical. it was many spider like fingers jumping from cloud to cloud.
the only time i have ever seen anything close to this, was a couple of lightning storms while we were in arizona. but this one by far takes the cake.

i have always tried to capture lightning on film and have never been able to do it. i tried my darndest while watching the above mentioned arizona storm. i took like 30 pictures of pure blackness! unfortunately, i still haven't been able to...but my talented hubby did. he got this amazing picture. kinda funny since it's a vertical strike which i just claimed were very rare! still it's a way cool picture and i'm so proud of him for snapping it. we all know that it was pure luck and no skill but where the heck was my luck?! maybe i can still claim it as mine! ;)

bowling for boobs...

yup. went bowling last night. it was for a fundraiser for the susan koreman breast cancer foundation....affectionately dubbed bowling for boobs. it was fun. hadn't been bowling in ages and i had been bugging nick about going. i bowled horrendously....didn't break 100. but christy and nick did pretty well. jas was stuck at his baseball game with the kiddies, so he missed out on all the fun. jax and nick also came along. i so thought they would be much better considering they had their own balls and shoes. now that is serious! but jax only beat me 1/3 games. and christy kicked butt bowling a 163 or something her first game. it was insane!
we won lots of door prizes and everytime someone got a strike they got a free voucher for an ice cream cone at dairy queen. yum! surprisingly, i did manage to get a few!
considering my right eye was swollen...i swear i have the worst luck. lemme explain. i was helping nick put in landscaping lights and readjust one of our drooping trees and as i was holding the tree, so nick could secure it, a g-d wasp stung me on my eyelid. yes, my eyelid. at first i didn't know exactly what happened. just that something that shouldn't have been on my face was....so i freaked out and ran inside and began putting cold water on my face. decide i'm feeling a bit better and go outside. then i realize that i can't see so well. why? because my eyelid was swelling shut! ibuprofin, benadryl, and ice packs later the swelling kinda subsided. i still have a bit of a discoloration to the lid and slight puffiness. after some research, nick found the damn wasp's nest in the tree that we were rearranging....he sprayed the little buggers...hope they are all dead!
today we have just been relaxing. went to mom and dad's to hang out by the pool, got some sun, swam a little, and finally got to crack open harry potter. made it to page 100 already. i love j.k. rowling. she is a ninja. love her writing style and her imagination...goodness! when is 7 coming out? ;)
talked about seeing charlie and the chocolate factory tonight. not sure if that will happen. got a lot that i want to do around the house: laundry, cleaning, reorganizing, getting ready for some new furniture!
enough babbling...off to read harry or do some work!

a couple of mental health days....

so i took thursday and friday off. can i say, that i wasn't expecting my mini vacay to be nearly as nice as it was. okay, so thursday i did run a bunch of errands and then had our volleyball league but it was still kinda relaxing. i loved that i could sleep in, that i didn't have to be somewhere. friday nick and i did not leave the house. oh yea, he decided to take the two days off too. we ordered pizza for dinner and just chilled. i think it was much needed. and i think it's going to be perfect timing since one of our docs comes back from vacation after being gone for 3 weeks. can you say crazy week from hell???
i don't think that since i have started this job...almost 2 years, that i have ever taken a day off just to take a day off. i am usually sick or have scheduled vacations. but these mental health days i can get used to. not that i don't like work, but i really liked the temporary break from insanity. things have been a little crazy lately and i don't see it getting better just yet. a few more weeks, maybe.
the break was also nice because our weekends are so gosh darn full during the summer. somewhere to be everyday. nick and i are hermits. we love to sit around and do absolutely nothing. so there may be times when i have the urge to go out and party but it's rare. i prefer the simple life. lounging, reading, just taking it easy. no pressure to entertain or look good. just the two of us being ourselves. we do have some friends that we can do this with, but it still feels like you are entertaining....
i need to try to take these days more often. but it's hard. i have to put in my requests at the beginning of the year and heck, i don't even know what i'm doing from month to month. so these opportunities are rare. i had to schedule this one a month ago. reminder to self...next time a doc goes out of town, request thursday and friday off.
i'm gonna have to work on setting up a schedule for the entire year. i hate it. i hate to think so long term. which is really strange considering i like my plans, lists, and all the details. but i also like to do the occasional spur of the moment thing! like this year, we haven't done a real vacation yet. yes we went to orlando but that was for ons. we have one planned with jay and chris we just don't know where or when. a carribean cruise, whitewater rafting, mexico, cedar pointe. who knows. i guess it just depends on the family of four's mood when we really start planning.
oh well, back to the insanity. my weekend is now full. well, not too bad. just a couple of parties. but it was nice to not have to do anything. maybe i should think about cutting down a day or so a month a work for my sanity and nick's! :)

shannon's school of driving...

i really think it needs to be opened. why must people misuse the left lane. it's for passing only. not for people to clog the roadway. you see me and the trail of 5 other cars behind you. speed up just a bit and merge over into that right lane and let me move on. i honestly don't know why other's people's driving bothers me so much. seriously, who made me the expert on driving?! maybe it has to do with being so darn impatient. who knows!