Showing posts with label community. Show all posts
Showing posts with label community. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Busy, busy, dreadfully busy

In the last month, my life has been crazy. Let's see...

Easter weekend we had 2 surprise birthday parties for the same awesome person! Below is a picture from the 2nd party. It was a 1950s theme.



Then, of course, it was Easter morning! We had two services and got to play some great music.


Easter Morning



Me & Ben


We also had Easter dinner with some fabulous friends.

The following weekend was our church's Women's Retreat on Clearwater Beach. I worked on the folders for the Retreat:


In Process



Finished Product!


It was a great retreat. I spent Saturday afternoon looking at this:



I also brought along some of my favorite items from some of my favorite shops:


Covered Notebook from The Pleated Poppy & Blue Floral Travel Mug from Monogram Chick


{I'll post some more pics from the Retreat tomorrow with a "What I Wore Wednesday" post.}

The weekend after that we went to ANOTHER surprise {belated} birthday party for a friend who was back in town. It was Mayfaire weekend here in Lakeland. Ben & I went down to Lake Morton on Saturday morning and took Holly-dog with us. She had a great time.


Ben & Holly-dog


We ran into our friends, Patty and Mickey, when we were about halfway around the lake and she let me borrow her hat since they were leaving and she didn't want me to burn myself. I need to find a hat like hers...




That night, Ben & I went back down to Lake Mirror for the Festival of Arts & Athletes. It was a beautiful evening and we had a great time, even though we didn't stay too long.


Lake Mirror at Sunset


The next day was Mother's Day and we went to Orlando to take my mom and aunt (& dad and brother) out to dinner.

This past weekend we went to St. Augustine with a group of friends for the Woodmen of the World Florida Jurisdictional Conference. We are all in the lodge together. Friday night, we went to dinner at the Creekside Dinery. {I'm borrowing some of these pictures from my wonderful friend, Gretchen, who actually knows where her camera is.}


Creekside Dinery (courtesy of Gretchen)



Me & Laura (courtesy of Gretchen)


Allie & Jen (courtesy of Gretchen)


We stayed at the World Golf Village in St. Augustine. Here are some views from the condo we stayed in and the hotel where the conference was:


From the front of the condo


From the balcony (through the screen)


From the pool at the hotel


On Saturday afternoon, all 9 adults and 3 kids braved downtown St. Augustine only to get stuck in a thunderstorm. It was still beautiful, though.



That night, we had a banquet that was a 1920s-1940s theme. I only have one picture from that night. I wish that I had gotten one of me & Ben, but this one of me and sweet Amelia is pretty great!


(Credit to Gretchen again, in more ways than just the picture taking!)


So, that's what I've been up to and why I've been hiding from the blogosphere. I've actually been out DOING things! Who knew?!?

Saturday, October 13, 2007

the rabbit room

I do believe that I've found a new "essential blog" for my list. The Rabbit Room, is a site set up by Andrew Peterson (who, as you all know, is one of my favorite songwriters) and has contributions from a number of different friends, who are equally as talented. Dialogue in community is so important and too often we don't discuss things of beauty, such as art, literature, and music. This is a quote from the home page of The Rabbit Room:


Our hope is that this Rabbit Room will likewise be a place for people who get the feeling that there's more truth and beauty around us than this world can contain. Windows on that truth and beauty are opened, sometimes quite by accident, by tale-spinners, world-makers, and bards.


Doesn't that make you want to read more? Good. Now go and do it!

(So I'm sassy. Deal with it.)

Monday, May 21, 2007

haiku...bless you

Ok, I know that I have once again been a colossally bad blogger. But wait, my friends...there is still hope! I would like to sum up my weekend community group retreat with a few haikus written on the trip. These first few are ones that I wrote about beauty:





watching children play
hearing their laughter resound
knowing they are loved

a symphony plays
the notes linger in the air
my breath is taken

the sun hanging low
colors burst from the water
another day ends

flowers fill the field
the summer air hangs heavy
with rain close behind



And then, there is the one that I helped Joe and Greg write with Joe's "words of wisdom":





Don't run with scissors
Never pet a burning dog
Live by these sayings



Ok, and I'll add this photo of us as well:
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

For the record, we were being "receptors of the gospel". We were reading "This Beautiful Mess." Great book.



More to come if my life ever gets exciting. Don't hold your breath, though...