hercules, tchaikovsky & a scarf-wearing giraffe

This weekend was great.  We started off the weekend with a Hercules sleepover with our sweet nieces.  The girls had never seen the Disney movie (one of my favorites growing up), so we took it upon ourselves to introduce them to it. We ordered a pizza, played some Disney Scene-It (yes, I own Disney Scene-It), and settled in for the movie.  

We also managed to sneak in Disney's Atlantis before heading to bed.  The next morning, we had a mini-salon day and I curled the girls' hair with my new curling wand.  They loved it!  We also went through my jewelry collection and high heels collection.  I think it was as much fun for me as it was for the girls.  Growing up, I always loved playing in my mother's closet and trying on her shoes.  It is really fun to be on the other side of it all now - to be the lady with the fun stuff for little girls to play with.  It really made me smile.

Their hair turned out beautifully!  I have such gorgeous nieces :)

All in all, the sleepover was a great success.  We hope to do it again soon.  I was in dire need of a power nap on Saturday though - just like Lyla.  The poor little pup played to her hearts content with those girls, but was exhausted when they left!

Sidenote: yes, the giraffe in this picture is sporting a scarf.  He wears it year-round.  I got him in the $1 sale bin at Petsmart and he is one of Lyla's favorites, in rain, snow or shine.  He clearly was also exhausted from the sleepover. 

 

On Saturday evening, we hopped over to Conner Prairie for a double date to Symphony on the Prairie with our dear friends Sam and Megan.  We packed a picnic and caught up with each other until the concert started.  The weather was gorgeous and couldn't have made for a better night.  

Sam and Meg brought this delicious spread, while Steve treated us to another one of his delicious salads.  Healthy picnicking at its finest!

 

After dinner, we sat back to enjoy an evening of Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky.  The performance was terrific, the weather was perfect (even a little on the chilly side), and we had a great time. 

We are so blessed to have such good friends to spend the evening with.  Not only are they fun to double-date with, but Megan has been an incredible Christian sister to me through the course of our friendship - just as I know Sam has been a Christian brother to Steve.  So thankful for them.  

the hooray friday bouquet

It's Friday!  This week has been a gorgeous one, full of sunshine and 80 degree weather.  Perfect summer weather and the perfect way to wrap up the last week of July.  Linking up with Lauren Elizabeth for five silver linings this week:

 

1.  This bouquet of lovely Friday flowers from the hubby makes me smile. 

2.  I finally completed a successful Pinterest project!  More to come on this later... but Steve and I are in figuring out the whole "married dating" thing and now have over 80 new date ideas.  We are both creatures of habit, so I'm hoping this little jar will get us out of our comfort zones a bit and allow us to try new things together. 

3.  We took a trip to Brown County last weekend and I'm still loving this view.  Hard to believe it's in Indiana! 

 4.  My husband/chef extraordinaire is still tearing it up in the kitchen.  This dinner consisted of swordfish, wild rice, grilled asparagus and roasted red pepper soup.  Yum.

 5.  Over the last week, I've realized 1) I actually enjoy golf; 2) golfing is not just for guys - ladies can do it too; and 3) a ladies' golf tournament is the perfect excuse to get out of the office on a bright sunny day.

This weekend, we are hitting another one of my summer to-do's - catching an outdoor summer concert - with two of our favorite people.  We're also hosting our nieces for a little sleepover / Disney's Hercules movie action tonight.  It's shaping up to be a great weekend!

golf 101

Golf has never really been my thing.  I took golf lessons when I was twelve or so, but hadn't really picked up a golf club since.  I also thought golf was generally a "man's sport" (not true) and, well, boring.  But when another female associate at my firm approached me about doing a ladies' golf tournament, I somehow decided that it was a good idea to sign up.  Granted, she asked me in February and I figured I had plenty of time to a) back out or b) actually learn how to really swing a club.  Turns out neither option happened, so I realized last week that I needed to figure out how this whole golf thing worked before I made a fool of myself out on the golf course.  

source

Turns out, golf is actually fun!  Steve gave me a crash course on holding the club, getting a good stance and hand grip, and other small but important details to begin golfing with good technique.  After a few evenings hitting cloth balls in our backyard, we ventured to the driving range and had a great time.  Steve is a patient, encouraging teacher and I was able to hit pretty well with almost all of my clubs (which was quite a pleasant surprise).  The driving range turned out to be a great impromptu date, and I also got to see him show off some of his golf moves.  He's a good golfer.

Today was the day of our ladies' tournament.  We had a blast.  My team consisted of four female attorneys from our firm, and we are all what you would consider to be "beginners."  Each of us had some good shots, along with the bad - but we laughed our way through all eighteen holes and had a great day out of the office soaking up the sunshine.  And I only lost two golf balls!

I don't expect to turn into a pro golfer anytime soon, but I am glad that I stepped outside of my comfort zone and gave golf another try.  Turns out it's something I think I could really enjoy over the years.  Who would have thought?

Also, I'm sure it probably helped a bit that this ambidextrous girl finally figured out last week that she is left-handed, not right-handed, at golf.  Just a bit.

like leah

"Now Laban had two daughters.  The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.  Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance.  Jacob loved Rachel....so Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her...but in the evening [Laban] took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob... and in the morning, behold, it was Leah!  And Jacob said to Laban, 'What is this you have done to me?  Did I not serve with you for Rachel?  Why then have you deceived me?'... So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah."

 "When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb."

"And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, 'This time I will praise the Lord.'"
-Genesis 29 (esv) (selections)

Growing up, the love story of Jacob and Rachel was one of my favorite Bible stories.  Jacob loved Rachel so much that he worked for her father, Laban, for seven years to earn her hand in marriage.  And when Laban tricked Jacob into marrying Leah, Rachel's less-attractive older sister, Jacob worked another seven years to marry Rachel as well.  It was such a romantic story and I could easily envision a grown-up version of myself playing the part of Rachel, while my future husband-to-be would clearly epitomize Jacob's love and sacrifice anything and everything for me.  What a perfect love story.

The person that I missed in the story, as a kid, was Leah.  I always glossed over her because, well, she was the unattractive, less desirable sister - her name literally means "cow."  She wasn't the object of Jacob's affections.  And she was thrust in the way of Jacob's and Rachel's perfect love.  Jacob never wanted to marry her and Rachel didn't want to share Jacob with her.  Laban didn't want to keep her.  Leah was the unloved sister.

Here's the thing, though - we can all relate to Leah and learn from her story.

Surely we all at one point in time have felt like Leah - not good enough, unattractive, unwanted, forced into big life changes that we didn't necessarily want, rejected by those closest to us, unloved, unimportant, maybe even hated.  Maybe things didn't work out the way you had planned - surely Leah never envisioned her life to play out the way that it did, sharing a husband who didn't love her with an uber-competitive sister.

But Leah was beloved to the Lord.  She Reads Truth puts it best: "The Lord, in his infinite wisdom, saw behind Leah's tender eyes and discerned her heart. Leah may not have been "lovely in form," but she was exactly what God was looking for through whom to establish the house of David and the lineage of Christ. Leah recognized her children as blessings directly from the Lord, and despite the pain of rejection and her unquenchable desire to be loved by her husband, she praised Him."

If you feel unworthy, unloved, or unhappy with current life circumstances - look to Leah and how much the Lord loved her.  Just like Leah, you are beautiful and special to Him.  And even if those closest to you may fail you, He never will.  In fact, He will bless you far beyond anything you could ever imagine for yourself - just because He loves you and delights in you.  You are, and forever wil be, His precious princess.

Now that is a perfect love story.

brown county

Despite hot weather and noisy neighbors, we had a good time camping in Brown County this weekend.  I don't know if camping is really my thing - maybe only in the fall-time or early spring when it's cool enough for me to fall asleep in a little tent - but it was still nice to get away for a little bit.  

On Saturday, we went on a bike ride through the state park and stumbled upon this beautiful view - the perfect place for a picnic.  

We hope to head back to Brown County sometime in the fall.  I'm looking forward to the sea of red, orange and yellow into which our little spot will be transformed come October.