(preview picture for tomorrow’s Friday Favorites)

“There’s never enough time to do all the nothing you want.”
~Calvin (from Calvin and Hobbes fame)

Is it really only Thursday? Aye Caramba! I am seriously envying children and summer vacation right now. Especially kids who are old enough to entertain themselves and actually enjoy summer vacation.

I truly believe that this is one area where we are cheated as adults. We should get at least one, true, I’m-a-kid-and-school-is-out summer vacation as adults. There should be some way to deposit just one of those childhood summers in the future bank to be used at a later date.

Can you imagine? Having June, July and August to play in the sun, read books, watch movies, putter around in the yard, have day long excursions with your friends, camp out, swim in the creek, have imaginary adventures. I would love to do that as an adult. The closest I came to anything like that was last year when Tori was gone for a week and Mary and I took that week off to watch movies, read, veg out and go on our bed and breakfast jaunt.

We’ve been robbed, my adult friends. If anyone can figure out a way to get this inequity worked out please let me know!

In summer we live out of doors, and have only impulses and feelings, which are all for action, and must wait commonly for the stillness and longer nights of autumn and winter before any thought will subside; we are sensible that behind the rustling leaves, and the stacks of grain, and the bare clusters of the grape, there is the field of a wholly new life, which no man has lived; that even this earth was made for more mysterious and nobler inhabitants than men and women. In the hues of October sunsets, we see the portals to other mansions than those which we occupy.
~Henry David Thoreau

Since the days of old mankind has been searching for the mythical fountain of youth. It seems that since the beginning of time folks have been trying to remain young and live longer, if not forever. I feel the same way. However, and I can only speak for myself here, I am lazy. The work involved in, say, bathing in the blood of virgins Elizabeth Bathory style or becoming a creature of the night is more than I want to do. I like my sleep. With today’s medical advancements we know that exercise can also slow the aging process and extend life. Exercise? I mean really, I’d rather bathe in blood.

Imagine then my excitement when I read a study proving the health benefits, for men at least, of something that I can really get excited about:

Continue reading Your Cup Runneth Over →

(Dawn, Jason, Haley, Elijah)

A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life.
~Isadora James

Today is my wonderful sister-in-law Dawn’s birthday! I won’t tell you which birthday it is but she’s still a youngin’! Dawn’s been in the family for awhile now (and has managed to stay sane in spite of the fact!) and as the wife of my younger brother it has been great to watch both of them grow in their relationship and become the unique individuals they are today. Dawn is a very warm, funny lady with an infectious laugh, a great sense of humor, and a passion for frogs (not necessarily real ones, however). She is also extremely creative resulting in some awesome gifts over the years. A year or so ago Jason, Dawn and the kids moved to Missouri and are now much closer than they used to be and we actually get to see them more than twice a year which is great. We still don’t see them enough but at least they are closer now.

Dawn, I hope you have a terrific birthday. You really are a fun, fantastic person and I am very proud to have you as my sister-in-law. I love your creative spirit and all the ways it has manifested itself throughout the years, from your cards to your crafts to the way that you decorate your home. I am also very proud of and thankful for the sweet niece and nephew you’ve given us! They are both terrific kids!

Please join me in wishing Dawn a Happy Birthday!!!

And by the way, you probably won’t get your present until the week of Elijah’s birthday as we’ll probably drop off both when we are on our trip. Don’t want it to get damaged or anything! 😉 Love you and hope to see you soon!