la famiglia

a typical skype session

I love my family.  When people ask me where I hung out in high school my first response is, "At home, with my family".  

Strange looks ensue, like I must have been some weirdo with no social life.  But when you have the best family in the whole world, why wouldn't you want to hang out with them?  

My little Florida family has been quite busy these past few weeks.  Aurelia has learned how to catch lizards (gross.) and that she has a tail.  And Bobby is back to school part time and getting geared up to go on some tours with the bands he works with.  I'm off to Jacksonville in a few weeks for a conference and working on some fun little projects in my free time.  

In my mind summer is coming to an end and I'm reminded every day now by the big yellow school buses that made me late to carpool this week.  But the weather is not cooperating and I can tell my a/c wants just a little break.  

Hope everyone gets to spend some time with their family on this hot and 3 day (yippee!) weekend.

:)

Its too hot.

The days here are long and hot.  Sticky and oppressing.

I am longing for cooler weather, wishing I was somewhere else where summer was coming to an end and crisp mornings soon greeted me.  

Its hard to be motivated to do more than just hide away in the house, with the a/c blowing and the ceiling fans swirling above.  My to do list sits there waiting for me, but all I can do is stay still and pray for night when the temperature drops 5 degrees.

Aurelia has taken shelter in the closet, avoiding her blanket I've laid out for her under the clothes.  She finds comfort in the dark, with her furry toes spread out on the hardwood floor.

The quiet woods

 

 

As I trekked through the woods today in beautiful Pensacola I felt a rush of joy and peacefulness come upon me.  The tall skinny pines reached toward the quickening grey sky and the wind whispered high above our heads.  For a moment, the clouds broke and the sun seeped through the thick, green vegetation creating a glowing fairy forest.  I breathed deep.

 

As my co-workers and I wiped away sweat from our faces and looked on at the archaeological site before us, we could hear the familiar low and distant sound of thunder and I wondered if we would make it out before the rain came.

 

We soon headed out of the site, leaving the quiet and almost untouched forest to the chirping birds and buzzing insects.  We hopped back into our cars, driving along the rust colored dirt roads and headed back to civilization. 



We drove for awhile longer before pulling off onto another dirt road.  This time a cotton farm where some locals were going to let us borrow some boats to go up the Escambia River to look at some more sites.  With the storm approaching the boat tour was called off and instead we sat around the large, dusty farm equipment rehydrating ourselves and eating boiled peanuts.  I quietly leaned up against the back bed of a pickup truck and listend to the slow southern drawls of our Muscogee Creek friend tell stories about how much the river has changed and spending time in the woods as a young boy.

 

 

 

Hello & Good-bye

A quick little update

July and August have been a whirlwind!  I've been playing catchup with my life and just when I am starting to feel caught up I am off again.

Here's what we've been up to the past week or so.

We spent an amazing week at home and in Michigan with my family and friends. 

{  My sister wrote up our road trip to Michigan here, here, and here!  }

Back in Colorado we spent our days lounging at my parent's house, enjoying the "cooler" summer weather, watching lightning storms at night, chasing around my niece, catching up with my Aunt and sister-in-law, seeing friends, playing piano and violin duets with my brother-in-law, and eating Mexican food (yum!).  

Our second evening home was spent at my friend's wedding.  It was a lovely night in downtown Denver filled with lots love and laughter (and a little rain)!  

Now that we are home, I am off again for a work trip, traveling to northern Florida and then to the jazzy town of New Orleans!  

My goal: to enjoy some chicory coffee and beignets.