A rough day turned better.

I got in a mini car accident the other day. It wasn't anything major... Someone ran into me in the parking garage at work because they were looking at their phone and took the corner too wide. Lots of calls to the insurance companies, a few hours of panicking, and a lot of verbal processing later - everything is fine. Her insurance is covering (all $3200 of) it and I'm driving a rental until it's fixed. It really worked out quite well for me...

The day of I was pretty stressed though. And at 10:00 I hear a knock on my door and it's Josh... with some yellow mums ("The store didn't have sunflowers so this is as close as I could get." Um, mums will do just fine!) and honey crisp apples. It kind of made my day...

Pretty blessed to have a God who protected me and a boyfriend who knows me well.

Beauty on a rainy day.

 (Beauty on a rainy day.)

It rained today. It hasn't rained in a while so you would have thought I would have been ok with it. 1. We needed it. 2. It is supposed to bring in a cool front (I love cool fronts in the summer!) 3. It is only supposed to last one day.

But alas, I was grumpy, as I am grumpy on most rainy days. No excuses. I shouldn't have been grumpy. But I was. I remember one time reading a book that basically said in a much more eloquent way, "You've got control over your emotions. Stop acting like you are stuck in a bad mood - you can change that." But I chose to stay in a bad mood pretty much all day. No excuses. I shouldn't have. But I did. (Except for about 1 hour when the sun came out, miraculously my bad attitude went away. Yes, I'm ridiculous.)

One of the things that I do when I'm grumpy is drive. I decided to drive out to my favorite spot, as I often do, even though it was raining. Driving is good thinking, praying, singing... time. So that's what I did. Thought, prayed, and sang... And I was doing that, I came across a new, and equally as beautiful, view on my drive.

All I've got to say is that I'm thankful that God reveals his beauty to me even when I'm grumpy for no good reason. I don't deserve a God like him... but I'm thankful he sticks with me.

(The normal view... I still love it.)

The Big 2-8.

I turned 28 on Saturday. It's funny how each year you feel so much older. I wonder at what point in life that stops. Someday I'll look back on myself thinking "I'm in my late twenties. That's old." and just laugh at how ridiculous I sounded.

I was at a ladies retreat with my church all day Saturday but everyone made me feel incredibly special. I woke up and my friend Megan climbed into my bunk at the retreat and read me a poem she wrote from her daughter's perspective. Pretty much the best way to wake up on your birthday, I'd say. Here's Meg when I got the honor of painting with her later that afternoon. She's one talented girl...

Then I headed to breakfast and was greeted by a special delivery that my boyfriend Josh had organized - sunflowers and a nice note. He was even out of town all week so he really had to plan ahead. I'm pretty lucky... (Should have taken a picture of this but I didn't...)

All day everyone at the retreat was very kind, wished me happy birthday, sang, etc. And as if that wasn't enough - they got a cake! I'm lucky to have people that love me so well.

The next day I went to lunch with my parents, brother Cory, and sister-in-law (it's still weird to say that, but I love it) Erica. Mexican food - that's the key to my heart. We opened gifts and watched the National Gymnastics Championship because you could see Josh on the sidelines since he was working the competition. My family humored me and my excitement to see Josh on TV and watched with me. They really made the day special...

Then, I went to dinner with my friend Kim. Houlihan's gives you a free meal for your birthday if someone else buys a meal so it's been a tradition that we bring each other for our Houlihan's birthday meals. I love this tradition.

As if that weren't enough, today Josh got back in town so I took a half day and we went to lunch at a place in the East Bottoms called Pigwich, got coffee downtown at Thou Mayest, then went and saw a movie. It was a great day with him...

I finished off the birthday weekend with dinner with friends tonight. Meg made a delicious chicken curry and got some fun cupcakes! A simple dinner with some of my closest friends was exactly how I would choose to wrap up my birthday.

I didn't write all this to say, "Hey, look at me on my birthday!" I wrote to say that I am incredibly blessed to be surrounded by people who love me the way that they do. I am blown away by the weekend and the people in my life.

My favorite spot.

I don't really know what it is... but I like to drive. I especially like to drive with the windows down. With the music up. Around sunset. I do this quite often... It's weird, I know. But it's me. One time while driving I found this spot right outside of Independence that is a road lined with a long, white fence and perfectly placed trees overlooking this beautifully, Kansas-like field... and the sunset.

It's my favorite spot.

I've started going there more frequently. Not really sure why... But these summer nights are dwindling and I'm soaking up the last bit I can... and the best way to do that, is at my favorite spot.

Fun pictures.

My boyfriend Josh likes to joke with me about how I say things are "fun" a lot - and not exactly in the correct use of the word. "That's a fun outfit." "What a fun coffee shop!" "This song is really fun..." Most people use the word like: "We had fun." "It is going to be a fun time." etc... So maybe I use fun in a not so grammatically correct way, but I'm ok with it.

In honor of Josh, and my misuse of the word, I thought I'd show you some "fun" (and random) pictures that I've taken lately...

Flowers from my brother Joel's wedding last week.

 One of the best batches of peaches I've had in a long time. Thank you, Price Chopper.

Mr. Fun himself (and other friends) acting deep in front of the art museum.

Turns out me and the shuttlecocks wore matching outfits (obviously, I didn't take this one...) 

The obligatory "feet in sand" picture from my trip to the Bahamas a few weeks ago.