Being Real

I always feel God at the beach. It's like that line in "I Hope You Dance." "I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean." I really do not know how someone could stand at a sea shore of crashing waves and not believe in our Almighty Creator.

I refuse to have one of those blogs where all I share with you is a picture of my perfect life. Because come on who are we all kidding! While I really am having a great summer, I'm also really struggling: professionally, personally and spiritually. Obstacles keep blocking my picture perfect life or at least the one I'm trying to "control. "

Oh control.... This is my number one struggle. I am without a doubt wired to control. I just downloaded Let. It. Go. How to Stop Running the Show and Walk by Faith. I'm 30% in and amazed at how much God has already revealed to me in this book. I know this is going to be another journey in my life and probably a continuous struggle but I want to break this cycle and surrender my need to control to the Ultimate Controller. So here I go. I know this one book won't change my life but I hope it is a great starting point. I plan to share with you all about my journey. I know it won't all be fixed by my next post but hopefully I will have made some progress through Him.

Great Start to Summer

This summer is off to a great start. We just had another great weekend. We drove down to Florence on Friday evening after work to spend the weekend with my parents. Since my parents no longer have a boat, we rented a pontoon boat on Saturday. We all had a great time. The Tennessee River is the number one thing I miss about home (aside from my parents of course). That evening my dad cooked steaks for us.
Today we celebrated Father's Day by going to church with my mom and dad and lunch afterwards. The church service was extra special because Bro. Larry Wright preached. Bro. Larry was the preacher at First Baptist from the time I started school until I left for college. He is the only preacher I ever really remember us having. It is always great to hear Bro. Larry preach the word of God. He is continuing to serve God through his work with Time Ministries. The service ended with a little boy who came up to say he had received Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. Why that's sweet enough to celebrate... The story is even sweeter. He has been coming to church with an elderly lady in my parents' congregation who is his neighbor. He doesn't have a mother in his life so the lady has taken him under her wing. Not only has she shown him the love of a mother but an even greater love. She has shown him the love of Christ. The story brought me to tears.
We ended the day in Florence with lunch at City Hardware. And for you Florence natives their chicken tenders taste just like Court Street Cafe. It is great to see Downtown Florence thriving. I really wish we had a restaurant like that in the Boro.
We ended the night babysitting precious Alexis for our friends Andrew and Allison.
We leave for vacation on Friday. This really is a great start to the summer.

Revisiting the Warm Weather Bucket List

In March, I made a Warm Weather Bucket List of all the things I hoped to accomplish this spring and summer. Since Monday was Labor Day, I decided it was time to revisit the list and see how I did.

1. Go to the beach more than once. We just checked this one off our list this week. We went to Pawleys Island, SC in June with Greyson’s family and we just returned from five days in Saint Simons, GA.

2. Have friends over to cook out as often as possible. Well, summer was busier than we planned. This happened once. Chris and Emily, you should feel special (ha, ha). We did host a Surprise 30th Anniversary Party for Ashley's parents. We just didn't cook out that night.

3. Get a tan. Well in June, I was probably the tannest I have been since my College Grove pool days with Ashley but after my tanning package expired (or truth be known I think I went eight times) and we got back from our June beach trip it all went downhill from there. My body didn’t see much sun in July and August.

4. Grill at least twice a week. We did ok in this department. I think we did it so much the first couple of months that we got burnt out. I will say though that G has perfected his hamburger.

5. Take advantage of the neighborhood pool every opportunity possible. Let’s see…. I had two pool days with friends, one afternoon swim with John, and a few weekend afternoons by myself or with G. Again, I did ok in this department. I definitely didn’t take advantage of it as much as I would like. I did use it more than I ever used my apartment pools.

6. Go to the river more than once. Ha ha, ha ha! This happened one time. COMPLETE FAILURE! Thank you though to Susie for one great afternoon on the river.

7. Watch G play golf once. Well I watched 15 holes out of 18 but who is really counting. I took a long bathroom break. It was 100 degrees people. I did have a great time doing this though. It was at a memorial tournament for G’s college golf coach. We reminisced in Cookeville the entire weekend. We both realized those were truly the good ole days.

8. Girls trip! THIS HAPPENED TOO! I am so proud that we made this happen. Surprisingly we did it in between two moves and one house getting destroyed by a sewage flood. We enjoyed every second of it. We went to Birmingham because it was equal distance for all three. We acted like we were 19 again and had a blast ever minute of it.

9. Eat as many fresh veggies as possible. I think we got a little burnt out of this too. I am proud to say we are eating fresh veggies this week though.

10. Wear nothing but sun dresses. Check mark but an easy one.

11. Take advantage of Arrington Vineyards being 12 miles away. Umm, this happened once but at least it did happen!

12. Hang out with our niece and nephews as much as possible while they are out of school. We had John at our house a couple of times. We also spent Memorial Day, vacation and 4th of July with Isaiah and Evelyn.

Overall, I would say I did pretty well. I didn't do things as often as I would have liked to but at least I did do every item. I don't think I took into consideration when I made this list that I still had to work and continue volunteering my time with the organiazations I am a part of. I am actually looking forward to fall and I don't have my September Blues like I normally do. I think I might even make a fall bucket list.

Just the Two of Us

We are on our way back home from a wonderful vacation in Saint Simons Island, GA. We visited here last summer and it became a new favorite for us. The island is so quaint and beautiful. We had amazing food and weather. It never rained a drop on us. I am so glad we planned this trip. It was a much needed break.

Beach Bound

That's right! We're beach bound for a long weekend. It is just G and me. I'm so excited. Here's what's on our agenda: NOTHING! Ah, it feels so good. The last two weeks at work has been nothing short of madness. I've hosted a couple of large fundraising events, a college football team and had just a few days to complete my 2013 business plan. I got it all done by the grace of God. And in the midst of all of that we had the Bobby Nichols Memorial Golf Tournament for Greyson's college golf coach in Cookeville. Now I'm an hour and a half away from sun, sand, seafood and most importantly quality time with my husband. And for those of you wondering we are not in the path of Isaac. We're going to St. Simons, GA.
We also have a lot to celebrate on this trip. G received a promotion at work this week. I am so excited and proud of him.
Well the beach is calling my name. Pictures to come soon!

June

Sorry it has been a while. I know I say this every month but I seriously do not know where the month went. I can’t believe tomorrow is July 1. So since I have not posted all month, let me recap the month of June. The first week of June was my last program day and graduation for Leadership Rutherford (a 9 month, extensive leadership program). Sadly, I came down with an awful viral infection. My symptoms were the same as a sinus infection and stomach bug all at once. I was in the bed Tuesday afternoon until Friday morning. That meant I missed my last program day and graduation which was held at the hotel. I had planned an incredible reception and dinner so I was very upset that I had to miss it. Thankfully I still graduated. I can honestly say I am going to miss LR. I made some incredible friendships with some of the funniest people on the planet. I am extremely grateful to my employers for this opportunity.

The day I started recovering from the virus was also the day we left for our annual Painter family vacation. Thankfully by the time we arrived at the beach house on Saturday, I was pretty much back to my normal self. We had an incredible time. We went to Pawleys Island, SC. We stayed in a HUGE house. We all had plenty of space which is always nice. Greyson’s mother, father, sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew were there. G and I fell in love with our king sized bed with a memory foam mattress. G even slept in until 11 one morning with me, which in my 6 ½ years knowing him has never happened. We took some great pictures of the kids on the beach. G’s sister is pregnant with their third child, who we just found out this week is a girl! We are thrilled to welcome a new baby to the family this November. We had great weather. It did rain one day but we all just took it easy and enjoyed our time being together. All the other days were sunny and in the low 80s. It is 107 here today in Tennessee so I would give anything for some low 80s weather again. G and I went shopping one day in Myrtle Beach and I racked up on some deals at Banana Republic. We enjoyed fresh seafood every night (my fav) and made some incredible memories. Here are some pictures of our week at the beach.

Our Beach House

G & Me

Towns Family Picture

I wish we were there now.

Bill & Nancy

The past two weeks at work have been unbelievably busy for me. I am very grateful for all the new business coming my way. I’ve also been interviewing for a new catering coordinator since my current one is moving out of state. My office is in the process of a major makeover. I have freshly new painted walls (done by yours truly because the maintenance men had way too much going on to take on another project), and new carpet and office furniture coming next week.

I hope to do better blogging in July! I hope everyone has an incredible 4th of July. Although, I am not that thrilled about it being in the middle of the week but oh well. At least G and I both have the day off.

Warm Weather Bucket List

I’ve made this known before but I hate cold weather. I am truly grateful for the mild winter we just had. I love all things spring and summer (except bugs but nothing is perfect). I’ve decided I am not going to get my September blues this year once things start to get cold and think of all the
things I should have done while the weather was warm. This year I am going to
make a list and do them all.

1. Go to the beach more than once. We have a trip planned in June and I want to go to the Gulf or Saint Simons before October.
2. Have friends over to cook out as often as possible.
3. Get a tan. Seriously, this year it is going to happen. My sweet husband just clipped a coupon for 50% off any tanning package and this girl got a 3 month unlimited package.
4. Grill at least twice a week. Oh wait, I always do that in the summer too. I don’t use the oven
in the summer time.
5. Take advantage of the neighborhood pool every opportunity
possible. That means late afternoons, weekends, by myself and with friends.
6. Go to the river more than once. I grew up on the Tennessee River and it kills me that I NEVER
get out on the lake now in the summer. If it means going home to Florence then that is what I will have to do.
7. Watch G play golf once. Marriage is about compromise and considering I haven’t watched him play since 2008, I think it is time.
8. Girls trip! It is an absolute must. I don’t care when or where but it has to happen.
9. Eat as many fresh veggies as possible. Love me some summer squash!
10. Wear nothing but sun dresses. Oh wait, I always do that in the summer.
11. Take advantage of Arrington Vineyards being 12 miles away.
12. Hang out with our niece and nephews as much as possible while they are out of school.