This pretty much describes every day at work…

What Happened to Summer?

If you go outside in Milwaukee this week, you’d think it’s late October – chilly and wet.  If you take a look at my calendar the last few weeks, you can definitely tell we’re still in the heart of summer – I need a day to catch up and BREATHE!  Here are the highlights (and lowlights) of the last few weeks:

- Camping trip with our Bible study group was great, but I wouldn’t recommend camping at Bob’s Riverside in Spring Green.  Most of our neighbors were QUITE rowdy until they all got too drunk to stay conscious (around 4:00 AM).  The river was beautiful, even though I didn’t feel well, and some friends of ours announced they were having a baby.  I saw the most beautiful starry sky I’ve ever seen in my life on Friday night (complete with the Milky Way and a few shooting stars), and we had a great little service by the fire Sunday morning.

- Friends from Bible study announced 2 weeks later that they had a miscarriage.  I’m still completely speechless over this.  Several women in my family have had a tough time with miscarriages, so I know the heartache it brings the family, but having never been pregnant, I couldn’t begin to imagine the pain when it’s your child.  What can you say?  I can rest knowing that God is the great Comforter and Healer, but how do people without our hope heal from this?  I can’t imagine.

- Friends from our old church in New Berlin are finally about to move into the house next door.  I’m so excited to get to know Gretchen again, and their kids are so cool!  Joy came over and “helped” me finish up a quilt (I told you I had a creative phase recently).  She is so mature and is so much fun to talk to.  I’ve been spending some time over there the last week or so, “helping” Gretchen pick paint colors and having some really good conversations about God.

- Since I brought it up, I actually FINISHED a craft project!  I made a baby quilt for a lady at work that is having a baby any minute.  I’ll post pictures here, but the main fabric was a sage green gingham and the squares in the middle are classic Pooh Bear.

- My brother and I sang with our friends Troy and Cherie on Sunday, which was really special for a few reasons.  One, in all our time at this church, we haven’t sung anything together, and they’re moving to Michigan in about a week.  And two, we had a missionary on Sunday, so “Go Into the World” was a perfect song.  If you haven’t heard it, try to find it online somewhere.  It has a great message.

- My poor Altima is draining my checking account.  For some reason, I had 2 flat tires in about a week because both valve stems decided to fail.  Then, a squeaking started so we replaced the bearing and lower ball joint on the driver side.  Then, the squeaking came back, so we replaced the half-axle on the driver side (during the previous repair, we discovered the boot was cracked, so it needed to be replaced anyway).  Then the squeaking came back again, so now the car is up on jack stands at home waiting to have the bearing & lower ball joint replaced on the passenger side.  My brother took the wheel hub and new bearing into the dealership up the road on Thursday (6 days ago) to have them press out the old bearing and press in the new one.  It’s now Tuesday, and this isn’t done yet because apparently they didn’t even order the part until yesterday, and it’ll be 3 more days before it’s done.  I highly DON’T recommend Uptown Motors.

- My friend Bethany came into town for the weekend, and I met her and her sister for some quick purse shopping and Starbucks, where a COMPLETE communication breakdown (mostly my fault, I think) resulted in some major hilarity.  I’m still not quite sure how the whole thing happened, but somehow I told Steph that I couldn’t deal with her hair.  That’ll teach me to talk when I’m tired.

 - My mom and I got haircuts by TRISTAN tonight.  Well, almost by Tristan.  More like half by Tristan and half by our stylists.  Or directed by Tristan and executed by our stylists.  If hair had its own god, Tristan would be it.  Who else can charge $700 a haircut (yes, there TWO zeros there), do fashion week in Europe, do hair for magazines and still dedicate so much time to student stylists?  This is my second haircut by Tristan and Olivia, my stylist at the Aveda Institute of Beauty & Wellness on Water & St. Paul.  I can’t afford to have Tristan cut my hair (the haircut would cost more than the flight to Toronto!), but since he trained Olivia on what to do with my mop, I told her I would follow her anywhere.  She has her degree in business and is from Iowa, so her long-term plan is to open her own Aveda salon outside of Des Moines.  I would probably even drive down there for her haircuts and highlights – they’re that good.  Olivia’s class graduates next month, so no more $10 haircuts and $30 highlights for me anymore, but I’ll survive.  If you get a chance before October 10, make an appointment down there with either Olivia or Lisa.  They rock!

Ok, I think we’re up to date now, so I’m going to upload some pictures and go to sleep!!!

Sweet email

I probably get over 100 emails a day at work, and at least 10 of them are forwards that are at best mildly amusing.  This one was really sweet, though:

As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn’t supposed to ever let you down probably will.  You will have your heart broken probably more than once, and it’s harder every time.  You’ll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken.  You’ll fight with your best friend.  You’ll blame a new love for things an old one did.  You’ll cry because time is passing too fast, and you’ll eventually lose someone you love.  So take too many pictuers, laugh too much, and love like you’ve never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you’ll never get back.  Don’t be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.

 Then, of course, the email ends with: Send this to all of your friends in the next 5 minutes and a miracle will happen tonight.

I’m very thankful that the One Person who is never supposed to let me down never will.

I’m still here…

Yes, believe it or not, I am still alive.  I love summer, and it’s so short here that I try to squeeze as much fun stuff in as I can between Memorial & Labor days.  I will attempt to make time this weekend to update my blog with recent happenings and pictures.  I have pictures from our Bible study camping/paddling trip, pictures from Lafe & John’s trip to the Apostle Islands & some other random stuff.  Oh, yeah.  And I’m in a creative funk, where I actually am inspired and motivated to do something creative.  These usually end with about 5 half-finished crafty-arsty projects ending up in a box in the closet.

 What I’m excited about right now: Packers v. Steelers this Saturday

What I’m NOT excited about right now: Barry Bonds.  I kinda hoped someone would pull a Tonya Harding before he hit 756.  And, yes, I am ashamed to admit that.