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Archive for the ‘Friends’ Category

The Three Buckaroos

November 12, 2012

My friends, Stephanie and Vanessa, came to visit recently and it was as if no time had ever passed between us. I love friends like that.

Stephanie and Vanessa saved my life one summer. I was heartbroken from a breakup, didn’t have many friends at home that I wanted to go into great detail with about it, and, in general, I was just feeling pretty desolate. I went to see my mom’s best friend and my dear friend, too~Sis B~to get some time away. That’s when I met Stephanie and Vanessa.

I’ve loved them ever since.

Now, so many years have passed, we’re all married with kids and getting…older. But, nothing has changed between us. We’re the same silly girls we always were.

Tosha, Stephanie & Vanessa

It was fun seeing my family get attached to them too. I’m pretty sure my kids will never forget some of the crazy conversations we all had together.

Did a little shopping and came across some valuable items…these wonderful adhesives, for example.

We ran into Honey Boo Boo along the way.

Stephanie had one agenda (besides visiting, that is): GO TO WHITE CASTLE. Yes, you read that right.

Being the supportive friends we are, we obliged. With minimal lip.

Okay, she also had one more agenda: Cracker Barrel.

The kids were THRILLED with that turn of events.

Nate and Stephanie bonded over documentaries.

Vanessa and I were asked if we’re sisters. No, we’re not. She IS, however, my ex-sister-in-law’s brother’s wife.

Before that, though, she was my friend. And I’d totally claim her as a sister.

A preview of us in 40 years.

We took a little scenic drive by Minnehaha and Hiawatha.

Sadly, all the beautiful leaves are gone. It happened about 3 weeks ago. But there’s a stark beauty about this…

The last day…sniff.

I’m so grateful for true friends. There’s nothing in the world like them.

Posted in Friends, November 2012 | 10 Comments »

I Heart Meredith

August 15, 2012

This little one has me wrapped.

It’s been that way from day one.

She loves me. Passionately. (It’s true.) And I love her. Just as passionately. (Also true.)

Ask her mom how Meredith kisses me and maybe you’ll believe it.

We just click. It’s weird how that happens with babies and kids just like adults. They’re people too, can you believe it?

Meredith turned one and the little peanut has all our hearts so full. She’s been a ray of sunshine in my life this past year.

OK, she loves other people too…

Like Courtney…

Almost as much as me.

I’m kidding.

Kind of.

No, no, really. I am.

And her mama…I think she might love her too.

Happy Birthday, dear Meredith. May you always have your sweet spirit, your magnetic smile, soulful eyes that go to the depths, your gentle determination to be heard, a good appetite for food and fun, and love for others that is so true it heals. May you always be this way, only a thousand times more as you grow.

Posted in August 2012, Birthdays, Family, Friends, Fun, Heartwarming Events | 2 Comments »

Hoedown

July 27, 2012

We had as close to a hoedown as we could possibly have in the North Country last weekend. Two dear friends, Jill and Carrie, had MAJOR birthdays and we celebrated them in high style.

Culprit #1, Carrie:

Culprit #2, Jill:

There was barbeque galore~ Carrie’s husband grilled a feast. We had dirty cake from Danna that was delicious.

Perry the Platypus made an appearance, thanks to my girl, Greyley…he’s from Phineas & Ferb, in case you aren’t as cartoon savvy as Jill, Carrie and Greyley.

It was actually hard to say good-bye to the Perrys, but fortunately, we can visit them in their new homes.

The ONLY trouble whatsoever with this shindig was reining in the sheriff~ he wanted to arrest all the cowgirls…

Do we look like trouble to you?

Don’t answer that.

Posted in Birthdays, Friends, July 2012 | 4 Comments »

I’ll Take That Mansion Right There, Please. Next to Tarryn’s.

July 23, 2012

Besides seeing Jesus…and David, Joseph and Esther…Ruth too, she rocks…in heaven, I’m excited that I can see Tarryn every day. I love this girl so much. In heaven~ God, are you hearing this?~ I’d like my mansion to be close to hers, please. It will save on texting…

Tarryn’s mom, Cynthia, was married a week ago in a beautiful beach wedding. The hot, humid, rainy day cleared up and cooled off just in time for the sweetest ceremony. Jeff, the lucky man Cynthia married, is wonderful in his own right. No, we can’t say he’s a blond female Mary Poppins, but he is special too. For real special, not *wink* special…

Look at this little dream…

The food was spectacular. The candy bar was divine…

I’m so happy for this couple. They feel like family to me already~ it’s amazing how that can happen so quickly with some people, but it’s just the way it is with this whole family. For keeps.

Other very important things happened in my visit…just for one, I picked up my phone and found about 25 of these fabulous treasures:

Imagine every face possible and you will know what I’m talking about…

I think I might have met my face-making match.

She has my heart.

And this guy…oh, don’t even get me started on him. I can’t even take his cuteness. He makes my guts squeeze every time I look at him.

To new starts, adventures and chasing dreams…true wuv.

And now it’s back to missing…it’s hard to miss. Day after day, miss, miss, miss. So if we could hurry up on the heaven deal, God, that would be great.

Posted in Family, Friends, Fun, Grateful Heart, Heartwarming Events, July 2012, Travel | 4 Comments »

Friends, Downton Abbey and Christmas

June 25, 2012

The past weekend was one of the best and busiest I’ve had in a long time…summer has taken off with a bang.

I FINALLY took action with my unruly yard. It’s sad~ my gardening skills have gotten worse over the years instead of better. I can’t tell you how many perennials I’ve tried in our garden beds. Sigh. My garden at my first house was so cute and colorful. Now I have a huge yard and it’s like pulling teeth to get things to flourish. We dug up a ton, moved things around…it was a family affair. One flower bed looks fantastic; the others still have to be finished. Any tips on VERY HARDY plants for zone 4?

Friday night, I spent time with my girls Courtney, Tosha and Halima…hang with just one of them and hilarity ensues, but put the four of us in a room together and it’s, well…I don’t even have a word for it. Suffice it to say, I am still laughing a few days later. I love these women and thank God for true friends.

My dear friend, Amy, from college days, was in town and we had breakfast Saturday morning. It has been far too long since I’ve seen her and oh my, what a treat. I will make sure I see her before another decade goes by! We reminisced for hours and it felt as if no time had passed. Another friend, Wendy, who I have known forever, but never really knew~ know what I mean? ~ she joined us and I am so glad I finally got to know her better.

We saw Brave~ did any of you see it yet? The red hair is mesmerizing!

Our two great nephews, Jordan and Caleb, graduated and had such a fun party on Saturday, complete with music from our nephews, Chris and Andrew. Take a look at our new great niece…isn’t she a beauty?

Yep, she’s dreamy.

And then after months and months of staying up way too late and waking up way too early, it caught up with me. I fell asleep on the couch at 7:30 P.M. Can you believe it? I dragged myself to bed around midnight and wonder of wonders~ I went back to sleep until 6:30 A.M.! I was a new woman, I tell you!

After church, we had a group of 9 or 10 record BGVs on a song for Jason Gray’s Christmas project. We tried to invoke the good cheer of Christmas in the heat of the studio and I think we might have managed to pull it off. I do love a day of singing in the studio. Even though it’s usually sweaty and sometimes crowded, your feet get tired and it can be a LONG day, good memories are always made.

Last night, we started watching the series Downton Abbey at Steve and Jill’s house. I’ve wanted to see this for a long time and it did not disappoint…I am hooked. I saw four episodes and I’m going to get after the rest in speedy fashion.

I feel that I sufficiently wrung out the goodness of the entire weekend as best I could. Now…on to a hopefully mellow week. I can only handle so much fun.

Posted in ABC Youth Choir, Family, Friends, Fun, June 2012, Life, Movies, Music | 8 Comments »

Coffee Photos

June 8, 2012

My new friend, Alyssa, came over for coffee last week~ I have a regular coffee date with a few girls every Thursday morning~ and she brought her fabulous camera skills along! She’s a professional photographer and I am enjoying catching up and seeing all her beautiful pictures on her website.

She featured a few of us on her blog…to see some of the fun pictures, click HERE.

And since you’re so nice to read Girly Muse, I’ll give you a sneak peek…

Thanks, Alyssa! You perfectly captured our fun day. XO

Posted in Coffee Love, Friends, Fun, June 2012, Photography | 7 Comments »

Florida trip

May 7, 2012

It’s been a week since I’ve been home from Florida and I’m still smiling over the memories. What a great trip…I love it when things come together unexpectedly~ everything about this trip suddenly lined up and worked OUT. All thanks to our respective husbands~ Nate, Matt and James. Tosha’s been wanting us to go on a trip for my birthday since last year and at times it seemed iffy that it would happen. Now I can’t believe it’s all over…

Tosh and I dragged our sleepy, excited selves to the airport and giddily talked all the way to Florida.

Our God-given SMFFL (Soul Mate Friend For Life) Tarryn, met us at the airport and then we all three did our part to ensure we got our 120,000 words in for the day. I never knew I could talk so much. There’s something about these two that draws it all out of me. That and the fact that I go days without talking more than 1,000 words a day, so it was time to catch up.

Tosha and Tarryn at Jaxson’s~ aren’t they both so pretty?

The BEST ice cream ever!!!

Crunchy Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Hot Peanut Butter and Hot Fudge Topping~ OH MY!

We ran into two of these in different parking lots. I thought they were some kind of turkey, but they’re ducks and very common in Florida, I guess. Very interesting~ it looks like its eyes got hit by a turkey’s waddle and the duck was left with the repercussions.

The next day, we made our way out to Sunny Isles, which is a fun little jaunt. If you’re ever in the Fort Lauderdale area, you should go over to Sunny Isles just to see the skyscraper penthouses on the main strip. Unbelievable. Donald Trump has some landscape there and let me tell you, it’s spectacular. Tarryn found a Groupon for a spa day~Seven Seas Spa & Salon~ in one of the hotels and this tiki hut was involved. Also included: lunch, massage, and facial. Yes, I felt SPOILED rotten.

Glorious

All the cares melted away…

Look at the bubbles coming out of the ceiling…

After we were thoroughly relaxed and pampered, we met Madison and Traci at Tatu~ a gorgeous sushi place in the Hard Rock Hotel. DELICIOUS.

Look at our pretty dessert. (It was delicious too.)

The next morning, we took our time before checking out and then headed to Starbucks. We also went to Ross, as in, Ross Dress for Less…we don’t have these in Minnesota and I love them. Found some cute things! They have so many more dresses than TJ Maxx or Marshall’s…

The next couple of nights we stayed at Tarryn’s house. Her dog, Willow, found a home at Tosha’s feet…

We met Tarryn’s mom, Cynthia, who is such a lovely woman. I wish I’d gotten a picture of her. She is from South Africa and has the greatest accent ever. Cynthia reminded me of a blond Mary Poppins, only much, MUCH sweeter…

We laughed a lot and cried some too. We ate great food and played a game or two…we talked about God and life and trouble and writing and heartache and all that is good and bad and fantastic and sad. I’m pretty sure we could have covered much more…

It was hard to say good-bye.

On the way home…

My heart is full.

Thanks, girls. xoxo

Posted in Birthdays, Friends, Fun, May 2012, Travel | 2 Comments »

Cousins, Sun Grins and Urchins

April 9, 2012

Happy Monday!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend. The only sadness in my weekend was the missing camera charger…ugh. Missed a LOT of picture moments over the last few days. I’m thankful for my phone~ it will work in a pinch.

Our family Easter egg hunt was so fun. The older kids were so sweet~ this is the first year they wanted to help hide eggs for the little ones. Alas, they’re growing up.

Cheri took this sweet picture of the cousins…

Axel & Indigo

As always, with our family gatherings, there was a delicious FEAST, lots of laughter and a high hum of VOLUME that lasted throughout the day. I really do love these people. Met some new friends this time too and that was fun. (Yes, I do approve, if it counts at all.)

We had a great church service yesterday morning. We changed the name of our church at the beginning of the year to Grace Place and our website launched yesterday. Pretty excited about that…a lot of good things are happening there.

I was privileged to see this on the way to church~

She makes my heart go all aflutter.

Every single picture of my boy looked like this~

And this~

A serious case of the Suns and Burny Eyes…but he still makes me feel all twitterpated. They have my heart completely wrapped up and tied with a huge PINK bow. Seriously.

One more. Just because. Every day I look at her and think she’s grown a little bit more. My little woman.

Sigh.

The rest of the day we spent at Matt & Tosha’s house. Such fun. We had another feast. I got garlic’d, oh yes I did. If you haven’t had Matt’s garlic sauce, you haven’t lived. But maybe you can live vicariously through me if you happen to catch a whiff of me anytime this week.

It’s a brisk, but sunny day here in the Twin Cities. I’m going to pile on warm fuzzy clothes and go edit videos with my buddy, Steve. Have a great day! XO

Posted in April 2012, Easter, Family, Friends, Fun, Mama Musings | 3 Comments »

Monday Muse

March 12, 2012

A lot has happened since we were together last…I hope all is well in your worlds.

To update you on the last couple of posts I wrote about Stacey and Elaina’s babies…

Baby Bailey is doing well and growing! There is no new bleeding in her brain and they will continue to check the clots that are there every week. Hopefully those will just disappear!

Elaina had her twin boys Saturday night and everyone is doing well. The boys are both around 1 lb. 8/9 oz. and are doing amazing thus far. They were born just a day short of 26 weeks and still need a lot of prayer.

And onto completely frivolous (and not so) matters…

I stayed up all night Saturday finishing the 7th Harry Potter book. It was worth the exhaustion I felt yesterday. I see Jesus all over that series, as with Lord of the Rings and of course, the Narnia books. I think the Potter ones mostly get a bad rap from people who haven’t read them. I know this is a controversial topic and we can agree to disagree…but if you haven’t read them, I dare you to give them a try.

We’ve been in the studio a lot, especially Nate, but I’ve done my share in there lately and will get more time in this week. Excited about the music we’re doing!

Had a lovely time with our friends, Crock and Terri…the fun and therapy flowed that night.

The flood in the basement continues. It rained all night and is still raining and there was a point in the night that Nate was able to stop it from coming in, but looks like it made its way back…in a big way. Ugh.

Saw a dear friend of ours and his beautiful family yesterday…Lee Her. We enjoyed sushi together and got caught up after not seeing each other for a LONG time! On a side note, Lee’s promoting an upcoming event in Maplewood~ Big Daddy Weave, mikeschair and Kerrie Roberts will be performing at the Hmong American Alliance Church on March 20th. It looks like a great night. For more information about that, click here.

We are wrapping up the last week of my daughter’s spring musical at school. I am so ready to have my girl back. I miss her! One more crazy week and then the play starts Thursday.

My husband is preparing for a trip to the Dominican Republic. It all happened quickly~ he got a passport just in time~ and will be going with our pastor and 2 other men from our church. They were originally supposed to go to Haiti, but right now visitors are discouraged, so they’re going to the DR. Please keep them in your prayers. They’ll be teaching DR and Haitian pastors for almost a week. I’m concerned that they all stay healthy~ no malaria, no dengue fever, no other weird diseases~ and that their time there is productive and fun.

If I ever wear out my black fuzzy hooded sweater, I don’t know what I’ll do. It is my security blanket. This is something that has been concerning me ever since it started leaving fuzzies all over everything it touched last Thursday night. Boo.

The kids were off school last Friday and I watched Carrie’s little girl, Anna. She was so fun. She made up beautiful songs and played harmonica and has big visions of her monarch butterfly birthday party coming up in…November. Yes, this girl plans ahead. She knew right away that she wanted Indigo to be Monarch King~ she’s Monarch Queen, of course. He has agreed and they are working on what he will have to wear to sufficiently fill his role.

Speaking of Indigo…he had a play day with Nora…remember her?

They are so hilarious and adorable together. Makes me smile, the way they get along…they’re like two little bookends, aren’t they!

Well, if that doesn’t put a smile on your face, I don’t know what will. Have a happy Monday, my friends. xo

Posted in Family, Friends, Fun, Grateful Heart, Kids, Life, Prayer Requests | 6 Comments »

It’s Gonna Be All Right

March 7, 2012

It’s a grey day with a slight drizzle falling and a brisk chill in the air. I love days like this~ especially with a warm blanket and a good book. Yesterday, the sunshine came, along with warm breezes…that was nice too. Spring feels like a strong possibility. I think it might be in our future!

Along with it, buds and flowers and fresh fruit and vegetables…baby bunnies and squirrels and robins…

Puppies and babies…

I just got home from a good visit with my friend, Elaina. She’s been in the hospital for 16 days now and Lord willing, will be in there a lot longer. She is 25 weeks and 6 days pregnant with twin boys. She gave all of us a good scare 16 days ago and I am so thankful that they are still safely tucked in her belly. Please help me pray they will stay in there and continue to get healthier and healthier. Carrie and I left Elaina’s room feeling so happy~ ever go around someone who you should be encouraging and leave feeling like you were the one encouraged? Elaina is such a trooper. She’s teeny tiny and still struggling with nausea after all this time, has a rash from the hospital linens’ detergent, contractions, back pain and still had us laughing the whole time. Love that girl.

It helped Elaina so much to see the comments in the last post about Bailey~ thank you for sharing your stories! Please continue praying for Bailey, Josh, Stacey and add Elaina to your prayer list. We’ve had it heavy on our hearts the last couple of weeks and sometimes forget that we should share our burdens with others. Reading all of your comments was a good reminder…

Rain,

Wash away all fear, all stress, all unrest

Sunshine,

Warm us, reach down into the depths and pull us up

Grow us.

Winter,

Fade in the twilight, icy branches heavy no more

Spring,

Come in, the way has been paved for you.

Posted in Friends, Prayer Requests, Spring | 7 Comments »