outdoors

12 Pictures

1. This is Brandy, Hannah’s new cocker spaniel puppy! Brandy was a surprise gift for Hannah’s 15th birthday.

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2. Zucchini brownies. With a chocolate glaze. Can’t go wrong with a chocolate glaze!

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3. My brother and sister-in-law know me so well. They brought me home some awesome gifts from the Dominican Republic. I’ve already used almost all of the honey!

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4. Zucchini + banana + Nutella bread. Yes.

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5. Have I ever mentioned that I adore my sister? I do. I love her so much.

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6. This skirt = so comfy.

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7. I’ve been making pickles like crazy lately! So far, I’ve made a sweet ginger batch, and a spicy banana pepper and red pepper flavored batch. I definitely prefer the sweeter flavored pickles.

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8. I received this candle as a gift from someone at my church. It smells amazing and I’m kind of depressed that it’s a limited edition candle.

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9. Hey. It’s Felix.

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10. Ear plugs. Random, right?! Well, I live in a split-level house with 3 family members and four pets. Everyone in my family is on a different sleep schedule and sometimes it can get loud at night. So, I bought ear plugs and they work really, really well. Now my parent’s are afraid I’ll sleep through a fire alarm or tornado.

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11. I love this boy.

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12. Okay, one more photo of Brandy. She’s just too cute!

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It’s been a long time

Heeey there! It’s been about two weeks since I last blogged… weird! It’s also been about two weeks since I deactivated my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. During my little hiatus I learned a lot about what’s important to me in life and how I feel about blogging and social media in general.

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Why I took a break from blogging and social media:
-I wanted to strengthen my relationship with God.
-I wanted to truly focus more on important relationships in my life.
-I felt like my blog was becoming too “me” focused and selfish.

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How I felt:
-At first I felt almost panicked, like I was missing everything going on in the world.
-After a few days, I felt very free because I wasn’t “available” 24/7.
-It was amazing to spend less time staring at my computer and phone.
-It was also great not to read blogs and compare myself to others (I know I have the choice not to compare myself to others, but I often feel like it happens almost automatically for me).
-I felt out of sorts at times because I was so disconnected from people that I regularly talk to via blogging and social media.

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Other thoughts:
-Spending less time blogging and using social media helped me become a better listener and gave me more free time to do things for others.
-I’ve learned that social media/blogging can be great, but can also take my attention away from more important things in my life if I allow them to.
-I’m struggling with feeling like I must have a blog or Facebook account in order to connect with people and learn about what’s going on in my friend’s lives. Ugh.
-I’m likely going to be reading blogs and blogging a lot less. I want to blog on my own terms–for the enjoyment of it instead of feeling like I have to document every aspect of my life and keep up with every blog out there.

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Whew, it felt good to get that off of my chest!

So, what have I been up to for the past two weeks?

VBS
Vacation Bible School at my church was great! I worked in the kitchen and Hannah and I were puppeteers.

triathlon
I competed in a sprint triathlon and placed third in the 19-29 age group.

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I harvested zucchini from my garden, Jimmy and I made chocolate chip and raisin zucchini bread, and I began working for my parent’s real estate brokerage (more on that in another post).

PicMonkey Collage
I bonded with Hannah and Felix and went swimming at a local lake.

And last but not least…

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I had my wisdom teeth removed on Friday morning.

My dentist told me to have them removed a few years ago but I kept putting it off. They started hurting me earlier this week, so I went to the oral surgeon on Thursday and less than 24 hours later I was in surgery. The doctor said my something was wrong with my heart during the surgery, so I have to see my regular physician on Tuesday to figure out what’s up with my ticker.

I’ve been laying around on the couch eating soup and jello and popping lots of Advil. It’s nice being babied by Jimmy, too. We rented Despicable Me last night and it was such a cute movie! Here’s to hoping I can heal up quickly with no dry sockets!

What’s going on in your life?!