babies and cupcakes

2011 must be the year for babies. This year alone I will have attended 6 baby showers. I haven't been to 6 baby showers in the past 10 years! Lots of babies coming! LOTS!
Here are some pics from my sister's second baby shower from this past weekend.

 (needed to show that someone wrapped their gift in a Maker's Mark bag. Like it!)

 And something sweet to go with this sweet baby???? CUPCAKES!!!

Here are some photos showing the progression of the sun and beach! I guess I could have made it more of a 'baby' theme, but I think I was probably in a beach mood when I decided upon the sand and sun!

the mind

Men are not prisoners of fate, but prisoners of their own minds.  
~Franklin D. Roosevelt

As our heart is our motor, our mind is our guide. Without one or the other, we will be stalled or lost. Confused and broken down. Left to be aided by a loved one, or stranger. 

What a miraculous tool we hold in our heads. So easily taken for granted and underestimated. 

Much greater than any computer, gadget, medicine, equipment. And so strong it can either kill you or cure you. Strong enough to take away pain. Strong enough to change physical outcomes. Strong enough to do whatever you ask it to do. Strong.

But fragile. Given bad or no attention, the mind will slip. With age, weakness sets in. With illness, it forgets and gets hung up. Easy to lose, and almost impossible to get back. Fragile enough to get tangled. Fragile enough to make you unrecognizable. Fragile enough to make it impossible to remember your children's birthdays and names. Fragile.

The saddest thing I have ever witnessed, is not the loss of a body, but the loss of a mind.  So this is my wish: I wish for more people to shut up and exercise their mind. Stop talking and start thinking. Spend time with your very own thoughts. Strengthen your mind, use it, learn about it. And in return, it will teach you about yourself. It will show you a world of possibilities and endless love.

The mind has the potential to make anything possible as well as the potential to become your worst enemy. Allows us the potential to be free or captive. Mr. Roosevelt, you are right. It is not the world around us that we are prisoners to. We are only prisoners of what has been placed upon our shoulders.

Stop. Think. Pray. Meditate. Reflect. Calm yourself. And heal yourself. 

If you know someone who's mind to going, be kind to them. Love them. Respect them. Care for them. They may not be able to communicate or act like they did once before, but they still have feelings. They have emotions. They have love to give.

Sirach 3:2-6

My son, take care of your father when he is old; grieve him not as long as he lives. Even if his mind fail, be considerate of him; revile him not all the days of his life; kindness to a father will not be forgotten,firmly planted against the debt of your sins —a house raised in justice to you.

weekend-n-review

The first day of every week I wake up and before I jump out of bed, I stop to think back about the previous weekend. I question it. Scrutinize it. Pretty much just flat out interrogate it. Were you fulfilling? Did you offer rest and relaxation? Did you give me the mental and physical break that I need to make it through this upcoming week? Were you fun and make me laugh? Did you fly by too fast for me to even realize that you were there? Well did you? DID YOU?!?!?!?

9 times out of 10 the weekends will confess and say yes they did go by too fast. They were speeders! Shame on them! But why were they speeding? Because they were offering me fun. Smooth answer, huh? Well...maybe...I was having fun. And this weekend was no exception.

Saturday morning we rose early, (no seriously, super early, at like 4:30am) to head out camping. Sleep would not keep me away from water sports, camp fires, grilled food, and s'mores. Mm mm s'mores. We headed out with our bikes, tent, and bathing suits; well really our car was filled almost to the roof with items. Did I mention I was looking forward to the s'mores? Just checking.

So, I'm not going to give you a play by play of what we did over they weekend, I'll just hit on the high points. We swam in the lake, tubed, rode our bikes, jet skied, ate lots of good food, built fires, laughed, told stories, drank cold beer, and had S'MORES!!!!!  All jam packed in 2 days.

And of course it's not the 4th of July without fireworks. Shawn and I came back on Monday, tired and worn out! To be quiet honest I really thought the 4th would go by with not a single firework seen, but my husband surprised me. Unlike him, he offered to take me for a drive. So we drove, got ice cream, and parked our cars up on a hill. While enjoying a chocolatey dessert, we had a full 360 degree view of colors, lights, and booms!

Yes, Mr. Weekend. You are off the hook. You did offer me fun. You were fulfilling. And you did give me rest, relaxation, and a romantic evening. Any weekend that ends with fireworks, is a good one!