s'more fun & games...cache me if you canister!

the remainder of Christmas break was excellent. the drive was long, but worth it. once i got home, i rested a bit, went to the beach for a hammock day, but i had to get a towel and fleece from the car because it was a bit breezy, so my hammock became more of a cocoon! yes, florida got a bit of a cold snap like the rest of the country- it dipped about 15 degrees lower than normal for this time.

for new years eve, i ran some errands, then met friends at the old salty dog for an early dinner. later that evening i met up with shea and jason for s'mores and an early countdown!

 and then the next few days i spent with the hot hands in my pockets and the heating pad on my lap and finally gave in and turned the heat up, i set up the mini-travel humidifier that my brother and sister-in-law got for me-which will be especially nice when i travel, and then watched the sandal wind-chime my mom got for me, not realizing that it changes colors and is solar powered! i'm the coolest kid on the block!

life saver!

if you look carefully you can see the air!

see the color change?!

i also got to do my first webinar last week, and it went well-fortunately it was a small crowd- good way to ease back into work!

this weekend we were trying to think of something different to do, so we stopped at the sea haag-a shop where they have some fun trinkets, art, all things nautical/mermaid, and outdoors it's mostly salvage-yard of the sea-goods.

from there we went to find the peacocks on longboat key! we may have spent more time than necessary taking way more pictures than required...but they were just so beautiful! as we were leaving, i stopped an older gentleman walking his dog and asked him about these birds. so he gave me the history. apparently, they have been in the neighborhood since about 1912, when perhaps some circus-folk brought them down (all the exotic animals weathering in florida), and the 1 male and 3 females multiplied and at times the flock was overwhelming, so from time to time they ship birds up to sanctuaries in atlanta and i'm sure elsewhere.

surely the homeowners were like, 'please, get off our lawn already!'

this doesn't even do justice to the neon greens and blue!!

since we were down in that area, and it was too cold to go to the beach, i had downloaded the geocache app, because i have been wanting to try out this little adventure they call GEOCACHE! a very fun little treasure hunt! if i had a family, it would be one of our favorite things to do!! so i talked shea into trying our hand at it! first off, geo because the caches are hidden in fun, pretty areas, or areas with special intrigue that you may not notice if you weren't looking for it! the park we ended up at was a community park, and we really didn't know exactly how to use the app, so we were going in the wrong direction, and once we turned around and started to figure it out, things went fairly smoothly! we found all three caches in the park, and the park was bigger than expected-took us right out to the bay and looped back around!

one of the cool things about geocache-ing is that if you find a cache with little treasures, you can take a treasure and etiquette is that you replace it with an object of equal value, sign the log, and put it back in place carefully!

contents and logs, this one had logs back to 2014

one of our treasures!

these are some fun treasures i plan to use...i created little boxes because it makes the treasures even more fun! but i also have some small trinkets that will be box-less.

so, our first adventure was a success, they suggest finding at least 20 before creating your own cache so that you can get ideas and create long-lasting caches that can be visited for years to come. now i just need to start saving up canisters to use as caches! if you are looking for something fun to do, and have a nancy drew, encyclopedia brown mind, you should definitely check into it, because it is great fun, and it will expose you to beautiful areas that you may not notice otherwise!! www.geocaching.com so yeah, check it out!

have an adventure!
julie

what makes you feel alive?

what is it that makes you feel alive?

i asked a friend this question the other day, and it made me think about it myself. what is it that makes me feel alive? this made me go back to a journal entry from a few months ago, when i asked myself this very question:

-nature-being outdoors, appreciating beauty and the majesty of GOD! sunrises, sunsets, light breeze, warm sun...
-worship
-connections with friends (preferably in small groups)
-traveling- learning and appreciating history, art and culture
-museums, zoos, theater, musicals
-amusement parks, thrill rides
-climbing, rappelling, caving, hiking
-water-kayaking, canoeing, paddle-boarding, riding in speed boats, the ocean, lakes, rivers
-adventure
-making people happy, helping people, being thoughtful

most of all...LAUGHING

i don't do enough of these things nearly as often as i should.

 sometimes i just get lazy and it's easier to stay home and watch t.v. (finally got through grey's) ...sometimes it's time (too many things to get done)...often it's lack of the right people to to do these things with (not everyone enjoys the same things). regardless, i need to do the things that make me feel alive, because life is so much more than merely existing. it goes by way too fast, and i'd rather be making memories with friends than sitting around wishing i had.

every day? no.

more often than i do? yes.

it's spring, the weather is getting nicer...

all we have to decide is 

what to do with the time that 

is given to us.

-gandalf

time to enjoy the time that is given to us!

julie

choosing gratitude and re-finding that forgotten enjoyment

ok, so here we are-almost halfway through january.

i need to get up to oklahoma soon to visit with bmayes, because it's been entirely too long. unfortunately this weekend-which would have been a great long weekend to play, she is unavailable...so another weekend it will have to be. that leaves this weekend open for adventure-not sure exactly what that will entail...spontaneity has never scared me! (watch me sit at home, watching t.v. or old movies...gah!) heaven forbid.

i have to go into the dentist once again the day after mlk jr day. mo' money (outta my pocket). it's all good-gotta' get this done and over with.

anyhoo, the other day, i received a very thoughtful gift, and i am pretty sure that i could have filled it all up in one sitting, because i have so much to be grateful for...i am a fortunate person- gratitude is a choice..and i choose it!

#friendsaremyfavorite

 yes, i am grateful for friends... adventure seekers, comfortable friends-[read: i could sit and read or color or just watch t.v., drive for hours, sit on the balcony, or just run errands and be perfectly content], lovers of God, transparent hearts, world-changers[even if it's just your corner of the world], lovers of fun, laughers, food lovers, eclectic music connoisseurs, new-thing-triers, encouragers, lighthouses, solid rocks, listeners, a needed shoulder in rough times, truth-speakers, advice givers...and so much more (lookin' at you bmayes, shea  nika, ally, nicolette, stacey k, brandy, stevie, carmen, erika, sheryl, trish, jo anne, laura, carla, hellen, carrie) <tip of the iceberg, there are so many others i can add too this list..and in another post, i will catch some of the people that i may not have mentioned here, because i can never completely express my gratitude for those friends who have chosen to enter into my life and stay for a bit. again, i am fortunate. i am grateful. to you i raise my glass, because while i try to be, i am not always on my "A" game...in fact sometimes i fail miserably. thanks for sticking around when i do.

i am guilty of not writing many letters as of late- i was doing so well, and then something happened and i have obviously fallen behind...so sorry! the great thing is: i received the perfect stationery to write on, and i will be getting back at it soon! my bad. i have also added to my card-arsenal...so there's that. now just to get the motivation. sometimes i can make a letter out of pretty much nothing....like looking out on the balcony and seeing bruno throw a piece of poop up into the air...for attention #truestory... but lately the ordinary and mundane are so much so, that this passtime which i love has not brought the enjoyment that it usually does...i think it may be kind of like when the lord spoke to haggai, because the people were like: oh...no, we don't want to do that, we're not feeling it...we really don't want to build the temple..the house of the Lord... and God was like...um. what? you have time to do this and that and make good for yourselves, but you don't have time to build my temple? (jerks), and they were like: just not feelin' it. and HE was like: whatevs, just DO IT. commit yourselves to do it, THEN i will give you the desire, after you make the commitment-when it's the idea of doing it because it's the right thing to do...then, i will give you the joy. so yes, i just need to suck it up and get back to what originally brought so much joy not only to me, but to building the kingdom-with the gifts i have been given.

again, thanks, because this is what i needed to kick-start one of the things that i am actually pretty good at. 

 what are the things in your life that you used to really enjoy doing, that now just seem a littleblah?  my challenge to you is to man up/ woman up, whatever, and just do, find your enjoyment again, because life is not meant to be lived in black and white. color. it's time to re-find that which brought color into your life! RE-FIND YOUR ENJOYMENT!

in other news, it is going to be a busy few weeks, both at school and...at school.

choose gratitude, there is so much to be thankful for-find it!
julie