Blowing Through the Jasmine in my Mind

I love summer. I love every hot, humid moment. The other day I was outside working and I had sweat behind my knees and I was so happy I almost passed out. I always anticipate the summer like a small child who can't stand the wait until their birthday. There are all these first momentous moments that tell me it's getting closer; the first time I wear flip-flops, the first time I wear shorts, the first time I open the sun roof in the car...all telling me that hope springs eternal.

It has turned out to be a stellar spring. I decided that the first weekend in May was my "opening summer weekend." It was the perfect blend of fun activities and productivity that make a summer weekend perfect. (i.e. yard work, garage cleaning, car cleaning, a baseball game in Fort Wayne, a bonfire, a knit-in, shopping for outdoor furniture...) Mix that up with the perfect weather and you have a weekend that makes life worth living.

Making this spring even more special is that for the first time, Brian and I have a back yard that we enjoy spending time in. I love being outdoors as much as possible but our backyard didn't really have space for relaxing and was just kinda - yick! - even though I tried and tried to make it inviting. So last summer began the big patio make-over...which took the entire summer and meant that our back yard was even more of a disaster than ever before. We got it done just in time for the winter. Here are some before and during pictures...so you can see the mess that we lived with last summer.

So this spring it's like we woke up to a whole new backyard! We purchased a few items for the empty patio and now - voila! - a backyard that makes us not ever want to go inside to vacuum or do anything else that needs to be done. Here are the preliminary results. It's still a work in progress.

We drag a radio outside and chill at the table eating (I have declared that we shan't eat in doors until November) or we have a fire in our little fire pit and all is right with the world. And the piece de resistance:

Brian was all talking smack to me about how cheesy I was when I showed up at the cash register with my package of white lights for the umbrella (he also thought I was ridiculous for not choosing one color for the patio table chairs but getting one of each). But, he faithfully strung those lights up like a champ, and these lights make our patio completely festive, like we're on vacation every moment that we're back there. So until we get our dream house out in the country, I am completely content, more than that, really happy right where we are.

My Crowning Glory

I've had my share of issues with the aging process, but I feel like I've learned to embrace it fairly well. I've even watched those gray hairs pop up in my dark brown hair with increasing frequency, and, after the initial falling-to-my-knees, weeping, and asking-God-"why me?" jag, I've been completely fine with them. Really, I want to grow old gracefully, embrace my gray hair like those really cool earthy (a.k.a. hippie) moms with their salt and pepper pony tails and containers of home made hummus they bring to the park for their childrens' snack. Gray hairs? Whatever. You can take your shame inducing tendencies and bury them in a box. My gray hairs will serve as my badge of honor showing how mature and independent I am. Not vain at all. Not me.

But I'll fess up. I've been fine with those grays because, for the most part, they stay concealed under my still-brown curtain of hair. Most of them reside on the right side of my head, kind of level with the top of my ear. So they get lost in the rest of my hair. But I know they're there and they don't bother me a bit. (Remember, the badge of honor bit.) My hair stylist, Jason, constantly wants to flip my hair and part it on the other side. And I'm all, dude, that is where the hot bed of grays lie. Don't uncover them! The oxygen will probably make them multiply. But I go home, flip my hair back, safely covering the evidence of my lost youth. (And don't get me wrong, Jason is the best stylist I've ever been with. He just wants me to appear old evidently.)

And then the real kicker ocurred. One night while getting ready to head out, there it stood in the mirror. Staring back at me was one lone gray hair standing proudly IN THE MIDDLE OF MY PART. This one declared war. This one said, "Who are you trying to kid lady? You can't hide us forever you old hag." I feel differently about this lone ranger. He'll inevitably need a kemo sabe.

And so now, I don't know how I feel about the salt and pepper ponytail mom anymore. She seems so cliche. Do I dye the hair, pluck the hair, accept the hair? I've never thought of myself as vain but...I guess I think this blog is about me.

New Layout

Alright folks, here is my new layout...which I spent close to three hours (or what felt like at least 18 hours) trying to figure out how to put in place. And while I like it, it's not the one at the top of my list necessarily, it's just the ONLY ONE THAT WOULD WORK. I can not begin to tell you how much I have come to hate anything with "xml" in it because all I get are errors and I don't understand code and I should never have started messing with it in the first place. But then it became a mission and I was determined to not be defeated. However, after succeeding, I still feel defeated.

And I have not been updating here as much as I should. I feel guilty but then I remind myself that this is supposed to be for fun. But Brian and I finally have a patio we enjoy sitting on and Indiana has finally released it's icy grip on winter - thus, my time has been spent outside. And somehow dragging the laptop outside with me sort of feels like I'm defeating the purpose of being out there. I guess it's all about balance. I'll try to post some entries in the next few days in case anyone wants to know what's been going around the Showalter house.

Happy Mother's Day to All!!!