My Loves

I LOVE Strawberry Daiquiri!

Yeah, I love a new pair of shoes just like any girl.  I love to shop and have girly pampering days…but what makes me really happy?  All that is fun, but it doesn’t set my heart on fire.  What do I really love that defines me?

• I love that feeling of the sun resting on my skin, warming me from the inside out…a happy feeling.
• I love the sound the earth makes when I’m hiking.  You know, that crunch, crunch, crunch.
• I love the way October smells.  I can’t pinpoint it but every year I notice it and it brings back memories of a simpler time when I didn’t have as many worries.
• I love my dad.  Being with him makes me feel like a little girl again.  He makes me feel safe.
• Weirdly, I love the empty spot left in my heart after my mom passed.  It’s meant to be empty and it’s meant to hurt.  That means she did a good job.
• I love Christmas music.  I have been known to listen to it all year round.  On a bad day, a chorus of “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” can change everything.
• My newest love: Photography.
• I love hearts.  They make me happy.
• I love music.  LOVE.
• My favorite thing to do on Saturday morning is sit outside, listening to the sounds and sipping my coffee.
• Coffee.  Another love.  Enough said.
• I love the sound of a cat purring.
• I love that feeling I get in my stomach when I’m about to see someone I haven’t seen in a long time.
• Candle lit bubble baths.
• I love to read a book for the first time and get to that part where it’s so good that I can’t put it down.
• I love the feeling I get after I work out.  I feel exhausted but strong all at the same time and like I can conquer the world.

These are just a few of the things I love.  Some may be unique, some not so much.  But they make me “me.”  What do you love?

Sister, Sister, Italian Greyhound

My sister and I just returned from a relaxing weekend in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Georgia. It was so relaxing and so beautiful and so…yummy.

We gave up any hopes of eating healthy on Friday afternoon. My favorite yummy treat? A French Toast with Maple Syrup and BACON cupcake! Weirdest dessert I’ve ever eaten but sooo yummy!

There was a jacuzzi that we utilized both nights we were there. My sister, Margie’s little Italian Greyhound, Nike, also joined us at the cabin. He’s the cutest thing that has ever lived but a HUGE pain in the ass. The first night while we were soaking in the jacuzzi, he sat outside and cried. So we put him in the jacuzzi with us. That’s right – 2 girls and an Italian Greyhound in a Jacuzzi. It must have been a funny sight to behold.

We went on a hike in the Blue Ridge Mountains and found a waterfall! We kept going and going and finally made it to the top of the mountain…that probably worked off that french toast bacon cupcake, right?

We also had fun just looking for things to photograph. We both have a passion for photography so this was the perfect weekend with the perfect weather with the perfect scenery.

Funniest moment? I invented a new word. If you’ve ever seen an Italian Greyhound, you know that they are tiny little things…and they have…tiny little things. We were driving somewhere and I mentioned Nike’s little “shlong” and my sister said, “I don’t think you can call it a shlong.” Thus, our new word. Shlort. See picture for definition. We get a lot of joy out of making fun of this cute little animal.

Also, thanks to a little tip from my wordpress friend, Malia’s blog (Self Professed Product Obsessed), we both tried out our new skin regimen, Monistat 7. You heard me right.

Margie (left) & me (right)

Well, too bad it’s over. Sucks to have to go back to reality after such a nice, relaxing, word-inventing, picture taking, hiking in the mountains, dog-walking perfect weekend. The weekend may be over but “shlort” will stay with us forever. 🙂