last night of summer

I got the official word last night—I have a broken sternum. I managed that slick maneuver while working out at the park. The doctor's orders go something like, "no exercise of any kind". As a result, my new favorite hobby is walking. Lots of walking. I have a wonderful husband who will accompany me on said walks.

Tonight we bid farewell to the summer with a long walk across town. We headed out for some sandwiches but in the process took a walk through the graveyard (which is an arboretum and not nearly as macabre as it sounds), took in the scenery, and stopped in a music store so Rodger could play a little on the grand piano.

The other doctor's order was, "no lifting of any kind". I think my DSLR would complicate matters, so I carried along my light weight little iPhone and documented the stroll with my ShakeIt (polaroid-like) app.

I think it was pretty a magical evening.

(click on the images to see them larger)

randoms

jellybeans from my birthday.

I'm sure you can see how much Rodger loves having his picture taken.
....and the sexiest cat alive!

framed

I'm exhibiting in Ladyfest Dayton next weekend! Here's a little peak at some display elements :)

wishes and textures

At the Indianapolis Botanical Gardens.

First 5K!

Did I mention that Rodger and I ran our first 5K?! Well, we did, and we totally rocked it! No we didn't run 3.1 miles of consecutive, earth-shattering speed. We ran it at what some would consider a near jog, a 9:24 pace. But we completed it at 29:06, which was nearly a full two minutes shorter than what I expected to do. I must mention that Rodger would have done much better than this if he didn't have me trotting along and weighing him down! I'm grateful to have such a wonderful, supportive husband who would do that with me.

The Rodg sports his finisher's medal in front of the King's Island marquee.
And wouldn't you know? I got a plaque! Third place female in my division. Must've been a slow division, but I'm proud of myself nonetheless!
It was so much fun, and I can't wait for the next one!

like two teenagers

Once upon a time, two teenagers, not even Seniors in high school, decided to make it official. After dating for all of one week, they made the decision to put a label on it. From that day forth they would be known as "boyfriend and girlfriend".

Little did the two know, from that moment on they would be inseparable. And even though all of life has happened in between, they are still those two slap-happy teenagers in their love for one another. Since that summer day there have been movie nights and vacations, their wedding and those of friends, dinners out, dinners in, family losses, heartbreaks, pure joy, but more than anything, so much happiness. They can't begin to imagine one's life without the other. Despite all this, those two can hardly believe that it has been 10 whole years since that sweet little declaration. It has been truly amazing and hopefully the next 50 will be even sweeter.

I love you, Rodg! Happy 10th (dating declaration) Anniversary!

vacation recap : grand turk

Holy Cow, it has been three months since our Caribbean Cruise. Double Holy Cow, I haven't gotten around to sharing the pictures from our last port, Grand Turk. My life has been non-stop bananaface since this spring.

We were dropped off on the tourist part of the island, and I was told by our Cruise waitress that we shouldn't go any further than that. Everything—from the Del Sol shop to the Margaritaville restaurant-pool-combo—was extraordinarily touristy. Despite all that, we snorkeled here, and that was the experience of a life time! We saw coral, and awesome fish, and even tiny little jellyfish. Lots of jellyfish. Fortunately no one was stung.

I didn't realize that if there was coral near shore, that the beach would be really rocky (read: hard to walk on).

Large chunks of coral and sand. This made barefoot strolls painful, and walking in flip-flops a heck of a workout!

One of the coolest parts was the giant conch shells just lying around on the beach. I think this one was advertising half price appetizers at Margaritaville.
And finally, the mass exodus back to the boat. I found it hilarious that they corraled you through a duty free shop to even get on the dock to go back to the ship. Hilarity aside, I did get an excellent deal on a Nike watch on my way out :)
Then we spent another day at sea and went home. All in all, it was a pretty amazing experience. Perhaps we'll cruise again some day.

The end!

Hydrangeas

from my garden earlier this summer.

south park tavern, me & mountains, you can be a wesley

Just realized I hadn't shared these on here yet. It's from a show the guys played a couple weeks back, with an amazing band from Boston, You Can Be a Wesley. I'm really happy with the way the color came out with minimal retouching!

one sunny sunday

happy 4th of july!

Last night we decided to have a little reenactment of the fateful Independence Day. I think my small size set me out as an underdog from the beginning, but we all know who came out the winner!

vacation recap : san juan

Considering we boarded the ship on May 9th, I've been really slow on this vacation recap thing. I've got two more ports left to share. Here's a little photo tour of my absolute favorite port, San Juan! It was everything I expected and more.

This was the sunrise that morning. Rodger got me up at, like, 5:30 to see it. While I was really irritated with him at the time, I'm glad now that we got to experience that together.
This was our view of San Juan as we cruised in. That is a fortress that has been used for centuries to protect the city. It was the coolest thing about our entire trip!
We got to the fortress before it was opened and pretty much had the whole place to ourselves. We explored the outside grounds for about an hour.

This is the view from the other side of the fortress.

and here's the city skyline from an old World War II touret in the fortress.

Rodger at the fort.

What the fortress walls were made out of.

The architecture and storefronts were so colorful and interesting. It reminded me alot of Italy, as you could see the European influence that had lingered since it's founding days.

Interesting street art and flyers on the back of a mailbox.