We had a pretty good weekend! My photo skills were lacking this weekend, so I apologize.

Friday night Cary met me at the mall and we listened to a Cuban band play at the Summer Concert Series. The court yard of the mall was packed with families. We ate dinner, walked around and just enjoyed the perfect summer evening. When we began heading out I decided to stop by Macy's and take at look around. That's when I discovered a sale and picked up some new bedding for the guest bedroom.

Saturday was a very productive day. New mulch was spread in the yard, while the second floor of our house was being trimmed out. I headed to a friends bridal shower and it was so great to catch up with old friends. By the way, they had the BEST cake EVER for dessert. 2 things I really liked about this shower: 1-no games, instead we decorated sugar cookies cut out in the shape of wedding cakes. The bride selected her favorite cookie decoration and that guest won a prize. 2-While Becky was opening presents one of the hosts set a timer and if the timer went off while she was opening your gift, you won a prize. I figured the timer was set for 10-15 min. increments. Oh yea, and did I mention the cake? Later that evening we headed to the Robinson's house for an evening of birthday celebration. Our dear friend Tim turned 30 on Sunday. Again, no pictures (what's my deal?) but we had a great time.

I think Sunday was the best day. We had a leisurely morning in bed and then I got up to start cleaning around the house. Cary met a couple to show them our rental property. I cleaned, cleaned, cleaned, but left the vacuuming for Sweetie. :) Then I decided to work on the guest room. By "work on" I mean set up the bed and rearrange the accessories. Here, I DO have a picture.

There was something about setting up this room and finishing this bed that made me so happy! The rest of the day was about checking off small things I haven't taken the time to do.

Cary and I decided to rent the house to the first couple and what a relief that is.

The evening ended with a cup of hot tea, curled up on the sofa, finishing one book and beginning another. I would say that makes for a good day!

Oh My Gosh

As I began downloading a photo for another post I realized that I had a bunch of pictures on my camera from last weekend with The Green's! I'm so sorry Jessica!!

Last Saturday Cary and I spent the evening with our friends Greg & Jessica. We headed to Greg's parents house on the river and had a cook out. After dinner we went for an exciting boat ride, where we managed to rained on but more importantly it was just so much fun to get out of the city and hang out with some good friends.

Isn't the view incredible?

Jessica and her ADORABLE daughter, Ella. Aren't those pigtails irresistible?

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Do you ever have days that are so packed with decisions, emotions and chaos that when the end of the day comes you don't know what is up and what is down? Through my bible study I've learned a lot about how to distinguish between the lies Satan plants into my thoughts and truly searching for God's voice. Sometimes when I'm emotionally overwhelmed or very tired I notice small (okay sometimes large) doubts begin to seep into my thoughts. Doubts about life and relationships, past decisions or current decisions. If I choose to feed on these doubts then I notice my emotions begin the roller coaster of ups and downs which lead to a lot of destruction, through words spoken to loved ones or making poor choices in general.

Last night I was tempted to believe some doubts. I was tempted to believe that what God has brought into my life as good, is really hopeless. I knew deep down that these were lies and if I kept my faith in Christ and took time to quiet my spirit so I could hear his voice that He would bring me from this place of doubt and insecurity. So I worked on my bible study which seemed more like a catalyst to deeper thought which meant more doubt. Then I decided it was best to just go to bed. While there I prayed that God would show me that I was not thinking clearly. I don't want to feel helpless, insecure and untrusting of those around me. Those are not things of Christ and I know those are not in His plan for me.

The craziest thing happened. I fell fast asleep (a lot faster than I thought I would) and somewhere during the night I got up to use the bathroom. In my fog I walked back to bed and realized that for the first time in 24 hours my soul was at peace. It was as if the doubt, hurt, confusion of a few hours prior had been completely erased and I looked and felt like a clean slate. Immediately I was thankful. Thankful that a God who created the universe heard my heart last night and took away my pain. I was thankful that this morning I woke up new and fresh, with a clean slate to live, depend and walk with Christ. I'm reminded of the song "Great Is Thy Faithfulness"

Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Suspensful Day

Our friends Pat & Courtney have been expecting their 4th child for almost a week now. Every day, admittedly multiple times a day, I would check my blog and e-mail for any sort of update. Courtney has been an incredible trouper throughout this pregnancy and I am so proud of her. This morning as soon as my alarm went off I rolled over and cracked the eyes open long enough to check my e-mail and see if there was any news about the new baby. Well sure enough they went into the hospital at 6:18sh. I have been waiting in suspense ALL DAY! Checking my phone, their blog and my messages multiple times. Finally around 1:00 I called Cary, "have you heard anything yet?" No such luck. Then as soon as I hung up I realized I had a text message from my friend Peyton who said that Pat & Courtney HAD A BABY BOY!!

If I could incorporate a smile large enough to match the joy in my heart I don't think that any computer could generate the image. I am beyond thrilled. His name is Sawyer Patrick and he is one lucky boy. The Cassada family is a pillar of faith & example of God's love. I look to Pat & Courtney's relationship and pray that one day I'll have that kind of marriage. Their hearts are completely wrapped around God. So this blessing for them is deserved. We will have the opportunity to meet Sawyer in a few months when our families go to the beach together and I can not wait!

Lunch with Becca & Carter

I had lunch today with my good friend Becca and her son Carter. He is so cute! At a little over 1 year he has learned sign language and it's fascinating to watch him communicate with Becca. She does an amazing job as a mother and one day I will learn a lot from her. During my visit we watched a few signing DVD's and Carter LOVES them. He was signing "Fish" and "Bird" and "Dog" and "More". I couldn't help but just want to eat him up he's so cute!! It's fun to get to visit with Becca and experience a few moments of her life as a Mom.

How is it that kids can twist of their legs into the most interesting positions? This doesn't look remotely comfortable....

New Word!

Malapropism (n): The unintentionally humorous misuse or distortion of a word or phrase; the use of a word sounding somewhat like the one intended but ludicrously wrong on the context.



This is one reason why Cary loves me. I am totally a malapropismist. This would be a great time to give an example of one of the hundreds of times I've incorportated the wrong word into a sentence, however they are so spontaneous and unintentional that they are forgotten after a good laugh.

Another Working Weekend

I'm sure there are some of you out there who have labeled us as "the never ends couple." Seriously, if we don't have a project to work on over the weekends & throughout our week......well.....I don't know what that would be like cause it's just not part of The Ayers Way Of Life.

Okay, now there are some of you who know me too well and have heard me complain about working every weekend and all the schemes I've imagined to get out of the weekend work. Thankfully Sweetie didn't hold me to too much back breaking labor this weekend, but I did not get to visit with friends on Saturday as I like to do.

So what's the project as of late? Let me give you a glimpse....for 1 year we have been working on our flip house, for 6 months Cary has been training for an Ironman, now we are back to working on another property, Willowtree (the birthplace of the Ayers Residence) in preparation for another rental year. Next will be the second floor of our own house. Thankfully this one is close enough where I can take a much needed nap if I so choose, and I can eat what ever I want when ever I want to....I could go on and on.

So, yesterday it was clean up the stuff the old renter left behind and get a real grasp of the full scope of work to be completed prior to showing the house. In the middle of cleaning out the full refrigerator and throwing crap in the trailer to haul to the dump (did I mention the former renter has had 2+ weeks to get his stuff out of the house and hasn't been living there?) the renter shows up! Okay, confrontation? Not really, Cary handled the situation very well and there was no outward hostility, that is until they saw that I had cleaned the fridge. That's when I bailed and went home (for a nap). I couldn't handle the pressure, besides the kitchen is my stomping ground and when I can't clean it b/c he's in there, my time is better spent doing something else.

Well, today Cary, Lee (our crewman) and myself spend the better part of the day painting and more cleaning or repairing of misc. things. All the while I painted I thought to myself "well I'm sure glad I didn't commit to brunch or some fun shopping with Becca this afternoon!" Some how or another Cary's love for me deepens when I put in a long day of work with him in our (i mean his) projects. He did treat me to Mexican for dinner tonight "as my reward." ;) haha

So now it's almost 7, Sweetie's out mowing the lawn. I'm about to pass out here at the computer from a full tummy and desperately need a shower. Sorry there are no pictures, but there is nothing really to photograph. Besides I had no time to be a photographer today, I was Sweetie's Helper!

Mushroom Risotto

there are some days when I get in the mood to cook. today was one of those days. I decided to make mushroom risotto and I have to admit that I can really impress myself sometimes. when I got home from work I put on some Van Morrison and just began chopping, soaking, sauteing and before I knew it my taste buds were dancing with happiness. the best part of this recipe is that i will take the left overs (and there are a LOT) and make an appetizer for some friends who will be coming over this weekend. SUPER YUMMY!!

Only So Much

I can only take so much of 1 thing. Every (okay ALMOST every) morning this week I've made a fruit smoothie. Ice, Vanilla Yogurt, Strawberries, Blueberries, Banana, OJ & 1/2 serving of this protein powder that Cary has stashed in the pantry. When Sweetie first made this potion for me earlier this week I loved it. Can't remember the last time I had a really good smoothie. So in an interest of starting the day of "healthy" I decided to make this my typical morning routine.

A switch was flipped this morning. I can not take another sip of this smoothie. Even looking at it makes me feel strange. Maybe too much of a good thing isn't so good. By the way, I would take a picture of what remains on the corner of my desk, however it's too gross and I wouldn't want to make anyone feel sick from looking at it. Now I'm counting down the minutes until lunch and I have another opportunity to clean my pallet with something a bit more appetizing!

New Music

It's a rainy day here and while sitting at my desk trying to sludge through some work I decided my mood needed some lifting via music. So I searched for new albums on Rhapsody and came across Coldplay's new album, VIVA LA VIDA. If you have a chance to download it or purchase it, I would recommend doing so, It's SO good!!

Something to think about...

"Love can not exist with fear"

I am doing a bible study with my friend and came across this quote. How much do you let fear dictate what you do? How many times can you recognize fear directing your path, instead of Christ directing your path? How many opportunities have you missed in life because of fear?

I believe the Lord desires to give us so much more than we are capable of imagining, yet we hold ourselves back from fulling embracing His love and therefore accepting those gifts.

Is fear keeping you from Love?

Weekend In Review

Friday was full of fun and activities at the Cassada house. We had a huge cook out and all afternoon the kids kept asking when we were going to see fireworks. One would ask the question, "is it time for fireworks yet?" and another would answer "it's not dark yet!" Owen and Josh sat outside for what seemed like eternity with their bike helmets on waiting for the sun to go down (and the rain to stop) just so they could hop on the bike and ride around the corner for the fireworks show. Of course it rained, a lot. We were convinced there would be no show for the kids to enjoy so the fantastic parents improvised and gave everyone the firecrackers that you throw on the ground & they pop. Once all those were gone we handed out the sparklers. I will never forget begin terrified of both sparklers & fireworks when I was a kid. None of these little one's thought twice (even after getting burned) and kept asking for more! It was so much fun!! By the time we got home the only thing I wanted was a bed and a good nights sleep.

Happy 4th of July!

We arrived in NOVA last night to Brian & Peyton's house. This is the first time I've been here and how fun is this?!

I don't know what it is about Peyton & my other friend Courtney, but when ever I visit & spend the night in their homes I feel so cozy. It's like walking into a house full of love and life and everything is perfect. I told Cary last night, "I'm so happy here!" Those words have come out of my mouth many times when visiting with Pat & Courtney. How great is it to have friends like this?!

Breakfast is cooking, Cary is taking Molly (the dog) out for a walk, Caroline (the baby) is still sleeping and I think today is going to be a great day! :)

SUPER EXCITED!!!

Is it 5:00 yet? (I was asking this question at 3:00)