Six {ish} things I learned in July

Today I'm linking up with Emily Freeman at her blog for the Things I Learned link up. OMG. It's the bestest, most fun post to write. Here, I don't take myself seriously for some reason. Check out what other writers have learned in July over at Emily's blog.



There are several reasons NOT to write this post. 

1. It is already August 4th and it feels like July news is, well, old news.
2. the things I learned (or relearned) in July are not earth shattering and you'd probably be just as okay if you didn't know them.
3. I don't remember this one.

Okay, okay. I'll write my list of things I learned in July, even though this feels dated.


1. I saw one of the most beautiful gardens I've ever seen whilst waiting for the July 4th fireworks show to begin. I LOVE pinks and blues and purples together in the garden!

2.  For our 31st anniversary, hubby and I went to Minneapolis and we visited the Minneapolis Institute of Arts for the first time. Not only did we go for the first time, but it was FREE. (p.s. if you ever get to Minneapolis, you HAVE to go here!)

I learned that my engineer/marketing husband really does enjoy looking at art. I mean, I knew that. He's been trying to get ME to go to this museum "for years" he says. I believe him. It wasn't until I went to the Museum of Modern Art in NYC in April that I had an "art awakening" so to speak. I mean, I was really moved by the paintings I saw there of Picasso, Van Gogh, etc. 

Back to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, we had just gone through the whole thing in 2.5 hours. Our feet were sore, legs tired, but hubby was not satisfied. He said, "I looked for Rembrandt and didn't see him. I'm Dutch and I want to see this Dutch painter." So, we hoofed back through and found Rembrandt. 

FUN.


3.  Birdseed matters.  When we first moved into our "new" home in December, we filled our new feeder with a bag from the store called "Songbird Blend" or something similar. We had sparrows come to eat, but also Blue Jays and even some Cardinals. Then, we went and got a "cheaper" blend. Not sure what the seed ratio is, but the colorful birds are no longer appearing. *insert sad face here*. 

I haven't convinced hubby that we don't need to finish the 40lb. bag of seed, that we can just go out and get the "Songbird Blend" again. Oh well. I keep telling myself, sparrows or LBB's as we call them (Little Brown Birds) are still important!!! They still need to eat, too! Right? Right!


4. There's a restaurant we've been to twice now in Minneapolis that you have to go to if you go to Minneapolis and if you live there, oh my gosh, I'm jealous. It's called French Meadow Bakery and Cafe. We got their sprouted organic home made corn chips again as an appetizer. I think I died and went to corn chip heaven.


5. Here's a mini list of "re-learns" from July.

a. "letting go" has many applications---in relationships and art.

b. tears may come inexplicably and seemingly for no reason, but they come for a VERY good reason, so listen and take note.

c. someone who has done things a certain way for years and years, may one day up and do something totally new and different. (my husband who RARELY BUYS ANYTHING for himself bought 3 books at Half Price Book store last weekend-surprised the sandals off of me!)

d.  Daring Greatly (think Brene Brown) may mean you step into the arena relationally and find your voice cracking and tears streaming down your face unexpectedly. It's still worth it to get in the arena and try.

6.  I painted a boat. And, my mom wants to buy it. 

Thanks for stopping by today, friend!
Blessings to you,

~Anne

Random things about this summer {so far}

I usually link this post up with Chatting at the Sky for her Things I've Learned link up at the end of the month, but this time, I am too late for that! I decided to post some random summer stuff anyway, just for kicks. Here goes!


1. On a random night in July, I saw this pink cloud. Never in my life have I seen a cloud/clouds so pink. It took my breath away! I love discovering new colors in clouds!

2.  I bought two flower baskets at Walmart this year. They were half price, basically because they were half dead. I am really a slow poke when it comes to getting spring flowers and the past few years it's been late June or early July. Basically, I'm at the garden center at Walmart when they are practically taking stuff down for the season. The flowers look like they have been picked over one too many times and basically look neglected and pitiful.

However, with these two half dead, pitiful, half price baskets of flowers, I've surprised myself. They aren't perfect, and they could be more luscious, but I've been faithful at watering them (and picking off spent blooms) and they look pretty good, if I do say so myself. And, half price! You can't beat that! 

3. My song of the summer is Michael Jackson's new song (with Justin Timberlake), Love Never Felt So Good. I've been a fan of Michael's since Billy Jean and Can't Stop Till You Get Enough and Thriller were popular, so to have him come out with a fantastic new single (posthumously).....priceless!

4.  Our family (hubby me, our 21 and 24 year old "kids" who are temporarily here) usually watch a movie at night. Not every night, but almost. It usually takes us about twenty minutes to agree on a movie because some of us like sci fi, some like rom coms and some like drama. Last night was Kung Fu Panda. I guess we like animated, too. :)

5.  On July 28th, my hubby and I celebrated our 30th anniversary. Both of us agree that it doesn't seem like it's been that long at all. It seems more like 15 years. Is that weird? Anyway, we feel pretty blessed. 

6. On Saturday, we went on a day trip to the zoo. Just the two of us. Why were we thinking that a Saturday in the summer would not be packed!? It was packed! We waited 25 minutes in a sea of people just to get our tickets. 

Then, I got a case of claustrophobia. We were in the Aquarium building where it's dark and we were in the middle of a pack of people that WAS NOT MOVING. It was insane and I was thinking that some fire code was being broken.

I told my husband I was about to have a panic attack and I think he was too. We turned around and plowed against the flow of people and left through the entrance. I was disappointed not to see the shark tank, but who knows how long we would've been in there? The mob was NOT moving!!

7. For the first time ever in the history of this blog, (which is about two years) I did a four part series. I have participated for two years in The Nester's 31 Days of Blogging, but not any other series. 

I decided to write a month's worth of posts on the topic, How to Have a Settled Spirit. I'm not sure if it helped any of you, but I think it really helped me! I'm feeling a lot more settled lately! (thanking God!)

What random stuff have you learned this summer? I'd love to hear it!

Blessings to you! Thanks for stopping by to read some random stuff!

~Anne

How our date night turned Hollywood

My husband and I had a splendid Valentine's Day dinner. Not perfect. Nothing ever is. But, we had a fun night.

Instead of dwelling on the fact that our table was out in the middle of the room and we didn't get a booth, and that we didn't get to see the movie we wanted, I decided to find the humor in it all. This is a little humorous story about our evening. If you want to see the humor in life, you can probably find it. :)  

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We are one of the lucky couples that are able to get in to this nice restaurant on Valentine’s Day.

I’m anticipating a great evening with the love of my life.

The restaurant he picked is one of my favorites and he knows it.

He’s doing this for me, he says.

With Frank Sinatra wafting from outdoor speakers as we walk up, I’m feeling like we are a couple straight out of a Hollywood love story. I can dream.

I’m thinking, this is romance at its finest.

 As soon as we sit down at our table, Carlos pulls a laminated card out of his apron and reads the specials in very halting English. I’m thinking, ordering will be interesting. I’m starting to worry that I won’t be able to figure out what he is saying. 

I’m thinking, this guy looks just like the endearing guy with the taco truck in the movie Turbo that we watched the other night. How did he become our server?

Carlos walks away and I survey the valentine’s dinner crowd. Pairs of people are hugging tables. We sit there and stare at our menus.  My husband hints to me that this would be a good time to play like we are in Date Night and guess the stories of the couples around us.

I chuckle to myself and don’t answer him. But, I secretly start eyeing people.

It’s not too difficult on a night like tonight. Couples dot pretty much every table in the restaurant.

There’s the guy sitting right behind my husband within my eye shot. He’s sitting there alone, except for a bunch of flowers in cellophane and a pink card on the table. He’s dressed in jeans and a v-neck, but looking kind of like Cary Grant. 

Was he going for the Cary Grant look on purpose, I wonder?  Moments later, his lady arrives. Cary Grant takes one look at her and bolts out of his chair. 

My date’s eyes rise above the top of my hair and he informs me, 

Yeah, he just got up and planted a big one on her. 

Of course, he means Cary Grant. To which I say something like, oh brother. 

The smooching between Cary Grant and his lady doesn’t stop with the big hello. I end up having a hard time focusing on my gourmet gluten free chicken pizza with leeks and goat cheese because of the kissing noises going on behind my chair.

Couple number two is in a cozy booth right in front of us. He is dressed to the nines in a navy blue military uniform adorned with lots of medals. He’s sitting directly across from his Ms. They remind me of Jeanie and Major Nelson from an old rerun of I Dream of Jeanie.

Only this gal isn’t dressed at all like Jeanie. And, she’s not smiling like Jeanie either. We weren’t quite sure why she wasn’t happy with her Major Nelson, but he sure looked nice, and as my husband quipped later, he was taking her out to a nice restaurant, wasn’t he?

My husband and I decide to bring out the cards we’ve gotten each other for the occassion. 

We’ve done this for probably twenty five Valentine’s Days.

Valentine’s dinner, bring cards and/or gifts to restaurant. It’s tradition.

At least so far.

I open my card first.

It feels like we are the only couple on an empty dance floor, only we're sitting at our table. We are sitting right underneath the disco ball. The disco ball is spinning slowly to Frank Sinatra, and I feel my face glowing pink.  It feels like Smoochie and Cary Grant and Jeanie and Major Nelson are all watching me open my card.

We both quickly read our canned Hallmark lines and I shove the cards back into my purse. So much for a romantic moment. This feels more like a sitcom.

As the dinner progresses, Carlos is proving his prowess as our waiter. He’s persistent with us, his people, throughout the evening. He’s trying to earn his wages. His boss will be proud.

My ears are straining to understand his halting English.

“Would you like to get flask that has three glasses of wine, you know, in case you want more wine?”

“Would you like another glass of wine?”

Then he says something about the dessert menu that I couldn’t quite understand.

Then I get the words “coffee”, “espresso”, and “it’s very good”, and I figured he was offering this to finish off our meal.

I say no thanks, so he says,

“Okay, I get check for you.”

I sincerely wonder at one point if we are going to be able to leave.

Next stop is the movie theater. We get there thirty minutes before our movie starts but it is sold out.

Our second choice is open so we buy our tickets and weave through the three long popcorn lines to make our way to our theater. We are the second couple in this small theater so we are there early enough to people watch.

The couple who arrived before us is right in front of us and she’s playing a game on her tablet. In walks couple number two who know couple number one.

Other couples filter in and my husband says, “Do you notice a certain demographic in here?”

There are three couples surrounding us who end up knowing each other. They start talking about going out to eat the night before and waiting three hours for a booth. They talk about what they are taking to the potluck.

Potluck?

I’m just sitting there feeling like I’m in Mayberry where everybody knows everybody else's business.

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My image of our Hollywood romance date turns out to be right on target. 

Carlos from Turbo serves us while Frank Sinatra serenades. 

Cary Grant and his woman are playing out their own sitcom script right behind us while Jeanie and Major Nelson live out their own date night drama in front of us.

And there we are, like Tina Fey and Steve Carell, making up stories about the people on our date night.