Beautiful night for a ride

We went for a bike ride tonight. We being Mike, myself, and mostly Buckley. I say mostly because Mike did not pedal and Buckley pulled him the entire way. I meandered behind them as we went at Buck's pace-SLOW since he has to smell everything.

After about 4 miles he finally started to slow down... with just enough time to be done. I have yet to figure out how to wear him out.

Oh dog, how you lead us on...

My view. :)

Best time of year

The next four months are the best.

September: "Back to school" feeling, which means excitement, beautiful weather, and anticipation for what is to come. I have strong memories of this time of year. One of them is one my sister and I just remembered together this weekend.

My mom is the band teacher at the community college in my hometown. We only lived a block away from campus, and every spring the marching band that she led had to practice before homecoming. They started at 4:00 PM so my sister and I would have just enough time to get home, throw down our backpacks, have a snack, and rush outside with anticipation as we could hear the bass drum just leaving campus. I cannot tell you the thrill of it; I know it seems silly. Most of the time we knew some of the students so we would get to say hi/act like we didn't care/grin from ear to ear (depending on our age of course - middle schoolers and high schoolers have to look cool you know). We would follow them for about a block or so and then we would have to go back and do homework.

But what I really remember is the smell of this. Just the other day I was outside and had the strongest flashback. I think it is the leaves changing, the bees in the air, the nice breeze, the cooler yet not cold temperatures, the sun shining. That leads to the anticipation, the joy, the memories. We did this for years... we did this for most of our childhoods! And you know the crazy thing? When I "grew up" I joined that band, and still had the same feeling marching in the band.  It is just a fun time of year.

October: Halloween of course! Well really, I am not such a Halloween buff. Sure it is fun, but what is really my favorite is the fall weather. I've done the haunted houses and whatnot and like I said, it is fun. But the season itself is what makes for the wonderful feeling I get each year. This is the time to dress the best! Scarves but no heavy clothes, boots but not snow to climb through, sweaters and cute jackets. It reminds me of football games, long walks, and light shivers. The good kind of shivers.

November: I would consider this the fun part of winter. Everyone is anticipating winter, and nobody is really complaining yet. Everyone is waiting for the snow, and yet everyone wants fall to continue. Then starts the holiday season. Since I consider it ok to start playing Christmas music on November 1st, I would say that November is by far a favorite month. That is what makes it great! Not one, but two great holidays creating excitement - yes I do consider Thanksgiving exciting. For example, Mike and I got to celebrate our engagement two years ago around Thanksgiving. The food, the weather, the family. So great.

December: Well of course this is my favorite! Birthday month, best part of winter with skating, chilly temps above 0 degrees, sledding if you are ambitious, Christmas and everything  that comes with it. That is another post all together as there are so many  things to love about Christmas. To name a few: the music, the lights, the gift shopping, the music, church activities, the music, and the smiles on everyone's faces. I love watching people light up at this time of year! And its always the people you don't expect... that is why this month gets my vote. So many surprises.

So you will not hear complaining from me for a couple of months. I would say this is the best time of year! And maybe you can be persuaded as well? No more mumbling and grumbling. Lets enjoy it and create some more memories. :) But seriously, don't rain on my parade! (Barbara Streisand anybody?)

What up camera aka summer flashback

You may be asking yourself "Where has Sarah been??"

Well don't worry! I am here! And my camera works with my  laptop so now I can give you a quick update.

Hannah stayed with us while my parents brought Lara to CA.

RIP goldfish. It was a sad day for Mike when he discovered that this very fish was no longer with us. But it had a good long life... something like 9 years?

**DISCLAIMER** Hannah was not responsible for the fish's death. It died from old age.

Buckley has kept us entertained throughout the entire summer. This shouldn't be surprising. Look at that monger!

We had a "mini youth group" night since only half the kids showed up. It was fun! Games in the backyard and supper after.

My good friend Lisa got married to Richard this summer and it was a beautiful wedding! The weather was...too hot.. bu the wedding itself? Wonderful small town feel - loved it!

Two weeks later, Henry and Jerri got married! I couldn't find the greatest pic of the two of them... but here are the bridesmaids - Aris, Jenna, Bethany, JERRI THE BRIDE, me, Betsy, and K.C.

The wedding was super hot - we were all sweating for the pictures! Once the wedding was about to start, we had to move it inside because of a freak storm with lightening, thunder, tornado sirens and power outages. Needless to say. It was a fun and totally unique wedding!!

Oh. and we lost our tent in that storm (soaking everything inside) and had to get a hotel in the hotel-filled town of Ypsilanti because of some street fair or something.That was not so fun but still unique. Our next camping trip will most likely NOT be this year...

More to come later!

Newest read, Audition

I am trying to not be a tv junkie. Not too hard... so what I find fills my time the best (because there is sooo much free time? no) is reading. The problem is I have an itty bitty attention span  and if I'm not hooked right away I can't go on. This has led me to read biographies, since I can't get over the fascination of real people's lives. The latest was Barbara Walter's "Audition".

I was so impressed! This book kept me interested for the entire 2 weeks it took to read it. You may ask, only two weeks? But remember...I spent  A LOT of my evening times pouring over these pages...this books is thick! And covered her entire life. So I recommend it. Its great. And the political talk did not bore me at all. Instead, I found myself interested in that part of the news. A little. I'm not really the most political person you'll know... and I certainly do not know my (recent) history. The best part is that I felt like Barbara was talking to me since her writing style matches her speaking style to a T.

Now the problem is find something else to keep me going. I haven't been in the mood for fiction and the biography section was lacking. I find that when I just show up at the library and try to find something to read I completely fail. I need to have an idea before going in there what I am looking for. I am the worst at judging the book by its cover... yep! I do it ALL the time... and it usually backfires with wasting time and picking books that are juvenile because the cover is pretty. When will I learn...