High Five for Friday

Happy Friday everyone!

This week was the beginning of my summer break - before summer semester starts, that is.  While I've done a lot of relaxing, it has also been rather productive. Here's how it's been going:

(some photos by Erika & Gussie!)

1.  We started off last weekend with some of our optometry friends on a camping trip to Port St. Joe, FL.  This was the first time I've camped since I was a child, and honestly I was a little afraid.  For those of you that know me well, you know I love the indoors and bugs are not my friends, but I had a great time!  We arrived after dark, pitched our tent, and had grilled hamburgers for dinner. The next day we relaxed on the beach until it rained, then we all loaded up and explored the town. Smores also happened. What's camping without smores, right?  This was a continuation of Erika's birthday celebration, and she picked a great spot to unwind after finals!

2. On our way back from the beach we stopped in Luverne to visit with our mother's for Mother's Day. It was a quick stop and dinner, but we were so glad we could see them on their special day!

3.  Throughout finals (and probably before) I was mulling over tons of ideas of things I'd rather be doing besides studying.  Top on the list was baking sugar cookies and decorating them with royal icing. There are amazing ladies out there that do this and create works of art out of them. (Check out SweetSugarBelle, Sweetopia, and Bridget at Bake@350 for where I was going with all of this.)  Of course I was inspired, and had been collecting all of the proper equipment to try my hand at it. I've done it a couple of times before - once for a family 4th of July gathering and, most recently, with Heidi and Kelsey for Easter cookies.  But this time I was shooting for "perfection" because I decided to make these as gifts for two special graduates - Kayla from Alabama School of Fine Arts where she dances, and Kyle from Auburn School of Pharmacy.  Most of the cookie designs were pulled from the ladies mentioned above, but a couple I made myself. Here's a little peek:

4.  While home for Mother's Day Marilyn gave us some sweet peas from their garden. I shelled and cooked them last night for dinner. One of my fondest memories of childhood and my Memaw is going to her house to help with her garden. This involved buckets and buckets of peas, beans, corn, tomatoes, okra, and other delicious veggies.  I probably complained at the time because my tired thumbs were green and purple from the hulls, but now I love it because it reminds me of simpler times when food came from your backyard, not... Chile.

5.  Our Community Group has planned a fondue night for today, and I am SO excited! Jesse and I look forward to this with his family once a year, but now we get to share this with some great friends!