Lately

Hello again world!  I realize I've been a little absent around here lately.  I've just been rolling through with my summer schedule, and just when I was getting into the groove of things it was over Friday.  Six weeks flew right on by, but I'm ready to really kick my feet up and enjoy my summer break.

(My summer group going out in style with Dr. Vaughn!)

(On the way home, Heather and I stopped by Steel City for a celebratory pop to end second year.)

So what else have we been up to so far this summer?

- I got my hair cut with full bangs. (As you've probably noticed from the photos above.) I just went out and did it while Jesse was away for work one week.  I immediately regretted my decision because for a day or so I was personally convinced  I had just received a really bad haircut from the 80's. After a couple of weeks and a little bit of growth of these obvious hairs, I began to have fond thoughts about the do, and am now on board with my new "look."

- We went to an event recently called "Local Birmingham" and browsed over booths of local vendors to the sound of local musicians, and ate some local food from a food truck. I love events like this, and came home with a homemade soy candle (in a repurposed beer bottle) and a t-shirt that says "Someone in Birmingham loves me" underneath an outline of our little cityscape.  

- Jesse has been hard at work with his Master's course. The tables have turned this summer- he is now the one in the books while I take afternoon naps and watch Netflix.  I can't say I don't hate it. ;)

- Way back a few weeks ago we did a double-date night with friends Mike & Kelsey.  We went to this indoor trampoline place called "Airwalk".  Thank the good Lord above we only booked a 30 minute spot, because 5 minutes in we were all winded and had to take a breather on the sidelines. We jumped back in (pun intended) and had a blast. I'm pretty sure mine and Kelsey's abs got a good workout from giggling at ourselves the whole time. Afterwards we played a round of mini-golf and ate at a nearby pizza joint, which was incredible. Area 41 is on the outskirt of Birmingham, but worth the short drive to eat another slice of this fancier pizza. Plus they offered cannolis and creme brûlée cheesecake for dessert that night. And, of course, we had dessert.

- Our church kicked off it's Summer in the City series for the second summer in a row. The sermons have been kind of back to the basics and good reminders to us as Christians of how to truly live a Godly life.  There are so many activities and events that happen throughout the city during the summer, and it's a great time for us to get out there and enjoy community with each other and the people of our surrounding communities.  Our church is also doing weekly picnics after Sunday morning service to give us some extra time to hang out with each other, and help bring people in from the community who need a free meal. Bonus is that they get to here about Jesus while they are there. I love this idea they had, and it feels traditional and homey to have a potluck on the front lawn of the church.

I'm sure I missed plenty, but that's what we have been up to lately. We have big plans for this summer, which I will reveal soon!

Our Friends are Cooler Than Yours

I've talked many times about our friends, Mike and Kelsey. Some of you know that they make board games.  You've probably also seen a few things I've shared recently on facebook about the latest in their game developments. But I wanted to explain a little more here.

Mike and Kelsey have been developing their game, The Amberden Affair, for a couple of years now, and even coined a business name (Two Penny Games). They had the opportunity last year to enter their game in a Tabletop Deathmatch competition put on by a very famous game maker, Cards Against Humanity.  Within this competition there were hundreds of games submitted, and 16 finalists were chosen to present their games to a panel of judges and be recorded for a web series. The Amberden Affair was among the finalists. The winner will get their game printed for free and will have a booth at this year's conference to promote/sale the game.  You can watch Mike and Kelsey pitch their game to the judges here at a big gaming conference known as GenCon, and learn the meaning behind their company name:

Several weeks after the competition, they were notified they did not win, so they moved forward with other plans to produce their game.  It's a passion of theirs they couldn't let die.  They made some great connections at GenCon and even struck up a deal with a game manufacturer to print their game without putting out much of their own money up front. So they tweaked the game a little more to its final state and sent it off for mass production. Then they wondered how they would fit 2000 copies of their board game in their tiny apartment. (They have since figured this out as well.)

They decided to return to GenCon this year, and wanted to do something fun while there to promote their game. Having a background in theatre, they decided to host a live event of their game, where people can sign up to play as characters of the game in a themed hotel room. On June 1st they launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund this life-sized event. So what does that mean? Kickstarter is a crowd-funding site where you can set a goal to raise money to help produce your product or production, whether that's an artist to record new music, a new gadget, or a game (among many other things). Reading Rainbow is even making a comeback through Kickstarter supporters!  The idea is to have many people (known as backers) pledge a little bit of their money to help you reach your goal.  And you only actually get the funds if your goal is fully funded within the time period. There are different levels of backing so that you can choose an amount you're comfortable pledging, and many of them offer rewards - such as a copy of the product once it's funded and produced.

So go check out Mike and Kelsey's Kickstarter page (<-- Click there), and help support their live event! You can even only donate a dollar or so if you'd like, or a little more and get a copy of their game for your own home! Watch the video below to learn more about the game, and see Jesse and me in what is the closest we will ever get to a big-screen debut! So go support Two Penny Games on Kickstarter and help make the live-event possible! Mike and Kelsey would greatly appreciate it!

High Five for Friday

I am finally feeling like this summer semester is starting to have a routine- now that it's halfway over. And although Jesse was out of town for work this past week, I had a pretty good work and kept myself busy...with what, now, I'm not certain. But let's try to put together this week's High Five:

1.  On Sunday, after church, we had friends Mike and Kelsey over for lunch which was basically a launch party for their Kickstarter fund to support their gaming business. (More to come soon about that, so I won't elaborate here. Except that they are so creative and cool, and God is blessing their talents and efforts in so many ways, and I'm enjoying watching it all unfold.

2.  I've recently discovered Scandal on Netflix, and have quickly become somewhat of an addict. It's kind of like Law & Order minus the court room, plus politics, including the President and his affair with the main character (no spoiler there).  Which brings me to a conflict of interest in me telling you to watch this show (and describing it as I have).... because I don't support marital affairs, but shows like these drag you in and make you root for a relationship that shouldn't happen. And of course, they always make the wife out to be a horrible woman anyway. So watch at your own discretion, but I'm gonna recommend it. ;)

3. Tuesday I got to keep my favorite munchkin. She calls me "Em." Which partially makes my dream of being called "Auntie Em" like Dorothy's aunt from the Wizard of Oz come true. (I realize I'm not actually this child's aunt, but I see her on the regular, so I think we are close enough here.) I tried this on my actual nephew about 16 years ago, but the lingo didn't stick, much to my dismay.  And if I become Auntie Em, that makes Jesse "Uncle Jesse" like from Full House, which is equally as funny.  (Ironically we do sometimes call her a munchkin, which I didn't realize until now was so fitting, as well.)

4. My first week of clinic was awful. It took me 3+ hours to do a full eye exam, and my patients sighed their way through it, asking how much longer this would take.  (To my slight defense, all my classmates were in the same boat as me. But still.... no one wants to sit there 3 hours with lights blaring into their eyes.) Now that 2 more weeks have ticked by, things have gotten better and I've gotten a little faster. My last patient this week repeatedly told me that I did such a wonderful job. She really had no idea if I truly had or not (from my and my attending's perspectives), but she lifted my spirits and made me smile.  

5.  I made these Chocolate Chip cookies this week. I'm pretty sure I could eat chocolate chip cookies daily for the rest of my life.  I do refrain from this activity, but when I have a craving for a good chocolate chip cookie, I've got to make a homemade batch.  Store-bought just doesn't cut it.  The "secret" ingredient in this recipe is cornstarch, which makes the cookies extra chewy. This is just the way I like my cookies, so these turned out nice, without tasting under-done. 

Birmingham Adventures - Red Mountain

Last weekend we marked another to-do off of our Birmingham list by hiking a little through Red Mountain.  There are several trails to explore, but we only did about half of them. We took Maggie, and she was tired before we veered onto trail #2 less than half way through. Poor dog - she's an inside girl. We went from the South side to the North to see one of the overlooks. Not the best view of Birmingham, but pretty in the distance. And we also went to the SkyHy Treehouse. It's a small park, but perfect for a short outdoor excursion.