gonna be filled with strawberry love.

~from the movie waitress

man, that's a cute movie. a sweet movie. bittersweet really. and some day, if I have a daughter, I hope I can take one look at her and say "we are going to have so much fun." I'm ashamed to admit it made me a little bit teary...

overall, this weekend wasn't what I expected. not even a little.

friday night's little dinner turned into a wee-hours-of-the-night sharefest. sometimes you need those. sometimes you just get thirsty. whatever the case was, me and my wine-drinking self enjoyed it.

we also played with my camera. and I took this lovely one of the gobes. :)

saturday after going to the WRONG place to pick up my cookies I had fun buying myself some tulips and taking pictures of them before going to nicole and dave's. see? tulips.

and then I got to take pictures of n & d and their little baby lucas. he is a cutie! we tried lots of poses and takes and got some I really like. here are some of my favorites. I'll put more up on my photography blog. :) oh, and she told me about these kids--reusable straws from c&b. she gave me a set (people always love 'em so she keeps some on hand) and you can only get them on ebay right now but I'll keep an eye out for them this summer. BRILLIANT idea.

next was chili and beer at elizabeth and dave's place. I LOVE the way they've painted their home, and they have such cute things. and they are so much fun. I like it that we get to hang out occasionally and get along so well, but that we don't feel pressured when we don't have time to see each other, if that makes sense. it's a positive, for sure!

oh and I realized this weekend that it's a good thing I take my time making decisions--because I've come to the conclusions that under no circumstances do I want a coffee table without that bottom shelf. there's nothing wrong with them, they just aren't for me. in my opinion they make that piece of furniture less functional, and if you know me at all, you know I'm all about function. and efficiency. and if I have the option, the coffee table with the bottom shelf is more functional and efficient. so there. :)

so, yeah, keeping an eye out for that.

and about lent:

we sang a song today called "lonesome valley." it almost made me cry. it's funny because I was thinking about the concept all week and didn't realize that it's 'cause I heard this on wednesday...sometimes you have to walk that lonesome valley. nobody else can do it for you. you have to walk it by yourself. or you'll never get through it.

man do I know what that's about.

and then tonight was youth. a random dude came to try to "help out" though he was technically unwelcome, which was SUPER awkward (we have a whole policy about having to have background checks and stuff) especially because he kinda makes some people, including me, uncomfy.

and after talking to matt I think I might not be working with the youth next year. I mean, I'll help them out or be an alternate or whatever, and I haven't made this decision, but matt was so so right when he pointed this out: youth frustrates the bejeezes out of me. and if I'm going to give up some things once my terms end, perhaps this should be highest on the list. because it rarely makes me happy.

like today at practice I was all "hey, I know y'all might not've understood it, but let's use my spreadsheet idea to practice, k? I mean, it couldn't hurt to at least try--y'see, there are groups of skits that can practice at the same time and have exactly none of the same cast members. brills, right? and easy as pie."

I was told "it is impossible for us to not have overlap" despite my telling him no, I have a degree in data analysis, I think I've got this one covered. and one of the other leaders just took all of the people in her skits and had them go to the other room, not telling us what she was doing (ps? this woman is the wife of the man who said overlap was unavoidable."

I even talked to the old head of youth about it today--I mean, not to brag, but what I put together with a few clicks of an excel sheet was pretty damn fantastic--it brought order and efficiency and it eliminated guesswork. and we're short on practice time so it made A LOT of sense. ugh. I mean, I know our dinner theatre will be awesome, but REALLY?!? ugh.

anyway, yeah. who knew that my lenten observation might be to end a church activity, eh? whatever...

week ahead: least favorite holiday, football, cookie delivery andandAND--DC!