Lately I've been really happy about spring! It's the season of resurrection in so many ways. All the plants are coming back to life boldly after hibernating through a cold winter. All the neighbors venture out of their homes to do activities in their yards and the community after resting in their sleepy homes throughout the cold season. My favorite part is Lent, the season anticipating the celebration of Christ rising from the dead. With my baby kicking and growing like crazy, I feel like new life is all around me.
There are also some superficial but fun things I'm enjoying these days. I wanted to share just a few of them with you.
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| 1. Being in the South in the spring~ my grainy picture of Southern Living doesn't quite convey the joy, but I missed so much of the South last year in France. Though many of our Georgia friends think it's not warming up fast enough or staying warm long enough, this weather is miraculous compared to Metz. I love enjoying a cold sweet tea, sunnier day light savings mornings, community activities (Norcross 10k in two weeks!), and looking forward to a Braves game (did you know the Avett Brothers are performing a FREE show after the game on Sunday, April 10th!?! Tickets purchased~join us if you like!) |
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| 2. Dresses~ Merciful heavens I love wearing dresses. It's becoming an even greater blessing as the baby gets bigger because they are so much more comfortable than pants. This dress here is fancy, and I don't own it (yet). I'm hoping to have a special occasion and enough beans saved up to get this number from gap.com. It's just so sassy! |
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| 3. Spring Birthday Parties~ Miss Foo is turning 25 in just a few days! She used to hate when her birthday was because it always landed in the middle of spring break, but I coveted it so much. I thought she had little to complain about since we passed her birthdays at our home in Florida with summer-like scenery while my birthday was perpetually during finals week and under the shadow of Christmas (December 13). Now that we are no longer students and can't just leave for Florida on a whim, her birthday is still a treat with a lighter menu (strawberry salad & shrimp'n'grits vs. my standard tex-mex salad & chili) and a family holiday outside THE holiday season. |
Now greedy me, I was looking online about joining the YMCA. With warmer temperatures coming inevitably, I wanted to still be able to exercise a bit in the air conditioning. Our apartment has this provision, but here's what they don't have:
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| We live sans cable chez nous, but I thought I could get some HGTV, Food Network, and (let's be honest) Cartoon Network for a small fee while I was working an elliptical in their Cardio Theater. |
Much to my dismay, it's more expensive to go to the YMCA monthly than to just get cable (like $69 to join, and $53 a month after that~yikes!). Looks like I'll be sticking to Dr. Oz and Family Feud with my indoor exercising at the apartment's gym.
On a very happy note, I mentioned that the Norcross 10k is in just 2 weeks. To keep me from just quitting jogging cold turkey (I speak of it as if I'm giving up cigarettes...), Kyle and I made a plan to ease my way out of jogging and into walking. For now it looks like we'll have had the half-marathon in March, do a 10k in April, and complete a 5k in May (this one is with his work to raise money for ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease). I'm really hopeful that I can jog these, but if walking is necessary with my ever growing baby bump, that's alright. Hopefully I'll have more race pictures to share in the coming months!
Happy Spring for now friends!