One good thing that came outta this

Stress free in the Whee!

It's true.  More physical activity = less stress.  At least for me it does.

Did yoga (outside) during my lunch break.  I felt like I was back in Belize for a split second.

Played sand volleyball with friends tonight.  Yes, I was bummed we lost, but I felt good for having played...felt like I was 15 again.  So cheesy, but it's true. 

And to all my readers: tell your loved ones how much they mean to you...life is not a guarantee.

Song of the Week

Renewed love

The other day I was really craving sushi.  But where does one find sushi in a small town in the mountains of western NC??  Not anywhere that you would trust.  However!  My husband found out a local eatery (one that is trusted) has sushi Wednesdays.  The restaurant is kind of, as they say, "crunchy" and was closing/for sale at one point but has since reopened. 

So guess what we had for dinner tonight.  As we were leaving we stopped by a table where some friends were eating and were promptly told not to forget to get our bookstore stamp.  Huh?  Apparently with every visit (meal?--still not sure) one gets $5 off used books at the bookstore connected (physically) to the restaurant.  Yes please.  Of course we head over there (uh, who could pass up a visit to a bookstore?!) and I find a used copy of Watership Down (I've been craving that too) and my husband gets a new book titled something written by somebody.  What can top it all off??  A FREE tea or coffee at the restaurant by buying a new book.  It just keeps getting better and better.  You can also receive credit at the bookstore by trading in books you no longer want--but let's take this one step at a time.

And I know it's all a ploy to get you to visit more and spend more, but I'll take my little hole in the wall restaurant and my little hole in the wall bookstore to your Barnes & Noble & Starbucks any day.  "Your" as in "The Man"...not you personally. 

It's days like these that I love my little town.

Ping-Pong

I don't know if this is real, but it's hilarious nonetheless.

Weapons of mass destruction

I've been checking my sunflowers everyday.  This is what I came home to today:

Sunflower leaves eaten

If you're thinking, "Wait.  I don't see anything."  Mmhmm.  Precisely.  SOME VARMINT ATE THE LEAVES OFF MY SUNFLOWERS!!  I'm proposing the following critter:

Keep your eyes peeled people!  These guys kick ya when you're down!  And to think, my husband and I were just ooing and awing at a mama & two babies happily strolling up our driveway.  So what do I do?  I put my husband to work!

Putting a fence around the sunflower bed

Not to worry, he owed me for this:

Black spots on beebalm from weed killer

 And this:

Last surviving leaves on mountain mint from bout with weed killer

I shall leave you with a happy ending to this story.  Check these babies out!  They're taller than me!

Michigan Lilies

 And someday soon they will look like this:

Happy day everyone!