Updates

You may safely assume that my lack of posting this month is entirely due to how busy I've been enjoying my summer. This is the first time I've had a summer off with Adrian and while that makes money tight we sure have enjoyed every minute of it. I have been happier in the last 3 weeks than I've felt in the last 8 months.

As I've said, Adrian and I have spent mass quantities of time together. In fact the other night he went to play basketball at our church and I had a rare 2 hours or so all alone at the house. Outside of my Master's weekends, we never spend large amounts of time away from one another. Some of you may shudder at the thought of that much quality time with your spouse, but that's always been something that Adrian and I could do with no problem. We're best friends.

We had our two year anniversary on the 8th, which we spent in McCall. No pictures this time. I guess I've got so many of the same basic pictures of us up there that I just didn't even bother to take any. But we watched the sun go down while sitting on the dock, similar to how we spent it last year on the coast. Some nice symmetry there. Even though we can't really afford it, Adrian bought me a beautiful diamond pendant necklace. It was really the first jewelry he's gotten me since our wedding so it was pretty special.

Adrian decided about two months ago that we should try to go a bit low carb around our house, something I was definitely not excited about. But the more we talked about it and looked at what our diet currently consisted of (essentially all carbs and a little protein for good measure) it started to make sense. So we began what has become a bit of a summer project. We've cut out a ton of the carbs we used to enjoy and have replaced them with healthier meals, more veggies and smaller portions. On top of that, since we're off every day, we've been going to the gym 5-6 (sometimes 7) days a week. I've amped up my workouts to include running and some pretty intense machine sessions and I'll admit, I've become somewhat hooked on the exercise. So far I've lost 10 pounds (though I seem to be holding there) and have seen a huge change in my metabolism. Since we started watching our portions (super difficult at first) I realize earlier when I'm satisfied before I'm overstuffed. It's been great. And really, after the first week when there was much wailing and writhing on the floor, it hasn't been as difficult as I thought it would be. More to come on this, hopefully, later.

On the pottery front I'm plugging away, however slowly, on items for the Raspberry Festival. I've had a few big screw-ups which are pretty frustrating, not to mention time-consuming. I'm taking a different focus this time around, making more plates, neti pots and mugs rather than the tree pots. That crowd wasn't looking so much for art as they were practical home items. We'll see how I do this year.

We're heading off to the coast again Friday for our annual camping trip. Same campground we went to last year. This year we're going to attempt to take Nacho, our Jack Russell, (Adrian's idea, NOT mine). I guess we'll see how that goes. Hey worst case it'll only be 12 hours of him whining all the way over there, 4 days of whining there and, well, 12 hours back. No problem right? As my bargaining chip, Adrian will be required to scoop all poop. Have fun there buddy. I'll update again when we get back next week.