What I'm Loving These Days

Here are some things I'm loving these days...

Fall...

I think fall is my favorite season. I love the crispness in the air, the changing colors, the sound of leaves crunching- you know, all the typical things people love about fall. But just because everybody loves these things doesn't make them any less wonderful. I love this season. And this fall has been particularly fantastic. Matthew and I went to Amana for Oktoberfest at the start of the month and had a blast. I loved seeing high school friends (and Staci Mae!), hanging out in the Festhalle and listening to the polka bands, eating brats, watching the parade, hanging out with our families (Matt's parents came up for the day), and everything in between. Matt participated in the keg toss and a log sawing concert, and a picture of him in the keg toss even made it into the Iowa County paper. I had so much fun introducing Matthew to one of my favorite fall traditions. I hadn't been back for the festivities in several years, and it was good to be back.

And then yesterday Matt and I went to Vala's Pumpkin Patch here in Omaha. Neither of us had ever been before. I'd always heard the place was just insane, but I really had no idea. We went at 10:45 yesterday morning and had to wait in a line of cars for a half an hour just to enter the parking lot. Calling this place a mere pumpkin patch is an understatement. We played 'ghost golf' in the dark, watched a pumpkin launch, rode the train, got lost in the corn maze and pigged out on kettle corn and funnel cake. When we left at the end of the day, the line of cars to get into the parking lot was even longer- it was backed up all the way to I-80, which is a good two miles. It was nuts. Next year, we plan to get there before they even open, and maybe go on a weekday. But I'm very glad I had the experience. And, thanks to my boss Kathy, who works there part time, we got in for free. It was fall fun at its finest.

Friends...

I love my friends. They're fun. Charlotte and Julie are my favorites. (I just walked away from the computer for a couple of minutes and they added that line. But they're pretty cool, so I'll leave it in.) Yep, I immensely enjoy the people God has given me. Last week in particular there were a lot of fun times with the life group. On Monday I cooked chicken and pesto for everyone, and afterwards a few stayed around for a rather comical game of Apples to Apples. And then on Tuesday night at Naldo's we all played charades. The trick here was that we made up the cards that were to be acted out, and some were pretty darn impossible to communicate with only actions. I got lucky and drew 'Chuck Norris', which Naldo guessed right away. We laughed a lot. It's a fun group.

Fireflies and Songs...

Every few months I go through a Sara Groves phase, where I listen to her pretty much non-stop. Last week was the start of another one of those periods. I was listening to her most recent album last Thursday while I was driving, and I wondered to myself if she was coming out with anything new soon. Not an hour later, I got to work and checked my email and found an update that announced that not only was she coming out with something soon, it was available for download immediately! So when I got home from work, I downloaded her new album, Fireflies and Songs, and it is lovely. She always has a way of taking the words out of my mouth and the sentiments out of my heart and putting them to music. She resonates with me, that's for sure. She's good stuff.

and, last but certainly not least,
my Fiance!

Yeah, I like that boy. It's hard to write about him without being overly mushy, but it's true. I'm going to marry him, and I can hardly wait! We set our date- June 12 at the aforementioned Festhalle Barn in Amana. Wedding plans are moving along pretty well. We picked our colors (clover green and truffle brown), and got our engagement pictures taken yesterday afternoon. The weather was perfect and I'm excited that we got them done in time to take advantage of the gorgeous fall backdrop.

He just about finished the basement, which is also exciting. I'm so incredibly proud of all the great work that he's done on that place. I wouldn't know the first thing about the first step of the process, but he's remodeled the whole thing almost completely by himself. I'll try to take some pictures soon so I can show you all the (almost) finished product.

and these are a few of my favorite things!