Life is Good!

Have you ever been so full of joy, diet coke and lawn-maintenance-induced-exercise-endorphins that you want to shout it from the rooftops?  No? That's just me? Okay, I can deal with that.

After an exceedingly stressful beginning of June, the last couple of weeks have been so rosy they could almost be deemed "maroon." Let me count the ways* (roughly in chronological order).

• I love wine bottle (or tequila bottle) torches.  Aren't they beautiful?

• I finally made it to see my friend Glenda's baby for the first time since he was born. He was beyond adorable at four months.  See photographic evidence below.

Look at happy Spencer and happy Glenda!

• Some of the stress from the beginning of June was due to a two-day photo shoot I was organizing at work.  Turns out, all of the hard work I put in to organize it paid off as it went off exceedingly well.
• They opened one of those self-serve frozen yogurt stores in my neighborhood.  Ours is called Orange Leaf and I love it a lot.
• I spent one full day floating in the waves laughing with two immeasurably great friends while the sun watched over us. We got great color.

These are my friends. We laugh a lot when we are together. So much.

• I started reading Gone with the Wind for the 2nd time. I'm alternating between loving and hating Scarlett O'Hara, but either way she is a very rich character.
• I've seen bunches of movies lately, some good (Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks was better than expected thanks to love-of-my-life Zac Effron) and some not so good (Seeking a Friend for the End of the World...more like Seeking a Friend to Rescue Me from this Movie Theatre)
• I re-arranged my bedroom.  My proclivity for this activity is inherited from my mother, if you're wondering.
• I registered for the Charlotte COLOR RUN.  More on this later. 
• I watched my best friend consume a hot dog in three bites.  I giffed it for her and she could sit and watch the gif for days.  Now you can too.  Although, I realize it is exceeding large, here. I have no idea how I did that.

• I went to Atlanta with my friends, the fives, and saw my beautiful and funny friend Taylor.  We basically laughed all weekend.  We are very funny people.
• I reconnected with my youth by going to the Braves game.  I was such a huge Braves fan between 1994 and 2002.  I had almost forgotten how fun it is to cheer on the bravos and yell out baseball-y things from the bleachers.

The Fives at the Braves

• As a bonus, I got to see my mom, dad and 4-year-old niece while I was in ATL. Caitlin entertained me by telling me about the beautiful wedding dress and crown she gets to wear when she's in another aunt's wedding in a few weeks. She then informed me she would be wearing the wedding dress so she could marry her cousin Jack (the ring bearer). She may be slightly confused about what exactly is going down that day.
• I went to this sunflower field. Sunflowers make me happy.  I'm hoping to take others to the field to introduce them to the happy sunflowers tomorrow and this weekend.  Showing sunflowers to others makes me even happier.

I TOOK THIS PICTURE! THESE SUNFLOWERS ARE HUGE!

• PERHAPS ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING THINGS: I released this video.  I love it, mostly because I love my way-more-talented-than-me co-stars, Luis and Cara.  We're trying to make it go viral, so feel free to watch it again once more (or a thousand times more).Or share it with your friends, family, neighbors and any small children you know (small children seem to especially love it). I actually spend a lot of time thinking about how to get more people to watch it. When I'm not thinking about that, I'm thinking about what song we should do next. So if you've seen me the last few days or in the next couple of days, just know I may be talking to you about something else, but I'm actually only thinking about this video. Fair disclosure.

• We got our pictures back from the photographer (these are the pictures from the photo shoot mentioned in the first bullet), and they are so beautiful and they make me fall in love with my school all over again. I'm proud of the pictures, and I'm proud of my campus.
• All S.C. state employees are getting a raise this month!  Our first cost-of-living raise in years!
• I HAD A DAY OFF IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK. Glorious.

I saw no fireworks today, but I'm not concerned by that. My philosophy when it comes to fireworks is, if you've seen one, you've seen them all.  I know some people get really excited about fireworks, so I hope I've stepped on no toes. I'm not anti-fireworks like I am anti-Olympics. I just don't have to see fireworks on a hot and steamy July night.

What's been great in your life lately?  And, perhaps even more important HOW GREAT IS OUR CALL ME MAYBE VIDEO??????**



*two things you should know about me. I love lists and abbreviations. Bunches.
**I'm sorry for shouting so much in this post.  It's all that joy, endorphins from lawn care and diet coke.