A Hurricane of Events

This weekend was nothing short of eventful. This is how it went.... 


*I went to Cape Cod for Youth Conference. It got shortened because of the storm but beautiful! 
*Hurricane Irene (more like tropical storm) came and left us with no power for 48 hours. I am not complaining because a lot of our friends are still out of power and will be for another 2-3 days. 

*We rented 4 movies on Saturday night thinking we wouldn't loose power until late Sunday. Only had a chance to watch one. 
*Church was cancelled. So I didn't have to teach.

*Had about 12 people shower at our place. Great (and only) reason to be on city water. We never lost it. 
*We bought a grill and stewed over it's $17 price tag. But it turned out to be the best $17 we've spent in a while because I've never cooked so good. 
*Loved hosting friends for lunch/dinner and playing a little Rummikub! 
*We had some serious cabin fever and were at each other's throats for most of one day. 
*Our house almost burned to the ground once the power came back on. A burner (that we NEVER use) was turned on where my Le Crueset pot sits and turned red hot and the green beans I set out started to cook. Thankfully the paper towels that were hanging just above the burner and the paper plates that were ON the next burner didn't catch on fire. 
*Gracie had lots of little kids around to love. 
*First day of school was postponed a day because of power outages. 


We feel super blessed our house didn't flood, a tree didn't fall on our house and we have great friends to enjoy the storm of the century with...

Got to spend my 24 hours adventure in Cape Cod with this adorable couple. 

Wedding!

I'm tickled I was asked to help with this wedding. The couple was amazing to work with and I learned so much from this project. 

Surprisingly we were able to get everything done for super cheap. If we didn't have it, we asked around to see who did. Thankfully we know some people who are willing to help with no complaints.  

Our 5 hour Maine vacation

I honestly can't believe it's the end of August and for the last three days it's straight up felt like Fall. This past weekend we went on a mini vacation to Maine. It was supposed to be for a few days but ended up being only five hours long and more like a "staycation".  


Highlights and/or Lowlights of "Staycation 2011":


*Maine is beautiful! 
*Orchard Beach is an actual beach, with nice (not rocky) sand! 
*Ocean water was freezing and it took us 15 minutes to finally take the dive. Apparently the water was "like a bath" warm to the natives. It hadn't been that warm in years.
*Had an awesome lobster dinner at the Lobster Shack with blueberry and whoopie pies included. The atmosphere was topnotch. 
*Cony got camera happy and took some really cool photos! 
*Spent an hour in Walgreen's parking lot trying to find a hotel.
*Finally booked a room.
*Got to hotel, only to find out they booked for Sunday night instead. 
*Hotel did not have any rooms on Saturday. 
*We drove home in the middle of the night. 
*Hotel is still fighting us on giving our money back. Will never book with choicehotels.com again. 
*Went to the Connecticut coast the next day and had a picnic with Gracie.
*We ate lots of great food. You know, the stuff you allow yourself to eat while on vacation. 
*Went running a few times. 
*Watched a few movies: Conspirator (GREAT movie!), Soul Surfer and Limitless (which should have been rated R).  
*Ran into friends at the Dairy Bar. 
*Gracie got sick. (and is NOT fun to clean up after)
*We determined Gracie is a cow. She eats grass and sticks. 
*Got to check some things off our "to-do" list.
*We got to sleep in every morning. 
*Decided I don't want to go back to work. But here I sit. 
*All in all, we had an awesome "just us" weekend. 

70th Anniversary, it's kinda a big deal

This past weekend, my grandparents celebrated 70 years of marriage. How many people do you know that have been married that long?? I truly wish we could have been there with them but we were busy helping with another wedding. And I don't mean with photography either. Instead I had an awesome opportunity to style a wedding and I'm thrilled with the results. Will share soon!     


Can I get a cheers to love!!? 


Here are my grandparents and all their children minus Anne who passed 2 1/2 years ago. They are a wonderful example in so many ways and honored to call them family. (thanks to FB, I'm able to share this photo!)

Going quickly

Am I the only one about to have a panic attack thinking about how soon summer is ending?? Thankfully we have a little get away planned so we can feel we enjoyed our summer. For once in my life, I'm dreading for Fall to come...because it means Winter is close behind. Until those days come, I'm enjoying beautiful days like this one...

 

We were dumb enough to think Gracie was ready to be left out of her crate during the day. She was fine when we had our friends drop by and let her out, but she took advantage of her freedom and ruined our new rug. Not that big of a deal but still a bummer. She's too cute to be mad at for long.  

In our attempt to gain balance in our life, we clean the house together on Thursday nights. That way it doesn't have to be done on the weekends. Cony always knows how to make cleaning fun. We were listening to our wedding music on the iPad and a Johnny Cash song came on but it was my dad singing. I was trying not to be thrown off and Cony calls me into the living room with urgency. He grabs me and pulls me into his arms and we start dancing to my dads voice. (He knows how to melt my butter.) It's moments like that you don't want to forget. 

Blueberries and Sunflowers

On Saturday we finally enjoyed a day doing things we wanted to and it was glorious. We picked 10 pounds of blueberries to freeze since we drink smoothies morning and night. Cony finally agreed to let me buy a Vitamix and it's changed my life. (And no, I don't exaggerate nor am I sarcastic.) Afterwards, we headed to a farm where they plant 14 acres of sunflowers each year and sell bouquets for $5 for the Make a Wish Foundation. It was a picture perfect moment. 

I also have a totally random story... When mom, Emily and Jordan were in town and while we were walking on the Freedom Trail (in Boston) I saw this young gentlemen with a t-shirt on that said:

 "Cranney Farms

Oakley, Idaho" 

It took me by surprise because we pretty much grew up in Oakley as kids and it seriously has less than 500 people in the town and is nothing but potato farms. I don't like to claim Idaho but I did have a wonderful childhood in a town with no stop light. So of course I had to say something to this guy and come to find out he was a BYU student (duh) in Boston campaigning for Mitt Romney (even bigger duh). He didn't know who the Cranney's were but all you Idaho peeps, tell the Cranney's their t-shirts made it all the way to New England and it gave the Tompkins' something to smile about while visiting from the South.  

No swimming?

Life right now seems to be in charge of us instead of the other way around. I'm surprised I haven't had a total mental breakdown. Oh wait. Maybe I have! It's not easy finding the balance in anything but in our attempt, we accepted an invitation to a birthday bash and found out the coast is only 32 miles from our house. People here say it's a beach, but I refuse. Because 1.) can't swim and 2.) there's more rocks than sand... but it was beautiful and relaxing and I'll take a warm sunny day at the coast anytime. 

This house was the "summer home" of someone (obviously really wealthy) and the state turned into a park. In the short time we were there, we saw two wedding parties. Have I mentioned how much I love weddings? 

What do y'all do to find the balance in life? Words of advice are appreciated.