Legacy

I'm finally getting around to writing about our trip to Philadelphia. In a nutshell, it was fantastic. While we didn't quite get to see everyone we would have wanted (which is always the case), we got to spend some really great time with people that mean the world to us, friends and family alike.

Adam headed up to Canada to go fishing with "the guys". It's a trip that has been going on for over 20 years with a lot of the boys in my family. Each year there are a few "competitors" added, and a few that can't make it, but the tradition continues nonetheless.

I however, headed to the shore to meet up with "the girls". All of the girls on my dad's side of the family met up at the shore for a girls weekend. I can't begin to tell you how fun it is to go to a place that is like your home away from home, and share the time with other people who love it the way you do. After the shore trip, I got to spend some QT with my bff and other HS bffs, and topped it off when Adam got home by having lunch with my grandparents, and dinner with my brother, his wife, and their sweet dog Samson. whew!

Like I said, great (and busy) trip.

But after I got home, I started thinking a lot about traditions, legacy, and heritage. Our family thrives on traditions. (Hence the 20 year fishing trip to the same lodge in Canada, and the start of an annual Palmer girls weekend in OCNJ a place that has been visited by our family for years and years). We have a family heritage that has been founded on loving each other and loving the Lord. AND all of this comes from the legacies that were left from my great grandparents, and are still being created by my sweet grandparents. It's such a treasure to have a family history so grounded in Christ.

A treasure that I am so thankful for!

I'm thankful for grandparents who love each of us the same.

who invested in each of our lives.

for aunts and uncles who live out their faith in front of us.

for parents who are always supportive.

for brothers who tell me their proud of me.

for my husbands leadership.

for my husband's family who cherishes the same things.

that our kids will one day be born into this gift too.

The 2nd Annual Palmer Girls OCNJ trip

Nan and her girls

The Palmers: Bob, Jim, Karen, Allen, Jim and Nancy

Those sweet grandparents I mentioned above, at their 60th Anniversary party.

It just all makes me wonder what kind of Legacy I'm creating...

Lucky Girl

So my husband just got back on Tuesday from being out of town for 2 weeks! It's amazing how different 2 weeks alone as a girlfriend is from 2 weeks alone as a wife. Living a married couple's life as a single is weird. When I was just a girlfriend, I lived with friends/family and had a bunch of other single friends always ready to do something. Now as a wife, we have a dog, and mostly married friends who are harder to hang out with when your other half isn't there. Anyway... we made it through (we being Stetson and me) and did manage to have some fun in the process. But the 2 weeks alone wasn't the lucky part.

I'm sure mom's understand this feeling much more than I even do (so Carla you'll like this too), but nothing makes you prouder/more thankful then getting several people making special points to send you messages telling you how great it was to spend time with your husband. I mean I had 3 separate people tell me this! And I get to hang out with him all the time! So that my friends, is what makes me so lucky:).See, doesn't he just scream "I'm a good time!" ?

Lists.

Have I talked about my love of list making on here yet? Well, doesn't matter cause I'm going to anyway...

I love lists. I make them all the time. My purse if full of little post it notes. Things to do at lunch, things to buy at the store, things I want to look up online, blog topics, baby names I like, things to tell Adam later (his personal favorite....). I love them! Posted above you'll see the list I made of things I want to do this weekend. As you can see, I'll be quite a busy girl.

Why do I love list making? Oh, thought you might ask that. Let me tell you in a list:

1. it keeps my mind from running in circles trying to remember everything I want to remember (most of which is totally unimportant). In fact, most of the time, I don't even look at it later because writing it down already helps me remember.

2. it is the closest I can come to actually doing the things on the list. I'm impatient. When I think of something I want to do/buy/say (sadly this is a category), but I can't do it immediately, I write it down. It's as if I am saying to myself: "don't worry self, you've promised to do it later. It'll happen, cause it's on your list".

Anyone else compulsively making lists?

Props to my 17 year old self...

I was in middle school when I started wearing make-up. Unless you count the roll on glitter claire's sold that smelled like CK1 and you rolled onto your eyelids, cheeks, and even lips, I'd actually pinpoint 7th and 8th grade as when I really had my "coming out". If you saw me walking down the hall, I would have looked something like:

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(No seriously.... I remember rockin gold lipstick-not even gloss-like it was no one's business). And on some days, though not pictured, I could be seen wearing a burnt deep brown color. Not sure what's better/worse. Of course, it didn't help that my best friend walking next to me looked something like this:

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***these are not actual photos and were chosen just as an illustration of color***

Get the picture? Bad. Bad. Bad.

Anyone else rock the dark lips or white eyeliner with silver shadow? Tell us we're not alone.

Looking back now, Liz and I make quite a bit of fun of ourselves. We realize now it was terrrrible judgement on our part. But we were only 13-14 year olds, you'd think someone would have said something, right? Wrong. In fact, one time I asked my dad "why did you let me go out like that??" He said "I knew you'd figure it out". The chuckle that followed also added "and it was hilarious..."

Anyway... All this to say that recently I purchased a lip gloss that I swore by when I was 17--seriously the only kind I bought for a while. It was definitely a risk, considering my past cosmetic judgement calls, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that my skills had vastly improved between 13 and 17. In fact, the 17 year old pick, still works for the 25 version of me.

Kudos to you, Tricia at 17!

Liz, do you have pictures of us back then? they'd be the perfect addition here..