As usual, I took yesterday off blogging. Weekends are always busy and I like having the break one day a week. It revitalizes me. I do admit to seriously missing all of you though. I haven’t been able to visit other blogs to comment and connect. Blogging and the community has become such a huge part of me that I feel like something is missing when I don’t have adequate time for it. Weird how that happens. I also want to say a big thank you to all of you who continue to visit me and leave little messages of kindness even though I am not able to return the favor these few days. It makes my day.

I guess it is now time to recap all the wedding fun. Friday afternoon we headed out to the wedding rehearsal. The rehearsal took foreeeevvveerrrr because my friend just graduated from seminary, his fiance is a pastor’s daughter, and they have 3 pastors involved in the ceremony. Needless to say…it’s an intricate wedding.

It was hard for me to even figure out when I was supposed to go up to complete my reading for the wedding! Don’t I look confused? Haha!

We still had fun though. My pal Thomas donned a “Game Over” shirt as a joke and Jen says “Greeeaaattt!!” And don’t worry. In the picture he was trying to look like it’s the end of his freedom. He’s smiling on the inside.

Once the rehearsal was over we headed over to this cute little Italian place for dinner. They served the best bruschetta I have ever eaten out on the patio. I savored two pieces while mingling.

Then came the toasts and dinner time. I served myself a plate with a roll, some Caesar salad, a small bit of grilled chicken, and a veggie primavera pasta.

All of it tasted amazing, but was a bit heavy on my stomach. That didn’t stop me from getting dessert though. Creme brulee cheesecake. Love in my mouth.

Not the rapper Kilo kind though. Anyone remember that dirty song? I remember singing it in 8th grade on the way to a competition and our cheerleading coach suddenly catching on and giving us the hugest lecture ever. I don’t even think I knew what it meant then. Hahaha.

We left shortly after that. We didn’t want to because the conversation was flowing with the new friends we made at our table. The bride laughed because about a month after she had planned out the seating arrangements, 3 of us let her know we’re pregnant. I’m four months and the other two are three months along. We all have 2-3 year old little girls too! How funny is that?

I knew we needed to get back to the room, though, to get a decent night’s sleep. You bet I slept like a rock! In the morning, after taking advantage of lazing in bed together for a bit without Makenzie, we hit up the hotel’s “fitness center”.

I think you can gather why I use quotations. Not a weight in sight and some pretty sorry cardio equipment. I hopped on the elliptical.

The thing squeaked like crazy and either had too much or too little resistance. I decided to up the resistance and do a shorter workout. That way I could make the most of it and leave without a brutal headache from all the squeaking. I worked up a good sweat and covered 2 miles.

I needed fuel by that point and free always sounds good. We ate the complimentary breakfast. I picked up a Belgian waffle with pb + maple syrup and a banana.

Saturday morning, I got this post started and searched things in the Philly area. Then we visited downtown Doylestown for lunch. I opted for BBQ because after smelling it I couldn’t resist.

It wasn’t too good though. I couldn’t even eat the potatoes. We killed time before the wedding by walking around the cute little town.

This post has gone on long enough now. I’ll stop here and recap the wedding and our fun in Philly tomorrow. That’s right! Peter’s friend ended up not being able to get together until after 3 instead of wanting us over by lunch. Since we had extra time to kill, we managed to visit the actual city for a great afternoon. Once again, thanks for the love and comments. I promise to visit everyone soon enough. I always feel odd receiving kindness without giving it outwardly in return.

How do weekends go by so fast? I don’t fully understand it.  I hope some of you out there are enjoying an extra day off. Technically, I should be too since Peter is off work. Sadly, though, he is having to work on his car at his brother’s the entire day. I could use his help around here today. I need some rest after the busy weekend we had. I shared my fun from Friday & Saturday already and the actual 4th was loaded as well.

Sunday morning we woke up and had a red, white, and blue breakfast. It consisted of homemade blueberry pancakes and a strawberry smoothie.

The pancakes are a really basic recipe that we adapted from www.allrecipes.com and always use for our once in a blue moon pancake mornings.

Ingredients

• 1.5 C flour (all-purpose or mix of all-purpose & wheat)
• 3.5 tsp baking powder
• 2T sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 C milk (I like using vanilla almond milk)
• 1 egg
• 3T melted butter
• 4 large handfuls fresh blueberries

Mix the dry ingredients first (flour through salt) and create a well in the center. Pour the wet ingredients (milk, egg, butter) into the well and blend until batter is smooth. Fold in blueberries. Cook on a griddle or pan like any other pancakes. 😀

After breakfast, we headed to church for an excellent service. It was all about the freedoms we have, not only within the country we live but also in our faith. Our pastor discussed how we need to really consider what we are free from and be grateful because none of that freedom came free. All of it came from huge sacrifices. From the many men and women who have fought for the freedom of our country across centuries, but also for the one man who sacrificed himself for each of us to be truly free and the countless others who across time made sacrifices to keep his word and truth flowing to others. The message brought people to their feet at the end and there were many sniffles heard among my fellow church friends.

Later that afternoon we headed to my parents’ place for some July 4th fun. The plan was to hang out for awhile and then gather up a picnic dinner to eat and games to play while waiting for Atlanta’s Lenox Fireworks show. There was a little bit of a glitch in that plan thanks to a “moment” between my father and I. Our relationship has had its fair share of strain and typically we can handle each other for the times we do see each other. Yesterday he was somehow set off and I had to face that look of pure hatred in his eyes and the anger that can come from his lips again. The evening evolved into a much rougher time than I expected and I fought the darkness I could quickly sink into from him the remainder of the night.

However, we persevered and gathered our forces to delight in our time together. My brother would leave in the morning to return to his home in Arizona, so we packed the cars and ate our picnic dinner or Publix chicken with potato chips & salad. We donned our happy faces to laugh and be goofy.

We played some Apples to Apples and adored the darling Makenzie.

And we also dove headfirst into a fabulous dessert – S’mores Brownies. Somehow Jess always gets it right. Always.

Then I viewed the fireworks through Makenzie’s eyes yet again. Believed in the magic of fireworks, instead of the realities of pain that can still infiltrate even after you thought them to be resolved. Now, it is today. A new day. A day where I can sweat out some tension in a spin class; spend time laughing with my daughter; and with any luck have a husband who comes home at a reasonable enough time to give me a break. I have a feeling there will be some prayer in my future on finding a way to let it all go and find a way to forgive (even with no apology present)…again.

I wish you all the best of days! Now, tell me…how was your weekend?