Last weekend was fabulous - the perfect summer weekend!

After a short Friday at work, I headed back to Madison. Friday night was uneventful, but Saturday started with a trip to the Farmer's Market on the square with Sabrina and Abby Jo. There's something about a little girl (an adorable 4 year old!) that just makes life that much better all by herself. But it got to be a long walk around the capitol, when "Tina" (me) had to carry her because she couldn't see or was too tired to walk. We did find some flowers and the obligitory cheese curds and bakery though.

Saturday evening my parents had a cookout, and I hung out with "the old people" as they call themselves. The 3 couples that were over are like my aunts and uncles in Madison, so it was a great chance to catch up with them. Not to mention it was a beautiful night to just sit out on the deck with a glass of wine!

On Sunday I went to the Brat Fest (the biggest brat festival there is - even though Sheboygan is the "brat capital" and claims to hold that event here). No records were broken this year, but 182,310 brats in 32 days isn't too bad.

There were a couple trips to the lake thrown into the weekend as well - broke out the jetskis with Matt and my dad. I'm still not brave enough to pull off the 360s and sharp turns, but it was a great time anyways - especially with the 90 degree weather!

A round of golf, a parade, and a sunburn (which has already become a tan!) finished off the much needed long weekend!

It's weekends like this that make coming back to Sheboygan so much harder. More on that in a different post though.

One final note. It's a sad day. It's the end of an era. It was Katie Couric's last day on The Today Show. She will be missed. CBS Evening News, you have a new viewer come September!
(Ok, the picture is of Matt Lauer, but close enough!)

I lied, one more final note. I've been told there may start to be a blog following... if you're out there reading, drop me a line with that little "Comments" option below!

Another weekend in Sheboygan!

I'm realizing even more how lucky I am to have found the friends here that I did. Tracy and I hung out all day yesterday, filled with things that make me happy - what a friend! First, we went and got pedicures! Hot pink toes, with diamondish rhinestones - how much more fun can ya get?! The new massage chairs at "Nails World" (gotta love the names of the cheap nail salons) made it that much better too. The day was supposed to get better with a movie on it's opening weekend. Yes, I went to see The DaVinci Code. Let me first say I was a big proponent of the book. I read it about four years ago, and was fairly pushy in trying to get other people to read it. Even though I don't buy into the theories on Christianity and the bloodline of Jesus Christ, it was a page-turner - the suspense, puzzles, and code cracking were great.

Made a great book. Makes a terrible movie. Even with Tom Hanks. (And the adorable Audrey Tautou.) Two and a half hours is too long. Too many climaxes make none of them truely a climax. And albino monks are creepy. Enough said about the movie. I wouldn't recommend it.

Aside from how crappy the movie is, I'm not sure I buy into all the hype Christians (among which I count myself) are giving the movie. As bad as it is, without the controversy surrounding it, box office returns would be misearble. Also, I would put myself in the camp that says "I'm going to find out as much as possible about this, in order to better support my claims about my faith." There will be people who are drawn to the ideas presented in the book and movie, but it doesn't help me, in a conversation with them, to say I don't know anything about it and be unable to have an informed discussion with them. I don't think there is anything at all unhealthy with questioning, exploring, and coming to my own conclusions about my faith. I'm confident in where I am with my faith, and I don't think it's dangerous to look into the claims the movie makes. In my walk as a Christian, and before, I have never been scared to ask questions about my faith (*I'm not advocating a faith that tests God, but one that seeks Him for the answers to those questions we have - He's very willing to reveal Himself when we are committed to relationship with Him), and have been turned off my churches that pushed my questions aside. These are the churches that make Christianity look like it has something to hide, and thus, look more and more like those portrayed in Dan Brown's book. Let's have a faith that is open to discussion, but be sure we are prayerfully seeking God for the answers to these questions. He is a good God, all the time - even in the face of questions and trying to figure this "God Thing" out.

Off my soapbox, but still on the movie theme, my top 5 list of well-loved movies I haven't seen (nor have much of a desire to):

5. It's a Wonderful Life (I'll probably have to see this one sometime)
4. The Godfather
3. Any of the Star Wars series
2. Any of The Lord of the Rings (or LOTR for the insider cult following it has) series
1. Wizard of Oz (sadly though, I have seen part of The Wiz)

Some Random Thoughts

So I had one of those days today. The ones where nothing seems to go right, but you can't quite put your finger on what went wrong either. It's all those little things that add up, to push you (well, me, at least) over the edge. (Is it that Dorothy can't charge a customer correctly, or that Rick and Dorothy can't talk to each other, or that Steve changes his mind constantly, or that I work with 50 Excel files - all linked together, or maybe the corrugated metal shed with orange walls that I work in?) I can't help but think there has to be a better opportunity than going to work planning on and hoping for a good day, but regularly not getting that. I know it comes down to figuring out if it is my specific position, the company, or just plain accounting in general that is putting me in this funk routinely, but that's much easier said than done. I've always tossed around the idea of going back to school (which I so often hear is just the easy way out, and of course everyone wants to go back sometime) - which really isn't out of the picture by any means. There's these other job offers floating around as well. I'm starting to wonder if this indecision, and uncomfortable feeling about where I'm at will ever end.

Who are you?

So I often wonder who is actually looking at this site... As I write this post, there have been 141 visits... who are you people? And will anyone dare leave a comment? Here's the test... let's see how many people will drop me a line in the comment box here. By the way, you don't need to have a blogger username to comment (I've enabled anonymous posts), but I would appreciate it if you let me know somehow who you are when you visit! Leave me some love and it will be returned!