Maintenance

    These last few months have been a gnarly ride! This in turn left me functioning much like a zombie doing life. Not good. A month or so ago I tried, yet again, to find some comfort through a woman's ministry. I was trying to find a way to climb out of my funk. I only went one evening. However I knew right away it just wasn't for me. Maybe one day it will be the right thing for me to be a part of. For now it just isn't the right fit. However some wonderful things did happen while I was there that night, things that made going just then worth it. For instance I became aware of a few book titles I am definitely going to add to my summer reading list!  I received a really nice ego boost from a sweet, sweet lady, which is always a good thing. I also became aware of an exciting movement. Now usually I steer clear of anything with the word "movement" attached. However this is different. This is exciting! Check it out. http://www.truewoman.com. I am now following this on Facebook which gives me regular ingestions of good things. As to the rest? For now, in all the emotion encompassing world, I feel safely afloat with just God, a few sweet girlfriends and Jeff.
    I am a lover of quiet time alone with God & my thoughts. To be certain, I have been in need of some knock down, drag out, cleansing, quiet time alone with God. This weekend, while my kiddos were out of town I got just that! I spent the weekend getting away from the madness, falling into the rest of Jesus and the wisdom of His words. I cried, I yelled, I laughed, I slept. Much peace and guidance came from these days events. It's called soul maintenance people!
    I love being a mom. However with my boys gone it was my "get out of jail free" card. You know, my chance to bust loose for a minute. That is exactly what Jeff & I did. Our plans did have a bit of a hiccup. However all is well that ends well. We got up Saturday morning and hit the road. We talked, and talked and talked. It was good. While we talked the car kept right on rolling along. Up and down we went to Soquel, back down to Santa Cruz for lunch, back up to Scott's Valley. We drove into the Santa Cruz mountains to view giant redwoods in Felton & beyond, down into San Jose for ice cream, back up, then down in Capitola just cuz it's so stinkin' cute and ended at Rio Del Mar for a picnic dinner on the beach.  Normally I would say that level of driving wouldn't be stress reducing. However the scenery was gorgeous, I mean come on clearly California in the Spring cannot be topped. Also the conversation gave adrenaline it's purpose. I love you Jeff. I especially love that Snow White's in Aptos was playing the music of our young love. Good, good memories! This was total couple maintenance!
   The next day we spent at home. Alone. We slept in, which in & of itself was amazing. Jeff & Charity Vincent do not sleep in, at the same time. Ever. We tackled a big nasty project that we've been putting off for like a year. We spent the day showing some garage love. Which actually brought on more driving. We bought 4 storage cabinets for the garage from our friends. They live in Coarsegold. Jeff actually was a truck driver in a former life, I think. Haha. Just kidding, but he really does love to drive. Well I love getting lost in the greatness of working along side my man. We are a good team. Projects are always full of laughter with us.
   Jeff has his man-cave full of tools, exercise equipment, ipod base, BBQ gear, outdoor fridge and all other things manly set up for his grunt fests. The rest of the sports and outdoor adventuring stuff is nicely organized to boot! In addition, the game room aspect of the garage is functional as well. I guess these things are all really part of project manliness too. Oh and me? My itty, bitty corner is all prettified as well. The garage is home to a monstrous amount of "stuff". When "everything is in it's place" it functions splendidly. However the teeth grinding problem was WE NEEDED PROPER STORAGE!! We now have that. You may ask why I add this to a list of stress releasers. Well. This project has been haunting me. Angering me. My house remains fairly clean. The shock of walking into the garage ruined a perfectly good day...too many times to count. Home maintenance at it finest!
  Now I look forward to some much needed dinner plans that are already in the works with some special ladies in my life. You girlies are all so different, all so necessary. You each represent a piece of my heart. This is called emotional maintenance my friends!