Wednesday, June 23, 2010

It's time to rejoice.

My last day of school is tomorrow.

Hallelujah!

I have big plans for the summer--and by big plans, I mean no plans.

This sounds heavenly to me.

Every summer since I was about 15 years old, as soon as school let out, I ran off to some summer adventure.  In high school, I spent every week of the summer working at an overnight camp for persons with disabilities--a total blast but not really a vacation--lots of hard but rewarding work!  Then in college, I spent the summers in El Salvador or going to school.  Since moving to Buffalo, we've gone to visit family or to Central America for the majority of each summer.

This year, we will be taking it easy.

I plan to read books, cook, garden, camp, go for runs, hang out with friends, get projects done around the house, focus on church service, continue with fertility treatments, work on our adoption application...it will still be busy, but hopefully a somewhat relaxing busy.  I have a couple of brief trips planned, but really, this summer will be spent kickin' it in the Buff.

Unfortunately, my personality is such that I tend to get caught up in my various "projects" and then accidentally work through my free time, even if I had every intention of relaxing.  So, Ryan and I have decided to make a weekly "Fun Plan" on which we will schedule something exciting to do together every  day (even if it's something small).  I will have to keep a record of some of our adventures on the blog.

I will tell you what, one event that is a true adventure (though not usually a fun one) for the Nielsons is cooking dinner.  We are just not good at it.  We always end up destroying something or spending two hours on a simple meal because we have no idea what we are doing.  We've decided that we are going to practice cooking this summer and hopefully become a little bit better at it.

This week's endeavor was a South of the Border Pizza.  We've made this twice before; the first time it was a complete flop, the second time was a little better, and this third time, I think we may have perfected it.  It was yummy!  (Thanks, Stephanie, for the recipe.)




I am looking forward to a great summer with Ry!  I welcome any ideas for fun around the Buffalo area, and I hope that our friends here will be willing to hang out with us.

Let the summer begin!

9 comments:

  1. Yum! I want the recipe. :) Wish I was coming to see you this summer!!!

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  2. Please do come to see me!! You are welcome ANY time!

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  3. Yay for adventures! (And relaxing!)

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  4. Oh I feel bad it was a flop the first time! But I'm impressed you keep making it. And you have a cool pizza stone... jealous! It's one of our favorites and we prob have it once a month. Trav requests it often. Of course I always dip mine in ranch.... yum. I'm glad you have a relaxing summer planned! You deserve to put your feet up. And I can't wait for Mississippi Mudds! Fish fry, here we come!

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  5. you always keep yourself SO busy woman!
    good for you for taking some time off :)
    you and Ryan deserve it!

    welcome to the world of doing nothing. . . a land where the Plants live ALL the time! ha! ;)

    and P.S. . . . you are a marvelous cook!
    you should see me in action. . . hmmm. . . it's quite scary!

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  6. Schools out for summer! :) I hope you do get in as much R&R as you can. I think that is such a great idea to have FUN plans. I usually waste my time trying to come up with something to do & then never actually doing it. I want to go to Mississippi Mudds! ;)

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  7. Stephanie, when I say the pizza was a flop, I mean it quite literally...it had nothing to do with the recipe...I couldn't get it onto the pizza stone, and it flopped right on the ground. I should've clarified that in the post! :)

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  8. I am impressed that you presisted in making it THREE times! Must be good! I can't wait to visit you and be part of those fun plans! :)

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  9. I love reading about your adventures. And I would love to hang if you get a chance in your busy/free time schedule cause Jason is out of town (till the end of July). I know you have a lot on your plate though. Thanks for being so great!

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I love hearing from you!! Thanks for the comment!