a mini break and more happy

i'm not gonna lie, girlfriends.

running uphill against the wind was challenging this morning.

the thermometer read a brisk 37 degrees, so i surely didn't repeat my mistake from the other day.

hello, sweatpants and sweatshirt!
if only i could clothe our perennials who are hanging on by the skin of their little teeth to survive this cold front.

my husband wasn't able to go with me this morning, so it was a little boring until i got to this...

it seems quite fitting that the town we live in is named hillsboro.

can you just imagine the Artist as He stretched forth His mighty hand, 

and painted this beautiful canvas for us to live in and enjoy?

breathtaking.

so yesterday the kids and i took a mini break and decided to skip school.

everyone else is doing it, right?

that's actually one of the things i love about home school.

you can take those little breaks, and just make up for them later.

since we aren't taking an official 'spring break', we decided to head for the hills and enjoy the beautiful day.

henry was blessing me with flowers. :)

we headed to the co-op in the town where my man works and enjoyed some yummy food.

i indulged in white bean, potato and kale soup, a hummus wrap, and some tea.  it was delicious!

they took a sun dried tomato wrap and loaded with hummus, cukes, carrots, red pepper, kalamata olives, feta cheese and spinach.

you should make it!

i definitely plan on it. :)

we also went to good will and hunted around for a while.

i sort of wanted to buy this plaque because of the message, but i wasn't in love, so it stayed.

i do love me some good will, but it seems like the prices just aren't as good as they used to be.

maybe i'm a serious cheapskate, but $4.00 for a used shirt is high to me. 

i'm all about the $2.00 bag sales at our local thrift, though.

now THAT'S a deal!  :)

do you remember last week, when i posted about our easter garden?

my friend, alicia, has a little happy project series going, and the first challenge was to visit a nursery and buy a plant.

the next week's challenge was to drop it, and do it!

we were supposed to drop something that we were doing and do something for someone else.

this is really hard for me, i have to admit.  the dropping it part, that is.

i don't like leaving messes, or having my schedule interrupted.

i know that sounds terrible, but i'm working on it!

God wants me to be available for Him at any given moment, so this was good for me to reflect upon all week.

when i saw this recipe that carissa had pinned, i knew i wanted to try it.

the girls and i got busy making a double batch and we baked one of the batches that day for supper dessert,

reserving the other for another time.

the next day, we were headed out to hunt for a rock for our garden, and i thought about this giving plate that someone had given me several weeks ago, that had been sitting on my stove, waiting to bless someone else with it's message.  then i thought it might be nice to bake up that extra batch of dough, and pass the plate along to a friend up the road who is such a sweetie.  {that was the whole point of the plate anyway, to refill it with goodies and pass it on.}  i was just waaay behind in the process!  so, while the kids were waiting for me outside, i baked up the batch of cookies and we deviated from the plan {a little} to bless my friend that day. 

i want this whole, drop it and do it philosophy to stick, so i'm going to keep practicing, 

because i need it. :)

it truly is more blessed to give than to receive.

don't you agree?  :)

have a wonderful, happy day!

xo,

mary

linking up with alicia