Kitty basketball

Brian & Meow Meow getting their game on.

Happy Easter!

Brian & I attended a nice service at Aldersgate this morning, had an elaborate and delicious lunch with his family at Grandma's house and then met my parents to see "Duplicity" at the movie theater. (Funny flick.) It's been a rainy, cozy day. I hope everyone feels as blessed and loved on this meaningful holiday.



Meanwhile, signs of spring and new life -- such as this robin's nest in our yard -- are all around us. What a beautiful, magical time of year.

Fore!

I shot my first 18 holes of golf on Saturday at Echo Hills and absolutely loved it. Don't get me wrong: I'm no Juli Inkster. (She's my favorite professional woman golfer. I saw her in action at the 2002 U.S. Women's Open at Hutchinson's Prairie Dunes.) Fortunately, Brian & I played best ball, which helped keep my confidence and my spirits up. But I did clear all water hazards, had several decent drives (all things considered) and never lost a ball. Not too shabby.







Tony & Nicole joined us. (Nicole was the official event photographer and snapped these great photos.)

Pet projects

In the past week, Brian & I have been especially busy working on home projects. I've spent several hours helping Brian strip the antique cabinet that he got for his birthday earlier this year.


The darker wood to the left is what the entire cabinet looked like when we bought it. The lighter wood to the right is what it looks like after we've done three rounds of stripping and then sanding the wood down.


Once that task is complete, we'll be ready to stain it. I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's finished and in our house.

Apparently, one wood project isn't enough for Brian. So he's also refinishing our backyard deck, with the help of our friend Tony. (Thank you, T!) We had Tony & Nicole over for a Saturday night cookout to celebrate that project, but it was uncomfortably cool out, so we moved it indoors. I guess we'll have to have another cookout when the weather's warmer. Darn.

Reused reading

This weekend, I'm going through my massive collection of books and selecting a pile that I'm willing to part with. My collection is growing a little unwieldy, and I've finally convinced myself that getting rid of a wonderful, excellent book is no sign that it's any less a part of me. I just know that I won't reread every book I own, and I'd rather declutter and get store credit for more great reads. Makes sense, doesn't it? A few great titles that I hope will be on the shelves of a local used bookstore soon:

• "Night" by Elie Wiesel: This 1986 Nobel Peace Prize winner is an excellent book. Heavy stuff, though. I made the mistake of reading it poolside during vacation a few years ago. Not quite sure what I was thinking ...

• "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan: The New York Times Bestseller was on my Modern Literature syllabus in college. Good book. A little overrated.
  

• "The Haunting" by Shirley Jackson: Good for an October read, but I'm really not into the horror genre at all. And the book cover illustration scares me.

• "Rebecca" by Daphne DuMaurier: Same as "The Haunting" but without the scary cover.

• "On Law, Morality, and Politics" by St. Thomas Aquinas: Another book leftover from my tenure at KU. Not sure if this one helped me earn my English or journalism degree. Nonetheless, this dude knew what he was talking about, and he made me think of religion and spirituality differently. Thanks, Tommy!

• "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold: Compelling novel. A little too heavy, perhaps, for a second read.

• "Suite Francaise" by Irene Nemirovsky: A book club selection that I loved until I read -- on a beautifully lazy Saturday morning -- about a man's brutal death. With disgust, I tossed the book aside and vowed never to look at it again. Time to make get something out of this book ... besides a foiled Saturday.

• "Best Friends" by Martha Moody: This novel holds a special place in my heart because I read most of it in one of my favorite places: the porch swing of a little cabin overlooking a gorgeous and peaceful tree-covered valley. The story had promise, but the ending was a shocker. After I read it, I really didn't like it. But after spending more time thinking about the book, I decided that it was a compelling and interesting story, although the author took a little too long to tell it. (Often on vacation, I speed through the book(s) I bring with me and beg Brian to make a stop at a bookstore, which he always willingly does. The small town nearby Petite Jean State Park doesn't have a bookstore that I could find, so I ran into Wal-Mart to get a new paperback. I just found the receipt tucked inside the front cover: 12:12 p.m. Sept. 4, 2007. I also bought a disposable camera to snap pictures of our hikes that week. Ahh. Vacation. According to another receipt tucked in the book, I apparently read it during lunch the following week while eating a bowl of black bean soup at Panera.)

• "The Great Man" by Kate Christensen: Another book club selection, I really couldn't get into this one and didn't like it as much as some of my fellow members. C'est la vie.

• "Revolutionary Roads" by Richard Yates: Yet another book club read. I loved it and still want to see the movie version for comparison purposes. But the soulfully depressing novel is not one I plan to delve into again anything soon.

Ode to Libby

On July 5, 1999, Brian and I helped Mom pick out Liberty Ann Justice from the Kansas Humane Society. A Norwegian Forest Cat, she was a tiny little ball of fluff that took a nap in Brian's baseball cap. I'm sad to share that she made her journey to the big litter box in the sky this week, hopefully to find an endless supply of catnip and thread to play with. I will miss her.

Welcome, April!

OK, OK, OK. I cannot take one more call, e-mail or text from my sweet sister Amanda demanding that I update my blog. And I do so with this reflection: How have I not blogged in more than a month?! That's a first in Life is Golden history. For that, my dear friends, I apologize.

And now I give you the Top 10 Reasons Why Lori Hasn't Been Blogging:

1. I was busy celebrating 30 spins around the sun. Among other things, Brian surprised me with dinner and a night out with family and friends. He even arranged it so our friend and musician extraordinaire learned one of my favorite songs ... for us to sing on stage at The Shadow. Surprise! See for yourself in my friend Jaime's video.


2. I got Wii Fit for my birthday.


3. Brian & I bought Rock Band and have been partying like rock stars. My favorite character is a drummer named RubyRed. She ROCKS!


4. I finally joined Facebook and have been networking with friends new and old, near and far. Go ahead. Friend me. Do it.


5. Brian gave me the amazing gift of a volunteer drive in my honor for my birthday, and I've been spending some extra time volunteering. Projects I've worked on with friends from church include a morning clearing out the basement at GraceMed Health Clinic ...


... and an evening baking dozens and dozens and dozens of cookies for local Ronald McDonald Houses with the youth group.


6. I've stuck with my New Year's tradition of working out at least three times a week. Tonight's installment? A four-mile run followed by strength training and yoga on the Wii. (Please see No. 2.) And if you have a YMCA membership and live in Wichita, let me know if you'd ever like to try TurboKick.

7. I've been enjoying the 75-degree weather, thunderstorms, snowstorm and crazy wind that makes Kansas springs oh-so-exciting.


8. I was overcome with March Madness. (Rock Chalk!)

9. I've been spending some quality time with Mom, who is doing amazingly well. We're working on a quilting project together and have escaped for shopping trips in Newton and at the flea market. The flea market adventure was a meaningful one: It's the first time Mom has been back since before her hospital stay. It's those little milestones that can mean so much to us sometimes.


10. I've been pumping myself up for my next 30 years and many, many more opportunities to see that Life is Golden.