3/4 of a year

Yesterday was a beautiful day. After a huge thunderstorm (in some areas close by there were actually tornado warnings, but thankfully we were not in danger) the air was clean and the sun was shining in the clear blue sky. Yes, it was probably over 90 degrees during the afternoon, but after being cooped up in an overly air-conditioned office for the majority of the summer, I was pretty excited to enjoy my day off by exploring some sunshine!

So when my boyfriend texted me wishing me a happy 9-months-of-dating and asked if I'd like to go on a walk around the big lake, I was delighted to say yes!

We set out later in the afternoon, so it was probably about 5pm before we actually started walking. Still pretty hot, though! We brought bottles of water to make sure we didn't get dehydrated.

I was also armed with my camera.

Nothing like starting off the adventure with a selfie!

The lake was splendidly beautiful with the bluffs in the background. 

We love to be silly every once in the while, and the sun was being so photogenic... ;)

Look at that water!

Most of the path around the lake is sheltered by trees, so we enjoyed the shade. 

So many ducks! This little family was especially cute. 

I absolutely LOVE weeping willow trees, and the breeze was doing wonderful things with this one. 

"The road goes ever on and on...."

We had a splendid, leisurely time - walking along chatting and holding hands while avoiding being trampled by the motivated cyclists that would whiz past periodically. Afterwards we enjoyed a lovely dinner and ended the evening by watching 'How To Train Your Dragon 2' - one I've been intending to see for quite a while. It was super cute! 

"Some of us were just born different." ~Valka, from "How To Train Your Dragon 2

Clouds and Flowers

This summer has been passing so quickly. Many days I feel that I am actually missing summer, since I spend so much of my time locked away in a box office or selling tickets at shows so I can't actually get outside and enjoy the sun.

Or the days when I do plan to go outside it decides to rain and storm so I have to stay inside.

Granted, I choose to spend plenty of my off-time hours watching tv shows or reading and such, but I was very excited this morning to get ready and go explore the town a bit while I had nothing else demanding my attention.

Where did I go? I went down by the river to check out the park there. Supposedly there's a rose garden somewhere down there, but while I didn't find any roses I did find lots of flower gardens! I was excited to exercise my camera.

The walk down by the river. It's gorgeous! Even though it was cloudy...

First flower garden..they were all small little gardens, but so vibrant!

I love tall, wild-looking flowers. 

A touch of pink :) 

This one was just waiting for someone to take it's picture. 

Do you see those little moth-like things? They were all over these plants!

Greeting the day. 

No garden is complete without some purple!

And more pink. 

Maybe I should work on my selfie skills, but I only took one to prove I was there, haha!

"I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." ~Henry David Thoreau, Walden: Or, Life in the Woods