As usual, my weekend started Thursday night (I'm sure taking advantage of this summer schedule). Thursday evening I was able to have a last minute dinner with some good college friends of mine, Kellie and Rachel (we missed you, Steph!). I'm so thankful that we have been able to stay in touch for the past 5 years. We have endured new towns, new jobs, new relationships and new last names together. It's been a joy to walk through life with them and it was great to catch up over some food at Atlantic Station.
On Friday morning, I spent some great time in prayer with some ladies from a ministry called "Adventures of the Heart". It was a sweet and revealing prayer time and I'm so thankful for their ministry and the impact it's making in women's hearts. After our prayer time, I dropped by Wellspring to deliver an assessment for one of the women and then ate lunch at one of my favorite places, CAFE INTERMEZZO!
Friday evening was a great catch up night and Daniel and I started on our "operation clean house". We just built a new deck and we will be tearing out a window in our kitchen to install a door out to the deck and a sidelight. This weekend, Daniel is assembling the shed we've been storing for months, so I'm really excited for him to be able to move some of his "man stuff" out of the garage! :)
Saturday evening was the beautiful celebration of our friend John. It was his 40th birthday so everyone did it up BIG. Here are some pictures of the event:
He looked like a southern Senator so we called him that all night. He definitely played the part well. :)
It was a wonderful time with friends and amazing food! John is definitely a person to be celebrated! After dinner it was so beautiful outside and my feet were hurting so bad from my heels so my friend Carla and I took our shoes off and walked to the open space beside the event area and just laid flat in the grass. We talked about all kinds of things and then Dan and Adam joined us. It was such a sweet time with friends.
Carla and I before dinner
Sunday was fairly typical in that it consisted of church, reading and relaxing with Daniel. We also had a great, carb-filled dinner at Olive Garden. I had to store up all my energy for the Peachtree Road Race the next morning! A friend of mine wasn't able to run it so she transferred her number to me. It was such a gift!
I am so incredibly sore today because I didn't run at all for the past two months, so going out to run 6.2 miles without training probably wasn't the smartest idea but it was so worth it. I was also so thankful that my heart held up great throughout the whole race.
The rest of the day was spent running errands and relaxing. On the evening of the 4th, we drove up to the top of the cemetery to see the fireworks but we only saw a few because of the rain.
Here are a few highlights from the race:
My favorite part! Running underneath a shower of "Holy Water" that the church had strategically placed on the side of the road.
The flag at the starting line and a tired, hot (but happy) Julie at the finish line.
Loved the energy at the Peachtree and I hope to do it again next year!
