Friday Favorite Five – 6/5/2009

Finally, I can post a FFF this week!

1) The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaladon –

  I love this series!  It is about a woman in 1945 who goes back in time to 1743 Scotland.  From Amazon.com: “While on her second honeymoon in the British Isles, Claire touches a boulder that hurls her back in time to the forbidden Castle Leoch with the MacKenzie clan. Not understanding the forces that brought her there, she becomes ensnared in life-threatening situations with a Scots warrior named James Fraser. But it isn't all spies and drudgery that she must endure. For amid her new surroundings and the terrors she faces, she is lured into love and passion like she's never known before.”  Aaaah yes!  Jamie Fraser……James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser……my first fictional true love.  Bob knows about Jamie, and my obsession with him!  Ha ha  There are 6 books in the series, I just finished the 2nd one for the 2nd time, and I just found out that book #7 will be published September 2009.  Woo hoo!

2) Hot summer days – Yes, here in the PNW it’s been quite hot this week.  Temperatures in the 90’s!  The kids have had a blast with running through the sprinklers, eating popsicles, and wearing shorts to school.  This doesn’t happen often around here – especially this early in the season.  So we’ve been trying to enjoy every minute of it!  Too bad we don’t have air conditioning though……it’s been quite warm in house during the early evenings!

3) Zumba – I have discovered Zumba and love it!  For those of you who may not know Zumba, it is “A workout that mixes body sculpting movements with dance steps derived from cumbia, merengue, salsa, reggaeton, hip hop, mambo, rumba, flamenco, and calypso and Salsaton. The routines feature aerobic interval training with a combination of fast and slow rhythms. It targets areas such as the glutes, legs, arms, abdominals, and the heart. A Zumba class is typically not formulaic in that instructors often add on their own music choices and choreographies to make their class presentation locally unique.”  Why exercise, when you can ZUMBA!  Woo Hoo!

4) Windows Live Writer – I just discovered this application, thanks to my adorable home-IT support-guy, hubby.  It has changed the way I blog!  Before, my pictures were a nightmare to upload.  No matter where I wanted the pictures to be inserted in my blog, they would automatically get inserted at the top and then I would have to move them to the spot I wanted them in.  Now, I just insert my picture right where my curser is. (those of you who use blogspot know what I’m talking about!)  Anyway, I am so far behind on my blogs that I was dreading trying to catch up.  But since I discovered this Live Writer, I’ve been able to whip them out quickly.  Yay!

5) Spring Gardening – Take note people – you will only see this item on my blog once a year.  11.5 months out of the year I HATE gardening.  I hate the planting, the watering, the weeding – everything except the enjoyment of a nice landscaped yard.  However, once a year I get the bug to pretty up our yard.  This spring has been BEAUTIFUL!  So, a couple of weekends ago Bob and I made multiple trips to the nurseries and planted trees, flowers, bushes and filled some planting pots and wine barrels and even bought a hanging basket.  Our yard is looking pretty good right now and thankfully my gardening bug is gone.  Whew!  Now we can just sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labors.  Next up:  deciding if we want to build a deck or put in a patio!  :-)

Have a great weekend!  I hope you get an opportunity to reflect on your Friday Favorite Five from the week!