Echinacea purpurea. Sounds delicious.

It's that time again.  I have a test tomorrow morning, so I'm sure to do anything but study.  Brownies are in the oven, grocery shopping is done, and now I find myself blogging....

In case you were wondering,  another thing I like about summer:  CONEFLOWERS!!  Yes, that is correct, coneflowers.  Officially, these flowers are called Echinacea purpurea maxima.  My translation: big...purple...whatever "echinacea" means.  Here they are outside of our house:

And with a little buzzing bee on top....

Want to learn more about them?  You can look at my Evidence Base (sorry, Alicia, putting in subtle SLP references clears my conscience) right here.   

The reason I really like them is because I have never seen them before moving to Virginia!  And the way they grow is so neat!  They start as a regular-ole flower (think sunflower ish)  and then the leaves fall back over time to create a "cone" (or, if you're me, and you have to compare everything visually, something that looks like one of those badminton birdie things...catching my vision??) 

My mother-in-law, a gardening extraordinnaire, and my friend Paul's mom, an everything-that-is-alive extraordinnaire, pointed them out by name last summer.  Before then, I just stuck with "big purple flower" - which is, might I remind you, the rough English translation of the scientific name!  Who knew!

I could probably tell you what a hibiscus looks like, an orange blossom, a sea grape, and even more exotic things like birds of paradise and bromeliads, but I don't see the likes of those around here much.  Guess it's time to get used to some new garden favorites!  (Although, let's be serious, I'll be leaving the gardening up to the lovely employees of our apartment complex.)  Another thought...the name "echinacea" was always the green dusty junk my mom gave me when I felt like I was getting sick.  NOT a flower.   

Ya learn something new every day, huh?  Hopefully I can now channel my energy into learning something about Fluency Disorders...but don't hold your breath.  Because the brownie timer is going off!

CHEERIO

♬ You've got a friend in me ♬ ♬

So I have decided that Washington, D.C. is an excellent place to live.  I mean, yes, I should have probably considered this prior to now, but here is my latest rationale (raise your hand, SLPs, if you're not a fan of that word anymore...)

1) People have reasons to come visit our city (and, by default, US)!!  On Monday, we had the pleasure of seeing A.J. (Aaron's bro), because he came into town for a conference!  We took him to Founding Farmers (I made him a believer in the Fried Chicken and Waffles dish) and spent a little quality time with him on his short visit here.  And today, we got to hang with Daniel (Aaron's cousin), since he was in town for a trip with his youth group's chorus group.  Good times!

2) There are lots of fun things to do!  So as most of you know, summer is my FAVORITE.  I mean, it's pretty much in my blood to like the dog days of summer, especially when you have good friends, fun things to do, time to chill near a water source (pools, rivers, beaches, etc.), and a cool glass of sangria...add some sunscreen and deoderant and everyone's sure to have a good time ;)  My favorite things: Jazz in the Park, Saturday Morning Eastern Market, and sweating it weekend after weekend giving the DC tour to newcomers. 

3)  We are blessed to have great friends!  I mean...in addition to having family and friends who have fun excuses to come visit us, we are lucky to have made some great friends 'round these parts :)  I think back to a year ago and how boredo-schmoredo I was and I am a grateful girl!  The highlight of my weekend (don't judge 'til you've seen it, k?)  TOY STORY 3 in 3D with Bryan & Hallie!  It is a must-see for any and all who are eligible to attend a "G"-rated movie.  (Although I'm pretty sure the kids in the movie missed most of the brilliance of the film.) 

Here is a rockstar picture of us in our 3D glasses (in all of it's 2-megapixel-Blackberry-cam-in-a-movie-theater glory):

Moral of this story is (or should I say the tie-up and resolution, since I'm transitioning back into clinician-mode...)  1) Go see Toy Story 3.  and 2) If you aren't local, and you haven't made it out to DC yet, and you don't have a conference or chorus trip that you can sign up for, hopefully we can manage to find you a great excuse sooner rather than later! 

But for now, I'm off to do all of the homework that I didn't do this weekend.  To infinity!  And beyond!

W is for Wooooooooooooooo!!!!!!

(My favorite pic of the weekend, had to put it first!)

Well...it was another weekend out of town for the Wilsons...and BOY was it a busy one.  On Thursday morning, Aaron and I drove up to Baltimore to fly to Florida for the weekend.  He had to make a pit stop in Tallahassee for work, and I went to Tampa to get my wedding on for Mel and Wakefield's big day.  'Twas a bit strange going to the same airport, but different gates...

My great friend Melissa got married on Saturday and I made sure not to miss out on any wedding festivities.  One bridal luncheon, one bachelorette party, a day of setting up the reception, a rehearsal, and a rehearsal dinner later...it was time for the WEDDING DAY!  It was so much fun to celebrate with them!

This is the only one you'll be getting from the Bachelorette party, part of the decor ;) Mel's new last name is Wade!  (Pronounced Way-d....not wah-dee, as Melissa has explicitly explained to Lyn's boyfriend, Mikey Knepper.  Or is it neeeper?  Or ne-puh-per?...sorry had to throw that in there, ladies).

And that's Lyn and Mikey in case anyone was wondering ;)

Here are all the great bridesmaids I got to spend my weekend with! (Katie..Rachel...Lyn...Moi...Courtney [and Isabelle :)]...and Sarah!)

Here we are again...at the rehearsal dinner...YUM!

One of my favorites of the Bride and Groom.  Props to the hubby for capturing this moment!

Lyn and I...in true Gehron sister form.  Probably the only time we have matched since we were 3 or 4 years old.  Only for Melissa Ann!

Last but not least...Spike!  Our most amazing youth pastor from the middle and high school years in Stuart.  It was so good to see him and catch up!!

Memorial Day Happenings...

We were fortunate to have another family adventure down to Atlanta this past weekend.  Fortunately only half of the road trip was a road trip for me.  Aaron drove down early on Thursday to see Daniel graduate, and I flew in to meet up with the family on the very next day.  We had an AMAZING time doing lots of fun things and catching up with our favorite Wilsons, Starovasniks, Hardys, and our newest family of family members...the Powells!  Friday was celebration time at the Star House...all decked out in purple (Duluth High's color).  I even showed my spirit by wearing a purple tank...but...you guessed it...I never took a picture.  Saturday we went to grill out at the Chattahoochee River...it was a blast climbing rocks and "falling" in the cold water.  We even got to see some great friends--MaryAnn and Joe--and they're awesome place down the road from Duluth in Suwanne, GA.  Stone Mountain fun filled our Sunday and it was back on the road on Monday.  Fun times!

Here are a few snippets of our time together:

Exhibit A: Eat.  It's what we do best.  Here are a few parts of the traditional "Hardy" breakfast.  Yes, we all took our cholesterol medication before consuming.

The family...celebrating the Duluth High School grad!!  (Note: I actually was quite happy to be in this picture allbeit my face may tell you otherwise.  We could have rivaled a wedding in the amount of pictures we took.  Always makes for a good time, though!)

The crew at Stone Mountain...couldn't leave out my awesome sister since she took the picture of us all.  Thankfully to her and her self-portraiting abilities...she made it easy to include her :)

Last but not least, we had a chance to visit my Aunt Aynn in Charlotte on the way home.  She is a beautiful and special woman to me!  In true form, she fed us a yummy Memorial Day lunch and gave us lots of hugs to go with it :)  Aaron finally got the chance to meet her too.  We were blessed to spend some time with her, too, after such a wonderful weekend of great times with family!