But I must say it was kind of awesome out in the field picking berries by myself. I was there relatively early so there weren’t many other ‘pickers’ either. It was nice and quiet. I just sat in the shade beneath a big blueberry bush and picked berries for a couple of hours. I ate quite a few berries too. I didn’t realize how much work it actually was. I had sweat droplets running down my face. But even though I was alone, and it was hotter than h-e-double hockey sticks outside I had a great time. Now I just have to figure out what to bake with my berries. Got any good blueberry pie recipes?

Also, more big news this summer, I am now a blogger for Conceive. If you remember a few weeks back I needed your help with naming a new blog. Well the new blog is titled “It Takes a Village“, and it’s where I chronicle our journey with infertility. Thanks for your help with naming the blog and I hope you follow.

Over 4th of July weekend, I spent some time on the lake. Do you ever notice that no matter what lake it is, everyone calls it the lake. Well at least in Oklahoma. Up here in The Great White North they call it “camp”. On the Friday you ask people what their plans are for the weekend and their response goes a something like this. “Yu-hum,  headed upta camp tomorrow.” So I joined in and went “upta” camp and I loved it.  But what I love the most was it was the first time I ever used a kayak.

Now I’m hooked. I love it. I love kayaking. The boats are so nice a light that I can carry it myself. They are low to the water so in shallow water you can do some underwater exploring. And they don’t tip as easily as canoes. As soon as I came in off the lake I demanded to the old hubsters that I need my own kayak, NOW! So now the question is where can I get a used kayak on the cheap? Any suggestions?

5. Cruel Summer – Bananarama ( I actually hate this song, but I’m too obsessive/compulsive to have a list of 4. But I hate this song less than I hate “Summer of ’69″ or “Boys of Summer”. And even though my cousin met Don Henley in a guitar shop in Dallas, I still won’t include his scruffy voice song. And I hope the fact that I chose Bananarama over Bryan Adams and Don Henley makes the hairs on the back of their necks stand up the same way mine does when I hear their raspy voices on the radio for the 5 seconds I’m struggling to change the radio station. )

Now let’s get into the list of summer songs  actually like.

4. Summer in the City – Lovin Spoonful (Even as a kid I liked this song because this is what Oklahoma summers are like. Hot and sticky during the day, but when the cool nights come it’s time to let loose and have fun.)

3. Summer Nights – Grease Soundtrack (The movie and the song are timeless. And now I’m an adult and actually get what they are singing about, I have a entirely new appreciation for it.)

2. In the Summertime – Mungo Jerry (I love the carefree “life is for living” philosophy of the song. And if nothing else, it’s kind of funny, “If her daddy’s rich, take her out for a meal. If her daddy’s poor, just do what you feel”.

And the numero uno summer time song is (Drum roll please….)

1. Summertime – DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (ah yes, the good ol’ days of acid wash jeans and “scrunched” crew socks. Did summertime ever sound sweeter?)

For example, if I do a Google search for “Jes Cady” the first 6 results are me and my sites.

Another very popular and much respected blogger is The Pioneer Woman. Now P-Dub is not her Christian name. Her real name is Ree Drummond. If you do a Google search for Ree Drummond, her website, The Pioneer Woman, pops up but so does the url reedrummond.com. She owns her name. The url just brings you to a simple page with a rotating photo and links to her blog. It’s that simple. Now, no one else can utilize that url for something that is not associated with her or her brand. Are you doing this? If not, I strongly suggest you purchase your name as a domain name today. If you do nothing else with it for now, at least you have peace of mind that no one else is doing anything with it either.

Here are some sites you can use to purchase your name as a domain name:

Network Solutions

Go Daddy

Even though this summer has been chugging along at a rapid pace I’ve found time to takes some short hikes, go on some bike rides, and go to the beach. But the thing I’ve been doing the most is hanging out with friends. It’s funny, up here in The Great White North you don’t see your friends for about 7 months of the year. That’s because November through May it’s freezing and snowing up here and no one in their right mind wants to go outside to get in their car and drive over to their friends homes in freezing arctic temperatures. But when the warmer temperatures of spring and summer hit, everyone is outside and ready to mingle.

But this summer we’ve discovered that the fun times of hanging with friends are only made better with a fire pit. Up here in The Great White North the nights get chilly, even in the summer, and the fire helps to keep the bugs away too. But more importantly, games, jokes, and conversations just sound better in front of a crackling fire pit.

10.       Weekend at Bernies (1989) – Carrying a dead guy around with you for an entire weekend. Never has a more scrumtralesent plot been thought up.

9.       Shag: The Movie (1989) – It’s like the Southern version of Dirty Dancing. What could be better?

8.       Satisfaction (1988) – Back when Julie Roberts’ hair was big, curly, and red… just like mine.

7.       The Great Outdoors (1988) – Just thinking about the “ole 96-er” and “there’s nothing left but gristle and fat” makes me laugh.

6.       The Goonies (1985) – The Truffle Shuffle. Need I say more.

5.       Dirty Dancing (1987) – I had the time of my life and I owe it all to you.

4.       Summer School (1987) – I’d go to summer school every if Freddy Shoop was my teacher. Yawza!

3.       Stand by Me (1986) – Great soundtrack, great actors, great movie

2.       Summer Rental (1985) – I really think I love any movie with John Candy in it. He’s probably my favorite Canadian EVER!

1.       National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983) – Because getting there is half the fun. You know that.

What a difference a little business trip can make. The day after he left, I missed him and was already ready for him to come home. But after two days, I really missed him and was really ready for him to come home. This made me think about the saying “distance makes the heart grow fonder”. I’m not sure if I completely agree. I don’t think I would love my husband any more or any less had he not gone on his business trip. But what the trip has giving us is perspective. The little things don’t seem so big right now. And it’s helped me grown in that little virtue I struggle so much with, patience.

So now when he gets home, we can spend some much needed QT together.

And then 15 minutes of him being home with his muddy boots thrown on the floor and dirty clothes piled up on the bed, I’ll begin to miss the quite, clean home I had moments earlier.

I’m currently enjoying a stay-cation. I’ve come to realize that taking a couple of days off from work and enjoying some of the fun tourist things that are close to your own home is highly under-rated.

Today I went to the beach. I live 30-45 minutes from the beach and the last time I’ve been to the beach during the summer was about three years ago. So I made a conscience decision this year that I would go to the beach more, or at least once. I bought a beach chair, a beach towel, and let’s not forget the sunscreen. I got some spiffy new 90 SPF. It’s like full body armor in lotion form. It’s freakin awesome!

So this morning, I loaded up with all my beach gear and headed out. And it was great! The sun was shining. There was a gentle breeze coming off the water, and the water was a refreshing 60 degrees (by “refreshing” I mean your limbs grown numb after a few minutes).

I also took a walk around and looked at the beach houses and day dreamed about how one day I’ll rent a beach house and invite my family and friends to come stay with me. Some people may think that’s crazy. Why would anyone want to spend their summer in the same home with your extended family? I swear I’m not crazy. It’s just that growing up my Granddad had a lake house. And during the summer, my entire family, immediate and extended, would stay in the house together. Some of my best childhood memories are from that lake house. Riding my bike for hours in the circle drive, playing “kick-the-can” with my cousins, skipping rocks at the point, camping out in the front yard. These are all things that made up some of the best summers of my life. As a an adult, I realize that those summers helped develop a close bond among my entire family.

During my  visit to the beach today I continued to think about all my childhood summers spent at the lake house and how much I want to continue those traditions so that hopefully my children will be able to have fond memories of summers at a beach house with their family.

The new blog will be about my fertility treatments and entire trying to concieve journey. For those of you interested in hearing how that aspect of my life is going you’ll be able to read all about it on the new blog. For those of you not interested in reading about my sad little ovary and disfuntional fallopian tube, I would still appreciate your vote/input for a title of the new blog. So like Diddy says, “vote or die”.

**UPDATE** Thank you everyone for your votes! There was some really creative additions made such as “Obstinate Ovaries” and “Adventures in Baby Making”. But ultimately, the winner, with 64% of the vote is “Well Conceived Notions”.  But unfortunately, I just found out I can’t use it because it’s too similar to another blog. So I had to choose one of the other options. I’ll be posting the official name and more information about the new blog when it launches next week!