Weekend Color over Labor Day Weekend

Wahoo, its Saturday! I don't have to work! The weather is gross and rainy, which means I don't have to debate over laying in the sun reading a book and doing things around the apartment or other things that need to be done.

The plans for this wonderful Labor Day Weekend are to accomplish fun things today while Luke is at work, drive to the parents' house tonight when he is done, and relax the rest of the weekend! I think I might call it the "weekend of f's." And no, not for the reasons you might think. Fantasy football draft with family, way too much food, fascination over Luke's baby nephew, fun in the sun and fishing with my family, frolicking on the pavement with just me and my running shoes. Ha. Some of those were a stretch to make it part of the "weekend of f's" but I think it still works. :)

Pardon me, my brain is currently all over the place and for some reason I decided to spew it into text right here for all to see.

One thing I want to do this morning while Luke is at work is gather some materials for small little projects around our place to add some color and spice to our life. Its a bit drab and some color might liven things up and make me feel a little more put together myself. Do you ever feel that way?? Maybe its the piles of things laying around every bit of open wall that make me feel we need to de-clutter and organize a bit...

Moving on. I looked through Pinterest a bit last night and this morning with a specific goal in mind: find pictures of color I have in my head that I want to transfer to real life in the form of a nicely put together living room. I think I did alright. I also looked through some pictures I saved from all over the Internet over the last year or so with the same thought in mind. Fast forward an hour and I created this in Photoshop:

Eeep! Looking at it again after being away from it for five minutes still makes me excited! I think its meant to be. I actually took these colors from a single collage of photos I had found somewhere online. I think it works! Hmm...maybe its a little feminine but we'll make it work for Luke somehow. :) The dark green is the color of the couches and I think that will help keep things a bit less whimsical and feminine for our boy Luke.

I'm off to run some errands and maybe gather some things to start on this huge endeavor I have dreamed of accomplishing. I'm sure I won't get anything even close to these colors. It never works out the way I want it. No worries, I'm still optimistic!

Hope you enjoy this Labor Day Weekend! Here's to hoping the weather perks up for us to enjoy at least a little time in the great outdoors!

Happy Half-Birthday!

Happy Half-Birthday to my beautiful, smart, wonderfully loved sisters!

I was talking to Marissa on Skype tonight when she stops and says, "Aren't you forgetting something?!" To which I responded by looking at her waiting stare while I racked my brain for an anniversary, birthday, holiday, something I was supposed to get back to her on...nothing. I couldn't come up with anything. She says, "Its my half birthday!" Gotta love her. Both of them. :)

I love you both dearly and miss you lots! Can't wait to see you! Hope you enjoy your big half birthday today!

I Love My Dad

Dad, my life wouldn't be the same without you in it. You are witty, handsome and loving. I'd like to think I get my smarts from you. :)

I wish I could spend the day with you! I hope this post dedicated to you kind of makes up for that. :)

Thanks for being such a great Dad. For always being there for us and for being a real dad. We couldn't have asked for a better Dad if we had the chance. Your girls wouldn't be the same without you.

I love you Dad! Happy Father's Day!

Winter Wonderland

Oh how I love my mom.

I brought my parents' camera for my trip to England because I don't have a nice one of my own. We went to a pub last night with a live band and I wanted to take a picture, so I did. It didn't turn out well at all but that's not quite the point yet. I took another and the camera said the memory was full. Hmm, funny. I checked the memory stick and sure enough its the smallest one we (they) own, 256 MB. No big deal, I'll just put the pictures on my computer shortly after I take them and I'll also use the other camera I brought with (also not mine but one of my sweet sister's).

This brings us to the current time. I transferred the pictures I had taken to my computer and was browsing through the remaining pictures on the camera. A lot of them are from at least six months ago, some are newer. I removed all the pictures and videos and saved them on my computer for later. Come on, its a 256 MB card, I need all the room I can get. Hmm, did you notice anything? Yep, I said videos.

One would think that if a video is made, it is made for people to see, right? So if one refers to "your dad" while making a video by one's self, you could assume even further it was made for certain others to see, no? Well, here it is and hopefully it works! It put a huge smile on my face and made me giggle. Quite a bit actually. Let's just say Christmas isn't Christmas only in December.

Hope you all enjoyed! Let me know if it takes forever to load or isn't working properly - I'll do some editing. Love you Mom!

To My Mom

You are the best mother anyone could ever want (especially me!). If I had to pick which mom I would have I would have chosen you.
You are the definition of a mother's love in every way possible.

We all love you as big as the whole world and will love you forever and ever.

I LOVE you Mom!

Happy Mother's Day!

I Love My Family

My family and I met at Applebees in Hudson, WI for our Easter meal. My sisters are busy finishing things up in their last year of college. Wahoo to them, right?!! All of our schedules were a little crazy so to make things a little easier, we decided we could meet in the middle. After all, though Easter is important to us, it is just another day. We decided to spend the day together, relaxed and ourselves, fully enjoying the love (or at least I fully enjoyed it!), even if it meant we didn't eat a fancy schmancy ham.

What a beautiful family! Inside and out.

Happy Easter

I hope you had a happy Easter! It still means the same even if it is a few days late. Palm Sunday is my favorite. :)

1, 2 

St. Patrick

I may not be Irish (though my mom says we're a little bit of everything) but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy a green St. Patrick's Day celebration. Beer can be tasty, leprechauns are fun, and green is usually my favorite color!

Can you find the four leaf clover? Don't look too hard, there probably isn't one.

Happy St. Pat's day!



I Believe in a Thing Called Love and Project Complete - Numero Uno

Meal #2 of Valentine's Day weekend was prepared tonight. Shrimp and Chicken Jambalaya. Nearly as tasty as I hoped it would be. Mr. Luke even liked it. He's not a picky eater but is sometimes hesitant when it comes to trying new, home-cooked meals.

The peppers and onions smelled wonderful!

The recipe (from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything) didn't include chicken but Luke wanted to have more meat than just shrimp so we some.

The finished product. It looked better in person and definitely tasted better!

Caboose has been having a great Valentine's weekend, including trying to drink out of the water faucet. It didn't work out so well in the end so he gave up and just laid low.

Luke and I made cards for each other...but we didn't exchange yet. That's for the actual day, you silly. We (and by we I think I pretty much mean I because Luke probably doesn't care much either way) like to make cards for each other instead of buying them because it shows a little more love and effort when into picking it out/getting ready for whatever you are going to celebrate. And its cute to see what someone comes up with (except that my cards are not cute - they look like they were made by a 2nd grader).

My parents, Luke and I put together a little box of goodies for my sisters for the big day. Pictures, a semi-homemade picture frame, chocolate, candy hearts, nail polish and homemade cards made two girls pretty happy (so I heard). It was a lot of fun to put it together in hopes they would feel special. Something nice goes a long way. Just remember that. (I just might consider those semi-homemade picture frames for my one masterpiece this month thing...how is that cheating? Its not. Exactly.)

Valentine's day doesn't have to be mushy lovey dovey. It can simply be a day you let those you love and care about know you love and care about them. Remember? A little something nice goes a long way.

Hope you enjoyed the weekend. And the Grammys!

Love is in the Air

Luke and I are celebrating Valentine's Day with some delicious home cooked meals and quality time together through the weekend. We think cooking tasty meals at home is sometimes (usually) more enjoyable than going out to eat, for many reasons. We can plan the meal, make exactly what we want, grocery shop together, spend time together in the kitchen, bicker ever so little about whether the mushrooms and onions are done, be in the comforts of home, and do the dishes together. What could be more fun?! Since we mostly see each other on the weekends we think its fun to spend time making meals. At the same time, who doesn't enjoy a nice meal out?

We took pictures of our creations! Sort of. The beginnings of it at least. Taking pictures of something "in process" can be kind of difficult. Wait, stop, let me take a picture of that. Hey, take a picture of this. Its just not natural. But we did it!

The menu tonight: Delicious brussel sprouts! Don't knock 'em 'til you try 'em. A little water in a covered pan, salt, maybe a little butter when they are almost done cooking and presto, a tasty treat. The bright green color adds a little punch to your plate too.

Garlic mashed potatoes. Original, we know.

Mushrooms and onions for our STEAK!

Handy chef-in-the-kitchen-Mr. Luke nearly chopped off his finger cutting the onion. No worries, he's a tough guy. Really he was just trying to fillet his own skin, which he pretty much accomplished by only digging into the first layer. Jeeesh.

Making use of all four burners. Look at us, Mom! You would think it was Thanksgiving.

A delicious wine to celebrate the weekend (thanks Mom!!!). Its called Lawrence Elk and is made in South Dakota. Its a black currant wine and is to die for. So delicious we almost had a case shipped to us (and by us I mean my family and extended family) but were lucky enough to have someone bring some to us on their way back to Wisconsin. If you're ever in the South Dakota area I would definitely recommend it.

The chefs behind the meal. Caboose was here too but didn't want to be in a pic. Its a Saturday...we weren't trying to impress anyone with our style so you might have to forgive how beautifule we look.

We can't wait for tomorrow's meal! Or at least I'm extra excited about it. Tonight we're watching Salt with Angelina Jolie. Hope its good!

Happy weekend to you!

Psst...Probably one of my all time favorite things to do with Luke is to go grocery shopping together. The first time we did is when I think I realized I could really love this guy. For real. Its rewarding when you can appreciate spending time with someone doing things that aren't glamorous. Try it. :)

Holidays

Merry Christmas! And Happy New Year!

Yes, its late, but that doesn't mean its any less important. May the new year be all that you make it. (And here's to keeping this little beaut going...)