Tuesday and Wednesday happenings

On Tuesday I met with three friends from graduate school. We went to Cosi Cucina, a wonderful Italian restaurant, where we got to catch up with each other, and talk about puppies, work, school, and vacations.

Emily, Ann, and Lisa - three pretty awesome gals

On Wednesday I cleaned up my arts/crafts/guest room. And I made these:

Pretty pillow covers to go with the room

I love how they turned out. And it wasn't even that hard to do. I really love my new sewing machine.
My chair transformed in the matter of minutes.

Completed!

This weekend was EXHAUSTING. My hubby and I did some work inside and around our house, and I haven't had a chance to blog or knit, or do anything fun. My husband was a slave driver. Most of the projects were initiated and supervised by him. I was just a laborer.
Here is a list of things we accomplished:

1. Changed several light switches (hallway & basement)
2. Changed our door bell (the old one broke)
3. Changed a light bulb in the bedroom - had to make a couple of trips to the hardware store because it is a special kind of bulb ::groan::
4. Mowed the lawn and trimmed all the edges
5. Fought the wasps by our garage doors and removed their nest (sorry wasps - but you started it when you stang my allergic hubby on his ear)
6. Cleared the driveway and sidewalk of grass clippings (I really like our new leaf blower/vacuum)
7. Swept our deck (using the said leaf blower)
8. Beat all the rugs in the house (the blower is a multi-purpose tool, I'm telling you)
9. Vacuumed and steam-cleaned all the floors (I didn't use the blower here... although I was tempted to)
10. Organized kitchen cabinets and drawers (and discovered new treasures)
11. Power-combed our shedding puppy (was again tempted to use the leaf blower)
12. Organized medicine and supply cabinet
13. Organized linen closet (and put all the sets nicely together, at last)
14. Organized shoe closet (Goodwill, here we come!)
15. Sold and helped carry out our old bed frame (thank you, Craigslist!)
16. Went grocery shopping
17. Did laundry - clothes and linens
18. Ironed all clothes and put them away
19. Moved the couch into the office (had to remove door frame to get that sucker in)
20. Changed the door knob in the master bathroom (the old one would not lock anymore)
21. Returned bottles and cans (there were sooo many)
22. Trimmed one of the trees by our deck

...and so on. There was more, but I got tired from listing them all. I couldn't wait for Monday morning. :)

Happy birthday, mom!

My sisters and I bought our mom a plant for her office on her birthday. We just adore her and we know she loves plants. But when they delivered it, we found out it was not a plant - it was a tree. Look at that huge thing! It takes up half of my mom's cube.

I think mom liked it, even though she was yelling at us for spending money (which is so typical for our mom).  And after work, we had dinner together at Red Rossa's to celebrate.

My parents are too cute. Love you both! And wishing you many many many healthy and happy years together.

Productive weekend

Oh, what a busy weekend. On Saturday, I spent some quality time with my family. We first visited the Farmer's Market...

...and then visited a Berry Patch farm where we picked our own blueberries and raspberries. The weather was absolutely perfect.

This was such a fun activity for our family. We had such a great time.
Afterward, my hubby and I visited our next-door neighbors where we were invited to their son Jonathan's 1st birthday party.

 We are really lucky to have such nice neighbors. I am just a bit bummed that they have a for sale sign in their front yard. They are moving out of state as soon as they sell the house. :(
As for our house, hubby and I decided to paint our bedroom on Sunday from a nauseating peach-pink...

...to a serene vintage blue.

The light doesn't do the color justice, but you get the idea. And now I am exhausted and not really ready for a workday Monday. Oh well...

Three awesome things on a Thursday

1) My kind, thoughtful coworkers have brought treats in to the office to celebrate my graduation and my coworker's birthday.

I got to have a big bad muffin all to myself.

My crafty über-boss (my leader's leader) made the card herself. I was impressed!

2) My sisters, who are interns at the company - both got nominated for the VIP Scholarship. One of them is a semi-finalist who gets to give a presentation.

3) I got to spend some time with my two best friends at a free concert on the Jasper Winery grounds. It was a nice girls' night out. In fact, we might make it a Thursday habit.

Yarn therapy

When hubby and I ventured East this weekend to visit friends, we made a short stop at Crazy Girl Yarns in Coralville, IA. There, I found this gorgeous beauty - hand-dyed Blue Heron Yarns. As you may notice, it has a soft silver sparkle to it. It is also super soft and light. I am thinking of making a shawl with it.

These days

Haven't been blogging much lately, so here is past week's scoop. Been cooking some lately. Here is spinach manicotti my hubby and I had one evening.

A close-up. Yum!

And then another night I made this 7-layer dip. Oh my! It was double-yum!

I've also been spending a lot of time with this guy. He sure cleans up nice. What a looker!

And yesterday, I got to see some friends I haven't seen in quite a while. Like Aaron.

And Bill.

And Desiree.

That swing Des and I were sitting on was creeking real bad, resulting in lots of giggles.