- Had my friend Erin up to Chicago the weekend of April 17th. We had sushi, we tried a great new restaurant, we designed and ordered custom purses, we hit a free basic photography class, we hit up some bagel sandwiches for lunch, and caught Sunday brunch at a yummy new spot. We ate a heck of a lot is what I'm saying. And had a DARN good time chatting and carrying on and meandering through the city. It was a perfect weekend if I do say so myself.
- Hosted a girls' book club at my place. It was fun and the food was pretty decent. Our book club doesn't actually pick a book and all read it and then talk about it. We just bring books we have already read and exchange them for other books that we would like to read. Oh and there is wine. Of course. But it was a great time!
- Our fridge went out. So we went to Lowe's last week and bought all new stainless steel appliances. They come on Sunday. I am so stoked about the stainless and my new! convection! oven! I can barely contain myself.
- I broke down and got ourselves a maid. She is coming every three weeks and she rocks. Milly howls her fool head off every time she comes in (she came today for the second time) but we got Milly to warm up to her with many yummy chicken liver treats. Milly is a sucker for chicken liver treats.
- Speaking of Milly-treats, Milly got put on a diet. I feel bad that I can't stay on my diet (see above re: fridge... not having one makes dieting hard) but I make Milly stay on one. She was pudging up and we realized that Mike thought Milly got 1.25 cups of food per serving instead of per day. Oops. At least he wasn't around more to fatten her up too much! Although our friend Carl called her a "sphere" and the neighbor said "Milly! Gaining some LB's!" Poor Milly. She looks skinnier already.
- This past weekend, I went to Florida to be Emily's date to a wedding. We had a great time! The weather was amazing and all the bride and groom's friends were really nice and super fun to hang out with. I made a few new facebook friends and now Emily and I have plans to go visit another bridesmaid in Austin in October. Woot!
- Mike has a Super Scary Actuary Test on Friday. Let's hope he passes! But he has been studying like a fiend and I am so proud of him! And it will be sooo nice to have him back this weekend!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Update of sorts
It's been a long time! What have I been up to? I guess the most appropriate questions is what HAVEN'T I been up to?
Monday, April 12, 2010
Inheritance
Between when my grandmother passed away in July of 2008 and now, I've been handed down a few pieces of her jewelry and thought they would be fun to show them off and share a little background about them.
A couple months after she passed, my Grandpa asked my parents if there was anything in particular they wanted - and they asked us the same question. I felt so weird asking for this ring... the only reason I did so was because Grandma had told me time and time again that she wanted me to have it after she passed away. However, I remember stories in the family of my great-grandparents telling multiple people that they wanted them to have things and large arguments ensuing. Arguing was definitely what I DID NOT WANT so I brought it up to my Mom but made it absolutely clear that if Grandpa wanted anyone else to have the ring or wanted to keep it that I was completely OK with that. I didn't hear anything about the whole thing until a couple months later when I was home for something. "Here," my mom said as she handed me a white envelope, "It's that ring of Grandma's." Sweet! I think I remember Grandma saying that the ring has been in the family for 8 generations and that she got it from her great-grandmother Carpenter. The ring fits my left ring finger perfectly and sometimes I wear it instead of my own wedding band and engagement ring. It's such a simple, gorgeous piece of jewelry. I remember her wearing it as her own wedding band... it's full of good memories.
Grandma also lent me this ring as my Something Old and Something Borrowed on my wedding day. She'd lent it to me with a white ribbon tied around it and I pinned it under my dress with my sorority pin. I remember obsessively checking it all night to make sure I didn't lose it!
My sister and I went to visit Grandpa last winter, and we were looking through a bunch of Grandma's jewelry. "Oh, fun beads!" I exclaimed, and Grandpa goes "Good price! Free! Take it with you!" My Grandmother had a love of collections, and there was an impressive amount of jewelry (costume and otherwise) that we were looking through. I think Grandpa was glad to pass some along! And I was so glad to have some fun beads to wear out and about. :)
I got this ring on that same visit with Katie. I have no idea what the stone on this ring is - it could be a piece of glass for all I know. However, I love this piece! The ring itself is nice and delicate and the stone is big and fun. I was going to have this ring sized to my right ring finger and dipped in white gold until I got the next piece. Now I keep it and wear it on my right middle finger whenever I'm wearing clothes with gold accents. This ring is just so fun... and my sister Katie wore it as her Something Blue at her wedding. It was so nice to have a piece of Grandma's jewelry that I could loan out to her for a special occasion like that.
This is the piece I wear the most. My grandfather gave it to my Mom, but she didn't really ever wear it. At Christmas, she asked me if I would want it. I loved it! I had it sized to my right ring finger and dipped in white gold (it was originally yellow gold). The work to the ring wasn't cheap, but now I have an amazing ring that I wear very often on my right hand. And I get TONS of compliments on it - people are always asking me where I got it and saying how pretty they think it is. It's nice to reply that it's vintage and was my grandmother's, and even nicer to have something of hers that I can wear all the time. I love having a lovely reminder of her with me!
So those are jewelry I inherited from Grandma. It's so nice to have these as reminders of her, and fun to imagine passing them down to my own kids or grand-kids someday!
A couple months after she passed, my Grandpa asked my parents if there was anything in particular they wanted - and they asked us the same question. I felt so weird asking for this ring... the only reason I did so was because Grandma had told me time and time again that she wanted me to have it after she passed away. However, I remember stories in the family of my great-grandparents telling multiple people that they wanted them to have things and large arguments ensuing. Arguing was definitely what I DID NOT WANT so I brought it up to my Mom but made it absolutely clear that if Grandpa wanted anyone else to have the ring or wanted to keep it that I was completely OK with that. I didn't hear anything about the whole thing until a couple months later when I was home for something. "Here," my mom said as she handed me a white envelope, "It's that ring of Grandma's." Sweet! I think I remember Grandma saying that the ring has been in the family for 8 generations and that she got it from her great-grandmother Carpenter. The ring fits my left ring finger perfectly and sometimes I wear it instead of my own wedding band and engagement ring. It's such a simple, gorgeous piece of jewelry. I remember her wearing it as her own wedding band... it's full of good memories.
Grandma also lent me this ring as my Something Old and Something Borrowed on my wedding day. She'd lent it to me with a white ribbon tied around it and I pinned it under my dress with my sorority pin. I remember obsessively checking it all night to make sure I didn't lose it!
My sister and I went to visit Grandpa last winter, and we were looking through a bunch of Grandma's jewelry. "Oh, fun beads!" I exclaimed, and Grandpa goes "Good price! Free! Take it with you!" My Grandmother had a love of collections, and there was an impressive amount of jewelry (costume and otherwise) that we were looking through. I think Grandpa was glad to pass some along! And I was so glad to have some fun beads to wear out and about. :)
I got this ring on that same visit with Katie. I have no idea what the stone on this ring is - it could be a piece of glass for all I know. However, I love this piece! The ring itself is nice and delicate and the stone is big and fun. I was going to have this ring sized to my right ring finger and dipped in white gold until I got the next piece. Now I keep it and wear it on my right middle finger whenever I'm wearing clothes with gold accents. This ring is just so fun... and my sister Katie wore it as her Something Blue at her wedding. It was so nice to have a piece of Grandma's jewelry that I could loan out to her for a special occasion like that.
This is the piece I wear the most. My grandfather gave it to my Mom, but she didn't really ever wear it. At Christmas, she asked me if I would want it. I loved it! I had it sized to my right ring finger and dipped in white gold (it was originally yellow gold). The work to the ring wasn't cheap, but now I have an amazing ring that I wear very often on my right hand. And I get TONS of compliments on it - people are always asking me where I got it and saying how pretty they think it is. It's nice to reply that it's vintage and was my grandmother's, and even nicer to have something of hers that I can wear all the time. I love having a lovely reminder of her with me!
So those are jewelry I inherited from Grandma. It's so nice to have these as reminders of her, and fun to imagine passing them down to my own kids or grand-kids someday!
Friday, April 09, 2010
Random decor
Awhile back my friend Emily and I hit up IKEA to grab some household stuff and I scored a bunch of white frames. I got a whole bunch to make a collage above our bed in the guest room, which I haven't gotten around to doing. I did put the Milly print in one of the frames, look how cute it is! Right now I have it on our mantle and I love it. I think I'll be sad when I end up doing the collage in the guest room and have to move it in there!
This print was one that Mike kind of bought on our cruise back in March of 2006, before we were even engaged. I thought it was super cute - my nursery when I was a baby was Pooh themed. On the cruise, the art auctioneers only brought up items that people had an interest in and had marked with post-its. I wanted to see how much it would be in the auction, so I put tagged it with one of my post-its. I went to the bathroom during the auction and came back and Mike had bought it. "I bought if for you," he said. "Oh that was nice!" I replied. "Um, no.... well.... I bought it on your account." He had used MY ship account to purchase the print and boy was I honked off! It was $75 with a $75 shipping charge so he had basically just spent $150 of my money without my consent. Oy. Crazy boy. But I am glad he did it now - shipping was one flat rate regardless of how much stuff you got so I ended up buying a Pete Rose signed home plate that hangs in our den to really get the most out of my $75 shipping charge! And now we have this for the guest room. It sits on the dresser with the Paddington Bear I inherited when my grandmother passed away. They are a nice-looking pair together.
I love these two little prints. Most of the decoration in our condo is photography, and while I love having photos around, it's fun to mix it up a bit!
This print was one that Mike kind of bought on our cruise back in March of 2006, before we were even engaged. I thought it was super cute - my nursery when I was a baby was Pooh themed. On the cruise, the art auctioneers only brought up items that people had an interest in and had marked with post-its. I wanted to see how much it would be in the auction, so I put tagged it with one of my post-its. I went to the bathroom during the auction and came back and Mike had bought it. "I bought if for you," he said. "Oh that was nice!" I replied. "Um, no.... well.... I bought it on your account." He had used MY ship account to purchase the print and boy was I honked off! It was $75 with a $75 shipping charge so he had basically just spent $150 of my money without my consent. Oy. Crazy boy. But I am glad he did it now - shipping was one flat rate regardless of how much stuff you got so I ended up buying a Pete Rose signed home plate that hangs in our den to really get the most out of my $75 shipping charge! And now we have this for the guest room. It sits on the dresser with the Paddington Bear I inherited when my grandmother passed away. They are a nice-looking pair together.
I love these two little prints. Most of the decoration in our condo is photography, and while I love having photos around, it's fun to mix it up a bit!
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Easter!
Usually we head to Mike's family festivities in northern Indiana for Easter, but this year he really needed to stay home and study. I was sad I didn't get to see Gracie in her Easter finery last year, so I conned my brother and his girlfriend Kim into heading to Evansville! And I am so glad we all went, because I had a great time!
On Saturday we held our own little private Easter Egg hunt for Gracie. I am a little pissed at myself because I forgot to adjust my ISO for these pics so they're not as crisp as they could have been. Oh well.
Look how thrilled she looks. Haha... maybe we should have let her have a little more time after the nap to wake up before tossing her in her Easter dress and out into the back yard?
She didn't like that one of the eggs was on top of this bronze turtle my parents have in the backyard. So she signed for one of us to help her. So cute, a little kid signing "help."
I loved how her dress billowed out when she sat down. So cute! She really got the egg thing too, she was a pro.
More egg-hunting! The weather was so nice in the 'ville. It was amazing.
That basket got pretty darn full!
Grandpa had to show her what was inside a few. Yummy chocolate!
Jay took some videos too. I'm sure I looked like junk - Kim and I just got in from a run. That's the great thing about being the cameraman, though, you don't have to be in the pics!
On Saturday we held our own little private Easter Egg hunt for Gracie. I am a little pissed at myself because I forgot to adjust my ISO for these pics so they're not as crisp as they could have been. Oh well.
Look how thrilled she looks. Haha... maybe we should have let her have a little more time after the nap to wake up before tossing her in her Easter dress and out into the back yard?
She didn't like that one of the eggs was on top of this bronze turtle my parents have in the backyard. So she signed for one of us to help her. So cute, a little kid signing "help."
I loved how her dress billowed out when she sat down. So cute! She really got the egg thing too, she was a pro.
More egg-hunting! The weather was so nice in the 'ville. It was amazing.
That basket got pretty darn full!
Grandpa had to show her what was inside a few. Yummy chocolate!
Jay took some videos too. I'm sure I looked like junk - Kim and I just got in from a run. That's the great thing about being the cameraman, though, you don't have to be in the pics!
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