Easter Weekend

What a great Easter weekend!

First, I couldn't have asked for a better time to have a long weekend - it was well overdue. I made it home Thursday night after a quick stop at Bushwood with Sue and Andy to hash over the Engines situation, and then quickly forget it when we remembered we had Friday off! It was fabulous to be able to sleep in on Friday. Lunch with Matt and Ty was great, followed by some shopping, and more brother time that night. I did a whole lot of nothing during the day Saturday (except for taking Rocky to the park for awhile), and then headed over to the Bett's for a little birthday partying for Kellie with my girls. It was a great time just hanging out with them, and kicking back around the fire with a glass of wine!

(No, the picture isn't from this weekend, but I did finally get a few pictures of all of us at Kellie's wedding last August - the first time all seven of us had been together in about 5 years!)

Easter Sunday was just the holiday I had hoped for (despite the rain). We went to early church - first time back at my Lutheran church in awhile, and then to a fabulous Easter brunch at the Concourse! Dad took us on the Tour de Madison after that - checking out the zoo and random neighborhoods downtown. It was one of those Sunday drives I hear my grandma talking about, but I don't think we've laughed that much as a family in a long time. By 1:00, all of us were at home, in sweats, and asleep on couches around the house! The perfect afternoon on a rainy day. Overall, it was a ton of family time, but without any of the fighting or annoyance that normally comes with that, and was just the weekend I needed!

Doing Life

I've failed. I've become one of those people who starts something like this (with good intentions!) but never keeps it up. Ok, maybe I'm being a little hard on myself, but I know when I'm reading blogs, I hope for an update every couple of days... maybe a week isn't that bad though.

It's been a busy week, but mostly in a fun way. I've seen my Sheboygan girlfriends a lot, which has been great! We had a pretty cool girls night last Friday - complete with mango margaritas, a taco bar, and a lot of laughing, with a little crying thrown in. I'm definitely learning what the whole "Doing Life Together" concept means. I've been able to help some friends through some tough relationship, and life disappointment problems. It has been a real lesson in learning to lean on other people, and letting them lean on me too! Sometimes (most of the time!) the crap in life is a lot easier to handle with awesome friends to wade through it with you. I've shared a lot of the good stuff in life, and even some of the bad, with quite a few people, but there are a select few who have been there, and continued to be there through the really tough stuff. Those friendships mean a lot more when people continue to ask how a rough situation is going, rather than offering advice once, and forgetting what's going on a few days later. I'm so thankful for the friends I have who know me inside and out, and are willing to take the good with the bad, and love me all the same. I thank God everyday for the relationships I've formed at Crossroads over the past few months, and what they've taught me about other friendships - helping me value some more, and others less. What a blessing!

On a little lighter, and more mundane note, I've also gotten a lot of time to scrapbook this weekend - a fairly new undertaking for me! I'm certainly feeling more creative these days! A few of those "layouts" (that's scrapbook lingo for pages) may show up on the blog sometime if I get a chance to scan them. All of this has led to a lot less sleep than normal, which is only made harder with it being the beginning of the month at work! Thank goodness for a Friday off - looking forward to that!

I hope this week has treated you well - you're in my prayers!

Happy Birthday Ty!

My day at work today ended by being begged to show two friends my blog... So this is written in honor of them. AD, if you find this, congrats!

I've always wondered if these "blogs" were just boring people trying to make their life sound a little more interesting, and that is definitely what I feel like today!

To make this a little more fun, here is the list of things I like, and don't, lately... enjoy!

LIKE - getting home from work at 6:00 and having the sun still shining
don't - getting home from work at 6:00 (or later)
LIKE - big tax refunds
don't - getting them two days too late
LIKE - waking up in the morning before the alarm (either because I haven't had to set one, or because of getting a great night's sleep)
don't - never getting to wake up before the alarm
LIKE - all the women in my small group (and the old, bigger one!) - You girls are great! Sheboygan wouldn't be half as fun without you!
don't - that we picked 1 Timothy to study this month - hopefully that will get better as we get to talk through some of the wierd stuff Paul has going on... I'm sure there will be more on that in posts to come
LIKE - fun, out of the ordinary weekends like this past one... including a shopping trip to Green Bay on Saturday with Tracy, and checking out Cedarburg with mom and dad on Sunday
don't - fasting... but doing it for a good reason (which is really the only way I would do it) helps a little
LIKE - Barnes & Noble and a good book...

With that said, it's time for me to relax and enjoy my current read! gamedayron (another AD shoutout!)

One more shoutout.... To my adopted little brother Ty - Happy (late) 16th Birthday bro - love ya!

Can anyone help me with a "real" website?

If any of my friends (or strangers for that matter!) who happen to be checking this site out know how to put together a "real website," I'm thinking of firing up the jewelry business I dabbled in during college again. For now, I'm just looking for a site to post pictures and have people contact me through - nothing sophisticated, just to get me started. If anyone wants to consult for me, drop me a line and let me know - I'd definitely be interested!

Is it spring yet?

Plastic flip flops are the epitome of summertime, and so often bring back childhood memories. It's not likely that I wore them often as a child, however, given my mom's disdain for "that thing between her toes." Maybe that's why I've come to like them so much now, when I make my own footwear purchases. It's just that my pedicured feet look much too pretty to put inside shoes, and flip flops are so much more fun!

With that said, I can't wait for the sun to come out and warm up this Sheboygan air! Granted Wisconsin isn't the first place that comes to mind when thinking of fun summer places to go, I'm more than excited for it to be warm enough to spend a Saturday afternoon like today on the beach of Lake Michigan.

For now, it's time for me to do a little spring cleaning and cuddling up on the couch with a good book and blanket, starting to dream of those warm summer days that have to be coming soon!