MarchSnow

Hi All!  I have another "retro" post to share today. Last month (early August), we received the sad news that Jordan's Grandmother, Ruth, had passed away.  She was a lovely lady and will be very missed! Jordan and I traveled to El Paso to attend her funeral services and though it was an unfortunate occasion, it was certainly great to see family!  Jordan and I both have large families and they are scattered all over the country.  Subsequently, this was the first time I'd met some of Jordan's relatives!  It took me a couple of days to get all the names straight! Top: Jordan and Me with his mom, Ryan, Jane, and baby L. Bottom: Jordan's uncles and mom!  From L to R - Tony, Bill, Robert, Steve, Dave, and Kathy I think the names were difficult because just like Jordan, I also have an uncle with each of these names, except Bill.   The service for Grandma Ruth was beautiful and I think everyone felt at peace with the closure.  Ruth was 91 years

As promised, I have a series of retro posts coming up!  This one is about my Mom's surprise birthday party in July!  We'd talked briefly about gathering the troops to celebrate mom's birthday.  Even a usual weekend at the lake is a lot of fun (filled with family time, great food, laughter, etc.).  But leading up to her birthday weekend, my Dad thought it would be even better for us to give the occasion a little extra fanfare !  Mom does so much for all of us (all.the.time) so everyone had no problem rallying to celebrate her birthday! My task was to put together her birthday cake!  I had tossed around a few ideas for Mom's birthday in years past, but it's always tricky coming up with a design.  I'm an amateur baker/decorator so the design can make or break me!  It's important (for me) to have a plan that is within my limited skill set, doesn't take 80+ hours to make, and that can travel 1.5 hours in the car, all while making it theme appropriate to t

If you follow this blog regularly, you know that I've been on a bit of a sabbatical from posting!  Sometimes you just need a break, you know?!  But, the long duration between posts is not without reason.... Jordan and I have news!..... (pause for dramatic effect) I am pregnant with our first child!  Wow, it feels weird to even type that! We found out about our little one over Father's Day weekend which only added to my excitement!  The last few months we've had lots of new emotions and thoughts about our little brewing baby.  Of all those emotions, my overwhelming feeling has been joy and peace!  We both feel so thankful for this blessing and we are looking forward to meeting our baby (admittedly with some trepidation)! I have sonogram pictures to share.  Is that weird?  It's extremely personal to show the world these precious pictures, but it's just amazing to watch this little miracle grow! Top : This was our first sonogram at almost 7 w

Happy July 4th...or 14th.  It's taken me a while to get around to sharing pictures from our Independence Day celebration but I've got 30+ pictures of family food and fun to share! There is no other holiday quite like the 4th of July in America!  Everyone takes off work to enjoy delicious food (and cold drinks), BBQ, and the faint smell of explosives in the air --- those bombs bursting in air! This year was even sweeter than previous years because my brother, Andy, and his family flew to Texas for a long visit!  I was so thrilled to see them all! Top Left: I do love a little flare!  I got a pedicure before the holiday and decided to go with a patriotic theme.  The design looks almost like a Wonder Woman theme which is equally awesome. Top Right: My brother, Scott, with his pup Lucy.  She is laser focused on the lake smells in this picture. Bottom Left: Me, my niece, Kenley, and Lucy!  Lucy sure has grown so much from when she was a puppy (see her Chri

We've been talking about a new dishwasher for years !  Our dishwasher (we think) is original to the house which was built in 1999.  It's not a bad dishwasher, but it's been through a lot .  We think the dishwasher used to leak water because the previous homeowner clearly used a ton of yucky plumbers goop on the inside door.  The girly-girl in me has always cringed at the disgusting, brown gooey substance spread around the inside (seriously, was that mess really necessary?)  Yet all this time the practical side of me has dismissed that goop because, well, the dishwasher wasn't broken.   Fast forward to last week... the spring on the dishwasher door broke!  The door was very loosy-goosy and if you weren't careful it would SLAM into your shins.  Both Jordan and I experienced this several times!  That was the last straw.  We decided it was time to get a new dishwasher. Our dishwasher shopping began at Home Depot.  There are SO many choices when it comes to appl

I've continued to have fun with my Tombow calligraphy markers that I talked about on my Tombow Watercolor post.  Pinterest is rich with unique and interesting art!  I've found that it's extremely relaxing to sit down and doodle with my markers while sipping quality wine and listening to some music.  It makes for a messy kitchen table but I feel very chill and in my own element! The only new piece of art I have to share is this "hustle" poster I made for a friend.  I began by playing with the texture of watercolor paper (verses usually using "media" paper).  The water and markers react completely different depending on the surface and paper.  I ended up with this woodland-ish doodle. Leaves are probably not the most interesting focus, but I had fun playing with the different shades of greens and browns along with the various textures of leaves.  I have so many shades of markers so it was a great opportunity to use them all!  For fun, I even