Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Things I'm loving right now.....

I love weekends! Weekends became all the more precious to me when I started working full time plus about 18 months ago. Making the most of every minute is important to me. That doesn't necessarily mean to be on the move and have plans the whole weekend, although that happens a lot more than I want. I set priorities! In there somewhere has to include some "me" time since my whole week is giving so much of myself to my job and other obligations.

Last Saturday morning I had about 3 hours of free time before a day full of obligations began. I hopped in the car and headed to a road side stand in Paw Paw to pick up some asparagus. Not exactly in the neighborhood but I enjoyed the drive in the country. And silly as it sounds, I enjoyed picking out my asparagus. I carefully picked through all the spears making sure I had the fattest freshest ones I could find. I walked away with 4 pounds of the best looking asparagus ever.

OK, I still have a few hours of my free time left. I decide to head to the Goodwill store in town. I absolutely LOVE thrift stores. I'm on the hunt for shorts this time. My recent 40 pound weight loss has left me with NO summer clothes. I'm not complaining, it's a wonderful problem to have. And can you believe that I found 6 pairs of shorts! I felt like I hit the jackpot.

On the way home I stop at the Red Brick Coffee Shop. I buy an unsweetened tea when I REALLY wanted a chocolate latte.

Once I'm home I surf the internet for asparagus recipes..... My free time is over.

I LOVE road trips. My favorites are little impromptu rides in the Jeep. Craig always says "Where do you want to go?" and I always say "Take me on roads we've never been before". It's wonderful. But I also love longer planned road trips too. This coming Saturday Craig and I are taking a road trip to Beaver Dam Wisconsin. We are on a mission to pick up something that Craig bought. I'm not going to blog about it until we actually have it in our possession but if you know my husband you know that it probably has a motor. And I will give you another hint.... it's something we'll be able to go for more road trips on.
I'm loving SPRING! Green trees, fresh cut grass, ice tea, my back yard swing, my orioles, not having to wear a coat, flip flops and sandals...

I hope you are loving a lot of things right now and I hope you are finding some "me" time.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

There's a nest in the bird feeder

This is one of my bird feeders. The dinning room/kitchen windows face this feeder in the side yard. In the winter this is one busy feeder. Once the snow begins to melt I stop putting food in this feeder. I don't like the mess it makes in the lawn in the summer so my attention turns to my feeders in the bird garden. Much to my surprise and delight a Momma Robin decided to build a nest and start a family in the feeder.
I am thrilled! I can sit at the dinning room table and have a bird eye view, no pun intended! And I'm sure the view is only going to get better.
Momma is pretty timid and not very tolerant of me opening the widow to get a photo so I haven't got much of a good photo of her yet. Craig said I should set up my camera next to the window and put it on a time elapsed setting while I'm at work. I may give that a try after the eggs hatch. More to follow.......

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Happy Mother's Day

From the minute I opened my eyes this morning..... it was a beautiful day!
Several months ago I bought tickets to the Henderson Castle in Kalamazoo for a Mother's Day surprise for my Mom. I didn't tell her where we were going or what we were doing. It was a total surprise until we turned into the drive of the castle.
Our time there included a tour of the castle complete with the history of this magnificent home. It was built in 1895 and is now a bed and breakfast. We watched a ballet in the ballroom and had a WONDERFUL elegant meal with live music.
Loved being there with my two favorite girls.
We took advantage of this magnificent spring day with the beautiful blossoms and snapped a few photos. Here are some of my favorites.....
Mom & Jordan
My beautiful baby girl... OK, she's not a baby anymore but she IS beautiful.
And my beautiful Momma!
Back at home Seadra was wishing me a Happy Mother's Day too.
And because it was Mother's Day both the kids had to oblige my request for a photo shoot.
Thank you Caleb and Jordan for making me a Momma.