Spring Blooms

Last fall I planted several bulbs - daffodils, tulips, and hyacinth. They are slowly popping up and budding! Here are a few pictures...

Pink Hyacinth - the first one to bloom.

The first daffodil to bloom

A bud on our Korean Spice bush -- these smell awesome when they bloom!

Two doggie noses poking out - trying to see what I'm doing

Just a bland update...

I haven't been a very good blogger lately, but here is a short blog on what I've been up to lately. Last weekend we went to an awesome church retreat up near Ottawa, IL. We spent Friday night there, and then came home Saturday morning. I had a baby shower to attend for a good friend from high school. The shower was at the cutest (and very tasty) cafe in Peoria called Cyd's Cafe. I encourage you to try it sometime! Sunday Sean put together some shelves that arrived from JCPenney. The living room is the next room to receive a slight makeover, so stay tuned for pictures!

Bathroom makeover!

This weekend, I said good-bye to our boring, plain half bathroom...and HELLO to some color!

The before picture....beige, beige, and some more beige...BLAH.

The after picture! It's hard to truly see
the color in the picture, but it's a blue/green/dark teal color.
I love it!!

There is one more final touch that needs to be done - a new faucet. But since Sean was so nice and surprised me with the new kitchen faucet last week, I'll give it awhile before I start asking for the bathroom one to be replaced. :)

Shoeboxes for St. Jude

The final result of our Shoeboxes for St. Jude drive - 130 shoeboxes!! Two co-workers and I took all of these boxes to St. Jude in Peoria....my friend's Tahoe was PACKED! We had to be careful when we opened the back so that no boxes would spill out!



I learned a lot about St. Jude as we made about 4 trips from the car to their offices. Did you know that the next closest St. Jude facility (from Peoria) is Memphis (their headquarters)?!? I thought St. Jude was all over the place, but really they only have a few satellite offices. How lucky are we to live near one?? And the reason that St. Jude has a satellite office in Peoria is thanks to former Mayor Jim Maloof. He was a personal friend of the founder of St. Jude and he convinced his friend that Peoria would be an excellent spot for a satellite office, and he was right! We now have some of the top oncology doctors working close by!

Days 13 & 14...

Delayed...but not forgotten! Last Friday, Sean surprised me with a new kitchen faucet! I've been pining for a replacement for our sub-standard faucet for over two years now. What a difference!

There it is...all shiny and new!

Last September we bought a BIG mirror at IKEA for our family room, and it's finally on the wall! This, too, makes a BIG difference in that room.

We are making progress on our "Home To-Do List". What's next, you ask?? The half bath on our main floor! It's getting a make-over this weekend...stay tuned for pictures!

What dogs do when you leave them for 9 hours...

So much to blog about...

I have a lot to blog about, so I broke it into two different entries - the Vegas pictures are in the next entry below!

It's been a super busy weekend. On Friday night, with some help from good friends, I made 72 of my 'special' cupcakes for my friend Elizabeth's baby shower on Saturday. We didn't NEED 72 cupcakes, but I wanted to provide a variety of flavors (chocolate, french vanilla, and strawberry), so 3 cake mixes made that many!

Sunday evening, my friends and I filled and decorated 17 shoeboxes for St. Jude! The contents of the boxes were donated by a good friend, and all we had to do was decorate, decorate, decorate!

Jamie, Elizabeth, and me cutting, gluing, etc. We had help from two other friends, but they left before I thought to take a picture!

Most of the completed boxes, stacked on my couch.

The shoebox drive is this Wednesday! We're hoping to have around 100 shoeboxes to take to St. Jude!!

On a different note, two weeks ago I interviewed for a Team Manager position, and I'm happy to report that I was selected! Yippee!! I'll start my new job in early April.

I'm off to decorate ONE LAST SHOEBOX!