Forcing Spring to come

Our winter is officially over. And it was a bad one this year (for Texas). We had the most frozen days ever! But it is nice to see the 60s and 70s again. Everywhere I go, I see hints of spring popping up. Stores are forcing it upon us and I am not fighting it.

I have prepped our garden plot.
I have brought out the Spring decor.

We have started leaving the windows open!
I am ready for Spring!

I was going through a Homes and Gardens magazine and ran across this outdoor shed. It is really blurry but it gave me an idea for our shed. The window is framed out by a quaint sign and a window box. I can do that, I thought.


This is my attempt at a "quaint" sign.




Next up, window box...

We are the champions!!

Since the end of November I have spent every Tuesday night and Saturday afternoon with a great set of girls - The Sting. I was a coach with UPWARD basketball and we did great and ended with a record of 10-2 .... the best record in our division.

The last game ended with a last second shot, and we lost. Tears were shed but I was kind of happy to see that there is a passion for the game that most of them had never played. They are able to see the potential in themselves and the meaning of teamwork.



I also never knew that 4th-6th grade games/parents/referees could be so fierce!

Powder room Re-do

A few weeks ago I hinted about plans for a new upstairs bathroom. Well, I have been working on it VERY slowly... and its still not completely done but here is a sneak peak at our almost done new bathroom.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The color is a light grey but it looks purple sometimes which I love! The original color was all white walls and as part of the makeover, I painted the walls yellow. But I did not like it. So I painted again. That is part of the reason it has taken so long.

I mentioned that it is not completely done. The black and while checkered floor that you see has not been installed. There is some apprehension about tiling under the toilet...we have not had good luck with toilets around here.

Also, the faucet has not been replaced.

Finally, I want to extend the molding that abruptly stops at the mirror.

I will be sure to post those changes later but for now, ENJOY!

Linked to:

Project Green Thumb

I am soooo bad with plants. I kill everything. My mom bought me this awesome big flowering cactus...and I killed it, a cactus...in texas! Somehow, I am now in charge of the community garden at work. Needless to say, I am learning as I go.

This month we had an Indoor Seeding event in which we planted seeds in cups so that we can transplant them later. The group planted about 80 0f these babies.


Then the tough part came....I had to take some (half) home!

I spent some time watering and creating a faux green house around them. Then, two weeks later, we had a meeting at work and the person that took the other half said "I am not a gardener so what do I do with all the plants that are coming up?"

My. heart. fell. Hers were growing and mine were not. I just looked last night. Everyone gave their two sense while I silently moped.

I got home late and after dinner, I started to wipe the countertops (where the "greenhouse" was sitting) and pathetically lifted the trashbag knowing full well that there was nothing there last night.

BUT THERE WAS! A whole bunch of them sprouted over night!!


As per instruction, I moved those that sprouted nearer to a light source. They now sit happily on our window sill. See.


Moral of the story.... its never to late to learn...or, keep on truckin'.... or, it takes practice..... whatever!!! I did it. Low lets see if I can keep them alive for a couple more weeks......

shopping spree

Warning.....this is a girly post.

My birthday gift this year was a shopping spree! I was so excited to have mom and meg come up to shop with me. I really did not have an agenda or list of things I "needed" so it was one long spontaneous shopping day.

List of new items:

• multicolored dress
• blue bracelets
• gold earrings
• vintage looking pink blouse
• pink hoop earrings
• pink and white floral bracelets
• turquoise suede boots
• black leather ruffle jacket
• blue silk blouse
• navy and white dress
• teal cross body purse
• purple and black silk tunic top
• pink lace blouse
  

much of what I bought can be mixed and matched. Also, I did take some of what I already had at home into consideration. I have TONS of purple so I tried to stay away from that. And, I bought whole outfits, jewelry and all. Many times I buy something I like thinking " I'll find something for that" but I never do.

Just thought I would share my shopping finds with you! Thanks for all you actively and financially participated in making this day possible..... ;)

Gracious Alive, I'm 25!

On snow day, my parents still managed to drive up and get me out of work an hour earlier. We spent the first night hanging out and playing some Banana Grams. The next day, was my birthday. We got up early and opened lots of presents. Keeping with the shopping spree theme, they added lots of great clothes to my growing wardrobe. Lots of it was workout clothes that even with a shopping spree I would never buy myself. Then, Neil brought in the BIG 70lb. gift from the shed. I had no idea what it was but it was another great buy!


An elliptical! Over Thanksgiving in Iowa, I fell in love with an elliptical. I mentioned it once and figured they were out of our price range. Well, this is a very simple one that still manages to keep distance, time, etc. Such a great gift! Thanks Neil!

Also, I started P90X .... too many pushups!

We went shopping all day, took a break to go to my basketball game, which we won by one!, and back shopping and then we met the guys at a new restaurant-Heitmiller Steakhouse. It.was.good. I am the only one that did not order steak but everything was so good. We will visit again soon.

And of course no birthday is complete without a birthday cake. They surprised me with Sundae Ice Cream cake!

Birthday Surprise

Friday, Feb. 4th was our snow day. you know the one that I had to go to work on. Well after going 20mph and taking 30 minutes (it usually takes 15) to get to work, I was welcomed by this view.



My office space was decorated to fun by all the girls in the office the day before so even though I didn't want to go to work that morning, I am glad I did. Thanks girls!

Snow Day!...original, I know.

We got snow this past week. I realized later that it snowed during February last year too! Yes, the city shut down and yes I had to go to work.

We woke up to about three inches in our backyard. It was sooo pretty! But I also have to say that I am glad this is not a regular occurrence! There are NO plows in Waco and they have one truck that throws sand?? on the main roads. But we are not on the main roads so I basically had to pave the way to work as I passed three cars in ditches within 5 minutes from our house.









It was nice while it lasted. It snowed all the way to San Antonio. The next day it was 65!