The Big Day Approaches!

Only two more days until my husband's a college grad!!!! I am SO proud of him (and I am SO excited for our families to come visit us)! I will be sure to post pictures of the ceremony, luncheon, etc.

For those of you who will be joining us, we can't wait to see you!!

Happy Mother's Day!

All right; since Mother's Day is May 11th, I thought I'd write 11 things that I absolutely love about my mom (and yes, I shamelessly stole this idea from my sister-in-law Nancy! :) )

1. My mom is without a doubt the most generous person I know. She really epitomizes the saying, "It is better to give than receive."

2. Holidays are SO magical at her house. Seriously, I love Christmas now almost as much as I did as a kid--all because my mom goes out of her way to recreate a feeling of "magic." Christmas is my favorite holiday because of this!

3. She's my best friend; even in high school, she was the one I could tell everything to, and we hardly ever fought. I was always surprised by my friends complaining about their moms; I just sat there thinking, My mom is awesome; I don't have anything to complain about!

4. She went out of her way to give me the fairy-tale wedding of my dreams! I had the most wonderful day that I could ever imagine, and I couldn't have done it without her (and my dad, of course). She and my dad also went out of their way to ensure that I would be able to continue my college education at the university of my choice, even though UW-Madison was super expensive!

5. She is so kind and loving, especially to the "underdogs." If she hears of a child or animal in trouble, she does whatever she can to help.

6. Speaking of animals, even though she's not a "cat person" per se, she is so loving towards our "baby," Maxine. She always makes her feel welcome when we come home for Christmas.

7. She's always available to talk whenever I need her.

8. She's an amazingly talented musician, and I'm so glad I learned to play piano from her, the best of the best!

9. She's so optimistic, even if something in her life doesn't go exactly as planned, she refuses to dwell on the negative and instead focuses on all the good in her life.

10. She's so funny; she has such a good sense of humor.

11. She is still so stylish and full of life, and sometimes I think she has more energy than I do! She is my inspiration for how I want to be when I'm older.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that I love my mother more than words can say.

To Gail, my wonderful mother-in-law: Thank you for raising the most wonderful man I've ever met. He's everything I ever hoped my soulmate would be: loving, respectful, intelligent, kind, ambitious, funny, and faithful. If I raise a son only half as well as you did, I will be blessed. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful mother-in-law. I love you.

Happy Mother's Day to all!

Now it's really starting to feel like summer

Yesterday was so nice; I think it was in the low 70s. So I came home from work as soon as possible, poured myself a glass of red wine (Lambrusco, of course) and sat out on our patio reading Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire. It was so relaxing; I think I was out there for a couple hours, and it was so nice to just be outside in the fresh air. I even put Maxine on a leash (which normally she doesn't like) so she could scamper around the patio without me worrying that she'll run off (not that she's ever done this, but I don't want to risk it!) She had a good time exploring all the nooks and crannies of our patio/garden.

Weekend Update

Well, not that there's much to update, LOL. We didn't really do much, but that's ok; sometimes it's nice to just relax. I got my bathroom clean (woohoo!) and our living room tidied up. Oh, and we spent a TON of time looking for a coffee table. We got our tax rebate from the government (the "Bush Bucks") on Friday, and we were planning on being responsible with half of it and using it towards debt, and then using the other half for a new coffee table and end tables. Well I found a perfect coffee table: solid wood, exactly the color of the trim on our couch, etc., but it was 425 dollars! That's not too bad, I guess, but then I'd also want the matching end tables, which are 325 each. So that's WAY over the 600 we budgeted for ourselves.....grrr. So now I need to decide if I want the coffee table without the end tables, or if I should just look for something different (and cheaper).

Then yesterday we went to the Hines house for dinner like we usually do on Sunday. It was a lot of fun (as always) :).

Made of Honor

This was actually a pretty good movie! I'm glad I only paid matinee price for it, but still :) Tracy called around 3 today and asked if I wanted to go with her and the girls to see it at 5:15. I said sure, since I was kinda curious to see it, but I knew Dan would never want to go (it's ok; I don't want to go see Ironman, either, and that's next up on his list!) So it was pretty cute. A pretty predictable romantic comedy, but Patrick Dempsey was hilarious (he's really growing on me! I originally didn't get what people saw in him, but the more I see him on screen, the more I understand his appeal!) and there were some really cool songs. Oh, and the scenery was GORGEOUS (half of the movie took place in Scotland). So it was definitely cute, but not a "must-see" or anything. Still, I'm glad I saw it.

Other than that, I don't know what our plans are for this weekend. I still want to see Baby Mama and Prom Night, but Dan's busy studying for finals, so I don't know if he will want to go and do anything. We'll still grill out on Sunday at the Hines' house, like we always do :)

Other than that, I'll probably finish Harry Potter, Book 4. I NEVER thought I would be so obsessed with these books! People always raved about them, and I just thought, eh, I have no desire to really read that. Well, after my friends Liz and Meghan kept badgering me about how I had to read them, I gave in, and WOW. I breezed through the first three books in about a week and a half, and now I'm on Book 4; I just can't put them down! She is such an amazing writer, and these books truly are for people of ANY age, not just kids. I can now finally see what all the excitement is about, and I totally agree!