Happy 1/4 Century Birthday to me!

Here I sit, newly aged to 25 years. My husband is getting a thorough workout on his new Nintendo Wii and I am enjoying a nice view of snow falling. From the time I can remember, I cannot think of it snowing on my Birthday once. I was so happy when I saw it start to fall. What a way to start the day!? My birthday has been rather nice this year.

The festivities all started on Thursday when Tyler had flowers waiting for me when I got home. With my big day so close to Thanksgiving, I never really get to spend much time with my flowers when we travel, so he got them for me early this year. They are beautiful Stargazer Lilies with pink daisies and roses. He even arranged them himself, bow and all :) They are beautiful and more and more are blooming each day. He also had my presents wrapped and ready to go, which I thought was cruel and unusual punishment to be able to see them, but not open them.

Friday kind of snuck up on me. I was ready for the week to be done. The kiddos are already in holiday mode, so it was all for the best that the week was coming to an end. The morning pretty much flew by. 5th Hour was coming to an end and when I dismissed the class, I had a visitor. It was one of my co-workers who "needed computer help". Supposedly, her screen had gone blank when she was entering grades and she didn't know what to do. Now this is a woman who I know can handle computer problems, but this was a major one. So I went down to her room and opened the door and there were my co-workers from my grade who were giving me a Surprise Birthday Lunch. It was so nice. They brought in fruit, chips and salsa, Italian Beef, Brownies and my Quarter Century Cake complete with candles. It was such an unexpected surprise. I have never really had that before for a birthday. And then the kids got wind that it was my birthday and they were singing fools for the rest of the day.

Friday night came and we went to see Stranger than Fiction with Will Farrell. My goodness, that movie was funny, but sad as well. It was a nice change of pace for Mr. Elf.

Saturday, I slept in only to have Tyler tell me that I needed to start the day :) So we got ready and went to Olive Garden for soup, salad and breadsticks. The wait was that of a Christmas weekend, but we snagged a table in the little bistro area and had a nice Lunch. Then we went out and got some wine and appetizers for later. The shrimp we bought were huge and ridiculously priced, but so worth it.

Josh and Audra came over and the boys watched the Ohio State/Michigan game while we went out shopping for a bit. I found a couple pairs of pants that I wanted and then we came back to get ready for dinner. We had 8:00 dinner reservations at SilverCreek. SilverCreek is a beautiful restaurant and the food was great! After we changed into some comfortable clothes, we headed out to Legends Bar and Grill on campus. We knew it wouldn't be too busy and it wasn't. The drinks were good, so all was ok :)

So I feel like I have written a novel already.... more to come later :)

The Crazy Lady

How fitting this picture is... it even looks like me in ways. What can I say? I am the Crazy Lady. Truly. Crazy. I may look ordinary on the outside, but my angry wrinkle says otherwise.

My kids can sense it. They know the crazy lady look. They know when they have gone too far.... they know me all too well. I get a look in my eye and I tend to stare down each little darling one by one. And then slowly, the crazy lady regains some sanity in the room. It happens each year; some years earlier or later than others. This year it is early. Chocolate and Mountain Dew are the remedies of choice. And counseling is looking nice. But what can they do with a truly crazy lady? Once you go crazy, there is no going back. Good luck kiddies :)

But seriously, today was nuts. A true Monday for sure. We had a super relaxing weekend of not doing much of anything. I made lava cake for desert. Tyler made homemade bread. It was nice. We have a half day Wednesday, so I am looking forward to that. Hopefully this week will go by nicely and then I celebrate this weekend and then next week is the Ultimate Food Week :) Yummy!

End of two Seasons... beginning of another...

It is that time of year again... the time of year where we do not know if we will see the ever inspiring Chief again. NCAA says he is hostile. We see him as a sign of loyalty. Tyler and I have closed out another season, well two actually. We were very lucky to have gone to Game 4 of the World Series. It was a spectacular night (cold as can be), but we had a great time. And then today, in 30 degree weather, we watched the Illini lose another football game. This year we got Season tickets for football and had a good time, even though they lost miserably most of the time.

Christmas season is nearing once again. I have the ever faithful list of maybe gifts ready in hand. Trying to shop for so many can be a challenge, but I take it on and try to do a nice job with it. We were in TN for Thanksgiving and IL for Christmas, so I should have some good shopping opportunities.

Also, the first weekend of December, I am taking an album class from Miss Ali Edwards herself! I am taking her Perspectives class. I see it as being a time for reflection before I move into the next stage of my life. I turn 25 in a week and we are buying a house in the Spring, so I see this as good of a time as any to reflect back on where I came from and where I am going. I am completely psyched about meeting this creative force. I need to really sit down and work on the "homework" before I get too busy to do a nice job on it before the class.

That same day we are going to a showing of "It's a Wonderful Life" at the local theatre in town. We are taking Tyler's parents with us. They started a tradition decades ago about watching this movie for the holidays, and we thought it would be nice to see it on the big screen.

Creativity is calling, so I am heading out. Thanks for reading... whoever you are :)

-L