My brother and I were blessed with an amazing mother. Seriously. When I think about how she spent 8 hours a day at work to come home and run me to my practices for piano, dance, show choir, jazz band, volleyball, girl scouts, etc., it exhausts me. I honestly do not know how she had the energy to do it. Not to mention she cooked all of the meals (including different variations of some dishes because I don't like taco seasoning, or meat loaf, etc.), cleaned the entire house every week, managed the finances, did the grocery shopping, etc. I have always appreciated my mother, but as I have matured and have my own 8-5 p.m. job, I am amazed by her.
In honor of her amazingness, Shane and I decided to get her a very special Mother's Day gift and to make her a feast fit for a queen - which turned out to be brats/hot dogs, pasta salad, baked beans and deviled eggs. :) Before we sat down to eat, we gave her her gift:
I have not been very faithful to my posting the past few weeks. It has just been non-stop going!
A few weekends ago Ben and I decided to paint our main entertaining room & bedroom. We finally narrowed down our colors, bought the samples and tested them out. We used French Grey and Warm Caramel for the walls in our entertaining room and Atmospheric for our bedroom. The results are beautiful! I'm hoping in the next week or two to do a post with pictures of our house and I will include some in there. As a preview, here is the following before/after pictures in the living room:
Before
After
Grover appreciates the new set up and has happily found his perch:
After our exhausting weekend of painting and clean up, we headed into a short work week. Ben and I had Good Friday off and welcomed my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, & wonderful nieces into our home for some respite from their drive down from Minneapolis. We enjoyed smoothies and play time at the park. They headed down to Ft. Madison around 1 p.m. and Ben and I followed later.
Our time in Ft. Madison was fun and relaxing. We went to a candy-pick up in the park with the girls for Easter, shared delicious meals, and enjoyed the outdoors. It was a perfectly beautiful weekend. Unfortunately, I didn't take very man pictures, but I did find this gem on my phone of Nina & me:
A little blurry, but still so sweet! :)
On Easter Sunday, we had lunch with my mom, Clif, my brother and his girlfriend. We have the tradition of feasting on ribs on Easter and thankfully we had gorgeous weather for grilling. Before, during and after dinner we enjoyed each other's company and conversation.
Ben and I both enjoy all of the time we spend with our families. There never seems to be enough time with any of them. The weekends pass so quickly and then we are back up to Cedar Rapids and to work. On our way home from our Easter weekend, Ben and I both agreed that while we would have enjoyed being somewhere besides the mid-west, we love that we are able to take a two hour trip south to see our parents/siblings. Ben's siblings are a bit further away, but with social media we are able to stay in touch a bit more easily. That will, of course, never replace our face-to-face time, but it helps us to stay close.
Another thing we have discussed is how lucky we are that we both truly enjoy our in-laws. Thanks, families, for being awesome. :)
I never did get around to how wonderful our Christmas was this year.
Our tree! It was given to us for free by my work.
They had it stored under an old elevator & it smelled so they bought a new one.
This aired out for a week and ta-da! No more smelly!
It was an exciting year for both of us since we hadn't had a Christmas close to family since we'd been married. Happily, all of Ben's siblings & significant others were able to gather at Ben's parents' home in Ft. Madison.
Ben, Andy, me, Tescia
(Photo courtesy of Tescia)
Prior to our travel to FM, my brother-in-law, Andy, and his gf, Tescia, stopped by for a visit. Most of our time was spent sitting around the Christmas tree telling stories and catching up. Tescia brought the world's largest box of cookies & a case of wine, so we were set for good times. ;)
Can't take them anywhere. . .
Trip to Iowa City to show Tescia Andy's old stomping grounds.
After their departure, Ben and I had our own Christmas. We cooked a delicious, healthy shrimp Mediterranean pasta for supper, turned on the xmas tunes, and enjoyed a glass of wine. When we opened gifts, Grover was excited to receive new, yummy treats, Ben was excited for his $$$ to invest in an electric acoustic guitar, and I was excited to get my groove on with my new Kinnect & dance games!
This is how I presented Ben's $ for a guitar. :)
I had to work until noon on Christmas Eve, so we weren't able to get to Ben's parents' home until close to supper on Christmas Eve. Bri was the only one home when we arrived, so we took a minute to unload our things and check out the newly remodeled basement. (It's awesome, btw). When everyone else returned from church, we were greeted with many hugs and smiles. We soon were indulging in appetizers and fine wine. When everyone was hungry, we sat down to a meal of oyster stew or chicken noodle soup (whichever you prefer).
Story time!
(Photo courtesy of Tescia)
Before the Kara and Nina went to bed on Christmas Eve, Glenda read us all The Night Before Christmas. Kara helped Glenda to remember to show us all the pictures. Her concern was adorable and made us all chuckle. :)
Photos from Christmas Eve:
We had matching bows!
(Photo courtesy of Tescia)
Nina watching Ben play his new guitar.
(Photo courtesy of Tescia)
Beautiful fireplace! Andy and Jon were looking for Santa!
Or lighting a fire. . . whatever.
(Photo courtesy of Tescia)
Keith, Nina & Kara
(Photo courtesy of Tescia)
Glenda & the girls.
(Photo courtesy of Tescia)
Jamie, Nina, Kara, Keith
Andy, Nina & me
(Photo courtesy of Tescia)
Andy & Tescia
(Photo courtesy of Tescia)
Nina was very curious.
I think we have a musician on our hands!
(Photo courtesy of Tescia)
Love Kara's face in this picture!
(Photo courtesy of Tescia)
The girls LOVED the train!
(Photo courtesy of Tescia)
Glenda playing a bit on Ben's guitar.
Christmas Day began with French toast casserole, then presents galore! It was fun to see Kara and Nina get excited about their presents from Santa. Kara received play make-up and my goodness, she was in love!
Playing with the girls and their Santa gifts.
(Photo courtesy of Tescia)
After gifts and thanks were given, Ben and I headed over to my mom's house for lunch. We arrived early enough to help her cook and get things ready for company. I really regret that we didn't pull out a camera, or even our phones, to capture our time spent with Ma, Clif and Shane. We enjoyed our meal, opened gifts, and then Ben and I headed back to his parents' house.
Here is what we did with the rest of our Christmas Day night:
Bill & Jon boxing
Bri, Jamie & Andy dancing to Applause
Tescia & Andy boxing
Needless to say, everyone was sore the next day.
I look forward to many more happy holidays with our families.
I have always taken great pride in my country which is why the 4th is one of my favorite holidays. I love seeing fellow Americans celebrate their country and the men and women who have made our celebrations possible. The National Anthem moves me to tears almost every time I hear it and I believe the most honorable job you can have is serving our country. I am so proud of my brother and friends Katie and Ashlie for their service and dedication to the US. :)
Happy Mother's Day to all of you special women at there! I feel truly blessed to have such an amazing mother! I know everyone says that, but my mom really IS amazing.
Helping me get ready for my wedding!
Here are some reasons why:
She always put my brother and me first. I was high maintenance. I wanted to be involved in a bajillion things and she always encouraged it. Piano, volleyball, dance, gymnastics (which included competitions that took up multiple weekends), show choir, band, jazz band, flag/marching band, kids clinics, camps, etc. On top of that she wen on field trips with my school from elementary up through high school, she volunteered and helped at different events, she was an active member of the PTA, etc. This is all on top of working a full-time job with an hour each way commute every morning and evening. The weekends offered no respite. There were competitions and performances which she never missed. And on top of THAT she had to deal with cranky me at 3 a.m. putting rollers in my hair for show choir or just cranky me taking my frustrations out on her because I was stressed. Poor Ma. . . Honestly, I don't know how she did it. All of this junk + working + still making supper each night + maintaining her sanity? I only hope I can be that awesome.
Ma always made things fun for Shane and me. We would play games inside and out, she would take us to movies or to get ice cream, she would play Barbies with me and listen to me read. (Even when I had to ask her over and over what the word 'all' was. It's a hard one, it is.) She would take us on vacations every other year and put up with me whining about being hot. I was a poor sport at Disney, I'll tell ya. . .
A car was far off and heading our way so Ma grabbed our hands and started running.
The car drove by like a minute later and we just laughed.
Ma can always make me laugh. Shane, too. If you get the three of us together it can be a bit ridiculous. We might say one word and bust out laughing because of an inside joke we have. She is also silly and spacey, much like me, and we laugh at our blond moments together. We also both laugh when people die in movies. Horrible, but whatever.
Ma-in-a-bag
I can call my mom 4 times in one day (and have text here in between) and she will STILL pick up every call. I have literally called her to apologize for 'my crazy' before.
Yes. We are this nerdy.
She still spoils both Shane and me. I don't like taco seasoning very well, so she will use salsa instead in the taco salad. Shane likes cornflakes on top of the crazy potatoes, so she uses that instead of crackers. I like chocolate chip cookies without chocolate chips and she will make a few for me. Shane really likes lemon cake and she will make it for him. She spoils us with more than food, too, but those are the ones that the hubs comments on the most. :)
Ma doing a reading at my wedding.
She does sweet things to let you know she is thinking of you. Maybe it is a nice text or phone call or a random card with a Starbucks gift card for a coffee on her. Or she calls you to let you know she is having your fave ice cream or coffee and to let you know it tastes real good. :)
As previously mentioned here, Ben and I added St. George's Day to our growing list of traditions we want to keep and follow. We learned of St. George's Day from a Spanish friend. He said that on said day you give the person you love a book and a single flower. How wonderful! Since Ben and I both think that Valentine's Day is crap (you should show love to your spouse/significant other every day), and because we both LOVE to read, we penciled it in on the calendar.
Our sweet new reads and loverly flowers!
We decided to go to the book store together instead of purchasing a book beforehand. We took about an hour looking through the books at Borders (for lack of a better option), and when we had made our decision on what to get the other we met at the cash register and showed each other our selections. Ben chose When She Woke by Hillary Jordan, for me and I chose The Man in the Rockefeller Suit: The Astonishing Rise and Spectacular Fall of a Serial Impostor by Mark Seal, for him. Ben also grabbed a copy of Hamlet since we will be going to the American Players Theater this fall to see it.
After we selected our books we walked to Lime Tree which is one of our favorites here in Dubai. They have delicious desserts, interesting eats and tasty smoothies and coffee. I love, love, love going there for breakfast! We talked about our book selections and started to mentally prepare for our big move coming up.
After finishing breakfast, we walked to the flower shop where we picked out two flowers to take home. The guy working wrapped them up for us and we started quoting Love Actually between us and giggling because he was taking so long. We didn't mind, though.
Our first St. George's Day was wonderful. It isn't actually until the 23rd, so we celebrated a bit early. We loved searching for a book for the other and taking time to slow down. We are already looking forward to doing this again but will go to a used book store, if possible, to search for hidden treasures. Pearl S. Buck is one of my favorite authors and I love finding old, old copies of her books. Bonus if they still have a dust cover! Plus, older, used books have more character. I blame our love for used book stores on our high school teacher, Mrs. Fahey. :)
There are many things in Dubai that can make your jaw drop and/or make you feel you are living in a completely different world. A whole new world filled with lots of shiny, pretty things that still surprise this small town girl.
Example:
Vehicle in the 41th (joke) U.A.E. National Day
December 2, 2012
(No idea why I can't get rid of this space ^ )
I have gotten used to expecting extravagance in everything around me, although I am still shocked by it at times, and was thrilled when I became a part of that extravagance. Since the world didn't end on the December 21st, we celebrated Dubai style with our fellow colleagues. The event was held at Atlantis on the Palm Jumeirah. (The Palm is a man-made island if you hadn't heard of it.) We were picked up in a redneck limo (school bus) and arrived safely at our venue. It was a bit chilly and windy, so we were happy to find that the event had been moved indoors.
Front entrance.
When you walked around the back of the building, there were heat lamps and fancy cocktail tables set up, as well as pretty Chinese lanterns and the ocean was a few steps away. We were greeted with fresh juice or beer before even entering the building. Ben was asked his age - hilarious. When we got inside I was floored with how gorgeous it was.
Front entrance hall.
Is this for work or a fancy-pants wedding? !!!
After I recovered from my initial shock, I grabbed a glass of wine and socialized. You had to be careful with alcohol because the servers would walk around and refill your glass without you noticing. The food was ok, desserts were tasty and the company was fantastic!
Ben was trying to keep his booze out of the picture. Fail.
I understand that in larger cities in the U.S. this may be a regular thing to be expected each year from employers, but this isn't what I normally expect!! They also gave away lap tops, a 3D tv, mini iPads, smart phones, and gift certificates. Not too shabby. . . Apparently they have another one of these shindigz at the end of the year so I am excited to see if it can match/top this one!
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