little bit of life

It has been nearly 2 MONTHS since I posted a "Coming Soon" post.  I guess I'm awesome on follow up. . . ha.

We have had such a busy summer with family/friends visiting our home or us visiting theirs, weddings, and other shenanigans, that my blogging has really fallen by the wayside.  I'm actually fairly disappointed in myself for this because I do very much enjoy writing posts.  It's a nice creative outlet and/or hobby.

Another time consumer this summer has been the sweet new updates for our home.  I finally feel like it is becoming ours instead of just . . . ours.  Our own personalities and such are coming out in our home and it makes it feel a bit more cozy.  We actually have BEDS to fill our spare bedrooms and have finished painting a large majority of the areas we wanted to change.  The challenge now is deciding where to hang things.  We patched all of the nail holes prior to painting, so driving a nail into the wall breaks my soul a bit.  Mistakes cannot be made and we need to know for sure we want something there FOREVER.  Maybe it isn't that serious. . . 

Speaking of decor, I recently had a yard sale and disposed of most of my Hobby Lobby style decorations.  Ben and I both agree that we want to decorate our home with things that are meaningful to us and not just pretty.  Or not pretty at all, but are full of meaning! So far we have hung a poster from the American Players Theater because that is where we went on our mini-honeymoon, and a pencil drawing of an old man without teeth in that looks strikingly like my Grampaw Sparrow.  As we save up a bit more money and get a few more things framed, our home will be a reflection of who we are and what we have done. I love it!

Once we have all of the house painted and things hung and what not, I will post before and after pictures.  It is already wowing when you see the transformation of just the living room! (I think).

Before

After
(Plus I have some cute, gauzy white curtains hanging now - and no pictures sitting on the floor)

For life as of now, Ben has started his 2nd school year at Prairie Crest Elementary as their k-4 music teacher and I am staring my 2nd semester at Iowa AND I am no longer on probation for being a horrible student!!!  YAY!

Life is good.

Neglect

It is evident by looking at the date of my last blog post that I have severely neglected the blog.  Sorry blog.  

We have been running around so much on the weekends that I just haven't gotten a chance to really sit down and type about life. I would actually have to go back and read the last post in order to know where, exactly, I left off! 

This post is not going to be anything other than a "Coming Soon" message.  

So. . . 

COMING SOON!  MORE POSTS!

2 weeks - 1 post

It has been a couple weeks since my last post.  Since the 28th, we have had many things happen.  Some happy, like Ben completing his master's program, and some not so happy, like our transmission going out of our car. (Is that proper use of punctuation and sentence structure?  I don't care.  I'm too tired.)

As I mentioned, Ben has successfully completed his masters program and received an A on his final project or paper or presentation or whatever.  SO proud of him!!  To celebrate, we went for supper at R.G. Books in Cedar Rapids.  Ben ordered a 12 oz. steak and it was huge.  He was very excited.  He grudgingly allowed me a bite and it was delicious.  Otherwise, he ate the entire thing.  I was impressed. . . 

Continuing with education, my wonderful mother has completed her first year of college!! It is amazing to see how much she has grown and the confidence she has gained from this experience.  It is also amazing how quickly that year went by!  I always tells her to enjoy her time as a college student, because as soon as you are at a job 40 hours a week you really envy the freedom of the student life.  I would LOVE to go to the gym in the middle of the day for a couple hours, or sleep in until 8 a.m. and study with a cup of coffee.  Ben agrees, so I know I'm not alone in that thought.

And again with education: I am officially signed up for summer and fall classes at the University of Iowa!!!!  I have wanted to be able to say I have a bachelor's in something (anything!) as well as to be able to say that I'm a true Hawkeye and Iowa Alumni.  Insha'Allah, that will be a reality in the spring of 2016.  I'm excited and nervous for classes to start.  I keep having these dreams that I have skipped class the entire semester and am down to finals week and if I don't pass the class then I don't graduate.  I'm nervous to fail. 

Even when we have crazy schedules, we always try and fit in a "family dinner" at least one night a week.  Since it is finally warming up, we are breaking in the grill!  We had everyone over this week to make kabobs and socialize.  I also like to use the time for some baby lovins from my sweet Goddaughter:

Sweet nugget! :)

Aren't they precious?!

 Switching gears to Mother's Day, I was able to celebrate with my mother in Cedar Rapids.  She came up on Saturday and stayed through mid-day on Sunday.  We did a bit of light shopping and then went for a 5 mile ish bike ride.  Ben and I then took mom out to the Lincoln Wine Bar which is my absolute favorite place.  Ma has been wanting to try it and they had a cellist playing so we decided to go.  It was crowded, but comfortable and we enjoyed delicious food and quality music.  After supper, we went to a local ice cream place for some soft-serve and ended the night with a movie. 

On Sunday, we had a leisurely morning and ma went with me to grab some groceries. She had marinated salmon and brought it up, so we fixed that, asparagus and rice for lunch.  Absolutely amazing! Ben and I will be making that same dish in the near future.

I am so blessed to have such a truly wonderful mother.  I love her so much and always get a little down whenever she leaves or we have to leave her.  There really is never enough time.  

On a final note, I leave you with this picture of Ben.  We took a car full of large objects to the dump during city dump day and Ben had to practically sit on the steering wheel.  Not safe, really, but makes for a funny picture. :)

Surprise piano!

I play piano.  I have wanted a piano since moving out of my parents' house and leaving behind the green beast upright that weighs a bazillion pounds.  Well, on Saturday, April 26, 2014, I came home to a piano in my living room!

Piano as I found it when I came home!

My darling husband surprised me with this beauty out of the blue! He coordinated with our friends so that he could (1) get the piano to our house; (2) get me out of the house; and (3) have help in getting the piano up our hill and through the front door.  Well, he succeeded on all fronts.  I had NO idea that this is what he was doing!  

Earlier in the week Ben mentioned doing lunch and beers with a couple of our guy friends at a nearby bar he had been wanting to try.  I thought that sounded great and I would either chill at home or see what Johnna was up to.  Johnna beat me to the punch by asking if I would want to run errands with her and Maelynn. 

Saturday I showered and headed out with Johnna.  Ben was getting ready to leave at the same time, too, and when he forgot the address to the house so he could pick up the piano, he was sure I thought something was going on.  I didn't think anything of it.

When we were getting close to the house after our errands, Johnna had me call Ben to see if he'd help carry in the bags.  Danny and him were sitting out on the patio waiting for our return.  They helped us carry in the bags and when I walked in I did a double take and exclaimed "WHOA!".  My initial thought was, "Who are we storing this for?".  

What surprised me almost as much as the piano, was that Ben kept it a secret! He did say something midweek about how now that he has his guitar, we need to get me a musical instrument.  He also had told me that on Saturday he would have a surprise for me, but I had completely forgotten.  He received the piano from a student's parent.  They asked him if he knew anyone who wanted a piano and he said that he would take it.  He explained that I have played for years and have wanted one for a very long time.  The piano was in her family for three generations, but her sons didn't want it so they were looking to get rid of it.  Now it is ours.  :)

Doesn't this just make you want to snuggle up with a book and tea? 

Now we have the piano set up in our entertaining area and it has made the room that much more cozy.  I love it!  I especially love my romantic husband who so thoughtfully orchestrated all of this!

My happy place! 

RULES: 

1.  NO pounding on the keys.

2.  NO food or drink to be set on the piano. Anywhere.

3.  NO chop sticks. 

4.  NO making fun of my doily.

:)

Easter Weekend +

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. :)