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Album Review: Phillip Phillips "The World From The Side Of The Moon"

FINALLY, "American Idol" winner Phillip Phillips released his first album, "The World from the Side of the Moon". I absolutely loved this guy on the show... I think his takes on some pretty big songs were really great. If you like Dave Matthews Band, you'll love him. He also sounds a little bit like Mumford & Sons at times... it's a unique blend. I was really worried that coming off the show they would try to "popify" him, but they really let him stay true to his sound and unique style. This is definitely a must buy album (a great stocking stuffer)!

Favorite songs: "Home" and "Get Up Get Down"

Movie Review: Lincoln

Last night my parents, Mike, and I went out to dinner and the movies - we saw "Lincoln".

Director: Steven Spielberg

Main Actors: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, and Tommy Lee Jones

Synopsis: (from IMDb) In 1865, as the American Civil War winds inexorably toward conclusion, U.S. president Abraham Lincoln endeavors to achieve passage of the landmark constitutional amendment which will forever ban slavery from the United States. However, his task is a race against time, for peace may come at any time, and if it comes before the amendment is passed, the returning southern states will stop it before it can become law. Lincoln must, by almost any means possible, obtain enough votes from a recalcitrant Congress before peace arrives and it is too late. Yet the president is torn, as an early peace would save thousands of lives. As the nation confronts its conscience over the freedom of its entire population, Lincoln faces his own crisis of conscience -- end slavery or end the war.

Rating: Overall, this was a good movie. I think it ran a little long and was a bit drawn out. Daniel Day-Lewis played a phenomenal role... he brought Abraham Lincoln to life. Mike and I were talking in the car on the way home and almost wish that rather than the story of the end of the war and slavery they would have focused the storyline on the Emancipation Proclamation (which is far more interesting in our opinions). The acting was very good and it was neat to see so many familiar faces make appearances (John Hawkes from "Deadwood" and Walton Goggins from "Justified") in unique roles. Tommy Lee Jones was amazing as well. This is definitely a movie you should see, although I don't know that it has to be seen in the theater - it might be nicer at home.

Needs More Cowbell

This evening as I was driving home from work, "Don't Fear The Reaper" by Blue Öyster Cult came on the radio. Thanks to this lovely SNL sketch, I can't listen to this song without thinking of Will Ferrell and Christopher Walken. You're welcome.

I don't know what it is, but there's something about Will Ferrell playing cowbell in a too-tight shirt that seriously cracks me up every time I see it. And every time I hear the song, I listen in for the cowbell.

Click HERE to see the video (scroll to the bottom of the page - it's the last video).

Good night!

Kati's Baby Shower!

Yesterday Mom, Elizabeth (Kati's SIL), and I threw Kati's baby shower! It was really fun! Kati and Nate are decorating the room with lavender as well as butterflies and flowers, so we kept to that theme for the shower.

Welcome banner

We played several different games - the nursery rhyme game (fill in the blanks), the basket game (they get to look and then have to write as many items down as they can remember), and my favorite, the "When Will My Water Break" game? We froze little babies in glasses and each player had to write down the time she thought her water would break (the ice around the baby melted). It was a fun twist to the normal game where people try to melt theirs the fastest - there was some serious strategy going on!

Frozen Babies

Kati & Her Loot!

One Of The Quilts Mom Made Kati

Now for the people shots:

Mom, Kati, & I

Dad, Kati, & Aunt Sandi

Me, Mom, Kati, Cyndy, & Elizabeth

The weather was absolutely beautiful and I think everyone had fun! Another event that went off without a hitch! I swear, my friends and family are giving me lots of event planning practice with all these babies and weddings! :)

Things I Love: Wilson Sleek Cell Phone Signal Booster

You all know I live in a fairly rural area and work in the city. I spend about two hours a day in the car. Those of you who have ever called me during my commute know that about seven or eight times in that trip I usually lose cell reception.

I decided to give the Wilson Sleek a try.

I'm typically a little leery of those "as seen on TV" products, but this is one that actually works! First of all, it's super easy to install. I took a little more time because I ran the wires all nice under the plastic pieces. I bought the goose neck suction cup thingy for my window because I don't really have a great flat spot on my dash.

I was amazed at how well this thing works! There is still one spot on my drive that I drop calls, but this does exactly what it says - it takes everywhere that there is signal and amplifies it. You can't make something out of nothing, so that one spot must have absolutely no signal (it's right when you're behind a hill, so I suspect that the signal gets blocked).

This has made my drive much nicer (now I can listen to music OR talk to people). If you do a lot of driving, this is a definite must!

Book Review: War Brides

I know, it looks like I read a zillion books in like 2 days - in reality, I was too lazy to post them all while I was on sabbatical. The next book is "War Brides" by Helen Bryan.This book was a top seller that I tried on a whim... A very rewarding whim!

Synopsis: (from amazon.com)

With war threatening to spread from Europe to England, the sleepy village of Crowmarsh Priors settles into a new sort of normal: Evacuees from London are billeted in local homes. Nightly air raids become grimly mundane. The tightening vice of rationing curtails every comfort. Men leave to fight and die. And five women forge an unlikely bond of friendship that will change their lives forever.

Alice Osbourne, the stolid daughter of the late vicar, is reeling from the news that Richard Fairfax broke their engagement to marry Evangeline Fontaine, an American girl from the Deep South. Evangeline’s arrival causes a stir in the village—but not the chaos that would ensue if they knew her motives for being there. Scrappy Elsie Pigeon is among the poor of London who see the evacuations as a chance to escape a life of destitution. Another new arrival is Tanni Zayman, a young Jewish girl who fled the horrors of Europe and now waits with her newborn son, certain that the rest of her family is safe and bound to show up any day. And then there’s Frances Falconleigh, a madcap, fearless debutante whose father is determined to keep her in the countryside and out of the papers.

As the war and its relentless hardships intensify around them, the same struggles that threaten to rip apart their lives also bring the five closer together. They draw strength from one another to defeat formidable enemies—hunger, falling bombs, the looming threat of a Nazi invasion, and a traitor in their midst—and find remarkable strength within themselves to help their friends. Theirs is a war-forged loyalty that will outlast the fiercest battle and endure years and distance.

 

When four of the women return to Crowmarsh Priors for a VE Day celebration fifty years later, television cameras focus on the heartwarming story of these old women as war brides of a bygone age, but miss the more newsworthy angle. The women’s mission is not to commemorate or remember—they’ve returned to settle a score and avenge one of their own.

 

I loved the story. The more you read, the more you fell in love with each woman, with her different quirky characteristics. I absolutely loved how the book ended... it is and isn't what you would think. Definitely a two thumbs up for this one!

Book Review: Blue Violet

Recently a good friend of mine published a book. How awesome is that?! Even more amazingly, she is self publishing, meaning that she is basically in charge of the whole process from start to finish, including design, format, price, distribution, marketing, and PR. All on top of writing the book itself! The day it came out on Kindle, I bought it and started reading! The book is called "Blue Violet" by Abigail Owen (that's my friend's pen name).

Synopsis: (from amazon.com)

When Ellie Aubrey leaves her only remaining family and moves to Colorado, she knows she's risking her life. But she can't ignore the possibility of what she might find there. What she didn't expect to encounter was a bewildering connection to one smolderingly sexy Alex Jenner. But when Ellie's worst nightmare comes true and threatens to destroy everything she holds dear, she must fight to save those she loves most. Even if it means sacrificing herself by revealing a terrible truth... sometimes not all monsters are make believe.
 

 Like I said above, I finished the book in 3 days... that means it's good! I loved her character development (you really start to like these people) and how the storyline grew. This book draws you in with a mix of magic, romance, and adventure. The ending left me wanting more, but in the good way... the first thing I did when I got back to work was march over to her desk and ask when she's going to be done with book #2 (early 2013 for those of you asking)!

If you have the chance, head over to Amazon.com to buy this book - it's priced at $0.99, which is a steal! When you finish, leave a review... she would love the feedback!

All Good Things Must Come To An End

Or so they say. Yup, my eight week sabbatical is over! Thursday was my first day back at work, and true to Intel tradition, my cube was "decorated". I walked in to find the whole thing saran wrapped - as well as everything in it. They also loaded it up with 60 balloons and four boxes of Cheez-It's! I really do have an awesome team!

My Cube!

Sabbatical was really wonderful - I went back to work so relaxed and refreshed! I can't believe how much I did on sabbatical - the trip to Europe, house boating with the girls, cleaning and reorganizing the whole house, and lots of reading and relaxing. It was amazing! I really do live the most wonderful life!

I did get a little bored at the end (my husband wasn't home for the entire last month), so it was nice to go back to work and actually be around people! It really was the perfect amount of time off!

Strange Critter

Well, it's been a while since we've had anything interesting on our game camera, so I've taken to photographing the critters in the immediate vicinity of our house. The other night this little guy scared the crap out of me... I think it's some sort of albino praying mantis.

Albino Mantis?

I Shall Call Him Fred.

Anyone out there have some idea as to what he is?

Girls Gone Not So Wild

My summer of fun has continued (I've been lame about posting... to be brutally honest, I've been either too busy or too lazy depending on the day).

Last weekend I was invited to join my best friends on the houseboat at Lake Oroville. It was a really fun, really HOT weekend with the girls... we spent a lot of time in the water to get cooled off!

Here are Brigitte and I with our cool cups (everyone had one for the weekend and it had their name on it - the washable, reusable solution to red solo cups that doubled as a souvenir!). Notice anything in this picture? :)

We Got Photo Bombed!

As always, I packed my box of Cheez-Its. If you don't know, my family is obsessed with Cheez-Its - my sister went so far as to serve them at her wedding (at the bar, of course)! I make a point to have them almost everywhere with me (a box at home, a box in my car, and a box at work).

They Make Life Good!

I didn't really take any pictures beyond that first night there... as it turns out, I was terrified to get my new camera anywhere near the water, and I was too busy playing to take any. It's not a bad problem to have. We spent the rest of the weekend floating, jet skiing, and hanging out. It was such a blast!

In other sad lake news, we had to postpone our yearly trip to Lake Almanor. There's a great big fire burning up there right now and it's pretty bad. I'm really bummed because it would have been a really nice way to close out sabbatical (just under 2 weeks left), but I suppose some more time at home to clean up and hang out is not a terrible thing either!

Today I spent the day at Kati's house working on the nursery with her. I can't wait to meet my new little niece! We painted the crib, the changing table, and cleaned up the room. Now all it needs is a new window and some pretty lavender paint on the walls!

New Blankenheims

Apprently this is the part of sabbatical where I get bored and start adopting animals.

Without further ado, meet the two newest members of the Blankenheim family...

CeeLo

Lucia

Yup, I named a bird CeeLo. He seriously reminds me of him. And Kati named the girl (at least I think she's a girl) for me - because she's the color of St. Lucia.

So far Shadow is indifferent. We'll see how long that lasts.

Concert Review: Aerosmith

Well, better late than never. Sorry... time flies when you're on sabbatical!

Last Saturday we headed to the Oakland Arena for the Cheap Trick and Aerosmith concert.

Aerosmith Stage Setup

All in all, the show was really good. I was not that impressed with Cheap Trick... probably because I don't really know their songs. Ok, I only know one song. "I Want You To Want Me"... and even then, I realized I didn't know the words besides the chorus.

Aerosmith, on the other hand, was awesome. They did some new music and lots of old favorites. The one part of the show that we didn't love was there was a middle section where Steven Tyler went off stage and Joe Perry did some solo stuff... let me tell you, there's a reason why Steven Tyler is the front man. I have to say, Steven Tyler really rocks. I mean, the man is 64 years old and still sounds fantastic and bounces all over the stage. He hit the high notes in "Dream On" and everything!

I had a blast hanging out with Mom, Dad, Kati, Adam and Chuck! Good times all around!

Twitter

Well, I'm back on the Twitter bandwagon. To say "back on" is a little bit generous... I was never really into it to begin with. That said, I was browsing through the posts tonight and a lot of my favorite cyclists are on there, so I figured I would give it another try.

So, faithful few, how many of you Tweet? Any recommendations for a "newbie"?

Babies!

No, I'm not pregnant.

My sister, however, is. And after a lot of anticipation, we finally found out that Mike and I are going to have a brand new baby niece in December! I was lucky enough to get two nieces and four nephews when I married Mike, but this will be the first niece that I get to squish love from birth!

In other baby news, look what I found just outside our living room door... note the little beak to the left of the big bird on the left. They are so cute and both of them sat their for their photograph!

Mama & Papa Bird

I love having birds nest around the house... the poop gets annoying, but I can't bring myself to mess up the nests. It's so cute to hear the babies chirping for food!

So far sabbatical is going really well. I could get used to the life of leisure! I love going to the pool in the morning (9-10am) and getting a good swim in without a ton of people there. And I've now started a couple of the around the house projects I want to get done. Shadow is definitely a happy pup too - he's been laying around helping while I work.

Life is good!

Concert Review: Barenaked Ladies

Last night I went to see a concert with Adam and Eva (my uncle and aunt). It was at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga.
Here's a picture of the venue - we were in the general admission seats and were probably 5-6 rows back from the top. Not a bad view!

Mountain Winery Stage

I really liked how intimate this venue was... and the weather was absolutely wonderful, which made it a great night to sit outside.

The first group up was Cracker. The one song of theirs that I did recognize was "Low" (pop it into iTunes - you've probably heard it as well), but I did enjoy listening to their other music.

After Cracker came Big Head Todd and the Monsters. First of all, how great is that name? Secondly, they absolutely rocked. He actually came out and starting into this very bluesy sounding song. All of our heads were bobbing along when we realized that it was a cover of "I'm Sexy And I Know It" by LMFAO! It was absolutely amazing!

After Big Head came Blues Traveler. I was a little bummed because their lead singer John Popper had a cold and sounded pretty terrible, however, that guy can PLAY harmonica. Like really, really well. They did all of their classics ("Hook" & "Run Around") as well as some of their lesser known music. They were awesome!

Finally, Barenaked Ladies finished out the night. I had no idea, but they actually sing the theme song to the "Big Bang Theory" TV show... I knew it sounded familiar! They too, did all of their classics ("One Week", "If I Had $1,000,000" and "Brian Wilson"). The also did a new song called "Boomerang"... we loved it! My favorite part had to have been their finale... they did a big gigantic mash up of cover songs. It was spectacular!

Did I mention that they called this tour the "Last Summer on Earth Tour"? I love it! This was an awesome show and a really fun night out!

Tour de Europe

We're back! Now that my brain and body are finally in the same time zone (seriously, it was harder coming home than going there), I figured I'd put together a summary post. Check out my Facebook page for all of the pictures - I'm so glad we had our new camera - I took almost 2,000 photos!
Switzerland was absolutely amazing. In fact, I'd say it was one of my favorite parts of the trip. We spent a couple days hiking around the Interlaken valley and really enjoyed the Swiss Alps. The pictures and views were breathtaking! It reminded me a lot of Yosemite, only much much bigger! We spent our few days there doing some serious hiking and had some of the most amazing times! I loved the long hike we did on our 2nd day there - we were literally out all day long... hiking, snacking, and enjoying the beautiful scenery.

Beautiful Waterfall

The Amazing Mountains

In addition to a fantastic trip, I've also crossed another item off my bucket list - riding up the Alp d'Huez:

Buy a house - completed 2007

Get married - completed 2011

Run a marathon - completed 2012

Ride my bike up the Alp d'Huez - completed 2012

Own a horse

Have babies

Climb Half Dome

See the Fall on the East coast

Visit Africa

Visit Australia

Let me tell you, I'm so glad I did the marathon earlier this year. I hadn't trained very much for this ride, but the running definitely helped beef up my cardiovascular health! This was incredibly hard for me, but a really cool experience. I'm so proud to have this one checked off! And I bought a really cool jersey as a memento!

The Switchbacks Of Alp d'Huez

After that, we watched stage 16 of the Tour de France which was one of the big mountain stages. This was my first experience watching a huge race like this (before I had only seen the Amgen Tour of California) and it was quite a spectacle. About an hour before the riders came through, they had a parade. A serious parade. They threw all sorts of fun stuff at us (sausage, candy, magnets, hats, etc) and the cars were all decorated like parade floats. Then we saw the helicopter come over the ridge and the riders were right behind them! They were absolutely flying down the hill into town... it was so much fun to see!

Float In The Parade

Thomas Voeckler - The Winner Of Stage 16

After watching the Tour, we drove up to Caen to see some of the famous places in Normandy. One of the things I love about going to Europe is how much history is there. Everywhere you look there is an old building or a marker. And the history goes so far back! I had really wanted to see the D-Day battlefields (Mike had been before and said it was breathtaking). Breathtaking does not even begin to describe it. We went to the Caen Museum the first day we were there and caught up on the history... but standing on those beaches, knowing what happened there gave me goosebumps. It was also really touching to go see the American Cemetery.

Omaha Beach

American Cemetery

We finished the trip in Paris. One of the first things we did there was watch the last stage of the 2012 Tour de France. We headed out to camp out along the finishing route around 10am and got some great spots. It was seriously awesome to see the pros riding so incredibly fast down the streets of the Champs-Élysées. We also did some of the touristy sight seeing and made some time to head out to visit the World War I trenches of the Somme.

Us In Paris

Tour de France Finish

This trip was an amazingly fun adventure with my husband that I will never forget!

The Big Day

It's rare that I do any blogging about work, but today I have to give great praise to Intel. In just a few hours, I begin my sabbatical. That's right - 8 weeks off, paid, with no work to do. Time to have fun and recharge. I absolutely can't wait! The beauty is that I get one of these for every 7 years that I work here! What a great benefit!

Seven years ago, it seemed like I would never get to sabbatical... yet, here it is! We've got a great trip planned, I've got a bunch of concerts to go to, and some fun projects around the house that I've wanted to work on for a while.

Happy day!

New Camera

Wow... what a difference a new camera makes! I decided to be a big girl and get a "real" camera... not just point and click, but a DSLR camera. That's basically fancy talk for "you can now totally screw up your pictures". I went with the Canon EOS Rebel T3i and so far I LOVE it. I've only had it for 2 hours, but I just went outside and shot these pictures (with no photography experience):

Woodpecker Feeding It's Baby

My Handsome Boy

This Looks Like An SPCA Commercial

Action Shot. Look At Those Ears Fly!

Ant

Oleanders

Hydrangeas

Seriously, this thing is awesome. I need to read the 400 page manual though! This is going to ROCK in Europe!!!

Wicked Review

Mike and I received tickets to see "Wicked" as one of our wedding gifts (great idea, isn't it?!). We went last Saturday night and had a great dinner at Cafeteria 15L and then walked over to the Community Center Theater for the show.

Synopsis: (from www.wickedthemusical.co.uk)

"Wicked" tells the incredible untold story of an unlikely but profound friendship between two girls who first meet as sorcery students at Shiz University: the blonde and very popular Glinda and a misunderstood green girl, Elphaba.

Following an encounter with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, their friendship reaches a crossroads and their lives take very different paths. Glinda's unflinching desire for popularity sees her seduced by power while Elphaba's determination to remain true to herself, and to those around her, will have unexpected and shocking consequences for her future. Their extraordinary adventures in Oz will ultimately see them fulfil their destinies as Glinda The Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.

I absolutely love this story. It tells you how both Glinda and the Wicked Witch of the West became what they were in "The Wizard of Oz". In fact, next to "Phantom of the Opera", this may be one of my favorite musicals. The music is really great - my favorite song was "Defying Gravity". I also really liked "I'm Not That Girl". I had read the book years ago, and I actually think I like how Elphaba is portrayed in the musical a little better. In the book, she truly becomes wicked (rightfully so), while the musical makes her a little more likeable.

If "Wicked" comes to your town, I would definitely recommend getting tickets to see it. It's funny, heartfelt, and a story about true friendship. This was a really great night out and we had the perfect seats. Thanks Chris!

Bucket List Additions

I've decided that it's just about time for me to update my bucket list - having only one thing left on it sort of made me feel like I should be 98 years old and in a movie starring Ryan Gosling. I still have more to add eventually, but this is a much better start. 

• Buy a house - completed 2007
• Get married - completed 2011
• Run a marathon - completed 2012
• Own a horse
• Have babies
• Ride my bike up the Alp d'Huez
• Climb Half Dome
• See the Fall on the East coast
• Visit Africa
• Visit Australia

San Diego Rock 'n Roll Marathon Recap

Well folks, like I said in my super short post on Sunday, I ran a marathon. It wasn't exactly what I expected or how I planned, but I did it. My final time was 5 hours, 44 minutes.

My Finisher's Medal

When we got to San Diego on Saturday, we headed over to the expo to pick up my shirt, swag bag and race packet. I was really excited about the shirt... these ones were pretty awesome:

Awesome Shirts!

After that, we headed over to our hotel to check in. The girls at the front desk were all excited when they found out who I was (ok, it's really much less celebrity like than it sounds). My parents, sister and brother-in-law had sent me an edible arrangement! It was such a great idea because real flowers would have probably messed with my allergies and this was FANTASTIC after the race!

My "Flowers"

Here's what I look like at 4am the morning of a race... absolutely petrified.

Pre-race Picture

The run started at 6:15am, but by the time my corral crossed the starting line, it was around 6:45am. I could not have asked for more perfect weather - it was cloudy (hello June gloom!) and cool, with a slight breeze once we got near the water. The first 9 miles felt fantastic - I was running my pace, I felt good and I was really enjoying the scenery.

Then, at mile 9, disaster struck. We were running on the freeway (they close down a chunk of the 163 for the race) when my stomach really started to bother me. Like the "you need to stop at this nice blue porta potty on the side of the 163" bother me. From mile 9 all the way through mile 26, I was in serious pain. I visited many of the conveniently placed porta potties along the route. At mile 15, I called Mike. I told him I was sick and didn't know what to do. He told me to keep putting one foot in front of the other. That's exactly what I did for the next 17 miles. I am so proud of myself for continuing on when I know a lot of people would have stopped. And I love Mike so much for telling me to keep going, even though he could hear how badly I was hurting and knew (from personal experience) how long 17 miles can be.

Now, on a lighter note, here are some of the funny signs I saw along the way:

"Run faster mommy, I'm tired of holding this sign" (held by a cute little boy)

"This sounded like a good idea 6 months ago"

"Don't stop - people are watching you"

"Tomorrow you'll think this was fun"



Believe it or not, I'm really glad I had this experience. This was honestly my worst fear going into the run and it actually happened. But I survived, I kept running and I didn't give up. Yes, my time wasn't what I was aiming for, but I feel like I overcame a lot more than just a time goal. This whole process has been quite a journey and has tought me a lot about what I can handle both physically and mentally. I'd like to send a great big thank you out to everyone who called, texted, facebooked or emailed me encouragement... I read each and every one and appreciate it!

Finally, something I've been waiting to do for a long time... cross this one off the bucket list (and apparently start thinking of some other things to add to it!):

• Own a horse
• Buy a house - completed 2007
• Run a marathon - completed 2012
• Get married - completed 2011

I Ran A Marathon Today

Holy crap, that was hard. Like really, really hard. I ran into some tummy troubles at mile 9 and became well aquatinted with the blue porta potties for the rest of the race. It hurt, it was awful and I wanted to quit more than anything. But I didn't and I finished. I'm so proud of myself! More when we get home and I have some great pictures!

Reflections On Running

I can't believe the marathon is finally almost here. Back in December when I signed up, it almost didn't feel like it would ever get here... June was so far away. Well, it's here. Today I ran my final training run and this coming Sunday I'll be running a marathon.

Because I'm a bit of a nerd, I've kept track of all of my mileage. Since the first training run back in December, I've run a total of 496 miles. To put that into perspective, it's 502 miles from Sacramento to San Diego. That's right, I've run the distance I'll have to travel to my marathon.

I've spent the last few days teetering back and forth between being extremely excited and completely scared to death. Then I think about the journey that this has been and I'm so happy that I'm doing it. I've put blood, sweat and tears (literally on all three of those - my foot bled through my sock this morning) into this. Running has been a place for me to think, free therapy, and a place for some good laughs (my goat pacer anyone?). I've also learned a lot about my body (red sauce + running = bad) along with the fact that it's ok to crap in bushes (still haven't had to do it, but I carry TP in my pack!).

I think of all of the runs I've done - the runs in the cold, in the hot, in the rain. I think of the sore joints, the pulled muscles, the stomach cramps and the blisters. I think of the crazy hills. All of that is going to make running in San Diego like running in paradise. I'm so proud of all of the work I've put in and I'm going to do my best to get past my famous nerves and to really enjoy myself. I want to take in the sights, listen to the bands and just run. In fact, that's been my little mantra lately... just run. And keep running.

Anyways, sorry for the sort of rambling post. I'm nervous, but I'm ready. It's been a great journey. One more day of work and then I get to spend three days in my home away from home!

Brand New Patio

I know, I know... it's been far too long. Sorry folks, life has been busy! My marathon training has taken up a lot of time (more on that tomorrow) and in our spare time, Mike and I have been working in the yard a lot. Ready to see the fruits of our labor? Keep in mind that it's still a work in progress. Here's what the patio looked like before:

Patio Before

Drumroll please....

Patio After

Keep in mind it's seriously still a work in progress - like there won't be electrical cords running to the waterfall (there will be a switch at the house). Nor will there be sand all over the tiles - we've got that on there to fill in the gaps as it settles. We got new furniture for it as well - nice wrought iron that is easy to hose off when the oak trees decide to do their thing (pollen, leaves, etc).

Did I mention that I have a working waterfall in my backyard?!

Our Waterfall!!!

I love it. All of the rocks are from our property and I plan on planting all sorts of pretty things around it to grow. We're aiming for the "jungle" look - like it's wild. I can't wait!

Ok, I promise better updates... four more days until the marathon!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

Yesterday we celebrated Mother's Day with my mama by heading out to the Amador Flower Farm for a picnic and a tour of the gardens. The weather was absolutely beautiful and we had a wonderful time. I even came home with a new day lily for my garden!

Here's a picture of my mama and I... I absolutely LOVE this one!

I Love My Mama!

Enjoying a picnic of roasted chicken, pasta salad, watermelon and mini cranberry pies:

Picnic Time!

The grounds were really pretty, but we were a little early for the day lilies - they don't all really start blooming until around June or July. We've already decided to go back to see it then!

Beautiful Grounds

Had to get pictures with my two favorite guys:

Me And My Daddy

Me And My Hubby

It was an absolutely beautiful time... I'm so happy we got to hang out as a family!

My People

Today we're headed over to the Blankenheim's for a brunch to celebrate all the mamas on that side of the family. Then I think it might be time to come home and take a lazy nap! Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas out there!