Girls' weekend...

All my best college girlfriends came to visit me at my place for the end of my spring break.  What a treat to have so much love!  We went to my new fave downtown place, Seven Saints, for lunch and enjoyed the beautiful downtown Champaign weather.  We got some photos taken in downtown and out at Westside Park.  Then, we painted at The Pottery Place for a few hours.  It was a fun way to be creative while spending quality time with friends.  We watched chick flicks and stayed up late.  The girsl and I all got up early for a big french toast, eggs and bacon breakfast and made our way together to church. And, would you believe it that we made it on time with that many girls?  We ended the short get-together by eating out at City Girl's frozen yogurt and eating it outside in the glorious sunshine we've been having lately.  So much fun with the girlies!

You got to love the out-of-focus picture taken by random stranger...

Another out-of-focus picture with a poor frame taken by a stranger.  My personal fave is the keys hanging out of both pockets coupled with Jessi's refusal to look at the camera...silliness.

Spring break recap

Spring break was fabulous.... here are my highlights...

Friday night- Jimmy John's picnic dinner compliments of my brother along with a nice stroll around the park.  I introduced my brother Ben to the movie Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief (He later read the first two books of the series.)

Saturday- Flat Top Grille with the hubby and FIL.  My hubby rarely dines on campus because he doesn't like all the student congestion. Luckily, they were also on spring break.  So, I got a special treat!  We ended the night with Cocomero and a movie with the SIL and BIL.  We watched My Week with Marilyn in our basement.

Sunday- picnic lunch with old co-workers out at Meadowbrook park

Monday- lunch out at Black Dog with Megan and a pedicure afternoon complete with Jarlings and a walk around Hessel park

Tuesday- nothing really notable

Wednesday- all day shopping marathon with Jessi.  We shopped til we dropped... we started at Maurices, then Kohls, moved on to Bed, Bath and Beyond, took a pit stop at Olive Garden.  We hit up Dollar Tree and Michaels and even though we parted, I hit up Meijer to get some awesome coupon deals.

Thursday- I visited my future ducks and bunny session site and visited a possible bridal shower prospect both in Camargo, IL.  I ended the night watching a funny chick flick.

Friday- spontaneous dinner out with Sandy at Panera- after five hours of cleaning my place.

So to recap, it was a really nice week!!

See Sat-Sunday in my later post.

Trying new things...

My blogging instincts have certainly been sub-par lately.  I haven't been taking pictures of each event I've done lately.  Today I had a good time with my friend Megan having lunch at Black Dog, a local bbq restaurant & bar in Urbana.  The meat was very moist but the bbq "red sauce" wasn't my fave.   Megan also exposed me to a new place to get a pedicure.  I was a bit bummed that the girl who does nail polish design was out, but the massage chair and foot spa was well worth the $25 I spent.  It was nice to give Urbana some business today!!

I got my Jarling's fix today after all and got to enjoy a fantastic stroll around Hessel Park with Megan.  I also got to ride in her fancy new vehicle!

My sister Teresa called me when I got back just in time to hang out.  We picked up Cooper from getting his haircut... so short!

Teresa and I walked a happy dog around the park and then we spent a couple of hours scrapbooking.  What a perfect way to start spring break!!

A little too much sun...

My friend and former co-worker invited me to a picnic lunch after church.  Chris and I enjoyed catching up with old friends: Jackie, Brian and their two kids as well as my friend Trisha.  We sat out enjoying the glorious weather for two hours from 1-3. My skin couldn't quite take all the exposure and turned a lobster's shade of red.  I now have a beautiful raccoon face and farmer's tan lines but the time together was so fun.  On the way home, Chris and I tried to hit up Jarling's but the line must of been 20 minutes long at least- better luck next time.  Smoothie King soothed our sweet-tooth instead.  Cooper slept in Chris' arms most of the way home but he did open his eyes for a pose for the camera.

We had a nice night together, relaxing and we slept through er watched "Tin Tin".  It wasn't quite enough to keep my attention but I'm sure that little kids would love it.

St. Patrick's Day

The only really remote thing that I did to celebrate this world-wide holiday was to put a little green in my bowl at Flat Top Grill.  Chris and I had a nice date night planned that Chris' dad crashed joined.  Lol, I'm only kidding, he was very welcome (he even footed the bill).  We, in turn, got to treat him to some Cocomero frozen yogurt.  LOVE THAT PLACE!  We had a family movie night watching, "My Week with Marilyn".  Michael, Stephanie, Olivia and Gideon even came over for some theatre experience in our basement.  Although, Gideon did nap upstairs and Olivia in the bedroom next door.  But, all were here for the experience! ;-)

My date trying edimame

Picnic with the bro

My brother brought me some Jimmy Johns for dinner!  What a great life I lead when my brother will take such good care of me!  We had a nice picnic dinner outside with Cooper begging at the bottom of the picnic table the entire time. ;-) We went on a walk and I exposed Ben to the movie "Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief".  I enjoy watching that show every time!!

Date night at Longhorn

Sandy showed up at my doorstep with flowers.  It totally made my night.  She always brings out the fun side of me.  And, I need to be less serious and have fun!

Dinner was great at Longhorn, she had never been there before and I thought it was pretty great that I could expose her to such a nice food experience.

Dinner for Three

Amy & Troy gave me the pleasure of their company for dinner this evening.  It was so great seeing them even if poor little Troy probably had some discomfort because of his freshly scraped face poor little guy.  He was so fun and it was nice getting to catch up with Amy.  I had never been to Seven Saints before and I thoroughly enjoyed their waffle fries and grilled chicken salad sandwich.  I highly recommend it and anticipate taking others back.  Amy, it's been way too long and I hope we can do this more frequently!!  ;-)

Getting ready to say goodbye after a lovely dinner date!

Congratulations!

My students have been working hard this year on improving their literacy skills!  I've been encouraging students to enjoy reading by providing a bit of an extrinsic motivator!  If they read 25 books, they get a prize out of my prize box.  If they read 50, they get lunch on/with me!  Well, today Austyn finally did it... he read 25 books.  I wanted to get the others students  jealous  pumped too so I made this sign on my board to announce it to the rest of the crew!  Lets see what the next few weeks bring!!

Christina's New Place

My sister Christina and her fiance just bought a new place in Lovington, IL.

She had me, my hubby and my siblings over for dinner at the new place.  

The boys all lounged on the floor...

While us girls looked on from the furniture!

Danah visit

My girlfriend from ISU, Danah, came to visit me on Sunday. I was quite impressed at our spontaneous get-together.  Usually getting together with this girl requires an "advanced reservation." She and her hubby drove down from Chicago-area.  We went to a late lunch at Billy Barooz and then took a nice stroll around my neighborhood.  It was such a beautiful weather day and it meant the world that she would take time to come hang out with me.  Our visit was short and it was hard to say good-bye but I'll see her again in two weeks! Can't wait!!

Stroll around the park

We had exceptionally good weather today and the hubster and I decided to take a stroll around the park.  We drove around Lake of the Woods trying to find the botanical gardens that I've been hearing about.  We found it but it was looking pretty brown.  Hopefully in the next few weeks it will liven up a bit and look just stunning for an upcoming photo shoot.  But, as for the boys and I, we had a blast exploring!

Sexy post.... not for young eyes...

Lol, did I grab your attention?  Of course, this is and will always be a PG rated blog but I did want to give a heads up that this one is more "mature" in nature.

I was at the Kelly Clarkson concert Saturday night (post coming later) when I was introduced to Matt Nathanson.  I've been listening to his new album, Modern Love and I really like Run with Sugarland.  This song is very intimate.   So, moral of the story is if you want to turn your spouse on just simply play this song.