Phin loves Grandma, Grandma loves Phin

My furbabies LOVE that grandma and grandpa are in town. They get really spoiled, get to eat just about everything, get to spend all day roaming the house and the backyard, etc.

My Phin loves his grandma almost as much as he loves me. They love spending time together. I'm so glad she doesn't get tired of his affections.

Thank goodness for grandparents.

Father's Day Visit

We visited with my FIL on Father's Day. It ended up being an awesome day... we went thrifting, ate at our favorite place in Sterling, spent some much needed time on the back porch and helped finish my in-laws bedroom remodel. 

Here are a few pictures from the day!

I can't wait to show you some of my thrift finds. I got a bunch of great deals!

Photo Shoot

Sorry for my delay in posting this week. My parents are in town, I'm participating in my face-to-face sessions for the CDF course I'm in and J has been sick -- allergies/summer cold/chest congestion and dental work! So, I apologize!

Last week while J and Twin were out bowling, the boys and I had some fun with a photo shoot!

Here are my not professional tips to getting a good shot of your favorite furry friend.

1. Keep your camera handy -- you never know when they'll do something extra cute.
2. Get on their level/change your angle -- I chose to get on the floor with them and crawl around behind them. I also like shooting from above them (like standing on a chair above them).
3. Use natural lighting/no flash -- you can capture better expressions and clearer eyes this way. I opened the blinds and curtains and turned off most artificial light in the room.
4. Go outside -- I prefer outside shots of furbabies, but mine go crazy when outside, so I chose to shoot inside this time.

I hate how the TV is coming out of his head, had I rotated, I could've eliminated that.

What are some other tips you have for me?

New Countertops, Anyone?

Since we're getting new flooring, I agreed to NO projects for one year. Well, it was a year from last June, so my year is almost up, but I think J might need another year before undergoing any other major projects. Trust me, I am ready for bead board.

In the meantime, I managed to squeeze in a small project. We remodeled the kitchen last May, but we didn't have enough money for new counter-tops. We re-vamped the floors last May, too, but we knew it was a temporary fix. Since we're now getting new flooring in the kitchen, it's also time for new counter-tops...but we don't have enough saved for a new counter-top to go along with my new floor. Our awesome friends told us about a new paint technique you can apply to your counter-tops to replicate granite. We decided to give it a go. If it's horrible, we'll have to get new counter-tops sooner than later. If it works, we hit the jack-pot.

The 30lb box of goodies arrived yesterday. Can't wait to get started!

My dad is going to take point on this when he gets here this weekend. Fingers crossed that it works out!!

Lemonberry Fizzle

Some stormy summer nights, you just need a sweet lemon treat. Enter my Lemonberry Fizzle.

Have you ever heard of Annie's Eats? I love her recipes and I found her lemon blueberry cupcake recipe the other day and thought I'd give it a try.

Thank you, Annie. Not quite the same as the one I had from The Flying Cupcake, but it was still really great!

You can follow her recipe, but here are some of my pictures...

Ice them and eat!

YUM-O!

What a day?!?!

My Monday was a Manic Monday... wooooooo... just another Manic Monday!

I got a coveted spot at the upcoming Whatever Craft Weekend and then had to transfer it to another person right away. Leave it to me to get so excited that I totally forget a very important family event. Regardless, I am so so sad. But I keep reminding myself what a blessed life I live if that is my biggest heartbreak. Plus, I hope it made the day of the woman who took my spot. I am letting myself be mad that I won't be meeting two of my favorite bloggers, Ashley Ann and Meg. Maybe next time... tear*

My online class is up and running in full swing. I'm learning a lot but it is kind of intense...not gonna lie.

I'm planning two, seemingly easy, but VERY time consuming events at work which are eating away at my time.

All I want to do is love on Phin and he wants NOTHING to do with it.

I can't WAIT to see my mom and dad this Saturday. Can't come soon enough.

I want Qdoba, bad, like really bad.

I just bought some pretty awesome shoes for Kenya... waterproof shoes... all black. Pure beauty. You know you want some....

I bought enough OTC drugs for a small nation today.. all in the effort of keeping me healthy and clean while in Africa. I should be prepared!

After two long years of saving, we're finally getting new flooring throughout our entire home. Dark Chocolate Mahogany hard wood for the kitchen, entryway, dining room and upstairs living room... tan/beige carpet everywhere else (except the unfinished laundry area). I'm really looking forward to it. Tonight we went and selected the final colors and got estimates on arrival dates of the flooring. That also means that we've been busy touching up the baseboards and painting the few things that need painted (fireplace, etc). Now we just have to decide how we want to structure the install... days in a row versus spread out.

It's actually darker than this in real life... maybe this is the wrong picture??

I also worked a 10 hr day, which is uncommon for this time of year. It was just a crazy Monday. I really hope today... and the rest of the week...settle down.

Oh -- and we won 2/3 of our volleyball games last week! We're doing great!

My first harvest!

I am happy to announce that I harvested from my garden for the first time on Saturday! We harvested some kale, chard and romaine. I had a lot of romaine.. so much that I took some to my in-laws. We'll all be eating organic, home-grown romaine for the next few days.

Freshly harvested food are best in the first 5 days after picking, so I've got a few more days to eat up before I need to go pick some more. It was just unreal... the garden didn't look any thinner after we harvested, than it did before! Crazy! Phin enjoyed the ride to the garden and I just really like the  blurry artistic feel of this picture!

And, because it is almost my 1 year anniversary of being vegetarian, I decided to treat myself to a corn dog! ... A meatless corn dog, but boy was it a good one!! Thank you, Trader Joe's!

Happy Monday!