The Balancing Act: May 2009

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Landscaping Day 2

Look at my cute little patio! Just enough room for a table and chairs and a grill, and lots of leftover room in the yard for grass for Bella. Yeah!

Next up... new fence! Coming this way over the weekend...

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Landscaping Day 1

This is what my back yard looked like when I left the house this morning...

This is what it looked like when I came home at 4:00pm...

And here's how it looked by the end of the day...

We had a wonderful long Memorial Day weekend - how was yours? We spent a couple of days in Tecumseh with my parents. My mother and I worked our buns off making dance recital costumes for the YMCA dance recital in June. It was hard work, but fun! Hop on over HERE to check out our progress...

Then on Saturday night we headed to South Haven. We had a lovely, relaxing mini-vacation. We ate lots of good food, drank yummy drinks, and spent a ton of time outside with Bella. I didn't want it to end!

Here we are on Sunday morning - all ready for some South Haven fun!

Here's the view walking over the bridge into town...

And here's Bella - waiting for a treat...

Lucky for her there's a doggy boutique in South Haven and she always gets a "Lab Love Cookie" from there when we're in town...

She also got a new toy.... SPOILED!

After some shopping in town and a yummy lunch, we headed back to the condo. It was a little too chilly to be down on the beach, so we set up shop on the deck. It was HOT...

YUM! Potato chips and pina coladas! Nutritious, no????

As the afternoon passed us by and things started to cool off, we headed down to the beach with Bella for some frisbee action.

Last summer she was just a baby puppy, and a little bit scared of the water. We have no doubts that she's going to show her true colors as a water dog this summer!

We went to dinner at The Vineyard... such delicious pizza!

On Sunday we slept in (yay for sleeping in!) then headed to Cousins for a yummy diner-style breakfast al fresco...

We spend the rest of the day walking outside, doing a little more shopping (you know I love to shop!) and sipping drinks on the deck before heading home. What a wonderful weekend! I so needed a break from the "real world." Hope your weekend was as lovely as ours!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Hurry Up, Weekend!

The Memorial Day weekend can't come any faster!

Actually, it's funny that I'm craving the long weekend when the first couple of days will be spent making tutus!!! Mum and I are making the costumes for the YMCA dance recital and will be having a two-day sewing session this weekend. It's a lot of work - but it's fun to do something together. Sensitive, right?

Sunday and Monday we'll be in South Haven at Travis' parents' condo. This will be the first year it's been just the two of us there for Memorial Day. We've pledged to make it a mini vacation and eat well, drink well, and spend lots of time together outdoors.

I can't wait!

Monday, May 18, 2009

Adventures with George...

Allow me to introduce...

George the Garmin!

Travis has wanted a GPS for a long time. We drive a lot, and one of the two of us is sort of navigationally challenged (hint, it's not Travis!) so he figured it would be a good investment. Not to mention re-routing during all of the summer construction would be AMAZING.

So, after much hm-ing and haw-ing over a period of several months, we went out and purchased one this weekend! And yes, we named it George. I mean, it does need a name - it talks to us after all!

Of course we had to try him out right away. So off we went...

Road trip worthy snacks in tow...

And had George navigate us to Countryside Greenhouses in Allendale!!!

I love greenhouses. I actually worked in one in college (KSP shout-out to YOU, Stacy!) which was sometimes fun, sometimes not, but I for sure LOVE to visit them. I love wandering around the colorful greenhouses, smelling the herbs, and feeling good about spring and better weather.

Oh, and I like to buy things there too...

We picked up some hanging baskets for our front and back yards, some annuals for the front yard, and a variety of herbs for our garden. I'm excited to get it all planted (or hung - in the case of the baskets) - the trickiest part of all this is going to be finding the TIME to get out and garden this week - I'm just swamped!

Monday, May 11, 2009

A whole lot of Lily... and a few cupcakes, too!

Saturday was Lily's first birthday party - and we had a WONDERFUL time planning and having her party. It was cupcake themed!

Heather and I made and decorated five different kinds of cupcakes - it was our first foray into cupcake-ing and it was a lot of fun!

We were proud of how everything came out, and even had some folks interested in placing an order with us for THEIR birthday party! Do I see a side business in our future??...