Secrets!

I am a really, really terrible secret keeper.  Well... not about all things... but certainly about GIFTS.  I am HORRIBLE at keeping gifts a secret!  That being said, I have been dying... just DYING to tell Heather about her birthday gift for weeks now.  It's been driving me nuts!  This weekend was her big day though, and I was super antsy to let her in on the secret!

She is trying to figure out what the piece of paper in her hands means...

When she figures it out she cries!

After the first hug Lily thinks that we each need individual hugs...

I got Heather tickets to go see MICHAEL BUBLE!  Yup - we're super stoked!  We're roadtripping to Detroit on the 25th to have a girls night with Michael Buble!  SO FUN!

And then we ate cupcakes to celebrate!

South Haven Winter Weekend - Part Three

Welcome to the final installment of our South Haven Winter Weekend, brought to you in part by my procrastinating writing my paper that's due in class this very evening at 6:00pm... which I have yet to start!

On Saturday afternoon after a quick nap and some snacks, some other friends joined us out at the condo.  It wasn't long before the tequila was flowing (yikes!) and Jim was making goofy faces for the camera...

We all went and grabbed dinner at an Italian place in town.  Note the putrid-color green beverage in front of Heather in this picture.  I must point out that I exhibited a good friend moment when (not shockingly!) it was too sweet for her, so I made a trade with her right after this picture was taken.  I choked it down, too!

Here's a shot of my husband and I, and my incredibly frizzy hair.  Boo!

Jim and Justin were dates for the evening, splitting their check on buy one, get one free sandwiches.  Sensitive!

 

 Then we headed out to the bar.  Looks like that about this time my husband was beginning to enjoy the evening... and his beverages.

He'd be a good bartender, no?  Keeping the beer flowing?  Note the disposable glasses... classy.

Heather and I snapped a quick picture while the boys went off to play pool.

After awhile, and several games of pool, we moved on to the next bar.  Here's a shot of the girls!

We didn't get back to the condo until close to 2AM.  I can't remember the last time I stayed up anywhere close to that late!  Yup, I'm old!  I was so tired the next day that I spent most of the day on the couch... but it was totally worth it to get our friends together and hit the town!

South Haven Winter Weekend - Part Two

On Saturday after lunch Travis, Heather, Anthony and I head back to Saugatuck to tackle some stairs...

Intimidating, right?!  You see, Heather and Anthony got married at the top of these very stairs, so each time they are in the area they like to head back and climb up to the spot they got married at.  They invited us to come along, and since it was a beautiful day we jumped at the chance.

We just didn't realize how much hard work it was going to be!!!

We stopped for a snack...

For pictures...

To look up and see how many more stairs were left to go...

But it was well worth it when we finally made it to the top.  Check out those views!

We got some great pictures - it was such a gorgeous day out.  We were all loving the sunshine!

I particularly like this picture of Trav and I... it's the best one we've taken in awhile.

The climb down was a ton easier than the climb up!  We were so tired by the time we were back down that we drove back to the condo and all fell asleep!  Does that mean we're old?  : )

More tomorrow!

South Haven Winter Weekend - Part One

How was your weekend?  We had an absolutely lovely one.  It was so lovely and filled with fun that I'm splitting it up into several posts over the next couple of days.

Travis and I headed to South Haven a little after lunch on Friday.  Our good friend's Heather and Anthony joined us a little later that afternoon.  We headed down to the beach to take a walk and it was gorgeous, so gorgeous that Bella decided that running INTO the lake would be a good idea!  Oops!

The weather was so nice.  It got into the upper 40's and is really starting to feel like springtime.  I know that 40 degrees isn't warm by any means, but it's enough difference from where we were that coupled with the sunshine on your back - it was such a nice change!

Heather and Anthony posed for a quick picture before we headed back up to the condo to warm up and get ready for dinner...

 

After a couple of drinks and some snacks at the condo we headed into Saugatuck (about twenty minutes away) for dinner.  We ended up at a cool burger joint named "Wally's" and enjoyed appetizers and dinner.  It's not often Heather and Anthony have the chance to go out without their kids, so it was nice for all of us to have a little adult time together!

Come back tomorrow for more photos and stories from our weekend.  I hope that YOU had a fabulous weekend as well!

Joanne and Heather's IKEA Adventure

Have you ever been to an IKEA store?

We have ONE store here in Michigan, and Heather has been wanting to take me for AGES.

So yesterday we set out on my maiden voyage to IKEA!  It was a mini road trip... about two hours from Grand Rapids to Canton, MI.  In fact -- mile for mile it is about the same distance from Grand Rapids to the Chicago IKEA store -- but when you factor in Chicago traffic we were much better off heading to Canton.

Anyhoo... off we went, and two hours later... we arrived!

It wasn't long before our big blue bags were getting heavy, and we had to get a little granny luggage cart, thing... yup, I hung my purse on it too in true old lady style.  I'm sweet like that!

 

We were kind of amazed by this under the kitchen sink cleaning supply organizer thingy.  Isn't it sweet?  It affixes to the inside of the cupboard and then pulls out, as Heather is demonstrating!

I purchased these spice racks -- since we don't have one.  I loved it because you could buy each rack individually for only $3.99 and then a pack of jars for $2.99 and then you can hang them how you want them.  So fun!

The kids room section was ridiculously cute.  Almost made me want a kid of my own so I could decorate their room... but not quite...  : )

After almost two hours on the upper floor, we stopped at the cafeteria-ish area for a snack...

You know, power shopping food -- real healthy stuff...

Revitalized, we headed down to the lower floor to embrace all things kitchen gadget-y and more!

Seriously, wow!

And then we ran into this...

FABRIC!  On sale for $1.99 per yard.  I almost bought some, but am trying to exercise some crafting restraint.  If I'm not purchasing for a particular project - I shouldn't buy it.  Right?  But so cool nonetheless.

By now the granny cart was long gone and we upgraded to a real cart...

Heather looks so happy to be at IKEA!

We eventually finished up, and loaded up the back of the car...

I didn't actually buy anything big, no furniture or anything.  Just going there and looking gave me TONS of ideas for our house, but because I'm a good wife I figure I should talk them over with my husband first before making any large purchases...  : )

After all of that shopping there was only one thing left to do...

DINNER!

Both Heather and I's moms LOVE them some Bahama Breeze (as do we!) and they don't seem to have them on the West side of the state where we live.  It's a super fun restaurant that's island themed.  Feels like a little bit of a tropical vacation when you eat there.

Of course these helped with the tropical theme...

YUM!  Bahamaritas!  I know you're jealous.

So we sipped our fruity drinks on the heated, covered deck.  We ate some delicious food and jammed to the guitar player/singer guy doing some bad, overly synthesized covers of Bob Marley tunes, and relished in a kid-free evening (okay all of my evening's are kid-free, but Heather's are not.  And as much as we both love those kids, it was super fun to have an adults only, girls only evening)

 

Pretty much the best Winter Wednesday, EVER!  : )

Happy New Year!

How has 2010 been so far?

We had a great new year's eve... the best I've ever had in fact.  Alison & Noah, and Heather, Anthony, and Lily came over for snacks and drinks before we headed out for dinner.  Afterward... Alison, Noah, Travis and I checked out some live music at a bar down the street and counted down to midnight there.  We then headed home for champagne and games.  What a wonderful evening!

Stay tuned for Christmas pictures... I swear they're coming!  Until then, Happy 2010!