Another Busy Weekend...

...the summers seems to fly by for us, partially because they are usually already planned. Mother's Day and Memorial Day in May, with an occasional graduation thrown in, Father's Day and three family birthdays in June, two more family birthdays in July along with Independence Day, another birthday in August all rounded out with Labor Day. This weekend no exception. Busy, but OH SO FUN!


We got a head start on the weekend by leaving town mid-afternoon on Friday. Saturday morning, my mom, Grandma, Greg and I went over to the cemetery to clean up and place flowers on the graves of my Grandpa Ed and his parents. It was the first time I had been there since the funeral (actually I tried to find it once and got lost). We left some very happy daisies there. Then we went down the road a bit to this great diner for a nice hearty breakfast. Unfortunately, I didn't save room for one of their fantastic pies! That night Greg and I went over to a very mini eleven year high school reunion for my class. Yes, 11 years...we didn't get our act together last year to organize something. Jill, who was one of my best friends in high school had it at her house out in the country. I got to meet her husband and her step daughters as well as their menagerie of pets. She has the most adorable stepdaughters who were excited to entertain us and show us around. I'm so excited for her to have such a beautiful home and such a loving family. Marie also came and it was wonderful to see her as well. Marie and I were in a lot of art classes together back in the day and it seemed like she was always reading "good stuff" so I was excited to catch up with her too. She has just finished her Master's degree and will be starting on her Doctorate! So it was the three of us girls, which is why I said a "very mini reunion". I am in the black crochet sweater, Jill is in the middle, and Marie is on the right in the second picture from the top.We're talking about getting together again, and I would really love that. Besides getting to catch up with some really wonderful people, the reunion was a kind of "aha!" moment for me. It was a reminder to me of all the people who've been in my life...some only briefly, others forever...all of whom have had an influence on me. And for that I am grateful. It also reiterated to me that happiness is so important and so often taken for granted. Jill and Marie and I have all found happiness in different things and that was a reminder to me that happiness is what you make of it. Only you can define what makes you happy and only you can ultimately control that happiness.

Interesting perspectives 11 years later, especially in light of the other activity from this weekend: my youngest cousin's graduation from high school! Congratulations, Melissa! We celebrated with a nice dinner among family and friends at a fantastic Italian restaurant. I think you can pick out the grad in these pics. My aunt is in the turquoise with Melissa, I'm in the black cardigan set, my mom is in the black with red and orange, my grandma is on the other side of my mom and my other cousin Emily is in the denim jacket. I am so proud of both of those girls. In some ways they are like sisters to me. I babysat for them growing up, and our family is close-knit. I remember my mom reminding me that as the older cousin I should be careful of the example I lead because they would look up to me. Well, it's safe to say that I look up to each of them, too! They are smart, funny, beautiful, motivated, well-adjusted...the list goes on and on!

Scattergories

I was tagged by my friend Nicole to fill in the following topics with an answer that begins with "M" (the first letter of my first name):

Your Name: Michelle
1. Famous Singer/Band: Marilyn Manson
2. 4 letter word: Menu
3. Street: Main Street
4. Color: Magenta
5. Gifts/Presents: Mall Gift Card
6. Vehicle: Mazda
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Magazines
8. Boy Name: Michael
9. Girl Name: Margaret
10. Movie Title: Madagascar
11.Drink: Mojitos (mmmmm......)
12. Occupation: Marine Biologist
13. Flower: Marigold
14. Celebrity: Matthew McConnaughy (sp?) (mmmm......)
15. Magazine: Men's Health
16. U.S. City: Minneapolis
17. Pro Sports Teams: Marlins
18. Fruit: Mango
19. Reason for Being Late for Work: Missed the alarm when it went off
20. Something You Throw Away: milk cartons
21. Things You Shout: Move!!!
22. Cartoon Character: Mr. Magoo

I don't know anyone to tag who hasn't already been tagged.

Chocolate Covered Oreo Cookie Cake

This is the recipe I made for David's graduation (from the Kraft website) and it was a HIT...easy to make too! Enjoy!

They say it serves 16, but it's very hard to get the pieces cut small enough to serve. Though it is rich, so I wouldn't make them larger than you have to.

1 pkg. (2-layer size) devil's food chocolate cake mix
4 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, cut up
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping
12 OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, coarsely crushed
PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Prepare and bake cake mix in two (9-inch) round cake pans as directed on package. Cool in pans 5 min. Invert onto wire racks; remove pans. Cool layers completely.
PLACE chocolate and butter in small microwaveable bowl. Microwave on HIGH 2 min. or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Cool 5 min.
BEAT cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add the whipped topping and cookie crumbs; mix lightly. Place 1 of the cake layers, top-side down, on serving plate; spread with the cream cheese mixture. Cover with the remaining cake layer, top-side up. Spoon glaze over top of cake. Let stand until set.

Graduation, Family and Fun...pictures top down: Greg and his siblings (Stephanie, David the graduate, and Lisa); Greg and our nephew; Greg and I; Greg, his mom, and I.

This weekend was FUN! I got off at noon on Friday, as my company allows us to work four nine-hour days, and be off by noon on Fridays. I don't always take advantage of it, but this time I did! And since Greg had to work till 5, I got a ton done...I watered my plants, packed for our trip to Iowa, got the cats ready for the weekend, and made a graduation card and a cake for this weekend. When Greg got home we took the motorcycle out for spin (after a month of trial and error attempts to fix it, it is running!!!) around the lake, then hit the road. We got to Iowa around 11pm and hit the sack right away. Saturday morning, we got up and helped get ready for David's graduation party. David is Greg's little...ummmm...younger brother, and he graduated from

high school this weekend. Greg's dad lives out in the country on an acreage, and that was the perfect place to invite everyone to for the celebration. A ton of family and friends came out to enjoy the wonderful (although windy) weather, good food and relaxing conversation. There were lots of kids there and it was fun to watch them play...something about the sun and their playfulness and the country was nostalgic for me. A ton of David's friends, teachers, coaches, and his friends' parents came out to celebrate...it is a true testament to his character that all these people wanted to celebrate him! Later than evening we had a bonfire, just as it started to cool off! Awesome. Sunday morning, we took Greg's mom out to brunch as a belated Mother's Day celebration, and his sister and her family joined us. We went to Granite City where they have a really nice all-you-can eat brunch that includes a carving station, fresh fruit, several choices of breakfast meat, eggs, and casseroles, and an eggs benedict bar. If you ever get a chance to try Granite City (it's a chain) for Sunday brunch, give it a try. After than we checked out Greg's sister's new apartment and then went to David's ceremony over at the school. He not only graduated with gold cords (greater than 3.5 GPA), but he also was in the National Spanish Honor Society (placed highest in the state on the Spanish exam out of the kids who don't speak Spanish as a native languag), and was an Academic Letter recipient all four years. Besides this the kid is an amazing athlete, handsome and kind. Just an all around great person. We were so proud of him this weekend. And, even better, he'll be coming closer to us for college this fall! Yippee! After graduation we grabbed some ice cream with Greg's sisters then hit the road only to get back in enough time to go to bed. Overall, it was a great weekend.

A quick post...

...this weekend is cram-packed for us and I really should be getting laundry done, baking cakes to take, and making a graduation card. But I wanted to post a picture of the container I potted last weekend. Even though I couldn't be with my mom on Mother's Day I carried on an old tradition of planting on Mother's Day. Here's some pictures of my work. Those daisy-looking ones close up at night...how cool is that? The short ones are called Celosia (sp?) and the wispy deep red/pink ones are coral bell. And I made a new friend at the store today: that hot pink flamingo dude. Isn't he fun? Lovin' it...

The last of the NSD Layouts

So, here are the last of the layouts I did at the crop a few weekends ago. The first one, a two-pager, is about my nephew in the "Chick Magnet" onesie I thought he just HAD to have :) Isn't he a ham? When he was visiting a month or so ago, he was going through the phase where he makes funny noises with his fingers flicking his lips, and you can see in a few pictures that his hand is right up by his face, right after making those noises and laughing! The other layout has some pictures I snapped of him and Greg reading bedtime stories. Just melts my heart. Enjoy!

A Nearly Perfect Weekend...

So, here it is, Sunday night and I'm looking back at a great weekend.

Yesterday, we helped some friends paint inside their new house. We had a nice time meeting some new people (their other friends who came to help) and helping out our friends. We are blessed enough to find ourselves surrounded by friends who are caring and supportive, and willing to help us when needed, so it felt great to pay it back (or pay it forward, I guess). In any case, we had a great time, and my itch for our house of our own was renewed! Someday...

Then we went over to another set of friends' for dinner...they grilled us shish-kabobs and pulled out all the stops. I'm talking brats, shrimp, steak, orange and green peppers, mushrooms, pearl onions, tomatoes, and potatoes. Not to mention the skewers of fresh fruit to dip in the cream cheese fruit dip. Yum! We really enjoyed our time with them, though it went too quickly.

Then Greg went out with the softball boys and I decided to head home for some "me" time: reading and scrapbooking.

Today we got to sleep in! Loved it, though I really did miss going to church. Then, we picked up the stuff to make ribs for dinner tonight...Greg is grilling them right now...and plants to fill the container that sits on our front step. I was so proud to go with completely different flowers than I normally do. Typically I choose a tall spiky plant for the center and then either gerberas or geraniums around that, and then pansies or petunias on the outside border. This year, I broke with tradition and went with some funky stuff and I couldn't be happier with the results. I don't know the names of any of the plants except the coral bell, but I will take a picture and post it. We also watched a few episodes of The Office from Season 2 that we had missed.

So, now you can see where the "perfect" comes from in todays title: good friends, good food, time spent outdoors, and time spent with each other. The "nearly" comes from us not being able to spend this weekend with the special moms in our life: Greg's mom, his sister, my mom, grandma, and aunt. Typically we travel home for Mother's Day, but with the next two weekends being graduations in our families, we just couldn't make it this year. So instead we'll see his family next week, and mine the following. I just wish we could've spent the day enjoying and celebrating those special people we call "Mom".

Diaper Cakes

...no, this isn't some weird baby version of the infamous litter box cake :)

A few weekends ago, I had some of my girlfriends over to celebrate the pending arrival of not one but two bouncing baby boys. My friends Emily and Jana are both due this month within two weeks of each other.

As usual, Greg spoiled us and grilled out chicken, while I served up BLT pasta salad, orange fluff salad, and green beans.

For this occassion I created diaper cakes. The process is actually pretty easy, you can find directions online by googling "diaper cakes". Essentially you roll up and tie shut diapers, tie the diapers into cake-shaped layers, stack and decorate. In doing so you also hide things in the cake that they'll need like Butt Paste (yes, there's actually a product with that exact name), baby wipes, pacifiers, toys, blankets, washclothes, etc. You can also use those items to decorate it, or add other things like flowers, ribbons, etc.

So I did one for each mom using their registry as a guide of the color, theme, and contents which made them unique to each mom.

So here's a few pictures of the cakes as well...enjoy!

A Simple Post Today...

...in honor of the warmest weather so far this year, one of my favorite summertime recipes, perfect for picnics, potlucks, and easy dinners on these longer warm nights.

BLT Salad

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
5 green onions, finely chopped
1 large tomato, diced
1¼ cups celery, diced
1¼ cups mayonnaise
5 teaspoons white vinegar
¼ teaspoon salt (our family uses garlic salt instead)
1/8 to ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pound bacon, crisply cooked and crumbled

Cook macaroni according to package directions; drain and rinse in cold water. In a large bowl, combine the macaroni, green onions, tomato, and celery. In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Pour over macaroni mixture and toss to coat. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours. Just before serving, add bacon. Makes 12 servings.

Enjoy! Oh, and PS...It has the same great tastes as a BLT, but it doesn't have lettuce, or any "L" ingredients for that matters so the name is probably not technically correct. But oh well.

Another Layout

Here's another layout I did this weekend. I struggled with the title and journalling, so finished those parts when I got home. Ended up putting my extra photos and journalling on tags and tucking them behind the focal photo. And I ended up making an easier title that the elaborate one I had that involved letters on mini tags with brads and shadows. I like the simple treatment there much better (even though the mini tags were cool on their own). They are pictures from last year when my husband went out to the river and picnicked while we waited for fireworks.

I also did this other layout of my friend's Hawaiian-themed bridal shower. It took me a while because the border was handcut from a larger sheet of patterned paper, and the swirls are chipboard covered with patterned paper that had to be cut out. But I think it was worth it. I love these pictures, especially the one of the four of us. We have been friends for 10 years now, and two of us are celebrating wedding recently and the other two of us are due with babies in the next two weeks!

Yikes! It's been a long time...

...where has it gone? I've been busy...we've had family come visit us, we've gone and visited them, my husband graduated from college and got a new job, I've been busy with my full-time job, we both quit our part-time jobs...the list goes on and on.

Went to a crop this weekend and got some great pages done. Wanna see?

The one on the left is of my hubby and his brother. His brother came up to visit us on his spring break this year and we had a great time with him. We took to a friends' house for game night (it was St. Patty's Day) where we chatted and played Cranium.

This other one is of my precious nephew who came to visit us about a month ago. We had a great time hanging out with him and my sister-in-law and her husband. I only wish they were closer to us geographically.

More later...it's getting late.

Michelle