Bring It On!!!

I am not one to complain, but can I tell you how thankful I am that January and February are over with??? It's almost March!!!! That means so many wonderful things to look forward to - St. Patrick's Day, the first day of spring, warmer temps (hopefully), longer days...... bring it on!!! I am so ready!!

It's no secret how much I love St. Patrick's Day!!! In honor of that, I will be posting some different recipes for dinners, desserts, drinks AND of course some great Irish music! My playlist rotation is all Irish for the next couple of weeks!!! And of course there will be plenty of quotes and sayings like this one...

"St. Patrick's Day is an enchanted time - a day to begin transforming winter's dreams into summer's magic." - Adrienne Cook

So bring it on, March!!!


Here is a picture of my cute little shamrock!! Hopefully it will bring all sorts of good luck!

Happy Birthday to my husband!!!

My husband Kevin is celebrating his 31st birthday on the 23rd of February, so I thought I'd take some time to post how much he means to me. No one is perfect and no relationship is fabulous all the time, but I know I should stop and take time to notice how lucky I am more often. Kevin is a kind, loving and supportive husband. He is a patient, encouraging and affectionate father. He works hard at his job - a job that isn't easy for a lot of reasons, but that he is quite good at!!! He always makes me smile, sometimes even when I don't want to. He is just an amazing man!!

We spent Sunday afternoon with his mom and she took us all out for lunch at our favorite Italian restaurant. I made a chocolate raspberry bundt cake and it turned out pretty good! I had a few recipes and kind of used a little bit of all of them. My cakes usually taste all right, but are never very pretty to look at and this one was no exception.



Then on Kevin's birthday on Monday, we dropped the kids off at our very good neighbor/friend's house for a couple of hours and went out for a coffee date. When we got back, we had a lovely dinner at their house!! It was a great day. Happy Birthday, Kevin!!!

New Music!!

It's been a little while since I have blogged about music!! So how about American Idol, folks?? I'm happy with the three that have made it into the top twelve so far. They were the only standouts in the first group, in my opinion. If that Tatiana would have made it, I would have been DONE with that show for good! Could she have been any more annoying??? She wasn't a very gracious loser either! Whatevs.

So new music!!! I have been listening to a lot of older faves lately, but one of my new favorite bands is 'Carolina Liar.' They have a very 'The Killers' vibe going on, but totally have a sound all their own. That being said, if you are a fan of The Killers you will LOVE 'Carolina Liar.'



They're out of LA, but most of the members originate from Sweden. I heard them on 90210... I know, I'm a dork for watching that teeny bopper show. BUT, the CW does play some pretty good music on their cheesy shows! It balances out the terrible acting I guess.



So their album is called 'Coming To Terms' is quite beautiful. This isn't one of those albums that has just a couple of decent songs... the whole entire thing is good. Seriously. Take a listen for yourself!!!!

'I'm Not Over'


'Show Me What I'm Looking For' - I apoligize that this is to scenes from 'Gossip Girl'


'Beautiful World'


'California Bound'


'Coming To Terms'


That is just a small portion of the amazingness of this album! I think it's one of the best new albums out there AND I cannot wait to hear what else these guys can come up with!!!

Just Like Old Times!

We had our annual homeschoolers Valentine's Day party today at our local skating rink and man, did we have fun! Just walking in the door of that place brought back fond memories of the skating rink in my home town - it even smelled the same! I wonder if all the skating rinks across America smell the same? Hmmmm....

Anyways, back to fond memories. The skating rink in my home town was always THE place to be on a Friday night. I'd head up town with friends and we'd spend the evening skating and stuffing ourselves with gummy worms, dill pickles and 'suicides.' You know... the pops all mixed together!! We were dangerous!!! Going to the rink today just brought a smile to my face thinking of all the fun times I'd had growing up.

Our party was a 'sock hop' theme. Everyone looked so cute!! The kids had fun despite a few minor falls and bumps and bruises. I am happy to report that after a break of fifteen years, I can still skate! Kevin thought I was going to wreck myself pretty good, but I didn't fall once! Olivia had so much fun she cried when we left. So we definately have to make the skating rink a regular thang from now on. I'm so glad!!! Maybe I'll have to bust out my purple satin skate covers!! Remember those?? Anyways, here are some pictures of us before we embarked on our skating adventure!!!









So if you can't get ahold of us the next few weekends, you know where we are! Grab your skates and head up to the roller skating rink!!!

One Year Ago

This Valentines Day marks the one year anniversary of the NIU campus shootings. It's hard to believe. We see this kind of senseless violence in the news so often, I think we're numb to it happening. We hear about it, shake our heads and move on with our day not really thinking about the lives impacted. It always happens to other people, other schools, other families. Not to us. That was the case for me until February 14, 2008.

I remember it being a normal day at home doing school with the kids. The phone rang sometime after 3:30 or so and it was my cousin. She asked me if I was watching the news and if I had heard anything from my brother. My younger brother Ben was in his final year at NIU for graphic design and was really looking forward to graduating. When I turned on the tv I could not even comprehend what my eyes were seeing. It was surreal. Panic came over me when I realized that this wasn't just some other shooting at some other school. It was NIU. I could hardly make my fingers dial his cell. When he didn't answer my heart just sank. I couldn't remember if he was in class or working. Was he safe??? Finally, after dialing several more times he answered. He was at work on campus, but locked in the stock room with the other employees. After hearing gunshots and getting emails on their phones from classmates and campus officials, they did what they could to protect themselves. After the gunman was identified and everyone knew it was over, he was able to make it back to his apartment. He was safe, thank God. But someone else's brother wasn't. Someone else's sister, son or best friend was gone forever.

My family had the priviledge of watching my brother go up on stage in his cap and gown to get his diploma last May. We also watched the parents of the slain victims get their children's diplomas. The memory of that has never left me. I am grateful every day for the chance to pick up the phone and talk to my brother and have a relationship with him. The outcome could have been very different and I know that. While I don't want to dwell on this tragedy, it's been on my mind especially the closer it gets to the one year mark. I can only imagine how hard it has been for the families directly involved. Lots of memorial services are taking place one year later at NIU to lift up those affected and honor those who were lost. There were also quite a few slideshows made in the wake of the shootings, but there was one that really touched me and I wanted to share it.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=544696387219&oid=7880939436

It is my prayer that one year later, the pain and fear have lessened for the people of NIU.

New Tunes for Tuesday

I just got back from a really fun weekend away with some of my good girlfriends and Kevin is off all week! I am feeling really thankful as I type this. I am so blessed to have such good friends. I had such an amazing time with them all and it was good to get away. And it was good to miss my kids and husband! Sometimes I take them for granted. My heart feels really full!!

While I have a little time, I wanted to post about one of my new music faves: Greg Laswell. He's from Cali and has been around for a couple of years and I am really enjoying his sound. You may have heard his music on shows like 'Without A Trace', 'Grey's Anatomy' (which has really become a stupid show by the way), 'The Hills' and many more. He is also pretty tight with the super talented Ingrid Michaelson. I guess if you like labels, you would call his music "alternative." What really pulled me in is the depth and personality in his writing - each song tells a story. His voice is so comforting too. Like a worn in pair of jeans.

I have both of his albums and they've both been playing 24/7 since I got them a couple of months ago!! I don't think I will ever tire of them!! The first album is called 'Through Toledo.' Here are a couple of songs from that..... it was harder to find them on youtube because it's an older album.....

'Sing, Teresa Says'


'High and Low' - Live and so amazing!!!


The newest album is called 'Three Flights From Alto Nido' and it is superb! The name of the album translates to "high nest" in Spanish. He said that three flights up means that you're on your way to the high nest though you're not quite there yet. Cool, huh?

'Comes and Goes' - I love this one. It's about the tough times we all deal with at some point in our lives and how everything comes and goes in waves of good and bad. You just have to wait for the next wave and ride it to see where it goes!


'How the Day Sounds' - LOVE it


'Days Go On'


'The One I Love'


'And Then You' - sweet, slow song


There are so many other beautiful songs on both albums that I wasn't able to share because they aren't on youtube!!! So if you like what you've heard here, check the rest of his music out on amazon or playlist. Every single song of his is amazing and worth listening to over and over!!!!

VD stands for....

Valentine's Day!! Well, also venereal disease. But anyways, check out my cheesy Valentine's Day playlist!!! It's super fun and as commercial/hallmark holiday as VD is, I still like it. My absolute favorite thing about it is the candy hearts! Why?? Because they are made by Necco. Remember those Necco wafers?? They are my favorite!!! Anywho, I was excited to change the playlist because I was bored with the other one and ready for January to be over! Pretty much all of the songs have the word 'love' in them. Speaking of love, Happy 23rd birthday to my baby brother Ben!!!! I love you!