Week of March 22nd

Last week I was all: SPRIIIINNNNGGG!  And then I was quickly reminded that I live in Ohio (land of ever changing weather) when Sunday it was sunny and we were grilling and Monday it snowed :(

Redonkulous.

Despite the snow it actually IS spring and I'm digging all the fresh produce that's becoming available at the grocery store!

Such pretty colors!

We finally made some progress on our bathroom this weekend.  Drywall is 95% up and I currently have no mirror or storage.  It's good times.

We did choose and purchase a new medicine cabinet, light fixture, miscellaneous hardware, and brought home some paint swatches.  Progress.  We still need to choose and purchase flooring, which we looked at, but nothing struck my fancy.  Next up: putting up the last 2 panels of drywall then taping and mudding and I'm crossing my fingers that once the walls are ready to paint the rest will come together relatively quickly!

I also finished up staining (well, Mark did that part) and polyurethane-ing (allll me!) the trim from our sliding door replacement of Summer 2013  ::shuffles::  We procrastinate a lot.  It's done, but now I need to figure out how to get the masking tape off the door that we left up to protect the surface from the stain/poly.  It's kind of cemented on there since it's been left so long.  Good times.

In other news, we finished Sons of Anarchy season 6 and I'm just all sorts of frustrated that season 7 (the final season!) won't be available on Netflix for another month!  #firstworldproblems


Menu for the week:


Sunday:  Grilled Chicken Fajitas

Monday:  Chicken Yakisoba (with half the noodles replaced by zoodles)

Tuesday:  Sweet Potato Nachos

Wednesday:  Leftovers

Thursday:  Homemade Pizza with Salad

Friday & Saturday:  Out

Spring is here!

Or, almost here anyway.  Spring officially arrives on Friday, but temperatures have *finally* started rising and we have been enjoying some sunshine and warmer weather for the last week.  It is so very much appreciated by me - and the kids too!  They're happy we can finally be outside!

Last week we visited the zoo for the first time this year!

There was still snow piled up in the parking lot and temperatures were in the 40s while we were there, but when it's 40 degrees and sunny after months of temperatures that make your face hurt it feels glorious!

Last year we didn't get to the zoo until the very end of March!

We've been playing outside (in the front yard because the backyard is currently a swamp.  Can't wait for it to dry out!) and riding bikes, grilling burgers, and we've even had the windows open to welcome some fresh air!  Love it!

They're standing on the wood chip pit courtesy of the tree we removed. Yep, that mess is still there.  Was kind of hoping this year it would self-heal under the snow... it did not.

All this fresh air and sunshine *almost* makes me want to do some spring cleaning.  Almost.

Big brother Jack teaching Molly how to play Mouse Trap <3

Here's what we're eating this week:


Sunday:  Grilled Burgers with Fries (first grilling of the year!)

Monday:  Salmon with Strawberry-Avocado Salsa and Garlic Green Beans

Tuesday:  Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Corned Beef with Carrots, Potatoes, and Cabbage

Wednesday:  Corned Beef Hash with Eggs

Thursday:  Leftovers

Friday & Saturday: Out


I'm linked at Menu Plan Monday hosted by OrgJunkie.com

Miami Trip

In honor of never-ending winter (we're supposed to get another 2-4 inches of snow in a couple of days, this on top of the 5-ish that was dumped on us Sunday, that fell on the several inches still lingering from the previous weekend, ugghh... come on, spring!) let's talk about our Miami trip so I can simultaneously reminisce and torture myself.

In July, Mark and I went to South Beach in Miami and it was Everything.  Amazing and incredible and wonderful and all sorts of perfection.

We were there July 2-6 and it was the second trip I've had to take on an airplane.  (My first brush with air travel was in 2008 for our honeymoon in the Dominican Republic.  Spoiler alert: I don't love flying.)

It wasn't so bad though.  Trap me on a vessel hurtling through the air with no kids, a book, and a little complimentary packet of pretzels to go with my bottled water and I'm not going to complain too much.

We arrived in Miami in the early evening and cabbed it from the airport (I don't like cabs either.  Hey, I'm from Ohio.  I'm pretty much only comfortable with riding in a car as far as transportation goes.) and made it to our amazing hotel.

We were located right on the beach and had a cute little suite, which wasn't all that much smaller than our house, and it seemed a generous size since it was just us.  It had a kitchen, living room, dining area, bathroom, bedroom, and a balcony overlooking the courtyard/pool area, with views of the ocean as well.

The beach was incredible.  Our hotel had it's own private beach with lounge chairs and umbrellas and drink/food service.  Pretty much my idea of Heaven.  The sand was white and the water was clear and it literally felt like swimming in bathwater.  I've never spent more time actually swimming in the ocean.  It was amazing!  

We spent the entire vacation just relaxing, eating great food, relaxing, hanging out at the beach, and relaxing.  Perfection.  

Our hotel had these strawberry mojito cocktails that were served with a splash of pink champagne (see bottom left).  Uhm, amazing. 

Everything was walkable, which was awesome.  It's such a melting pot down there so there are tons of great restaurants of every type of cuisine from hole in the wall restaurants with the best cubanos to upscale dining.  There's nightlife like I've never seen, shopping, drinks as big as your head and the beach.  Did I mention how amazing the beach is?  Because it's amazing.  

See that top left picture?  That's my Heaven.  That picture was taken on my birthday and it was was the best gift ever!

Notice in the top left picture, we both got some sun.  The sun down there is NO JOKE. I'm the kind of person who pretty much doesn't have to wear sunscreen ever and even I got a little pink while wearing sunscreen. Mark got straight up burnt while wearing sunscreen, sitting under an umbrella, with a t-shirt on.  Crazy!  Yes, we did a puzzle on vacation.  I love puzzles!  And yes, I watched fireworks on my birthday, on the beach, with my feet in the ocean.  Doesn't get better than that!

*Sigh*  Such a great trip.  It was so perfect, some days it just seems like it was a super nice dream.  But it happened and I'm so grateful we got to have such a wonderful experience.  Definitely the best vacation I've ever been on and I would love to go back!  Since that's not happening I will just keep looking at my pictures and hoping that spring arrives in Ohio soon.  I neeeeeed sun!