Tragic Loss

This week our community suffered another great loss...as a one-year remembrance service was held for one of our fallen officers, another was killed senselessly in the line of duty. Last night the community came together in a show of support by placing a lit candle on their porch for those officers on duty to know the community stands behind them.

As I drove home late from a meeting last night, I gave pause as I saw the candles flickering on so many porches in our neighborhood. We placed our candle out and even though it was a windy night and there was rain, our candle stayed lit through the night and was still burning this morning. Please pray for our community and for all of the men and women serving our nation as true heros; giving of themselves to make our world a better place, making the greatest of sacrifices for our comforts and safety that we take for granted each day.

The gatos...

I was looking through some pictures that were on the camera and thought these were just too cute. These pictures would be post-catnip time. Beatrice likes to roll all over the paper plate we put the catnip on and usually ends up wearing a good portion of it...basically defeating the idea that we won't get it in the carpet. Bigsby on the other hand would just prefer to stick his nose in the catnip jar and sniff away. Oh...to be a cat...somedays that would be the life.

As for what's happening in our house...well, I am getting ready to head off to our Tri Kappa State Convention this weekend in Indianapolis. Even though there will be hundreds of women there, it will be great fun to catch up with officers from the other chapters I have gotten to know through our regional conferences. This year I served as Vice President and will be heading down state with our current President. I'm hoping to get alot of good ideas to use as President next year.

While I'm out of the house, Lou will be picking up my brother and going to some kind of beer festival/tasting thing in Munster, IN. Lou always loves trying something new out and the weather is supposed to be great this weekend....so, I'm sure the guys will have a great time!

Deadlines...

I have just submitted our taxes...I know, nothing like waiting until the last minute! I have no idea why I procrastinate with this...luckily we don't normally owe anything, so I really have no excuse. But like most things I do, I seem to work better under pressure of a deadline.

The next deadline I'm impossing on myself is to refinish my craftroom. For those of you that don't know this, Lou has been kind enough to let me have the upstairs spare bedroom as my eternal junk room...or my little piece of heaven. I have my computer and ALL of my crafting supplies, ranging from card making to scrapbooking to knitting and soon to include my new sewing machine mom gave me for Christmas! I've decided to try to complete a home project each month and before April is over, I plan to have a very girly pink room (thank you Amy for the great idea and inspiration)! This means I need to begin the daunting task of going through all of my supplies to decide what stays and what goes. Currently I have piles on the floor and my "organized" chaos isn't looking too good. This is something even I won't take pictures of and admit to! So...hopefully in a couple of weeks I will be posting some proud pictures of my accomplishments...keep your fingers crossed that I don't procrastinate too much longer on this project!

More vacation...

These are a few pictures from our trip...I actually didn't do too good at taking pictures this trip! We traveled up to Salvang and Lou and his father were patient to let Laura and I shop in all of the cute places. Salvang is a very touristy Dutch community, with great views of the mountains and lots of home baked goodies! The picture of Lou and I was taken on the beach when were heading home, just outside of Santa Barbara. And Lou's trip to California would not have been complete if we didn't make a trip to Hollywood and visit Canter's deli with his friends Chris and Mike. It was really a great trip, but of course not enough hours in the day to get all the visiting, site seeing, and relaxing in!

Elvis is in the room...

While in Vegas, we enjoyed a great Elvis show late on Saturday night in the old downtown. Steve Connolly had the audience laughing and singing the whole time. I must admit that I was a little less than enthusiastic at the first mention of doing this...but am the first to admit that I had a great time and loved the show! Frank and Chris, along with Christine (from ND) made the night a great one...but when the show was over at midnight, I think all of were starting to feel the effects of not getting to bed until 6am that morning!

Vacation Pictures....Lou's Birthday Surprise!

Lou flew into Vegas a couple of days ahead of me to prepare for his presentation at the Political Science convention on Friday morning. As soon as I arrived Friday morning, that meant it was time to have fun! While on vacation, Lou turned 34, so I planned a small surprise gathering for him at a restaurant at the Monte Carlo. His best man, Chris and Chris' father flew in from LA to surprise Lou. It was great to see Lou's reaction as the hostess took us to our table and the two of them were there. We were then joined by a few other friends from Notre Dame that were at the conference and a friend that lives in Vegas. The restaurant did a wonderful job on Lou's cake, it was a perfect way to end the meal.

Baxter the dog...

Easter Sunday we traveled to my mother's home and met up with my brother and his girlfriend. Mom is currently remodeling her kitchen, so when we arrived there are no cabinets or counter top left...so, we did the next best thing and headed out for a very late lunch. While it wasn't a typical Easter brunch, we had a great time catching up with everyone over burgers at Red Robin. While we were at home, Baxter decided to model his new leather coat...he's just too cute! Hope you had a wonderful Easter with family and that the Easter bunny was good to you!

Wine Tasting

Even though the snow was flying and the temps were cold on Saturday, we had a great time doing a little wine tasting with our friends Angela and Dan. After a great lunch, we headed to Lemon Creek Winery and then to the Round Barn Winery for some very yummy samples. Not a bad way to spend the day...good food, drink and friends!!