Twenty-Four.

Twenty-four years ago today I married my sweetie. Thank you Rich for being you, for loving me no matter what, for giving me two amazing children, for your patience, for your goodness, for your loyalty, and for your continued willingness to travel through life with me. You are mine, and I love you. Forever.

"What a happy and holy fashion it is that two people who love each other should rest on the same pillow."  —Nathaniel Hawthorne

"A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person."  —Mignon McLaughlin

Idol Worship.

I have to say it: there's just something about that Phillip Phillips and his left shoulder. Oh, and I like the way he sings, too.

He. Da. Bomb.

"I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts, like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood, it was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me, like food or water."  —Ray Charles

Just Enjoying the View...

Here's some of what's growing in my front yard right now. Thanks to my sweetie Rich for the beautiful photos. And yes, the sky really IS that blue! For reals.

...and I think to myself: 'what a wonderful world!'

"I love Spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden."  —Ruth Stout

"Every Spring is a perpetual 
astonishment."  —Ellis Peters

Friday.

Whew. Almost through another week. The weather here in NorCal is amazing and beeeeeee-utiful, warm and sunny and it just feels good down to my bones! Yes I need to keep up on the allergy meds, but it's so worth it. This is such a gorgeous place to live. Right now the dogwood tree next to our house is in full bloom, and the sight of that tree against the brilliant blue sky, well, there's just nothing like it! Love the springtime. 

We're hoping to get lots of projects done around the old house this weekend, but I'm starting off tonight the best way I know how: dinner with my sweetie then watching a movie here at home. Just some relaxing downtime after the busy work week.

Here's another "hey girl" for your enjoyment. Love these, and love my girl Steph who sent it to me. And yes, I do love chalkboard paint. Who doesn't, am I right?

OK, well, that's it for now. I wish you all peace, love and sunshine!

"A good laugh is sunshine in the house."  —William Makepeace Thackeray

Dreaming and Scheming and Sneezing

Goodness gracious has life been busy lately. Lots of work and oodles of goings-on. And with spring comes allergy season, which has hit the Allreds especially hard this year. Sneezes, itches and headaches abound, but we are grateful for our blessings and we carry on!

I've been doing some more planning and dreaming about home fix-up projects. Bathrooms are in the works, as is the painting of two bedrooms. And one of the aspects of our kitchen that never got addressed with our remodel from last year was the lighting. We've been living with old broken and inadequate fluorescent fixtures that are ugly to boot, and we really need to do something. The kitchen is awesomeness in looks and function until you look up, then it's a little yucky. And to go along with the dream of new lighting would be a pot rack, which we desperately need, and I desperately miss cuz we had an awesome (built by the hubs) one in our old home. Here's a photo of a nice simple bar to hang pots on, which I kinda dig. We have a window over our kitchen sink and maybe something similar to this would work for us. But I have LOTS of pots so I may need more than one. Hmmm. Still dreaming, but it's fun to look at all of the inspiration out there.

OK, I gotta run. Life is calling!

Go hug someone today.

"Springtime. She turned to the sunlight and shook her yellow head, and whispered to her neighbor: 'winter is dead.'"  —A. A. Milne, When We Were Very Young

Easter Update

Okay, well. Steph and I tried making the delightful Subway Easter Eggs shown in THIS post. Unfortunately they were not as "easy" as we were led to believe, and once again my egg-coloring adventure ended in disappointment. I promptly peeled those suckers, made egg salad and hid the evidence. I plan to try again, this time with vinyl letters that will actually peel off of the egg shells, and with LOTS more of them. We quickly ran out of the letters we needed with the four sets I had purchased.

So that was the end of our colored eggs. I had much better luck in the pastry department, which is usually the case. I made cute candy carrots to top some of my secret-recipe chocolate cupcakes with chocolate-cream cheese frosting, and served them in egg cartons I had painted in festive colors. I also mixed up a batch of chocolate nests. Both of the above were shared with the crew at John & Kari's house, after a delightful feast of pot roast, baked potatoes, veggies galore, a lovely green salad (Lisa, I need that recipe!) and some tasty holiday punch courtesy of Kimmers. The best part, of course, was the company and the conversation. What's better than spending a holiday with a house full of people you love to pieces? It was a very Happy Easter indeed.

"Easter takes men out of time and makes them feel eternity."  —Ralph Waldo Emerson

He is Risen!

Happy Easter. What a beautiful day this is. Jesus loves us — each and every one of us. It's because of Him that there is hope in this life and in the life to come. 

"Oh it is wonderful that he should care for me enough to die for me!"  —Charles Gabriel 

“I believe that none of us can conceive the full import of what Christ did for us in Gethsemane, but I am grateful every day of my life for His atoning sacrifice in our behalf. At the last moment, He could have turned back. But He did not. He passed beneath all things that He might save all things. In doing so, He gave us life beyond this mortal existence. He reclaimed us from the Fall of Adam.

To the depths of my very soul, I am grateful to Him. He taught us how to live. He taught us how to die. He secured our salvation.

Our Savior lived again. The most glorious, comforting, and reassuring of all events of human history had taken place—the victory over death. The pain and agony of Gethsemane and Calvary had been wiped away. The salvation of mankind had been secured. The Fall of Adam had been reclaimed.

The empty tomb that first Easter morning was the answer to Job’s question, ‘If a man die, shall he live again?’ To all within the sound of my voice, I declare, If a man die, he shall live again. We know, for we have the light of revealed truth...

My beloved brothers and sisters, in our hour of deepest sorrow, we can receive profound peace from the words of the angel that first Easter morning: ‘He is not here: for he is risen.’” 

                                                                                                —President Thomas S. Monson

Subway Easter Eggs... Oh My!

I came across this idea today for subway-print Easter eggs and I am SOOOO going to give it a try! It's from lilluna and I LOVE it. I am one of those people (and maybe you are too) who, each time I color Easter eggs I think, "This time I'm going to make them CUTE!" I try like heck to channel my inner Martha and color/decorate the eggs just so. And I always fail... the eggs always end up looking like a three-year-old blind kid made them. Boo. (My apologies to all the three-year-old blind kids out there - I'll bet you have excellent egg-decorating skills! Don't listen to me). Anyhoo, this idea looks amazing and fabulous and I can't wait to sit down with my Steph and give it a go. Hopefully I will share some awesome cute egg photos later this week.

And here's a lil tip for you in case you didn't know: When you boil your eggs, DO NOT use an aluminum pan. I have made this mistake more than once, and guess what? The dye does not stick to eggs boiled in an aluminum pan. So don't be like me. Just sayin.'

OK - gotta run. Lots to do!

Hugs.

"Easter spells out the rare beauty of new life, and of hope, and of wonderful things to come."  —unknown