Door County 2014

We try to take a trip to Door County at least once a year.  We LOVE Door County!  The beach is beautiful, they are super dog friendly, and we love to hike the trails.

love the doggy heads out the window

Marley thought she was the driver

Had to make a quick stop for an Oprah Chai.  Yummy!

This year was especially exciting because it was Remi's first time enjoying the great outdoors in Door County.  We were a little worried about bringing her with because she still wasn't walking great on a leash for us and she wasn't a big fan of swimming.

Lovin' life in Door County

Well she proved us wrong!  Not only did she start swimming on her own, she also hiked a difficult trail through Peninsula State Park without stopping once!  That means she had to climb rocks, which did give her a bit of hesitation, but in some spots, she was pulling me along.

Waiting for her sisters

The water was FREEZING!

We did a little shopping and got a few things for the house.  We had some great meals out (minus one terrible experience!  Don't go to the Log Den, their service was the worst ever!).

We've been doing this every year and we always feel like we should stay for longer.  We are even considering getting a pop up camper!  I'm not a huge fan of camping, but it would be much more affordable and I think it would make it easier for traveling with the dogs.  We will see!

We saw this while we were eating lunch...  Hilarious!

Marley was hopping through the water like a kangaroo!

 The dogs slept for two days straight after getting back!  They were so worn out!!

Exhausted!

Can't wait for next year!

week with my loves

i am beyond happy when i get to see my sis and the kids.  and this last week was the best ever, because they decided to spend their spring vacation with me!!  i'm so lucky!

i'm super sad to say that i didn't get many pictures :(  along with this being one of the most stressful times ever (which is a totally different story), i was just trying to soak up every second i had with them.

they got here on wed and stayed until sat.  wed night the kids stayed at doms (aka grams; their favorite thing to do!).  we had some take-out chinese before they headed to doms.

thurs morning, we made a stop at the new Hobby Lobby.  then, we had lunch at Panera and made a stop at Trader Joe's.  my sister doesn't have a trader's by her so we try to stop there if we can.  it worked out well because i desperately needed to go grocery shopping anyways.

my mom asked us to go to "Art in Bloom" at the milwaukee art museum thurs night.  i have gone for the past 2 years, but sara had never been.  i thought it was a GREAT idea to go because you don't truly appreciate the designs unless you see them in person.  she completely agreed and we really enjoyed it.  we even made a stop for ice cream on the way home.

basically the idea behind "art in bloom" is the designers are given an art piece at the museum that they sort of interpret and replicate in flower form.  here's mom's...

mom's design (which was also featured on the news!)

friday we headed to woodman's for more grocery shopping and a stop at target.  can you tell what me and my sister like to do when we are together?!  shopping is our favorite pastime.  haha.

she went to visit a friend in the evening, so it was game night for us and the kids!  we played monopoly, which was kind of a dud.  then we got to see the kid's favorite movie "Frozen"!  it was really cute.

saturday morning, mark made everyone breakfast and then it was game time again.  this time we played "heads up" and "spot it".  such a fun morning!

and before they headed out, i requested that the kids put a new design on my chalkboard!  wyatt drew a "love tornado" and adalai drew a flower with a message that said she loves me.  they fill my heart with so much joy!  i love those kids so much!

it was an amazing time to spend with my family, and i'm so bummed that they had to leave!  i wish they lived here so we could spend even more time together.  so happy that they will be coming back in just two weeks!!

fun finds

I made a quick stop at TJ Maxx yesterday to do a little browsing and found two really fun items!

I wanted to find new salt and pepper shakers because the only ones we had go with our old dishes.  I wasn't desperately searching, but happened to find these, and they are perfect!  As you can see, the granite in the kitchen is black, white and gray, which these match, along with my white dishes.  They are roosters, which is perfect since Marky Mark works on a chicken farm!  And these fit VERY nicely on the little shelves in the kitchen that I have no idea what to do with.

Although this isn't a Boston Terrier, it's a bulldog, it looks a lot like our little Remi.  She is a Frenchie/Boston, we like to say she is "Froston".  Plus, how cute is he?!  For now he has a made a home on our mantel, but will probably find a nice place in my office at some point.  Maybe when I actually have some place to put things?!

Weekend away in the woods...

Last weekend, Mark was away hunting with his boss, so I thought that would be the perfect time to visit my sister.  I invited Starla to go as a little girls weekend away (even though I kinda felt bad about taking her for a weekend away from her hubby).  We headed up Saturday morning around 8am and got to Sara's around 12pm.  When we got there, we hung out for a bit to let the dogs (Stella and Remi) play with Eli for a bit before we would kennel them.  We decided to check out the new Shopko in town (the kids specifically requested me going to check it out with them:).  This was a HUGE deal to those northerners!  They have no big box stores in their town, so everyone decided to make a stop at Shopko that day.  It was PACKED!  I was afraid we weren't going to find a parking spot.  We had a good time walking around and Sara picked up some stuff she needed.  Adalai had a little money and wanted to buy something so she picked out pink zebra print stick on nails (so cute!).  After that, we headed to the Super 8 to go for a swim.  It's so nice that they let people pay to use their pool, even if they aren't staying at the hotel.  We all hung out in the hot tub and relaxed for a bit.  It was much needed after my stressful week.  We let the kids (and Starla) swim for a bit before we headed home.  We had a yummy beef stew that my sister prepared.  After we finished dinner, Adalai and I worked to get her nails on.  All of us adults didn't think to make sure that they were small enough for little kid fingers (which they weren't!).  But Auntie Kira was determined to make it work, so we used all the small ones and got them on.  Let me tell you...I COULD NOT get over how freaking adorable she looked with her fake nails on.  Adalai has never been a girly girl until now, and I LOVE it!  Then we got busy playing Yahtzee and Apples to Apples.  We had SO MUCH fun!!  The kids really got into Apples to Apples.  With a little help from the adults, we made it work.  They are such smart kids. :)

When we got up in the morning, we ate some yummy pumpkin french toast that my sister made.  SO good!!  Then we looked through some photo books, so Starla could see how awesome we were as children.  (Ha!)  After a little big of playdo fun, the kids wanted to play games again!  I'm glad they had such a good time playing games with us.  And of course before we left we also had to do a little bit of Zumba with the kids.  Wyatt hadn't done it before and he had a big grin on his face the whole time.  They loved it!

pirate ship

Starla and Adalai's owls

We had such a good time up north visiting my sister!  So happy Starla got to come and that the kids had a good time with us :)

saying goodbye

This weekend has been busy!  Friday, we spent a lovely afternoon saying goodbye to JoAnn.  They had a really nice luncheon after an awesome balloon release.  It was just perfect! 

After, me and my sister went shopping at Target and Trader Joe's.  She had never been before, but that's where I go grocery shopping every week!  I was excited to be able to take her.  We bought a lot of goodies and then she went back to Grams.  I went home to clean!  My house was a disaster, so I spent the rest of the evening picking up.  It felt good to go to bed that night with everything in it's place.

Saturday, I went to get a flooring quote in the morning.  After that I had to take Remi to the vet because she still had an infection in her tail.  Luckily the vet loaded her up with antibiotics and it seems to be doing better.  Then, I made a run to American TV to get a quote on appliances.  We ended up putting $ down because we are needing them soon.  I later was able to find a much better deal on some of them and ordered those to be delivered in a few weeks.  After all that running around, I met Mark at his mom's to enjoy an evening hanging out with his family.  His step sister was in town from Colorado with her family.  We had a good time playing with the kids, and his mom made a really good dinner!

Sunday, I went to Zumba with Starla in the morning!  Zumba is my favorite work out!  It was quite a bit different then Zumba at church, a little more intense.  I'm definitely feeling it this morning.  Then I had to run a few more errands (buy outdoor lights) yesterday.


House update:

foam spray today
drywall the end of this week
continuing siding
finishing up electrical
tiling

This week is gonna be a lot of transformation!  It's gonna be very exciting!

'L Bri order

Along time ago I used to wear 'L Bri often.  More recently I've been trying different things like Treskin RX, which I really like.  The good thing about 'L Bri is that all of their products use aloe, just like Treskin RX, and it's all natural, which I love.  I needed to reorder my FAVORITE lotion, and since 'L Bri offers free shipping on orders over $60, I figured I should find some other things that I need.  Here's what I ordered...

At the top is the Deep Pore Cleanser, this is their face wash for people with oily/acne prone or combination skin.  I have been slowly switching over to this to see how I like it and so far I really like it!  Haven't been noticing too many breakouts, or too oily of skin, so it's working pretty well.

The next product is my FAVORITE lotion, body butter in Cucumber.  I actually use this for my hands, more than anything.  I just LOVE how thick it is, and because the main ingredient is aloe, if you have any cuts on your hands, it is very soothing.  They also have a lotion that is meant for hands, and I love that too.  I just get the body butter because I can really make this last a whole year, whereas I go through the hand lotion much quicker.

The concealer I haven't tried yet.  I use their old concealer, which is the stick (like a lipstick almost) kind, and it works really well.  For some reason they don't carry the stick in any other color than dark.  LAME!  So I thought I would try this liquid concealer, but I probably won't use it until I run out of the other one.

The compact, I used to use when I got married about 2 years ago and I loved it, but with how expensive it was, I went through it too quickly to be able to afford it.  Now I don't wear as much makeup, so I know it will be worth it because it will last much longer.  I still love it!

The little packet is a sample of their face and body scrub.  I used to use it, but it is a little too harsh for my face.  I tried it again, and even though it still feels that way, my face was really smooth and soft after using it, so it did what it was supposed to do!  I might consider buying this or they have a different, more gentle, face exfoliant. 

the tile shop

On Friday night, me and Mark headed to The Tile Shop so he could see what tile me and the tile lady had picked out for the whole house.  It's so nice to go there and they just pick it all out for you based on the countertops and your style.  We had to pick out a new surround for the fireplace.  I had picked marble, but because of the heat, the tile guy was afraid it would discolor.  So we spent about an hour looking at what I had picked and picking out some new stuff.  Of course, we couldn't come to a decision, so my mom ended up going back there with me the next day.  I'm happy she did because we were able to finalize everything and make both me and Mark happy. 

 This is the tile for the "kids" bathroom!  For awhile it will be the kid/guest bathroom, until the basement is finished.  The cabinets will be white with a dark blue granite countertop.  The dark gray tile is the flooring tile.  The light gray tile is for the shower surround with the glass tile as the accent for the niche and a small strip around the whole shower. 

This is the tile for the master bathroom!  The cabinets are going to be espresso, so a really dark brown.  The countertop is the granite in the bottom left corner of the picture.  The floor is going to be the grayish, brownish tile on the bottom. The main shower tile is the whitish, tanish in the middle. The accent for the shower is the glass tile in the top left corner.  It almost looks like a subway tile, and it will be used in the niche and as a waterfall in the middle.  The shower base will be the small square tiles.

Saturday, Mark and the siding guy were out at the house.  This is super exciting for me, because now it will really start to look like a house!  This is the progress at the end of Saturday...

It's a medium gray tone and I love it!!  I can't wait to see it all finished.  The siding guy is saying it'll take him about a week and a half so very soon!!

Also, over the weekend, I found some beautiful white dishes to use for the new house.  They had an amazing deal on them at Home Goods!  Our current set of dishes has a lot of chips and cracks, and we couldn't find them anywhere to replace them.  Plus, we got more place settings then our last one so we have more than enough!  It's been fun, slowly getting things together for the new house, but can't wait to use them!

We went to dinner with some of my old coworkers last night.  We went to Water Street Brewery.  It was Eh...  I've never really loved their food, so for $50(!) it should have been better than it was!  It was nice catching up with some friends, and meeting new people.


This week on the house....

Mark is finishing up the electrical.
Inspector will be out today.
Siding will continue to be put up.
Foam insulation will be going in on Wednesday.
Window will be installed in the basement.
Wall will be moved in the laundry room.
Pretty sure the cement will be finished for the basement and garage soon!
Plaster will be started either end of this week or beginning of next.

Our weekend away...

We had a wonderful weekend! 

On Saturday we went to the fundraiser for WBTR!  The dogs and us had a blast hanging out with all of the crazy Boston Terrier lovers.  There was section for all of the dogs to run around and play.  Of course, Marley was picked on quite a bit by the Boston's but she has learned to stand up for herself, and if that doesn't work, she hides by her Momma.  We got there at about 2pm and hung out until 4:30pm so the girls were exhausted when we left.  Remi did really good walking around and checking out the other dogs, but more than anything she was found hiding under the table or being passed from person to person.  Everyone wanted to hold her!  It was so amazing to see how much love there was for her.  WBTR had a raffle, which unfortunately I didn't win anything, but Penny did!  And they also had a Halloween costume contest.  Although Marley and Stella looked adorable in their bee and ladybug costumes, they didn't win, but our little Remi won second place!!  She made the cutest little owl ever!

Remi as an owl

On Sunday, we took the grandma's to spend the night at Grandma Kris's and then we head to Chicago.  We checked into the hotel at about 2:30, and then we got ready to go out for the night.  We went to dinner at Dib.  I thoroughly enjoyed their sushi and Mark really liked their Pad Thai and egg rolls.  This place was pretty original because you could BYOB (bring your own booze)!  I had never heard of this, and unfortunately we didn't partake in this but other restaurant goers definitely did! 

Then, we went to look for parking, and apparently it is VERY hard to find parking by the Riviera Theater.  Mark may have gotten pulled over for an illegal turn on red.  Luckily, the cops let us off because they said our punishment would be when the Bears beat the Packers this coming weekend.  Whatever buddy, as long as we don't get a ticket!!

bored in line (wearing his new shades I got him for Sweetest Day)

Once we FINALLY found street parking, we headed for drinks before standing in line for an hour!  We got inside at about 6:30pm and scored SECOND ROW standing!!  The standing part is what definitely sucks but either way it was a good time!

the opener, Harper Blynn

no zoom!

Monday morning, we woke up around 7:30am and had a good continental breakfast.  I made good use of the fitness center (ran 1 mile and biked 2 miles) and then we both hung out in the pool (which had to be 100 degrees!).  It was such a great way to start the day.  Then we headed to Schaumberg to hit up some good shopping!

I didn't go crazy buying stuff because I honestly have no idea what I need for the new house yet.  Me and my mom will have to make a trip back once I have a better idea of what we actually need.  For now, it was so much fun to look around.  After some shopping, we had lunch at P.F. Changs.  Apparently we had a craving for Asian food this weekend!

Remi didn't seem too happy when we picked her up from Grandma's but she bounced back quickly.  Stella and Marley could have cared less that we came back for them.  Pretty sure if Stella could talk, she would ask to live with Grandma.  Haha!

Five on Friday!

This week has been great but this weekend will be even better!  Here's what I'm looking forward to...

1.  Tomorrow is Remi's fundraiser at Bay View Bark!  I am so excited that her fundraiser is finally here!!  She definitely needs new knees and possibly her tail fixed so I really hope it is successful.

2.  The fundraiser tomorrow is also a Halloween party!!  And since Halloween is my favorite holiday I get so excited when I get dress the girls up in costumes.  Marley is going to be a bee (she kind of got jipped cause that's the only one that fit her), Stella is gonna be a ladybug (because my Lu was supposed to be one this year)  and Remi is going be an owl (she looks freakin' adorable in the costume).  

last year's costumes (Kramer as a caterpillar, Stella as a bee and Luna as a witch)

3.  Me and the hubby are going to Chicago overnight Sunday.  We have never stayed overnight in the city and I'm very excited about it.  The overnight stay was a gift for my birthday from Kris  :)  I'm looking forward to just getting away with the hubby for a night.  I'm sure we will eat some good food and listen to some good music!

4.  The whole reason for the overnight stay and the most exciting part about the trip is we are seeing SARA BAREILLES!!!!  She is my FAV!! And I can't wait to see her perform songs off of her new album!!!

5.  And of course because we are so close, we will definitely be making a pit stop at my favorite store on Monday at...

Have a good weekend!

Our love for Toyotas...

We had found out awhile ago that unfortunately the Camry had been totaled.  The insurance company took FOREVER to let us know, which if you ask me was pretty shitty of them.  Anyways... we had to make a decision on what kind of car to get to replace the Camry.  After A LOT of talking about it, we finally decided that the Rav4 was the best fit for us. So here she is...

I haven't thought of a name for her yet.  But I am IN LOVE with her!  When we were looking at buying the Highlander, I kept mentioning the Rav4 but Mark shot me down.  This time he had no choice since the Camry was totaled, so we decided we are keeping the Rav4 and selling the Highlander.  Then we will either get another Camry or a Corolla for him to use for his side-jobs since we rarely use the second vehicle.  Much better for saving gas.
I'm also extremely relieved to have the car shopping done!  Man, that is a stressful time!  Luckily we met some really nice car salesmen (and one bad one) but it helped the experience go a bit more smoothly.  It took us about 4 days to finally get what we wanted, but in the grand scheme of things, that wasn't a whole lot of time. Plus, we got an amazing deal!  They kind of messed up by telling me one of the other Rav4's (which was in our price range) was 4 wheel drive, when it wasn't.  So they made it up to me by getting me one that was 2 years newer with 15,000 less miles for around the same price.  Score!
I have been having a blast driving her around.  I love that the trunk opens like a door.  They cleaned her up really nice at the dealership.  And an added bonus was when I went to put in a CD, there was already one in there.  They never took the previous owners CD out so I got myself a FREE Phillip Phillips CD.  Pretty good CD too!