last weekend

last weekend was fabulous!

it all started on Friday when I met up with Starla and Beth at Chili's for lunch.  one of my favorite places for lunch!  reminds me of when me and little grams would go for lunch there.

after lunch we headed to a winery close to my house.  it's called Pieper Porch Winery and Vineyard.

they give you 5 free tastes, so we each started with that.  Starla and I decided to pay the $5 for 5 more tastings and a wine glass.

the wine was VERY good.  it made it a fun experience because the owner of the winery was the one giving us the tasting and she gave us a lot of background info on the wines.

my favorite wines were the lime wine and the riesling.  i had never heard of a lime wine until going there, and it was really good.  tastes like a margarita!

unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate with us so we weren't able to hang there and drink after on the porch.  we went back to my house and had wine in some fancy wine glasses that Beth got us for the tasting :)

after taking a much needed nap (wine always makes me so tired!), i headed to my mom's to meet her. we headed over to her friends for a norwex party.

i had heard of norwex a few times before going to this party, but didn't understand it and wanted to see what all the hype was about.

it was amazing!  the demos and personal stories made it sound like it does magic!  i had read a few reviews on some of their products on blogs before so i ordered a few things.  can't wait to get them to give them a try!  hoping they really are as great as they seem!

saturday was puppy playdate day!  we get together once a month with our friend's who have two boston's and let them all play.

they came over to our house this time.  their female, Maddie, didn't really love Vito, our foster, when we brought him over to their house.  we thought maybe they would hit it off better on our territory, rather than hers.  unfortunately, she still didn't love him, but at least she didn't attack him!

we had pizza for dinner and celebrated Maddie's birthday!  they brought over an angel food cake so that the dogs could each have a little of it too.  they were so happy!  they also brought over some bones to chew which unfortunately ended up in a lot of spit up.  oh well!  the dogs seemed very happy!

sunday morning was a great time at church!  they had a special guest speaker come, Michael Franzese.  he was a former mob leader and was the only one would made it out without dying or ending up in jail for life.  he was an amazing speaker and had some amazing stories to share.

you win some, you lose some

so i've known my husband for a VERY long time.  we worked together at Pick N Save when we were just 14 and 15 years old.

he always had a big crush on me.  as he would put it, i was his "fantasy girl".  but, because i was older, i just thought he was my little dorky friend (poor guy).

when we got a little older, he finally got a girlfriend.  and of course i did what any girl would do...i got jealous.  especially when his girlfriend forbid him to talk to me, which only made me like him more.

anyways, fast forward to present time...

we are happily married, most days anyway ;) he broke up with that girl years ago, and hasn't really spoken to her since.

but we see her and her family.  all.  the.  time.  they are everywhere!  at the grocery store, at Friday Night Live, at Kohl's, and most of all, at church.

they are usually nice to Mark and say hello, but do not acknowledge my existence.  sometimes her mom will stand directly in front of me facing Mark, talking only to him.

when i started Zumba, i forced Starla into coming with me because i was terrified her and her mom would be there.  they weren't there that first day and didn't attend for many months.  but as luck would have it, they started coming a few months ago.

and it is SO awkward!!  they still won't look at me or acknowledge me or anything.

so i decided i wanted to be the bigger person.  i hate having any sort of tension with anyone, so i thought i would try and talk to her and get it over with.  i didn't want to be friends or anything, just wanted to be able to say hi and not continue ignoring each other.

i had to spit out my gum and of course the only garbage can in the humongous room was right next to her.  i walked over and spit it out and she was just  standing there alone so i took that as my opportunity.

here's how it went...

me: "hey, um, so i think it might be ok, if um, we say hi to each other every once in awhile?"
her: "well since this is MY church and people at MY church are nice, they usually do say hi to me."
me: (mouth gaping open for a moment) "i guess i just never felt comfortable because you all say hi to mark but don't acknowledge me at all.  like i don't exist.  and there are more of you, so i just didn't know what to do"
her: (rolling her eyes) "um ok"

and i walked away.  went back to chatting with Starla and other NICE people that attend HER church.

you win some, you lose some.  at least i tried...

new furniture

when we first decided to build the house, my main concern was that we wouldn't have $ to afford furniture to put in the house!  (there were many families that i worked for as a nanny that lived that way, and i didn't want to be like them)

my husband insisted that we would, and that we could get new furniture for the living room whenever i wanted.

we have lived here for about 4 months now so it was time.  there wasn't enough seating in the living room for when we had guests over.

before...

 

where Remi is standing there had been a brown chaise lounge there.  no one used it, so pretty much the only seating was the couch.

after...

these aren't the best pictures, but you get the idea.

i absolutely love the new furniture.  it is very traditional.

we originally wanted to get a sectional but the one we REALLY wanted didn't fit.  it was way too long and would have blocked some walking room.  that would have made NO sense, because the whole reason we have such a large open room is so that we don't feel cramped, or like there isn't enough space.

hope you like it as much as we do :)