{A Glimpse Into My Life}

I won!!!

 

This little baby is coming my way  :)

It's been a long time since I won a contest of any kind and I've been wanting one of these since Rachel started talking about hers. 

Catch up

So last week I took a day and went to Boulder to walk around.  It was a beautiful day and there were tons of people out and about. 

I love that city!  I don't know what it is, but if it wasn't so expensive I would try to talk James into moving there  :)

Here are some pics from the day:

This is one of my favorite places to visit!  It's almost all local artists who place their work for sale - everything from photographs to glass-work to jewelry - if you want something homemade and beautiful, this is the place to go.

Glass cuff links - stunning!

Fun magnets

Felt flower pins  :)

I want one of these purses sooooo bad!  The design is amazing!

Some really pretty B&W's

The colors in this were so vibrant!

Some kids makin music.  That's one of the things I love about Pearl St. - the talent you can find just walking down the street.

One of my 'must stop' stores

I could spend all day in a bookstore........

Even saw some Monks  :)

Then when I got back home I went to get Josh from school.  He had a spelling competition a few weeks ago and if he raised enough money then the grand prize was a Hummer limo ride to Dairy Queen after school.  Well, needless to say he ended up with enough money and only missed 3 words out of 50 so he was able to get the grand prize.

He was one happy young man!

Off to work on my purse - I hope to finish it today  :)

New Inspiration

So I found a new artist who is totally inspiring me this morning to paint something amazing

This guy

I love the colors, the design, and everything else about it.  Would love to have an original piece of his work.  Amazing!!

Off to create - hope everyone has a great day!!

Weekend fun :)

So I promised some pictures from this past weekend but when I went to edit them in photoshop it wouldn't come up - I think the Apple guys messed it up when they reset my computer.....gggrrrrrrr!!

So all the pictures are straight out of the camera.

First off, this young man turned 12 on Friday

It's so hard to believe I have a 12 year old son!  He is such an amazing person - always caring about others, learning from his mistakes, getting taller by the min!  haha  and such a joy to have in my life.  I love him more than anything and so glad he is a part of my life.  I thank James so much for allowing me to have the relationship that I have with him.  I know a lot of people who don't get along with their step children or the step children don't get along with them and that is definitely not the case in this family.  We are truly a loving and caring family who would give the world to each other.

We had fun on the lake feeding the fish

Then on the way home we saw this!

They were on the other side of the highway so I made James turn around at the next exit and go back so I could take some pictures  :)  I'm obsessed with them and still don't know why.  Ever since I came to Colorado I've wanted to see them in the wild.  In fact, I have a pretty funny story about the job I have now.  I originally wanted to take the position in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) and they had a job for me but no one to precept me until several months away so that wasn't going to work.  I found out there was a CICU (cardiac intensive care unit) with availabilities so I interviewed for that position as well.  As the manager was showing me around the hospital she said there was also a position open in the CPCU (cardiac progressive care unit - or the cardiac stepdown).  When the elevator opened to that unit, there was a big horn sheep by the sign for the 9th floor.  I asked her about it and she said that all the floors had different themes to them - the CICU was on the frog floor, etc.  That was it - I knew before I even walked onto the unit that this was the job I wanted.  I have loved pediatric cardiology since I worked in the PICU back east so everything just came together.  It was one of those aaahhh ha moments  :)  I absolutely love my job.

Enough about work though

This handsome man (just some eye candy because I think he is absolutely gorgeous),

finished our basement and my new art studio space a few weeks ago!!  I love the feeling I get when I come down here.  It is all green, cream, and browns - such a peaceful place (and also the coolest in the house when it's 90 degrees outside).

     

My side - still a little messy on the shelves but I'm working on that.  I LOVE the hardwood floors - he worked so hard on those and they turned out great!!

I also have a little area to the left on the other side of the bar that has my sewing table.  The picture of that turned out to dark so I'll have to show you that later.

         

*you can click on any of the pictures for a larger view*

There still needs to be some art on the walls and I'm going to make some curtains for the windows but definitely a great start to an almost complete room.

Keystone, Colorado

So it turns out I don't have the Swine flu - thank goodness - and can return back to work this weekend.

We are currently up in Keystone at a conference James is attending for work so Josh and I are just hanging out while he's in class.  It's so nice to get away for a little while.  It's so beautiful and peaceful up here.  We're staying right next to a spa so I'm going to get a pedicure this afternoon.  It's been years since I've had one so I'm really excited to be able to sit back, relax, and get some pretty toes  :)

I've take some pictures but will have to wait until I get my computer back when we return to show you them.  It was acting up again so I had to take it back to the Apple store to get looked at. 

I've found some really cool blogs lately that I've been going to for inspiration so I'm going to try and get my sidebar updated with them later tonight. 

I also found a couple of new books at Boarders yesterday.

 

I started Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight last night and it is quite interesting.  I love memoirs and non-fiction lately. 

I've also been interested in Buddhism for a while as well - I love their way of thinking and definitely want to learn more about it.

Swine Flu?!

So I was sent home from work Friday night because I have flu-like symptoms - fever, cough, congestion

With all this talk of the swine flu I now have to get a flu test before I can return to work.  Problem is I have to be cleared through Employee Health (which isn't open until Mon morning) so I am off work for all 3 nights this weekend - not so happy about that.  I really don't feel very good so I guess it's a good thing.

Now I have a lot of time on my hands and I was tired of laying around today so I started this:

It's a quilt kit that I got at the Great American Quilt Factory.  I absolutely LOVE all the Amy Butler Fabric!!  The greens and blues are right up my alley - so  pretty.

I just got it cut out for now.  Hopefully I'll be up to start sewing the strips together tonight.  We'll see how I feel.  For now though it's pretty to look at all laid out   :)

Happy Mother's Day Mom!!

 

I just wanted to wish my mom a happy mother's day!  She is amazing in so many ways - she is always there for our family and will do just about anything to make us happy (short of moving closer to CO - hehe).  I miss her every single day and wish I could see her more than a few times a year.  She is so special to me and I love her so much.  So here's to you mom - can't wait to see you again!!

Lots to do today

So today is full of things that need to get done:

• workout
• get groceries for dinner tonight - chicken parm pasta 
• eye appt 
• make appt to get MAC fixed - keeps messing up when I type 
• meeting for work - which won't be that bad because it's at a wine bar downtown  :) 
• get some cleaning done around the house 
• fill out paperwork for Josh's summer camp 
• pay bills - :P    

I think that about does it for today.  Thankfully all the snow from Sun nights storm is melting and it should be close to 70 degrees today.

Gotta go before my coffee wears off! 

Happy Birthday!!

 

Today is a very special man's 38th birthday!!  Hope all your birthday wishes come true.  I love you so much and cherish every moment we are together!

April showers - HUH?!

It's supposed to keep adding up to a foot or two by tomorrow.

Bad part is, I can't sit home by the fire and enjoy it - it's my first night back to work since I had surgery.

Speaking of surgery - here are a couple of pics from when I was laid up

My mom came to stay with us for a week to help out and boy did she ever - we got some delicious meals, help around the house and I even tried to throw a little fun to her trip towards the end of her visit.

She got me the beautiful tulips above - my favorites  :)

We also got a lot of knitting done while she was here

Lots of fun and laughter  :)

And in other crafty news, I'm working on my birdie sling bag right now in my brand new art studio!  I love this space!!  James worked so hard and gave me everything I could have wanted.  I'll take some pics once I have everything organized and cleaned up a bit more.

Here are the fabrics I'm using for the bag though.  They are a bit brighter than I'm used to using but I wanted something fun for spring and saw this fabric combo used on the bag in one of my favorite stores and it just worked - promise.

Off to get ready to battle the snow........wish me luck!