A little catch up... and I'm finally home

First a little catch up....

So the Shamrock Marathon. This is how early I had to get up to have the runners at the starting line with plenty of time to get their minds in the right place before the shotgun start:

Very beautiful. Very early for a Sunday morning. Especially when we didn't get to bed very early the night before.

This is the sand sculpture that was in front of the Yuengling tent. Such talent.


I received some beautiful peach-colored roses from the bf for no reason at all... At least I hope! This is the first time he's given me flowers in over a year of dating. Things have been a little rocky lately and I appreciate the gesture.

Check out the awesome color!


My office went to mandatory four day weeks starting last week. I was pretty perturbed until I realized that it provided me with the opportunity to head home for Easter. I hadn't been home since Christmas and it was looking like I wouldn't be able to get back before fall. The weekend was well needed.

We spent most of the time chasing puppies. Molly loved having playmates her size!

This is my dad's new puppy, Speckles, giving my sister, Melanie, kisses.


Here's Bowser, my dad's yearling pup. I swear he has more teeth in his head than any dog I've ever seen! They go all the way back to his tonsils...


Speckles was completely fascinated with the exploring the porch stairs.




This is my dad counting Speckles' spots. She has both blue and red ticking which explains her name.


Molly came with us to haul some wood down to fill the wood house. She found a piece just her size and decided to bring it back with her.


Speckles decided she'd give Molly's piece of wood a try.


And now... why I finally feel like I'm at home. I inherited my grandmother's Franciscan Apple stoneware dishes. She's still living and when she moved into a retirement community she took 8 perfect pieces with her. The rest came to me. I was only 16 at the time so they went into storage in my parents' basement. After I graduated from college, I asked my mom if she would hang onto them for me until I found a place of my own and wasn't moving into a new apartment every year.

And so... last night I unpacked my dishes.

Excuse my cluttered counter... I'm still trying to find a place for everything.





These shelves are going to be moved to the garage very soon since they didn't fit in my kitchen. For right now they're doing a great job holding some of my serving pieces that don't fit in my kitchen cupboards.