Dashing Through The Snow...

I've been really busy this month with our kids' activities, workload and preparing for the Christmas season. My thought process was if I get everything done early, I'll actually be able to sit and enjoy the pre Christmas festivities. So I've been:

Decorating inside and outside of the house with lots of lights and candles…(since this photo was taken we've gotten a lot more snow and the temperature has dropped considerably, brrrr.)

Shopping for presents, for everyone and myself…

Wrapping those presents…

Baking for our daughter's cookie decorating party tomorrow after school…

And writing my guest post about Christmas traditions (and planning the giveaway!) for Steph's blog on December 20th.

I hope that your season has been especially merry and filled with the wonderful spirit that only comes this time of year!

It's Fall At The Lakehouse

This is one of my favorite times of the year. There is nothing prettier than the changing colors of foliage in our area. (The only place that rivals this one is when I used to live on the East Coast.)

Aww, even Juno, the Big English Mastiff, enjoys the last warm days in the Midwest!

The beauty of this season outweighs the amount of raking that we have to do, and that's okay, soon enough we'll be engulfed in s-n-o-w and chilly weather. Brrr.

Everyday Husband and I are so thankful for the view and the quietness of our cul de sac.

And sometimes, even in that quietness, we get surprise visitors like the bear cub that ran through our backyard last year and this out-of-place beach ball. Happy Fall ya'll!

The Dog Days of Summer

Aside from work and summer vacation for Husband and the kids, we've been pretty busy this month. I've still managed to paint a door, try some new recipes, take a few mini vacations and do a little shopping...

Right now I'm in the midst of planning our first beer tasting party. I'm kind of excited because we never really had a housewarming (with couples, that is) at the lakehouse, so it will be nice to have people over.

I've designed the invitations, we've decided on the menu and Husband has been busy growing his hops and making his beer. Life is never boring around here.

Here's my Instagram dump of what else we've been doing:

• Husband starting to condition our two swimmers
• I made Triple Berry Baked French Toast
• Our laptops lined up and ready for duty
• Husbands hop are growing
• A trip to Wisconsin Dells
• My stop at the Coach Outlet store
• Ingredients for delicious Zucchini Brownies
• New throw pillows for the living room
• Bucket-o-Salsa (homemade and delicious!)

Two weeks left until school starts in our neck of the woods! What's going on where you are?

It's Friday, Where Has Your iPhone Been?

If I hadn't traded in my dumb phone for an iPhone, I'm not sure I'd remember all the things I'd done in the last couple of weeks. And if it wasn't for Facebook and Instagram, I wouldn't know what my friends were doing either. :(

Should I have to describe my life in verbs it would be; "graphic-designing, writing, staging, website-developing, business-researching, kid-hugging, cooking, taste-testing, not-weight-watching, cleaning, driving, shopping, department-meeting, email-checking and social-networking."

Only another mother would get this kind of verbal rant. Anyhoo, here's where I've been and what I've been doing. If I'm lucky, one of my friends will make sushi tonight and invite me over so I can de-stress, hint, hint.

• Easter-themed cake, check out the details on how to make it on  Todays Wisconsin Mama.
• Staging my parents' home so they can sell it, eventually. (Don't go to Arizona Mom, there are scorpions!)
• A Spring Break trip with Husband to Titletown Brewing Company (funny, we did the same thing almost to the day the year before. See this Spring Break post from 2012.
• Reigniting my love for Pinterest.
• Pretty comforter set from Big Lots. (No I did not buy it, yes, I do regret it.)
• A quick stop at Home Depot before a design department meeting. Adore this glass tile.
• Moo. Don't ask. Visiting a former dairy farm with Husband. (Business related, not a date.)
• Visual Merchandising for a client. (Painting windows and showcasing Prom and Spring dresses.)
• Complaining that we still have snow. Our youngest daughter in the backyard while we were picking up sticks (and dog poop.)

What have you been up to?

What I'm Reading

I love to read. Some books I read for work, others just for fun. Here's what I'm reading now:

Michele Stuart's 'Perfect Pies,' the DIYers Sherry and John's 'Young House Love,' and 'Barefoot Contessa Foolproof.'

Perfect Pies is really just eye candy for me because I just love looking at cookbooks with pretty food photos. I once told my sister-in-law that I photographed food better than people!

I've been following the projects of Young House Love for a few years now, their home projects can be very inspiring.

And the Barefoot Contessa? Well, her recipes never fail. So I have to read her books. :)

Those Raspberry Crumb Bars look amazing, I might have to make those for Easter!

What are you reading?

Free Calendar Wallpaper For You!

Every year, I'm hopeful that it will be better than the last one. This year I am starting it off by sharing this site that can turn your photos into calendar wallpaper for your computer. Cool.

Husband and I ended last year by shoveling snow off a portion of the lake and creating an ice skating rink for our kids. (Who am I kidding, I'm as excited as my eight year old!)

I used to coach figure skating to beginners before I had kids and these are the same boots and blades I used. After 3 kids and many years later, my feet have expanded to a size bigger and when I put on my skates it feels like I am on pins and needles, later they are so numb I can't even feel them, until I take them off again and the tingling continues for another 30 minutes. Oh, for the love of ice skating!

But I digress...so we are in the process of learning how to make the perfect ice rink and loving the winter season of the Midwest.

I'm really hoping that this year is a good one for you. My BFF and I were talking the other day about how hard life can be and how we as moms, often feel overwhelmed with even the smallest of details. This year I hope for more balance, a little more peace of mind and the ability to find joy in every moment.

Happy New Year!

Lakehouse Happenings

Summer for our family is always hectic! Fortunately I was able to find a little time for some small craft projects. Here are some pics and projects I wanted to share.

A Starbucks bottle ~ repurposed. My mom and I found something like this at a consignment store, I told her I could make her one (or three.)

Sometimes when we're all holed up together over the summer, we forget some fundamental rules. Husband and I decided subway art in the kitchen might be a good reminder.

Dragonflies. They were frequent guests at the lakehouse this summer.

My adirondack chairs. A surprise anniversary present from Husband. Awww...

A typical gorgeous sunset. A wonderful way to end the day. Hope your summer is going well!

And All Through The House...

For the last hour, our three kids have been; shooting each other with Nerf guns, running up and down the stairs and building tents in the basement. I told Husband that even though the noise level rivals that of a rock concert, I'm so glad they still play together at times.

Meanwhile, our English Mastiff, Juno, continues to crash despite the clamor, probably since she recently had surgery.

I chuckle when I tell friends and family what our dog got for Christmas, "Juno got a hysterectomy!"

Last week we had two Christmas concerts to attend. Many of you know that I don't post our kids' photos for privacy reasons, but our seven-year-old is here, and let's be honest, trying to find her would be like trying to find Waldo. And I like this photo because it's amazing how first-graders have a hard time staying in one position.

We are hanging out in jammies today, recovering from all the festivities, food and fanfare of the holidays and looking forward to visiting the stores this week to buy more "stuff," for ourselves, this time.

Happy holidays and see you next year! :)

Tis The Season...To Decorate

As I attacked the enormous loads of laundry today, I found myself humming Christmas songs, because tis the season, right?

The decorating has begun...

The tree has been trimmed...

I think Juno, our English Mastiff is ready...she looks excited for Christmas, right?

Our kids even helped my mom decorate her tree when we were there for Thanksgiving...

Hope you are all enjoying this special time of year. :)

A Wedding & A Weekend Getaway

In our family we're notorious for cramming in as many events into a short period of time. We're crazy that way. So among those happy, albeit whirlwind-like four days, we celebrated our oldest daughter's 14th birthday; jumped from store to store for a birthday shopping trip in the big city; had a birthday lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings; bought an SLR camera (I'm still giddy with excitement!) threw in a romantic weekend getaway (after dropping off our three kids with my parents;) attended an outdoor wedding and went 'trick or treating' in the rain.

The wedding was one of the most beautiful weddings Husband and I have ever attended, with a gorgeous backdrop of changing Fall colors.

The bride's dress was beautiful and the entire ceremony was so touching. Even the bride was wiping away the tears.

Husband and I used this opportunity to spend a relaxing weekend away from it all. 'It' being kids, work, stress, laundry, the dog and all the other demands we parents have these days.

Our hotel was a luxury boutique hotel which upon arrival we were immediately upgraded to the 'Platinum Suite.' (Our key cards didn't work, so they changed our rooms!) Included was a kitchen, a fireplace, two flat screen TVs, a king sized bed and a double whirlpool tub. I know!

Our trip consisted of wine tasting, a pub visit, a stroll on the water, breakfast out for the 'Best Breakfast In Town' (unfortunately it was also the 'Worst Coffee in Town,') a stint at Starbucks, a walk on Main street and lunch at a Mexican restaurant. (Look how clear the water is, and yes! That's my shoe!)

Stop.

Husband: Are you really taking a picture of your shoe? Me: Yes, bloggers love to see shoes! (Plus they're sling backs that look like ballerina toe shoes and I got them from Goodwill for $5.99...) 

That's my Salted Caramel Mocha. A treat while Husband read online news and perused ESPN, of course. We were all dressed for the wedding, just chi-laxin' at Starbucks.

And while we were sitting there...

...what should go by but a horse and carriage. (They must have known this was our romantic getaway weekend!)

All in all, it was a wonderful time. I can't wait to post next about my camera. All of these photos are unedited due to a busy work week ahead, but I couldn't resist posting about our trip. That's how awesome my SLR is!

Hope your weekend was a good one! :)

40 Days Of 'The Love Dare'

Rarely do I have a planned post. The nature of a "jane-of-all-trades," I suppose. But I've been fooling around with my work camera, a Sony DSC-H7, trying to figure out aperture settings and so forth.

This is good practice for me, because like many other mommy bloggers, I'm on the "I really want a 'Canon Rebel SLR' " rage. That's called coveting, by the way.

So I meant to write about photography and link to some cool photo sites. But after looking at this photo, I'm going on a completely different tangent. Surprise!

That's my engagement ring, from Husband, I love it. It's an estate piece (which is fancy for "used.") Fitting for a Goodwill/garage sale gal like me.


The book is The Love Dare. While many of my bloggy friends have committed to doing 31 days of something, I'm doing 40 days of 'The Love Dare.'

On a side note, the story about how I acquired this book is sad. I won it from a mommy blogger 3 years ago. Months later, that same mommy blogger disappeared from the blogosphere. If I remember correctly, her marriage dissolved...but don't quote me.


For whatever reason, I never used it. But since my schedule is so busy, I've been unable to join a Bible study, so this is my 5:30 am ritual/devotional.

Whether you've heard of this book or not, it's a great tool to help you reflect on your marriage, but also about other "self"  issues like; selfishness, pride, greed, and let's add coveting since I'm all over that topic.

Because I'm doing this freelance thing, it makes me dream about Macbook Airs, Canon SLRs and iPhones. All of which I don't have. I'm thankful that I have access to some of it because if I had to buy all of it at once, forget about it, I can't even imagine. (Hey look, there are my old curtains sitting on our rocking chair in the background. Would be nice if I took them to Goodwill at some point...)

Funny, material things aren't the only things to desire. Even bloggers desire more exposure, sponsors or followers, etc. (That's Kelle Hampton's blog I'm looking at, the one that I posted about without really posting about it.)

Anyway, if you really delve in deep enough, these chapters can help remind you that a solid, loving marriage is okay to desire! So, I've taken the dare, maybe you have in the past too.

What are your thoughts on marriage and "the wanting of things?"