A Beautiful Sunday

I had the good fortune today to spend a beautiful day with my sister and my niece. My niece is three and a half years old and absolutely hilarious.

We started our afternoon by dress shopping for her miniature bridesmaid dress for my sister's wedding. My niece was so excited to try on dresses she could barely contain herself. Of course, we got to David's Bridal at 11:45 and found that it did not open until noon, so we had to ask a super excited three year old to sit in the car for fifteen minutes and wait. She "drove" us around, made us ask to stop to go potty, and yelled at us for being too loud in the car. Whatever kept her happy was fine with me.

When we finally got in to the store we picked out the right size of dresses and she got busy trying them on. We came up with a really cute dress that is somewhere between my sister's bridal gown and our bridesmaids dresses. Lucky girl she actually got to take it home with her today. She really wanted a camoflage dress, but unfortunately we just couldn't find one.

After that we hit the mall for lunch and JoAnn Fabric for supplies. By JoAnn it was almost two o'clock and we hit a wall. A wall called, the three year old was sick of shopping. But, my sister did manage to find some cool fabric for curtains and ribbon and paper for invitations and table decorations. I am so excited for her wedding. I think fuscia and black are going to make for awesome colors.

Last stop was Target. I stayed in the car with my niece while my sister ran in. While she was gone, I was asked to tell stories about when my niece was a baby. I told her about when she was born and when we brought her home, she asked for more. I told her about her first bath and how she broke our hearts screaming, she wanted to hear more. Finally, I told her that one time when I was changing her diaper she pooper on my hand. That was enough. I think she laughed for like three minutes straight. As soon as my sister got back to the car that was the first thing she told her. I didn't find any of those stories too funny, it made me miss when she was a baby so much! She was so tiny and so snuggly. I wish my sister would hurry up and have another one!

Anyway, all in all, it was a great day and I am so thankful that I was able to spend time with them. Now I am exausted and thankful for my couch :) I give my sister a ton of credit!

Coming Home

I love leaving work in the afternoon. Not because I dislike work, that's neither here nor there. Simply because, I love coming home. Walking up the steps to my front door makes me laugh on a daily basis.

As soon as I it the bottom step I can here our animals getting off of the furniture that they are not allowed to be on. Sneaky. I have even tried to creep up on them, but somehow they always know. I always know too, due primarily to the fact that the couch is warm and hairy!

By the time I hit the top step I can see Griffin's tail through the window. Keep in mind this means that both pets are smashed up against the door making it tough to open. By the time I get it open, they are both sitting impatiently on the rug, looking so happy they can't stand it. They get so excited that someone is home it is comical. I always try to let Griffin outside but he refuses until he has been loved a little first. While Grif is getting attention, the kitty is wrapped around my feet meowing loudly. Funny. It's like being mauled.

Every day after we go through greetings at the door, I check the house. For what, you might ask. For stuff. It never fails that they will find something to get into on a daily basis. For example, the cat can open coffee cans, so they are not safe. It can open the cutip container in the bathroom, and it loves cutips. I am constantly finding cutips all over the house. Weird. I still find an occassional Christmas ornament left over from December, and even pens are not safe. So, I search the house to find out what kind of trouble they found on that particular day, and I am rarely dissapointed.

My lovely sister Livi is supposed to be writing a book about my pets. She finds them humorous as well. She constantly thinks of things that they must be doing while we are gone for the day. I can't wait until she actually writes them down! We can set up a camera for the day and illustrate her book with real pictures. Whether she immortalizes them on paper or not, they are extremely funny and very loveable, and they make my day better just by being here when I get home!

My First Attempt

So, I have finally decided to create a blog. Not because I believe that people will actually want to read it, but because I need practice writing. To be honest, I rarely even read blogs, so this is an experiment.

I am sure that the whole cooking thing has been entirely overdone on blogs, but for my first attempt, I think it will be an easy subject, and I just happen to have attempted my first cheesecake last night. What would make someone attempt a cheesecake on a Friday night? Well, ever since my bridal shower, where we did not get a springform pan, my wonderful husband has been asking me to buy one so one of us could make a cheesecake. His mom makes them often, and they are one of his favorite foods. So, the other day I bought a springform (thank you TJMAXX), and last night I hunted down a recipe.

Of course, I picked the easiest recipe I could find, with the fewest amount of ingredients. It turned out to be a great choice. 2 pkgs of cream cheese, 1/2 cup of sugar, melted chocolate, three eggs and a graham cracker crust later and I had a superfab marble cheesecake. Who would have thought?!

And, being that I was still home alone and had a container of strawberries, I melted some additional chocolate and dipped the berries to add to the top of the cheesecake. Contrary to my usual first attempt at recipes, I would not change a thing. It turned out awesome and I have to say I suprised myself.

For the absolute verdict however, I had to have my husband's opinion. I love him to death, but he does not sugar coat anything so I was totally ready to hear "this needs...." or "next time you should add...." and to my complete amazement, he loved it. This being a wife thing is not so bad :).

I believe that I will try to post on this regularly. My little sister is in Florida and I am sure will give me some good material soon, and we are headed to dinner to night so I may decide to review my meal. We shall see....this could be one of those projects I start and never stick with....neither scenario would suprise me!