Winter to Spring

We've been cleaning up the beds, and there have been some noticeable changes around here...

End of April

Today

End of April

Today

It's amazing what a month can bring. I'm excited to see more changes as the season moves forward and our seeds begin to sprout (cross fingers). 

Here's a few more pretty spring pictures for you...

Ridiculously Proud of My Swimmer Dog

Sowing Seeds

Last night we took a little time in the front beds to weed and till up between the plants already coming in. Then I planted some wildflowers up there, and watered it all really well. I planted Five Spots up front because they are the shortest, then Chinese Forget-Me-Nots, and then some Red Cardinal Flowers in the back.

I hope they come in alright, I have had mixed success with seeds. I guess we'll see over the next month or so.

Graduation Party Time!

Hubby graduated last weekend from Northeastern Illinois University with his masters in Mathematics. Yeah!!!!!

This weekend we had a graduation party for him. When he turned 30 last fall, I asked him if he'd want to have a birthday party or get together; he said no, but that by the end of his degree he would definitely want a graduation party. I've kept that in mind.

While looking up info and ideas on graduation parties, I had searched and searched. What I finally came up with was kind of a Math/School/Graduation theme, and used the tagline: "It's All Good in the Hood". 

We used it on the invitations, and the Math quizzes we made for the tables, and on the welcome sign when people came in. 

Here's a couple pictures to show the party set up: 

The sign in the lobby...

And a couple pictures of the tables all set up...Each table had math flashcards, looseleaf paper, pencils, pencil sharpeners, and quizzes...

All of the quizzes had solutions for people to check their answers. We posted them up on a bulletin board that was in the room. 

We also had a little kids table set up, so they could do fun stuff while they were there. Not too many kids at the party, however. And what could be better than running around and having fun, which is what the boys did most of the time they were there :o) ...

As far as food goes we had "Hot Lunch" with Breadsticks, Mini Calzones, Baked Mostaccioli, and Veggie Lasagna. And for "Cold Lunch" we had stuff to make sandwiches, carrots, Fruit Roll-ups, little bags of chips and Little Debbie snacks....

Cold Lunch...

Hot Lunch...

And for dessert, we had cake and Graduation Cap treats...

The picture of the graduation caps turned out a little blurry, but they were really cute and super easy to make. The treats are brownie bites turned upside down with a chocolate covered graham cracker cookie attached with a glob of frosting. The "tassels" are just frosting, but if you wanted to jazz it up a little more, you could use a M&M for the button on the top of the cap. 

So this turned out to be a mega-post, but wanted to share since I much appreciated looking at other's ideas while planning our party. 

P.S. They have plates, cups and eating and serving utensils at Party City that are made of sugar cane and completely bio-degradable and compostable! We only got plates this time, since we already had utensils and napkins...but next time I'm in the market for disposable serving ware, I know where I'm going! www.partycity.com Eco Friendly Tableware

Springtime in Chicago

So here are a few photos taken out and about in Chicago last weekend.


First off, Millennium Park.

 Pritzker Pavillion, Millennium Park, Chicago

 Cloud Gate ("The Bean"), Millennium Park, Chicago

Facing Michigan Avenue, Millennium Park, Chicago 

Lurie Garden, Millennium Park, Chicago

Followed by a walk down by the lake. 

 Adler Planetarium from the Lakefront Trail, Chicago

 Chicago Harbor

Navy Pier,  Chicago

Then, lunch at Grahamwich on State Street. 

Grahamwich, River North, Chicago

Ending up by the Lincoln Park Zoo.

Lincoln Park, Chicago

If you have some spare time and Netflix Instant...

Two movies we've watched recently on Netflix Instant are Hot Tub Time Machine and North.

The former was completely stupid, yet oddly entertaining. But isn't that the best part of streaming Netflix, who cares if it's a stellar movie or just a guilty pleasure! It's really easy and if you really can't stand what you're watching, just stop and pick another movie. To me, Craig Robinson's character, Nick Webber, was hilarious. The movie isn't overly clever or original, but had a few laughs. And I loved the nods to the 80's movies throughout. (Oh, and John Cusack's love interest, April, is Lizzy Caplan, who played Janis Ian in "Mean Girls"...I had had trouble placing her while watching, so just helping you out in case you have a similar problem.)

The latter movie, North, is a movie from my childhood and I loved rewatching it! If you remember it, definitely watch it. If you never heard of it I would say that it would be a great family movie. The movie has a huge cast with lots of stars, and the plot is lots of fun.