Do the Harlem Shake...

I love my students. I especially love how creative and silly they can be. This is what they created to display their knowledge of the word capricious the other day...

Who dat?!

It's me! I'm back!

I forgot how much I enjoyed writing down all my thoughts and feeeeelings for the world to read. Or, you know, like, my mom. 

Alright, I'm making a sweeping declaration that I'm coming back to my blog for good, but usually, when I make sweeping declarations, I'm a lot like Marshall on How I Met Your Mother. 

P.S.: I've made that exact same sweeping declaration. That one never sticks. 

Anyway, I love writing and I love T.M.I., so this is happening. 

Must Pin Everything!

Well, it's official. I've started pinning and I just. can't. stop. Everytime I log on (every five minutes), I find some delightful recipe that I'm probably never going to try or some amazing craft that is so easy and cheap, but it doesn't matter because I'll be too busy pinning to make it.

Per usual, I was a total contrarian about the whole Pinterest craze. Whatevs, I said. I've got too many lame status updates on facebook to take care of-I don't have time for that noise. But then, I signed up because I was curious. And I found a pair of brown boots. And then a sweater dress. And then a daydream-style French vacation idea. Ooh-la-la...

Anyway, I love Pinterest and I feel compelled to tell anyone who will listen that I was all wrong. It's glorious. :)

Moving Day

We bought our very first home today! It's a four bedroom, two and a half bath, gorgeous two-story home in Urbana. Al and I are so incredibly excited and happy to begin this new chapter together.

We decided to mostly cram all our move-out and move-in duties into the same day. We had spent the last week or two procrastinating packing and enjoying our apartment of four years.

My best memories in our old apartment:

1. walks on the golf course on summer nights and winter days
2. bringing Mila home and seeing her grow
3. winter nights when we'd move all the furniture, lay a comforter on the floor, get a fire going and watch movies with tons of fatty snacks
4. visits from my mom, Katy and Tyler

Things I won't miss:

1. occasionally loud neighbors
2. worrying about doing my workout videos and driving the people downstairs nuts
3. worrying about Mila running marathons in the house and driving the people downstairs nuts
4. the tiny kitchen

After loading up the moving trucks and our cars, with the help of Al's incredible brothers and mom, at 2pm, Al and I headed out to Busey Bank to seal the deal! The meeting was short and sweet; we handed them some money and our realtor, Stefanie Pratt handed us the keys. (She was fantastic, by the way-very knowledgeable, reliable and professional.)

Don't mind my uggo moving style...

After getting our keys, we dropped off our first carload at the new house! So exciting! Early on in the evening, our incredible new neighbor, Holly popped in to help. That girl is a go-getter! She helped carry in boxes and cleaned my entire kitchen, with the help of her man, Todd. We were so blessed with friends who piled in throughout the night, including the Deppas, the Melbys, Chris, Jeff and Rob. We had a blast on our first night in our new home. Here's hoping for many more to come!

Happy Easter!

My Easter morning began with a giggle, courtesy of The Oatmeal.

But I digress...

Al suggested our attendance at church this morning, and though I haven't been in a long time, it felt good to go!

Then, we got Easter burritos at Panchero's (what?) and were slightly disappointed. We've given that place two chances and we just can't get into it. The only thing I adore there is the fact that they literally make the flour tortillas right in front of you-like from dough to burrito for each individual customer. I love getting food that is at the peak of freshness!

Later in the afternoon, we made the drive to scenic Ludlow-Al's teeny tiny hometown-and met up with the Nukus/Hills/Melbys/Demos/Drehers/Sanders/Cannons/hope I didn't forget anyones at the Ludlow Community Center. My mother-in-law arranged a fantabulous dinner and we had a lovely time with family.

As usual, Brenda and Steph outdid everyone with awesome Easter gift bags-some of which included these awesome bunny teeth!

Photo by Steph Demos.

Happy Easter!

Mad Men Premiere Night

When Al and I first subscribed to Netflix, we attempted to begin watching Mad Men, per the many recommendations we'd gotten. The first few episodes were BOR-ING and Al gave up. I however, being OCD and all, stuck it out for the first season and got hooked. Finally, Al came around and by the time this season premiered, we were watching live!

My super awesome husband suggested we dress up in full-fledged early 60s style and go out for cocktails before the show. We got all gussied up and went downtown to Distihl, where Al had an New-Fashioned and martini and I had a-er,two-Pama-Ginlets. Delicious!

Note: In the picture above, Al is "draping". Check it out; it's a thing.

Close to 9:00pm (premiere time), we went home to have a Mad Men meal-meatloaf, peas, and mashed potatoes-prepared by moi! I had prepared dinner before we left, so all I had to do was pop the loaf o' meat in the oven. Unfortunately, as I often do, I didn't think enough about timing and realized it was going to take at least an hour to bake. Alas, by 10:30pm, we had full bellies and were fully entertained watching Mad Men together! :)

Happy Feet

Check out my cousin Peyton's sweet dance moves!