What a Croc!

My sister in law, Arezou, works for Crocs (the shoe company) in Colorado. I have never really been a fan of their original shoe - thinking it was best left to the elderly or very young to wear.

Fun fact: My dad only wears the orginal Crocs. He refuses to wear any other shoe.

TRUE STORY!

But last week...something changed my point of view....Arezou & friends were in an ad for Crocs new women's shoe, Springi.  Click here to see the ad!

I think this new style is totally cute & amazingly comfortable!

I once said I would never own a pair of Crocs.

Lesson learned...never say never!!!

Laundry Mishap!

This is exactly how I felt this morning after taking my favorite white pants out of the washer.

Guess who didn't check pockets....again!

The offender: my raffle ticket from last week's Crimson & Chardonnay.

Fun fact: Clorox bleach poured directly on the pink part of the pocket, + another quick run through the washer and I am feeling like this:

Phew! Disaster averted!  Now off to enjoy my day in the BEAUTIFUL sunshine!☼

WSU Mom's Weekend!

Last weekend was Mom's Weekend at WSU.☺ My two sisters, Cynthia & Brenda travelled to Pullman with me to visit Naseem. We had a great time!!! I meant to post about our trip earlier in the week, but we've been busy with track meets, track meet injuries, visits to the orthopedist's office, Bunco(!) & baking.

On Monday, Matty injured his right knee at a track meet. Boooo!

Here Matty is resting comfortably with his new immobilzer brace (+ his loyal dog/sidekick) which will be locked in extension for three weeks. Track season ended early for Matty. :( This is super sad news, as this boy likes to run! He will have an MRI on Friday evening (yay for evening appointments!) to see if the ACL has been damaged. Please pray he won't have to have surgery!!

B, Cynthia & I left town early Friday morning. Once we hit the Palouse Scenic Byway, I looked at Cynthia and asked her "Isn't this beautiful??!!" Fully thinking she would agree with  me 100%; she answered with, "It's landscape." Thankfully, B agreed with me.

The most beautiful 'landscape.'

Reunited!!

Fun fact: Brenda also lived in Gannon as a freshman. We went down a floor to visit her old door.

Since this was Cynthia's first visit back to Pullman in 16 years, she was obligated to take a tour down 'memory lane' with Brenda & I. ☺

B & I with our 'photo faces' and Nas & Cynce with theirs!

We met up with Naseem's good friend Marcus. He also took our 'tour.'☺

Thompson Hall

Thompson Hall peek-a-boo

Fun fact: Pullman has some of the most beautiful sunrises/sunsets!

Bryan Hall evening shot.

Saturday morning, we made Naseem get up at 7:30 a.m.☺. We ate at our favorite breakfast spot, then headed out of town to climb Kamiak Butte. The views from this spot are breathtaking!

As I was taking this picture, I had to exclaim once again, that the Palouse is one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Guess who agreed with me?! Cynthia. I KNEW she'd come around.☺

After that, we drove out to find the deserted town of Elberton. The only part left of the town is an old abandoned church.  On the way, Cynthia spotted this collapsed barn. I made her pull over so I could get a photo.

This little shack was right next to the barn. Check out the chimney. Cynthia noticed that it was half wood/half brick. Interesting!
We finally made it to Elberton after getting lost once or twice (WITH the help of GPS).

Click on the photo to enlarge & read.

Abandoned church.

After our 5 minutes in Elberton, we headed back to town. We found this darling garden & gift shop outside of Pullman, called Living in the Garden. I loved it! I bought several unique vases & plants for my kitchen here.

Naseem needed to go home to do her laundry (12-2 on Saturdays), so we dropped her off & hit some fun stores downtown. Then we went to Merry Cellars which B & I discovered last summer.

Graffiti Pullman-style.

Cynthia loves antiques, so we took her to Uniontown which we were sure had antiques. Nope! Unfortunately, we ended up at an art gallery at the Dahmen Barn. The gallery was a bust, but the fence outside was fantastic!

Wagon wheel fence at Dahman Barn in Uniontown.

Fun fact: I took this photo from the top of the Pullman cemetery. Brenda said it had the best view of campus....and she was right!

Most of our friends who were visiting were attending the Kelly Clarkson concert, but had tickets to a much more exciting event: the Crimson & Chardonnay event at the Lewis Alumni Center.

I was worried the event would be light on the appetizers, but they were really plentiful. We were able to taste a variety of wines & meet some new people. It was a lot of fun!

This is my favorite 'crafty' idea from the event. Take a bunch of corks, stick them in a vase with a flameless candle = instant table decoration!

I also loved the stemless souvenir wine glass. Another cute idea was to take ranch dressing, stick them in tiny (communion?) cups with julienned veggies. I think I will try this idea for summer parties.

All in all, I had the best time with Naseem & my sisters in Pullman. There ony sad point was that there were so many events to choose from, we didn't have enough time to do them all!

Make This!!

How was your Easter? Ours was wonderful! We spent the day with Omid's parents & our good friends who are like family to us. The weather cooperated & the food was delicious. We couldn't have asked for a better day!

 Prep work done: taking a rest before the guests arrive.

Nas was here in 'spirit,' Notice the N!

 Omid & his parents.

The girls! Naseem: you were missed!!

 For dessert, we had the Neiman Marcus Cake. Paula Deen also has a version called Ooey Gooey Butter Cake. This cake was reeaally goooood. I will definitely make it again. I found the recipe via Pinterest (surprise, surprise!), which led me to the blog: My Kitchen in the Rockies.

A tiny slice will do ya!

This cake is super rich! Cut the richness with some whipped cream & fresh fruit.

Note: I used a boxed white cake mix. If you do that, just follow the directions in the linked recipe & NOT the direction on the box. I also had to let my cake bake for about 45 minutes before it was slightly set in the center. 

Happy Easter!

Wishing you & your families a blessed Easter!

Get Crafty!

I saw this darling paper bag Easter basket on Pinterest the other day. I decided I had to try & make it.

From Ellinee.com

How hard could it be?! Oh my gosh. I am so impatient & truly ADD, that I had to have Matty take over. Cutting the paper strips was no problem at all. Folding them: simple. Weaving them? Arrgghhh! Matty had to finish this craft for me. It took over two hours, so if you start - make sure you have a free afternoon.

Beautiful weave. Thank you Matty!

Perfect handle. Again, thank you Matty!

Almost done.

We only did two rows for the sides, as Matty was starting to get tired of doing 'my' project.
When I say 'we' - I mean Matty.☺

Finished!

Thank you Matty for crafting this darling basket! If you want to try...go to this site for the complete tutorial.

Matty isn't only craftastic, he is a runner/sprinter too!
Thanks Mattyboo! Love you lots!