a new phone, a few anniversary presents & a fun visit from nana

well, we finally caved & got mckinlee a phone.
(i personally think a phone for an 11 year is ludicrous--but i have to remind myself this is not 1984. i think she was probably one of the last of her friends to get one!)

here she is opening it on the day it arrived

the excitement builds

she chose a blue one that is really pretty and perfect for what she wants to do--text!
(i've asked her over & over why she needs a phone since she hates talking on the phone. the answer, of course, is to text.)

making one of her first calls

mck has been dying to give us what she got us as part of our anniversary gift.
she had already made us the cutest ceramic things from practically pikasso.
me--a ring holder and chris--a key, ring, change holder.

here are our pretty gifts and the card she made us--so cute!

she got me the little pandora bird charm that i love!

and chris got aftershave and lip balm--he loves burt's bees!

here's her gift before she opened it
(we give her gifts on our anniversary too!)

the vera bradley large hobo in watercolor--this is one of the new summer prints and she has been wanting this to carry all her books for the meeting.
she was excited to get it!

since my mom has been sick for months, she hasn't felt like traveling so she hasn't been able to visit us. she finally felt better, sort of--right, mom? and came to spend a few days with us.
she got to be here for mckinlee's orchestra concert.

these kids, who have only been playing since september, did fabulous!

family picture after the concert

mom & i had so much fun--but i hardly took any pictures at all :(
we shopped a lot & had some yummy meals. these were about the only pictures i took--of us eating lunch at cheesecake factory.
(just starting to love instagram on my iphone)

tomorrow will be a boatload of spring break pictures! stay tuned...

what i wore wednesday

just a few pictures of some outfits we actually took a picture of lately.
linking up with the pleated poppy & jewelscapes.

pants: target? (from my sister, i think)
tank & scarf: old navy
sweater: macy's
shoes: dillards
darling niece: my sister

jeans: lauren conrad for kohls
shirt: banana republic
necklace: old navy
flower: made by me
shoes: target

mckinlee
skirt: goodwill
tank: justice
sweater: from clothes swap
shoes: dillards (thanks nana!)

skirt: target
tank: banana republic from thrift store
sweater & necklace: old navy
shoes: target-online

thanks for stopping by!

before & after

it was such a beautiful day yesterday--so warm & sunny that i decided i just had to be outside for a while.
so i went to our local nursery and loaded up on flowers to fill some of my sad, empty pots.
here are a few pictures...

i love this bicycle planter but it was looking pretty pitiful...

now, it's so pretty!
(pink ones are supertunias, yellow are gerbera daisies, purple are artist blue)

here's my big pot on the back porch looking sad and lonely...

now, doesn't it look like it's smiling?

(dracaenas in the back, orange hibiscus, blue daze on the left, scarlet verbenas in the middle, yellow melampodiums on the right, and lavender alyssum in the front)

i have the same pot on the front porch so i did the same thing to it.

this hibiscus was even bigger--i can't wait to see all those gorgeous orange blooms!

i also got a pretty yellow wreath for the front door.
doesn't that look springy?

after mckinlee & planted yesterday, we went for our first bike ride of the year and to play on the tire swing not far from our house.
i guess all the pollen in the air and the weather change that came through did something to her, because she is all congested and coughing this morning :(

now that i'm all ready for spring, it feels winter-y again.
(as my darling niece would say "yuckity!")

i will be posting more pictures soon of our flower beds that are getting a spring re-do
(and mckinlee just said to say that i will also be posting pictures of her & her new phone--when it comes in!)

anniversary weekend

last saturday was our 17th anniversary!

(that makes me feel old writing that since sometimes i only feel about 17 years old. ha!)
anyway we spent the weekend downtown and had a great time.
(sorry for the picture overload--either i don't blog at all or i post a bazillion pictures!)

this was our hotel--the joule--in some historic building.

it was pretty cool--very historic on the outside but very modern inside.
here's the lobby. loved that gear turning around!

even though i'm not much of a wine person, this was pretty.

here's some pictures of our room.
cool bed--not the most comfortable ever.
isn't the carpet awesome?

cool bathroom--even though i would never decorate this way, i really liked it in the room.

glass doors everywhere

cool sink

here we are before we decided to walk around downtown before dinner

love the shot of this building

love, LOVE this old building. you can't see too well, but it was crumbling on the bottom & it looked so neat!

nestled in among all these tall buildings was the cutest little hamburger stand.
(chris said for me to post that this is where he took me for our anniversary!)

another cool building--i think this was a native american museum.

of course we had to walk down to dealey plaza and see where president kennedy was shot.

here's the infamous grassy knoll.
(we felt like such tourists, but i had never seen it before. although we weren't as absolutely ridiculous as people who would run out into the street and have their picture taken at the exact spot he was shot. you can barely see the X in the street. what are people thinking?)

the school book depository

reunion tower
(one anniversary we had dinner at the top--awesome!)

and here we are squinting by the tulips!

another building shot because i love old buildings

then we got dressed up a little and headed out for dinner

we ate at the tower club here at thanksgiving tower up on the 48th floor.

once i got used to the altitude (ha!) the view was amazing!

chris with his dinner

me & my salad

these were the little appetizers they brought out--we never quite knew what they were but they tasted like tuna & were delicious.

chris took this picture & i'm not sure exactly what he was taking a picture of, but i thought it was cute! (i'm thinking it was the bread!)

this salad was fabulous! big hunks of goat cheese, raspberries, almonds, cucumbers & a wonderful raspberry vinaigrette--yum!

and this beef tenderloin was quite possibly one of the best things i have ever put into my mouth! i can't describe the way it almost melted in your mouth. and that marsala sauce was yum! that triangle is actually sheets of potatoes that was wonderful as well!
the best dinner we have had lately!

for dessert we had a molten chocolate cake with pineapple sauce--oh my!

then we went back to the hotel up to the 10th floor (you can see the pool hanging over the edge)
it was so pretty with huge lounging couches/beds around the pool. we had drinks and just relaxed and talked up there forever. it was a beautiful night and i truly could have slept right there!

here are the cards we gave each other & some of our chocolates

we slept late and then went down to eat breakfast--really pretty place.

here's my little morning appetizer.

the fans were propellers--so cool!

enjoying our breakfast and the last few minutes of our weekend

then we headed home

as we drove home, we passed this & just died!
(is that cheesy or what? i guess that leaves no doubt as to what this is!)

we had a wonderful weekend--so nice to spend time together & not worry about any day to day things for a little while.

if you've made it this far--bless your heart!
i've got a ton more pictures from spring break so get ready :)