This makes me smile

Lately, I'm trying to focus on the simple things that can make me smile. One of those simple things that has made me smile lately is this commercial.

My favorite part is the water "melting".

What simple things make you smile?

In other news, Mike and I almost have our road trip planned for our furlough and I'm pumped. We're going to see so much of the west part of the US that we (but especially I) have never seen before.

A Revelation

My work's dress code won't let us wear flip-flops. I get it, completely, and don't argue but man are there days I wish I could throw a pair of flip-flops or a cute pair of sandles on with a skirt or dress.

My boss and I were talking about this and she shared a wonderful revelation she had becaues of another co-worker's "flip-flops" one day. The co-worker was wearing sandles that my boss considered flip-flops and teased her that she was breaking the rules. The co-worker stated that they were "dressy flip-flops" and therefore didn't break the rules. They consulted with someone in HR and she concurred that they were, in fact, "dressy flip-flops" and were within the dress code guidelines. 

So, here I am, having worked so hard to stay within the guidelines and now I have this news. I'm pumped. I saw these on sale at the Gap the other day and didn't get them because I didn't think they'd be work appropriate but I'm going for it now. YAY!

Since I missed it...

I missed putting my dining room up on Kelly's Korner Friday so, here it is!

From the front door. The rocking chair is in the living room area. It took Mike quite awhile to convince me to get the big clock but I'm really glad he did. :-)

From the other side, right before dinner!

The shelf in the back corner, next to the deck doors.

Thanks for coming.

Catching Up

Whew. It has been a busy few days. Mike and I headed to the mountains of Colorado with some friends this weekend and had a great time. Here are some pictures of the highlights.

At Bishop's Castle on the way up. Very cool, very interesting, VERY shaky in some places.

Us in the giant chair outside of the castle.

Fun on the 4-wheelers.

The girls on the 4-wheelers.

Mike and me at the top of the mountain.

We had a great time but we're glad to be home!

The Graduates

Yesterday, Mike and I drove to Missouri's campus to watch my brothers graduate. Andrew didn't want to walk so we enjoyed spending time with him in the stands and watching Jordan watch across the stage. (also the first and last time I plan on ever being on Mizzou's campus - KU fans just don't go there) ;-)

It was fun to see some of the tops of the gradutes hats that had been decorated so they'd stand out - my favorite was a girl who took red, black and clear jewels and a heart and the word "ya'll" on it but I couldn't get a good picture of it. 

This is a video from the end of the ceremony - the speaker was a General from a nearby Army base and the other guy leading the shout is a graduate from the football team. After I stopped filming, they bumped chests.

After graduation, we took pictures at a nearby park and then grabbed a quick bite to eat at Macaroni Grill before Mike and I drove back home. All of those pictures, aka, all of the good ones, are on my Mom's camera.

You would have thought we had been gone for ages by the way Lily reacted when we walked through the door - it was hilarous. (and nice to know that the pup missed us) :-)

Guest Rooms Galore

Guest Bedrooms are the main event on Kelly's blog this week - here's mine!

This is the upstairs room - the comforter has been mine since I was about 12 and I think it's beautiful (despite not thinking so as a 12 year old girl when my Mom picked it out) :-)

This is the little corner at the foot of the bed. The red table was in our living room until I found something else that worked. I wasn't sure the red would work in this room and thought I'd have to paint it but I'm not so sure now. The painting was a wedding gift from my dear friend, Jaime, isn't she talented!

This is the other corner - a little unfinished but who cares. My grandpa made the little table and chairs for my dolls when I was little. The closet is to the right of the picture.

This is the bed - my grandpa refinished it when I was little and made the sideboards longer since they figured I'd be tall with such tall parents (and I'm so glad he did because I am!)

This is the bedroom downstairs. It's our 'baseball room' where we display Mike's college baseball stuff. Eventually, I'm going to add my Cardinals stuff, too. The room doesn't get used very much, probably because the bed is an air mattress, but I like it and we'll eventually get a real bed for it.

And, since I didn't add this last week to the living room post (I forget that not everyone has a basement... here's our basement/casual living area)

We got the entertainment center from Ballard Designs. I saw the couch a few years ago when Mike was looking for a couch for his apartment but it was too big - I was so excited to find it again when we were ready to buy a house - it's super deep and long which is great for us! You can see a coordinating ottoman that also has a chair in the bottom right corner of the picture.

Mike's computer area is in the back corner. There are lots of "trinkets" on the entertainment center that family members have brought us from their travels around the world, a few I got while I was in Europe and there's still space for anything Mike and I get when we go to Europe - now if only we knew when that would be...

This is at the bottom of the stairs - the table and chairs were my maternal grandparents and are yet another addition to our home that are so special to me.

Hope you enjoyed!

Stress relief via M&Ms

If you haven't already heard, the company Mike and I work for is going through some significant layoffs. We have been blessed to still have our jobs and pray that it says that way but trust that God will provide should that not be His plan. (We would greatly appreciate your prayers that we will continue to have jobs, the power of prayer is an incredible thing!)

Anyway, since the layoffs began, I started keeping a mug of M&Ms on my desk as "stress relief" and it has become a great indicator as to how bad of a day it's going to be based on how early M&M consumption starts and then how rough of a day it truly was based on how many M&Ms were devoured. The M&Ms have truly become a great stress relief and the "indicator levels" a great source of laughter in my office, especially with the plastic fork that serves as a 'dispenser' in hopes of contaminating each other with the unkown. I've told my parents all about the M&Ms and today, I got this in the mail from them:

I now have my very own M&M dispenser for my desk. One that matches the ones my parents have at their desks! Thank you Mom and Dad for the sweet thought and a dispenser way better than a plastic fork, for the laughter I know it will bring tomorrow and in the coming weeks, and for all of your prayers as Mike and I weather these rough waters. Love you guys!