Beautilicious!

In 8 hours and 33 minutes, this beauty will be all mine for the weekend!! I'm going to hug her and squeeze her and love her and tickle her and call her Raymond.  :)

 

 

Can't wait to see you, LaLa!!

 

 

What a night!!



Finally!  The night Delanie has been waiting on since July arrived......the Paramore concert!!!  Remember her reaction here?! :)

 

After a yummy dinner at Pazzaluna, we stood in line behind no less than 3000 people.  In the small world department, Delanie's friend Courtney was at the concert too. What are the chances she would be in line right in front of us??

 

 

Once inside the auditorium, Delanie literally ran to her seat.  By the way, that's her new Paramore hoodie.   :)

 

 

Roy Wilkins Auditorium is a fairly small venue.  The general admission tickets are standing room only on the floor.  Thankfully, our balcony tickets were right up close (plus we could sit down!).  She was a good sport about bringing her mom to the concert. 

 

 

When Paramore finally took the stage, Delanie burst into tears.  I think the excitement was just too overwhelming for her.  She quickly recovered and rocked out the rest of the night.  She was so exhausted - and hoarse! - by the end of the night that she crashed on the way home. 

 

 

This is Hayley Williams......Delanie's favorite singer. 

This smile was worth the price of admission!!

 

Finding the time

Is it just me or does everyone need a little more time in their day?? 

With work, family, holidays and everything else that seems to pop up, I have the hardest time finding time to scrapbook.  It's funny that the thing you most look forward to - and the most rewarding - always seems to get pushed to the back burner.

When Jim and I decided to finish the basement before the big move, my biggest request was a designated scrapbook/craft room.  Lo and behold....... this is hands down my favorite place in the entire world!  The perfect no-men-allowed-area that Delanie and I can spend tons of quality time.  :)

While doing chores yesterday, I found myself downstairs yearning to sit down and create.  Inspiration was everywhere......

 

 

Delanie's storage/display area....

Evidence of hours and hours and hours of work......

 

 

Even with this special space, Delanie and I often end up at the dining room table working on our books.  I'm too afraid to miss out on something I guess! :)

Charlene and I used to be so good about carving out an hour or two every Sunday evening to Skype while we worked on our scrapbooks.  Somehow we've gotten out of the habit lately.  New Year's Resolution (too early??): FIND THE TIME!!!

The first thing on the agenda is Garrett's senior year.  Thanks to the new Project Life system - thank you Becky Higgins!!- I'm hoping this one won't take forever.  No worries.....it's definitely a labor of love!! :) 

Birthday Bonanza!

Tons of family birthdays make November a birthday bonanza!!

 

Wild Bill (my sweet brother-in-law) starts the party......

 

Charlene and I join in a day later.....

 

 

And Little David (who made me an aunt for the first time!) rounds it out the next week......

 

Jim sent the beauties below to work.  Just to remind you how wonderful my husband is, he always sends me the same color roses (the purple ones) on special occasions because he remembers they're my favorite. 

 

Delanie and I took advantage of some girl time by checking out the latest Thor movie.  The photo is dark because I remembered to take the picture after the movie started.  Yep, I'm one of "those" movie-watchers.  :)

All in all, it was an AWESOME birthday!  Presents, lunch with my sweet coworkers, calls from my family and a chick-flick with my girl......I'm a lucky woman. 

 

This was my final sight of the evening.....

 

 

How could life get any better???  :)

Guess who's coming to town........?!

 

 

 

The best niece EVER is about to experience her first Minnesota winter!  Heaven help her, she doesn't have a clue what she's getting into.  :)

 

My sweet LaLa - Lauren to everyone else! - is spending Thanksgiving with us.  I cannot wait to kiss her beautiful face.  Hopefully we will have TONS of snow by then.  Hee hee hee......she's going to freeze her little Southern britches off!!



 

Time for a change

 

We have a rule in our house.... 

You cannot complain about a situation unless you're willing to change it. 

There is one thing about my life that I have never been happy about.  This week marks my 45th birthday so it's about damn time I do something about it.  I know it isn't going to be easy but I'm determined to see it through.  I'm already looking forward to the "other side".  :)

Old Man Winter

I knew it was coming but I didn't think it would be this soon!  The night Kathleen and I met for dinner, Maple Grove got four inches of snow.  Yep, when it rains snows it pours in Minnesota! :)

Welcome back, Old Man Winter!  It would be great if you could time your next visit to when Jim is in town.  The snowblower is bigger than Delanie and I put together. 

Crowned "Queen for the Day"!

My best Minnesota buddy - Kathleen - and I met for dinner this week.  Sadly, we only get together a few times per year but we definitely make them count! 

 

This time we were celebrating both of our birthdays. :) The waitress saw us carrying in gift bags and asked if we were celebrating a special occasion. Yep, we're pretty special! She decided to commemorate the occasion with custom-colored princess hats. 

Happy birthday, sweet KK!!  Can't wait to see you again soon.  :)

Back to the market

Old Man Winter will be arriving in Minnesota any day now!  Last weekend, Jim and I took advantage of the warm temps to check out the Farmers Market in downtown Minneapolis. 

 

Like always, it was a great way to get super high quality fruits and veggies for super cheap prices.  Trust me......we were not disappointed.  :)

 

 

During our visit, I found these gorgeous flower bouquets.  Aren't they stunning?! 

 

After getting a closer look, I found out that they were not flowers at all.....they were KALE!!

I couldn't believe it.  A beautiful bundle is now proudly on display at the Richardson house. :)

Note to self.....

Happy Haunting!

What a fun Halloween! :)

Our neighborhood is full of elementary-aged kiddos so Halloween is a very busy night at the Richardson household.  Jim gets such a kick out of passing out candy and chatting the little ones up.  Poor Bailey gets so excited every time the doorbell rings.  She was completely exhausted this morning! :)

 

Delanie and her friends decided to dress up and trick-or-treat this year.  Gone are the days of princesses and mermaids. 

 

Garrett, on the other hand, spent the night studying for a Music Appreciation test.  My how our life has changed recently.  :)