It's the Little Things (vol. 1)

It's the little things...here's a quick sampling of some of the many things that make me tick and keep me smiling week in and week out.  Check it out:

I LOVE flipping through magazines.  Oddly enough, this year is the first year that I've really been a subscriber to more than a single magazine.  Right now I have a number of new magazines waiting to be looked at...looks like I just need a nice, cozy Saturday afternoon to get to business--complete with a cup of coffee, the couch, a blanket, two chihuahuas, and my hubs!

I <3 getting packages in the mail...just not so much a fan of getting bills and junk mail.
Look what arrived in our mailbox this week! We've been seeing the commercials on TV and decided that the logo was just too cool to pass up...not to mention it raises money and awareness for a good cause!

Nothing like a good cup of coffee to start off my Friday morning--I was all smiles :-)  Mike and I have a standing (sort of) joke that we don't talk to each other in the morning until after we've at least started drinking our coffee...makes for less stressful conversation and overall, less bickering!  Good rule to go by... 

Oh yeah, did I mention I picked up a little something for my sweet tooth...and I had the day off, SCORE!

One of the BEST purchases we've made, hands down.  I'm so addicted to my sparkly water!!
Our SodaStream carbonator has it's place on the countertop, right next to our coffee pot!
Making a bottle still scares the crap out of just about any guest that steps foot in our house.

Look at that face...more than anything, I'm glad I get to come home to him each night!
What an amazing husband and best friend!
 This was obviously taken on a Saturday morning after he'd had some coffee!

It's the Little Things newcomer = ME.  I have to be a little more cognizant during the week to end up with enough cute little photos to post to the forum on Friday...live and learn :-) If you're interested in adding your own "little things" post this week or next, head on over to Lindsay's blog at From the Aisle to Aloha or click on the button below...see you all next week :-)

Happy ALOHA Friday!

 Wish I knew how to make a palm tree emoticon.  Unfortunately, I'm visual-spatially, and artistically illiterate that way.  So here, wish I was looking out my window at this...

Just give me the sun, a chair on the beach, and a nice, fresh, mango margarita (or a cold H2O) and I'm set!

 Clearly, we picked the wrong state for that.  A couple of years ago, Mike introduced me to the phrase "HAPPY ALOHA FRIDAY".  I'm not sure where he first heard it, but it stuck.  So every Friday in our house is an Aloha Friday, our own little piece of HAWAII :-)  As I write this, I'm becoming more and more interested in just how Aloha Friday came about...gotta give credit where credit is due cause we definitely didn't create it.  All you need to know is that it's pretty much Hawaii's version of the Jimmy Buffet/Alan Jackson collaboration, "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere".

It's Aloha Friday, No work 'till Monday...

Even for this RN, the lyrics are true, no work for me before TUESDAY!!  It's a weekend full of events and occasions to celebrate in our house.  Check it out...

The DeBoer's will be re-united, PERMANENTLY :-)
For the past 7 weeks, Mel has been busy finishing nursing school back in MI while Jase and Danny have been living life in the HBG, patiently awaiting her arrival (and tidying up the house)!  Today's the day...Mel and her sister are making the 10+ hour drive to PA...and she'll be back in the 'Burg for good.  We're excited to have her back and send out huge congratulations on her graduation from nursing school!

Wedded Bliss x2
Saturday, October 15, 2011, must be a popular choice for weddings this year.  Two (errr...four) of our closest friends will be tying the knot this weekend, HOORAY for them!  Nikki and Bob will be dancing the night away back in MN, while Carolyn and Dave will be celebrating in Wilkes Barre, PA.  Mike and I truly wish there was a way we could somehow clone ourselves and be in both places at once, but we know the party will be rockin' back in MN...and we'll be here wishing Nikki and Bob the best from afar (taking a rain check on the celebration until we're back in MN--hopefully sometime in the near future).

Baby Cad(wallader)
Our closest friends Josh and Gina are *patiently* awaiting the arrival of their new baby boy.  He's due on Monday!!!  I can't believe that 9 months have passed already and that he's almost here...it seems like just yesterday I learned Gina was pregnant.  We're so happy for them and can't wait to see and hear all about baby Cad's arrival!!!  It seems just about all of our friends have started replicating--lots of new babies in our circle of friends and not a chance for Mike or I to see any of them in person, yet.  Huge congratulations (and somewhat belated in a couple of cases) go out to Scott and Cindy, Mouse and Shannon, Lois and Barry, Adele and Cameron, and Justin and Cassie on their new(ish) arrivals!! Coming in the near future are also new babes for our friends Adam and Katie, Brian and Kelly, and Mitch and Tristan.  I hope I'm not forgetting anyone, but there are probably some other babies out there I don't yet know about :-)  I LOVE seeing new photos posted to Facebook...keep 'em coming and CONGRATULATIONS all around!

Whew, think that's about it.  We might hit up Home Depot and Bed Bath Beyond, but we're not sure if we have enough time...lot's of stuff going on and tons to celebrate!  As of now, I'm just finishing up a bit of blogging, working on some work stuff, and tidying up the house while I wait for the UPS man to iDeliver our new phones.  If Mike could, he'd be iStalking UPS all day...hopefully you all have something fun and exciting planned for the weekend, HAPPY ALOHA FRIDAY! Enjoy the day :-)

ALOHA and MAHALO! 

Fall at our house.

I haven't posted any pics of the pups in a while, so I thought it was about time for a little chihuahua photo-shoot.  What better than a gorgeous Saturday in October...the leaves here haven't changed much yet, so I thought we'd step out on the front porch and snap a few photos.  I wanted to show off my new fall flowers (that I have yet to kill); they're insanely bright in person!  Apparently I can also plant them in the ground after the season...ahem, we'll see how that goes.

Our front porch array of pumpkins, gourds, and mums...I LOVE the bright purple!

The magenta is a close second!

Pretty sure Kaia looks like she was photoshopped in or photographed on a green screen somewhere

Trying to get two chihuahuas to sit, look cute, and pose for a few fall photos is nearly impossible

Tank with the sympathy paw

Can you tell we bribed them with t-r-e-a-t-s?  What gave it away?

This is just funny...simply because he looks evil.  He's really just in the midst of eating a treat :)

...and Kaia's own devilish look

Had to add a few with the two-leggeds, too.  Hubs with his WILD jersey on...getting ready for opening night
(Turned out to be kind of a neat angle for a photo--I like the foreground in the pic)

At this point, Kaia's just done with the whole thing.  Tank's obviously fixated on someone walking by...

"like"

This is about the extent of any "holiday" decorating I do for the Halloween season.  The pumpkins will get carved at some point or another, provided they don't get stolen by nuisance kids.  We're already down one mini-pumpkin.  Don't worry though, Mike has it under control...he chased the little effers down the street after they ran up onto our porch in the middle of the afternoon and tried to make away with two of 'em (note: Mike-1, neighborhood kids-1), LOL!  How's that for a surveillance system?? He's vigilant and nimble :-)

Done Vida. Donate Life.

It's a little crazy for a girl to get excited about a license plate...I got a bit giddy when the mailman delivered them to our door this afternoon.  I can hardly believe I'm fessing up to that.  OK, let me explain--saw they had a special Donate Life license plate while standing in line at the PennDot DMV back in July.  I figured, hey if I have to get rid of my Minnesota license plate (*sadface*), I might as well rock something cool in it's place.  It's meaningful, gets the 'donate life' message across, and raises money for a good cause all at once.

One catch...you have to get the plates through the specific organization, not the DMV, so it was a completely separate process aside from the normal title/license/registration fiasco that is PennDOT (nothing is clear, concise, or expedited here...welcome back to 1956 or somewhere there about).  Found that out by telling the lady at the counter that I wanted a 'donate life' license plate when registering the Prius.  Her response, Oh, you want the Wildlife Conservation plate? Ummmmm, not exactly.  Long story short, Mike and I got home, filled out our applications, sent in our $, and waited, waited, waited, and waited.  Finally on Saturday (11 weeks later) the mailman arrived at our door, with some new bling for our vehicles, yay!

A sneak peek before they made their way out the door

One for each of us :-)

I miss the crew back at LifeSource and I miss the opportunity to work alongside donor families to facilitate such important, lifesaving gifts that every day change the way people live...they do an amazing job each and every day!  We can all make a difference...if you haven't already, visit www.donatelife.net (in the midwest, you can also visit www.donatelifemidwest.org) for more information and instructions on donor registration where you live.

Re-new.

October. Binaakwe-Giizis. Leaves-falling Moon.

After the miserably rainy September we had here in PA, October is shaping up to be fall as it should be (well, at least the first 10 days or so).  I'm convinced that just about anything would feel like paradise after September.  Somehow I still wound up with a nasty head cold last week, uggh.  I was a walking (errr...lying on the couch) NyQuil commercial.  Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.  I even went so far as to call in sick to work...the only thing I hate more than being sick itself.  I had to remind myself that my patients and their families probably wouldn't have been appreciative of my nastiness...or my cooties...it's a bit different than sitting in a cube, folks.

I promise, this story actually has a point.  

By Friday afternoon, I was utterly bored, had made a permanent impression on the couch, and was on the verge of going stir crazy.  It had been awhile since I've gone on a run solely for the pure enjoyment and relaxation.  Lately, I've been overly focused, overly critical, and overly crabby; I've been fixated on the little things and consumed by details and schedules.  I haven't worked out for me, rather, I've worked out to get my 'swipe' at the gym, in hopes of getting that insurance reimbursement we all aim for ;)  It just so happens that Friday was a picture-perfect fall day...the kind of October day when Minnesotans forget about work and just plain old enjoy the day, outside, in the SUNSHINE.  After all, we all know that gorgeous fall days are numbered, and replaced by cold weather and winter precipitation sooner than we want to admit.  I'm pretty sure that winter here won't be as drastic or dramatic as the Minnesota winters I'm used to, but nonetheless, I needed to take advantage of the day.

I had a fabulous jog--minus the feeling that my head was going to pop off, LOL!  The sun was warm, the breeze was cool, and there were lots of Harrisburg-ians out enjoying the weather (although, considerably less than you'd see out running/walking/biking in Mpls--there's just no comparison).  It's hard to explain, but something about it put things into perspective; after a little me-time exercise time, I came home to a nice shower and dog walk combination.  Renewed sense of purpose and mindset.

It also got me thinking...about running...and how Mike and I should probably start training for a race or two.  Nothing fast, just something for the two of us to look forward to (and anybody else who'd like to join us)!!  A 1/2 marathon has been on Mike's list for a while now.  

MonsterDash 1/2 Marathon
October 2010
(It was COLD!!)

Dad dropped in to run the last 3.5 miles with me, yay!
Perfect motivation for the last leg of the run...we're all smiles :)

Miigwech, for listening to this crazy rant of mine!  Enjoy the start of a new week, wherever you may be  :)