Black or Blue?

I've been helping my mom design Tyler's graduation announcements. I have two proto-types. Trying to decide if they should be black or blue??

I created a basic envelope and then the actual invitations pulls out from the envelope.

New Mexico #1

Here are a few pictures from our weekend in Santa Fe. I have more pictures on the camera I took to work, but I forgot to bring it home today, so I'll have to post more later.

We're going to spend the weekend planting seeds (indoor starters) in anticipation of the garden, grocery shopping, and running errands.

Aspen Plays Statue

In the summer, I always keep a pot of flowers in the corner where the deck benches meet, but Aspen has taken to "playing statue" this winter and spring while the pot isn't there. She loves to sit up there and look out at what's going on in the yard--until she sees a squirrel that is and then she tears after it. Luckily, she can't actually catch one, but they do come down onto the deck and incite her. I swear they taunt her on purpose into chasing them and then they go up the tree and chatter at her, teasing because she's too slow.

I've spent most of the week working on school work inside while she plays in the yard, but I did take her on a hike Mountain to Round Mountain on Monday and then this afternoon a neighbor and I took her and Sienna (the neighbor's dog) to Rabbit Mountain Open Space for a long hike, so she's enjoying my Spring Break too. We had a high of 69 degrees today, so it was just beautiful outdoor weather. Of course, it's supposed to be snowing and 30 degrees again by Friday, but for a day or two its felt like spring!

Besides school work, I've also been busy catching up on doctor and dentist appointments, and I took the GRE this morning. In addition, they came Monday and Tuesday and installed our new windows, so that's exciting! They do look much nicer than the old ones and are much more insulated too. We are leaving tomorrow for our impromptu road trip down to Santa Fe, so I will post more pictures from that when we get home.

Spring Break Here I Come...

I'm so looking forward to a slower pace for the next week. It would be even better if I was off to the beach or some other fabulous trip, but at least I can sleep in until 6am (gasp!) and maybe sit down to a leisurely lunch on a couple of the days. Yes, I know these are not major achievements in the real world, but work comes early for me, and it's hard to make time for lunch when you are never alone and have more classes looming on the horizon all the time, so it will be a novelty for me.

I'm planning to spend a good portion of the week doing some advance lesson planning to ease the workload after break, and I've also carted home quite a stack of papers to grade, but at least I can do these at home in a pair of jeans, and take some breaks in between. Plus, Aspen's excited (she just doesn't know it yet) because she will be able to hang out with mom and won't have to be in her crate during the day!

A Little Craft Project

I've had a nice, relaxing weekend, with not too much schoolwork to do. That's one of the benefits of a new school term because I don't have essays to grade yet. It takes a couple weeks before we get done writing one and the grading frenzy begins. So, I spent most of yesterday afternoon working on a craft project, creating an organizer to holder papers and pens on my desk downstairs. I purchased this plain white organizer from a scrapbook store in Fort Collins...




And then covered the whole thing in paper and embellishments and added some photos to get this final product...

I've also been busy baking this weekend. I used some leftover bread that I didn't want to go to waste to make a batch of bread crumbs and then still had bread so I made an apple bread pudding. Then, I made homemade cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting yesterday. Mike has made a big pot of ham and bean stew and a fresh loaf of bread for dinner today too, so we are eating well.

I spent 1.5 hours at the dog park this morning with Aspen too. The bad news is that it was very muddy. The good news is that the city is putting down mulch to deal with the mud. While we were there, the Sheriff's Work Crew arrived with wheelbarrows, rakes, and a truckload of mulch and started hauling it in and spreading it around. Most of the other dogs were content to play elswhere and ignore the workers, but Aspen was fascinated and kept trying to sneak out the gate when they opened it for the wheelbarrows. As a result, they had to assign one man from the workcrew just to stand and guard the gate to sheperd Aspen away and let the wheelbarrows through...They were all laughing and making jokes about my dog and her attempts to "break out," which is ironic given that the workers weren't exactly voluntary themselves.

Anyway, looking forward to a couple more lazy hours this afternoon and then I will have to turn my attention toward preparing for the week...Have a good week everyone.

Update

Well, the second trimester is over! I'm 2/3 done with another school year, and only 1 more term to go! I've been grading papers like crazy, but now for a couple of days I don't have anything to grade...if only that would last!

It's been snowing off and on again here, but the good news is that it's starting to warm up slightly during the days. Enough to form icicles on the gutters during the day, which come crashing down outside the back patio door at least once a day.

I've been fighting a cold this week in addition, so it's been a challenge, but I'm starting to feel better finally. And, it's only two weeks until spring break!

Happy Valentine!

Happy Valentine's day everyone....It's a cold, clear day in Colorado, but everyone is going to have a good day hopefully. The city of Loveland was featured during CBS's Sunday Morning show this week to discuss our Valentine's hearts displays and remailing programs, so that was cool.

Mike and I actually celebrated yesterday with a lovely seafood feast at Pappadeaux's in Westminster and some window shopping. Lobster, calamari, crawfish foundeaux, all sorts of good foods, and we have enough left over for dinner tonight too! Today, it's back to work for me grading papers and Mike has a concert today. Hope you all enjoy your day!