Joy in June

Summer is here! Shawn and I have already been busy this summer since we got back from vacation. Shawn went back to work, and I have started summer school. I have also been going to meetings at Pinckney in the afternoon- again, those who say teachers get the summer off really don't have a clue:) There is always next year to plan for!

But I will say things have been a bit more easy going now that summer is here. We have had some extra time to relax, read, and do some cooking:) I am hoping this continues this summer.

But first, here are a few pictures from Mrs. Leah's wedding! I was kind of disappointed in my phone's picture taking ability that night-but here are a few. Leah looked AMAZING (a classic beauty:) and the wedding was great fun. I hope Leah and Jake are enjoying their first week of married life:) I can't wait to see the pictures!

The beautiful bride getting ready

Cutting the cake (which was delicious red velvet-YUM)

Erin giving her speech-it was great:)

The first dance

Shawn and I with the amazing scenery

Shawn in the spotlight:) There was a random spotlight set up by him-guess he was the entertainment for the night!

California Vacation

We are back from vacation! We had a wonderful time in California with my Dad's family. We spent a few days in Monterey, and then headed to San Fransisco. It was great to get away for a bit, to see my brother and wife and spend time with my parents and sister, and to see an area of the country we had not seen before.

Here are some pics...

The beach area by our house

Bird rock-covered with, you guessed it, bird poop!

the Lone Cypress tree

Pebble Beach golf course

My birthday dessert:)

The main mode of transport-the trolley!

Alcatraz

Whale watching

Thanks again to my family for taking on on vacation again:) We had a wonderful time!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful start to their summer.

Hello! Hello!

It's been quite a while since I have posted-and for good reason:) Shawn and I have had a lot-going on-not really any projects-just a lot of things going on. We have had a few unexpected surprises in the area of real estate, family and work-May has been quite the month.

But the good news is we are going on vacation later this week! We are headed with my Dad's family to California. I hope to post some good pics from the trip. I also end school this week and am looking forward to having a much needed break from work.

Some things I am looking forward to this summer:

Vacation:) California and hopefully, maybe Colorado??:)

Having more time to read, work out, and spend some time in the kitchen

Celebrating big things with friends- graduations, weddings, sporting events,  EXCITING THINGS!

Shopping for baby things with one of my closest friends:)

Our lovely landscaped backyard

This is how Lydia feels about work

Back yard planter

Leah at her bachelorette party! YAY!

My sister at State Swim. She's a rockstar:)

Mom opening her Mother's Day Gift

Jan's Bday

Mom and the cat

Shawn opening an early birthday gift-notice the awesome animal print wrapping paper!

Here are some random pictures from this past month-

A Mad Mad Saturday

Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

What an incredible Saturday! Our Jayhawks are on their way to another National Championship Game. This is such an incredible team- a team that everyone has doubted, and a team who actually can't just rely on pure athleticism to win, but an incredible team.

We are way proud of them here in Lawrence:)

Here is some footage from last night's crazy celebration.

The Season of Renewal:)

Ahhh Spring is here.


I have always tended to have a bit of a love-hate relationship with Spring.


Reasons to love:


Beautiful weather (when its sunny)


Running outside


Spring break


Flowers in bloom


Longer days


March Madness


Reasons to hate:


Tornado season begins


School/work gets crazy- end of the year things to do- testing, lessons, not to mention the kids are checked out. I thought Spring craziness would end when I finished school-but I guess it keeps going when you work for a school!




So there are many more reasons to love Spring than hate it. Spring is also a season of celebration- Mothers Day, Easter, birthdays, graduations, confirmations, weddings- I love it all, but it all comes at once-which makes it hard to make it to it all.


So far, this Spring has been very good to me. I went home for a few days, which was great. Its never really long enough-I always have so much family I want to see, but it was great to see everyone while I could. It was also good to come home and get some cleaning done around the house. I know its cliche- the whole Spring cleaning thing- but it feels really good to have my closet cleared out and the cobwebs off my ceiling.


I also have been blessed so far this Spring with great news coming from friends. I am so happy that all of my friends are doing well, but I am especially happy that two of my closet friends are taking even more steps towards their dreams. I have one friend who is about to be married, have a house, and a dog-all things she has worked so hard for and deserves to enjoy. I have another friend who just made a huge decision about her future-and is on her way to getting her PHD, which is phenomenal. I really do draw inspiration from my friends and feel so blessed to know them!


There really isn't anything too new in the Showman household- just enjoying the beautiful weather and cheering on the Hawks! I will hopefully post some spring yard pics soon- and I feel a new baking endeavor coming on this week- woot woot watch out!


In addition, I am adding a page to my blog- it's a page about getting healthier. There will be more to come for that this year:)


I hope everyone is enjoying their day!


"The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring."
-Bern Williams

:)

 This picture may one day go above our fireplace.

One Calm Kitty

I can't believe February is almost over! I know it's a short month, but I really can't believe it's almost Spring. And I really can't believe how nice the weather has been this year- we really have been blessed this winter.

No big news. I baked my first two-tiered cake for the hub for Valentine's Day.

It came out a little lopsided, but made with love.

The biggest change in our household is that we have, for the moment, solved the nightly behavioral problems of our cat. I have not mentioned this before, but, since we have moved into the house, one of Lydia's favorite things to do is jump on our television. She literally likes to jump on top of the TV, which makes it wobble, and scratches the screen. Not good.

As parents of this little gray stinker, we tried several things.

We tried scolding her....she really couldn't care less.

We tried spraying her with water. She loves water. She even tries to jump into the shower in the morning.

We tried spraying her with water and some vinegar in it. She did not really seemed to mind smelling and having raggedy fur.

We tried paying more attention to her. We usually play with Lydia at nighttime anyways, but we really tried to play with her more. This worked sometimes, until she decided she wanted to play the game called jump on the TV.

We tried putting her out in the garage each time she did it. This backfired because a) she loves the garage and b) when its really cold, momma is a wuss and doesn't have the heart to stick her out there

We tried some techniques from the cat behaviorist. I was randomly watching TV one day and came across a TV show called "My Cat From Hell" Naturally I tuned in. The guy on the show (who I guess is like the Cesar for dogs) said that cats like to claim their territory in every room, so it's important that they are able to claim a space in each room. A lot of times, these spaces are up high.

So, we tried making her a spot on top of the bookshelves. She seemed to like it, but then we had a scare one day when she woke up from a nap and took a tumble off of the bookshelves (I am pretty sure the cat is down to 7 lives now).

So, we were kind of at a loss. The only other thing we could think of was to get a new TV stand-one with a cover shelf. I, of course, loved the idea- since I want a new TV stand anyways. However, the husband, as well as the bank account, did not love this idea.

So, I was running out of ideas, thinking about checking my cat into cat therapy for her issues, when my mom mentioned to me to try tape. At first, we were against the idea, since it would look so horrible. But, after several more days of having to pry the cat off of our fairly new TV every 15 minutes, we busted out the duct tape and went to work.

The gray beast has had one interaction with the tape. It consisted of her jumping up on it, getting stuck and then tumbling off right away. This was followed by a dirty look for both of us.

Now she goes up and sniffs the tape, just to make sure its still there, but then walks away. Victory is ours.

Well, sort of....

At some point we will have to deal with the fact that we have an absolutely hideous TV stand as the focal point of our living room.

But for now we will just enjoy our calm kitty.....





Nothing new under the moon...

Hey ya'll!

I hope everyone is having a great winter (although it really feels more like Spring around here, which is fine, even though I wouldn't mind one good snow!)

I haven't updated in a while, but I really don't have anything earth shattering to update. Shawn and I have both been pretty busy with work, especially Shawn. He has been really busy working on a project for work, and helping completely renovate a house for a friend. I have been busy with the kiddos at work, and just started working as an after school tutor this week.

So, I really don't have any big news. I haven't really done any big house projects (we are saving those for the summer times), and have been keeping cooking pretty simple due to our busy schedules. The other day I did start to blog about the process of making "healthy" brownies, but decided not to reveal the end product, which was pretty much a gooey, squishy mess (and not really in a good way).

Anyways, life has been good, yet busy. I am looking forward to a Valentine's Weekend with the hubby, and maybe a big snow someday soon???:)

I hope everyone has a lovely Valentine's Day!

I swear, it really is the litte things:)

My husband does not like holes in the wall. He doesn't mine hanging things in our house that are deemed necessary-a wedding photo, a diploma, the welcome sign in our foyer...but if a hole does not have to be put in the wall, he does not put it there.

Which is part of the reason why it would mystify me, the hole basher, when my husband would gather the full deposit from his past apartments, and I would have money deducted from mine-and one of the reasons always being holes in the walls (and trust me, not matter who says it, that wall crackle does not solve the issue:)) I was always a fan of putting things on the walls-pictures, posters, decorations-it really all started when I was 10 and used over 300 push-pins to put up pictures of Jonathan Taylor Thomas in my bedroom.

So, now that we are in our own home, I of course continue to chomp at the bit to put things on the walls, and Shawn continues to be hesitant to start hammering.

Anyways, the point of this short, yet sweet post is, that even though my husband doesn't like it, he has always been willing to drill a few holes for me. At our first apartment, I droned on and on about how nice a mirror would look above our couch. Then, one day, I came home to a cute little black mirror hanging above our couch. It wasn't a holiday, it wasn't Valentines Day, it was just a day that proved to me that my husband always does little things that make me happy.

Today again was one of those days. Shawn had planned on spending the last evening of his long weekend watching the KU vs Baylor game. Instead, what is he doing?

Putting another hole in the wall:)

Whoever said it's the little things is completely right