In the Words of Sting, "It's A Beautiful Day!"

Wow, what a day!
I was in an awesome mood from the time I got up out of bed this morning all the way through until now. I got a lot of things accomplished, and even got to relax a little too!

First on my list this morning was the dog park. I had just renewed our annual dog park permit pass the other night, and KNEW that this weekend was going to be beautiful. 77 degrees in March, in Minnesota?! I'll take it!
I think that nice weather can do wonders for a person's mood, and it proved correct today for sure!

Tucker and I journeyed to the dog park. I was equipped wearing my rubber boots and pants, because I wanted to assume the worst when thinking muddiness. Great news! It was hardly muddy at all! Of course in the lower-lying areas and the pond, were of course more damp and muddy, but overall, they had done a nice job of bringing in more rock and spreading it throughout the park! There were plenty of people and dogs at the park this morning though! With this nice of a day, how could you resist?! I even ran into someone I went to high school with in the pond area where her dog was playing! It is funny who you run into there sometimes!

After the dog park, it was time for an extensive bath for Tucker - he did find some large amounts of mud, and running through the pond area didn't help to keep him clean. I also showered to officially launch into the rest of my day that lay before me.

I cleaned the bathroom, got all my laundry done (throughout the day) and caught up on some emails. I also searched the internet for a baking supply store nearby, and lo and behold, I actually FOUND one! And to make matters even better, I found it at 1:30 PM, it was about 15 minutes away and they close at 3pm on Saturdays, and are closed Sunday and Monday! I ventured over there and walked in. I was blown away by the sheer amount of EVERYTHING that they seemed to have! They also have pan rental in case you don't want to purchase all of the character pans that you are into each year or each time that you need to make a cake. They also rent out display tiers and fixtures. I will have to keep that in mind should I ever expand and want to do something more elaborate or move into the cake and wedding cake business! I toured the store, looking at all of the things that caught my eye. One thing that caught my eye for sure, was the "clearance" section. There, I found a gingerbread pan for $5! Sold! I also got 500 white cupcake liners for $6. My real mission upon entering the store was to find all of the "Drop Flower" frosting tips that I could get my hands on. Just before I was going to ask an employee if they carried individual tips, I looked down and saw they had a large display for single frosting tips. I about died of joy! She was able to help me locate almost all of the tips I desired, and for cheaper than it would have cost me to order them direct from a website!

After that, I came home, and got ready to run out and do the grocery shopping and mail a couple of packages. Even then, I had a blast. I usually like grocery shopping - always have. I used to play grocery store all the time when I was a kid. There is just something fun about it to me. Something that made it even more special was that I found they had the Arnold Palmer LITE there (for those of you who don't know - an 'Arnie Palmer' is a beverage with 1/2 iced tea and 1/2 lemonade mixed together- heaven!!). I think the only downer to my day was finding out how much it was going to cost to ship the 2 packages I had brought in to the UPS Store. I might have to try another alternative to shipping packages next time - sheesh!

To round out my productivity, I put away things in the office and tidied it up, and cleaned out the hallway closet downstairs.

I made a favorite of mine for dinner - butternut squash risotto (which I am eating right now...mmm).

So, a very Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all!
-LD

A Real Vacation

It was just confirmed today that Derick and I might be able to take our first real vacation together - EVER! We didn't go on a honeymoon, and have not yet traveled due to debt issues, but lo and behold, we will be going on our first vacation together the first week in April!

My grandma has a townhouse in Mesa, Arizona that she asked a bunch of family if we wanted to come down and spend a little time with her while she is there. She has "snow-birded" there for the winter in the past few years. I went down there to spend my spring break with her and my grandpa when I was in college by myself, and that was a blast! It will be fun to go down there again and see if things are as I remember them. I really liked it down there when I was there before, and it will be even more fun to share it with someone this time around.

This will be Derick's first time flying in a plane. Ever. I find that kind of hard to believe, but I guess it makes sense, knowing that he came from a small town in the Midwest.

On the agenda for the trip: a trip to the Tortilla Flats, and the Superstition Mountains, flea market, pools, bingo hall (seriously, you should SEE this place...) and maybe a local botanical garden. I am really excited to go!

Now, all we have to do is try to stuff everything in our suitcases for the time we are spending there, and also, the biggie, find a Tucker-sitter! That is going to be the hardest part I think. We have not left him for that long before, so it will be interesting to see what happens...Thank goodness we have some great friends we can ask and hope that they say they will either stay in our house, or, take him for our trip.

-LD