Another St Patty's Day Gone...

Tuesday March 17th

Most people who know me well know this is my favorite holiday of the year. I dust off my clover antlers and pull out my green shirts in order to celebrate properly. This year was slightly different because we didn't have plans to go out afterwards for drink green beer and Irish car bombs. This year I got us tickets for RIVERDANCE. Those of you who do not know what Riverdance is, it's an Irish dance performance by about 50 talented individuals. Mike wasn't really sure what it was when I begged him for tickets but he humored me and let me buy them. It's the last year they will perform it live so it was my final chance to see it!

After an uneventful day at work, I left early to meet Mike for dinner before the show. We found a decent parking spot (although we later learned we should always back in to a parking spot for easy access OUT of the parking garage) and our seats were perfect. We sat in the middle of the middle of the main floor - row 18, seat 24 & 25. It was a great view of the stage and not so close/far away we missed anything. The show was all I expected it to be and even impressed Mike. Unfortunately I couldn't take photos but I'll see if I can find something online so you know more what it was like.

My only complaint were some complete idiots behind us in the auditorium. I think it was a first date for the couple because the man was constantly trying to impress the girl with stupid comments (spoken quite loud because obviously the girl was deaf and dumb as I will elaborate on) and the girl seemed completely enthralled with everything he said. He would start with, "Oh, they have fiddles! My uncle plays the fiddle" and she would respond "Ooh, what's a fiddle?" and he would respond, "It's the thing the guy on stage is playing in the orchestra." And she responds, "Woooooow, how neat." Besides the fact the "orchestra" was a 4-man band and the fact the lady did not know what the hell a fiddle was, it was a minor distraction compared to the "oohs" and "ahhs" and "wows" I heard throughout. the. whole. performance. I tried to give them my dirtiest looks but they were too busy pawing each other and commenting on the dancers to notice. Honestly, if you pay $50 a ticket, please have the courtesy to KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT and enjoy the show. I have said my piece.

After the performance it was pretty late so Mike and I headed home. We really had done our St Patty's day thing the weekend before so there wasn't much more to do. Another St Patty's Day down... hopefully many more to come =)

Wednesday, March 18th

Today wasn't very eventful. I did some planning for my boss Kim's baby shower making the game sheets and getting together a list to shop for the next day. Kim is having her first child in May and our whole team is very excited for her. We started a pool to get a gift from her registry and the generosity of people really surprised me. We raised enough to get her a travel system set from her registry and that was WAY more than I ever expected!

Thursday, March 19th

Today was the day my coworker Erin and I went shopping for Kim's shower. We had a lot of donations from people for cake and game gifts so we only needed to get finishing touches and the travel system from Babies R Us. It was a little more complicated than we thought getting the stupid box from the store to the car. It was a lot larger than I thought it would be - bulk wise - so I was very happy Erin was there to help me.

After shopping we went out to eat with our friend Sondra at this new Japanese restaurant. I'm not a sushi fan at all - can't stand fish - but there were other things for me to get on the menu. I was adventurous, to a point, and tried a dish I can't even remember what it was called. I liked it though - it was a noodle and chicken dish with a special sauce on it. We had a nice girls night out and afterward I went home and wrapped presents =)

Friday, March 19th

Today was the day of the shower! Overall I was very distracted by the party planning so I was completely worthless at work. I was so excited because Erin got some great decorations and Traci bought the perfect gifts for the game I had planned. Since it was a work shower, I didn't want to do the usual games like smell the diaper or guess the baby food (not downing those games, but we had men coming to the party so I had to have something they wouldn't scoff at). I found this neat game called "The Price is Right - Baby Shower Edition". Since we're a finance team, I thought it was right up our alley. Traci got 10 common baby items and we had people guess what the prices were. It was a lot of fun and people really got into the game. I was happy it turned out well =)

Afterward we had cake and punch and socialized a bit before returning to work. We had so much cake left over, even after inviting several departments from the surrounding area, so I took the rest to the R&D (Mike's department) to polish off the rest. If you know the R&D group, they are not really ones to do events like birthdays or baby showers but they are totally up for any left overs you want to bring them. I had no even set down the cake before I had a group of 5 men following me to see where I would set it down. As soon as it was down, the men were on it. I barely had the word out there was cake available before the cake was almost gone. As funny as it was, I'm grateful they were up for helping us not waste cake =) Saturday, March 20th

This was my weekend of baby showers. Today was my friend Carin's baby shower at our friend Chris's house. It was a lot of fun and we did do the typical baby shower games like guess the baby food, baby bingo, etc. I won a really nice candle in baby bingo! I also got to see another coworkers new baby - just 2 weeks old! All these babies are making me feel my biological clock ticking! =)

Sunday, March 21st

Today Mike and I took it easy. We went to church and watched half of the second season of the Wire. We are addicted to TV series.

Monday, March 22nd- Friday, March 27th

Overall, this was a pretty uneventful week. We made one trip to my parents house to help them figure out why their new virus system was blocking everything. Luckily it was an easy fix or just telling the firewall the printer is not dangerous and some pop ups are okay to view.

Friday night we made a trip out to Grand Rapids to visit Mike's parents. We had a really nice dinner out and evening talking with them. I came home with a ton of new books I can't wait to start reading. I can't remember titles right now but I'll let you know when I find one I really like so I can recommend it. Right now I'm on a biography kick with the Tudors since that season is about to start up, I want to be up on my history!

Saturday, March 28th

Today we had a pretty packed schedule. We woke up and went out to breakfast (kind of a weekly tradition) and afterwards came back to get some yard work done. Mike wanted to thatch the yard to get rid of the dead grass and let the good grass grow in nice. It wasn't the best weekend for it but we're running out of weekends before spring really comes and the grass starts growing frequently. We managed to borrow the neighbors mower and supplies so we could both do the yard. A few hours later we had it all done and just in time to run in the house and shower and get ready for the symphony.

Saturday night we had plans to go to the KSO's performance of Beethoven's 9th. My Aunt and Uncle also got tickets and invited us over for dinner before the show. Mary made a very nice meal and I was in love with this garlic/brie/date appetizer. I ate way too many. After dinner we made it to the show - in the rain - and enjoyed the performance. I'd never been to a KSO performance before but I think they did a pretty good job. Mike and I both agreed the brass section was a little too loud throughout the performance but besides that, I liked it. Don't we sound like snobs =P

Sunday, March 29th

Today was another busy day. After church we headed to Battle Creek for lunch with my parents and my sister Cami and husband Paul. We all met up at Ruby Tuesday and had a pretty nice meal. We discussed more TV shows and what we've been up to lately. Before we knew it, it was 4:00 and raining/snowing. Horrible weather. We all took off early to get home safely.

Sunday night Mike and I watched the remaining episodes of The Wire. We are now on to Season 3 but these Net Flicks videos take too long. I really wish on demand had stuff on demand at all time, not just certain times.

Monday, March 30th & Tuesday March 31st

This week has been pretty slow. Mike and I are keeping busy with work and just general home stuff. We had a lot coming in the next month. Easter will be here and I'm hoping to have one of my nephews come for the weekend. I'm trying to have my nephews/nieces over more often on an individual basis because they all are growing up so fast on me I feel like I can't keep up any other way!

Plus, it's Mike's birthday next month and we're planning to go to a Casino to celebrate his big 3-0. I'm also bombarded by wedding and baby showers. Spring is definitely in the air and I'm just not ready for it!