New toy!

Today our secretary walking into my office and handed me an iPad2!! Have I ever mentioned that I have a really cool job? I grabbed the first kid I saw to check out the camera function (one of the biggest differences in the new iPad). That kid happened to be a co-workers son, and he was thrilled :) In order to input photos into the communication app before, I had to take a photo with a digital camera, and then sync the photos to the iPad on my computer. Now, all I have to do is point and click the iPad, press 1 button and tada! photo imported! It's so simple and fantastic!



In other news, check out my new desktop background on my work computer:



Makes me smile :)

Spring is here, and I have a bit of a close call

You know spring has arrived when the "tornado watch" e-mails start appearing in your inbox every afternoon. The last few days we've been on the lookout for severe weather, and today it decided to make an appearance. Right about 2:30 a tornado watch was issued for Omaha, and this was also the same time I was leaving to work with a family in Arlington. Arlington is a rural town about an hour from work, and about 30 minutes from my house. I set off, figuring that we probably wouldn't see any significant weather. The thunderstorm hit while I was working with the family, and it cleared out by the time I left. I figured I was in the clear, so I set out for home. As I got out of town onto the highway, I noticed the ominous black clouds in front of me to the north. It was one of those eerie sights, where you're driving in bright sunlight, but can see the darkness ahead of you. Since I was headed towards those clouds, I turned on the radio to figure out what was going on. Turns out a tornado had just touched down in Craig. Now, if you're wondering, "where's Craig?" that's the same question I was asking. I tried calling someone at work to have them look up how close I was to this tornado, but it turns out I don't get any cell phone reception in the middle of nowhere. Meanwhile, it is getting darker and darker, and I started scoping out ditches to hide in should a tornado appear on the horizon. That may have been a bit of an over reaction on my part, but it looked seriously scary out there. Luckily, it didn't take long before I could turn and head west, and drive into sunlight. I was now driving parallel to the ominous dark, and tornado warnings were being announced regularly. I didn't hear any warnings for where I was driving, so I kept on going, hoping to make it safely home without any incidents. I also all the sudden noticed hail everywhere, it only lasted for a mile or so, but it looked like it had just snowed. I was very thankful to have avoided any hail damage to my car, it looked like I had just missed the storm. By the time I got home, it was bright and sunny, and didn't look at all scary. I came home and grabbed my computer to see just how close I was to the storm. Turns out the tornado was about 40 miles north of me Thankfully that was decently far away! I would be happy to say I've never seen a funnel cloud appear over the horizon, that is one experience I can live without!

Getting crafty

This weekend I spent a little time making wine glass charms for my little sister's bridal shower. Her shower theme is "An evening of elegant hors d'oeuvres". To go along with the theme, we thought it would be fun to make wine glass charms as favors for everyone. It took some time to decide what kind of beads we wanted, but once the decision was made, they were super easy! We decided on using the first initial of everyone's name along with simple colored beads to match the letter. The hoops are earring hoops that hook in the back to keep everything together. All in all, it was a super cute (and cheap!) way to make favors. The only trick was coming up with different color combinations for the 8 C's that we needed! I can't believe we have 8 people coming whose first name starts with "C" :) The charms are all made, packed, and ready to travel to Colorado with me on Thursday. I can't wait to celebrate with my sister and spend time with family!

Ham sandwiches and girl scout cookies

Tonight was my volunteer night at Open Door Mission. Usually I work in the outreach center cleaning up the clothing racks, and sorting through new donations. Tonight though, they needed extra help in the kitchen, so I gloved up and got ready to make some sandwiches. Our task was to form an assembly line to create sack lunches for tomorrow. My job was to make and bag ham sandwiches, while others down the line added crackers and girl scout cookies. It was a fun change of pace from my normal work, and I got to visit with some nice people during the process. I was excited that there were so many boxes of girl scout cookies that had been donated. Many people will have a great treat tomorrow as they eat their lunches. I am so amazed every time I volunteer here at the depth of this organization. It is huge, and they do so wonderful things for those who are less fortunate. I feel blessed to be a part of it!

Home improvement projects

I've been doing lots of improving to my house lately, so I thought I'd share some photos of my new and improved spaces! I am the most proud of my guest room, my very first painting project. Here's the before picture:



And.... after! Tada!



I have also found some really nice decorations for my kitchen cabinet tops. I spent several hours just wandering around Hobby Lobby trying to decide what I wanted, and when I found these, I knew that was it. They look fantastic! I'm hoping to get more, but I'll have to spread out my purchases a bit.





I think my next project is finding some night stands and lamps for the guest bedroom. I am having so much fun with this!