Happy Birthday, Mom!

I have the best mom in the whole entire world.  I know you probably would disagree with me on that because you think YOUR mom is the best, but believe me... mine trumps yours. I have never in my life met a more easy-going, happy, content, godly, practical woman in my life. I'm so thankful to call her my mother! 

I'm so glad my family was able to come up to Ankeny/Des Moines for the weekend!  We had so much fun celebrating together!

Here are a few pictures of our fantastic weekend:

Hu Hot... delicious!

Mommy & Me

My parents

"Look! I'm a walrus!" 

My silly sisters... 

My Family (Minus Lindsey & the girls)

The Valentine's Day Blahs

I usually love Valentine's Day.  As a hopeless romantic, I'm usually all for the hearts and flowers, chocolates and love songs, but for some reason this year, I just wasn't feelin' it.  I can't pinpoint the exact reason.  Perhaps it is that I haven't had one of my mom's strawberry jam-filled heart-shaped sugar cookies yet.  Or maybe it's that I'm 22 and still single.  Could it be the fact that I'm a helpless victim in a one-sided love affair? Or the fact that I'm the villain in another one-sided love affair?  Who knows.  It's probably a combination of all these things.

I had multiple date offers, and had accepted one.  I was to go to a movie with my fabulous friend Shelly after work. But when I woke up yesterday morning, I just wasn't feelin' it. I didn't feel the greatest, and I had a list a mile long of things I needed to get done before my parents arrive this weekend.  I had every intention of cancelling, but then I realized that if I was going to be miserable on this marvelously sappy day, the least I could do was make sure that those around me were at least having a good time!  So... I went.  And had a DANDY good time! Shelly also brought me a single rose and a box of chocolates to work earlier in the day, so that helped me get in the mood for celebration, too.

After the movie, I had one last Valentine to deliver.  I had already delivered Helen's (she got a bottle of children's grape flavored cough/cold syrup, a bag of honey flavored cough drops, and three mini sharpies) and Shelly's (a box of theater-style M&Ms).  So I stopped at Olive Garden on my way home to deliver my last Valentine to my dear friend Thomas.  A bag of dark chocolate Hershey's kisses... and a hug (the real kind).

I then came home and finished off the remains of a half gallon of Blue Bunny White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie ice cream while watching the Valentine's episode of Glee.  All in all... I guess I didn't really find a cure for the Valentine's Day Blahs, but at least I made an effort, right?

Today I'm Thankful For...

Lazy Saturday Mornings.

Music.

My Best Friend/Sister, Helen!

Phone Calls with my Daddy.

Movie Days with Thomas & Shelly.

Fancy Shoes.

Good Deals at Kohl's!

Clean Clothes.

A Place to Live.

Tiramisu Coffee & English Toffee Creamer.

God's Love.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting.

Photos.

Sundays.

Birthdays.

Forgiveness.

Memories.

Friends, Family, & Fabulous People

What can I say?  It's been a crazy busy week, but I most definitely won't complain!  So many wonderfully fun things happened this week!  On Monday, I went on a blog date with Andy and Shelly.  On Tuesday, I went to see the movie Man on a Ledge with Shelly & Geoff.  On Wednesday, I went to church, Village Inn, and Wal-Mart.  I also played Suzie Seamstress on Wednesday while at Village Inn and mended the pockets in Alyssa's and my jackets. On Thursday, my cousin & neighbor/friend came into town for the weekend.  Friday, I went to bed early because I have come down with a terrible head cold.  Seriously.  Terrible.Today, I went to a meeting at work, and then saw Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. I'm not sure if it was because of the non-drowsy cold medicine that has a reverse effect on me, or if the movie really was just pointless, but I didn't get it at ALL.  Oh well, I enjoyed the company. :)

On Thursday, when April & Sarah came to town, I got this great idea to get everyone together and go to Olive Garden. Anyone who knows the Vance clan knows that we had a fantastic time... because we ALWAYS do no matter where we are!   This time was no exception.  We had a blast chattin' it up with our fantastic waiter & the marvelous To-Go Specialist (who by the way just happens to be one of my best friends- Thomas!)!!  Many memories were made over waaayy to many laughs, and we even made a new friend in our waiter, Dominic, who in fact is NOT from Chicago (haha Sarah & April!).

Here are a few pictures from that marvelous evening.

The Whole Gang

(L to R: Laura, Me, Sarah, Megan, Daniel, & April) 

Me & Sarah 

Me & My best Helen! 

Helen, Dominic the Waiter, & Me

Delightfully Random

So I'm sitting in Cafe Diem with two very marvelous friends on a blog date, and what have I not yet done?  That's right.  I haven't actually posted to my blog.  Well, that just can't be.  Seriously.  You can't go on a blog date and not blog! That being said, I really don't have a whole lot of profound newness to write about, so here are a lot of random little snippets... glimpses... into my fantastic life.

(1) Christmas in January

This weekend, I was supposed to help my friend out with a youth event at his church.  He was going to pick me up at 10, but at 9, I got a text from my dearest cousin Steeeve (aka April) that said "Are you coming to family Christmas tonight?"  WHAT?!  This was the first I'd heard about it, so I made a snap last minute decision to go home for the weekend.  And let me tell you IT WAS SO WORTH IT! We had SOOOOO much fun! So many laughs!  I have the best family in the world! :)

(2) Dates that are Planned

Upon my return to Ankeny last night, my wonderful new friend Andy texted me and [insert short version] we went on a Wal-Mart/ McDonald's run.  Again... we had a blast.  The only difference between our first/accidental "date" and our outing last night was that this time it was planned.  So. Much. Fun!  Oh yes... and here we are again tonight on a planned "date," only this time it's a blog date. Hence the posting...

(3) Addictions

Did everyone enjoy the beautiful weather today?  I sure did!  So there I was stuck inside... all day... while the beautiful weather outside taunted me.  I probably would have made it, but one of my amazingly wonderful coworkers (who will remain nameless... you know who you are) has an addiction.  And this addiction allows [individual] to occasionally go outdoors for brief periods of time.  Well... I decided that today was the day I would follow suit and take a break to accommodate my own addiction: Sunshine! So when [individual] went out for a smoke... I went with [individual]. :)  We had a marvelous little chat... which consisted mostly of me saying how beautiful the day was and such. Thanks, [individual], for being awesome... and for making me smile... always. :)

Well... there.  I've done it. A blog post from our blog date. :)