June 30th, 2017

Dad and I took Sookie to the Belmont Harbor Dog Beach today! We parked nearby at the harbor and made the short walk over to the beach. The beach itself was smaller than I expected, but it was all fenced in which was nice. We let Sook in and took off her leash and she instantly hurried over to the water. She was overjoyed as I started to splash the water for her—she loves to jump and snap at the drops. :) There were some other dogs there but Sookie wasn't very interested...she cared more about the splashes. 😂

My dad and I had fun splashing Sook and throwing her ball for her to go fetch. There was an unruly dog in the bunch and she kept causing trouble with a lot of the other dogs. One dog in particular she actually bit a few times! But Sookie made me so proud—she just ignored the maniac dog and kept playing with us. She's such a pretty, well-disciplined dog. She makes me so happy to be her owner!! :)

Overall it was a great time. We got to cool off in the water, play with Sook for awhile, and enjoy some fun chats. I miss going out places one-on-one with my dad, and I'm really glad we had the opportunity to do so today!

June 29th, 2017

June 28th, 2017

I feel like all I ever post pictures of on workdays at Kohl's are pictures of me making annoyed or exhausted faces... 😓 #ohwell

June 27th, 2017

Today my dad decided to make me jealous while I was cooped up at the office all day by sending me beautiful photos of the sunset and my adorable pup. My dad took Sookie to the quarries and the furball had a blast fetching her ball and chasing her reflection in the water. :)

Dad and I made plans to take Sook to a dog beach downtown on Friday since I have off and I am so excited! I haven't done anything with just dad in awhile, so I'm definitely looking forward to it.

June 26th, 2017

Today we finally celebrated Charlotte's 19th Birthday! :D

Char got in from California last night, so all of us prepared some festivities for her today. After I got off work, I hurried to the party store to pick up some Star Wars balloons for the birthday girl. :) I got a huge gliding R2-D2, plus a BB8 balloon, a Darth Vadar balloon, and several other fun ones! I also picked up some silly masks and plates for the cake. Once Mike was off work, we loaded up the car and headed over to the Donelson's house.

Charlotte was so excited when we carried in the cake—she loved it! I was so glad. :) She also loved the balloons! (And so did Peter...he enjoyed kicking and beating up R2-D2 😅) We had dinner, which was yummy tuna casserole made by Laura. Afterward, we had cake! It was delicious. I was so happy with how it turned out! We all sat at the table for awhile after, just chatting and laughing and enjoying each other's company.

A little while later, Rach and Laura headed to the library. Charlotte started to show us some new songs she had learned on the piano, then Mike eventually joined and in the two had a jam session!

Eventually the girls came back. Rach had a whole stack of movies for Char to pick from, and she decided she wanted to watch Hitchcock's Psycho. We then all headed upstairs to the media room to watch. The movie was good, though of course that is no surprise. Char and Mike had never seen it before. They both thought the ending was creepy! :) It was getting late after that, and Mike still had homework to finish, so we headed home.

Char was so thankful for everything. She's especially excited about the birthday gift that Mike and I got her: a pickup for her violin! It's still in the mail, so we told her what it was today while we were over. She made me promise to bring it over as soon as it comes in. :)

June 25th, 2017

Today Mike and I made Charlotte's Birthday cake! It's Star Wars-themed...of course. ;) The bottom tier is R2-D2, while the top is Chewbacca. I did all the piping for the fur! Mike made the amazing belt. We both put R2 together. We were so thrilled with how everything turned out. Another successful cake!! :)

June 24th, 2017

After Mike got off work today, we decided to go for a nice walk at Waterfall Glen. Shortly after we arrived and started onto the trail, Michael jokingly said that we should do the entire nine miles. I said okay, much to his surprise, and then we took off running. And so...we did 10.33 miles today! :) What started out as a hypothetical joke turned into a reality! It was a long, hard trip...but it was so worth it. We saw several deer during our trek. We got to watch the beautiful sunset as the sun went down. And we got plenty of exercise! Yeah, you could say we're a pretty fit couple. ;)

June 23rd, 2017

"At the very heart of yoga practice is "abyhasa"—steady effort in the direction you want to go."

June 22nd, 2017

Typically on Thursday's I get off at 6PM. Today, I got off at 9PM. (Yeah...) At least I have a lovely man at home who has hot meals ready for me when I walk in the door. :)

June 21st, 2017

"I love how our hands always find each other." -Michael, after taking my hand in his 💗

June 20th, 2017

Today was the annual Menards Contractor Lunch! All the employees of DC came, plus me, Rach, Laura, and Peter. :) It was a really nice time having everyone together and enjoying some yummy food.

June 19th, 2017

"And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow."

June 18th, 2017

Happy Father's Day!! 💙

Happy Father's Day to the world's greatest dad!!! 😍 Thank you for always being just one call away whenever I need to talk. I want you to know that I have treasured every moment that we have had together. Thank you for giving me the most amazing childhood. I will never forget our family vacations, our father-daughter bike rides and hikes (followed by yummy lunch dates), and all of the random adventures we always seem to go on. Your sense of humor and fun loving attitude provide for endless fun times and plenty of laughs. You always love to tell me about all my "best qualities"...but what you somehow don't realize is that I get all those qualities from you. A father is neither an anchor to hold us back nor a sail to take us there, but a guiding light whose love shows us the way. I love you daddie! 😍 

Today we of course spent some time with both of our families! First we headed over to the Donelson's place. While Laura finished up cooking, Mike and I built Peter's new outside playset. The little cutie was so excited when it was done! He didn't want to come inside when food was ready! :) The meal was so delicious. I loved my steak, veggies, and noodles! Then Mike Sr opened up his gifts from Mike and I, which consisted of about six different dry-fit t-shirts and polos. He was so surprised and excited! He would walk away and try on a new shirt almost every twenty minutes. 😂

Eventually it was time to say goodbye, so we headed over to my family's house. We gave my dad his gifts right away and boy did he love the skull!! He made all kinds of comments and kept staring at it for awhile. In addition to the carving, we also bought my dad a volleyball. He had mentioned earlier this week that he wanted to go play a game of volleyball at the park by our house, so Mike and I made sure to pick up a ball. :) Mike decided to get creative and paint a "Wilson" face (from Castaway). Of course, that was a big hit with my family.🏐🖐🏼  Once everyone was rounded up, we set out to Covington Park to play. The teams were mom, dad, Mitch, and I verses Mike, Jax, and Zack. The first game we totally destroyed the boys. But in the second game, they had a huge comeback and won by like two points! We played one last game to break the tie, and it was very intense. Unfortunately, my team ended up losing. :P It was seriously so much fun though and I'm really glad everyone came out to play! Once that was over and everyone had cooled down, we headed to Taphouse for dinner. We had a nice time eating outside together and being our usual goofy selves. :)

June 17th, 2017 *

Urban Disney Princess Collection: Mulan

Coming soon! ;)

June 16th, 2017

You know that thing people always say? That everyone should work retail at least once in their lifetime. Well, it's true—they should. Because people don't realize how stressful working retail can be. And people don't realize how absolutely ridiculous they are acting sometimes when they shop.

Today was particularly stressful for a number of specifics I won't get into. Instead, here's some inner thoughts I had today (and have had on many other days) while at work:

"I'm required to greet you, lady. I'm not trying to be creepy or overly friendly—I'm just doing what I'm told. The least you could do is nod back in my direction...instead of just acting like you didn't hear me. We both know you did."

"Ma'am, I am not your therapist. I'm just a shoe's associate at Kohl's trying to do my job."

"Actually, I don't control the sales prices. I know they can be overpriced and ridiculous. Believe it or not, it affects me too while I shop. I do not set the prices."

"I don't know why Nike/Levi/Converse/etc changed their policy and doesn't allow discounts anymore. I literally cannot do anything about it. Take it up with Nike/etc, not the sales associate selling Nike/etc products."

"Your Kohl's cash was given to you for no reason. It is not real cash. If you return items from your purchase, we will take the Kohl's cash away. No, you are not "losing money"—the Kohl's cash is a coupon and we gave it to you for free."

"I am one person. I can help one customer at a time. You will, in fact, need to wait your turn."

"It is not in my job description to personally help you slide shoes on and off your feet."

"No, I do not want to see your bunions."

"I cannot look up the balance of your card—really, I can't. The Privacy Act prevents me from having that ability. You can complain to me all you want...but I still can't tell you what you owe."

"I do not know why the Kiosk is not working. I do not have the ability to fix it. All I am capable of is walking you to the next closest Kiosk."

June 15th, 2017

Today Michael had his first math test of the summer semester. The way his class works, you can do all of your homework and quizzes online but you have to go on campus to take the tests. He was a little bit nervous, because he doesn't enjoy tests and math is his worst subject. I was super confident in him though, because he studied hard and really is getting a good understanding of all the problems so far! We made sure he had his calculator and pencil before we headed out. On a whim, I hurried back into the house to grab one extra thing: my lucky button necklace.

This necklace has quite a "history", so to speak. Back when I was in about 2nd grade there was this book at the book fair I'd had my eye on for just about forever. My mom eventually surprised me with it—it's called The Good Luck Pony by Elizabeth Koda-Callan. The book is sweet. It's about a young girl who dreams to ride horses but her fear prevents her. Her mother gifts her with a golden pony necklace and suddenly the little girl is able to overcome her fears and become a great rider. The book comes with your very own golden pony necklace, which I adored. For whatever reason, I was convinced that the golden pony necklace was a "good luck charm".  And so it became my good luck necklace.

After about a week, maybe two, I lost the necklace. And I was devastated. I was horrified I had misplaced such a special thing, and I was upset with myself for always losing my stuff. My Grama came over to me and held out her hand. In it was a simple red button. I looked up at her questionably as I took the button. She explained to me that this was my new good luck charm—it was a "good luck" button, after all. She told me that she knew I would never lose this button, and that it would bring me good luck whenever I needed it.

I never lost that button. I lost probably everything else in my life, but somehow I never lost my button. I took it with to school if I had a big test to take. I tucked it into my sock if I had an important soccer game. I always had it with me whenever I thought I needed some extra luck. Maybe it was just the comfort of knowing I had the charm that made me excel and do better...or maybe it was because the button actually was lucky. That little button never seems to fall me. I walked out with A's and wins and problems solved. I always have found that I can rely on that button if I need it.

Eventually I looped the button through an old necklace chain and I would wear it instead of just tucking it into my pocket. Sometimes I wore it on days even when I didn't need any extra luck—I just liked knowing it was there. Most people find it very interesting and tend to ask about it...and most people tend to laugh when I explain that it's my lucky button necklace. But, despite what other's believe, to me this always will be my good luck button. And I am so thankful to my Grama for teaching me that you don't need a fancy golden pony—a simple red button will do just fine.

Michael is probably one of the only people who actually believes my stories about the good luck button. When I came walking out holding it and offered for him to wear it during his test, his eyes lit up and a smile broke out onto his face. He was so thankful as he tucked it into his front pocket. I know Mike did great on his test and I happily await finding out his score. I am very proud of all the work he has put into this class and I know he'll do well, button or no button. But, of course—a little extra good luck never hurt anyone. ;)

June 14th, 2017

So when I got off work this afternoon I discovered that it was absolutely downpouring outside. On the run from the door to my car (probably like ten feet max) I got drenched. Mike was over at Five Below a few stores down, for he had just got off work as well and we had planned to meet. He luckily got into the store before the rain started. I came trudging into the store dripping from head to toe...Michael said I looked like a sad, wet puppy. 😂 We shopped around before realizing the rain wasn't going to let up any time soon. We sprinted to our cars, getting even wetter still, before meeting at home. After we changed into dry clothes we sat together by the window and had a lovely time watching the rain fall. :)

June 13th, 2017

Few photos of the wildlife by our pond! :)

June 12th, 2017

Introducing: Ava Emilia Colclasure 🍼



My cousin Jennifer and her husband Rob gave birth to their third child today at Silver Cross Hospital! Miss Ava was born this afternoon at 2:42 PM, weighing 8 lbs 1 oz. The above is a beautiful shot of the three Colclasure kids with their Grandma and Grandpa (my Auntie Jan and Uncle Paul). I cannot wait to officially meet this little cutie pie!!

June 11th, 2017

Today Michael and I got a brand new camera! While our Sony has served us well over the years and we love it very much...this new Nikon D3200 is definitely a major upgrade! It's going to be super nice to have two cameras at photoshoots from now on. Plus, the Nikon came with a 55-200mm lens! This is definitely going to improve our photography as a whole! So now it's time to schedule another Snap & Sketch Studios photoshoot sometime really soon, yeah? ;)

June 10th, 2017

"When you start each day with a grateful heart, light illuminates from within."

June 9th, 2017

Charlotte threw together a cookout for the college class and it ended up being a really great time! Everybody was pretty much able to make it. :) There was lots of yummy food, both off the grill and desserts! We ended up getting almost everyone involved in a big volleyball game at one point, and despite skill levels everyone had a great time! Overall the night was full of laughs and great fellowship. I'm very grateful to Char for setting up such a lovely evening!

June 8th, 2017

June 7th, 2017

"True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future."

June 6th, 2017

The Marsceau’s are still away in SD...and getting this photo from Rach today made me realize that I miss this little guy kinda like a lot. :(

June 5th, 2017

Mike's two summer classes and my fourth summer class started today. One of Mike's teachers decided that he wanted to bombard his students the very first day, so my poor guy had four assignments of homework due. :( Thankfully I was able to help him and we got it all knocked out. Mike was so worn out afterwards...he fell right asleep. I'm so proud of him though! After taking off a few semesters to work full time, he really hopped straight back into it and is very dedicated to his classes. :)

Ps, wow I definitely DIDN'T miss math!!

June 4th, 2017 *

Indiana Vacation: Day 2