Best week ever!

Good Monday to you all! Wow, it’s been a total whirlwind of a week! I’m not sure I’ve ever packed more into seven days in my life.

Bear with me as I share a little bit of it with you today – it’s been an wonderful, overwhelming, lovely week and it really couldn’t have gone much better!

First up – Haven 2013! For those of you who don’t know, Haven is a conference dedicated to DIY and decor bloggers specifically. It’s the first of it’s kind because we (the team) knew there was a need for it – and a few years ago we decided it was time to make it happen!

This was our second year and it was even better than the first!:

This is about half the group – all together we had about 450 attendees (that includes sponsors) so it was much bigger than last year. I’m not sure we’ll go too much bigger because we love the feel of this size – we still want everyone to feel like they have a chance to meet most everyone.

It was just a great week, really. We were just so happy with how it all turned out and are all so thrilled and humbled by it all! There was a lot of learning – I have a HUGE to do list written down – but most of all it’s just so amazing to hang out with people who totally get what you do.

We goofed around plenty:

It’s hard not to with these ladies. I laughed, a LOT. ;)

But most of all, like always, I walked away having learned so much from just chatting with other bloggers throughout the week. I was so happy to see old friends:

And meet plenty of new ones, even though I’ve “known” them for years:

As always, I didn’t get nearly enough pictures. I know took one with many of you and I’d love a copy! (Or we have a 2013 Flickr account going, so you can load them there!)

It was an honor to have been a part of it again this year and to work with some amazing women:

Our event planner, Kristin, isn’t in that pic but she is a rock star – there is NO way we could do this without her.

Next year’s conference is already booked for July in Atlanta! We’ll share details soon. :)

So I got home from the conference, slept for a few hours and then moved on to the next adventure…the NKOTB concert:

I know I’m a little teensy bit biased, but DANG, they put on a great show! I was exhausted just from attending.

This time they were joined by Boys to Men (they were fantastic!) and 98 Degrees and the place was packed!:

It is absolutely electric. And LOUD. Grown women can SCREAM.

My hubby’s cousin hooked us up with some incredible seats – six rows off the floor:

We had one of the best views there! Excuse my Farah hair by the way. I’m bringing the 70’s back. Apparently.

Yet again, I came home, got a few hours of sleep and then this morning we were up bright and early for a very special appointment.

Today we learned we’ll soon have a grandson. :) Yes, I’m going to be a grandma – my stepdaughter (23) is due in December and we found out this morning it’s a boy. It was very emotional and sweet and they had a room full of family and friends there to find out the big news. Our son is THRILLED. :)

We are just so happy she and the baby are healthy and doing well.  I haven’t mentioned it yet just because I kind of feel like this is their story to tell, not mine. I will of course share more as we get closer to the due date and will most likely share a few pics over time, but I want to respect their privacy and desires too.

I can’t wait to meet this sweet boy!!

So, yes, I think I will set some kind of record as the youngest grandma ever. Especially being 27 and all. Or something.

Well…there’s my week in a nutshell. See, a little crazy huh? But every bit of it makes me so incredibly thankful – I am so grateful for this life I live. I am a lucky woman. A lucky woman who is off to take a nap for six hours or so. ;)

Goings On

Hello there!! Hope you are having a great week! It’s the last one of July – can you even believe it? I’m actually writing from our deck tonight. It’s been so dang hot it’s been unbearable even at night, but it’s quite lovely this evening.

And now that it’s nice out, what am I doing? Not working on anything on our HUGE, ongoing list of outdoor projects, but blogging. Figures. :)

Anyhoo, first I need to announce the winner of the Pottery Barn gift card, courtesy of Groopdealz. Whoohooey, Dawn of dccrader(at)hotmail(dot)com,  you are the lucky duck winner! Dawn, holla at me in an email and I’ll get you hooked up with your gift card.

I forgot to mention that I was included over at my friend Emily’s Now and Then series last week:

You can go here to see some before and waaay before pics of our family room. :)

This week I may have mentioned a few times on Twitter and Facebook and then Twitter and maybe here, and then I called my Dad and my teacher from the 5th grade and mentioned it on Twitter…again, that we went to the NKOTBSB concert the other night here in Indy.

:)

I tell. you. what. Whew. First of all, certain things get better with age. I’m just sayin’. I think all of the guys are in their 40’s now? And they can jump and run all over and sing and we’re in the stands screaming like teenagers and we’re sweating and exhausted. :)

And while wearing uncomfortable (cute) shoes, you know…just in case one of them has super sonic sight and can see my shoes from a mile away and they’re all, wow, I must meet that girl with the cute shoes! She’s rockin those!

What? Huh? That’s not how your mind works? Well, um…awkward.

Anyway, I got tired from screaming and jumping around like a lunatic, and then I go to sit down for a few and then Donnie goes and takes his shirt off and there. you. go.

And all the sudden I wasn’t so tired.

HA!

If you’ve been you know…it’s a ROCKIN’ show. I think this must have been my 8th (or so) NK’s concert and it gets better every time. Entertainment at it’s best!!

There’s something about being in a space with thousands of women who were YOU 20-something years ago. It’s like you look around and you feel like you belong…it’s really a wonderful feeling:

I went with Stink Eye Sis and two (practically) life long girlfriends (love you Erin and Mandy!!!).

Sis and I got a good pic in the bathroom:

Because I ask you, where else do you take pictures?

And here’s the one and only full length photo in a mirror that you will ever see of this blogger. Just to show you the cutie shoes:

I felt like a COLOSSAL dork taking my own picture. 

And my feet still hurt.

Anyway, it was a blast. Jon didn’t feel my mojo from a mile away and call up into the stands though, darn it. Or he maybe he did and he was terrified. We’ll never know. (He’s a DIY guy you know…someday I WILL get him to read my blog.)

Did that sound stalkerish?

Uhhh…

If they go on another tour, we’ll be there. If they want to keep going for ten more years, we’ll be there. :)

And at the end of the night, who do I run into but a TDC reader?? She was sitting a row behind us – how wild is that? Hello Michelle!!

To see more about our girls weekend in NYC to see them last summer, go here. To see my sister dancing with Donnie a couple of summers ago, click here. (No that’s not me screaming in the background. I didn’t film that. I’m off to the right with my mouth hanging open because my sister is dancing with Donnie.)

Now, back to reality. The reality I LOVE. :) I told you we took a vacation a few weeks ago and I wanted to share a bit about it because we had such a fantastic time.

I must preface this by saying that practically every trip we EVER take is for hubby’s work. I mean, overseas (back in the day), NYC, wherever. It’s pretty much always in relation to work. Which certainly doesn’t suck, but we just never go on a vacation, just because.

So that made this one even better. We decided to rent an RV and travel north. We had a destination (Wisconsin Dells) but we decided to just go slow, enjoys the sites and take our time.

We took our time a little too much securing the RV, so when we called, all they had left was a Class A – and when they say Class A, they mean “house on wheels”:

I had envisioned something like this:

So I was pretty stoked. :) It was practically a freakin’ tour bus! And it. was. AWESOME.

Hubby has driven a few RVs before, but it was a bit intimidating. He got the hang of it right away though – and that is reason 4,203 that I love him. I love that he tries new things like this, isn’t afraid, and just goes for it and makes it happen.

The little man thought it was a bit harder to maneuver:

:)

We drove up to the Indiana Dunes for our first night, and if you haven’t been to the Dunes, you are missing out. It is absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful white sandy beaches:

It had been 20 years or so since I had been there and it was lovely. The Bub had never been on a beach, so we got to see another first in action:

  

Yes, I giggle about a boy band from the 90’s, but this man is my forever man. The most handsomest, most loving, most amazing man I could ever ask for. And he doesn’t care that I go scream at boy bands from the 90’s. ;)

Our favorite part was the view of the Chicago skyline on the horizon:

Can you see it? Too cool!

We stayed at RV parks every night, and by the second night were old pros at parking, putting down the jacks and hooking up the water and electric.

Let me tell you, I can’t recommend the Wisconsin Dells enough for a family vacation. That place was incredible. We didn’t even begin to scratch the surface though – the activities were endless.

Indoor theme parks were everywhere, outdoor parks as well, duck boat tours – and it’s the water park capital of the world. And they take that seriously folks. I mean, they are EVERYWHERE:

We went to Mt. Olympus one afternoon and didn’t even get through a quarter of it.

SO FUN. Watching my husband go down the water slides – priceless. :)

There were a ton of fun, unique restaurants too, like Buffalo Phil’s, where a train delivers food to your table. Or a bubble machine:

That’s a happy hubby right there. :) Love him so very much.

We will go to the Dells again for sure -- it was an absolute blast. And RVing was SO MUCH FUN! We had the luxury of electricity and a shower, but also got to roast marshmallows over a fire and enjoy the outdoors as well.

I grew up camping every weekend as a kid, and I’m not high maintenance in the least, but I don’t know if I could do the whole tent thing again. This was the perfect mix for our family and I can’t recommend it enough. Big RV or small one – we will do it again. Our plan is to head west next summer and I can’t wait!

So, that’s what’s been up around here lately. Thanks for indulging me! Have you been to see a boy band from the 90’s lately? Scream like a 15-year-old? Take RV vacations? Scream like a 15-year-old while flying down a water slide? I’d love to hear. :)