a hope full momma...: Did I mention...?

This past weekend my dear husband and I got to spend a couple days away from home while his parents held down the fort. We had a conference in the Twin Cities on Saturday, so decided to take the opportunity to stay overnight and have some fun while we were there.

The conference (Beyond Consequences, Live) was really good. It was on parenting kids who have experienced "trauma". I had been to one before, but this was the first for Mike. I don't have the brain power right now to do a post on the conference and this parenting "philosophy", but I will try to do that in the near future. It has been revolutionary for our family since I was first exposed to it about a year ago!

After the conference, we spent some time at….IKEA!! Love that store! Not that it is all my style, but for some reason, it just makes me happy. What better than a chance to browse through a huge store of unique furniture, home goods, and other fun things while people-watching! Mike was better at the people-watching during this most recent trip than I was. When we got back to the car after our time there he started commenting on some of the different people he had noticed and I hadn't noticed any of them!

After IKEA, we checked into our hotel and I got to take a nap (I LOVE naps, so this was just heavenly!). Our hotel was fine (meaning I was glad I had only paid $35/night for it on priceline.com).

Next we went to Buca di Beppo (also just heavenly!) with my cousin and her husband. Fantastic Italian food served family-style…yum! There really is nothing like sharing a meal (in this case, literally) to connect with people. Then we enjoyed a fire in their backyard later that evening (see my previous post about Sister-cousins).

Slept late in the morning (again...heavenly!) and then went to one of my favorite places! Mudd Lake Furniture is a wonderful place West of the Twin Cities that is a furniture/antique/home decorating store that was started by a former NFL football player! It is truly one of the most unique places I have ever been. Check out their website (and no, I am not being compensated for this plug, I just truly love the place!). On their website check out the "models" in pictures 1 and 3 of their slideshow…yep, we are famous there! (ok, we happened to be there for an event a couple years ago when some of the pictures for their site were taken.)

My treasures of the day for our screen porch!