I LOVE APRIL!

We are officially over holidays until Mother's Day, and although I will leave my bunnies out to celebrate spring, I'm sort of tired of looking at them. I do love April though, even though it's only 40 degrees today, I'm letting some fresh air in right now and it smells SO good. April is also my daughter Abby's birthday month and we have been celebrating that for days it seems

She and I were off to the burbs to do some retail therapy on Friday. This is a big outdoor mall and I posted a little about it last summer, it's where I found my dress for son Kevin's wedding. The flower beds were filled with tulips of every color and I even saw a bunny crouched down in one of the beds. Abby gifted herself with a lot of cute clothes and jewelry and I popped in to Williams Sonoma and Pottery Barn, but as usual, the prices just irritate me. It's fun to look though. I splurged on some body mists at Bath And Body Works, I love those in the summer to spray on when the weather is hot, I keep them in the fridge. Ooh, heaven!
We had lunch at a cool place called The Reel Club, and if you guessed seafood, you're correct. It was delicious. Abby had sushi and I had shrimp with a wonderful remoulade sauce. I mentioned to the waiter that it was her 21st birthday (sniff, sniff...she's my baby)and he surprised us with the most decadent chocolate cupcake. In the picture above it looks like Wildfire, another great restaurant, but The Reel Club is just in front of it. I'd love to drag The Husband off there one day.
This is Abby on the right, my little French girl. She looks so much like her father. We celebrated again Saturday night at my nephew's pub, Blackthorn. The Husband and I left at about 10:30 so she could hit the trail of Irish bars with her friends for her first legal night of getting in them! Fun, fun, fun!
I'm almost finished reading the book I told all of you about in my last post. I SO recommend it. It's funny and wise and filled with stories of the writer growing up in France.
I've gleaned some great tips and advice and the book is highlighted with my neon marker on almost every page. I am drinking my usual coffee, but I keep a glass of ice water with lemon next to me at all times. I'm also eating more fruit and my dinner consists of mostly vegetables. There is no deprivation in this book, just moderation. And it's quite entertaining. Once again I thank my blogger friend, Julie Marie, for sending this to me. She is such a sweetheart!
A little more retail therapy last week netted me these cute shoes. Gosh, I love shoes, even though I live mostly in flip flops during the summer. Wedges are my favorite since I am getting a little wobbly in my old age!
On my last trip to TJ Maxx I found these little candle holders...well, not so little, for the patio at the lake. I have dreams about being at the lake but it seems every weekend is filled with things we have to do here. This weekend is a wedding shower that the girls and I have on Sunday. I do love showers and parties, but I would love to be sitting on the dock looking out at the water about now.
Here's another one. Looks like I am getting into straw lately!

I hope all of you had a good Easter. We really had the nicest weather and my dinner turned out great. There is something so wonderfully satisfying about popping a ham in the oven, mashing some potatoes, roasting some veggies and having dinner on the table in two hours. My very favorite part is making soup with the bone. Yum!

Well, that's it for me this last week. We had our lawn care service do a spring clean up and my meadow now looks like a lawn. We have SO many trees. They cut, rake, fertilize and prune. I love it. I'm still a good month away from planting flowers and how I envy all of you in the South that have beautiful blooms already! I have nothing to take pictures of except some baby grass where we put seed down in some bare spots!

Wishing all of you a wonderful week! :-)