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It hasn’t exactly felt like it these past few days and that’s why I felt it was a good time to edit these photos, which I shot over the weekend while on a walk with Daisy in our neighborhood.

One of the things I love about spring is how — seemingly overnight — the landscape can go from drab and dull to bursting with bright pinks and purples as flower petals rain from the sky. It’s a great reminder of how much I love Indiana’s four seasons (come back to me again on that when I’m sweatin’ buckets in sweltering July).

Anyway, hope you enjoy these as much as I did.

You better believe those were the words that came out of my mouth during my recent trip to IKEA with pals Michelle and Joy from the newspaper.

We three ladies had been looking forward to this trip since we first heard last spring that an IKEA was being built in West Chester, Ohio.

And WE. WERE. NOT. DISAPPOINTED.

Seriously, shopping at the store was better than a vacation spent with a giant mouse and his goofy pals … and get this - we spent EIGHT HOURS in IKEA.

I know, you are thinking, “How is that possible?” (my husband asked the same question) but I assure you, it is … especially if you’ve never been in the store before! We had to explore every inch of its 21,000-square foot (!) interior (and hellooo…Nick should know better. This is the same woman who, despite thousands of prior trips, can spend eight hours in the Glenbrook Mall with her mother on any given weekend - haha!)

Enough of my giddy babbling about how much fun we had …. on with the IKEA show.

Yes, I had to take a photo with the trusty Rebel of the outside of the store. It was just so good to see those 12-foot tall letters in person.

Some of IKEA’s cute home furnishings. That pillow was $12! Why wasn’t it in my cart, you ask? One has to pick their shopping battles in this store, that’s all I can say…

These shoe organizers were in every pimped-out closet we peered in to inside the store. And I had to take a photo of them. Because we women know that the sight of something like this for our beloved shoes is on par with a delicious piece of cake.

Speaking of cake, here’s a shot of the ginormous piece of apple crumb cake I devoured as we ate lunch in IKEA’s funky cafeteria. Just like the rest of the store, the prices on their amazing food (seriously, THEY SERVE SALMON) was insane - this tasty treat cost less than $3.

Michelle and I being silly on this funky little teeter-totter we found in the kids’ department. Yup, we got some strange looks as we tested out its not-so-ergonomic design.

Chair races. Need I say more?

Joy and Michelle testing out one of IKEA’s amazing kitchens. We were debating whether we could give Mark a run for his money on living inside the store …

And finally, us leaving the store — tired, weary, but feeling oh so good about our purchases. One thing that should be said about IKEA furniture — it’s a do-it-yourself kind of job. And if you’re not careful, there may be some cursing involved - ha!

Want to know what I bought? It’s coming in the next post …

I recognize that a photo of paint chip samples doesn’t make for the most exciting post in the world, but to me, it’s more of what you can’t see in this image that makes it blog-worthy:

And that is A REMODELING OF OUR DEN!

For the past 2 years we’ve lived in our house, the den has been this “blah” shade of “Almond Paste” (if that name doesn’t do it for you well …. after 24 months of looking at it, me neither). So I decided to punch things up a bit and go with a nice, subtle shade of green. I think it’s going to go well with the bold accents I’ve got planned for the room and can’t wait to post on here AFTER a mid-week trip to IKEA and a frenzied effort to have a new office … er, work space by the weekend!

Don’t you just love home makeovers? Not to get all HGTV on here, but even if it’s just adding a piece of art to my walls, I feel like I’ve accomplished a goal akin to what those manic home crews pull off in 48 hours on Extreme Home Makeover.

Did you guys all feel the earthquake this morning?

Nick and I both woke up about the same time to the bed shaking. Seeing as how we were both in that groggy state of half-sleep, it all felt pretty surreal so we went back to sleep until the alarm went off at 6:30 a.m.

Not every day a 5.2 quake serves as your wake-up call!

After the most beautiful weekend we’ve had all year last weekend, this weekend was … well, not so pretty. I think this extended winter-like cold has been hard on everyone who’s been slammed by colds, the flu and a bleak spirit so far this year.

In honor of today’s “grey” day (seriously, it should NOT be spitting snow in mid-April!) I thought I’d post an image I shot some time back while on my in-laws’ farm. It was one of those cold, grey mornings where everything is shrouded in fog and you think, maybe if you were Ansel Adams, you could capture that feeling.

Well, I tried anyway …