where have i been?

hello all!  sorry i've been MIA for almost two weeks... actually longer than that.  not that you you all didn't enjoy my plethora of U2 posts, but that's really all i talked about for a solid 10 days.  just be glad you weren't around me - if you thought i was intense in a blog, you would have been a little scared of me in person.

but anyway, i thought i'd share a little bit of what i've been up to lately!  first off was the U2 concert, of course.  so good it was practically a religious experience (even philip agreed with me on that!).  see, mom got us these tickets for the show for  christmas 2009 - but then the concert, originally scheduled for june 2010, was delayed due to bono's back surgery.  not cool.  but when we finally got word that the concert would take place in may 2011, the waiting began.  we had been counting down to this concert for over a year and a half!  AJ flew in from boston for the show and stayed with us for the weekend.  it was a weekend of boozing, singing and dancing.  mostly it was me doing those things of course.  a few good shots from the show below.

philip, aj and i waiting for U2 to take the stage at invesco

probably the best shot of the show!

there were over 80,000 people at the show... 

bono, in all his glory, right in front of us.

after the U2 show was a few days of work... during which i lost a member of my team so we were busier than usual.  but i was richly rewarded after six days of long hours with a memorial day trip to california to visit my in-laws and my ADORABLE new nephew - now already 5 months old!  here's a few good shots of our trip.

me (pool ready) with little man, real name ryder!

ohhhh, he loves dancing with his uncle!

little man takes a dip in the pool with uncle philip.

the best of them all - us with little man in malibu!

 well, after a few days of paradise with family, it's back to reality.  we got back a few days ago and it's been kind of hard to get back into the groove.  coming back to a three day work week definitely helps though... but, really, it's time for me to get back to work on the house!  there's not much new here except tables.  i went shopping in my mom's storage room (ha!) and found an old, old bar i had from my single days.  i resurrected it and found a home for it in the dining room.

new home for an old table.

old empty wine bottles do the trick!

tray from the bar with a few bottles from the bar, rearranged.

so besides that, i'm re-doing a table.  this is another find from my mom's storage room that no one has use for.  i can always use extra side tables, especially since my living room is in such disarray and isn't totally decorated yet.  so i am painting this boring old natural wood table black and trying to give it an antique-y feel.  so far it's in progress, but after a little bit of sandpapering and a few new knobs i think it will be just fine!

boring table before

one coat of black paint, i kind of like it like that!

 so we'll see how it turns out.  there's more to do this weekend and i'm doing a hobby lobby trip with mom (which means lots of cheap decor finds!), so i'm sure i'll update more.

hope all my friends here have been well here and it won't be another two weeks before i post again!

xoxo