Feeling at Home; Our First Visitors

Two days ago marked our first month here in Calgary.  How did we celebrate it?  With Dennis staying home from work, sick.  Or injured from bouncing on the trampoline with the kids.  Or a combination of the two.  We're not quite sure, but we do think there was a bruised rib.  But he is well now, and we are looking forward to our first visitors next Friday--Sue & Denny!  And Abby, our dog.  I didn't think I would, but I have been missing the dog.  Funny.

We have just about unpacked all our boxes, with a little work still needing to be done on the garage and basement, plus finishing up the guest room/craft room.  I purchased another IKEA Expedit bookcase yesterday, and with Dennis' help we will get it put together today or Saturday.  Then I can finally organize the craft and scrapbooking materials, plus make an area for guests to use during their stay.  I'm very excited to have the room on its way to being done!  The living room (downstairs) will be our last room, but it's much lower on the list, as it requires more furniture purchases, which will need to wait.  But that's okay.

On the decorating front, I need a little help with two areas in my house.  First, in our master bathroom, we have this large storage area between the two sinks:

As you can see, I'm not really using them to their full capability.  At some point I will most likely put something decorative on the top shelf, but other than having rolled towels in some of the lower cubbies, any ideas?  Links to anything you have found on the web would also be helpful!

The other "problem" area is my kitchen island, or continent as Dennis calls it:

(Please forgive the mess!)  Now, part of me feels bad complaining about too much space, but seriously, this thing is huge!  There's that big center area that I just don't know how to use.  It does come in handy when I've been to the market, as I can just shove back anything that's on the counter to unload groceries.

I've searched online for photos of islands, and after looking at dozens (hundreds?), I can easily say 1) we have pretty much THE largest one around, and 2) floral arrangements seem to be the trend.  Any other ideas?  Again, web links will be gladly accepted!

On to our upcoming visitors.  I know many of our friends back in Portland have been very concerned with the well-being of my in-laws.  Everyone can rest easy, as they will be coming up next Friday for a couple weeks.  We plan to keep them busy with visiting, being tourists and celebrating Jared's birthday on May 22nd.  His birthday just happends to coincide with the Long Weekend, as Victoria Day, celebrating Queen Victoria's birthday, falls on Monday the 23rd; the kids (and Dennis) get Friday and Monday off!  Jared is very happy to have a four-day weekend for his birthday.  And no, we don't get the following Monday, Memorial Day, off, too. 

I'll be sure to post photos of their visit; it will be our first real chance to do some exploring, as we haven't done a lot so far, unpacking taking up most of our free time.

Thanks to everyone who has written cards to us and the kids; they especially get a kick out of receiving mail, and I'm trying to encourage them to write as well.

Have a great weekend!