Tanya

2008-07-15T07:31:00.000-07:00

Here's some more pictures that my friend Jason sent me!

2008-07-11T11:38:00.000-07:00

I am now a married woman!! I've only got a couple pics sent to me by friends so far so here's a couple for now:

Wedding

2008-06-09T12:42:00.001-07:00

So it's down to a couple weeks so I probably won't be posting until after since it's getting really busy. Here's a little video of my niece wishing us a happy wedding:)

Sassy

2008-06-03T07:45:00.001-07:00

This is my niece's response when her mom told her she was being ornery.

2008-05-29T07:45:00.000-07:00

Showers!
I have been so bad about updating...I haven't had a lot of time but wanted to put up some pics of my other wedding parties.

Here's from my MO shower: It was very nice. Mom, Nicole and Becks did a good job of hosting, I got to see my family and got a lot of nice gifts!

Me and Mom:

Me and the girls:

Bachlorette Party: It was very fun. Becks, My sister, Shelly and Jen all came in from out of town so that was awesome. In total we had about 15 girls there, then some of us went out dancing. It was so cool to have almost all my best friends in one place, just a glimpse of what the wedding day will be. I also got lots of nice gifts...no details:)

First to arrive:

Jamie and I are posing like my sister, she literally has a model pose she does for all photos:

2008-04-21T08:29:00.000-07:00

This weekend was my IL shower! It was so girly and fun. Vickie and Susie did a great job putting it together - the decor was very cute. Thanks to everyone who came - it means a lot to have people celebrate our upcoming marriage with us and it was fun to see so many friends at one time. Here's some pics:

2008-04-17T07:28:00.000-07:00

1-My friend Jason, from high school and his wife, Anne, just had a baby this week! Hannah May - she's very cute from the picture message he sent. I can't wait to meet her!

2-I have a shower this weekend - I can't wait. It is totally going to start feeling even more real and I feel like time is going to start goign by fast - May is very busy.

3-I finished assembling our wedding favors last night so I can check that off my list

4-My invitations and shoes should be shipping to me as I'm typing this

5-The conductor on the train, seriously EVERY day reminds us about library due dates...EVERY day. And every time he waits for people to respond to his reminder...

6-Looking forward to tomorrow night of celebrating Jamie's bday

2008-04-11T13:04:00.000-07:00

Random
-Even though I took the day off yesterday I wish it were time to go home already today
-Apparently I've become the copier fix it person in the department against my will
-One of my consultants sent me pretty orange and white flowers for helping with my recent conference
-I need a new pair of jeans
-Watched Idol Gives Back the other night...wth did Fergie singing Baraacuda have to do with needy children...and then she tossed in a one handed cartweel??
-I miss my neice
-Only 11 more weeks until I'm married!

2008-03-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

Wedding Planning Update:
We got a ton of the time sensitive stuff done early like the church, reception hall, etc. Our caterer is also doing our cake so that works out good. Kt is working on our flowers and photos. We just registered this month so that was so fun. It's fun thinking of things that we'll have together that will be "ours" instead of just our own stuff. We are going to Kauai for our honeymoon! So that is super exciting. I got the flower girl dresses at a great price - two little matching ones. They are so cute I can't wait to see them together. I'm going for another dress fitting this week and the shower dates are confirmed so it's getting even more exciting. This month we have to pick invitations, his tux and start working on music...

2008-03-07T13:20:00.001-08:00

Our nieces:

These are from back at Christmas time and I meant to put them up. They are going to be such cute flower girls.

2008-01-10T08:16:00.000-08:00

Engagment Part 2

Right after his family was all waiting for us and had a mini family party for us: His sister in law made us this fun sign and cupcakes. They all made nice appitizers and had balloons and a toast waiting for us when we arrived. It was awesome to have them so excited for us. We loved it.

2008-01-10T08:01:00.001-08:00

Jeff and I are engaged!!
I finally got the pics from the night off his camera. Last Friday he surprised me - I had no idea it was going to be that night (if I did I might have worn makeup home from work). He had me close my eyes and when I opened them there were roses and candles and he had set up a slidehow for us. It showed pics of us with him playing piano in the background of it, then video of him going to a lot of places we have hung out over the years we've known each other and then more slideshow of him holding up more nice words. Then he got down and asked me to marry him!

2007-12-14T08:40:00.001-08:00

Our Christmas Tree: I love that it's so big and we only have a few ornaments so far. I'm sure he'll reel in another "#1 teacher" ornament from one of his students to add and I'm definately bringing back my scooby doo one from MO to add:) It looks very pretty when the room lights are off. And all the shopping is done and wrapped underneath!

2007-12-10T09:46:00.000-08:00

Macy's bday:
Macy turned two this past week so here are a couple pics from her party.

Her grandma dressed up as minnie mouse which was her party theme. She's also holding the new baby: Marshall was 8 lbs and 7 oz:)

She got a Snow White dress up kit, I think the gloves are still a little big for her:)

She thought the birthday horns were hilarious.

2007-11-21T09:06:00.000-08:00

Things I'm excited about...

-Four days off of work that doesn't have a crazy schedule
-Jeff's brother and sister-in-law having a baby on Monday
-Listening to the Sarah McLauhlin's Christmas cd
-Getting a Christmas tree

2007-11-01T11:49:00.001-07:00

This year I went to Jeff's family pumpkin carving for halloween. I'm pretty excited cause Jeff and I won 1st and 2nd place out of the pumpkins! He got first and I got second but I was proud of my pumpkin - I think it's the first one I've ever carved. I don't remember doing it as a kid.

Here are all of the family pumpkins - they were all really good:

Jeff's is the tree that branches connect up to Happy Halloween and mine is the spooky castle.

Macy dressed as Pooh bear dressed as a honeybee. She looks so cute!

2007-10-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

Dinner Party

Last Saturday Jeff and I hosted our first dinner party. It was really cool to have so many of our friends in one place. Our places are too small to fit everyone so we borrowed his parents house for the night. We spent all day cooking and decorating but it was worth it. I think everyone had a good time. I made for the first time this strawberry cake that his grandma makes; I was pretty proud of myself. I know we had fun:)

Click here for more dinner party friend pics.

2007-10-16T08:03:00.000-07:00

Becky and Justin's Wedding:
Last week I went down early to help with their wedding and to be the maid of honor. We were so busy those last few days but it was great to be able to spend some time together before the wedding and help her get stuff done. We managed to have some fun in all the business as well. The wedding went great! She looked so beautiful as you can see from the pictures. The only time we were a little worried was when her hairstylist kept saying she had plenty of time, arrived and finished late so we got to the church about 20 minutes before starting time. Bridesmaids were rushing all around her trying to help get her dressed in time. But as always things fell in place and the wedding went off terrific. I even think I pulled off the toast, which I was nervous about speaking in front of that many people. We had a lot of fun. Here are a couple pics but the link below has more of them and friends and family. Click here for more pics: Becky and Justin's Wedding

2007-09-18T11:02:00.000-07:00

Becky's Bachelorette Party was this past weekend. We had a really good time! It was really cool to hang out with a couple of friends from high school too!

My sister and I at the restaurant

Becky, Courtney, and Trisha - our friends from high school

Becky sporting her fake tiara and light up ring

As Justin predicted she was out first at 12:03. She did manage to get a second wind of sorts and made it to 1:30 a.m.

Some of us outside the bar at the end of the night

2007-09-11T10:31:00.000-07:00

Beck's Bridal Shower:
This weekend I went home for Beck's bridal shower and also got to spend the evening before with my niece. She is talking like crazy - it took hours to get her to sleep because she kept talking but she is so cute. She kept saying my name and she sings her abcs. She repeats basically everything - so smart.

Bridesmaids: Courtney, Me, Becky and Nicole (my sister) at the shower. It turned out great - she got a lot of nice gifts and everyone seemed to have a good time.

2007-08-28T07:46:00.000-07:00

Day of gift cards:

Jeff gets a lot of gift cards/free passes from being a teacher and I had one from a meeting so we saved them up and last week we had a day of gift cards. It was the last nice day before all the rain and storms.

First we went to Starbucks for breakfast.

Then we went to the Brookfield zoo. I had never been there - we went to that Stingray exhibit and it was so cool - we got to touch them as they swam by! It was a bunch of kids and us-lol. Also I was pretty excited about seeing an elephant.

Lastly, we got dressed and went to Shaw's Crab House. It was so good. Thank you jr. high parents and meeting board chair for the gift cards!

2007-08-08T08:23:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Christa got married! It was a good time. She looked beautiful, as you can see, and she was a relaxed bride. She kept saying "hakuna matata"-lol. The wedding went off without any complications and the reception was a lot of fun. There were lots of people who stayed all the way until midnight dancing so that was great.

For more pictures click this link: Christa and Rick's Wedding

2007-08-02T11:03:00.000-07:00

Lexi turned 2 a couple weeks ago!

She's so freakin cute I can barely stand it....I wish she lived closer:(

2007-07-31T07:24:00.000-07:00

Aren't they pretty?:)

I love getting flowers just because.

2007-07-25T11:02:00.000-07:00

Camping Trip

This past weekend we did a quick camping trip to Snug Harbor.

1-The name "Snug Harbor" always just sound funny to me.

2-They have a bar onsite that does kareoke on Sat nights. We attempted to hang out there and have the guys get in some songs but for some reason underage girls were let in where one proceeded to dance on Jamie's head, get up there and say she forgot the words to the song that was right in front of her and give 30 shout outs to her dad, where he was sitting at the bar.

3-We had awesome grilled pizzas for dinner

4-It was great to take a nap in the middle of the afternoon. I was reading somewhere where some companies are providing "rest rooms" as in they can take a nap in there - I'd like to see that implemented at my company.

2007-07-16T12:17:00.000-07:00

Wyoming DeGraff Family Vacation 07!

So I finally got some pictures brought in to share from our trip. There were too many to put on one post so I put them in a shutterfly album. I didn't put them all in there because we took so many so I picked some of my favorites

This is the view of the Tetons on our way from the airport.

Click this link to view more!

Wyoming Pics

2007-06-22T06:47:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow morning we're off to WY!

Sat: Travel and stay in hotel

Sun: Get to cabin and explore (also go grocery shopping for a week for 10 people...)

Mon: Hike to Lake Solitude in the Tetons (yes, this is almost 15 miles, wish me luck)

Tues: Go to Yellowstone/Old Faithful

Wed: White Water Trip and hang out in Jackson (my goal is to not fall out of the boat raft thing)

Thurs: Yellowstone (due to Kt's advice we are not bringing bear spray, if a bear mauls us I'm having a talk with her)

Fri: Hike in Tetons - possibly Death Canyon (Death Canyon says it's only "moderate" hiking...somehow the word "death" doesn't quite fit to me)

Sat: Go hang out in Jackson and sleep in hotel (praise the Lord, it says it has a hot tub)

Sun: Travel Back

Mon: Go back to work.....(drink Starbucks to avoid taking a George Castanza nap under desk)

2007-06-11T09:13:00.000-07:00

One weekend down - one to go...

This weekend we moved all my clothes, food, etc down to the new place. It really wasn't that bad. I had everything packed and ready to go so in total it only took a couple hours and for the most part everything is put away that can be until I get the furniture next week. It took so little time that actually we did a bunch of other stuff too.

Friday night jeff planned a surprise date: we went to Quartino for dinner, they had really good shrimp risotto. Then we went to ComedySportz . It was pretty funny - they are an improv group with two teams which "compete" with each other to see who the audience thinks is the funniest. What killed me was that one of the improv guys made a joke about Amy Grant and actually sung a line from "El Shaddai". Only a person who has or had been a Christian a long time ago would get that. I think we were the only ones who got the joke.

Also saw Ocean's Thirteen this weekend: Wasn't as good as the first one and a little slow in the beginning but the cast is entertaining, at the very least to see what Brad wears.

Sunday we played mini golf. I had a rocky start but at one point I actually got a hole in one!

2007-06-05T07:19:00.000-07:00

-On my way to work today I saw a man walking like on Men in Black when the giant bug invades that guy's body

-I'm feeling a little sad that I won't be able to walk to Jewel or to the Simkins house in about a week

-I can't decide what day to take off to have my cable installed in the new place - I've literally been debating for a couple weeks now, it really should not be this hard, it's not a big decision

-18 days until vacation

2007-05-31T12:16:00.000-07:00

The cicadas gross me out. I hadn't seen one until today but this morning on the way to the train I saw a bunch on the trees which weirded me out. And then they were on the sidewalk by the train where I had to step around their scattered presence, yuck. I took a picture of one of said cicadas with my poor quality camera phone for example. What is even worse is that while waiting for the train there was one that was on a lady's back and I was freaked out for her. I had to tell her a bug was on her back but I didn't want to touch it; luckily a man came up and swatted it off her with a newspaper.

2007-05-16T08:55:00.000-07:00

Some pics of my new apartment:
The bathroom is very 70s - it even has a dixie cup holder on the side of the mirror for any of you who remember those.

Jeff is doing a senior picture shot here in the bedroom - even the lighting looks like a senior shot...and also in the living room:)

My closet will actually be big enough for my clothes to not be all wrinkled and below is the kitchen...here Jeff is doing some plumbing work:)

2007-05-09T07:30:00.000-07:00

Never ever should this be done - ever:

Jeff and I were at the mall and had just been making fun of the idea of people wearing matching clothing and then we walk into Express and look what we find. I apologize for the quality: it was with my camera phone which is not great - you can kind of see a tiny bit of jeff's shirt off to the side, I was pretending to take a pic of him but as you can see this kind of matching should never happen.

2007-05-01T06:51:00.000-07:00

Pics from Vegas:

The conference went well - better than expected but of course we worked a lot. We did have some downtown in the evenings so here are some pics.

This was the view of the Bellagio from the Eiffel Tower Restaurant we ate at one night.

Brooke and I went up in the Eiffel Tower elevator. We were all excited about it but when we got up that high we were really nervous. Here are a couple views.

The Bellagio fountains were my favorite thing to do. I watched like 6 shows of them.

This is a pic of us at the final day's pool party - we had some photo requests which we found funny.

2007-04-10T14:01:00.000-07:00

Easter Weekend:

So I realized when I looked at my pictures from last weekend they were 98% of Lexi - big surprise.

Here she is getting her present from me: (I realize I'm the only one looking at the camera - we tried like 4 times to get her to look before crawling off my lap and running around again)

Apparently on Easter Lexi can eat any amount of candy she wants, including a giant chocolate easter bunny head:

An attempt at a group photo. This is at least better than the first shot as it included only half of us looking and justin hiding his face in his sweater (you can tell he still is real excited about having his picture taken:

And finally the annual easter bunny shot. When I was younger walmart had him set up nice with a chair that the kids could sit on with a professional camera. No, not anymore. It was a bunny just standing around in the middle of the aisle (as you can see a cart even got in my way) and then someone comes out with a kodak digital and tells you to come back in an hour...

2007-04-04T19:26:00.000-07:00

Day at the Zoo

We went to the Lincoln park zoo last week and it was really fun. I hadn't been in forever. It was rainy outside but we made it through most of it before the rain hit and saw all the indoor animals. Here are some of my favorites:

This is the ape that was in the movie Return to Me with a little baby one. It was cute, like a mini me version on him.

For some reason I thought these flamingos were so pretty

These were three huge snakes all wrapped up together. It was so gross and cool at the same time.

2007-04-03T07:03:00.000-07:00

Niki's 21st

A couple weekends ago Becks and I took my sister out for her 21st bday. When I was looking at these two pictures today it kind of made me laugh because they were taken like at 2 am and you can totally tell becky and I are like "it's 2 a.m...we're too tired to be up this late...must be getting old" while my sister is all excited and still like "i'm 21-woo hoo!"-lol

2007-04-02T09:20:00.000-07:00

These are what taking a sick day can get you:)

2007-03-27T11:02:00.000-07:00

So last night I was watching tv and this commercial came on for Fish Eye Wine, with what they were making sound like a great new idea. It is a container of their wine that they have boxed to fit in your refrigerator and you just pour it out....

They seriously were trying to class up "wine in a box"

1-This idea is not new

2-No matter how they package it, it still ends up like this:

2007-03-13T11:19:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was so nice because there was no traveling for a change! I actually just got to do whatever we wanted without any kind of crazy time schedule which actually ended up amounting to a lot:

-A bunch of errands (which obviously would include Target - I love Target almost as much as Shelly does-maybe I should start a wishlist there...)

-Got a manicure as a surprise gift:)

-Got the best dessert ever at Biaggi's: white chocolate bread pudding - everyone needs to try this, even if you think you don't like bread pudding you'll like this

-Walked around the arboretum: some guy was out there with his snow poles...he really did not need those poles since the snow on the ground amounted to about 1/2 an inch.

-Went shopping at Oakbrook Mall: Due to lack of prior knowledge of events I walked around the mall in a oversized, almost a dress on me, long sleeved black tshirt, jeans that were too long and had to try to cuff up and random green tennis shoes...not quite up to "oakbrook standards"

-Researching summer plans

-Watched a few espisodes of Curb Your Enthusiam: this show is usually really funny...just don't watch the series finale...it's really bad and reminded me of when everyone was disappointed at the Seinfeld series finale because it was a funny show that should have had a better end to do it justice.

Now this weekend it's off to celebrate my sister's 21st bday and then I've got to to go OH for work...

2007-03-08T15:19:00.000-08:00

Kids Time in Boston:

I just went to Boston this weekend and wanted to share some pics. We did a lot of family stuff just hanging out with the kids so that was fun. Us adults went out for dinner and coffee on Friday night and had a Nerts turnament one night just like old times. Big suprise that Julie won-she always does!

The first morning Aiden was already my best friend again. Apparently she preferred to lay on the bathroom floor instead of getting dried off after her "tubby time with aunt tanya".

The she was "really hungry this morning" so kept adding every last plastic food item she had onto her plate.

Here are the girls at their "princess party" It was Jonah and Andie's bday so they had a party that was all princess themed including "pin the crown on the princess" game.

The girls also thought it was pretty funny to dress Miles up in a ballet outfit on card night. Needless to say his dad was not very happy with it.

And finally here is Aiden in the car taking me back to the airport. She said some really cute things like insisting that going to take a nap "isn't true" and having a dream about "a monster that had a sign on it that said don't buy dragons" and best of all "i want to snuggle with aunt tanya"

2007-02-22T13:46:00.000-08:00

A few things done today...
-Browsed a bunch of apartments that I can't afford - I somehow think that deciding what to do about finding a roommate or moving is life altering
-Watched a "Day on the set of The Office" online

-Stared at the registrations that need to be done sitting on my desk
-Checked my email a million times
-Requested "SexyBack" to be played at Becky's wedding from her dj's website
-Got way too excited for a minute about finding a peppermint patty in my work bag

2007-02-20T07:14:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Boston!

For those of you who may not know Reunion Christian Church had their "relaunch" on Sunday (relaunch meaning after doing marketing) and had 219 people show up for church! Hank said they had to pull out another 40 chairs! Here's a link to their website: Reunion Christian Church. I'm very proud of the work they are doing up there. I only have a week and a half until I get to go visit and see for myself.

2007-02-16T08:40:00.000-08:00

I know, I know...as Keith graciously pointed out I've been horrible at updating lately. I'm turning into Shelly:) That's because work has been so crazy. Right now I'm in Orlando. Before anyone is jealous that I'm missing the cold Chicago weather I just want to say it is cold here. There is a cold front and someone in FL they are actually saying it could snow so...no poolside tanning for me. I actually wore my puffy coat across the resort this morning!And I got a sinus infection before I left so I've been fighting that while traveling. I'm so looking forward to getting back home tonight!

I don't really have anything to say right now except for I'll be out of town the next two weekends and will surely have some updates at that time. Tonight all I want to do is get home to my couch, order food in and watch Stacey and Clinton's What Not to Wear:)

2007-01-30T11:23:00.000-08:00

It has been forever since I've posted...I've been traveling a lot lately. I was in AL, then IN, then next week VA and then FL! It's just a really busy time at work...

We decided to check out karaoke this past Saturday at the Blue Frog downtown. It totally looked like a dive bar which was actually pretty cool. They had board games you could play while listening (or waiting for your song as in Paul's case). The only thing was that there were private parties there that night that they failed to mention to us on the phone so it would be fun to go back sometime when it was less crowded.

There were a few special numbers:

-Guy in white hat KEPT singing rap songs: he started out with Rapper's Delight and the last one we heard was The Humpty Dance

-Someone actually did a Jack Black song whose lyrics I cannot put up on here: if you know it you'll know why

-There was a guy who looked like Blake who also sung a racey song about "___ Control": again if you know it, you'll know why I'm leaving a blank. He was REALLY into it.

This week I'm looking forward to:

-Going to see Catch and Release with my roommate

-Girls afternoon with Linds in the city on Saturday

-Dinner with Rick and Des who I haven't seen in forever

-Oh yeah, and the superbowl...maybe more for the snacks than the actual football but whatever:)

2007-01-04T11:17:00.000-08:00

Kelly and Ali were on break for the holiday so I was so glad we got to spend some time together. They came up to the city Tuesday night and I took them to a local restaurant that we really liked, got some coffee and watched a movie at the apt. I miss these girls since they are in college right now. We used to see each other pretty much everyday and they seriously always make me laugh. They are two of my favorite people - and I'm not just saying that because one may have requested a blog entry:) - they really are. And I'm so proud that Alison has branched into wearing "girly" clothes now...Kelly and I would like to think we had some influence with that.

2006-12-29T08:37:00.000-08:00

New Christmas Picture of Lexi!

18 months

She kind of reminded us of one of those elves in The Santa Clause movie.

The quality isn't that great because I had to scan it in and save a couple times but you get the idea:)

2006-12-21T08:26:00.000-08:00

So I have been horrible at posting anything lately so here's a quick recap...
December Highlights
-Kt's 30th bday party: we all went to a nice restaurant we hadn't been to before, Quartino, and then went out for some drinks and "dancing".

-Hosted our "Friends Xmas Party": I was all excited about having the house decorated. I had the big tree from the previous post as well as the lights and garland over the windows with candles. I wish I had pics to post. After I get my new laptop, getting online should not be as big of a pain to upload pictures. It was cool to have everyone hang out before we all travel for the holiday.

-Saw the movie "The Holiday" with Jamie. We thought it was cute. For those of you who don't like romantic comedies, obviously not for you. But I like them, especially when they are around Christmas like Love Actually (one of my favorite movies). The only thing was it was weird to see Jack Black play a love interest. He was cute in a funny way but they would pan away from him when it looked romantic, which is funny in itself, cause they sure didn't do that with Jude.

-Watched numerous Christmas movies including White Christmas, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, The Grinch, and a few undisclosed made for abc family channel movies...

Tonight I start my trek to home and I'm looking forward to it. I already have a lot planned but all are going to be fun.
1. Becky and I get some girl time on Friday night
2. Another night of kareoke with dad and crew on the agenda for Saturday night
(I'll let you know if becky and I actually grace Clover Bottom bar with a duet)
3. Dad's side of family party on Xmas eve
(I'm refusing to play the White Elephant game this year, too much controversy last time we played, cousins getting mad, etc. I'm just saying no this year so I can stay impartial)
4. Candlelight service
(Last year I ran into a family I used to babysit for: they were 3 and 4 when I sat them...now they were like six feet tall and had brought their girlfriends...talk about feeling old)
5. Movie with mom and brother
(everytime I come home we go to the movies but what would help is if they hadn't seen every good one before I get there, hence the misfortune of sitting through Happy Feet over Thankgiving)
6. Day after Xmas shopping with sister
(yes, it's insane but it's also tradition and is how she buys me a present)

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-05T08:42:00.000-08:00

Christmas Present!

I just found out that I'm getting this for Christmas!

2006-12-01T08:37:00.000-08:00

All decorated: (yes, I did make the bow myself)

2006-11-30T13:17:00.000-08:00

Christmas Tree:

Thanks to Paul's organization (with the help of his wife) I now have a Christmas tree! It is a great looking live tree. I haven't had one of those since Shels and I lived in Crest Hill and had the undertaking of tying it down to her little piece of a car. I was thinking about how to do such a thing myself this year when I was surprised yesterday by a tree with accessories delivered:)

So tonight begins the decorating. I'm might be playing Mariah Carey Christmas cd while doing so. I don't care what anyone says, that is one of the best Christmas albums ever.

Sidenote: I remember for a long time my mom's Christmas tree was all haphazard. There were random ornaments from random places, didn't match each other, etc. Not that this is necessarily bad, lots of people have trees like that but then all of a sudden in the last year or so she has tried to make a "classy" tree. She bought all these matching ornaments and ribbon. It looks nice...but now I kind of wonder where that felt rudolph with the bow tie ornament went - I always liked that one.

2006-11-21T08:09:00.000-08:00

Going Home for Thanksgiving:

For some reason this break cannot get here fast enough. I have really needed some time off. Tomorrow I head home for Missouri. I'm looking forward to:

-No commute!

-Green bean casserole yet again

-Sleepover at Becky's

-Game night with HS friends

-Hanging out with the fam and making them listen to Xmas music

-Teaching my niece to say Aunt Tanya

2006-11-15T10:35:00.000-08:00

Moment in History: Never before seen, Eli eating Taco Bell.

2006-11-07T09:21:00.000-08:00

Last night I got out all the Christmas CDs. I know its before Thanksgiving but I wanted to start early. I'm taking suggestions for this years Xmas Party Mix 06.

2006-11-01T15:36:00.000-08:00

My afternoon off in AZ. After working all week before we headed home we got a few hours off. In honor of Jamie I photographed it. This was the view of the mountains right outside my hotel.

2006-11-01T15:35:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd walk to the "mall" for a bit. I changed my mind after I walked into this boutique and a graphic T was $108.

2006-11-01T15:33:00.000-08:00

The restaurant I actually went to by myself. You know I never do this but I was on my own for the afternoon and really wanted to eat at a place I we don't have up here so I went. It wasn't as bad as I thought, they had outdoor tables so I could people watch and read.

2006-11-01T15:31:00.000-08:00

The best chicken tortilla salad ever.

2006-11-01T15:30:00.000-08:00

Lastly reading by the pool. It was a brutal reality to come back to Chicago weather.

2006-11-01T12:19:00.000-08:00

Sad day for Hollywood:
I really thought this couple was going to make it, they were so cute. It's been the only gossip around the office I've actually made time for this week.

2006-10-26T11:35:00.000-07:00

Neice 15

My neice last time I went home. Seriously, what is that face she is giving Becky?

2006-10-18T17:28:00.000-07:00

Finally I got the pics up online: This past weekend my friends threw me a surprise party!! I loved it - It was so fun to have everybody together. It was so cool that everyone did such a good job keeping it a secret. I have great friends. Here is a pic of all us girls.

2006-10-18T17:22:00.000-07:00

Eli is always the only guy on the "dance floor". He said all the other guys were crazy for not dancing with us:)

2006-10-18T17:19:00.000-07:00

They made my bday "cake" out of my favorite dunkin donut: chocolate creme.

2006-10-18T17:17:00.000-07:00

Here is Becky and I doing our senior picture shot.

2006-10-18T17:16:00.000-07:00

For some reason the guys started a "clubhouse" in the pantry. You had to eat special things before they would allow girls in except for me because it was my bday. Ryan is using his umbrellas to be that dinosaur from Jurassic Park.

2006-10-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

Then on Sunday night I went out with coworkers and had the best martini ever. It was like a Girl Scout Caramel Delight in liquid form.

2006-10-04T23:47:00.001-07:00

kids2

They kept posing for different pictures and wanting to watch themselves.

2006-10-04T23:47:00.000-07:00

Kids3

I thought they were so cute laughing trying to crawl on Karen.

2006-10-03T07:11:00.000-07:00

Family Visit this past weekend:
My dad (Ronnie), his girlfriend Claudia and my uncle Danny came to visit this past weekend. I took them to quite a few things in just a day and a half-they were real troopers because as you know we have to walk around here to get to a lot of places. They couldn't remember the last time they walked that much.

First, we went to The Globe Pub for a quick lunch then I shuffled them to the "L". This was the first time they had ever ridden one so it was pretty funny. At first I tried to tell them to have a seat but they wanted to stand, however by the second bumpy turn they did as instructed:) My uncle kept saying how he'd never make it if he'd had some drinks.

We went to all the Millienium Park sites and Grant Park sites. We also made it down to Navy Pier and at at the Joes Be Bop Cafe so we could hear jazz while we ate. I was trying to take a cute picture of them by the bean but as you can see my dad is a jokester and is sticking his tongue out.

The next day we went to Montrose beach and walked around, checked out the pier and the sailboats. My uncle hadn't seen water that massive before so it was really cool to see it with them because I know I take it for granted. Here is my uncle and dad being cool in their sunglasses.

I took them by Wrigley Field and then to Ed Debevics for lunch before they had to head home. We had a sassy waitress and of course my family said a few things back to her. She called Danny sugar lips when my dad took a picture of them. It was really fun. We all had a good time and it was nice to have them actually come up here and see Chicago.

2006-09-23T08:44:00.000-07:00

The conference/class is finally over. I'm not saying that there wasn't good information (I did learn that I really believe in our mission statement) but 5 days is just too long to be in class. And then running back to my room if we had anything more than a 10 minute break (which was rare) just to see if there were urgent work emails I had to respond to...well let's just say I'm glad it's done.

A couple of the things we had to do:
-Make a "family" group name, logo and slogan
-Do skits at the end telling what we learned that week
Does The Office take suggestions for shows? because I thought that these would make excellent mockementaries.

We were supposed to go to the beach today but it's been raining all morning so I'm not sure what's going to be on the agenda. I did take the cutest videos of Aiden yesterday that some of you will have to humor me by watching:)

2006-09-20T14:21:00.000-07:00

Half of my Boston trip is over.

Some fun parts so far:
-Taco dinner with the Browns/Wilsons and watching The Last Kiss with Ryan
-Watching Alex's soccer game
-Pedicure with Karen
-LeAnne and Art's wedding: it was really cool to see people I hadn't seen in a long time and meet new friends too
-The best breakfast food I've had in a long time at a place called Red's (I think)
-Seeing Reunion Christian Church's last preview service before they launch

The not so fun parts:
-Cheesy small group questions at the conference
-Getting up early and trying to stay awake through 2 hour sessions at a time

Looking forward to tonight:
-Ladies night out with Karen and Julie. They are coming to the conference center to rescue me for a few hours.

2006-09-12T11:43:00.000-07:00

A few random things: I'm crazy busy at work trying to get everything done before my trip and I'm not sure it's all going to but I thought I'd just update on a couple things.

1. I made the mistake of telling one of my friends that I sometimes think cowboys hats are cute SOMETIMES. Now it keeps coming up with threats of said person pulling out boots and a belt buckle.

2. One of my coworkers may have been wearing a black bra with a white tshirt last week.

3. I had to drive to Napes a couple times recently and I admit to singing along with "Angel of the Morning" by Bonnie Tyler, a classic that James put on our road trip CD. If you don't know that song...well I'm not necessarily surprised.

4. At one of my recent staff meetings we had to brainstorm about what movie would be good to show young kids and one of the guys who is older and appeared to be all business suggested Sin City.

2006-08-30T13:53:00.000-07:00

Camping: Pretty much James and Luke covered our trip so click on their links for fun commentary. I'm not going to redo it.

This picture is one of the few times we actually did anything to help cook.

2006-08-22T12:26:00.000-07:00

This weekend I got to see the Goo Goo Dolls and Counting Crows in concert! Thanks to Lucas. Apparently Adam is not always in a good mood but he totally was on Friday and talked a lot. I tried to call Jamie and let her hear "Omaha" but of course all she heard was a bunch of muffled noise. It was nostalgic too because the Goo Goo Dolls played all their old hits which reminded me of college, that was very cool because even though they were promoting their new album they still played what we knew already. Even though it was kind of rainy we were under the pavilion so we were able to keep dry until the very end of the concert...right then it started raining a lot harder. By the time I waited in the line for the bathroom I was already soaking wet. At that point you just have to accept it and laugh about it. People were going crazy-there were a big group of drunk guys that were hugging and jumping up and down and then some random high school kid tried to rush up a hill and over the fence to get the parking lot until he realized he wasn't strong enough to get up the last 10 feet, his friends had deserted him and security were on their way to grab him. It was a fun concert.

2006-08-18T09:12:00.000-07:00

I'm addicted to Craig's list. I look almost everyday for stuff we need for the apartment. Subsequentially...I'm very poor and will not be able to do much for a while so it's a good thing I'll like the stuff in my apartment.

2006-08-15T07:41:00.000-07:00

Bono at the Summit:
I wish everyone could have seen this interview. Bill Hybels interviewed Bono. It was by far the best part of the Leadership Conference I went to last week. He was very genuine and spoke a lot of truth from the Bible-it was just so cool to hear from him. I wasn't able to write everything he said down but Dave Ferguson was typing fast and was able to get alot of quotes from the interview. After watching it I wanted to run out and buy his bibliography and go to a U2 concert.
Check out the quotes that Dave got here: Dave's Entry on Bono

2006-08-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

You think this is just a arch made of leaves but actually.....(see next picture)

2006-08-09T20:17:00.000-07:00

This was some crazy tree woman who walked around the Delta plaza and contorted herself in weird positions. She creeped me out-reminded me of some character that would be in Return to Oz.

2006-08-09T07:38:00.000-07:00

Ricky Bobby is funny!
I heard that Talladega Nights wasn't that great and granted there are no academy awards in its future but Jamie and I saw it last night and we were literally cracking up in numerous parts. I don't want to ruin it for anyone but a few of our favorite lines included: Tom Cruise, Rue McClanahan, and Crystal Gale. Those 3 references alone make for a good comedy.
"...Tom Cruise, use your witchcraft to get this fire off me"-lol

2006-07-31T15:22:00.000-07:00

Her mini cake was all over her-this was just the beginning.

2006-07-31T15:05:00.000-07:00

1st

This is Lexi at her 1st Birthday party. She was getting Dora the Explorer stuff.

2006-07-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

I might have gotten through the last hour of my drive home this weekend by singing along to this album...Favorite song: Even the Nights Are Better

2006-07-11T08:47:00.000-07:00

Two weddings in one weekend:
Friday night was Sarah and Ryan's wedding. It was very cool to see them get married after all these years. She looked beautiful and it was so fun to have everyone come out for it. And it's not very often I get to see dancing Mike and Annie in one night:) It was outside at the Roundhouse and could not have been better whether for it.

The next day it was off to Champaign to see one of my best friends from high school get married. I loved Ann's dress. I was the guest book attendant which I have never done before. I just greeted people and made sure they signed it-I think it was the easiest job for a wedding I've ever done. It was so good all us good friends from high school to be there together again. It had been too long since we made it a point to do it. It was a good time.

2006-07-11T08:43:00.000-07:00

Jason and Ann cutting their cake

2006-07-11T08:42:00.000-07:00

Rob, Me, Jason, and Becks

2006-07-11T08:38:00.001-07:00

Ladies on the dance floor. Annie knows all the moves.

2006-07-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

The little girls dancing were so cute.

2006-07-11T08:37:00.000-07:00

Sarah and Ryan's Outdoor wedding

2006-07-05T07:26:00.000-07:00

I did not want to come to work today...
This 4 day weekend was so nice. I love fireworks-4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. I was even got to see 3 shows. Saturday was Streator's best with a good visit with Shels and fam, Monday was fun-we saw them from the Sutherland's balcony which was a great view (pic below), and Tuesday I went down to Naperville and got to spend some time with friends. Miah's little girl was there and it was her first fireworks-she was just as good a show as the fireworks themselves-she loved them and kept giggling and making her rounds to everyone's lap. It was great to get to spend so much time with everyone this weekend and still have time to relax.

2006-06-27T13:12:00.000-07:00

I wish this were a joke...I recreated an actual sign from a church I walk by close to my house.

2006-06-20T14:46:00.000-07:00

Jim and Dwight Conflicts

Another Office Clip by request. When this show comes out on DVD I'm not even waiting for a sale, I'm running straight to the store to buy it.

2006-06-14T18:25:00.000-07:00

Souviner from Boston...
So I bought this Tshirt with Julie and Karen when we were in Boston and we all thought it was cute. We liked the color and thought volleyball looked fun. So the other day I wore it and with the help of a friend realized that if you take a closer look it says "Beach Vixons", "Sun down to Sun up" and it has a bikini off and hung over the net. I was laughing so hard at it...we had no idea it was supposed to a sassy shirt...I mean, I'm still going to wear it but maybe not to work...

2006-06-09T07:24:00.000-07:00

Lexi is Walking!

2006-06-02T13:57:00.000-07:00

An Office Clip

This is just a small clip from The Office because I thought it wouldn't be too long to watch. I am obsessed with this show. It's the funniest thing on tv.

2006-05-19T20:39:00.000-07:00

Um..I caught a new show on mtv where Jamie Kennedy wants to have a rap career. It is frightening and funny at the same time. His agents were laughing and he and his friend were singing "Shoop" in their Hybrid. And they added Bob Saget rapping to one of their songs. I kind of want to keep watching it-lol

2006-05-10T12:43:00.000-07:00

Christa and I have to walk through numerous revolving doors on our way to work in the morning...and yesterday it finally happened. I looked back at her saying something and I got stuck in one of them. My shoulder hit part of it and my bag was wrapped around the other side of the door. Needless to say we had a good laugh as I'm sure many others did as they witnessed this.

Sidenote: I feel like this movie didn't get that much press or time out but we watched it the other night and it was so funny. The faces Ryan Reynolds makes are hilarious. I wanted to recommend it if you are looking for a comedy.

2006-05-08T12:06:00.000-07:00

I got a New Car!
Since I was going to have to get one, I wanted to get one I liked.
Here are some pics. It pretty much has everything I wanted-It is a 2001 Ford Focus, malibu blue, only has 31K and a 6-Disc CD player:)

2006-05-01T10:53:00.000-07:00

Apparently this actually works: Nick has someone who got their free ipod and then just cancelled the two things he signed up for and a 60GB Ipod w/Video is like $400 so here's a link to do it. I admit its a little bit of a trick but still for a little shipping and handling on some stuff we could get a big ipod for free.
Free Ipod link

2006-04-28T19:16:00.000-07:00

Easter with Lexi: (I know it was a couple weeks ago but I had to show off a couple new pictures)

She's checking out the book I got her and yes the care bear dressed as a bunny if from me.

There was a mini bath setup in the mall so my entire family thought it would be cute to stick her in there for a photo op.

2006-04-24T16:46:00.000-07:00

Say Goodbye to the Honda...
This past weekend my car broke down on the side of the interstate in St. Louis this weekend on the way to the wedding. I was just driving along like normal when suddenly my battery light went on and then clunk clunk clunk under the car and black things went flying out of the back of my car resulting in engine lights going on and the car stopping. I managed to pull off to the side of the road.
It took triple A an hour to get there as I sat in the heat in a tank shirt while construction guys kept coming by and putting it in neutral to push me out of their way. Anyway, my dad met me at the shop we towed it to and I was still only 15 minutes late to the rehearsal dinner for my cousin's wedding.
Here she is at the shop one last time...

Here's the pic of the engine: the belt rubbed part of the casing away causing the belt to fly off, things to break and fly out, the pistons to stick and all but one of the cylinders to lose power.

The shop guy told me he didn't think it was worth the money to put a new engine in it and my dad agreed so the shop is sending me a few bucks and they are donating to the diabetes fund so I guess that's nice. I had to find a last minute flight back to get home. So up next on my list of things to do that I don't want to...buy a new car.