Quarter Century

Dallas in August is hot

It is pretty hot here. Jay describes it as a hair dryer blowing in your face and it really is a pretty accurate decription when the wind is blowing. I went swimming yesterday and think I will again later today, after I get some things done. I am redoing my resume today and looking for some jobs. So many things to do. I am also making a pie. 

Jay will have to get over the fact that I used the oven when it is so hot outside. Hopefully it finishes baking soon so I can get outside and enjoy the pool. 

Summertime Update

My mother has suggested I need to blog more...here we go! I am hanging out in Illinois for a little while this July, in between a wedding July 9, our engagement party on July 10, the great garage sale of Zuppke Dr July 16 and our family vacation August 2nd. 

Me, Katie, Liz at Sarah and Michael's wedding July 9th. photo by Jay.

Debbie and Mom in charge of the cash box at the garage sale, July 16th. 

I am going to head over to Tiskilwa to see Grandma Barb next Tuesday and then make my way back to Chicago to see friends there before Michigan fun. It is hotter than Dallas here in Urbana. I thought I would be missing the heat of Texas in July but here I am. The heat index is reaching 108 today!

I went to go try on some wedding dresses with mom and Abby the other day, which was fun. My dear friend Carolyn is making my dress, so I was just getting some ideas and Abby tried on a few bridesmaids dresses. It was fun to start really thinking about the wedding. 

Stay cool!

Howdy

So, while I have failed to blog yet since I have moved, it is because I have been trying to get our home cleaned, unpacked and organized. While we have yet to make any human friends, aside from Jay's co-worker, we have met some animal friends on our patio. A green toad hops around the place and this little lizard does too. I finally caught him on camera this morning and if you looks closely you can see his trying to scare me off by blowing up that red throat bulge (anyone know what that is called?)

I wish I could have been closer to take a better photo but I was a little nervous. From my brief research on this guy I am guessing his a green anole. I am going to try to get some picture of our birds around here too. Grandmas Barb was asking about what types we have. We also have extremely loud cicadas that sounds like rattle snakes in the trees. 

Here are some random photos in no particular order. 

Jay going to work. What a good looking fella. 

He also looks a little alarmed that I am snapping pictures at 8am. 

We have been enjoying great relationship builders such as IKEA furniture assembly. 

hahaha. Consider this the "before" picture and I will post an "after" picture of our fully assembled bedroom soon.

Our new car is GREAT! 

And we are too!

We are heading to Austin today for the weekend. Exciting! After the weekend we will load more photos to Jay's picasa album and post the link.  Have a great weekend and a happy 4th of July!

Union Pier fun with the girls!

My awesome girlfriends came on a lovely weekend away with me to Union Pier, MI for the last few days. Katie McGill organized the lovely weekend-thank you! While the weather did not cooperate, we had a fun time putzing in antique stores, getting coffee at the Whistle Stop Cafe, wine tasting, cooking out, singing some old school Mariah Carey and Usher (because Sarah still has CDs from middle school in her car, which was perfect!), sitting on the beach and just hanging out. Here are a few pictures from the weekend. 

The city girls running free in the fields of Michigan....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Katie and Katie cooking burgers on the grill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Katie, Julia and Sarah at the winery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Michigan, from the other side

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gintaras Resort, the White House. Site of the wedding next year! We were able to check out the look of the property now in June. It looks a lot different (and more beautiful) now that is not covered in snow and ice!

 

It was so nice to get out of town after the packing and moving last week. The movers arrived at 7:30am Friday. They were supposed to come between 8:30 and 9:30. They were done by 11:30 and aside from a little drama over the extra boxes I needed from them, it was a very smooth morning. They took all my stuff to a storage facility in the burbs and then the driver loads it onto the real truck to drive out to Dallas sometime this week. They won't let me know what day it gets to Dallas until Tuesday. Let's all hope it all arrives in good shape in Texas later this week. 

Anyway, our apartment is kind of sad now without furniture. Ash and I are hanging out in the living room sitting on a blow up mattress in place of a couch. One more week of Chicago. 

5k Fun

Alright, folks! I am back! I decided that I have got to start blogging again since I am moving to Texas and it is going to an adventure! Additionally, it will be a nice way to keep those of you I will no longer see regularly updated on my/our lives! 

The major events of the last 6 months are below:

Jay got a job in Dallas, TX and moved there March 1st. 

We got engaged and are planning our wedding for next June, 2012 in Union Pier, Michigan. 

I am sure nearly everyone reading this already knows these things. 

Aside from preparing for my relocation to Dallas, I have been doing a running program preparing to run a 5k. I never ran a race before or trained with any running program but found out this spring that I really like it and find it actually enjoyable to run. For the last 2.5months I have been running every other day and today Colin and I ran a 5K at the Lincoln Park  Zoo. 

Despite my careful training I managed to push myself a little fast last weekend, resulting in a strained/tight IT band. So I saw someone for it and laid off of running this week but still managed to run the whole race at a decent pace and my big brother was a super sport and ran along with me the whole time. It was a beautiful day for the race and fun first 5k. Thanks, brother!

Next weekend, some girlfriends (like these lovely ladies below) and I are heading up to Union Pier, MI (site of wedding 2012!) to spend the weekend in a cottage on the beach. I am very excited. 

In other news, the movers arrive here Friday morning. This leaves me a few short more days to pack things up! I better get a move on!

Thanks for tuning in, folks!

Oh Autumn....you have arrived!

It has been a while but I thought I should finally break the blogging freeze here and get back to it! Autumn is here in Chicago and it is looking lovely. Here is an idea of what I have been doing lately.

-Went to dinner at Uncle Joel and Aunt Michelle's a few weeks ago and got to see Jeff and Carrie. That was really nice and great to visit with them for a bit. They also let me use their crock pot for soup I was making the next night and it has lead to an obsession with soup-making around here. First beef and vegetable, then carrot and then potato-leek....all delicious!

-I went to Indy two weekends ago with my friends Katie & Josh, and Ashley too. We went to see The National-amazing. It was a really fun weekend and Indianapolis actually looked quite nice and cute. Some beautiful homes and a few cute neighborhoods. We stopped at an apple orchard on the way back which topped off the weekend.

-Last weekend Jay and I went camping in Wisconsin with some friends of mine. We had perfect weather and the colors were amazing. While up there we went to the International Crane Foundation for the afternoon. Beautiful birds, a really nice facility and some very interesting information about cranes. We stopped on the way back in to eat at a Nepali restaurant, Himal Chuli.

It was very good and Jay was excited to have the dumplings called momos. On my day off this apst Monday I went to see the Social Network with Kira and Ashley. It was good but a bit of a downer. I spent a lot of the movie trying to figure out if Mark Zuckerberg has a social disorder of some sort or something else....

I am looking forward to seeing everyone soon, in November!

The Much Requested Update!

I am here in Tiskilwa for a few days. I am here with Grandma Barb, a visit that was long overdue. I haven't seen her since Christmas and I doubt I have ever spent over 7 months without seeing her in my entire life. 

Some updates:

Summer is awesome and fun and oh so hot...here are the reasons why......

Mom came up 2 weeks ago for her mother's day present, a concert with me, to Mary Chapin Carpenter. It was so great. 

Ash and I went to the Swell Season @ Ravinia last week...beautiful music, if you haven't checked them out-you should!

I am going to Peter & Paul, a tribute concert to Mary Travers this Tuesday with Jay. We may be the youngest people there but I am super excited.

I have had many beach trips, picnics, pool/sprinkler fun with the girls. They are as delightful as ever.

I got to visit with Liz, Charlie and Belle this past Saturday. She is getting so big but let me cuddle her and kiss all over her face. 

Oh, and I have this week off! Nothing like free paid time off in the middle of summer!

Also-mom and Eastin's (and Katie) here this weekend. We are seeing Billy Elliot!

....and, as my patient blog readers have inquired previously, I will update on the man front. I am seeing someone and I am unbelievably happy and excited about the future of the relationship. 

Grams and I are playing cards with the girls today! 

TGIF

So, I have been informed by many people that I need to blog more. I have been without internet since the move and haven't been doing lots of blogging before that anyway. I will try to be a better blogger!

The move went very well. My "movers" aka my family were super. I also really enjoyed getting to spend the weekend with my parents and Colin and Kristin. The weather was also amazing, so that makes everything more enjoyable.

Katie visited last weekend and that was really fun. WE went to the Whistler Friday night, saw Ocean's movie and Saturday went to the burbs to see Miss Sarah Ziebart in Oklahoma, and her husband-to-be was in it, too. They were HILARIOUS and I remember how Sar has been that funny since she was 5, when we met. Sunday we brunched at Orange with my friend Marina and shopped at Anthropologie. It was a nice weekend, despite the rain.

I realized I hadn't seen her or been home in 4 months. Crazy. I am going home next weekend though and will be celebrating mother's day with the family.

I am busy as can be, which is amazing because I also feel kind of bored with life at the moment. As the weather improves I just want to lounge around reading and napping outdoors and feel rather unmotivated to do productive things like say unpack the remaining boxes in my dining room or sort out the next year of my life. I am also a little bummed because I think my friend-whom I will not name-is going to get fired. Unfortunately, she is utterly incompetent at her job and should have been let go long ago but it will drastically change my day-to-day life and I will miss her company.

Anyway....summer is on the way. 78 high today and surely was warmer in the sun. I think my cheeks are sunburn from this morning and it feels kinda good....(not inviting lectures about aging/wrinkles/sun damage etc. I was wearing spf 30).

Appendectomy

I am sure you have all heard about my fun surprise this week. I woke up Monday morning at 2am sick as can be and proceeded to be sick for 9 hours before going to the ER, hoping to get re-hydrated and some anti-nausea meds. As my stomach cramps localized to the lower right side I began to think I had pulled something from vomiting so hard for so long. I was wrong. After a thorough exam, hooking me up to an iv, getting my nausea to stop, giving me pain meds and having me drink a large container of barium, I went for a CAT scan.When I returned to the ER Colin (aka the best brother) was there waiting for me. Shortly after the doc came in to tell me in fact a had appendicitis and would be in surgery soon. I was shocked but grateful that I had come in and hadn't waited longer at my apartment. I am really lucky to have such a  great brother who was there as soon as he could be and stayed with me. Ashley and Kristin came to the hospital too, as did my parents. They were all great to me and I am grateful for such great family and friends. My mom is the best-she has been here with me and helped me with everything. I am just really lucky.

Unlike Madeline, I will not have a scar but three small punctures where they used the camera and whatever else they use in laparoscopic surgery, but like the Maddeline story-I did feel that "something is not right". It is a good lesson in trusting your body to tell you when something is off. The surgeon told me it was nearly ruptured and I came in at the last minute.

I am planning on going to Puerto Vallarta with Ashley, hoping all goes well. The doctor said I could go as long as I felt up to it and as it is a total r and r vacation, I feel that I can go. I think the sun and warm weather will be great for me.

My first "grown-up" furniture purchase!

Meet my new couch: the Loring sofa, in walnut micro-velvet. If you would like to come sit on it, it will be arriving at the new apartment on April 10th. The Norah, my new ottoman, will be arriving in early May. Just FYI. I picked out a few great options with the help of some good friends, Kira and Ashley last weekend-they spent the day trying out couches at two stores with me and were amazingly patient. Then today I made a decision with the help of my new pal Gary at the store. I was unusually decisive this evening...I didn't feel like the guy was trying to up-sell me, but he listened to what I said and helped me find the best combination to fit my personal style.

Two key qualities in being a good furniture salesperson are being patient and being a good listener-this guy was good at them. These qualities are probably helpful in nearly every job, actually. Listening has been on my mind as I went to a women's talking circle last night. This may seem like a silly thing if you don't know what it is because we all know women talk, a lot. The circle however is a very intentional way to talk with one another and to have an open, non-judgmental place to share. There is a talking piece that is passed around the circle and you can only talk when it is your turn. My friend Julia lead the group. She uses circles in her work with at-risk youth mostly as a way to deal with conflict. We did one a year ago with some of the same women and it was really nice to do it again. I don't know most of the other women except for having been in the circle with them and yet we have gotten to share a lot about ourselves in a way I would not have in any other environment. It is a really unique exercise; you allow the other women the space to speak their thoughts without interruption, affirmation or judgment and then you are given the same opportunity. In normal conversation we are usually so quick to answer, provide a response or critique, give feedback, etc. I also found in the circle there were many answers and many unintentional threads-so many thoughts begin to connect through others, and sense of being understood begins to surface.