Happy Halloween!

Last night we had a Halloween party with our small group from church. Everyone had a great costumes. The people who held the party at their house went all out. They had black lights, a fog machine, spooky music, and halloweenish decorations. Kudos to them. We played some fun games and made it guys vs. girls. I don't know who actually won overall by the end of the night because we had to leave early but when we left it was one to one. Although, it should have been zero to two with the girls winning because the boys cheated, but that's another story =). I went as the Swine Flu. Haha. I wore pink scrubs and a t-shirt and made my pig ears and wore wings. (Cuz the pig flies around and spreads - get it?) And Jason went as the doctor to administer the swine flu vaccine as I exposed everyone.

Sorry it's kind of blurry but the fog machine did it's job.

And a favorite costume of the night:

She went as Obama and the slogan on the sheet of paper says "How's that Change going for you?" Haha! Love it!

Happy Halloween everyone!!

Because I Can

Some people may not like clothes on dogs. But I love them. They are so cute!! And Lucye likes them too - once she realizes there is no way she can get it off herself =)

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Last weekend was great fun. Friday night, we went to Mansfield to visit some of our dear friends, Tommy and Crystal and their one month old, Zane. We ate at Genghis Grill and then went back over to their house to hang out. The boys played Halo while Crystal and I talked. I got to love on Zane while I was there too. I fed him and held him pretty much the whole time we were there. He is so precious. They did such a good job.

Isn't he just so cute?

On Saturday morning, I made pumpkin pancakes. Oh sweet heaven. I had planned on making them last weekend for the first weekend of October to welcome the holiday season and fall, but I was very sick and no food sounded good at that point. I lit my pumpkin candle and played songs from past Glee episodes. My house smelled like fall and I loved it!! The weather outside made it even better.

Beautiful sweet goodness!!

Then my friend, Jessica, and I spent an afternoon and evening watching Phantom of the Opera and Pride and Prejudice. Very girly day, I must say. I highly recommended these movies. Although my friend Jessica says they leave you emotionally drained because they are so intense so maybe don't watch them the same day. But trust me- you'll thank me.

"I love you most ardently" ~Mr. Darcy -It just stirs something in your heart, I tell you.

On Sunday, Jason and I went to Mary Poppins!!! It was so awesome!! I am a huge theater nerd. I loved all the new songs they added and the Mary Poppins and Bert from the original Broadway cast were in it. I relived my childhood a bit. I loved that movie when I was younger. I used to take umbrellas from the house and open them up and "jump" off the front porch and pretend I was flying. I know -I'm cool. I even stayed afterwards so I could get a picture with the lady who played Mary Poppins. I was pretty much one of the only adults waiting but I don't care. I'm not ashamed. Plus, I look 12 anyway, so she probably thought nothing of it.

Secretly taking a picture in the theater with no flash!! Tee hee!!

Me and Ashley Brown!!! (Mary Poppins)

Enjoy!!!

Peace Prize? What the?

Yesterday morning I woke up and turned on my computer to check my email and the featured news story on yahoo said "Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize". I had to take a double take to make sure I had read it correctly and then the words out of my mouth were "You have got to be kidding me!" I read the article and found out this was no joke.

Since when did we start giving out awards for people who have said many things and have great ideas but there has been no fruition to their work. Last time I checked - not many. We give out participation awards to children to acknowledge their efforts in hopes that this will motivate them and encourage them to continue their efforts. But the Nobel Peace Prize is something different. Past winners have been Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Mother Teresa. I'm sorry but I don't see Obama in this category of people who have made a difference. Maybe - just maybe - he may end up doing things that will qualify him to be in that group of people - but why don't we wait to see what happens before we start handing out awards?

Greg Mortenson was nominated for the peace prize. He's a humanitarian and he opened up schools for girls in countries where people get killed for trying. And he didn't get the peace prize? Ridiculous!

The old saying "Actions speak louder than words" seems not to apply here. Apparently, ambition is worth more than results.

I love Glee/Kristen Chenowith

I love this new show called Glee. And when I say love - I'm obsessed. I was even more ecstatic last night when I found out that Kristen Chenowith was guest starring on the show. I love her. I think her voice is amazing and she has a great stage presence. She was the original Glinda in Wicked so I get to listen to her all the time since I play the soundtrack in my car all the time =) I was so excited that Glee used a Broadway musical piece to sing in the show besides using pop music culture. I appreciate that they are putting all different types of genre on the show for people to experience and enjoy. I think Broadway is so awesome and sometimes I think I missed my calling in life by not trying to go on Broadway - but only sometimes =). Here is the link from last night's episode of Glee of Maybe this Time. Enjoy. Be inspired. Go see a Broadway play! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjideDC8d9k

Enter at your own risk

Chicago was such a wonderful place! I miss it so much and would love to go back to it someday. The weather was great. Everyone says that I would hate the winters there, and they may be right, but I love scarfs, mittens, and jackets!! I get so excited when I get to wear them. Trust me, I look better in winter clothes. I have decided that I need a vacation every year like this where I can just get away and not have the outside world creeping in on me. I came back completely refreshed.

I will tell you one thing though that I didn't like about Chicago.

The revolving doors! I have this irrational fear of revolving doors. I'm scared of them. It sounds silly, but I am afraid that one day I will get smashed in between the door and the building and be seriously injured. I don't have good hand eye coordination as it is. It's like trying to jump into a double dutch jump rope and completely messing it up and the ropes getting tangled around you. Except if you mess this up, you get squished. No thank you. And they were everywhere in Chicago. Everywhere!! And some places wouldn't let you use the regular doors unless you were handicapped or had a stroller - and I didn't have either of those things. It was very troublesome for me while I was there =). But other than that - Chicago was awesome!

Day FOUR!!

Saturday was a beautiful day in Chicago. I think it was the hottest day we were there.. a whole 78 degrees =). We left a little later than normal and headed to Wrigley Field. Unfortunately, there were no Cubs games while we were there because they were out of town but we did get to see the field.

The famous Harry Carey: "If you were a hot dog, would you eat yourself? I know I would."

Part of the field

We then headed to Lincoln Park. It is such a beautiful area and there were tons of people out running and biking enjoying the weather. Jason and I hung out at the water front and relaxed and people watched. I think I could do that everyday. It was so pretty.

Isn't that gorgeous?

Hanging out the lake front

We headed back towards downtown and had lunch, and then we decided that we were going to go get coffee at a place that my best friend, Jacque, recommended to us. She used to live here when she was doing mission year and told us that we MUST go to this coffee place because it had the best coffee. We had gotten information from one of our other friends that we should go during the day because it wasn't in a great part of town and we might witness a drug deal otherwise (seriously). So we got on the El to go and experience this great cup of coffee. Unfortunately, one stop before we were to get off to go to the coffee place the El train we were on started smoking and it smelled like something was burning underneath it. Everyone got off and the train went express to the last stop. So since we were in an unfamiliar place and had no clue how to get to the coffee shop from this stop we decided to cut our losses and head back. Sorry Jacque, we hope to be able to have the best cup of coffee next time!!

On our way to get coffee..or so we thought

We then headed to Navy Pier to take a Architecture Cruise on the Chicago River and hang out at Navy Pier a little more before the crowds got too crazy that night. I had my first experience with a real Chicago hot dog. I don't eat hot dogs - at all. I think they are gross, but I felt I needed to experience the famous Chicago dog. I held down my ever increasing gag reflex as the hot dog came closer to my mouth and was able to take a bite of it. I took one bite and gave the rest to Jason. It was good but I just couldn't get over that it was a hot dog - I mean do you know what those things are made from? Yuck! But I am glad that I got to experience and can now check it off my list forever.

On the anchor at Navy Pier

About to take my first bite of a Chicago dog

Only 3,000 something miles away from the beautiful place that is London

We went on an architecture cruise on the Chicago River and it was so much fun. They talked about the buildings (obviously) and gave a lot of history about Chicago. I learned a lot of interesting facts. Interesting fact #1: The lady who was blamed for the Chicago fire of 1871 by her cow kicking over a lantern when she went to milk the cow at 8:30 at night was a fabricated story. Apparantly years later, two journalists admitted to making the story up to create a scapegoat. The fire did start in her barn but the reasons are unknown. Interesting fact #2: There is a blinking tower in the place where her house stood and right next door is the Firefighting academy school - oh the irony.

Interesting fact # 3: The Wrigley building clock tower was modeled after the tower in Sevilla, Spain - which I have seen.

Interesting fact #4: This bridge is the only place in the world where all forms of transportation are used and intersect each other

Interesting fact #5: This building was constructed over what was a building that held the Republican Convention in 1860 where President Lincoln was nominated for the Republican candidate.

Interesting fact #6: In the Batman movie where Bruce throws a party for his friends, this is where they filmed it.

Interesting fact #7: Being in a beautiful city with your wonderful husband is worth every penny

We then went and ate dinner at this cute little restaurant on the Chicago River. We walked by the Vietnam Memorial that Chicago has and then headed back to the hotel. It was a great last full day in the Windy City!!