The Slow Season

It's the same everywhere. You have take the good with the bad, the busy with the slow. I have really been understanding this phenomenon this week at work. Since I've started we honestly haven't had a real "slow season." This week has taken a turn, it always does during the week between Christmas and New Year's. Who wants to have a party the week between the two biggest party days of the year?

Anyway, I've been doing everything in my power to keep busy at work these past two days. Organizing everything from the past couple months because we've been so busy and haven't had time to do it. Making the new menus for the new year, sending out marketing information, and organizing my folders on my computer (something I find a lot of joy in doing strangely). I even took on the role of office gardener yesterday watering all the plants and trying to bring them back to life after the holiday weekend. Sorry, but there was no saving the poinsettia!

The biggest project I've taken on is organizing all of the floor plans that we've accumulated lately. I made the most wonderful binders separated by private dining rooms and then the type of event taking place in those rooms. I have affectionately given these binders the name "Private Dining Play Book." I guess it's the "coaches wife" mentality coming out in me. As you can tell I'm very excited about my new book and I've been studying it on the train diligently !

So I was just having a conversation with Jesika about my next two days at work and how I don't really know what I'm going to do to fill my days and this is what she came up with...

Wednesday:
Order tickets for New Year's Eve
Make Hair Appointment
Request Thursday off and put in the reasoning line:
"because I will facebook and talk on the phone anyway, so you might as well let me do it from the comfort of my own home."

Thursday: See Jesika

Now it's a very nice thought, and I'd love to make my trip home one day sooner, but I won't. I'll go to work and find something to do. Water plants, eat snacks, take trips to the restaurant, and find something to organize. I'm excited to go to work these next two days, but I am definitely ready to go back home! But Jes, I'll try to give Human Resources the reasoning for my day off and I'll be sure to let you know how that works out!

Our Christmas Morning

Christmas morning this year was quite the production. Believe it or not, Dillon wasn't too into the whole present opening process so I think it took over an hour to open gifts. You may know from my earlier post that Jill has always done the wake-up call on Christmas morning by ringing an old bell that mom keeps on the hutch. This year was no different... well maybe a little different, I received a text at the Hartman house from Jill. "Ding-a-ling, Ding-a-ling, time to come home." Dan and I kept our pj's on, put on our coats and boots, and headed over to Mom and Dad's.

When we got there Dillon was eating cheerios and asking Grandma to make cinnamon rolls. She of course put them in the oven, stating that she was not just making them because Dillon asked for them (we all knew she was lying, we see more and more of Great-Grandma Hornbach in her every time Dillon comes home.) We then finally had to beg to open presents.



Dillon and I handed out all the presents, I think his stack was taller than he was and we all took turns opening our gifts. Every gift Dillon opened he just wanted to play with. We had to take breaks for Dillon to check out his toe... he told us he had a hang nail and then we had to take a break for John to take the smoking cinnamon rolls out of the oven. We somehow managed to distract Dillon enough so he didn't ask about them... they had to be thrown away!



I think everybody got everything that was on their Christmas lists. I came home with beautiful leather gloves, earrings, a crock pot, some good wine, and a new scarf from Dillon (Jill and I have made it a Christmas tradition for Dillon to give me a scarf). Dan got a shop-vac and some new tools (do you think we are becoming old people for being so excited about these gifts??) Dillon, I believe, got every Thomas the Train toy, book, and video out on the market, and he loved them all. But I think one of his favorite gifts may be the bean bag. John got an i-pod touch, Jill got three new pairs of shoes, Dad got a new belt and wallet, and mom got all kinds of good things, most importantly her 2011 calender full of family pictures.



We couldn't have asked for a better morning. We topped it off with a big breakfast and then everyone took a nap. And this was just the beginning of the day, Christmas of course would not be the same without the Horstman family. We all had a great visit and ate the most amazing food. Fantastic day spent with the family, my favorite was probably ending the day snuggled in Mom and Dad's 80 degree basement having Dad read a Christmas story... and Dillon still worried about his hangnail!

December 26th

They say that December 26th is the worst day of the year... Christmas is over and everyone just sits around being kind of let down. Your house is a mess, your belly is aching, your head may be pounding from a hangover and there is wrapping paper all over. Christmas songs aren't on the radio anymore, shopping malls are putting out spring clothes, and you know your next big task is to take down the Christmas tree you just so lovingly put up. You have to find places to store all you new Christmas gifts and the next you have to worry about plans for New Year's Eve... and then you must think about your resolutions. I really can see how for some people, this could be an awful, awful day.

But me, I have to disagree, and say, although there were some low points (having to leave St. Leon without Dan and saying good-bye to Jill and Dill), today was still one of my favorite days! I woke up in my new pj's at my house with my entire family. I got to enjoy two pots of coffee with mom and dad, I got to eat breakfast with Dillon (I think everyone got to do this individually today, Dillon had three breakfasts throughout the morning), I got to hang out with John (and he let me pluck his eyebrows!), play farm and blow bubbles with Dillon, laugh with Jill, snuggle with Dan, and listen to the Bengals beat the Chargers! December 26th was just as good as any other day spent with my favorite people. I have so much to share with you about the Christmas weekend, but for now I just want to leave you with my favorite picture from my time spent at home.


I hope you all had such a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed your families as much as I did.

My Christmas List

Dear Santa,

I didn’t really ask for much this year, just some new pj’s and purple leather gloves, so since I think I’ve been pretty good this year, I was wondering if you could just bring me enough time this weekend to do the following things:

Snuggle with Dillon
Cook food with Mom
Sit at the Kitchen Table with Dad, eat deer salami, and drink beer
Play with all our presents at Rick and Donna’s after we open them at midnight
Allow Dan and I to cook the most wonderful Holiday meal tomorrow afternoon
Go to church with the family
Eat at Skyline and LaRosa’s
Laugh with my girlfriends
Snuggle with Jill, yes I know it’s silly but we usually prefer to sleep in the same bed when we are home
Have John make me pancakes
See all my cousins
Spend time with Dan’s Grandpa who will be home for the day
Sing Christmas Carols
Eat lots of yummy food without feeling sick
Visit with my aunts and uncles
Take lots of pictures
Wear all my cute Christmas outfits
Enjoy the long weekend
Oh, and yes, I would still really like the pj’s and purple leather gloves.

Love,
Tracy

Top Ten Pictures of 2010

Dan and I absolutely love countdowns... we like to watch the ridiculous ones on VH1 and the sports stories on ESPN. We email each other the stories counting down the top pictures of the year on Yahoo! So with Dan's help I thought I would share with you... My Top Ten Pictures of 2010. These are in not particular order, I just couldn't rank all of the great things that have happened this year!


Zip lining through Puerta Vallarta. This was two days after we got engaged and it was the most fun adventure we have been on together. Absolutely something I will never forget!


The view from my new office ... well really the restaurant... well really, the restaurant's bathroom, but still, I don't think I will ever get tired of seeing this every day!


I love these three more than anything and I will never take for granted the time we get to spend together. I wish they would all move the Chicago!


The Blackhawks game was definitely the best sporting event I attended this year. Hockey is probably the coolest sport to watch live... and every body must experience the National Anthem at The United Center before a Blackhawks game... there is nothing else like it. The Blackhawks hold a special place in my heart. They are the only team that I loved that I remember winning a championship. Yes, I'm too young to remember the Reds winning 1990...


This picture pretty much sums up the best job I will ever have. Bartending at Harry's is something that I am so grateful for. Not only did I have so much fun every single night I went to work, I gained a family and made a lot of money. I miss the place just like I miss St. Leon, and I will always remember this Tuesday night when I started dancing on the bar to the YMCA!


"I Did It!" Graduating from Purdue was not only a highlight of my year, it will always be a highlight of my life. My Aunt Jane once told me that it may not seem like a huge deal, but having a degree from Purdue is such an accomplishment that is looked highly upon. I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself and would never in a million years give back the experience that I had. Hail Purdue!


The Five Friends. Sadly, this was the one time this year that we were all together. I love these girls and I am so honored that they will be the ones that stand with me the day Dan and I get married. I could never ask for a more special group of friends, and they will always be my family.


This picture was taken by such a kind lady about 20 minutes after we got engaged and I stopped bawling my eyes out. I will never forget this night. I'm not kidding when I say that was my favorite dinner of all time. Not only was it the most authentic Mexican food I've ever had, we were at a small table for two, five feet away from the water's edge, with wonderful wine, and candle light... and Dan asked me to marry him. Such a special evening. Definitely a highlight of 2010.


These girls also hold a special place in my heart. I met them all (well besides ManFace) as soon as I moved into my dorm room. Since that day, when we started skipping BGR activities and eating in the dining court, they've been counted amongst my closest friends. I probably wouldn't have gotten through college without them... I know I wouldn't have had as much fun or as many laughs and I just love them to pieces.


And of course, this is one of the greatest pictures of the year. Not only was it Paul and Theresa's first trip to Chicago it was such a great weekend. Dan and I both had our families there, we all enjoyed many meals, cocktails, and laughs together and it was a great way to spend a summer weekend... not to mention it was July 3, 2010, exactly one year from they day we are going to get married. Let's just hope the weather is as wonderful.

My 10 for 10 Update

With only 10 days left in 2010 I thought I would revisit my 10 for 10. You can see the original post here. Of course like every to-do list I had high hopes for myself, somethings just didn't happen, but I did have quite a few successes. So here are my updates! We will see what will happen in the next ten days!

1. I got half-way to my savings goal. My student loan payments starting mid-November hindered my plan a little bit, so hopefully I can get back on the saving train come the new year! I'll give myself a 50% for goal #1.

2. I also finished my #2 goal halfway. We got the most wonderful photographs and framed them... but they are still sitting on the chair waiting to be hung on the wall... So it looks like I can only give myself a 25%.

3. At last, something I can give myself a 100% on. Thanks to our "Black Friday" purchase of an elliptical I have proudly lost 5 pounds... Now I just can't gain it back this coming weekend!

4. Didn't join a book club, 0%, failure for me. But I have been reading some really good books, including Decision Points by George W. Bush. I don't think this would be on any book club's reading list here in Chicago, they are all too liberal! So maybe a book club isn't such a good idea for me.

5. See my girlfriend's twice. I have to give myself a 75% on this one, because sadly I haven't been able to see Kaitlin. I miss the girl like crazy and must make it a point to see her come the New Year. Love you Kait, and for the rest of the girls... I'm so glad you drug me to Boogie Nights when I was home in October and I loved spending the evening drinking margaritas with you over Thanksgiving!

6. 100%++ for item #6, I'm learning new things every day at work and I am very excited about the new opportunities coming in 2011!

7. The eve of Thanksgiving was much more calm than expected, we kept it low key, drinking at Paul and Theresa's (Paul has pretty cheap beer prices) and since I don't think we are going to be getting home until very late on Christmas Eve-Eve, I'm going to go ahead and give myself a 100% for not ruining Thanksgiving or Christmas by being hung-over.

8. Another 0% for #8. I didn't have the chance to learn how to make kipfuls or rolls, we were just so busy over Thanksgiving and I didn't have the time. Maybe next year. But I will surely enjoy them come Christmas Eve.

9. I've already posted enough about my Christmas tree, so I'm giving myself a 100% on having a beautiful tree. Jill and Dillon made it even more special by making me my first home-made ornament!

10. Take more pictures, 80%, there is always room for improvement. I've been doing good, snapping funny pictures around the house and I love the pictures that I have of the family from Thanksgiving. I already have my charger and camera packed for the trip home so be expecting many pictures! I'm so excited for Dan to open his Christmas present... shhh, don't tell, but he's getting a camcorder. I'm so excited to start recording the funny adventures we have!

Christmas Beers

With Christmas only days away this weekend was dedicated to finishing up all the little last minute things. I still had Johnny to get a gift for... he's always the most difficult to buy for, but I think he will like he present this year! I also had to get the to's and from's for all my packages. It amazing that I remembered who got each present that was wrapped exactly like every other one under the Christmas tree. And the last thing I had to cross off my list was, "Buy Christmas Beer!"

So with this list in hand I ventured out to the mall. Dan was in no way going to be talked into this trip with me. I tried most of the morning, bribing him with lunch and dinner, but he wasn't taking my bait... he had a date of his own to go on with his friend Artie, so I was on my own.

It took me 25 minutes to find a parking space, but once I got in the mall, and past all the crazies at JCPenney, I was okay. I got almost everything checked off my list and even treated myself to a wonderful coffee drink at Gloria Jean's, this made me miss Jesika like crazy.

Christmas beer was the lone item left on my list. It's been a tradition for quite some time that we drink Corona's on Christmas. I'm not sure how this started, but we've had some funny stories associated with the Christmas Coronas. There was one year when Bert was in charge of getting the limes for the beers. We all arrive at Bert's on Christmas Eve, dressed in our finest, right out of church... and Bert pulls out kiwis, I don't remembered exactly how we remedied the problem, I'm sure someone went and bought some limes from somewhere, but we will never let Bert live that one down. Every year we make sure she has limes, not kiwis for the beers.

Then there was the Eve of Christmas Eve my Sophomore year of college. Bert and Dave were over and we started drinking the Christmas Coronas... We had ran out of Bud Lights, so Dad let us drink the corona, we almost ran out of that too and we definitely ran out of limes... Mom was chopping up the onion to make her famous cheese-ball and Dave and I thought it would be a good idea to put onion in our beer... Worst.Idea.Ever. I know for certain I finished the beer, but Lord, it was awful.

Last year, we went big. I brought home cases of 24 oz Coronas, which I think can only be found in college towns. It seemed like a fantastic idea. I watched people drink these down in no time while I was bartending. Christmas Eve it wasn't such a great idea. They were so gigantic and they got warm before we finished them. But they were quite the conversation piece, Dad even made sure to get his picture taken with his Corona in the middle of taking family pictures.



The thing is... I don't even like Corona. So this year we are breaking tradition, but still trying to keep with it a little bit. Dan and I got Stella Artois and Blue Moon... keeping with the fancy beer tradition, but getting something we really enjoy. Now we just need to make sure Theresa gets oranges for Dan's beer and doesn't mix up the fruit.

So we are ready for Christmas, the presents are wrapped, the tags are put on them, and the Christmas beer is ready to be packed. So now I just have to get through four days at work, while Dan enjoys his break from school. Christmas Eve can't get here soon enough!

The Birthday Cards

This week has passed by so quickly, I can't believe that it's over already. And during this week I turned 23, I'm not sure where my 22nd year went... apparently my sister doesn't either, she wrote gigantically on my birthday card, "Happy 22nd Birthday!" I laughed just thinking, "Did you really think I was only 21 years old?"

The card made me laugh and made me think about all the other wonderful and funny cards I've received for my birthday.

I don't remember which birthday it was but, there was one time when my great aunt Janet brought over my birthday card, on December 8th... and it was a belated birthday card! It was one of my favorites because every year I think about the belated birthday card I received 8 days before the real day!

The girls always give me fantastic cards, I've kept most of them because they usually have pictures of old ladies on them... acting just how we will act when we are that age. I have one of two ladies floating on rafts from Amanda, that was from the year we spent most of the summer floating around in her pool. There is one from Jesika with two ladies so hung over, they don't know what happened the night before, they are just glad because they are still wearing their hats... that's so Jesika and myself.

All my birthday cards this year brought so many smiles to my face. The messages that the girls wrote in my cards really just made me realize that I have the best friends in the world. And the gift that I received from Jill and Dillon was the most perfect gift... Jill was right, I definitely needed a homemade ornament on my tree!

The Registry

One of the big tasks that we completed during our Chicago weekend, was our wedding registry. It took me quite some time to get Dan excited about it, but once we were in the store, and he had the scanner in his hand... he was ready.

We are living pretty comfortably together, when I think about what we don't have now the things that come to mind are an ironing board and a crockpot. We both lived on our own before we moved in together, so we really have everything we "need", so now, according to the econ teacher Mr. Hartman, we could think about things we "want." You know, matching dishes and fluffy towels!

Dan really kept me in check though, when I strayed from our list we made before going, he gave me that look and said "What are you going to do with that?" "Where are you going to put that?" Sad to say, Dan did not let me register for a cheese dome... so please don't ask me to bring a cheese ball to any function, I won't have the appropriate dish!

We had such a fun day, making our way from Crate and Barrel then to Macy's. My favorite was sitting at one of my favorite bars downtown, spreading out all the papers, drinking beers, and checking out what we registered for.

You'll never believe what we left off of the list though... An Ironing Board!! Good thing we can add to our registries online, because I don't think I'm getting Dan back out there!

Snow Day...

... For Everyone, But Me!

Dan got the call today... AT 4:45 AM, that let him know there was no school today. It was right then that I realized that I will never get another snow day! So I got out of bed, 45 minutes early, because I knew my commute would take that much longer today. Dan was nice enough to get out of bed too, clean off my car, warm it up, and drive me to the train station. I left my house at 6:20... and arrived at my desk at 8:40, long morning if you ask me.

When I called my mom this afternoon I caught her making lunch for my dad and brother. Dad had a vacation day, and John had no school, I was so jealous of the day they got to spend together, and of the beautiful scenery they were probably enjoying. This is one of my favorite pictures I've taken of Grandpa's Farm. You definitely don't see scenes like that around here.



I thought back to all the snow days that I used to enjoy. There were the times I would get stranded at Amanda's house and we would spend the next day sled riding down her driveway. There were the nights when we would stay outside with our neighbors building ramps and forts because we just knew that we wouldn't have school the next day (I precisely remember the one night we stayed out way too late, and somehow we had to go the next day...Terrible). And the best days were the days we would go to school, but got sent home early. My Favorite!

I honestly thought today... "Oh how I miss college!" My favorite was when I would just look outside and decide that I didn't want to go. I would snuggle in my bed all day until Amanda came home after her hours of class and made me get up. I saw one of the very few snow days at Purdue during my freshman year. That day was so much fun, we built the most fantastic snowman right outside our dorm, ate every snack we had between three of our rooms, watched silly TV, and played all day! I loved Duhme and I would give anything to spend a day back on the third floor! Yes, our snowman had an ipod! I'm pretty sure we stole it off of a poster from the dining hall!



So my snow days are over, and the people I love the most will always have snow days. Amanda and Jesika are already called off for tomorrow... and they only got 1" in Tennessee. We will see if Dan goes tomorrow... I hope not, I kind of liked having a little chauffeur today!

"Color Me Happy, There's a Sofa in Here for Two!"

Channeling my inner "Pretty Woman" this is exactly what I said as I walked into the elevator at The Palmer House this weekend. I've never seen such a beautiful hotel and I was happy to spend the weekend there. I don't know how Dan finagled two nights at this historic place, but it was a great birthday weekend in the city and I learned many history lessons while we were there.



Including... The same man that restored the Sistine Chapel restored the beautiful ceilings in the hotel lobby, Potter Palmer (I love his name) gave the hotel to his new wife, Bertha, as a wedding gift (I told Dan I wouldn't mind a hotel of my own in July), and Bertha is the one that invented The Brownie at the hotel (we enjoyed one of her original brownies at "Potter's Pub" last night, it was fantastic). I also learned that in the 1950's there were 17 telephone operators that worked full time for the hotel, they averaged 2,700 phone calls an hour (that's 178 calls an hour, per person, are you kidding me, I get flustered after about 5 calls in an hour!). I saw Bertha's 24-karat gold rimmed china that was proudly displayed in the lobby. The china is insured for $7,000 a place setting! And I thought the place settings we registered for this weekend were nice!

The hotel was beautiful, the weekend was fantastic, and despite the weather we had such a good time being in the city! And to get you all in the Christmas spirit I will share with you the three most beautiful trees I saw this weekend!


The Palmer House


Daley Plaza


The Hartman House

The Weather Outside is Frightful

... and I'd give anything right now for a delightful fire inside!!

Don't get me wrong, we are staying cozy today, snuggled upstairs in our snuggies. But oh my goodness, I've never seen snow like this before!



We cut our Chicago weekend short and left as soon as we got up this morning, trying to beat the blizzard like conditions. Of course, with our luck, we got back to the train station as soon as the snow was blowing in from all directions. I honestly thought it only snowed like this in Minnesota, I've definitely never driven in anything like this, and now as I look out my window and the street sign is about the blow off it's post, moving south is looking better and better.

What a nice welcome home... no temperature to record!


I'm starting to get nervous about my commute tomorrow, but Dan says the world doesn't shut down when it snows here like it does at home. Trust me, if St. Leon ever saw snow like this, school would be called off for a month!

So today we are staying in... we braved the grocery store as soon as we got back and now that everything is put away we can just watch from the inside the ridiculousness that is called "Lake Effect" snow. They weatherman is saying that there will be 12 to 15 inches by morning, and I'm just hoping that I survive my first Chicago winter!

The least comforting quote of the day "Look at the weather in Chicago" by Boomer Esiason as he watches from him nice and cozy broadcasting booth in New York! Please tune into the Chicago Bears game that is about to start if you'd like to see what I'm seeing right outside my window!

The Wrapping Paper Story

I have always loved to wrap Christmas presents. I've probably been helping, and then eventually doing all the wrapping since I was in first grade. I would wrap every body's presents for my mom and now I like wrapping the gifts better than I like picking them out for people. I spend so much time picking out the paper and the bows that I want to put on them... and that is how I spent most of my Saturday evening, wrapping presents.


All the presents, ready to be packed up and taken back to St. Leon and Guilford. I just hope the bows stay in tact on the trip!

Wrapping paper was actually the demise of Santa Claus for me. I think I believed in Santa longer than most people did, but there was one year when Mom must have only bought one style of paper.

It was Christmas morning, Jill woke me up by ringing this ridiculous bell that we had and we went out to the living room to open the gifts. The cookies were gone and the milk had been finished off as well and there sat all of our presents... IN THE SAME PAPER THAT I HELPED WRAP EVERYONE ELSE'S GIFTS IN! I still remember asking my mom, "Why does Santa have the same paper we do?" and I can still see mom sitting there, I think she was a little surprised and I don't really remember what she said, I just remember thinking, "This Santa character is really just a character."

The next year Christmas was just as great as normal. We still had Christmas Eve at Great Grandma Hornbach's house, Jill still woke me up with the bell at some god-awful time in the morning, and we still spent the day playing with our toys, trying on our new clothes, and spending time with our cousins at Grandma Horstman's house.

I knew there was no Santa, but that's still who our gifts came from that year(wrapped in the same paper as the gifts for our grandmas). And to this day our presents are still from Santa. This year I am so excited to spend Christmas morning with the family, especially Dillon who will really think his gifts came from Santa... as long as Grandma doesn't make the same mistake with the wrapping paper!

Our Turkey Weekend

The Thanksgiving weekend came and went so quickly, I can't even believe it's almost a week since it's happened. Gaining a new family definitely adds to the craziness of the holiday season. But we managed to make it (and eat) at all three Thanksgiving Day gatherings.

Dillon was such a trip the whole weekend, telling people he wanted Halloween Candy for Christmas and rocking out on his guitar. Aunt Donna's house could have passed for a pre-school because of all of the little ones running around. I'm sure that's how it was when we were all little, it's just crazy that we are the one's having kids now.

It was so nice to visit, eat Mom's food, drink beer with Dad, and lay on the couch. My favorite part of the weekend was reading "Goodnight Moon" to Dillon and him asking me the next day if I was going to come home with him. I love him to pieces and can't wait to see him for Christmas.


"Bad Company" is his favorite song!

It was so much fun to play board games with Dan, Byron, and Justin. I grew up playing board games just for the fun of it and not really keeping score... not with these boys, they read the directions over and over before we can even start. They keep the timer on you, and make sure you're keeping score correctly. The jury is still out on if the word "pez" can be used in Scrabble, I say yes, but Justin is so against it and says that word cost him the game.

When I got to see Amanda and Jesika on Saturday night, I was so excited. We always just pick up right where we left off, drinking margaritas, and eating chips and salsa of course. I miss the girls more than anything, and it is so weird being the girl that doesn't know the stories. I used to have to listen to Amanda's stories at least three times before all the girls knew them. On Saturday, they were all new to me and Jesika was the one that could finish her sentences. I'm jealous, but I'm so glad that they have each other in their new home in Tennessee.

So through all this jumbled mess of a blog, I hope you saw that we had an amazing weekend. It was so good being home, and so hard to leave. We had a great time and I'm already ready to go home for Christmas!

Black Friday

I vowed I would never be a part of this madness, that was before Dan. The past two years I've come to love the idea of waking up early, drinking coffee, and making our way out to the stores. We like to scour the ads on Thursday and plan out the route in which we are going to take the next morning. And this year was no different. We started out day waking up early and making the preliminary look through the ads (stopping of course to see all the decorated turkeys in The Cincinnati Enquirer). The first look only entails separating the goods from the junk. After the junk is taken away we can really start looking and making lists. Our search was interrupted by having to get ready to go to our three Thanksgiving Day gatherings. But trust me, this didn't stop us. At Tammy's (our second stop of the day) the Thanksgiving Day Command Center was in full force. See everyone here (three computers and a cell phone out), looking for the best deals, seeing what time the stores open, and mapping out the trip.



After a day full of eating, and eating, and visiting with the family, oh, and how can I forget... an awful Bengals game. We hit the bed early in order to wake up and get a start on our holiday shopping. We got everything we set out to get. Dan and I finished all of our Christmas shopping before noon, and even got a great deal on an elliptical. This purchase was not really planned so getting it home was another task. We almost had to leave Donna at the store because we just didn't know we were going to fit. But this lady will do anything for a great bargain and she squeezed in with all of our packages.






As you can see we were packed to the gills. But we had such a great morning, and we ended the day (yes, at noon) drinking bloody mary's and eating pulled pork sandwiches. This is definitely a tradition that I will always love because it's just Me, Dan, and Donna... running around like crazy people, packing our car until we can't see out of it, and getting ready for Christmas.

We're City People

I about died. Wednesday night as Dan and I were driving home we had to stop and get gas in Batesville... I know, we were so close! Anyway, we are trying to pull out of the gas station to get back on the road and the car in front of us would not move. Dan just lays on the horn, like it's a normal thing to do.

We just looked at each other and realized that we are slowly becoming city people. I doubt anybody has even been honked at in Batesville before for sitting too long. I was so embarrassed, but thought it was funny. That's just what we're used to now.

Two days later as I was getting ready to go out with the girls I stopped and thought, I should make a reservation. It took me a second before I realized that we are going to Harrison and I doubt the restaurant even takes reservations. And when Mom and Dad ask me how I'm going to get home at night, it honestly runs through my brain that I will just take a cab... Yeah right, are you kidding me? I will die the day St. Leon, Indiana has a taxi cab service that isn't Fast Eddie in his 15 passenger van.

Long story short, slowly, but surely Dan and I are becoming accustomed to our new life. But it's always good to come home where nobody honks, you don't need a reservation to get into a restaurant, and you can call your mom or dad, or future mother in law, or your friend's dad to come pick you up outside of a bar. Everybody in the world should have a place like this to go home to, and this Thanksgiving weekend, that's what I'm the most thankful for. My little small town home away from the city... and the crazy city people that we've become.

"It's Parade Day!"

Since moving to Chicago Dan and I have had a lot of great experiences, but this Saturday was definitely up there as one of the more fun things we've done since moving here. Two of the girls I work with are on the Michigan Mile Lights Festival committee and this year they were looking for volunteers for the Parade. Dan has been talking about the parade for weeks, so of course I signed us up. We really didn't know what was in store for us at all. First of all, this is no small parade. They estimate that 1 million people come into the city to watch the city light up. Mickey and Minnie, Donald and Daisy, and Pluto and Goofy were all there along with Santa and Mrs. Claus and all kinds of other characters.



These other characters are the people that were on our Navy Pier float! Dan sent me to go to the Pent House Suite at the hotel to pick up our "talent." I had no idea what to expect when I knocked on the door, and when "Rudy the Reindeer Wrangler" opened the door I about fell over laughing. This group of people never got out of character. They really entertained us as we waited for the parade to start moving. We sang and danced and checked out all of the other floats. When it was finally our time to make our way onto the Avenue we were so surprised to see all the people lined up on the streets and all the lights finally turned on. It was great!



We had so much fun with our characters and Dan is already excited to see what kind of float we get next year!

Check #9 Off My List

In October when I made my 10 for 10 list number #9 was "Have the Most Beautiful Christmas Tree," and this weekend we accomplished it. After we spent the weekend volunteering at The Magnificent Mile Light's Festival we were in the holiday spirit and spent our day yesterday shopping for the perfect tree.

We were shopping for a 7.5 foot tree to put upstairs in front of our bay window. We just wanted something simple. What we came home with was far from that. When we walked into Home Depot and saw the 9 foot pre-lit tree on sale, I was hooked. We have the ceilings for it... downstairs, and not in front of the window, but we have the ceilings for it. It was beautiful and we couldn't pass up the deal. So now we are proud owner's of a massive, massive Christmas tree.

We got home from the store and I couldn't wait another minute to put it up. I threw my "No Christmas Until After Thanksgiving" by the wayside and the Christmas Tree went up.





We had so much fun putting it all together and seeing it lit up for the first time. Dan was my trusty assistant and handed me all the ornaments and told me where the holes were, and at the end of the night we just sat on our couch and enjoyed it.

The only problem I can see out of this whole situation is that now the biggest factor for me when buying our next house will be.... "Where can we put our tree?"

Chips and Pretzels

My Grandma Horstman is one of the top three women I ever knew (the other two on the list are Great-Grandma Hornbach and Mom, later stories about the two of them will definitely follow). But Grandma Horstman, she was quite the lady. Not only did she raise eight fantastic children, but she loved every single one of her 24 grandchildren. I think all of us grandchildren had a different and special relationships with her, I wish I would have had more time to make a closer relationship, but the memories I have are pretty fantastic.

My brother John had such great times with Grandma. He spent every Friday, and almost every Saturday night at Grandmas house. This was when Jill and I were both cheer leading and John was just too little to go to every single game, so Mom and Dad dropped him off with Grandma. This is where John learned to play poker. My favorite story is when Dad walked in after a football game and Grandma said, "Paul, what is better? Three of a kind or Two Pair?" Dad of course answered, "Three of a Kind." Apparently John had lied to Grandma to win a hand and convinced her that his two pair beat her three of a kind. So they spent the evenings playing cards, listening to the East Central games on the radio and eating snacks.

Grandma always had the best snacks. The things I remember about Grandma's house were her making cocktails for Grandpa, 7and7's, and she always stirred them with the swizzle sticks that were kept by the refrigerator. But when she gave Grandpa his cocktail she would always give us snacks. We would either get this amazing popcorn (I still don't know where this popcorn came from because it always just mysteriously appeared in a yellow tupperware container), or chips and pretzels. Not just chips in a bowl, and pretzels in a bowl, but chips and pretzels combined together.

Tonight when Dan and I decided we needed a snack I put these two things together in a bowl. He was so surprised. His exact words were, "Who would have thought that these little chip and pretzel sandwiches would be so good?" I replied, "Grandma Horstman"

To this day I have never seen my brother eat chips or pretzels by themselves, I've never seen my mom buy chips at the store and not buy pretzels, and I'm sure it's because John prefers them together. It's just a little piece of Grandma that he keeps with him.

I really hope that John remembers the times that he had with Grandma Horstman. She was such an amazing person and I am really jealous of the time he got to spend with her. In the theme of Thanksgiving, today I give thanks for Grandma Horstman and the family she raised. I know I wouldn't be the same person without her. Love you, Grandma.

"Knotties"

So I'm not one of those soon-to-be brides that goes to theknot.com for advice on every aspect of my wedding. I never "registered" my wedding date on the site or looked for wedding venues on it. I don't read the "Bride's Biggest Regrets" articles and I don't look at the pictures to find "The Most Talked About Wedding Favors." I just think the site it a little silly for me. If you love the site. More power to you, it's very successful, they make a lot of money (trust me, I know what it costs to advertise on their website and magazine), and I'm sure it does have a lot of great advice/ideas.

I get on the site every once in awhile for work. As you can tell from above, we have a premium listing with them and we actually get a lot of business from their website, so from that aspect I love it. But their articles and emails to my account (I still don't know how they got my address) are... ummm... not so much for me.

But today, when I was on the site I was a little intrigued by one of their stories entitled... "What Your Engagement Ring Says About You." This weekend Dan and I were actually just talking about my engagement ring and how much I love it. So here it is... what "The Knotties" had to say about my emerald cut ring.

Your relationship: You're the girl of his dreams and he's totally in awe.
Your wedding: Voted "can't miss" event of the season (and not just by your mom). Destined to be the party where everyone hits the dance floor.

Hello! I love this. Any of my family and friends know that I am usually the first (maybe second to Jill) and last one on the dance floor. I know that I can't be out there all night as the bride, but I plan to be for quite a bit of it. Dan and I are probably fretting the most about our "Must Play/Must NOT Play" list and right now we are sitting across from each other at the kitchen table taking turns playing songs we want played at the wedding for each other. It's really becoming a great list.

Anyway, so because of this story about my engagement ring today I'm beginning to like theknot.com a little bit more. I love my ring and Dan says if I wouldn't have so blatantly suggested the type of ring I would like he would have picked the same one out, because it's me.

Love him, love my ring, love this picture of me the day after we got engaged, after we beat a bunch of Canadians at beer-pong! Because of this picture I will always remember the fun we had on this trip and how great of a week it was. Many More Trips Like This To Come!

The Week's Top 5

This week has definitely flown by. I haven't even really had time to sit and think about this week and talk with Dan about what's going on in our lives until we had most of the day together today. So since it's been awhile since I shared anything with you... here are my favorite things from the week.

1) The CHILL Wine event. Thursday evening I went to an event with the girls I work with at The Merchandise Mart. It really was an awesome event. First of all The Merchandise Mart is a huge building in the city that takes up an entire city block. The whole first floor is kitchen and bath showrooms. Beautiful, beautiful creations and then they take all of these show kitchen and put 30 chefs from the city to demo their food in them. Our Chef was invited to showcase his food so that's why we all went. But then with each chef there was a wine pairing. So we just walked around, drank a lot of different wines and tasted some really great food from chefs, and my favorite part of the evening was that the wine pairing with our chef's food was champagne!

2) The beautiful weather. I did not wear a jacket one day this week. I never would have thought that in mid-November I would be comfortably just wearing sweaters every day, but that's how my week has been. I know that everybody is worried about global warming.. but I'm embracing it!

3) Dan and I's shopping adventure. We had some time to kill this evening so we made our way to Pier 1 and Michael's. I can't believe that he agreed on these adventures with me, but he did. We were looking for frames for the art work that we recently purchased online as well as a tree topper for our peacock themed tree. The frames, we successfully found... the tree topper, not so much. Dan did get excited as he walked down one aisle of Michaels because he saw an angel dressed in peacock colors. When he finally got a good look at it he was a little disappointed. The angel was African American. Although it was the best tree topper we have found to date, we didn't buy it. You never know, if nothing else turns up we may have an African American angel on our tree. I just think that would be funny. And of course, when I mentioned this to Jill she told me angels were all colors and that we should have definitely purchased it, that's Jill for you.

4)My job. Work has been really busy lately and I've been given quite a bit of different responsibilities lately. But this week has brought a lot of laughs from our office. Maybe because of some of the clients we've been dealing with, or maybe because of the event that was planned for 250 people and 520 ended up showing up, or maybe just because we are all together again since one of the girls went on vacation, but this week has been full of laughs. Business is good, I'm learning a lot, being very productive, and loving every minute of it. Definitely a highlight of my week.

5) It's one week closer to Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday. I was thinking today about one of my TA's in college. He was not from American and did not really understand the concept of Thanksgiving. The day before we all left for break he said "Be Thanksgiving" to us as we left, and I realized, maybe Ahmeet does get it. We shouldn't say, "Happy Thanksgiving" we should "BE Thanksgiving." Every year since then the group of us from that class have texted or facebooked each other,"BE Thanksgiving," and that's what I'm going to do this year. I'll be giving thanks for everything great that's happened in my life this year..which has made 2010 my favorite year ever!

My Pajama Day

I'm having one of those day. Everybody has them. Everybody needs them. The day where you don't get out of your pajamas.

Dan and I slept in. It was a little strange waking up with Dan and not having him run off to school to watch film (The Bulldogs season unfortunately ended last night in the sectional final against Valpo). The kids played hard and it was a great season. I hate to see that it's over, but I'm glad to have Dan back. We will get to do more things on the weekends and maybe be able to make more trips home since we have the whole weekend to ourselves. So until track season starts, I'll be enjoying our weekends together. Oh, and Dan will now always be the first one home, which according to our house rules... he'll be cooking dinner!

So back to my pajamas. There is no reason to get dressed to make breakfast, clean the house, do laundry, and watch horse races and college football. Reading magazines and books is so much more comfy in your pjs, and if you want to take a nap mid-day, you're already dressed for it. It's wonderful. Oh, and most importantly you're not making any more laundry for yourself!

I'm so glad that I'm not someone that has to be busy and doing something all the time. I've never found having plans for every single day laid out to make me happy. And I thank my mom for that. My favorite days at home were days that we all stayed in and hung out together. There would be days when we had no plans and we embraced that. We would sleep in, eat breakfast or lunch together. Do something around the house and then just hang out together, watching whatever sporting event was on TV or playing outside or hanging out in the garage. And when we are all home together this is what we like to do best. Especially now with Dillon it's so good to just let him stay in his pajamas all day too and just play. He naps and eats when he wants, we all eat and nap when we want and just enjoy being together as a family.

I love days like today. If you're not making it a point already to have a regular stay in your pj day, then you should. It really is wonderful.

Food for Thought

Our Executive Chef, Chef Pat, has started sending the staff “Food For Thought.” I really enjoy these emails that he sends out every so often. It’s sometimes a good story about customer service or an interesting “Foodies” blog post… something along those lines. Today it was just s few simple lines that I really appreciated. I’m not sure where he got it from, so I’m sorry I could not reference it at all, but here it is…

Childish vs. Childlike

Childlike makes a great scientist.
Childish produces tantrums.
Childlike brings fresh eyes to marketing opportunities.
Childish rarely shows up as promised.
Childlike is fearless and powerful and willing to fail.
Childish is annoying.
Childlike inquires with a pure heart.
Childish is merely ignored.

I love this, and it reminds me of Jill, the most childlike, loving, caring, and silly person I know. Seeing Jill with Dillon is such a treat and it always reminds me of how wonderful of a person she is. Every year I send her a Mother’s Day card and I always make sure to write in it that Dillon is the luckiest kid in the world to have a mom like Jill, and that she’s the greatest mom since our very own.

So I share this with all of you, to try to be more childlike, not childish. Try to be more like my sister, Chilly.

Food, Cheer, and Song

"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." ~ jrr tolkien

What a fantastic quote, I could even say that as of today it is my favorite. I found this earlier while I was researching Godiva Chocolate Vodka events... totally work related since we are hosting one of these events next week.

Anyway, when I read this quote I realized those are three of the things that I absolutely love. Food, no brainer. I love sitting down to a good meal, drinking a glass of wine, and enjoying meals with family and friends is probably my favorite past time. Cheer, being cheery is so much better than being miserable. I'm not going to lie to you and say that I'm cheery and friendly every single day, but about 96% of the time you can count on me having a smile on my face. Misery just makes things worse, and it's not a good look for me... or anybody that I know. And song, today one of the girls that I work with gave me the nick-name of tweety. She says that I whistle too much. I just can't help it. I have the radio on my desk, and listening to music really just boosts my mood, and sometimes... I just feel like i need to whistle along. But I will work on not whistling so much, I don't want to be a bad work-mate.

This quote also reminded me of the upcoming holidays. This year these three things are really what I'm going to concentrate on. Good food, lots of cheer, and of course, Christmas songs. I'm not going to stress out about finding the perfect gifts or making sure I have the best Christmas Eve dress (something I worry about every year way more than I should), I'm going to worry about surrounding myself with cheerful people who are eating and drinking merrily and singing carols. I'm getting more and more excited about bringing out my Frank Sinatra Holiday CD (I have to follow by my self-made rule of no Christmas music until after Thanksgiving, but still, I'm excited)

These things all bring a smile to my face and, of course, are my favorites!

The Month of the Hand Turkey

Every month has a name... well in my book anyway. For example:

February: The Month of Amanda's Birthday
March: The Month of Starting to Exercise
July: The Month of the Wedding
August: The Month of Dan Leaving me for Football
October: The Month of Stressing About Halloween Costumes
December: The Month Of Christmas Carols

You get the picture... but November is my favorite month:
The Month of The Hand Turkey

I love making hand turkeys, I don't know if it's because I really can't draw and my hand makes a good stencil, or if it's because Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. But come November 1st I'm making all kinds of turkeys. I started the tradition my senior year of high school when I made it a point to do a team building exercise once a month in yearbook class. For the month of November I decided that everybody needed to make a hand turkey and write what they are thankful for on the feathers. The first year brought one of my favorite hand turkey stories.

Everybody was working diligently on their turkeys, tracing their hands, gluing on feathers, and writing down what they were thankful for. The list of things people wrote down was pretty amusing. Of course there was the typical... friends, family, a few days break from school, Matt Jared was thankful for tryptophan, and Jesika... she really had a screwed up turkey. It was a disaster. She was upset and I told her, "Jesika, just make a new one, it's okay... and you know what you can put that you are thankful for second chances on a feather." And that's what she did. And I think every year since then she's told me that she's thankful for second chances.

Last year I started making hand turkeys with Dillon, and I'll make sure we do it again this year. I just think it's such a wonderful tradition and I'm glad that I've kept doing it. Maybe I'll even get Dan to make a turkey this year!

So for now, I'll leave you with our turkeys from last year, as well as what will be on my feathers this year.



1. First Time Home Buyer's Loans
2. Public Transportation
3. The Greatest Family, and Soon to be Family in the World
4. The Five Friends

Happy November. Happy Hand Turkey Month

The Windblown Week

I've been slacking, I know. I've been super busy at work and home this week, and I think that I was really just overwhelmed with the amount of posts I made last week so I needed to take a little break.

So we all made it to Friday, thank goodness. It really was touch and go there for awhile due to the weather that I've been experiencing here. I've been through sheets of rain and a swaying building. Seeing plates and wine glasses move back and forth on a table in the restaurant is always a little unsettling, but hey, we're in the windy city... on the 95th floor of a building. I should start getting at least a little used to this. Yesterday was the coldest day here in six months, and I don't think there is any turning back now. I'm bracing myself for my first Chicago winter... and by bracing myself I mean starting to layer my clothing and really get out the scarves and hats. I thought for sure I would be able to hold off onto November 1 until I brought out the winter coat... but it made it's debut today, I decided I would need something warm for the game tonight.

In bigger and more exciting news this blustery week...
I officially made hair appointments for the wedding. An extensive search of salons in the area took place and I made the final decision and booked yesterday. I gave a huge sigh of relief as I faxed over the confirmation letter. Now hopefully the nightmares will go away.

I'm officially half way to my savings goal that I made for myself about a month ago. A small feeling of accomplishment hit me when I made the transfer to my savings account this morning. I've never really saved money before in my life (I usually like to blow money on silly things...or shoes), so this is all new for me and very exciting. But, I could use a new pair of tall boots. I've really been window shopping these past couple days. I see a treat for myself in the near future!

And lastly... I'll start how this post started... It's Friday! I'm excited for the weekend. Rick and Donna will be visiting and we have a lot planned for the weekend. Round 2 of Sectionals is tonight at Munster. Go Bulldogs! And tomorrow I will be going to my first Notre Dame game! I hope I'm not disappointed, it better live up to everything I've ever seen on Rudy.

Enjoy the day!

The Hail Mary....

... that wasn't so full of Grace.

Friday Night took 5 years off of my life. I've never been more wrapped up into a football game, and watching the Bulldogs on Friday was probably my Favorite experience at a sporting event ever.

The whole week Dan's been telling me that they can win this game, Portage is good, but we've beat them already this year, and it's a home game... no need to worry. The Bulldogs were not going to lose in the first round of Sectionals this year. The entire first half was back and forth. Portage looked good, and they have a super star on their team. After a down pour of rain right before halftime the score was tied 14-14.

The second half starts, both teams not looking too hot. With four minutes left in the game the Bulldogs are down 17-21. The defense blocks a Portage field goal attempt, which gives us great field advantage to "march down the field" (that's one of Dan's favorite expressions) and score the winning touchdown. Our quarterback had different intentions and decided to make the game more exciting...well really just nerve racking for everybody in the stands. We have the ball, he throws an interception, we all thought for sure the game was over. Next play, Portage fumbles the ball and we recover. Bulldog ball with three minutes left. Quarterback once again throws an interception. The defense could have give up, but 4 plays and only a couple yards gained by Portae later, we have the ball back. ~Disclaimer - I'm not making this part up at all...~ The quarterback throws another interception. There are about two minutes left on the clock, the stands are clearing out... and the Bulldog defense takes the field.

These kids play with more heart than I've ever seen in high school sports. Portage offense runs four more plays, and the defense stopped every single one. With seven seconds left Crown Point gets the ball back. Unbelieveable, people are walking back into the game, everyone is on their feet. It's up to the quarterback... the same kid who has thrown a total of 4 interceptions the entire game. I can still see this play in slow motion. The ball is snapped, he's dancing around looking for an opening. He throws the ball... into the endzone... into two Crown Point players, and two Portage players. The ball is tipped by a Portage player, the time on the clock has run out, and the ball just falls right into the Crown Point players arms... in the corner of the endzone. Final Score Bulldogs 23, Portage 21.

Unbelieveable really, I've never witnessed a game that has actually ended in a hail mary. I've never seen a team celebrate the way they did. It was awesome. We were all hugging and crying in the stands, thankful that we wouldn't have to go home to coaches that had just given up the best sectional draw they've had in years. It was such a great game, one I will always remember... now hopefully we'll have a few more weeks to celebrate this way.


The picture on the front page of the paper Saturday morning. The ball is tipped by the Portage player, right into the arms of Mouse, in the corner of the endzone, just waiting for the ball.

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y, that's our Bulldog battle cry, Gooooooooooo Bulldogs!

YABBA-DABBA-DOO

Happy Halloween!

As I've mentioned before, Halloween is my Least Favorite Holiday. But, people around here, including my soon to be husband... Love It! So, now that I'm 100% living up here now, I had to play along. Which meant, standing in lines that were 45 minutes long to get our costumes, sitting in traffic jams 30 minutes long to get into the Halloween store, and encountering rude nasty people, pushing and shoving in the store. All of this comes out to equally me being in the worst mood ever.

Thank goodness Jesika called me on my way home to lighten the mood, or else I would have told Dan to go to the party himself. Jesika reminded me of the time we were getting ready to go to a New Year's Eve party. She wasn't happy about attending at all and walks into my house saying... "I'm gonna walk into this party and say 'Somebody Shoot Me'..." With her best dinosaur claws out of course. I decided that I couldn't be this lady and we laughed and laughed about her day she'd already had.

Dan was like a little kid yesterday as we got ready. He just couldn't understand how I could hate such a fun holiday. He loved his costume, his feet being his favorite part. And besides my dress being 80% see through, I loved mine too. We had a really great time at the party, after we had to stop for gas. Dan made me get out and pump the gas... I just didn't understand, I told him with those feet he should be peddling us there himself! All night we were surrounded by Big Bird & Super Grover, a German Beer Couple, Sugar Daddy, Alice & The Mad Hatter, lot of witches and cats, and some characters I didn't recognize (everyone told Dan and I once we had kids we would know who they were... further indication as to why we should hold off for quite some time... these characters were too much for me to handle!)

So our first Halloween that we've really spent together was a success. I usually let Dan go out by himself but this year, I just couldn't get out of the situation. We may even put our costumes back on next week to hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters, that's how much I loved being Wilma... and Fred is pretty cute too!

The Wedding Nightmare

Due to the fact that I’m getting married on a Sunday… of a Holiday weekend, I’ve been having the hardest time finding someone to do our hair. And honestly, I’ve never, ever had a good experience getting my hair done for events. Mom had to almost call two of my prom dates and tell them I wasn’t coming because I was having a meltdown about my awful hair. So of course I’m starting to really worry about it, and this lead to the most horrible wedding nightmare to date.

Now I’ve been having these nightmares every so often, but not to this extreme. I mean I could have been on the season finale of Bridezillas, that’s how bad this dream was. Up to this point my wedding nightmares have been kind of silly, Dan has had one too. In his he was getting ready for the wedding at the country club and he brought the wrong shirt, it was way too small, but the ceremony was going to start in 5 minutes so that’s what he had to wear. My first nightmare was that my sister spilled grape juice on my dress, this isn’t that unlikely since she’s known to spill almost everything. My second was that I couldn’t dance at my wedding because my hair was falling out, not just out of it’s style, but literally all of my hair was falling out of my scalp. And the inevitable wedding nightmare of someone that’s having an outdoor ceremony… it pours down rain on the day of my wedding. Most of them, no big deal, I woke up, laughed about it, and went along with my day…

Well this Bridezilla dream really took the cake, and I can’t stop thinking about it and how awful I was. I hope to the wedding gods that I never act like this in my life.

So, somehow I just seemed to skip making hair appointments for myself or any of the girls. At noon on the day of the wedding we realize that we have nobody to do our hair. We are scouring phone books looking for places, I’m getting pissed, Theresa is trying to make the best out of the situation like she always does, telling me I can wear my hair in a ponytail and nobody will know… It was awful. I’m throwing things, Jesika’s crying, Amanda and Holly are laughing at me, and Kaitlin is starting to curl her own hair with her battery powered curling iron (I’m not kidding, she actually has one… it always came in handy on the cheerleading bus!). At the pinnacle of my meltdown, when I’m screaming at Jill because she’s being a really bad maid of honor because she doesn’t know how to do hair… my alarm clock saves me from my awful nightmare. Thank goodness, because I don’t know if I could have taken any more of that.

So that’s my goal this weekend, to make hair appointments. I don’t care what I have to do; I will walk into every salon in the area if I have to. So that has been my morning. I hope the girls don’t read this and start filling out an application for me to be on Bridezillas… because I promise I will not be like that.

Happy Friday, Go Bulldogs!

Sometimes Life Makes Me Nervous

So let me just set the scene for you...

I am sitting in bed, in my monogrammed flannel pajamas, drinking wine (as my dinner), catching up on my TV shows from tonight, with Dan snoring so loudly next to me. I feel a little bit like a just worked a shift at Harry's because my feet are killing me and my head hurts. I really just want to go to sleep but I just got home about 20 minutes ago and I'm just not settled in yet... and I started to think about how at this time last night I was so nervous.

Today was the first day that I drove to work. I've never even driven into the city, I always let Dan do that. So of course for me, this was a very nerve racking thought. I know I'm one of the worst drivers in America, and when you put me into merging traffic I get so anxious. But today turned out pretty good. I made it to work on time and I only was honked at once, pretty good for the streets of Chicago.

I was very proud of myself as I walked into the office this morning, but after I checked my voice mails I once again got very nervous. To give you a little background story... Today was "buy-out" day. A client booked the entire restaurant for a private party, so it's a pretty big deal for us girls in Private Dining. The last week has been total preparation for this event throughout the whole staff and everything was going very smoothly. After I listened to my voice mails I found out that some miscommunication happened last night and things weren't going to go as planned. So what made me nervous? I was the only person in Private Dining for the next 2 1/2 hours! I think I handled the situation pretty well, but I was still very nervous about everything, especially telling the sales manager in charge of the event about the mishap. But the party was a great success. I was so glad that I stayed to see it, today was a very good learning experience for me. I definitely added to my notebook of important things about my job!

Being nervous for me is just an every day occurence... and it's over the silliest things sometimes. I'm nervous that my pants are going to need to be ironed in the morning, that I won't have someone to do my hair on the day of my wedding, and that my current savings plan is going to throw off my normal spending habits. I'm nervous about my school loan payments that are about to start and I'm nervous that my favorite person on Survivor is about to be kicked off. I'm nervous that Dan is going to pick out a silly Halloween costume for me and I'm nervous that when we are at the Halloween party this weekend I'm going to have an allergy attack because these people have a dog in the house.

SEE, I WORRY ABOUT THE SILLIEST THINGS!

But you know what, I'd much rather be worried about these silly things than big things. I'm 100% certain about my career, I'm 100% certain and so excited about Dan and I's upcoming marriage. I'm not nervous about my family or my friends and I'm not nervous about any big life decisions. So I'll take being nervous and being worried about driving to the city, going to new places, and encountering obstacles at work, becuase that's what my life is about. And sometimes it makes me nervous... but always so happy!

"I Need My Muse!"

So I have a muse. Not only has she been one of the best friends to me for the last 5 years ~holy smokes, it's been 5 years (that'll be a later story)~ but she has honestly been my muse. I think it's because she herself is one of the most creative people I know. I think it's because when I'm around her I can just talk without a filter... which leads to great ideas. I think it's because secretly we really think so much alike it's scary. I think it's because when I would sit next to her during senior year, I had my greatest ideas.

We pretty much did everything together the first year of our friendship. We were student council executives together and came up with so many new ideas for the school. With her as our muse the four of us came up with great fundraisers, murals for the first day of school, new traditions, and put on some awesome dances. And, every day we sat in room 181 and published a fantastic yearbook. It was so different than any other yearbook of the past and actually told a story. Somehow we came up with page after page of this book telling a story through a common theme. (As soon as I'm done with this post I'm going to go search for my yearbook, I can't wait to revisit it!)

So ever since our first year, even though we've lived apart, she's always been my muse... and today she posted an entire list of things for me to blog about. Of course, just from reading this list I was inspired to write about so many different things but i decided I needed my first one to be about her... my muse, Jesika.

I love you lady, and all of your creativity. Thank you for listening to me. Thank you for letting me bounce every silly idea I've ever had off of you, and thank you for giving me that awful look for about 80% of my ideas because they are so ridiculous. Thank you for letting me read almost everything I've ever written out loud to you, because you know it makes me feel better. Thank you for being a sane person when I'm not. Thank you, for being my muse!