Christmas Eve

My Mom and Mike (aka Bijou Sparkly-Toes and Tinker Bubba-Louie)

Kristen, Keathen, Izzy, and their Baby GIRL!!! (aka The Smicklefigus's- I can't remember their first names)

Steve and I (aka Sparky Spirit-Fingers and Pinky Sparkly-Toes)

Since I finally downloaded the pictures off of my camera to email my mom, I just thought that I would share some pictures from our Christmas Eve at my mom's house and our annual matching pajama tradition complete with elf names compliments of some website I found. Thanks to Steve we officially named the tradition the "Retarded Christmas Pajama Cult". He's not a big fan of the tradition :) Kristen and Keathen announced too on Christmas Eve that they're having a girl!!! They wrapped up a pink bear that they made at Build-A-Bear Workshop and gave it to my mom as a gift- they even had the baby's heartbeat recorded inside the bear so that when you push it's paw you can hear it. Yes, my mom cried!

Well, I'd better go now so that I can enjoy New Year's Eve with Steve and his mom!

Rules to Live By...

THE RULES OF CHOCOLATE
1. If you've got melted chocolate all over your hand, you're eating it too slowly.

2. Chocolate covered raisins, cherries, orange slices & strawberries all count as fruit, so eat as many as you want.

3. The problem: How to get 2 lbs. of chocolate home from the store in a hot car. The solution: Eat it in the parking lot.

4. Diet tip: Eat a chocolate bar before each meal. It'll take the edge of your appetite and you'll eat less.

5. A nice box of chocolates can provide your total daily intake of calories in one place. Isn't that handy?

6. If you can't eat all your chocolate, it will keep in the freezer. But if you can't eat all your chocolate, what's wrong with you?

7. If calories are an issue, store your chocolate on top of the fridge. Calories are afraid of heights, and they will jump out of the chocolate to protect themselves.

8. If I eat equal amounts of dark chocolate and white chocolate, is that a balanced diet? Don't they actually counteract each other?

9. Money talks. Chocolate sings!

10. Chocolate has many preservatives. Preservatives make you look younger.

11. Q. Why is there no such organization as Chocoholics Anonymous?A. Because no one wants to quit.

12. If not for chocolate, there would be no need for control-top pantyhose. An entire garment industry would be devastated.

13. Put "eat chocolate" at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you'll get one thing done!

Now, I think that I may just go get one of the yummy looking chocolate covered strawberries that are in our break room here at work today!

AMEN!!!

Twas the month before Christmas

When all through our land,

Not a Christian was praying

Nor taking a stand.

Why the Politically Correct Police had taken away

The reason for Christmas - no one could say.

The children were told by their schools not to sing,

About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.

It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say,

December 25th is just a 'Holiday'.

Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks, and credit

Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!

CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod

Something was changing, something quite odd!

Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa

In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.

As Targets were hanging their trees upside down,

At Lowe's, the word Christmas - was nowhere to be found.

At K-Mart and Staples and Penney's and Sears

You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.

Inclusive, Sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty

Are words that were used to intimidate me.

Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen

On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton!

At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter

To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.

And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith,

Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace.

The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded

The reason for the season, stopped before it started.

So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'

Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.

Choose your words carefully, choose what you say
Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS,
not Happy Holiday!

Farewell to my 20's

Yes, I've left them behind and moved on to a new decade. I'm actually not sad about it at all and truly looking forward to this next year... The birth of my first niece or nephew, planning and preparing for my wedding, and then actually marrying the man of my dreams! (I Love You Honey!!!).

So, to celebrate my birthday, my mom attempted to throw me a surprise party on Saturday the 3rd of November. She was supposed to be having a candle party at 3pm that day, but in order to not have me get there early she had Kristen convince me to go shopping with her before the party. Well, Friday afternoon my mom called me to tell me that the candle party was cancelled at the last minute, but maybe Kristen, her, and I could all go see a movie together instead.

My plans for Saturday were to go get my driver's license renewed in the morning, go shopping with Kristen, and then maybe a movie later that afternoon. I went online Friday afternoon at work to see where the driver's license place was and realized that it was closed on Saturday, so I rushed out of the office to go to a different one Friday before they closed. I was successful and decided that I would stop by my mom's house to say hi before I headed home... I walked in the garage door and heard her yelling from the kitchen- "Why are you here, you shouldn't be here!!" She was cooking up a storm for my surprise party that was happening on Saturday (there never was a cande party- it's actually this weekend instead). So I ruined the surprise less than 24 hours before it was supposed to happen. She wasn't very happy with me, but I played along and didn't let on that I knew until after I arrived at the party. I know there was video taken, but not too many pictures. The only picture that I have is of my cake that my future mother-in-law made- it was soooo cute!

Then for my actual birthday Steve and I went downtown Chicago for dinner and to see Phantom of The Opera on Friday night! Dinner was yummy- we went to one of our favorite places Miller's Pub, but the performance of Phantom wasn't as good as I would have hoped- the auctioneer actually messed up his lines in the first scene. We had a good time anyways and got to see the windows all decorated for Christmas at Macy's on State Street!

I Ate This Stuff???

Soo… I was in Newark, NJ last week for another training and I decided to venture out to dinner with 5 other people that were in my class. We went into New York City, Soho to be exact and ate at this restaurant called Kittichai. We decided to all try the tasting menu for the bargain price of $65 each. Here’s what our 5 courses were:

Appetizer Course 1:
-Fish Cakes with Cucumber and Red Onion Chutney
-Crispy Jasmine Rice Crackers with Coconut and Organic Chicken Relish
-Sashimi of Hamachi, Squid Ink Salt, Red Holland Pepper Dressing (Yes, this was raw fish!!!!)

Appetizer Course 2:
-Northern Thai Beef Salad, Chinese Long Beans and Roasted Sticky Rice Powder
-Chocolate Baby Back Ribs with Thai Spices
-Banana Blossom and Artichoke Salad, Roasted Cashew Nuts and Chili Jam

Main Course 1:
-Baked Chilean Sea Bass marinated in Yellow Salted Beans with Morning Glory
-Wok-seared Tiger Prawns with Garlic Pepper Sauce and Green Beans
-Sauteed Gai-lan with Garlic and Ginger (this was a vegetable- VERY YUMMY!)

Main Course 2:
-Spice Rubbed Organic Chicken with Shishito Peppers and Lime Coconut Sauce
-Pineapple Braised Short Ribs in Green Curry, Thai Eggplant and Sweet Basil
-Wok-fried Morning Glory with Salted Yellow Beans and Chili (another yummy vegetable)

Desserts:
-Flourless Valrhona Chocolate Cake with Fresh Cream
-Banana Spring Rolls with Burnt Honey Ice Cream


Total bill for 6 of us… $800!!!!! Split evenly $134 per person- thank goodness for an expense account. We shared 3 bottles of wine and then each had an after dinner drink…

I actually tried it all and liked most of it- not too fond of the Tiger Prawn (It still had it’s head- yuck!). I actually really liked the Raw Fish appetizer- who would have thought?

What am I doing you ask?

Yes, today is November 2nd and I am sitting here at work listnening to CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!! I LOVE IT!

Ok, so I am kind of a freak, but I know that Amanda will be just as excited to hear that 93.9 in Chicago is already playing Christmas music 24/7 through Christmas Day (maybe even New Years)! And to think that I was just thinking that I needed to find my Christmas Cd's- now I don't have to yet... Woo Hoo!!!!

Punkin' Carvin'

Just thought I'd share our beautifully carved pumpkins with everyone! We're such the artists! Hmm... can you tell which one is mine and which one is Steve's???

There's Only One In There...

Well, Kristen had her first ultrasound this week. She's 8 weeks along and everything looks great! We were all anxious to see just how many little ones were growing inside her- thankfully there's only one. Twins run in our family and she had taken fertility meds for a month before she got pregnant. Here is the first picture of my future niece or nephew (aka flower girl or ring bearer)!

I've got some news too...

No, I'm not pregnant... BUT my sister Kristen is!!! She is due around the end of May/beginning of June- about a month after Meghan who just annouced her good news!!! Yeah! (Can't wait til Steve and I are married so that we can start our family too!!!!)

Another Tri In The Books

On Sunday 8/26, I completed my fourth Triathlon!!! I finished the Accenture Chicago Triathlon in 3 hours 37 minutes and 10 seconds. The race was a 1500 meter swim (approx 1 mile) in Lake Michigan, then a 40k (approx 26 miles) on Lake Shore Drive, and finally a 10k (approx 6 miles) run along the lakefront. Here are some pictures of me!

Just enjoying a little swim!

Just getting out of the water to go and hop on my bike!!!

Rounding the last corner before the finish line- almost done!!!

Below is the video that was shot while I crossed the finish line. It lasts about 30 seconds and you should start to see me about 15 seconds into it. It's hard to tell that it's me, but I am the third person to cross the line in the video clip- the person that crossed right after me raised her arms up in the air.

Steve and I after the race- he's so proud of me!

Finishing Second to Last in Second Place?!?!?!?

Yep- that's me! I decided on Friday afternoon that I was going to do a 10k "fun" run down in Momence, IL as part of the Gladiolus Festival. I'm supposed to be training for my triathlon next weekend and the last part of it is a 10k run so theoretically I should be able to do just a 10k without any problems right???

Well, I haven't been training as much as I should- this whole falling in love and getting married thing has definitely distracted me from my workouts this year :) So, the run wasn't nearly as fun as it should have been- although I am really beginning to question the thought that running can be fun because I really do hate it!

Anyways, me and about 150 of my closest friends start out on our various length runs (you had the choice of a 5k walk, 5k run, or 10k run) on Saturday morning at 8am. The first mile went really good, I had a nice 10 minute mile pace going and was feeling good. Then came the first water station... I have tried and I cannot continue running and drink liquid- it doesn't work for me. I slowed to a fast walk and drank my dixie cup of water and began running again. My legs decided to disagree and we fought over walking vs. running for the next 4 miles. I was tempted to turn at the 5k turnaround point, but I convinced my legs to keep going. I did manage to run the last mile of the race but it took quite a bit of convincing on my part- plus I haven't mentioned that there was only one person behind me. Yep- I was second to last of the 35 people who ran the 10k and I did not want to be last so I kept an eye on the 60+ year old lady that was behind me.

So, I finally finished the race 1:17:34- 34th out of 35 10k runners. I cooled down for a few minutes and hopped in my car to head home and shower. There was an awards ceremony, but I opted not to hang around for it- 34th place, like I'd really get any awards!

I got home from work yesterday and there was an envelope with my name on it from the Momence Lions Club (they organized the run). I opened it to find a 4x6 plaque saying that I got second place in my age group (females 20-29). Who would have thought! Come to find out there was only myself and another girl that were in that age group! Yay for me!!!

Great Smoky Mountains- I just love it there!!!

This is from the 11 Mile One-Way road through Cades Cove. Almost all of the bears that we saw were along this road- a must see if you ever get down to the Smokies!

Also from the Cades Cove Loop Road


Steve and I at Abram's Falls- a 2.5 mile hike to get there, but well worth it!

The bottom part of Laurel Falls- only 1.25 mile paved hike to get there- one of the more popular falls to see!

The North Carolina side of the Smokies

Self-portrait :)

Mingo Falls- the tallest that we saw 180 feet!

We also took quite a few videos of the trip and if I get motivated, I may just try and see if I can post some of them too, but that will have to wait because I am at work and the camera is at home! :)

Updates, Updates, Updates...

The Aquarium-
Within the first couple of days three of the four angelfish died and just yesterday I found the fourth one laying on the bottom :( We have three new (and much larger) angelfish that we bought last week as replacements- Steve is supposed to go and get a fourth today. Otherwise all of the other "kids" are alive and well!

The Vacation-
We spent a wonderful week down in the smokies! We camped for four nights in Cades Cove which is in the National Park (no showers!!!) and then camped the last four nights just outside of Gatlinburg (they had showers and even free wireless internet!). While we were there we hiked, saw several waterfalls, saw at least 10 Black Bears, had a family of owls in our campsite, toured two caves, went to the aquarium, shopped, and went to check out the wedding site.

The Wedding Plans-
While we were on vacation (once we had showered) we went and met with the Minister who will be marrying us next summer and got to see the chapel and tour one of the cabins. Everything is so perfect! It looks like our date will be August 11, 2008 and now all we need to do to officially set the date is get a good idea of how many people we will have there so that we can reserve a reception site! Here are the websites for the chapel and the resort: http://www.smokymountainwedding.com/ and http://www.thepreserveresort.com/

Guess that's it for now! I'll post some pictures from our trip too!

Proud Parents

Announcing to the blogging world the addition of 22 "children" to our household!!!

Our Aquarium

An Albino Catfish (1 of 2)

Three of the Four Cory Cats (We have one loner who rarely hangs out with the other three)

One of the two Plecostomus' (The sucky fish that eat algae off the sides of the tank)

And our pride and joy- the 4 Angelfish!

We also have 10 Cardinal Tetras that I didn't get any good pictures of yet. We're so proud of our little family!

Yikes!

So, I just realized that I'm 9 days short of a month since my last post... WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE???

Well... The week after our official engagement I think that my head was in the clouds :)

The week after that... Minneapolis from Monday afternoon until Thursday night and then on Friday morning driving up to Door County for Becky's wedding (it was beautiful). I only took one picture (well, someone else actually took it)...

Then Steve and I spent the rest of the weekend seeing the sights of Door County. We got home on Sunday afternoon in time to hang out with his family for Father's Day. I love that I feel like such a part of his family already!

This week has been spent getting caught up at work and doing some training for my triathlon this weekend- I feel sooo unprepared, but at least it's a shorter one... Yikes!

The Question Has Been Popped!!!

Today was a very good day... I got to drive for 2 1/2 hours to Wisconsin for a meeting, my boss let me work from home this afternoon, oh yeah and Steve PROPOSED to me tonight!!!

Here's how it all happened... Like the good little employee that I am I was busy working (and talking to Steve on the phone) around 6:50 when Steve told me that he had to go and do something at work. So, we said goodbye and hung up. 30 seconds later, I hear the apartment door opening. From the computer room I yell "Why are you here???" He comes in and takes me into the bedroom where he got down on one knee and asked me if I would marry him. Of course I said yes (with a few tears in my eyes)! I guess that he just couldn't wait to pop the question.

Yeah!!! :)

BUGS!!!

I think the pictures speak for themselves... YUCK! And the sad thing is there's still more coming out of the ground!!!!!

Camping

Steve and I just got back from a nice weekend getaway. On Friday afternoon we drove down to Lake Shelbyville (about 2 1/2 hours south of Chicago) with the pop-up camper in-tow for a relaxing weekend of camping. We had absolutely BEAUTIFUL weather while we were down there and enjoyed spending some quality time together.

I didn't take very many pictures- we have a new video camera that I used quite a bit and forgot about the old digital camera, but above is a picture of Steve relaxing by the fire while our burgers for lunch cooked and the next picture is of the first of two fish that I caught.

Yes, my fish is that little thing dangling below Steve's hand... BUT, for the record I caught more fish than he did- he only caught one about the same size. So, no fish for dinner, maybe next time!

Other than fishing, we did some hiking in the woods with all of the ticks- we're pretty sure that both of us are tick free at this point! And on the way home we stopped at a Tourist Attraction in Gays, IL (yes that's really the town's name). They have a two-story outhouse that is a fairly well-known landmark.

Now, it's back to work and instead of worrying about ticks I have to fend off the CICADA'S that are taking over our neighborhood!!!

Surprises

I love surprisng people... On Saturday 5/5 (yes, I know this post is a little late, but this has been a busy week at work and I finally have time to catch up this morning), we surprised my sister with a bike for her birthday. She knew all a long that she was going to get a bike, she just thought that everyone was going to give her money and she and I were going to go shopping for one. Well, we decided to surprise her because she and I had signed up to do a ride on Sunday morning with the Joliet Bicycle Club. Here are some pictures:

Kristen and her new Gary Fisher Wingra

Kristen drinking a Margarita on her new bike!

Part of the ride that we went on gave us the opportunity to take a lap on Chicagoland Speedway- HOW COOL IS THAT? I'm really not a big Nascar fan, but I have been to a few races and it was really awesome to get to ride around the track- you wouldn't believe how much the track is banked even on the straight parts not to mention the turns. Here's a picture of me from the ride!

Exploding Soup

Just had to share my lunchtime experience from Wednesday this week... I heated up a can of Tomato Garden soup (one of my favorites) just like I have a thousand times in the microwave here at work. As I was walking back to my desk I noticed that the lid was caving in, but thought nothing of it until BOOM! Yes, soup went flying everywhere... the wall, the copier, the ceiling, and all over me (even in my hair) YUCK!!! It was disgusting... once I wiped up some of the mess and found our janitor to vaccum up the remains of my soup, I borrowed a shirt that I was offered and headed home.

I'm not quite sure how, but I didn't get burned... just ended up with one ruined light yellow t-shirt and a little embarassment. FYI- I haven't eaten soup again for lunch yet... maybe next week I'll give it another try!

Better than normal...

Well, to my surprise I've actually had enough work for the day to last me until now (usually I'm looking for things to do shortly before lunchtime which REALLY annoys me). I do still have a few things to do, but the website that I need to use is having some issues this afternoon, so I guess they'll just have to wait until tomorrow.

So... I've decided to start a blog (thanks Meg for the suggestion)... I've already promised myself that I won't spend too much time at work on it, but so far I'm 2 for 2 on my posts being from work :)

My Blog name... I was listening to the radio yesterday and I heard the song by Sara Evans titled "I Could Not Ask For More" and thought to myself that that pretty well describes how I feel these days (except for at work- I definitely could ask for more stuff to do). So why not use it for my blog name.

I wish that I had known 6 weeks ago when I scheduled my hair appointment for tonight that Grey's Anatomy was going to be on for TWO WHOLE HOURS!!! Thank goodness for VCR's...

My First Blog...

Hello everyone out there!!

Just thought that I would post a quick hello before I leave work to go to the gym. Tonight I get to swim 1500yds and then go to spin class for an hour- gotta love training for Triathlons!