Let Me Introduce To You....

the greatest guy alive!

He works harder than most people I know and never complains. He calls to tell me he is walking to the train and is eager to arrive home. He is efficient with his time and is able to truly enjoy his time off.

He is a source of never ending support. When I'm scared, happy, devastated, or nervous, he's there. And he knows just what to say. Or he knows when he shouldn't say anything.

He loves me no matter what. When I am sick and haven't showered for days he tells me I'm beautiful, and means it. He likes it better when I don't wear make-up because that is the real me that he is in love with. He doesn't care if I wear jeans and t-shirts every day and he doesn't ask too many questions when I come home from the store with lots of shopping bags.

He is calm, strong, honest, loyal, funny, and brilliant.

He lives with all girls and wouldn't have it any other way. He spoils his girls and would do anything for them. He is forgiving of mistakes and behaviors. He can still love the cat even if she pees all over his sports memorabilia. He still loves the dog who has been kicked out of day care...several times.

He is a sucker for traditions. If he does something more than once, it's a tradition. He goes through multiple sports jerzees until he finds the one that makes them win. He changes jerzees several times throughout the day if there is more than one team playing.

He is simply amazing and I am lucky to call him my husband.

Wonderful Weekend

Transportation aside, this has been a wonderful weekend! Friday after school, I met Bryan in the city for dinner at Wildfire. I had three filet medallions with different crusts on top. Bryan had one of my three though. Poor guy got the bad cholesterol genes and is limiting himself to one serving of red meat per week. So, he had mushroom stuffed salmon and roasted vegetables. Good boy!

Saturday morning Claire had a trip to the vet for a vaccination and a consult with the doctor to see if there was some medical reason she was eating poop at day camp. Diagnosis= "She's a dog."

We spent the afternoon looking at Christmas decorations in stores and buying a new laptop!

Saturday night we went to the Chicago Fire soccer playoff game. It might be the most exciting game of soccer I have ever seen. It was actually a little more like a hockey game with all of the fouls. Yikes!

Sunday was wonderfully peaceful. Church, lunch, student soccer game, and Tennis with Kyle and Mere allowed us to spend the whole day out and about enjoying the beautiful weather. We were soaking it up as we now know how brutally cold the next few months will be!

Eeewwwwww YUCK!

I Love...

Do you ever have one of those days where you just feel kinda...blah? That's me today and there is no reason I should. So, to combat my "blahness" I'm going to focus on what I love.

Here goes!

I love

• having my husband at home with me even when we aren't doing anything exciting-Bryan was home all weekend and we just hung out with the animals.
• getting out of the grocery store for under $70.00 dollars-Trader Joes is amazing. So what if all of our dinners this week are packaged or frozen!
• trying a new restaurant and being pleased- We went to Tango, a tapas restaurant, and had a great meal!
• relaxing with Claire- Even if she's been in her kennel all day she still just lies around with us at night.
• having amazing grandparents- My grandma is one of my best friends, Baw Baw turned 80, and Grandma and Grandpa Clark continue to be wonderful examples of love and marraige.
• having a fireplace- I have used it soooo much already.
• the Duggars- I know it's weird, and they're weird, but also strangely normal.
• my new kitchen- There are still empty cabinets!
• Christmas- Bryan and I always talk about how it is near impossible to be in a bad bood when surrounded by Christmas decorations and music. Bring on the holidays!

Ahh, that helped.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAW BAW!!!

A Trio of Befores and Afters

Whew! This house stuff keeps us busy. We are still loving the house and having fun with making it our own.

The first of our tasks was to remove some small shrubs that were in the front of the house. They weren't very pretty!

Bryan was less than impressed with my removal strategy. While he was mowing, I started digging on the first bush next to the driveway. When I couldn't get a good angle on it, I decided my best option was to cut off the whole top part with our hedge trimmer and then just work on the roots. I later learned that this was not the best approach. Three hours, several blisters, and a broken shovel later it was out! Unfortunately we still had three more to go. We saved the next three for another weekend and found that practice makes perfect. We had the last three out in the same time it took to do the first. You live and learn, right? Here is the empty bed. Ahh....Perfect for planting Tulip bulbs and Mums. I did do this but my procrastinating self didn't get a picture while the Mums were still pretty.

(That reminds me! I saw a sign at The Growing Place, a wonderul nursery by us, the other day that said "My garden was in bloom yesterday. Sorry you missed it.") Funny stuff. I'm a sucker for signs.

Next on the agenda was the dining room. The first two rooms in our house were empty and blah. It was driving me bonkers.

So, a couple Tuesdays ago, I decided to paint. I bought the supplies on Wednesday and painted on Thursday after work. A few days later we had furniture delivered! Ta da!

Our (actually just mine, Bryan couldn't care less) last room was the downstairs bathroom. It was a very bright shade of yellow first.

On Friday night of the same week I painted the bathroom. It still needs a lot of touch up but the overall appearance is better. Just don't look up if you come to visit. I'm still learning :).

Looking at the pictures now, I can see that an investment in a nice trash can for the bathroom might be a good idea. The one there now is a little bit of an eye sore. Sigh.... Ohhh, maybe a nice tissue holder too!

You'll have to come and visit to see for yourself!

Once Uopn A 4:01

Once upon a time there was a girl named Meredith who decided she wanted to run a marathon. In June, she started training and ran A LOT to prepare for it. Come race day she was very, very, very nervous so her friends were there to provide support. They wanted to make sure that she knew how awesome they thought she was. After a long night of T-shirt making, the friends got up at 5:20am and headed to the city. One friend had to return home after noticing the symptoms of a migraine at the train station. Luckily he made it later!

Once the friends arrived in the city, they waited for Meredith at the 13 mile mark. There were 45,000 runners so finding her was hard. This was the view for about an hour. It was about 35 degrees.

Once the friends saw Meredith, they yelled and screamed for her as she passed. She looked like she had all the energy in the world. The man in front of her didn't look so good.

After Meredith ran by, the friends went to the finish line at Grant Park and waited for her. They cheered loudly as they saw her with two other friends who had jumped in to join her for the last 7 miles. Her green shorts made her easy to spot. Four hours and one minute after she started, she crossed the finish line.
After the race, Meredith used the help of a friend and her mom to put on her track pants. Her legs and back were really hurting and lifting her legs to put her pants on was quite a chore.

Luckily she had enough energy to pose for a picture with her friends.

After some food and a little rest, Meredith was all smiles for the train ride home.

Her friends were so proud of her and Meredith went home to sleep....happily ever after.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

It couldn't have been more perfect. Shawn and Carrie were wed on September 26th and it was a beautiful wedding. After decorating Shawn's car......

we walked through a wooded path and found this.
Bryan walked with Carrie's Sister-in-law. All the bridesmaids looked beautiful. Carrie designed the dresses herself.

The ceremony was really personal and I think I cried more than Carrie. It was magical.

The reception was in a white tent next to the ceremony and was catered by Jack Stack Barbeque. It was delicious! A sure sign of our group getting older was the dinner conversation. We talked about having babies and how to lower our cholestol. It was a pleasant conversation so I think that means we really are adults!

Winner

Nadia guessed it first! I guess if you know me it wasn't hard at all. I did throw them over the railing. Who needs a laundry chute? And mom, not ALL the clothes were on my floor. Some had made it to the hamper. So, as I promised, give it up for Nadia.

Nadia- Remember when we met at band our freshman year? We became friends right away. Especially since we had so many education classes together. The best was the time in statistics class when that little worm thingy was crawling on the shirt of the girl in front of us. She may have been studious but she had a BUG on her. We win! You are such an honest person and I know I can always count on you to tell me how you feel. You have a way of making me more content with where I am instead of always waiting for "the next thing". You are my tie to my favorite job of all time. Getting up at 7am on Fridays for work wasn't that bad when you got to hold babies all day. I'm lucky you are a city girl at heart now that I live close (relatively speaking) to Chicago! Thanks for being my friend!