Life in the Big City!

2010 Stanley Cup. Blackhawks win!!!

2010-06-10T00:56:00.001-05:00

Tonight for the first time since 1961 the Chicago Blackhawks brought home the Stanley Cup. The Philadelphia Flyers put up a good fight and it was an amazing game. Tied up at 33 they went into overtime and Kane came in to sscore the winning goal. Wish I did not have to work on Friday. I would love to go to the parade and Rally!

Stanley Cup 2010 Champions. The Chicago Blackhawks.

Chicago Fans Celebrating on Madison Ave after the win

City Pride!

Patrick Kane

Our Amazing Goalie Antti Niemi

Captain Jonathan Toews

My nieces

2010-06-09T21:06:00.003-05:00

Couple of my favorite shots of the weekend. LOVE these girls to death and would do anything for them!!!

At the Drive in!

2010-06-09T20:47:00.002-05:00

Saturday night Shaun and I took Skyy out to the drive in movie. We had so much fun! I really hope we can get back again while we are home for Cherry Festival in July!

Nevaeh turns one!!

2010-06-09T20:41:00.003-05:00

So this last Sunday we celebrated Nevaeh's 1st Birthday. Really? Already? Yep! The party was at Alyssa's Mom's house. Thanks for hosting Jackie! We had a great time! Presents, cake, friends and family. The Birthday girls was a little cranky but she made it through the day. Here are a couple of my favorite shots that I got.

CUC Birthday Bash!!

2010-05-31T18:45:00.003-05:00

This month (Well June) Cookin up Creations will be celebrating their 1 year B-day. There will be daily challenges, prizes, games and SO much more. I hope you can stop on over and check it out. If you need to get your scrapbooking mojo back I think this will be the celebration for YOU!

http://www.cookinupcreations.com/

All unpacked!

2010-05-25T00:21:00.008-05:00

WOW!! I am SO excited that we are all unpacked and DONE getting the new place all prepped. We have now been here for 3 weeks and 3 days and we love it. The people upstairs are SO much quieter than crazy Therese at the Wayne condo. We were worried about the lack of parking and we have not had any problem with that either. On june 15th we will have a parking spot out back so we are very excited about that. So, here is the place! Now we just hope to have visitors soon :)

Livingroom--The new couch that we are loving. It is not the one we originaly chose but that one would not fit through the door so we had to pick out something different. Happy we went with this one.

We love the glass block wall. Was a little strange to me at first but now I love how unique it is!You can see the new coffee table, end tables and lamps in this one. We love them too :)View from the hallway looking into livingroom and kitchen

The shelves that are on both sides of the TV are from IKEA. They are perfect for our DVDs and I think they look great! They are a little taller than we thought they would be but it ended up working out just right. I was also very excited to get my bookshelf back...for my books ;)

This one shows the rack we got from IKEA for our pots/pans/toaster/etc. None of the cupboards are deep enough to hold those items so we found this at IKEA and we had an odd little cubby hole space that it fit perfect into.
View from the top of the stairs.I love how the counter seperates the kitchen and livingroom.

Our much smaller kitchen. I was a little worried about this at first but it ended up being perfect. It does afterall still have a dishwasher. ;)

Standing at the top of the stairs looking down to the left. That is our front (and only) door out.
Standing at the top of the stairs looking right. That armoire was left by the previous tennant and I have it full of scrapbooking stuff.

Shauns desk area. We only have one chair for us to share right now, that is why there is not one at his desk ;)

Looking right at my desk. I love my desk and I love my area. My new OTT light that I scored for over 1/2 off at Michaels a few months ago! Above the desk I have a layout that I made with a picture of my Team and I during the Breast cancer 3-Day walk last year. Makes my heart happy that I can look up and see them everyday. Love those girls so much! Next to that are the signs that Shaun was holding up at one of the cheering stations during the walk.

View from the front looking in. The door in the back of the room is a GIANT closet and it is also where we have the litter box. SO nice having it out of the way.

Favorite purchasse in a long time. I have wanted the IKEA Expedit shelves for a LONG time and I finally have them! They are mostly organized but I still have a little tweaking to do. I also got the 4 white boxes at IKEA.

Looking into the room from the front door. I am hoping that guests will like how we have it set up when they come to stay. Nice comfortable futon, tv, radio, privacy. Come visit us everyone!! :)

Bathroom, Nothing exciting. Small, but we are used to that.

View of Bedroom looking in from hallway

Looking towards closet.

Great view of the frame. This is also new and we love it. We have never had a frame before so we were pretty excited to get one. You can also see another armoire that the previous tennant left us. Loving all the storage!

I hope you have enjoyed the tour. We are so happy that we picked this place and we are looking forward to many years here. We hope!

March Design Team Reveal

2010-03-08T02:37:00.002-06:00

My March Design Team reveal for Cookin' up Creations

I was so excited when I saw the kit this month. I love working with bright colors and this kit was full of bright and fun patterns. Thank you to Pinecone Press for this GREAT kit!!!

2010-01-15T03:16:00.003-06:00

Cookin' up Creations will be having our very first Blog Hop this weekend and would love for you to join us!! Our Sponsors for the Month of January are numerous and each has provided us with an enormous supply of "Embellishments", hence the theme of the Blog Hop....be sure to check out the site as there are more details posted there

Hello 2010!

2010-01-03T00:17:00.002-06:00

Wow! I have been a bad blogger. I can't believe that I have not posted since July. It is a new year and I am going to fix that. This year I have not set any resolutions, I don't ever follow them so why bother. Instead I have set goals. They are more obtainable to me. Here is a list of my goals for 2010

Work out at least 3 days a week (gym, walking outside, wii, weights at home, etc) I got really bad at the end of last year and I am not happy with myself
Try one new recipe every week. This is a BIG goal for me. I am not a fan of cooking but I am willing to give it a try. Email me at just_jenking@yahoo.com if you have a recipe you think I should try.
Read 2 books or more per month. This should be no problem as I love to read. I have about 200 books here that I need to read so I better get to it.
Scrapbook at least one page a week. Scrapbooking is my passion and I need to make sure it fits into my schedule more. I have a lot of memories I need to preserve.
Drink more water and less pop
Cut way back on munchies. A combination of munchies and lack of gym has added a few pounds on. NOT a good thing.
Go to bed earlier. This one is a stretch. I am a night owl and I love it that way.
Read at least one magazine a week. I have about 100 magazines that I am behind on. I need to get that pile smaller.

I think that these are all goals that I can handle. Keep reading to see how I do.

Our new place all put together

2009-07-07T13:16:00.005-05:00

Finally here they are, the LONG ago promised pictures of our apartment all put together. :)

Kitchen/Living room

Our bedroom

Looking in from the front door

Bathroom

This is My scrap room and Shauns computer area

So there you have it. :) We are really enjoying it now that it is done :)

Nevaeh Marie Elliott 6-6-09

2009-06-09T01:07:00.011-05:00

She is here! I was home in TC to spend some time with Skyy before she leaves to go with her Mom for the summer. I choose a good weekend to be there as I was able to witness the birth of my niece Nevaeh Marie. It was absolutely amazing! Alyssa was not due until the 24th but got preeclampsia so they had to induce her. On Friday night they admitted her and gave her pitocin to get the process started. On Saturday morning at 8 they broke her water. Shaun, Skyy and I were at Target buying the stroller/car seat when I got the call to head to the hospital. I got there and Alyssa had just gotten the epidural so she was feeling pretty good. They wanted her to get some rest before she had to start pushing so I went to the waiting room. I was there with her Mom, sister and Step Dad. Eventually Shaun and Skyy showed up. My brother came in and said that she was starting to push so we headed to her room. Alyssa was so week but she did an amazing job and at 4:31 baby Nevaeh entered the world. I was crying worse than the baby and it was just a wonderful event. I am so happy that Alyssa wanted to share the birth with me and I look forward to the relationship that I will have with this beautiful baby. I can't wait to go home during Cherry Festival to spend more time with her. :) Here are some of the many many shots I got.

Proud Auntie Jen! Big Sister Skyy

One day old She is SO very tiny!! The new family Such sweet little piggys

What a MESS!!!!!

2009-05-19T01:41:00.002-05:00

4.5 hours is what it took 3 moving guys to move all this crap from one condo to the other. I can not believe it took so long. It was getting to a point at the end I just wanted to tell them to throw the rest away because there was no more room! UGH!!! We have been here 2 weeks now and I still have a long way to go. Here is some of the mess before I started.

The bedroom closet Our bedroom The kitchen!!! YIKES!!! The spare room was and still is the worst. That is where the boxes that were not labeled went as well as all the stuff that needs to go in that room. Ay Ay Ay!!! Our living room the day we moved in. We had it set up enough so we could watch TV. Just in time for the Kentucky Derby.

I can not wait to have it done and show it off to everyone!!!

First game of the season!!

2009-05-19T01:30:00.002-05:00

The first game for me this year happened on April 18th. I went with Deanna from work. What a great time and what made it even better is that we won!!

Jay Cutler the new Bears QB threw out the first pitch and did the 7th inning stretch. The crowd went WILD!!!

Out with the old....in with the new!!

2009-05-19T00:02:00.005-05:00

Out with the old and in with the new. There were perks at the old place and there are perks at the new place. The thing I miss most about the old place is the size. It was HUGE!!! Here are some shots of what we left and what we now have.

OLD

So this was the kitchen. It was a decent size but the appliances were ancient and check out the horrible wallpaper!!! Yuck!

This was what they called the dinning room. It was our living room as it is right off the kitchen. It was a HUGE room and perfect to get just the right set up for our big screen TV. The bad is that the tiny radiator you see in the right corner Sucked at heating that room in the winter!

The bedroom was also very very large. This picture looks horrible as the color was not as bad as it looks here. If it did it would have been painted a LONG time ago LOL!!

This was what was supposed to be the living room (it was for us the first 2 years we were there) I kinda liked the fake fireplace. It was a good place to hold all my nicnak type thingies. It had huge windows and a wonderful huge mirror along the wall opposite the fireplace.

The bathroom was pretty darn small and pretty junkie. Not a fan of it at all in any way LOL

NEW

This is pretty much the view of the kitchen and living room from the back door. Look at all the pretty granite counter tops! LOVE it!!

Here is the spare bedroom. Really small but it has a great closet

This is a view of the living room from the spare bedroom doorway.

This is our MUCH nicer bathroom. SO love it :)

This is the master bedroom that is fact is not very "masterfull" as it is not very big LOL!! But it has a very large closet.

This right here is what makes the small aspect of the new place worth it!!!! LOL

Our first pic of us in our new place :)

So there you go, that is the old and new. I am still working on getting the new unpacked and I can't wait to show it off when it is all done. Hopefully soon!!!

Alyssa's baby shower

2009-05-04T01:58:00.003-05:00

Today was Alyssa's baby shower. It was such a fun time and I am happy that I was in town for it.

Birthday weekend night two

2009-05-04T01:39:00.002-05:00

Night 2 was at my Dad's house. I had some friends over and they also had some friends over. It was a great time!!!!

My Brother brought Skyy over for a bit. I can not believe how much she is growing!Rachael and I.Becky and I (She was the other Birthday girl)Brenda and I. She was a great bartender!

Bonni and I

Di and I

Awwwww!!!!

Birthday weekend night one!

2009-05-04T01:24:00.004-05:00

Let the Party Begin!! I spent my Birthday weekend in Traverse City hanging out with friends and family. Night one (Fri the 24th) we had dinner at LaSenorita and then headed to Northern Lights for some (well a lot) of cocktails!!

Amy and I. It was SO good to see her!

Chris and DA

Shaun and Phil

Me, Dad and DA

Shaun and I

Me with my Mom and Dad

Me and Jen! Miss this girl so much!

Happy that Rob even decided to stop by!

We signed the lease!!!

2009-04-10T20:06:00.003-05:00

We signed the lease on our new place today and we are SO excited. The current tenants move out on the 27th and they need a couple days to paint and then it is ours. They are thinking even the 29th which is a couple days early so YAY! Now I just need to get my ass in gear and get packing. I have done quite a bit but it sure is a lot of work!! Here are a couple pictures. They are from the Craig's list listing but I will make sure to show more once we move it.

This is the amazing kitchen that I am actually looking forward to cooking in. Granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances.

The bathroom is small but has been completely redone so it is really nice.

This is the living room. It is smaller but I think it will work out just right for us :)

BIG NEWS!!

2009-04-02T22:54:00.002-05:00

Shaun and I are Moving!! We decided the last couple weeks that we can NOT live here anymore. Our landlord is a NUT job and I can not deal with her bullshit anymore. We looked at a place tonight and we loved it!! It is quite a bit smaller than the place we are in now and it is several hundred more a month but it is SO much nicer. There is a dishwasher (SCORE!!) and in unit washer/dryer (DOUBLE SCORE!!!) Now I just need to find enough money for the 1st month and sec deposit! Anybody have a money tree or have any ideas on how to get some cash quick???? I will keep you all updated!

Gabbi's Hospital Stay

2009-03-02T01:00:00.003-06:00

So it all started in November when we noticed Gabbi acting a little off. She would get to where she could not hold her head up very well and it seemed like she got tired from walking after a very short time. We took her to Banfield and the did a bunch of tests and found nothing wrong. They gave her an antibiotic thinking it might be an inner ear infection. The medicine seemed to work and she got better. Early January it happened again and I took her back to Banfield. They gave her more antibiotics and sent us on our way. Couple of weeks later she was not quite right again. Our neighbor Ruth recommended her vet so we took her there. Both Banfield and the new vet refered me to Dr Podell an animal neurologist. I finally made an appointment last Wednesday. He did a couple tests and noticed that something was a little off so they wanted to run more tests and an MRI so I had to leave her behind. They called me later telling me that her potassium was low which was making her muscle enzymes deteriorate which was causing her to be so week and she could not hold her body or even her head up. They were going to admit her and do an ultra sound and look into a way to get her back on track. With the ultrasound they found a tumor on her adrenal gland. Shaun and I had to make the choice to have the surgery or not. She is like a kid to us so we of course chose to do the surgery despite the VERY high price. You can't put a price on love. She had the surgery on Friday and it went perfect. They had to keep her for 72 hours after to make sure that all her vital stay steady enough to bring her home. We were so excited to go visit her on Saturday night. She was just as excited to see us and was a complete ham. She purred the whole time we were there and was very cuddly. It was hard to leave her again but knowing that we will be bringing her home soon made it easier. Tomorrow is the day we bring her home. I am not looking forward to the bill and I am curious to what her aftercare is but I just want her home!!!

Skyy's week long visit

2009-03-02T00:23:00.007-06:00

We had so much fun with Skyy for the week. She kept us super busy and it was go go go! She did great on the drive down and never stopped talking... at all!! LOL Quite amusing :) She spent a couple days at work with me, she had a couple of evenings with Uncle Shaun when I was working, we went the the Chucky Cheese, the children's museum at Navy pier, Rainforest Cafe, American Girl Place, The Hershey store and MORE. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the week.

She played with my old Barbies quite a bit. She could not believe how much stuff I have.

Counting our tickets at Chucky Cheese. That was a fun place!!!Photos from the Children's MuseumPlaying with her Barrel of Monkeys. She really liked putting them all together. 14 in all.On the train headed downtown Saturday morning.

Rainforest Cafe The Hershey StoreHer new American Girl Twin babyThe extra outfit I let her pick out. A ballerina.

We had so much fun while she was here and we were sad to take her back and we look forward to having her again!

New york City!

2009-02-17T00:24:00.014-06:00

FINALLY!!! My New York City Post!! (Sorry it took so long Aunt Dawn!!) Our adventure started Friday night (1/30) We got to O'Hare did the airport security thing which was an adventure because it is all new to us. Shaun has never flown and I have only flown to DC and back on an 8th grade school trip. We finally get on our plane that is smaller than my apartment I think. Well maybe not that small but I think it was like a 70 seater or something ridiculous like that. TINY!!! Flight was great and we landed at JFK without incident. YAY! Shauns cousin Alex was supposed to meet us at the airport but he went to the wrong airport (geek) so we met him at the hotel. Our hotel was a little comfort Inn a few blocks from Times Square. Perfect Location!!!!

After we checked in Alex hailed a cab and we headed to Rue 57 where he works. He hooked us up with drinks while we were there and I even tried a shrimp appetizer that was not to bad (I am not a shrimp eater) Here is a pic of Shaun and I at the restaurant.

After we left Rue we walked down the street and came upon this sculpture and I just had to get a few shots. These were a couple favorites.

Really cool sculpture with Rockefeller Center behind it.
30 Rock, What a kick ass building!!

The lights were off for the night at Radio City but I didn't care. I still wanted a picture :)

After Rockefeller we got on the Subway and headed to Alex's house and then went to a couple bars by his place. Here is the one shot I got of the cousins.

Saturday was spent dealing with the car ALL DAY!!!! Ugh!! Whatever! Once we got the new car into a parking garage we headed over to Times Square. OMG OMG OMG!!! Unless you have been there, there is no way for me to explain how KICK ASS it is. It is bright and booming and so energetic and augh, I just can't explain! I LOVED Times Square!! Here are a few of the 20+ shots I got from there. This first one is of the ball and sign from New Years Eve. How Cool!!

I got really good at taking pictures of us :)
M&M world was amazing! I am amazed that I did not buy any. Trying to be good!

The original Macy's in Harold Square. It was so cool seeing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade sign thingies painted into the road.

Our next stop was the Empire State Building. What a beautiful building and the views...WOW!

Another great shot by ME

This part of the trip I knew would be tough. Visiting Ground Zero is something I felt I needed to do. I knew that I would feel sad and emotional but I never expected to feel what I did.

This is the footprint of one of the buildings. There will be beautiful fountains there.

This was in Battery Park

This is as close as we got to the Statue of Liberty. We did not have enough time to do the tour. Maybe next time.

Grand Central Station was really cool to visit. What a beautiful station!!

Our little itty bitty hotel room. It was just right though :) We had a pretty good view too!

Monday morning we woke up VERY early and started our 14 hour drive back to Chicago. Here are a couple shots of the Poconos mountains. It was really beautiful through there.

Well, That is our trip. It was a busy packed 3 days and we can't wait to get back!

New Car

2009-02-08T22:34:00.003-06:00

Last weekend Shaun and I flew out to NYC to buy this car. It was SO much fun and driving the car back was even a good time. This will be the "weekend" car once the nice weather arrives. For now while it is still winter it will be parked in a garage that we are renting.

So much pain

2009-01-25T16:26:00.002-06:00

I am in some of the worst pain in my life right now. On January 9th I had a couple of fillings put in my lower left teeth. Well, after the fact they were bothering me a bit. Not to bad but a nuisance none the less. Last Thursday I had a cleaning scheduled which was good because I had been in pain for a few days. The Doc looked at it and said if it did not get better in a couple days I would have to have a root canal. Well, I am having one on Tuesday at 3:00. I have never wanted to go to the Dentist so bad in my life!! I am in so much pain. I have had to deal with a lot of pains on my body but I think this is the WORST! It is constant and piercing! OUCH!

Just another day.

2009-01-12T22:39:00.002-06:00

So I have not updated this blog in awhile and I am sorry for that. Nothing to interesting happening so not much to report. If you have been watching my 365 blog you will see that I am sticking to it so far. It has been fun thinking of things to take pictures of. If you have any ideas post here and I will fit it in somewhere.

Right now in Chicago we are under a blizzard warning. Getting mass amounts of snow here is a pain in the ass. We have to park on the street and when the plow goes by (and even when it doesn't) it sucks because it gets kind of tricky to parallel park with all the snow. I hate it!!! The snow also sucks here because Chicagoans can NOT drive in the snow. It is ridiculous!

Tomorrow starts inventory at work. It is going to be 2 days of pure hell. I HATE inventory. Counting all the little individual pieces of paper and everything else takes so long. Thankfully most of the staff is available to help and we even have some customers coming in to help. They ROCK!!

Well I am watching one of my guilty pleasure shows, The Bachelor.

Later :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

2009-01-01T00:47:00.002-06:00

Goodbye 2008 and Hello 2009!!

I am looking forward to 2009 being a great year. 2008 had it's good and bad and I am excited to see what 2009 will bring, hopefully lots of good!

Shaun and I celebrated by going to see the movie Twilight (I am now madly in love with Edward Cullen!!!) then we went to dinner at Maggiano's. The food was amazing as it always is but the service was HORRIBLE! I talked with a manager and she made things right, so I still left happy (for the most part).We finished the night here at home just the two of us. We watched the ball drop in Times Square. Did you all see Dick Clark? I feel so bad! He still looks amazing though! Then we watched the local NYE stuff which was pretty sucky in my opinion but whatever. The fireworks they shot off at Navy Pier looked great! Now Shaun is in bed and here I sit :)

Happy New Year to all my Friends and Family! I Love you All!!!

Project 365

2008-12-31T22:27:00.002-06:00

I am starting a project for 2009 called "project 365" I have it on a seperate blog as to not clog this one up. Check it out here 365 Bits and Pieces I hope you enjoy!

One crazy Christmas

2008-12-30T00:12:00.008-06:00

Monday night Dec 22nd Shaun and I hopped in the car and headed towards Traverse City for another crazy Christmas! Here are the events that we attended and a few highlights. Enjoy :)

On Tuesday night Shaun and I went over to Aunt Lynda and Randy's to visit with Aunt Dawn and Jon who were visiting from Columbus. They brought 2 of their "kids" with them, Nero and Joey, They were so cute!! Heather and Andy showed up and it was great catching up with everyone.

The sisters (Lynda, Dawn, Vicki(my Mom) ) Christmas Eve day we trekked through the FEET of snow to head to Shaun's Grandmas for Christmas with them. Brad and Terri drove up from Grand Rapids and it was nice to catch up with them. Brad even cooked a wonderful lunch. Thanks Brad!!!!

It was SO snowy the whole time we were there so we had Brad snap this shot of us out front. Once of my favorite pictures of our trip! Also a shot of looking down the driveway.I am throwing in this picture because crazy as it is these are old Metra trains from here in Chicago and they are in Grawn, Michigan (Traverse City) Every time we go home there are more cars added. We looked into it a bit and it seems they are being stored there because they were being damaged at the old storage location. Not sure what they plan on doing with them.

After Christmas with Shaun's family we headed to my Grandma and Grandpa Raney's for a night of complete chaos. There were 27 people there!!!! Let me tell you that is a LOT! We had a great time though. David read the traditional "Night Before Christmas" and he put a great spin on it. I think it was the most I have enjoyed the reading of that book in a long time!

This is the first time we have ever gotten a picture of only/all of the cousins/grand kids. I am happy that we finally did this! Top row L-R David, Adam, me(Jen), Andy, Ryan. Bottom row L-R Makenzi, Drew, Matthew, Cassidy After that event we headed back out into the snowy tundra to head to my Grandpa Elliott's. We did our silly gift exchange and had a great time like always. Samm and Rick showed up with the kids so it was nice to see them again. This is the time when Shaun and I started drinking LOLYou should see all the "out takes" it took to get this one great shot of me and my brother!! Ugh!Finally Christmas Eve ended at my Dad's for the traditional drink fest. Di and I were enjoying some mighty tasty Cosmos and Shaun and Dad were enjoying some Vodka 7up.

I gave DA and Alyssa an early Christmas present for the baby that is due in this summer. I am so excited to be an Aunt again!!!

Di and I enjoying our Cosmos a bit to much LOLMe Dancing with my Daddy Uncle Brooks and I bowling on the WiiChristmas Morning finally came and along with a horrible Cosmo hangover we all got some great gifts. My favorite Christmas morning was my Nintendo DS. HOW FUN!!Krystal and Kayla joined us for brunch and presents. It is always nice to see them when we go home.I just love this one of my Brother and Alyssa. If you know them you know this is the perfect picture LOLDad and Di after the gift opening

Shaun and I after all the presents

Christmas was great this year just VERY VERY busy!! It was wonderful seeing so much family in such a short amount of time (about 72 hours from when we left Chicago to when we got back) The only thing missing was Skyy but she was spending time in Colorado with her Mom. I really wish she would have been with us but she needed to see her Mom. I did get to talk to her Christmas Eve so that was nice. Our ride home was great with clear roads and almost no traffic. Traveling on Christmas day ended up being a good thing!

Do you know your lyrics???

2008-12-29T21:25:00.011-06:00

I am copying this from my friend Stephanie over on LM. You can find her list here finding my way This is defiantly going to show I have a wide variety of music on my iPhone!! Have fun figuring them out and even if you only know one make sure to post your answer in the comments :)

Here are the rules:

Step 1: Put your music player on shuffle.

Step 2: Post the first line, or 2 :) (unless the first line reveals the song title) from the first 25 songs that play.

Step 3: Strike through the songs when someone guesses both artist and song title correctly.

1. Who is this irresistible creature, who has an insatiable lust for the dead? "Living Dead Girl" Rob Zombie (Shaun)

2. "now that we're friends, I've decided to make you my new project!" Popular from Wicked (Stephanie)

3. Take the light, and darken everything around me call the clouds and listen closely, I'm lost without you

4. I feel no shame I'm proud of where I came from

5. Don't you know I can see what you're doing, Runnin' around with your cheap talk, cheap talk

6. Get up! Get up! Like This, just like this. Do you wanna catch the vibe that's keepin' me alive?

7. I see your dirty face, High behind your collar

8. Right before my very eyes, I thought that you were only fakin' it

9. Looking back at the beginning of this, And how life was

10. You're not shy, you get around, You wanna fly, don't want your feet on the ground

11. It's easier not to be wise and measure these things by your brains. "I alone" by Live (Tini)

12. I close my eyes, only for a moment, and the moment's gone "Dust in the Wind" Kansas (Tini)

13. Yeah he's a looker,but I really think it's guts that matter most.

14. if there were no words no way to speak "Valentine" Martina McBride (Danette)

15. You think that we connect, That the chemistry's correct "Spiderwebs" No Doubt (Danette)

16. Sometimes the snow comes down in June, sometimes the sun goes 'round the moon "Save the best for Last" Vanessa Williams (Stephanie)

17. The movie ran through me, The glamour subdue me

18. just as i thought it was going alright, I find out I'm wrong, when i thought i was right "That's all" Genisis (Tini)

19. Sometimes I feel I've got to Run away "Tainted Love" Softcell (Tini)

20. I changed my color for you, I shed my coat with caution

21. Come with me stay the night you say the words but boy it don't feel right "Too little Too Late" JoJo (Danette)

22. Big wheels keep on turning Carry me home to see my kin "Sweet Home Alabama" Lynard Skynard (Stephanie)

23. Dear, I fear we're facing a problem You love me no longer, I know "Love Fool" Cardigans (Tini)

24. Look at the stars, Look how they shine for you, "Yellow" Coldplay (Tini)

25. So, so you think you can tell Heaven from hell, blue skies from pain, "Wish you were Here" Pink Floyd (Tini)

Let the training begin

2008-12-18T21:18:00.002-06:00

I recently decided that I want to run a 5K this summer. I have found a program that I downloaded into my i-phone that will assist me. It is a 40 minute session 3 times a week for 8 weeks. The more weeks that go by the more running less walking. I started the first week today. It felt pretty good to be running. I am sure to most standards it may not be running because it surly is not fast but for me it is running and it feels fast LOL. I will keep you all updated :)

Big day for me!!

2008-12-11T16:52:00.002-06:00

Today I am proud to announce that I have been smoke free for 100 days!!! I am so proud of myself!! It has not been easy but it does get easier every day. I have had great support from family and friends and I want to Thank them for that!

To celebrate Shaun and I are going to the Bears game tonight. It is one of his Christmas gifts. It is going to be COLD but it will be fun so I am excited to go.

Thanksgiving in Michigan

2008-12-08T00:31:00.008-06:00

One week ago today Shaun and I came home from a long weekend in Traverse City. We had a great time seeing family and friends and eating some great food!!! We had T-giving dinner first with Shaun's family and then several hours later at my Dad's. After dinner #2 we went to my G&G Raneys to visit with that side of the family. I can not believe how much we fit in that day. We also had Christmas with Skyy because she will be in Colorado with her Mom over the Holidays. She really enjoyed everything we got her and played with her new baby ALL weekend! Black Friday Di, Kayla and I got up way to early and hit the stores and found some great deals. It was a lot of fun hanging out with them that morning. One last fun thing I did was a Gingerbread house with Skyy and Alyssa. This was my first time and it was messy but a lot of fun. I think Skyy really enjoyed it as well. Skyy was with us almost the whole weekend and it was wonderful. She is so smart and so good when I watch her. She did say one thing that completely took me by surprise. We were in the car on the way to My Grandparents and out of nowhere she says "Aunt Jen, I get sad and depressed sometimes but never when I am with you because you make me so happy" How cute is that! This coming from a 4 year old!! I really wish I could see her more than I do. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

Me, Mom, Aunt Lynda

My absolute favorite dish. The noodles my Grandpa and Uncle Brooks make. YUMMY!!!Skyy and I with the Gingerbread houseSkyy and her new Baby.Shaun and I

Crop of a Lifetime!

2008-11-21T18:58:00.003-06:00

2 weeks ago I met with 70 of my closest friends at the Double Tree hotel in Novi Michigan for a fun filled girls only weekend. Nothing better than catching up with old friends and meeting new all while you are scrapbooking. I was able to get about 12 pages done and that is pretty good for me :) Here is a group picture of all of us. I can't wait until next year!!!

My "W Bus" girls! You all ROCK! Love ya!!!It's all about Jen :) There were 6 of us there!

Obama Rally

2008-11-10T13:33:00.003-06:00

Tuesday night after I got out of work Shaun and I headed downtown for the Obama Rally. It was absolutely AMAZING!!! When he was announced the winner the roar from the crowd was deafening and just, WOW!! There were over 200,000 people in Grant Park and the surrounding area and it was peaceful in the meaning that there was no fighting or crowd problems. Very different from what I experienced on July 3rd when we were down there for the fireworks. Obama's speech was everything that it needed to be and so much more. I am so happy that I was there for this event that was history in the making! Here are a couple shots that turned out OK.

Remembering Susan

2008-11-10T13:17:00.002-06:00

One week ago I got the sad phone call from Christina that our beloved Susan had passed away. Sunday night, November 2nd she had a heart attack and died with her husband at her side. Susan was one of the most amazing women I have ever met. When I moved to Chicago she helped me in so many ways and I will forever be thankful. She was only 34 years old when she died but she lived those few to many years to the fullest. She married a wonderful man named Chris and they have the most amazing little boy named Evan who is just as spunky and fun as his Mom. I will be sad for a very long time with the loss of my dear friend but Susan would want me to move on and remember the fun times I had with her so I will do my best to do that! I love you Susan and I miss you terribly!!!

Christinas Wedding, December 2006

Taste of Chicago, June 2008 with Evan

Love this girl!!!

2008-11-02T21:26:00.002-06:00

Skyy calls me tonight and tells me to get on myspace and look at Alyssa's pictures on her page. I get on there and this is what I find.

I am always looking for new pictures on there so they knew that I would see this. I love this girl so darn much and I wish I could hug her tight every day!!!

The little Fairy

2008-11-01T21:57:00.003-05:00

Skyy made the cutest Fairy that I have ever seen! I really wish that I would have been there to get these photos myself but I am super lucky that Alyssa likes to take pictures too. Thanks Alyssa!

Don't forget to

2008-10-31T00:45:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween!!

2008-10-30T23:50:00.004-05:00

I am of course slacking on my blog again and to those of you that read I apologize!!

Tomorrow is Halloween. For the most part it is just another day for me. I have to work until 5 and then I plan to go to the gym. After that I don't think Shaun and I have any plans. Maybe we will just get on the train, head downtown and have some fun on our own. I guess time will tell.

2 weeks ago Shaun and I went home for my 10 year High School reunion and while we are there we took Skyy to the pumpkin patch. This has been something I have done every year with her and I am happy that I was able to do it again this year. Here are a few pictures that I got. Enjoy and I will make sure I post again soon!

Where I should be.

2008-10-11T23:53:00.002-05:00

If life had not happened I would be sitting on a beach in Mexico drinking something fruity right now. Shaun and I were planning on going with my Aunt Dawn, Uncle Jon and my Mom. When I got pregnant I cancelled our trip. Unfortunately when I lost the baby we did not have the money to get the deposit right away so here we sit in Chicago instead of Mexico :( It all happened for a reason but I can still want to be there. Right?

The good think is my Mom is coming for the week. She will get here Monday night and then will ride back to Traverse City with us when we go up there on Friday. My 10 year HS Reunion is the 18th so we are making the trip for that. We will also be taking Skyy to the pumpkin patch so be on the lookout for those pics when I get back.

My time at the Gym

2008-09-30T00:38:00.002-05:00

So I joined a gym at the end of August. I had been talking about it for months and decided that it was time. I walked down to Ballys after work one Thursday (only half block from work) and walked out with a membership card. I have worked so hard to get where I am after my surgery and I am ready to make it even better! Right now I have a personal Trainer named Albert and he is amazing! He pushes me so hard and has confidence that I can do what he tells me. Good grief, last week he had me doing sprints!!! Never in a million years thought I would be doing sprints ever again, but I did! I have 4 more sessions with him and I am hoping to continue to work with him if we can afford it. Other than my one work out with him a week I have been going in 4 other days and doing my cardio on the elliptical machine and doing some weights. I actually look forward to going to the gym. That is something I never thought would come out of my mouth. So here is a picture of Albert and I! I can not thank him enough for helping me get on track with my life!

CUBS CLINCH!!!!

2008-09-30T00:28:00.002-05:00

How Awesome is this for Chicago Cubs fans! 2 years in a row now the cubs have made the playoffs. The last time it happened 2 years in a row was in 1907,1908 when they ended up winning the series in 1908. It has been 100 years and it is OUR time!!! GO CUBS GO!!!

Saturday night (9/20) Shaun, David and I went down to Wrigleyville to party a bit with the fans. It was like 7 hours after the game ended and there were still hundreds and hundreds of people out partying! I love this city! We went into Bar Louie and had some drinks and a great time!

Dave and I
Shaun and I on the ride home. We were a little drunk :)

Family Visit

2008-09-29T23:40:00.002-05:00

The weekend of the 19th-21st Shaun and I had house guests. My Grandparents and my Cousin came to visit. We had such a fun and busy weekend. Here are a few highlights.

We are a big game playing family! I was so happy to get to play some games while they were here because Shaun is not a big game player. We played a couple of card games and a new dice game I learned called "Farkle" SO fun!!!!

Saturday G&G, Shaun and I went to see the play Mama Mia. It was a great show with so much energy! Now that I have seen 2 different shows here in Chicago (Mama Mia and Wicked) I want to see as many as possible. I just enjoy them so much!! After the play we met back up with Davis and walked over to Millennium Park and then had dinner at Giordano's. YUM!

Sunday was game day. This was my 7th game of the season and it was the last home game of the regular season. By this time the Cubs had already clinched their division so a lot of the key players were off for the day but it was still a great time and we won the game so who can complain about that :) This was the farthest back we have sat. We were I kid you not 2 rows down from the TOP of the park!!! I think the seats were still great, just not as close as I am used to.

What a wonderful weekend was had by all and I hope they all come back and see us soon! I just love when family visits!!!

Carlos Zambrano is the MAN!!!

2008-09-19T00:37:00.003-05:00

Because of Hurricane Ike the Cubs/Astros series was moved to Miller Park in Milwaukee. Tickets went on sale at about 9pm on Saturday the 13th. The game was scheduled for 7:05 PM on the 14th. Shaun and I decided what the heck let's go! 1:00 AM we had tickets printed and in our hands.

Miller Park is a nice park. It is definitely no Wrigley Field but there is only ONE Wrigley!!! We had great seats, 17 rows behind what was supposed to be the Cubs dugout. Houston decided they wanted to be behind 3rd base so oh well.

Carlos Zambrano was starting pitcher and he had been out for a couple of weeks so we were not sure how he would play. Well let me tell you this...He was frickin' AMAZING!!! he had a no hitter game which was the first for the Cubs in 36 years!!!!

The sounds of 23,441 Cubs fans screaming as loud as they can is deafening. Especially in a park with a closed roof. I still can not believe that there were that many fans since the tickets went on sale 22 hours before opening pitch! Us Cub fans are very Loyal to our Boys and we have faith!!!

As I type this our Magic number is 2!!! Hopefully our boys in blue will win tomorrow and the Brewers will lose and we will clinch the division! I am SO excited and I know they will do it. Hopefully they do not blow it in the playoffs this year but I have faith.

Here are a few Photos

Z's Final pitch of the night...what a beautiful strike!!

His reaction to that pitch!!!

I LOVE this shot! It shows his faith and that makes me have faith in them!

The way his teammates all ran onto the field after that last pitch brought tears to my eyes. These boys really are one big happy family. They deserve to win the world series. It has been 100 years and I think that it would be great for it to happen this year!!!

Happy Birthday Candace!

2008-09-14T02:10:00.003-05:00

Tonight Shaun and I went out to celebrate Candace's Dirty Thirty! We met at Diversy Bowl were they did a bit of glow bowling. I am still sore from all my workouts so I just watched from behind. After they bowled several games and we all had cake we headed down to Lincoln Ave to Lions Den/The Apt. What a kick ass place!!! Downstairs is a sports bar where you can buy a YARD of beer. It is this ginormous glass thingy with a spicket on it!!! Craziest thing I have ever seen. Upstairs is the apartment (that is the name of the club) and it is laid out like an apt. It was way cool and they had some great music going. We all tossed back a few drinks and had a great time. I was sad to go because Candace recently moved to New Hampshire and I sure do miss her being here in Chi-town! Hopefully we will see her again soon!

The Birthday Girl and her new Fiance Eric. They are so darn CUTE together!!!

Cubs Game in Cincinnati

2008-09-14T01:36:00.004-05:00

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Friday, Sept 5th Shaun and I hit the road headed to Cincinnati for the Cubs/Reds game. The ride there was good other than it rained the whole way. We were thinking positive because they said the weather was clearing up for the night. Well...they lied!!! It rained during the whole game. UGH! We did have amazing seats though. When I bought them I thought they were right behind the Cubs dugout. I was wrong and we were behind the Reds. It was OK though because were were 7 rows from the field! Way cool! It was wet and we got our asses beat but it was still a great time! Here are a few pics that I was able to grab the few seconds it was not raining.

This was before the game but it shows how great our seats were!

The Boys practicing for what was a horrible game!
Sorianno striking out!Our view inside the Cubs Dugout

Labor Day Weekend

2008-09-03T00:33:00.004-05:00

What an awesome weekend! My Brother, his girlfriend Alyssa and Skyy came to Chicago to spend the weekend with us. We had a great time!!! On Saturday we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo for a few hours. It was a really hot day so a lot of the animals were not being very social but I did get a few great shots.

After the zoo we went back to the house to nap. I think we all slept for a good hour and a half. It was really nice and we were refreshed to head back downtown to Navy Pier for dinner and the Fireworks. We had dinner at Joe's Be-Bop. It was OK but nothing to great, it was the place with the shortest wait though. After dinner we went outside to watch the fireworks. What a great show set to some great music!!!

Sunday night Shaun and I babysat Skyy for awhile so DA and Alyssa could go out on a date alone. When they left Skyy was sleeping under the table (silly girl). Shaun went out and got us Subway for dinner and the three of us got comfy and watched Bee movie! We all really enjoyed it :)

We were sad to see them go on Monday afternoon and we look forward to having them back soon!!!

Dinner Cruise

2008-09-03T00:15:00.003-05:00

August 23rd Shaun and I enjoyed our second dinner cruise aboard the Mystic Blue. We did this last year for our anniversary and really enjoyed it so we decided to do it again. This year we chose to do it on a Saturday so we could enjoy the fireworks from Navy Pier. We had a wonderful time. The food was amazing, the entertainment was great, the weather was perfect and most of all the company was great :) Here are a few of my favorite shots from the night.

I am SUCH a slacker!!!

2008-08-26T21:45:00.003-05:00

Ok, So I really have no excuse except for laziness. I should be posting more but I have not been. I will get better I promise ;)

I have lots of other things to catch everyone up on but I wanted to share that I joined a gym last week. Today I had my first session with a personal trainer and he kicked my ass!! I am hurting so bad right now! It is a good hurt though and I am looking forward to the results.

Well I am off to bed but I will be back in the next could of days with Dinner cruise pics and details of how CRAZY busy Shaun and I are for the next few weeks.

Hugs and kisses!!

Happy Anniversary

2008-08-12T12:33:00.005-05:00

Sunday Shaun and I celebrated our 6th Anniversary. It is hard to believe that we have been married for 6 years. I still remember that day like it was yesterday! We started out the day at Aiden's 2nd birthday party. It was a lot of fun and it was nice catching up with Carmelo and Heather a bit. After that we headed downtown. The first thing we did was take a carriage ride through the Gold Coast neighborhood. It was so romantic and the weather was perfect for it. After the carriage ride we went to the Rosebud on Rush for dinner. I had the meat lasagna and it was really good, and huge! I even had enough for leftovers that I had for lunch yesterday. It was a very nice dinner. Next we took a walk over to the Hersey store. I had not been in there yet so Shaun decided it was time for me to see it. Wholy candy batman!!! What a neat store! I think I died and went to chocolate heaven :) We just ended up getting dessert to take home. Shaun got a cupcake that was half the size of his head and I got a scrumptious brownie. It was a really really good night and I am so happy that I have been Mrs. King for 6 years!

parking $25

Carriage ride $45

Dinner $60

Dessert $6

Cost to retrieve photos off deleted memory card $18

Memories we made that day-Priceless

I did not make the cut

2008-08-12T12:26:00.002-05:00

I recently applied for the Design Team at http://www.monamememories.com/. I was so excited to try out for it and I worked really hard on my submissions. Unfortunately I did not make it. I am not giving up though and I will keep submitting. Here are a couple things that I submitted.

Missed opportunity

2008-08-12T12:19:00.003-05:00

So, When we were in TC 2 weekends ago for Shaun's B-day I missed a BIG opportunity for me. Kerry Wood (closing pitcher for the Cubs) came into work that Saturday!! I SO can not believe that I missed it. I am his biggest fan and I missed meeting him. I am so bummed. They probably would have had to pick me up off the floor when I saw him :) I of course would have asked if I could get my picture taken with him. Hopefully he will come back in one day and I can still meet him.

Shaun's Surprise 30th!!!

2008-08-05T23:16:00.009-05:00

So we pulled it off. Sunday was Shaun's 30th B-day and Saturday we threw one hell of a party at my Dad and Step mom's!!! Bryan, My Dad, Di and myself have been planning for about a month and it was perfect!

I was not sure if I was going to be able to get Shaun up to TC again so soon because we were just up there in early July. Bryan helped me out with that by sending an e-mail that he was planning a big tubing trip. That was all it took to get Shaun there. YAY Bryan!

Well Friday night once we got up there Bryan called Shaun and cancelled the tubing trip. Since it was a fake tubing trip that I knew about I had to fake being upset that it was no longer on. Shaun and I hung out with Micah and Alison for awhile on Saturday and then I had to get Shaun away so they could get to my Dad's house in time for the party. I had no idea what to do to keep him busy so I talked him into walking around downtown a bit. He did NOT want to do that but I kind of made him :) Downtown was bustling because the film festival was going on and Madonna was expected a few hours later so the onlookers were starting to gather.

Finally about 5:20 I called Di and asked if they were home. (aka was the party ready) she said we were good to go. We pulled into the driveway and he was completely surprised!! I can not believe that we pulled it off! He was so happy and it Still talking about it :)

Lots of Friends and family were there to celebrate and he was so excited to see a few people that he had not seen in awhile. There was amazing food, great drinks (a few to many for some of us) and great company! I thank everyone that helped out!!!

He says that I better watch out for my 30th so I told him that I am going right from 29 to 31 ;)

Here are a bunch of pics :) Enjoy!

Here are the 2 cakes. My Dad totally surprised even me with the Tigers one. It was supposed to be a Cubs themed party and they pull out a Tigers cake. I was a little upset. Good thing they got the Cubs cake too :)

Shaun with the Reno 911 movies I got him.My Dad, Mom and IDA and AlyssaShaun, his Mom and his Brother AbraxasBryan and Chris! Thanks for helping guys :)Seeing the Cubs cake! Me and Grandma and Grandpa RaneyRachael and SammDad and Di. You guys are amazing! Thank you so much for everything you did!!!!

Shaun and I late into the night.

And then there were 4!!!!!

2008-07-16T19:07:00.004-05:00

Oh Boy! I am going to be called the crazy cat lady in no time! With Shaun's Mom having to move Harley needed a home. We could not find one so guess who has him?? Yup, us! We were not sure if it was going to be permanent or not but he has been here almost four days now and he is doing really well. We will give it a bit more time though to see if everyone will get along. Yes, we are crazy :)

Traverse City day 6 7/12/08

2008-07-16T18:56:00.007-05:00

Bright and early was the start of today. My favorite thing about the festival was this morning. The Cherry Royal Parade. I think there were 140 some entries this year. We went down there with my Mom and Skyy. DA was even able to join us for a few minutes before he had to be to work. This parade always has some great bands and I think that is my favorite part.

Miss America even attended the parade this year.

We were exhausted after the parade so we decided to grab some Burger King and head back to the room to take a quick nap. Once we were recharged we headed downtown.

Our first stop was Gibby's Fries. Man I love these things. If I could only eat one thing during Cherry Fest it would be these fries!! I got a small with cheese and boy o boy! YUMM-O!!! After that we met up with my Dad and Di and headed to the beer tent. We decided to stick around and watch the band that night before the fireworks. "Think Floyd" was playing and they were really good. The fireworks started at about 10:30 and I think they were pretty good. I was a wee bit intoxicated though so what do I know ;) Thankfully Tom helped us out and got us a ride back to the hotel!

We had so much fun this week and after our quick goodbyes tomorrow we will be headed home to Chi-town.

Traverse City Day 5 7/11/08

2008-07-16T18:49:00.005-05:00

Well it is Finally Friday. Hard to believe that we only have a few days left here. The week has flown by but went nice and slow at the same time. It feels like forever ago when we went to the Island!

Sleeping in again. What a wonderful thing about vacation! I wish I could sleep in this late every day!

Shaun and I went and picked Skyy up and headed to Pebble Brook to do some mini golfing. Skyy had never been so it was fun watching her play. She actually did pretty good and had a blast doing it. I think she would have played all day if we let her! After putt putt we went inside to the air conditioning and played a few arcade games.

Later I dropped Shaun off at Northern Lights with my Dad so I could go see Sex and the City with my Mom. What a great movie! I really really enjoyed it and I will be buying the DVD as soon as it comes out!! It was nice to get some time with my Mom!

Traverse City Day 4 7/10/08

2008-07-16T18:16:00.006-05:00

We started out the day sleeping in! I don't think we even got out of bed until 11. It was fabulous!!! Once we got up and ready I dropped Shaun off at Traverse Motors so he could visit with the guys and have lunch with them. After I dropped him off I headed to Pizza Hut to also catch up with old friends and to get my favorite pasta for lunch.

After some quick errands I went and picked Shaun back up and we headed to G&G Raneys to get Skyy. We all walked down to Wares Brothers and ice cream. It was so good, especially on such a hot day!

Once we got back to G&G's, Grandma pulled out a small bucket and Skyy got her bathing suit on and played in the water for a bit. I have NO idea how playing in this bucket was fun but she was having a great time so yay Skyy!

We headed downtown for the Junior Royal parade which started at 6:00. This is one of the things I look most forward to every year. The school floats are always so creative and fun. You can tell the kids really enjoy the parade. My Mom showed up once she was out of work and DA and Alyssa also joined us. Rachael stopped by with Braden and Jarron. Wow is Braden a handful!

After the parade we met my Dad and Di for a quick drink at the Pub and then we headed to Big Boy for dinner and then went back to the hotel to relax. Another great day in TC!

Traverse City Day 3 7/9/08

2008-07-14T12:13:00.007-05:00

Moving Day!!

This is a day we have not been looking forward to. Shaun's Mom Kathy has to move out of the house on 8th Street and we are helping with the final things. We took several trips to the storage unit and to Grandmas house with various things left in the house. It was kind of sad to be leaving the house. I have SO many memories there over the 14 years Shaun and I have been together. Great parties, great friends, and so much more.

With her moving, the cats needed homes. My Mom was so wonderful and took in Oliver. He is doing well over there. Still hides under the bed but that is OK. Harley we have not been able to find a home for yet. I have a few more calls to make before I give up.

During all the moving Grandma made lunch for us all. We had spaghetti and it was nice to have a little break. Then for Ma, Brad, Shaun, Skyy and I it was back to work. We only had another load or so and then we were done.

After DA came and got Skyy, Shaun and I went back to the hotel and had a nice and easy night. We walked over to That's a Pizza and got a couple of Calzones and called it an early night.

Here are a few pics of the house. Please excuse the craziness and mess!

Traverse City Day 2 7/8/08

2008-07-14T11:56:00.007-05:00

This morning Shaun, Skyy and I woke up early to hit the road. We were headed to Mackinac Island. The weather was kind of chilly and misty but it was supposed to clear up so we decided to give it a try. When we got up to the Mackinaw Bridge Skyy was so excited she was like a little bouncing ball in the back seat. It is one of those times that I am so happy to see things through the eyes of a child.

We got to the Shepler's Boat dock and waited for our ride. It was still not the best weather so we rode over to the island inside. Skyy absolutely LOVED the boat ride. She was in little 4 year old heaven :) We arrived at the island and our first stop was a souvenir shop. Both Skyy and I were cold and we needed to buy some hoodies.

We then got tickets for the Carriage ride tour that takes you around the island. Skyy was very excited about the thought of a horse pulling us around. It was a lot of fun and she was really enjoying it. When we stopped to transfer from a 2 horse team to the 3 horse team we went and visited the butterfly house. I defiantly enjoyed this more than Skyy. I think I could have stayed in there all day but she was ready to go after a few minutes. I was able to get some great shots though!

We had a quick snack and then we got on the 3 horse team for the rest of the tour. We saw skull cave, all 3 cemetery's, lots of state park and my favorite Arch Rock! Lots of photos later and we were done with the tour.

By this time we were starving and decided to get some lunch. We went into the Seabiscuit. Great atmosphere and yummy food! They even had the Seabiscuit movie playing on a TV there.

After lunch we walked some of the shops and then we headed back to the boat. It was beautiful out by this time so we were able to ride up top on the way back to St. Ignace. Skyy really thought that was cool having the wind in her hair. She even got splashed a little bit and she screamed with glee for that.

Once back on the mainland we went to the bridge overlook to get some shots of the Mackinaw Bridge.

We had a great time and we are both so happy that Skyy was able to share this wonderful day with us!!

Traverse City Day 1

2008-07-07T23:08:00.003-05:00

We arrived at my Dad's about midnight last night after a mostly uneventful trip north. Our excitement on the way up was a stop at the worst Pizza Hut I have ever been to. Fun Fun!!

We woke up this morning and went to say hi to Grandpa Elliott before his trip to Saginaw. Dad was taking him down for more physical therapy for his new legs. Grandpa does not want to go but I think that it is good for him and how awesome would it be for him to walk again. Even if it is with a walker.

Next stop was Mom's house to meet DA with Skyy and get ready for our day. Once showered and ready we head down to F&M park for the turtle races. We are hoping to get Skyy into it but when we arrive there about probably 100-150 kids in line already. We instead decide to play on the jungle gyms and such. Skyy is having a great time and I am getting a lot of comments on how brave she is. Nothing holds her back and she tries it all. Even the "fireman" pole and succeeds no problem. We do go over and watch the races for a bit and it is so cute seeing all the kids pound on the platform to get their turtle to move to the outside the fastest. We head back to the Copy Shop to pick up the car and say goodbye to my Mom.

Next on the agenda is lunch. We decide on Sleders. They have awesome nachos and the restaurant is just a cool place. Skyy wants nothing to do with it and our conversation went something like this.

Skyy:Where are we having lunch Aunt Jen?

Me:We are going to Sleder's

Skyy:I don't like it there

Me:You have never been there so how do you know you don't like it?

Skyy:Well, what do they have there?

Me:Everything

Skyy:But what if I don't like it Aunt Jen?

I then proceed to tell her that if it is that bad we will leave. She ended up having a great time. She and I split the nachos and she ate quite a bit. She wanted nothing to do with kissing the moose though, she said that was "disgusting!"

With it being hot out we headed to the beach. Bryant Park was our destination and it was perfect. There was not to many people there and there was lots of parking. We found our spot on the sand and Skyy was off. Shaun and I got cozy on our towels and Skyy started playing at the edge of the water. Shaun tried burying her in the sand but she wanted nothing to do with that. She is so funny! While we were sitting there Brad (Shaun's Brother) walked up. Totally crazy as he also lives in another city and the chance of us being at the same beach at the same time is slim. (Yes, even in a small town) We ended up staying at the beach a couple hours and then decided it was time to get out of the sun.

We hopped in the car and headed out to Old Mission Peninsula. I wanted to take Skyy out to see the lighthouse. She fell asleep on the way out there but all that running around it was good for her to nap for a few. It was great to drive out there and see the beauty of the peninsula, it is defiantly one of the things I miss about living here.

Dinner was at Grandma and Grandpa Raney's for all. Mom, Aunt Lynda, Randy, and all 4 boys were there and it was a great time. Getting all 4 boys together is rare these days so when it happens you are bound to do LOTS of laughing!! It was good to catch up with everyone. We talked with David about his recent trip to Chicago, Andy about his wedding on the cruise last month, Adam about his giving up a car and riding his bike everywhere and Ryan, well Ryan is Ryan and that is enough for me :) Aunt Lynda also told me that she and Randy are getting married this Sunday! Congrats Aunt Lynda and (Soon to be) Uncle Randy! I can't wait to see the pictures!

Mom, Skyy and I came back to the house just in time to catch the final of the Bachelorette. I was so happy that she picked Jesse. I think they had great chemistry and they will have a great life together. My brother had a small bonfire in the back yard and I did get to enjoy a yummy smore. Well, I got to enjoy it after my brother removed the junebug on steroids off of me. YUCK!

Now, here I sit writing this entry with my Mom's Shitzu Sheena on my lap shaking like a leaf. It is storming pretty good right now and she is having an anxiety attack. Poor thing! Hopefully the storm is over quick.

176 photos later I had a great day! Here are a few of the shots I got. We are off to Mackinac Island tomorrow and I will update when I get back :)

New hair again

2008-07-02T22:59:00.001-05:00

So for the last few days I have been thinking that my hair was getting long again. I went to get it tonight after work and decided to get highlights also. This was my first time getting it done professionally and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!! I had Shaun take a couple pics. None of them really shows how great it looks. Here is a sample anyways. Later!

Taste of Chicago

2008-07-01T23:44:00.004-05:00

So yesterday Shaun and I went down to Grant Park to take in the Taste of Chicago. I think I am still full from all the yummy food I ate. We rode the Ferris wheel and I got some great shots of the event. For those of you who don't know what taste is, let me explain. It is a week long event that welcomes probably millions of people. You buy your tickets at $8 for 12 tickets. Then you walk around and find food you want to try. Items are 10 tickets and under and all booths have a "taste portion" of one of their items that is usually 3 tickets. I had a Chicken Parmesan sandwich, fried ravioli, Italian fries and the most incredible brownie and ice cream desert. Shaun had a Chicago dog, pot stickers, chicken nuggets and chocolate covered cheesecake on a stick. We will be down there again on Thursday for the fireworks so I may have to try some more goodies :) Here are some pics.

Great Weekend!

2008-07-01T23:30:00.003-05:00

Shaun and I went to Indy this last weekend to visit Mike and Mindy for Mikes B-day. We had a great time and James and Cheryl even drove up from Louisville for dinner on Saturday. Saturday Mindy and I did some shopping. I bought a super hot dress at Kohl's for a whopping $5.90!! I love it though and I can't wait to wear it! Sat night after dinner the girls headed to Broad Ripple for a girls night. I had way to much to drink but I had a great time so I guess it is all worth it. Here are a few pics

The girls at Average Joe'sMike and Mindy at the party on Friday night

I love this photo of me so I had to share :o)

Cubs vs. Sox GO CUBS!

2008-06-23T00:10:00.003-05:00

So the first weekend of the crosstown classic ended today in a SWEEP!!! Dempster pitched a Hell of a game the fans were on their feet for him! WTG Ryan! I did not get to see Kerry pitch but I am OK with that because we won!! They are going to the Cell on Friday to hopefully sweep them on their turf too. GO CUBBIES!!!!!

WOWZA! That was quite the hail storm!!

2008-06-22T23:07:00.002-05:00

Shaun and I were taking quick naps today when we were woken to the sound of a HUGE hail storm. I think it lasted about 10 minutes and the hail was as big as a quarter. It was so loud against the windows and the air conditioner unit. Hopefully it did not do any damage to the car. It kept raining so I did not get a chance to go look. Here are a few pictures I got. I wanted to get a couple when it was really coming down and the hail was at it's largest but I would have put myself and the camera in the line of fire and trust me that would not have felt good!

In other news Micah and Alison are in their new place now. Shaun took the South shore train to South Bend and Micah picked him up at the airport there. They moved loads to the new house from the storage unit all day and then I headed there after work. After going 50 miles out of the way from getting lost I was there. We had a lot of fun sitting up and talking till way late. This morning we hung around the house, had really horrible service at the Steak and Shake there and then came home. Looking forward to going back soon!

Father's Day

2008-06-18T23:18:00.003-05:00

It was great being in Traverse City for Father's Day. It was a full packed couple days but I was able to spend the last couple hours in town with my Dad. I went a little crazy uploading photos for this one because Skyy was there and I got SO many great picks of her with my new camera. Here are a few of my favorites. Enjoy!

Me and my Dad

Dad and Grandpa

My Brother and Skyy
DA and Skyy playing

Dad planting flowers for Grandpa. He does this every year
Sweet Sweet Skyy
Me and Skyy
Shaun and Skyy
How could I leave out this super silly one :)

A Graduation Party

2008-06-16T19:07:00.004-05:00

I went home last weekend for a very special Graduation Party. Almost 11 years ago I lost my best friend in a car accident 3 days before Christmas. That is definitely one of the hardest things I have ever dealt with. I am blessed that her family is still in my life. This weekend her little brother (well he will always be little in my mind) had his graduation party. I had to be there to celebrate with him. It was so wonderful to see so many people from my past and the flood of memories it brought back was almost overwhelming. Here are a few pictures of the event.

Graduation Boy (Troy) Hard to believe that I have known him his whole life!!
Older Brother David who was my boyfriend when I was like 12 LOL!Lynn (Their Mom) and Davids little guy AustinDavid and our old friend Corey

Thank you Grandma!!

2008-06-16T18:58:00.002-05:00

When I went home this last weekend, my Grandma showed me the quilt that she made for me. Every single stitch was done by hand and it is absolutly AMAZING!!! My Grandma is so talented in many ways and I am so proud to have another thing mae with love by her. I am looking forward to putting it on my bed! Thank you Grandma!!

Quickutz Mania!!

2008-06-13T12:07:00.001-05:00

Wednesday at work, Spencer from Quickutz visited for a fun filled night. The Windy City QT's and several other Quickutz addicts joined us for a make and take and some awesome prizes! I was so jealous of the girls that attended! Working at Windy City I am not eligible for the prizes and man were they good ones. Everyone walked away with at least one goody. The 3 grand prize winners; Dominique, Carol and Heather all received a $100 Quickutz shopping spree. YAY!! The bottom photo is a whole nother story. We will just say that Spencer was helping Susan "see" her crush. Thank you Spencer for visiting and we will see you next month during CHA!

My new haircut

2008-06-10T23:11:00.003-05:00

So a few people have requested new haircut pictures. Shaun took several but I HATE how I look in pictures!! I know, crazy since I am a scrapbooker and I am constantly taking pictures. Oh well. This one that I am posting was the best of the bunch. Anywhoo, here ya go!

Seriously!!!!

2008-06-08T19:39:00.002-05:00

OK, so Memorial weekend I found a grey hair. Today...I found 5 more. Are you flipping kidding me???? I am only 28 years old! I should NOT have grey hair yet. Shaun is just kind of laughing it off but it is really kind of freaking me out a bit. If it starts to get bad enough where I notice it without looking I will start dying my hair.

Enough about the hair stresses. Yesterday I got my hair cut again and I LOVE how this guy cut it! The last lady that did it butchered it so I was a little worried to get it cut again but Mario was great. I am defiantly going back there. :)

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Photoshoot photos finally!!!

2008-06-06T13:32:00.005-05:00

Well blogger is finally uploading my photos. I took these (and 95 others) photos on Tuesday when I went over to Sesil's for the day. I am SO loving my new camera. All three kids seemed to enjoy being in front of the camera so that made it easy for me. It was so hard to chose what photos to post but these were my favorites :)

Frustration!!

2008-06-05T22:17:00.002-05:00

OK, For 2 days now I have been trying to upload pictures on here. For some reason blogger will NOT let me upload ANY photos. GRRRRRRR!!!!!!!

Well, When I am able to add photos again I will be posing some of the pictures I took of Sesil and the kids. I was over there on Tuesday and I took almost 100 pictures (99 to be exact) and all but about 10 of them were great. I SO love my new camera and I can't wait to go home next weekend and get some great pics of Skyy.

Until later (hopefully with photos)

Glitz Glitz Glitz

2008-06-03T22:23:00.003-05:00

Let's see... Last month for my design team packet at work I chose the Glitz packet. I have really liked their products since it arrived in the store so I decided it was time to play a bit. The papers were fun to work with and super cute! I really liked the frosting "bling" as well. I was really able to make the silhouette on the Friends page really stand out. I hope you enjoy these pages. I really enjoyed creating them!

Nice Weather is here to stay....

2008-06-02T23:26:00.002-05:00

I hope!! The last 3 days have been absolutely beautiful and it is about damn time!!! I was getting so sick of the crappy weather and it was starting to bring me down. The last few days I have work tank tops and shorts/skirt and I LOVE IT!!!! With the warm weather comes grilling out and I love to do that! The last 2 nights we have made burgers on the grill and man were they good :)

I just had to share in my happiness. I hope that you are all having beautiful weather wherever you are too :)

Memorial Weekend

2008-05-28T23:23:00.003-05:00

Shaun and I had a great weekend. We both had to work on Saturday but we had Sunday and Monday off. On Sunday we drove over to Downers Grove and I stopped at Memories and Beyond to scope out what they had. I picked up a few baseball items that will be great with all the Cubs pictures I have. After that we drove around Oak Park to check out some of the Frank Lloyd Wright houses. Man, those are some cool houses! We are going to try to get back and do the tour. We got back into the city and did our grocery shopping for the next day and went home to relax for the rest of the night and watch National Treasure 2. Sunday we woke up and went to Home Depot to pick up a stand and gas for our new grill. It's not Memorial Day if you don't grill out!! :D We came back to the house and we did some cleaning and put the air conditioners in and then chilled out until dinner. We had picked up some steaks and I was so excited to try them out on the new grill. They were SUPER yummy and I made cheesy scalloped potatoes to go with it. Dinner was great! The day was great other than it went from 85 degrees down to about 49 degrees in a mater of minutes, literally!! Gotta love the Midwest. Here are a few pics that we took over the weekend. Enjoy!

So I went out last night...

2008-05-24T22:24:00.003-05:00

and I went to Crobar for my first time. This is a club here in Chicago that is pretty well known with celebrities visiting and such. I went with Sesil for the Thunder from down under show. Wow those were some good looking boys!! After the show they opened the club up for everyone. I danced my ass of and had the best time with Sesil and her friends. My legs are killing me from all the dancing and my wallet hurts from the $15 cosmos and for the fact that I threw my license away (yeah, that is a story that makes me feel like a dip shit!). The night was great since it started of being pulled over and going to the police station to get Sesil's drivers license back. I can't wait to go there again!! Here are a couple photos :)

My new Camera

2008-05-22T20:34:00.002-05:00

We received our stimulus check on Monday. YAY! We had talked about several things to do with it. Use it for our trip to Philly in August or Pay off medical bills. After my Mom visited Mothers Day weekend and I had played with her camera I decided that is what I wanted to do with the money. We decided on a Nikon D60. I have played a little bit and I LOVE it!! It takes beautiful photos. I am looking at getting a book for it so I can learn to shoot in manual. Look for lots of pictures on here now :)

10 things I love about........

2008-05-17T19:47:00.002-05:00

10 things I love about living in Chicago

1. Thousands of restaurants to eat at
2. Wrigley Field! I love watching games there
3. Public transportation. Nothing better than having a few to many drinks and not having to drive
4. It is on Lake Michigan and has beautiful beaches
5. The chance to make really great money
6. I LOVE my job working at Windy City Scrapbooking
7. Opportunity for friends and family to visit
8. I can never say I am bored
9. The museums we can and will visit
10. Broadway plays at my doorstep

All in all this is a great place to live and I am so happy we are here.

If I could

2008-05-16T19:31:00.002-05:00

Today on Scrapperie Colleen gave us the prompt "I want to take off 3 months to..."

I had to really think about this and I really like what I came up with. If I could I would take off June, July and August. What I would do in those months is go to every single Cubs game in those 3 months. Either home or away games. Seriously, I think that it would just be so much fun to be "roadies" with the Cubs! Maybe we could even work it to where the team knew and we would be their special guests at some of the games. I would also love seeing all the other Fields in the League. I know that they would not be anything like Wrigley but I would enjoy seeing them anyways. That is what I would do with 3 months off

What an amazing weekend!

2008-05-12T14:54:00.003-05:00

I will start by saying that I wish you all had a wonderful Mothers Day. I know that we did! We had our Moms here for a fun filled BUSY weekend. We spoiled them a bit and I think they had a great time!

Saturday we headed downtown and went to Buca's for lunch. There spagetti is SO good and we all loved the little tour that they give you through the kitchen before they seat you. Definatly unique! After lunch we went and saw a few sights on our way to the surprise destination. We were able to get a few great shots along the way.

Our surprise destination was WICKED!!! They had NO idea that it was coming and boy were they surprised! We went right in and took in the amazing beauty of the Oriental Theatre. That place is like a palace. Our seats were in the balcony so it was a different view than when Shaun and I went in January. It was still a great view and one hell of a show! The talent of these actors is unbelievable. I look forward to seeing it again one day!

After Wicked we headed to Millenium Park so my Mom could see Cloudgate (aka. the bean) No matter how many times I see this sculptor it still gets me every time!! We took several photos there and then walked over by the Face fountains. Both Mom's thought that those were pretty cool. After all that we went home, made a trip to IKEA and then hada yummy dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Day 1 is a success!!

Sunday we had tickets for the Cubs game. We did not know if we would be able to make it because the weather was nasty in the morning. Winds like crazy and it was raining pretty hard. We called the box office and they said the game was still on so we all bundled up, I grabbed 4 blankets and we headed to Wrigley Field. It was Mothers Day so the women all got pink Cubs hats. We found our seats and got ready for the game. It ended up being a great game and the Cubs won 6-4. YAY!! We then headed home and had a nice relaxing evening here at the house. It was a great weekend and I am so happy that we were able to do this for them. Hopefully they will be able to come again sometime this summer and we can show them some more sights.

Mom's are coming to Chi-Town tomorrow!!!

2008-05-08T21:35:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow is the big day and our Mom's will be arriving for a fun filled weekend. We are going to a Cubs game and then we have a BIG surprise for them on Saturday. It will be nice to spoil them for a bit. They have both had some rough things going on so I think the time away will be good for them! I will post pics throughout the weekend :)

Ouch! My mouth!!

2008-05-08T01:37:00.002-05:00

This past Monday I went to the Oral Surgeon and had 5, YES 5 teeth pulled!! Monday it was not to bad because I was all doped up with the anesthesia and being all numb. Yesterday (Tues) again not to bad and I only had to take a couple of pain pills. Today (Wed) it is not feeling so good :( I have taken more pain pills today than Mon and Tues combined. Hopefully it will start to get better tomorrow and I wont get a dry socket or something shitty like that. Thankfully I am able to eat a little bit better now. Monday was kind of rough eating only pudding, applesauce and a tiny bit of lunch meat. I hope to be all better this weekend!

Blue Man Group

2008-05-06T21:59:00.003-05:00

So, For my Birthday Shaun got me tickets for the Blue Man group. Our tickets were for April 27th. If you have not seen this show you HAVE to see it! It was absolutely unbelievable! The whole show was just off the hook. The drums, the paint, the audience participation, everything. I think my favorite part was at the end when there are probably thousands of yards of paper that makes it's way through the audience. Here are a few pics from the day.

Great time in Traverse City!!

2008-05-06T09:33:00.005-05:00

We had a great time while we were home. We went to Northern Lights and I had entirely WAY to much to drink! Saturday morning I had the worst hangover that I have EVER had! I was in super rough shape.

Going to Andy and Sassy's preception was rough but I did have a good time. It was nice to see everyone. Things got better through the day and Shaun and I had a great time with Skyy. We took her for ice cream at Bardons and then we had dinner at LaSenorita. YUM! We went back to the hotel and crashed and then Sunday morning said our goodbyes and hit the road. Glad to be back in Chicago, as much as I love going home to TC it feels good to come home to Chicago.

Here I come Traverse City!

2008-05-02T00:54:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow Shaun and I are headed home to Traverse City for the weekend. I am so excited because we have not been home since Valentines Day. That is almost 3 months and that is just way to long for me. We are hoping to leave about noon if Shaun can get out of work then. We are picking up Micah on the way and he is along for the ride. Tomorrow night we are going to Northern Lights to watch my Uncle Brooks' Band Peril play. I am really excited about this because I have not seen him play in this band yet because they are never in town on the same weekends that I am there. Saturday we are going to my cousin Andy's "Pre-Ception" He and Sassy are getting married on a cruise later in the month and are having an early party. I am looking forward to seeing lots of family. Who knows what else we will have going on but I know that I am really looking forward to this trip!!!

Last year at this time

2008-05-01T00:31:00.000-05:00

Last year at this time, I was still recovering from my emergency stomach surgery. That was HORRIBLE and I am still so thankful that my Mom came and stayed with us for a few days and helped out. I have the best Mom ever! That was not a fun way to spend my birthday!

Last year at this time, we had been in Chicago for not quite a year at that point and I was still missing home like crazy! That would soon all change when Shaun got his well deserved raise. Life started to get better at that point :) Since then we have had so many wonderful opportunities and we now really enjoy living here. It is hard to believe that on May 21st it will be 2 years that we moved here. It was definitely the best thing we've ever done for ourselves! I look forward to what the next year brings!