Yesterday, we got our pictures and DVD of our wedding ceremony from the Bahamas. Yay!
During the Bears halftime, I popped in the DVD so we could watch it. Wow... there should be a cheese factor warning on the label. It was pretty funny to watch. They added some extra footage of random stuff and music. Like when I was walking down the aisle, all of the sudden, trumpets were playing and the music got very loud. Ummm... I don't remember any trumpets??? It was so windy that the sound isn't that great in places, so they probably just supplemented in those parts.
Overall, I'm glad we have something to watch and remember the day by, even if it is super cheesy.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Christmas went by too fast!
Matt and I drove back to Rochester in the POURING rain on Thursday afternoon. I was happy when we finally made it home!
We always celebrate Christmas Eve with some family friends and we alternate houses where we have dinner. This year, it was our house (trying out the new kitchen!) We all drank lots of wine, ate lots of good food and enjoyed catching up with everyone. Afterwards, we went to midnight mass, well actually it's 10pm mass. It's always a struggle to stay awake after the wine and food. I don't think there was any snoring this year!
Typical Matt - hanging out on xmas eve
It wouldn't be the holidays if someone didn't change up N-O-E-L!
On Christmas, we woke up early and opened gifts. Everyone got lots of nice things for each other!
My brother always wraps his gifts in old movie posters from the theater
The guys all got Bears gear from my mom for xmas
Merry xmas from the street - Matt's xmas shirt
On Christmas, my gramma, aunt, uncle and cousin came over for the afternoon. We ate more food, drank more drinks and relaxed at home. Awesome day!
The day after Christmas, Matt and I decided to go check out the local Chevy dealership. We've been talking about trading in my old car for a while (we missed out on the cash for clunkers program... boo!) and getting a more practical car. So, I've been doing some research and found a car with everything we're looking for at a dealership in Springfield. We got there and they said they didn't have the car... and that they didn't have any of the particular car I wanted to get (Chevy Equinox) on the lot to test drive. They apparently are selling faster than they've been getting them in. Anyway, long story short, we gave them the VIN I had from the internet and they found the car... and we bought it! Turns out it was a custom order that came in as white instead of silver, so the buyer didn't want it. But, it was marked as SOLD in the back lot, so no other salespeople were even showing it. Guess it was our lucky day! Merry xmas to us! : )
After about four hours of negotiating, paperwork, financing, blah, blah, blah, we drove off the lot with our new car! We drove to Quincy to visit the rest of my Mom's side of the family. The drive was crappy - lots of snow. Good thing we had all-wheel drive on the new car!
Matt and me with my grandparents
I was experimenting with the different settings on my camera and took this picture. I thought it was cool and then I realized you could actually see me taking the picture in the reflection of the ornament. Oops!
The Christmas tree at my aunt and uncle's house is very pretty!
Someone (I'm not naming any names!) replaced baby Jesus with a can a Bud Light. It was funny at the time, but probably a little sacrilegious.
Gramma and Grampa with all the grand-kids
Gramma and Grampa with their kids
Adding in the in-laws (aka the outlaws)
We had a great time hanging out with everyone and it seemed to go by so fast. Luckily, we'll see them all again in a few days at the NYE party!
Erin, Ross, Brett, Matt and I all caravan-ed back to Chicago today in the crappy snow. The trip from Quincy to Springfield was not too much fun. For a while, there was only one lane cleared off and snow blowing everywhere. About halfway through, I ended up switching with Matt so he could drive because the roads and snow were stressing me out. From Springfield to Chicago, it wasn't too bad.
We're back at home now relaxing... our foot and a half Christmas tree kind of fails in comparison to the others, but it's all we got!
Hope everyone had a happy holiday and made it back home safely!
We always celebrate Christmas Eve with some family friends and we alternate houses where we have dinner. This year, it was our house (trying out the new kitchen!) We all drank lots of wine, ate lots of good food and enjoyed catching up with everyone. Afterwards, we went to midnight mass, well actually it's 10pm mass. It's always a struggle to stay awake after the wine and food. I don't think there was any snoring this year!
Typical Matt - hanging out on xmas eve
It wouldn't be the holidays if someone didn't change up N-O-E-L!
On Christmas, we woke up early and opened gifts. Everyone got lots of nice things for each other!
My brother always wraps his gifts in old movie posters from the theater
The guys all got Bears gear from my mom for xmas
Merry xmas from the street - Matt's xmas shirt
On Christmas, my gramma, aunt, uncle and cousin came over for the afternoon. We ate more food, drank more drinks and relaxed at home. Awesome day!
The day after Christmas, Matt and I decided to go check out the local Chevy dealership. We've been talking about trading in my old car for a while (we missed out on the cash for clunkers program... boo!) and getting a more practical car. So, I've been doing some research and found a car with everything we're looking for at a dealership in Springfield. We got there and they said they didn't have the car... and that they didn't have any of the particular car I wanted to get (Chevy Equinox) on the lot to test drive. They apparently are selling faster than they've been getting them in. Anyway, long story short, we gave them the VIN I had from the internet and they found the car... and we bought it! Turns out it was a custom order that came in as white instead of silver, so the buyer didn't want it. But, it was marked as SOLD in the back lot, so no other salespeople were even showing it. Guess it was our lucky day! Merry xmas to us! : )
After about four hours of negotiating, paperwork, financing, blah, blah, blah, we drove off the lot with our new car! We drove to Quincy to visit the rest of my Mom's side of the family. The drive was crappy - lots of snow. Good thing we had all-wheel drive on the new car!
Matt and me with my grandparents
I was experimenting with the different settings on my camera and took this picture. I thought it was cool and then I realized you could actually see me taking the picture in the reflection of the ornament. Oops!
The Christmas tree at my aunt and uncle's house is very pretty!
Someone (I'm not naming any names!) replaced baby Jesus with a can a Bud Light. It was funny at the time, but probably a little sacrilegious.
Gramma and Grampa with all the grand-kids
Gramma and Grampa with their kids
Adding in the in-laws (aka the outlaws)
We had a great time hanging out with everyone and it seemed to go by so fast. Luckily, we'll see them all again in a few days at the NYE party!
Erin, Ross, Brett, Matt and I all caravan-ed back to Chicago today in the crappy snow. The trip from Quincy to Springfield was not too much fun. For a while, there was only one lane cleared off and snow blowing everywhere. About halfway through, I ended up switching with Matt so he could drive because the roads and snow were stressing me out. From Springfield to Chicago, it wasn't too bad.
We're back at home now relaxing... our foot and a half Christmas tree kind of fails in comparison to the others, but it's all we got!
Hope everyone had a happy holiday and made it back home safely!
It's like a new house!
My parents re-habbed the old kitchen, living room and entry way of our house. When I walked in, it was like a different house. It took a little while to get used to! I wish I would have taken more "before" pictures, because it's amazing how different it looks!
The new eating area
My Mom LOVES her new kitchen!
I LOVE the new kitchen, too!
My Dad's favorite part - big tv over the fireplace and nice comfy couch!
They only got it finished less than a week before Christmas, but they got the tree up!
The new eating area
My Mom LOVES her new kitchen!
I LOVE the new kitchen, too!
My Dad's favorite part - big tv over the fireplace and nice comfy couch!
They only got it finished less than a week before Christmas, but they got the tree up!
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Movie night and a rant
Last night, the new movie theater in the South Loop, Showplace ICON, opened to the public. They had given away passes for you and a guest to get into a movie and everyone got a free soda and popcorn. Erin, Hany and I had a few passes and decided to check it out. There is a nice bar/lounge at the theater. If you pay $5 extra, you get to sit in the VIP upper section of the theater - more room, big chairs, tables with drink holders between every two chairs - and you get to drink alcohol from the bar in there. I think it would be an awesome place to take a date.
We saw The Informant with Matt Damon. It's about the ADM whistleblower that worked with the FBI, but had some problems of his own. It was set in Illinois (since ADM is in Decatur, IL). Good movie - basically, any movie that keeps my attention the entire time and I don't get bored is good to me! I have a short attention span sometimes. : )
Ok, and now on to my rant of the day...
Yesterday, I spent an hour shopping at Nordstrom Rack only to get to the checkout and find out my credit card was declined. Ummmm... what?!?! Seriously, I haven't even gotten close to the limit on this thing and I pay it off entirely every month. So, of course, I was not happy. I used my debit card, so all my shopping was not wasted.
I get back to work thinking that I'd have a call on my cell phone saying "please verify the charge... yada, yada, yada". Nothing. No call. So, I call them. Turns out they've declined my charges for the past two days and there was a hold on my account and no one bothered to call and tell me. The credit card company rep says to me that my charges were flagged by their fraud department.
Really??? This amazes me. One charge was a final payment on the photo booth I'm getting for NYE. I already made a payment to this same company earlier this year and that wasn't declined. The next charge was at Nordstrom Rack, a place I shop frequently.
So, all those other charges when I went to the Bahamas and charged stuff and then two days later was in St. Lucia charging stuff... that didn't raise any red flags? Or when I paid thousands of $'s for wedding stuff to Chicago and the Bahamas... no flag? Or when I bought a Wii and games at a Michigan Target randomly a week ago... this raised no flag? Even Matt's credit card wouldn't let the Wii go through (that's why I ended up using my card).
I told them to ok the photo booth charge, because I was going to be re-doing that charge. Ok, they said. Result = declined AGAIN. I call the credit card company again. They send me back to the fraud department. I tell them that they are declining a charge that I already called and ok'd. I answer all these crazy questions for them about past credit cards, car loans and bank accounts I've had, and they say it is now ok. Go ahead and re-charge. That was yesterday. I'm still waiting for the charge to go through. It's "on hold".
Ugh.
We saw The Informant with Matt Damon. It's about the ADM whistleblower that worked with the FBI, but had some problems of his own. It was set in Illinois (since ADM is in Decatur, IL). Good movie - basically, any movie that keeps my attention the entire time and I don't get bored is good to me! I have a short attention span sometimes. : )
Ok, and now on to my rant of the day...
Yesterday, I spent an hour shopping at Nordstrom Rack only to get to the checkout and find out my credit card was declined. Ummmm... what?!?! Seriously, I haven't even gotten close to the limit on this thing and I pay it off entirely every month. So, of course, I was not happy. I used my debit card, so all my shopping was not wasted.
I get back to work thinking that I'd have a call on my cell phone saying "please verify the charge... yada, yada, yada". Nothing. No call. So, I call them. Turns out they've declined my charges for the past two days and there was a hold on my account and no one bothered to call and tell me. The credit card company rep says to me that my charges were flagged by their fraud department.
Really??? This amazes me. One charge was a final payment on the photo booth I'm getting for NYE. I already made a payment to this same company earlier this year and that wasn't declined. The next charge was at Nordstrom Rack, a place I shop frequently.
So, all those other charges when I went to the Bahamas and charged stuff and then two days later was in St. Lucia charging stuff... that didn't raise any red flags? Or when I paid thousands of $'s for wedding stuff to Chicago and the Bahamas... no flag? Or when I bought a Wii and games at a Michigan Target randomly a week ago... this raised no flag? Even Matt's credit card wouldn't let the Wii go through (that's why I ended up using my card).
I told them to ok the photo booth charge, because I was going to be re-doing that charge. Ok, they said. Result = declined AGAIN. I call the credit card company again. They send me back to the fraud department. I tell them that they are declining a charge that I already called and ok'd. I answer all these crazy questions for them about past credit cards, car loans and bank accounts I've had, and they say it is now ok. Go ahead and re-charge. That was yesterday. I'm still waiting for the charge to go through. It's "on hold".
Ugh.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
The P.O. Xmas Party
On Sunday, we went to the Purple Otter Xmas party... $2 drinks on a Sunday night = DANGEROUS! : )
Ahhhh... Ross and Erin
Future bros-in-law
The hat was a little big for Sam : )
Brett, me, Erin and Ross
Notice, there are no pics of Matt anywhere. He was saddled up to the bar playing his favorite new drinking game. His iPhone has an app that lets him shake the phone and it randomly selects a drink. And then he drinks that drink. Not a tough game, by any means and I'm not sure if there is a "winner", except for the bar. And maybe the makers of Advil. : )
Ahhhh... Ross and Erin
Future bros-in-law
The hat was a little big for Sam : )
Brett, me, Erin and Ross
Notice, there are no pics of Matt anywhere. He was saddled up to the bar playing his favorite new drinking game. His iPhone has an app that lets him shake the phone and it randomly selects a drink. And then he drinks that drink. Not a tough game, by any means and I'm not sure if there is a "winner", except for the bar. And maybe the makers of Advil. : )
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Sitting at work...
Enjoying a beer! : )
You would think this is awesome... but, I'm actually doing work. Matt is in the conference room drinking beer, not doing work. Seriously - I am not busy any other day except the one of our company holiday party! Any other day, I could leave for 4 hours and come back and no one would notice. Ugh.
You would think this is awesome... but, I'm actually doing work. Matt is in the conference room drinking beer, not doing work. Seriously - I am not busy any other day except the one of our company holiday party! Any other day, I could leave for 4 hours and come back and no one would notice. Ugh.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
It's going to take some time...
...to get used to my new name!
Today, I was filling out the email to send in to change my name at work and I got through the form and realized that I had typed my OLD name in everywhere. Yep, I'm changing my name from Stacia Duesterhaus to Stacia Duesterhaus. Oops!
It's harder than I realized to change my name. And I'm not just talking logistically. I mean, I've had this name for 35 years! I never really questioned that I would change my name when I got married. I always thought I would. But now that I'm doing it, it's kind of sad in a weird sort of way. How crazy is that???
Today, I was filling out the email to send in to change my name at work and I got through the form and realized that I had typed my OLD name in everywhere. Yep, I'm changing my name from Stacia Duesterhaus to Stacia Duesterhaus. Oops!
It's harder than I realized to change my name. And I'm not just talking logistically. I mean, I've had this name for 35 years! I never really questioned that I would change my name when I got married. I always thought I would. But now that I'm doing it, it's kind of sad in a weird sort of way. How crazy is that???
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