New balls

Today, Matt and I went to Simmons Pro Shop and got a couple new bowling balls.

I got a basic ball...


and Matt got a hook ball.


We went bowling at Waveland afterwards to test them out. Lucky for us (lots of sarcasm there), we were there right in the middle of the kids' birthday party time. So, that means they did the cosmic bowling and we got to sing happy birthday twice. : )

Totally forgot to post this pic

Erin's cat Zoe likes to lay around with her big belly sprawled out on the floor anywhere that is warm. She would probably sleep in the oven if Erin let her! Erin turned on the fireplace and Zoe did not leave it's side for hours. She loves it! She even cried the next day to have it turned on again!

The Bachelor

The new season of the Bachelor started Monday night. I watched alone because Matt was working until the wee hours of the morning (literally)... at the office. Damn disclosures! : (

Anyway, I was surprised to see in the previews that DeAnna is coming back... what is wrong with her? I'm sure Jesse will love that. I hope it's just for one episode.

It looks like Jason will be getting lots of action... in every preview he was making out with one girl or another.

Is it just me or did all those girls seem like giants next to Jason... he must be really short!

It's too early for me to name a favorite. I do have some not so favorites, but they already got booted, so at least Jason and I are on the same wavelength there. I think some of the girls got a wee bit drunk, more so than I remember in other premieres. I felt embarrassed for that girl, Jackie, that had a meltdown when she got booted, saying she had already planned out her entire wedding to Jason. Wow, good call on that one, Jason!

Should be an interesting season!

Shamrock Shuffle

Registration for the Shamrock Shuffle is open... sign up! The race is an 8k and is on March 29th. As part of my New Year's resolutions, I'm hoping to run it in less time than I did last year. Plus, I need to jump start the wedding diet so this gives me an incentive! : )

And you thought you were having a bad day...

Check out this skier in Vail... poor guy!



He was dangling from the ski lift and his pants were stuck in the chair!

Back to the daily grind

Last week, I was actually thinking to myself "it might be nice to get back to work and a normal routine again". What was wrong with me?!? I've been back at the office today for less than 8 hours and I'm already retracting that statement.

The past few days have flown by...

On New Year's Day, I veg'd out at Erin's place watching football. I may have eaten the equivalent of six full meals (LOTS of food!) and had one beer. My headache from the champagne on NYE kept me from drinking too much. It was a nice (relaxing) time!

On Friday, I did what any newly engaged girl does... I got a manicure. I was in dire need of one and I had the day off, so what the heck! I also got an eyebrow wax and the woman laughed at how bad my eyebrows had grown out. Seriously, lady - you should have seen me in high school... this is NOTHING!!! She actually showed me the tape with the wax and my eyebrows to prove to me it was bad. Thanks.

My parents drove up for a visit and to celebrate xmas with my Dad's side of the family. So, we hung out on Friday and had dinner at Pete's pizza... love that place!

On Saturday, Matt and I stopped off at Shannon and Tim's place in Downer's Grove to drop off a mirror. Shannon works with us and her husband does woodworking and is going to replace the cheap frame on the mirror with something really nice. I can't wait to see the finished product!

We then drove to Arlington Heights to my aunt Amy and uncle Dan's place. They had arranged an appt with a tire shop near them so I could get new tires. Turns out 8 years is about all tires can take! Actually, I've been needing them for a while now. Last time I drove, the tires were so flat, the car was barely drivable. It felt like we were riding on ocean waves or something and I was barely going 15 mph. We went through two rounds of quarters on the air machine at the gas station and Matt wasn't even finished with the 4th tire! Not good.

We spent the day visiting with my family and eating more food. We played Catch Phrase and Scattegories. It was good to catch up with everyone, especially since I have missed the Duesterhaus xmas the past few years since I was in the NL.

On Sunday, my mom stopped in at Matt's place and we picked out some curtains for Matt's living room. I'm excited to see how the room will look once they are installed. Funny thing is that we looked at TONS of different fabrics and patterns and we basically came back to the one Matt had picked out as his very first favorite. Strange how that works.

We had lunch at Flat Top... yum! And for the rest of the day, I veg'd out on the couch and researched stuff for the wedding. I also took a little snooze and caught up on my sudoku. : )

Pop the champagne!

Not only was it New Year's Eve, but we had another very good reason to celebrate...

MATT AND I GOT ENGAGED!!!

I was SO surprised! Matt had already told me that a proposal was definitely not happening in 2008, so I really wasn't expecting anything for a little bit longer.

We had been getting everything set up for our little NYE get-together and then we were relaxing on the couch. Matt suggested we go ahead and open a bottle of champagne, because we might have something to celebrate and I was thinking, "huh?" It took me a minute to figure out what he was actually doing. It hit me when he got down on one knee and pulled out the ring. I sat there in shock with my jaw dropped. I don't even remember what he said or what I said... I'm pretty sure I made him ask me again after the initial shock wore off! But I definitely remember saying "YES"! The ring is absolutely beautiful... Matt did an awesome job! We are both so excited! : )

We finished off the bottle of champagne and called our parents to let them know the good news. We waited to tell Erin until she showed up at the party to see how long it would take her to notice on her own. I tried very hard not to have a big grin on my face because that would have been a total give-a-way. It took less than 5 minutes and Hany and Erin both noticed at the same time!

I tried to get a good picture of the two of us from NYE, but Matt was having none of it (as usual)! I think the champagne had kicked in at this point! : )

Take #1


Take #2


Take #3


Success!


We had a nice group for NYE and we played a couple of games and drank lots of champagne! That explains the big headache the next morning! Ugh!

Lauren and Lee toasting


Ross, Erin, Matt and Brett goofin' on the couch


This is what happens when I start drinking champagne so early in the evening! Zzzzzzz...