Quit calling me

There are many reasons that David's Bridal sucks. Today, that reason is that they sold my info out to LOTS of companies and now I get calls like crazy. I didn't know this at the time, but when you are filling out their information form before you try on dresses, there is a line at the bottom (in very small print) where you can opt out of them selling your phone number to other vendors. I never saw such line, but wish I would have! These vendors are relentless, too. There is a website called whocallsme.com and every time I put in an unknown number that called me, it comes up as being associated with David's Bridal. ANNOYING!

On a completely different topic... last night, I was reading Twilight before going to bed and I totally got sucked in. Next thing I knew, I had finished the book and it was 1:30am. Ridiculous! I'm looking forward to the next three books. I'm like an addicted teenager. : )

Trip to Michigan

Matt's family held their annual reunion this past weekend. We stayed in Benton Harbor, Michigan, at this place called The Darn Barn. It's basically a huge barn/house that has been remodeled with 7 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms, two kitchens, a game room, etc.



Some highlights of the trip:

The sunsets
Every night, we walked over to the lake and watched the sunset. Gorgeous! Yes, that is a picture of the sun setting in my beer. Not really sure why, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. While we were watching the sunset one night, Matt's cousin Kyle's little girl (Addison) went over and gave the dog a big hug... she's a cutie-pie!

The beach
There were hardly any people on the beach in the area, so it was very nice! Matt and I took a few walks up and down the beach. The sand was actually "squeaky" in some places, which I thought was strange. The kids loved playing in the sand and built castles and were full of sand by the time we got back to the house each day! So was Max the dog! I enjoyed getting some rays (too many!) and making progress on my book (Twilight!)

The campfire
Each night, Matt's uncle John built a fire in the fire pit and we sat around and had a few beers and told stories, jokes, played games, roasted marshmallows (or as Delaney would say "smarshmellows") and made s'mores.

The cow
I'm not really sure why the kids were so infatuated with this plastic cow, but it kept them busy for hours! Seriously! It had no ears and no tail and looked like it had seen better days, but that didn't matter to them. They rode on the cow, dragged the cow back and forth from the dog pen, sat the cow around the campfire with all of us. They asked Delaney what kind of cow it was and she said matter-of-factly, "an ice cream cow". Nice. :)

The food
I don't have any pictures of this, but they split up meals and everyone was responsible for part of a meal. We were in charge of ice cream sundaes on Sunday night... and they were delish! But, we had everything from hot dogs and hamburgers to chili to grilled chicken with avocado and cheese... plus, all the salads, cakes, cookies, fruit... it was all so good! YUM! Lots of good cooks in this family! No one went hungry, that's for sure!

Some not-so-high-lights of the trip:

The stairs
Ok, I mentioned that we could walk to the beach, but I didn't mention the path we had to take to get there and back. There was some debate over exactly how many stairs there were, but I think Matt counted around 220 and his GPS told us it was a drop of 160 feet from the top of the stairs to the bottom. Getting down wasn't that bad, but the hike back up was not fun. Especially carrying all the beach gear we had.

From the top looking down... you can barely see the bottom from the top!


Half way up... the sun beating down on us didn't help matters

Awful sunburn
I got an awful sunburn on Saturday at the beach. I thought I would put on some sunscreen once I got a little sun, then I would be fine. But, that plan failed when I didn't realize I was getting sun and put on the sunscreen about an hour too late. Ugh. No pictures, it's not a pretty sight!

Coming home
Having to leave this morning and come back to work. Boo!

The weekend was a lot of fun... there was quite a crowd, almost everyone was able to make it for at least part of the weekend. We're looking forward to seeing them all again soon... in about a month for David and Heather's wedding... then in the Bahamas for our wedding and on New Year's Eve for our Chicago reception! : )

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

I'm so sleepy today. Not sure if it's because of the weather or that it's way too quiet in the office or just a long week... I just want to be snoozing right now. Maybe I'll pull a George Costanza and hide out under my desk for a quick catnap. : )

On Wednesday, Matt's mom came to Chicago. We went out to dinnner at The Grocery Bistro. Lots of interesting drama at that place, I guess. According to the chef that used to work there, the owner never paid him or his family for other work they did and he had to quit. His parents now camp out in a van with a huge sign on it across the street from the Grocery Bistro on busy nights. I didn't take this pic and you can't read it... I'll try to get a better pic sometime.


On Thursday, Matt's mom and I went shopping for dresses for her to wear to the wedding and the NYE reception. We lucked out and found both at House Of Brides. And they were a great price! We met up with Matt on his team outing later at Market bar in the West Loop. The Stoli Vodka girls were there walking around blind-folding people and giving away free Stoli drinks. I'm not really sure why the blindfolds were necessary, but whatever.

After that, we went to dinner at Vivo. I love this place! Everything I've had there is really good. I had scallops that came with mashed potatoes and spinach... I was so full when I got home!

Today, we are all heading to MI for Matt's family reunion. They've rented a big house/barn for everyone to stay at that is right by the beach. Now, let's just hope the weather cooperates!

Leftovers

Tonight, I finished off the final "leftovers" from Hany's bachelorette party. Matt will be happy that we no longer have an ice cube tray full of these things in the freezer! : )

4 months to go

Matt reminded me today that we have four months from today to go until our wedding... I can't believe it! It's sneaking up on us, that's for sure! : )

Back to work

Mondays after long weekends always suck. Lucky for me, I have another long weekend coming up!

A wrap up of what happened this past weekend...

On Thursday night, Matt and I checked out that new place Market over by us. They have a restaurant/bar indoors, outdoor patio w/tv's and a rooftop deck (for drinks only). It's a pretty cool place and the food/drinks were good. The service was not the greatest. But we were entertained with all the people watching we were doing while we waited.

On Friday, I joined Erin's gym, Lakeshore Athletic Club (by the Aon building). I'm starting my "countdown to the wedding" workouts! The gym is gi-normous and has tons of cool equipment and classes.

Friday night, Matt and I ordered in and watched Burn After Reading... awful awful awful. Two thumbs down. Matt looked at me at one point and said "when is this movie going to end?" And then about 5 minutes later, it just ended. Credits rolling, finito. Yo, Brad Pitt, what were you thinking??? I'd like those two hours of my life back, please!

Saturday, the weather was crappy... so much for that awesome forecast. Boo! I met up with Erin for what was supposed to be a 1.5 hour Step and Sculpt class. Turns out it was an hour of Advanced Step and an hour of Muscle Conditioning. And the instructor for Advanced Step was Hector and he was a dancer. I am not a dancer and if this class had been video-taped, someone could have won $1 million from America's Funniest Home Videos! I'm surprised I didn't hurt myself or someone around me.

Matt and I had a few people over for a BBQ. In honor of the 4th of July holiday and keeping with our around the world beer tours, we did a US Beer Tour. All kinds of US Beers from different states. You keep track of where you've been with a star on the state the beer is from.

Matt's map is on the bottom left, mine is on the bottom right. As you can see, Matt did a lot more "traveling" than I did. I don't think I ever made it back to IL. I think Michelle's is on the top left and Andy's is on the top right. Michelle was particularly fond of Colorado!


Lots of bottles in the recycling room!



We played Disaster and some finger on a glass game (not sure what the name was). By the end of Saturday, I felt like a whale... or maybe that I had eaten a whale. So much food and beer... kind of like Thanksgiving without the turkey. We finished the night off with a round of karoake. : )

Sunday = relaxation! I took a few naps, did some laundry, started reading Twilight while sitting on our balcony soaking up the rays. I've had that book series since Christmas and am just starting on it. It was a great day!

Quiet

It's like a ghost-town today in the office. In the six-pack of cubes I sit, no one is here. I'm having a hard time wanting to work right now. Instead, I did a little internet shopping. Dangerous. I think my brain is already on holiday! : ) Luckily for me, I have no deadlines today... otherwise I'd be in a world of hurt.

Talk about the merger has died down some now that the initial shock has worn off. I can't wait to hear how things are all going to shake out in the end. It's going to be an interesting few years coming up here at "TW". : )