San Antonio

I've been horrible at bloggin in recent months and I blame it on my work/life balance. Since the end of September I've been to Dallas, STL, Phoenix and San Antonio all for meetings and I still have one last trip to LA before the end of the year. I know some of you may think that is the life, but traveling is getting old for me. I never thought I would say that. I still like to travel for pleasure, just not work.

Anyhow, I returned from a fun trip to San Antonio yestarday and I just had to post some of the picture from the meeting. Somehow we picked meeting dates that overlapped the San Antonio Rock n Roll half marathon and I just had to participate. It wasn't the best choice as I had to be on my feet for the remainder of Sunday afternoon, but it was well worth it for the medal and t-shirt.

Monday evening we had the pleasure of attending an event at Knibbe Ranch, just outside of SA. It is a functioning cattle ranch with event space. I witnessed my first rodeo, played with an armadillo, rode the mechanical bull and danced to the cows came home. It was alot of fun despite the hour long bus ride to get there. Here's a few photos from the night.







Our last night was filled with music by Michael Cavanaugh. He was outstanding! I have a picture of the team from that night, but it's on my phone and I haven't figured out how to upload pictures of it to my blog.

The event was a great success. Even though I am tired I really enjoy working with this group.

Comebacks

I can't believe I've seen the Cardinals go to the World Series 6 times in my life and they have won 4 times. I can only remember the last two wins and I'm constantly reminded of the 1985 loss to the KC Royals.

I can honestly say I didn't follow the Cardinals this year until the post season. I was amazed at the comeback, but didn't have a lot of faith. Living in cities (DC and Chicago) where the home team doesn't win has decreased my desire to keep up with baseball. Call me a fair weather fan, but the Cardinals will always be my number one team. I even listed them as my favorite team on my bridal shower questionnaire. Ok, they tied with my Missouri Tigers.

Since I moved from MO in 2005 I haven't been to the new stadium yet. David and I contemplated going to game 6 or 7, but a work trip prevented my from going. I listened to game 7 on my computer and saw the last inning at the bar. I may or may not have screamed when Craig Allen caught the fly ball to end the game. IMO - Craig Allen and David Freese should have been Co-MVPs.



Congrats Cardinals on a much deserved win!

Oh and a big congrats to my MIZZOU Tigers for defeating Texas A&M at home in overtime. See ya later Aggies.

The imfamous Express dress

Back in July I was thumbing through one of my many magazine subscriptions (thank you airlines miles I can't redeem for flights) and came across two new fall dress fashions. They were striped dresses from Express and American Appearal. After collecting my beach garb I headed down Oak St. (pricey store row) to American Apperal. I was a huge fan of the clean navy and white striped dress. Sadly the store did not have the dress in stock. I also realized I'm not hipster enough to pull off AA. I wasn't in love with the Express dress, but I kept it in the back of my mind.

I came across another striped dress, thanks Pinterest, from j-crew that I also adored, however, when I looked at in the store it was shapeless and frumpy. Although I did love the exposed zipper details, I passed on it and instead purchased the Express navy and red dress.

Two weeks later this dress was everywhere. David found a Yahoo story that showed all the celebs who were sporting it. I couldn't believe my eyes. As cheesy as it sounds, I have always pitured myself in one of those who wore it best ads. So here's my interpretation of that ad.

Who wore it best



20%


80%

Belated Birthday/Road trip

August was a busy month for me. Between traveling for work, taking vacation to drive across country and celebrating a big birthday, I rarely had time to keep up on my social image.

The month started out with a trip to Baltimore for work. I arrived in the midst of the 100+ degree heat wave and Odacon. Don't ask. I was even treated to a cake made by Ace of Cakes. They are as good as they look on tv.

Next up, was my flight out to San Diego. David finished with his internship and we were heading back to Chicago via our Nissan Altima. Oh, how I missed you over the summer Altima, er I mean David.

Our travels led us to visit many friends on our drive up the coast of CA. It truly is magical. I can't believe I will be an official CA girl in one year.

Our first stop on the epic road trip was LA. A couple we knew in DC recently relocated there this summer. We hadn't seen them since we moved so it was great to catch up.



Next up was hanging out with Yohan our college friend. To round out our visit to LA David scored us a tour of FOX Studios. It was awesome. Our tour guide took us around the sets where tv shows are filmed, construction of tv sets and the costume department. This was by far the highlight of the trip. Here I am modeling "Magneto"'s helmet from the recent X-MEN film. Kevin Bacon has an extremely small head. I was the only one in our group who was able to sport the helmet. We didn't get to see the taping of any shows, but it was still cool.






After our fun adventure in LA we headed to SF to visit Dylan. We of course had to stop in Santa Barbara and give a shout out to Gus and Shawn. How could you ask for a better scenery than the ocean and mountains.




We spent a few days in SF touring the city and visiting Napa. I even fulfilled a childhood dream of visiting the Full House house. The outside is pretty run down, but it was still cool to see. We caught dinner with an old high school friend of David's.









After all the fun, we spent the next three days in the car racing back to Chicago. We stop in several spots along the way. Part of the drive were pretty and the rest were excruciatingly boring.




All in all it was a fun vacation. Now would I have rather spent the time at the beach or on a cruise, probably, but with David's crazy work schedule starting next year, it was fun to take a road trip like this for the last time.

To round out the month David and I celebrated our 30th birthdays here in Chicago with friends!

College Football

Every fall I pen a post dedicated to college football. Keeping the tradition alive here is my first one of the season.

My Tigers suffered their first loss of the season this weekend. After coming back from a 14 point deficiet we missed a game winning field goal that sent us into overtime. We lost when we couldn't convert the 4th down. It's a transition year and there are plenty of other growing pains to come. I'm optimistic that my team will improve over the season and pull out a win at Homecoming next month.

I looked for some old college football photos to post, but alas that was a before digital cameras were mainstream. So, you'll have to suffer through a couple current shots taken at the Northwestern game this weekend. At least one of my teams won. Can I claim a school as my team by association through marriage?

St. Charles Fire

A few weeks ago I was awakened in the early morning to a flurry of texts from my sister. With sleepy eyes I scrolled through the text and immediately was wide awake. My sister alerted me to the fact that the house next door to my parents burned overnight. I was worried about my parents and if there house had damaged. My family was really lucky - my parents and their house were untouched by the fire.

My heart immediately went out to the family next door. I quickly learned that five people were living in the house and the (step)father and 3 yr. old girl had perished. The mom and two sons were in critical condition. The oldest son had escaped the house by climbing out of the two story window. Several days later I would learn that the mom and second oldest son passed away. My heart went out to the little boy who lost everything in one week. At least his father was still alive.

One of the most heartwarming things was how the neighborhood came together in light of this tragedy. I went home over Labor Day and was able to see for myself the memorial set up my the community and the destruction the fire caused. I feel so lucky that my parents house was unharmed. If there had been windows on the side of the house where the fire started, my parents house could have sustained a considerable amount of damage.

Here is picture of my dad and niece the day after the fire. My parents were in the news several times that week with accounts of the fire.

San Diego

Many of you know that David spent this summer in San Diego. We weren't getting our hopes up about a job offer because well the economy just sucks. However, my smarty pants, charming husband was offered a job!!!! next summer after he passes the bar we'll be headed out West. I never thought of myself as a California girl, but I'm coming around. I'm really stoked about living near the beach!

It's been awhile

Well I've been MIA all summer long. I haven't doing to much - traveling some, visiting familiy and relaxing.

Here are photos from my summer.

One of my best friends from college, Kelsi, hanging out in KC.





Our good friends the Stephens.






In SD with Bill Rancic. He used to live my apartment building in Chicago.



David and I celebrating 6 years of marriage.



My favorite sister and I.



Watching the Little Mermaid at the Muny.

Shoes, Shoes and more Shoes

I love shoes. These are the top three shoes I'm excited about right now.

Sandals
I'm sick and tired and winter and warmer temperatures can't get here soon enough. I love wearing sandals (especially flip flops), but my workplace doesn't support the oh so casual look of thongs. Instead I opt for my Jack Rogers sandals. They're casual and dressy at the same time. They are pricey, but my current pair is going on its third season.


Five Fingers
After months of ridiculing others for wearing Vibrams, I broke down and bought a pair. They definitely take some getting use to. I've been wearing them off and on during the weekends. I've been warned not to wear for long periods of time while your feet are adjusting to them. Finally it was warm enough to take them out for a trial run this weekend. We only ran 1 1/2 miles and boy are my calves sore today. The key is to slowly build up your body's tolerance to running in them.


Toms
Here's another pair of shoes grabbing attention for their campaign to provide a child in need with every shoe purchase. There's conflicting reports about the actual campaign and what really happens, but I choose to believe that this is a good cause. I'm curious if retailers provide reports to Toms on the number of shoes sold or if the campaign only works when you buy them directly through Toms. Anyway my red paid should be here any day now.

Easter

I love going to church. And although each Easter theme is generally the same I'm always amazed at how much I still have to learn about the resurrection of Christ and how it impacts my life. Today was no different.

Also equally as powerful was hearing stories of God's children coming to know him and watching them get baptized. He is truly alive!

Happy Easter.

e-mail

Yestarday YAHOO sent me an e-mail saying over the next few months all users would be upgraded to the new software. Yeah, yeah, yeah I've seen notifications recently saying that it was happening. The thing that interested me the most was the length of time I'd been using my e-mail address. Are you ready for this? It's been valid for 13 years!!! It was the first e-mail address I ever created (other than AOL). I've had this e-mail for almost half my life. I think that's incredible.

Other the years I have TRIED to distance myself from my childish e-mail, but for one reason or another it's always stuck. So I'm celebrating my relationship with YAHOO by choosing to upgrade before I'm forced to.

I'm tired of being scared of technology change. Outlook 2010 and Windows 7 I'm talking about you.

New Blog Feed

I read more blogs than I actually do blogging myself. And I'll admit I frequently surf other people's blog for new feeds. Today I found a new Chicago "fashion" blog I have started to follow http://el-no.squarespace.com/. As a sucker for fashion and entertainment news this is a nice addition to my currents daily reads.

I've always wanted to have an interesting point of view on my blog, but I rarely have exciting news or important things to report so this will continue as my free speech outlet on random stuff.

Happy Hump Day!

Bachelorette

Last night I attended a Junior League event called Windy City Nights. I was on the committee for the event and looking forward to watching all our hard work come together. We had a VIP list of local celebrities participating in our poker tournament. When reviewing the lists of celebs I didn't recognize any of them, so when I noticed a specific celeb, Frank, from the last season of the Bachelorette I was completely surprised. Secretly I wanted to get a picture with the reality "tv star", but I wasn't going to be that girl. I gushed for a few seconds before moving onto my post. Shortly thereafter while purusing the silent auction goods said celeb and date came by and we struck up a conversation about jewelry. Later while hanging out with the girls Sara and I decide we were going to search for Frank and Ed (on another season of the bachelorette) and ask for their picture. We found Frank and he posed for a quick pic.

Sad day for Baby Hayes and family

A college friend of mine and his wife gave birth to twins prematurely last fall. The babies spent the first three to four months of their lives in the hospital and have battled every day since. Little Hayes had several set backs early on and today the family found out that he will never see because of the extensive brain damage he suffered from an infection. It's so sad to hear, that he will never get to see a sunrise, sunset, the ocean, or someday his beautiful bride. BUT God has a plan for each of us and that includes Hayes. For those reading please say a little prayer for the Perrin family tonight as they take in this news.

A quick update about my last post. I found out this morning that another friend is expecting her first baby and so the cycle begins.

Babies, babies, babies

One of David's law school classmates and his wife welcomed their first child this week, Addison Jane Ritter. Another one of our married friends from DC are expecting their first child this month. They decided not to find out what they are having.
Needless to say I've know about 30+ babies that were born in the last year most of which were born in the last 4 months. I'm fully expecting the wave of pregnancy confirmations to begin again soon.

Since David and I do not have kids yet, I live vicariously through my friends photos, blogs, and status updates. I've loved watching the little ones grow up on my screen. And to think that 5 years ago this would be virtually impossible.

Because of all the baby madness I've taken it upon myself to make booties, leg warmers (coming soon) and flower headbands. Hopefully fingers crossed, my Etsy store will be up soon.

For all my friends in DC, marl your calendars for the Children's Trunk Show at Crystal City Shops March 12. It's a great place to find gently used/new baby items.

What I've been up too

I've been cooped up the past couple weeks due to all the snow and cold weather we've had here in Chicago. So here's an idea of what I've been up to. I was testing out our low budget light box.

BACK ON MY FEET (BOMF)

Before moving to Chicago a friend of mine told me about an organization called Back On My Feet. If a remember correctly she sent me a job ad and told me apply for an open position in Chicago. I didn't apply for the job, but I visited their Web site to see what the organization was about.

A girl several years ago was running by a homeless shelter, as she often did, had an epiphany and the organization was born. (that's the short version) She began a running group with the residents at the shelter to give them hope about the future. The organization has spread to Philadelphia, DC, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, and two other cities Indianapolis and Dallas later this year.

The thought of volunteering with the group did appeal to me. However, I was extremely nervous about the ratio of residents to volunteers. For several months I put off attending the orientation. After I returned from my holiday break I made a commitment to myself to sign up. Now you may be thinking why in the world did you join a running group in the middle of winter? Good question. I don't have no a clue. After attending the orientation last week, I signed up to run on Wednesday mornings at 5:45 am. Volunteers are "required" to run at least one day (Monday, Wednesday, or Friday) a week with the group. My plan is to run two days a week.

I walked to the YMCA (near our apartment) on Wednesday morning. I walked through the doors and straight into a hug. At orientation we were warned that this is a hugging group. I was welcomed with open arms to the group. It was an exhilarating feeling. I had several conversations with the residents who told me about their efforts to get back on their feet and how the organization had helped them with jobs, etc. After a few exercises we were off to the streets. Residents had the option to run 2 or 4 miles that morning. All miles are tracked and milestones are recognized during the week. To be honest I thought I could only run 2 miles. The last time I ran outside was last November in Miami. I started running with another volunteer, also new, and a resident. When we reached the 2 mile mark I was ready to quit for the day, but my running partners kept going and so did I. We may have pushed our resident to far, but we kept up; he's only been running for a couple months now. I was impressed by his determination and spirit.

This was not at all what I was expecting. I have to admit, I've always been fearful of homeless people. I have no clue why, because I have worked in soup kitchens and lived in big cities where homelessness is prevalent. I've known about it my entire life. I think it's the unknown that scares me. I do realize these people are just like me and at one time had a family.

One of the reasons I wanted to join BOMF was to dispel my own myths. I was blown away by the people I met last week. I'm not naive enough to think that everyone in this stage of life are similar to the people I met, but I do have a better understanding. I'm really excited about this program. I think in the long run, I'm going to get more out of this experience then I thought.

Thanks Anne for the great recommendation.

Bathrobes

I spent the last 2 1/2 days in a fabulous hotel in Boston. One of the best things about staying in "luxury" hotel are the bathrobes. They are soft, comfortable, and warm. I'd walk around in them all day if I could.

Growing up I thought bathrobes were worthless. My parents had robes, thank God, but I hated them. I bought my first robe when I went off to college. I shared a bathroom with 30 other girls so the robe was a necessity. That robe stayed with me throughout college. I couldn't bear to throw it out when I moved into a duplex. I never used it, but it was still in good shape.

Preparing for my move to DC I thought as a "grown-up" I needed to have a robe. At this point in my life I probably didn't need a robe, but I can't you how useful it's been and how much I love it. I don't know the lifespan of a robe, but I think mines hitting the retirement age. A part of me can't bear to part with it, we've been through so much. I'm looking for ideas if anyone has a brand they recommend.