nutshell

weird dreams.


slept well.


work was okay.


constant pain - stiffness in my right hip & left calf.  made walking interesting.
still, grateful to be able to walk, and for the trip & walks that caused the stiffness, so it's all good!  
lol


walked to walgreens after work instead of driving.  felt good.  
didn't give a man on the bench outside the store any money.  felt a little bad about that, but i did pray for him!
and i do give ppl money sometimes, i just didn't feel comfortable digging into my purse right there.  he seemed nice and all, but... ya know?  


mailed april's birthday card.
which reminded me that i STILL haven't mailed matthew's.  
resolve to do that this week.


thai for dinner.  YUM!


watched OUAT - i thought my heart was going to break for pinnochio/august!  (btw, love the name august - august rush, henry august, augustus somethingorother from Willy Wonka, etc...)  and not just because he's handsome.  : )  tugged at my heartstrings!!  and when henry stood up to his mom?!  cheered!  but then she tried to seduce david & i about gagged.  (the evil queen actress is GOOD, i have to say!)


chatted w/ april for a bit.  : )  her birthday is tomorrow (yes, the card will be late, sorry!  but it IS in the mail at least, which is more than matthew got.  ugh, really, i am really mailing it this week!)... 


watched Grimm again because i'd missed the beginning friday & plus it was just that good of an episode!  : ) 
watched Psych. (FUNNY!  french stewart guested!)
watched an episode & a half of GH - jason had better get his crap together or i'm gonna hafta smack him.  i don't care if he's a mob enforcer.  i'll do it.  LOL  and i am hoping that sam is john's long lost, presumed dead sister.  i wish i could remember how she came onto the soap & if that would even be possible!  and i miss starr, where'd she go?  i thought todd was coming back, too.  maybe after his murder trial?  felicia's coming back, that should be interesting... 


now, i must go to bed!  get to hang out w/ mom & the boys for dinner tomorrow.  jen's got a new job -as a bartender... 


i hope you have a good night & a great tuesday!  more chicago to come - i was working on photo books tonight.  going to send one to jenni, aunt nancy & aunt judy.  : )  and i made mom's mother's day book as well.  hooray!  


ttfn!

skyline - chicago

i love chicago!  love, love, love!  the lake, the buildings, the little neighborhoods.  it's a neat town!  if i had unlimited funds, i would spend a month there just exploring everything i could!  : )  


aunt judy picked me up around 10:30 friday morning, then we headed to pick up aunt nancy.  the trip up was lots of fun, chatting & excitement & all.  : )  we ate lunch at arthur's (YUM) in the rock falls area (the original one?).  it was aunt nancy's first time & she loved it - of course!  (i will be working on a menu post later.)  we stopped at a mall somewhere along the way to use the loo & right by the restrooms there was a chicago gift shop, so we went in there for souvenirs.  i figured i might as well get them early so i wouldn't accidentally spend all my money & not have any left for them later.  LOL  i picked up a tshirt for leyton (i hope it fits!), some postcards (of course!), a shot glass for phil (duh) and a surprise for trish, because i saw it & HAD to get it.  idk if she'll actually use it or if it'll just be decorative, but hopefully she'll like it either way!  : )  


we got stuck by some traffic going into the city, of course, but we found our hotel really easily.  : )  it was the congress plaza hotel, and it was AMAZING!  not luxurious by any means, but it has been around since the 1800's, so... i can understand how the rooms at double tree or staybridge feel more lux, but the VIEW. oh my heck, the view!  we had a corner room, and it was rather large.  tiny bathroom, tho.  heh.  the beds were comfy, there was plenty of seating for us (desk chairs, but that's okay), and the view from one side was lake michigan & buckingham fountain, and the other millenium park & the skyline.  

mr bear & i were SUPER excited to have a lake view.  : )  


we ate dinner in the hotel restaurant, rafael's steak house.  the service was really good & the food quite tasty!  we went exploring after, found the soda machines (PEPSI, hooray!!) & a gift shop for snacks.  the gold room of this hotel is apparently rather famous for having hosted the premier of Return To Me (love that movie!).  there was a nice display w/ a signed script & magazine articles about the movie.  and one of the lounges had wonderfully comfortable chairs & a neat staircase that i liked.  

we were pretty pooped & ready for bed soon after dinner.  but we managed to stay up til 10.  even got to watch Grimm!  : )  heh!  


saturday, we went down to breakfast at the gazebo, the hotel's breakfast restaurant.  (yes, separate restaurant for breakfast, that was cool.)  it was insanely expensive, IMO, tho, for the buffet, so we all just ordered from the menu.  we all enjoyed our breakfasts, tho!  : )  the aunts went back up to the room & i went to my little nook outside for a moment.  it was right across from roosevelt university & also apparently an auditorium of some sort.  there was a tv monitor playing ballets, so i watched that for a bit.  met a nice young man who was a student there.  : )  

jenni arrived after an overnight flight from alaska, and once she was all settled & cleaned up, we headed out to catch a cab to water tower place.  our goal was to find jenni a bridesmaid dress for a wedding she's in.  the requirement was that the dress needed to be a certain shade of green.  we didn't have much luck, as this particular shade is more suited to winter... but she did find a dress she sorta liked... after the dress, we stopped for lunch in the food court.  there were lots of choices - burgers, smoothies, pizza, hot dogs, and panini's.  we chose the panini place & it was quite yummy!  their dessert counter was beautiful, but we didn't purchase anything.  jenni & i were amazed/amused by the jello art, tho... (and seriously, look at the size of the FROSTING!)

interesting sightings while we ate - a group of navy sailors at a table near us.  we thanked them for their service.  they were very polite.  : )  

after jenni was done eating, she went to the loo & said we could give her chair away if needed (very hoppin place, that food court!).  after a bit, a young lady was looking around & had her tray & we said she could have the chair.  we thought she was w/ a group, but then instead of taking the chair & joining the table we thought she was at, she sat w/ us.  (trust me, that takes confidence!)  we learned that she was visiting from ann arbor, michigan, where she currently was going to school.  she originally was from brazil, and was trying her very first chicago-style pizza.  she enjoyed it.  : )  super, super nice girl!!  we chatted for awhile til jenni got back & then we were off on our next adventures!  


we started at the 7th floor & explored all the way down the mall.  macy's, candyality, godiva, vera bradley (holy cow, expensive!), coach (holy cow, i want some!), LEGO... awesome sculptures!  and a wall of blocks!  if i could have come up w/ something creative to make, i would have gotten a nice container of blocks... heh.

aunt nancy & i hung out for a bit while jenni & aunt judy went back to macy's at the end of our mall tour to pick up her dress.  we sat by the neat stair fountain, and i remembered Wow Bao, so we went down there for a chocolate banana bao & pom ginger ale.  i'd planned to get some iced tea, but couldn't pass up the ginger ale!  oh, we also saw a really neat clock shop, and swarovski crystal store, where i saw a CUTE seahorse that made me think of my friend marianne.  i snapped a picture & then got "in trouble."  not really, but the sales associate did say, "well, technically we're not supposed to take pictures..."  i was like, "okay, i won't take anymore, but i'm not deleting this one!"  lol   

when jenni & judy got back, we went outside to explore the chocolate shops - ghiradelli & hershey's.  neat set ups in both, and i got mom some G chocolate to go w/ the godiva i'd gotten her earlier.  : )  

we went into the visitor's center for a loo stop & to see about a show that we wanted to go to.  sold out, darn it!  really, that was okay, tho because i probably couldn't've afforded to go really.  we did get a recommendation for a good pizza place, tho, and headed over there for dinner.  Pizzone's - great neighborhood hang out, tiny, lots of atmosphere & GREAT service.  the food was scrumptious, too!  

we hopped into a cab that had just let some guys (cuuute!) off at the restaurant & headed back to the hotel to put down all our packages.  we took a minute to rest & then set off to explore the neighborhood.  we walked the howmanyever blocks to millenium park, home of some really neat sculptures including THE BEAN!  : )  

the walk was BRIIIIIISK, but good.  and i didn't get winded.  yay!!  PTL for that!  : ) saturday was apparently prom night, so there were kids everywhere in BEAUTIFUL evening attire.  a group of them got out of the coolest corvette... 

this same group of kids were later serenaded by an a Capella group of guys in suits... can i just say, shades of Glee and i may have been crushing on one of the guys because he would sing & then take a drink of his coffee/tea/whatever he was drinking, and his mannerisms reminded me of somone on glee & ... yeah.  also, he looked older than a college kid, or he was going silver realllly early!  mmmm.  


*cough*  anyway!  it was neat.  : )  


on our walk back to the hotel it was REALLY windy & cold, so we stopped into a corner bakery for hot tea (chai for me & nancy) & chocolate.  yummy!  


once again we arrived at the hotel exhausted & ready for bed! 


speaking of which - it's 10:30 & i am exhausted & ready to sleep, so i'll finish up about today, tomorrow!  : )  


praise the Lord for the amazing, amazing, AMAZING family He's blessed to me!  i am just so very grateful for them!  : )  


what were you grateful for this weekend?  


ttfn!

the day i lost my crown

it was so nice to rule the small country of Alonia.  the position didn't pay much, but i had lots of time to spend with the ppl i love, and anything i needed was provided for me.  well, all of that will still be true.  


but i lost my crown.  it's very sad.


*laugh*  but i really did lose my crown!  i'm grateful that it happened this morning - i stopped at starbucks & got a walnut pastry (sooo good! and the perfect size!) & on my first bite, POP went the crown.  d'oh!  annoyed at the timing, REALLY annoyed at the timing!  but really quite grateful that it came off while i was awake & aware so i didn't ASPIRATE (hello, fancy word for CHOKING, yeesh!).  so i called the dentist when i got to work, and i didn't really feel as supported as i usually do.  like, before it fell off & we were talking about options or whatever, they said they would call & make the appt w/ the oral surgeon & talk about payments & yadda yadda.  so when i called, i was trying to get some details out of them, but they weren't very forthcoming.  they did give me the number for the oral surgeon so I could make the appt.  which, ya know, fine i can make the appt.  it's the fact that before they made it sound like they would be doing that or helping me w/ certain things & then when it came time for it - nada.


meh.


anyway, i made an appt for the extraction of the remaining tooth - not until may 18th, because they told me i'd need a day to recover & i didn't want to make it for a week day & miss more work.  (sad that that even factored in, don't you think?)  this weekend is chicago, next weekend is YANNI, the following weekend is baylee's wedding, so ... the 18th was my first free friday.  the dds said it'll be fine until then, since it's had a root canal.


it feels really weird, tho.  


other than that - and the derailed lunch plans - today was pretty good!  had 12 phone calls in 2 hours (compared to 2 calls all day yesterday!) and it was a little like being on the floor of the NYSE!  *laugh*  my wall-mate & her team & i were supposed to go out for her birthday lunch, but her manager pulled them all into a spur of the moment team lunch, so our plans got put on hold til next week.  everyone felt bad (including their manager when she found out) for leaving me to the wind, but it was alright.  i mean, disappointing, yes, but not "let's throw a tantrum or hold a grudge" disappointing.  LOL  


after work, i stopped by mom's to pick something up & then headed to trish's for a delicious (as always) dinner of chicken, sweet potato & corn.  mmmm!  al had some friends coming over to go over blueprints, and trish & i watched some TV & some clips of OUAT on the computer.  good times, good discussion, great friends!  : )  


i've been catching up w/ GH since i got home, but now i really need to hit the hay!  i have a lot to do tomorrow morning before aunt judy picks me up.


i hope your friday is AMAZING & happy!  *HUGS*  


ttfn!

open wide

dentist today went alright.  not the most fun, but not as torturous as the last time.  i was just happy to make it there & that they were able to get me in - i was running about 15 minutes late.  d'oh!!  i kept calling as i was on my way, because they schedule so tight & i didn't want to mess up any other end of the day appts, but i didn't want to have to reschedule, either.  it was all good, tho.  except that my hygienist said the crown on the tooth that needs to be extracted wiggled a bit as she was cleaning, so i'll need to make an appt for that sooner rather than later.  pooh.  idk where the money for that is going to come from... but i'd rather get it taken out before the crown comes off!!


work was kinda slow-going today.  i just am ready for my weekend away, ya know?  at least it was a productive day anyway!  


tomorrow i'm looking forward to birthday lunch w/ my wall-mate & her team (it's her bday!  happy bday wall-mate!), am going to try to convince her that uncle pete's would be good.  i love uncle pete's!  idk if she likes it, tho, so i guess since it's her birthday, that would be a plus.  LOL  anyway, after work is TRISH'S & SECRET CIRCLE *bounce bounce bounce*!  


i guess now it's bedtime.  LOL  was going to try to get to bed at 11, but i went over to mom's after work to watch Survivor & Criminal Minds.  only got to see mom for a minute & give her a hug cuz she didn't get home til 9 & that's when i left. 


tonight was a good hulu night.  i watched Glee (dance!  beegees!  love love love!) & Bones & a couple eps of Psych.  woot!  : ) 


hope you had a great wednesday, bloggy peeps!  


ttfn!

night shift

normally when leyton spends the night, he's up at like 6, telling me it's time to get up.  today, he was OUT still when i left!  and i didn't get up til phil was knocking on the door at 10 til 7!  d'oh!  ah well, still made it to work before 8.  : )  and leyton called me when he got up, so that was nice!  


i am rediscovering GH Night Shift tonight.  : )  i was missing robin, and this is back when she was pregnant and anna & robert were on, and sean & tiffany made an appearance... oh, love!  one of these days i'm going to find some old school GH on you tube or something & watch the good ol' days when luke & co saved the world.  : )  


still feeling frustration at work, but trying realllllllyyyy hard to focus on all the good things, because they certainly outweigh the bad!  God is good, all the time.  i know this, i believe this, but sometimes i don't FEEL it.  so i'm trying to feel it more than i don't.  ya know?


got to chat w/ april tonight, which helped a lot!  thanks for the chat, my friend!!  


aunt judy called to finalize plans for this weekend.  EXCITED!!!  chicago, here we come!  : )  


and next week, you'll be hearing about this a lot more... YANNI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


did i mention?  may 5th.  cinco de mayo.  YANNI !!!!  : )  : )  : )  


i think i have a dentist appt tomorrow for a follow up cleaning.  meh.  but then tomorrow night is survivor!  so that's cool.  and i believe thursday is still trish secret circle night, so yay!!!  


and now, it's bedtime!  lol


ttfn!

nephew time!

got to have dinner w/ jen, anthony & leyton tonight.  we met at applebee's.  i was surprised that jen joined us, but it was a good time.  mostly.  she did share her feelings about wanting to be out of iowa w/ our waiter, which i almost found insulting.  she did turn it around, a bit, tho, by admitting that phil is an amazing dad.  but, i mean, to our waiter, man!  randomly, out of the blue, to say that leyton is what's "keeping" her in iowa - and not in a good way.  and then to say, still in the conversation to our waiter, that she's trying to convince phil to move to arizona and that if he moves that our mom will move there, too.  


really?


so, phil & mom are supposed to just pick up & move across the country, away from their family, so that she can be w/ her family, who she couldn't even stand to be w/ for the whole week?  (not that i blame her for that - a week is a long time to be on vacation anywhere, unless you're independently wealthy or whatnot, ya know?)  but, just the whole thing rubbed me the wrong way.  if she was going TO something that would be different, slightly, but that's not the case.  i really hope and pray that she will fine a happiness here.  


anyway, there were some other things going on that were irritating me, too, like the attitudes when i got there because they were there early & had to wait.  when i asked if leyton could spend the night & anthony could join us for dinner, i said i could pick them up around 5, as i should be leaving at 4:15.  well, of course i didn't leave til closer to 4:30, but jen had told me to call when i was close to the applebee's.  when i did, she was upset that i was taking so long to get there... i was confused as to when the plan changed from me calling her when i got close to her going there early & waiting.  and then being mad about it.  and then telling the kids she was mad about it, because leyton told me when i go there.  oye.  leyton was super happy to see me, at least!  : )  


after dinner he & i ran some errands (gas, return videos, mail post cards) & then came home to play & take pictures & hard boil eggs & paint them & watch some thomas & have some snuggles.  : )  

i let him stay up til 9, and watched Once Upon A Time & Celebrity Apprentice when he went to bed.  of course, now i'm up about an hour past MY bedtime, but both episodes were quite spiffy, so hopefully i won't be TOO tired in the morning!  and hopefully we'll both get up on time!  LOL  


i'm so grateful he wanted to & was allowed to come over tonight.  i had missed him so much!!  and he really might have grown that week while he was gone.. lol  


anyway, off to bed for me.  ttfn!


p.s.
oh yeah, the rest of my day wasn't too bad.  lunch was great - my wall-mate & i went to maid rite, where i hadn't been in way too long, and it was delicious!  : )  and i finally got a hold of my tech guy for the new employee errors that have been going on for a month, and he was able to fix most of them today.  whew!  


later!  : )