May 25

My knight in shining armor...

And his noble steed....

Today I flew from Orlando to Chicago and Mike picked me up from the Orange Line and we drove home to Evansville. A very busy day of travelling, but not that exciting.

May 24

Last day of training, this is my group. We had so much fun making our video today. It was hilarious.

May 23

Star Wars tank thingy! So cool

Beth and Maureen learn to juggle (check out the kickin' mullet in the background)

Beth talked about this ice cream ALL. WEEK. LONG.
Roomies!

Magic Mickey Hat

And just as an FYI, the Tower of Terror has way more Terror when you were 16. AND when someone tells you that the Aerosmith roller-coaster is lame, tell him to shove off and get ready to peel your head off the back of your chair headrest.

May 22 - The night in pictures

I'm a good eater! YUM-O filet at Wolfgang Puck's

Beth, kicking my behind at air hockey

This guy plays left-handed because he can. "Right-handed is just unfair for everyone else that is playing." Holy crap.

Beth demonstrates the Eyes. Hey, there is alot of 7 and not alot of 7 in this drink!

Our favorite Bartender, Holley.

May 21

Today Beth and I flew to Orlando for a training. We got in around 7 and decided to explore Downtown Disney. These are some pics of the Lego statues.

May 20

Back home again in Chicago.... for a day. So glad to see TheBoy.

May 19

Today we walked all over downtown Charleston seeing the sights and having some awesome low-country cooking at Jestine's. It was absolutely great. Charleston is such a beautiful city.

The entry to an old plantation The Market downtown The oldest (continuous) liquor-serving establishment in the nation. Leave it to us to visit a liquor store

Rainbow Row

May 18

Tonight was the official Bachelorette Party night. See Flickr for more pics! Emily especially has some good ones.

Thanks to all the gals for coming, and thanks to Dixon for hosting everyone. Dix, you and Grib have an awesome place and it was so GREAT to see you! Katie, Jill H, Jill T, Choater, Emmy, and Alison - THANK YOU for making the trip. I appreciate it so much and loved getting the chance to see you!

Grib Snoring

Dixon says that Grib-Dawg doesn't think he snores. So we took this video as proof!

May 17

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS COOZY?

Yes, a very bad thing happened today. I lost my IU bottle jersey. This is the last known picture of my baby. :c( It is a SAD, SAD day.

And this is Me and Jenn. My friend Jenn is the one we all crashed with in Charleston, and she is one of my favorite people. I love all my girlfriends for different reasons... and there are so many reasons why why everyone loves Jenn. She is so committed to her work and is going to be a heart-lung surgeon. AND she is one of the most fun and loving people that we all know. When I think of college graduation I think of Jenn banging on the shower door singing the lyrics to "Hott in Herre" at the top of her lungs. There are so many good memories with her, and hopefully I will have many more. I do miss her terribly now that she is down in the South, but I take consolatino in the fact that when I see her we just pick up where we left off.

May 16

I'm leaving, on a jet plane!

Tomorrow I leave for my bachelorette party in Charleston, SC. Words cannot describe the excitedness.

SO SORRY

Holy crap I have been a slacker lately! Hopefully the lack of posting will be made up for by the fact that my pictures are actually somewhat interesting for a change!

May 15

Today is my Thursday! Tomorrow is the last day of the week for me, as I'm taking off Thursday and Friday and heading to Charleston, SC for my bachelorette party. I am hella excited about this, and can't wait to see my gals. Let's just say this gal needs a vacay like no other.

Mike, as he says "No picture! Bad hair day!" What he is thinking: that he will miss me terribly while I am gone and also study very hard so that he gets he becomes a Associate in the Society of Actuaries. Sounds like a fun bunch, huh? Nerds!!!

May 14

I am learning to knit and (of course) am starting on a pink scarf. Schwabby has already called dibs on the final product!

May 13

Today I went down and did the Y-Me 5K walk with my friend Amy and her family. I almost didn't make it, I woke up at 8 and had to make Mike take me down there ;c) It was fun and her family had a BBQ afterward. It was Yum-o for sure.

Walking toward the finish line

Papa Choate, Choater, and Mama Choate cross the finish line!

May 12

Today I was in Indiana for my cousin Stephanie's wedding. Here are some shots from the wedding.

Little Brian walks Steph down the aisle

Steph and Jeremy
Steph's son Jayden and Jeremy's daugher Marissa
Aunt Sheri teaches me how to knit at the reception

The cousins (top row: Zach, Adam, Brian, Sarah, Steph and Jay, bottom row: Katie and I) Only missing Whitney and Sabrina!

It was good to see the family!

May 11

No picture today, nothing fun going on!

May 10

Tonight we had some time to kill before Mike met the boys at Gibson's for the NCAA tournament bet payoff dinner. So we went to Ditka's for a few cocktails. I had never been there before and I really liked it (minus all the cigar smoke). It was a nice place, the food and Ditka-branded wine were really great. I would recommend the Mike Ditka Pinot Grigio. ;c) In fact, I am totally going to go buy some.

May 9 - Happy National Choater Day!

Tonight we went to the Cubs game for Choater's Birthday. It was a lot of fun. I mean, c'mon, any day I can have a footlong chili cheese dog makes me a pretty happy camper (although I am less than excited about the nutritionals that I just looked up on aforementioned chili cheese dog). She had almost 40 people there in our group for her B-Day! It was a fun group and we had pretty good seats (200 level), so it was a good time.
For Choater's birthday present, Tracy took charge and got Choater's name on the Billboard. It was pretty cool, I have to admit. And the perfect present for the die-hard Cubs fan.

Happy Birthday, Choater!!!

May 8

Just another quiet night in the Wrigleyville neighborhood.

Indy Canal

A great picture I took of the canal in downtown Indy after the mini. So beautiful.

May 7

The invitations are DONE, man! (if by done you mean "all ribbons have been tied")

May 6

Today after we got back to Chicago, Emily and I went shopping and then hit up a wine-tasting class at Bin 36. It was really great, I want to go to more classes! The woman that taught the class had a lot of personality and was very approachable. We are having her into our office to run a class in a few weeks, and I am excited for the event.

The red selections

Emily, taking advantage of the fact that I drove to wine class and therefore couldn't finish my own selections

May 5

Trying to put on a brave face before a 2 1/2 hour run

Tracy told me at dinner on Friday night that we graduated five years ago today (May 5). To me, it's kind of fitting that today I ran the mini-marathon. Both the college graduation and mini-marathon were pretty big accomplishments for me. I was the kid in high school that failed the President's Physical Challenge solely on my mile-time alone. I was the kid who didn't play any sports because I was so uncoordinated that anything I did would require hardcore practice to even be mediocre at. And I was way too ADD for hardcore practice on anything. I quit everything from piano lessons to softball and never looked back. I don't even really know if I was good at being social back then, which would mean I wasn't really good at anything except for the actual schoolwork. I look at my socialness as something I have gotten better at over time - if I can make people laugh then maybe they won't judge me based on my sports ability and awkwardness in some social situations. Failure and rejection is scary to everyone - and is the reason that I don't try and accomplish some of the things that I most want. I don't want to ever feel like that kid that didn't get into the National Honor Society even though she was ranked third in her class again. But to actually accomplish anything, I need to put myself out there. That is what I decided to do with this. As childhood issues go, mine are on the light side, I will admit. I have lived (and still do live!) a very charmed and blessed life. But the lack of athleticism is something I have wanted to improve for a long time.

So, today I ran my first real race, and did pretty well. I'm not too sore and just have one blister to show for it. My time was 2 hours 33 minutes and 24 seconds. That is a pace of 11:43 minute miles - my goal was anything under 12 minute miles. And I did it!

A pic of me crossing the finish line (that's me, with the big red arrow and circle!)

May 4

A photo from the expo while picking up my race packet!

May 3

Last run before the mini-marathon. I was feeling pretty momentous, so I took a pic.

May 2

A few pics I took on the way back to my client from the Speech Therapist. My vocal chords, they are ADD! Vocal chord retraining makes me feel like a giant tool.

May 1

Happy May Day!!

Here is a pic of me posing in my fancy new shades.
Please also note: bad post-workout hair and shirt that has says "Don't drink and Dial" below the picture that you can see. I love that shirt.

April 30

Nothing quite like a completely finished to-do list on a Monday! Unfortunately this list doesn't include the massive list of to-do's associated with getting the wedding invites out the door. Doh!