Minne Blackhawks Monday

Happy Minne Monday, life for our family has been insane. This weekend I have spent a lot of hours at the United Center prepping for Game 1 and Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals. So far the Blackhawks are up 1-0 as we enter game 2. Fingers crossed for another big win.

Meanwhile, Minne has been cheering the Blackhawks on from home since the UC has a strict “no pets” policy. She melts my heart with this little look of hers. Here she is resting her head on the hubs leg as she's watching some sports highlights.

Even though she can't be at the games, she has no problem routing on the Mighty Blackhawks. Here’s a photo taken at a parade with Minne, the hubs and the Blackhawk’s mascot Tommy the Hawk.

Fingers crossed for a big win for Game 2 tonight.

A Busy Busy Blackhawk Friday

So remember when I said I was going to be super busy? Well, here's a video snippet of what's been going on in the lives of every one at the United Center. Video courtesy of the United Center. Enjoy!

Blackhawks - One Goal

I just realized I do not have "attending a Stanley Cup Final" game on my 2010 To Do List. What is wrong with me?

Since the Finals start this weekend, bare with me if I am a little slow on postings. Between being a United Center employee and a Blackhawks fan I have some very strict priorities ahead of me.

#LetsGoHawks #LetsGoHawks #LetsGoHawks #LetsGoHawks #LetsGoHawks #OneGoal

Goose Island & Melting Pot

Last night the hubs and I joined some of our local friends for a Goose Island Beer Tasting at Melting Pot. Great friends, food and drinks - what's not to like?

We learned a little about the Illinois roots of Goose Island and we got to learn quite about the beers them self. Every amazing fondue item paired exceptionally well with the Goose Island beverages. As you can see from above, we started with cheese and the Honker's Ale which went over pretty well. We followed up with a yummy salad and the standard 312.

All 3 of the couples there last night have all been married less than 2 years. In between bites and meals many stories we're exchanged and marriage conversations had. My girlfriend A managed to spout out "And you still married him/her" more than once during the night. Just imagine the show "Marriage Ref" with 6 couples at Melting Pot minus the ref. It got a little out of hand, but in a fun way of course.

And then the entree came. We had spicy shrimp, peanut butter chicken, some sort of summer sausage, steak and a BBQ pork. To accompany that we tried the Brown Nut Nut Brown (which we found out recently won an award and yet they are still discontinuing it - anyone else find this odd) and my personal favorite the Matilda.

We concluded the night with chocolate fondue paired with fruits, pound cake, rice crispy treats, brownies and more. I can't speak to how great everything was because I had a piece of cheesecake and the hubs polished off the rest of the desert plate to himself. The Goose Island beverage was the Pere Jacques, which was another one I really enjoyed.

I learned a lot that night:
1. I tend to like the Belgian style beers more.
2. The hubs really likes desert
3. The staff at the Melting Pot is extremely overly friendly
4. When you give people good food and beverages, they are more inclined to throw their significant other under the bus (I won't cite any examples here out of the kindness of my heart and...well...the fear of embarrassing myself and running my friendships)
5. Everything is apparently more awesome in Plainfield?!

Minne Monday

Our Boston Terrier has a very hard time with stuffed animals, Actually stuffed animals have a really hard time with our Boston Terrier. Minne loves them so much, that within a matter of seconds the toy is unstuffed and in pieces. Case in point, the "supper tough toy" Rant the Ant:

One day we were walking through our favorite pet store, Two Bostons when we heard a lady talking about these less destructible stuffed toys. The trick is that the toy is filled with layers of a tough mesh material rather than being stuffed with the cotton like stuffing pictured above. The makers of the toy went one step further and attached each of the body parts separately. Which means, once part of the toy is gone, there's still some more to play with.

The toy was $22 but we love our pup and feel bad that she can't enjoy toys like other dogs, so we forked over the cash and brought the new toy home. Once we walked into the house with the blue Two Bostons Bag Minne came running in waiting to see what was inside. (Over the past 3 years she has learned that different colored bags mean different things. Grocery bags mean nothing. Vet bags usually mean medicine. But the blue bags mean toys and treats from Two Bostons.) After tearing the bag apart and finding what a stuffed raccoon that we had named Rowdy she seamed pretty pleased.

She walked around the house all day with Rowdie, chewing and biting the beady little eyes and all the limbs. We woke up the next morning and Rowdie was still fully in tact. In was astonishing the thing made it a few minutes yet along 15+ hours. The next few days Minne brought Rowdie everywhere. He slept in our bed with us. (my husband has what he thinks is an amazing photo of this..I'm still waiting for him to send it)

Rowdie even got to join Minne in her favorite ritual. After we take the laundry out of the dryer, Minne leaps into the pile and lays there until the pile is warm (we don't allow this ritual on whites, she knows it too). So for the next 2 weeks Rowdie would also lay on warm laundry piles with Minne. At this point you can see Rowdie's face has about had it.

At the start of 3 weeks, Minne had completely torn the face off and dragged around Rowdies body. It was only a few days later till only the limbs remained. I recieved this very pathetic looking photo while I was on my work trip to Atlanta.

Last Day at Banana Republic

This weekend was my last weekend working at Banana Republic. It's been 4 long years of stocking my "professional" wardrobe and more so the hubs and working lots of nights and weekends. I do love the discount but I truely believe that the customers and the staff at all the BR's that I have worked in have been fabulous and I have worked in 4 different stores! I have learned so much about the company and Gap Inc. as a whole. I probably have not even come close to expressing my love for the brand enough but if you want to read more check out this guy here or this one.

With that said, I am sad to have today as my last day. I will miss my store manager so much. She has inspired me to do so many thing in the past 2 yrs of working with her and she has given me some fabulous guidance and advise.

Since I was in college I have never worked less than 2 jobs/internships so on a brighter note, I will have more time to house hunt, visit with friends and family and have some time with my husband and perhaps even some personal time for myself. Cheers to a bitter sweet.

PS when I turn in my discount card I might cry
PSS when I take away the hubs discount card, he might cry more

Happy Friday!

Today is a huge day because my work, the United Center will be welcoming the Blackhawks home for game 3 of the conference finals. We're hoping for a big win today but an even bigger win on Sunday. With that said, I thought I would feature one of the songs that the hubs has been singing and blasting around the house. Lets hope we can sing this one in Chicago.

Cubs vs Phillies Bet - Update

Remember the little wager between the hubs and I? Well the series is over, we split. Cubs won yesterday, Phillies today which means we're right back where we started.

Fooey

Dear Home Sellers

Dear Home Sellers,

Please help us a find a house that meets these requirements:

Price: We are looking up to the _____ range however we have 2 different price criteria in mind. 1. If the house is on the higher end price, we want it finished; live in ready with no/very little repairs/updates that would be needed. 2. We would prefer something on the “low” end of the price spectrum so that we can afford to make updates on our own and we have more flexibility with the updates that we want/need to make. (please don't try to sell me a house with no walls, no floors and mold at the high end of our price)

Location: one of us has a job in the city with the other in Downers Grove. We need something that will be a “fair” drive for both of us. (as much as I want to move west to get a larger house with a nice yard, the Chicago construction has my commute already at 2+ hours each way. The cops that pull people over on the part where the expressway is down to 1 lane isn't helping)

Size: We were married just less than a year ago and hoping to find a home that we can live in as a starter home as we plan on looking to have kids in the next 5 years. So we’re looking for a 2+bedroom 1.5+ bathroom (a kids toilet in the closet doesn't count as a half bathroom and a jacuzzi in a bedroom doesn't make it a master bathroom.)

Yard: Having a back yard is very important to my husband, and when I say yard he wants something that he can mow (a yard that is full of a rotted molded out pool does not count)

Allergies: My husband is deathly allergic to cats. If the house has/had cats living in it, we would need to do a lot of work (new wallpaper, new flooring, ect) to make it livable for him. (so please don't show us a house that has cat poop and vomit all over the stairs, the breakfast bar ect.)

Basement: A basement isn’t a must but it is something that would be a great treat for us and definitely a buying bonus. (a crawl space doesn't count as a basement.)

Lastly, I don't like haunted houses.

Thanks!

Ut Oh - the Cubbies Ohhs

One of our mess the dress session photos from here

My not so hot Cubbies are taking on the hubs favorite team the Phillies the next 2 days. Since we tend to disagree on all sporting teams with the exception of the Chicago Blackhawks and the Chicago Fire, this naturally means a bet is in order.

Since I lost the last 2 bets (Bears vs Packers and the last Cubs vs Phillies series) I had to come up with a bet for this 2 game series. With our 1 year anniversary just over a month away, I decided that whoever loses has to make plans to celebrate.
the hubs lost a Bears Packers bet, yup he's wearing a skirt with a Bears shirt to our Chicago families Christmas Celebration

We've been wanting to plan a little baseball trip however, house hunting has really thrown a wrench in our plans so we're back to the drawing bored because we both want it to be great but neither of us want the stress. However, there is a running joke that the husband knows me oh so well, since the last time he made "big plans" he took me to HIS favorite bar & grill, Old Chicago. Does this look like an anniversary spot? I think not. So he needs a chance to redeem himself, but after I presented the wager to the hubs, here's the email I got back:

Perfect……spoiler alert…..mine would involve OLD CHICAGO!

Not sure who this bet is going to work better for, I guess if we split the series it's back to the drawing board.

Lets Get Nautical

This weekend was a fabulous weekend all about a beautiful upcoming bride, who I spoke of here. It was great to see college friends, especially some of my sorority sisters. One of which, the lovely Jessica from Penned & Pretty made for quite the Skipper aka host. She planned a wonderful evening based on everything nautical. Case in point, check out the awesome invite she did - I had to put it next to one of our college shirts because...well it was just nautical and very fitting.

We started at the hotel, for a "private shower" if you will. There were presents, nautical colored drinks and fish snacks of course, and by fish I mean cheesy delish goldfish. From the hotel we cabbed over to Bubba Gump Shrimp for some yummy sea food delight.

While we waited for a table to be ready, we made a long hike to the end of Navy Pier to see one of Chicago's largest anchors. Since I was in the photo I don't actually have anything to show here, but I promise I will insert something soon.

Once we made the cold hike back to the restaurant we started the night with some drinks. We were only missing some Gamma for this Delta.

Isn't the bride to be beautiful and totally nautical?

Ok ok so I might have a slight obsession with work...but really how cool is it that Navy Pier is completely decked out with Blackhawks banners?


Post dinner is where I start to lose focus and apparently stopped taking good photos, well photos at all. We went to a teeny tiny karaoke bar where we waited forever to do a group song of Madonna's "Like a Virgin" to celebrate the new bride to be. From there, we went dancing. (PS Laura may kill me for this photo)

After the bride had clearly had "too much fun" a few of us helped to take her back home. However, we made it like the college days and had to have the cab make one quick stop before we called it a night. Yum the Golden Arches, I think this may be my favorite photo. Come on, what is more classic than the captain with their skipper in line at McDonalds around 1am?

Minne Monday

Between house hunting, car problems and this weather I am just not feeling my uppity self today. But this blog was meant to remind me of the good times and since it is Monday here's a a bright colored photo of our Minne girl with the hubs goddaughter. Man what I would give to be shading myself on a hammock on a warm sunny day like it was in this photo

Happy Minne Monday!

PS recaps from my nautical weekend are coming soon!

Project Friday

Months ago the husband and I got in an argument about what do to with our shoes. You see, if I put the shoes in the shoe boxes in the top of my closet, I can't reach them. I'm vertically challenged so I would have to bring a chair into the closet, stand on it as I unstack the boxes, opening them as I try to figure out what is inside them. It is just too long of a process for me. I usually opt to keep just my nice shoes in the shoe boxes and all others in a bin on my closet floor, I wasn't ready to budge on this.

A few weeks later the hubs said he saw an idea that may be some what of a solution for the shoes. So we had project night. All it took was shoe boxes, tape and an exacto knife (and if you want to get really creative some spray paint).

So we spent one night revising the shoe box.

The hubs went to town cutting out one side of the shoe box, making it:
1.Easy to slide the shoes in and out without having to unstack all the shoe boxes.
2. Easy to see the shoes inside the box.

After he cut the side of the box, I would go back and tape the top of the box to the bottom of the box.

In the end we got lots of boxes that I have happily stacked in my closet. I think once we move I will be looking for old shoe boxes to use for the shoes that I have already thrown away and I think I may want to spray paint them all to add some consistent color to the closet. This is what we have right now, what do you think?

Remember that 5K?

Weeks ago I talked about running my first 5K. I started the training and it was going well until about the 3rd week. Work got busy, the weather got worse and running seemed impossible. In the past 2 weeks I have managed to get outside for a light run at least 2 times a week but that isn't the 3 times a week that I really need. So now I am faced with this awesome 5K run coming up on June 5 and I am terrified. I googled some 3 week running programs and didn't come up with too much. Looks like this may be the best I can do:

Week 1: Mon: 5km easy run, Wed: 5km faster run, Sat: long easy run for an hour, take it very easy.

Week 2: Mon: 5km easy run, Wed: 5km faster run, Sat: long easy run for an hour, take it very easy.

Week 3 : Mon: 5km fast run, Wed: 5km easy run, Sat: Race

Since my 3 week milestone doesn't actually start until next Monday I am hoping to get 2 more "easy" runs in this week and then I'll really push myself next week. Any one have any advise or tricks to share with me? I would normally ask the hubs to run and push me but his nurse sister just diagnosed him with Patellar Tendonitis so that puts him on the sofa icing his knee rather than running. I wonder if my little track star sister is going to want to do any training with me?

Parades are Supposed to be Fun

A few weeks back I was leaving my besties house to head to a Blackhawks game at the United Center that I was working. Here I am driving down a normally busy street with no cars in sight. it was a Sunday evening and figured maybe those crazy city people were recovering from their city weekend life styles - no biggie.

I kept driving and then I heard sirens coming from the opposite direction, some fire trucks and police cars. This made me think that perhaps there was a crazy accident that happened behind me, this would make sense since I was the only car on the road. Then I started thinking what if I caused an accident? Do I turn around? Should I go back?

As I have all these questions running through my mind, I approached the top of a hill and started to head downward and that's when I saw it. There were hundreds of people lining the street in just a few hundred yards in front of me, marching at me, chanting at me in words I didn't recognize. Flags were waiving and the megaphones were powerful. It was a parade, but not just any parade. The Polish American Police Association was helping to host a parade in honor of the President of Poland who was killed in the plane crash on April 10, 2010.

A police officer on a bike rode up to me and asked me how I got to this road. My response was simple and confused.... "I drove"

The officer took a long pause and said never mind that, lets figure out how to get you out of there. He directed me to stay on the right side of the road as he directed me westbound. Now, I know that phones are illegal in Chicago while driving, but as I was getting directed out of the parade line, I had to snap a quick shot because who was going to believe that I got stuck in a Polish Parade? Come on now. And that's where this little gem comes in

Parades are supposed to be fun, but not when you get trapped in one.

Reunion & Mothers Day Recap

This weekend was quite the weekend. We did make it to Indiana so we could celebrate the reunion of my hubs and all his high school classmates of '99. The reunion itself was simple and not very many attendees. However, that didn't get my husband down. He was so excited to see everyone that was there and in the end that's what matters right?

As much fun as the reunion was, I think the hubs mostly enjoyed seeing his friends little ones.

Case in point, meet little L. She is the daughter of my husbands best girl friend from college. We've seen the hub's friend but this was our first meeting with little L. Looks like the hubs hit it off pretty well if I do say so myself:
He offered cookies with no luck, but the balloon grabbed Ls attention quickly!

After the reunion we made it to a little local Mexican place for margaritas and more social time with some of the hubs high school friends. Again, there was more bonding with little ones, but this time Landon may have been a bit too excited:


Don't worry the two ended up bonding just fine!


Isn't this little guy adorable?! You can see more on him here.


Little L and her mommy made it over to the restaurant too. Here she is trying on the new shades that the hubs hand picked out for her:


She is quite the ham and according to the hubs, she looks exactly like her mommy when she was a little girl. Adorable.


The hubs mom was dying to see how big little L was getting so we made our way back to their house for a little R&R:


NOT! This may look like a relaxing evening in bed but the hubs decided how to teach little miss L how to jump on the bed. After jumping a bunch of times she would fall and land on her but and then hide under the covers. This game went on for quite awhile. In fact, the dogs got a little bit jealous which is how this photo came into play.

Minne on the left, nephew buddy on the right

We woke up and prepared to make our journey back home, but first the hubs and his sis made their mom a breakfast just to her liking. Smile Beckers:


And that concludes the reunion & mothers day weekend!

1st Minne Monday

I have been thinking about creating a day about one of our favorite pride and joys, our little Boston Terrier Minne. After reading this lovely blog by Jenny Lee I have decided to copy her awesome idea where she uses her dog for Winston Wednesdays. Since my dog isn't named Winston and I need more inspiration and cheering up on Mondays, I am going to with photos of our Minne girl, hence Minne Monday.

So Happy 1st Minne Monday everyone!

Photo of our Minne girl exhausted after an Indiana weekend

Pretty sure she thinks the down comforter is her new bed, she really likes it.

This little gem is from the weekend, can you spot Minne girl?

Happy Mommy's Day!

This Sunday take a few minutes out of your day to let your mom know how much she means to you. Wheather it be a phone call, a brunch, flowers or even a prayer it's so important to let people know how important they are to you.

My mom is miles away visiting her mom in Florida in addition to my call to them thismorning, here's a Happy Mothers day blog shout out to my mom:

And to my mother-in-law who we get to spend a little bit of time with this weekend while we're in Indiana:

Thank you for all that you do, we love you so much!

XOXO

Indiana kind of Weekend

This weekend is another Indiana type of weekend. This time, we'll be celebrating the hubs 10 year high school reunion. There will be some close friends there and some friend who he hasn't seen in 10+ years. Some with babies like this adorable fella that we'll be super excited to play with, and yes he is doing the sprinkler dance move!
We'll spend some time with our little nephew buddy and the rest of hubs family. Minne girl is so excited!!! (you can check out lots of photos of the two pups here)

I am sure there will be lots to talk about on Monday but first we have to get through this icky icky day. It was day 2 of my train riding experience and it is windy, rainy and cold. I am so fotunate for these super cute boots from my mother-in-law and this awesome umbrella from GAP that the hubs got me.


A few hours of productive work and then it will be all fun, all weekend.

Convergence in ATL Take 2

I know, I know. I am finally finishing up my trip to Atlanta (part one featured here)! I will try to let the photos do all the talking in this one.

Along with doing lots of work, there were some fun activities completed in Atlanta. For example, walking through Centennial Olympic Park on a gorgeous day. As the sun was setting, we got to see a photographer using the lighting off one of the glass buildings. It was pretty cool.
A glimpse of the CNN Building:
At night, our partners kept us hydrated by taking us to this awesome place called Stats. The best part? Check out the photo taken live at our table (yes I said table, not bar but table), I'm sure you can figure it out:
One night, we got invited to a Microsoft event at the Georgia Aquarium, which I learned is home to the worlds largest aquarium. Check out some of these awesome photos:

Did you know these guys can get up to 800lbs?!
The aquarium is home to seven different kinds of sharks: whale sharks, great hammerhead sharks, blacktip reef sharks, spotted or tassled wobbegong sharks, zebra sharks, sand tiger sharks and sandbar sharks.
Can you spot them all?
More Sharkies!
Did you know that UPS donated the cost of the shipping of the Whale Shark, which was estimated at over $200,000?! As a daughter of someone who wears brown proudly, I had to share this one:
What do you think of the whale shark?
Did you know the aquarium even has a live webcam of the aquarium? After you glance at that and some of my photos, you may be thinking, this aquarium doesn't look very big. You're right, it doesn't. But look what happens when you add people to the photos!

They look bigger don't they?

We wrapped up the work trip by embracing one of Atlanta's most prized beverage company, Coca-Cola. We figured before we headed out of town, we had to see what Coke World was all about.
We got to see some of the most prized Coke possessions, apparently this is one of the world's largest bottle openers.
The hubs wants to take beer caps and make a sign like this one, had to share this photo with him for research obviously
I was a huge fan of some of the art work, can you tell?

And how could I forget the baseball sponsorship? Coke + Braves, well I guess it just makes sense.
So this photo is terrible...but the Polar Bear was leaving and my grandma loves this guy and all his commercials (maybe that's why I have such a fondness for the polar bear campaign). Regardless, this one is for you grandma!
We walked through the halls of history in advertising and the other exhibits but nothing was as cool as the last one. It was here that you can taste all of the specialty coke products drank every day around the world. By the way, please remind me never to drink the Beverly again if I am in Italy.
The Exotica Fanta was my favorite, I wonder how much it would cost to ship it to the States?
You can hardly see it here, but this next one was one of my boss's favorites. It's called Ice and really tastes like Ice. Not quite like sprite but really ice. It was cool.
But at the end of the day, all I wanted for myself was a yummy Diet Coke!

We stopped at the gift shop and headed on our way back to Chicago. We did notice that one of the first things you see when you exit Coke World was the Coca-Cola Building. I am guessing they planned it that way :)
And that was my Atlanta Trip!