Feels Like Home To Me

Right now we're not sure if we're going to close on our house or if we're going to have to back out from our contract. Either way, we're moving from our current place Friday. I am a "stick to the plan" kind of girl so you can only assume how much of a wreck I am. Right now my life is in boxes. I haven't been able to sleep in 2 days (and I have hardly had any caffeine). Severe case of insomnia, I think my husband and dog think I am crazy. With all this going on, I am not exactly sure if I have really felt at home recently.

On top of our current move, we've moved 6 times since I've graduated college, that's 6 times in 4 years! They (and by they I mean multiple studies and random websites) say moving is one of the most stressful things in a person's life. Yikes, no wonder why part of me just hasn't felt right at home.

Earlier today this little number started playing on my Pandora. Even with my life feeling like a mess this song brings back memories of my college home filled with all my amazing sisters. I am not sure if every sorority girl clings to this song as much as I felt like me and my DG sisters did, but when I hear this song it reminds me of a feeling that is almost impossible to explain. A feeling that only the girls in my house could help me feel. Girls that I could study with, shop with, make late night trips to McDonalds with. Girls that would make me laugh and smile and girls that would listen when I cried. When life felt like it was a mess and in boxes, I knew that coming home always felt like home. This song today reminded me that everything is going to be ok. Even though the hubs and I aren't quite home, today and always, I will have that feeling of home.

Minne Monday

We are just about done packing,

except for every box that Minne unpacks...

 

...we have to repack.

Hope your Minne Monday is more productive than ours.  

Sunday "Blah" Bumday

That's how I feel...like blah...like a bum.

On Wednesday, I was super thankful to enjoy my first full holiday weekend. Prior to this year, I have had to either work Thanksgiving day or the Friday and weekend after ever since I can remember working. Part because I have worked for company's that require work be done (sports teams and retail stores aren't going to stop making money so I can enjoy the day off), and the other part because I am someone who would rather work a little harder when no one else wants to so I don't have to worry about the every day holiday stresses that are bound to effect me anyway at some point. I know this is ludicrous but I guess that's just the way I'm wired. Regardless, I got an entire 4 weekend to be BLAH.

I had 4 days to stress about moving into a house that I am not even 100% sure we're moving into. I had 4 days to pack my current life into boxes while wondering what is in store for us next. I had 4 days to stress about my best friend in the world moving half way around the world. I had 4 days to watch my dog mope around the house as she struggled to find what was hers in the packed boxes.  I had 4 days to eat my stress away in Thanksgiving food goodness. I had 4 days to think about work (I told you I am just wired this way). I had 4 days run around like a worry wort about well, everything.

And now, I have a few short hours left of this Sunday to try to bum around and relax before my super busy work schedule picks back up and we move (location still TBD). Although my husband disagrees, I think I've earned the next few hours to bum and that is exactly what I am going to do. Enjoy your day of rest!

Happy Thanksgiving

A year ago today I woke up to find my car had been hit in my apartment parking lot. Today I got to wake up early and help my sisters and my mom cook Thanksgiving dinner. I don't think I have spent this much time with them all at once doing something productive, in a very long time. The results look pretty good don't you think?

I am keeping this post short because I want to capitalize on the time I have with people who mean so much to me. It's only a few more hours until we cut open the turkey and over indulge on pies and other goodies. Until then, we will be watching Christmas movies (my tradition but don't worry there is always time for some football), telling stories, eating cheeseball, admiring our Thanksgiving feast but most of all being thankful for the Whetsels in Indiana and to our family and friends in Florida, Door County, Minnesota, Arizona, Texas, Ohio, North Carolina, and Oklahoma ...you are missed! Happy Thanksgiving.

Minne Monday

Many things are going on right now, between the frustrations and aggravations of buying a house (yes this house saga is still going on), work, my best friend moving to Germany and well every day life itself...life is a tad bit insane. Oh and did I mention the holiday celebrating starts this week? It's been harder and harder to blog but I am always thankful for Mondays because Mondays I don't feel like I need to write much. In fact, I feel like I can post a picture of my little Boston and know that life is good because at the end of the day, I get to go home and cuddle up with her.

The little cuddle monster herself and her raggedy little stuffed animal that has been completely destroyed (minus its last leg as seen here).

Philly Day 2: A trip down Benjamin Franklin Parkway

We didn't actually have an entire "day 2" to spend in Philly but we woke up early and decided we should try to see the Rocky Statue and Love Park before we got back on another train to head to NYC. We grabbed some coffee from a local coffee shop and made our way to Love Park where we noticed that the Rocky Statue was just down a little road called Benjamin Franklin Parkway. It looked really far away on the map but we figured we could see it so it couldn't be that far away.

Starting at Love Park (in the background you can see the tincy weency Philadelphia Museum of Art).

PS do you know what Landon loves? (correct answer: the Phillies)

Thank you Robert Indiana for such a beautiful piece!

After about 20 photos with the Love Statue from every angle, we started our venture down Benjamin Franklin Parkway. It looks farther away than it really was, plus the walk was beautiful!

Landon and I decided to play a game called pick out your favorite flag and tell each other why. There was a lot to chose from.

Luckily, all the flags had the name of the country they belong too My favorite flag was the Lebanon flag. Can you guess why?

DUH it looks like a Christmas Tree

At the end of the flags you are greeted by the large and beautiful Philadelphia Museum of Art. TADUHHHHH. At this point, Landon just spotted the Rocky statue and he wants to run towards it, but he contains himself.

Well he contained himself till he got to the statue, then it was pose like Rocky time....see I told you.

And of course I had to have my turn.

Next time we're in Philly we're doing a do over on this photo, Landon will be dressed in full Rocky get up, HE PROMISED.

PS he is fake running, kind of lame don't you think?

Spotted, the real Rocky. And by "real" I mean a young man from Italy (I suspect anyway) who had his friend film him doing the entire Rocky bit.  He looked pretty good, grey sweats, gym shoes and of course the black hat.

I keep watching for his video to be posted on YouTube, I've seen others but no such luck on this guys yet.

Conclusion: Rocky's foot is the average of my foot combined with my husbands. Do you agree?

Beautiful right? Well it was until we realizes we had about 20 minutes to walk all the way back!

And so we made the beautiful trek back, all so we could check out of our hotel, cab to the train station where we would board the train and head to Penn Station in NYC.

Minne Monday

It is Minne Monday, but I thought I'd give our little ham a break from all the camera flashes and share this blog with you. It's all about Boston Terriers, not sure why I didn't find it on my own but I am very thankful for my good pal Jessica, who always has my back! Thanks girlie!

More from Cousin Day

Just found a couple more photos from cousin day. Love these, the boys in action.

Serious play time. 

Philly Night 2

After spending hours on public transportation and sight seeing, the hubs and I decided to do some walking. We figured we were a few miles away from our hotel but the map looked walkable and we could use the exercise if we were going to try to indulge in Philly cheese steaks for dinner. So we walked straight till we hit the highways and then we turned.

Thank goodness we did or we would have missed one of my favorite parts of Philly, Franklin Square. I took quite a bit of photos and will have to share them with you in a later post or else I will get way off topic.

We kept walking. After awhile I asked my husband if he was sure that we should be walking through China town since I didn't think it was on our path to get back to the hotel. He said I should worry because we were not in China town, he was sure of it.

Guess who was right?

To be honest I was getting so tired I hardly had time to gloat and we really weren't that far out of the way. And besides, we were sight seeing so why would we want to miss anything? Especially this little bells that are part of the grates by all the trees near the visitor and convention center in Philly. Cool huh?

When we spotted Mr. Penn, we knew we were getting closer to the hotel. But with this being the last night in Philly, we wanted to see as much as we could so we made our way over to the building he made his mark on, City Hall (which was my second favorite thing to look at in Philly)

If you're not from Philly and don't know much about it, you may wonder why everything in Philly is so beautiful. Well apparently, they have a city ordinance that a percentage of all construction projects have to be dedicated to public art. Pretty cool right? Now combined art with America and yo get nothing but beautiful patriotism. I really do love Philly.

Close to city hall was a fun area called Board Game Art Park. So naturally, we played, although I think Landons love for ironing came on a little to strong.

It was starting to get dark but I had to see the Love statue just in case there wasn't time for it before we headed out to NYC. I actually think I liked the road that runs all the way to the art museum as much as I loved the statue. Isn't the street beautiful?

Since our sight seeing hours were almost gone, the hubs suggested going to an east coast sporting goods retailer, Modells, so he could shop just a bit more Phillies gear. Yes, I am serious. Don't believe me?

By the time we made it back to our hotel, we were exhausted but hungry none the less. We asked the hotel concierge where the closest place was that we could get an authentic Philly Cheese. His response made us sad as the closest "real" authentic place was quite a bit away. Another guy suggested somewhere a little closer that delivered so we went with it.   

First disappointment was that they delivered me a cheese chicken, instead of a cheese steak. Second disappointment was that they only used the cheese whiz on the fries. I guess on our next trip to Philly, we'll have to plan better so we can get a real cheese steak.

And that was night 2.

Philly Day 1

After all the traveling we did and the fun at the Flyers game, when we arrived back at our hotel and we were beat. We slept like babies as we prepped for exploring in Philly, especially Citizen Bank Ball Park.

Yup, we woke up and took the subway back down to the sports complex. AGAIN. But this day was about taking in everything we would have been doing in preparation for a Phillies World Series day. That was the original intent of the trip anyway.

As you can tell, the skies were grey and the roads were wet but that didn't stop us from taking in all the great Phillies culture.

A 3rd base fave

It's exceptionally difficult to find Phillies gear in our home town, Chicago, so to make up for it we spent 2+ hours in this Majestic Clubhouse Store.

My favorite part of the store was the MLB Pin Trading Center. Note to self, next time bring an old MLB pin.

After lots of shopping, we were starving so we stepped into the Irish pub that's attached to the ball park, ironically enough it was one of our Chicago favorites, McFaddens. Landon's favorite part? The Phillies tap as seen below.

Remember when I said we did some shopping? Check out the 2 bags the husb is holding below in the photo with Phillies mascot the Phanatic.

By the time we were ready to go it was pouring but we made our way to the subway and crossed lines to another subway so we could make it over to the historical area. Home of the Liberty Bell.

How many photos can one take of this bell? Over 40 according to my camera. I'll spare you most of them but while I was taking a photo, this guy jumped in. He gave me an idea.

See the husband and his new Shane Victorino Fly'n Hawaiian glove. Yes we did get funny looks when we took this photo. Maybe because the Phillies weren't playing? or Maybe because it was clear we were tourists?

Ok but for real, we did enjoy seeing the Liberty Bell.

The rest of the area was really beautiful, especially as the sun started coming out. The only bummer was that we left the Chicago construction to see the Philly historical construction. Major bummer.

Because we had spent so much time shopping for Phillies gear, we didn't get to take a tour of the National Constitution Center because they close at 5pm. Sad Trombone.

Philly Night 1

After all of our traveling was complete, we finally were in Philly. We checked into our hotel and asked the front desk staff what the easiest way to get down to the Wells Fargo Center. Can you guess their response? Subway.

The hubs and I quickly freshened up and made our way tot he Broadway stop on the Orange Line, where we made our way to the sports complex. Even though we were in another form of public transportation, we were excited to be en route to see some hockey.

When we got off the subway, it was quite a site. You could see the Spectrum, Citizen Bank Park, Lincoln Financial Field and the Wells Fargo Center, although it's very hard to capture in one photo.

Time for some Flyers hockey.

When we arrived we found out that the Flyers were honoring the late great Barry Ashbee by giving his family the old banner that once hung in the Spectrum.

The graphics were pretty cool, but they were no United Center.

We enjoyed watching a win, a few good fights and seeing a new arena.

By the time we made our way back to the hotel, we were pooped, but we had to take a minute to participate in the post game victory dance that are plastered to the ground throughout the subway stop.