Old Man River...

Last night we went to The Little Theater on the Square's production of Showboat with Jayme, Aaron, Adam and Abbie. We got all dressed up (at least the girls did), went for dinner, and then walked to the theater. (I am kicking myself for not getting pictures of the girls together. We didn't even think about pics until everyone was gone. Sad face.)

It was such a great show! The set and props were beautifully designed, complete with a boat taking up most of the stage and over 150 wigs, 60 period costumes, and amazing talent. One of our favorites was this guy who sang Old Man River lower than those bottom keys on the piano. He kept popping up throughout the whole show, no matter where the main characters' lives took them: The river boat ("Old man rivah..."); Chicago ("he just keeps rollin..."); and the final setting twenty years later ("he just keeps rolling, alooooong...."). We went to Jibby's after the show and the cast came - the best part?! They had KARAOKE. And what song do you think I requested??? Old Man River. (He actually had it in his library, but no, I didn't embarrass Shonn that much. He would have made me walk home, for sure.)

The other star of the show was the captain, played by Jack Milo. He was uh-mazing. He could dance, sing, and his comic timing was perfect. I guess he's been in a lot of movies or something, too.

If you live around here and you haven't gone, you should definitely plan a date night for Showboat! Or any show at The Little Theater, really, because it's a wonderful night out.

We don't get many chances to dress up............ :)

FUJI

On Saturday, Shonn and I went out for dinner with our friends, Rachel and Rich. We headed to a new hibachi grill called Fuji, where we sat around a huge grill and were entertained by not only our cook, but the other patrons who were stuck with us...

Anyway, I had this drink called a Silent Monk or something like that, and of course, it came in an awkwardly embarrassing container - a large ceramic vase-like glass shaped like a Japanese monk, with the straw coming out of his back. It was pretty delicious, though, I must say.

The food was delicious and we had a great time! Sorry the pic is so blurry - it's from my phone. I think Rachel has some more pictures from the night I might be able to post later... (including one of the monk...)

Leave of Absence...

I'm back!

I totally blame my adorable sister, Amanda Mae Kracht (please see above), for my lengthy lapse on House of Hild. I really wanted to write about our amazing Spring! Break! Adventure!, which was the first week of APRIL, and she promised she'd send pics............

........still waiting!

But that's really a lame excuse, because there have been lots of things to write about (including the adorable goat you see above) and so I'm back in the saddle. Or computer seat. Or whatever. Get ready for some updates! (Sorry, Maria.... hahaha!)

xo

Sex in the City Party

I had some girls over last week for a Sex in the City themed party, although the invitations said Sex in the Country. :) The night was hilarious, complete with Cosmos, chocolate-covered strawberries, and even martini-shaped sugar cookies - thanks, Ingrid! We played some interesting games and laughed a lot. Time with girlfriends is so important, and I love nights like these!

Here are some pictures of the decor. I kept it simple by forcing myself to do all my decoration shopping at the Dollar Store. (My very own little Design Star Challenge.) Here is my shopping list and what I did with each item:

• Mini wedding place card frames (I printed quotes from the movies onto the place cards and then added little black bows to sass them up)


• 4 regular-sized frames (I found pics of the cast online, printed them, and popped them into the frames - our guests of honor.)


• Martini glasses (Obvious reasons)


• 3 square glass dishes (One for gummy worms, one for kisses, and one for the pink chocolate balls)


• Silver gift bag filler (To fill a hurricane my friend Krista gave me - it's so versatile and I use it for every party, filled with something different)


• Hot pink place mat (Under the center piece)


• Gummy Worms


• Malted Milk Balls


• Blow pops


• 4 "toys" for themed door prizes - one for each character.

I had lots of ribbon to use for accessories and bought plenty of food. Here is the menu:

• Chocolate-covered strawberries (Barks makes a container you just pop in the microwave and dip the fruit right into!)


• Pasta ("Noodle") salad


• Fruit salad


• Cheese & Crackers


• Ingrid's famous sugar cookies (Wish I had a picture - they were adorable!)


• Sausage Snack Wraps


• LOTS of candy


• And probably some other stuff I'm forgetting...

Thanks to the ladies that came!

Plan examples...

Here are some examples of what we can do regarding landscape designs for customers. Sometimes people want to do their own work, but they aren't sure what to put where. One of the biggest mistakes people can make regarding investing in landscaping is starting without a good plan. Plants grow at varying rates into a wide variety of shapes and with diverse root system needs. A good landscape design can prevent problems from occurring down the road. We can create just the design for purchase, or design and do it all. Take a look at how cool this is!

Also, great for real estate agents or for new construction is this feature. We can take a picture of your house and actually plant the plan right onto the photo, giving you a picture of what your landscape will eventually look like. Love it!

New site alert!

For those of you who like watching those amazingly trashy and addictive shows like Gossip Girl or 9-0, you will LOVE this website. It's called SeenOn! and it has buyers that work on those sets with the costume designers, who then sell those items online. It's really cool.

http://www.seenon.com/account.php?f=invitecreate&token=1t3UoJeTn6KppZ4%3D&pa=soinvite

New Workout Trend Alert!

I came up with a new cardio workout today. It was accidental, but I find that's when strokes of genius are most likely to hit a person, wouldn't you agree?

Anyway, so I went down to the fitness center at school with my ponytail, leggings, and iPod. The beginning of this trend was the iPod, I must admit. The second ingredient was the emptiness of the fitness center. I was all alone! Perfect. So, I cranked my music and got on the elliptical. Kelly Clarkson started scream-singing,"SINCE U BEEN GOOO-OOOON," and THAT'S when the great idea hit me. You see, KC's tunes are pretty much rockin, and when I have headphones in, I can sing along and pretty much sound exactly like her (some people disagree. Okay, most.).

It's really, really hard to hear a song you like and NOT sing along, right? So, I kept ellipticaling (what would that verb be, I wonder), and started singing! What do you know? My cardio workout got harder. Granted, I started ellipticalling slower, but this gave me an idea! If all people tried to sing while they were running, biking, or stairmastering, they could intensify their workouts! I sang louder. By now, the high notes were getting harder to hit, but I made up for it with my facials. I was really givin' it to the audience: "I can breee-athe for the fiirrrr-st time," (when in actuality I could hardly breathe at all, but whatever). My eyebrows were down, my eyes squinting, I had a kissy-face, and I even brought the right hand away from the handle bar so I could use the mic. By this time, I'm sure my heartrate was a good 180, and I was getting to the really loud part where she goes, "again, again, and uh-GAAAIIIIIIN!" which was the precise moment a teacher (or fan) walked in. I barely saved myself from falling backward and cracking my skull (or injuring my vocal chords) because I was so scared out of my live, on-stage cardio workout moment, and it therefore took a minute to register the strange look I was getting from my colleague. (Who will remain nameless. I don't want to embarass her for her natural desire to lurk around so she could hear my siren's song.)

Anyway, I totally played it off and acted like she was the weird one. I'm pretty sure it worked.

So, the moral of the story is that you should not let my dediation in finding a good workout strategy go to waste. Next time you're working out, go ahead and try belting a few lines from your favorite pop star's album. You'll be surprised at the burn in your abs and the sudden desolation of the gym.

P.S.) This was also my perfect Crime Scene (for Criminal Minds) of the Day! I was so into the moment I wouldn't have heard a creepo sneak up behind me. And then Agent Morgan would have been forced to solve my case instead of hear me sing. Tragic. But a good setting, for sure.

P.S. Again) Unfortunately, there are no photos or video to accompany this amazing event, but there's always tomorrow!

Setting for Criminal Minds

I'm going to try something new. For those of you who don't know, I am recently obsessed with Criminal Minds. (The plot lines! The serial killers! The suspense!) Shonn and I stumbled upon it quite accidently, and have since begun to DVR as many epidsodes as possible. This obsession has begun creeping into all areas of my life. Take, for example, the other night when I was driving home. I saw a van on the side of the road with a flat tire. My immediate assumption: "A kidnapper trying to convince someone to pull over so he can snatch that person up and take her to a secret torture chamber!" This was all in the .3 seconds it took for me to accelerate and whiz by them, which was then followed by the guilt of not helping a fellow human. I've also found myself dreaming about the cast (not that way, even though Morgan is pretty hot ) and inserting myself into cases, where I use my powerful profiling skills to Save! The! Day!

This obsession has also created a new sense of creativity: I'm now viewing the world through the lens of the show's creators, looking for the next best spot for them to write a crime! That has led me to introduce:

The Best Crime Scene (for Criminal Minds) of the Day!

Exhibit A:

I love TJ Maxx. Shonn hates it. But, it was my birthday weekend, so we got to go. While he ho-hummed around, I was hunting for bargains and that led me to notice all the creepy places in that store. Now some TJ Maxxes are nice. The one in Decatur, not so much. Staffed by creepos and a little dirty in the corners, I started thinking Criminal Mindslike, and I found the perfect crime scene for their next season. The bathroom in the Decatur TJ Maxx store. Check it out. SCARE-YYYYYYY! Can't you just picture Hotchner and Dr. Reed kicking down the door and then examining the evidence in there?!

Don't you agree??

Birthday Dinner

We met Mom, Dad, and Matthew for dinner at Los Potros in Sullivan. (I think that's the name...) After the waiters were oh-so-nice to me all night, even bringing extra salsa and chips with what I perceived to be kind smiles, they tag-teamed a sneak attack - one brought fried ice cream and sang, while the other approached from behind - stealthily, mind you, and smashed whipped cream into my face! No one had any idea, and as you can see in the middle picture, my mom reeeeeally enjoyed the surprise.

It was hilarious and a lot of fun! It was the first time all of us had spent some time together since JANUARY (yikes - we live 5 minutes apart!), and it was wonderful to laugh, talk, and...get treated so kindly by the wait staff. We missed Mandy that night and I wish she could have been there, but the little twit is in Florida, probably reading a trashy magazine on the beach while the rest of us are running in and out of buildings in the godforsaken rain and cold. I'm looking forward to seeing her in a few weeks, though, when I go visit for SPRING BREAK!

The Cost of Open-Toes

With Springtime comes the arrival of my FAVORITE accessory - open-toed shoes. The unfortunate side effect of my beloved wedges, mod-clogs, stilletos, and sandals is the cost incurred by toenails that have been forgotten over the long, dark winter. Suddenly, they are shoved out into the world and put on display for the rite of passage of female-inspection. Whether stated or implied, all girls learn the rules of the pedicure somewhere around junior high school. For some, the lesson is learned by the words of a kind, well-manicured mother. For others, it is learned in the cruel confines of the locker room. For me, the lesson was the latter. I shudder still when I think about my winter-worn toes, making their debut in Mrs. Fetrel's PE Locker Room as we began changing into PE shoes. I took off my socks and my little toes clung to whatever warmth they could find, which happened to be bits of cotton fuzz my socks left behind. There, on my toenails, remained the chipped remains of Wet n Wild's fire red, number 812, that I had applied approximately 6 months earlier for the Back-to-School Dance. It was then that I noticed the other fuschia, magenta, and shiny purple tonails surrounding mine, accusing them of a breach against a girl-rule I hadn't yet learned: When you hit late February, the toes must be prepared. I cringe when I think of the humiliation of my little appendages that cold day in March, 1994, but it was then and there I vowed to make them proud to go bare among their fellow toenail friends and never have to curl away into the shadows of the locker room benches again.

That memory in mind, Abbie, Allison, Jayme, Lydia, and I all went to Jackie's Nails to begin preparations for open-toe season the way some men prepare for open-season on deer or ducks or whatever. Jayme must have known it was an important day, because she brought the necessary celebratory supplies: Solo cups and Riesling. We had such a great time pseudo-bonding with the people rubbing our feet (which is a rather intimate procedure when you think about how little you really get to know each other before the groping and rubbing begins) and talking about plans for a couples' cruise. We also enjoyed the rather...unique...massage chairs, but that's a story for another time...

Thanks, girls, for a great day! And please, let's be true friends to each other and gently remind when the polish begins to chip so we aren't reminded by the awkward stares of strangers. XO

Girls' Weekend!

This weekend, my friends Maria (Braham Fam), Krista (Ruddology), and Jenn (I Barely Have Time for Facebook, So Blogging is Out) all came to visit! Krista and I have been friends since 1997 (wow!) and Maria, Jenn and I met the following year. We don't get to see each other as often as we'd like, but when we get together, we always have a great time.

The girls arrived at about 7 on Friday, and we spent a lot of time lounging in our pjs, eating, talking, laughing, crying, and basically being girls. We stayed up talking all night on Friday and slept in on saturdya morning, a rare treat for all of us, for very different reasons. Krista is used to getting up with her two adorable boys, Lucas and Tyler; Jenn is usually on the road or running errands on Saturdays; Maria spends every other weekend with Craig's kids, Ethan and Julia; and I don't really have an excuse for not sleeping in except we have very rotten dogs. Regardless, it was bliss to sleep in and then wake up to muffins Shonn made for us. (He's amazing.)

We sat around and talked until about noon on Saturday, and then got enough energy to go shopping in Tuscola. (Krista's promise of a 20% off coupon at the Coach Outlet might have been the motivation we needed.) We had success at Coach and also loved the Bath and Body Works Outlet (for up to 75% off every day!) as well as Old Navy and Gap. The shopping trip was a resounding success, but the stop for caffeine at the Tuscola McDonald's was, well....confusing. It took about 6 times of ordering and passing items back and forth through the drive-thru window (as pictured in the collage) before we got our surely spit-in coffees.

Although we had ambitious plans to doll ourselves up and go out to Jibby's, slowly the idea of ordering in Monical's Pizza became increasingly appealing. (Apparently, Doug Wilson was not enough motivation in order to get us out in the cold.) Instead, the call of Monical's red dressing won out and we ordered pizza, salad, and had wine. (The girls brought pleeeennnn-ty.)

We ended up crawling back into our pjs, which were the standard uniform of the weekend, watching Confessions of a Shopaholic AND the original Footloose. (Kevin Bacon = adorable.) (I need to give a shout-out to Shonn for walking me through the using-Netflix step-by-step guide, which allowed us to have this enjoyable movie-watching experience. This might also be an opportune time for an additional shout out for his overall patience and interest in fishing or all things out-of-the-house this weekend.)

The weekend went by too quickly, and before we knew it, we were headed back into our own very unique, very different lives. Maria took the train back to Chicago and her husband, Krista headed south on I-70 to Edwardsville and her family, and Jenn returned to the suburbs and her busy life with family, friends, and work. This weekend was a great deep breath from our too-busy lives - a chance to remember how we became friends and a reminder of why we choose to stay friends. These three women are very special and important to me. And even though we come from and return to different places and different lives, I know we will always remain close.

xoxox

Sean Payton is My Friend!

Jenn and I fancied ourselves up for the Eastern Illinois University Athletics Winter Gala. It was an a-mazing night, full of great company, delicious food, wine, and famous alum from Eastern, including Sean Payton! In standard Jenn-and-Christy style, we decided somewhat last minute to attend, me as her date, and had to somewhat scramble for "black-tie" appropriate attire. Also standard, we arrived just as the VIPs were getting ready to be introduced. (The life of the working woman. The working woman who must try on several options prior to settling on JUST one dress.) Also completely expected was that we would have a conversation with Mr. Of-the-Moment Payton and reminisce about Ike's, Sigma Chi, and Alpha Gam. I'm pretty sure he loved us, especially when I oh-so-cooly mentioned that his anonymous shopping days at Target were over. I'm sure he cared. Much to Shonn's delight, I did restrain myself from asking him to be my facebook friend. That much restraint takes willpower, people.

We also caught up with our EIU buddy Brian Jones and his wife, as well as Ken Baker, my former Fitness for Life instructor and the replay judge for this year's superbowl. Mr. Baker always gives me a hard time about how he tried recruiting me for Eastern's track team when I came to an indoor track meet my senior year. I invited him to a celebrity golf outing at Cog Hill when I worked for Margie Korshak downtown. We've kept in touch ever since college, and he is such a kind person.

Anyway, it was a great night - one of the nicest events I've been to since our days as EIU Panther Pals, traveling around the country with Lou Hencken. It's always good to catch up with Jenn - we always talk the entire time we're together!

Check back later - I will upload Sean's keynote speech when I find my Blackberry cord. (Sooooo that might be next year.)

We Love Cake

Shonn always jokes (at least I think he's joking) that 1/2 the reason he got married was because of the wedding cake. And I loved my wedding cake - it was so beautiful. I didn't eat any of it, because I'm not really a cake person, I'm more of a "if-it's-pretty-I-like-it" person than I am the whole I-love-icing type, and I was so busy that day. But this cake was amazing and a picture of it was on my screen saver today, which made me reminisce about it, so I wanted to share. Sigh.

Thanks, Shonn!

Shonn did an awesome job hanging the pictures from my craft day! (I would also like to point out how nice the gigantic tv cord looks since he put it away in the attic's cord-tunnel he made, for those of you who read my "Too Many Technology Updates" entry from December.)

PS) Nic Stokes doesn't look too bad on the tv, either...

Friends Tomorrow Night!

I'm so excited to have our friends over Sunday night, and I realized I've never properly introduced them. I found some pictures (including one from our GRAMMY's PARTY - please note my sequined-bolero just for the occasion) and thought they would provide the perfect material for introductions. (In the last picture, we are all wearing name tags as a joke because AARON cannot remember anyone's names. EVER! It's hilarious.)

First up is Chris and Allison. They are our best carny friends! Allison used to teach at Mattoon Middle School, where I work now, and Chris got his degree as an architect. They made a deal to give it up and start their own business with carnival games and rides, IF Chris would take Allision to Europe when they were done. (She has a minor in Spanish, too!) The deal worked, and now, six (?) years later, they're still at it! Here is a picture of them on the day they found out they were going to have their little girl, Hadleigh Reese.

They have a dog named Dexter and they travel from about March - October, collecting amazing stories on the carnival circuit. I wish you could meet them to hear some of the most hilarious tales I've ever heard AND to eat some of Allison's delicious cooking/baking/whatever you call it. She's always coming up with themes for our next party, and when she hosts, it's with the complete place-card, labeled dishes you might expect. Little Hadleigh is still waiting to come to our house because she's such a tiny little thing! She will make her grand debut in about April, with likely one of the cutest outfits you've ever seen - the girl has more clothes than any big person I know.

Next, we have Jayme and Aaron. Jayme and I work in the same district - she's a high school psychologist. (She does a trillion other things, too, like counseling, mothering, nursing, and organizing tons of data, but her actual title is psychogist.) As you can tell from this adorable pic, she's very professional, too. Jayme is so much fun and probably could have been a professional shopper (that is a fashion snuggie). In her free time, she loves to talk about Financial Peace. (hahahaha!) Her husband Aaron works at a local bank and is a wiz at Priceline deals. He has a...WIDE VARIETY of friends and is really funny, as you can tell from this image of him at a weiner roast last Fall. (His hair is not actually that scary.) The two of them live in Charleston in a beautiful wooded area with their dog, Piper, and cat, Kitty. (Truth.) They have an adorable house with a POOL that I'm ready to start using soon... They are a lot of fun because they are always up for just about anything, including taking in foreign exchange students or playing made-up games. :)

Adam and Abbie are about the cutest couple you're going to meet. (They are pretty much always like they are in this picture!) Adam is our technology minister at church and he definiely adds a ton of interest with awesome videos and lots of creativity. He has an amazing singing voice and actually graduated with a music focus, so he gets to use those talents by directing Christmas in the Chapel every year. He might be the biggest Colts fan I know, but he's bounced back from his superbowl-induced depression, so that's a positive. Abbie is always happy and smiling - unless you get her going on the topic of thank you notes, at which point she transforms into a rather angry little elf. She is also an encyclopedia of Friends-trivia, which prior to meeting her, I thought was a title held my college roommate, Susan. But seriously, she knows ev-ery thing about that show. She's also a recent Aunt and she works at Sarah Bush in Mattoon.

In a later edition, I'll tell you all about Carly & Jim; Amanda & Ryan; Chris & Kelsey; Liz & Kong; and Lydia & Nate. Quite frankly, I'm too tired to write anymore.

Wii Just Dance

I've been going to "work out" with my friend Casey Jo on Monday nights at the Methodist Church in Sullivan. Let me illustrate this a little more clearly, which will explain the need for quotation marks around the term. The first week we went, we were greeted with Richard Simmon's smiling face circa 1982, for sure. Casey and I sweat to the oldies with a fun group of about 12 other women, ranging in age from 8 to 60. We spent most of the time laughing our butts off (misson accomplished) and our laughing got so out-of-control our stomachs also got a work out. I just couldn't get over Richard's amazing legs and the amazing job his camera/makeup/wardrobe crew did hiding his... well, when he's doing high-kicks and pelvic thrusts in shorty-short-shorts, you have to ask the obvious question: Where is it? So that search became the primary focus of our "workout" and it resulted in quite a few fits of collective laughter.


Casey couldn't get over the fact that one of the back-up dancers was surely Felicity Huffman in her pre-Housewife Days, and we all wondered how Big Suzie had already lost 126 pounds. It was actually so much fun, and to top it all off, the 8-year old told me she liked my moves. So that was pretty awesome.

(If you're interested, you can STILL BUY THE 5-DISC SET! Call or click now, annnd.... http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Collection-Sweatin-Oldies/dp/B000Z0UEV0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1266774174&sr=8-1 )

As awesome as dancing with Richard was, the next time we went, we decided to mix things up a bit. The 8-year-old previously mentioned (whose name happens to be Claire) decided to lead our class. (You can start to see the need for quotation marks, yes?) She brought her favorite Wii game, Just Dance. Let me pause for a moment to endorse this product. Because if you thought sweatin to the oldies seemed like a good time (really? you did?!), you have no idea how much fun you can have with this game! It plays a bunch of popular songs and choreographs your moves. Sooo, basically it's sweating to the oldies minus the oldies and minus an occasionally inappropriate Richard Simmons. (In the Wii game, he's been replaced by cartoon-Pixarish characters with only a bit more clothing.)


When "Hammer Time" and "Step by Step" came on, I couldn't help myself from pulling out the stops with the Roger Rabbit and Running Man moves I've been kept hidden for oh-so-long... Casey and I were transported back to our middle school dance days and began laughing, again...


So imagine my suprise when chaperoning my Middle School Dance on Friday, as the cafeteria filled with kids playing Just Dance! Annd before I could yell "STOP! Hammer Time!" they were all doing the Running Man in sync! Naturally, I had to join in, and before long, we had a fierce competition going on between some of the teachers and twelve-year-olds. Good times.



I can't wait to see what the ladies have in store for us Monday night...

It's Good to be Loved

My Valentine was really sweet all weekend. Friday night he made me dinner and then we went to the movies - Valentine's Day (loved it - a total chick flick) with our good friends Aaron & Jayme, Chris & Allison, Adam & Abbie, and Chris & Kelsey. I got popcorn and the biggest drink. I'm so spoiled. We went out for awhile afterwards and had a great time laughing and talking.

Then, Saturday, Shonn went to the boat show in St. Louis with his buddy Mike and I had breakfast with mom followed by a scavenging day at Hobby L0bby & TJ. When we got home, we made our heart-shaped pizza (see post) and hung out. He suprised me with Norah Jones tickets and a weekend away in Chicago! He is so attentive and thoughtful- he knows I like Norah Jones AND spending weekends away on occasion. We love hanging out at home, but sometimes getting away lets us focus just on each other.

Anyway, there's more!! He made a delicious breakfast Sunday morning, we went to church, and then had lunch with friends at BWW...where the girls talked and the boys watched the Illini lose. We spent the rest of the day relaxing together.

I am so lucky to have him - he is my best friend and one of the kindest, most loving people I've ever known. xoxoxox

Rug & Pillow Inspired Paintings

I finished the project for the left side of our fireplace today. I painted three more pics - two inspired by Pottery Barn pillows and one more abstract flower from our rug. Here are the pillows:

It took about an hour and a half to finish all three, so then went on a frame-finding mission. I found these frames for the I-can't-believe-it-price of $6 each. They are very similar to the $36 gallery frames I love from PB. Granted, I had to go to FOUR different Dollar General locations, and the fact that there are that many in a twenty-five mile radius says something about our area, I'm sure. (Three of them were in Mattoon!)

Anyway, here are the pics, and I'm actually pretty happy with how they turned out. When Shonn gets them up, I'll post what it looks like totally finished.

Now, onto the next project: a rustic sign for the right side of our fireplace!