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