Rewind...Chicago

I'm going to back up a little and do a few posts about things that have already happened but either I haven't posted about them or I haven't posted pictures. These posts probably won't be in any particular order but I should be able to give an approximate time just in case anyone wonders...lol

This past May, a group of us ladies took a train trip to Chicago. I don't think that any of us had ever been on a real train trip so it was quite an experience. My mom, my sister and I left eariler in the day than the others and we had a very nice train trip. When we checked in to the hotel we relaxed for a little bit, had a little lunch and then we went to check out the area near our hotel.

Christine and Pam at Cloud Gate

Pam and Liz at Cloud Gate

Garden in Millennium Park

We checked out Cloud Gate and Millennium Park and then took in the Museum at the Art Institute of Chicago. The day we were there was the day you could get in for free so that was an added bonus. After that we went out to dinner at a bar just down the street from the hotel and then went back to the hotel to wait for the other part of our group that were supposed to be arriving shortly. Turns out they didn't get into Chicago until well after midnight because their train had some major problems! After speaking to some other people a few days later it seems that it's kind of common for the last train of the day to have mechanical issues and since it usually doesn't come in until after 10pm it takes longer to get the train repaired and going again.

So the other set of ladies arrived quite late and wanted to sleep in the next morning. My mom, sister and I had a free architectural tour planned through the Chicago Greeter Program, http://www.chicagogreeter.com/ , and we needed to get around and get going so we could make it on time. I would highly recomend that anyone who is intersted in learning more about Chicago choose one of the many tours this group does because our tour was spetacular. We had a woman named Maureen showing us some of the neatest arcitectural sights and taking us into the lobbies of buildings so we could see all of the interesting touches inside as well as out. I think the best part was that it was just the three of us that she was showing around and it made the tour more personal and informative because we could ask her questions and didn't have to strain to hear her speaking over a larger group.

When we were finished with our tour we called the other group of ladies and found out that they'd headed out to do some shopping on the Miracle Mile. We weren't interested in doing any shopping so we got ourselves some lunch and decided to take the train out to The Garfield Park Conservatory to see "Niki in the Garden". This exibit had several sculptures done by Niki De Saint Phalle placed in and around the conservatory. The conservatory in alone was very nice but it was also very neat to see all of these large mosaic sculptures in and among the plants and flowers.

Here we took a little break in our sculpture viewing to play in the children's section...

Christine going up the stairs to the slide

Pam under the big leaf

Liz after going down the slide

After our play time indoors we went outdoors to look at the rest of the sculptures. Little did we know that we'd get to play a little more...

Liz inside a sculpture

Holy cow! It ate Christine!

Awwwww...now they're friends!

Liz and Pam inside the kitty

If you are in the Chicago area by October 31st of this year I would suggest a visit to the Garfield Park Conservatory to see this great exibit!

After our fun visit to the conservatory we took the train further out to Oak Park to view some of Frank Loyd Wright's architectures. He's well known for Prairie Style architecture and we got to see some amazing looking houses, such a distinctive style. We did a lot of walking and then caught the train back to our hotel where we were to meet the other ladies to go out to dinner.

Sarah with her new ipod

We had a great dinner at one of the restaurants in the Italian Village. After that we split up...my mom, my sister and I went back out to do some walking around the city after dark and the others went to the Coyote Ugly Bar.

The next morning they slept in again while we checked out, had our bags stored and took off walking. We headed toward the lake, it was such a beautiful morning!

We also went to Shedd Aquarium and then took the train up near the Miracle Mile to get Arlexis a few things at the American Girl Store. Finally we met the other ladies back at the hotel to retreive our bags and headed to the train station for the trip home. The train was delayed an hour or so but once we got on and got going it was smooth sailing.

So we made it home and had had such a great time that we're looking forward to another trip soon!

It's Just The Beginning...

Last Friday we squared up the area where my parents are going to be building their new barn. They are also going to build a milking parlor and they'll be getting Jersey cows. On Saturday my brother dug the holes and put in the poles to get the building started.

It's pretty exciting to get to see this happening for them. They've been talking about it for years so now it's their dream coming true. I'll post some pictures when I am able to get back up there.

The wedding's over! All the planning and issues they had with vendors came together in the end and everyone had a great time. It was a hot day, the church was stuffy and the barn was too but it cooled off some so there was dancing by all. I've only got a few pictures to share but will hopefully have more when they get their professional ones back.



The Rehearsal

The Waiting

The Reception

The Gift of Goats

It's almost over!

We're getting to the end, about one week until the big day! I can't wait for the party...lol

Weather

I'm really hoping that the weather we've been having this spring isn't an indication of what's to come for the summer! Last week it was in the 80's and humid, not our typical spring weather here in Michigan. The beginning of this week it's been cooler but I just saw that Thursday it's supposed to be 90 and for the week after that it showed temps in the 80's everyday. That's just nuts!

My bosses picked up two kittens to keep their dog company. Anyone that knows me knows I'm not a big animal person but kittens aren't too bad...we'll see how I feel when they're all grown up. I don't know what it is with me not really liking animals, I guess I just don't like things climbing all over me and licking me-especially when I know it just came out of the litter box, not very appealing to me. No biggie though...

I'm off from work tonight for two weeks, I love my job! We've got the bachelorette/shower mayhem this weekend and that should be all sorts of fun. Saturday we're supposed to go to line dancing lessons and then out to lunch (part of the bachelorette party), that evening we've got an open house for a family friend's "make your own wine" shop, and then gathering at Will's house for food and games and then to the bar for the rest of the bachelorette party. When we get up north on Friday I've got to plant the flowers for the table decorations and finish the aprons because the sewing machine here seems to not want to work. We've also got to pick up a few more things for the shower, cut up watermelon and some veggies, make tea and punch and decorate the church hall for the event. Should be a crazy busy weekend...good times!

Winding up...

Will's wedding date is fast approching and it seems tha things are getting busier and busier! Renee's bachelorette party and wedding shower are this weekend...it must be said that we had the shower planned before the bachelorette party so it's not our fault if many of the girls show up hung-over...lol We've got a few more things to get ready for the shower-planting the flowers for the table decorations, putting together the prizes for the games, I've got to finish sewing aprons for one of the games and for the prizes, and the list goes on and on...good times!

I've gotten to be a bit crafty lately with scrapbooking and sewing. I put together a dress that I thought I was going to wear to the wedding but it turns out it didn't work so well on my body shape so I think my sister is going to wear it now. Thankfully I found another one I really liked and ordered it quick, it came in this past weekend and it will work perfectly! I had most of last week off from work so I was able to do a bit of scrapbooking and that was fun. I finished up what I could for the book I'm making for Will and Renee and did some on the family scrapbook. I wouldn't say I'm the most creative scrapbooker but I really have a good time putting pages together and remembering all the good times from the pictures.

Today is a rainy day, perfect for sewing which is good because I've got two days to finish three aprons for the shower, shouldn't be that hard because they're fairly easy to do and once they're finished I love looking at them because it's a very neat pattern. Hopefully I'll remember to take pictures to post when I get them finished.

Things have been going quite well all around right now. I've been working fairly regular, well regular for my job, and it's not been too bad. My family are all doing good-everyone is working to get ready for the wedding and it's been interesting to see how much time it consumes. My parents have been working hard at the farm with the change over to new ownership. They're working longer days and more days in a row which I know is hard on them but hopefully it's paying off in other ways. They got corn planted at their own farm and they've gotten some information about where they may be able to purchase some calves for the start of their dairy. Busy times but it seems that everyone is happy and that's a good thing!

Wine Charms

I made these wine charms for my brother's wedding, they'll be gifts to the bridesmaids from the bride. I got the heart charms from a great lady at http://www.bunnysdesigns.etsy.com/ They turned out great!

Here's my Etsy!

I've got my Etsy shop open but with only one item so far...even still I'm so excited!

Here's what I've got so far...

Be sure to check out my shop! www.leezard.etsy.com

And we have snow...and ice

What's snow?! After so many months without any it seems very strange. The ice came first and coated all of the trees with a magical glitter. The sun shines through and it looks like a star filled

sky. Very beautiful! Just a lite dusting of snow the next day, hardly enough to make it worth it. Gotta love all the strange weather.

I don't really care for awards shows but the Golden Globes were on the other night and I couldn't find anything else I was interested in watching so I watched most of the show. I was quite happily surprised that Ugly Betty won for best show in its category and the star of the show won best actress for her category. Now I think that they are very worthy of those awards but it's interesting to see Hollywood acknowledge them because of the content of the show. If you haven't seen the show I'd recomend checking it out, it's got a great message and is very fun to watch.

Christmas Crafts

These are some Christmas gifts I made for this past holiday...



These stockings were gifts for my brother and future sister in law, hopefully for them to use in their home next Christmas.





I made two each of these aprons for my sister, she gave them to her friends.