Suitcases

Suitcases have multiple personalities, in my opinion.  When the Hubs travels his suitcases get yanked from under the spare bed and thrown on said bed ready to be stuffed with his needs for the week.  Occasionally, he'll ask for my help in packing since I am the queen of "Jenga-ing" But overall, I hate to see the suitcase out because that means he's going somewhere.  But his suitcase represents what is to come for him on the trip.  Did he pack a suit?  Or was this strictly a khaki/polo trip?

Don't get me wrong...I love to travel, and at those times, suitcases have lovely personalities.  Blooming like the trip itself...full of possibilities.  Do we pack more shoes or do I need the sundress for the nice dinner we'll have one night?  Do I need the sneakers for hikes or a workout?  To bring the swimsuit or not bring the swimsuit?  Is this trip's suitcase a glitzy, girl's weekend?  Or is it a simple weekend at the parents house? 

I'm always amazed by the various personalities that match your suitcase.  In an effort to find your own case off the luggage carousel at the airport, many folks now tie string, ribbon or various noticeable items to be able to snag your bag. Did you ever stop to look at the color ribbon or item that your fellow baggage hunter has used?  The hot pink, polka dot ribbon for the businessman next to you?  Or the frog prince luggage tag the size of a small dinner plate - that goes to the 90-year old woman with the bad Christmas sweater next to you.  And so on...so what identifies your bag?

Because it may or may not be a good representation of you and where you've been, not to mention where you're going! Bon voyage!

Outgrowing the Teenage You

Does that ever really happen?  Do you ever truly outgrow the teenage version of yourself?  I think yes and no.  Yes, you learn and you grow and you develop thoughts and opinions and everything.  However, no, you still hold on to some pieces of childish innocence and fun in your life, if you're lucky.  Take, for example, me.  My enjoyment of the teenage literature and movie culture craze - the Twilight phenomenon.  I'm one of those for sure...however, I'm not the extreme, but I haven't ignored it either.  Last fall, I went to the midnight showing of New Moon.  It was quite the experience.  And I'm not embarrassed to admit that I was there...I found it hysterical that my fellow movie goers were women both teenage and middle-aged and a smattering of young men too.  The crowd definitely hooted and squealed when certain male cast members graced the stage.  The teenage me had a great time and you know what, the adult me had fun too...it helped that I didn't have to be at work the next day. 

And now, fantastic fate has added to my teenage glee. I discovered a fantastic new cupcake shop in downtown Elmhurst.  Fabulous and delicious!  I wish I'd found them sooner.  Apparently they even make a margarita cupcake that sounds yummy!  However, I digress...check out the perfect combo of teenage angst and cupcake wonder...

Devil's food cake (ironic) topped with deliciously light buttercream frosting coated in vanilla jimmies on the outside to give it the right crunch.  And the edible image of the wolf pack on top.  Hooray!

Now the teenage self knows that eating this will be yummy and a good reward for a hard workout.  The adult self doesn't feel much different but knows exactly the points value and how long that workout will have to be.  But it was worth it.  Actually - this was almost as yummy as our wedding cake.  And trust me, our wedding cake was irreplaceable!

The morale of this "saga" (ha, ha - fellow Twi-hards will understand) is that new bakeries are always great to try and you never know what you'll find.  And never let go of the teenage you...I'm certain that without her, I'd miss out on great books, movies and definitely good times over popcorn with friends and silly movies or late night talks with my sister and of course that crushy feeling about the love of your life.  I'm just lucky to still have all these pieces in my world.  Go teenage me!

Rainbows and Rain Drops

Summer storms are one of my favorite things.  I love the lightning and the thunder...when I'm safe and sound inside.  Unfortunately, you never know when something is going to happen, so you can't plan to be safe and sound ahead of time.  Take for example last Wednesday.  The crazy weather (that resulted in a tornado in neighboring towns) resulted in the trains being stopped during the storm.  And let me tell you, seeing the streets covered in water and the rain coming down so hard you can't see out the other side of the train is enough to freak out even the calmest person. 

Some of my fabulous fellow train passengers were great fodder for people watching as well as a study in people.  The individual that asked the conductor about 100 times when the train would start moving and if we were going soon.  So frustrating, because you know that the conductor is choosing to hold the train of course.  It's part of his evil plan to hold us all hostage on an elevated train stop in the middle of armageddon.  The young businessman that has to be somewhere immediately.  This individual is willing to take the conductor's offer to get off the train in the middle of the monsoon and walk to the nearby El train line.  Because where they have to go is important and not worth staying indoors for.  The helpful person...the one that is willing to console the panicked child or the uncertain father of the panicked child or the young adults unsure of what to do next.  All these pieces made up the puzzle of the train I rode.  Craziness...so many down trees, so many damaged houses, fortunately, I don't believe anyone was hurt in the process.


The best part of the storm...it's result.  This beautiful double rainbow.  However, it was there for only a minute or two...but then it was gone.  More clouds rolled in and it wasn't there anymore.  So I'm so glad that I was able to see it. 

So even though the night was full of raindrops, thunder and lots of lightning, it ended well.  With rainbows in the sky and a great time with my family.  Thanks to Mom & sister for picking me up from the town I was stuck in. 

Friendship Defined

Three things make a great getaway: Good fun/drinks, interesting sites to see/visit and great company.

I was fortunate to benefit from all three this past weekend.  My gals, most notably my book club gals all decided we needed a getaway and we went to Michiana/New Buffalo, Michigan to one of the best rental houses EVER.  (Highly recommend it by the way - www.casagreta.net.)

We had a great time, visited some wonderful places, laughed a lot, read, relaxed and okay, we may have had a bit of wine and cocktails.  We also played a mean game of Euchre.  Overall, great times with some amazingly great gals.

An observation that I've made after this weekend and even today...great friends really are forever.  Even if you don't speak to someone for ten years, you can be there for them on the most important day of their lives.  Or you can be there to chat with someone every day and be there for them through all the minor and major dilemmas in their life.  Ultimately, friendship is just like a getaway, some great substance, interesting things to do and some fabulous company along the way.

A Stone's Throw

So I've heard some clamor for news on our family...Like a pebble filled beach, some of our news is larger, some seems much smaller and some is super tiny but puts a huge cramp in your style if you step on it.

The Big Stones
I'm loving my new job. I don't usually get into too many details on this blog about our careers, personal life, etc.  But my new job is great. It's expanding my skill set, allowing me to focus on what I'm good at and I have a great team to work with that is supportive and fosters positive work and personal pieces of my life. 


 Middle Size Stones
Our dog is amazing. Since we don't have children yet, she's truly our baby.  Embarrassing, but true...we even have a puppy-car seat for her since she'd prefer to ride in our laps, it's safer to belt her to the seat and keep her safe.  In addition, she's fantastic - we've enrolled her in agility training.  Yup, the kind of training that has her literally jumping through hoops for us.  We'll put some videos up on the YouTube/Smugmug sites sometime soon.  Enjoy - please note that the Hubby is the primary trainer.  She seems to love it!

Tiny #$@*$% Stones
The Hubby spent time in the ER last night.  After five hours, they sent him home with a prescription for two drugs and his own personal pee funnel.  Sorry to be crude, but it's true.  Apparently he has a kidney stone the size of a single pea.  What the big deal is, I'm not sure, since when I have children they'll be the size of a watermelon when I finally give birth (God willing).  Regardless, he was in tremendous pain and very sick all day yesterday and thrilled to be feeling better last night and today.  I'm sure the follow up on "taking care" of the stone will be very funny when we look back on it, but I am certain that Hubby will fail to see the humor in it this week.  Too bad, stupid pebbles!

There are two sides to every story...

As many of you know I am a huge Twilight Saga fan. To further prove this, I thought what better way than to add a countdown widget!

In Threes...

Well I have thirty-three minutes (from the start of typing) to get this blog completed and posted in order to meet the three post rule for this month!

So, whatever to talk about - oh, I know. The reasons to hate technology. First, let me start off by saying, I'm not one of those people. You know who I mean. The ones that believe that ALL technology is evil or that big brother is watching or something crazy, I mean different, like that. I am however a victim.

Yes, a victim. Technology recently raided, pillaged and removed ALL my life. (I know, dramatic, right?) But it's true! In an effort to "help" fix my phone and correct the major annoyances and problems I've been having, it was discovered there was a syncing error. Easy to fix right? WRONG! With my current piece of crap...I said phone, right?...it merges all your contacts from any sources into one big lump - this includes anything stored on the phone and anything from an outside sync. By correcting the sync, anything, yes EVERYTHING, is removed since it's all assumed to be on the former sync. So very easily, my entire database in my phone was erased. AHHHHHH!!

Backup? Backup you say?! Alas, no...I had tried more than once, but this same sync error prevented the backup system from running and wouldn't allow me to override the issue to get the information into or onto another source. AHHHHHHH!

What precipitated this crazy action that removed all contacts - trying to fix it. And after speaking to the "representative" at the store, I've learned two things - 1) all cellular companies are evil, 2) I cannot renew/change/update or do anything without a fee for another three months. AHHHHHHHH!

So there you have it three full and completely frustrated AHHHHHHHs - just for you.

Good news, my wonderful friends, family and colleagues/past colleagues have been wonderful about sending their updated information. So on the sunny- side - I'll have the best contact database ever when I'm done with this mess and don't you think for a second that I won't have it in sixteen different methods and stored in five different locations.

If only it were an April Fools...