cku chicago.

our crazy whirlwind day! i had a blast. but man oh man, am i exhausted today!
monica and carmen got in around 11pm tuesday night. of course, we stayed up late chatting! finally went to bed around 2ish, i think! a 630 am alarm clock was not my friend! we were on our way to the hotel by 730ish.
met some lovely ladies when we got there! and can i say i love accents!!!
we tried to fit all 6 of in one car. that was so not possible. so two cars it was. crazy times. wilder rides. just ask the girls! :)
went to navy pier. ate chicago dogs! rode the ferris wheel, well some of us. headed to scrap stores. i think we hit 5 total! one was stumbled upon by total accident! gotta love that. i wasn't the winner of this spree. i think alison had us all beat but i'm not for sure!
took everyone to giordano's for dinner. yummy deep dish pizzas!
made it back to the hotel around 11pm. i think margaret and i left a short time after. and after a little {ahem} detour i was home by 1230am. i so shouldn't have gone to work today.
can't wait to hear their stories and see their pictures. i am so glad i was able to meet up with everyone. they were all wonderful!

we're...

up to something! meet another boodle today. she's a doll. just what i expected. got stuff planned for wednesday when we get to meet some more boodles! so excited. can't wait to meet new people and see old friends again. can i call you two old friends! ;)
went to my first archivers. not sure if it was what i expected. maybe i wanted it to be bigger or something...
and can i just say... i hate chicagoland traffic. where else on earth does it take one and a half hours to go less than 40 miles. oy. oh well, the traffic headache was worth it and now at least i know what to expect wednesday morning. hmmm... maybe not. i did the drive at 11 am on a saturday, not necessarily rush hour.
anyway. good times. and i can't wait for wednesday!

are you two newlyweds?

seriously. nick and i were asked this last night at the eye doctor. how great! we confessed that were were not newlyweds. had been together for almost 13 years and married for nearly 3 now. makes me feel so great about our relationship.
now i know that we are wonderful. that i am beyond lucky to have him in my life. but it's also nice to hear an outsider say something nice. when those words come from friends and family it is almost as if they are supposed to tell you that, kwim?
and before this lovely lady, someone else asked us if we were brother and sister. wasn't sure how to take that one. is it a good thing that we can laugh and joke and be silly? or what? i was beyond confused. so the eye glass picker outer helper lady made my day!
oh, so did the new glasses i picked out. can't wait to be able to see again. see, smarty shannon went kayaking in the ocean with her glasses on. she then got them wet and tried to wipe them clean. hello.... scratches. i know this was in december but they weren't that bad. until this past weekend when my lovely father mentioned using car wax to buff the scratches out. note to the readers: do not try this at home! so didn't help. made it worse, but oh well, was worth a try. then he wanted to wet sand them. um, no. monday morning i made the call. hope to have my styling new glasses soon! considering i can barely see out of these suckers!

just for laughs...

got this in an email last week. i was laughing so hard i had tears! good stuff. my loving husband found me another silly cat video. funny. just not as great as the other one. or maybe it was just my silly mood that day!

happy belated birthday dad!

so yesterday was my dad's birthday. went to his all time favorite: china buffet. that man is a sucker for chinese food. especially buffets. picture my silly dad, imitating that little old chinese man, 'hello, you been here over four hour.' never fails. he cracks the joke every time.
always up for some laughs with the family. gotta love that. i love that i appreciate them more every day. i'm not sure if it's just that you don't appreciate them when you were younger... that can't be it. i know i appreciate what they did for me. maybe it's that you stop seeing them as a parent and more of a friend. maybe it's that you grow up and stop being so selfish. start to see the bigger picture. i'm not sure, but whatever it is. it's a good thing.
got him his staple gift request. liquor. i do get a lot of qualities from my mother. being a drinking champ. well, that comes from my dad! :) i know it sounds horrible. but it's all in good fun...
my dad retired while i was in high school. i think it was that far back. and he was bored out of his mind. started work as a truck driver and then went to a school bus driver. qutie the fit considering my dad has the mouth of a trucker and most people wouldn't call him kid friendly. but anywho. money got short for mom and dad. and my dad likes his trips. he's always been a racer. i remember standing at the racetracks as a little girl. watching my dad race his car. we even have pictures of me with giant ear protectors on. let me tell you, i was stylin! my dad got out of the hobby and some of his friends still race. so he likes to take mini trips: st. louis, indy. you name it, he's probably been there. and he works as part of the pit crew for his friends. pretty cool. he knows a lot of the top drag racers and gets pretty good spots on the track for viewing. well, boys being boys. they like to drink and have a good time. he isn't going to splurge on his liquor. so i bought him a ginormous thing of kettle one. hopefully it last the whole summer. he should be in great shape since he never made it thru the absolut from last year!
also gave him some moola. want him to be able to spend it how he wants. not just buy him something i think he would like. don't get me wrong, he would wear it. but he needs to do for him. so whether it be splurging at the gambling boats or buying himself a new computer chair. i'm all for it! so dad, although i know you probably aren't computer savvy enough to ever find this crazy web page, happy birthday and i love ya!
sorry for the mindless rambling. i swear in my mind i do have a purpose. it sometimes just gets lost along the way! :)

disowned...

so my mom. she's quite the original. maybe eccentric would be a more appropriate word. i'm not sure. sometimes she is just plain ole weird!
now i remember when i was younger that my mom would decorate our food depending on the holiday. we had yellow, pink, blue, and green pancakes on easter. our mashed potatoes were green on st. patrick's day. and everytime she makes a favorite dip of ours it is shaped for the occasion: birthdays, christmas, 4th of july. she's a hoot.
well, last night i was cooking for our pot luck at work today. gasp, yes, i said cook. okay fine, it was baking. i had already made the grape salad and i wanted to make something festive. yes, i am more like my mom that i care to admit at times! so i decided on these cute little cupcakes. nick had gone shopping with a list i had given him on monday. usually it never fails that i leave a major ingredient off of the list and this time was no different. i forgot the effing food coloring. hello, dork. you wanted green cupcakes. it's about 10 pm. so what does shannon do... call her mom! my dad is cracking up when i tell him i need foodcoloring. says he'll check and call me back. surprise, surprise. mom has not one but TWO packages of food coloring. i hop in the car and drive the two miles to get it. as soon as i walk in, my dad says that mom is ashamed. that i should be disowned for being her daughter and not having food coloring in my house! mom kinda shook her head and laughed.
how funny is she? cutest ever and my dad he was in rare form. just kept egging her on. it was great. cupcakes came out well. kinda bummed that i didn't have real key limes and had to settle for the juice. i'm thinking that the real limes and the zest will make it so much tastier. might make it as my dish for easter... if keylimes are out and about! anywho. hope everyone has a fantabulous st. patty's day!

mad libs.

i decided i wanted to share a few of the funnier lines from the mad libs nick and i came up with on our road trip. well, that nick came up with. i added a few words here and there but it was mostly to keep him entertained since he was driving. {disclaimer: my husband is 28 but acts like a 12 year old. he used the word penis in every single one we did, sometimes even more than once. so be warned... they are kinda dirty!} just so everyone knows the words we entered i will put them in italics. and it was only nick and i in the car, so he improvised some of the people in the room... see first bullet! :)

• nick has been entertaing us by telling us about the time he showed his powerful penis to alottavagina. {alottavagina was the third person in the room!}
• when approaching a school, watch out for high nuns.
  
• at the next stop, i saw a giraffe get up, and i ran over to grab his xylophone but i accidentally jabbed my penis into his humps and broke his toenails.
• if you care for a cup of alcohol or a burnt sandwich, please push the penis located over your seat and our flight attendant will be glad to bang you.
• smokey the llama always says 'horsepoop!'

to me the mad libs either are the funniest things ever or the stupidest things ever! gotta get the right random combo! not sure if anyone else will find them funny but i know we were laughing hysterically and nick almost had tears running down his face! could have been the boredom of the car ride!

born in a barn?

nope. but my friends got married in one!
it was the running joke all weekend. i admit, i was a little nervous and had no clue what to expect but it was definitely better than i thought! it was cozy and quant and i think perfect for willie and katie!
the wedding was themed too. sports. fitting for the sports freaks they are! how a die hard hoosier and a die hard boilermaker are going to decide on what school their child will go to is beyond me. the joke was iupui! {might have to be a hoosier to get that one...}
so back to the wedding. it was marriage madness! the bridal party was listed as groom's team and bride's team. they did the married couple dance thing and the newly-ist wed and the longest married couples received plaques: rookie of the year and hall of fame!
should have some really fun pictures to share soon. i had my camera and two of my friends did as well. we are hoping to upload to imagestation soon so we can all share the pictures!
as for the rest of our time near cinci... not bad car ride. gotta love the beamer. she gets awesome highway mileage! made it there late friday evening. hung out in our friend's room playing cards, drinking, laughing. double solitaire could be the best card game ever!
saturday we had cracker barrel for breakfast. nummers. and it wasn't breakfast time but i can't pass up some biscuits and gravy.. got the dumplins too! yum! had to do some shopping because robin forgot some articles of clothing! when we got into the hotel i spied a bowling alley across the street. we were able to squeeze in one quick game in 30 minutes! and i had the best game of my life. a 175. usually, i'm lucky if i break a hundred. totally kicked nick's {116}, christy's {80}, and robin's {72} asses! woot woot! then it was wedding time!
the wedding ended at 10. odd but us kids found a local bw3 and ate some wings and drank some more. we then had a night cap in our room with you guessed it.. more alcohol and triple solitaire! good times.
this morning we barely dragged ourselves out of bed and drove home. made great time. nick rested before soccer and headed out to best buy to get another nano. we need a his and hers! hopefully, he remembers to buy me that josh kelly cd!
but i forgot my beloved pillow at the hotel. nick thought i lost my wedding ring or something by my reaction and totally laughed at me when i made him call the hotel and see if they had it! they are sending it out tomorrow. doubtful it will be priority and it's sooo gonna be cash on delivery. hopefully, it arrives sooner that later. i love that nasty pillow. so comfy. so great! anywho.
gotta do some unpacking and hopefully scrapping! and definitely some napping!

fan-frickin-tastic.

loved wicked. at first nick and i were both a tad leery but it didn't take long for that doubt to go away! i find that if i have high expectations i tend to be let down. just call me a pessimist. so i was really happy that i wasn't let down one bit. we are actually talking about trying to see it again. to pay more attention to detail. it was soo great!
our evening started out a little hectic. nick's car was done being repaired so we had to swing by the shop to pick it up before we left. way out of our way. probably made an hour or so difference in the time we arrived downtown. but thrilled that it is fixed and that it didn't cost nearly as much as mitsubishi quoted. thankful that we knew to ask around and got a wonderful recommendation and that they kicked bootay!
got downtown around 6ish. so we had an hour and a half before showtime. didn't make dinner reservations since we didn't really know our schedule. we walked a few blocks to see if anything peaked our interest. i kept saying that i just wanted to eat at corner bakery. well, my wish ended up coming true. nick had never eaten there so he was up for it! had me the ham on pretzel bread and their ceasar salad. yum. nick liked it too! so that was a plus!
we had a little time to spare before the movie so we decided to walk to the borders. picked up some fun driving material for this weekend: mad libs, brain teasers, and a few random books!
passed out when we got home around midnight. but did have one hilarious happening when i got home. our cleaning lady, nick's cousin, cleaned today. well, i guess her new thing is folding my toilet paper like they do in the hotels. i cracked up. who does that??
today was a recoup day before our traveling filled weekend.
have a wedding near cincinatti on saturday. leaving tomorrow night and crashing in a hotel friday and saturday. little mini getaways are fun but there truly is no place like home! :)
wicked... seriously good. see it if you can!

getting excited...

to go see WICKED!!!
i had said for ages that i wanted to see this... well, nick and i finally got around to buying tickets in like december and i cannot believe that wednesday is almost here! i totally keep forgetting about it. sad, that i want to see something so terribly bad, yet can hardly remember! i had those super cute making memories modular organization but with these ginormous bookshelves i have no space. i know.. you don't have to feel sorry for me! gonna have to figure something out. maybe in the closet somehow or something. that or they will be donated to a random scrapbook friend in need. stay tuned.
so while we were on the broadway in chicago kick nick decided that he wanted to see
spamalot. he is a total monty python freak. me not so much. we shall see. his cousin, angela, that lives in new york city said it was phenomenal when she saw it there. original cast: hank azaria, david hyde pierce... we bought those tickets at the same time and little did we know that we got them for mother's day. gulp. my mom is aware and fine with celebrating saturday. actually i think my grandma prefers it that way. his side... i'm not so sure that they will be as understanding. oh well, there just may be that someday when{ahem, if} i'm a mom and not want to run around seeing everyone.. so maybe i can be breaking them in! :)
nick and i are trying to figure out how to get downtown in time with work and maybe figure out a way to get dinner while we are there. his car is still in a zillion pieces. good news, the guy is going to have the part tomorrow so best case scenario... it's done tomorrow. worst case... wednesday. not sure how that is going to work with the mad dash to get downtown! oy. the joys of being a grownup!

thank goodness for....

grandmas! well, my grandma. the only grandparent i have left...
i remember in college i had an anatomy and physiology practical and my car wouldn't start. i freaked out. well, that would be an understatement. i called my grandma panicked. you see, my mom and dad were both at work. nick was at college and all of my other college friends went to school early to study. when i called, i woke her up. it was probably 10 am. but my grandma is a rebel and doesn't believe in the old people get up early in the morning theory! so she says she will pick me up and take me to school. {i'll figure out how to get home later!}
well here comes my seventy something year old grandma tearing around the corner like a bat out of hell, hair all askew. she threw open the door and told me to jump in. i swear, she barely came to a stop! i made it to the damn practical and probably flunked. i so hated those things but knew they would never let me take it on another day.
she's a hoot. has awesome stories. and i recently told her that i wanted to sit with her to record all of them and maybe even start a heritage album. she was such a sweetie that for my birthday she gave me her mother's wedding rings. how cool is that? vintage. from the 1900s. so cool to own that little piece of our family history...
but in typical shannon fashion, i have strayed from what i wanted to share.
nick's car has been making a noise. good times, i know. mitsubishi wanted to charge a whole freaking torso not just an arm and a leg so i had him call our reliable car guy. long story short.. they can save us almost $1,000 dollars.
so we drop off the car yesterday morning and i drive him to work. so nice that we work so close together! the guy then says that he can have it fixed by today but will need it overnight. hmmm. shannon has a meeting the complete opposite direction. that ain't gonna fly for the morning commute. so we call grandma who so generously lets us borrow her car.
she's moving. across the hall but moving nonetheless. the third time in this one apartment building. yes we are hungarian. i believe she has that gypsy in her! so i feel horrible asking her this in case she needs to run out and get anything but she says i have my 'boyfriend'/'fiance' whatever. he will take me where ever i need. that and the fact that her stove isn't hooked up! i cooked dinner for her last night.. burgers to go!
so great. we have a car. get to work no problems. but now the guy finds out he needs another part and that won't be there until maybe next thursday. seriously? is it coming from japan itself? i mean, in this day in age. a week for shipping?
we call grandma to tell her and she says no worries. keep it as long as she needs. how sweet is she? just love her to pieces and am so thankful that she's still a part of our lives.
now i'm trying to figure out how to send her flowers since she hasn't changed her buzzer over yet!

my tubby hubby...

anyone who knows my husband would never put tubby in the same sentence with him. almost six feet tall and maybe 130 pounds sopping wet. so when i wanted to join the gym he was all for it. wanted to bulk up. well, his 3 months were over a week or two ago and went in for his followup measurements. the lady was amazed. heck. she was amazed that he was so skinny to begin with.
nicholas went from 5.4% body fat to 9.9%. he gained almost 25 pounds: 7 of them pure fat. {must be nice to have to try and gain weight. it's okay if you hate him. honest, i get jealous!} the boy gained 3 inches in his chest, 2 in the shoulders, 3 in the hips. insane.
during his process i would tell him he was getting bigger. chest, arms, face! he didn't believe me. but had this crazy look of shock anytime some other relative would make a comment. like did shan tell you to say that?
but once he got the numbers he was so proud. can you blame him? just imagine if i could get myself to do so well in the weight loss department. sigh.
so now the problem is he doesn't have clothes that fit him! no underwear, no jeans, no dress clothes! bad times since we have an out of state wedding to attend next weekend! i have convinced him to go shopping with me to the outlet and maybe i can finagle some new clothes for myself!
i doubt he reads this... but i'll say it here any way. babe, i'm so proud of you. now just don't turn into some crazy obsessed weight lifter guy. you know. the one who checks out his biceps in the mirror when he brushes his teeth. oh wait, you do do that! :)