Chicago Trip

I have to say that our weekend getaway to Chicago could not have been any more perfect. Everything we planned or did, or scheduled worked out wonderfully. I think the trip was really meant to be for us. We had an absolute blast! We went to The Hershey Store, Jazz clubs, Art Galleries, nice restaurants, The Hancock Tower. Saw old friends, made new friends. It was so perfect we didn't want to come back home!! It was nice for the two of us just to get away from everything and enjoying each others company..Out of all the trips we have ever been on this one was by far our most favorite one YET!!

We're going to Chicago!!

Thank goodness I work at a place where I get the Holidays off! It was perfect timing to plan a weekend getaway. Ryan is so extremely busy with going to school full time, working full time, and always seems to manage homework, studying, a married life and a social life! Even cooks me dinner if he has any time and helps with the chores. -What a sweetie! I thought it would be nice if I could take him somewhere for a few days since he never gets to vacation with me. He has always wanted to go to Chicago and hit up all the jazz clubs.. So since he works so hard, he deserves a treat! I asked him what he wanted to do, and planned everything.

I hired a photographer to come take our family portraits in downtown Chicago. I thought it would be nice to have professional pics taken of us with the huge skyscrapers in the back ground.

I found one of the most top Jazz clubs in the city. Found out an International Jazz singer would be performing. So I listened to her music and I was blown away! It was exactly what we were looking for...Soft jazz with a bit of jive and swing. I emailed the singer to see if she could bring one of her Christmas Albums with her to her show. She was so nice, responded quickly and said she wanted to meet us and introduce us to her band. This week I got another email from her saying she was checking the weather for us. How sweet is that?

We are also meeting up with one of my friends from high school at The Hard Rock Cafe, I haven't seen her in at least 10 years or more. She now lives in Chicago as a Private Investigator. After dinner we are going to Navy Pier for fireworks and to ride the Ferris Wheel by the water with a city view.

We have a LOT Planned to squeeze into 3 nights.I will blog more when we get home from the trip.

Here is a pic of the hotel I booked. I got it extremely cheap! I was proud of myself..
Here is a restaurant I made reservations for, it is on the 95Th floor!! We decided to go at night to get this view!

To everything there is a season.....

This past weekend my friend Holly got married. The whole wedding weekend was wonderful. All the girls that I grew up with came into town for the occasion. During the whole time the girls were here I started reflecting on all the memories we have shared in our lives as we have grown up together. All the good times, the sad times, the happy times, the tough times. I have always known that all my friends were a gift from God, my truest treasures here on earth. I know even though we live apart from one another, our friendship will always remain the same. Our reunions are always bittersweet and overjoyed. The day of Holly's wedding I was very emotional. All I felt during the whole ceremony was Gods love for all of us. He was truly talking to me that day as I shared sacred moments with my friends. He showed me that my friends were in fact a gift from him.

He reminded me-

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

A time to be born...


A time to laugh..


A time to love..

A time to dance..
Even a time to die, a time to weep, a time to mourn, and a time to embrace all the love you have inside and all the love you give to one another..

I know no matter what happens in this life, I know I will be reunited with all my friends in the end. Our reunions will still be bittersweet, we will remember the memories, the celebrations and all the blessings that came along with being friends. I love you guys!

Food Storage- Not as hard as it looks

I thought I would write a little about food storage. Why? Because it is something that has been on my mind persistently now for the past month. Also the fact that my church is huge into being prepared.

I get at least 3-5 calls a day with people asking for an extension on their loan because they can't make payments. People are calling in saying they have lost their jobs and they need a loan to pay their bills and to by groceries. It is heartbreaking, but reality has started to set in. These people can't make their payments, they can't find jobs and they can't afford groceries. - I decided to start slowly trying to build up food storage, because I know one day Ryan or myself could come home one day without a job. Times are getting scary.

I still have a long way to go, but I have a few months worth stored. My problem is I have no where to stuff everything. When I first thought about food storage I was clueless on what to buy. I asked people and they just said they bought stuff they really don't eat. I thought that was pointless so I did it on my own and found out it is actually really easy to do. I went to the store this weekend and stocked up on a lot of things and only went $4 over my budget. I was impressed. I am listing a few tips I am learning so other people don't feel so overwhelmed like I did.

Mayonnaise..I always buy Helman's which I love, I looked at the cost and it was $6.39 for one jar!! I noticed that the Kroger brand Mayonnaise was on sale (same size) for $1.99 and the Kroger brand is actually really really good. So I bought 3 jars which equaled the price of 1 Helman's. There was extra for food storage.

Ketchup..Normally around $4 for a big bottle. With the sale it was $2 so I bought 2 for the price of one. Stuck the other one in food storage.

I cook with a lot of soups Cream of Mushroom and Cream of Chicken. Normally around $1.59 this week it was on sale for 10 for 1o. Stuck the 10 back for food storage.

Same goes for salad dressing..Normally $2.39 was on sale for $1.25 bought 4 for the price of 2. Stuck the rest back for food storage.

You get the idea. I am now starting to get addicted on what to get next. If you are like me and have no clue where to start or what to buy, I hope this helps. Here are a few pics of the progress so far. I still haven't found ways to organize better..

Holly Bug

Next Sunday my friend Holly will be getting married!! She is so excited to be married and to be a wife. I can't wait for her dream to come true. She is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet. Everyone loves Holly and loves being around her and her fun personality. After she gets married she will be moving away to Bowling Green KY to be with her husband. It is starting to hit me that she will be gone. I have had Holly in my life pretty much my WHOLE life. We went to Elemementry school, middle school, and high school together, we even work together!!! I never thought the day would come that I would have to say goodbye to her! Granted Bowling Green is a few hours away, I will still miss coming to work everyday and seeing her bat her eyes at me and saying Hey bay-buh. Holly would call me everyday after school, we would talk until her mom yelled at her to get off the phone-which was a few hours after talking. We had the chance to go to Washington DC and Chicago together, boy did we make some good memories in middle school. I am going to miss you Holly Bug!! I hope one day our kids can grow up together like we did! Love ya girlie...

Derby Day

Derby Day was a blast! My brother decided to have a cookout to celebrate the occasion, since my whole family is huge into horse racing. Every year at work we put horses into a $1 pot and a quarter pot and randomly choose our horse. I got 4 horses and I got some of the good ones. I was so excited, I thought this was going to be my year to actually win the money! Boy was everyone disappointed when Mind That Bird won. WHAT??? A horse who had odds of 50 to 1. Who would have seen that coming? It was fun anyway! We had lots of food, good company,and lots of laughs. I enjoy any time I get to hang out with family and friends. Here are some pics from the day.