Jul 26, 2007

Happy 18th!

No, it's not my 18th birthday. I reached a new low in my weight-loss! I suppose one could argue that technically since I had previously surpassed this weight, that it is not in fact a new low, but that's how I'm looking at it. Yesterday when I weighed myself I was down 18 pounds since January 1! Woo hoo! That's pretty exciting! I'm wearing clothes in sizes I haven't worn since high school, and that's fun! I feel really good, have more energy, and although I wouldn't say I lacked confidence, I feel a renewed sense of self-confidence.

So, that's about it, but I'm pretty excited about that! :-D

Jul 22, 2007

Cubs game

Yesterday, Trish and I went to the Cubs game. Jeff and I were offered tickets but he couldn't go since he's on the mission trip. They were great seats! Trish took tons of pictures. You can see some of them below. Dennis Miller sang at the 7th inning stretch, and little boy behind us got a foul ball that was hit toward us. After the game we headed back to catch the SouthShore train and found we had an hour and a half to kill before the next train, so we walked around Millennium Park, played at the bean for a while, and watched the kids at the face fountains. Fun times!! It was really great to have some girl time!






Jul 19, 2007

VBS pics


New Car

This is our new car. I think Jeff has named it "Baby Jay" (short for Jayhawk....)

Jul 18, 2007

planes, cars, and hot air balloons

Cars
After much searching, waiting, phone calls, and emails, last night Jeff and I purchased a new car. It is a Nissan Versa, sapphire blue. It's pretty cute and zippy! I don't have pictures yet, but if I can remember I'll take some tonight and post.

Planes and Hot Air Balloons

This week is VBS week at the church. Our theme is "Lift off!" and I'm in charge of "Sky Songs" along with my fabulous youth helpers. Lindsey, Michelle, and Amanda are absolutely fantastic. Their energy keeps me going. Wednesday is usually the hardest day...I really felt like I was dragging myself in this morning. There are a lot of motions to the songs this year, lots of jumping (as we "lift off," get it?), so it is pretty much like three hours of aerobics every day this week! It is so much fun to watch the kids and to see their enthusiasm. It's neat to see the "vbs kids," the ones who don't regularly come to our church, but we see them every year at VBS. I hope that we truly help build a foundation for them that lasts for years beyond.


And now I'm going home to take a nap. :-D

Jul 13, 2007

Anniversary pics

Here are some pictures from our anniversary celebration.



At the top of the first crest of the trail at Indiana Dunes.




Relaxing after hiking through the sand dunes.




At the Round Barn vineyard in Michigan.




Putting our feet in Lake Michigan at New Buffalo, MI.

Jul 12, 2007

Sold!

Last night Jeff and I sold our 1995 Honda Accord to Carmax. I found myself being strangely emotional about it as I drove behind him, thinking back to when we were a one-car, just-married couple. We took that car on our honeymoon, where we were hit in a post office parking lot. It took several trips between Evanston and Kansas, then Whiting and Kansas. Probably there is still some of Kayla's hair in it--that was the car we used to transport her. Good times.

It felt like such an "adult" thing to do, selling the car. Neither of us had sold a car before last night. I find myself having more and more of these "adult" moments and I think that must mean that I'm an adult, and I know I am, but it sometimes feels weird to call myself an adult. And I feel oh-so-cliche that it does.

Tomorrow we will test-drive Nissan Versas and Mazda 3, both hatchback--excuse me, 5 door.

I would be willing to bet that as long as we can find what we want, we will have a new car before the weekend is over. That's kind of how Jeff works. He gets fixated (he used the word "obsessed") and focused on something until it sometimes gets to the point when I want to say, look, just do it and get on with things. Not that it frustrates me, I just don't get that wrapped up in decisions. Ok, well, I like to mull over decisions for a while, but he can take it to a whole other level. And that's one of the things that I like about him. So my prediction is that we'll be a two-car couple again before the weekend is over, or at least by the time he leaves for Louisiana next Saturday.

Jul 5, 2007

Anniversary Celebration

Sunday and Monday Jeff and I went away to celebrate our fifth anniversary. Sometimes it feels like more, sometimes less, but always an adventure. It truly is a gift to be able to share life's adventures, ups and downs, with my best buddy! Lots of times I think I got the better end of the deal, but don't let on that I know. :-D

We started our time away by going to the Indiana Dunes and hiking a couple of the trails there. If you haven't been there, this is like huge piles of fine sand near Lake Michigan. I'm sure it's more than that, but that's what I saw. It was really neat to be in nature. Sometimes it felt like we were really out in the middle of nowhere and then we would pass other people. It was a nice change of pace! We decided to take the 1.5 mile "rugged" trail, and let me tell you, there were points on the trail that kicked my butt. Walking almost vertical up a hill of sand is not easy! These last couple of months of walking, biking, and running were really helpful in not having to stop as much on our way up the hills. Once we got to the Lake, we took a "moderate" trail, which was a good thing, because I'm not sure my knees could have finished the rugged trail.

We had a nice dinner and stayed at a lovely B&B in Valparaiso. Then Monday we headed up to Michigan to do some wine tasting! We did winery tours and wine tastings in Missouri for our honeymoon, so it brought back good memories. We went to a couple places we had found online, and a couple that were recommended by friends.

Between this weekend and our stop at Oliver on our way to Bloomington a few weeks ago, our wine rack is stocked to the point that we don't have room for all of our wine! Some of our friends helped us remedy that a little last night as we celebrated the 4th of July, but that is for another post.