I had such a good time with the girls last night. We went to my favorite pizza spot (one of my favorite spots in general) and then out for some more fun. (Dorian has some great video that I need to get!)
It all went down hill from here.
Pretty in pink.
Sara, Amber and Diane (also known as the life of the party).
Monica and Kimmy.
Cristin and Robin.
Me, Meera, Dorian and Ellen.
Taina and Micah. 
The beautiful hostesses (Michelle, Taina, Linda and Sharita).
My sea shell cake. 
Check out all this delicious food!
Me and Taina
My niece, Adyson came for the festivities, too. (Check out those jellie shoes.)
Taina and Adyson
Cristin gave me this hilarious card last weekend. I thought it was too cute to not share.
The gals at work had a get-together in my honor tonight. Check out this awesome picnic basket.
Looks like just the thing for movies in the park or other fun Chicago adventures.
Back row, left to right: Christy, Karen, Cristin. Front row, left to right: Debby, Debbie and me. 
My friends and family had a shower for me today in my hometown. It was such a great day and I am so blessed with such true and amazing friends. Below are just a few of the highlights.
Me, my sister Cathy (co-hostess), Baby Adyson and my mom
Me and Jo Ann (Joe's mom)
Monica, me and Breanne
Me and Meagan 
Amber (co-hostess) and me
Nat and me
Joe came to eat cake and pack up the car. 
I spent the weekend with Joe and his mom (Jo Ann) in my hometown as they were visiting my family and Jo Ann was attending my bridal shower. We spent much of Saturday touring the local sites.
Cool Adyson
How precious is Joseph? I love this photo of him...all that hair and that puppy on his shirt. Ahh. So cute! 
And just to be totally fair, I'm posting a picture of five-year-old moi in kindergarten. (I'm wearing my beloved Annie locket.)My friends (who also just happen to be former coworkers) decided to host a bridal shower/gathering for me tonight. How nice was that? I had an absolutely wonderful time catching up. Thank you!
Side note: It's amazing how you can spend so much time with coworkers. You will probably end up spending more time with these people than you do your other friends, family members or significant other. I have been so blessed in my life, so far, to count my coworkers (current and former) amongst my list of friends and am so pleased that we still keep in touch. I couldn't imagine it any other way!
Back row, left to right: Tiffany, Becky and Bonni. Front Row, left to right: Linda, Jennifer, Barb and me.
"Love makes a house a home" plaque from Becky. (You will have to excuse the not-so-amazing hair but it was windy!)
I've spent the last couple of hours going through clothes in my closet and trying things on. I'm embarrassed to admit I have over forty pairs of jeans and pants spanning four different sizes. The smallest I wore three years ago. The same goes for skirts and dresses. Maybe this is why I like shoes so much because my feet never change. At any rate, I feel somewhat good because I'm able to wear a few pairs of pants that I know I couldn't have just a couple months ago and the largest sizes are now baggy and too big. It's progress however slow it might seem. But looking at all those pretty and small clothes just hanging around makes me feel kinda sad, too. My biggest dilemna will be what to do with a large walk-in closet full of clothes when I have to downsize to a very small closet at Joe's house. I'm not sure I trust myself to get rid of all my sizes nor do I want to part with what remains of my former self.
I was so afraid of being let down. I had been looking forward to this day for a very long time and I didn't want the big expectations to lead to a big disappointment. And just before the lights dimmed, somewhere between the popcorn, the laughter and the smiles, there was silence.
It was a bittersweet moment that Breanne, Monica and I shared where we realized - this was it. I'm not talking about the movie. I'm talking about life. I'm finally getting married and moving away. Breanne is just weeks (days) away from being a new mom. And Monica has been contemplating her next big adventure.
Things are changing. Life for the three of us will probably never be quite the same. How appropriate and how fitting that our last hurrah, the last time where we would probably all be together so footloose and fancy-free the way were in this moment, would be at this movie.
I can only say that I laughed and I cried for two and a half hours straight. And with a movie based around love, heartbreak, weddings, babies and friendship, I couldn't help but read between the lines. I couldn't help but see the similarities. And I wasn't disappointed; it was perfect. When my gut stopped hurting from laughing and my heart stopped hurting from crying, I wanted more. C'est la vie.
On my way home, I called my own Mr. Big. He waited up for me. He wanted to know how the story ended. If I liked it. If it was everything I hoped for. It was and more. Dreams do come true.
The big day - the movie event of the year - is finally here! The Sex and the City movie opens today and I'll be reunited, once again, with my friends, Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte. Monica's friend, Carrie (not to be confused with Carrie Bradshaw but still fabulous nonetheless!) got tickets a few days ago for us (and Breanne) and we are meeting up tonight for the big event; I can't wait!
The weekend will be exciting and busy for other reasons as well. My friend, Sara is coming to visit for the weekend and we'll be going to both Meera's and Breanne's baby shower. Also tomorrow night we have tickets to see Death Cab for Cutie (with Rogue Wave). Hurray for us!
With just a couple months left until the big day (two months from Wednesday!) I'm starting to get lots of things settled.
I went to see my grandma today. She was misdiagnosed earlier in the week and she does not have congestive heart failure; she has pneumonia. She's still on a heavy amount of oxygen and having a hard time breathing. Thank you for all the continued prayers and concern.
Unless you read my blog by an RSS feed, you've probably already noticed I'm using some of the engagement photos Joe and I had taken a couple weeks ago in my layout. I still can't decide what pose we're actually going to use to frame or send out...decisions, decisions.
Work is impossibly busy these days. I was standing outside Panera this morning before they even opened and here with my coffee and at my desk at 6:15 a.m. Every day this week and most of last has been one huge hurdle after another...
Most importantly, my grandma is in the hospital. I'm not sure when she'll be going home but she's on oxygen right now and I'm told she has congestive heart failure. Please keep her in your prayers.
A new installment of trash tv started tonight. One of the dudes on the show went on a few dates with my friend, Robin before promptly telling her that he had received a call back for the show in LA and thus he didn't want to see her again. Go figure. Should be an interesting season.
I was bummed to learn the New Kids would be in Chicago the same day I would be in Kansas City for Kim's wedding. What a coincidence, right? Well they've added another Chicago date! I might just be able to make a show after all!
We all know that I've felt a little sadness and anxiety about leaving this town that I love so much. It's comfortable here. I have friends. And a routine. I have felt sad about leaving my job and scared about going somewhere new. Starting over. Tonight after work I was driving home still stressed from a very long week - and a hard day - with lots of new projects thrown into the mix and needing to unwind. I started running through my list of friends who could just go hang out on the fly and realized that virtually everyone I knew had other commitments. Other priorities. I felt sad. Lonely. More than anything, I just wanted to be with my best friend; I wanted to be with Joe in a bustling and fabulous city, sitting somewhere great, eating appetizers and drinking Pinot Grigio talking about my day. I miss him and I am so lucky to have found my soulmate. I really can't wait to be with him and it makes the moving and all of the change worthwhile. I settled for spending the evening with a true and amazing friend nonetheless. I hung out on Cristin's deck with her basking in the warm weather and enjoying the night. Tomorrow I get an hour and a half massage compliments of my darling fiance at my favorite spa - what a treat!
My friend, Tiffany blogged that she used her portion of her economic stimulus payment to buy an iPod. I used my stimulus payment to buy Joe's wedding band. Out of curiosity, what are you doing with your payment? Paying bills, saving, splurging or setting out on an adventure?
By now, I'm sure you all realize, if you didn't already know before, I was a huge NKOTB fan growing up. Loved them. Had a bedroom practically wallpapered with pages from Tiger Beat and any other teeny bopper magazine I could get my hands on. When my friend, Amber and I finally went to a concert it was a dream come true. (Three cheers for my cool parents for driving us and dropping us off!) So now that the reunion is happening, their new single is out this week and they are performing live for the first time in fifteen years on The Today Show this Friday, I am super psyched. I have found myself with some school-girl giddiness that I haven't seen for quite some time. (Maybe since Nichole and I had a run-in with Jordan a few years back.)
This brings me to my poll...Who was your favorite New Kid? Donnie was my favorite. I even had a button on my jean jacket that said, "I'm Donnie's girl." I also wrote him a very serious poem about how much I loved him and handed it to one of his security people after the concert I attended. I'd like to believe it's still floating around somewhere out there...
All wedding paperwork has been officially sent off and is currently en route to Florida and then once approved on to Jamaica. Sigh.
Joe and Thomas Jefferson. 
Hanging with Jefferson. 
On Francis Quadrangle looking at Jesse Hall.
Side view of the columns.
Already, Joe and I have finished registering, picked out wedding bands (one with lots of little, sparkly diamonds for me!) and we've had notarized copies of our birth certificates made so we can file our paperwork for our marriage license in Jamaica. We even took in a movie this afternoon and saw Redbelt. I can't remember the last time I went to a movie knowing nothing about it beforehand. I wasn't very excited to go but I ended up really, really liking it. Our photographer also called us this morning to see if we can reschedule our pictures at an earlier time tomorrow in order to try and beat the thunderstorms...I still have lots to do but I'm definitely feeling better.
I'm feeling really stressed. Joe is supposed to be here this weekend and I'm really looking forward to that but my list of things to do is so long! Fortunately, he said he'd help me take care of things one by one. I honestly can't remember another time in my life where I've had so much going on...so many BIG things going on. We are supposed to have pictures taken on Saturday and scattered thunderstorms are in the forecast. And my apartment looks like a tornado has gone through it. And I have a late meeting tonight so no time to clean. And did I mention my list of things to do? Sigh.
Just when I was lamenting about Bachelor-night with Taina and Rachel being over for good after next week’s final rose episode, I saw a commercial for the new Bachelorette series starting in two weeks. A reprieve! Long live Monday night trash tv!! Until I move…
Monica and I decided to go out for a really bad dinner and bad service tonight. (I'm positive our server was running late for an NA meeting.) We made up for it by going to my favorite place in the entire world to see, Run Fat Boy Run. Okay movie but great atmosphere. Happy Saturday!
As my days and weeks here dwindle, I want to make the most of my time. Usually I am so ready to come home on Friday night after a long week at work and just veg in front of the tv. Tonight I just wanted to be with people; I wanted to be with friends. Luckily for me, Taina and Bryndyn had me over for dinner and then I went to listen to live music with Josh and Meagan. I'd have to say, it was the perfect night - thanks friends!
Some of my friends and I were talking about the budding romance between John Mayer and Jennifer Aniston (no, apparently we don't have better things to do) when my friend, Monica piped up and confirmed John's hotness. Well being the resident artist and Photoshop extraordinaire that she is, Nichole came up with a photo of the happy couple. I thought it was too funny not to share. Why the dog? This comes just on the heels of Monica telling us about a dream she had recently where she gave birth to a chihuahua. I thought it was hilarious but maybe you just had to be there...
I'm no Martha Stewart so I'm not sure if I'll ever be doing Works for Me Wednesday again but here goes...I am always paranoid that my garbage disposal smells (and sometimes it really does!) and I've never been completely satisfied with the products I've bought to clean it. So regularly I grind up some small pieces of lemon in my disposal. Not only does it make my kitchen smell fresh, afterwards it also makes me feel like I have a clean house. Works for me!
I'm going to see Movin' Out tonight. Might just be my last show at Jesse. (It's weird when you start thinking of things in terms of "lasts.") Excited to see the show.
I'm getting married three months from today! Joe and I have set our plans. We will be leaving for Negril, Jamaica on July 26 and after obeying the two-day waiting period, we'll be married on July 28 and will come home to Chicago on August 1.
I just got gas for $1.44 a gallon! Amazing, huh? Well one of the radio stations here was announcing that the first 144 people in line could receive this great discount as a promotion for the lottery. (You had to buy $5 worth of tickets to get the deal.) So I got in line and was number 120. I got such a rush from hurrying down to the gas station, finding the right line to get in and then getting my cheap gas. I'm sure I'll never see this great of a deal ever again. Good thing my tank was on "E" and my gas light was on.
The girls and I gathered at one of our favorite establishments tonight to give Meggan a proper send off. She's starting a new job on Monday in KC. Good luck, Double G! We'll miss you.
I was able to have lunch with Rosemary today and meet Jack. He is precious! Talk about a good baby. He has a the prettiest eyelashes, loves the ladies and loves the camera. So sweet. I'm still overflowing with joy for Rosie. (Pictured is Cristin and Jack.)
We had a really good time watching the Springfield Cardinals yesterday.
I thought the team was great but unforunately they still lost.
Isn't pregnant Breanne so cute? I loved this shirt!
Today Breanne, Monica and I left Springfield and drove to St. Louis for Breanne's baby shower. I am embarrassed to say that we had to go back to our room three separate times after we locked the door to our room because we kept forgetting something. Twice it was my fault! (And compare our picture from today with the one below. Don't we all look so different?)
Breanne, Monica and I are taking a road trip to Springfield tomorrow to see the Springfield Cardinals. We'll be spending the night there and then getting up early in the a.m. to drive to St. Louis for Breanne's first baby shower. And since I'm all about nostalgia these days, I'm including a photo of our first all-girl baseball weekend from several years ago.
Tonight I'm going to an alumni social for my alma mater. I wasn't the most involved college student but I'm hoping it may actually be fun and I love spending time with Monica. (Although Monica and I went to the same college, we didn't officially meet or become friends until after college.) Since I was a commuter, my college-life experience pretty much consisted of class, lunch with hometown friends and the ocassional sleep over in Breanne's dorm room. Even still, I had a very positive college experience. Pictured: Breanne and I during one of our CSC sleepovers in her dorm on the evening of her birthday where I presented her with this and this. (circa 1999)
It's no secret that I've been pretty stressed lately. I have too much going on and it's taking its toll on me and my emotions! Joe let me know this morning that I have a massage scheduled for Saturday morning. He took care of all the arrangements and paid; all I have to do is show up. Thank you, Joe!
I got word from my friend, Rosemary today that her adoption has gone through. This is such a sweet day for her! The whole thing has been drug out in court much too long and she now has the beautiful baby boy she's been waiting for; I couldn't be happier for her. Congratulations!
I don't sleep well. I am a very light sleeper so the softest noises awaken me. Most nights I toss and turn and will wake up several times. And when I'm visiting somewhere or in a strange place I almost never sleep much. The worst nights for me are usually on Sundays. I think it has something to do with going to bed later on Friday and Saturday and so by the time Sunday rolls around my body doesn't want any part of sleeping at my "normal" bedtime. Last night, I was sound asleep when I was jolted out of bed at 3 am by my telephone ringing. It's always alarming to be woken up in the middle of the night by a phone call. I'd only been asleep for about three hours but now my heart was racing. The phone call? It was a wrong number. (And out of habit I usually silence my phone before bed.) Needless to say, I spent the rest of the night tossing, turning and wide awake. My mind was racing with other thoughts for the week. I'm tired of always coming to work tired. I've tried just about everything...warm baths, hot tea, reading. Joe suggested I try earplugs but I'm not sure how I could sleep with something in my ears. Do you have a bedtime routine? How do you sleep well?
I had such a great Saturday. Aside from my current place of residence, St. Louis really is one of my very favorite places. I especially love hanging out on the loop which is where Natalie lives. First I met Dorian there for lunch. It had been a year since we'd seen each other which is way too long. By the time I left the restaurant I felt giddy from just talking to her. Then I went to Nat's to hang out and go to the Feist concert. The show was even better than I'd expected it to be. And it's always such a pleasant surprise when you go to a show and end up loving the opener. Hayden opened for Feist and I definitely need to get some of his music now. Beautiful.
Joe and I have barely had the chance to talk this past week. He's been so busy with a work crisis and he really shines when it comes to crisis communications. I'm so proud of him but I hope things ease up for him soon.
In other good news, my cold is almost a distant memory. And most of all today, I'm just happy.
Whatever it is that Joe had last weekend I now have it, too. I am feeling miserable. I hope I'm better for the weekend. I'm headed to St. Louis on Saturday to meet Dorian for lunch and then I'm off to J Crew to return the wedding dress I didn't choose. And then Natalie and I are going to see Feist at The Pageant. I've seen her before but I'm really excited to see her again...so here's to hoping I'm well again soon!
I often count on my friends to help me ponder the many questions of life. And I happen to usually have a strong opinion about these questions of life. (I know, totally hard to believe, right?) So I want to know what my readers think. We'll see how it goes and this may become a regular feature here at girl about town. Below is my current question of life in the form of a statement for you to answer. And, yes, I have a strong opinion. Taina and I first dialogued about this subject weeks ago, maybe months, but the subject just hasn't seemed to die.
I have a confession to make. I won Alex and Nichole's NCAA basketball bracket pool. I love winning. I'm proud of the fact that not only did I win but, for the most part, my bracket stayed surprisingly intact throughout the tournament. The bad news or the confession here is that I did, indeed, pick Kansas as the winner. I know, I know. How can I live here and pick Kansas? I can only assure you that I am still a true Tiger fan and this had nothing to do with rooting for the team I wanted to win. It had everything to do with picking the team I thought would win. My thought process went something like this, "Argh...Kansas. Hmm, they'll probably win the whole darn thing." And they did. So I went with my gut. I think I happen to have good instincts.
Over the weekend, Joe and I went over items we will need and want for our new household together. In the process, I started thinking about furniture I can live without, clothes I can get rid of in attempt to scale down my never-ending closet and the items I can let go of where we already have duplicates. I’ve come to the realization about how sentimental I am about most of my possessions. I guess this is part of the reason I find change so hard – I’m so sentimental.
When people marry after college or when they are much younger I think they probably each have much less. (Joe and I both have our own houses full of “stuff”, albeit mismatched stuff, but we probably both need to scale down.) Registering for items means getting new things together that maybe you’ve never had. Of course there’s plenty that I don’t have and a lot of the stuff I do have is hand-me-downs or just not ideal. For instance, I love my dishes and there’s nothing wrong with them, I just don’t have a complete set. I guess its fine for me to have six of everything because I’m just one person but ideally, I’m told, we need twelve. That makes sense. Don’t get me wrong, thinking about the new stuff is super exciting. I just know that realistically it’s silly to keep the old stuff, too, when and where it doesn’t make sense.
I was talking to a colleague today who is kind of going through the same thing. Over the weekend she moved into a much bigger, much nicer house. She should be ecstatic about the move but she said that even though it’s just across town she found herself teary-eyed and weepy last night when she went by to see her neighbor one last time before officially moving. She told me that she started sobbing in this woman’s kitchen and she said to me as a way of explaining, “I don’t like change.” My friend told me that she’s very sentimental about her house. It was the house where her children have all come home to from the hospital. There are so many memories. Even though she may like new stuff it also makes her sad to think about giving up the old. When my friend starting explaining to me her feelings, I knew she was on to something. That’s exactly how I feel.
I like my stuff. Maybe it’s not new or ideal but for the most part I like it. Giving it away (or at least some of it) may not be easy but I know it’s the right thing to do. I want Joe and me to have a fresh start with lots of new memories to come. Nevermind, getting rid of the clutter and mismatches will be so much nicer for the both of us. And Breanne says that the excitement of getting new stuff together will help ease the pain of letting go of the old. Sometimes I just wish I weren’t so sentimental…but that’s probably a good thing. It’s probably why I feel so heartfelt about my friendships and the people and places I love. I guess it’s just what makes me who I am.
I'm back from my weekend trip to Chicago. Joe was sick while I was there so we didn't do too much but that's okay. Hopefully I will avoid catching whatever he had but was glad to see him nonetheless. We were able to talk and flush out wedding plans. I think we have it narrowed down to the last week in July or first week in August. Hopefully we should have it finalized with the resort later this week.
The other two noteworthy things we did over the weekend consisted of art and eating. First on Friday night my craving took us out for Indian food. It's amazing that if I had the same craving here I could be sitting down at a restaurant 10 minutes later. In Chicago (due to the lack of Indian cuisine on the southside) we drove to the nearest L, parked, got on the train, rode for awhile, got off the train and on another, rode for awhile, got off and walked the remaining several blocks to the restaurant. About two hours later we were there. I'm not sure if or when I'll get used to that! Luckily, our plan is to eventually move to a more central location.
Saturday we went to the art museum for the Hopper exhibit. I really love his stuff. The exhibit included a lot of paintings of houses or man-made objects which he's known for but mostly I love his pieces that include people. I had seen Nighthawks before but that's a painting I could see time and time again and not grow tired of it.
I left my house at 8:30 this morning and returned home for the first time tonight at 10:20 pm. It seems I've been having those weeks lately where I'm on the go every night. I just need some down time. Looks like I'm going to be gone the next three weekends, too. First stop is Chicago.
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