Home, sweet, home Chicago

Devin and I decided to make a trip down to Chicago for Sarah's 5th anniversary of her 21st birthday party/Mad tea party and so Devin could finally meet my family.

Thursday: Devin and I flew into Midway instead of O'Hare because it was cheaper which was a mistake because the traffic was terrible for Mom and Dad to get there. On the way home we stopped at Mongolian Barbecue which was very yummy. Devin got a tour of the house and I finally got to see the yard since it wasn't buried under three feet of snow. We headed to bed pretty early after a long day of traveling.

Friday: Friday Mom, Devin, and I went out letterboxing. We went to the first park and didn't find either of the letterboxes we were looking for. We headed off to another park which had a series of 1o boxes. We found the 1st and were having difficulty with the 2nd. Mom and Devin were interested in calling it a day since it was lunch time, hot out, and we didn't bring any water. I, however, didn't want to stop in the middle of the letterbox series and coaxed them on. I think it was well worth it, we found 9 of the 10 letterbox stamps and we say a tiny fawn off the side of the path.

I had wanted to get to Sarah's early to help her set up but because of my obsession with finding all the letterboxes we arrived a little after the scheduled start time. We were still the first ones there and the look on Sarah's face was priceless. There were white roses painted red, long island ice teas and tea flavored vodka (after all it was a tea party), and Heather was dressed up like the cheshire cat. I had so much fun and it was good to see Sarah's family again.

Saturday: Mom, Devin, and I went to do some quick wedding shopping before the family started coming over. We got wedding invitations and silver floating candles so that's a start. By the time we got home, Judy, Keith, Grandma, and Grandpa were already there. I don't think I've seen July and Keith for like 5 years or someting so it was really nice they came out to visit. A little later Celia, Scott, Sean, Heather, Meghan, and the kids got there. I really, really, really miss my family and I was so happy to get to spend time with them and for them to finally meet Devin. Everyone approved of Devin and I got to show off my sparkely ring. We played in the pool and I got to take Alexis into the water for the first time. The bigger kids also played on the swing set. Sean, Heather, Devin, and I had fun playing badmitton. We had dinner and made s'more for dessert with GIANT marshmallows. I can't say it enough, it made me so happy to see everyone.

So I had told everyone we would meet at Prarie Rock Saturday night after my family went home, however, 1. Prarie Rock no longer exists, 2. There was a Hawks game going on, 3. Things I plan rarely ever work out. Tuba came over and we chatted and then decided to meet at Caribou in the morning when it started looking like I was going to fall asleep sitting up.

Sunday: Since only Tuba could make it out to the house Saturday night we met at Caribou Sunday morning. After all, what is a trip to Elgin without a Caribou visit. Tuba, Jake, Ryan, and Sarah were able to make it out and we had fun playing Tuba's birthday present: Monty Python Fluxx. It was hard to leave again but Devin and I headed back to the house for lunch and then Mom and Dad took us back to the airport. We picked up Grant on the way home and then got ready to go to work the next day.

Mom and Dad saw a launch

Mom and Dad came to Florida to visit me, well actually they came to see a shuttle launch, but while they were here they also visited me. The space shuttle Atlantis took off on its last flight for the international space station before being retired. Amazingly enough it launched on its schedule date. Mom and Dad got to see the launch from Space View Park and I got to see it from Gymboree because it was between classes. While they were here we also spend some quality time at the beach. We went to Paradise Park and checked out the pavillion where I am most likely going to be having my wedding reception and to Sea Gull park which is where Devin and I got engaged. We also ate at Pizza Gallery & Grill so Dad got to see where Devin works. It was really nice to see them; I miss my family.

I have a new car!!!

Even though my old car, Juniper, is still running great, I decided to get a new car while my old car was still worth something so I could put it towards a new car rather than run my old car into the ground and have it not be worth anything. This was a very hard decision as I love Juniper to pieces and was not really excited about putting lots of money into getting a new car. After lots and lots of researching I decided to get a Chevy Cobalt. Really, all I was looking for was a inexpensive, manual, coupe with good gas milage but you'd be surprised how hard that is to find. I had to order it because I wanted a manual transmission. None of the dealers (Chexy, Honda, Ford) even had a stick shift on the lot for me to test drive. Why get a manual? Well, they are more fun to drive and because I like them. Also, this internet story made me laugh, "At a gas station in a bad neighborhood, a man pulled a gun on me and told me to get out of the car. Then he saw the stick shift, yelled 'Shit!' and ran off." LOL! So I ordered this car and put a $1000 downpayment on it awhile ago. On Saturday I went to the dealership and filled out the paperwork and wrote them a $14,000 check. Let me tell you, writing a check (while it was cool that I could do that) and walking away with nothing other than a bunch of copies of paperwork is not fullfilling. But today, I finally got my car. She is pretty and silver which contributed to her name which is Luna. Silver like the light of the moon. It must say it is really nice having A/C, lights that autimatically turn on, and not having the car veer to the left all of the time. This is the beginning of hopefully a very, very long friendship.

Work, work, work, and tequila

After working every single day this week, and half of those being 12.5 hour days, it was really awesome to have Cliff come visit us. I really needed to take a night off to relax. We had burgers and beer at home and then headed out to downtown Melbourne. We started the night at Main Street because I told Cliff he had to have an orange crush. Then we headed to Off the Traxx to play some pool. It was so, so nice to spend some time with a friend from home. There's really nothing that beats a night out with friends you haven't seen in a long time. I miss everyone at home so much. I'm really going to try to get home to visit everyone soon.