My apologies for the delayed absence – I just returned from spending a week on Lake Ozark with 70 friends and strangers. I had a wonderful time, even though the weather was terrible (40 degrees and rainy one day, 85 and humid two days later?)

Since returning, I’ve caught a cold. Wonderful! Couldn’t be better timing.

How’s everyone else doing? Anyone else have an insanely busy May?

The trip to Chicago to help my grandparents out with their move was a success!  Sure there were some tense moments, but I’m really glad I was able to help out a bit.  I ended up coming home with a few wonderful treasures:

• a paper parasol from when my grandparents lived in Japan in the 50s
• a silk jacket from Japan that belonged to my grandmother
• my mom’s childhood teddy bear
• a steel garden decoration from Japan
• 5 wine glasses (what happened to the 6th?)
• a blue glass hurricane thing from Washington Island where my mom spent summer vacation when she was a little girl
• a small crystal vase
• two small leather purses

There were a few other odds and ends we found.  Hopefully I can get some pictures up soon!

I’m headed to Chicago tomorrow.  My Nana & Papa are in the process of selling their home and moving into a retirement community, and so that means sorting through 50+ years of belongings, furniture, and memories.  I know it will be a tough job filled with emotions, but I’m also looking forward to all of the stories from the trinkets they got while in occupied Japan, or the hand made clothing my Nana made in the early 50s.  There are quite a few treasures in their cute split-level.  And I’ll be sad to leave when it’s time – I have many memories of Christmas’s spent with the cousins there, and brief overnights on my way to and from college.  I love my grandparent’s house, and I’ll miss visiting them there.

Hopefully it will go well!  Pray for good tempers and a a whole lot of patience!  With 3 generations of women sorting and packing and moving things, I’m sure things might get tense more than once.

Sorry for the lack of posting this weekend.  It’s been a busy work season, and I’m trying to keep up with everything!

Tomorrow, I’m headed to Milwaukee, and then on Wednesday, Chicago!

My mom grew up in Chicago, and so I’ve visited plenty of times.  One of my favorite trips was actually when I spent a few extra days visiting my grandparents on my way to college one summer.  We went to the botanical gardens, the museum, and they showed me all of the places my mom lived.  I loved it!  We had a blast hanging out together.

It’s been a while since I’ve had the chance to really visit Chicago, for so many years it was just the pit-stop on the way from Minneapolis to Maine during college.  But now, it’s only 5ish hours away, and yet we still haven’t been there since we moved back to the midwest.  I’m sure my grandparents would LOVE if we came more often

I’m excited to spend a few days there – I plan to have a few work-related appointments, but also to maybe do a little shopping, some site-seeing, and some relaxing.  If you’ve got any favorite places I should visit in Chicago, let me know!

Sorry to go MIA – I had a brief work trip for two days, and in the process, I’ve gotten sick.

Nope, that’s not me, but I feel like this – sneeze-y, ache-y, and very tired.  All I want to do is curl up with some tea and take lots of naps.

I promise to try to come up with something fun and exciting to write about for Friday, but for now – I’m going to focus on getting better.  And if you’ve got your favorite cold remedy you want to share, please do!

She arrived yesterday in the midst of a crazy snow storm.  After ripping open the packaging, I set eyes on my beloved new bag…

She’s beautiful!  This picture does not do it justice (mostly because it’s taken with my pitiful P&S Canon that has a broken flash while my real camera is off to get fixed).  The green and blue colors are nice and bright, but not too punchy for my taste.  I decided to risk it and go with the white center panel, hoping and praying that it doesn’t get too dirty.  The pink logo was just a fun little extra I decided on – I thought it made the bag a bit more girlie, but not too much.  (For those who want details – this is the custom laptop messenger bag in size medium. It fits my 15 inch MacBook Pro perfectly.  The colors are peacock blue, white, and light green, and the logo is berry.  The interior liner is light blue.)

Let me tell ya, though – this bag is AWESOME.  It has soooooooooooooooooooooooo much room in it.  Way more than I expected.  I can fit my laptop in it, plus probably the equivalent of 6 or 7 books, PLUS all my cords and stuff for my laptop, plus my phone, pens, wallet, and other random things I carry with me every day.  There are all sorts of zipper and velcro pockets, inside and out, that make it super easy to organize everything.  Now I just have to remember what goes where!

There’s even a built in protective sleeve for my laptop!  My picture of it is all fuzzy and awful, so I’ll have to try again later when my office is brighter.  But I love that I can carry my computer with me and it’s super easy to get it in and out of the bag.  My previous bag made this absolutely ANNOYING due to the way it was designed.

So far, I’m loving it! Thanks to my father-in-law who gave me a gift card towards my new bag

I’ll try to get more pictures and a fuller review up sometime soon.  Have a happy Tuesday!

An atypical winter vacation – today we’re going to Alaska.  I’ve always wanted to visit and everyone says it is BEAUTIFUL.  Here’s a little virtual vacation for you! Enjoy.

I’m writing this a few days ahead since I’ll be busy this weekend, but here’s a little “breather’ for your weekend. Enjoy!

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And for you winter vacation enthusiasts (I’m one of them)…

I found a few little places to relax in the midst of your weekend hustle and bustle.

Jade Mountain

Ladera

Ahhhhh.  I feel so much better

I have:

• Traveled to 2 weddings (and subsequently confirmed my superior choices in all things wedding – no judgement, I’m just reminded that I loved our wedding day the most!)
• Missed one family Christmas
• Flown through Minneapolis 3 times
• Eaten sushi twice
• Experienced 3 major historic blizzards in Iowa, Boston, and Minnesota
• Number of extra days spent in Boston due to historic blizzard: 2 1/2
• Spent one week in the Ozarks with co-workers
• Spent one week in St. Louis with co-workers
• Driven to Western Massachusetts to visit old friends (I totally miss all of the traffic on Route 9!)
• Only cooked one time for myself
• Rang in the new year at the Edward Jones dome in STL with 17,000 college student strangers friends at Urbana 09
• Spent a grand total of 13 days at home
• Missed DH more than ever!

It’s good to be home again.