And ready to bring it home…
Last semester. Schedule secured. Paid in full. ID updated. Lucky pen pack purchased. Said goodbye to my friends and headed out the door.
Drove to the local White Castle (I know right? but for some reason it hits you when you drive past it) and got a bunch of crap I definitely don’t need to eat. With the DIET Coke. I mean, come on, the food is really enough. And they shorted me on three of my chicken rings. Which is actually fine because instead of being able to type this I would probably be in the bathroom throwing up, wondering why I ever ate all that food in the first place. I don’t have any kind of eating disorder, I just wanted something nasty before I starve myself for the next month! Seriously…it sucks too because of Christmas and all that.
The reason I will not be eating more than grains and water (and exercising like a fiend—don’t worry purists I still need some muscle tone) is because I have a picture to take in January. Late January, early Feb. It is probably the most important and most meaningful picture I will ever take in my whole life, and I’ve been married! Like all formal and stuff! This picture is actually going to be forever!! So you see…no food.
It’s fine though, I can eat after! And I am even pretty sure I don’t have to buy any more books! Which is fine because the ones I have are plenty.
I will be taking a little break from the books for now, but only very short. The new material gets posted every day and the “encouragement” to look over the new readings to be prepared is subtle but unmistakable. None of us want to fail now.
Oh look! The snow they said was coming last night has just arrived. I might actually enjoy a flake or two of it while sweating my butt off and listening to my stomach growl…ha…but that won’t be until tomorrow. I am seriously going to need, like 24 hours, to digest all that food I just ate.
And it’s Thursday! Start of Football Week! I have developed a real love problem with football this year. It started last year but it’s really full on now. I even bought a jersey! My family is sick of it already…well ONE person in my family anyway—you know who you are (hahaha!) so I am just hanging out waiting for my kids to get home from school because we got some stuff to go do. Then some dinner (I will be eating today—obviously…) some football, and then…that’s it. Tomorrow is a free day. Aren’t you all lucky! I’ll post all the crap I haven’t and I will let you follow me along on my journey of hunger and yearning R/T one singular photo. Sounds fun doesn’t it?
To the Zoo!
Quality time with the kiddies. Stevie is on board. Mason says no. Majority rules! Pictures and updates later! Summer is almost over!
It’s sunny and beautiful here in Chicago! 72° at 10 am. They say the rain is on its way. We better go!
Enjoy your Thursday wherever you are!

EVERY time we go to the zoo! Alligators attack my kids!

Victory is sweet!
Wacky Water Weekend With… / Friday Fun
So, after Mason cut all his grasses on Friday, we went to do my “Friday Fun Family Summer Project”.
Which as you may recall, I teased you with a few days ago…Benches of Love….???
Tinley Park, Illinois, just a few towns over from my own, has a lovely downtown area with shops and restaurants and a train station, businesses, etc., etc. They also have decorated benches. You know, the kind you sit on. I think they are kind of cool and I thought that we could go and park the car at one end of the main street, have a little snack and then walk up and down and take pictures of all the different designs. We could get ice cream?!? And it’s free! (The walking and picture-taking, not the ice cream) After a bit of wha..wha..wha…we went.
My other idea was to post the pictures one day at a time…kind of like…Bench of the Day, while my kids are gone. Again. On yet another vacation with their daddy. This time Monticello, IN. Indiana Beach. They go every year. And while they are gone….
See??…something to look at! I have pics with and without children. We will mix it up so you’ll never know which is coming!! Exciting AND unpredictable!!
Here’s the first one, kind of relevant to summer and the movies, “Star Trek, USS Enterprise”:
Warrior Dash! Video! As promised!
These are all pretty short so take a look!
Number 1: Starting the Race
Number 2: The Second Loop–Looking Tired
Number 3: THE MUD!
That’s all for my videos, but I found this one after I posted mine. This was from another competitor who was way ahead of us in the end, but he just so happened to be starting in our same wave. He has some good video of our start from the back as opposed to our footage from the front. You can kind of see us in front of him in line a little bit here and there, but Mason is in the video for a nice cameo at about the 1:25 mark. This runner also has some good shots of the fire and some of the energy before and after the race!
We will be back next year! I hope you enjoy the videos!
I WAS the Warrior!!
For a beautiful, brilliant, running, jumping, climbing, crawling, soggy, dirty, swampy, muddy, fire-singing moment in time, I was one with all the elements!
WE were one with all the elements. Myself, my sister and her husband got down and dirty and we are so over the WARRIOR DASH!!
We started nervous–didn’t know what to expect–but once we got into the Wave Gate, we were READY!
Just a fun day of goofing around on a 4 mile obstacle course with 2000 of our closest friends!
We didn’t win but we weren’t last and more importantly, we didn’t get HURT!
We got pictures. We got video. We WILL be back next year!
I will post what we have right now and please check back for the video!
Warriors Unite! We kicked extreme ass! See you in 2010!

This was our starting Wave Gate

This is everyone!

Fire. Really.

Muddy???

Just a little bit...

Rinsing off enough to get in the car
Please stay tuned. As soon as I get the video downloaded it will be UP! In the meantime, check out the rest of these pics featuring crazy costumes!
Street Money Update!
I’ll dispense with the usual, long chatter and get to the point.
10¢ on the floor of Hooter’s–(delicious)–Mason almost had his eye poked out and a tray of crab legs and steaming wings dumped on him trying to pick it up, but hey, we work hard for the money…haha
1¢ on the ground at the arcade/mini-golf/driving range/batting cage/go-kart fun center!
We were kind of busy this weekend, having fun and spending too much money.
One day we will break even. Ha. Check here for the year count.